Do you find Man City (and other Pep teams) boring?

[Tyrion]

I've seen a few people describe City as a boring team. The football is nice but it's predictable and unsurprising. Pundits have complained about how uncompetitive the title race is while I've listened to journalists admit they turn their matches off after the first goal.

Contrast that with how entertaining Liverpool v Chelsea was and it suggests that there's something specifically about City that's boring. Is this different to how people treated other title winners?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

If Pep managed United, we would be loving it.

 

[alexthelion]

Yes.

 

[AltiUn]

It's very surgical and methodical, no unpredictability about it.

 

[SAFMUTD]

It's not the most entertaining football I've seen, I personally prefer Klopps "rock n roll" style, but I don't think it's as boring as Pep's Barca's.

Also if that was us winning and scoring at pleasure I would definitely be entertained.

 

[Steve Bruce]

Today's match was fantastic, but I find Liverpool boring to watch quite often. Long ball after long ball. I don't care much about stats but I bet you they do more long balls than most I'm the league.

And if you haven't noticed just watch the next few games and take a conscious look for it.

 

[Ranie]

Absolutely not. They play beautiful football with some of the most talented players in the game. Really, what’s not to like about it?

 

[RUCK4444]

If Pep managed United, we would be loving it.

Yeah this. People said the same about his Barca team but it was feckin imperious.

 

[Gazautd18]

Prefer Liverpool style of play. (ugh)
City are boring because of the predictability.

 

[sullydnl]

Pep's Barcelona were the best club side I've ever seen, packed with all-time great players, playing fantastic football. Yet I remember some people complaining that they were boring.

On that basis it's not surprising that some people consider this lesser Pep side to be dull too, highly efficient though they are. Takes all sorts.

I would say though that insofar as a team like Klopp's Liverpool are better to watch, a lot of that is because they're generally less good which makes for more competitive games. I don't think there's another team in the league so highly competent and controlled that they could hammer us 2-0 in the way City did, for example. With most teams the game isn't dead at that point.

 

[Champ]

Peps Barca were never boring.

Peps City are boring however. They often rely on moments of brilliance to bail them out, yet they often spend moments grinding through games not really pressuring the opposition.

Coupled with the complete imbalance of their squad with everyone else's means it's just not a level playing field, which in itself means it's boring.

 

[Mercurial]

It's not the most entertaining football I've seen, I personally prefer Klopps "rock n roll" style, but I don't think it's as boring as Pep's Barca's.

Also if that was us winning and scoring at pleasure I would definitely be entertained.

Pretty much this

 

[footballistic orgasm]

How can the team that scores the highest number of goals, and create the highest number of goal occasions be boring?

If teams are tired of them passing the ball, well all they have to do is collect the ball from them right? Some of their games become boring because the other pl teams often make it boring against them IMO.

 

[Tyrion]

If Pep managed United, we would be loving it.

True but I think most fans would love to beat their rival with a dodgy last minute penalty so fans are pretty awful.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Watching City hit little passes to each of their players gets tedious very quickly. Arsenal v City was good the first half when Arsenal were dictating the tempo, second half when City took over it got so boring I switched it off. Effective yes, entertaining no.

 

[Deery]

How can the team that scores the highest number of goals, and create the highest number of goal occasions be boring?

If teams are tired of them passing the ball, well all they have to do is collect the ball from them right? Some of their games become boring because the other pl teams often make it boring against them IMO.

Because every goal ends up being exactly the same play it about in the final third, get it to DeBruyne, whip a ball across the 6 yard line, get a tap in, rinse and repeat.

 

[phelans shorts]

Pep’s Barca were painful to watch, probably only the 2010 Spain side tops them for being unbearably dull and that’s because Messi would just do something ludicrous and draw you back in. His Bayern side I don’t recall being so bad and City I don’t particularly hate watching, although Liverpool are obviously a lot more fun.

As others have mentioned I’d love to see United winning like City do, but at the same time I’d probably be more likely to skip out on matches because it’s a foregone conclusion. It’s all about risk aversion in a different way from the typical, but risks are what bring about excitement and make teams genuinely fun and entertaining to watch, and at the end of the day the thing I’m looking for most from football is to be entertained.

 

[yumtum]

I never liked the high possession football, being a United supporter, quick wing play with fast counter attacks got me excited.

Thr other problem I have with these possession based teams is that they seem to get away with professional fouls to stop the counter, it ruins the football game, and the refs still haven't cottoned onto it yet which gives the team fouling a big advantage.

