Is it me, or all the players way too tired?

[kambujiyeh]

Looking at the quality of the games in Euro2016, Champions League, South American championships, etc... it seems as though the number of games these guys play (year round) is taking a toll on their stamina. I think there needs to be some consideration given to how many games the top players in the world should play in a calendar year. Too many BS games causes the quality of the more important tournaments to be diminished.

 

[Real Madrid]

Neither. Good football stopped after WC 1990 . There was a time we had a few dozens of magnificent players throughout each and every tournaments but look at it now , who do we have ? just call me 10 good players who can really play football and keep you on your toes for 90 minutes and make the difference. Just top of my head back in 90 WC we had

, Baggio, Baresi , schilaci , vialli , Maradona, Batista, Roger Milla, Gheorghe Hagi, Polster ,Popescu, Dunga, Branco , Muller, Maldini , Careca, The whole German team ( Brehme ,Kohler, Littbarski , Völler, Matthäus , Klinsmann , etc....) + 20 others . in Spain team we had Michel , Butragueno, or with Uruguay we had Francescoli, or the likes of Enzo Scifo , Michel Preud'homme with Belgium , this list can go on and on and on. these players were all the identity of their teams which could keep you guessing till the last day.. there is a big drought in this sport. imagine both Messi and CR retire today .

 

[Behrooz_C]

Is it you? I can't answer that! Do you feel tired?

 

[keyvan_pars]

I would not say good football stopped in 1990.

Football is going through metamorphosis. and it has milestone years. i attempt to list some of them below:


1- Late 50s with Brazilian samba style was one milestone which went on for a good two decades.
2- early 70s total football added a new angle to the ever changing game of football.

3- in the mid to late 80s the prorogation of player trades specifically from south america to europe added a new angle to football. maybe not technically but historically which over the years precipitated on the playing style of Argentina and Brazil and to a certain extent Uruguay. And for the last 5 years Chile. This is probably the most influential factor on football as a sport in the last 4 decades. To a certain extent it has had small effects on African/Asian/Cocacaf football
e.g. IR's kind of dream team of 98 with European influence of Hertha berlin/Bielefeld
e.g. senegal's 2000 team
cote d'Ivoire recent surge

(please note that the above examples are a completely different phenomenon to what has been happening to korean and japanese football over the years)

4- the rise of Mega spending teams starting pretty much in early 90s till present. AC Milan, Inter (previously), RM, Barca, Bayern, Man city, Chelsea etc etc in a more indirect way.
Having unlimited resources allows teams to purchase players from all over the planet and sit them on the bench, and hence, careers are built and killed this way.

5- last but not least the break up of soviet/ balkans and the unlimited resources of cheap players from there and africa. Players that unlike local talent, do not need to attend football school with high costs and they can based on their talent be game changers for teams if not over many years at least over one or two seasons.


Football is always changing. I guess that is true for most sports. and there is no good football or bad football. there are different styles of football.

I, personally, have not seen any football i really adore since the early 80s but still watch football because i prefer it to every other sport.

 

[Bache Tehroon]

It's not any of the stuff you folks mentioned. It's one simple thing:

- Most attacking routes have been identified and properly closed by defensive tactics. Scoring has become a very risky venture as it requires more and more players to be attack-minded and committed forward. This results in stronger teams to be highly vulnerable to increasingly dangerous counter attacks, hence why fewer and fewer teams are willing to risk going "all out" as it often means certain death.

A rule change is needed to give attacking teams more incentive to go forward. Offside was introduced for that same reason. Now it's time for another game changer. I'm not sure what, but parking the bus should carry some sort of a disadvantage. Football should remain a "scoring" sport, not a "defending" sport.

I would award a penalty against every team that hasn't had an "on-target" shot for 10 minutes. Or a penalty against a team that hasn't been present in the opponent's penalty box for 10 minutes.

 

[TeamMeli]

Looking at the quality of the games in Euro2016, Champions League, South American championships, etc... it seems as though the number of games these guys play (year round) is taking a toll on their stamina. I think there needs to be some consideration given to how many games the top players in the world should play in a calendar year. Too many BS games causes the quality of the more important tournaments to be diminished.

I was thinking the EXACT same thing as you my friend. @Kayvan great post and yes the rise of mega contracts and the fall of the Soviet Block played a role in that. Players are getting paid WAY more than they were before so they are expected to play all of the club games and NT games. Well that is why some players retire early from the NT, like when they are in their early 30's so they can save a few years. There are WAY too many BS tournaments on both the club and national level. If it is a legit tourney, such as the Champion's league then that is one thing but we need to get rid of those cups ie FA cup and each country has a major cup you can win. Maybe if we get rid of those cups, that will shave off some club games and add life to the players career. There are just way too many games right now both on the club and the NT level but don't forget now futbol is global.

