[Archived] Hoof Ball! Fact Or Fiction?

[mellison24]

One more word to add to sum up our play, you probably know what it is... Predictable

Well said. LOVE it.

[broadsword]

There's a big difference between a long ball (think I've said this before) that sets up a counter attack and an aimless hopeful punt upfield.

I'm all for long balls, but not wellying it. I don't remember Dalglish's Rovers ever doing that.

It's not really the length of the ball that annoys, rather the precision. Come to think of it, it's actually worse when you see a misplaced short ball, that drives me nuts.

[booth]

I agree entirely but will go further. Dalglish's PL winning team played a lot of long ball but we could afford better players so it was also winning football - remember Ray Harford was credited with the coaching and tactics of that team and he had been one of the architects of the lomg ball game by the infamous Crazy Gang at Wimbledon.

I'll point out that they also played a lot of good football too. Something that people tend to forget!

[Rovers0411]

I'll point out that they also played a lot of good football too. Something that people tend to forget!

True, but as I said Dalglish had better players by virtue of the resources at their disposal but we still had a very direct style. Listen to the interview with Tim Sherwood on the PL winning DVD. He says his and Mark Atkins/David Batty job was simply to win the ball then play it to Ripley/Wilcox in the wide positions so they could get the ball into the box as quickly as possible. It was very direct but the big difference we did it very well. Hughes, especially before he was able to recruit the likes of Bentley, Bellamy, RSC, etc, also played a very direct style - where did the 'Bully Boys' tag come from?

I`d love Rovers to be succesfull playing in the 'Arsenal style' but the reality is we just do not have the resources to recruit the quality of player to do so. Like previous managers, Sam has to find a style and formation that allows us to compete. I`m not trying to claim that we have been playing well over the last few weeks, we have often been poor and only shown in glimpses what we really can do, but we have to give Sam time.

When Hughes arrived he had the advantage of having been a very popular player for Rovers and fans gave him time. In his first 12 months much of the football was dire but he ground out results to keep us in the PL. It took him time to mould a team that was hard to beat but could mix it up playing some attractive football when the time was right. Sam did the same at Bolton. In his first couple of seasons of PL football with the players and resources at his disposal he had to sacrifice any thoughts of attractive football to be able to grind out results to keep them in the PL. As he got them established like Hughes he was able to start introducing more flair into the team with signings like Anelka, Jay Jay, Djorkaeff..... It is going to take Sam time to do the same with Rovers.

It may test the patience at times but we have to support the team through the lean times like this. Hughes did`nt have a lot of resoruces at his disposal but he had a lot more than Sam now has to work with. He actually spent more than he received from outgoing transfers. He was`nt forced by the clubs finances into selling his prized assets like RSC and Bentley. Even when he had to sell players, like when clauses were triggered in Bellamy's contract, he was able to use the money received to strengthen. I wonder if he was aware that the situation was about to change and that played a part in his decision to leave? By contrast look at what Sam has had to contend with. The team had already been weakened with the departure of Bentley and Friedel for combined fees of around £19m with only around half being made available to Ince for replacements. The following season Sam has seen RSC, Derbyshire and Warnock leave for around £27m again with less than half being given to him to spend.

In less than 2 yrs Rovers have seen a nett spend of circa minus £20/£21m. No club can lose that sort of quality and replace it with cheaper recruits and not to expect it to have an affect upon performances. Whoever is the manager can only cut their cloth accordingly.

A couple of final thoughts. Who was the last team to survive in the PL who were praised for their free flowing football? - because of the finances in the PL we cannot afford to stick to footballing principles in the same way as Mowbray at WBA, results are all important. Even if we did dispense of Sam's services who is there who is a viable option? There was the same discontent at Charlton a few seasons ago with many of their fans unhappy with Curbishley because of his style of football and not being able to take them any further than being an established mid table PL club. How many of those who were calling for Curbishley's head then wished they had kept their mouths shut!

[thenodrog]

There's a big difference between a long ball (think I've said this before) that sets up a counter attack and an aimless hopeful punt upfield.

I'm all for long balls, but not wellying it. I don't remember Dalglish's Rovers ever doing that.

Everton away 95. Never mind hoofball to the forwards we were hoofing it into the bloody stands for the last half hour.

Come to take the blue tinted glasses off and our football was not the best by a long chalk during the final run-in to the end of the season.

[tonyoz]

I on the other hand do the same, but to watch my team and hope they win regardless of style of play.

