Your assessment of the post-lockdown football product.

[RedPed]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of getting used to the fanlesss experience with football at the moment. Not saying it's great or anything but as a spectacle, my brain seems to have adjusted pretty well to this new norm. I must say the crowd noises have been a master stroke and the stadium layouts have also helped. Without being too biased, United's was certainly one of the most spectacular by far.

There's been some great moments post-lockdown that would have been even more spectacular with the spontaneous crowd reactions but I think the football authorities have done as well as they could under the circumstances.

I've been pleasantly surprised and satisfied overall. Still can't wait to see the fans back. But at least I'm still enjoying watching my footie.

What do you guys think?

 

[Wumminator]

I think every competition won during this period is a sham and should be stricken from the records

 

[SER19]

I thought it was fine for what it was at the time but the thought of a full season like this is a bit grim and can imagine its terrible for the players

 

[duffer]

I hate the fake crown noise, turn it off at every opportunity. Hearing the players and coaches is fun.

Having games kick off early mid-week was cool.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Men kicking a ball of air around a pitch in silence. No finals for United, so it was a disaster

 

[Vidyoyo]

Thought it was pure football, distilled like water bottled at the source. No extraneous noise or outside influence. Zen.

 

[Wumminator]

The whole thing was a recipe for United to fail. We were the only team left in all competitions and our away fans are the loudest and best in the league. It meant we played more games in quick succession and missed out on the best support in the country.

Liverpool benefitted because if they play YAWN over the tannoy and then play in silence for 90 minutes they’ll feel as if nothing has changed.

City are obviously used to playing in front of no fans and used the money saved compared to everyone else in bribing UEFA.

Chelsea benefited massively as it allowed their players to play without having to hear southern accents cheering them on all game. It would be enough to drive anyone to want to leave the club and it is very evident that they’ve managed to sign players for the first time in years now their fans are literally banned from supporting the club.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Been a lot better then I expected to be honest.

 

[Sky1981]

It's only football.

Considered where we are at the moment can't complain. It's already good that we have football

 

[Untied]

The quality of the fake crowd noise varies considerably, with the Premier League's implementation far worse than the Bundesliga and the European competitions – often triggering the wrong sounds or lagging noticeably behind the action. But I switch it off everywhere if possible.

 

[Zlatan 7]

After a while I stopped missing it, I was dead against it returning with adjusted rules and no fans and didn’t enjoy the first few matches I watched but soon got into it. I eventually found myself looking forward to random matches again and I’ve enjoyed it, always without the fake crowd noise if possible though, I really don’t like fake crowd noise, it’s not representative of what your watching.

I’ve also enjoyed the knockout and close game format of the European matches they’ve been great, and a sort of mini World Cup

still can’t beat going to a match though and how it was is going to be missed for sometime I think

 

[wolvored]

No I prefer it when the crowds there. Its kinda sterile. With no passion at the game I bet its hard for the players to get that extra bit of motivation. Notice how they still slide on their knees and put their hands up to an imaginary crowd when they score?

 

[Lay]

The European tournaments have been fun

 

[Sandikan]

Thought it's been superb be honest.
Though that might be a lot down to me using the proper sky and bt passes rather than finding it elsewhere.

For me having some gurning fans in the picture doesn't make any improvement online!

 

[Lyricist]

Honestly the recent crowd noise application in some of these CL games has been absolutely incredible. They got that spot on in multiple games in a row now and the fact they can actually make it so there's lots of chanting and cheering over the full 90 minutes has made these games very interesting. I love how they also include booing and/or whistling when the ref makes a debatable call. Funny stuff really.

I also agree with the "zen" and the "we should be happy/thankful we have this at all" comments.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Interesting how the players have all got use to it too and the quality/intensity in games has been pretty much at a normal level.

Think the big thing that's been missing is the crowd giving an obvious boost to the players in the last 20/10 of games.

 

[Vernon Philander]

Enjoyed having footy on TV nearly every day, with no 3pm blackout nonsense.

Wife has understandably been irate

Crowd noise simulations will get better as the broadcasters get more experienced with it. Better reaction noises to the specific actions etc.

 

[Member 101269]

when i hear the fan noise i'm thinking who weights the noise and measure psychological effects (bias). The CL game with BM throughout the match the main message that came through from the fake noise crowd was BM..

 

[Zlatan 7]

Honestly the recent crowd noise application in some of these CL games has been absolutely incredible. They got that spot on in multiple games in a row now and the fact they can actually make it so there's lots of chanting and cheering over the full 90 minutes has made these games very interesting. I love how they also include booing and/or whistling when the ref makes a debatable call. Funny stuff really.

I also agree with the "zen" and the "we should be happy/thankful we have this at all" comments.

That’s kind of my problem with the crowd noise though, I see how well it’s implemented and appreciate that but when like you say you hear the crowd booing or whistling, I’ve looked Up at the tele expecting to see some commotion but the play is going as normal, nothing has gee’d the players up, nothing is intimidating the ref, the players are still running around in their silent game, so I prefer to watch it as what it is, a pretty much silent game with players shouting and playing their match.

I can see how people would still like the comfort and pretending there’s a crowd there though as a few times when I’ve had the crowd noise on in the background I’ve forgot and just thought it was normal game going on, I can get that

 

[Tiber]

I cant stand the fake crowd noise, aside from that it has been great

 

[Clermontois]

It does not really feel like football anymore even though they are still kicking around a football.

 

[Cloud7]

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I enjoy the fake crowd noise much more than the awkward, complete silence. Having games of some sort almost everyday was fun. The one legged European ties were brilliant! Anything that increases the chances of an upset in a knockout competition I'm always in favor of. Overall, I would say it's been good, and I'm happy with what we got.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Fake crowd noise is immensely irritating. Obviously it's different logistically given it's indoors and in arenas ~3-5 times smaller, but for me the NBA has struck the best balance of maintaining the pre-lockdown atmosphere.

The one-off knockout ties have been very enjoyable in my opinion. I'm not sure if this is preferable to the standard two-legged tie, but at the very least I'm now somewhat intrigued by the expanded Club World Cup if they'll be using a similar format.

 

[Falcow]

As an armchair fan, I thought it was excellent, no drop him off in commitment from players despite the empty stadiums which I thought was interesting. I didnt really miss the crowd, what's to miss about watching grown men gesticulating like bafoons.

Crowd noise doesnt bother me but I usually prefer to watch it without, however BT sport for instance has the natural noise on the non HD channel which is very annoying, they force you to watch it with noise, not sure why?

I guess for the match going fans, it's a bit rubbish and that's understandable. From my perspective however it's a thumbs up.