It can win matches but is not good to watch. Villa have the players to play good football which is strange

Is the Arsenal way to pass it(and overpass it) more effective, or can a team prosper by just continually launching it from their own penalty box?

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Chelsk just won the CL by hoofing it to Drogba and spending the other 89 mins defending in numbers.

England have just won two matches doing the same thing....

At the end of the day people get exited after their team scored goals. Why do Arsenal fans cry when they lose to Stoke or scrapping a draw against Leeds?

Hoof Ball, I like the sound of that, it kinda sounds like Dodge Ball but better!

Ideally, a team should be able to play both approaches, and switch when one isn't working. I don't like hoofball ala Wimbledon of old, but a direct approach can be a sharp tool when all else fails. A plan B is always good, ask Barca.

Markymark.

My daughter and I cried with Laughter watching Dodge ball last weekend, the bit with the coaching dvd done by the bloke who does the voice overs for the Simpsons was quality

It is a classic, glad you ahev introduced it to a new generation!

Wimbledon played to their strength, which was basically long-legged, fast, forwards and wingers. Like Gabby in a way, but they could score. Counter-attack was natural for them.

The trouble with hoofball is that you don't keep the ball for long. So you have to do a lot of defending. If you can keep the ball higher up the pitch, you force the opposition to work harder both to block possible attacks and also to try to get the ball; you keep the pressure on them. Under Houllier we started to do that. And I think that's what Lambert will aim for. To work it needs players who work hard and keep moving. Somebody posted a video not so long ago of Villa when players like Dean Saunders were around; the movement was terrific. That's what we need to get back to.

Crikey, Robbie Earle was some player, call the football what you will. You're right Mac, as I posted recently. We have been known as the Midlands team that wants to play football. I think that MON's brand was a mixture of the two, though his reliance on the big men was somewhat 1 dimensional. I liked the idea of direct football as plan B, using subs, or using the rest of the squad if more skillful players are injured, or if we find ourselves down after 80mins. Why not, give it a go then. But to rely on that from the start meant that if we got a goal we were under huge pressure in the last quarter, and we always seemed to concede to the bigger clubs then. Our starting eleven has to be based on movement as you say. I can't remember who's running the academy, but we need some form of Spanish influence, if that's philosophy or personnel running the place as well. They might not have won the CL this year, but no-one would be surprised if they won it in 2013.

As has been said, you need to be able to switch between approaches.

So Spain need to be able to play Hoofball from time to time. When they come up against teams who park the bus. (Like Chelsea did against Barca).

By contrast, England need to be able to pass and use the midfield sometimes. Instead of always relying on Hoofball.

Trouble is, the likes of Spain could make the switch - but they don't want to. Whereas Hoofers don't always have the skills to make the switch.

When 'big' teams use the long ball, commentators describe it as

'getting the ball early from back to front'

When unfavoured teams do it, it is 'hoofing it'.

Didn't see much of Villa last year, so can't say what you did.

I watched at least 1/4 of West Ham's games last year, and at no time was the long ball our only option.

Big Sam never sent us out to 'hoof it' as the only option, but you would never know that if you read reports in the papers.

Talk about give a dog a bad name.

That said, if we smash it long all game and get points off Arsenal, Man U, Man City etc doing it next year, I personally won't be complaining.

Arsenal are at their best when they do mix in some of the direct route stuff with the passing game. Last season they realised in Van Persie they had a target who could win matches. They're not so good when they just concentrate on possession; OK, they keep the ball but it gives the opposition time to pack the defence. I think they've improved since Nasri left; he didn't seem to get right when to pass and when to go for goal.

I think it's the same with any team playing real football. You need a cutting edge, and you've got to know when to wield it and when to move the ball around.

The problem with hoof ball, is all about the first goal of the game.

If you spend the whole game with conservative play hoping to nick a 1-0 win, then the whole game-plan is out of the window. If you look at Villarreal last season in La Liga, their third manager played quite conservatively and the amount of late goals they conceded (because they just sat back and invited the opposition onto them) was alarming.

I don't think we can regard Villa or West Ham as a "hoof-ball" team, because over the years a lot of their managers have tried to play football, and people like Allardyce and McLeish cannot be representative of the clubs' footballing philosophies for well over a century.

Personally, I don't like it. But if other people find it efficient in taking their club forward, then I have no problem with it.

What about Tottenham

Tottenham are diagonal hoofers..

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Spurs don't hoof we occasionally did long diagnals to crouch. That is a long pass from cultured players such as bae and Huddlestone

West ham just hoof it forward to roughly the area cole is in and leave him to it

Villa hoof it to bent but that's the only way he scores so I can complain. West ham hoof it and they were in the championship

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Spurs don't hoof we occasionally did long diagnals to crouch. That is a long pass from cultured players such as bae and Huddlestone
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When you hoof it, it's a long pass..

We are all know how long BAE can hoof it... and granddad Friedel.

When you won at the Emirates, you hoof it Defoe over the midfield.

andy gray.. i was also at the 0-0 game you were referring to..


"boring boring villa" sung the crowd.




mafia...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9FLSWT6Qw

Oh yes, that's a tailor made video..

We are all know how you score against passing teams such as City, Arsenal and Swansea...diagonal hoofs..

Hoof diagonal spurs..

Chelsea's performances against Bayern and Barcelona shows that on it's day pretty football won't always win.

Arsenal were lucky to get third.

Perhaps hoofball is the way to go?

Big Sam already a professional from his days at Bolton, arry could be persuaded , and Lambert we will have to see

UTV

harry redknapp is a


mafiaboy.

when we play long passes we actually aim for someone though.. west hoof aim for anywhere apart from on the deck


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vxUTsvLKUk

remember this maf?

i bet you were crying

we tore you apart

Andy - exactly.

When Spurs were 2 goals down at the Emirates, they played nothing but diagonal hoofs over the midfield and took advantage of Arsenal's high-line defence.

we came to your dump and made you cry maffypooops

you were in tears i just know it

did you see our "hoofball" break away for the winner. ?