Football isn't fun anymore

[munksyb]

All the joy has gone
Players diving with no one being penalised for simulation
Goals scored then taken away
Penalties given then taken away
obvious offsides not given until much later , or in some cases not given because the play has moved on
(Chelsea's goal by Mount was started by a pass to a player who came back from an obvious offside position to pick the ball up and pass to the player on the wing)
no physical contact allowed ( particularly if the player falls down & grabs the ball )
VAR not able to interpret slow motion replays

I yearn to go back 20 years when football was actually exciting, and you could understand the rules

 

[Jimmy Fleck]

I think when crowds return everyone’s passion will be back. At the minute it just isn’t the same, football isn’t just about the game, it’s about a pint before the game, seeing your old mates, celebrating with strangers, the entire day is supposed to surround the match, not just 2 hours including watching some egocentric presenters talking about the top 6.

 

[Bearlie]

Agree with everything op has said ,been watching football since 81.And its gone .....and it will never be the same ...the worst aspect is the cheating and diving by the wankers on the pitch

 

[Bearlie]

Another one is mo sala etc ,covering his trap every time he says something. Get over yer sen budy you ain't that important. Makes me want to puke

 

[The Crab]

Another one is mo sala etc ,covering his trap every time he says something. Get over yer sen budy you ain't that important. Makes me want to puke

Seems to be a fashion throughout the game

 

[Dalelane01]

Must agree .never before var was a players big toe deemed offside the screaming and yelping .when minimum contact made.the delays when play comes back the ref looking to the screen itself.you know when he looks the original decision will be overturned .we wiill all be watching var one day and a game of football will break out.

 

[Micky Narker]

Playacting, daft rules and VAR have definitely taken some of the shine off but I still can't wait to be back whether that's on a sunny Saturday afternoon against Liverpool or a wet Wednesday night against Lincoln.

 

[bartman]

Agree with everything op has said ,been watching football since 81.And its gone .....and it will never be the same ...the worst aspect is the cheating and diving by the wankers on the pitch

Dont forget the players screaming in fake agony trying to get a someone sent off when they are tackled . They then get up and walk away a few seconds later. Should be an Instant booking and a slap for being a twat.
Mitrovic should be banned for his antics the other night.

 

[blackydog]

Always been there though, earliest example I can this of is "the hand of God" back in 1986. There will always be cheats. I think it is just more obvious now with everything being on telly for millions to see.
Italian sides have been falling over in the wind for donkey's years.

 

[gordoncharles]

Hands up those who thought "all the joy has gone" this time last year?

Thought not.

 

[Davalon]

Being forced to watch on TV doesn't help but have to agree with much of the OP.

Even last season was annoying for much of the same reasons.

What gets my goat is how pathetic behaviour from players at the big clubs gets more of a free pass than from those at lesser clubs.

Sterling and Salah are proper divers but rarely get called out on it. Even Vardy barely gets called for it.

At least Souness called out Salah yesterday for his impression of an extra out of Platoon.

 

[Harry's Game]

I think when crowds return everyone’s passion will be back. At the minute it just isn’t the same, football isn’t just about the game, it’s about a pint before the game, seeing your old mates, celebrating with strangers, the entire day is supposed to surround the match, not just 2 hours including watching some egocentric presenters talking about the top 6.

“I think when crowds return everyone’s passion will be back.”

Key word “when” the best we are going to get for the next couple of years is socially distanced crowds, around 5k allowed in, no away fans, no pubs before or after, no singing, it’s not going to be a very enjoyable experience. My fear is a whole generation is not going to bother to return when we do finally end this hell, there is a lot more for kids to do these days in the home to bother going to cold football grounds in the depths of winter once they have got out of the habit.

 

[bartman]

Hands up those who thought "all the joy has gone" this time last year?

Thought not.

Dont agree on this. The joy has been being pushed out of football in general for a few years. Last season, whilst we did well, the play acting, screaming and cheating put a dampener on the season and previous seasons. It is getting worse. Then managers complaining that their players are tired. 25 players in the squad plus kids and they are bloody tired!!!

Tackling has gone out of the game. You cant go in too hard as it might hurt the other player. Some Chelsea fans were moaning last night that Bogle should have been sent off for that great tackle as at endangered a player . It wouldnt surprise me of 'going to ground' to tackle will be deemed a foul soon

I watched the documentary yesterday on that excellent Everton team of the 80's. . Very good footballers , often playing on crap pitches who rarely tried to cheat to win a game. Good players were still good players ( Currie,Bowles,Worthington erc...) and players could tackle. How often. Do you see a crunching tackle now ( Lundstam on Grealish for example.....would he now get sent off for that?)

