15-12-2015, 22:54
The earliest footballers would have thought the Victorians negative for playing with designated goalkeepers instead of rushbacks.
The Victorians thought the Edwardians were negative for making two players into "defenders".
Everyone under the sun thought 1930s Arsenal were negative for pulling the centre-half deep and creating the three-man defence.
And that Alf Ramsey was negative for using a four-man defence and no proper wingers.
Would the game be more skilled and entertaining if none of these innovations had been made, and everyone was still chasing willy-nilly after the ball in a twenty-two man pack? The history of football is the history of teams making themselves harder and harder to beat.
(I reckon we'll have to agree to disagree on all this).
The Victorians thought the Edwardians were negative for making two players into "defenders".
Everyone under the sun thought 1930s Arsenal were negative for pulling the centre-half deep and creating the three-man defence.
And that Alf Ramsey was negative for using a four-man defence and no proper wingers.
Would the game be more skilled and entertaining if none of these innovations had been made, and everyone was still chasing willy-nilly after the ball in a twenty-two man pack? The history of football is the history of teams making themselves harder and harder to beat.
(I reckon we'll have to agree to disagree on all this).
"I would rather spend a holiday in Tuscany than in the Black Country, but if I were compelled to choose between living in West Bromwich or Florence, I should make straight for West Bromwich." - J.B. Priestley