I can't force myself to watch this game anymore unless United is playing. I could not focus on France vs Belgium for a minute even though it would've been a blockbuster match in the past.
Football is boring and lacks real superstars
- Thread starter Scottynaldinho
- Start date
I think there are plenty of players with the talent to be superstars.
It’s just whats happened in football over the last ten years has removed space for the mercurial individual.
Football by numbers is king. It’s suffocating and effective and boring as hell.
It’s just whats happened in football over the last ten years has removed space for the mercurial individual.
Football by numbers is king. It’s suffocating and effective and boring as hell.
People have short memories. 18 months ago we witnessed the greatest world cup final of all time, one of the best games ever played and it was a showcase dominated by 2 superstars - one of which is the greatest player of all time, the other the current best player in the world.
Funnily enough, Brazilian Ronaldo said this the other day. "I'd rather watch Tennis. Football is too boring."
No individual battles, nobody willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Its shit most of the time, but when its good its great.
No individual battles, nobody willing to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Its shit most of the time, but when its good its great.
I mean, the games last night were entertaining, actually.
You can have the odd outlier game that is exciting and brilliant, without the overriding idea that football is far more boring than it used to be, being wrong.
If I say humans have two legs, and you say “my mate only has one leg”, my original statement wasn’t wrong.
It´s due to their calamities managers (Deschamps and the belgian one).
The second game was good, because Georgia are a throwback to a style we see less and less of.
The England game was turgíd, frigid, peel out my eyes with a rusty spoon shite, with a couple of minutes of excitement thrown in at the end.
Vinicius Junior is the only player I'd care to watch these days. Football is going through a dull period, the same happened in the 2000s
Guardiola has ruined football. And the gravitation over the last 25 years towards athleticism above everything leads to games like we just watched between France and Belgium which are essentially just cyborg wars.
The lack of magical players is quite something. Many players are just great athletes who could run all day but they have no ingenuity, nothing exquisite, and their technique is limited.
Not just Guardiola - even if his brand is the most effective and as such, the style more and more coaches look to emulate.
It’s a result of professionalism and the money in the game.
More coverage, more technology, everyone employing exhaustive video and stats driven analysis of themselves and opponents. There are no surprises.
Players are coached to within an inch of their lives. Individualism is discouraged with shape/press/organisation/ball retention being the key measures by which players are selected.
How many more of these "I am old" threads do we need?
Completely agree, been saying the same for years. Particularly the players part, think to mid 90s-mid00s the amount of super stars. Players that dwarf most of the top class players of today.
Counterpoint: Football was never that entertaining and it peaks for everyone when we are 12
Very few left in the modern game at this point. Neymar, Amad Diallo etc.
https://www.sportbible.com/football...ays-he-hates-modern-football-in-rant-20210619
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...5/Michael-Owen-discredits-Premier-League.html
There are far more of these. I look at a player like Roberto Baggio and wonder what would become of him today. Probably be languishing at lower teams because top sides would say he ‘doesn't press enough for their philosophy’ or ‘lacks athleticism’.
This stupid Opta obsession is another bug-bear of mine, many of the modern fans would be better off watching the game on teletext.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...5/Michael-Owen-discredits-Premier-League.html
There are far more of these. I look at a player like Roberto Baggio and wonder what would become of him today. Probably be languishing at lower teams because top sides would say he ‘doesn't press enough for their philosophy’ or ‘lacks athleticism’.
This stupid Opta obsession is another bug-bear of mine, many of the modern fans would be better off watching the game on teletext.
I think this is applicable for me. I don’t enjoy it anymore unless utd are involved. These tactical wars and robotic patterns are just not for me.
Pretty much.
It’s become far more of a science than an art.
I think the current tournament is simply one of those bad ones with mostly boring matches, nothing more. last world cup was special on the other hand so it has little to do with age. atm everyone seems injured, in bad form or simply in decline, be it Mbappe or Kane, Ronaldo, Lukaku etc. it's either too early or too late for some. just look at the top scorers ffs.
As I have said before, Pep Guardiola is the single biggest reason football has become like this. Some maybe charmed by him and his football, I’m certainly not. Football has gone to the dogs due to every club trying to emulate his tactics his style of play, players becoming robots etc etc. Gone are the days when wingers were wingers, strikers were strikers and defenders were defenders. Now it’s all about positions, inverted this and inverted that. It has gone to the point where clubs are hiring managers just because they worked under Pep, even Brazilians aren’t playing like Brazilians anymore bar few.
Oh I so agree with this.
All this xG XXGG TBT, VxB and the other shit exasperates me.
Just go out and play.
I also blame VAR and pundits, especially Sky, they brought the virus that is VAR upon us with their constant criticsm, and disection of decisions.
I hate it.
Definitely some truth in the OP.
I agree the overall standard in European football is somewhat lacking and a bit boring.
All anyone seems to care about is pressing stats these days
exhilarating stuff!
I agree the overall standard in European football is somewhat lacking and a bit boring.
All anyone seems to care about is pressing stats these days
exhilarating stuff!It’s been this way for ages and so many people are trying so hard to convince themselves that it’s still as good as ever.
For example Spain, which is the team I've watched more of, is playing very entertaining football, and both Williams and Yamal are a joy to watch.
