Is There A "Correct" Way To Play Football?

The Views Presented in this thread are not intended to be taken as insults but as observations to engage in civilized conversation

Over the last year in these forums i have noticed the term "anti-football' used quite frequently in discussions and topics. A Term most frequently linked to jose mourinho, super tight defending, and "questionable tactics", what is "anti-football" really?

Do you agree that there is right or wrong in how the game is played?

When i look at a team like barcelona, the way they play, the way they think, the way they work as a club, the way their fans work and think, i see a familiar pattern, they only think one way of football is correct and ideal, and that is their way of football. Why do you think the arrogance? why do you think the term "mes que un club"? it is obvious that the mentality is that if you don't play "aesthetically beautiful football", then you are not playing it right.. what do i say? i say that's bull crap.

inter,chelsea,madrid,italy,- what do all of these team have in common?

all those teams have beaten teams that play "aesthetically beautiful football", teams that believe that they
are rightfully so the embodiment of football perfection but why?

"And you idea about football is well known and it cant be agreed with on here. Noone remember these functional winners who dont play good football.- "The Franchise"

really? lets see inter beat barcelona 3-1 one by using a "catenaccio" like system of impenetrable defense, defense that people have called "anti football" for its lack of beauty, and for its total testruction of what football is "supposed" to represent..

italy beat brazil in the 1982 world cup...
chelsea "beat" barcelona @ the bridge
madrid beat barcelona at the copa del rey
inter beat barcelona at the san siro

now you may ask, weren't different tactics used in everyone of those matches, and werent they all in different circumstances?

this comparison concentrates more on the philosophy that each club represents, and this is simple, in each of these matches its been "anti-football" aka defend perfectly and score 1 or 2 goals against "the right way of playing football" and who has won all of these encounters when there have been no outside factors?

the orchestrators of anti football of course...

why would defending and orchestrating a lock down, be known as anti football? do you consider there to be a correct PHILOSPOHY when entering a match?

Giovanni Trapatonni- "Is "Catenaccio" Creative? No "Catenaccio" is a system, a system that ruled out defeat as far as possible."

Michel Platini- "The Brazilians use 4 men to defend, italians use 8 "

Michel Platini-" its not the same philospohy, its not the same culture but its all part of football, greece became euro champions with their uncompromising attacks, and just 1 or 2 attacks"







in the end of the day football can be played and won in many ways, but what makes one way better than the other?

The Misunderstanding of this prime principle has led to people to label such football as anti football because it is the living opposite of barcelona's brand of football, and you dont like it when you get beat by it.

"park the bus" and "catenaccio" are just 2 different ways of defending and countering, if done to its maximum exponent you cant lose unless you cant score your self, or outside factors play a role..


its so obvious when you come to understand it that it becomes common sense...

If the opponents cannot score a goal, they cannot win the match...

see this is one of the reason mourinho is hated so much but i regard him as a genius, a simple genius that does things the way they are supposed to be made.

mourinho is hated for his tactics and for the way he plays but why? because those haters are typically barcelona fans who cant stand football that is not of theyre brand. this is why mourinho has become the talking point and nemesis of cryuff, and barcelona because he is the living embodiment of the OPPOSITe of what their kind brand as real football.


now i dont want to point fingers but after all, if the opponent cant score against you then he cant win, whats wrong with that? just because its not "beautiful"


what i find amazing about mourinho is the he manages to adapt to his sitaution and come victorious no matter how he plays. that is real unstoppable football.

tiki taka is great and all but if you cant score against me and i can against you cause ur stupid, how u gonna win? lol


this is why mou is so successful, he can play how ever he wants but he will beat you. unless if there are outside factors of course COUGH COUGH

well it depends, eventhough i enjoy watching defensive and tactical football when its needed, i certainly dont appreciate it when my team defends a 1-0 lead against a smaller side

kinda like madrid under mourinho

zizzle wrote:well it depends, eventhough i enjoy watching defensive and tactical football when its needed, i certainly dont appreciate it when my team defends a 1-0 lead against a smaller side

kinda like madrid under mourinho

thats the problem with the mentality of many in my opinion. some people build a complex that tells them that one way of football is not as good as the other, maybe because of how they play, how much they "dominate" or how good they look..

i can tell you that a team you cant score against is unbeatable and no matter who you are you wont win.

look at greece in the euro championships 04, they beat france, portugal, and who were they to do this?

people can give me lot of excuses but ill come out with the obvious question in the contrary

how are you going to win against a team you cant score against? do you really have to "pound" them or play a certain way to win?

why does barcelona score more goals, look better, and win more?

just read the 1st and 2nd posts..

