Bloomball or Ainsball?
It struck me at full time that a Gareth Ainsworth era Wycombe would also hope to beat Cambridge and there's every likelihood the match would also end 2-1. But the style of play now, 18 months after Gareth left and with Matt able to assemble his own squad, is very different indeed.
Each of us will have their preference for style of play - and there's no wrong answer. But would you really prefer us to go back to Ainsball rather than watch what we're now watching instead?
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With the way things are going, Bloomfield’s outfit all day. But we do have far more resource (and no Bayo) now, so we’re more adaptable.
Get us into the play offs / compete consistently for promotion and we might have more of a tight debate.
I don't think it needs to be an either/or thing.
If you're creating chances (and hopefully scoring them) any style of football can be entertaining.
I wouldn't say today's game was any more or less enjoyable to watch than Gaz's football.
Ainsball brought success and multiple promotions
Bloomball might.
Ainsball FTW currently. But it might change.
I agree it isn’t really reasonable to compare the two. In many ways it is much more about the players at the managers disposal.
For example, I would probably prefer to watch any Wycombe team with Simon Garner/Jesus/God and a case could be made that having Bayo in our side always made us ‘watchable’.
Having said that, and having for the most part enjoyed the ‘complete control’ (short break to listen to the song…) of the second half around 5-10 minutes before we scored I was bemoaning to the long suffering people around me that we were missing that ‘oomph’ that epitomised an Ainsworth team near the end of a tight match.
No.
To me it’s swings and roundabouts really.
The “play it out from the back” stuff does my head in, as far as Bloomball goes.
Having a black belt in the black arts was the most annoying thing re. Gazball - yes we still have gamesmanship in us, but no more than the average now, I feel, whereas we were once an outlier.
We have a lot more slick passing play now…but we’re also slow getting it forward and that can be easy to defend against if your backline is good enough.
We were a lot better at set pieces once upon a time under GA.
So, like I said, neither style’s perfect, plus I feel MB is even now still finding his feet as a manager, though the signs are on the up.
If by Ainsball you mean promotion to the Championship then yes I’d take that.
My issue with Gaz was always that we rarely took the game to an opponent. We did today.
It'll be hard to replicate the feeling that his teams gave me, though.
Nice football today and recently, hasn't always been in the last year, if we can keep it up for a decade who knows where we end.
Far too early for any kind of comparison. AinsworthBall includes the 98th minute winners, the injured free transfers who lasted 5 years and outperforming opponents and budgets.
Cambridge could (and probably will) do worse than appoint Ainsworth and Dobbo. Let them think they can do better and drop down divisions.
Well we had one style I quite liked and was effective now we have another which may turn out to be. Do I have to choose?
Ainsworth football was far more exciting - getting the ball forwards mega fast. But football has changed and Bloomsball is the more reliable way to go. Bayo was such a special player, a one off, he was the main reason Ainsworth was successful.
I know it's "The Modern Way To Play" and pretty much every team is now doing it, but I really don't like the messing about at the back, playing square passes across the six-yard box with attackers in close attendance. Ainsworthball for me.
I've gone back 20+ years and can't find any evidence of us scoring 2 or more in each of the first 6 games of a season.
Any statto's care to dig deeper?
And to answer the question, I think it's important to be able to play any way. I'd much rather watch entertaining football as long as its effective. Otherwise, I just want to win....and I loved the GA era for that!
If we can just cut out the 5 yard passes between keeper and defender I'd be happy
We have good players who can pass the ball but do we have the real quality that can compete at the top end of the table. Only time will tell whether Bloomfield’s style of play will make us super competitive. Under Ainsworth, I believe we may have got something out of the Wrexham and Birmingham games because of his style of play. We know it wasn’t great to watch at times but it was effective. I wonder because he’s been tarnished with this rather agricultural style of play , is the reason he’s not got another job at the moment.
You win the saying something without saying something award again. Well done.
I accept that most days my outlook on Wycombe Wanderers is as glass half empty as, well, @glasshalfempty, but you seem like you need a hug. I certainly did after watching Matt Bloomfield dismantle a play-off charging team and I’ve had to have several rounds of counselling since “that” day at Burton Albion.
I feel we have been blessed with having what we need when we need it, both with ownership and management. It's like getting to the second tier with ML and asking if we would go back to Trust ownership - possibly not, but the Trust deserve every plaudit for what they did to lay the groundwork for the Couhigs, who then deserve plaudits for their tenure.
GA raised expectations the point where we blithely talk about League One playoff hopes each season. After a rocky start, Blooms has shown he may be the one to build effectively upon that, and mesh well with the new ownership.
It's all good, it's all worthy of love, and it's all one club.
Think Gazball had a better never die attitude however that may come , didn’t like the dark arts but generally Bloomball is more entertaining football. The money being spent on the team this season far outweighs any team that Gaz had so unfair to judge. We have had a few injuries this season and no negative impact on the results so far, can we say that with the teams Gaz had ?
Wonderful how the era of Gazball is now viewed by posters who incessantly moaned about it on here. I remember it was the chief cause of our poor attendances, although we have now discovered that this is because of parking.
I prefer the current attempt to play some football but also loved the results under Ainsworth, and the way his team thoroughly annoyed the opposition.
Given Gaz had no budget it was the correct tactic to gather a bunch of relative ‘failures’ / ‘has beens’ / ‘diamonds in the rough’ - instilling them with a ‘crazy gang’ ethos of us against the world / little Wycombe. With Bayo as unique focal point and the dark arts to disrupt the best laid plans of more sophisticated approaches to the game boy did it serve us well.
But, ‘the past is another country, they do things different there’ and Bloomball is right for now.
As an aside, whomever at St George’s Park wrote passing out from the back into the lower league coaching manual must be pissing themselves! The stat I’d like to see at the end of the season is the number goals given away outside the top flight by this caprice.
We played some superb football yesterday and we certainly had belief and a never say die attitude to push to get that second deserved goal.
Matt is building something here and things take time. Gareth had a dodgy first season which resulted in our great escape at Torquay. The signings at the start of his second season as manager were superb and really moved the dial but it took him at least a season to get the foundations of a team together.
For me both Matt and Gareth are fine managers and brilliant club servants. We are so lucky.
I think QPR is the main reason he's not currently in work
Ainsworthball was a beautiful thing, we were feared throughout the league, it wasn't the prettiest but there was a romanticism to it that poets will be harping about in years to come
I think we are playing a lot of very slick football and the high press often involving half a dozen or more players has led to numerous goal scoring opportunities - far more on average than I can recall for the last couple of decades. The conversion rate will no doubt improve as the relatively new players continue to settle in.
Good to hear that Dan Udoh is not expected to miss more than one or two games. He and Bez Lubala are virtually interchangeable and both look capable of reaching double figures (goals) this season.
The first goal against Cambridge was pure Gazball, in my opinion. How many passes before the strike?
Don’t remember but it was very apparent straight from the kickoff that long aerial balls forward was the favoured approach, at least until we’d gained the initiative.
Daily Record in Scotland reporting that Ainsworth wants the Hearts manager job. A bit of a trip from his Berkshire retreat. I know he’s desperate to get back in management but Scotland. Not sure he’ll convince Dobbo to leave the New Forest.
I’d be gutted if he ended up outside the 72!
Edinburgh and it's surroundings aren't too shabby