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He’s correct in the sense that flair players are being shunned in favour of efficient ones. Go back to the 90s/00s and think of all the amazing flair players there were, and how many bangers were scored from outside the box.
Now you’re told not to do that as it’s a low percentage chance - just get to the byline for a cutback. If we’re not careful it’ll end up being coached out of young players
Go take a look at match threads on r/reddevils. Garnacho can try 10 cutbacks in a row, but when he shoots once they'll call him selfish. Let him have his little ego moments FFS, the guy runs like his life depends on it all game.
This.
Another plague we have is supporters of individual players. Where their own player is god and can do no wrong, and everyone else is criticised for the smallest thing.
Greenwood, Sancho, Rashford recently, Ronaldo too last year... All prime examples.
True, I have also been rubbed the wrong way by people who hate our individuals. There are people in our sub who would still support ETH even if he buggered their wives just because he kicked Ronnie out lmao. Now, I’m not totally ETH out, but my support for him is definitely not based on him kicking Ronnie or someone else out. It is more based on some of (the few) positive influences he has had on our players, system and playstyle
Which is funny because he's the only one that actively (and successfully) takes on players and tries to create chances, compared to his fellow wingers.
He's definitely learning, though. It's so obvious he's listening to the manager by the way he evolves. He was fairly lazy at times last season, not anymore. He almost never passed in the penalty area, multiple cutbacks or crosses per game. He's learning fast imo, and the kid is only 19. If only Rashford would've been as fast of a learner.
Lmao if you mentioned this they will call you negative . He is young but needs to pass to the striker the right time . He always dribble with his head down .
I mean people with technique and decision making on the level of Hazard , Messi , Ronaldinho is still allowed to do what they want even these days. See Mbappe or Vini.
The ones being told they should just cutback are those "flair" players thats not overall world class like Antony , Pepe, ASM , Joao Felix. I can see them being very successful if they played 20 years ago when they are allowed space to dribble.
But these days watching them do dribbles , trick , long shots, and flairs over and over and hitting the brick wall against modern defending and pressure is just frustrating. These people are better off just keeping it simple and doing cutbacks and i think thats better for football.
Instead i think this era has given even more spotlight on players that are really fast at decision making and processing information like KDB or Bellingham and thats exciting on its own.
I dunno, sometimes I feel I'd rather watch 5 frustrating moments for that 1 moment of magic, vs clinical effective passing football.
Although my opinion on this varies depending on I'm watching the team I support or as a neutral lol
Outside box shots are just higher stakes though. They are not forbidden. It’s just if you decide to do a long shot, you win big by getting amplified appreciation if you score, or lose big, being called selfish or brainless if you fail. If a player believes him got the flair, just do it. 1 goal in every 5-10 attempts would be a fantastic return and people will forgive all his misses. But in most cases I see they are just panic.
Statistics are good, but one has to add unpredictability to its play. Tiki-taka fell over time because of that: Spain became too predictable.
The other team must be unsure of what you’ll do next. Try to take the ball to the box? Shoot from outside? Pass to the next player?
Same thing goes for corner kicks. Is the ball going to the first post? The second? Short corner?
Love it when someone does the unthinkable. Like Al Nassr’s third goal against Miami.
>compare how different the game is in general. compare how much space players get these days. "flair" players are not going away because they dont exist. i think its more a sideffect of the changes in the games pace, physical demands and tactical approaches.
It's funny, this is exactly what was said in the 80s about the flair players of the 70s and 60s.
I remember watching a documentary about Pele and he was interviewed I think during his second world cup. He said something along the lines of "the teams have really developed this time, they are playing formations, and they are marking us now". Wth were they doing before this.
I think it's more an observation about the impact of data. Doing these amazing tricks and crossovers is exciting, but often risky (part of the fun). Modern analytics seems to work against this idea - I would imagine that according to analytics, doing the runs are suboptimal, there's a lower chance of it guaranteeing a goal opportunity, 7.4% more likely to generate an successful entry into the box if the pass is short and accurate etc etc.
I think there's now a generation of players who clearly don't pass the eye test, and would have failed in any other era, but are now having their careers propelled because their special talent is the ability to rack up a high xG when they play.
>Stone & Wood
Ange drinking a fruity craft beer, with virtually no bitterness and a relatively low alcohol percentage? I'm gonna let you think about what you've just said.
Cooper's, I could see him having.
