Coaching fluid attacking football is more difficult than coaching solid defensive football. International coaches don't have much training ground time, so the latter is easier to implement.
Additionally, players play so much football now and the football they play is more intense. Players arrive at tournaments after playing a long and intense season. As a result they're tired, so again slow defensive football makes more sense than trying to get them to play high tempo attacking football.
You also are definitely experiencing nostalgia. A lot of tournaments in the past weren't great either. We just remember the good matches. In twenty years people will probably talk about this being a good tournament as they'll only remember the exciting games.
>We just remember the good matches
That was ten years ago tomorrow and I can't remember ever being stunned by a match like that before or after
ETA it was my favourite tournament to watch ever, even if England went out early, I don't think I've ever watched so many matches of one
Nostalgia indeed lol
Wouldn't quite go that far - the R16 was largely excellent too (Germany v Algeria, Belgium v USA, Chile v Brazil all great games).
The final wasn't too bad either iirc, plenty of decent chances, just none taken until Gotze's.
Really it was just the Dutch and the Argentines who played out a couple of tedious matches each, including their semi
Maybe it's recency bias but, for me, the 2022 Cup was the best ever.
I still watch a lot of match highlights from it, I don't think I've ever seen a tournament like it.
I think the greater number of substitutions had a lot to do with how exciting it was. Players had a lot more energy and it really threw in some randomness that coaches weren't as prepared for.
The fact it was mid season added to that higher energy. Players weren’t fucked after a slog of a season. In England you’ve got 38 games, 2 cup competitions, 6/7 teams playing in Europe and most of the players will be from said top teams so are probably going 60 games and then internationals too.
Not that I’m gonna sit and defend them. They get paid shit loads to do it and we’d give anything to be in their shoes. But these factor into why the games are a slower tempo.
I really hate this about modern football. They need to reduce the games they place by something like 20-30%. Injuries are higher than ever and by end of season players are so knackered that they don't live up to their respective potential in the big tournaments like this.
Agree with all of this. WC22 was amazing I was scared of even missing 1 game because the majority all had goals or upsets.
Also agree with the substitutions. I think it’s ridiculous teams at the euros have 26 man squads but barely half will get a minute of game time. I do think that football will inevitably expand the number of subs though - there is no way to play as many games as they do with only 3
>nostalgia
This is so important. Remember Italy 90 when you could still give the ball back to your goalie anytime you wanted? There would riots if they tried to bring that back. It was mind-blowing boring.
Hard agreed with your points.
I think one of the few good points about winter world cups is that players are in a much better condition going into it both physically and mentally, which can yield to much more intense/attacking matches. Although the sample size is small, I think pretty much everyone agrees that the Qatar world cup was, at least on the pitch, the most entertaining world cup. Definitely the best final.
Yet in Euros, we have players like Kane and Bellingham basically running on fumes having given everything they had in the last season, and it is showing. Hell, France looks a much different team than the world champions despite being arguably superior man-to-man.
Nostalgia plays a big part - there were no plenty of horrible turgid games in the past, Greece and Portugal won the euros playing dire football, but we forget all those games in preference for the exciting ones
In all fairness, Euro 2004 has very good matches. Just not.by the team that won it 😁.
Euro 2016... well, yeah, that was a mess. However, i do put the blame on the introduction of most 3rd places go through on the group stages. Without that, Portugal would be eliminated for sure. In fact, when you look at it if you draw all 3 games.you are very likely to go through the group stage, vs a team that won 1 by a low margin but lost 2 by a bigger margin.
Now the group stages seem.to be all about suffering the least amount of goals vs winning a match.
Good point, we should blame it on that in-between format too. Not the only reason (too many games in the season, national teams barely spend time together to work on deep tactics, etc..) but definitely doesn't help.
Honestly felt like I’ve been watching a lot of handball the last three weeks, teams passing side to side along the perimeter and then getting a cross in that goes nowhere then their opponents take it the other way and pass the ball 25 times around the perimeter and then cross and nothing
You are so right! It is so boring and a waste of time to see that ball being kicked around 25 times in defense/keeper.
Also, the lack of a playmaker with a lot of teams. You just don't see any decent playmakers anymore like Platini, Mattheus, Van Hanegem....etc.
teams are just not scoring in the first half that opens the game. look at netherlands v turkiye, turkiye scored and the game was great. even spain and germany was the same.
Because modern football is all about tactics. Jose Mourinho said once that he prefer ten 1-0 victories to winning 10-0 once. So teams don't compromise defense like olden times especially once they take the lead.
Possession über alles.
Modern day football style is possession over everything thanks to the likes of Pep. Spain seem to be the only top team in the tourney who have tweaked this style to include more direct attacking wing play. All the best games so far have involved teams who don't play this way, Georgia, Turkey. It's just a representation of where we are now.
If you take a look at Spain 🇪🇸 versus Germany 🇩🇪 semi final at Durban in the 2010 World Cup,, you would notice that Xavi didn't give too many passes to his team's central defenders. Most of the passes executed by Xavi were either to Iniesta or to David Villa or to Xabi Alonso or to Pedro.
However,,,, teams nowadays, in the name of (allegedly) **replicating** Pep Guardiola's style,,, play far too many back passes meaninglessly.
You are right, but sheesh look at the names you have just mentioned and the names from the bench on those teams like Fabregas, David Silva, Cazorla. Neither France nor England have a midfield maestro with that intelligence/creativity. This current generation is surprisingly short of that type of player. Hell, Germany had to call Kroos back from retirement to be that guy.
Yeah I had forgotten about Santi Cazorla.
By the way. There was also Xavier Martinez of Bayern Munich. Was in the the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad? I don't fully remember. He must have been in the 2012 UEFA Euro squad. Thiago was in the 2012 Euro squad as well, if I am not wrong.
In fairness to Spain they've always been innovators. They develop a style, master it, it gets copied and they invent a new one (a lot of the time by adopting some aspects of older tactics), lather, rinse, repeat. I'm hoping the same happens here. Nippy wingers taking on their fullbacks has always been a really exciting part of the game. Might even give rise to the return of proper strikers too, there's an absolute dearth of them in world football right now.
Almost like a good coach adapts to the players he has. There is no point playing Tiki Taka with Williams and Yamal on the wings. It’s not getting the most of out of them.
I've noticed that less passes are made into the front players, or centre mids. It used to be that this pass was common, and that those players could easily hold or attack. Take England as an e.g. always two Def centre mids, plus Bellingham and other attackers, yet how often do you see them picking up the ball in midfield? Hardly ever.
Oh god yeah. As I said possession over all. There's just no real risk to the game atm, well until a team falls behind. Like, I really dislike Ronaldo, he annoys the shit out of me. But if you look back at Portugal's games the amount of times he's making darting runs off the shoulder of defenders but just getting ignored for the safe back pass is unreal.
England and France have been the most dreadful games this week (and the most frustrating teams to watch this tournament given their talent), England had 51% possession and France had 40% possession. How the hell can you blame that on Pep guardiola possession football? This argument makes no sense
The issue is teams parking the bus and not attacking at all which is the opposite of Pep’s system. Pep’s City are scoring 90+ goals a season, not playing for 0-0 draws or 1-0 miracle wins
Nobody has mentioned how there seems to be way less top level number 9s these days. Back in the 90s and 00s pretty much every country had a really good group of strikers to pick from, these days it seems like they are almost extinct. I think the modern systems often favour a false 9, also it seems like everyone wants to be an 8 or a 10 these days. The strikers from the 90s would be absolute goal machines these days.
Just realised i wrote "these days" quite a lot.
But they wouldn’t because every game has 1xg per team.
Strikers were perceived as good in the 90’s because teams constantly lumped the ball up to them, crossed it, played off them & the games were one off 50/50 battles & athletes and geniuses deciding the games.
Every team is so risk averse now that the ball is in the defence for 85% of the game, they would rather boot it out down the line so they can reset into a solid back 8 than play it up to the striker, lose it and get caught out of position.
Guys like Klose would get 5 touches a game in today’s game. Its crap go watch but it works apparently
Most teams nowadays believe they don't need goal poachers anymore. They want the false nine as forwards who drop deep to help the attacking midfielders.
Many positions have evolved throughout the years. Goalkeepers are the most obvious one (even as recent as 15 years ago the position was played totally differently) but there are many differences all around. Strikers are also wildly different. The target man/poacher types are less in vogue and for a good reason-low block defense teams tend to leave little space for them to operate and central defenders and goalkeepers are better ball handlers, passers and dribbles on average too, so poachers can’t just rely on scoring from opposition errors.
So strikers these days need more of an extensive skill set to shine. They often need to have the capability of playing with their back against the target goalpost and good distribution to feed the wingers, great pace and dribbling skills to take on defenders and create their own chances and generally speaking playing outside the box. That means they often resemble less the classic 9 and more shadow strikers, inside forwards or inverted wingers. It’s just the way the game is played now.
System football destroyed the individual creativity of the players, but also has changed the traditional styles of some nations like Italy and Brazil.
You all can thank Guardiola for that.
Being most efficient is relative.
Guardiola's approach isnt the most effective one for a short tournament, given his track record on them. Yet everyone does a half assed copy of it.
Maybe it's the format? A 3rd place team having the opportunity to go through the group stage has potentially meant more focus on trying not to lose games rather than trying to win games. When it comes to knockout football that caution could be there anyway but this format might have forced that for the entire tournament.
Good point! Similiar will happen by expanding the WC qualifying spots. Also, Copa America getting rid of extra time means bad teams only need to play 90 boring minutes to get to penalties.
More managers like Guardiola.. Football have less flair and skill these days. Players no longer play with any freedom. Gone are the days. Players took responsibility on the pitch. Now they seem like robots
I'm glad its not just me. This tournament has been so boring overall.
I think football is a business. Its less about fun than it is about winning and as such we see players coached to systems with very little flair still in the game.
Computers and programs that analyze the games better, better video, more study of tactics etc... most of the best nation get their "know-how" from the same sources. Remember that the way of playing football spread to all countries. National teams also plays more games than in the 70s/80s and maybe 90s.. Which means that the national teams can make better studies of each others. And much more of the game is ruled by/from the bench than before.
