Has top-level Football become boring?

[Ampth7]

Yes or no…..

If yes, what 3 things would you change if you were in charge?

If no, what do you like about the modern day game?

[TheFamilyCat]

Yes

1. Bunkers
2. Mulitball minutes
3. When a player is yellow carded, they have to play the rest of the game in clown shoes

[jdrobbo]

I’m going to contradict myself here:

NO, I enjoy it, but I’m desperate to have a league where we 10,11,12 identifiable and unique playing styles, as opposed to to watching teams try and play ‘Pep ball’ week after week, which, let’s face it, is nice on the eye and beautiful when played well, but it’s rarely exhilarating and ‘get you off your seat’ stuff.

Give me a pep side,
Give me a low block
Give me raking diagonals
Give me a traditional 442 with flying wingers
Give me a traditional sweeper
Give me a team with trickery

Just give me some identity. Thats the Premier League Brand

[Murger]

Premier league football was more exciting in the 2000s.
You had Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho etc playing their own brand of football. Now everyone just copies Pep ball.

[Burnley1989]

I certainly don't enjoy football like I used to, I only watch Burnley, I don't even bother with England games or any televised games.
Usually hate the premier league but ive enjoyed it enough so far this season, I think because my expectations are so low these days.
I don't get as emotional as I used to about football, it's lost its magic a bit with me.
Ill always watch Burnley though, it's just part of my life.

[Ampth7]

I certainly don't enjoy football like I used to, I only watch Burnley, I don't even bother with England games or any televised games.
Usually hate the premier league but ive enjoyed it enough so far this season, I think because my expectations are so low these days.
I don't get as emotional as I used to about football, it's lost its magic a bit with me.
Ill always watch Burnley though, it's just part of my life.

Couldn’t have said it better myself……. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I definitely don’t enjoy footy so much as I used to. I used to love MOTD and England games, but I couldn’t care less now tbh…

I miss the personalities we used to have in the game and the creativity/flair/excitement they used to bring.

[jdrobbo]

Ball in-play clock.

1 VAR review per team per half. If it’s correct, the review remains. No outside intervention.

[BurnleyFC]

Premier league football was more exciting in the 2000s.
You had Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho etc playing their own brand of football. Now everyone just copies Pep ball.

This.

And even before that there was nothing wrong with the European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup knockout formats. The FA Cup final was a great day and occasion too, even if your own team weren't involved.

Greed has completely ruined it.

[ecc]

Fed up with ridiculous handball penalties. Yet another tonight in Madrid (and I loathe Marseille).

[ISpeds00]

Just watched Madrid game myself
Far from boring - 45 shots - 5 yellows and a Red for a headbutt

[groove]

I certainly don't enjoy football like I used to, I only watch Burnley, I don't even bother with England games or any televised games.
Usually hate the premier league but ive enjoyed it enough so far this season, I think because my expectations are so low these days.
I don't get as emotional as I used to about football, it's lost its magic a bit with me.
Ill always watch Burnley though, it's just part of my life.

I feel exactly the same.

[Transpennine]

Ball in-play clock.

1 VAR review per team per half. If it’s correct, the review remains. No outside intervention.

I think reviews could be an improvement as it puts the control back with the players rather than the VAR refs.

However:

Would the VAR review completely ruin goal celebrations? (if it hasn't been already).

Team concedes a goal- review, they'll definitely find something to cancel it out.

If a could make one change, it would be to stick VAR in the bin.

[Ampth7]

Just watched Madrid game myself
Far from boring - 45 shots - 5 yellows and a Red for a headbutt

Nice! 45 shots!!!

I watched a bit of the Spurs and Arsenal games; thought they were awful personally and the crowd sounded a bit like Covid times….ie non-existent!

[Ampth7]

Yep, I agree, bin VAR, I don’t see how it has improved refereeing decisions….

