watching football involving United has never been about entertainment for me. Watching games where I'm neutral used to be, but its becoming less and less that I watch those games.
Is football overrated as entertainment?
- Thread starter VeevaVee
- Start date
Football is great entertainment but is best enjoyed live. Unfortunately the vast majority of us don't get that in normal times.
Without fans football has absolutely lost something, but hopefully next season it will be back to being more enjoyable. Especially for those who attend the games. It's very different to being home in every way really.
Without fans football has absolutely lost something, but hopefully next season it will be back to being more enjoyable. Especially for those who attend the games. It's very different to being home in every way really.
I would agree entirely with this not that football has ever been overrated but that we have been pretty unenjoyable to watch if it weren't for beer I would have probably fallen asleep during 80% of our games this season. But telling the truth makes you a hater, a negative scoundrel, scum. When I would rather be real and say what I do see rather than grasp at straws to the tiniest positive note of oh we had more possession. I think fans not being in stadiums does affect that however when we first had no fans in the stadium last year it was better than we had been playing for months then we collapsed very abruptly. Ole has steadied us but Jesus its not as entertaining as some fans make out.
You can not base assumptions on the quality of football in general on the football we play at united, we play a very dull and unentertaining football since Sir Alex left. There is a reason sir Alex was one of the great, he was never afraid to open up and play open games to win. That is why we loved his football. OGS football is just a conservative form of football (Jose style) to grind results and secure a top 4 spot to get the CL money.
Everything surrounding football is dull.
There’s no proper characters anymore. They’re all robotic and media trained. Who actually listens to post match interviews? It’s all the same shit.
There’s no proper characters anymore. They’re all robotic and media trained. Who actually listens to post match interviews? It’s all the same shit.
The truth is that while Mbappe and Haaland are fantastic players, they lack the imagination of those United players. Think of the variety of different finishes those guys used to attempt. At the time Rooney trying something audacious may have been frustrating, but it was unpredictable at least and in some way made the game more entertaining.
You could tell when watching players like Rooney and Ronaldinho that they had been practicing some ridiculous tricks and shots in their youth and couldn't wait to try them out with the whole world watching, now that would be coached out of them. They'd probably both be at City putting up 30/40 goals a season, but you'd be hard pressed to remember a single one of them because they'd all be tap ins...probably an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Looking at young Ronaldo compared to his later days at Madrid actually highlights how football has declined in terms of entertainment; he was putting up ridiculous numbers but let's not pretend that he was a more entertaining player for the neutrals to watch compared to his early United period.
I can agree with that the talent pool has changed somewhat the past 10-15 years, I had to mention Haaland and Mbappe because there isn’t many others out there.
But my point still stands we need to buy a superstar player for entertainment sake and even if they aren’t as entertaining as the past stars doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go for them.
We've been entertaining down the years because a) we have generally always gone out to impose our attacking style on games b)had a manager who was so enthusiastic, so passionate that he embodied the fans and c) we had maverick players with winning attitude and superb talent.
We have none of that now, bar Bruno.
We have none of that now, bar Bruno.
Some of it will will come from just watching too much football. Pretty much every game has been televised and it has been on twice a week almost consistently since the end of lockdown.
I remember when I was younger and we didn't have Sky. The only football I could watch was Motd, internationals, and Champions League on Tuesday. I think football was more entertaining when I couldn't watch as much. It felt more special.
Another thing is less personalities. And because of this rivalries seem dead. Players aren't as recognisable as they used to be in terms of play style or how they speak. And also less flair players exist than ever.
The pride of players playing for their nation, and the commitment of players to clubs is dead. And I think this has also brought it down quite a bit. It doesn't feel as if the players are as bothered as they used to be.
Football also focuses on efficiency rather than entertainment. We are doing this now: scraping out results from dull performances. It just isn't satisfying to watch.
I remember when I was younger and we didn't have Sky. The only football I could watch was Motd, internationals, and Champions League on Tuesday. I think football was more entertaining when I couldn't watch as much. It felt more special.
Another thing is less personalities. And because of this rivalries seem dead. Players aren't as recognisable as they used to be in terms of play style or how they speak. And also less flair players exist than ever.
The pride of players playing for their nation, and the commitment of players to clubs is dead. And I think this has also brought it down quite a bit. It doesn't feel as if the players are as bothered as they used to be.
