Is The Premier League Tougher Than It Used To Be?

[Farzad Stoned]

The league and football never fully recovered from Covid and the corruption and money of the kleptocrats. Every big club but us and City are in turmoil and transition. Lfc, Chelsea, and United are jokes compared to their historical standards. Last year league was even weaker. The Italian clubs are in dumps as well. Barca, Psg, Bayern shells of the teams they were just a few years ago. My brotha @GDeep™ was right football is dying.

Where is the next Kaka, Bebeto, Ronaldinho, or Maradonna? Any player now that good gets it ground out of him at the academy by 13 and turned into a weightlifter.

 

[Macho]

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/records

I will be real yeah, the most losses a prem side has ever had in a title winning season is 7 with Blackburn Rovers in 94/95. 3 of those losses were at the end of the season too.

For context, we are currently on 5 this season.

The 115 charges is for crybabies and the "you have to be perfect to beat City" is the biggest pile of bullshit that is almost exclusively peddled by Arteta fans. You look through the records and you see real periods of dominance by utd and chelsea (look at their home/away streaks).

The league isn't harder, or easier, it's the same stuff repackaged.

 

[RandomHero84]

The league and football never fully recovered from Covid and the corruption and money of the kleptocrats. Every big club but us and City are in turmoil and transition. Lfc, Chelsea, and United are jokes compared to their historical standards. Last year league was even weaker. The Italian clubs are in dumps as well. Barca, Psg, Bayern shells of the teams they were just a few years ago. My brotha @GDeep™ was right football is dying.

Where is the next Kaka, Bebeto, Ronaldinho, or Maradonna? Any player now that good gets it ground out of him at the academy by 13 and turned into a weightlifter.

I actually completely agree with this.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

I actually completely agree with this.

Why is it surprising i am a well spring of enlightenment ask the Cardinal @Sapient Hawk.

 

[Riou]

Think the main issue is it just doesn't look as fun as it used to in the 90s and 00s, tbh.

Obviously modern players are still quality, but most people watch football to see players do things they could never do with a ball .. watching a team press mostly during a game rather than a player do something magical, just doesn't capture the imagination as much.

Would blame that more on coaching (especially Pep) than the players themselves.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Why is it surprising i am a well spring of enlightenment ask the Cardinal @Sapient Hawk.

There will always be those deaf to the truth, Your Excellency.

Borrowing from Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" this is how I imagine you would tell a cautionary tale to your son.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

There will always be those deaf to the truth, Your Excellency.

Borrowing from Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" his is how I imagine you would tell a cautionary tale to your son.

View attachment 24071

Why does this guy look like a pedo to me?

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Why does this guy look like a pedo to me?

Who better to represent Lewis Carroll in a photo?

 

[GoonerJay24]

Think the main issue is it just doesn't look as fun as it used to in the 90s and 00s, tbh.

Obviously modern players are still quality, but most people watch football to see players do things they could never do with a ball .. watching a team press mostly during a game rather than a player do something magical, just doesn't capture the imagination as much.

Would blame that more on coaching (especially Pep) than the players themselves.

Yh, even a few seasons ago the league seemed more exciting. We saw players like Mahrez, Alexis, and Hazard displaying flair every week. Coaches also had more variety in their game models, which tended to maximize the strengths of their best players.

Nowadays, though there are different systems, most teams appear to play in a similar manner. Even tonight, Wolves tried to build out from the back against City, but it was largely ineffective as they lack the players suited for this style. Although they're unlikely to beat City anyway, I'm sat thinking; whats plan b? All this just makes the league easier to win for Pep.

 

[RunTheTrap]

What I will say is that there are more technicians in the Premier Leagues than 20 years ago. At least every club has one player who is of Champions League calibre. Despite that, there is a lack of good free-kick takers. From 1991 to 2015, there were Beckham, Giggs, Henry, RVP, Cesc, Gerrard, Lampard, RVN, Drogba, Coutinho, Suarez, Yaya Toure, David Silva etc. Nowadays all that stands is Ward-Prowse as a consistent free-kick scorer. Maybe Trent and KdB, but still it's not an extensive list. We have lost the recipe for a good free-kick. Even the superstars of today's game are not good at it. Mbappe, Halaand, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Pedri, Gavi, Foden, Saka, Salah, Ødegaard, Sane, Musiala etc. There are probably two free-kick goals scored from the list I have just given.

 

[GoonerJay24]

What I will say is that there are more technicians in the Premier Leagues than 20 years ago. At least every club has one player who is of Champions League calibre. Despite that, there is a lack of good free-kick takers. From 1991 to 2015, there were Beckham, Giggs, Henry, RVP, Cesc, Gerrard, Lampard, RVN, Drogba, Coutinho, Suarez, Yaya Toure, David Silva etc. Nowadays all that stands is Ward-Prowse as a consistent free-kick scorer. Maybe Trent and KdB, but still it's not an extensive list. We have lost the recipe for a good free-kick. Even the superstars of today's game are not good at it. Mbappe, Halaand, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Pedri, Gavi, Foden, Saka, Salah, Ødegaard, Sane, Musiala etc. There are probably two free-kick goals scored from the list I have just given.