You forgot one factor online streaming. Now you do not have to step foot in London or Munchen and you can be an Arsenal or Bayern fan because you can get the games right on yoru laptop. The kid from the Philippines who never visited Europe, let along Germany, can know as much about Bayern Football, as the guy living in Munchen, with season tickets.

It is just a different era.

 

[Zob Ahan]

It's not any of the stuff you folks mentioned. It's one simple thing:

- Most attacking routes have been identified and properly closed by defensive tactics. Scoring has become a very risky venture as it requires more and more players to be attack-minded and committed forward. This results in stronger teams to be highly vulnerable to increasingly dangerous counter attacks, hence why fewer and fewer teams are willing to risk going "all out" as it often means certain death.

A rule change is needed to give attacking teams more incentive to go forward. Offside was introduced for that same reason. Now it's time for another game changer. I'm not sure what, but parking the bus should carry some sort of a disadvantage. Football should remain a "scoring" sport, not a "defending" sport.

I would award a penalty against every team that hasn't had an "on-target" shot for 10 minutes. Or a penalty against a team that hasn't been present in the opponent's penalty box for 10 minutes.

Number of back passes should be limited especially in owns half. Also wins with bigger than 1 difference should have exponential more points than 1-0 wins. 0-0 scores should have 0.5 points instead of 1 point.

 

[ChaharMahal]

I don't think it is necessarily scoring that I need to see.

I think there is just too much stoppage during the game.
I would go for something like any team that has more than say 10 fouls during a half will concede a set piece behind the 18.

or $hit at least every 10 minutes your team needs to enter the opposite side 18 yards with three players.
or better yet a defensive can only have three of their players in their own 6 yard at any time.

unfortunately such proposals just make football more like basketball.

it is probably best and simplest to just widen the goal from 24 feet to say 26 feet.

 

[Bache Tehroon]

it is probably best and simplest to just widen the goal from 24 feet to say 26 feet.

The physics of the game should not change at all or all previous stats become meaningless.

The only thing that needs changing is giving teams incentives to attack more and defend less. Having no presence in the opponent's penalty box is a good measure for penalizing teams. Lack of on-target shots is also another one that comes to mind.

Another one I like is what Zob-Ahan suggested: More points for higher margin wins.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

What i say, doesnt mean to be offensive to our north american members but some of them simply are way too far from the home of football to understand the tradition and the complexity of any possible change to this game. Its not american fooball, its not basketball nor hockey. People would not accept all those drastic changes to the game. Football cant be changed like many other sports. The only change that would really be executable without much critic would be the solution with more points for higher margin wins. Give 3 points for a 1-0 or 2-0 win but give 4 points for any win with a higher than 2 goals margin.

I have to point out this still wouldnt guarantee to change things dramatically because defense is simply an important part of the game, but it would at least make teams who for whatever reason need the extra point, to come out firing out of all cylinders.

 

[Payandeh Iran]

I like the more points system.

 

[Bache Tehroon]

The extra point system still doesn't solve the issue of teams playing like shit during elimination rounds or play-offs.

Again, football is not meant to be about "not conceding". Its foundation is all about scoring. This very foundation has been under attack throughout history by defensive tactics, but in the last 2 decades, these defensive tactics have completely dominated the game and have enabled offensively-challenged teams to actually win titles.

An offensively-challenged team should not really be able to win titles by relying on set-pieces and accidents that are fairly common in football. It renders offensive tactics and proper attacking too unreliable. Ultimately the game and its following suffer.

 

[Playboy]

don't need to give more points for win.just do what fivb has done
and rank teams based the number of wins first and then points.
that way a team with a 4-1-3 record tops a team with a 3-5-0 record.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

in the last 2 decades, these defensive tactics have completely dominated the game and have enabled offensively-challenged teams to actually win titles.

Thats not true though. Specially in the last 15 years, the offensive football has dominated big time. No matter if Spain, Barca, Real, Germany...they have dominated world football in the last 15 years and they did it with offensive football. We are actually in a typical transition time of shift from offense to defense because the defensive tacticians are about to end the dominance of offensive football and this is why Spain is going down and this is why teams like Barca are not winning as they did in the past. What we are seeing now is the answer of all those who were fed up with losing against the spanish version of offensive possession football.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

.....

 

[keyvan_pars]

Wales vs. Iceland final please please please

 

[Real Madrid]

Wales vs. Iceland final please please please

Wales ? very very very possible but Iceland should pack their bags soon . England was shit , as easy as that