Football also focuses on efficiency rather than entertainment. We are doing this now: scraping out results from dull performances. It just isn't satisfying to watch.
For mid table sides it is. The teams who wont do anything but still sit through shit football have a reason to demand more.
Not at the top imo. Liverpools style of play was shocking last season, very direct and shutting up shop everytime they scored and made every match a game of attrition but because each win kept a winning streak going, it was glossed over and the wins became the entertainment in themselves.
Spurs will living Jose until the Anfield game for a reason.
Not at the top imo. Liverpools style of play was shocking last season, very direct and shutting up shop everytime they scored and made every match a game of attrition but because each win kept a winning streak going, it was glossed over and the wins became the entertainment in themselves.
Spurs will living Jose until the Anfield game for a reason.
You must love Ibra and Haaland then.
I've never understood how some can go back and watch old games in full, seems awfully dull and I'd want to just skip to the good bits. This is now how I feel watching live games this season
without fans its just doesn't hit the same to me
I made this point in another thread but this season really highlights the importance of playing offensive football. Going to a game, watching the game with friends, popping down the pub to enjoy probably is the part of football that makes it so fun and popular.
With covid its literally just what you watch, usually alone at home, on a tv screen and I think that’s the cause for such a huge disconnect amongst our fan base. (we’re 2nd so must be good versus we are awful to watch and it’s not worth it if you don’t win anything).
Theres an added frustration where it’s now very evident we are considered a bit of a boring team by most neutral fans (and many of our own) and that clashes with the identity we used have of being great entertainers.
With covid its literally just what you watch, usually alone at home, on a tv screen and I think that’s the cause for such a huge disconnect amongst our fan base. (we’re 2nd so must be good versus we are awful to watch and it’s not worth it if you don’t win anything).
Theres an added frustration where it’s now very evident we are considered a bit of a boring team by most neutral fans (and many of our own) and that clashes with the identity we used have of being great entertainers.
This. Games have to be superb to feel the same way now. Fans make everything about sport so much more enjoyable.
Football is really a collective social activity so viewing it as a form of entertainment and engaging with it through a television or computer screen will drive you mad. It's no surprise the forum has gone into the shit since lockdown. So much of the ''criticism'' on here is no different than someone complaining about the latest series of Game Of Thrones or the new Marvel movie. Covid has turned supporters into viewers.
When I was growing up, my Dad used to tell me that football is not going anywhere, 20 years from now it will still be played and I should face my studies and work hard. I used to watch most games that was on TV, granted it wasn't a lot growing up in Nigeria in the 90's.
After the 2010 world cup something about football died in me. That must have been the most boring tournament I have ever watched and since then little by little I have been loosing interest in the game.
To think I moved to the UK in 2010 and I am yet to watch a single game live would have been unbelievable to my young self.
Now a days with Youtube for highlights, Reddit for instant goals uploading, mobile phones to distract you. I rarely give a game my full attention if at all I bother to watch.
Also the way the game is played now, packing the bus, or side pass after side pass and the loss of the elegant number 10 it's just meh.
After the 2010 world cup something about football died in me. That must have been the most boring tournament I have ever watched and since then little by little I have been loosing interest in the game.
To think I moved to the UK in 2010 and I am yet to watch a single game live would have been unbelievable to my young self.
Now a days with Youtube for highlights, Reddit for instant goals uploading, mobile phones to distract you. I rarely give a game my full attention if at all I bother to watch.
Also the way the game is played now, packing the bus, or side pass after side pass and the loss of the elegant number 10 it's just meh.
I actually think football has a different problem than most of those that are listed here. I wouldn't call the game itself boring and dull, at least not in comparison to what we were used to earlier. It's more that what surrenders football has become incredibly boring.
There is nothing mystical and nothing unknown about football anymore. Football is a system, it's become like a science with rules about every aspect. Production of players is almost like in factories, and once you see enough, once you learn a thing or two about process, it becomes boring. At least that's the way I see it.
I remember World Cup 1998, that was my first World Cup. Lots of teams and players I heard about first. Sure the game itself was every bit of boring and every bit of exciting as it is now. But everything around it was different, unknown gave football a feeling of magic. I remember waiting for Confederations Cup 2005 eagerly, because Brazil was going to present to the world a new superstar, Robinho. Not much was known about him before, that was his time to shine. Those moments are now gone forever.