[Elizabeth]

Yes, made even worse by media incompetents such as Carragher and Neville overanalysing matches.

More emphasis needed on individual expression than systems
Bridge the financial gap between teams
Get rid of the old pals act of referees reviewing their fellow referees decisions. Bring in more foreign referees. Fans totally bored of waiting for final decisions

[Tricky Trevor]

It’s not the football that has got boring, it’s the wall to wall coverage.
3 carabao and 6 EL games on today and by HT I couldn’t get into any of them so watched Vera with Mrs T. Shame as a couple went to penalties and an outstanding finish at Juve but there’ll be more on tomorrow.

[Foshiznik]

No

1. Stream live VAR chatter live rather than just to the commentators
2. Give attackers benefit of the doubt with close offside calls
3. Make it mandatory for all pundits to know the full laws of the game via bar like exam before paying them to give “expert” opinion on the match

[Vegas Claret]

It's awful

Let those teams owned by a country or billionaires **** off to the giant Super league in the sky
Put a fixed Premium on any player sold to the Super League from any team in the world - 25 million + the transfer fee (and it can't be reciprocated when they sell out of the Super League
Bin VAR

[California Colner]

I would stop the wrestling matches going on in the box when corners are given. A foul would be given any where else on the pitch this was happening. Same rules anywhere on the field of play.
Diving for penalties needs to be a sending off.
When ball is not in play stop the clock
That’s my two cents

[hoskinsgoalatswansea]

I certainly don't enjoy football like I used to, I only watch Burnley, I don't even bother with England games or any televised games.
Usually hate the premier league but ive enjoyed it enough so far this season, I think because my expectations are so low these days.
I don't get as emotional as I used to about football, it's lost its magic a bit with me.
Ill always watch Burnley though, it's just part of my life.

Exactly this.

I’m a primary school teacher, and whilst on break time duty the boys were playing football, and one of them went over after a challenge clutching his knee and rolling around. I rushed over to see if he was ok, to which he whispered to me “It’s ok, I’m faking it.” They’re 8 year olds.

Is this what the game’s come to now? I’m falling out of love with it at a fairly rapid rate. I’ll always watch Burnley, but that’s about it now. It’s at a point where I don’t even recognise the names of the big money signings anymore, such is my lack of interest in the game now.

[KellyClaret]

Lots of complaints about 'Pep ball'... Has anyone watched Man City this season? Even they aren't playing what you would consider 'Pep Ball'

[jrgbfc]

There's just way too much footy played now, most of it on TV, just complete overkill. The bloated new Champions league format is a perfect example. Used to love watching it on ITV back in the day, now the big boys play each other virtually every year.

[Anonymous Claret]

I certainly don't enjoy football like I used to, I only watch Burnley, I don't even bother with England games or any televised games.
Usually hate the premier league but ive enjoyed it enough so far this season, I think because my expectations are so low these days.
I don't get as emotional as I used to about football, it's lost its magic a bit with me.
Ill always watch Burnley though, it's just part of my life.

That sums up my feelings also.

[Burnley1989]

Exactly this.

I’m a primary school teacher, and whilst on break time duty the boys were playing football, and one of them went over after a challenge clutching his knee and rolling around. I rushed over to see if he was ok, to which he whispered to me “It’s ok, I’m faking it.” They’re 8 year olds.

Is this what the game’s come to now? I’m falling out of love with it at a fairly rapid rate. I’ll always watch Burnley, but that’s about it now. It’s at a point where I don’t even recognise the names of the big money signings anymore, such is my lack of interest in the game now.

England played recently and I'd literally never heard of 3-4 of the starting 11, and I couldn’t tell you who 5-6 of them played for, I was a bit embarrassed about that to be honest and surprised I'd become so out of touch for someone who hardly missed a game and was in the away supporters club for 10 years.

