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Gregor Robertson: There’s nothing wrong in going long!

Have you noticed the way most games start these days? One team takes kick-off, obviously. But it’s what happens next that feels a little regressive.

by
Gregor Robertson
14 September 2025

Non-League

Have you noticed the way most games start these days? One team takes kick-off, obviously. But it’s what happens next that feels a little regressive.

Quite often, the ball is laid back to a team-mate, who promptly boots it straight out of play.
What’s new? Not a lot, if we were talking about the 90s, or Sunday league football. The difference there is that booting the ball out was very likely a mistake.
Many readers of these pages will probably have watched hundreds of games begin the same way at their local club. But I’m talking about games in the rarefied climes of the Premier League.
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