There is nothing creative about well-oiled systems, they are antonyms of creativity and individual genius. Bayern truly are a great side right now, but I can't watch even them. Maybe I'm looking too much for a deeper meaning in football.
There is nothing mystical and nothing unknown about football anymore. Football is a system, it's become like a science with rules about every aspect. Production of players is almost like in factories, and once you see enough, once you learn a thing or two about process, it becomes boring. At least that's the way I see it.
I remember World Cup 1998, that was my first World Cup. Lots of teams and players I heard about first. Sure the game itself was every bit of boring and every bit of exciting as it is now. But everything around it was different, unknown gave football a feeling of magic. I remember waiting for Confederations Cup 2005 eagerly, because Brazil was going to present to the world a new superstar, Robinho. Not much was known about him before, that was his time to shine. Those moments are now gone forever.
There is nothing creative about well-oiled systems, they are antonyms of creativity and individual genius. Bayern truly are a great side right now, but I can't watch even them. Maybe I'm looking too much for a deeper meaning in football.
"Entertainment" in football is subjective in the extreme because actively willing one side to win (or at least not lose) can - and often does - constitute a form of entertainment in itself.
It's not like being "entertained" by a movie or a TV show you have no emotional connection to whatsoever.
It's not like being "entertained" by a movie or a TV show you have no emotional connection to whatsoever.
The 2010s are the most offensive period of football in a long time. Look at the late 80s-2000s period, it was easily the most defensive era of football in history, specially the early 90s. Look at Italy, Van Basten scored 22 goals in 34 games in Serie A in the 1991-1992 season, the highest number of his career. Scoring 30 goals in one Serie A season would be mind-blowingly absurd. The 2000s also continued the trend of physicality and running.
Watch the PL games from the 2000s, the teams barely try to make elaborated passing in the build-up, they rush forward as quickly possible and with a percentage of right passes below 80%, it was very physical and focused on physicality and running. The influence of Guardiola's Barcelona helped make teams more technical, for example.
There always have been plenty of boring and overly cautious games, but football now is on average more offensive than in the previous decades and at a higher technical level than ever, that's a fact.
Looking back at clips, it looks way more exciting. Especially us, because we were so good at it.
Well-oiled systems give players the best condition to truly shine individually, that's how it always been in the absolute best teams, like Brazil 1970, Milan of the late 80s, Guardiola's Barcelona and so on. A well oiled system doesn't keep players from doing magic, it potentializes them.
You are being biased because United was good at the time. And judging based on clips is not a good argument. The 2000s PL games were uglier and less refined.
Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona in 2011 is an amazing game to watch in full. Real Madrid vs Bayern in 2017 too. And many others
I’m not though. It’s the same looking at other big teams. For smaller clubs, I doubt watching them park the bus week in week out now is full of enjoyment, so i imagine it was better for them back then too.
It was just better for the fans then, in every way.
There are certainly some trends that affect the entertainment value — the raising importance of collective pressing most of all... but the most important thing, I'm pretty sure, is the age of a viewer. Going by the comments in this thread, most of us grew by watching Fergie's teams (be it 1990's or 00's, with your Cantonas, Keanes, Fledgling, Ronaldos or Rooneys) and the football that we've watched growing up would always be the (subjectively) best one.
And, well, following United had become a quite tedious task after Fergie had left...
Kids that would grow up watching Guardiola's City would be raving about those times just like we do now in a few decades.
And, well, following United had become a quite tedious task after Fergie had left...
Kids that would grow up watching Guardiola's City would be raving about those times just like we do now in a few decades.
The other side of that is the disparity in wealth and the game becoming more coached and rehearsed means that there are a lot more very one-sided games. In the first three seasons that Opta collected data, between 2003-04 and 2005-06, there were only three games in which one team had 70% or more of the ball while nowadays there are dozens of them so although you are right the technical and physical level continues to get better, as does the level of coaching, that means fewer games are end-to-end and a lot more sides are accepting their roles of either having minimal possession or having to break down teams whose mindset is solely to defend.
I don't think you're exaggerating at all tbh. It was a natural progression for statistics to grow increasingly intricate and important in tactics and coaching, but the natural result of that is a strictly regimented approach to scoring and preventing goals which results in the statistically most effective patterns of play/shot positions being repeated game after game across every team, with no one veering away from their tactical plan to try something daft.