I'm afraid you are in the minority.

[broadsword]

One game, is that all?

Were we trying to hold onto a lead (was that the one where Sutton scored early on?) rather than show some attacking intent?

[tonyoz]

There's a big difference between a long ball (think I've said this before) that sets up a counter attack and an aimless hopeful punt upfield.

I'm all for long balls, but not wellying it. I don't remember Dalglish's Rovers ever doing that.

It's not really the length of the ball that annoys, rather the precision. Come to think of it, it's actually worse when you see a misplaced short ball, that drives me nuts.

What is the point of playing a totally isolated Di Santo. No matter what the precision, he was deprived of the ball easily as he was outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1.

[Rovers0411]

I'm afraid you are in the minority.

When it comes down to it I doubt it.

Who was happier last season. WBA fans with all the plaudits Mowbray received for sticking to his footballing principles. Or Stoke fans who filled the Brittannia every match to watch a team Pulis set up to get the results, regardless of how he did it, to keep them in the PL.

Every football fan wants to see their team be succesful and play attractive football but at the end of the day first and foremost fans want to see winning football.

[tonyoz]

Everton away 95. Never mind hoofball to the forwards we were hoofing it into the bloody stands for the last half hour.

Aye but that game was exciting!!! My abidng memory (and one of my all-time favourite Rovers memories) is Colin Hendry on his knees in our penalty box, throwing his head at the ball as the Everton players came flying in feet first. Magnificent!

[Majiball]

True, but as I said Dalglish had better players by virtue of the resources at their disposal but we still had a very direct style. Listen to the interview with Tim Sherwood on the PL winning DVD. He says his and Mark Atkins/David Batty job was simply to win the ball then play it to Ripley/Wilcox in the wide positions so they could get the ball into the box as quickly as possible. It was very direct but the big difference we did it very well. Hughes, especially before he was able to recruit the likes of Bentley, Bellamy, RSC, etc, also played a very direct style - where did the 'Bully Boys' tag come from?

Dalglish assembled a group of players and played to their strenghts, pure and simple. Yes it was direct but they where all good at it, just look at our team back then, it was hardly littered with internationals and yet we competed with them with ease.

Sam is trying to force a style on players, that much became crsytal on Monday, its nothing like the football we played under Dalglish. Our midfield aren't very good at winning the ball back though just ask Micah.

I`d love Rovers to be succesfull playing in the 'Arsenal style' but the reality is we just do not have the resources to recruit the quality of player to do so. Like previous managers, Sam has to find a style and formation that allows us to compete. I`m not trying to claim that we have been playing well over the last few weeks, we have often been poor and only shown in glimpses what we really can do, but we have to give Sam time.

I'm fed up with this attitude and its completely blinkered, budget does not dictate style. Burnley under Coyle prove me right.

We are capable of playing a balance between the two.

The issue is Sam isn't trying to find a system that suits our players. If he was we'd be jumping around formations a lot more than we do, we either play 451 or 442, but mainly 451. There's no experimenting going on its that way or the highway.

When Hughes arrived he had the advantage of having been a very popular player for Rovers and fans gave him time. In his first 12 months much of the football was dire but he ground out results to keep us in the PL. It took him time to mould a team that was hard to beat but could mix it up playing some attractive football when the time was right. Sam did the same at Bolton. In his first couple of seasons of PL football with the players and resources at his disposal he had to sacrifice any thoughts of attractive football to be able to grind out results to keep them in the PL. As he got them established like Hughes he was able to start introducing more flair into the team with signings like Anelka, Jay Jay, Djorkaeff..... It is going to take Sam time to do the same with Rovers.

Are we not already established? We've been in this league for our longest period in the modern game. The footballs getting worse under Sam, attendances tell all the story we need to know in that respect. He told us the style last year would be improved this year, it hasn't happened and doesn't look like happening. 11,000 tickets for a cup semi final, how many did we sell when Hughes got us to one? Wonder why? all entertainment value has left Ewood even at rock bottom prices, voting with your feet.

You say Sam wants to introduce flair, hello Benni, Dunn I reckon we already have some. Oh what am I saying Benni's on his way out and Dunn's walking too, the closest we'll ever get to flair after they leave will be the ones the fans start throwing at Sam.

