A quote from Adrian Durham in the linked article regarding Ismael's West Brom side, to which Kevin Phillips has responded to defend it. It's very much the same debate as we had last season regarding style vs results but I'd take this kind of winning football every time over the garbage we're having to witness this season. The quote made me laugh too! https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sp...former-albion-striker-defends-ismael-21989129
"If he gets to the Premier League playing like this then they'll be laughed out of it in no time at all. They'll be even worse than Norwich" Personally I really hope they make it as I would love to see what happens playing that way in the Premier league. I think when you look back at the success Pulis and Allardyce had over long periods it may be a lot more effective than Mr Windup is suggesting.
Durham just says these things to goad a reaction. He'd be delighted if Ismael took over at Peterborough.
He does and at times we are all guilty of falling for it with Windup presenters. Piers Morgan being another one.
But these football extremists only want to see Pep football. Winning pretty is the only form of football allowed. Can you imagine the uproar if someone tried 442 nowadays with proper crossing wingers and a target man. A flank back 4 without wing backs would make the world stop spinning.
It's football snobbery. I used the analogy for something else last week. It's a bit like real ale drinkers who turn up their noses at anything else as disgusting. You can still get just as drunk on anything else.
What if you drink certain things just because you enjoy the flavour and taste and don't do it to get absolutely blotto? Or that they aren't as gassy and are therefore just generally more agreeable? Is it snobbery to drink say lemon squash but not orange, or prefer apple to grapefruit? It's the same with football. I don't like the so called tippy tappy possession based style. But i don't like long ball football either. I'd lean towards fast direct but skilful football. Players that carry the ball, beat a man and are creative, that can play long balls, but play it to feet and can play it short and use movement. We will all have different tastes and preferences about things. Its not snobbery to just have a different preference to someone else.
It’s snobbery to lump all of our games as long ball as well . We played some scintillating stuff last year ,Derby,QPR, Brum ,Bournemouth away to name just four and there were plenty of others. Durham just thought of a good headline for his show and used it , it’s Lazy populist journalism ignoring the bigger picture . Val mixed it with us playing good football and direct . Val had plan A,B and others in spades and the SO Called , “Purists “ are queuing up to criticise for headlines .
Which is fine we all have different tastes. But on the drinking one I don't mean all people who drink real ale. I mean the ones who like to tell people what they are drinking is disgusting. So on the football front you people may not enjoy a certain style which is fine. But that doesn't mean it can't be effective. For some reason the "experts," would have you belive if you don't play like pep you're doing it wrong.
Agree that even if a style isn't enjoyable (for some) it doesn't veer away from how effective or efficient it may be. Ismael gained plenty of points with his style, that's indisputable. If it wasn't effective West Brom wouldn't have come in for him. As for beer.... its just that to me, beer. Theres so much incredible variance of taste and flavour now theres something for everyone. I think I would struggle to drink more staple lagers mind you. Not through snobbery, but because I never really used to enjoy them and just found them too gassy, that's the same if it were a mass brewer or a small independent.
If I wanted brilliantly attractive winning football as my over-arching requirement for watching football then the logical option I'd have would be to follow Man City or Liverpool currently. The problem with that is that I have no emotional attachment to the outcome (other than FPL points). What keeps me coming back as a season ticket holder to Oakwell year on year is that emotional attachment, and the never ending hope that we will once again defy all expectations compared to bigger and better resourced clubs around us. This hasn't really ever changed over the years. The only difference now is that the financial gaps have widened beyond all recognition. All I've ever wanted is that the club is always trying to be as successful as possible on the field within the resources it has available. This is the bit which the owners, and apparently the new CEO, fundamentally do not understand. Last season for me demonstrated that everything that I've hoped could be possible was actually achievable, even today. Seasons like that are rare. 1996/97, 1999/2000, and 2020/21 are the entirety of the list for me (I missed out on 1981/82, but those that didn't would presumably add that to the list). We've had some great seasons winning promotion back to the Championship, but those aren't what I'm talking about, as these are us simply getting ourselves back to, in my view, our natural place in the pyramid, albeit this is naturally harder to sustain these days. Similarly, some of the seasons escaping the drop have been similarly memorable, but not in the same way as those three. The Premiership season was glorious in a different way, in that we were actually punching above our weight and we eventually made a decent fist of it, but the goal of making it to the Premier League is precisely for the step-change in financial power it would give us for the inevitable return to the Championship. Ultimately, our realistic long-term goal should be for us to become a yo-yo club, and then perhaps to stabilise in the way that Burnley have done for so long. However, that only ever becomes a possibility if you manage to hit the Championship jackpot once, and then don't blow the subsequent opportunity it provides you. We wasted a season of our only chance at this so far and then got desperately close at the 2nd attempt. The difference now is that the scale of the task is so much harder, but you get 4 years of parachute money to attempt it, rather than 2. The style of football required to achieve this isn't as important to me as is striving to achieve this goal from time to time and maintaining that hope. What I loved about last season what that Val had identified a way to take away the edge of the better resourced teams in, as other clubs acknowledged, a unique way. We were innovative, respected and incredibly successful. I could still watch Man City's beautiful football whenever I wanted, but it didn't come close to the thrill I got watching us compete with Chelsea, win at Bournemouth or, for that matter, win at home to Birmingham in the ugliest game of football, with the exception of one of the best goals I've ever seen us score. I never expected us to get close to achieving this again in such a short space of time this season but perhaps I was naive in that I at least expected us to try.
Exactly how I feel. I think we've only had proper cracks at promotion to the top flight in 1912/13, 1913/14, 1914/15, 1921/22, 1981/82, 1988/89, 1990/91, 1994/95, 1995,96, 1996/97, 1999/2000 and 2020/21. That's 12 times in our history and only been successful once in 1996/97.
we got a lot more direct with Dike in the team. Thought the football got worse as a result though the results kept coming in.
