It is very negative though isn't it? Teams are basically saying "we can't match you in midfield so we wont even try". I suppose you have to give pulis et al some credit but if he was really a mastermind of organization he would get the midfield actually doing something.
It would indeed be a very dull sport if every team came to defend. Lots of 0-0's with the occasional smash and grab?
Another way of looking at this is that non-footballing teams are dining for free on sky money made by the teams playing entertaining football.
Do people really want to see west ham west brom and stoke?
Do I want to see West Ham, WBA or Stoke? No
Are Tony Pulis et al paid to put on something for me to enjoying watching? No
Yes, if teams can't match us in midfield, then it's perfectly fine in my book that they don't try. Just like we didn't try and match Hazard, Fabregas and co before Xmas. If managers don't accept the limitations of their teams, and try and find ways around those limitations, they won't be in a job for too long.
For managers, coaches, players, chairmen etc, winning is more important than entertainment. Finishing as high up in the able as possible is more important than entertainment. And so it should be. Absolutely fair play to these teams - especially given that right now, it really, really works against us. For me, people who complain about it after it does a job on just reeks of sour grapes (even though it may not be).
And like Schad says, flip it around. Do you really think that fans of Stoke and Leicester and Swansea etc were entertained by our style of football, or feared it in any strong way, when we shut them all out in our victories? Likewise do you really think that we came out and played really attacking positive entertaining football against Utd (away) or Chelsea (home) or Arsenal (away), even though they all gave it a go against us in the other direction (and yet, but for one very late goal, we would have come away with something in all of those three games)?