Falling out of love with football (warning - miserable moaning post)

The problem isn't that we're losing, it's not even that we're generally poor. It's that there's no hope.
 
Just another thing that capitalism has ruined. Welcome to the dystopian world and it will only get worse in my lifetime.
 
Dan_F said:
Talking as a 34 year old nostalgic fecker, I saw a goal of the season compilation the other day from 2006 (I think). The one where we had that white AIG kit with the black badge. There was about 20 better goals in that than I’ve seen for years. Just unreal volleys or screamers. All I can imagine is Pep moaning at them that they should have passed their way to the byline and cut it back for Haaland.

Football is just so systems based that it’s sucked a lot of joy out of the game. It’s all about overloads and forcing mistakes, footballers are athletes now, individuality and creativity is almost non existent. I don’t know how any neutral can watch a game Premier League football and say it’s more entertaining than it was even 10 years ago.

I’m sure Man City fans are having fun, as are Brentford or any other fans of smaller teams that are doing well, plus the tactics nerds. I pretty much exclusively watch United these days, I have no interest in watching other premier league games for this reason.
Click to expand...

The one with Scholes volley, Essien's long ranger? One of the best Goal of the Season comps from that year. But you're absolutely right. I miss goals and thrills like that. So much of the modern game I find totally boring. VAR is killing much of the enthusiasm I have left.
 
Dan_F said:
Talking as a 34 year old nostalgic fecker, I saw a goal of the season compilation the other day from 2006 (I think). The one where we had that white AIG kit with the black badge. There was about 20 better goals in that than I’ve seen for years. Just unreal volleys or screamers. All I can imagine is Pep moaning at them that they should have passed their way to the byline and cut it back for Haaland.

Football is just so systems based that it’s sucked a lot of joy out of the game. It’s all about overloads and forcing mistakes, footballers are athletes now, individuality and creativity is almost non existent. I don’t know how any neutral can watch a game Premier League football and say it’s more entertaining than it was even 10 years ago.

I’m sure Man City fans are having fun, as are Brentford or any other fans of smaller teams that are doing well, plus the tactics nerds. I pretty much exclusively watch United these days, I have no interest in watching other premier league games for this reason.
Click to expand...
Thing is we still play in a way that relies on individual brilliance to win us games when every other team has systems that play around us. I don’t understand why we are stuck in this “United way” when pretty much even the bottom barrel teams are cohesive enough to string together a few passes. We don’t even have the players capable of individual brilliance regularly so when it doesn’t come off we just look like a lost bunch of amateurs. It’s definitely sucked a lot of joy out of football and especially VAR meaning we can barely even celebrate a goal these days. I don’t move a muscle when we score as I’m just expecting it to be checked then chalked off anyway.
 
This is the first time in my entire life that I have lost the love for the game, even when I watched them in old 2nd division I loved watching United. Now I am at a point I am not bothered if they are playing and at present expecting the usual outcome, something I never felt in my younger days supporting them.
 
I honestly can't tell if it's because it's hard to watch United be this bad, hard to watch United seemingly get the raw rub of the green every single match or if VAR really does ruin everything.

I was thinking of making a website which is just : should I watch united this week, and it says YES if we win and NO if we don't.

There's far better ways to spend a few hours of life than watching this 'product'. The Chelsea Spurs game had something like 21 minutes of VAR reviews. Ponder that - that's broadly the amount of time a ball is in play ina half of football. Spent on instant f*cking replays by referees.
 
Beachryan said:
I honestly can't tell if it's because it's hard to watch United be this bad, hard to watch United seemingly get the raw rub of the green every single match or if VAR really does ruin everything.

I was thinking of making a website which is just : should I watch united this week, and it says YES if we win and NO if we don't.

There's far better ways to spend a few hours of life than watching this 'product'. The Chelsea Spurs game had something like 21 minutes of VAR reviews. Ponder that - that's broadly the amount of time a ball is in play ina half of football. Spent on instant f*cking replays by referees.
Click to expand...
VAR can get to feck but that game was exhilarating. Meanwhile United suck the death out of any possible entertainment in any game. Even our rivals must be bored to death of watching us, only tuning in because they get to laugh at how shit we are.
 
