[Archived] Hoof Ball! Fact Or Fiction?

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I have had time to recover from my football watching and had time to reflect. I've given this a great deal of thought before posting.

IMO Rovers do play quite a lot of hoofball and that is depressing. It has become more of an issue with the injuries sustained by Rovers since the Stoke game. The annoying thing is that Rovers can play passing football but seem reluctant at times to play. We've even started passing to Robbo from kick offs for a long boot forward which plays straight into Rovers' critics hands.

We are short in midfield which means we have to be more direct but there has been increase by Rovers in playing for free kicks and then aiming these straight onto the head of Samba. Teams work it out.

Hopefully when the injured players return the 'Hoof Ball' will reduce.

[mellison24]

Fact.

Bunging Samba up front was the extent of BFS's tactical plan last season.

fact 3-2

fact 30 years

fact you wernt even in the div last year

fact your going down

fact your sisters still waiting

fact it took you months before you reared your mongified head on here

fact your irrellevent

fact ive 100 dabs on beating you at t'urd.

Calm down Rafa's!

[cn174]

Imo also at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what style we play, or what other people think about it, as long as it works and we are winning games. In my view our current style plainly isn't working and we are not getting results. That's the main problem, not whether or not it can be defined as hoofball or not.

I think this is the main thing. Whatever our style of play is, it doesn't work. Even when we stuck Samba up front last season it barely worked. To play effective 'hoofball' you need a strong target man, and people who will collect the second balls. We don't do that at all.

For me the infuriating thing is that when we do get it down and pass it we're quite decent. Then we resort back to Samba aimlessly lumping it up the pitch and hoping that the ball pings in the right direction. We're not really a one dimensional team but at times we just turn into one. It is the same with the "long" throw-ins. They're terribly crap and seldom work, but we try them over and over. Saturday was about the first time Pedersen took a short one to Chimbonda after the Riverside yelled at him.

[den]

Every team in the country [except Arsenal] play long ball. Nothing at all wrong with playing the ball long, as long as it's intended to pick out a player.

Every team plays hoofball as well, but non as often as us. It's bloody awful to watch. Oh for a short free kick, or Robbo throwing the damned thing out. Mixing things up is the way to go for any team, because anything else is predictable to the opposition - and we don't mix it up as often as we should.

[joey_big_nose]

I think it has been a bit up and down to be honest. We certainly have not used "hoof ball" all the time. Spurs we played well on the floor, we have played decent stuff against Wolves, Villa, Fulham, Burnley, Liverpool. Honestly the standard about 60% of the time has been perfectly good.

Problem is 40% of the time, especially when we are behind, we start to go long all the time because we are nervous and trying to force the issue. You could see that plainly in the Second halves of the Spurs and Fulham games, as well as virtually the whole of the Birmingham performance which was abysmal.

However on balance I agree with Gord in that we have not been much worse than the end of the Hughes time in charge (although we are not anywhere near as good as the year Bellamy was here).

To sort it we need:-

1) For three of our strikers to start scoring 1 in 3 games. Or two to start scoring 1 in 2.

2) For Grella and Dunn to be fit.

3) To sign a real creative force (Ben Arfa?)

4) To stop conceding early.

Then I think we will be okay. I do think Sam is criticized more quickly than others for this because he is stereotyped.

[brightonrover]

Anyone who actually enjoys the style of football currently being served up by the Allardyce robots must have been hypnotized by Charles Hughes into believing that hoofball is the only option for 'smaller' teams.

We don't have to lump every free kick from our own half; throw every ball long aimlessly toward the oppositions box or play negatively until we go a goal down - there are other options.

[Paul]

Every dead ball in our own half, be it a goal kick or free kick is launched by Robinson towards the opposition penalty area in the hope we will get a knock down and half chance. It rarely works.

I'd estimate 80% of the defensive clearances are hacked up field towards whoever got the short straw of playing striker for the game.

I can sit in the JW and predict every ball the Rovers play in their own half and more than half we play in the oppostion's half.

If this isn't hoof ball I'd like to know what is?

Long ball football can be the most exciting game, but it involves passing. Launching balls constantly into the opposing penalty area does not involve passing, it's simply hit and hope.

[JC4LAB]

The Sun recently reported us as having the tallest team in the Premiership with Arsenal the smallest..

[47er]

Fact.

Bunging Samba up front was the extent of BFS's tactical plan last season.

And it worked in that we stayed up even though we had no strikers. What's your plan going to be?!

[dunc]

Such is the nature of Rovers fans that if we took short free kicks instead of Robinson kicking it long into the box they'd say "stop faffing about wi' it and get it in there for f**s sake!"

If you compare for instance Hughes first 12 months with Sam's I'd say we play more football now than we did then. We had Dickov up front on his own and Mokoena in that shielding role in front of the back four. It wasn't pretty at all.

It'll be much better when Dunn and Grella are back, along with Emerton.

[DE.]

It'll be much better when Dunn and Grella are back, along with Emerton.

Yes, but unfortunately the first two are bound to get injured again shortly after they return and Emerton isn't in the same class as Dunn when it comes to changing a match and turning it on its head.

