I'm falling out of love with football....

[Pegojack]

I didn't need in my face for two years that's all. I got the message the first few times they done it.

Unfortunately, as current political opinion polls suggest, there are many hundreds of thousands who still haven't got it.

 

[Michu78]

Premier League product from a Sky Sports viewer.

 

[Michu78]

Unfortunately, as current political opinion polls suggest, there are many hundreds of thousands who still haven't got it.

Those many hundreds of thousands will never get it whatever you do.

 

[swansvalleyjack]

On the OP, for me it’s not football generally but the Swans have been drab for years now. After 40 years I binned off my season ticket a few years ago. Covid was partly responsible for getting me out of the habit but I stopped enjoying it. It was mostly the fact that we’d done everything I grew up wishing we’d do but always seemed out of reach. Win promotion to the Prem. Thrive in the prem. Win a cup. Have a run in Europe. It was amazing but then it ended. Even if we do all that again it’ll never be the same. We’re now just one of those clubs. We used to be different.

But I still love football. The Wales game last night objectively awful but I enjoyed every minute. Yesterday morning I watched an u15s game in Trallwn. Great game, kids giving their all. Ended in a 2-2 draw and went to penalties. Today I’ll probably watch an under 21s game in Swansea Bay Sports Park. They’re always entertaining. Football isn’t the issue, it’s mostly the Swans.

And apart from all that, the Ashes start on Friday. Sport rules.

Yes I take your points. Football overall was probably too general in my post. Apart from the Swans, I was referring in the main to the often robotic structured game at Premier League level and don't start me on most International qualifying games.

Thinking on it, I saw my granddaughter in a recent *game and all the girls were going full on, I never saw one pass backwards, a few sideways...but the main object was to drive forward. It was pissing down with rain, soaked on the touchline...but you know what, I was more absorbed there than I have been for years at the Swans.

It's the culture that needs changing ...go forward at pace, don't be afraid to make a mistake. But needs to come from the manager and if we can see the intent, I hope the crowd can forgive mistakes.

* the score was 4-4 btw

 

[Gors Buster]

Yes I take your points. Football overall was probably too general in my post. Apart from the Swans, I was referring in the main to the often robotic structured game at Premier League level and don't start me on most International qualifying games.

Thinking on it, I saw my granddaughter in a recent *game and all the girls were going full on, I never saw one pass backwards, a few sideways...but the main object was to drive forward. It was pissing down with rain, soaked on the touchline...but you know what, I was more absorbed there than I have been for years at the Swans.

It's the culture that needs changing ...go forward at pace, don't be afraid to make a mistake. But needs to come from the manager and if we can see the intent, I hope the crowd can forgive mistakes.

* the score was 4-4 btw

“It's the culture that needs changing ...go forward at pace, don't be afraid to make a mistake. But needs to come from the manager and if we can see the intent, I hope the crowd can forgive mistakes.”

Couldn’t agree more with this pal and I’ve been saying it for years.
An example (I’m sure someone will disagree), Tymon makes as many mistakes as anyone, but you can see what he was trying to do and it’s nearly always a positive play. He’s normally applauded rather lambasted.
Since Dan James, our wingers are hesitant rather than adventurous. When we get bummed by good teams, it’s always quick wingers doing the damage.

Your OP came up in the lads WhatsApp group and in the kids football this morning. Resonated with all.

 

[swansvalleyjack]

Since Dan James, our wingers are hesitant rather than adventurous. When we get bummed by good teams, it’s always quick wingers doing the damage.

Spot on 100 f*****g % !!!!

 

[Dr. Winston]

When I was a kid I went to every home game I could. Even Welsh cup matches in front of about 250 people. I think I missed one home league game (and almost no cup ones) in a spell of about 15-20 years up until Covid. This season I only bothered with Man City in the cup, have already missed one in the league and will definitely miss at least two more. It's just not the be all and end all for me any more.

Yes, the entertainment value just isn't there any more (and that's not just the Swans, it's pretty dull in the Prem and elsewhere too) but I think people's priorities shift as they get older. These days I'm not going to turn down the chance to go away or do something else I fancy doing just because the Swans are home.

 

[Dr. Winston]

In defence of our wingers, the comments earlier in the thread about the style of play and the "420 passes" stuff is a big part of their problem IMO.

