So with the relative success of Donegal last season, can folk see more teams adopting similar 'puke' football style? I can maybe seen a more cautious approach being taken this year by the so called lesser teams with maybe a half forward dropping back to half back etc. I honestly can see the game changing as a whole and it's already started from approximately a decade ago and it's not as easy on the eye as it used to be. What do others think?

Padraig_Dub (Dublin) - Posts: 100 - 03/02/2012 12:40:07    1104798

Yep I agree with you, it's more like rugby league/basketball now. Nowhere near as enjoyable as the 90's but I still love it.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 03/02/2012 12:49:13    1104806

I wonder will Dublin continue with their defensive tactics this season?

supporter (Donegal) - Posts: 205 - 03/02/2012 12:57:34    1104810

You mean a more reserved approach unlike our previous gung-ho approach that saw us throw away leads willy-nilly. Hopefully we do keep up that approach, we're still a nice team to watch, just not as niave.

Padraig_Dub (Dublin) - Posts: 100 - 03/02/2012 13:01:04    1104812

There have been several discussions on here re this.
It is PUKE football. Terrible to watch and I also believe is a reflection on managers/coaches capabilities

ballybannongael (Down) - Posts: 547 - 03/02/2012 13:24:35    1104833

The top 5 or 6 teams in the country all employ defensive tactics to some degree, with Donegal being the most extreme. It's part of the modern game, we just have to accept it.

Cute_Kerry_Hoor (Kerry) - Posts: 2518 - 03/02/2012 13:32:11    1104835

You mean a more reserved approach unlike our previous gung-ho approach that saw us throw away leads willy-nilly. Hopefully we do keep up that approach, we're still a nice team to watch, just not as niave.
_________

Well said man... you have it spot on but the underlings will still have a snipe.. they dont know what they are talking about.

JinxyPoop (UK) - Posts: 1162 - 03/02/2012 13:37:55    1104847

Read the Alan Mulholland interview there
"It's horses for courses and I think Kerry are the best example of that at the moment in that they can play it long or play it short. They get more men behind the ball than Donegal sometimes and just because they break fast from defence and they have the tradition of being Kerry footballers it's glossed over."

Exactly...

All teams have gone more defensive, not just Donegal. Kerry, Dublin and plenty others (including Kildare) all get men behind the ball when they lose posession but still get plenty of players up to support when they attack. That's the template to copy for success as long as you have the players to work it.

If anything what Donegal showed is that to go even more defensive as they did when they played Dublin does not work unless the opposition panic which Dublin did last year and Cork did against Dublin the year before. But both eventually got going and won the match. Dublin learned from that Cork defeat that sitting back and letting teams come onto you doesn't work and they refined their system to go and win the All-Ireland last year. Can Donegal do the same?

The term 'puke football' is so self-serving anyways, designed to make supporters and pundits feel better about losing to or having it put up to them by traditionally weaker opponents. There's a couple of things that Donegal were getting up to in the Kildare quarter-final which would leave a bit of a bad taste in your mouth but if we're talking purely in tactical positioning terms they didn't do anything too out of the ordinary that day. To suggest otherwise is to imply Dublin and Kerry got to the final by ignoring tactics and playing some traditional rigid '6-backs,6-forwards' system from the 60's which plainly is not true.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 03/02/2012 13:52:07    1104860

Well the ones I laugh at seriously are Kerry who go on about they are in some way the guardians of traditional football!!

Did you ever count how many players they have behind the ball sometimes???

Did you realise how many hand-passes per game they use??

So the answer to the thread's question is every team!

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 03/02/2012 14:22:22    1104891

While I usually am an optimist when posting, at least I try to be positive most of the time, I must admit I'm pessimistic on this one

As another poster has pointed out, Donegal would be the obvious & prime example of defensive football but no one can deny them the success it has brought them, no matter how much people begrudge it.

But I think it's fair to say that it's not just them but most/all teams have adopted a more defensive approach and a lot of that prior to 2011

It is a worrying trend in my opinion & it looks like this could very well become a norm for the game

I most certainly hope not, because if the hurling doesn't pick up in terms of competitiveness & the football degenerates into ugly, defensive football.......well.......

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 03/02/2012 14:40:11    1104921

witnof
County: Dublin
Posts: 272

1104891
Well the ones I laugh at seriously are Kerry who go on about they are in some way the guardians of traditional football!!

Did you ever count how many players they have behind the ball sometimes???

Did you realise how many hand-passes per game they use??

So the answer to the thread's question is every team!


Common knowledge lad.

Cute_Kerry_Hoor (Kerry) - Posts: 2518 - 03/02/2012 14:52:55    1104944

Hopefully Laois will

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 03/02/2012 14:57:25    1104946

I wonder what the lowest scoring football league game is going to be, will we ever see say 0-1 0-0? the way some teams are playing the game it will be sooner than we think.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4968 - 03/02/2012 16:07:13    1105010

doublehop
Funny you mention that interview. I seen a point made in it that often gets convieniently glossed over on here an awful lot.