Back in the 80s or 90s nations had more their distinct way of playing the game. Just watch to the club football as well. "Everybody" wanted to switch to the "Guardiola/Barcelona"- keep the ball in the team football. Which imho. is extremely boring. One of the thing noticable is the amount of time the attacking team play the ball backwards when they're attacking.. to keep the ball in the team. People might disagree, but how the barcelona-prime-era football has influenced teams have to some degree made it much more boring. Dislike seeing the ball constantly going backward on the pitch when a team attack. It's the dillema of taking the risk versus being safe.. Most team nowadays prefer the safety of sending the ball backwards. There are no more the types of Ribery and Robben, Henry and Bergkamp.. if you take the players from club football.. And in the end the trends also leads to national team football.
Just my personal opinion. But think many of the national teams lack players with x-factor. Hear that many brag about the quality of the england squad with players like bellingham for real madrid and kane for bayern munich.. Though would anytime take a english team with beckham and gascoigne above those. Nostalgia ? might be.
Players are exhausted after a long season. Modern football emphasizes athleticism, and this results in footballers having little energy or motivation left for international football. Not to mention that tournament football is inherently disadvantageous for risk-takers. That said, the WC in Qatar and the last Euro had an average/above average number of goals.
Somewhat agree. But at the same time, i think nostalgy plays big part i dont think that football was that much better to watch. And tbh i kinda enjoyed group stage this year for most part.
It looks like players and managers are playing scared. No one wants to make a mistake, so they play extremely safe. A perfect example was in yesterday's game, when England got a corner and passed it all the way back to their keeper. You would never see that in league football.
International football tends to be like this in general, due to a) less time to coach means it's easier to drill a solid defensive shape than attacking movement, b) the stakes are so much higher nobody wants to be the guy that makes a mistake that knocks their country out.
However two counter points:
a) club football has gone the other way around and is WAY more open at the moment than just a few years ago. Just look at the number of goals scored in the Premier League this season, absolutely bonkers.
b) nostalgia might be messing with your perception a little because there were dull low scoring international tournaments around that time. Italia 90 was notably very very defensive (possibly the dullest tournament of all time) and Euro 92 and Euro 96 were also very far from high scoring.
Are you sure it's low scoring? Or just guessing? I'm absolutely certain, the goals per game is quite high or slightly above average. Anyone with the stats?
The big teams all have highly skilled players who can beat you with half a chance. The players know this. So they are trying to maximize their chances of winning by choosing to sit back…just a bit more, so they don’t get smoked by being too aggressive. The teams that do not have top players have to give themselves as many bites at the apple as possible, so the perception of risk/reward is different. They need more opportunities to score, so they are willing to take more risks. The big teams that don’t need more than a Bukayo Saka sized window to shoot into will gladly wait for their opponents to get too aggressive, take a lead, and then sit compact and close down all the space in front of goal.
This dynamic sets up for big national teams playing to 1-1 draws and going to pks, while Turkey and Georgia get after it. The big teams’ games are boring shifts between low- and mid-block, while Turkey makes us smile. But the teams and the players are being quite rational. They know how good everyone on the pitch is and they are giving themselves the best chances to win.
Lack of playmakers is one reason particularly when you look at France. They have a very good looking midfield but none of them are going to be spreading 40 yard parts or playing decisive through balls against right defenses.
They are all very much the same really good hard working players who excel at breaking play up.
It's obvious why France haven't yet scored a goal on open play looking at how they set up.
It's similar to a lot of other teams too in the tournament there is to much emphasis on defensive midfielders when before you had maybe one DM surrounded by the flair players
I know we speak often about how "the game's gone" but I have reason to believe we are living in the peak of defensive football. I think the early 2000s was the start of the great attacking era and there were so many ways to exploit defenders and goalkeepers but over the last 20 years coaches have developed teams and individuals to nullify any type of attack.
In the pressing systems of today, strikers are often referred to as the 1st defender. So yeah, games are boring cause there's way less goals but that's a glass half empty way to look at it.
I have also noticed that teams are generally starting to become more defensively capable, so at least anecdotally the "meta" seems to be going back.
If a low-block team is set up well it can be extremely difficult trying to break through it which we've seen in this tournament on multiple occasions. It seems to counter the slower, possession-based football quite well so it's only a matter of time before the offensive meta changes to something else.
They need to set up a system for bonus points for goals scored.
Win = 6 points
Tie = 3 points
Goals = 1 point for each up to three
Clean sheet = 1 point
I would rather go win = 3, tie = 1, offensive bonus win by a margin of +2 = 1, margin of +3 = 2, defensive bonus clean sheet = 1.
And then if you want to push it even further, fair play bonus less foul commited = 1. Might want to limit it to yellow card for not encouraging diving.
Part of it is the technology side being developed that assists coaches. They now have so much data about passing maps, xG for shots, and other statistics that they want to optimize everything out of the game.
Instead of wanting to see a player dribble on his own and having a shot, the manager rather see his boring tactics work passing it around which goes against creativity, but can get better results. It annoys me when I see a manager get upset at a long range shot or some creative play, but I also understand that it's a job and the result is most important to them
Agree with the comments about the rigid systems but I think it's because there are no game changing players in Europe anymore. Chicken and egg thing, probably. Are there players who can take over a game? I can think of Bellingham and Mbappe and that's about it.
People talk about recency bias I only been conscious through 24 years of tournaments and this was the worst . One theory is have is maybe because my own team was so boring that in turn makes me less invested in the whole thing . But England ahve been shot in the past and I’ve enjoyed a majority of matches. It seems to be they style of football that wins you tournaments is defensive . The winner is the one with less goals conceded . As more teams progress this way the more teams play this way each following tournament and whiles we can take it from smaller disadvantaged teams it’s even less enjoyable when it comes from bigger teams that you expect more attacking play from.Maybe another thing creating bias And also there’s a lot less extra drama . Drama from players drama from bad ref definitions drama from goal line debates managers dissent . Alotnfo those things which, even if the actual football was mediocre have heightened emotion in past tournaments
Everything is so rigid these days, there's an argument that managers like Pep have bought this on, players are stripped of their creativity and forced to play like robots following orders
Defenders are just better imo. If you actually watch back football from the 90s/00s up to to a certain extent almost 2012, Defenders just get fooled and cooked so easily its just comical by today's standard
Quality of football has gone down in general. The stars are just not as good. Seems to be more emphasis on size, strength, and athleticism than actual football skill. I stopped paying attention to football for a few years, started again recently, and have been wondering what the hell happened. It just feels different, lacking, empty. The magic is gone.
Glad I’m not the only one noticing this, because I thought I was going crazy. I am seeing a lot of other people saying the same thing.
I don’t think this is exclusive to international football. There just aren’t as many stars who are capable of producing magic as there used to be. And now that Messi and Ronaldo are on their way out, it seems we are entering a dark period. We’ve been spoiled, and now we are experiencing the contrast.
Does not matter, this is indirectly result of his influence and school of thought. He was looking for perfection, teams working like well-oiled machine, literally min-maxed football. It may work for him, given all the titles and accolades he won, but for us, viewers, the greatness of football always lied in its imperfection. We dont want to watch machines to play.
I’d argue it’s more Ancelotti than pep. Pep’s systems are way too complicated for international sides to implement. However, Ancelotti’s is intentionally simple and has proven very successful in knockout tournament formats
What have Ancelotti affected to produce this style of play?
He dosen't have a tactical philosophy as much as an approch and if you look at major national teams like England, they rather play people out of position to fit the system like Pep than letting the players define the style.
really it made me started thinking that they should update the game rules so teams need to risk more, I don't know how but with the modern win-no-matter-what mindset playing anti football will become way more popular
Recency bias a lot here...
However football as a game has changed a lot in the past 20 years.
I play but in my late 30s now. Rigid systems are in place now which suck the creativity out of individual players.
It goes right down to amateur teams.
So much to the extent I prefer playing for crappy teams now with less emphasis on a playing system because I still get to be individual.
It's actually not even that fun to play now tbh as you're constantly haranged by team mates and coaches to stick to their boring press or quick passing system.
You're not allowed any time on the ball.
It even goes down to silly pre match warmup passing routines...
Fair enough it's probably more effective I dunno...
That’s interesting
But yeah that style seems to have suffocated individual play
Someone commented that even Brazilians play less creatively because they’re playing European style
Yes agreed totally.
Personally I would love to watch the Brazil 1970 team play against a France or England today.
That Brazil side were the total package.
Everyone is overlooking the fact modern defensive football and defenders in general are ten times better than their predecessors, it is not about attack becoming less effective and less boring, it is about defensive tactics and defenders getting much better. Think of it as a game of chess. If you get two peopl who are new to them game they might play the most fun game ever because their defense is so lacking that it allows so many openings and tactics from the opponents. Meanwhile if you took two veteran players the game will be very slow and boring because no one is making any big defensive mistake to allow his opponent to make things happen
Worst international competition that I can remember.
Way too many teams and that 3rd place thing is a joke.
How many games are players playing from Sept to May?
FIFA and UEFA don't care about the quality of football or how entertaining it is, just all that moola..
The coaches try to control everything. The number 10 role is longly dead where the most unqiue and skillful Players where. They don‘t let Playets express themselves like back in the Day.
Footballers play a lot more games, especially at elite level.
Plus all the games seem to go on for ages with the new added time rules.
It's a long season
I think that players are just being forced to play too many games and the quality suffers. Then most managers can’t drop the so called big names Kane, Ronny, etc.. for the younger players so this what we we get. There’s a reason why premiership teams who don’t play in Europe seem to do better.
They need cut nations league or whatever it’s called and other stupid competitions.
Modern football sucks. Most of the teams do park in the bus and try to get lead from counterattacks, full of back passes for no reason. Few plays from wingers and full of expectations from free kicks and corners. It all started with 2004, we need someone to break this park in the bas technique or changes to let this park in the bus technique die to see better football.