Football is becoming a non contact sport dictated to by VAR to appease armchair fans who want every decision to be perfect just like it is on their computers and wantplayers doing fancy flicks and moves all the time without anyone trying to stop them. The governing bodies need to clamp down on the cheats ,divers and screamers but they havent got the bottle to do it.

And then there is the extortionate prices to enter the ground when they have enough money coming in from TV and sponsorship at the top level to keep prices down.

So yes. The joy is going out of the game

 

[The Crab]

Dont agree on this. The joy has been being pushed out of football in general for a few years. Last season, whilst we did well, the play acting, screaming and cheating put a dampener on the season and previous seasons. It is getting worse. Then managers complaining that their players are tired. 25 players in the squad plus kids and they are bloody tired!!!

Tackling has gone out of the game. You cant go in too hard as it might hurt the other player. Some Chelsea fans were moaning last night that Bogle should have been sent off for that great tackle as at endangered a player . It wouldnt surprise me of 'going to ground' to tackle will be deemed a foul soon

I watched the documentary yesterday on that excellent Everton team of the 80's. . Very good footballers , often playing on crap pitches who rarely tried to cheat to win a game. Good players were still good players ( Currie,Bowles,Worthington erc...) and players could tackle. How often. Do you see a crunching tackle now ( Lundstam on Grealish for example.....would he now get sent off for that?)

Football is becoming a non contact sport dictated to by VAR to appease armchair fans who want every decision to be perfect just like it is on their computers and wantplayers doing fancy flicks and moves all the time without anyone trying to stop them. The governing bodies need to clamp down on the cheats ,divers and screamers but they havent got the bottle to do it.

And then there is the extortionate prices to enter the ground when they have enough money coming in from TV and sponsorship at the top level to keep prices down.

So yes. The joy is going out of the game

I agree.

For me, more like a steady erosion of the game we fell in love with rather than anything sudden.

 

[bakeblade]

All the joy has gone
Players diving with no one being penalised for simulation
Goals scored then taken away
Penalties given then taken away
obvious offsides not given until much later , or in some cases not given because the play has moved on
(Chelsea's goal by Mount was started by a pass to a player who came back from an obvious offside position to pick the ball up and pass to the player on the wing)
no physical contact allowed ( particularly if the player falls down & grabs the ball )
VAR not able to interpret slow motion replays

I yearn to go back 20 years when football was actually exciting, and you could understand the rules

It's really just the Premier league and VAR. When we're back in the proper leagues it will be much better

 

[Big Hitter]

If you think about it half those goals scored before VAR were offside. So Dixie Dean's record 60 goals should be reduced down to 30

 

[ancientblade]

kovacic prime example yesterday great hard tackle by bogle and you would have thought he had broken his leg and salah slightest touch on his arm and he flings himself to floor var should be cutting all this out rather than looking for big toes to be offside

 

[bartman]

I agree.

For me, more like a steady erosion of the game we fell in love with rather than anything sudden.

Agreed. VAR is ruining the game. The flow of the game and the passion for an 'event' in the game has been lost. Let refs and linesman make to decisions. If they are wrong so be it.
The only aid I would have would be the goal line technology (when it works) .
The fact the clear offsides arent flagged immediately is astonishing yet they will flag a few seconds later when the ball is cleared.

A simple game slowly disappearing up its own backside

 

[bartman]

kovacic prime example yesterday great hard tackle by bogle and you would have thought he had broken his leg and salah slightest touch on his arm and he flings himself to floor var should be cutting all this out rather than looking for big toes to be offside

Or not have VAR at all

 

[BushBlade]

Seems to be a fashion throughout the game

It’s been a fashion since Beckham said to one of his teammates, on the pitch, after a game “that’s my last game” (for Man U), someone lip-read him and broke the story before it had been officially announced.
There were loads of shit games in the eighties too but very few games were televised, everyone went for a pint and a moan (or drove home with P&G on “it’s a grumble Bob, we were rubbish today”) and forgot about it instead of immediately posting threads about how shit we are and going on about it every fucking day.

When you’re young, everything is new and a lot of stuff seems brilliant. That wears off as you get older and everybody yearns to be young again and for things to be how they used to be. That’s how you know you’re old, when “things were better in my day”.

 

[bornablade]

Playing devil's advocate here - if we were about 8th in the table I doubt we'd be saying 'football isn't fun anymore'.