It may test the patience at times but we have to support the team through the lean times like this. Hughes did`nt have a lot of resoruces at his disposal but he had a lot more than Sam now has to work with. He actually spent more than he received from outgoing transfers. He was`nt forced by the clubs finances into selling his prized assets like RSC and Bentley. Even when he had to sell players, like when clauses were triggered in Bellamy's contract, he was able to use the money received to strengthen. I wonder if he was aware that the situation was about to change and that played a part in his decision to leave? By contrast look at what Sam has had to contend with. The team had already been weakened with the departure of Bentley and Friedel for combined fees of around £19m with only around half being made available to Ince for replacements. The following season Sam has seen RSC, Derbyshire and Warnock leave for around £27m again with less than half being given to him to spend.

Yes he's had a serious deficit to contend with but he's also had more to spend than most managers got in one season. We've even increased our wage budget for his Gala signing. Pray tell me where this £20,000,000 odd worth of investment (I include wages) is at present, thats right on the bench or earning extra cash as pundits. If Hughes had been given that sort of money even with having to sell one or two I wonder what he could have turned up? When you add in Inces spending as well, we've spent a serious amount of cash in the last two seasons and where are we? Worse off, how the hell has that happened?

In less than 2 yrs Rovers have seen a nett spend of circa minus £20/£21m. No club can lose that sort of quality and replace it with cheaper recruits and not to expect it to have an affect upon performances. Whoever is the manager can only cut their cloth accordingly.

Some clubs do very well working like this. We've signed dross over the last two years thats the problem not the deficit we've still spent nigh on £40,000,000 across the board on fees and wages on new players. Its been the worst two years for signings I can remember, no-one has floated my boat in ages that we've signed.

I know Hughes took loads of stuff with him when he left I can only assume he took every piece of scouting data we had and wiped the memories of the ones that stayed as this part of our club had declined drastically.

Out of all that out-lay only 3 players have shown any serious merit, Robinson, Givet & N'zonzi. I'll wager the ASDA lady wouldn't smack her ass at that deal.

A couple of final thoughts. Who was the last team to survive in the PL who were praised for their free flowing football? - because of the finances in the PL we cannot afford to stick to footballing principles in the same way as Mowbray at WBA, results are all important. Even if we did dispense of Sam's services who is there who is a viable option? There was the same discontent at Charlton a few seasons ago with many of their fans unhappy with Curbishley because of his style of football and not being able to take them any further than being an established mid table PL club. How many of those who were calling for Curbishley's head then wished they had kept their mouths shut!

Burnley, Burnley, Burnley its a load of tosh fed by one man, SAM. Why do people always deal in extremes we can combine the two so we are agressive and skillful at the same time. Each one of these players is one of the Elite (except you Keith) they've beaten off thousands of others to make it this far and your seriously telling me we can't string more than three passes together. You'll notice thats there's a high correlation between us doing well and not constantly resoting to the same predictable crap I have given up watching. The footballs so dire I now take my Iphone to the game that way I can get some Emails done at the same time. 1-2-3, hoof, throw the ball on Samba's head, launch every free kick at Samba's head (don't worry son your agent will get you a headache tablet sponsor soon), I honestly reckon that if someone just told me what was going on, IE there's a free kick and I wasn't watching I reckon I could tell you exactly what we are doing we are that predictable.

FC Twente, the no-bodies of Dutch Football currently sitting pretty at the top of the eredivsion. Not a bad turn around in the same time we've been dropping like a stone. He has premiership experience, he's english (apparently anything forgein in a back-room role is banned at Ewood) and I believe he's been in our situation before. He'll have a great knowledge of european players as well. He also had a good record with bringing through younger players/sorting out academies. He most certainly would have a point to prove and if he can get Middlesbourgh to the UEFA cup final he's got to have some motivational skills, which we sadly lack at present. No-one in Dutch football earns anything like the money they do here so his compo won't be that serious. You know times are bad when I advocate a "Wally with a brolly" over an academic or an "Expert". But I'd have him here in a shot at present, my patience has almost worn out.

[tonyoz]

When it comes down to it I doubt it.

Who was happier last season. WBA fans with all the plaudits Mowbray received for sticking to his footballing principles. Or Stoke fans who filled the Brittannia every match to watch a team Pulis set up to get the results, regardless of how he did it, to keep them in the PL.

Every football fan wants to see their team be succesful and play attractive football but at the end of the day first and foremost fans want to see winning football.

