Spotlight on styles of play

European competition will be the talking point this week with football dominating discussions.

In the aftermath of the opening fixtures much of the tactical debate has surrounded styles of play. While Barcelona dominated with their tika-taka passing, the retention of possession was seen by coaches as the way to win.

However, with Chelsea and Real Madrid preferring to get men behind the ball and hit the opposition on the counter-attack this is being brought into question.

Having watched Chelsea’s ‘weakened’ representatives dismantle Liverpool’s title bid using the same methods, Koppites around the globe have been complaining about ‘boring’ and ‘negative’ tactics and Mourinho ‘parking two buses’.

Yet there is much more to it than that. While there is no question that Liverpool’s style is one of the most exciting in Europe, as witnessed by the sheer volume of goals scored, I personally admire any team that can adapt its play to differing circumstances. Chelsea and Real have proved they can do this. The challenge now facing Liverpool is to learn to adapt or prove that they can impose their style on the opposition.

I still believe that the title will head to Liverpool, although it’s intriguing to think that they are now seeking assistance from local rivals, Everton, who host Manchester City on Saturday.

While Spanish teams are dominating European competition in terms of the number of their sides involved, in rugby union the spread is more even although the financial powerhouse that is French rugby provided half of the semi-finalists.

However, defending champions, Toulon, has a cosmopolitan feel, led by Englishman Jonny Wilkinson, who never managed to succeed on the European club stage while playing at home.
The French side, aiming to become only the third team to defend their title and match Leicester and Leinster in the process, had to battle hard against a Munster squad playing in a record 11th semi-final.

Any team facing the unerring accuracy of the left boot of Wilkinson has to concentrate on not making any mistakes. However, a monstrous level of errors and indiscipline cost Munster in the first half. Nine penalties conceded in this period led to England’s World Cup hero scoring 12 points and added a drop goal. Thanks also to a 55-metre effort from Delon Armitage Toulon sealed a 9-point half time advantage.

The ferocity of Munster’s attack quickly led to this being diminished as Simon Zebo ran in the only try of the game. While Toulon never looked comfortable, they saw out victory thanks to two more Wilkinson penalties.

They will face debutants in the final, albeit a side that obliterated the record books in getting there. Saracens scored the highest number of tries helping themselves to the highest points total and largest winning margin in defeating last season’s runners-up, Clermont.

While the victory had an element of good fortune (they scored a contentious penalty try while Clermont were denied the maximum score early in the match while the game was close), there can be no doubting the ultimate manner of their success.

In scoring two tries, Chris Ashton set a personal record for the highest number of Heineken Cup tries in a season. However, in a lesson that perhaps flamboyant football teams could learn from, it was the ferocity and organisation in defence that ultimately built the foundation for this comfortable victory. Namibian Jaques Burger was the driving force, although he was ably supported by Schalk Brits in snuffing out the attacking threats posed by Fofana, Sivivatu and Nalaga.

On May 24 in Cardiff we should witness a classic final that will mark the end of the Heineken Cup era as this will be replaced by the European Rugby Champions Cup.