Is Football boring now?

[Web of Bissaka]

Not really.
In general, it's still good and entertaining, from a neutral point of view of football fans.
The no-fans-in-stadium in this time does bring the emotions on the pitch down but emotions are still felt in social media and among the players + managers so it doesn't matter much. This is temporary anyway.

I do find it boring looking at defenders defending nowadays, it's like the art of defending have been lost. Intelligent way of defending is more common before, but not now, not now. Nowadays, it's more reliant on system, team work and overloading busses of players just so they can defend better. Otherwise they'll concede and lost defense in silly ways. One intelligent defender can do the work of 2-3 players so you can push more players on attacking. Similarly with keepers, can't find any smart/intelligent keepers.

 

[Mount's Goatieson]

Combination of several factors. Some have been slowly creeping in and killing the game like Social Media, overemphasis on data and tactics, priotising atheletism over pure talent, robotic/mercenary players (where did all the player rivalry and handbags go) etc...
Other factors are “Jonny-come-lately” like Covid, Empty stadiums and VAR.
There is too much emphasis on efficiency these days and risk taking/takers are frowned upon. Everything looks mechanical and its either you are pressing to force mistakes or you are passing sideways and backwards to avoid being pressed into making mistakes.

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

For me the mavericks in football are long gone, it used to feel like every side had one player capable of genius. One reason I’m a massive Grealish fan. The fat bastards are long gone too. Both a massive loss to the game.

And yeah without the fans most games feel generally meaningless.

 

[Rossa]

Another boring thing about football is press conferences. How utterly mundane can you get? Politicians answer questions more to the point than footballers and managers. Anyone else heard this phrase before: “we have to work harder and get results.” It’s like they have a combined cocabulary of 300 words of no more than two syllables. A little creativity and real thoughts and feelings would not go amiss.

 

[MetoTTT]

Yes, we don't win anymore since longtime and playing some shite football. The worst thing is Liverpool are a dominating side right now.

 

[Zaphod2319]

As a Chelsea fan, no game is boring. We can win against the best and lose against the worst. Every gameday is like a box of chocolates.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Very much. Or I just don't care about it much anymore.

 

[GenZRed]

Yep it is.

 

[romufc]

yep, no excitement watching United games anymore. Its more hope than expectation.

Alot of the games are a tactical battle, players are not allowed to showcase their abilities anymore.

 

[Mogget]

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?

It's definitely this.

I was in the stadium when Xhaka was booed off the pitch and it turned a standard home game against Crystal Palace into something so much more. The crowd reacting to what's happening on the pitch is what makes football so compelling.

Who doesn't love watching a manager or team booed off the pitch by their own fans? Or fans booing the ref because he's made a bad call? It adds a drama that just isn't there in these games in an empty stadium. Imagine the scenes in the stadium if fans had been there to watch Villa beat Liverpool 7-2.

 

[McTerminator]

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.

Think you have inadvertently touched on another massive factor.

Fouls are just so common and frequent now. You see players pull out of challenges all the time, not just because they're scared of injury, but scared of punishment too for an honest strong that's a little to strong.

They used to say a strong challenge would get the crowd up, but what was the last true strong, but fair challenge you saw? (off topic, this is why I love Wan Bissaka because he brings some of that back imo).

I agree with everything else being posted in here. Football is just dull now mindless passing play to get around the press for hours without any meaningful action.

I've felt this way, as have many of my friends, for years (not just since covid). Never said anything, because the obvious answer is United's decline, but I don't think that's it.

Football needs a massive shake up, but I don't know exactly how.

I would add that the cost of football doesn't help. Spending ten pounds to watch United lose to Arsenal in a drab 0-1 feels worse then the result itself half the time and pushes me to watch less and be less optimistic in the lead up to a game.