I think theres probably some mileage in there being too much football on TV but I dont watch any so it cant be that reason for me personally, perhaps its the internet and being able to see highlights within seconds that means I no longer watch the football league show or match of the day etc

Im trying to get the obsession with Burnley that I had into my kids, because all my memories from my childhood involved football, I could name every player in the squad and their squad number, I even knew what cars they drove

[Dark Cloud]

Yes. There's a lack of competitiveness with only a tiny handful of teams realistically in with a chance of winning the league before a ball is even kicked, plus all teams these days are taught to keep possession at all costs, even if that means turning back in what looks like a promising attacking position rather than risk losing the ball. Keeping possession doesn't necessarily lead to exciting footy.
What I'd change:
1. Scrap VAR it's utterly awful.
2. Distribute far more of the PL TV revenue to Championship clubs and below to stop just giving the already mega rich "global" clubs more and more.
3. Stop substitutes invading the pitch to celebrate goals.
4. Make it a criminal offence to wear a Manchester City shirt in Burnley town centre.

[Inchy]

I feel a change is coming/already happening

Long throw ins

Longer more direct balls

Appreciation of wingers who try to beat a man again (Grealish at Everton)


I feel Pep ball is on the way out

[Dyched]

I feel the playing field in the next 5/10 years will even out.

Take now for example. We’re in an era of players coming through who watched wide players (Hazard, Salah, Messi, Ronaldo, Robben, Ribery) etc etc. This era grow up wanting to be them as opposed to yesteryear where proper out and out forwards were the superstars. In the PL now there’s no more than 3 or 3 world class forwards, if that. As teams move more towards a more direct route, players like a Kane, Shearer, Wood will be worth their weight in gold. Then look at CH, weak as **** these days. As for Van Dijk, I’d have loved him to play in the Terry/Ferdinand/Vidic era. If I were a PL manager now, I’d find the tallest 2 forwards I could with decent heading stats. Couple of guys who can cross and you’ll walk in the CL places.

[jlup1980]

I feel a change is coming/already happening

Long throw ins

Longer more direct balls

Appreciation of wingers who try to beat a man again (Grealish at Everton)


I feel Pep ball is on the way out

I was just going to write the same thing. Football, as with most things in life, goes through cycles based on what's fashionable. I think many are slowly coming around to the fact that Pep Ball needs to evolve. Add in VAR and you really do end up with a sterile, boring spectacle.

I hope we find that teams go back to being 1. more direct, 2. using old fashioned wingers, and 3. encouraging individual flare (the Le Tissier type). That will always get fans off their seats more than the "death by a thousand passes" style played by many in recent years.

I always look back at Euro 96 with rose tinted specs, but just look back at the England team and formation. We played a kind of 3-1-4-2 formation with Gazza, Platt, Anderton, McMananan, Shearer, and Sheringham all starting. That's entertainment!!

Ferguson's teams at United were built to hit teams on the break. Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Cole, Yorke etc... at times it was the most basic 4-4-2 you've ever seen, but my word was it effective and exciting to watch. Wenger was the same at Arsenl; pace and flare everywhere you look - Overmars, Pires, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Henry, Anelka, Bergkamp.

[Clive 1960]

For me it's ruined and be honest i love the game but not Premier league because i think it just doesn't want team's like us in it competing to the best of our ability against the rich clubs, be more than happy to watch us in the championship as long as no VAR but hold on it might favour us more as we will be a big team...

[BurnleyBob]

I agree with many of the comments posted already. I am now only interested in watching Burnley - mostly on tv as I live in the south.The Championship is much more watchable. I have a season ticket at Slough Town (National League South) at its much more fun despite the lower levels of skill. The Premier League is overhyped and overexposed in the media.

[Dark Cloud]

It's definitely a valid point that virtually everyone brings up in debates like this: The Championship (and below) sees a quite noticeable drop in skill level, but crikey it's far more exciting and competitive to watch and at the start of every season, despite the relegated clubs starting out as favourites, you really can't predict how the championship will go.