Cast your minds back to when we had Dyer and Routledge on the wing. I'd wager that both of them got the ball on average 10-15 yards further up the pitch than our players do now, and usually much sooner in the move than now also. Ronald and co are having to battle just to get to where they should be in the first place.

The intention for wingers seems to be more as defensive and passing assets than attacking ones. You can also look at the pass maps for us under Williams to see how often one of them was receiving the ball on the flanks, and then recycling it back through the midfield. There was a "U" shape to it.

The first 20 minutes or so of the Man City game was probably the first time in a season or two where we looked to find them early and in space, and Inoussa had perhaps his best performance for us.

 

[Gors Buster]

Dyer and Routledge never seemed to be so isolated.
I don’t have the technical knowledge or words to explain but it’s like we were shown what successful full backs and wingers played like, and we’ve been a million miles from that since.
We’re getting the same amount of possession but we can’t do anything with it.

 

[Smurph]

Dyer and Routledge never seemed to be so isolated.
I don’t have the technical knowledge or words to explain but it’s like we were shown what successful full backs and wingers played like, and we’ve been a million miles from that since.
We’re getting the same amount of possession but we can’t do anything with it.

Key and Ronald don't look like they recognise each other, let alone play in the same team.

 

[J_B]

Rangel, Leon, Dyer, triangles.

Bloody lovely

 

[rockinj]

There, I've said it out loud. Not just the Swans, but I rarely look forward to Match of the Day either.

It's a bit like Rugby which once I used to enjoy (a little bit ). The flair went with the likes of Shane Williams etc. I went with a rugby mate once to watch the Ospreys. Seeing a game outside a TV screen was so revealing. Defence was SO organized right across the pitch, no way through for even the quickest of players. What a bore fest.

So with the Swans - it's been a slow downwards slide for me (or should I say backwards and sideways slide !)

Not so much in the inevitable relegation in 2018, not so much Potter, not so much the start of Cooper with the COVID outbreak - but I think for me the Cooper side in 2021 culminating in the embarrassing play off final against Brentford. I was there and so underwhelmed with our style of play then..and the whole season.

Since then, it's increasingly been a drudge to watch - borne out by falling attendances and loss of season ticket holders. I'm still hanging in there - just - but each season gets more difficult. Sometimes I even think of leaving half time

I can't remember feeling like this in old Div 3/4 days. Some rubbish football at times of course, but is it this latest sideways/back/ sideways stuff which is the difference ?? Probably. Boring and turgid. Possession football at its worst.

(Of course there were the totally different lower Division days of Robbie and Curt; Jimmy and Leighton; Angel and Dyer; Trunds and Bodde; Leon and Ash. I'm not talking of those days in this thread)

Anyway, I watch our guys stopping at the final third .. the pass back. No attempt to beat a man, dribble, pace. Afraid. My mind - in the stands - drifts to Dyer and Angel in particular - 95% looking to go forward. Dyer and Dan James off the bench.. a buzz in the crowd.

The Premier League too is so safe and stale a lot of the time. Pep style cloned but often no players to do similar with quality.

Anyway, I'm drifting. But is it just me, in my Victor Meldrew mode, who doesn't like today's football ? Overall, not just the Swans.

Has the football in our second golden era spoilt things for us ?

Is it just me who has maybe rose coloured specs on who didn't quite regard the old Div 3/4 days (not Toshack, Martinez days) in the same low light as nowadays ? I can never quite remember being so bored then.

Football needs a reset of sorts. A start with long throw-ins and set pieces maybe. Why not. I love a bit of route 1 sometimes. Even put it in the mixer . Shoot more often. (And a bit more accurately) Try dribbling. (what's that I hear some youngsters saying). F**k the tippy tappy outside the opposition box. How about fast counter attack from our own half - can't recall the last time . And so on. Though if we get Hellberg with a 4-2-3-1 I'm happy to go with that sort of structure, as long as it's positive forward stuff.

Anyway, I've got it off my chest - but am I just getting too old and cynical . Were we all this bored back in the day ?

Ps. No AI contribution or structure here, as you can tell from my ramblings !!

I completely hear you.

Ive been in this position for a long time but that’s more football generally than the swans.

I cant shake that love.

Football as another poster said has lost that special feeling. The excitement of monday night football or champions league etc. Its just everywhere.

And need i mention the money it’s ruined everything.

More fundamental though is age. Many of us have different interests as we get older and get out of the habit of it all.

But fundamentally I think it’s the saturation.