Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says the key to his team's style of play is that the man in possession always has options around him.
When he teaches his charges, Wenger uses what he calls "green lights" and "red lights" to show where his players must be when Arsenal are in possession.
Of course, like any teacher, he wants his pupils to stay well clear of the "red light" districts on the pitch.
Essentially, when an Arsenal player has the ball there must at least two possible passes he can make - the so-called green lights - and so on and so forth.
He told French radio: "We work a lot on the potential of combinations between players. We plot it on the pitch and, once a player has the ball, there are red lights or green lights.
"The collective goal is to create the most possible green lights.
"That is to say to give passing solutions to the man with the ball and to leave the responsibility with that man to make the best choice possible, allowing the team to keep possession but at the same time - if possible - make the game progress towards the attack.
"So you must always offer the player solutions that allow him to utilise his intelligence around the game to the maximum."