Orton said:
Thing is we still play in a way that relies on individual brilliance to win us games when every other team has systems that play around us. I don’t understand why we are stuck in this “United way” when pretty much even the bottom barrel teams are cohesive enough to string together a few passes. We don’t even have the players capable of individual brilliance regularly so when it doesn’t come off we just look like a lost bunch of amateurs. It’s definitely sucked a lot of joy out of football and especially VAR meaning we can barely even celebrate a goal these days. I don’t move a muscle when we score as I’m just expecting it to be checked then chalked off anyway.
Click to expand...

I think that's the problem. The clubs either trying to cater to the relics that make up a large part of our fanbase, or at the very least share the same views on football as them. Unfortunately, footballs moved on from them - both on and off the pitch.

In terms of on the pitch, after the Van Gaal tenure the fanbase sent a pretty clear message to the club that possession football wasn't for them. The lesson everyone should've learned was that it was terribly executed but in the right direction. But instead what we learnt is that the only football worth watching is counter attack - so we're basically producing the same shit the bottom 10 clubs in the league are but after spending 100s of millions. Everyone else has moved on and realised that in a fluid team sport, a well drilled collective will best out teams made of individuals.

It's the same off the pitch. The fanbase desperately wants a long term manager. They need a managerial figure to build of cult of personality to latch onto. We apparently wanted a DOF - but the caveat was that he had to work with the manager, and manager should always get the final say in stuff. So that's how you end up with a Murtough, who's there in a ceremonial role. It's all done to cater to what the fans have wanted.
 
PoTMS said:
VAR can get to feck but that game was exhilarating. Meanwhile United suck the death out of any possible entertainment in any game. Even our rivals must be bored to death of watching us, only tuning in because they get to laugh at how shit we are.
Click to expand...

3/4 of our Champions League games have been chaos?
 
Utd heap said:
What is this performative nonsense?
Click to expand...

Well we're owned by people who have very little interest in football. We give huge contracts to players who put in very little effort and who, as a result, feel invincible. If they don't like what a manager is doing they will just wait out that manager, knowing that they are rewarded for mediocrity.

Similarly, we have allowed mediocrity to be our upper benchmark. Players who no other top club would even regularly play become our talismans and undroppable players who hold us back.

As a result of the owners employing finance people instead of footballing people, we have no plan for the future and we rely on a manager who isn't great with transfers to decide which players to buy every year.

Even IF this starts to change, it'll take years. So yes in the short to medium term at least, there's no real hope for change. The last few years will be the next few years and only a huge effort to restructure and make real change to catch-up with modern football will even start to make that change.
 
I just watched 100 PL goals by Matt le Tissier. He’s a weirdo now but by god what an entertaining footballer he was. How he never went to a big club I will never know.
football was so much more exciting in the 90s and I don’t just mean united either. Most teams tried to play attacking football.
now it’s as dull as dishwater
 
Yorkeontop said:
Liverpool fans had an easier job escaping the misery in the 90's and 2000's. These phones are hard to put down.
Click to expand...
Bingo. It's much worse now. Can't escape it. I'd add that when these players are worth so many millions, it's easier to get annoyed.
 
golden_blunder said:
I just watched 100 PL goals by Matt le Tissier. He’s a weirdo now but by god what an entertaining footballer he was. How he never went to a big club I will never know.
football was so much more exciting in the 90s and I don’t just mean united either. Most teams tried to play attacking football.
now it’s as dull as dishwater
Click to expand...

Exactly this, football was full of entertainers in 90's.

Imagine someone like Denilson in the modern game, a manager wouldn't entertain him as he wouldn't be carrying out team instructions. Whilst I appreciate he was a bit of a maverick players like him made us watch the game with a smile. This lot are basically robots with zero personality.
 
Yorkeontop said:
Liverpool fans had an easier job escaping the misery in the 90's and 2000's. These phones are hard to put down.
Click to expand...
I deleted my Twitter account because of this exact reason, it’s so fecking miserable and full of those annoying rival banter accounts who’s posts show up on your feed despite not following them.
 
That's basically how I've felt as a Spurs fan for the past 2-3 years but it can change pretty quickly. We just lost 4-1 at home to one of our biggest rivals and the whole stadium was there until the end singing and giving the team a standing ovation. Last season I watched our games out of duty, now I can't wait for them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.