Is football overrated as entertainment?

markhughes

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It really does show you how important fans are to the game, the way the drive the team forward and the sense of urgency they create at difficult moments is something that cannot be replicated.

Those crisp European nights at Old Trafford, the away fans bringing their own special brand of tribal noises, this is what is missing and I for one will never take it for granted again!
 

432JuanMata

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A handful of games out of hundreds still isn't a great percentage though.
I watched 3 out the 4 games today and all where entertaining? If you watch football as a neutral you will see loads of exciting games. Though some are woeful
 
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I don't know any Rangers fans, but the Liverpool fans I know seem to be a bit underwhelmed by finally winning the PL when it was under these conditions. That's not a dig at them, I don't blame them. Would be the same for me, I think.
i agree it’s not the same level of euphoria, but it’s not pointless was just my point.

the Liverpool fans I know wouldn’t shut up about it. At least the * will forever get on their tits.
 

Lay

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It’s fecking boring. It’s two teams scared to lose, one team will be low block for 90% of the game and the other will pass it around with a lack of creativity. We bash United but other teams play just as shite.

Football needs a new tactic again, the cycle for the current one is near the end.
 

lsd

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Totally overrated i never watch any match that doesnt involve United and even then i spend more time on my tablet browsing.

I never watch any analysis wheter pre match post match or at half time
 

Lay

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Without fans, the games feel slow.

With that said, games consist of trying to capitalise on mistakes with pressing than actual creative football (bar a couple of teams).

Press, press, win ball back, pass it sideways, cross it in, headed away, press press press. Pretty much the pattern for a lot of games.

I really hope pressing becomes less important soon along with the whole playing out from the back that every team does even if they're utter shite at it.
 

Markolan

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Bayern- Paris SG was amazing, Manchester City - BVB and Real Madrid - Liverpool very entertaining matches.. Do we need the Superleague, maybe? More matches between top european teams and less boring league games.
 

Blackwidow

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Bayern- Paris SG was amazing, Manchester City - BVB and Real Madrid - Liverpool very entertaining matches.. Do we need the Superleague, maybe? More matches between top european teams and less boring league games.
As a neutral it is the Cup character, that makes all of this matches interesting.

Else it is just interesting when you are really interested in the teams.
 

amolbhatia50k

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We're 2nd in one of, if not the best league in the world in top flight football, and yet for the majority of this season we've been pretty unenjoyable to watch.

This has to be pretty damning of football, doesn't it?

Sure, there's the occasional great game or epic moment, but they're pretty rare in the grand scheme of things, aren't they?
You really shouldn't use us as a benchmark. Post SAF we are a consistently boring watch.
 

baskinginthesun

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It’s fecking boring. It’s two teams scared to lose, one team will be low block for 90% of the game and the other will pass it around with a lack of creativity. We bash United but other teams play just as shite.

Football needs a new tactic again, the cycle for the current one is near the end.
What about getting rid of the draw? So now it becomes 3 points or no points. Teams will be less reluctant to sit back. If it's 0-0 after 90 we go to the Golden Goal. It would be similar to how hockey decides their games.
 

Focusmate

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It isnt any less entertaining as a spectacle for a neutral so its not that.
It really is because it was much less about “entertainment” 20/30 yrs ago - it was more a tribal attachment to a club that you were really desperate to see win.
It wasnt anywhere near as visible on tv (no internet!) so it was all about the matchday experience and tribally supporting your club.
Think this has largely been lost now which is a shame but i guess the plus side is next to no violence etc.
Also if its just a form of entertainment theres now a million other options at your finger tips
 

Turnip

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I think football could learn a little from some American sports, by that i mean adding some rules to encourage attacking. For example a shot clock, pass limit or rules against passing back into your half. I know these just sound like anti-possession rules but i think it would make it all more exciting.

Bayern- Paris SG was amazing, Manchester City - BVB and Real Madrid - Liverpool very entertaining matches.. Do we need the Superleague, maybe? More matches between top european teams and less boring league games.
But most games between the big 6 in the league have been boring. I guess it would depend on tbe format of the super league, but if jts knock out won't it just be another version of the champions league? If its a league it will have the same problems of the PL, actually id expect it to be even worse watching than the PL as you dont get the thrill of an underdog vs a giant half the time, and when the big teams clash twice a year it feels more lile an occasion than if it happened in every match.
 