On the other hand more than there not being flair/technical players, it's more a case of most flair players not being effective these days due to the extreme importance of high press, the amazing general physicality and the tactical rigour. Unlike many, I don't necessarily dislike any of that, and I think there are plenty of superstars, world class players or whatever you want to call them. I also get the feeling many of those who moan about current football are the same that systematically shit on technical players when they misplace a pass, lose the ball trying to dribble and/or occasionally don't track back.
On the other hand more than there not being flair/technical players, it's more a case of most flair players not being effective these days due to the extreme importance of high press, the amazing general physicality and the tactical rigour. Unlike many, I don't necessarily dislike any of that, and I think there are plenty of superstars, world class players or whatever you want to call them. I also get the feeling many of those who moan about current football are the same that systematically shit on technical players when they misplace a pass, lose the ball trying to dribble and/or occasionally don't track back.
Big and strong athletes with tremendous stamina plus very organised teamplay have made football look dull. The cool players with huge talent but physical limitations no longer exist.
Cole Palmer?
This is spot on IMO. Have never been so bored with watching a major tournament before.
A moaning bunch of Boomers!!
btw Im a boomer.
Ive been hearing these complaints my entire life.
Cheer up you miserable old shits.
Tons of superstars in the game, tons of exciting new players coming through.
If you want some perspective go check out how excited Georgian fans are even with their loss to Spain. They dont think football is boring.
btw Im a boomer.
Ive been hearing these complaints my entire life.
Cheer up you miserable old shits.
Tons of superstars in the game, tons of exciting new players coming through.
If you want some perspective go check out how excited Georgian fans are even with their loss to Spain. They dont think football is boring.
I think having too many games available to watch has changed our perspective.
When I was young, champions league nights were unique. I was able to see players that under normal circumstances I could not see every weekend. Even highlights of said games were hard to come by. You had to wait for the last part of the news at 9 or a specific program focused only on sports every Monday. The same was for Euros and WCs.
So, for players like Rui Costa, R9, Giggs, Totti, Batistuta, Roberto Carlos, Nesta, Veron, Rivaldo etc you had already built a myth around them, since you were not able to watch them every game (at least not all of them), and pick every bad touch, every stupid cross, every detail to scrutinize in general. Even the ads back then, would magnify the myths surrounding the players.
I recently watched the 94 WC final. A game with so many now called legends. My god that was boring. England maybe boring now, but people have forgotten how much 20 times more boring the games of England were in WC 10.
It's not like in the past the game was fast and free flowing. It was full of misplaced passes, awful defending, bad touches etc.
Personally speaking, I do consider late 90s early 00s my favorite era, but it was also the era of my puberty, and when the players had a much more mystical and mythical stature.
Now, social media is constantly providing us with content for modern players, that is hard to create an aura around them. Thus, boring players = boring football.
When I was young, champions league nights were unique. I was able to see players that under normal circumstances I could not see every weekend. Even highlights of said games were hard to come by. You had to wait for the last part of the news at 9 or a specific program focused only on sports every Monday. The same was for Euros and WCs.
So, for players like Rui Costa, R9, Giggs, Totti, Batistuta, Roberto Carlos, Nesta, Veron, Rivaldo etc you had already built a myth around them, since you were not able to watch them every game (at least not all of them), and pick every bad touch, every stupid cross, every detail to scrutinize in general. Even the ads back then, would magnify the myths surrounding the players.
I recently watched the 94 WC final. A game with so many now called legends. My god that was boring. England maybe boring now, but people have forgotten how much 20 times more boring the games of England were in WC 10.
It's not like in the past the game was fast and free flowing. It was full of misplaced passes, awful defending, bad touches etc.
Personally speaking, I do consider late 90s early 00s my favorite era, but it was also the era of my puberty, and when the players had a much more mystical and mythical stature.
Now, social media is constantly providing us with content for modern players, that is hard to create an aura around them. Thus, boring players = boring football.
Definitely some truth in the OP.
I agree the overall standard in European football is somewhat lacking and a bit boring.
All anyone seems to care about is pressing stats these days
so it’s all Pep fault then
The first week of this European Championship was extremely entertaining I thought. Went downhill since granted, but there is a lot of drama and excitement in a lot of matches nonetheless. Take England - Slovakia for example.. Total borefest and then Bellingham scores a 95th minute bicycle kick. Amazing
Bit fed up with it as well. Surely a football forum is the last place you want to complain about the sport itself
It has become a lot more robotic and tilted to physical attributes over flair and skill.
I'm not sure most people actually watch notably more football nowadays than the 90s/early 00s even though full games from many leagues are technically more accessible. At least it doesn't seem like it looking at things online - the younger generations that actually have the time to watch a lot of games every week seem more interested in stats to fill the gaps for teams they don't support and the short highlights/social media clips that are closer in format to how they consume the rest of their entertainment, rather than sitting down to watch a full 90+ minutes.
In fairness it's becoming a hot topic in general. Ex players and social media have been banging this drum of late. I see it almost everywhere
You could be right.
Except for when I was 12 and football was Sunday mornings watching Football Italia on Channel 4. That actually was peak football.
Mbappé is as big of a superstar as ones in the past. Issue was they played 3 defensive mids, target man and a defensive fullback against a low block. That's on the managers way more than the players. The way Deschamps and Southgate set up with the players they have is joyless. Only Spain and Germany are really playing progressive football this tournament.
I'm could be the real superstar everyone is longing for. I have long hair, can play a bit guitar, I have a nasty falsetto, wouldn't look completely shit with naked corso if I worked out a bit and 10 years ago I thought I was cool. Give me a fat contract and I'll bring back the glitter in football!