No big surprises except maybe Stoke! http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine...-ball-merchants-was-gerrard-right-184194?p=19
the link doesn't work, but i read on the BBC sportsday live is supposed to be West Ham, Reading and Everton? a bit surprised by reading and everton. Not suprised by the hammers with Andy Carroll!
west ham i expect. but of course, big sam keeps stating they 'don't play that way'. of course you don't...
West ham does not surprise me at all. They play dire football. Effective at the moment but we'll see how far it can take them... We play varied football and I think it show in our position. Bit of everything is the best way to go.
I cannot understand many peoples opinion that you have to be a Philistine to play the long ball. If you whack the ball without caring where it lands then fair enough. But if you have two strong, effective and mobile strikers and a midfield that backs up well, why overdo it in the middle. Blackburn didn't win the Prem because they [layed it about in midfield. They swept the ball wide to effective wingers or up to one of the best strike partnerships the Prem has ever seen.
carrabuh, you do realise that many teams win things playing that way? manchester united are a prime example of doing so for the past twenty years. just because spain/barcelona are the new kings does not make their way of playing the game the 'definitive' way. england don't win things because they don't produce good enough players and play them in a system that suits them. perhaps if they played more direct instead of trying to copy the spain model, we might have more success. redruth is totally correct - being direct can be an enjoyable, expansive and ultimately successful way to play the game. stoke don't do this to be fair but they aren't as bad as they used to be. west ham are much worse. funnily enough, west ham sit above stoke in the table - perhaps stoke have made a mistake changing their style a little...
what's the difference between a 'long ball' and a 'long pass'?? if a long pass get hit diagonally from full back to winger and comes off it's a great long pass, but not a long ball. grey area
Long ball is to head or chest, long pass is low and to feet with the intention for them to control it, whether its to the wing or central makes no odds to me, if your aiming high then its ugly.
I'd personally rather England lose playing good football than lose being direct. I was also unaware England were presently copying the Spanish model, as far as I can see they are even more direct than before. The issue is there is an easy tendency to get yourself out of trouble by smashing a ball long just to win a game. I will always maintain that unless you are to forgo short term gain then your team will never find out how to unlock that defence by playing around it. All you hear over here is plan B i.e. smash it long. Why not work a bit harder to make Plan A a bit more special. England will not win anything until this psyche within the country changes, they have been trying direct for 40 years and have only once came slightly close to winning anything and that was to a home crowd. Direct works against the average teams, as soon as you have quality against you it as easy as pie to figure out. Look at when Utd come up against the great Barcelona, just made to look like idiots to be honest chasing shadows and clueless as to what to do.
i think england ARE trying to copy the spain model. we shouldn't. we should produce the england model. if that means being more direct than spain then fine, i don't care. why would a country, who are the best in the world at being direct (i'm not talking long ball ****e, i'm talking getting the ball out wide and getting decent crosses in) not play to their strengths? are you honestly saying if england won the world cup by playing more direct you would be embarrassed? you'd rather they lose? that is utterly stupid. i agree with some of what you say about 'plan b' and i also feel that england can learn something from the spain model, keeping the ball better for one - it drives me crazy when they give it away so cheaply - but the reason they give it away so cheaply is because they are being asked to copy spain and not play with a system they are comfortable with. england should be defensively strong with two wingers and a big man little man combo - that is what they are good at and unless we are miraculously about to transform the national game, why use a weaker style of play? norwich played direct for the last ten minutes last night - look at how much of a difference that made!
Interesting to note, that a lot of you guys have slagged Stoke off for long ball tactics this season, yet you have only done 1 less than them?
supers 120% agree with this, why should we copy other teams, we are England and we should be proud to play in an English way.
france were flavour of the month around 1998-2002. 'let's copy the french model etc etc'. nobody says that now. now its spain's turn. why not have people saying in 2020 'lets copy the english model'...?
he's probably right to be fair. he must be to be that accurate! there is nothing wrong with playing long balls forward. its an excellent way to turn defence into attack. what i can't stand is aimless balls deep into the opposition half when there is a better, shorter option on. the best way to play football is to have a mix of short and long. spain/barca are really the only team to have done otherwise and sustain success over time. even teams who get praised for their football like swansea and arsenal play long balls when the time is right. i watched brazil the other week - they are incredibly direct.
what the slagging off or the long ball totals? there was a lot of crap being thrown about i believe the time you played Wet Sham about long ball, and obviously Stokes name got mentioned quite a few times, i think even one person said that if Norwich turned into stoke they would stop watching them. my point is that there is a lot of stereotype load of bollocks going around football these days about certain teams and styles. can you tell me the difference between a 60 yard diagonal ball from right back to left winger, which most fans would ****er themself silly over, yet a 60 yard ball from centre half to centre forward is basically slammed as caveman football?
i would like to hear carrabuh answer that. ironically, steven gerrard, who recently slagged everton off for 'too many long balls' is the king of the 'long ball'. just cos his long balls are more accurate than most, its still a long ball. where's the line? everton's long balls to fellaini are often a joy to behold, such is the accuracy and the stunning control of the hold up play.
I think in the main Stoke get a bad name for their physical approach to the game. You know when you come up against them, you'll end up with more knocks and bruises than a game against 95% of the rest of the Premier League. Some of their actual football has improved no end.
