Would you be happy if...

[robbiedee]

I can't believe for 1 minute that there are fans out there that would sit there on the last game of the season IF (thats a very big IF) we won the title and would sit there moaning "well we don't deserve it" "we've played shit all season" etc. UNBELIEVABLE JEFF!

 

[Spurger King]

We won't finish in the top four playing this way, so it's a non-question for me.

It's not a ruthless, clinical style that is sterile and horrible to watch by design (like, for example, some of the successful Chelsea teams of the past). I could just about cope if our tactic was to get in front then squeeze the life out of the game. But it isn't. Part of the problem is that there isn't a style of football at the club right now (unless you call playing like statues and looking completely devoid of imagination a style).

We're disjointed, unbalanced, lacking any sense of purpose or coherency, and seem incapable of getting fired up. Over the course of a season our 'style' of play against Hull in the league would result in draws and defeats.

Of course I'd be happy if we won the league (who wouldn't be?). In fact I'd probably not only be happy, but highly amused, as it would pretty much need 20-30 incredibly fortunate or dodgy decisions to get us over the line in each game. Winning the league playing as we are would be both amazing and farcical. Hollywood would probably make a film of it, with Adam Sandler playing AVB.

 

[talkshowhost86]

But it implies it. We aren't far enough into the season to know if these results mean any thing. We need to play far more teams.

Right.

I'm going to try this one more time.

If (remember that's IF rather than WHEN) it was the case that for the rest of the season we won every game 1-0 after playing quite dull possession football (now remember this is IF this happens) and therefore won the title (again, and I can't stress this enough, the key word is IF)....would you be happy?

 

[CowInAComa]

you may as well ask would you take a league title if it meant games are played closed doors/no tv and only the result is revealed?

how about it meant we had to change to a red and white kit?

 

[Kendall]

Of course I'd be happy to win the league, but it cannot and will not happen. We have been suckered in by Hull and West Ham. Hull's finishing has really been shit, West ham's was great. Lets not forget the game against Sheriff, where they should've had 3 or 4. The game against Villa at 1-0 when Helenius' pants fell down? Should've been a goal/pen, 1-1 and different story.

You can't keep hoping that everyone is going to have an off day in front of our goal and keep getting caught on the counter - otherwise you end up with a West Ham result, which most saw coming.

I would still be bored, but wouldnt mind as much if we actually looked good defensively, but I think we've been quite lucky.

 

[talkshowhost86]

you may as well ask would you take a league title if it meant games are played closed doors/no tv and only the result is revealed?

how about it meant we had to change to a red and white kit?

Which are all fair enough questions, to which I assume most people would answer no.

The point is that this thread has shown, in this situation, the majority have said yes.

 

[TheSecretNonFootballer]

It's a very tough one. Arguably, as others have mentioned, winning the title then gives you a platform to then try to play good football on the back of some success. However having to watch an entire season of the sort of stuff we're seeing now might make me want to stab myself in the eyeballs.

I think what we're doing now is a necessary evil while we figure things out and will give us a solid base to build on, but I don't know if I would want our first title in 400 years with a season full of games that are instantly forgettable.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Of course I'd be happy to win the league, but it cannot and will not happen. We have been suckered in by Hull and West Ham. Hull's finishing has really been shit, West ham's was great. Lets not forget the game against Sheriff, where they should've had 3 or 4.

You can't keep hoping that everyone is going to have an off day in front of our goal and keep getting caught on the counter - otherwise you end up with a West Ham result, which most saw coming.

I would still be bored, but wouldnt mind as much if we actually looked good defensively, but I think we've been quite lucky.

All very true, but completely irrelevant to the question actually asked.

I'm going to have to put the word 'if' in bigger and brighter letters next time.

 

[Kendall]

you may as well ask would you take a league title if it meant games are played closed doors/no tv and only the result is revealed?

how about it meant we had to change to a red and white kit?

I agree. It's a bit of a pointless exercise. Akin to saying would you like us to win the league, but I slash your arm to the point where you almost bleed to death. Not ideal. AVB's football is worse than that though.

 

[Kendall]

All very true, but completely irrelevant to the question actually asked.

I'm going to have to put the word 'if' in bigger and brighter letters next time.

Yes then. Because the history books don't remember the style played. But would I continue to watch it? Probably not.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I agree. It's a bit of a pointless exercise. Akin to saying would you like us to win the league, but I slash your arm to the point where you almost bleed to death. Not ideal. AVB's football is worse than that though.

It's an exercise in asking whether people are more concerned about winning or about the style of football.

I think it's actually a very relevant point at the moment when people are blaming the lack of atmosphere on the way we play (rather than the results).