RORY65

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Most teams are generally boring (ourselves usually included). It doesn't help that people have got nowhere to go so end up watching more games plus they're more spread out so shit games that would either be on at 3 on a Saturday or at the same times as other fixtures are now being watched by more people. Add into that that the players are knackered because of the schedule and the lack of energy to feed off with no crowds and there's a lot of dull football matches at the minute.
 

teteus

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Football has never been at a higher technical level. Football is both sport and art, amazing games never stop appearing, yesterday we had a perfect example.
 

berbatrick

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Was switching between the Ajax and United games today and the Ajax was one more fun, and even though it wasn't particularly special. Just a few neat passing moves and flicks, and some higher tempo play. Get the same mild entertainment when watching Leeds.

I think it's United being boring rather than the game itself.
 

hubbuh

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The idea of United being consistently great fun to watch feels like an impossible dream at this point. I don't know what other teams are like as I don't watch other teams enough to know, but shit. It's been a long ol' while since we've been the top entertainers in football.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Not just us. Most teams are as bad if not worse
I'd say the top teams are going through a lull whereas we've been in this place for 8 years now.

Expanding on this, over the last 8 years there have been so many teams have been fun to watch - Barcelona, Madrid, City, Livepool, PSG, Bayern, Dortmund,
Napoli, even Juve at times, Atalanta, Leipzig among the CL teams spring to mind. Others I'd say have played fun football just off the top of my head would be Leeds, Leicester under Rodgers, even Bournemouth under Howe, plenty of La Liga teams who front foot football etc

So I don't think you can correlate our boring football for 8 years now with other teams who naturally go through little blips here and there but are otherwise a good watch.
 
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amolbhatia50k

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The idea of United being consistently great fun to watch feels like an impossible dream at this point. I don't know what other teams are like as I don't watch other teams enough to know, but shit. It's been a long ol' while since we've been the top entertainers in football.
Forget top entertainers, I haven't found us to be mere entertainers this past decade let alone 'top' entertainers. There's just something about our football that's a chore. A lack of fluidity. Even when we win it's so functional and uninspiring
 
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I think a big part of it - in our case at least - is that we don't have any exciting 1v1 dribblers. Giggs at top flight, running at defenders got you off your seat. Ronaldo and Nani humiliating full-backs with some ridiculous trick was often worth the admission price alone.

We haven't had that type of player in a long time. A proper entertainer.

There are less of them around in general...although they are out there, at varying qualities (Neymar, Grealish, Saint-Maximin, Faivre, Harit, Gil, Doku, Kvaratskhelia etc)

There's just very little 'fun' in our team, and I don't think we're alone in that.
 

amolbhatia50k

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But most games between the big 6 in the league have been boring. I guess it would depend on tbe format of the super league, but if jts knock out won't it just be another version of the champions league? If its a league it will have the same problems of the PL, actually id expect it to be even worse watching than the PL as you dont get the thrill of an underdog vs a giant half the time, and when the big teams clash twice a year it feels more lile an occasion than if it happened in every match.
It's a brief moment in time when a lot of good teams are playing mediocre football. Chelsea hired a novice manager and have now got someone putting together the pieces and also being a tad conservative. Spurs have Mourinho. We have been boring for years hiring managers who don't play exciting football. Livepool have had a poor year. Arsenal have a newbie manager who is doing a poor job and doesn't seem to be interested in exciting.
 

LoneStar

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Really enjoyed the Bayern PSG match yesterday. Bayern are a joy to watch. But yeah, I can't find myself wanting to stay up super late just to watch this current United side. It's boring football.
 

rollingstoned1

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Not relevant for those of us who have developed a taste for it, but getting anyone new to become more than a casual fan of the game invites pretty much the same observations. It is also probably why 'soccer' hasn't caught on all that much in USA despite every effort to market it. The frequent complaint is that not enough happens and it is often dominated by a lot of sedate, sideways passing and plays that are easily ignored. Asking people to only pay attention to when the ball goes between the 2 posts isn't enough to hook them unless they want to be.
 

edcunited1878

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How many of you were chomping at the bit for football and United to be back in action during lockdown when the league was suspended last year. Reeks of spoiled fans who want to be entertained and win all at the same time, all the time. Can't appreciate the simple things in life.
 

hobbers

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Of course it is, and it's getting worse. City manage to play incredibly boring metronomic football, even while dominating. Brighton and Leeds the notable exceptions, the vast majority of the teams in the league are set up to be difficult to beat rather than play exciting, expansive, risk-taking football, including big teams like ourselves and Spurs.