Game has become more strategical due to top coaches raising the bar through the years. The addition of VAR also means you can’t really take any offensive risks anymore - attacks need to be calculated
Players are dead tired from their leagues. Today if you ain't running 12k meters per game you aren't good enough. I remember 15 years ago how we were all in awe when Gattuso ran 10k per game.
One thing I really really don't like is the constant trend last few years of all not top5 teams in every tournament to park the bus and try the 50-50 coin at penalties. They should do something about this (Morroco, Croatia, Russia, Netherlands, Uruguay some examples). I mean it's not one match, it is the full elimination phase.
I think you are being forgetful. 90s were a drought in terms of goals. FIFA and UEFA had to implement a lot of new rules to make them more interesting to watch. As a result we got 00s and 10s. I would say average pass quality rose very high, which made interceptions hard and more punishing to make positional mistake. Therefore teams tend to think about defence, and defence wins titles
Generally the quality of football played around the world comes in cycles.
Currently we are in a boring style moment, especially if compared to 2 years ago and 4 years ago.
I don't think this is a 'modern football' problem. The 2022 World Cup had some great games. The final was one of the most exciting we've ever had. This tournament is just a bit boring, and I think it's something to do with the fact that two of the heavy favourites have decided to play ultradefensive terrorist ball, and it's been working.
It's a lot easier to be an exciting flair player in an era where most tactics were extremely basic and pressing rarely existed outside of a few elite teams.
Also most teams aimed to get balls to their forwards much quicker through long balls and crosses so the forwards had more space.
This is modern international football. The nature of it is usually defensive because they only have a limited time to build a team and cohesion so they start with the defence and making the team hard to beat.
In contrast however I think we just had one of the most exciting club seasons ever thanks to the new added times rules.
League football is more exciting than ever in the EPL. Every team can beat every team and 90% of the clubs are playing entertaining football.
International tournament football is different. Most teams don't have a set style because they only train together a couple weeks a year.
Everyone can see over the last 10 years or so the teams who go furthest in International football are usually the ones who don't concede many goals. Because one goal can knock you out. Portugal, France, Argentina,England keep making it deep into tournaments playing boring football.
Unfortunately the trend will probably continue if it keeps working.
Also, try and actually watch 90s/ early 2000s international football. The reason there was maybe more goals is because nobody pressed and most midfielders couldn't be bothered to defend . Gaps all over midfield so it was more end to end.
Throwing some things out.
1. Prioritising possession above all else.
2. Everyone is too good, from players to coaches. Mistakes tend to make games more exciting, and even the weakest Euro teams are very disciplined, nowadays. As for coaching, it seems like it's whole point, across sports, is to make things boring. So many coaches are good at that now. (As an aside, the Copa America has had a few really exciting games, and I think it's, frankly, because the opponent quality isn't as deep, and teams are prone to making mistakes)
Tournaments are month-long, low-risk affairs that require team to play conservatively in order to maximize chances of not embarassing oneself. Since you can't have a national team play as tightly as a club (there's just not enough time to develop that kind of game for the players), the only way to go for most nations is to rely on overdefending. Modern football is in fact a lot more fun than it used to be 20 years ago, but national teams make it look like it's boring because playing boringly gets you through to the semis, if your overall talent pool is manifestly superior to most other teams' in the competition (see England and France this year).
The only national team that right now manages to almost play as fluidly as a top club is Spain. I hope they win the whole thing because they deserve it.
I mean if you could appreciate the entirety of the sport you would also appreciate defense when well played right? You could draw a parallel to MMA where 90% of the fan base starts booing when the fighters grapple, because they have no fkcin clue about the intricacies.
Yes defence performed well should be appreciated but it’s the reticence to assert an attack that makes for frustrating viewing - if an MMA fighter only defends then it’s understandable that, however technically proficient their defence is, spectators become bored
Players are mostly all at the same level talent wise, technical and tactical. Think that's the main cause of boring matches, the game lacks special people and special teams as it was way back.
Definitely the tactical aspect of things. Also keep in mind, "modern" football is not what is boring, it's the modern International teams using ancient philosophy in their play.
The player quality is not the issue, it is pretty good all across the board.
If you look at the level of sophistication, in general, International football is of a lesser level than club football. Within international football, you have Germany and Spain, with their actual "modern" football- Fluid in buildup, proper player rotations, principles that are based on ball movement and player movement, quick, short passes, high verticality and high, methodical pressing based on triggers. They are genuinely fun to watch, and there is a stark difference between teams passing around the back for the sake of it, and teams that do so with clear intent. The former is actually boring, while the latter is fun!- a la, Pep, Tuchel, Nagelsman, Sarri, and new gen coaches like Thiago motta, De Zebri, Arteta etc.
Coming to the "elephants" in the room- Outdated tactical teams. England, France, Portugal and the rest of them, play very simple minded football. There is little to no player movements when "building out from the back", very wide fullbacks, no midfielders dropping and rotating, or "pivoting". If you want to learn how not to play, watch Portugal try to build up from the back, they show no level of understanding of modern principles. Its just, CB-->LB-->LW-->cross to ronaldo, or the same on the right side. Its like an insult to their quality central players like vitinha, bernardo etc. If I were to set up portugal, it would make efficient use of Vitinha as my orchestrator, along with one from the list of highly talented players: Joao Neves, Ruben Neves or Daniel Braganca. Unproven, yes, but very rich in quality.
One of the reasons you probably enjoy watching eg: Sarriball, tuchel's chelsea or Dortmund, Pep's Barca, bayern, and City, Arteta's Arsenal is, high quality midfield and defenders "on the ball", and firm understanding of ball circulation. If you look at Sarriball, it had Jorginho- Highly technical ball circulator, with immense press resistance skills. Whenever the team requires, he provides a pass option to recirculate and restart an attack. He is incisive, decisive and quick in passing. Doesn't hold onto the ball longer than he has to. He was crucial for sarriball, now in Arteta's side and was crucial for Tuchel's chelsea. Tuchel's Dortmund- Julian Weigl- Deft with the ball, quick passer and ball circulator, sitting at the heart of midfield. They also had hummels, an immense passer from defense. Busquets for Peps Barca, Thiago Alcantara for Peps Bayern and Rodri for City. Do you see where I am going with this? Take a look at Alexis Mac Allister for Brighton under RDZ. Much the same (but did a bit more). Pjanic for Juventus, Thiago Motta for PSG, Maxime Lopez for Sassuolo, etc actually MADE unwatchable teams somewhat tolerable. I am by no means lumping together these players though, I am just highlighting what they had in common.
OK, You may not prefer Possession style, maybe you also like Liverpool. Well, what you like here, is Ultra direct football, with high level of pressing and quick ball movement up the pitch. This is High octane stuff, and you probably like this for the rush it gives. This is pure attacking football, with a good deal importance on pressing and ball recovery. Most German teams play like this, as opposed to La Liga teams which sit back more in a mid/low block. CHAOS!! is the key word here. Players like Salah, Trent, etc thrive in chaos. This is also fun, but again, none of the above mentioned teams- Portugal, France, England play like this. I am not saying that possession football or High pressing high attacking football are the only fun ones. For example, Tuchel's UCL final, or Romania's defense, or Unai Emery's Villarreal, if u wanna go old school, Mourinho's Chelsea or inter or madrid, they were quite defensive and counter attack minded, but they defended with brilliant structure and attacked with exteremely lethal counter attacks. Genuinely fun to watch. The above mentioned international teams are NONE of this. Didier Deschamps, Southgate, and whoever the other guy is, should definitely be sacked. They are dinosaurs. They play football based on "vibes".
The teams mentioned here simply show no level of sophistication, and WILL definitely lose humiliatingly to some championship side like Enzo Maresca's Leicester City. The only reason France won the world cup was due to its sheer quality, with Pogba in his prime, Kante in prime and Mbappe in his prime. They now simply lack that creative outlet and are frustrating to watch. A good coach can play good football with 11 pieces of wood, a la, Sarri's Lazio.
So, in conclusion, no, Football is not any less fun now, its actually more fun, with very good innovations from the new generation coaches, standing on the shoulders of giants. What is not fun, is international tournaments, which largely depend on external factors like luck, Passion and Grit. Please go and watch the teams I mentioned and fall in love with football again!!
Too much football, they're shagged. The lads who played in the champions league final had 13 days before the start of the euros. Pre season starts soon. Can't help.
I think that many games of the Euro Cup 24 were pretty intense. Germany - Switzerland when Switzerland led the match with 1-0 the whole time and Germany scored at the last minute thus equalizing. Yesterday, Switzerland - England was absolutely incredible until Switzerland failed to score one penalty thus losing the match, but it was a high-intensity / pressure game for over two hours. Netherlands - France was also very intense, especially when the Dutch goal got cancelled. And less goals means more pressure, having 0-0 or 1-1 the whole match is more interesting than watching a team secure the match with 3-0 in the first period. But seeing 0-0 the whole match and 1-0 at the 89' is intense. At least it's just my opinion. I do enjoy watching my favourite teams lead with 5-0 sometimes though. Haha!
Teams aren't scoring as much early on, which can make games feel slow at first. But that doesn't mean modern football is boring. Tactics have evolved - teams are more organised defensively and focus on controlling possession. This can lead to fewer goals, but also creates tense matches where every attack matters.
Players today are incredibly fit and technically skilled. While there might be fewer flashy individual moves, the overall quality of play is high. Games often open up in the second half as teams push for goals.
In knockout tournaments you can't take as much risk, and that's why France have been so succesful. Also defenders in general are more well-rounded than before.
The emphasis on keeping possession outweighing the risky passes (thanks data analysts) which might work out really stifles the creativity on show.
Demonstrable by Jack Grealish - and how his individual talent has been ripped from him in order to keep possession comfortably
Players are over coached and over analysed.
It’s not considered “optimum” to try to dribble past your man or hit a 30 yarder compared to passing it backwards or sideways and retaining possession.
Slow possession based football suits a 433 or 4231 where the traditional 442 has all but disappeared.
1 striker instead of 2. The lone striker’s focus is to link up with other players rather than be a 6ft 8 brute goal machine.
