The reason Blackburn's tactic is so surprising is that it goes against the very fundamentals of football. Players are required to not use their feet at all. Kicking of the football is not only unnecessary, but also discouraged. Usually, other parts of the body are employed, usually the head, to make contact with the ball, and elbows, shoulders, and sometimes the buttocks to make contact with opposition players. In some town meetings at the center of Blackburn, which happens to be a black hole, that the new tactic be renamed "headball" and Blackburn Rovers FC be renamed the Blacburn Headball Club.
The headball tactic might have been perfected by Sam Allardyce, but it actually came about as a result of the town's efforts to bring in bigger, heavier people to counteract the gravity of the newly discovered blackhole. One of those people was, as fate would have it, Sam Allardyce himself, as well as some of the Blackburn players key to this tactic.
There is also, another, possibly more important reason behind the invention of headball. The problem facing Blackburn was that the ball, when kept on the ground, would be too easy for the black hole to suck up. It would literally disappear into the ground. The solution? Keep the ball in the air for as long as possible, out of reach of the mighty black hole.
People have, in the past and present, called it an "ugly" tactic. But the game against us was anything but. The drying the ball with the touchline towel tactic was condemned by my fellow gooners but I thought it added to the suspense. Blackburn would have hoped Pederson's deliveries were a bit more accurate, though.
But as entertaining as the glorious tactic of headball can be, it can sometimes fall short in terms of end product. Sam Allardyce is constantly criticized for not adopting a more pragmatic approach. Pundits often saying he prefers style over substance. Although that is not entirely true, it is a fact that creating chances of scoring through the air is actually very difficult.
That proved true as Blackburn's only clear chance came with the ball firmly attached to the ground.
Other teams have shown that, at least at home, you can play football and get a result against the big teams. Fulham showed that recently in their 2-2 draw against United. They were passing the ball well, pressing well, and kept United on the back foot for much of the match. Blackburn, on the other hand, were content to give up their home advantage in favor of sticking to their tried and true principles of headball.
In the end, I think as great as the headball tactic of Blackburn is, perhaps they need to risk the ball being swallowed into the ground and play it with their feet. That may not be pretty but it'll give them a shot at becoming more than just a 10th place team.
