[Football] Are negative tactics killing the Premier League?

[Nixonator]

I guess CH would argue that the same approach was adopted at all the games you mention. That we were able to do it against United more effectively was, in my opinion, simply because of the way they play (or did that afternoon). We had more time on the ball that allowed us to find more passes further forward. I think we struggle more against 3 central defenders and a flooded midfield, especially if a front 3 close us down really quickly - City, Spurs and Cheslea.. even Bournemouth last 20 mins or so.. It doesn't change the fact that the Spurs game (I didn't go to Chelsea) was hard viewing from our perspective. I blame Barcelona for all this anyway.. they created this huge reliance on possession etc. and so the only way of competing with them was to play in a smaller area of the pitch, your own half, accepting that you couldn't beat them at their own game - Inter Milan and Mourinho, Chelsea under Di Matteo, Leicester to a certain degree..

And if you do manage to disposses them having pinned you in your own half, they deploy someone (usually Sergio Busquets) to foul you within 3 seconds so they can get back, and somehow repeatedly escape cautions for doing so.

There was a stat that they (under Pep's reign at least) had the highest fouls per minute in world football. I would expect similar for City this season.

 

[gripper stebson]

All this will become VERY important when our final 4 games arrive.

The chances of is requiring zero points from these games is very slim.

We may HAVE to attack.

Over to you Chris!

Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I guess CH would argue that the same approach was adopted at all the games you mention. That we were able to do it against United more effectively was, in my opinion, simply because of the way they play (or did that afternoon). We had more time on the ball that allowed us to find more passes further forward. I think we struggle more against 3 central defenders and a flooded midfield, especially if a front 3 close us down really quickly - City, Spurs and Cheslea.. even Bournemouth last 20 mins or so.. It doesn't change the fact that the Spurs game (I didn't go to Chelsea) was hard viewing from our perspective. I blame Barcelona for all this anyway.. they created this huge reliance on possession etc. and so the only way of competing with them was to play in a smaller area of the pitch, your own half, accepting that you couldn't beat them at their own game - Inter Milan and Mourinho, Chelsea under Di Matteo, Leicester to a certain degree..

And of course a possession-based game IS our own game, so we're not only being asked to go toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the world, we're being asked to change our style of play at the same time in order to compete with them.

 

[seagulls4ever]

Of course negative tactics have always been around, but they've undoubtedly gone to new extremes this season in the Premier League.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

This is as a result of football bodies not properly dealing with the situation of a very few teams buying the league in various countries apart from imposing fair play which doesn't seem to work.When you have the lower prem sides,especially the newly promoted ones who haven't had zillions in Prem money yet,playing zillionaires like City then how are they supposed to compete?They will play for a draw or as is the growing fashion rest key players for the league games they think they can win.The more money the few rich big teams spend,the worse the situation will get.The media should shut up and realise the small teams are just being realistic because they have been forced to be so.

Exactly, the Premier League have bought this on themselves by creating such a vast environment of inequality. Hopefully the big six will clear off to a Euro Super League.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

So is our open system (promotion and relegation) actually killing the game?

I’m not sure why this would be the case. Abolishing promotion and relegation would make football pointless.

 

[Nixonator]

So is our open system (promotion and relegation) actually killing the game?

No.

Of course negative tactics have always been around, but they've undoubtedly gone to new extremes this season in the Premier League.

That's not the fault of the smaller clubs even if true (which I do in fact have doubts about) who simply adopt these tactics in order to compete.. If there is any truth to it then it's because of the increasing advancement of the top 6 through perpetual greed and self-enrichment at the expense of the domestic game as a whole.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I thought the game last night was excellent. Sham defended resolutely but scored a worldy. Spuds workd hard to break them down but the boy genius was off the pace (not yet fully recovered from his man flu, electric haemorrhoid, or whatever he had). I thought Spuds were a tad naive tactically - head butting a brick wall will only result in a headach. As to the OP's posit, I suggest you wring out your pants, pal - everything is fine - or possibly SNAFU depending on how you view a glass

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Hopefully the big six will clear off to a Euro Super League.

No! That's like relocating all the attractive pople at work (or school/college - use your age to select your category) into a separate building. Having your dreams snatched away is bad enough, but suggesting their snatching is perverse.