Yes, play with Italian Tactics

sciacca wrote:Yes, play with Italian Tactics

no wonder mou + italian tactics ruled the world without having to devlop players for years and years and win because of referees "joke"

Play the 'Anti-Football' way, some stupid term some haters like to say, that brought us four world cups, that brought Inter to victory

now again, when i talk about the 2nd poll option, it doesnt only relate to "parking the bus" it relates to playing in a way that is just now "convincing" and winning... if some poor team who seems doesnt deserve to win, wins against a team that plays magically, its going to be called bad.

but the 2nd poll option refers to all kind of football, using your mind and tactics to play football no matter how it looks or plays to win. you dont HAVE to play a certain way to be considered a real winner.


again the 2nd poll option isnt another word for "park the bus"...

sciacca wrote:Play the 'Anti-Football' way, some stupid term some haters like to say, that brought us four world cups, that brought Inter to victory

all of inters 3 cls have been won by playing this way.

all of italys world cups have come from playing this way.

football that has been proven to win is wrong?!

what kind of world is this?

I agree, i think the "anti football" thing is crap and is just a way to push a belief into someone else.

However, here's the thing: I recognize i am very competitive in nature and thus, winning is a number one priority for me, regardless of anything else.

Everyone should look at themselves and learn what they want from football, if someone decides aesthetics come first in their football fandom, than that is totally fine with me.

HOWEVER there's two big points that the pursuers of "beautiful" football should ALWAYS remember:

1.- You will be beaten by pragmatism every now and again, DO NOT be sour like Xavi and throw around crap like anti football.

2.- Not everyone thinks like you, if you think all football should be attacking in nature, then don't go around beating everyone's head about it. Just accept some teams have a philosophy and tradition of pragmatism and defensive coordination.

True.The only thing that ultimately matters is winning.Entertaining football is just a luxury not essential component.

A club is defined by what they achieved in the past not by how they achieved.

I personally think the Mourinho hate in large quaters is due to his mouthing off in Media and his arrogance appearance.

We won with counter attacks, look at these videos and you will see. Inzaghi's goal for example... Del Piero's goal... Grosso's penalty... Iaquinta's goal... etc...

see this is my main point and you all have understood...

i am not bashing beautiful football and am not sayin that one is not allowed to like the game a certain way, but just think it is wrong to call a way of playing the game wrong just because it isnt a certain way...

"anti-football" does nto exist, or atleast if it does its when you cheat or something.

learn to love football for what it is, and what you believe it is, but dont blind your self either.

if you limit your self to gracious football it doesnt always mean you will win, this kind of mentality can cause you harm. you need to learn to adapt. look at arsenal... they have the game but lack the philospohy thatbarcelona have. the philospohy that does make their game effective.

philospohy=mind

"I’m a footballing romantic just like Cruyff. Football should be attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it’s twice as satisfying," Xavi

Xavi knows more than all of you. So be quiet and listen to the great man.

sciacca wrote:

We won with counter attacks, look at these videos and you will see. Inzaghi's goal for example... Del Piero's goal... Grosso's penalty... Iaquinta's goal... etc...

this philospohy runs through your countries veins, it even shows it self off when we look at the defenders produced from italy.

thats why i always like to look at italy vs spain, its like polar opposites.

and thats beautiful because i know that both were not at their best, but look at how italy won today and why they won it...

italy vs spain

"spanish" football is now more dutch than anything..

why do you think mous arrival at madrid was not pleasant by critics.. becauase THEY THOUGHT HE HAD TO PLAY A CERTAIN WAY!

Kevin_Muscat wrote:"I’m a footballing romantic just like Cruyff. Football should be attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it’s twice as satisfying," Xavi

Xavi knows more than all of you. So be quiet and listen to the great man.

exactly what i mean when i talk about the mentality of the barca fans and theyre way of football, again theres nothing wrong with it, but dont blind youselves. and in my eyes you all have blinded your selves.. no pun intended

Agreed. You see you look at the last decade and we produced Nesta, Maldini, Canavaro etc... In the past you had guys like Scriea and Baresi and the list goes on... Many legendary defenders.