Sure even the Kompany Leicester goal his entire team is shouting at him not to shoot
For me personally, as I aged I started to find football less and less entertaining and I moved more into video gaming for my entertainment, I am now 100% content in just watching the goals after United's game, 3 minutes of footage is enough.
It all started about 15 years ago when (so we were still doing well as a club at the time), I started looking at the game as about 10-20 minutes of actual entertaining football over the 90 minutes (goals, free kicks, amazing saves).
I find it REALLY hard to watch sideways/backwards passing, some on here would say that's tactical build-up and I get that, I just start getting really irritated/frustrated while watching it.
Football would really need a radical shake up for me to come back to watching it full time, no offside traps and you can only pass it forwards (reverse rugby style) type of things.
It all started about 15 years ago when (so we were still doing well as a club at the time), I started looking at the game as about 10-20 minutes of actual entertaining football over the 90 minutes (goals, free kicks, amazing saves).
I find it REALLY hard to watch sideways/backwards passing, some on here would say that's tactical build-up and I get that, I just start getting really irritated/frustrated while watching it.
Football would really need a radical shake up for me to come back to watching it full time, no offside traps and you can only pass it forwards (reverse rugby style) type of things.
Juve/Porto and Bayern/PSG recently have been the only games I can recall actually getting some enojyment out of watching this year. The PL was great for the first 4 games when it came back in September, but since the first international break back then, it's largely been dross.
Parking the bus has always happened a lot. Big teams being cautious too. Specially in the early 90s, most of that decade was criticized as being too conservative, and deservedly so. We are quite comfortably in the most offensive era of football in since the 70s! There is a lot of data and tactical analysis explaining this.
Ronaldo changed to adapt due to his age and to remain competitive because of it, that's all. Messi is a beautiful player to watch. Neymar too.
Haaland, if anything, is a throwback to the classic striker.
If I'm not mistaken, Kompany hadn't scored a goal for years, much less in long shots. The team didn't trust Kompany to make that shot.
Guys, all those things you complain about were said even more in the early 90s.
I will always watch united games, even pre season. But we are tough work to watch i will admit.
I reckon i will be be dead within thirty years, which is sweet FA. So may as well stick watching them. Hopefully we win something big before i die.
I should say as well i only watch United games and the CL, WC final. Dont watch any other sport.
I reckon i will be be dead within thirty years, which is sweet FA. So may as well stick watching them. Hopefully we win something big before i die.
I should say as well i only watch United games and the CL, WC final. Dont watch any other sport.
'Member when we used to win stuff? I 'member
This thread, in a nutshell. It's pure nostalgia talking
This thread, in a nutshell. It's pure nostalgia talking
35 mins of this clasico have been amazing. barca way off their best have been pulling some nice passes and dribbles, real's counters have been wonderful.
A lot of entertainment in football the last few days in both the CL and domestic leagues.
For me, a United game is by far the most important show on TV, YT or any other visual entertainment platform. I can live without Netflix, HBO, you name it but I can’t miss a United game. Don’t care about the rest of the football
I’m happy if we are relevant. Winning ugly is part of that unless you’ve hit the sweet spot with recruitment and coaching which doesn’t happen very often. I watch CL and big PL games as a neutral but I’d always rather watch us scrap a 2-1 win against whoever than a 3-3 Liverpool Chelsea game or whatever. I mean it’s a better spectacle but I’ve no emotional attachment unless their losing helps us/it’s always fun to banter Liverpool.
For us, yeah. This season we’ve struggled in the big normally challenging and exciting games, so it’s been shite craic. Any game where we’ve done well has seemed quite boring or pointless in hindsight because it’s usually followed by shit within weeks.
I think the premier league, and I suppose football in general, seems to lack those exciting superstars at the moment. Any top players seem to lack consistency and tactics has taken over a lot.
Good tactics potentialize the players and allow them to truly play at their best. Alex Ferguson remained on top for so long because he never neglected them, quite the opposite.
About this season in particular, teams are tired and inconsistent due to schedule and struggling with injuries. It is admitedly not a technically strong european season, but this is a very unique circunstance anyway.
El Clásico today was an amazing game. Bayern vs. PSG in the UCL is truly amazing game too. Great games haven't stopped. 2019, for example, had plenty of them in both UCL (at least one of the best KO rounds of the century), PL and so on.