[martin_p]

I watch a lot of ‘The Big Match Revisited’ that’s on one of the ITV channels on Saturday morning. It’s currently showing the 75/76 season which is at the very edge of my footballing memory. The players are probably less skilful, certainly less fit and the pitches are often a mess, but it all seems so much more exciting. Teams get the ball and get it moving forward as quickly as they can and even though the highlights package for the main match are a lot longer than the modern MOTD highlights package they never seem to have a problem filling it with goal mouth action.

[BurnleyBob]

I agree with many of the comments posted already. I am now only interested in watching Burnley - mostly on tv as I live in the south.The Championship is much more watchable. I have a season ticket at Slough Town (National League South) at its much more fun despite the lower levels of skill. The Premier League is overhyped and overexposed in the media.

[tarkys_ears]

I feel exactly the same.

I feel exactly the same.

[Woodleyclaret]

The European cup won by teams that actually had won their league Knockout from the start no stupid fake teams who finished 4th in it.
Scrap VAR. Get linesman to flag offside not play on
Award a penalty every time an attacker is hauled down defender and send off cheating divers. Especially those trying to con penalties .Ball hitting elbows not a penalty.

[billyhamilton82]

It’s not the football that has got boring, it’s the wall to wall coverage.
3 carabao and 6 EL games on today and by HT I couldn’t get into any of them so watched Vera with Mrs T. Shame as a couple went to penalties and an outstanding finish at Juve but there’ll be more on tomorrow.

Fully agree.

I remember sitting through Forest and Arsenal playing out a goaless draw on ITV on a very wet Sunday afternoon in 1990 on a crap pitch that looked like no mans land where even Roy Keane couldn't kick the ball more than 5 yards.

Why? because that was the only live football on TV and for good reason, it was an awful boring product and the viewing figures supported that.

The product is now infinitely better but we have total saturation which makes it boring due to it being force fed.

The money men will squeeze every penny out of it until they lose the very people who make their money, the fans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MusyO7J2inM

[She]

It certainly has,two or three teams with a realistic chance of winning the Premier league,tiresome handball decisions,tiresome hugging each other at corners,tiresome waits for Var decisions,tiresome pundits spewing their views,tiresome goal celebrations ( especially that Gykores one)tiresome play acting injuries,tiresome commentary from that Drury guy,tiresome look at me referees,the game has become tiresome.
The beautiful game that used to be exciting to watch has become,you know what I'm going to say here,Tiresome

[aclaretinstevenage]

Yes!

1) Reduce TV and Media Coverage - it's beyond saturation point currently especially SKY Sports obsession with the money side of the game.
2) Bin VAR
3) Drastically improve refereeing standards - If R.Jones is one of the "elite referees" then something is really wrong. This would probably be the hardest thing to achieve due to the abuse lower level Referees have to endure on their way up.

As others have said , bring back wingers and big centre forwards reducing tippy tappy sideways and back possession for the sake of it and reintroduce some proper old school excitement to the game.

[The Shire Claret]

I don't think it's become boring but I watch all the leagues.

I think the frear of relegation has sometimes made your Wolves vs Bournmouth very tight games where teams don't take risks etc...

But Some people would regard out game against liverpool as boring but I saw it as a game of chess and loved every minute of it

If you appreciate all aspects of football , there has never been a better time to watch football.

[Claret53]

Anyone who remembers the dreadful years when we were thrutching around the bottom two divisions will find it hard to be too disappointed with the Premier League. It has, of course, serious faults (largely as a result of rich clubs determined to stay at the top) in its financial structure and some matches can be quite dreary. VAR is poorly done. Etc.
But would you really swap it for the football we had to watch in the 80s?
I'm sure that I wouldn't.

[kentonclaret]

It’s not the football that has got boring, it’s the wall to wall coverage.
3 carabao and 6 EL games on today and by HT I couldn’t get into any of them so watched Vera with Mrs T. Shame as a couple went to penalties and an outstanding finish at Juve but there’ll be more on tomorrow.

