That word echoes around our stadium far too much. I'm sick of hearing it so I'm going to explain to those who might accidentally read this why we have sideways passing. You see, in order to score goals we have to have the ball. To have the ball we have to be in possession. If we lose possession, then the other team gets the ball. Still following? Ok, so lets say Cairney has the ball in the centre circle. Simpson is running ahead of him, Brady to his left on the over lap. If Cairney goes to the side and gives it to Brady (and this is where the annoying 15 year olds who sit next to me shout that intolerable word). Brady then goes back inside to Quinn, who lays off to Elmo on the other side. City have perhaps gained 10 yards but they still have the ball. There is still work to be done, because there are still 4 defenders and a couple of midfielders to negotiate around. Well, if we run at them we might lose the ball and not every player can skin somebody so, once again, we have to go to the side, where the skillful players are. They will then run forward with the ball, as is their job. This is called "build up play" and many teams such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and The New Saints do it in order to gain momentum in their attacks. Now, if we are winning, then the pressure to push for a goal becomes less. We still naturally go forward, it just takes much longer and in this way we tire out the opposition or lure them into making mistakes. Don't forget, as long as we have the ball, they aren't going to score and if they can't score, they can't win. Had Cairney lumped it down field in the vein hope that Simpson would win the aerial battle, he would have given it away (cue groans around the stadium). This is called "How to get out of Division 3" and is employed by the likes of Aldershot, Barnet and Albion Rovers. Of course, many of you on here are well aware of the above information, but sadly it seems we are in the minority. Spread the word.
Be content in your superior knowledge and tweet it for the twats - but remember, build- up all too easily becomes Petrocelli-esque which includes even more sidewards passing and then, heaven-help-us, backwards passing and the eventual loss of possession and no FIFA celebrations. Get that bloody ball forward and leave'em in your wake!
One of the reasons that I changed seats this season was because of the constant calls form the cloth caps of "forward". Last Saturday I was astonished to hear the bloke in front of me moaning "typical city rubbish". There is a very posh couple who sit next to me, the "lady" looked at me and said in her best Kirkella accent, "that mans a fool"! The bloke also started tutting, but the best bit was when he said that he was fed up and went to the toilet, two minutes later and we had scored our second.
It's all moaning oldies around me that shout "Get it forward", "Noooooooo, not backwards". Yet, they happen to be the people to moan most when we play it long and inevitably lose it. Even Barcelona can't play fast, direct, attacking football whilst having all the possession.
In W5 there are a "couple" who sit behind me, a man and a woman.... The bloke moans the entire game and has one of the voices.... last season Nick Barmby reacted to him and they had a shouting match from touchline to stand! All the woman ever shouts is "Forward" or "Turn-round", really... "Turn-round" this is sometimes complimented with "go on, RUN"... As far as i'm concerned we are curreently playing the best football I can ever remember (although the matches in the early days were usually shrouded in a bit of a drunken fog)
I think some people are still horribly scarred from the dire home performances we put in under Nigel Pearson were backwards was the ethos. Painful times which are hard to forget...
They are all round the ground. City are constantly playing some of the best most entertaining football I've seen them play. Always remember "Possession is nine tenths of the score"
Yeah it's the old people near me too, they also shout words that a manager would be proud of when someone gives the ball away "oh come onnnnnn for god sake" Oh yeah that's real helpful that! Especially like you said after they wanted it to go forward. Also the people who shout "shoot" everytime we have the ball in their half, absolute idiots. I hate the "forward" shouting ****s.
Bugger me, Mel; visited Hull Satdee, bought a cloth cap sooooooooooo right! Excellent reminder, trouble is, nine tenths of ****-all is . . . but aye, the football is great and long may it continue
you don't think it might be just a leftover shout from the early 1930s when we had a player called fred forward?
It's just a way of shouting encouragement, your average fan cant exactly shout out a team-talk during the game
I think Im just worried that one of the players might hear somebody shout forward and actually listen. Funnily enough, when Bruce did lump it forward on Saturday, the guy in front had shouted five seconds before. His response was simply "oh no, not like that!" Perhaps he should have run down and shown him how to hoof it and not loose possession? Arse!
I agree to an extent, but I've lost count of how many times this season I've seen Corry Evans receive the ball in acres of space and not even bother looking up (let alone turning around) and just playing the ball back to a defender. Infuckingfuriating.
There is a difference between getting forward quickly and hitting a long ball though. There will be times during games at home when passing sideways (and even backwards) will be necessary to drag the opposition out of position to create chances. Equally, there will be occasions when getting the ball forward quickly and breaking at speed will be appropriate