(I think I managed to avoid any unfortunate choice of wording there.....)

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

No! That's like relocating all the attractive pople at work (or school/college - use your age to select your category) into a separate building. Having your dreams snatched away is bad enough, but suggesting their snatching is perverse.

(I think I managed to avoid any unfortunate choice of wording there.....)

Depends what your dreams are. I will probably end up going to around 8 to 10 aways this year and none of them will be at top 6 clubs as I’m just not that bothered about these mismatches. West Brom away by contrast feels like a massive game and I am really looking forward to it.

 

[studio150]

Really enjoyed last nights game, it is always a joy to see the art of defending.

Remember it was not too long ago that pundits were moaning about the English teams inability to defend in the Champions League.

It's almost getting to the point where some fans are effectively calling for a T20 version of football, which is focused on attacking football and tackles, and other defending skills are outlawed.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

*********************************

It might hurt their brand, but I don't care about their brand.

Your opening post is doing what every other pundit is doing at the moment, putting all the blame on teams like us. WRONG. We're not here just to make up the numbers, to be the fodder served up for the big teams to hammer, for fans in China to drool over these super teams smashing six past us, for their plans for ever more global domination and ever more money falling into their laps. No, we are a club in our own right, with a history of our own, with ambitions of our own and fans of our own, and we'll do what it takes to stifle the other teams, stop them playing, win points and consolidate our position. We';ll do this for us, and if it upsets the journos and pundits and foreign viewers who only care about the big clubs, well I couldn't care less.

If it hurts their brand, then all the better for it. Their brand has created a situation where all the top talent is concentrated in a select few teams. There have always been better teams, there have always been richer clubs, but we haven't had a situation like this where all the top talent is concentrated in a handful of clubs.


Well said.
The PL was established to protect and strengthen the interests of a very few select clubs. Having watched two decades of Liverpool dominance and aware of the likelihood of United finally waking up under Ferguson, Messrs Dein and Scholar, representing the two North London giants decided something had to be done to make sure their two clubs didn't get lost along the way. It was designed in inception, to be dominated and controlled by a big 5 or 6 and for these select few to qualify for Europe every season.
It is no longer an English league. We like to call it so but it isn't. It is predominantly foreign owned, foreign managed/coached and full of foreign players. It is marketed globally and the higher profile clubs are building ever larger fan bases. The big six don't run football stadiums anymore. They run tourist attractions. They are a world apart from clubs like BHA, Huddersfield and Bournemouth and yet we are expected to compete, toe to toe, with these giants and we are expected to get hammered out of sight. The structure is elitist and it breeds arrogance and elitism amongst a broad spectrum who follow the game.
The PL doesn't give a jot about the football pyramid, the lifeblood of the game. It pays lipservice to it. It wouldn't bat an eyelid if 50 lesser clubs closed their doors tomorrow. Its not a recruitment ground for the PL. Clubs now buy from all over the world.
Like yourself, I stick two fingers up to the lot of them and say good luck to the other 14 teams and keep putting ten men behind the ball. Play as ugly as you can, frustrate them for 90 minutes and lets all have a belly laugh at the pundits and press and managers bemoaning our efforts. The PL have brought this on themselves and now its payback time. I hope it gets worse and worse. More and more dreary stalemates, more and more wailing and gnashing of teeth. More and more 80% possession games and then the PL may finally realise that the glorious spectacle they hoped to create has turned into a self-induced borefest, through their own greed, their own arrogance and their own elitist plans.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Inspired by last night's West Ham game and a chat on Twitter with my Man City mate, do people think that the PL brand is now being harmed by the number of teams in the bottom half setting out purely to stifle the top 6?

Last night's game was AWFUL and we did similar up at Wembley, just to lesser effect. Has so much money been poured in to this league that teams will now do anything to stay in it, including ruining the very product the money pays for?

Seems to me that it's suddenly become acceptable for most of the PL to duck out of contesting 12 PL games against The Big Six. Add to that the same requirement by the same teams to duck out of the FA Cup as soon as is decent and those teams are in danger of killing the interest of increasing numbers of their fanbase in pursuit of the SKY millions. Which sort of kills the idea of the club as a club. Lest they forget, the fanbase IS the club.

