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The Soccer Team That Perfected The Art of Winning Without the Ball
The Wall Street Journal|January 15, 2025
THERE CAME A POINT in the recent history of European soccer when it was no longer enough for teams to simply win championships. If they were going to pick up trophies, then they would first need to learn to play beautifully.
- By JOSHUA ROBINSON
The Soccer Team That Perfected The Art of Winning Without the Ball

A generation of players and coaches watched FC Barcelona and took the club's teachings as gospel. Intricate passing, subtle movement, and possession of the ball were everything. Barça's chief evangelist, Pep Guardiola, soon became one of the most decorated coaches in the game and spawned a generation of imitators.

Which is why a club named Nottingham Forest has become this season's most fascinating experiment. Every time it steps on the pitch, Forest is asking a radical question: Can a soccer team win if it never has the ball?

More than midway through the Premier League campaign, the answer is a resounding yes. Nottingham Forest, a club that narrowly escaped relegation from the top tier last year, sits in second place in the standings, ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City. And yet, it has less of the ball than any other team in the league.

"I see a group of players really committed to doing things well," Forest's Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo said ahead of Tuesday's 1-1 draw against first-place Liverpool. "What can happen in the future? I don't know."

This story is from the January 15, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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This story is from the January 15, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

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