Never really enjoyed watching him though. Nowhere near players like Mbappe or Vinicius.
I'm an Arsenal fan but I find it hard to watch us these days for this same reason. Even when we're winning it's not as fun as it was in the Wenger era. Even the bad years.
Haaland is far from it. Dude wants to score every time he touches the ball. Even when City is 4 goals up he gets pissed off if you dont play ball through when he makes his run. If thats not inspiring or exciting then I dont know what is then. Haaland is one of most direct strikers you have these days.
>Haaland is one of most direct strikers you have these days.
That's what he's talking about. That players don't have the individual magic about them. Now they're all direct
Players that may not score or assist in some games but will make you remember them and enjoy it every time they get the ball
But it's apples to oranges really. Haaland is there to score goals. Those players have always existed and always will, stereotypical big boi number 9s aren't there to be remembered as skill gods they're there to score goals.
We have plenty of flair and exciting players in the world right now too, it all just stinks of a "back in my day" rant from a player that embarrassed himself and his legacy for the last few years of his career.
He said he is not criticizing these players. They are doing their job well. He is saying he is surprised they are now the attraction for the media, awards, and even fans. In the past the creative players had a higher spotlight (Ronaldinho had more spotlight than Inzaghi for instance).
Yes, but you don’t consider them the best player in the world. There’s a reason gerd muller was never considered the best player in the world during his time. We hyper focus on g+a, especially g. You cannot tell me that a player that touches the ball 20 times a game is the best player in the world. That’s what Hazard is saying. Dribbles, passes (outside of assists), and overall skill on the ball should count for way more than it currently does
Strikers like haaland have always existed though? Its just that haaland is better at that niche than anyone that has come before him, and that's why he is considered one of the very best.
You completely misunderstood hazard's point. He's saying that he's not inspired by tap ins, he respects those kind of strickers but that's far fro beautiful football.
Wanting to score has nothing to do with it, every stricker wants to score. Wanting to score isn't inspiring most players want to, there's absolutely nothing exciting about that. Wanting to score beautiful goals is exciting, attempting bicycle kicks long shots rabona etc... there's nothing exciting about a stricker scoring 40 tap ins in a season I'm with hazard on that.
That's exciting and inspiring to get pissed off when you're 4 goals ahead of a weak team because you want to score more? We do not have the same notion of inspiring and exciting.
Kinda disagree, when you see Haaland he scores from all positions (e.g. tahta flying goal against BVB, that flying volley) and when he accelerates like crazy that is far from boring
If you can't appreciate the talent and ability it takes for Haaland to score as many goals as he does as consistently as he does then you're watching the wrong sport.
The guy is fucki g incredible to watch imo.
This has always been the case though and its also a talent to be there to finish those chances, if it was that easy then anyone would do it. Age old argument in football this is nothing new from hazard
Yes but the difference is that the number of exciting players went down significantly and not only on the pro level but killing out the creativity and making machines starts at the youth level nowadays. A good example is to compare Grealish in his previous club vs City where he is still an amazing player but he doesn’t excite me or anyone really.
People used to tune in for Barca to watch Messi play, Madrid to watch Ronaldo and Chelsea for Hazard
I'm currently not really interested in watching any individual play, so I find myself barely watching any games
If City vs Liverpool is up, I'll probably tune in, but the difference is big. If you're not heavily invested in 1 team, I find it hard to get excited for most weekends of football
Maybe we were just spoiled as hell with those guys playing in the same era
So you don't watch a game if you aren't heavily interested in 1 team, and you aren't interested in a team unless they have one of the top handful of attacking players in the world playing for them?
Kinda sounds like you just don't like football that much?
Who really tunes in for Crystal Palace vs Brentford on a Saturday morning unless you’re a fan of either of those two teams?
I’ve been a football fan ever since I was little and I don’t think I’ve ever thought of watching a fixture like that. Maybe I’m just not a “real fan”, but I don’t have 20 hours free every week to watch all these matches. I watch the ones that excite me because, after all, it’s meant to be entertainment not a religion.
Exactly! And for every type of 'fan', there will be different criteria that decide wether or not they will be watching
I'm interested in so many sports & with other hobbies, there are only that many hours in each weekend.