 

[Pickles]

Or all the other years in all the divisions?

It is now the media has decided it's a thing.

Out of all of your nearly 40,000 posts, this is the only decent one.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Seems to me that it's suddenly become acceptable for most of the PL to duck out of contesting 12 PL games against The Big Six. Add to that the same requirement by the same teams to duck out of the FA Cup as soon as is decent and those teams are in danger of killing the interest of increasing numbers of their fanbase in pursuit of the SKY millions. Which sort of kills the idea of the club as a club. Lest they forget, the fanbase IS the club.

Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case anymore. We’re customers, pure and simple at this level. If you see yourself as anything else, then you’re living in a dream world.

 

[N17]

Totally agree with the OP.

Football became a product many years ago. Sky need to sell subscriptions. If people wanted to watch defence vs attack they could just film the training sessions.

Football used to be about trying to win. Now it's about trying not to lose. Everyone wants to stay on the gravy train.

 

[Hampster Gull]

*********************************

It might hurt their brand, but I don't care about their brand.

Your opening post is doing what every other pundit is doing at the moment, putting all the blame on teams like us. WRONG. We're not here just to make up the numbers, to be the fodder served up for the big teams to hammer, for fans in China to drool over these super teams smashing six past us, for their plans for ever more global domination and ever more money falling into their laps. No, we are a club in our own right, with a history of our own, with ambitions of our own and fans of our own, and we'll do what it takes to stifle the other teams, stop them playing, win points and consolidate our position. We';ll do this for us, and if it upsets the journos and pundits and foreign viewers who only care about the big clubs, well I couldn't care less.

If it hurts their brand, then all the better for it. Their brand has created a situation where all the top talent is concentrated in a select few teams. There have always been better teams, there have always been richer clubs, but we haven't had a situation like this where all the top talent is concentrated in a handful of clubs.


Well said.
The PL was established to protect and strengthen the interests of a very few select clubs. Having watched two decades of Liverpool dominance and aware of the likelihood of United finally waking up under Ferguson, Messrs Dein and Scholar, representing the two North London giants decided something had to be done to make sure their two clubs didn't get lost along the way. It was designed in inception, to be dominated and controlled by a big 5 or 6 and for these select few to qualify for Europe every season.
It is no longer an English league. We like to call it so but it isn't. It is predominantly foreign owned, foreign managed/coached and full of foreign players. It is marketed globally and the higher profile clubs are building ever larger fan bases. The big six don't run football stadiums anymore. They run tourist attractions. They are a world apart from clubs like BHA, Huddersfield and Bournemouth and yet we are expected to compete, toe to toe, with these giants and we are expected to get hammered out of sight. The structure is elitist and it breeds arrogance and elitism amongst a broad spectrum who follow the game.
The PL doesn't give a jot about the football pyramid, the lifeblood of the game. It pays lipservice to it. It wouldn't bat an eyelid if 50 lesser clubs closed their doors tomorrow. Its not a recruitment ground for the PL. Clubs now buy from all over the world.
Like yourself, I stick two fingers up to the lot of them and say good luck to the other 14 teams and keep putting ten men behind the ball. Play as ugly as you can, frustrate them for 90 minutes and lets all have a belly laugh at the pundits and press and managers bemoaning our efforts. The PL have brought this on themselves and now its payback time. I hope it gets worse and worse. More and more dreary stalemates, more and more wailing and gnashing of teeth. More and more 80% possession games and then the PL may finally realise that the glorious spectacle they hoped to create has turned into a self-induced borefest, through their own greed, their own arrogance and their own elitist plans.

Top rant

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Seems to me that it's suddenly become acceptable for most of the PL to duck out of contesting 12 PL games against The Big Six. Add to that the same requirement by the same teams to duck out of the FA Cup as soon as is decent and those teams are in danger of killing the interest of increasing numbers of their fanbase in pursuit of the SKY millions. Which sort of kills the idea of the club as a club. Lest they forget, the fanbase IS the club.

We are practising the art of losing 2-0 to the Big Six. Another six games and we will have mastered it.