Why do players sometimes misplace a simple pass?

They’ve been to thousands of training sessions, made tens of thousands of passes and achieved a level of physical skill and control possessed by only a few elite athletes. And yet they can still misplace a simple pass over 5 yards.

How?

Here’s what our football insiders told us:

C’est la vie

It’s like when you sometimes fall over on the stairs. You’ve gone up a million stairs but sometimes you just fall. It’s the same with the pass.

Over-thinking

If you’re in two-minds about the situation, you might not really want to do the simple pass – so it becomes a bad one.

Tiredness

You can lose concentration, particularly at the end of a match

Moving on too early

If you’re already focusing all your attention on the action you want to take after the pass, the pass itself can go astray.

Distraction

At the moment of impact you may notice an opponent in your peripheral vision, another pass option might open up or you sense a defender’s presence and you’re bracing for the impact.

Nerves

Especially in big games.

It’s not you, it’s them

Sometimes the pass is fine, it’s the movement of the intended recipient that’s wrong.

(Editor: …and sometimes it’s because the player is just shite.)