[Archived] Entertainment or Result Is All That Matters?

[RibbleValleyRover]

Silly comment. Sam's dismissal was nothing to do with results, and you know it.

I thought it was mentioned pretty much everywhere in the media that the 7-1 capitulation to United was the final straw?

[Presty On Tour]

Silly comment. Sam's dismissal was nothing to do with results, and you know it.

7-1 at Old Trafford was nothing short of a disgrace.

[CrazyIvan]

Never mind that. Can I just say that your avatar is awesome, and a wonderful thing to behold ....

Lol, that does seem to be the general opinion... It gets mesmerising.

[Mattyblue]

So? It was one game. I was at Arsenal under Hughes when were spanked 6-2. If snap decisions are going to be made on the basis of them losing face with their friends then we really are in trouble.

[jim mk2]

I refer you to the Wolves match for that one... I, personally, think 3 - 0 up is ok and defending from there is ok but stopping the opportunistic charge forward because some of the midfield can't cross the halfway line (ala Wolves) is a bit ridiculous. Oh, just for info, the player that should have been marking Gerrard was EHD. He got a roasting when Gerrard scored because he just stood there and watched. Watch the highlights, you'll see what I mean.

At 3-0 up I'm sure some fans were expecting a goal-fest but more important at no time did I feel Rovers were about to surrender the lead and although Robinson had to pull off some good saves the defence look pretty solid. The point is, I walked away from the ground happy with a job well done and three points in the bag which is surely the object of the whole exercise.

I thought it was mentioned pretty much everywhere in the media that the 7-1 capitulation to United was the final straw?

Final straw ? It has been well documented that Sam lost his job because of other issues - the Old Trafford match gave the owners a feeble excuse. Why didn't Hughes lose his job after the six-goal hammerings against Arsenal ?

[LeChuck]

Can we not take the Sam discussion elsewhere? It's been done to the death and brings nothing new. The point of these discussion topics is generate new, interesting debate between us, surely?

I find the idea of this interesting. From a club's point of view I think it's very tricky. Results might appear to be most important thing due to the value of being a] in the Premier League, and b] being a success in it.

However, I don't think clubs can afford to take that attitude on a long-term basis. Entertainment is increasingly becoming important to the success of teams. I don't think as many people feel obliged to attend matches in a religious way as there used to be. More people are viewing now as a way of being entertained, and if that time/money can be spent elsewhere on something more enjoyable more people are willing to do so.

This attitude is long overdue in my opinion, the authorities have abused the blind loyalty of fans for a long time. It is, after all, 22 men kicking a bag of wind - there are other things in life that bring enjoyment. Football must strive to entertain if it wants the amount of money it is asking for from fans.

In contrast to what I've just written though, I always advocated results over entertainment under the ownership of the Trust, given that we absolutely needed to be a Premier League club to attract new buyers. Now that we have them I do think entertainment has become important, both to get people to the ground and just generally improve the image of the club in a commercial sense - it's much harder to market a team labelled with the 'boring' tag, and crowd levels responsible for putting a ceiling on growth will never be raised without entertaining football.

[Iceman]

To be fair Matty, in that 6-2 game, I think we were leading 2-1 and then after going down 3-2, we chased for the equaliser and got caught on the counter. It was kind of a good performance that day, but the 7-1 against United was awful.

[Eddie]

There's a balance that has to be struck.

Over the 38 games that we play I would hope that the majority are entertaining, even in defeat. I very much 'enjoyed' watching us play Spurs the other week, even though we lost and missed chances. On the other hand, I didn't enjoy our draw against Newcastle, even though it is a point and on paper looks to be the better result.

We have to get some results as we have to stay up, but if it is a straight choice between boring football and finishing 9th and entertaining football and finishing 12th...well then I would take the latter every time. I believe that we can stay up playing entertaining football, so until the point that boring football brings us a cup win or a European place it simply doesn't outweigh the negative of having to sit through dross for 90 minutes once or twice a week. I want to look forward to watching Rovers play and be proud of them when I am watching, I don't want to think of it as a chore that I simply have to do because I support the club and because we might win.

[jim mk2]

In contrast to what I've just written though, I always advocated results over entertainment under the ownership of the Trust, given that we absolutely needed to be a Premier League club to attract new buyers. Now that we have them I do think entertainment has become important, both to get people to the ground and just generally improve the image of the club in a commercial sense - it's much harder to market a team labelled with the 'boring' tag.

At the moment though our PL survival is not guaranteed by any means and the team appears to be in a West Brom-type freefall with 4 points gained out of the last 15. Good results are more important than ever in the coming weeks and without them I'm afraid "entertainment" is meaningless. I've said it before but I found nothing entertaining walking away from the Wigan match having lost 4-3.

[den]

In answer to the original question.

The minute a manager takes his eye off getting the result - in order to entertain - he's on the slippery slope out of a job. To win games he has to bring in good players. Good players win games and the entertainment automatically follows. Problem with the lack of entertainment at Ewood is down to lack of squad quality. Strange now, that those who wanted a change in manager are now blaming the poor displays as being the players fault and not the managers.

[LeChuck]

At the moment though our PL survival is not guaranteed by any means and the team appears to be in a West Brom-type freefall with 4 points gained out of the last 15. Good results are more important than ever in the coming weeks and without them I'm afraid "entertainment" is meaningless. I've said it before but I found nothing entertaining walking away from the Wigan match having lost 4-3.

That's dangerously close to a 'Kean vs. Allardyce' post, and I really don't want to reduce this topic to that debate.

