Fear and Loathing

Why scoreless draws should be worthless

The infamous bore-draw, scourge of the beautiful game. How many matches can you remember that ended nil nil? One in particular sticks in my mind, a match only memorable for being the most turgid 120 minutes I ever forced myself to sit through - and I've watched the first Twilight movie. Japan vs Paraguay during the 2010 World Cup was the worst football match I have ever witnessed, featuring two tentative teams unable to see past the fear of losing. The ESPN game cast put it succinctly, describing the match as: "A truly wretched game of football." The fact that the match ended scoreless does not make it uninteresting by default. I have been engaged while watching close, chess-like battles and a you-shall-not-pass defensive performance can be just as thrilling as a gung-ho, full on assault. However, there are few things worse in football than when both sides, through fear or complacency, simply decide that a goalless draw will do.

This season in the Premier League we have seen both ends of the spectrum. Manchester City have been cruel and ruthless at home, dismantling all who have stepped foot in the Etihad. This includes putting four goals past cross-city rivals Manchester United and hitting both Arsenal and Spurs for six. City have risen to the occasion whenever other big teams have visited, a sharp contrast to Chelsea's approach to big away games.

Of course, playing away represents a completely different challenge to playing at home but it is still interesting to note just how negative some of the other big clashes have been, particularly when Chelsea has been involved. When Manchester United hosted Chelsea, The Blues started the game without a recognized striker and not in the hipsterishly-cool 4-6-0 but rather the dour version pioneered by the luminary Craig Levein. Moyes and Mourinho seemed to agree that a scoreless draw was a fine result, leaving the likes of Kagawa and Mata on the bench. Similary, Arsenal vs Chelsea was a match where a draw was deemed adequate. Both teams had chances to claim all three points but as the match reached its conclusion, everyone seemed satisfied with the result. Mourinho set his team up to frustrate, knowing that goalless would be good enough. As he more or less stated in his post-match interview, both teams were more concerned with not losing than winning.

The fluid 6-3-1 formation

Manchester United vs Chelsea and Arsenal vs Chelsea were soulless games of football. Strip football down to its most basic, its most primal, and it's about scoring more goals than your opponent. A team that fails to score a goal, has failed the basic objective but the current league system rewards overly negative football. If both teams fail to score then neither deserves anything. Imagine how exciting it would be if as time went on the intensity ratcheted up, both teams doing all they could, focused on getting the elusive goal that would ensure points. Making goalless draws equal to a loss would not only make league football more exciting but more competitive too. A quick glance at the likes of Everton and even Cardiff show that less glamorous sides benefit from a more adventurous approach. If we want to see fewer scoreless draws and more goal-oriented football, the answer is simple - make scoreless draws worth zero points. Everybody wins.