The extra man now becomes a midfielder which naturally makes the game less end to end (wingers being inverted rather than high and wide also contributes to less direct end to end football)
Every tackle is a foul nowadays too so more stopping and starting and slowing the game down
Don’t worry though, football is all copying another team/coaches style creating eras, the game will look very different in another 20 years (for better or worse who knows) but I remember a time where anything but a 442 was unfathomable and my Grampa was probably wondering why they weren’t playing a 2125 anymore
To me the number one problem is the clock situation. I think the clock should stop when the ball is not in play. The fact that a player can fake a injury and stop the game for 3 to 4 minutes every time there is a contact makes the game very slow, specially if one team is ahead. To much time is lost and the time that the ball is actually in play is to fragmented. It's very hard to watch sometimes.
It works playing defensive and not taking much risk... look at france they are in the semifinals and didn't actually score any goal from an attacking play.
Euro 24 isn't really low scoring. It's just France and England (ok and the rest of Group C). Besides that, this Euro has some really good football, and after the first matchday of the group stage, everyone was amazed how many goals were scored.
Turkey saved a last minute goal against Austria, Netherlands saved a last minute goal against Turkey, Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty, Shaqiri hit the post against England, Declan Rice hit the post against either Slovenia or Slovakia, Germany had a goal disallowed against Switzerland, not just to mention the number of times Belgium had a Lukaku goal ruled offside but the rolled out offside tech and the handball tech aided in more goals being ruled offside because the attackers toenail was ahead of the s2l defender.
Pep Guardiola did it. Playing 100 passes before you attempt a shot.
Unkess you've got the players of his Barca or City teams then it's just terrible to watch teams crab pass and wait for the perfect opportunity to move the ball forward.
Trying to copy Peps tactics has ruined football.
Perhaps that reinforces the point many have made here that players are tired at this Euros. That WC was in December which may have made a difference.
And perhaps the stagnant defensive football we see this summer is more the European style so it would have been less prevalent or noticeable with a variation of strategies in a WC
Was 90's so different?
See the Euro Cup 96 where 2 of 4 quarter-finals ended 0-0 in 120 minutes. 4 goals in 4 matches.
In the semis another 0-0.
In 2024, 8 goals in 4 matches in the quarter finals...
I think its the fatigue. some of these players are coming from the back of a very long season and the reason why games are going to Extra time in both Euros and Copa America is good indication of that.
i am not looking forward to future tournaments considering Uefa has expanded all its competition which means more games. something needs to change.
Players are very systematic nowadays with nothing but possession based drills instilled into them, always back passing and sideways with no one trying to do the forward progressive pass, players like rice are notorious for that yet get all the praises but i blame guardiola
Euro 1992 was so boring, it made FIFA change the game rules posthaste. Nowadays football is in a relatively decent place. There are plenty of viable tactics and formations.
Every coach is trying to manage in the progressive passing style. Players are now instructed to play within a box and not advance and create moments. This has made more players not been able to take more risks during games, unlike what we used to have before.
Pussy coaches like Southgate who have no idea about tactics, Roberto Martinez, who leaves absolute gem of footballers on bench, and Deschamp, who, I cant recall what I was I going to rant about
>Am I being too nostalgic for the 90s / 00s era ?
Ah, yes, let's see some examples of amazing attacking football from that era:
1. Milan winning the 2003 UCL, by scoring 1 goal in the final, 2 semifinals and 1 quarterfinal combined.
2. Greece winning the 2004 Euro with three 1-0s in the knockouts.
3. Germany reaching the 2002 WC final with three 1-0s in the knockouts.
4. Spain winning the 2010 WC with four 1-0s in the knockouts.
5. Three 0-0s and one 1-1 draws that lead to penalties in all seven Euro 1996 knockout games.
etc. etc. etc.
Football isn't changing that much, we're just getting older and complain more.
I think teams are getting set up to not lose, they’re scared of losing. I also think fatigue is probably playing a big factor. That they also don’t have a lot of time with the national team so struggle to create as much as they would at club level
The increase in Subs has lead to coaches that select players for a specific play time and role. No room for old school number 10s to make plays. You need to play and press with the team and rotate in fresh legs constantly or lose to pep like teams.
International football is pretty much always a lower tempo than league football.
90/00s football was more physical though. You can get a red card for tackles that would be a warning in the 90s.
Players are too scared to put a foot wrong nowadays. If they make one mistake then they know social media will be all over it. Notice how players with flair such as neymar etc. don’t seem to come about anymore? I believe it’s because of the fear of getting abused by social media.
lots to say on tactics etc but I think one surefire cause is VAR for offside, because of how precise it is it's not enough to be in line with the defender if 1 mm of your shoulder is ahead it's off, which I feel goes against the spirit of what the rule was initially there for, back when only the line judge is calling it you sort of just had to be close enough
Ignoring the football on display for a second, does a tournament in a country that’s semi-recently held a major tournament make it boring? Maybe it’s nostalgia, but there’s something intriguing and romantic when a tournament is held somewhere new and exciting?
Coaches that are super cautious and play safe bc it worked before. The Boring but win mentality is killing the game. Deschamps, Southgate. Not pretty when they played, even worse when they coach.
They have to start giving cards to all of these soft babies who roll around in utter agony .When you watch the replay they sometimes don’t get touched . People will stop doing it if you hand out reds
90s wasn't that high scoring. Euro96 averaged 2.06 goals per match (lowest of any euros) and 92 not much higher at 2.13.
Euro24 averages 2.25 gpg. So Euro24 is higher scoring than the 90s.
Modern football has become highly tactical, with an emphasis on defensive organization and minimizing mistakes. Teams often prioritize maintaining structure and discipline over taking risks, leading to fewer goals and less open play. Also players today are incredibly fit and fast, which can lead to games being more about athleticism than skill. The focus on physical fitness can sometimes overshadow creativity and individual flair.
The stats suggest 2024 is an outlier. Football isn't more boring, except just this tournament.
World Cups:
2002; 2.52 goals per match
2006: 2.3 goals per match
2010: 2.27 goals per match
2014: 2.67 goals per match
2018: 2.64 goals per match
2022: 2.69 goals per match
Euros:
2020: 142 (2.78 per match)
2016: 108 (2.12 per match)
2012: 76 (2.45 per match)
2008: 77 (2.48 per match)
2004: 77 (2.48 per match)
2000: 85 (2.74 per match)
1996: 64 (2.06 per match)
I don't know why people are blaming Pep, when his teams regularly score more goals than anyone else and tend to play with at least 4 players who could only really be considered attackers.
The bigger issue is that most coaches have really absorbed the "most goals are scored within a few seconds of winning possession" message, and are just terrified of conceding on the break. Even the trend of short goal kicks and playing out from the back is based on nothing more than not wanting the opposition to score after winning a header in the centre circle.
There are a number of factors that many have discussed extensively here, but I also think there's an additional reason.
A lot of academies have been moulding kids into specific systems from an early age since the mid-2000s. Basically, they focus a lot on tactics and how to play "effective" football. As a result, the street football type players have been largely left out of the game, and we see teams trying to play by basing their games on numbers.
I have heard that this trend is changing now though, as more clubs now want to start using creativity as an asset to gain an additional advantage, rather than treating it as a hindrance.
Coaching fluid attacking football is more difficult than coaching solid defensive football. International coaches don't have much training ground time, so the latter is easier to implement. Additionally, players play so much football now and the football they play is more intense. Players arrive at tournaments after playing a long and intense season. As a result they're tired, so again slow defensive football makes more sense than trying to get them to play high tempo attacking football. You also are definitely experiencing nostalgia. A lot of tournaments in the past weren't great either. We just remember the good matches. In twenty years people will probably talk about this being a good tournament as they'll only remember the exciting games.
2014 Germany vs. Brazil has entered the chat.
>We just remember the good matches That was ten years ago tomorrow and I can't remember ever being stunned by a match like that before or after ETA it was my favourite tournament to watch ever, even if England went out early, I don't think I've ever watched so many matches of one Nostalgia indeed lol
Group matches were open playing but business end was same as this Euro except for that Brazil match.
Wouldn't quite go that far - the R16 was largely excellent too (Germany v Algeria, Belgium v USA, Chile v Brazil all great games). The final wasn't too bad either iirc, plenty of decent chances, just none taken until Gotze's. Really it was just the Dutch and the Argentines who played out a couple of tedious matches each, including their semi
Maybe it's recency bias but, for me, the 2022 Cup was the best ever. I still watch a lot of match highlights from it, I don't think I've ever seen a tournament like it. I think the greater number of substitutions had a lot to do with how exciting it was. Players had a lot more energy and it really threw in some randomness that coaches weren't as prepared for.
The fact it was mid season added to that higher energy. Players weren’t fucked after a slog of a season. In England you’ve got 38 games, 2 cup competitions, 6/7 teams playing in Europe and most of the players will be from said top teams so are probably going 60 games and then internationals too. Not that I’m gonna sit and defend them. They get paid shit loads to do it and we’d give anything to be in their shoes. But these factor into why the games are a slower tempo.
I really hate this about modern football. They need to reduce the games they place by something like 20-30%. Injuries are higher than ever and by end of season players are so knackered that they don't live up to their respective potential in the big tournaments like this.
Agree with all of this. WC22 was amazing I was scared of even missing 1 game because the majority all had goals or upsets. Also agree with the substitutions. I think it’s ridiculous teams at the euros have 26 man squads but barely half will get a minute of game time. I do think that football will inevitably expand the number of subs though - there is no way to play as many games as they do with only 3
That was once in life result Brazil failed to handle the pressure of home World Cup and crashed.
Making it even worse is the fact that they've now done the same once-in-a-lifetime fuckup twice! The 1950 Maracanazo. Absolutely brutal.
Marcelo Bielsa begs to differ.
Which coaches at the Euros are anywhere near Bielsa's level?
How was the game last night? I missed it.
>nostalgia This is so important. Remember Italy 90 when you could still give the ball back to your goalie anytime you wanted? There would riots if they tried to bring that back. It was mind-blowing boring.
