How teams build from the back in the Premier League

Building from the back is the most successful tactical change of the modern Premier League era, and the numbers prove it in a way tactics rarely do: the league's teams completed 385.6 successful passes per game in their own defensive third in 2024/25, up from 221.9 in 2006/07, an increase of 73.8 per cent with no other top-five European league growing faster than 55.2 per cent over the same span. That is not a fashion. It is a structural shift in how the league's 20 clubs choose to start attacks, and the debate about it has been settled for years. What is still genuinely interesting is the counter-movement now forming against it: a small but growing number of clubs deciding that the shortest route out of their own third is sometimes the smartest one.

What does building from the back mean?

Building from the back is the practice of starting attacking phases from the goalkeeper and the defenders, using short passes through the defensive third to draw the opposition forward, before progressing the ball up the pitch through midfield. The Coaches' Voice describes it as part of positional play, the philosophy that treats any part of the pitch, including a goal-kick restart, as a place where the game can be controlled. Its lineage runs from Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff through to Pep Guardiola, and its modern Premier League form is visible every weekend: goalkeepers who pass to centre-backs, centre-backs who split wide, and full-backs who push up to create the numerical overloads in the first phase.

The league's goalkeeper numbers tell the story most clearly. Goalkeeper pass completion sat in the forties until 2010/11, never rising above 45.95 per cent in any season before then. From 2011/12 it improved nearly every season, peaking at 69.5 per cent in 2023/24 and holding at 68.9 per cent in 2024/25. Keepers are no longer hoofing the ball; they are joining the outfield build-up.

The passing data: 73.8 per cent and the great rise

The Opta data behind the league's own season trend reports shows how complete the shift has been. Between 2006/07 and 2024/25, successful defensive-third passes per game rose from 221.9 to 385.6, an increase of 73.8 per cent, while no other top-five league grew by more than 55.2 per cent. Open-play goalkeeper passes shrank in length from an average of 40.5 metres in 2013/14 to 29.7 metres in 2024/25, and the average goal-kick went from 56 metres in 2013/14 to 36.1 metres in 2023/24 and 33.3 metres in 2024/25. The league average share of goal-kicks played within the penalty area rose from 44.6 per cent in 2023/24 to 50.7 per cent in 2024/25, and eleven of the seventeen clubs present in both seasons played a greater proportion within their own area in the second season.

The Adrian Clarke analysis on the official Premier League site tracked goalkeepers' passing directly: the percentage share of long and short passes made by goalkeepers has effectively flipped, with short passes rising 10.3 percentage points from 44.6 per cent in 2021/22 to 54.9 per cent in 2024/25. The year-by-year line reads 55.4/44.6 in 2021/22, 53.8/46.2 in 2022/23, 50.6/49.4 in 2023/24, and 45.1/54.9 in 2024/25, the first season in which short goalkeeper passes were the majority in all four years of tracking. Around half of the league's teams now play short goal-kicks more often than not, with the lowest users Everton and Arsenal at 25 and 30 per cent respectively, and Southampton, Chelsea and Spurs among the most committed at 84.1, 80 and 80 per cent.

Who builds from the back most?

The 2024/25 goal-kick data shows a clear hierarchy. Chelsea played 84 per cent of their goal-kicks within their own penalty area, the most in the league, with Spurs at 82 per cent. Only 14 per cent of Chelsea's goal-kicks went into the middle or attacking thirds, while Spurs sent just 6 per cent directly out of the defensive third, the lowest figure in the division. Every other team in the league played at least 22 per cent of their goal-kicks beyond the defensive third, and thirteen of the twenty clubs played more than 40 per cent out of it.

Some clubs changed dramatically under new coaches. Chelsea's 84 per cent represented an increase of 34.7 percentage points under Enzo Maresca, the largest swing in the league. Brentford moved 16 points in the same direction and finished the season with their highest possession share in four Premier League campaigns, at 48 per cent. At the other end, Arsenal moved away from the trend, dropping 15.8 points and playing 52 per cent of goal-kicks beyond the defensive third, the seventh-highest figure in the league, after playing 36.5 per cent out of their own third in 2023/24, the fourteenth-highest.

Individual clubs offer the cleanest examples of the extremes. Brighton played 75 per cent of their goal-kicks inside their own half, while Liverpool played 85 per cent into their half and Man City 83 per cent. The BBC's analysis of the 2024/25 data found that eleven of the twenty clubs played at least half of their goal-kicks inside their own penalty area, and seventeen of the twenty played the majority in their own half. At the other extreme, Spurs went long with just four of their 145 goal-kicks, while Nottingham Forest played 60 per cent of theirs into the opposition half, using Chris Wood as the outlet.

