Don't disagree with a lot of that but he has already gone through one rebuild at City, he's now going to need to do it again. Kompany/Fernandinho/Silva/Yaya/Aguero were the core of his first City side and he replaced them all. He's now going to need to replace the likes of Walker/Rodri(?)/Gundogan/Bernardo/De Bruyne/Mahrez but so far he's made a bit of a mess of it.
Football is boring and lacks real superstars
- Thread starter Scottynaldinho
- Start date
How much control of buying players do you really think he has?
I would argue the rebuild was just a build, as he turned what was already a title winning team into one in his own image.
I don't think he has the foresight to start planning ahead of time, like SAF did, and forgo a couple of seasons not challenging for the title to get there. Plus, United still had to worry about their best players getting poached in their prime by Madrid. Because of City's owners' huge economic and political power they've never really had to worry about that. The fact the EPL also became the best paying league probably helped with that too though, to be be fair.
Well he's been there the best part of a decade and is the most important person at the club so I'd assume he might have some say. I doubt the club sold Cole Palmer from underneath him either but again, could be wrong.
Only one left at this point
Yea he has a say, but he won't be the main decider.
Money have ruined this sport. New and young football fans will not get chance to experience real football.
Yes sort of but he had people there years before his arrival preparing and laying the ground work for him. The likes of DeBruyne were already signed by the time he arrived.
Yep. Hence, why I find it silly when people say Guardiola ruined football, or the Marvel franchise ruined movies. Both merely thrived in an environment too afraid to take risks, which means everyone tried to copy the same formula,. The main factor in this is ever increasing greed and prioritisation of money/profits, and the need for everything to happen "quickly".
If Guardiola's career ends today with his style falling out of favour, not much will change. You're not getting your "beautiful game" back until the root cause is addressed.
Where are players similar to: Gullit, Nistlerooy, Zlatan, Laudrup, Klinsmann, Zola, Rooney, Ronaldo or Messi? There were all very different types, but they all had personalities and were big characters. I do not see that much in football anymore.
....did you mistake a fifa/pes match for real or what?
C.Ronaldo and Kaka were both at Madrid though
He's conflating 2 different matches 3 years apart, which is funny because he watched those highlights last week
Ah yes I looked at the wrong team sheet on BBC's website
I meant the round of 16, not the semi-final. This one:
I was just thinking this the other day, now that Messi and CR7 are coming to an end there’s not many superstars left.
Mbappe, halland and Salah.
Vini too but can you compare him to R9 or Ronaldinho? Romario?
Still despite being annoying as hell he is probably the one closest to the flair we had back in the day.
I grew up in the late 80’s/90/2000 Even the defenders were another level back then.
Maybe it’s nostalgia but everything’s becoming robotic.
The last World Cup final was proper legendary game though.
Mbappe, halland and Salah.
Vini too but can you compare him to R9 or Ronaldinho? Romario?
Still despite being annoying as hell he is probably the one closest to the flair we had back in the day.
I grew up in the late 80’s/90/2000 Even the defenders were another level back then.
Maybe it’s nostalgia but everything’s becoming robotic.
The last World Cup final was proper legendary game though.
I recently watched the video for We Are the World again, and it made me realise you will never again get a room of such artists together like that, just like what’s been put forward in this thread about the depth and diversity of superstars in football now, compared to back in the day. It could be nostalgia but I do see the difference.
How much of this is United being shite for a decade, and hence having less champions league games, and hence RedCafe forum users on average having less exposure to continental players?
I’m not a United fan.
But as an example look at the Brazil team now and compare to the 90s 2000s?
It’s crazy. R9 Ronaldinho Rivaldo Roberto Carlos Cafu Kaka, etc all world class players and very entertaining.
I'd suggest it's not related. It's down to a shift away from talented mavericks and open, attacking strategies towards raw athleticism, running power and incredibly tactical games.
The 90s was full of flair players and highly-talented individuals...I could barely name a handful now.
Nah, it’s just more boring in general in my opinion. I’ve no interest in the CL since Madrid now have a monopoly on it. I expect them to win it this year as well. Only Liverpool might stop them.
Most leagues are being dominated by the same teams over and over again. I know we did that too and us being crap definitely has a negative effect on my overall enjoyment but for me I think there’s just too much of it on TV, not just the games but Sky Sports as well as all the social media. There doesn’t seem to be much chance of being surprised by anything like I used to be.
Google the "Complaints about the state of contemporary football in 1974, from the legendary English football writer and broadcaster Geoffrey Green", basically the same as today
It's permeated down to youth level as well.
