The purpose of the game of football

Between 2 teams of 11 players is to score more goals than the opposition and therefore winning the game.

 

And if that is reduced to the entertainment value of what has been seen at Oakwell in the past six or seven games, no matter who is responsible, us or the opposition, and becomes the norm....the game will be dead in a generation.

It's not evil or treasonous to dislike the way some of our games play out even though we may like the result.

 

I honestly don’t think theres a right or wrong way of playing football

 

True. All styles can be effective. But some will not lead the neutral to want to go and watch and all fans begin as neutral.

 

I get what you're saying and appreciate everyone has their preferences but to me, dull possession football, always passing sideways and backwards, didn't kill the game so exciting high energy direct football won't.

 

I don't like dull possession football either.
I get that the results are brilliant but can you honestly tell me the first 62 minutes of the Boro game were exciting? Again, to quote our commentary team they were admitting it was pretty awful.

 

Perhaps not. But then again there are always dull periods or even whole games, no matter what style you play.

 

There are but I've never witnessed such long periods of home games where absolutely no flowing football is achieved or even attempted.
This is certainly 50% the fault of the opposition but other clubs are being blamed for going direct against us rather than us taking our share of responsibility. It's ironic that we belittle other teams for moaning about our style but then cry foul when they change tactics to combat it.
I keep seeing the comment that it's unthinkable that people can be critical when we're fifth. I reckon that it must take something out of the ordinary to generate that disappointment given our position.
I'll continue to be delighted with the results. I'll continue to pay my tenner given our position but, given that I don't have unlimited money and what I spend it on has to be a choice, I wouldn't be spending it were we mid table.
That's me done on this I think. Everyone is entitled to take what they want from the games but to some of us it's certainly not like watching Brazil.

 

Style contrast tend to make for better games.

However when one of the teams sets up to prevent the oppo from playing their game so to speak, it can make for a not so interesting game to watch.

 

We're always told it's a results business. And most sports worth watching contain periods of light and shade. Think about the duller reaches of a five-day test before a thrilling tumble of wickets, or a close finish to a match. Or km after km of a cycle race where the contestants are keeping pace and weighing each other up before the dash to the finish over the last 5-10km. Or a lengthy exchange in a snooker match before someone breaks loose and clears up. And contrast that to basketball where the teams take it in turns to go down the other end and pop the ball in the basket, seemingly without much subtlety or strategic thought (apologies if I've somehow missed the finer aspects of that sport). If our style is high energy, direct and pressing and the other side set out to counter that, then I think it's inevitable that periods of apparent stalemate will result. Hopefully those periods are broken up as the game develops, with a Mowatt free kick, or a Dike thunderbolt. Whatever, it's effective. Whether it could be in the Premier League is a whole different question.

 

I think it has a chance to succeed if you have the right players n the oppo cannot counter it positively. See Bayern Munich.

I also agree on Basketball , maybe as I never played I dont see it

 

It would be interesting to see how it panned out. I tend to think that even the average Premier League teams would pass the ball around us so quickly that our style just wouldn't work. And while the owners would no doubt do some strengthening of the team I doubt they would desert their principles to the extent of compromising the club's strong financial position. And even teams that have spent 100M+ have found it does not guarantee survival.

That said, I've been wrong about most predictions I've ever made about BFC in my life!

 

I think perhaps if Val wasn't going all out for the win I'd find it more it boring..

 

Not happened. No one cried foul, even metaphorically, all that’s been said is that it’s as much their fault as it is ours.

 

If VAR doesn't kill it first....

 

That’s it for me. I like attacking football, whether it’s direct or not and there’s no doubt Big Val goes out to win every single game.

 

I think that's hit the nail on the head.

I do find the football at times to be dire, the sort of head tennis that I complained about with teams like Birmingham the season before.

But, this team is going for goals, its going for the wins. They aren't going away for a draw or even getting a goal up and putting 10 men behind the ball, they are going for the jugular.

They are doing it in a pragmatic way, but that's because the season before we got mullered trying to play out from the back. We play our football in their backyard, not the other way around.

And it works.

 

Have people not said that teams have adapted, played more long ball than us implying it's other teams' fault not ours or have I dreamed that?

 

For my sins, I watched Brighton 0-0 Everton last night. Lots of sideways and backwards passing, barely a shot of note, very little urgency. No big challenges.

We’d run right over the top of both.