The goalkeeper as the first outfield player

Building from the back changed the goalkeeper's job more than any other position. The 2024/25 season showed the extremes of the new role. Manchester United's Andre Onana played 62 per cent of his goal-kicks within his own penalty area in 2023/24, then moved to a near 50/50 split in 2024/25, playing 48 per cent of them beyond the defensive third. Only 26 per cent of his goal-kicks stayed within his own box, and 59 of United's goal-kicks were taken by outfield players, 58 of which were passed within the area. Matz Sels, by contrast, dropped from 42.6 per cent of goal-kicks played within his own box in 2023/24, the seventh-highest figure, to just 16.7 per cent in 2024/25.

The new counter-movement: going long again

The most interesting development in the league is not the spread of building from the back but the beginning of a counter-movement. Opta's analysis of the start of 2025/26 found the number of long balls per game rising to 99.7 from 93.4 the season before, and goal-kicks ending in the opposition half at 48.4 per cent, the first increase in that measure in ten years. Discounting Burnley, the figure was still 44.4 per cent. Newcastle's Martin Dubravka played 61 goal-kicks long, more than twice as many as any other team. Total passing per game fell to 849.1, a fifteen-year low, down from 893.5 in 2024/25 and 941.0 in 2023/24, and the average attacking sequence shrank from 10.4 seconds and 12.6 metres to 9.6 seconds and 12.1 metres.

The Athletic has documented a tactical expression of the same idea, named the Lavolpiana after Ricardo La Volpe, who guided Mexico to the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup and became one of Pep Guardiola's most influential mentors. Its archetypal form has the central midfielder drop between the two centre-backs to receive the first pass, creating a numerical advantage at the back of the build-up. Arsenal and Liverpool are among the Premier League sides that have adopted it.

Why the shift happened, and why it will not reverse

The shift happened for a simple reason: passing out from the back beats the press. If the goalkeeper can find a free centre-back, the pressing team's front line is beaten in one pass, and the attacking side plays through the phase the opposition spent the whole week preparing. That is why the share of high turnovers fell from 16.7 per match in 2023/24 to 14.6 in 2024/25: fewer teams are winning the ball high because fewer teams are playing the ball high. The 2025/26 long-ball data is a correction at the margins, driven by promoted and lower-half sides who do not have the technical personnel to play through pressure, not a sign that the era of building from the back is ending.

The honest reading of the numbers is that the league has settled into a two-tier system. The elite sides build from the back because they can, and the counter-movement belongs to the sides who calculate that the risk of playing through the press exceeds the reward. The clubs that win the Premier League are the ones that build from the back well. The clubs that stay up are increasingly the ones that know exactly when not to. That distinction, more than the debate itself, is what the next five seasons of Premier League passing data will test.

Key takeaways

• Building from the back is the dominant Premier League style: defensive-third passing rose 73.8 per cent between 2006/07 and 2024/25.
• The goalkeeper is now part of the build-up, with keeper pass completion rising from the forties before 2010/11 to a 69.5 per cent peak in 2023/24.
• The elite exponents are Chelsea (84 per cent of goal-kicks in their own area) and Spurs (82 per cent), while Forest go long to Chris Wood.
• A counter-movement began in 2025/26: long balls per game rose to 99.7 and goal-kicks into the opposition half increased for the first time in ten years.
• The trend is not reversing; it is splitting into a two-tier league where the best build from the back and the rest pick their moments to go long.

FAQ

What does it mean to build from the back in football?

Building from the back means starting attacking moves with short passes from the goalkeeper and defenders through the defensive third, drawing the opposition press forward before progressing the ball up the pitch.

Why do Premier League teams build from the back?

Because it beats the press: one accurate pass out from the back eliminates the entire pressing front line, and high turnovers dropped from 16.7 per match in 2023/24 to 14.6 in 2024/25 as a result.

Which Premier League team builds from the back the most?

Chelsea played 84 per cent of their goal-kicks within their own penalty area in 2024/25, the highest in the league, with Spurs at 82 per cent. Nottingham Forest went long most often, playing 60 per cent into the opposition half.

Is the Premier League moving away from building from the back?

The 2025/26 season began with a marginal shift: long balls rose to 99.7 per game and goal-kicks ending in the opposition half increased for the first time in ten years, but the overall trend remains short passing out from the back.

Does building from the back cause goals conceded?

It can. Playing through pressure invites turnovers in dangerous areas, which is why some clubs such as Nottingham Forest and Burnley choose to go long instead, and why the league has split into teams that build from the back and teams that deliberately do not.