Staying in the PL is the number 1 priority for most of those on this board but I don't think the new season ticket holders feel the same way, they want to enjoy their trips to Ewood. In any case, the crap football we are seeing is hardly "winning football" either - hence the venom directed towards Sam recently.

[Leyther]

I don't know what it's called, but it is the worst football I can remember at Ewood.Terrible to watch, and not very effective.I though the geordies were just talking their usual rubbish when they got rid of Allardyce, but , and it pains me to say it, they were right.In the present climate, Rovers have a hard job in any season just staying in this league, but surely it's not too much to ask for the football to actually be watchable.It looks pretty obvious that the players have had enough of it too.

[brightonrover]

If Allardyce's tactic (note the singular)actually worked and we were winning games I might put up with the bloody rubbish the team is playing.

It's quite obvious from both what's happening on the pitch and from the rumours of dressing room dissent that the players aren't happy with the kind of long ball drivel they're being told to play.

If Fat Sam can't/won't change the tactics and we can't afford to buy lots of new players to fit his style of play then there's only one realistic way forward:

GET RID OF ALLERDYCE!

[thenodrog]

If Allardyce's tactic (note the singular)actually worked and we were winning games I might put up with the bloody rubbish the team is playing.

It's quite obvious from both what's happening on the pitch and from the rumours of dressing room dissent that the players aren't happy with the kind of long ball drivel they're being told to play.

If Fat Sam can't/won't change the tactics and we can't afford to buy lots of new players to fit his style of play then there's only one realistic way forward:

GET RID OF ALLERDYCE!

And then what?

[thenodrog]

What is the point of playing a totally isolated Di Santo. No matter what the precision, he was deprived of the ball easily as he was outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1.

At Bolton Allardyce had Nolan haring up the field to get near enough to support Davies or Anelka, scoring regularly and damned near getting himself into the England set up. At the beginning of this season he was getting Dunn to do it. Dunn's goals v Bolton in particular and Burnley bear testament to that.

So Q for you....... whats happened to Dunny since he's returned from injury .... apart from stalling on his contract offer?

[thenodrog]

If Allardyce's tactic (note the singular)actually worked and we were winning games I might put up with the bloody rubbish the team is playing.

It's quite obvious from both what's happening on the pitch and from the rumours of dressing room dissent that the players aren't happy with the kind of long ball drivel they're being told to play.

If Fat Sam can't/won't change the tactics and we can't afford to buy lots of new players to fit his style of play then there's only one realistic way forward:

GET RID OF ALLERDYCE!

And then what?

Keyboard broke I assume Brighton (and your two mates)?

[thenodrog]

Hoofball is a fact.

I argued no earlier in this thread but I cannot deny the evidence of my own eyes.

Problem is, we are not even any good at hoofball either...

I don't know what it's called, but it is the worst football I can remember at Ewood.Terrible to watch, and not very effective.I though the geordies were just talking their usual rubbish when they got rid of Allardyce, but , and it pains me to say it, they were right.In the present climate, Rovers have a hard job in any season just staying in this league, but surely it's not too much to ask for the football to actually be watchable.It looks pretty obvious that the players have had enough of it too.

It's undeniable that the fare on display really is poor. Dangerously so imo too.

SA for whatever reason has not recreated the elements of cussedness and spikiness combined with work ethic that were so successful at Bolton as most would have expected. The forwards rarely get on the score sheet and even the defence are playing like strangers. BUT most would agree that the department where we have the least ability is in midfield. We've needed the new Tugay / Sherwood / Cowans / Batty for many years now, and for just as many years have not come close to finding them with the poss exception of the now departed Sav. Agree / accept that fact and all of a sudden the reason for any increase in longer passing from the keeper etc and avoiding our midfield competing with better ones surely becomes much clearer.

[philipl]

There would be strong defenders of hoof ball here if we were winning with it. But we are not and nobody can see any likelihood of Rovers' squad succeeding with it.

Result- we are crashing and burning as a club.

[thenodrog]

There would be strong defenders of hoof ball here if we were winning with it. But we are not and nobody can see any likelihood of Rovers' squad succeeding with it.

Result- we are crashing and burning as a club.

Any further comments this morning Gunner?

btw Question to all and particularly the (currently) silent minority who are critical of all things BRFC since Paul Ince was thankfully despatched and are guilty of over use of the term 'hoofball'......

One of these is goal of the month for January and one is Kalinic's strike v Bolton. Which are hoofball? Can anyone provide a valid definition?

