From the smouldering remains of my hopes and expectations I look at Chelsea’s success this season, and what my eyes see are the change in tactics that Chelsea employed in the latter stages of the season, probably as a direct result of their new management. Some have piped up to state that Chelsea’s tournament wins […]
Winning The Beautiful Game at all costs
From the smouldering remains of my hopes and expectations I look at Chelsea’s success this season, and what my eyes see are the change in tactics that Chelsea employed in the latter stages of the season, probably as a direct result of their new management.
Some have piped up to state that Chelsea’s tournament wins in the later stages of the season, when Chelsea have faced teams with superior attacking capability, are down to planned defensive line ups. Frequently, all eleven players could be found well behind the halfway line during tournament games where a win was required to progress.
Of course, many will be thinking at this stage that these views are written with the sour grape taste of a sore loser (and I am a sore loser, very sore, as I attest that the winners of the CL and FA cups end in sixth place in the EPL), but I’m only using Chelsea for probably the most vivid example of this manifestation in the minds of everyone. I could be talking of many teams. How many times have we seen matches where the weaker team resolves to “Parking The Bus” for 95% of a match in the hope that they’ll get just one chance they will convert. Those fans – of teams who employ such a tactic – who have received such criticism usually rebutt with the lucky winner’s mantra “doesn’t matter how you do it”.
But does it matter? Should The Beautiful Game be worthy of such sucker-punch tactics?
Football/Soccer is a competitive sport. When the Greeks popularised sport in the form of the Olympic Games they did so because they saught the aspirations of the greatest athletes, the best, fastest, strongest, sturdiest. They looked to see who could achieve ever greater feats of sporting endeavour. We, as spectators, applaud flourishes of excellence. We laud praise over those who achieve having excelled themselves. Those who fail, well, they tried, but without them all competitive sports would consist of the equivalent of a one horse race, and we applaud these too.
[typography font=”PT Sans” size=”20″ size_format=”px” color=”#222222[/linequote]This is the Beautiful Game we’re talking about, a competitive sport where there is ample freedom to express oneself in beautiful ways.[/typography]
One might argue that football is a team game, therefore tactics form a major part of the game, so any tactic is a valid tactic. Granted, any tactic is valid in football, but should it be? As spectators, we want to see teams giving their all to be better than other teams. This is the Beautiful Game we’re talking about, a competitive sport where there is ample freedom to express oneself in beautiful ways. I find it a shame when teams close themselves up, sadly probably due to the financial pressures of the business side of the sport.
Look at other team games such as rugby, hockey, basketball, american football, all geared with rules that control attacking flow. The closest thing Football has to any sort of attacking control is the offside rule. Why do these other sports have such rules for the flow of play? I don’t really know but I’m pretty sure that it has something to do with spectator entertainment and parity of offense/defense.
When two boxers fight. Do we like to see one completely closed while the other rains down punch after punch, only to get floored by an uppercut in the 12th round? Or would we rather see both combatants swinging equally?
Tottenham have long been looked on as an entertaining team, and in my heart, this means that we would never stoop to such tactics as deliberately setting out to “Park The Bus”. It may be that an opponent overpowers us at some point, and we have to resort to defending to save ourselves, but we will never set out a plan to simply defend and hope for a sucker punch. To me, those tactics are for teams who have lost the morality of what it means to participate in a sport.
I’m not sure if I’m asking for football to be controlled by more rules, or whether I’m condemning the monetisation of the sport I love, but whatever the case, I hope Tottenham Hotspur never loses sight of what it is to play The Beautiful Game.
[author name=”Rosie47″ avatar=”https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/2689775945/ee61c9c868b2943c1c99a1a0f80d7a77.jpeg” twitter=”laccywaccy” tag=”rosie47[/linequote]
Image by Omar Momani Cartoons
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
7 Comments
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25/05/2012 @ 8:09 pm
Hahahahahahahahahaha, you had me at “I am a very sore loser”. How about, you win something and then we talk…ok?
25/05/2012 @ 8:59 pm
Spuds eh? pathetic, mostly you dont even enter my thoughts, enjoy your Thursdays nights you mugs.
25/05/2012 @ 9:04 pm
Some interesting lines.
“Tottenham have long been looked on as an entertaining team, and in my heart, this means that we would never stoop to such tactics as deliberately setting out to “Park The Bus”.”
The phrase was invented by Mourinho in reference to Spuds.
“When two boxers fight. Do we like to see one completely closed while the other rains down punch after punch, only to get floored by an uppercut in the 12th round? Or would we rather see both combatants swinging equally?”
Do you mean who would enjoy Frazier v Ali, or even when Haye beat Valuev? Sounds like a fight the crowd would go be going mad at. I pray that you don’t work at FIFA, because we will be watching watching football with 5 tackle rules, semi-circular penalty areas and goalkeepers covered in pads in four years time.
I thought it was amazing watching Chelsea beat Bayern in their home stadium and knock Spurs out of a(nother) competition at the same time. If you support the other sides, its not so good. But everyone knows the rules from the start of the season, and winning the european cup has to trump 4th. Behind Arsenal.
25/05/2012 @ 9:04 pm
It amazes me how little authors like this actually know about football. Chelsea were effectively away, missing half their team and yet still got the win. Anyone watching it or their game against Barca was engrossed. Pretty football? No. Highly entertaining drama? Yes. Not everyone can play like Barca, many try and fail. Others realise and play accordingly rather than flogging a dead horse. Defending is as important as attack, many seem to have forgotten that or are simply too young or naive to know any better. Who can forget the great Italian team who were virtually impregnable. This article, if it can be called that is, nothing but bitterness. And I’m not even blue.
25/05/2012 @ 9:45 pm
The concept of “offense” exists only in parallel with the word “defence” – a winning team must embrace both sides of the game. Chelsea fought like beasts to keep out the Germs and Spannies – AND THEN SCORED GOALS.
The object of football is to score more goals than your opponents. Wave after wave of attack is meaningless if you fail to win the battle – just ask the Germans about the *failed* siege of Stalingrad.
On the topic of excitement and interest, weren’t you biting your nails to stubs watching the CL final? Are you not still posting on the outcome some six days later?
So you got rolled down the hill after crawling to the top. The blues rode up on a magic carpet. It’s beautiful stuff, and that’s what sport is all about.
26/05/2012 @ 10:28 am
Mourinho first coined the bus parking phrase in England, yes against Spurs in 2004-05 (the year Abramovich spent nearly £100m on purchases) but the term was in general use in Spain and Portugal before that (I am Spanish). Anyway defending and sucker punch wasn’t Tottenham’s plan before that match.
Frazier vs Ali was a great fight, there was never a hint of “hold back for the sucker punch” there. There was a visible defensive strategy from Haye for the Valuev fight, but without throwing all those accurate punches, he wouldn’t have won it. There was no “hold back for the sucker punch” there either. In any case, in boxing, if you only throw one punch, you’d better knock the guy out or else face losing by the judges panel, which is only correct.
The relative excitement of the CL final match for the general public was only felt from the 88th minute onwards. Those with a vested interest naturally found tension from the start, increasing the longer the match went goalless. That does not mean it was a beautiful game of football. Everyone without a vested interest found it boring until the 88th minute. There was only one team that were playing the beautiful football that befits the European Champions title.
Defense is as important as attack. No argument there. In sport, however, if your plan is to defend for the sucker punch, you deserve everything you get.
27/05/2012 @ 11:58 am
yes, defence is as important as attack, but then you may be forgetting how many clear cut chances Barca missed. that equals luck, in abundance.