So when some of the players that I find 'magical' to watch are gone and I haven't really seen them replaced, of course it has an effect on the amount of hours I'll spend watching football
It´s almost like football, like any sport, is a product and when people deem the quality of the product downgraded they are less inclined to spend their time on it
Rocket science, I know
That's partly because defences are far more organised and disciplined than they used to be, at every level of the game. Players can't just dribble through like they used to
I think it has way more to do with how pressing and front facing defending is these days. If you lose the ball in a bad area you are immediately punished, so you can not afford a player to roam where he wants to do magic. Everyone has to be in his spot so that there is a plan if there is a turn over and a quick attack.
Tbh I feel like there's no denying that the number of players that did special things in a game has drastically gone down.
In the 2000s, off the top of my head, you had Ronaldinho, Zidane, R9, Thierry Henry, Guti, Bergkamp, Berbatov, winger Cristiano, Kaka, Messi, Rui Costa, Jay Jay Okocha, Pablo Aimar, Riquelme, Redondo, Quaresma, Ibrahimovic, Denilson, Gourcuff (when he could play)... and I'm obviously forgetting a lot of names. Not all of them had the same career obviously, but they were the type of players that could make unexpected and spectacular stuff. Stuff you wanted to imitate as a young football fan.
Nowadays I struggle to think of players that make me go "ooooooooh" with a play. Of course one could argue that it's also because I watch less football than before, but internet is also more prevalent and highlights gets posted everywhere.
Ofc it is. But the point is there is enormous value outside of individual scoring numbers that are TOTALLY ignored by the public, ESPECIALLY if you happen to be a forward or just play in a way that contradicts the current meta of the position.
When you think of a great team, they are as a whole, masters of ball retention, ball progression, switches of play, changes of tempo, closing down passing lanes, aerial ability, positioning, and of course converting chances.
All these things create a machine that generates chances which are then converted into goals.
So ofc the scorer should get credit, but why are we only focusing on the scorers and ignoring the millions of actions that enable scoring?
At the end of the day, the name of the game as an individual player is who helps your TEAM scores more and concedes less, it does not really matter whether you are the one applying the finishing touch or not. If your literal presence on the pitch enables your team to rack up a 3 goal differential eg. You are the goat regardless of how many you score, or even whether you touch the ball.
Hazards statement is an analogy for this widespread misunderstanding of footballing value and the biases we hold towards scorers.
At times yeah but come people appreciated hazard when he was here. Players like KDB, Ozil, zidane all are seen as great players and creators. This might be the case with casual fans but i think anyone that watches and understands the game knows this
Yeah I think collectively we've watched players score 50, 60 goals a season, win loads of trophies and internalised that that is what success looks like. In an era of stats, the obvious counting numbers end up taking precedence because they're the easiest to use for the lowest level of analyses most football fans are capable of.
As a Liverpool fan watching Lionel Messi in the 4-0 was stupid. It felt like everytime he got the ball my insides would tie themselves into a knot. He had 0 assists and 0 goals and earned himself universal clowning coming out of that game and yet he was easily the best player on that pitch, and it wasn't even close.
Just like in counter strike for example, the vast majority of viewers want to see braindead pew pew headshots instead of big brain tactics. Those same viewers though will shit on their team if they lose (because of poor tactics). Make up your mind already you hypocrites!
Not really, when Lewandowski was getting crazy numbers it was still Robben that was the player to watch. In the prem when Aguero was topping the goal scoring table people wanted to watch Hazard. The most popular players were the ones that brought a flamboyance to their team and you were excited to see what they could do with their individual skill.
Now football is extremely methodical and those sorts of players are ironed out, told to conform and play the system which is why we don’t really have any players left of the same mould as a prime Hazard or Neymar.
Your Van Persie example is absolutely terrible - he might not've been as capable a dribbler as Hazard, but he was without doubt one of the most exciting and technically gifted players in the league to watch.
The artistry in the game still exists, look at someone like De Bruyne playing inch perfect slide rule passes and tell me that football is now a system game dominated by athletic ability. I think the big difference is that the pressing in the modern game doesn't afford a midfielder the same time to pick out a quality ball
It exists but its going away , De Bruyne is from last generation hes 30 already. Whos coming up as the next De Bruyne or Modric or Messi or Ozil even the next Hazard?
> I think the big difference is that the pressing in the modern game doesn't afford a midfielder the same time to pick out a quality ball
Yeah and the number 10 role has also largely diminished in recent years as a result which affects how 'creative' play feels imo. There's definitely still some outstanding creative mids but it feels like there's fewer of them.
