Is the way teams play the most boring it’s been for a while?

[Bertie Wooster]

I have very old articles complaining about the state of football in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, nonetheless there are trends on every period that we will be more fond or not.

That's true. And whenever I watch old TV shows (often sitcoms) from previous decades, you still hear the same points about Footballers not being as good or brave as in past decades, and the same points made then as now about the NHS / doctors appointments, politicians, etc.

Every generation moans about the same things it seems, and remembers things as being better when they were younger. Though, of course, that doesn't mean that all criticism should be dismissed or that all change is for the better. Some things will change for the worst. And some things (most things nowadays!) deliberately change to appeal more to younger demographics - so it's not surprising as you get older it feels things appeal to you less now, as it's a very intentional policy.

As regards the modern games of Football - I have always much preferred to watch a technical, skilful, attacking style to the old British long ball game, or the cynical, pragmatic defensive style.

However, I agree that it's got too much nowadays. Everyone doing it at all levels means it's all got too predictable and samey, other than some do it better than others. And it's really annoying when defensive players are clearly struggling, and seemingly inevitably about to gift away a goal, but still won't just clear the damn ball away to safety. There really should be more common sense allowed, and 'time and place' mentality about the defending.

 

[Chipper]

Not really. Kids have been emulating celebrations since players started to celebrate.

They have, but it is that a different thing altogether then?

@MiceOnMeth was asking if kids were copying the goals or style of play. Celebrations would be separate from that.

I haven't got kids so have no idea, but can certainly remember everyone playing football at break in primary school and the first year or two at secondary. We'd all be trying to reproduce the latest long-range thunderbolt, volley, fancy flicks and dribbles.

 

[duffer]

They have, but it is that a different thing altogether then?

@MiceOnMeth was asking if kids were copying the goals or style of play. Celebrations would be separate from that.

I haven't got kids so have no idea, but can certainly remember everyone playing football at break in primary school and the first year or two at secondary. We'd all be trying to reproduce the latest long-range thunderbolt, volley, fancy flicks and dribbles.

I don't see why they wouldn't be doing the same shit we all did.

It just feels like grumpy old men saying "back in my day it was better", which grumpy old men have been saying since the year dot.

 

[LankyHoggie]

Not really. Kids have been emulating celebrations since players started to celebrate.

I remember kids at school doing the Klinnsman dive and the Roger Milla dance, because they were cool and fun, not because of the "captivating football" Cameroon or Spurs played.

Honestly, back in the day kids barely even saw any football on TV. You were lucky to get 1 match a week.

True.
I remember myself trying to emulate the Fowler “coke” celebration.

 

[romufc]

We talk about coaches and tactical set ups which have changed, players now have to stay in position and are specialists.

Footballers now are more roles and system based, before where a footballer was able to do everything, its changed now, they all have designated roles in the team.

Not only that, fans are also the reason for this, we criticise every player who tries to be free, by saying things like he lost possession x amount of times, passing accuracy is below 90%.

So the fans are to blame but the coaching has become alot more system based.

 

[tenpoless]

Yeah there are shortages of players who live in the moment. Theyre all system players now. Not to mention there is no actual top National Team anymore. England is close but the manager is shite.

 

[stefan92]

Footballers now are more roles and system based, before where a footballer was able to do everything, its changed now, they all have designated roles in the team.

I don't think that's true, quite the contrary. Most defenders "back in the day" were terrible at anything with the ball, attackers didn't defend as they do today. The roles in most cases were more clearly defined than they are today.

Some players were exceptions to that, but mostly the true legends of the game. And they became legends exactly because of that (players like Beckenbauer or di Stefano). Some midfielders also were able to influence every area of the pitch as they had quite a big range (like Roy Keane for example).

There were only a few nations that produced more versatile players by default, like the Netherlands for their "Total Voetball". Which is the ancestor of modern positional play systems.

And actually I think that contributes to it being boring, because the players today are much more similar to each other than they were decades ago. Everybody can pass the ball, everybody defends, there are less individual differences.

 

[Dancfc]

There's always been cautious and "boring" elements of football, only big difference these days is more coaches manage games with the ball as opposed to without.

Just like what will happen about these days in 20 years time when there's groans about whatever the new trend is, people tend to remember the best parts of the "good old days" while largely forgetting about tripe like this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7134134.stm

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Yeah there are shortages of players who live in the moment. Theyre all system players now. Not to mention there is no actual top National Team anymore. England is close but the manager is shite.

