6 football tactics that fans hate to see

Football is an art they say, a complex one, that is. It is complex in the sense that though players do have the creative freedom to let their skills do the talking but all the while keeping in mind that they conform to what the team wants from them, that their actions are all directed towards the philosophy and tactics employed by the team. In gist, tactics are all that really govern what a team, as a collective effort of all individuals, does on pitch.So much is said and written about the implicit and explicit tactics employed by teams. Some tactics that blow people away while some make people cringe but whatever be the judgment passed by the fans and media about the tactics of a team, the principle of whatever floats one’s boat is the most acceptable one. For tactics are something subjectivity, for some tiki taka may be the only way to play the game while some may like to be more pragmatic. But there still remain some tactics that are looked down upon amongst majority of football fanatics. Tactics, those though seem perfectly alright to be employed on a football pitch but are still seen with jaundiced eyes by the fans.Let’s have a look at 6 most hated tactics in football.

#6 Siege Mentality

Popularized by Sir Alex Ferguson, siege mentality is a tactic that is more psychological and perceptive in nature. Always feeling victimized and blaming the referee/opponents/ or other factors is generally what siege mentality pertains to in footballing circle. No wonder it is effective as the results are obvious and manifold: a feeling of bonhomie within the squad, a common enemy for the team, feeling to prove the outsiders wrong. In gist it is a means to create this “Us against Them” sort of feeling within the camp through which the team conjures its motivation.

But what may be motivating for the supporters may be something going overboard/ dramatic for the neutrals. The “mind games” are part of what coaches rely on; it sometimes becomes too tedious if it is the only thing that they rely on. Perhaps like the boy who cried wolf, when siege mentality becomes the only mentality of the squad, they may find it hard to get empathy even in situations where they are actually aggrieved.

And surely Siege mentality is a double sided sword to shield from the public criticism. The prime example is -Liverpool and their then manager Kenny Dalglish sticking up for Luis Suarez in the Evra incident. With the whole team wearing Suarez supporting bibs in the warm up, it was rather shoddy attempt to garner some sympathy and was seen as something unnecessary.

Caption

#5 Time Wasting

Time wasting, against your favorite team, in those excruciating last few seconds when your team needs to make each and every second count, is something we all have cursed with all our might. It is one of those shrewd puny tactics that we all hate to see but in the deepest of our minds all agree to. Football is not just about finesse, fluid moves and champagne football that we all write prose about. But it is equally dominated by these little dirty tactics such as time wasting.

While Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger recently echoed the sentiments about time wasting by Arsenal’s north London rivals Spurs, claiming that “It’s only a respect of the people who pay money to watch football (that time wasting be stopped).” While he may have struck a chord with the aggrieved arsenal fans, the rest of the fan may still have felt that they got their money’s worth with a crucial draw.

So again, while the purist of the game may feel offended by the tactic, it is indeed something sensible and hardheaded.

I guess a whole generation of Bayern Munich fans would agree with me when I say this: had we seen some more resolute and blunt time wasting techniques in Barcelona, 1999 Champions League final, Manchester United may never have had that fairy tale finish that we all talk about till today.

#4 Physicality

While football remains the quintessential physical game that it is made to be, but some teams take the physicality quotient to a different level for fans’ liking. The most famous example may be the famous Leeds side managed by Don Revie. Known for their belligerent approach, despite the fact that they were on top of their game, they never were popular champions, always battling the charges of being overtly and wittingly physical against teams. While the rules have become much more stringent and non tolerant towards physicality on the pitch, the tactics is more or less still shunned by the fans, who think of it as something uncouth for the modern game. Teams are still aware that a little roughhousing may help them unsettle the opponent and still not shy to dish it out. While fans, particularly those who like the expansive looking pass and move sort of football, are not so pleased by it, calling it a small team tactics which is retrograding the game.

No wonders the phrase “Can he (insert a technically adept player’s name here) do it on a cold rainy night at Stoke?” has gained so much popularity or to be truthful, notoriety amongst the football faithful.

#3 Diving/play acting

Diving and play acting is something that is common fold in the game and no particular league or club can be held responsible for this. Perhaps a sign of the modern football and it’s frailties but no fan likes watching a crucial game being decided by a conniving dive or a play acting leading to a critical decision in the game. You remember the big names but you also remember the small blots on their legacy, be it Diego Maradona and the handball incident or Rivaldo play acting in the 2002 world cup that too when the situation was not even dire. The incidents are now becoming way too regular to malign or single out players.

Adding to the obvious bad taste that it leaves in every fan’s mouth diving and play acting are also setting precedence on what is all right and what is not in the game nowadays. The whole notion of letting the referee know that you are being fouled is understood to a certain extent but milking it every time you contact an opposition is what the fans are habituated to these days.

#2 10 men behind the ball Ala parking the bus

We all see it in the modern game, we all unwittingly loathe the tactic but we don’t really see the application/ efficacy of “parking the bus”. A popular notion in football is that matches are won by great attacking line-ups while titles are won by great defenses and this cohesive defensive approach may be termed as parking the bus. And parking the bus, with all the derision and scorn that it provokes in football fans is a term we do not want our club to be related with.

Jose Mourinho, known for drilling a pragmatic approach in his teams has been blamed for this tactic time and time again. And to be fair he has been successful in winning with this approach, be it at Chelsea, be it at Inter Milan or again at Stamford Bridge in his second spell. Particularly in the semi final of 2010, with his Inter side down to 10 players, it was more than just “Parking the bus” that won them the tie at Nou Camp. It was rather a defensive master class from the Nerazzurri, which saw committed performances from players all over on the pitch.

But the current football parlance dictates parking the bus as something sacrilegious and downright uncouth. While Italy lived and prospered on the same tactic.

#1 Long balls

Long balls have been primordial, present in the game since time immemorial. In fact it was how the game was played in the beginning. But now as the game has developed it is not one of the most welcomed tactics to say the least. Another of the so called “small team tactics” that is marring the game of all its beauty.

Though effective and powerful, long balls are usually seen as the last resort on the pitch, when you know that nothing is working, “just hoof it up in the air!” is what the managers shout out. The exact fact that it has no or so simple logic behind it, leaves fans feeling a little high and dry on the creative aspect. And while we are at it, let’s just be brutally honest on the issue and say that when we see football played with such a vapid gambit employed we feel that we are being robbed of all the tactical analysis that we are so accustomed to these days. Those charts and stats won’t be so filled up with such a tactic and hence causing dejection for the inner tactician/ statistician inside all of us.

Despite teams being questioned for the route one sort of game they play nothing is wrong with one playing an abrasively direct game, fans have been inculcated that this is something to deign at. The general consensus on the issue remains that it is all right if it is infrequently done but when teams rely on this tactic way too much fans are all but happy to shower them with brickbats.