Just imagine SAF's great sides being disqualified from counter attacking? We'd have been much less successful purely for the fact we would be unable to deploy our tactics.

 

[stevoc]

If Pep managed United, we would be loving it.

Maybe but the enjoyment you get from watching the team you support vs watching another team as a neutral isn't necessarily the same.

 

[Deery]

I never liked the high possession football, being a United supporter, quick wing play with fast counter attacks got me excited.

Thr other problem I have with these possession based teams is that they seem to get away with professional fouls to stop the counter, it ruins the football game, and the refs still haven't cottoned onto it yet which gives the team fouling a big advantage.

Just imagine SAF's great sides being disqualified from counter attacking? We'd have been much less successful purely for the fact we would be unable to deploy our tactics.

That’s becoming a massive problem, it’s basically part of the City game plan now and refs do nothing about it it’s sickening.

The lesser teams game plan is to sit deep defend and counter but how can they achieve this now with City fouling every time they attack? It’s gotten to a point I think there’s some corruption going on.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

I am just annoyed they are winning so much. Hard to enjoy that.

The football is probably more fun for the neutral than watching us vs Wolves tomorrow.

 

[Lay]

I really enjoyed his Barcelona team, I know others found it boring but at that time I thought Tika Taka was the only way to play football

Watching back, I’d probably find it boring. My favourite style at one point was Atletico Madrids a few years back, so what do I know about exciting football!

 

[weetee]

I love it most of the times. Really enjoying the collective aspect of it with everybody being almost equally involved, lots of great passes to witness and brilliant positional play. Makes it all look very easy and sophisticated most of the times. Sure hard to watch if they play that way against your own team.

The Bayern Munich variant is certainly more reckless and leads eventually to more goals (not sure if true, at least more "action") but they rarely have to meet the sheer physicality almost every PL team has to offer in the BL so not sure that'd work just as well here.

 

[Maluco]

It’s the difference between a Khabib or a Gaethje in MMA.

Khabib was the champion and clearly the best fighter in the division, he just smothered opponents and took them down and controlled them…but it was a very boring watch for all but the purists. Pep is all about that control and taking away the opponents ability to hurt you (the ball)

Klopp is the slobberknocker, like Gaethje, who will swing for the fences. He is the best at it, so he very often wins, but there is always the chance he will get caught on the night. A much better watch, but lacks the control and always gives the opponent a chance.

In saying that, Klopp doesn’t have the best players, the most money or the largest squad. You can only really do what Pep does if you have what Pep has.

 

[Hoof the ball]

City play more balls through lines than any team in the league. They also play more balls into channels than any team in the league. In terms of progressive passes they are numero uno. City are criticised for boring games, but how come the defensive team which decides to fall back and sit up shop is never ladened with the same intensity of criticism reserved for Pep? City play attacking, progressive and controlling football, and when the opposition can't help but be controlled they regress into their own shell. If a game is boring that is the fault of the opposition for choosing to make the game boring by playing for preservation. End of story.

 

[Maluco]

City play more balls through lines than any team in the league. They also play more balls into channels than any team in the league. In terms of progressive passes they are numero uno. City are criticised for boring games, but how come the defensive team which decides to fall back and sit up shop is never ladened with the same intensity of criticism reserved for Pep? City play attacking, progressive and controlling football, and when the opposition can't help but be controlled they regress into their own shell. If a game is boring that is the fault of the opposition for choosing to make the game boring by playing for preservation. End of story.

Looking forward to seeing the beautiful passing triangles and high press of Westwood, Brownhill and Mee in the future. Come on lads, stop being so boring!!

 

[Hoof the ball]

Looking forward to seeing the beautiful passing triangles and high press of Westwood, Brownhill and Mee in the future. Come on lads, stop being so boring!!

If a team decides to shut up shop and the game is boring, almost always it's because the defending team cannot get control of the game. They might not be good enought to open up to a superior team, but the fact remains, their reticence to open up and act according to preservation is the cause of the game being boring.

 

[yumtum]

That’s becoming a massive problem, it’s basically part of the City game plan now and refs do nothing about it it’s sickening.

The lesser teams game plan is to sit deep defend and counter but how can they achieve this now with City fouling every time they attack? It’s gotten to a point I think there’s some corruption going on.

It's been a problem for years, and it means no team has much of a chance when they go 1 nil down.