The wall to wall coverage and saturation added to of course by the growing number of Women’s internationals and WSL games now being screened at prime times by many of the TV channels.

[jlup1980]

Anyone who remembers the dreadful years when we were thrutching around the bottom two divisions will find it hard to be too disappointed with the Premier League. It has, of course, serious faults (largely as a result of rich clubs determined to stay at the top) in its financial structure and some matches can be quite dreary. VAR is poorly done. Etc.
But would you really swap it for the football we had to watch in the 80s?
I'm sure that I wouldn't.

I can't argue with anything you've said, but I think the top flight has become more predictable since the introduction of the Premier League, and thus more boring. It's so heavily stacked in favour of certain clubs, and we've all been hoodwinked into thinking that survival equals success.

The quality would have undoubtedly been less, but if you look back at the league tables in the 1980's the top 6 changes every year. Ipswich, WBA, Southampton, Swansea, Watford, Forest, QPR, Sheff Weds, Norwich City, Wimbledon, and Derby all achieved top 6 finishes - in some cases multiple times.

Look back over the last 10 years and there are very few anomalies. Leicester are the obvious ones in 2015/16, but other than that you're struggling. I think Wolves, Brighton, and West Ham have managed 6th place once each. Newcastle have broken into the top 6 recently thanks to being Saudi backed, but other than that it's the same clubs in a different order. That breeds boredom as the league is essentially a closed shop for anyone outside of the big boys.

[Barlickclaret]

Don't forget we finished 7th.

[JohnMac]

Football was exciting and reactionary for over a hundred years!

Constant rewriting of the Laws which are both baffling and uneccesary, introducing a Video system to find the smallest of reasons to disallow a goal has ruined the excitement. That is unless you are a pundit in a TV studio, there you can watch it from a dozen angles, argue amongst each other and claim Referee's don't know because they haven't played at the highest level. All whilst doing nothing to get involved in a 'real capacity'.

When I started watching in the mid 1960's we had players trying to get past defenders by dribbling, they got you really excited with their skill and wizardry. Now kicking the ball at an opponent hoping it will hit their arm or feigning injury after being brushed with a finger is what Players presumably practise at the training ground.

It has become a bore fest!

[IanMcL]

It is primarily boring possession football, broken up by extremely rapid and exciting breaks, for some teams.

I think, there should be a pass limit before you have to shoot! Guardiola has singlehandedly turned UK football into continental - it's so hot, let's just keep the ball - football, and we haven't got the heat!

Up and down, shots, headers, crosses, tackles was what attracted the world to British football. Now we have competitive boredom.

[Tall Paul]

There's an old man yelling at cloud vibe in this thread.

It's more popular than it's ever been so it can't be that boring.

[Elizabeth]

There's an old man yelling at cloud vibe in this thread.

It's more popular than it's ever been so it can't be that boring.

That's not to say it's not facing big challenges

[Paul Waine]

Premier league football was more exciting in the 2000s.
You had Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho etc playing their own brand of football. Now everyone just copies Pep ball.

But, Burnley had never played in the Premier League until the last few months of the 2000s.

[Paul Waine]

There's an old man yelling at cloud vibe in this thread.

It's more popular than it's ever been so it can't be that boring.

I suspect we all have a tendency to think most things were better when we were younger - whatever age we are.

Football can't be "all bad" - as you say, more and more people are watching it. 21st century technology has given viewing numbers an enormous boost.

[kentonclaret]

Football can't be "all bad" - as you say, more and more people are watching it. 21st century technology has given viewing numbers an enormous boost.

Given the ever increasing numbers of live games being made available on tablets and I-phones, even on Saturday afternoons, it would come as a major shock if viewing figures had not increased.
That is why comparisons with previous decades when the technology was not available are pretty pointless.