I think the National team thing is a symptom of the former though. International matches are generally less structured and drilled for obvious reasons (lack of prep time and cohesion) so you generally need individual quality to shine through a make an impact. But if players are more used to thriving in a strict system that highlights their profiles to the max, they will look far worse in a looser set up and team.

It’s why Pogba was one of the greatest midfielders of all time for France even while not being as impactful for United. Teams weren’t structured to shut him down and he was allowed time and space to shine without his weaknesses showing as much as they might against better drilled club sides.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I don't think that's true, quite the contrary. Most defenders "back in the day" were terrible at anything with the ball, attackers didn't defend as they do today. The roles in most cases were more clearly defined than they are today.

Some players were exceptions to that, but mostly the true legends of the game. And they became legends exactly because of that (players like Beckenbauer or di Stefano). Some midfielders also were able to influence every area of the pitch as they had quite a big range (like Roy Keane for example).

There were only a few nations that produced more versatile players by default, like the Netherlands for their "Total Voetball". Which is the ancestor of modern positional play systems.

And actually I think that contributes to it being boring, because the players today are much more similar to each other than they were decades ago. Everybody can pass the ball, everybody defends, there are less individual differences.

Players are more well rounded, but individual quality isn’t as valued if that player struggles for a baseline elsewhere. If you have a Mesut Ozil esque artist in passing/creating chances but he’s poor at pressing and running, managers would rather not even have him and replace that player with someone like a Mason Mount that isn’t close to that level of individual quality but can run and do enough things “well” to work within a system

 

[Lay]

Do kids still go outside and emulate Haalands tap ins and Mbappes kick and runs with their mates? I would say it's harder for a kid to fall in love with the game like I did without all the flair players I had the privilege to grow up watching

I coach at grass roots level and kids only care about Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi still. I'm wondering what happens when they retire because no other player gets a look in when it comes to who they want to emulate.

 

[stefan92]

Players are more well rounded, but individual quality isn’t as valued if that player struggles for a baseline elsewhere. If you have a Mesut Ozil esque artist in passing/creating chances but he’s poor at pressing and running, managers would rather not even have him and replace that player with someone like a Mason Mount that isn’t close to that level of individual quality but can run and do enough things “well” to work within a system

Fair enough, I think we can all agree that this "overall baseline" has been raised and that some players who have some exciting skills don't make it today because of that.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I don't think that's true, quite the contrary. Most defenders "back in the day" were terrible at anything with the ball, attackers didn't defend as they do today. The roles in most cases were more clearly defined than they are today.

Some players were exceptions to that, but mostly the true legends of the game. And they became legends exactly because of that (players like Beckenbauer or di Stefano). Some midfielders also were able to influence every area of the pitch as they had quite a big range (like Roy Keane for example).

There were only a few nations that produced more versatile players by default, like the Netherlands for their "Total Voetball". Which is the ancestor of modern positional play systems.

And actually I think that contributes to it being boring, because the players today are much more similar to each other than they were decades ago. Everybody can pass the ball, everybody defends, there are less individual differences.

Yeah, good points about the players in past generations having very defined roles that they stuck to.

Nowadays there's so much running that most players have to cover all over the pitch - mostly off the ball. Whereas in the old days most players kept their positions and there were a lot of one v one contests with the FB's job just to defend that FB position, a wingers job to work the flank; a CB to deal one on one with the tall striker, while the other one dealt with the nippier one, etc. It was all very samey as well, just more gung ho and raw and less patient and polished (though I guess you can also add exciting / dull to the first and latter depending on taste).

Nowadays there's so much more mobility off the ball and yet, ironically, the game has slowed down a lot with the growth of patient, possession football. So players are running more all over the place off the ball trying to create / cover gaps, but it's far less gung ho in possession and most teams are a lot more patient passing it around waiting to create a chance (or scared of giving it away and being hit on the break - the only real time any real pace, and space, occurs).

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Do kids still go outside and emulate Haalands tap ins and Mbappes kick and runs with their mates? I would say it's harder for a kid to fall in love with the game like I did without all the flair players I had the privilege to grow up watching

I remember growing up and everyone wanting to be like Van Nistelrooy who scored in a similar way to Haaland, kids don't watch football too deeply to worry about aesthetics, just like names of your team and who scores goals.

 

[Offside]

2006 World Cup the only team interested in going forward was Australia. Don’t get me started on the tournaments in the early 90’s and 80’s. I think it’s the opposite.