@Hoof The Ball that's all well and good saying it's the oppositions fault, but you can't expect teams to open up against City? It would help if they were allowed to counter attack, but City constantly foul making it look like the opposition are being pegged back constantly - it would be like making it a rule for a possession based team to have to shoot after three passes, it completely unfair and refs should have gotten wise to these tactics.

 

[Ridge Racer]

If a game is boring that is the fault of the opposition for choosing to make the game boring by playing for preservation

When they play openly against City, they lose 7-0 like Leeds did.

 

[Maluco]

If a team decides to shut up shop and the game is boring, almost always it's because the defending team cannot get control of the game. They might not be good enought to open up to a superior team, but the fact remains, their reticence to open up and act according to preservation is the cause of the game being boring.

I can see what you mean, but I don’t agree with it. There are plenty of great teams down the years that bad plenty of personality and flare. You can choose to give great players more freedom to express themselves and make it a more entertaining spectacle for the fans.

But you probably trade of a portion of that consistency in return.

 

[Skills]

Pep's Barcelona were the best club side I've ever seen, packed with all-time great players, playing fantastic football. Yet I remember some people complaining that they were boring.

On that basis it's not surprising that some people consider this lesser Pep side to be dull too, highly efficient though they are. Takes all sorts.

I would say though that insofar as a team like Klopp's Liverpool are better to watch, a lot of that is because they're generally less good which makes for more competitive games. I don't think there's another team in the league so highly competent and controlled that they could hammer us 2-0 in the way City did, for example. With most teams the game isn't dead at that point.

Only on the caf though. I don't think you'd find that opinion prevalent on any other fan forum.

Guardiola's Barcelona were exhilarating - it had Lionel fecking Messi at his peak pulling off something ridiculous almost every game.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Winning is fun.

 

[90 + 5min]

It's very surgical and methodical, no unpredictability about it.

Exactly. And they are brilliant at it. Everyone know how they play. However, they still manage to win. Sometimes with luck.

 

[mu4c_20le]

When they score it's like, oh there you go. Usually after a long spell of possession. Hardly like prime Barca is it.

 

[Skills]

It’s the difference between a Khabib or a Gaethje in MMA.

Khabib was the champion and clearly the best fighter in the division, he just smothered opponents and took them down and controlled them…but it was a very boring watch for all but the purists. Pep is all about that control and taking away the opponents ability to hurt you (the ball)

Klopp is the slobberknocker, like Gaethje, who will swing for the fences. He is the best at it, so he very often wins, but there is always the chance he will get caught on the night. A much better watch, but lacks the control and always gives the opponent a chance.

In saying that, Klopp doesn’t have the best players, the most money or the largest squad. You can only really do what Pep does if you have what Pep has.

Klopp's football was quite smothering during the two seasons they made a title challenge. It was quite methodical and it wasn't the same highly end to end style he's famous for.

They've been extremely entertaining this season though, but i think that's a lot to do with Salah who's been in incredible form.

 

[Red the Bear]

I actually find city entertaining to watch if it wasn't for the blinding and burning hatred that i have for the lot.

His barca and bayern teams on the other hand? Made me want to go to sleep, especially his bayern years, they were dreadful, at least with his barca side you could turn up to see messi's brilliance and admire Xavie and Iniesta's mastery of football

I'll give him credit as he seems to have evolved his football a bit from those days where you could be derogatory and surmise his style as passing the ball in to the net ( holds much more truth for the Spanish nt who lacked messi and pep but still), right now though its a lot more energetic and dynamic and they actually counter press a lot so it's surprisingly decent on the eyes

 

[Galactic]

Only their own fans plus some people who don’t know much about football (or don’t support any particular teams) find them entertaining.
But, if we’re not in the picture, personally I prefer them over the dippers. Ideally I prefer anyone over them both.

 

[kaiser1]

The best teams limit their opponents chances

 

[Bondi77]

Best team in the Premier League cannot be boring.

 

[non profit football]

For those who watch 2 or 3 football games a week, it is lucky if there is a year with more than 6 good games and shows of total entertainment, football is becoming more boring due to several factors...

And yes, seeing Pep's teams every week can be a good help to fall asleep, but rarely a good entertainment.
It was like that in many, many games with Pep's Barcelona, considered by many as the best team in history, which is quite debatable.

It's a way of understanding the game, a style, with its advantages and disadvantages.

I don't appreciate it.