When did English football clubs stop playing dinosaur football?

[City Hobgoblin]

Bergkamp's great goal vs Argentina came from a 50 yd punt upfield, although it still needed a touch of genius to score in the style it was put away.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

I think he has to take a lot of credit for the way our English lads play these days. At every level now we're so comfortable with the ball. Go back 15-20 years and we had players like Gerrard and Lampard for England who would try a Hollywood pass almost every time they had it. It looks fantastic when it came off, but most of the time it just gifted the ball back to the opposition. And our full-backs then we're more than happy to just launch it forward into the channels at every opportunity.

The technical quality between your average England player now compared to just 15 years ago is like night and day.

Having said all that,players like Glenn Hoddle and Ray Wilkins were expert accurate long passers of the ball back in the 70s...
It used to be said about Wilkins at Chelsea,he could hit the corner flag with a ball from the centre circle..he was that accurate. Hoddle had vision which often looked well above his peers,nurtured and encouraged by Burkinshaw,he perhaps eventually found players on his level when the Argentineans joined.
Whilst his club manager trusted him,I don't think Ron Greenwood for England did... .I did like to see him play; for his control short and long passing range..and because his technical ability meant he could shoot from virtually anywhere up yo 40 yards out,Inc volleys.scored some absolute belting goals for a midfielder
A superb player,intermittently, who often stood out amongst his peers.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

You swine. We play good football. But you’re right about the rest of the cunts. ;)

I've more or less ignored Scottish football since the Jock Wallace Jock Stein Dinasour head to head late 70s so ..if u did start a thread I'd catch up on what's going on North of the border,lol

 

[mattcity5]

Bergkamp's great goal vs Argentina came from a 50 yd punt upfield, although it still needed a touch of genius to score in the style it was put away.

Now while it's also true that English players may not have been capable of the pass, control or finish, I'd suggest that if an English player hit that pass it wouldn't have ended up as a goal. Why?

Well, because if you hit lots of long passes the defence is prepared for it. Pretty sure the long pass by De Boer (I think) worked because it was a surprise as much as anything.

Obviously having Dennis Bergkamp on the end of it helps also...!

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Dinosaur football started when Terry Dactyll became Manager of Stone Henge FC

 

[Crooked_rain]

I'd say Pep has definitely had the most influence from top to bottom in how teams approach football, coaching players in every position to have to be good on the ball etc. You can see his influence at any level and age group

But there's certainly been teams that didn't play hoof ball. Wenger's arsenal side as others have mentioned. Sometimes they'd be accused of trying to walk it into the net. But I don't think they had much influence over teams to try same. I think other clubs just looked at the technically gifted players Arsenal at the time and thought there's no point in even trying to play like that, leave it to them.

I think players are just better with the ball at their feet today, generally speaking. And I think a lot of coaches and managers today fancy themselves a bit, so I think they look at Pep and think they'll give it a go. But as the rags found out early last season, its not that simple and reverted to playing more direct. To play the Pep way, it takes a great deal of tiny detail and the players basically have to train their minds to take it on board. That's why there's only one Pep, but that's why it's appealing to other coaches to try and be like that.

 

[mattcity5]

To play the Pep way, it takes a great deal of tiny detail and the players basically have to train their minds to take it on board. That's why there's only one Pep, but that's why it's appealing to other coaches to try and be like that.

This is it. To 'Pep', you need to have every single player doing their job and wanting the ball. Teams like united aren't committed to it, so have some who play that way and then others who hide or hoof it.

I remember one early game under Pep, feels like it may have been v Norwich, where Stones took his time and played it short to Kompany, it went wrong and we conceded.

Stones got all the blame at the time, but it was him who was playing how Pep wanted - VK just didn't want the ball in that situation and it cost us. Now a couple of years earlier everyone thought VK was the perfect modern footballing centre-back, but in that situation he was hoping Stones would launch it. That's the progression we've seen in the last 6-7 years now.

 

[KentBlue]

Dinosaur football started when Terry Dactyll became Manager of Stone Henge FC

Jonah Lewie, 'Seaside Shuffle'. Jeepers! That must have been the early 70's?

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Can you remember Ferguson's Aberdeen and their playing style?
Was it the same style he used at utd..
I can only remember watching a European final when they won,and match highlights / goals around that time,so unsure if his former team were outright entertainers or workaday runners.

No not really. Perhaps some Scottish members on here can recall. They had some major success though.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

The first 45 minutes against Madrid was the best football I've ever witnessed. It's what Pep strives for every single game which makes him an absolute genius.

If we could play like that for a full 90 minutes I genuinely think we will wont see football played better than that