You can talk about systems but one of the reasons a lot of these teams are playing defensive football is that they don't have Gooch Coopers, Kieran Donaghys and Declan O'Sullivans, so you have to make up for it somehow. Either we create fantastic forwards or we change our game plan to try and combat what we perceive as better forwards in the opposition.

Very eloquently put. If you can, play, if you cant, puke.

TheMaster (Mayo) - Posts: 16187 - 03/02/2012 16:31:07    1105023

ballybannongael
County: Down
Posts: 175

1104833
There have been several discussions on here re this.
It is PUKE football. Terrible to watch and I also believe is a reflection on managers/coaches capabilities

_____________________________________

Winning your first ulster title in 19 years and gettin to an all-Ireland semi-final is also a reflection on the managers/ coaches !!

up_donegal (Donegal) - Posts: 659 - 03/02/2012 16:45:54    1105035

Alot of you have this old fashioned train of thought whereby you believe everything in the 70's was fantastic and modern day football is going to the dogs and its too tactical and that our county players are as disciplined as professional sportsmen and are under too much pressure not to do X,Y and Z. Alot of you compare and contrast the game of yesteryear to the game of today and you want X to change to the way it was back in Y, And while i agree i dont like the certain ideas being adopted by alot of teams over the years, Its simply a sign of our game changing with the times. Nothing ever stays the same and with time brings alot of change both for the positive and the negative.

I am only 19 so i cant refer to the 70's in great detail. But everyone here can both respect and awknowledge that in that time of 40 years, Alot of things nomatter how small and insignificant , has already changed. For example the outfield players wearing gloves. Certainly wasn't as common as it was back then, 13 aside in the 70's compared to 15 aside now. The art of a good hard tackle is replaced by more strict rules and regulations on what constitutes a "fair and non-threatening tackle" . And now, Well now instead of attack v attack , We have managers and teams adopting new styles, New tactics, Special diets for the players, Special conditioning training you know this is also something very different and something that has changed down the years. Its all stuff that we have no choice but to accept.

Teams being incresingly tactically aware is modern day SPORT. Its not just GAA. The reason for this in my opinion is the soccer, NFL and AFL coverage. Mostly soccer though. Its very very difficult to ignore the coverage other sports get on our TV's Radios and Tabloids. Therefore even GAA managers have taken note of other teams successes over the years in other sports and have tried to adopt such approaches to their teams. Its natural , Sports teams no matter whom they are , Will do anything to be successful , In soccer if italy took a 1-0 lead in the 90s they sat on it, 9 times out of 10 they where successful, Other teams tried to copy , And now as we are seeing in GAA with Tyrone, Armagh, Dublin and Donegal .. the aforementioned 3 winning the all ireland with that approach and the latter getting there.

its called change, Its normal, Its not something the pureist wants to see but its reality. As a manager and as a player , You want to win an all ireland first and formost, you want to do that by entertaining your fans with "sexy" football , But if you dont achieve it that way, you will do anything to achieve it by any means possible, Donegal didnt get the balance right last year like Dublin Armagh and Tyrone have, But the challenge now is how do teams counter act that. Its not 1972 anymore guys. Tactics and ideas are a much more important part of our games today and it will continue to happen while teams are successful using such methods

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13659 - 03/02/2012 18:02:54    1105097

yes but the whole thing is , its really hard to watch ,eg what would you rather see (a) a ball going into a forward and the forward using his skill to try and get a shot on target against his marker or (b) a ball going into a forward and eight or nine lads hanging around him looking like there scaring crows away waving there arms ? theres no roar from the crowd anymore when a man gets past his marker or when a midfielder catches a ball from a kick out, because he gets no free when half the other team is hanging around him pulling out of him . its gone to the dogs if you ask me

bisto kid (Cavan) - Posts: 492 - 03/02/2012 18:03:33    1105098

I actually think it is very interesting , It intrigues me

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13659 - 03/02/2012 18:42:35    1105130

Yes. Maybe not this year though, on account of the abuse we got last year for doing it, but you can definitely see lower teams throwing a few people back in years to come. Call it tactics, evolution, puke or whatever you like... but it's a reality. Look at some of the low scoring Club / Sigerson games we've seen.

For the neutral spectator, it is hard to watch, but I was at the Dublin Donegal Semi Final and it was like a game of chess. Almost fascinating. Every point was fought for. Every point was like that last point the team would score. I was also at the Dublin Tyrone QF, and that was also a great game. But the result was known before the match ended. It was a fantastic display and probably the purest display by any team last year. Both styles have their merits.

And as a side note... Google how many times Kerry handpassed in last years final: so whether it's rugby or basketball your comparing the game too - most teams are guilty of it in one way or another. Even the best.

squareball_1988 (Donegal) - Posts: 343 - 03/02/2012 18:56:03    1105144

Id rather watch a competitive ugly game than watch two teams play open football and have Kerry wipe the floor with the opposition.

TheRoad (Galway) - Posts: 1339 - 03/02/2012 19:14:11    1105154