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/4823982/

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/4481540/

If either of those goals are a result of 'hoofball' then bring it on.

btw To Alan Nixon especially...... Which deserves to be branded 'ugly football'?

[deryck guyler's spoon]

btw Question to all and particularly the (currently) silent minority who are critical of all things BRFC since Paul Ince was thankfully despatched and are guilty of over use of the term 'hoofball'......

I've just pulled you up for this, you admit your hypocrisy and here you are at it again!!

[thenodrog]

I've just pulled you up for this, you admit your hypocrisy and here you are at it again!!

what are you on about? Are you on medication?

[tony gale's mic]

A lot of foolish folk in this thread.

[Miker]

Sam is trying to force a style on players, that much became crsytal on Monday, its nothing like the football we played under Dalglish. Our midfield aren't very good at winning the ball back though just ask Micah.

Who is Micah?

I'm fed up with this attitude and its completely blinkered, budget does not dictate style. Burnley under Coyle prove me right.

We are capable of playing a balance between the two.

The issue is Sam isn't trying to find a system that suits our players. If he was we'd be jumping around formations a lot more than we do, we either play 451 or 442, but mainly 451. There's no experimenting going on its that way or the highway.

Bolton under Coyle just lost to us 3-0. How many managers change things around every game? This has to be one of the daftest statements I've read. Sam did plenty of experimenting at the start of the season with lineups and formations. You are kidding yourself if you think we should as a team change formation regularly. The team needs to stick to a formation that works and our home record suggests that the current formation and tactics used are working well and don't need any change. Yet Sam is still prudent enough to change to a 4-4-2 during a match we're winning if he sees the need to.

Are we not already established? We've been in this league for our longest period in the modern game. The footballs getting worse under Sam, attendances tell all the story we need to know in that respect. He told us the style last year would be improved this year, it hasn't happened and doesn't look like happening. 11,000 tickets for a cup semi final, how many did we sell when Hughes got us to one? Wonder why? all entertainment value has left Ewood even at rock bottom prices, voting with your feet.

You say Sam wants to introduce flair, hello Benni, Dunn I reckon we already have some. Oh what am I saying Benni's on his way out and Dunn's walking too, the closest we'll ever get to flair after they leave will be the ones the fans start throwing at Sam.

We are already established, but when you lose key players and have confidence/motivation completely shot under Ince, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. Not to mention that a lot of the players that have been brought in, such as Robinson, were drastically short of confidence when they came in. The fact that Sam is now getting the most out of them is commendable.

Dunn walking was complete rubbish, propagated by people like you who were trying to convince people of your viewpoint. I'm surprised McCarthy wasn't sold earlier, as he was clearly disinterested and the fact that we actually managed to get any money for him is amazing, as I was sure he would ride the contract out so he could leave on a free at the end of the season.

Some clubs do very well working like this. We've signed dross over the last two years thats the problem not the deficit we've still spent nigh on £40,000,000 across the board on fees and wages on new players. Its been the worst two years for signings I can remember, no-one has floated my boat in ages that we've signed.

I know Hughes took loads of stuff with him when he left I can only assume he took every piece of scouting data we had and wiped the memories of the ones that stayed as this part of our club had declined drastically.

Out of all that out-lay only 3 players have shown any serious merit, Robinson, Givet & N'zonzi. I'll wager the ASDA lady wouldn't smack her ass at that deal.

Fail.

FC Twente, the no-bodies of Dutch Football currently sitting pretty at the top of the eredivsion. Not a bad turn around in the same time we've been dropping like a stone.

Haha Dutch Football? Nice one. FC Twente are hardly "no-bodies" of Dutch Football. I don't know much about their history, but they are one of the few clubs over there that I actually know of. So if I've heard of them down here in Australia, they can't be that unknown

Threads like this make for hilarious reading.

[Majiball]

Who is Micah?

Micah, do you watch our games??????

He's only an England international, guess your knowledge of the game isn't as good as you think. His goal is etched in my mind and always will be.

Bolton under Coyle just lost to us 3-0. How many managers change things around every game? This has to be one of the daftest statements I've read. Sam did plenty of experimenting at the start of the season with lineups and formations. You are kidding yourself if you think we should as a team change formation regularly. The team needs to stick to a formation that works and our home record suggests that the current formation and tactics used are working well and don't need any change. Yet Sam is still prudent enough to change to a 4-4-2 during a match we're winning if he sees the need to.

