5 Things We Learned From Euro 2016

Is Possession-Based, Offensive-Minded Soccer Dying?

Speaking of a passive approach, a lot of teams took the strategy of conceding possession and letting their opponents dominate the ball. This is quite a change from the tactics used by top squads in recent years.

Ever since Pep Guardiola's Barcelona teams ran roughshod over Europe playing possession-based, keep-away soccer -- a style that became known as "tiki-taka" -- other teams have tried to do the same. The thinking goes: if we have the ball, the other team can't score. So Guardiola's teams -- both at Barcelona and more recently at Bayern Munich -- cherish possession, often times racking up a possession rate of over 70% and carving teams up with short, quick passes.

When it's on, like it usually is with Barcelona, it's beautiful.

With so many teams playing the role of copy cat, instituting some form of Guardiola's possession-heavy approach, we're now seeing a cyclical shift, where teams are opting to sit back, forfeit possession and play on the counter.

Most notably, Leicester City rode this style to its shocking 2016 Premier League title. The Foxes finished with the lowest possession rate (44.8%) of any Premier League title winner, and they ranked just 18th in the league (out of 20) in possession last season, miles behind Tottenham (55.3%), Manchester City (57.0%) and Arsenal (55.7%), the other title contenders.

While it's nothing for possession-based teams to string together upwards of 15 to 20 passes in a goal-scoring sequence, Leicester City was a quick-hitting machine, finding speedster Jamie Vardy with long balls instead of incrementally working their way up the pitch.

Atletico Madrid used the counter to stun Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals this past season, and the style nearly won them a Champions League title. Portugal used similar tactics on its way to the Euro 2016 trophy, finishing eighth in possession.

Does this mean counter-attacking soccer is going to become more commonplace for top sides?

I don't think so.

The better teams are almost always going to have more possession because they're, well, better. The same teams that finished near the top of the Premier League's possession stats last year -- Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham -- will likely do the same this upcoming season. The better teams create more chances, take more shots and force the opposition into retreat mode, all of which lead to more possession.

This certainly doesn't mean counter-attacking teams can't win trophies, though, as this past campaign has shown us.