I think we've tried to go from one style under Allardyce to a new style under Kean far too quickly. I posted on Saturday that Kean needs to step back and take the approach Hughes adopted - get a strong defensive base then expand on the attacking side. Ultimately I think the idea of changing our playing style is right though, we need to be more entertaining than we have been. It can't come at the risk of relegation though, so in that sense I guess results ultimately have to prevail.

[Iceman]

But LeChuck, our defence basically picks itself. Its been a consistent back 4 selection for a few years now. What's changed? This was a key part of our game, but has recently been our weak area. Why? Its down to the change of tactics imo, because now suddenly we playing with an open style, and our defence is left wide open. Under Sam, Phil Jones played that protection role, however Jermaine is too much all over the place when he should play that role.

[Amo]

Cmon Toppers, seriously now. Ugly, scrappy, hoofball 1-0 wins, to get us into Europe or a cup final, over entertaing nothing to show for it football any day of the week.

You're under the illusion that we can only achieve those things playing 'scrappy hoofball'. Sparky's teams knew how to blend skill with graft and mix it up. I don't think Rovers can play teams off the park for 90mins. We'll have to get ugly when the game calls for it, but that doesn't mean we can't entertain the fans with our football nonetheless.

[thenodrog]

Get to 40 points by playing winning football (warts and all) then, once safe, play expansive entertaining football. To do both straight away needs a much better squad than we have or are ever likely to have. Assess the squad and get them to do what they do best, if that means kick and run so be it. During the transfer windows slowly start to replace the personnel with better players and slowly start to change your game, it takes time. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and we really don't have a good footballing squad right now.

That was last season in a nutshell TJ..... until the bit about replacing personnel in the transfer window.

[Iceman]

Topman, I too would be happy with exciting football. However, its clear that only Junior and Olsson look like they are capable of adapting to the change. Its okay to want good football, but you have to admit, that the current crop of players are not good enough to change instantly to this. It would be better, if we had continued to grind out results, to secure our short term goal. Once that is secured, then we would have a full pre sesaon to try this new formation, and expansive game plan.

[Amo]

Topman, I too would be happy with exciting football. However, its clear that only Junior and Olsson look like they are capable of adapting to the change. Its okay to want good football, but you have to admit, that the current crop of players are not good enough to change instantly to this. It would be better, if we had continued to grind out results, to secure our short term goal. Once that is secured, then we would have a full pre sesaon to try this new formation, and expansive game plan.

We've proven we can play good football and win. We proved it last season, ironically when Sam was off sick, and we've proven it this year. 'Good football' doesn't mean keeping it on the floor for 90+ minutes. IMO, good football is knowing when to keep the ball and knowing when to go long. Effective yet entertaining. You do a disservice to our players when you say they're only capable of hit n' hope.

[47er]

We've proven we can play good football and win.

Not consistently though. We've proved we can play good football and lose too for that matter.

[Miker]

As a supporter, all that matters is results. As a football fan, you want entertainment.

[bep]

Not consistently though. We've proved we can play good football and lose too for that matter.

As i stated earlier there is no team consistent, it is a tough league this year and to string wins together is harder than it has been for years. Since he took over in 13th and we stand now 11th i don,t see there is a crisis.Trying to compare last year or the year before is ridiculous because last year 33 points was safe .

[47er]

As i stated earlier there is no team consistent, it is a tough league this year and to string wins together is harder than it has been for years. Since he took over in 13th and we stand now 11th i don,t see there is a crisis.Trying to compare last year or the year before is ridiculous because last year 33 points was safe .

Its a very tenuous tenth though isn't it? For example. Brum are 2 points behind us with 2 games in hand. If Villa beat us they go above us etc etc. At the moment we are not playing well enough nor picking up enough points to finish 11th. That's the concern.

Optimism can only go so far.

[bep]

Its a very tenuous tenth though isn't it? For example. Brum are 2 points behind us with 2 games in hand. If Villa beat us they go above us etc etc. At the moment we are not playing well enough nor picking up enough points to finish 11th. That's the concern.

Optimism can only go so far.

Yes but as they always give me the points you can have the games in hand.

[imy9]

Last year was a tenuous tenth, we could have finished 13th had we lost, this season is tighter, all to play for!

[Kelbo]

I just watched Chelsea and Fulham, not a great game, in real terms Chealsea had loads of attempts on goal, the majority from outside the box, but what I did notice was this, Chelsea, corners apart, were never allowed to cross the ball from wide areas, Fulham defended as I have mentioned previously in two lines of four and if they tried to come down the flanks, there were always two players at least.

It was as I was always taught, one man on the player with the ball and one coming round the back, the man round the back would call, show him the line and I've got him if he comes past you, invariably, Chelsea had to go backwards and start again and that is exactly how we should play, then, when we get the ball we can play, but must react when possession changes very quickly as Fulham did tonight.

I will stick my neck on the block here, Barca play Arsenal midweek, they will work so hard pressing the ball high up the park but if they lose it, they will be quick at getting men behind the ball, something we dont do.

No pretty football tonight and Fulham should have won but for a penalty miss by Dempsey, the result though was important, more than the game, Chelsea needed the win and Fulham got a good point out of a tough match.

You dont get anything for simply playing football, its all about competing.

[sambo]

Results come first, but entertainment and the paying customer shouldn't be ignored along the way.

If you can win with a bit of style, do it.

Don't agree with 'targeting games' either. Yes rest players, but I don't agree with putting out deliberately weak teams away at big teams and getting embarrassed.

Writing off away games is only going to alienate and create apathy with the hardcore fans. I mean, how embarrassing would it be if we started bringing 200 fans to Old Trafford after getting battered every year? (Just an example, we did show the odd half decent performance there).

[47er]

Yes but as they always give me the points you can have the games in hand.

Normally I'd take 2 games in hand over 2 points every time. But given our present situation you are probably right!