leonIan Royal Pace doesn't much help breaking down a prepared defence in numbers. That's for counter attacks against unsupported defences using lots of space.
Couple of tweaks to the side, a dose of confidence and we're away.
Of course it does Ian Ffs. How do you think Barcelona and Spain actually score from all that constant passing in front of defences? A decent ball and a sudden injection of...........oh yes, pace.
It's not all about counter attacking football (as much as I like it)
They don't do it through raw pace by sprinting past people. They beat you by speed of thought and change of pace using the ball.
It's no good having quick players if the defence is set in numbers. You've got to have space to exploit. But it looks like the point was about pace of play and moving the ball, which is fair enough... I'd call that tempo though.
McCleary's goal against Brentford wasn't particularly about speed of running. It was about the pace and intelligence with which he and Vydra moved the ball, beating Brentford's defence in the mind to gain that yard of space to shoot from.