Stubbornness

I'm in the process of writing a piece titled "my football philosophy", and a pattern I've seen over the years was nagging at me. Basically, it's the idea that there's one style of play for many managers, and that they'll rarely if ever deviate from it.

There tends to be a dichotomy; play to win vs play not to lose. This phase was certainly the latter. A more existential question derives from this dichotomy; what's the point of football? As a fan you want your team to win, preferably in an entertaining manner. A person watching as a "neutral", on the other hand, will want to see entertaining/tactically intriguing football. There's an obvious difference there. It's why nobody's bothered when two "anti-football" teams play each other, aside from maybe at the end of the season during a relegation scrap.

Examples often help support one's points, so I'll use some here. First is Brighton. It's a "small club" that rarely appears in the top flight and doesn't win trophies. Chris Hughton was in charge when they came to the PL, and the style was, well, pragmatic as they say. At one point, they went 7 or 8 games without scoring. I have no idea how anyone without a vested interest in the club could watch that. End of the day, they stayed up, and that was the gaffer's task. When he was let go, there was the typical "who do Brighton think they are?" comments, which is to be expected. I mention the dichotomy in the previous paragraph for this reason. Realistically, small clubs won't win trophies or play in Europe. Only a few teams can per season. Therefore, the question once again is why play negative football? They appointed Graham Potter, whose ideas are drastically different to his predecessor's. Personally, I'm kinda torn on the issue. On the one hand, I love that teams aren't just sitting back. It's so boring to watch each week. At the same time, a little bit of defensive solidity would benefit Brighton at the minute. I know people doubt xG, but last year they "underperformed", and the same thing's happening so far this season. Like Man City, who have dropped off massively, Brighton fail to score relatively "easy" chances, while conceding clear cut opportunities in their own box. The other thing that bothers me about Brighton here is they're playing with 3 CB's, even 4 at times.

Going from a small club to a big, but not massive one, on to Atleti. I have more insight into this situation, though I stopped watching them regularly when the stagnation began. Long story short, and this relates the part of what I was explaining the piece I just put out about intangibles, there's a "hunter vs hunted" mentality that's evident in football. When Simeone came in, the club wasn't what it is now. A bit like Klopp at Dortmund, let's say. Unlike Klopp, Cholo decided to be ultra pragmatic, engaging in the "dark arts" of football. That means time wasting, play-acting to deceive the ref, baiting opponents, and sitting deep most of the game. They call it "sufrimiento", or suffering. To cut to the chase, that worked for a long time; up until 2017 or 2018, to be exact. They won the league ahead of Barcelona and Madrid, which to me is still an underappreciated achievement, given the financial disparity at the time, and made two CL finals. I believe there are a few culprits for this stagnation, which manifests itself in the same dreadful style of football. One is not winning the CL, and for the heartbreak to have been against their bitter rivals both times. I may be wrong here, but the underdog mentality still inhibits Simeone's mind, despite the fact that they're the third best club in the country (Sevilla are lurking in the background). By having success, Atleti are feared. Teams regularly sit back against them, and because Cholo prevents them from attacking with freedom, they don't score enough in games they should be winning. It's as simple as that. Contrast that with Klopp. The German built a scary attack at Liverpool, but like at Dortmund, he knew the defense would be the key to winning things. It's about creating balance, and Simeone doesn't know how (or chooses not) to do so. He probably should have left when the core was clearly on the decline; I'm thinking Luis, Godin, Gabi, Juanfran, and Torres (to an extent). Either that or evolve the squad's playing style, which he clearly hasn't. He's the highest paid manager in world football by some margin, and frankly, the football is wretched and they haven't progressed in three plus years.