Personally I think the 'style of football' argument is one that whingy fuckers like to bring out to justify their moaning, when actually what they want (and unfortunately expect) is for us to win every game 4-0. If we won games 4-0 by repeatedly playing long ball football, I bet people wouldn't give a shit about the style of football.

 

[Kendall]

It's an exercise in asking whether people are more concerned about winning or about the style of football.

I think it's actually a very relevant point at the moment when people are blaming the lack of atmosphere on the way we play (rather than the results).

Personally I think the 'style of football' argument is one that whingy fuckers like to bring out to justify their moaning, when actually what they want (and unfortunately expect) is for us to win every game 4-0. If we won games 4-0 by repeatedly playing long ball football, I bet people wouldn't give a shit about the style of football.

This is why I thought it was irrelevant because people like you then use it as leverage to suggest that as long as we're winning, we should be happy. But we're not just winning are we? We drew with Hull and we lost to West Ham 3-0 at home. Winning and playing boring football implies that we're being efficient, but we're not, we're getting so lucky defensively, every now and again that luck runs out and you get a West Ham.

 

[lillywhites61]

dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians, dam right id take it, you think the chavs complained the 1st time they won it playing the Jose borefest way

This, it's like when the Chavs won the Champions League fighting scrapping and jamming their way to the final! They have it in their trophy cabinet, they don't care they are happy they now are a champions league winner, I want to see us win the league in my life time however it bloody comes

 

[$hoguN]

We are in a building process. If we only win games 1-0 for the rest of the season but lift some Silverware and play CL football next year I'll be ecstatic. Villas-Boas is clearly improving us in terms of the quality of the playing staff, our mentality and how we press teams. I have utter unwavering faith that before too long these factors will lead to us playing some of the best football in the league, but I appreciate the manager needs time, and I am willing to give him as much as he needs.

 

[CowInAComa]

Which are all fair enough questions, to which I assume most people would answer no.

The point is that this thread has shown, in this situation, the majority have said yes.

I would chop my legs off to win 20m on the lottery if i believed that
a) That is definitely the guaranteed way to win the lottery
b) they would grow back in a couple of years

But the correlation is clearly ridiculous and I'd look a right plum when my odds werent increased upon doing it.

 

[CowInAComa]

We are in a building process. If we only win games 1-0 for the rest of the season but lift some Silverware and play CL football next year I'll be ecstatic. Villas-Boas is clearly improving us in terms of the quality of the playing staff, our mentality and how we press teams. I have utter unwavering faith that before too long these factors will lead to us playing some of the best football in the league, but I appreciate the manager needs time, and I am willing to give him as much as he needs.

answering a different question. How about if it meant 1-0 grinding results forever.

 

[Kendall]

We are in a building process. If we only win games 1-0 for the rest of the season but lift some Silverware and play CL football next year I'll be ecstatic. Villas-Boas is clearly improving us in terms of the quality of the playing staff, our mentality and how we press teams. I have utter unwavering faith that before too long these factors will lead to us playing some of the best football in the league, but I appreciate the manager needs time, and I am willing to give him as much as he needs.

Who has actually improved as a player under AVB?

Holtby is probably just about getting back to the level he was at at Schalke, most of the others have gone backwards (particularly Dembele).

 

[Kendall]

answering a different question. How about if it meant 1-0 grinding results forever.

We could be the Sebastian Vettel of football.

 

[talkshowhost86]

This is why I thought it was irrelevant because people like you then use it as leverage to suggest that as long as we're winning, we should be happy. But we're not just winning are we? We drew with Hull and we lost to West Ham 3-0 at home. Winning and playing boring football implies that we're being efficient, but we're not, we're getting so lucky defensively, every now and again that luck runs out and you get a West Ham.

I agree and obviously if we're actually losing and drawing games then the style that we're playing becomes irrelevant in relation to my initial question.

But that's why I said 'if'. If we were winning playing boring football I suspect people would be fine with it, which for me suggests that in most cases the 'I'm whinging because of the style of play' argument is something that people say to hide the fact that actually they just want us to win every match and then moan about it every time we don't.

If people genuinely were worried about the style of play then they'd presumably be happy with us losing every game 4-3 and getting relegated. I suspect that's not the case in the majority (although I respect Cow in a Coma being the exception here) and people are actually using this 'style of play' reasoning to try and hide their own inflated expectations.

 

[WiganSpur]

Who has actually improved as a player under AVB?

Holtby is probably just about getting back to the level he was at at Schalke, most of the others have gone backwards (particularly Dembele).

Holtby, Sandro, Townsend, Kane, Carroll, Rose, Sigurdsson, Bale? Yes a couple of those were loans but AVB has to take some credit surely?