Firstly I said Burnley under Coyle, not Bolton. the whole point of that part was to illustrate that even the team with by far the smallest budget in the league can do well playing a mixed style.

Guess you just don't get the difference between two completely separate teams and times.

I love the way you call my statement daft. Against Bolton we started 451-433, brought on Roberts and went 442 as I said. You might want to pay more attention watching us play, but I guess things look different upside down? Sam has even come out and said we play 451-433 and he switched to 442 as well, so I guess your right we never change formation do we???

You even go on to state we change formations as well, which is it? or have you been on the amber nectar???

I guess switching between 3 different formations in most matches isn't regular to you? So how many times do we have to do it for it to be regular? regular for me is once a day, but judging by some of your posts, I guess it more frequent for you.

We are already established, but when you lose key players and have confidence/motivation completely shot under Ince, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. Not to mention that a lot of the players that have been brought in, such as Robinson, were drastically short of confidence when they came in. The fact that Sam is now getting the most out of them is commendable.

Since your always harping on about how you played the game, I guess you played under some shocking managers. Ince has been gone for about 18 months, surely thats enough time to restore anyones confidence. Its been almost 2 years since we lost Bentley, RSC played practically no role last year, so which key players have we lost in the last two years?? Robinson's been playing fine for a while know, I've defended him from the start, our defence was shocking earlier in the season exposing him again and again, so of course to the Lehman it only looks like he's coming good now. Those of us with good knowledge have seen it for far longer.

Dunn walking was complete rubbish, propagated by people like you who were trying to convince people of your viewpoint. I'm surprised McCarthy wasn't sold earlier, as he was clearly disinterested and the fact that we actually managed to get any money for him is amazing, as I was sure he would ride the contract out so he could leave on a free at the end of the season.

No worries, next time I get any insider info I'll not pass it on, but I'd love to know why your only attacking me and not everyone on here who does the same and gets it wrong from time to time. My mate tipped me off that Southgate would be the next CP manager, at the time he was wrong do you see me screaming at him and accusing him of propaganda? No, I laid down serious money on it as well. Do you do the same when Nicko gets it wrong, no. So its personal isn't it, whats wrong didn't you like my previous reply to your long/direct football is more skillful than pass N move?? did I hit a nerve or was it the fact its taken you so long to reply to any of my posts or even the complete lack of an arguement against my stance??

I'm still waiting for you to reply to my well structured response, guess I'll just have to put up with your insults instead, which IMO are the act of someone who cannot construct a valid response.

Fail.

You might want to read all my posts, I reckon I have a pretty high success rate in my predictions on players and managers and the such. No one else knew anything about anyone who Ince brought in or even Sam for that matter?

Haha Dutch Football? Nice one. FC Twente are hardly "no-bodies" of Dutch Football. I don't know much about their history, but they are one of the few clubs over there that I actually know of. So if I've heard of them down here in Australia, they can't be that unknown

So just because you've heard of them they aren't no-bodies, you even say you know nothing about them?

Ajax, Feyernord, PSV are the big boys in Holland with AZ stalling in their quest. Just so you know they haven't won the league since the 1920's and once got to the UEFA cup final in the 70's, they've spent most of their recent history struggling with money and relegation. When you compare them to the teams I mentioned previously in the grand scale of things they are no-bodies. The only reason you've heard about them is down to Steve maclaren and the fact you state you know nothing about their history just shows that for most of their footballing existence they have been no-bodies.

You might also like to note that the whole point of that section was because, people as always were saying who could do a job and would want to come here? I proposed Mclaren, and used FC twente's climb to illustrate he's getting back to his best. But since you obviously haven't read the whole conversation, yet again you've missed the point.

Threads like this make for hilarious reading.

No chap, you make for hilarious reading.

Perhaps you'd like to come to Spain, and tell them how wrong they are with their ethos on the game, guess you didn't see their second team destroy England's first last time out? your a dying breed mate, even our own FA backs people like me along with most of Europe.

Direct football detracts from skill acquisition, the fact you stated pass N move only belongs on the playground or indoors, just shows me your a stubborn, unopen individual. I hear theres an opening at the natural history museum want me to get you an application form, you'd fit right in next to the T-Rex.

PS next time you use Samba as an example of us playing to our strengths by playing the ball long you might want to consider that he's no longer up front, because unless I'm watching the game backwards thats the direction the long/direct ball generally goes in.

I await the next barrage of insults.