I see a lot of talk about our style of football and how people want a better style of football to be played by Aston Villa. I tend to think style is more reliant on the types of players you have and not necessarily all down to the manager.
Even so…Call me old school, but am I the only one that doesn’t care about the style of football?
You see, Martin O’Neill played Route One football: but because it worked it was called “counter attacking.” His football wasn’t pretty, but it was accepted because it worked and Villa were getting points from it.
I understand that with better football the probability of getting better results increases. So, to that end, it would be nice to see better football at B6. But for me, as long as we are winning, I don’t care much. Winning is everything after all. (Editor’s note: Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packer coach in the 1960s: “Winning isn’t everything: It’s the only thing.” Sorry, chiefy…couldn’t resist.)
Style Over Substance?
Very few could argue that Arsenal play some of the best football of any team in our league. Arsene Wenger does love to play tiki taka football, and sometimes to devastating effect. But what has it won?
Jose played football that didn’t meet the attacking style wanted by the owner, and since then what has he won? You could even argue that winning the Champions League was won with tactics that don’t particularly fall into the stylish category. Bayern, on the other hand, were trying to play the stylish football…they had 20-something shots, but what did they win?
Give Me Three Points Any Day
As I mentioned further up, I don’t particularly worry about the style of football being played out on the pitch. I am not too worried how we score or how we get the points as long as we walk away from the match with all three points.
Now, I am interested in finding out the general feeling of everyone else: Is style that important? Or is winning the only thing?
The Author
