We take a look at the teams who have enjoyed the most amount of possession of the ball in Europe’s top-five leagues so far this season …
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10) Manchester City: 58.4%
It is a major characteristic of Manuel Pellegrini’s easy-on-the-eye outfit to mostly pass their opponents to death, especially when playing at home in the Premier League this season, and the platform for the Chilean trainer’s attacking strategy is to keep hold of the ball at all times.
9) Fiorentina: 58.9%
Vincenzo Montella has made a hugely encouraging start to life as a top-level coach, with his Fiorentina side currently surprising many experts with their impressive league campaign to date which sees La Viola sitting in fourth place in Serie A after 26 rounds of matches in the season.
8) AS Roma: 59.4%
The Romans made a sensational start to the season in Serie A as they remained unbeaten until eventually going down to champions Juventus, however, one of the consistent features of Rudi Garcia’s exciting team is their ability to keep hold of the ball for long periods, and so at the same time denying the opposition the ball too.
7) Real Madrid: 59.6%
Los Blancos always tend to dominate possession of the ball for long periods, however well the team is performing, it is just the Real Madrid way, and that has most definitely not changed following the arrival of manager Carlo Ancelotti at the Santiago Bernabeu at the start of this campaign.
6) AC Milan: 59.7%
The Rossoneri may have endured a torrid campaign so far this season, with head coach Max Allegri recently being given his marching orders, to be replaced with former Milan favourite Clarence Seedorf, with the Dutchman having already brought about an upturn in the Serie A giants’ fortunes.
However, whoever is in charge at San Siro, the manager will always demand that his teams outpossession the opposing team.
5) Rayo Vallecano: 59.7%
Despite currently enjoying more possession of the ball on average than any other team in the Spanish top flight, Francisco Jemez Martin’s men are still sitting second bottom of La Liga on 23 points after the first 26 matches of the campaign.
4) Swansea City: 59.9%
It has always been the Swans way of playing, to keep hold of the ball and outpass their opponents, ever since Roberto Martinez was in charge at the Liberty Stadium, and nothing has really changed in terms of the South Wales club’s philosophy under predecessors such as Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup and now interim boss Garry Monk either.
3) Paris Saint-Germain: 64.5%
Well, after splashing out millions in order to bring some of the world’s best and most expensive players to the Parc des Princes, one would expect really the mega-rich Ligue 1 champions to be bossing proceedings in the French top flight, as they currently are.
2) FC Barcelona: 66.8%
No great surprise to see the name of the La Liga champions appearing in this top-10 list knowing the history of the Spanish giants and the way that the club have played their football ever since Dutch legend Johan Cruyff came to Camp Nou in the Seventies with his version of Total Football based around keeping hold of the ball.
1) Bayern Munich: 70.7%
The Bundesliga champions are tearing up the German top flight at the moment, with no one capable of stopping Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team so far this season, although when you have an average of 70.7 per cent possession of the ball in the league, then you can understand why the Bavarian giants are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga to date.