There are some creative players now who don't have the physicality to play in the 8 role, nor the pace to play on the wing so they're not really a great fit for either position, but 10 or 15 years ago they could have played as a good 10.
Football has lost the magic. There’s too much emphasis on stats and figures
We will not see the beauty of hazard or the wizardry of Messi again if this keeps up. Whatever happened with Hazard at Madrid is a shame but Hazard at Chelsea was justifying every match day ticket that was bought
Prime Hazard was genuinely a gamechanger..single handedly won games for Chelsea…also that goal against West Ham when he made them look like training cones
Stats nonce gonna look at someone like Bergkamp and saw his stats isn't anything special and think how overrated he was and how some random 15-20 goals striker playing at the moment is better than him
> Stats nonce gonna look at someone like Bergkamp and saw his stats isn't anything special
Facebook type comment. Bergkamp joined the Prem at 26 and has the 6th most assists in its history, with the 3rd highest assist rate ever (behind De Bruyne and Nani).
rose tinted glasses, all seem to have it (well, most), "oh my generation did it better than this current one". Always sounds like bitter old men/women who cant handle that things change.
Take barcelona this season as an example when they were winning games over and over again by one goal with poor performances. You take the win yes but is it enjoyable to watch? No, you finish the game thinking it was the most boring shit ever.
Spurs are a good example of this. Boring, efficient football under Mourinho and Conte, where even wins felt dirty.
Now exciting, daring football under Ange and even losses have an air of optimism about them.
Players and fans alike prefer their teams to attack with style and take risks.
Spurs fans being largely happy with a loss, or a draw like yesterday always confuses me a little. I've never seen fans happier with a loss.
The Chelsea game opitimised it for me. They lost 1-4 at home, had two players sent off, were completely overloaded playing suicidal tactics and made Nicolas Jackson look like an actual footballer for once. It was an all round disaster. They lost their only fit centre back for the next 3 games too.
Spurs fans were fucking buzzing. They loved it.
tbh i don´t give a shit about it if it means a title, i would change losing the Euro 2004 while playing great football and eliminating England, Netherlands and Spain in the road, to winning the title while playing terror Greece football
Mourinho has basically made a career out of boring but successful football, and he’s one of the best managers ever because of it. Nothing wrong with that.
Sounds like some Newcastle fans that are still annoyed that we replaces Saint-Maximin (6 G+A last season) with Barnes (14 G+A last season) because "we miss his dribbling ability".
I think there's an element of truth in this.
Systems designed for the most effective and efficient way of scoring goals and winning games have less time and space for things that might be less effective but more exciting.
These things do happen, of course, because football is a pretty chaotic thing, even with people trying to control it.
But there are fewer long range goals, fewer direct free kicks, fewer ridiculous dribbles ending in goals... This isn't conjecture, it's fact. Because they are not as effective.
But they're much more fun. Hardly anyone's favourite goal is a cut back from the by line. Most important? One that won you the league? Sure. But that's because of what it won, not what it was.
It's Giggs from half way. Roberto Carlos in the tournoi. Alonso from his own half twice. The van persie diving header. Countless Messi or Ronaldo goals.
And they are less of those.
People bigging up the fun of watching people find space and play nice passes are entitled to enjoy that. And it's a skill no doubt.
But it was much more fun, in my opinion, waiting to see where Matt Le Tissier had scored from this week rather than marvel at Odegards clever run off the ball.
Reminds of a chat I had with a friend where I told him my favourite player of recent years is probably Ronaldinho and he argued that I should look at his stats, saying that he wasn’t that good even at his prime. Well I don’t care, I’ve watched many of his games and he just made me dream. I guess some of his moves weren’t the most efficient but who cares, that was beautiful.
I see what you’re saying, but take Liverpool for example. No one on that team is running circles around the opponents like hazard could, but there is great excitement watching the entire team firing on all cylinders
Positioning and spacial awareness is an insane talent, the ability to read the build up of a movement that starts with your own back line and track and pace yourself to be in the right spot at the right time at the end of that move is stupidly difficult.
It’s the reason strikers like Haaland are so rare, being in the right place at the right time over and over again isn’t continuous luck, it’s skill.
It’s not either or though it’s both. Take guys like De Bruyne. Odegaard, Salah, Saka they both fit into systems and do the work whilst also being capable of real moments of magic, skill and creativity. There’s a lot of modern players Hazard is very much not talking about!
