Sure, it's possible to put in a near perfectly drilled defensive block and deny chances. Rarely have seen it though. Chelsea 2012 wasn't that, Madrid 2018 wasn't that. Not even close. The purpose of a great defense is to block opponents from creating chances. Not to hope they miss the target with abysmal finishing.
Ok so to relate it back to Madrid again..
I agree, Madrid weren't dominant, I wasn't specifically trying to say they were an example of the above phenomenon. But they sure as hell didn't play like losers either, because they executed the best plan they had with the available team, almost to the letter. I was the guy who posted in the CL thread before the game saying people are underestimating Bayern. I actually recall you posted a LOL under a post where I voiced my concern prior to the game, maybe non-specifically related to the Lewandowski "hunch" I had. I suspected Bayern would do as well as they had, simply because we don't do well with this squad this season playing a return leg of a cup game with a positive scoreline. Applies to every single cup tie this year bar PSG and APOEL if you count group games.
That said, Madrid did what they went out to do with a calculated gamble that paid off. Same gamble didn't pay off against Juve, because dropping Benzema wasn't the right call for balance of the team, however overall absolutely deserved to go through given they won the tie in the first leg and planned for Juve to come back with vengeance after Roma just pulled a comeback. Zidane planned everything right and made every correct sub. Momentum was the original problem that couldn't be controlled. But they owned the tie and Juve did not manage to snatch it back. Same thing with the Bayern tie, Zidane prepared it right both times and despite them being more dominant, it doesn't mean they deserved to win, or even to progress.
serghei said:
No, I am not hesitant to accept football can be played in X different ways. Far from it. It's a fact. Teams have won big things in many different styles. Some styles are better than others, in the sense that they have more elements that are naturally viewed as more positive. It's part of human culture and it lends itself to sports too, as part of that culture. People naturally love great passes, cool dribbles, offensive play. That sort of thing.
Sure, if you want to have an ad-literam argument, everything is relative on this planet. But if you look at it from a socio-humanistic view, you'll see that society has a way of deciding and evaluating things, based on majoritar opinions that have become socially accepted truths.
Again, the "better styles" part is something I challenge, because it does not have to be a rule. Choosing to be assertive is not a worse style by default.
Popular perception doesn't define truth either. Fucking never, haha. People are sheep. If street ball was a competitive sport on the scale analogous to full-size pitch football nobody would watch the original version. That is agreed upon. Does that imply flair is the ultimate value of football? Then why bother keeping score? And if you keep score, why assume that all teams need to strive to achieve the same level of flair to be successful? Paint everything red, lol. Favourite colour of certain groups of people.
Wolfe is one of those guys who don't think Mozart is a better musician than the best beatboxer because there's no such thing as better music. Just music.