We need better options, but with limited funds it's unlikely we'll get them. This is why most people are worried, I'd imagine.

[thenodrog]

Unfortunately I had an increasingly common conversation in the local. Another example of chucking enough mud and some sticking.

Discussing BRFC and a chap who I know for a fact is more of a rugby type and has been to Ewood just 3 times in two seasons and none of those times was this season loudly declared that 'the football under Allardyce is dreadful'.

When I told him that there are lots of dreadful matches in the Prem this season and that according to Radio 5 commentary the worst match in terms of entertainment value was between the Billy Big timers of Liverpool and Man City and invited him to explain that he spluttered a bit, seemed more than a little nonplussed and backed down.

It's so easy to follow the herd and not employ original and individual thought isn't it? The poll on this board is another opportunity for empty vessels to make most sound.

[Guest Kamy100]

Have to disagree TNR.

The football on show at Ewood Park this season has been poor.

99% of free kicks be them in our half or in the opposition half are launched into the opposition penalty area, consistently the defenders and goalkeeper launch high aimless ball forwards. At the start of the season this was effective but teams have worked us out and it is starting to become less and less effective (hence we have started to drop points at home). We play very similar tactics away from home, consistently launch balls forward and give away possession, with the onus on the home team to attack this results in the defence being continually being under pressure and eventually we concede goals, hence we have only picked up 5 points away from home.

The limited times that the players do pass the ball and play to their strengths we look like a half decent team. The expert needs to realise that the players we have are not suited to what he is asking them to do, so either ship out these players and bring in players who can play this style effectively or add variety to our style of play, there is nothing wrong with direct football it can be effective but there needs to be variety, you need to keep the opposition guessing as to what you are going to do next, sadly this has not happened this year and teams have worked this out.

[JAL]

Good thought provoking thread Theno, I think we all want to see some play were we get out of our seats someone beats an opponent and the ball ends up in the net, or a long shot that screams into the top corner. Sadly we havent seen a great deal of this so far, yet we have an decent record at home.

You identify a chief culprit in Robinson, which makes you think if you can take him out of the equation will things improve on the field of play from a spectator and result point of view. For me a new goalkeeper is required one that can save shots on a regular basis.

I'll stop at this point even though theres more to say and wait to see what happens during the month of january.

[Amo]

Just watched Championship Reading outplay Liverpool in the FA Cup. Simple pass and move shuffled with long balls when the game required it. There should be no excuses about lesser sides relying on long ball to compete in the PL. You fit your tactics to your personnel, and the long ball game is clearly not working for Rovers of late.

[DE.]

Just watched Championship Reading outplay Liverpool in the FA Cup. Simple pass and move shuffled with long balls when the game required it. There should be no excuses about lesser sides relying on long ball to compete in the PL. You fit your tactics to your personnel, and the long ball game is clearly not working for Rovers of late.

I don't think you can compare a one-off cup game to a full premier league season. If Reading played like that every week in the premiership they'd go the way of WBA.

[Amo]

I don't think you can compare a one-off cup game to a full premier league season. If Reading played like that every week in the premiership they'd go the way of WBA.

I beg to differ. Reading finished 8th one year playing some decent stuff. The style of football does not equate to success anymore than the personnel and organisation behind it.

[DE.]

I beg to differ. Reading finished 8th one year playing some decent stuff. The style of football does not equate to success anymore than the personnel and organisation behind it.

There's no way that Reading team would survive in the premier league playing passing football. If they were flying high in the Championship I'd argue it was possible, but they've been awful for the majority of the season. This game was a cup final for them, no way they'd keep that up for an entire season.

Still, I don't think we'll ever know, so never mind

[greco]

i havent seen all the games, so i might have missed something, that others have not. BUT so far, ive seen a team which looks quite a bit better, when playing a more mixed style.

i have no problems with long passes, they are apart of football and can be a thing of beauty, but only if its a PASS with some sense of direction behind it, and not just a lump in the air. That is my main issue, as most of our "long passes" really dont have an adress on them.

i find it quite indifferent, how our style of play is being labelled. Call it hoofball, call it percentages or whatever, im more interested in, whether its succesfull and entertaining.

[broadsword]

There's nothing wrong at all with a decent long ball that finds it target. In fact, that can be far more entertaining than a short pass if you're catching a team on the counter from deep, releasing a fast-paced forward.

completely different from ten clumpers passing the ball like Mickey Droy on steroids.

[LDRover]

Not sure I'd call it 'hoof ball' or even 'long ball' but what I will call it though is @#/?...because it is.

[den]

The problem with hoofball is that any club who comes out and battles against you, will give you a game because it evens out the playing field. Pass and move will beat any side that simply works hard.

Pass and move with a positive attitude and setting targets higher than you might achieve, is the way to go. It's the ONLY way to go.

[AggyBlue]

Pass and move with a positive attitude and setting targets higher than you might achieve, is the way to go. It's the ONLY way to go.

Do you think we have the players capable of playing that way Den?

[den]

Do you think we have the players capable of playing that way Den?

We can do better than we are. That's the way we should be looking though Aggy. We must be looking for footballers. - Don't you agree?

[Bobby G]

We can barely afford non-footballers these days.