 

[haich1889]

All the joy has gone
Players diving with no one being penalised for simulation
Goals scored then taken away
Penalties given then taken away
obvious offsides not given until much later , or in some cases not given because the play has moved on
(Chelsea's goal by Mount was started by a pass to a player who came back from an obvious offside position to pick the ball up and pass to the player on the wing)
no physical contact allowed ( particularly if the player falls down & grabs the ball )
VAR not able to interpret slow motion replays

I yearn to go back 20 years when football was actually exciting, and you could understand the rules

Shhhhhhhh: got to be careful it depresses me we're still bending a knee to Marxists

 

[Grey Blade]

All the joy has gone

I agree that a lot of the enjoyment has gone and TV coverage doesn't help because it's impossible to know what's happening elsewhere on the pitch. How many times do they mention a manager or player then show a close up shot for several seconds, thus missing what's actually happening

Players diving with no one being penalised for simulation

I can't understand why they don't punish blatant simulation. How many times do we hear pundits say something to the effect that a player was entitled to go down because they felt a touch?

Goals scored then taken away
Penalties given then taken away

If VAR shows that an on pitch decision was wrong, personally I have no objection to VAR intervening. It's often the rules that need changing and the main thing I would change is the offside rule; if any part of the attacker's body is inline with the the last defender they should be onside

obvious offsides not given until much later , or in some cases not given because the play has moved on

Someone is going to be seriously injured before long (if Werner had been off side last night, it could have been Ramsdale)

(Chelsea's goal by Mount was started by a pass to a player who came back from an obvious offside position to pick the ball up and pass to the player on the wing)

It happens time and time again that a player stands off side at a free kick (thus not having to move forward) the defence move back, another attacker who was onside gets the first touch and the original off side player goes on to score

no physical contact allowed ( particularly if the player falls down & grabs the ball )

It's a game for yelpers and screamers now

VAR not able to interpret slow motion replays

Every minor contact at slow speed appears to be premeditated, but it does occasionally make knee high tackles more punishable

I yearn to go back 20 years when football was actually exciting, and you could understand the rules

I think a lot of modern day football is technically very good but I agree that a lot of excitement has gone. The football authorities might eventually regret the fact that the elite clubs have hoovered up all the world class players and made any lesser teams non-competitive. In my opinion, most of the things that have spoilt football for the traditional supporter have been done to entertain the armchair fans.

I confess that I've watched more TV football in the past few months than I've ever done previously, so I haven't fallen out with the game but I doubt I will watch as many TV games if and when life goes back to normal!

 

[Vincent tomp]

Its all part of the fast evolving game. Strikers now need to be taught how to win fouls even it involves diving. It may not be right but if you don't you will be left behind.

 

[Northyorksblade]

Its all part of the fast evolving game. Strikers now need to be taught how to win fouls even it involves diving. It may not be right but if you don't you will be left behind.

I think I'm going to cry

 

[Geordie Blade]

Luckily, we live in a free world, and can move to something else if football isn't fun. Purists might moan about it not being as good as it used to be, but they will be in the minority. Pandemic aside, the money people in football would make the case that football is more popular than ever.



On other matters, I think that modern music is shit and I haven't anything decent on telly since 1989.

 

[Bladesman]

The joy is gone because we are not there. That said VAR had taken away some of it before the pandemic.

That said West Ham being denied a goal by VAR at home was pretty epic.

 

[Flumps]

Fans of mine (I'm sure there are many) will know I've often said I don't bother watching any football anymore.

Watching the match threads during the game is far more entertaining, believe me I'm always refreshing it for updates and I'm far happier doing that.

So well done all of you

 

[Farnboroughblade]

I totally agree with the OP. The soul has been taken out of football for all the reasons stated in the opening thread. Usually when we lose I have a sleepless night, but now I shrug a defeat off quite easily, although that can be down to accepting the inevitable.
One thing for sure though, is that when crowds do return in full (and this will happen in time) I'll get my mojo back and there will be no better place to be than being down the at the Lane when it's rocking, no matter which league we're in. Personally I can't wait. I think we'll all feel differently in 12 months time.

 

[MalvernBlade]

Shhhhhhhh: got to be careful it depresses me we're still bending a knee to Marxists

I agree and this needs discussing with the club and fans.
Either football is a sport or it's another way for Marxists to destroy something they don't have anything to with.
If the clubs employees are using their position to make a statement on their political views then the fans have a right to voice their views.
Typically the Marxists, as you correctly call them didn't like fans being mean and booing. No violence against the players but the fans were physically removed from the ground. Are they going to be banned for booing?
Why are the players showing support for a violent extremist group that were in DC, protesting against the American government and shouting that if they don't get what they want they will burn it down.
Didn't one of our youth players who moved to Chelsea set fire to the training ground?
Wasn't he getting what he wanted?
I suppose we should be grateful that Lundstram hasn't set the pitch alight this season or maybe he's waiting until the end of season before he gets the matches out and starts lobbing bricks through the club windows and setting fire to the ground.