Is Football boring now?

[JSArsenal]

I hope the fact that I'm an Arsenal fan and we're a bit crap right now doesn't invalidate this entire thread, because generally when your club is winning you think football is great (unless you're a Real Madrid fan).

Its just that I find the matches by and large so dull nowadays and not just Arsenal matches. Yes a lot of goals are scored, but the game feels so mechanical and efficient now.

I don't feel engaged in the match minute by minute anymore. I even find the Liverpool-Chelsa matches helmed by Benitez vs Mourinho, more exciting than some of the football on display.

Are there fewer magicians at work now?

 

[T00lsh3d]

I hope the fact that I'm an Arsenal fan and we're a bit crap right now doesn't invalidate this entire thread, because generally when your club is winning you think football is great (unless you're a Real Madrid fan).

Its just that I find the matches by and large so dull nowadays and not just Arsenal matches. Yes a lot of goals are scored, but the game feels so mechanical and efficient now.

I don't feel engaged in the match minute by minute anymore. I even find the Liverpool-Chelsa matches helmed by Benitez vs Mourinho, more exciting than some of the football on display.

Are there fewer magicians at work now?

No, I’m finding live football an absolute slog at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of crowd or what

 

[Deery]

I find teams just seem to be going through the motions now very rarely do I get proper excited during a game, the Leipzig game was the only time in ages..

 

[Wittmann45]

Part of it definitely stems from United being in the situation they are, but I think it would feel a little different even if United were great. Maybe it is the game itself, beyond United, as perhaps there are less fireworks, less rivalry, almost less passion, I don't know.

But I think it is also sports more generally during the pandemic/global meltdown. Sports returning has been a nice little distraction, but I feel the same sort of disinterest watching football, NFL, NBA and the NHL. I usually watch the NHL playoffs pretty regularly, but I don't think I watched a full game this year. I don't like baseball, but I usually at least watch the World Series but I had absolutely no interest.

 

[acnumber9]

I keep banging this drum but the emphasis on pressing makes games scrappy pieces of shit in my opinion. It’s become about who makes the least mistakes.

 

[Judas]

It's passionless and the style of football that has become fashionable is pretty grim. It's become awfully robotic in so many areas.

 

[NoLogo]

You are getting old and starting to get jaded. That's all.

Oh yeah and maybe the fact that football games in empty stadiums got all the excitement of a training match might have something to do with it.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Empty stadium is like watching training match.

 

[Red Daz]

Glad it’s not just me, maybe I’m getting old but I used to watch pretty much most live games but no desire to watch anyone bar United and even that’s a chore most of the time.
There’s no characters, true rivalry anymore.....

 

[Cheimoon]

I hope the fact that I'm an Arsenal fan and we're a bit crap right now doesn't invalidate this entire thread, because generally when your club is winning you think football is great (unless you're a Real Madrid fan).

Its just that I find the matches by and large so dull nowadays and not just Arsenal matches. Yes a lot of goals are scored, but the game feels so mechanical and efficient now.

I don't feel engaged in the match minute by minute anymore. I even find the Liverpool-Chelsa matches helmed by Benitez vs Mourinho, more exciting than some of the football on display.

Are there fewer magicians at work now?

Since when have you been feeling this though? Could the empty stadiums be playing a role?

 

[United58]

Us being largely shite for 8 years has made it very boring ugly football under Moyes, LVG, Jose and 90% of the time under Ole has really put a dampener on it

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Yes, all of the above, and also VAR.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

It’s definitely a lot more focused on stopping the opponent & utilising system players then it once was. Flamboyance & flair is dying out in football.

Ginola got quite emotional talking about this a few years ago.

 

[Oranges038]

I've been of this opinion for a while too. Footballers now seem more like soulless robots going through the motions of a game rather than living and enjoying it.

To me there are far less entertaining players out there now, players who can create magic moments and excitement. I grew up watching the likes of Le Tissier, Rui Costa, Zidane, Cantona, the original Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,Figo, Totti, Del Piero, Henry, Giggs, Berkgamp etc players who regularly got you excited to watch a game. I honestly can't think of that many now in football.

I know in sports they use statistical analysis to encourage players not to do certain things.

This is only an example, but say, having a pop from 30 yards because the chances of success are only 1% whereas passing it out wide or into feet retains possession and a better opportunity will arise.

 

[The Plump Poet]

Premiership football? Absolutely. It's been a grotesquely bloated turdstain for at least 15 years.

Championship and lower league football? Still great. The Championship should by all rights be turdstain-lite. But for some reason the huge financial disparity between some clubs doesn't seem to hurt the competitiveness at all. It's almost like all the wage money weighs those big clubs down.

