Flying High at the top of the league, best footballing side in the division, four points clear with three games in hand and yet some mindless fans still just do not get it.
During yesterdays match Albion struggled to break down Plymouth in the opening exchanges of the game despite passing the ball amongst themselves with ease. This footballing style of play is very much appreciated by the masses however; there are some morons who still don`t quite grasp the idea of how football should be played.
Shouts of, “get it forward,” “shoot,” “it`s like we`re scared to have a go at goal,” and best of all “put your boot through it,” Were all heard by myself over the course of the game yesterday, each one of these when we were in possession and in control of the game. Luckily yet again the players ignored these shouts and won the game comfortably scoring four goals and conceding none. So why don`t these supporters understand how it works by now? I can guarantee you that over the years of aimless hoof and hope that these we`re the very same people pleading with the starting eleven to get the ball down and play a bit. Are they thick? Or just narrow minded? Either way these calls offended Gus Poyet so much in October after a home game against Bournemouth that he was still referring to them in his programme notes after Christmas.
The biggest problem is the English mentality of how football ‘should` be played. Our current South American management team both remember and speak about their first training sessions when they arrived on our shores. They tell of how the first praise they received from their managers came from when they put their boot through the ball in a defensive situation, and not passing it out from the back like they had been taught from youth level in their own countries. Maybe the blame has to be laid at the feet of managers whose tactics involve the big centre back lumping it forward to immobile target man to flick on to the little fast bloke who puts it in the back of the net. But maybe the problem is deeper rooted than that, the leap from seven a-side to 11 a-side so quickly at youth level may be the cause with kids needing to put their foot through the ball in order to make progress down the pitch. Thus this mentality becomes ingrained into football players and fans from an early age that this is the correct way the game should be played.
Poyet`s Brighton amongst others are aiming to challenge this mentality and 99% of fans now understand and love the way we play. It`s getting through to the last remaining footballing Neanderthals which remains the tricky bit?..rant over, cheers.