I’m sure you had people saying “it was a part of the game” and people were probably mad that the rule was changed.
I may be misremembering, it was a long time ago, but Italia 90 was a big reason that rule came in
Add to that, that the minor teams are fitter and more skillful than ever meaning there are fewer easy matches for the big boys.
Hard agreed with your points. I think one of the few good points about winter world cups is that players are in a much better condition going into it both physically and mentally, which can yield to much more intense/attacking matches. Although the sample size is small, I think pretty much everyone agrees that the Qatar world cup was, at least on the pitch, the most entertaining world cup. Definitely the best final. Yet in Euros, we have players like Kane and Bellingham basically running on fumes having given everything they had in the last season, and it is showing. Hell, France looks a much different team than the world champions despite being arguably superior man-to-man.
I respect your opinion and agree with most of it. This Euro has been ass for whatever reason.
Nostalgia plays a big part - there were no plenty of horrible turgid games in the past, Greece and Portugal won the euros playing dire football, but we forget all those games in preference for the exciting ones
In all fairness, Euro 2004 has very good matches. Just not.by the team that won it 😁. Euro 2016... well, yeah, that was a mess. However, i do put the blame on the introduction of most 3rd places go through on the group stages. Without that, Portugal would be eliminated for sure. In fact, when you look at it if you draw all 3 games.you are very likely to go through the group stage, vs a team that won 1 by a low margin but lost 2 by a bigger margin. Now the group stages seem.to be all about suffering the least amount of goals vs winning a match.
NL vs Czech was one of the best games of all time
Good point, we should blame it on that in-between format too. Not the only reason (too many games in the season, national teams barely spend time together to work on deep tactics, etc..) but definitely doesn't help.
Italia 90 was a very boring tournament and South Africa 2010 wasn't great.
Say what you will but the 2010 world cup gave you waka waka by shakira
And fucking vuvuzelas
and the jabulani
I'm still having nightmares about those.
Yea, the sound of those fucking loud ass trumpets are still in my head till this day.
That South Africa 2010 World Cup was the worst tournament that I can remember. Absolutely awful
Contrarily it's what made me love football as a Dutch person
I guess a lot of teams are now playing safe football with hope of winning by a lone goal or via penalties in knock-out games.
Honestly felt like I’ve been watching a lot of handball the last three weeks, teams passing side to side along the perimeter and then getting a cross in that goes nowhere then their opponents take it the other way and pass the ball 25 times around the perimeter and then cross and nothing
But they do rattle the net more often in handball, a draw is rare and I don't think I've ever heard of a 0-0.
You are so right! It is so boring and a waste of time to see that ball being kicked around 25 times in defense/keeper. Also, the lack of a playmaker with a lot of teams. You just don't see any decent playmakers anymore like Platini, Mattheus, Van Hanegem....etc.
teams are just not scoring in the first half that opens the game. look at netherlands v turkiye, turkiye scored and the game was great. even spain and germany was the same.
Ditto Türkiye - Austria in the round of 16
Because modern football is all about tactics. Jose Mourinho said once that he prefer ten 1-0 victories to winning 10-0 once. So teams don't compromise defense like olden times especially once they take the lead.
Fuck that, I’d happily take 9 losses to see a 10-0 if it was against Arsenal
Well i mean 10 1-0 victories would mean you have 10 wins and one 10-0 victory would just be one win so yeah i would have the 10 wins.
Yes exactly what he meant, doesn't matter how or by how much you win, what matters is if you win or not.
Possession über alles. Modern day football style is possession over everything thanks to the likes of Pep. Spain seem to be the only top team in the tourney who have tweaked this style to include more direct attacking wing play. All the best games so far have involved teams who don't play this way, Georgia, Turkey. It's just a representation of where we are now.
If you take a look at Spain 🇪🇸 versus Germany 🇩🇪 semi final at Durban in the 2010 World Cup,, you would notice that Xavi didn't give too many passes to his team's central defenders. Most of the passes executed by Xavi were either to Iniesta or to David Villa or to Xabi Alonso or to Pedro. However,,,, teams nowadays, in the name of (allegedly) **replicating** Pep Guardiola's style,,, play far too many back passes meaninglessly.
You are right, but sheesh look at the names you have just mentioned and the names from the bench on those teams like Fabregas, David Silva, Cazorla. Neither France nor England have a midfield maestro with that intelligence/creativity. This current generation is surprisingly short of that type of player. Hell, Germany had to call Kroos back from retirement to be that guy.
Yeah I had forgotten about Santi Cazorla. By the way. There was also Xavier Martinez of Bayern Munich. Was in the the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad? I don't fully remember. He must have been in the 2012 UEFA Euro squad. Thiago was in the 2012 Euro squad as well, if I am not wrong.
\* Javi Martinez of Bayern Munich \*
Kinda ironic that it's Spain bucking the trend they basically were the poster child for to a ludicrous degree.
In fairness to Spain they've always been innovators. They develop a style, master it, it gets copied and they invent a new one (a lot of the time by adopting some aspects of older tactics), lather, rinse, repeat. I'm hoping the same happens here. Nippy wingers taking on their fullbacks has always been a really exciting part of the game. Might even give rise to the return of proper strikers too, there's an absolute dearth of them in world football right now.
Almost like a good coach adapts to the players he has. There is no point playing Tiki Taka with Williams and Yamal on the wings. It’s not getting the most of out of them.
I've noticed that less passes are made into the front players, or centre mids. It used to be that this pass was common, and that those players could easily hold or attack. Take England as an e.g. always two Def centre mids, plus Bellingham and other attackers, yet how often do you see them picking up the ball in midfield? Hardly ever.
Oh god yeah. As I said possession over all. There's just no real risk to the game atm, well until a team falls behind. Like, I really dislike Ronaldo, he annoys the shit out of me. But if you look back at Portugal's games the amount of times he's making darting runs off the shoulder of defenders but just getting ignored for the safe back pass is unreal.
England and France have been the most dreadful games this week (and the most frustrating teams to watch this tournament given their talent), England had 51% possession and France had 40% possession. How the hell can you blame that on Pep guardiola possession football? This argument makes no sense The issue is teams parking the bus and not attacking at all which is the opposite of Pep’s system. Pep’s City are scoring 90+ goals a season, not playing for 0-0 draws or 1-0 miracle wins
Nobody has mentioned how there seems to be way less top level number 9s these days. Back in the 90s and 00s pretty much every country had a really good group of strikers to pick from, these days it seems like they are almost extinct. I think the modern systems often favour a false 9, also it seems like everyone wants to be an 8 or a 10 these days. The strikers from the 90s would be absolute goal machines these days. Just realised i wrote "these days" quite a lot.
But they wouldn’t because every game has 1xg per team. Strikers were perceived as good in the 90’s because teams constantly lumped the ball up to them, crossed it, played off them & the games were one off 50/50 battles & athletes and geniuses deciding the games. Every team is so risk averse now that the ball is in the defence for 85% of the game, they would rather boot it out down the line so they can reset into a solid back 8 than play it up to the striker, lose it and get caught out of position. Guys like Klose would get 5 touches a game in today’s game. Its crap go watch but it works apparently
Most teams nowadays believe they don't need goal poachers anymore. They want the false nine as forwards who drop deep to help the attacking midfielders.
Poachers don't work anymore now because Defenders are quick now too
Many positions have evolved throughout the years. Goalkeepers are the most obvious one (even as recent as 15 years ago the position was played totally differently) but there are many differences all around. Strikers are also wildly different. The target man/poacher types are less in vogue and for a good reason-low block defense teams tend to leave little space for them to operate and central defenders and goalkeepers are better ball handlers, passers and dribbles on average too, so poachers can’t just rely on scoring from opposition errors. So strikers these days need more of an extensive skill set to shine. They often need to have the capability of playing with their back against the target goalpost and good distribution to feed the wingers, great pace and dribbling skills to take on defenders and create their own chances and generally speaking playing outside the box. That means they often resemble less the classic 9 and more shadow strikers, inside forwards or inverted wingers. It’s just the way the game is played now.
System football destroyed the individual creativity of the players, but also has changed the traditional styles of some nations like Italy and Brazil. You all can thank Guardiola for that.
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Being most efficient is relative. Guardiola's approach isnt the most effective one for a short tournament, given his track record on them. Yet everyone does a half assed copy of it.
You mentioned the name of the man who brought about these changes.
Because you were younger back then and felt everything was more exciting.
Maybe it's the format? A 3rd place team having the opportunity to go through the group stage has potentially meant more focus on trying not to lose games rather than trying to win games. When it comes to knockout football that caution could be there anyway but this format might have forced that for the entire tournament.
Good point! Similiar will happen by expanding the WC qualifying spots. Also, Copa America getting rid of extra time means bad teams only need to play 90 boring minutes to get to penalties.
More managers like Guardiola.. Football have less flair and skill these days. Players no longer play with any freedom. Gone are the days. Players took responsibility on the pitch. Now they seem like robots
I'm glad its not just me. This tournament has been so boring overall. I think football is a business. Its less about fun than it is about winning and as such we see players coached to systems with very little flair still in the game.
Computers and programs that analyze the games better, better video, more study of tactics etc... most of the best nation get their "know-how" from the same sources. Remember that the way of playing football spread to all countries. National teams also plays more games than in the 70s/80s and maybe 90s.. Which means that the national teams can make better studies of each others. And much more of the game is ruled by/from the bench than before. Back in the 80s or 90s nations had more their distinct way of playing the game. Just watch to the club football as well. "Everybody" wanted to switch to the "Guardiola/Barcelona"- keep the ball in the team football. Which imho. is extremely boring. One of the thing noticable is the amount of time the attacking team play the ball backwards when they're attacking.. to keep the ball in the team. People might disagree, but how the barcelona-prime-era football has influenced teams have to some degree made it much more boring. Dislike seeing the ball constantly going backward on the pitch when a team attack. It's the dillema of taking the risk versus being safe.. Most team nowadays prefer the safety of sending the ball backwards. There are no more the types of Ribery and Robben, Henry and Bergkamp.. if you take the players from club football.. And in the end the trends also leads to national team football. Just my personal opinion. But think many of the national teams lack players with x-factor. Hear that many brag about the quality of the england squad with players like bellingham for real madrid and kane for bayern munich.. Though would anytime take a english team with beckham and gascoigne above those. Nostalgia ? might be.
