Attractive football?

Football fans often prefer to “stay positive” in defeat, claiming that the loss was made less serious by the fact that their team played really well. A clear example of this was the bleating of the Liverpool fans after slumping to an apparently undeserved defeat yesterday to trapdoor club, and everyone’s favourite whipping boy of the moment, Spurs.

More than one team have played incredibly unattractive football this season and have somehow won a load of matches. Benítez’s awful Liverpool side is by far the worst culprit, slumping to undeserved victory week after week. If they carry on doing this all season and win the league, will their supporters worry about how the title was won? I seriously doubt it.

And how little they care will be directly proportional to the number of years they have waited to lift that particular trophy. Liverpool were to win the league title for the first time since the last time, they will conveniently forget how it was achieved. It must be said, of course, that for the seven top-flight clubs who have never won a league title this is as forgivable as it is understandable. For a club like Liverpool, who talk not of history but of heritage, it seems a tad pathetic.

To the neutral observer, it doesn't seem to bode well when the fans start praising the quality of the football in defeat, because it sounds like those fans are preparing for another trophy-less season.

And at the end of the day, the team at the top of the Premier League and the team in third place look good for the title AND play decent football pretty much week in, week out. In the case of league leaders Chelsea, this must seem twice as sweet considering the fact that the charge of playing ugly football has been continuously levelled at them by the Chelski-haters ever since Abramovich took over.

So perhaps the Liverpool fans should be content to cheer for a victory each week and wait for the final verdict on their team’s season before claiming any bragging rights.

Playing attractive football is what keeps you warm at night when your rivals are winning trophies. Or not, when your night is filled with the nightmare of your rival winning the league and in Europe.