perspective

While watching the Everton v. Newcastle match, the color announcer -- whose name I can't remember -- summed up the English conundrum very nicely. He was talking about Toffee supporters responding to Big Sam's success in taking the club out of the relegation zone by rating his coaching skill as "3 out of 10." The problem with Sam has always been that he succeeds by emphasizing defense. The color guy said something along the lines of "The don't have to score 2 or 3 to get a result anymore."

He agreed that it wasn't pretty, but ... he also pointed out the other side of the English conundrum, namely Arsenal. Wenger is derided because his club isn't tough enough and doesn't win enough for a club filled with the talent they have. And here he summed it up nicely -- unless you're Barcelona or Man City, you can't win consistently AND play attractive football. [I'd add Joka's Fulham to the list.] Wenger is derided for "only" having won 10 trophies during his tenure. Spurs supporters love to taunt him for that -- despite the fact THEY haven't won anything to talk about themselves.

So, Arsene provides the prettiest football in England and is slammed because his sides aren't tough enough, and Big Sam saves club after club from relegation and is slammed because his sides aren't pretty enough. And THAT, my friends, is why 95% of comments on fan sites are critical of their club [except FulhamUSA]. The English football rule is "You can't win -- especially when you're winning."