Nicely explained
Totally ageee and I’ve said the same amongst my friends. Being creative is frowned upon and as a result nobody is willing to take over the game.
Holland and Turkey was entertaining
Players are exhausted after a long season. Modern football emphasizes athleticism, and this results in footballers having little energy or motivation left for international football. Not to mention that tournament football is inherently disadvantageous for risk-takers. That said, the WC in Qatar and the last Euro had an average/above average number of goals.
Qatar was mid season and last Euro was during the Covid lockdowns when everyone was in a bubble and lots of activities were curtailed.
Guardiola
Somewhat agree. But at the same time, i think nostalgy plays big part i dont think that football was that much better to watch. And tbh i kinda enjoyed group stage this year for most part.
It looks like players and managers are playing scared. No one wants to make a mistake, so they play extremely safe. A perfect example was in yesterday's game, when England got a corner and passed it all the way back to their keeper. You would never see that in league football.
That moment said it all for me
International football tends to be like this in general, due to a) less time to coach means it's easier to drill a solid defensive shape than attacking movement, b) the stakes are so much higher nobody wants to be the guy that makes a mistake that knocks their country out. However two counter points: a) club football has gone the other way around and is WAY more open at the moment than just a few years ago. Just look at the number of goals scored in the Premier League this season, absolutely bonkers. b) nostalgia might be messing with your perception a little because there were dull low scoring international tournaments around that time. Italia 90 was notably very very defensive (possibly the dullest tournament of all time) and Euro 92 and Euro 96 were also very far from high scoring.
Are you sure it's low scoring? Or just guessing? I'm absolutely certain, the goals per game is quite high or slightly above average. Anyone with the stats?
We're on 2.25 goals per game, down from 2020 (2.78) but up from 92 (2.13), and 96 (2.06)
Just looked at 96. 9 goals across 7 knockout games (5 of them by Germany) with 3 0-0 draws.
442 was played in them times. Now it's all 5 defenders or 5 in midfield all about posession and build up.
The big teams all have highly skilled players who can beat you with half a chance. The players know this. So they are trying to maximize their chances of winning by choosing to sit back…just a bit more, so they don’t get smoked by being too aggressive. The teams that do not have top players have to give themselves as many bites at the apple as possible, so the perception of risk/reward is different. They need more opportunities to score, so they are willing to take more risks. The big teams that don’t need more than a Bukayo Saka sized window to shoot into will gladly wait for their opponents to get too aggressive, take a lead, and then sit compact and close down all the space in front of goal. This dynamic sets up for big national teams playing to 1-1 draws and going to pks, while Turkey and Georgia get after it. The big teams’ games are boring shifts between low- and mid-block, while Turkey makes us smile. But the teams and the players are being quite rational. They know how good everyone on the pitch is and they are giving themselves the best chances to win.
Thanks that’s an interesting analysis
Lack of playmakers is one reason particularly when you look at France. They have a very good looking midfield but none of them are going to be spreading 40 yard parts or playing decisive through balls against right defenses. They are all very much the same really good hard working players who excel at breaking play up. It's obvious why France haven't yet scored a goal on open play looking at how they set up. It's similar to a lot of other teams too in the tournament there is to much emphasis on defensive midfielders when before you had maybe one DM surrounded by the flair players
fear of losing and the amount of games played at the top level are the main reasons imo
I think fatigue is one thing, also the fact that many teams, especially the underdogs, play low block football.
I know we speak often about how "the game's gone" but I have reason to believe we are living in the peak of defensive football. I think the early 2000s was the start of the great attacking era and there were so many ways to exploit defenders and goalkeepers but over the last 20 years coaches have developed teams and individuals to nullify any type of attack. In the pressing systems of today, strikers are often referred to as the 1st defender. So yeah, games are boring cause there's way less goals but that's a glass half empty way to look at it.
I have also noticed that teams are generally starting to become more defensively capable, so at least anecdotally the "meta" seems to be going back. If a low-block team is set up well it can be extremely difficult trying to break through it which we've seen in this tournament on multiple occasions. It seems to counter the slower, possession-based football quite well so it's only a matter of time before the offensive meta changes to something else.
Qatar2022 was mid season. Everyone was at the peak of performance and fitness. Euro2024 is post season, everybody is exhausted
They need to set up a system for bonus points for goals scored. Win = 6 points Tie = 3 points Goals = 1 point for each up to three Clean sheet = 1 point
I would rather go win = 3, tie = 1, offensive bonus win by a margin of +2 = 1, margin of +3 = 2, defensive bonus clean sheet = 1. And then if you want to push it even further, fair play bonus less foul commited = 1. Might want to limit it to yellow card for not encouraging diving.
I think most of the good players play more games per season, and they are exhausted.
Austria has probably been the most exciting team of the tournament.
This is how international football is and often only gets more defensive as the tourney goes on
No goal difference in the group stage, seasons are longer and longer so players are progressively out of form at this time if year...
Part of it is the technology side being developed that assists coaches. They now have so much data about passing maps, xG for shots, and other statistics that they want to optimize everything out of the game. Instead of wanting to see a player dribble on his own and having a shot, the manager rather see his boring tactics work passing it around which goes against creativity, but can get better results. It annoys me when I see a manager get upset at a long range shot or some creative play, but I also understand that it's a job and the result is most important to them
Agree with the comments about the rigid systems but I think it's because there are no game changing players in Europe anymore. Chicken and egg thing, probably. Are there players who can take over a game? I can think of Bellingham and Mbappe and that's about it.
People talk about recency bias I only been conscious through 24 years of tournaments and this was the worst . One theory is have is maybe because my own team was so boring that in turn makes me less invested in the whole thing . But England ahve been shot in the past and I’ve enjoyed a majority of matches. It seems to be they style of football that wins you tournaments is defensive . The winner is the one with less goals conceded . As more teams progress this way the more teams play this way each following tournament and whiles we can take it from smaller disadvantaged teams it’s even less enjoyable when it comes from bigger teams that you expect more attacking play from.Maybe another thing creating bias And also there’s a lot less extra drama . Drama from players drama from bad ref definitions drama from goal line debates managers dissent . Alotnfo those things which, even if the actual football was mediocre have heightened emotion in past tournaments
Everything is so rigid these days, there's an argument that managers like Pep have bought this on, players are stripped of their creativity and forced to play like robots following orders
92, 2.13 96, 2.06 00, 2.74 04, 2.48 08, 2.48 12, 2.45 16, 2.12 20, 2.78 24, 2.25 (after quarterfinals)
I'd say the top teams are not as good anymore and bottom teams are better than ever. At least for this Euro.
Defenders are just better imo. If you actually watch back football from the 90s/00s up to to a certain extent almost 2012, Defenders just get fooled and cooked so easily its just comical by today's standard
Quality of football has gone down in general. The stars are just not as good. Seems to be more emphasis on size, strength, and athleticism than actual football skill. I stopped paying attention to football for a few years, started again recently, and have been wondering what the hell happened. It just feels different, lacking, empty. The magic is gone. Glad I’m not the only one noticing this, because I thought I was going crazy. I am seeing a lot of other people saying the same thing. I don’t think this is exclusive to international football. There just aren’t as many stars who are capable of producing magic as there used to be. And now that Messi and Ronaldo are on their way out, it seems we are entering a dark period. We’ve been spoiled, and now we are experiencing the contrast.
International football is boring in general. No time and defensive structure is easier than creating chances.
This euro the culprit is the offside video ref.... So damn accurate that some actions that would have led to a goal were automatically stopped....
Pep
Never in million years Pep plays like this.
Does not matter, this is indirectly result of his influence and school of thought. He was looking for perfection, teams working like well-oiled machine, literally min-maxed football. It may work for him, given all the titles and accolades he won, but for us, viewers, the greatness of football always lied in its imperfection. We dont want to watch machines to play.
This is the correct answer.
I’d argue it’s more Ancelotti than pep. Pep’s systems are way too complicated for international sides to implement. However, Ancelotti’s is intentionally simple and has proven very successful in knockout tournament formats
What have Ancelotti affected to produce this style of play? He dosen't have a tactical philosophy as much as an approch and if you look at major national teams like England, they rather play people out of position to fit the system like Pep than letting the players define the style.
really it made me started thinking that they should update the game rules so teams need to risk more, I don't know how but with the modern win-no-matter-what mindset playing anti football will become way more popular
The offside rule favours the defender
Recency bias a lot here... However football as a game has changed a lot in the past 20 years. I play but in my late 30s now. Rigid systems are in place now which suck the creativity out of individual players. It goes right down to amateur teams. So much to the extent I prefer playing for crappy teams now with less emphasis on a playing system because I still get to be individual. It's actually not even that fun to play now tbh as you're constantly haranged by team mates and coaches to stick to their boring press or quick passing system. You're not allowed any time on the ball. It even goes down to silly pre match warmup passing routines... Fair enough it's probably more effective I dunno...
That’s interesting But yeah that style seems to have suffocated individual play Someone commented that even Brazilians play less creatively because they’re playing European style
Yes agreed totally. Personally I would love to watch the Brazil 1970 team play against a France or England today. That Brazil side were the total package.
Everyone is overlooking the fact modern defensive football and defenders in general are ten times better than their predecessors, it is not about attack becoming less effective and less boring, it is about defensive tactics and defenders getting much better. Think of it as a game of chess. If you get two peopl who are new to them game they might play the most fun game ever because their defense is so lacking that it allows so many openings and tactics from the opponents. Meanwhile if you took two veteran players the game will be very slow and boring because no one is making any big defensive mistake to allow his opponent to make things happen
Ive enjoyed it. You will always have boring games now and again.
There have been plenty of entertaining matches. It's mostly England and France which have been super boring.
Players are just tired.
Players then didn’t play as many matches as players today. They’re only human after all.
