It was on my telly yesterday , shitty day outside , not really watching it until last 10 minutes.

After they said , United keeper had not released the ball to his back 4 defenders in the whole game.

Every single ball had been given the boot by the keeper ,bring it on and lets get away from negative possession that leads to nowhere.

Its supposed to be an entertainment !

Lets see people battle for a ball booted down field father than defenders fucking up because they cant even pass a ball square in front of the goal area.

Quite a stat that, but evidently a pre-determined approach, presumably by not inviting unnecessary pressure on the back line and also utilise Mbuemo and Cunha's ability to get beyond defences.

I personally don't mind at all the move away from tapping around at the back, going more quickly to wingers/strikers, and launching a few long throws in. In the lower divisions the playing out obsession is borderline madness. 

There’s definitely a culture shift. I’d like to think it’s based on supporter feedback, but the reality is, it’s data driven. The number one source of goals in the premier league last season was high turnovers apparently. 
 

The downside is, it leads to less goals, overall. I’d rather see teams being a little more direct, but still playing decent stuff in the other teams half. Towards the end of his reign with us, Allardyce became a parody of himself and it led to some pretty turgid stuff. 
 

Your example of United yesterday was a good one. They looked miles better as a result 

There's definitely the start of a shift back towards more direct football and the classic 'number 9'. It's all cyclical

More teams are coming up with different corner routines and long thrown ins looks like Big Sam’s tactics are now being utilised.

A bit of a pragmatic balance, is IMO, required.

You stick to your one philosophy you’ll get rumbled.

The only time we’ve gone overly direct this season, IMO, was Burton, look what happened there.

Bellamy makes a sensible point which the “hoof it uppers” need to take note of.

FWIW I’m loving seeing our effective wing play this season, something which has been missing at BWFC for too long. 

33 minutes ago, Rizlar said:

More teams are coming up with different corner routines and long thrown ins looks like Big Sam’s tactics are now being utilised.

Funny how Arsenal adopted it after years of pretty but spineless football under Wenger

11 minutes ago, desperado said:

A bit of a pragmatic balance, is IMO, required.

You stick to your one philosophy you’ll get rumbled.

The only time we’ve gone overly direct this season, IMO, was Burton, look what happened there.

Bellamy makes a sensible point which the “hoof it uppers” need to take note of.

FWIW I’m loving seeing our effective wing play this season, something which has been missing at BWFC for too long. 

He speaks really well and has the makings of a top level manager.

Something I never thought I'd say during his playing days.

Teams could have had a field day if they figured this out earlier rather than having coaches wanting to be Poundshop Peps. It's basic common sense.

Some of the stupidest shite I've seen in football is witnessing cloggers prancing about with it in defence. And keepers being absolved of any responsibility  when they give the ball away in dangerous positions because they're too busy mincing around. Under the guise of "Our brand of football" or summut

Fucking morons

Utd planned it yesterday, and it worked.

Slot doing a Wenger and bitching about their approach was pathetic.

Both teams had more chances, and it could have gone either way.

Slot should look closer to home as to why it didn't go their way.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Utd planned it yesterday, and it worked.

Slot doing a Wenger and bitching about their approach was pathetic.

Both teams had more chances, and it could have gone either way.

Slot should look closer to home as to why it didn't go their way.

Agree re. Slot whinging but, tbf, if Salah hadn't had the worst match of his life they'd have walked it.

I'm hoping Salah is on a long downturn.

Stretford's MoM was the woodwork.

14 minutes ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

Agree re. Slot whinging but, tbf, if Salah hadn't had the worst match of his life they'd have walked it.

I'm hoping Salah is on a long downturn.

Stretford's MoM was the woodwork.

That's what I said.

He should look closer to home, rather than the opposition. 

Both teams could, and should have scored more.

Maybe Salah wants offloading to Saudi ASAP while they can get dosh.