 

[Eric_the_Red99]

The consensus opinion seems to be yes, modern football is very dull. But is there a simple tweak to the rules that could make it more exciting again by making the current, data-driven, play it safe, possession-based style less effective? Something similar to how the back pass rule effectively abolished Liverpool and Arsenal’s tactic of going a goal ahead and then just passing it between the keeper and back four for the rest of the game.

I think reducing the number of subs back down to three could help. So much of the modern style of football relies on all 10 outfield players being able to run constantly in order to maintain their team’s statistically optimised shape, and being able to swap out half the team definitely makes that a lot easier.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Fair enough, I think we can all agree that this "overall baseline" has been raised and that some players who have some exciting skills don't make it today because of that.

Yep. More Mason Mounts and Martinelli’s but less David Silvas.

I’m hoping football gets back to a more end to end style in the future where there’s more space for players to play in. Will probably need some rule changes though

 

[Fobal]

That's true. And whenever I watch old TV shows (often sitcoms) from previous decades, you still hear the same points about Footballers not being as good or brave as in past decades, and the same points made then as now about the NHS / doctors appointments, politicians, etc.

Every generation moans about the same things it seems, and remembers things as being better when they were younger. Though, of course, that doesn't mean that all criticism should be dismissed or that all change is for the better. Some things will change for the worst. And some things (most things nowadays!) deliberately change to appeal more to younger demographics - so it's not surprising as you get older it feels things appeal to you less now, as it's a very intentional policy.

As regards the modern games of Football - I have always much preferred to watch a technical, skilful, attacking style to the old British long ball game, or the cynical, pragmatic defensive style.

However, I agree that it's got too much nowadays. Everyone doing it at all levels means it's all got too predictable and samey, other than some do it better than others. And it's really annoying when defensive players are clearly struggling, and seemingly inevitably about to gift away a goal, but still won't just clear the damn ball away to safety. There really should be more common sense allowed, and 'time and place' mentality about the defending.

Exactly, even ourselves many times find a resistance to newer tendencies, or feel over the top the praise on newer players and even someone like me who likes and knows about the history of the game and it's not nostalgic about it can sometimes fall in such stuff. At the same time I'm very aware of the over the top view on past players too.
I always felt that is more importante to detect when a generational change is happenning (like nowadays), how the roles change, how social media and all these sort of external aspects affect the game since always and its perception...so many things to keep it balance and respect every period and their players (mostly in their own periods).

 

[Marwood]

We overcomplicate it most of the time.

It's simple really. In terms of entertainment, nobody wants to see defenders and goalkeepers on the ball. There's just way too much of it now.

 

[Sweet Square]

 

[redshaw]

I wouldn't blame Pep, if we're looking at his influence at Barca/Spain and Bayern/Germany, when they met in the Euros they both went out to control the game and produced a high level match with both sides having good long spells, it wasn't a cagey game.

Pep's time at City hasn't had much effect for England NT.

 

[Zen86]

Pep is just a symptom of modern football, he’s not the reason.

 

[Vialli_92]

This is the most boring and low quality Euro's I've seen in my lifetime. Africa world cup in 2010 was similar in terms of quality to this one. Very boring and low quality overall.

 

[killerboi2]

I had hoped international football would be protected from this boring Guardiola inspired football, but as the tournament went on...

Hope it goes away soon. The players should be ashamed of this and work on solutions to fix it.

 

[erikcred]

I had hoped international football would be protected from this boring Guardiola inspired football, but as the tournament went on...

Hope it goes away soon. The players should be ashamed of this and work on solutions to fix it.

Which teams are playing this Guardiola inspired football?

 

[roonster09]

Might be completely wrong but looks like players don't have much imagination anymore, they are trained and programmed to play certain way and beyond that they lacks the creative element.

Football is more about efficiency now than flair and creativity.

 

[André Dominguez]

The problem is that everyone tries to emulate Pep, but most of those cheap imitations just end up being a festival of sterile ball posssession that creates zero danger.

If there is a manager that can implement a direct style with quick side to side shifts it will bring havoc to these teams that press as block just because it works with Pep.

 

[Red-17]

Don't see how Guardiola has anything to do with the dull football of the likes of Deschamps and Southgate. When did he every play such negative football and play for the draw rather than going for the win? You never see a Guardiola team go a goal up and then make a bunch of defensive subs and play negative football. They almost always go on to try and score 2, 3, and 4 goals to kill a game off.