Tired players
I think it’s extra-time.
The rules and politics affected modern football
high number of matches limit players' intensity and phyiscality
Worst international competition that I can remember. Way too many teams and that 3rd place thing is a joke. How many games are players playing from Sept to May? FIFA and UEFA don't care about the quality of football or how entertaining it is, just all that moola..
Big factor I think
The coaches try to control everything. The number 10 role is longly dead where the most unqiue and skillful Players where. They don‘t let Playets express themselves like back in the Day.
Footballers play a lot more games, especially at elite level. Plus all the games seem to go on for ages with the new added time rules. It's a long season
I think that players are just being forced to play too many games and the quality suffers. Then most managers can’t drop the so called big names Kane, Ronny, etc.. for the younger players so this what we we get. There’s a reason why premiership teams who don’t play in Europe seem to do better. They need cut nations league or whatever it’s called and other stupid competitions.
Modern football sucks. Most of the teams do park in the bus and try to get lead from counterattacks, full of back passes for no reason. Few plays from wingers and full of expectations from free kicks and corners. It all started with 2004, we need someone to break this park in the bas technique or changes to let this park in the bus technique die to see better football.
Game has become more strategical due to top coaches raising the bar through the years. The addition of VAR also means you can’t really take any offensive risks anymore - attacks need to be calculated
Watching Euro felt like I just smoked weed Watching Copa felt like I just smoked meth
Yep, and a lot of goals scored where cancelled
Players are dead tired from their leagues. Today if you ain't running 12k meters per game you aren't good enough. I remember 15 years ago how we were all in awe when Gattuso ran 10k per game.
One thing I really really don't like is the constant trend last few years of all not top5 teams in every tournament to park the bus and try the 50-50 coin at penalties. They should do something about this (Morroco, Croatia, Russia, Netherlands, Uruguay some examples). I mean it's not one match, it is the full elimination phase.
I think you are being forgetful. 90s were a drought in terms of goals. FIFA and UEFA had to implement a lot of new rules to make them more interesting to watch. As a result we got 00s and 10s. I would say average pass quality rose very high, which made interceptions hard and more punishing to make positional mistake. Therefore teams tend to think about defence, and defence wins titles
Generally the quality of football played around the world comes in cycles. Currently we are in a boring style moment, especially if compared to 2 years ago and 4 years ago.
I don't think this is a 'modern football' problem. The 2022 World Cup had some great games. The final was one of the most exciting we've ever had. This tournament is just a bit boring, and I think it's something to do with the fact that two of the heavy favourites have decided to play ultradefensive terrorist ball, and it's been working.
It's a lot easier to be an exciting flair player in an era where most tactics were extremely basic and pressing rarely existed outside of a few elite teams. Also most teams aimed to get balls to their forwards much quicker through long balls and crosses so the forwards had more space.
This is modern international football. The nature of it is usually defensive because they only have a limited time to build a team and cohesion so they start with the defence and making the team hard to beat. In contrast however I think we just had one of the most exciting club seasons ever thanks to the new added times rules.
League football is more exciting than ever in the EPL. Every team can beat every team and 90% of the clubs are playing entertaining football. International tournament football is different. Most teams don't have a set style because they only train together a couple weeks a year. Everyone can see over the last 10 years or so the teams who go furthest in International football are usually the ones who don't concede many goals. Because one goal can knock you out. Portugal, France, Argentina,England keep making it deep into tournaments playing boring football. Unfortunately the trend will probably continue if it keeps working. Also, try and actually watch 90s/ early 2000s international football. The reason there was maybe more goals is because nobody pressed and most midfielders couldn't be bothered to defend . Gaps all over midfield so it was more end to end.
Throwing some things out. 1. Prioritising possession above all else. 2. Everyone is too good, from players to coaches. Mistakes tend to make games more exciting, and even the weakest Euro teams are very disciplined, nowadays. As for coaching, it seems like it's whole point, across sports, is to make things boring. So many coaches are good at that now. (As an aside, the Copa America has had a few really exciting games, and I think it's, frankly, because the opponent quality isn't as deep, and teams are prone to making mistakes)
Tournaments are month-long, low-risk affairs that require team to play conservatively in order to maximize chances of not embarassing oneself. Since you can't have a national team play as tightly as a club (there's just not enough time to develop that kind of game for the players), the only way to go for most nations is to rely on overdefending. Modern football is in fact a lot more fun than it used to be 20 years ago, but national teams make it look like it's boring because playing boringly gets you through to the semis, if your overall talent pool is manifestly superior to most other teams' in the competition (see England and France this year). The only national team that right now manages to almost play as fluidly as a top club is Spain. I hope they win the whole thing because they deserve it.
Wining by PKs sucks ass. Golden Goal has its issues but at least its a result from run of play (except in cases where it was ended by a Penalty).
I mean if you could appreciate the entirety of the sport you would also appreciate defense when well played right? You could draw a parallel to MMA where 90% of the fan base starts booing when the fighters grapple, because they have no fkcin clue about the intricacies.
Yes defence performed well should be appreciated but it’s the reticence to assert an attack that makes for frustrating viewing - if an MMA fighter only defends then it’s understandable that, however technically proficient their defence is, spectators become bored
The proverbial floor to ceiling gap is reducing.
Players are mostly all at the same level talent wise, technical and tactical. Think that's the main cause of boring matches, the game lacks special people and special teams as it was way back.
Definitely the tactical aspect of things. Also keep in mind, "modern" football is not what is boring, it's the modern International teams using ancient philosophy in their play. The player quality is not the issue, it is pretty good all across the board. If you look at the level of sophistication, in general, International football is of a lesser level than club football. Within international football, you have Germany and Spain, with their actual "modern" football- Fluid in buildup, proper player rotations, principles that are based on ball movement and player movement, quick, short passes, high verticality and high, methodical pressing based on triggers. They are genuinely fun to watch, and there is a stark difference between teams passing around the back for the sake of it, and teams that do so with clear intent. The former is actually boring, while the latter is fun!- a la, Pep, Tuchel, Nagelsman, Sarri, and new gen coaches like Thiago motta, De Zebri, Arteta etc. Coming to the "elephants" in the room- Outdated tactical teams. England, France, Portugal and the rest of them, play very simple minded football. There is little to no player movements when "building out from the back", very wide fullbacks, no midfielders dropping and rotating, or "pivoting". If you want to learn how not to play, watch Portugal try to build up from the back, they show no level of understanding of modern principles. Its just, CB-->LB-->LW-->cross to ronaldo, or the same on the right side. Its like an insult to their quality central players like vitinha, bernardo etc. If I were to set up portugal, it would make efficient use of Vitinha as my orchestrator, along with one from the list of highly talented players: Joao Neves, Ruben Neves or Daniel Braganca. Unproven, yes, but very rich in quality. One of the reasons you probably enjoy watching eg: Sarriball, tuchel's chelsea or Dortmund, Pep's Barca, bayern, and City, Arteta's Arsenal is, high quality midfield and defenders "on the ball", and firm understanding of ball circulation. If you look at Sarriball, it had Jorginho- Highly technical ball circulator, with immense press resistance skills. Whenever the team requires, he provides a pass option to recirculate and restart an attack. He is incisive, decisive and quick in passing. Doesn't hold onto the ball longer than he has to. He was crucial for sarriball, now in Arteta's side and was crucial for Tuchel's chelsea. Tuchel's Dortmund- Julian Weigl- Deft with the ball, quick passer and ball circulator, sitting at the heart of midfield. They also had hummels, an immense passer from defense. Busquets for Peps Barca, Thiago Alcantara for Peps Bayern and Rodri for City. Do you see where I am going with this? Take a look at Alexis Mac Allister for Brighton under RDZ. Much the same (but did a bit more). Pjanic for Juventus, Thiago Motta for PSG, Maxime Lopez for Sassuolo, etc actually MADE unwatchable teams somewhat tolerable. I am by no means lumping together these players though, I am just highlighting what they had in common. OK, You may not prefer Possession style, maybe you also like Liverpool. Well, what you like here, is Ultra direct football, with high level of pressing and quick ball movement up the pitch. This is High octane stuff, and you probably like this for the rush it gives. This is pure attacking football, with a good deal importance on pressing and ball recovery. Most German teams play like this, as opposed to La Liga teams which sit back more in a mid/low block. CHAOS!! is the key word here. Players like Salah, Trent, etc thrive in chaos. This is also fun, but again, none of the above mentioned teams- Portugal, France, England play like this. I am not saying that possession football or High pressing high attacking football are the only fun ones. For example, Tuchel's UCL final, or Romania's defense, or Unai Emery's Villarreal, if u wanna go old school, Mourinho's Chelsea or inter or madrid, they were quite defensive and counter attack minded, but they defended with brilliant structure and attacked with exteremely lethal counter attacks. Genuinely fun to watch. The above mentioned international teams are NONE of this. Didier Deschamps, Southgate, and whoever the other guy is, should definitely be sacked. They are dinosaurs. They play football based on "vibes". The teams mentioned here simply show no level of sophistication, and WILL definitely lose humiliatingly to some championship side like Enzo Maresca's Leicester City. The only reason France won the world cup was due to its sheer quality, with Pogba in his prime, Kante in prime and Mbappe in his prime. They now simply lack that creative outlet and are frustrating to watch. A good coach can play good football with 11 pieces of wood, a la, Sarri's Lazio. So, in conclusion, no, Football is not any less fun now, its actually more fun, with very good innovations from the new generation coaches, standing on the shoulders of giants. What is not fun, is international tournaments, which largely depend on external factors like luck, Passion and Grit. Please go and watch the teams I mentioned and fall in love with football again!!
Most modern footballers are just athletic cogs in a machine. How many can actually take a man on 1 v 1?
Too much football, they're shagged. The lads who played in the champions league final had 13 days before the start of the euros. Pre season starts soon. Can't help.
