Missing the point
Chelsea are ‘exhibit A’, Manchester United vs. Liverpool at the weekend was ‘exhibit B’ that the Premiership has gotten something, but boring is not the word. It’s a reflection of the every growing stakes for winning and losing. So the Premiership is not necessarily more boring, it’s more risk averse, and also more interested in success in European competitions.Want to know what's boring? Alan Hansen. If I have to listen to one more Match of the Day monologue where Hansen says “When you talk about ‘x club’ (or ‘x player’) you got to talk about pace and passing” followed by a tired routine that eventually ends in talking about defending. When Peter Schmeichel and Gary Lineker awake from their boredom induced naps, 6 minutes has gone by. Alan Hansen comments on virtually everything with the same script. That’s boring. (Note: next time Ian Wright is in the studio with Hansen, watch him when Hansen talks, he can’t stand it either and gives himself away) In the article linked above, Hansen seeks to defend the Premiership rather than asking why is this happening. Once a defender, always a defender I guess.
What we are seeing in England is a tactical shift to match that of other European leagues. If you noticed, Liverpool won the Champions League with a Spanish coach, first time. The Premiership was won by a Portuguese coach last season that changed thing tactically at Chelsea. Other coaches copy success. Mourinho’s tactics are not boring, they win games. They are boring to opposing teams fans that see their teams unable to break Chelsea down.
As the risks increase, football in England will continue to shift tactically to compensate for it.
On the financial side, the punishment for relegation is bigger than ever. If you can survive using negative tactics to steal a point here and there to stay alive, you will. The bigger the financial divide between the Premiership and the Championship, the more negative tactics will be employed to stay up.
If Alan Hansen would shut-up, Christiano Ronaldo would start doing his tricks and flicks again, and the divide between the different leagues were smaller, then the football would open up. Until then you'll be seeing more and more teams doing things like playing a single striker up front.
The point is MONEY is making football boring. That's the reality of it.
by Football Commentator at 9/21/2005 09:48:00 AM
10 Comments:
Post a Comment
I watched that Man U - Lpool game.
I swear, I fell asleep.
Alan Hanson eh? Is he a new presenter......I know Alan Hansen but not Hanson.
Cant see how Chelsea are classified as boring myself. They're top scorers so far this term and were second top last season. With players like Robben, Duff, Lampard, J Cole, Crespo and Wright-Phillips how can they possibly be boring. The most entertaining game of the year last year, in my opinion, wasn't the CL final - it was the Chelsea Vs Barca CL game. Fantastic attacking football from both sides!
All this stems from is bitter Gooners who's hatred of Chelsea consumes them. Whilst preaching how attractive there side is to watch, they neglect to remember that they defended their way to an FA Cup final victory last year.
Besides, was the Premiership not boring before Chelsea came along? I'd say so - especially as just two teams had won it for the previous nine years before them....
Last anon has got it bang on and i am an LFC fan!
Chelsea simply have struck the correct balance in playing 5-4-1.they have the correct personnel ie a choice of 2 big target men to play up front and several pacy ,midfielders to quickly join the attack ie duff, robben, SWP, cole, EG, Lampard, whilst makalele and essien provide good cover for their defence.
Whilst other team are adopting this hybrid form of 4-5-1 quickly becoming 4-3-3 on attack, to give examples of LFC and United, they simply dont have the correct balance to successfully use it as chelsea do. LFC and United do have their big target men yet fail to give support quick enough from midfield. Evident in most of the Sunday borefest.
I meant Hansen >> sorry, mispelling x 9
Hansen lost any credibility he had years ago with his absurd "you'll never win anything with kids". Lawro and himself are just in it for the dough having missed out on the premiership money mint.
uhm, chelsea have all the best players....theyve tried to buy everyones fire so that they cant burn them much.
teams like real madrid and chelsea sicken me, because all that talent on the bench is wasted.
if liverpool had the money chelsea had, then theyd have simao, milito and other top players, but they just couldnt afford it.
It's not just about money mate. Of course it helps but it doesn't automatically bring success - as people kept telling Chelsea fans when the golden goose came along. Strangely enough these are the same people who are shouting that they've brought the league.
If it were, Real Madrid would be taking their league by storm but they're not. They're losing because they don't have the motivation and desire of Chelsea at the moment.
Similarly, look at Newcastle a few season ago. They had shed loads of cash and brought an excellent team but failed to win anything.
And we should not forget who holds the three biggest transfer records in British football... Man Utd who've won relatively little by there standards in recent years.
Enough said.
alan hansen and his likes are killing the art of football.his criticism of cristiano ronaldo's (it's cristiano, not christiano) flair, among other boring ramblings, shows that he isn't ready to see new elements in the english game and england are not going to move forward with such attitude.let him go on with his usual BS as the rest of the world sit back and watch brazil win another world cup.
Alan Hansen talks absouloute crap!
Post a Comment
<< Home