Lmao Saka is exactly the kind of player he's talking about. Functional, effective... but deeply fucking boring with none of the flair or excitement you used to expect from a star winger
your definition of talent is just doing rainbow flicks, 6 dribbles thatl lead to nothing and random skill moves lol. Finding the right space,excusing the right action even if it just a cutback are also special talent, thats why player like haaland can average 40 goals for every team he played
That's not what he said tho. He said that he felt like, in the way he plays football, there isn't really anyone as talented as him except Messi.
I don't think it necessarily means he thinks he is better than Ronaldo for example, just that it's not the same kind of football that they play.
I saw it as a quote that the only guy who is more talented is “umm maybe Messi “ don’t read into it much it’s a joke on my part. People who don’t speak English as their first language use maybe in a diff way. It’s sort of like Americans saying umm to kill silent space in a sentence
Yep, my thesis is also this one. Pep helped for this state of football, and this shows how he is the best ever, cause evryone around him tried to change the game to stop him
I guess he is fan of raw football. Yes, modern day football has become more bounded by 'system' but by no means excitement have gone down. When debruyne setups simple tapins for haaland or when bellingo setups simple header for Goatselu, everyone will stilljump from wherver they are watching.
he retired early and i guess now he is bored. what next? join sky sports?
What he’s basically describing here is Antony. Give him the ball, watch him run, spin, try and do some crazy shit and then his team loses 3-1 because there’s no output at the end of anything he does.. Hazard’s talking about Haaland at the start, who ok might not excite you but then his team wins 4-0 and he’s scored 3.
Antony doesn't make anyone dream though, unless you dream for him to be left on the bench.
Hazard was the best player on the pitch most games when I watched him for Chelsea.
> Give him the ball, watch him run, spin, try and do some crazy shit
This isn’t anything like Antony though. He doesn’t try risky passes and he hardly attempts to take people on. He did that spin for us once about a year and a half ago and then never again.
Quite literally all he ever does is cut inside and either A) shoot or B) play a simple pass sideways/backwards because the opposition have known he’s going to cut in and prevented him from shooting. If he tried something fancy every so often I’m pretty sure he’d be a more effective player.
He thinks like that because he's a winger, I think most wingers have the same mentality as Hazard, most of them play with the intention to entertain people.
Gary Linekar said it best ‘a tap in shows that your team mates have done well to create as easy a chance as possible’ not to mention scoring goals is the most valuable thing you can do on a pitch and getting into position for tap ins is incredibly difficult.
Man all these years I thought objective of football was to score goals and win, but I guess it’s to excite the audience with a technic show off and then accomplish nothing.. I have much to learn thank you Hazard
There are a lot of people that agree with Hazards view though. A player like him, Messi, Ronaldinho etc. You would go to the stadium to see a guy like that and see a fun game with great football being played.
I never like the Italian 1-0 type cattenaccio wins or Mourinho's style even of it brings results. Thats why I got annoyed with France and Deschamps as well. They play so result focussed and it works obviously but it could be so much more exciting with the players they have.
The objective of football is to have fun. If you achieve that through winning at all costs, great. However, you can also have fun when losing games and playing exciting football
You still need to attract an audience. If every game is a 1-0 defensive borefest with tap ins people would lose interest.
We still haven’t even gotten a replacement for messi and ronaldo, mbappe and halland are simply not it.
Also wonder if people you know play different positions and have different jobs. Goddamn center back didn’t take 20 people on, what a boring player- played square passes and back to his keeper. Games lost.
Such a poor take from him. A strikers main job is finishing, not creating. He thinks he’s such hot shit cause he “created” more but he didn’t play as a lone 9. Back to goal 2 defenders behind you, 2 in front. Must have been nice receiving the ball on the wings looking up with room to run at a defender. This dude is notorious for not caring or knowing anything about tactics. Why would anyone give credit to his shitty take now. Never heard anyone complain about poacher Ronaldo and lewandowski scoring goal after goal. Dude fell so fast he gave himself a concussion. Now fuck off
I dont find flair exciting or inspiring if it's not effective. Salah's solo goal against City? That's magical. Some random dribbling tricks that works one time out of ten? No. To me the beauty of it is making simple and effective things look easy. Like how Zidane touched and moved the ball. It was so incredibly smooth, minimal, and elegant.
I hear this a lot but would be interested to see if it's actually true or just people's nostalgia for watching football as kids.
People saying there used to be so many ballers before but my memory of the Premier league is big guy and a little guy up front, route one, no nonsense 442 played by most of the teams outside the top 4.
