Has top-level Football become boring?

[Row x]

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

The biggest problem with the refs is that a lot of the time junior refs are being asked to overturn decisions made by their seniors
For many reasons that has never been successful in any line of work.

[Stan Tastic]

The pitches were dreadful back in the day and would often ruin the game as a spectacle. I watched Burnley v Stoke from 1980 and the pitch ruined the game.

[url]https://youtu.be/DiTZTWpAAA4?si=_rzHMwwlvkTUI-OT/url]

[kentonclaret]

The pitches were dreadful back in the day and would often ruin the game as a spectacle. I watched Burnley v Stoke from 1980 and the pitch ruined the game.

[url]https://youtu.be/DiTZTWpAAA4?si=_rzHMwwlvkTUI-OT/url]

Back in the day those very same pitches were looked upon as “a great leveller”.
Many of the biggest FA Cup upsets came about on pitches which were like a recently ploughed field.

[Longford Claret]

The only time I get bored is if they put a Blackburn Rovers match on TV. But as you said top-level football, that doesn't count.

[Row x]

The only time I get bored is if they put a Blackburn Rovers match on TV. But as you said top-level football, that doesn't count.

Oh I dont know, there's been some rovers games on TV I'd watch again

[AlargeClaret]

It’s still good but just not the raw spectacle it once was . The style of possession football is by default ,dreary .
Ultimately It’s as corporate and squeaky as Disneyland (with a bit of swearing here and there ) As for the ludicrous overanalyses, it’s almost farcical and not needed .

I’d give the power back to Ref’s and maybe 1 VAR review per team . I still enjoy it , but have little in interest in other football except BFC .

[Ric_C]

VAR just sanitises everything. 20 years ago you would get games with a few naughty or strong challenges which would have then resulted in a few potential fracas' later on in the game. It also made the game ebb and flow more if you could break up play. Now even a good challenge where you win the ball is a yellow card, so everyone stays on their feet with their hands behind their back like some kind of circus freak show

[boatshed bill]

Yes.
Time wasting, cheating and the prolonged VAR checks are ruining it.
How long is the ball in play per 90mins on average these days?

[ClaretinJapan]

Bin VAR. I can't be arsed anymore with the emotional investment and getting up/staying up when time and time again the inevitable BS ruins the game. On top of this blatant cheating and deliberate mixed messages from pundits.

[Socrates]

I wonder how much actual football those complaining in this thread watch.

In the last week alone Inter v Juve, Juve v Dortmund, Liverpool v Atletico Madrid and Brentford v Chelsea have been great ….. and Arsenal’s performance v Forest was excellent too.

I find the worst part about the Premier League is us being in it ….. it makes matches incredibly tense and nerve wracking and painful at times. But watching the pace, power, strength and variety of some of the top teams and those teams just below that with interesting coaches ….. I think it’s fabulous entertainment.

[Big Vinny K]

I wonder how much actual football those complaining in this thread watch.

In the last week alone Inter v Juve, Juve v Dortmund, Liverpool v Atletico Madrid and Brentford v Chelsea have been great ….. and Arsenal’s performance v Forest was excellent too.

I find the worst part about the Premier League is us being in it ….. it makes matches incredibly tense and nerve wracking and painful at times. But watching the pace, power, strength and variety of some of the top teams and those teams just below that with interesting coaches ….. I think it’s fabulous entertainment.

Agree with pretty much all of this.
PSG been a joy to watch last season.
Look at a couple of the mouthwatering games tonight - City v Napoli and Newcastle v Barca. The atmosphere will be electric.

Of course there are aspects a lot of people don’t like - VAR is not used correctly in my view and the simulation and cheating that goes on. The bias against top teams etc. But football has never been perfect in whatever era you mention. Yet at the same time no other sport gets near it for me.

I also agree watching Burnley in the top league is tough. But without these hard seasons you would not get the highs of last season and other promotions. And even this year as tough as it will undoubtedly be you still have hope and a team and manager doing everything possible to survive and that brings pride and enjoyment to many of us.

Of course there’s too much football on the TV but I’d rather have that than not enough - as we had for many years. Too much then just watch what you want - too little nothing you can do.

[Ric_C]

There's also a side question as to whether football 'peaked' as an entertainment medium between 2000-2020?

No VAR, pitches superb, world class players everywhere, tackling not considered a no go area, Messi and Ronaldo at their peak etc

[scamander]

The priority of systems over allowing individuals to express themselves has made for tired watching at points.

If VAR went lots of fans would be moaning about obvious incorrect decisions (a harsh truth is that many don't know the laws of the game to start with). If you get rid of it then accept that refs will not see *obvious fouls or cheating and realise they can only give what they can see (an ethic which is more acceptedin rugby).

All pundits are ex-pros, so the focus is never on the players cheating, it's the officials for not spotting it.

*obvious when reviewed by Neville and co using dozens of cameras and the safety of hindsight.

[Ampth7]

Very interesting reading everyone’s thoughts and feelings on this. I personally do still enjoy some games that I watch and with athletes given all the tools and support they can possibly imagine, skill and fitness levels are now incredibly high.

However, I do not like the fact that VAR has taken away the emotional enjoyment that comes when your team scores a goal. My first thought nowadays when we do score is VAR, and that can’t be right. Furthermore, VAR has simply not done what it’s supposed to do which is to get decisions right, quickly and without the subjective ‘is it, isn’t it’ debates that we are still left with.

As for the way football is played, I’m happy that we don’t see much of the old school hoof ball aerial bombardment that a Stoke City used to employ. However, I equally don’t enjoy the overly coached nature that comes with phases of play because too often it can become predictable and lacking in creativity.

Interestingly, the game seems to be heading more towards quick turnovers and transitions to try to catch the defence out quickly instead of Pep ball for the sake of keeping the ball.

Finally, depending on how the 3 promoted teams fair this season, something needs to be done to ensure the gap between the top 4 and teams like ours is less of an issue. For example, we did well against Liverpool, but it was attack vs defence with Liverpool’s net spend this season greater than what we have spent in our entire history! The 20 teams in the top league should all be able to beat each other, but I don’t think this is possible as things stand which is s**t and boring!

[willsclarets]

Yes.

VAR is just awful.

There's just less variety in characters and styles of players. They're all supreme athletes, I miss players like Matt Le Tissier who couldn't run 100m in 11 seconds but was magic with a football. Chris Waddle, even players like Dennis Bergkamp are a dying breed. They're machines, and they play like it.

The gap between the have and have nots is just too wide. Money is just eating the game up, and the gap between the players and those that pay a good chunk of their salary to watch them kick a ball about is crazy.

What to do?

Scrap VAR.

Less seriously: in the January transfer window, the bottom team gets to pick 2 players from the top team. 19th from 2nd etc until the teams meet in the middle.

Top teams are handicapped depending on who they're playing, by allowing less players on their bench.

[Funkydrummer]

If that's another way of spelling sh!t then yes. Remarkably so.

[Socrates]

There's also a side question as to whether football 'peaked' as an entertainment medium between 2000-2020?

No VAR, pitches superb, world class players everywhere, tackling not considered a no go area, Messi and Ronaldo at their peak etc

I’d challenge that.

The 2004-2010 period with Benitez and Jose as the two primary coaches playing defensive, **** on a stick football was not a patch on nowadays.