Yh good point about the free kicks, it's something I begun noticing a couple of years ago. I'm unsure what these academy coaches have been doing the last 10-15 years. There needs to be some intervention really

 

[RWB]

What I will say is that there are more technicians in the Premier Leagues than 20 years ago. At least every club has one player who is of Champions League calibre. Despite that, there is a lack of good free-kick takers. From 1991 to 2015, there were Beckham, Giggs, Henry, RVP, Cesc, Gerrard, Lampard, RVN, Drogba, Coutinho, Suarez, Yaya Toure, David Silva etc. Nowadays all that stands is Ward-Prowse as a consistent free-kick scorer. Maybe Trent and KdB, but still it's not an extensive list. We have lost the recipe for a good free-kick. Even the superstars of today's game are not good at it. Mbappe, Halaand, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Pedri, Gavi, Foden, Saka, Salah, Ødegaard, Sane, Musiala etc. There are probably two free-kick goals scored from the list I have just given.

As pointed out by Tifo, teams don’t take as many direct shots from free kicks anymore.

Why Teams Aren't Shooting from Free-kicks

Try The Athletic for FREE for 30 days: https://theathletic.com/tifofootballð Tifo's new book, "How to Watch Football" is now available internationally: http...

youtube.com

The raise of xG, set piece coaches and choreographed set piece tactics has changed things. We don’t get the same exciting free kick screamers anymore. But the argument is that those were always unlikely to get in anyways, so there are wiser ways to use dead ball situations to generate more goals on average.

A general trend is indeed that the game is being played in a more controlled way, which makes it less exciting to watch as a spectator. But at the end of the day teams will always try to maximise their chance of winning over all else.

 

[Oxeki]

The technical floor is higher but the ceiling is lower than ever.

 

[Oxeki]

Call me nostalgic, but 15 years ago, I don't think City would dominate like they are now. That was because midtable teams didn't give a **** about pretentious football. They simply just played their own game. But nowadays it seems everyone is just playing the same style.

Imagine a midtable team playing against a state backed multi-billlion pound team then playing the same style as them and then backing yourself to outplay them in thier own game and win.

Why won't City win 4 in a row?

Give me the Pulises and the Allardyces over the the pretentious Gary O'Neil and Potter.

 

[Riou]

I kinda disagree on more technicians in the league now than 20 years ago (for example when we last won the title...Tugay played for Blackburn, Rooney for Everton, Mendieta and Juninho for Middlesbrough, Okocha and Djorkaeff for Bolton, Berger for Portsmouth, Dugarry for Birmingham...and none of those teams even finished in the top 7 in 2004, had some proper ballers back in the day even in the "lower" teams) but the free kick thing is bang on, I think the style for taking free kicks has gone.

Think manager tactics play a part, but even Ronaldo's knuckle ball technique of just hitting the ball as hard as you can in the middle and hoping it just bends weird, hate that technique... think everyone trying to copy that has seen a sharp decline in the skill of a free kick.

Love seeing a proper inside foot shot relying mainly on precision and curve, ala Beckham and Henry are the best types...I mean look how good some of these are, the angles from behind Thierry look perfect



... think a proper free kick is one of the best things in the game, just so enjoyable too watch

 

[GoonerJay24]

Call me nostalgic, but 15 years ago, I don't think City would dominate like they are now. That was because midtable teams didn't give a **** about pretentious football. They simply just played their own game. But nowadays it seems everyone is just playing the same style.

Imagine a midtable team playing against a state backed multi-billlion pound team then playing the same style as them and then backing yourself to outplay them in thier own game and win.

Why won't City win 4 in a row?

Give me the Pulises and the Allardyces over the the pretentious Gary O'Neil and Potter.

Yh, when these Midtable players fail playing out from the back and concede; they become disilluisioned with the system and give up. 10 years ago there was more tactical flexibility and top teams faced alot of jeopardy in matches.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Think manager tactics play a part, but even Ronaldo's knuckle ball technique of just hitting the ball as hard as you can in the middle and hoping it just bends weird, hate that technique... think everyone trying to copy that has seen a sharp decline in the skill of a free kick.

I’m pretty certain Juninho Pernambucano did the knuckle ball technique before Ronaldo but at least with him, he had different variations. He was definitely the best freekick taker I’ve seen in my lifetime.

 

[Riou]

I’m pretty certain Juninho Pernambucano did the knuckle ball technique before Ronaldo but at least with him, he had different variations. He was definitely the best freekick taker I’ve seen in my lifetime.

Yeah he kinda had that technique too didn't he, but always feel he had a bit more control over his.

Even then still preferred how Beckham and Henry took theirs, but that Juninho was amazing.