1 hour ago, deeane Koontz said:

Teams could have had a field day if they figured this out earlier rather than having coaches wanting to be Poundshop Peps. It's basic common sense.

Some of the stupidest shite I've seen in football is witnessing cloggers prancing about with it in defence. And keepers being absolved of any responsibility  when they give the ball away in dangerous positions because they're too busy mincing around. Under the guise of "Our brand of football" or summut

Fucking morons

I've spoke about it before but watching teams at my lads level doing it and getting beat 12-0 was the most baffling.

Some little fat kid from Layton being asked to play like prime xavi. 

When played the tippy tappy it never failed to amaze me that the management could not see when it was nt working or have the ability to change it.

There was only so many times you could watch Santos stood on the ball as their players left him to it and marked our players. When Pep first introduced it , the idea was also that pressing high was integral, these seemed to get forgotten so just became boring. 
 

The fact is that after a while opposition managers suss out how to counter any way you play and with no Plan B you are caught out. 
 

Bit like beards and excessive tattoos it is a fashion that has gone out of date. 

13 minutes ago, Ani said:

Bit like beards and excessive tattoos it is a fashion that has gone out of date. 

Gawd, I hope that's correct.

Steady lads.

22 minutes ago, Ani said:

Bit like beards and excessive tattoos it is a fashion that has gone out of date. 

What if I have a beard and the wife has the tattoos is that still fashionable?

23 minutes ago, frank_spencer said:

What if I have a beard and the wife has the tattoos is that still fashionable?

Or the other way round? 

10 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Or the other way round? 

We're not that wokey liberal! 😃

25 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Or the other way round? 

You've obviously been to Fleetwood

really wish I hadn't got that beard tattoo now

1 hour ago, Ani said:

When played the tippy tappy it never failed to amaze me that the management could not see when it was nt working or have the ability to change it.

There was only so many times you could watch Santos stood on the ball as their players left him to it and marked our players. When Pep first introduced it , the idea was also that pressing high was integral, these seemed to get forgotten so just became boring. 
 

The fact is that after a while opposition managers suss out how to counter any way you play and with no Plan B you are caught out. 
 

Bit like beards and excessive tattoos it is a fashion that has gone out of date. 

On the football question it’s interesting that athleticism has joined work rate as pre requisite to success over tactics 

On the latter point are skin fades going “out” as well? Be a lot of barbers even quieter than now if hippy lengths are back. PS unless follows with Chrissy Waddle back perms 

 

Edited October 20, 2025Oct 20 by green genie

24 minutes ago, green genie said:

On the football question it’s interesting that athleticism has joined work rate as pre requisite to success over tactics 

On the latter point are skin fades going “out” as well? Be a lot of barbers even quieter than now if hippy lengths are back. PS unless follows with Chrissy Waddle back perms 

 

Every 15 year old round here are all sporting either ket-wigs or scouse trims.

Big floppy fringes or a pot noodle plopped on top.

4 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Every 15 year old round here are all sporting either ket-wigs or scouse trims.

Big floppy fringes or a pot noodle plopped on top.

Fair few floppy fringes around in the 80s . These pot noodle heads (🤣) are a worry. Are they actually permed or are there that many naturally curly heads that have been straightened before?

8 hours ago, crawshawbooth said:

 

Lets see people battle for a ball booted down field father than defenders fucking up because they cant even pass a ball square in front of the goal area.

Different preferences I get it, but is this nostalgia looking back at how successful we were under Sam and our long ball tactics? we had great individual talent back then too, so if softened our main approach, which was for large parts,(for example) N'Gotty long to K.Davies (avoiding the mids) hoping for a flick on or a bring down for then someone like Nolan to run onto or link up with.

It's fine to mix things up, but the long ball negative stuff isn't great on the eyes, well it's fine when you win of course lol.

We weren't long ball under Sam

Direct yes 

We had a target man in Davies

But we had some great talent who weren't long ball merchants

We weren't 90s Wimbledon