Also the overall quality of the major European leagues have all seriously dipped from where we were in the 2000s. Definitely the case for the Prem, La Liga and, most obviously, Serie A.
 

RedRonaldo

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I also attribute my slight loss of love for football on watching too many 90 minute matches and no longer watching Match of the Day. Football is actually quite perfectly made for 10-minute highlight purposes. There are long periods in almost every match where nothing really happens. But because you can watch 90 minute matches, you often do now, even though you'd be better served watching highlights a lot of the time.

It's a bit like watching the news. A half hour TV round-up serves all purposes when a big story breaks. But the temptation is there to watch Sky News or CNN talking heads talk about nothing, just in case something happens live.
Yeh watching those 10 minutes highlights is still very entertaining for me.

But to be honest I can’t be bother to sit down watching full 90 mins these days, most likely I will doing something else while turning my TV on listening to commentator at same time, if it’s getting intense from sound of commentary, I will switch back my focus on watching.
 

Kamprad

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This is what happens when people with money and politics on their mind rule the game instead of people with passion. And I don’t even think teams and players are better than they would be if love and passion rather than money was in charge. It’s the opposite. If people like Cruyff, Bielsa, Ferdinand etc. was owning clubs and in charge of FIFA/UEFA the teams, players and the game would be better long term. I remember when Cruyff was furious when Barca signed that first shirt sponsor deal. But it’s not just a football related problem, it’s almost everywhere.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Yeh watching those 10 minutes highlights is still very entertaining for me.

But to be honest I can’t be bother to sit down watching full 90 mins these days, most likely I will doing something else while turning my TV on listening to commentator at same time, if it’s getting intense from sound of commentary, I will switch back my focus on watching.
Sadly, this is now happening a lot more with me as well. Earlier I used to watch so many full games over the course of the weekend but now it's just the United games which I'm able to catch live. The rest, and this includes our evening (midnight or later for us) games, I just watch quick highlights of.

Other than life getting busier I think it's also to do with how boring we are, it just makes the PL as a whole seem less fun. Plus I find that even the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Spurs are going through dull phases which makes City and Liverpool (usually) the only entertaining top side and they're both teams we don't like seeing winning.

So it's more to do with United being a bit of a boring watch, and many big sides together going through a slight transitional phase. And my bad neck which keeps me from staying up late of course.
 

Bobcat

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The modern "metagame," for lack of a better term, is just terrible to watch. Everything's so cautious and defensive. There's rarely a game that gets my pulse up, and that's not just United. It's basically all of European football.
This. Parking the bus is so effective, so every time there is a significant difference in quality between the two teams, they lesser one tends to play with 10 men behind the ball.

Big teams also tend to have a cautious approach vs eachother, ironically enough because the media puts such a big spotlight on those matches.

But regarding the OP, handball and basketball for instance are much more fast paced
 

amolbhatia50k

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The modern "metagame," for lack of a better term, is just terrible to watch. Everything's so cautious and defensive. There's rarely a game that gets my pulse up, and that's not just United. It's basically all of European football.
Really? Aren't the Bundesliga and Serie A more free scoring than ever?

I think the PL and La Liga are going through a spell where many top sides aren't very exciting to watch, and the ones that in recent times in the PL that have been, are ones that we dislike. Don't think there's that much of a long term issue in football. Not so long back people here kept complaining that La Liga teams are too attacking against Real and Barcelona. Same now in Germany.
 

el3mel

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It really depends on the team you are supporting. Harsh to say that, but this is the truth.

I mean if you are supporting Bayern it will be the funniest thing in the world. You win the majority of your league games without much problems so you can turn your brain off and enjoy some goals and fun, while having a chance in CL every season. Nothing to not enjoy here.

Meanwhile, whelp, do I have to mention current United?
 

hubbuh

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Forget top entertainers, I haven't found us to be mere entertainers this past decade let alone 'top' entertainers. There's just something about our football that's a chore. A lack of fluidity. Even when we win it's so functional and uninspiring
True enough for the most part, depressingly. Inconsistent and dysfunctional with the occasional burst of something special has become our MO. We have this knack of making football pitches appear really big and unassailable nowadays, largely due to the fact that we struggle to squeeze teams high up the pitch in my opinion. Hundreds of millions spent, scores of players been and gone, several managers still unable to get to the root of the problem.. it really does feel like there's something in the water at Old Trafford at times (I'm staring directly at Woody).