Football is not fun for me anymore
So my last post got deleted. I kinda half assed it not going into detail too for why its the case.
I was a south asian nerd tactico just 3 years ago. Football wasnt given to me by my elders i gravitated towards it because of the very exciting game that i was introduced to from the 2010 wc. I have fallen out of love with the game not because i am older now and have responsibilities. I am still an unemployed chud. I regularly watch the ufc and the nba at midnight showing im a irresponsible bitch. I will list out my grievances with the game not everything is objective its mostly coming from a subjective place.
Too many games. I believe the new ucl format is dreadful. 8 gs games+2 playoff games for 8/16 teams. thats just too much football for an already jam packed schedule. teams like bodo and benfica made the playoffs only winning 3/8 games. doesnt make every game too important. the older format allowed for 3rd placed teams to fall to the europa which defo made that competition more exciting. Barca getting knocked out from the uel to frankfurt was genuinely hilarious when the frankfurt fans took over camp nou. That being said the latter stage is still exciting. the last 2 years have had great ties with inter barca and psg bayern coming to mind. Useless international games. I believe more fatigue is creating a worse product game to game.
Rule changes and VAR. I believe a system like VAR is a necessity to a modern sport at the highest level but the implementation defo leaves a lot to be desired. Inconsistency, stoppages, and a lack of transparency. The rule changes have made the game softer.
A lack of flair and characters. This is what I feel is more nostalgia bait but the current generation is not doing a good job recreating the magic from the older gen. The magic produced by messi, ribery, hazard, neymar, ben arfa etc is not even close to being replicated. The flair is what gravitated me to the game. I refuse to believe that we just stopped producing wingers and creative players that brought more casuals to the game. It also doesnt help as the average defenders are more skilled and defensive schemes allow for more help in 1v1 situations. Exciting wingers like yamal, vini, olise, ndiaye, cherki still exist but they havent filled that void left by the last generation. As for characters the hotheads like ramos pepe, trolls like muller are missing from the game. We still have shit stirrers like haaland and pickford and also low iqs like Palmers but footballers are just more PR trained and lack personality.
Tactical revolution. Pep is the greatest manager of all time in my eyes but he ruined footy with his total recycled possession football. The game today is not about the stars anymore but the managers the players are just cogs in the machine. Most top sides have heavy emphasis on the same few principles which results in risk averse football with more side and back passes.