And it's no surprise really, domestically we're on TV once every eight months and even then it's usually against Blackburn. However I've been wondering how long it will take to shake the physical/bullying tag that's attatched to the team. Look at any of the previews for the game against Spurs this weekend, or any of the games over the last few year and you'll more than likely see those words mentioned. If I devised a drinking game based upon it I doubt I'd get to the end of the third preview before passing out. The fact is it's totally inaccurate and has been for some time, if it ever was. I seem to recall Wenger crying about our players daring to tackle his, but that's no surprise. Then there was one game against Arsenal where one of our players caused an injury to one of their better players, oh we got ripped apart for that. Physical Bolton this, bullying Bolton that, never mind that the player who comitted the foul was one Jay Jay Okocha, obviously known for his hard tackling and in your face attitude, and it was an accident. From the sounds of it you'd expect us to field a team of 6 foot plus bruisers whose only talent lies in crushing skulls. Yet if you look at the Allardyce era we only ever used two defensive midfielders: Ivan Campo and Fernando Hierro. Are these the kind of players known for kick-em-in-the-air football? No. If we look at the current team we have the likes of LCY, Mark Davies, Tamir Cohen, Matt Taylor, Gardner, Ricketts, Steinsson and Elmander, hardly a bunch of muscle bound tough tacklers. We have Cahill and Knight at the centre of defence, again not known for kicking players around the pitch. They may be big but you show me a team without big players in the centre of defence and I'll show you one that conceeds a boat load of goals. I believe this tag sticks because of Kevin Davies, who is a physical player, and often cited as the player who commits the most fouls (yet less often cited as the player is fouled the most, presumably because it does't quite fit in with the stereotype people have of him) I also think that people mistake tenacity for physicality. Allardyce teams would chase you all over the pitch to get the ball back and not allow you space or time on the ball. Megson's team is less like this however. In the end I just think it's lazy journalism, throwing out a few cliches about a team they know nothing about. Afterall, if everyone else says it it has to be true doesn't it? I'll leave you with this one thought. We're one of the few teams to have gone through a Premier League season without getting a red card and we've done that twice in seven years. Not bad for a team of bully boys.
Yeah, its always been absurd, but that's just the way the Premier League class system treats teams that don't know their place. People have never forgiven us for beating Man U in the 58 Cup Final and our recent run of consecutive top ten finishes with an unfashionable fat northern coach is just more insouciance on our part.
The southern media has something against the northern teams and it's no surprise really because they hate seeing the likes of Bolton and Blackburn outperforming their beloved West AAAaaaam, Charlton, Crystal Palace etc.
Yeah Kevin Davies is 90% the reason, crude but effective. Cohen, Lee and Gardner are good footballers though. Could do with a cup run to get some positive exposure as SKY won't do it.