Now you got Chiellini who will be a at that level soon and mark my words Ranocchia will be something in the future!

Kevin_Muscat wrote:"I’m a footballing romantic just like Cruyff. Football should be attractive, attacking and easy on the eye. When you win playing like this it’s twice as satisfying," Xavi

Xavi knows more than all of you. So be quiet and listen to the great man.

But Xavi is humble and respectful

also many barcelona fans, watch and talk about us, and mourinho and how he will contribute to our team, but they simply cant understand because its not in a world they can understand really.

in their own words..


Winning with style > Winning without style > Losing with style > Losing without style


dont you close your self to limitless possibilities with such a mentality.. yes you do.

sciacca wrote:Agreed. You see you look at the last decade and we produced Nesta, Maldini, Canavaro etc... In the past you had guys like Scriea and Baresi and the list goes on... Many legendary defenders.

Now you got Chiellini who will be a at that level soon and mark my words Ranocchia will be something in the future!

italy will always have that great philospohy and its my favorite to be honest, but there are many reason for why they arent on top of the world like they have been in the past, it comes down to things like managers, players, and even current culture. right now its a different trend and it shows in many ways. but the italian way never dies.

class is permanent.

The Madrid One wrote:

sciacca wrote:Agreed. You see you look at the last decade and we produced Nesta, Maldini, Canavaro etc... In the past you had guys like Scriea and Baresi and the list goes on... Many legendary defenders.

Now you got Chiellini who will be a at that level soon and mark my words Ranocchia will be something in the future!

italy will always have that great philospohy and its my favorite to be honest, but there are many reason for why they arent on top of the world like they have been in the past, it comes down to things like managers, players, and even current culture. right now its a different trend and it shows in many ways. but the italian way never dies.

class is permanent.

Well we can't always be top... 2010 was just a joke because we had the wrong players, but not denying the tactics still remain and we will be the same like back in history sooner or later. Let people hate on it, last I checked football was about winning and not entertaining. Sad though, that other squads now need to steal our tactics, but what can we do. We are masters of it, so who cares really

sciacca wrote:

The Madrid One wrote:

sciacca wrote:Agreed. You see you look at the last decade and we produced Nesta, Maldini, Canavaro etc... In the past you had guys like Scriea and Baresi and the list goes on... Many legendary defenders.

Now you got Chiellini who will be a at that level soon and mark my words Ranocchia will be something in the future!

italy will always have that great philospohy and its my favorite to be honest, but there are many reason for why they arent on top of the world like they have been in the past, it comes down to things like managers, players, and even current culture. right now its a different trend and it shows in many ways. but the italian way never dies.

class is permanent.

Well we can't always be top... 2010 was just a joke because we had the wrong players, but not denying the tactics still remain and we will be the same like back in history sooner or later. Let people hate on it, last I checked football was about winning and not entertaining. Sad though, that other squads now need to steal our tactics, but what can we do. We are masters of it, so who cares really

i really agree in a way with the last thing about tactics.

catenaccio is not dead, it is a way of playing and interpreting a philospohy that basically consists of perfect defending and counter attacking. proving it self nearly unstopable, and that philosophy is used and implemented throughout the world by different teams, and are given different names. the philospohy is the same, but the execution is different and that i think is important.

how to keep a football philosophy alive and edit it so that it is still useful in the present.

chinomaster182 wrote:I agree, i think the "anti football" thing is crap and is just a way to push a belief into someone else.

However, here's the thing: I recognize i am very competitive in nature and thus, winning is a number one priority for me, regardless of anything else.

Everyone should look at themselves and learn what they want from football, if someone decides aesthetics come first in their football fandom, than that is totally fine with me.

HOWEVER there's two big points that the pursuers of "beautiful" football should ALWAYS remember:

1.- You will be beaten by pragmatism every now and again, DO NOT be sour like Xavi and throw around crap like anti football.

2.- Not everyone thinks like you, if you think all football should be attacking in nature, then don't go around beating everyone's head about it. Just accept some teams have a philosophy and tradition of pragmatism and defensive coordination.

Platini said it best, Brazil defend with 4, Italy defend with 8

sciacca wrote:Platini said it best, Brazil defend with 4, Italy defend with 8

and the winner was....