I don't agree entirely Emp - we play possession football as good as any team (except arsenal), but one of the problems last season was we could never penetrate the other side, it was often the case of no end product after 30+ passes.
Keeping the ball is sometimes counter productive (as is losing it in danger areas!); it gives the opposition time to regroup which was what happened a lot last season. arsenal were a classic case - they have all the ball but try to run with it across the goal line instead of shooting at the target.
Hopefully with Aquilani, Johnson and co. we'll be more direct when attacking - those two players alone have great touches, vision and more importantly, good deliveries, which should add up to more goals.