 

[dbs235]

It’s definitely a lot more focused on stopping the opponent & utilising system players then it once was. Flamboyance & flair is dying out in football.

Ginola got quite emotional talking about this a few years ago.

I agree, the game is probably getting overly tactical, data based, sports science based. Less maverick players around for sure.

 

[Lay]

Yeah. I can rarely pay attention these days and haven't for a few years. I don't think its down to United being shit as I went through a similar phase after 99.

I also agree that the pressing tactics have made the games into a mistake fest. There's a real lack of magic in games I feel. Where are all the flair players that would make you stand up and applaud?

 

[JSArsenal]

Since when have you been feeling this though? Could the empty stadiums be playing a role?

Its gotten worse since the restart. Honestly, probably since Fabregas left Arsenal.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I don’t want to be a dick (although that’s never stopped me before!) but if I had to watch Arteta’s Arsenal every week I would find football incredibly boring too. If you were a Leeds or Leicester fan I reckon you would feel very entertained. One of my best friends is a gooner and he says he stopped caring about football from the moment Wenger left. He has no time for Arteta at all. Thinks the way they play now is an insult to Wenger’s attacking ideals.

I do think the lack of crowds makes it all a bit flat though. For everyone.

 

[VorZakone]

My main issue is the lack of magicians. Players who get you on the edge of your seat. There should be about 10 Neymar's around, not just 1.

Many players are athletically excellent but they lack the magic.

 

[Peyroteo]

Players are fitter, more physically dominant and better organized tactically to close down spaces which makes certain aspects of the game which used to be important in previous decades completely irrelavant in modern football.

 

[adexkola]

I hope the fact that I'm an Arsenal fan and we're a bit crap right now doesn't invalidate this entire thread, because generally when your club is winning you think football is great (unless you're a Real Madrid fan).

Its just that I find the matches by and large so dull nowadays and not just Arsenal matches. Yes a lot of goals are scored, but the game feels so mechanical and efficient now.

I don't feel engaged in the match minute by minute anymore. I even find the Liverpool-Chelsa matches helmed by Benitez vs Mourinho, more exciting than some of the football on display.

Are there fewer magicians at work now?

That cannot be true. That was the first season I started watching football and it was nearly my last due to those 2 games in the semi-final

 

[USREDEVIL]

Need more karate kicks and headbutts to the chest i reckon.

 

[TwoSheds]

It's competitive in the PL but that also makes the teams a bit inconsistent I think. Liverpool have been the only exception in recent years and they're pretty shit to watch. Fans would help too of course.

 

[Dan_F]

My main issue is the lack of magicians. Players who get you on the edge of your seat. There should be about 10 Neymar's around, not just 1.

Many players are athletically excellent but they lack the magic.

And he’s a complete shit of a personality, so it almost invalidates any joy you get from watching him (or maybe it’s just me).

I could definitely list way more things I dislike about football, than like about it. Maybe that’s just me getting older and grumpier.

 

[FootballHQ]

BCD was curious end of last season just to see how everyone would get on with whole different aspect to matchday.

It's probably thrown up most unpredictable premier league for a while but I've always said the thought of watching pretty much a whole season without any fans in the ground leaves me cold and it's proving that now, the novelty is wearing off.

 

[Dave Smith]

I think there are a few factors at play as to why some people feel this way but I think the problems stem largely away from the pitch but impact it directly.

Off the top of my head, I would list the following:

1) Lack of characters. This I think is due to three key factors. A) Social Media, and how everyone is now a brand or is trying to build a brand B) Players now essentially being processed through academies from U7 and essentially treating as a job from that age C) Societies change in moral code over the past 10-15 years. I mean lets be serious, everyone has to be very careful about the 'optics' - this one kind of links to social media as well.

2) Sports Analytics. Sport is now driven by this to an insane level. Players are now given enormous amounts of data/information about what to do exactly when they are in any area of the pitch. This restricts their individual/natural instincts and makes them more robotic in their play.

3) FFP. Cartel system that has been used to strangle all but the richest clubs. Absolute joke of a law.

4) Football moving from being a working class sport that was primarily localised to being a hyper gobalistic sport. Where teams used to have their support primarily be based to local populations (either city or country) they now have fans all over the world who get involved. This is not necessarily an issue but you end up with a lot of fans, particularly top teams, who now have masses of keyboard warriors who haven't ever stepped inside a ground before and have only been watching the sport for a few years.

Further, football has suffered from what I call the middle class trap, in that people expect players/others to behave as they do even if they come from very different backgrounds.

A good example was Diego Costa whose background was from a Brazilian favela. People over here carried on like he was some kind of animal/criminal due to his playing style which was developed from playing on the streets in such a place, then cry about not having any characters when he left.

