- Dec 27, 2014
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Allardyce:
"This is the manager's fault. It's his fault. Don't ask somebody to do against Manchester City what you shouldn't do, and you should not play out like that against Manchester City. What do Manchester City do? Press press press. So why do you try and play out when they press press press?
Even the Arsenal crowd cheered when they dropped one in the opposition half. You cannot just force the only way to play is this way in this country.
We are getting obsessed with this stupid let's play out from the back, split the centre halves, either side of the 18-yard box and go and play from there... (it's) utter rubbish to play like that all of the time."
While in theory he might be right, his Everton were 3-0 down at home to City inside 30 minutes. Plus he always come across so bitter critiquing other managers.
He says it in the wrong way and doesn't come across very well, but in general I think he's broadly right, as you say. This playing out from the back and high pressing etc. is very effective if you've got the right players and if that particular style is well-suited to beating the opposition in the given situation, but that doesn't mean it's always the right way to play.
Obviously that's not to say Allerdyce's style is necessarily better, I just think there's horses for courses and all that. Sometimes it seems like teams/managers try and play this possession game out of fear for being labeled a dinosaur but sometimes sitting back and counter attacking is the best way tactically to beat a team. As an example, remember LIverpool a couple of seasons ago. They were battering loads of the top teams because people were taking the game to them and leaving themselves exposed to Liverpool's pace, but the smaller teams who sat back and kept it tight were having lots of joy against Liverpool because it completely nullified their main attacking threat. Playing deep and being well organized and counter attacking doesn't automatically mean you're doing a Pulis and playing for a 0-0 draw, sometimes it's genuinely the most effective way of beating a particular opposition.