Is a goal crazy Premier League a good thing?
by Steve
After the madness of the transfer window, came the madness of the game itself, as the Premier League yielded a hatful of goals this weekend. On Saturday 41 goals were scored in eight games, which if my rudimentary calculations are correct, works out at over five goals a game. Goaltastic indeed.
Newcastle United improbably came back from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 with Arsenal. Bottom-placed Wolves beat top-placed Manchester United. Everton beat Blackpool 5-3, while the likes of Wigan and Blackburn’s 4-3 game and Manchester City’s 3-0 defeat of West Brom pretty much got lost in the shuffle, when any other week they might have been the ‘Game of the Week’.
The hyped game of the weekend, Sunday’s Chelsea vs Liverpool, failed to live up to its billing in comparison to the previous day’s games, but certainly had its own form of drama as Fernando Torres made his debut for Chelsea against the club he has just left in acrimonious circumstances.
To the delight of Liverpool supporters (including your correspondent), Torres was largely ineffective, while Liverpool eked out a valuable 1-0 win. Torres had moved to the club he felt had the most options and best chance of success. He may already be rueing that decision.
So, this weekend seemed to present a pretty strong argument for the English Premier League being the “best league in the world”. But is it?
Well, on the evidence of the weekend, it could well be the most entertaining. Such open football will attract the casual fan and the obsessive alike. What it might lack in finesse, it makes up with drama and sheer visceral thrills.
However, the glut of goals also showed the real weakness in English football. Gung-ho tactics and going all out for the win are certainly fun to watch, but are they really the best approach?
Take any Premier League team’s performance this weekend and put them against a well-organised, disciplined side, and they would have struggled. There is being attacking, and there is being just plain reckless.
Arsenal are second in the table. Should any side, let alone one that far up the table, really throw away a four goal lead? Should a top-of-the-table team like Manchester United look so vulnerable against one of the worst sides in the division? While it makes for a competitive division, and underpredictable games, it doesn’t necessarily reflect well on the overall quality of the top sides.
In every major international tournament the England national team look tactically exposed. This is because the Premier League ‘style’ fails to translate. In the heat of the summer, or against a side that are comfortable in possession, the high-octane English style comes unstuck. Running around madly and pumping balls upfield just doesn’t work.
Of course, English clubs have had success in Europe, yet they have had to adapt to achieve that.
While English football can be so enjoyable to watch, I do wonder if that is at the expense of the broader development of the English game. Or maybe I should stop worrying and just enjoy the goals?
Wait until next year 
I disagree with the sports axiom, “The best offense is a good defense,” because you have to score sometime to have any chance at success. But yeah, balance is pretty key.
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I guess I was thinking that the strategy of just trying to outscore the other the team is doomed to failure. I guess there is also something in there about the most entertaining strategies not being the most effective, which is probably pretty obvious when you think about it. Yet it doesn’t stop us wanting our teams to go for the fun option, rather than grinding out dull wins.
In conclusion, I should probably think through my arguments more, rather than throwing up my unedited brain burps.
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No, I was agreeing with you totally. It came out fuzzy when I was precaffeinated.
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Excellent post and pertinent questions asked. And I can;t help feeling that these questions have been asked of English top division football since at least the dawning of the European Champion’s cup. There is a fascinating frenetic excitement to the English blood and thunder football which often takes place at breakneck speed. I recall the first time I went to watch Liverpool play, my worship of my heroes became even more obsessional once I realised first hand how quickly the action takes place and how little time they have to make their decisions on the pitch. I’m sure this is why people the world over love watching English football, for its at times suicidal tendency to throw men forward.
Of course it’s not always been quite that way. After being taught a tactical lesson by Borrussia Dortmund in the 1966 Cup Winner’s Cup final, Bill Shankly determined to change the style of Liverpool’s football. This alteration led to seven trophy-less years, some might argue, but it also laid the foundations for the pass and move possession football which saw the club crowned European Champions four times between 1977 and 1984. But the SHankly/Paisley model of slow buidling from the back was frequently derided by more direct English clubs and their fans. Borning, boring Liverpool? Well yes, if all that silverware is boring.
The influx of continental managers since the beginning of the Premier LEague was supposed to bring an end to kick and rush English tactics. But it’s what we’re often best at. Perhaps Fabio Capello would achieve more success with the England team if he acknowledged that what his squad might lack in tactical nous they can make up for with heart and determination, if allowed to play to their strengths rather than be shoehorned into systems and styoles which do not necessarily suit them as a team?
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“Perhaps Fabio Capello would achieve more success with the England team if he acknowledged that what his squad might lack in tactical nous they can make up for with heart and determination, if allowed to play to their strengths rather than be shoehorned into systems and styoles which do not necessarily suit them as a team?”
An interesting argument! I guess English football is caught between two stools, in that the national team doesn’t necessarily reflect English football as a whole.
The Dutch have outperformed other larger nations as there has been a consistency of approach from youth football through to the national team. Obviously it helps that Ajax have been so influential and key to the development of players.
I guess we should either use the tactics players are used to in the national team, or try and revamp tactics at every level and try and instigate a cultural change in what we expect from football. The former is obviously a whole lot easier than the latter. English supporters/coaches are always going to be more likely to shout “Lump it forward!” than “Keep hold of it!”.
I still think the national side would struggle with a blood and thunder approach (it won’t work in the boling temperatures of Qatar, for instance), but I guess it would be a whole lot more entertaining than the rubbish we saw at the last World Cup…
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