Over the past three months controversy has arisen as three teams in the Preniership have been accused being overly physical and pummeling teams to get points from them. These three teams are Stoke City, Wolverhamton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. Stoke have had this reputation for a while but it seems that with the beginning of the latest season, both Wolves and Blackburn have quickly earned themselves a similar label. Unsurprisingly all three teams have been quick to either defend or disagree with this.
Despite their best claims they can have little to argue with. All three teams have without doubt been guilty of this. Wolves systematic hacking of Newcastle’s Joey Barton and Diouf’s attack on Schwarzer are good examples of this.
These teams and fans of these teams usually argue that they do not have the quality in depth as opponents such as Arsenal or Manchester City and therefore their only chance of getting points of these teams is to physically intimidate them and muscle them out of their way of playing.
Although I can see where they are comnig from, particulary when you consider how much money is involved in Premeriship survival and how much is lost through relegation in arguably the most competitive league in the world I still think that this attitude is fundamentally wrong and shows a key weakness in ethos of English football itself.
Before I argue my case I should point out that I acknowledge that there may be a degree of bias in my thinking due to me being an Arsenal fan. But still I hope that my argument makes sense and that it is the correct way to apporach this debate.
The English Premier Leauge is a very physical league. We all know this and it is one of the ingrediants that makes the Premeriship what it is. However to as a team adopt the mentality of stopping playing and resorting to merely bulling a team and physical whacking them about so that they cant find a natural rhythm is to start on a very negative road that flies in the philosophy of the game of football.
Yes you may stop players at times from outplaying you, but at what cost. Surely the natural progression of this route if pursued any further is the death of football as soon the game turns into a brawl more akin to rugby. Yes its unlikely that a team like Blackburn might outplay and beat a team like Arsenal, but its even less like to happen if you don’t even try in the first place. West Brom showed that if you play good attacking football, if you adopt a good stratedgy which focuses on out playing them, such as closing them down qucikly or hitting them on the break then you can beat teams like Arsenal.
If a team likes a Manchester United plays better football than a Stoke City and beats them this is to be celebrated. Man United won because they played the game better. Some of the lower teasm in the prem should just accept that they will probably lose to some of the higher teams but always strive to beat them by outplaying them or out-witting them.
For too long the English have placed too much emphasis on a player having physical strength to the determent of ability, skill and footballing intelligance. This is one of the reasons why Spain are doing so well internationally where as a very talented England squad are seemingly floundering. How likely is it that a player like Messi could have progressed through an English youth academy?
The English game needs to resdiscover that the best way to defend or stop a team is not by bundling them over or using your body strength but instead to call players to use their bodies intelligantly and position themselves well in tackles. It needs to recover the art of playing good football instead of always emphasisng winning at any costs, a philosophy of football we are currently seeing at Wolves, Blackburn and Stoke which is not only unnattractive, but ultimately limited and anti-football.
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