5) FIFA/Football Manager. Too many people play these games and now think they are prime SAF or Jose. Further, they will tell everyone about it and explain how if this transfer was made or if the manager made this minor tweak to the formation, they would go from 6th to quadruple winners within 2 years.

6) VAR. Makes the game even more robotic.

7) Money. Personally, I do not care what footballers earn. I do not see why they shouldn't earn such money as otherwise it would just go to billionaire owners and there are plenty of examples of people from other industries earning more. However, this clearly gets to a lot of people.

8) The Dippers winning the league. I mean lets face it, how many people that do not support them had to start looking up their options for booking a slot a Dignitas?

9) Empty grounds/not being able to go to games.

10) People mostly consuming the sport via TV/the internet/news articles.

11) Supporters of clubs who are now not as good as they were.

There are more but I would say those are the main ones. Particularly the first few and No.8 of course.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I keep banging this drum but the emphasis on pressing makes games scrappy pieces of shit in my opinion. It’s become about who makes the least mistakes.

This is it. Even 10 years ago the games were much more interesting. Now if you don't press like demons you better be unbelievable on the counter, and even then the team pressing is just going to turn it into a foul fest until there is a mistake made a someone gets through on goal easily. I've been banging the same drum, managers like Klopp that turn their teams into pressing machines should also run the risk of being shredded on the counter, but instead he teaches his players to just hack someone down if the ball isn't won, and then Liverpool can get back into their shape during the stoppage.

 

[Snow]

Players are fitter, more physically dominant and better organized tactically to close down spaces which makes certain aspects of the game which used to be important in previous decades completely irrelavant in modern football.

Defenders don't get away with anything anymore. The thing I miss the most are tackles that get the ball and aren't overly dangerous. Now people pretend to be hurt at any time because it's in their interest to fake it.

 

[Red_toad]

I find teams just seem to be going through the motions now very rarely do I get proper excited during a game, the Leipzig game was the only time in ages..

You didn't like the PSG game? I thought we were excellent and it was an end to end match.

 

[Footy van de Geek]

Football couldn’t be more exciting, in my opinion.

Games are very unpredictable, with freak scores and anyone capable of beating anyone.

Covidball, as I call it, is more like Basketball. Games are a lot more open. Cagey, tight games like United vs Arsenal are more of a rarity. Defence has gone out the window.

 

[VeevaVee]

Football without a crowd has really made me realise it's just a bunch of lads kicking a ball around, as daft and obvious as it may sound.

Most games are pretty shit. Like the vast majority of them. When there's no sense of importance, given by thousands of people watching and reacting to every move, you realise it's just not really important. And if it's not one of the few games where the football coupled with your tribalism is actually exhilirating, then it's really not that great.
That happens what? Twice a season maybe?

On top of that, there's a lack of iconic footballers and what comes with it nowadays. I thought it might just be because I grew up, but watching back vids of Keane vs Viera and the like - as cliche as it is to reminisce upon - that shit would excite me now. It's just not as interesting these days is it?

 

[100]

Inconsistency in decisions makes it feel very hollow at times. Theres no joy in penalties frequently deciding matches.

 

[Blades1889]

Not having a crowd has watered it down for me (I know that’s not what the OP is about but still). Years in the lower leagues made a return to the PL very special to us and you could feel that in the atmosphere. Now, we can’t watch our team battle it out in the PL week in week out and experience it, we could very well be in the Championship by the time fans are back.

Back to the OP, a lot changed when Pep arrived imo. Sweeper keepers, playing out from the back came into fashion like never before. It seems like everyone now is aiming to be a high pressing/high energy team, no proper identity.

 

[Blades1889]

Also, VAR has changed everything now too.

 

[Based Adnan]

The death of the classic 10 is a tragedy

 

[paraguayo]

It's become very boring with all the pressing stuff and tactical fouling. Also, seems like there are rarely any 1 on 1 battles anymore, unless they are on the wings which just result in a cross or a corner.

 

[Blades1889]

The death of the classic 10 is a tragedy

A real shame. I don’t understand why its happened either.

 

[el3mel]

Not really. It has always been the same actually.

 

[Blades1889]

Football without a crowd has really made me realise it's just a bunch of lads kicking a ball around, as daft and obvious as it may sound.

Most games are pretty shit. Like the vast majority of them. When there's no sense of importance, given by thousands of people watching and reacting to every move, you realise it's just not really important. And if it's not one of the few games where the football coupled with your tribalism is actually exhilirating, then it's really not that great.
That happens what? Twice a season maybe?

100%. I can just imagine the atmosphere for our game against Leeds it would have been incredible and that would have definitely had an effect on the football being played. Without it, awful watch and felt detached to it completely.