Friday, September 7, 2018

Tony Pulis and his 'Anti-Football' Style of Success

By Tom Wardle
‘Anti-Football’ is a modern footballing term, usually used on Twitter to describe a team’s style of play which doesn’t meet the agenda of the media. All fans want success, but the media only seem to give credit to successful teams if they play the ‘right way’, i.e. playing out from the back with the ball on the floor in a passing style of play. In this article I ponder over the question, is there a right and wrong way of playing?
Ideas about the right and wrong way of playing have been around for the entirety of the game’s existence. In the early international games, England national team players refused to pass the ball because it was unsporting. When they played Scotland, who did pass, they were beaten comfortably.
In recent years, the phrase ‘anti-football’ has risen in popularity and is attributed to any team which doesn’t pass the ball into the net, or are more conservatively set up than the likes of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side. Rightly or wrongly, Jose Mourinho, Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche and Tony Pulis have become synonymous with the term.
Although Boro have scored enough goals to sit in 2nd place, the phrase has been used to describe Tony Pulis’ side this season. Despite the losses of Ben Gibson and Adama Traore to Burnley and Wolves respectively, Boro have played their way to the automatic promotion places. Pulis must be doing something right. So, why have we been labelled as a team which plays in the wrong way?
It started with the appointment of ex-Stoke City and West Brom manager Tony Pulis. His ‘defensive’ football has been analysed for years on Match Of The Day and long balls, long throws and parking the bus are criticisms which encapsulate how he is perceived.
Having been portrayed as an unadaptable dinosaur whose sides were never capable of anything more than mid-table mediocrity, I was expecting the worst. However, at times during this season Boro have looked like a complete team, creating chances for fun whilst keeping five clean sheets on the bounce. Not playing football the right way? I question whether you understand the job of a football manager if you don’t think we are playing the right way.
Garry Monk, a manager moulded to the modern game, saw his style of play and general game plans hailed by the media during his time at Swansea City and Leeds United. The man Boro thought was the perfect fit, the man who’d get us playing football the right way - according to the media anyway. But, was it the right way? Every Boro fan will agree with me it was not the right way. In fact, the football we witnessed was awful.
For me, the ‘right way’ of playing is when a team excites you and when a squad of players put 100% effort into their performances week in, week out. Surely, if you’re winning games at ease and making the supporters believe the success will keep on rolling then that’s the right way?
Football is not a style but rather a game in which you score as many points as possible.
Therefore, ‘anti-football’ shouldn’t be a term which encompasses all styles of play which aren’t identical to or imitating of Guardiola or Wengerball.
When Boro played Bielsa’s Leeds, who are supposedly playing the better football and prioritise getting the ball on the ground and attacking throughout, Pulis’ anti-football side had a superior expected goals ratio. How can it be anti-football if you have a greater chance of scoring, and thus securing the three points?
Diego Simeone plays in a similar, if not more cautious, style to Boro and his side are regularly lauded. I’d argue, given the same calibre of players, managers such as Warnock, Pulis and Allardyce wouldn’t be too far off the job he has done with Atleti.
You may think I’m going crazy at this point? I’m not.
The season Middlesbrough were promoted in 2016, all three managers who guided sides to promotion – Karanka, Dyche and Bruce - were labeled as cautious and defensive yet all three managed to finish ahead of free-flowing attack-minded sides like Derby and Brentford. If getting promoted isn’t the right way to play then I don’t know what is.
Last season, Neil Warnock managed a Cardiff team which was promoted playing in a cautious style, too. When Newcastle United’s Rafa Benitez played defensively against Manchester City and Chelsea, he was criticised for playing anti-football in the media. Somewhat hypocritically, the media wouldn’t dare to criticise managers such as Eddie Howe who consistently lose by three or four goals to the top six teams. It’s funny how that works. I’ve always thought 2-1 was a better result than 4-0.
The media and fans of clubs are slowly being dragged into a footballing world where only attacking football should exist. This has contributed to the short lifespan that many managers are now judged to have because fans become impatient when the team don’t play in the way Sky Sports tells them they should.
I want fans to realise that teams like Boro deserve credit for the results they are getting through the style of football they are playing. Our success shouldn’t be discredited because we are anti-football.
At the end of the day, if you’re winning games, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets, you’re playing some bloody good football.

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