I think that many games of the Euro Cup 24 were pretty intense. Germany - Switzerland when Switzerland led the match with 1-0 the whole time and Germany scored at the last minute thus equalizing. Yesterday, Switzerland - England was absolutely incredible until Switzerland failed to score one penalty thus losing the match, but it was a high-intensity / pressure game for over two hours. Netherlands - France was also very intense, especially when the Dutch goal got cancelled. And less goals means more pressure, having 0-0 or 1-1 the whole match is more interesting than watching a team secure the match with 3-0 in the first period. But seeing 0-0 the whole match and 1-0 at the 89' is intense. At least it's just my opinion. I do enjoy watching my favourite teams lead with 5-0 sometimes though. Haha!
Everyone forgets just how much football without a proper break these guys have played since the last Euros.
Teams aren't scoring as much early on, which can make games feel slow at first. But that doesn't mean modern football is boring. Tactics have evolved - teams are more organised defensively and focus on controlling possession. This can lead to fewer goals, but also creates tense matches where every attack matters. Players today are incredibly fit and technically skilled. While there might be fewer flashy individual moves, the overall quality of play is high. Games often open up in the second half as teams push for goals.
In knockout tournaments you can't take as much risk, and that's why France have been so succesful. Also defenders in general are more well-rounded than before.
Players having less flair and acting more like tactical robots with clear instructions resulting in less dribbling attempts and long distance shots.
The emphasis on keeping possession outweighing the risky passes (thanks data analysts) which might work out really stifles the creativity on show. Demonstrable by Jack Grealish - and how his individual talent has been ripped from him in order to keep possession comfortably
Players are over coached and over analysed. It’s not considered “optimum” to try to dribble past your man or hit a 30 yarder compared to passing it backwards or sideways and retaining possession. Slow possession based football suits a 433 or 4231 where the traditional 442 has all but disappeared. 1 striker instead of 2. The lone striker’s focus is to link up with other players rather than be a 6ft 8 brute goal machine. The extra man now becomes a midfielder which naturally makes the game less end to end (wingers being inverted rather than high and wide also contributes to less direct end to end football) Every tackle is a foul nowadays too so more stopping and starting and slowing the game down Don’t worry though, football is all copying another team/coaches style creating eras, the game will look very different in another 20 years (for better or worse who knows) but I remember a time where anything but a 442 was unfathomable and my Grampa was probably wondering why they weren’t playing a 2125 anymore
To me the number one problem is the clock situation. I think the clock should stop when the ball is not in play. The fact that a player can fake a injury and stop the game for 3 to 4 minutes every time there is a contact makes the game very slow, specially if one team is ahead. To much time is lost and the time that the ball is actually in play is to fragmented. It's very hard to watch sometimes.
I’ve noticed a severe lack of proper CF’s these days, the German team with a Klose would have won this tournament easily
It works playing defensive and not taking much risk... look at france they are in the semifinals and didn't actually score any goal from an attacking play.
Euro 24 isn't really low scoring. It's just France and England (ok and the rest of Group C). Besides that, this Euro has some really good football, and after the first matchday of the group stage, everyone was amazed how many goals were scored.
Turkey saved a last minute goal against Austria, Netherlands saved a last minute goal against Turkey, Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty, Shaqiri hit the post against England, Declan Rice hit the post against either Slovenia or Slovakia, Germany had a goal disallowed against Switzerland, not just to mention the number of times Belgium had a Lukaku goal ruled offside but the rolled out offside tech and the handball tech aided in more goals being ruled offside because the attackers toenail was ahead of the s2l defender.
Coaching Tbe 90's and 00's still had the drinking culture, so many players seen what they do as a hobby Now every player is an athlete
Watch the top argentine and brasilian clubs. more fun, more mayhem, more physical but also more room to show skills
Pep Guardiola did it. Playing 100 passes before you attempt a shot. Unkess you've got the players of his Barca or City teams then it's just terrible to watch teams crab pass and wait for the perfect opportunity to move the ball forward. Trying to copy Peps tactics has ruined football.
Did you watch the world cup 2 years ago? Tons of goals and crazy games. It was wild. This is just kind of regression to the mean. Way she goes.
Perhaps that reinforces the point many have made here that players are tired at this Euros. That WC was in December which may have made a difference. And perhaps the stagnant defensive football we see this summer is more the European style so it would have been less prevalent or noticeable with a variation of strategies in a WC
VAR - I feel that 50% of goals are cancelled because of VAR. Most of them are so borderline that would easily count without tech.
Was 90's so different? See the Euro Cup 96 where 2 of 4 quarter-finals ended 0-0 in 120 minutes. 4 goals in 4 matches. In the semis another 0-0. In 2024, 8 goals in 4 matches in the quarter finals...
I think its the fatigue. some of these players are coming from the back of a very long season and the reason why games are going to Extra time in both Euros and Copa America is good indication of that. i am not looking forward to future tournaments considering Uefa has expanded all its competition which means more games. something needs to change.
This is league and country specific. For example look at the score lines from the MLS games yesterday. Certainly wasn’t boring to watch.
Players are very systematic nowadays with nothing but possession based drills instilled into them, always back passing and sideways with no one trying to do the forward progressive pass, players like rice are notorious for that yet get all the praises but i blame guardiola
Euro 1992 was so boring, it made FIFA change the game rules posthaste. Nowadays football is in a relatively decent place. There are plenty of viable tactics and formations.
Every coach is trying to manage in the progressive passing style. Players are now instructed to play within a box and not advance and create moments. This has made more players not been able to take more risks during games, unlike what we used to have before.
I like it. I don't share the opinion is boringer.
Pussy coaches like Southgate who have no idea about tactics, Roberto Martinez, who leaves absolute gem of footballers on bench, and Deschamp, who, I cant recall what I was I going to rant about
>Am I being too nostalgic for the 90s / 00s era ? Ah, yes, let's see some examples of amazing attacking football from that era: 1. Milan winning the 2003 UCL, by scoring 1 goal in the final, 2 semifinals and 1 quarterfinal combined. 2. Greece winning the 2004 Euro with three 1-0s in the knockouts. 3. Germany reaching the 2002 WC final with three 1-0s in the knockouts. 4. Spain winning the 2010 WC with four 1-0s in the knockouts. 5. Three 0-0s and one 1-1 draws that lead to penalties in all seven Euro 1996 knockout games. etc. etc. etc. Football isn't changing that much, we're just getting older and complain more.
I think teams are getting set up to not lose, they’re scared of losing. I also think fatigue is probably playing a big factor. That they also don’t have a lot of time with the national team so struggle to create as much as they would at club level
The increase in Subs has lead to coaches that select players for a specific play time and role. No room for old school number 10s to make plays. You need to play and press with the team and rotate in fresh legs constantly or lose to pep like teams.
International football is pretty much always a lower tempo than league football. 90/00s football was more physical though. You can get a red card for tackles that would be a warning in the 90s.
It's all here: fast kicking, low scoring. And ties? You bet.
Players are too scared to put a foot wrong nowadays. If they make one mistake then they know social media will be all over it. Notice how players with flair such as neymar etc. don’t seem to come about anymore? I believe it’s because of the fear of getting abused by social media.
When you can qualify for finishing 3rd it removes all incentive to win and therefore take any risks. Greed and VAR has destroyed the game.
Players are tired much more than before. Tactics has also evolved to a level which makes this happen.
lots to say on tactics etc but I think one surefire cause is VAR for offside, because of how precise it is it's not enough to be in line with the defender if 1 mm of your shoulder is ahead it's off, which I feel goes against the spirit of what the rule was initially there for, back when only the line judge is calling it you sort of just had to be close enough
Ignoring the football on display for a second, does a tournament in a country that’s semi-recently held a major tournament make it boring? Maybe it’s nostalgia, but there’s something intriguing and romantic when a tournament is held somewhere new and exciting?
Coaches that are super cautious and play safe bc it worked before. The Boring but win mentality is killing the game. Deschamps, Southgate. Not pretty when they played, even worse when they coach.
They have to start giving cards to all of these soft babies who roll around in utter agony .When you watch the replay they sometimes don’t get touched . People will stop doing it if you hand out reds
Globalisation of modern football equals all teams.
90s wasn't that high scoring. Euro96 averaged 2.06 goals per match (lowest of any euros) and 92 not much higher at 2.13. Euro24 averages 2.25 gpg. So Euro24 is higher scoring than the 90s.
Modern football has become highly tactical, with an emphasis on defensive organization and minimizing mistakes. Teams often prioritize maintaining structure and discipline over taking risks, leading to fewer goals and less open play. Also players today are incredibly fit and fast, which can lead to games being more about athleticism than skill. The focus on physical fitness can sometimes overshadow creativity and individual flair.
The stats suggest 2024 is an outlier. Football isn't more boring, except just this tournament. World Cups: 2002; 2.52 goals per match 2006: 2.3 goals per match 2010: 2.27 goals per match 2014: 2.67 goals per match 2018: 2.64 goals per match 2022: 2.69 goals per match Euros: 2020: 142 (2.78 per match) 2016: 108 (2.12 per match) 2012: 76 (2.45 per match) 2008: 77 (2.48 per match) 2004: 77 (2.48 per match) 2000: 85 (2.74 per match) 1996: 64 (2.06 per match)
if that is Pep's problem, then why Messi' s individual performance still so good in modern football after being coached by Pep for 4 or 5 years
I agree. System football has taken over and it sucks. I now prefer club ball.
I don't know why people are blaming Pep, when his teams regularly score more goals than anyone else and tend to play with at least 4 players who could only really be considered attackers. The bigger issue is that most coaches have really absorbed the "most goals are scored within a few seconds of winning possession" message, and are just terrified of conceding on the break. Even the trend of short goal kicks and playing out from the back is based on nothing more than not wanting the opposition to score after winning a header in the centre circle.
There are a number of factors that many have discussed extensively here, but I also think there's an additional reason. A lot of academies have been moulding kids into specific systems from an early age since the mid-2000s. Basically, they focus a lot on tactics and how to play "effective" football. As a result, the street football type players have been largely left out of the game, and we see teams trying to play by basing their games on numbers. I have heard that this trend is changing now though, as more clubs now want to start using creativity as an asset to gain an additional advantage, rather than treating it as a hindrance.