United vs Fulham U21's was terrible last night. Not because of a lack of talent but because the players aren't allowed to show what they've got.
United vs Fulham U21's was terrible last night. Not because of a lack of talent but because the players aren't allowed to show what they've got.
It’s not related to utd. I watch a lot of football. More non-utd football than utd themselves. The standard of players has most definitely declined with the best of them all gradually getting smaller and less “special”.
Maybe not. If you go back and watch old games some of the defending was just as bad or the same as it is today. Rose tinted-glasses syndrome.
Football, like everything, is become more formulaic and efficient. Everything is focused on stats and optimizing things, and that by its very nature leads to narrowing the distributions of the kinds of players we see, the kinds of formations, tactics, transfer strategies, etc.
Entertainment comes from variety, unexpected outcomes, and even chaotic moments in sports. All of these things are being aggressively minimized at every layer of every club.
Entertainment comes from variety, unexpected outcomes, and even chaotic moments in sports. All of these things are being aggressively minimized at every layer of every club.
I was talking about big name players, not defending in general. Things are more organized nowadays obviously.
We had Baresi, Maldini, Nesta, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Zanetti, Stam, Rio, Vidic, Terry, Carvalho, Cannavaro, Thuram etc
Who are the big start defenders we have now?
Pepe is gone, Sergio Ramos on his way out, so what that leaves us?
Van Dijk, Kimmich(if rb), Carvajal, what else?
I can’t think of many from the top of my head.
Maybe is a transition thing, maybe.
Last edited:
This is true but also down to the nature f modern football, it's harder to stand out.
If you look at teams of the last couple of years against the teams back then, it's a different picture.
Ah yes I looked at the wrong team sheet on BBC's website
I meant the round of 16, not the semi-final. This one:
fecking hell. The aura of the players that game. What a time.
I think the top 20 footballers now are much better than those 20 years ago, ore exciting and their styles are very distinguishable. And it's only going to get better with Yamal, Wirtz, Musiala, Pedri, Güler, Nico Williams and many more yet to reach their peak.
Moreover, the average player has gotten much better. I think nostalgia, Social Media, the overcommervialization and the current situation at United is distorting many perspectives. Completely understand when people turn their back on football because of the amount of games, the money and corruption, etc. but I really don't see that the standards have dropped in any shape or form
Moreover, the average player has gotten much better. I think nostalgia, Social Media, the overcommervialization and the current situation at United is distorting many perspectives. Completely understand when people turn their back on football because of the amount of games, the money and corruption, etc. but I really don't see that the standards have dropped in any shape or form
Nico Williams? He's not in the top 20.
After watching a video of OG Hagi back in the days I have found out that players today are just boring. System is boring and players are robots.
Hagi, Stoitchkov, Baggio, good times.
That’s not the point. They are much better athletes today, they train better, have better equipment, etc
Everybody takes better care of themselves. That’s not even debatable.
The point is that everything is very robotic, calculated.
And still those players dribble more than ever, play more line-breaking passes than ever and in general show more exciting plays than ever.
Moreover, "robotic" is just a negative description of team play. In the 00s, we celebrated teams that played brillantly together. Now people think great combinations is boring.
This is not true. There is a lack of imagination in football and everyone is going with what is tried and true, but that's not optimizing things.
Ah yes I looked at the wrong team sheet on BBC's website
I meant the round of 16, not the semi-final. This one:
We won this game because we had a world class striker in his best scoring form. But looking at the highlights they were so much better than us, I didnt even remember Ronaldinho being that good in that game.
Also we scored from 3 crosses, our current team has no player who can cross in it!
I often have these kind of thoughts linger in the back of my mind. But then, every time I go back to look at an older game, I really can't help but notice that levels of organisation and general professionalism on the pitch have improved quite considerably - which leads to a more enjoyable watch for me. Everyone is different and entitled to their own views, but I never watched football for individual moments of brilliance like great dribbling; rather, for well-coordinated teamplay. I grew up watching early 00s play and my favourite players are still from there, but all in all I enjoy watching the average match of today more.
This is an exercise that everyone should engage in. Our memories can be extremely unreliable......
If Ryan Giggs was breaking through today, would he be given the freedom he was at the time?
No. Not with us, not with any premier league team.
He would never develop as he did, and that is the problem with the current version of football.
No. Not with us, not with any premier league team.
He would never develop as he did, and that is the problem with the current version of football.
To me when we say more organised today it just means more sideways and backwards passing. It's nothing particularly clever. It's just inching up the pitch bit by bit with short sideways stuff.
It does make things more organised, teams get less stretched.
But what a snooze to watch.