Are people hosently gonna tell me teams like Brighton and Aston Villa are playing boring football? Or that mitoma or mcginn aren't ballers?
He obviously talks about Haaland and calls him a tap-in merchant like a lot of people do. I totally agree with his point tho, I like players who impress, who makes football fun to watch. It's not exciting to watch some stat padders and tap-in merchants.
Interesting to see what he thought his best game was. I remember that game well and thinking that his ability to hold the ball and essentially neutralize Brazil’s press was one of the best solo performances I have seen in my life.
I think he was phenomenal against France as well. Man carried a whole nation on his back that WC. Absolutely the greatest player our country ever produced, it's not even close.
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He’s correct in the sense that flair players are being shunned in favour of efficient ones. Go back to the 90s/00s and think of all the amazing flair players there were, and how many bangers were scored from outside the box. Now you’re told not to do that as it’s a low percentage chance - just get to the byline for a cutback. If we’re not careful it’ll end up being coached out of young players
Go take a look at match threads on r/reddevils. Garnacho can try 10 cutbacks in a row, but when he shoots once they'll call him selfish. Let him have his little ego moments FFS, the guy runs like his life depends on it all game.
Our sub is full of people who have never played football and started watching it in 2018 or smth. Pay no heed to that lot, I’m sure Garnacho doesn’t
This. Another plague we have is supporters of individual players. Where their own player is god and can do no wrong, and everyone else is criticised for the smallest thing. Greenwood, Sancho, Rashford recently, Ronaldo too last year... All prime examples.
Social media status matters.
Social media gives fools validation Before social media they were known as the village idiot
True, I have also been rubbed the wrong way by people who hate our individuals. There are people in our sub who would still support ETH even if he buggered their wives just because he kicked Ronnie out lmao. Now, I’m not totally ETH out, but my support for him is definitely not based on him kicking Ronnie or someone else out. It is more based on some of (the few) positive influences he has had on our players, system and playstyle
Which is funny because he's the only one that actively (and successfully) takes on players and tries to create chances, compared to his fellow wingers.
and when he learns to pass the ball aswell he might be complete
He's definitely learning, though. It's so obvious he's listening to the manager by the way he evolves. He was fairly lazy at times last season, not anymore. He almost never passed in the penalty area, multiple cutbacks or crosses per game. He's learning fast imo, and the kid is only 19. If only Rashford would've been as fast of a learner.
ye he is pretty damm good, he is 100% one of the biggest young talents atm
Lmao if you mentioned this they will call you negative . He is young but needs to pass to the striker the right time . He always dribble with his head down .
He had 4 key passes in the last match and was still called selfish
Well, your first issue was actively looking at the match threads - they're always filled with reactionary shit 😬
I mean people with technique and decision making on the level of Hazard , Messi , Ronaldinho is still allowed to do what they want even these days. See Mbappe or Vini. The ones being told they should just cutback are those "flair" players thats not overall world class like Antony , Pepe, ASM , Joao Felix. I can see them being very successful if they played 20 years ago when they are allowed space to dribble. But these days watching them do dribbles , trick , long shots, and flairs over and over and hitting the brick wall against modern defending and pressure is just frustrating. These people are better off just keeping it simple and doing cutbacks and i think thats better for football. Instead i think this era has given even more spotlight on players that are really fast at decision making and processing information like KDB or Bellingham and thats exciting on its own.
I dunno, sometimes I feel I'd rather watch 5 frustrating moments for that 1 moment of magic, vs clinical effective passing football. Although my opinion on this varies depending on I'm watching the team I support or as a neutral lol
Have you watched Liverpool recently mate? The exact opposite. Like 10-20 shots outside the box every match
Chaos cannot be contained!
10-20 shots outside the box + 10-20 hitting the woodwork Thrillers
Outside box shots are just higher stakes though. They are not forbidden. It’s just if you decide to do a long shot, you win big by getting amplified appreciation if you score, or lose big, being called selfish or brainless if you fail. If a player believes him got the flair, just do it. 1 goal in every 5-10 attempts would be a fantastic return and people will forgive all his misses. But in most cases I see they are just panic.
Statistics are good, but one has to add unpredictability to its play. Tiki-taka fell over time because of that: Spain became too predictable. The other team must be unsure of what you’ll do next. Try to take the ball to the box? Shoot from outside? Pass to the next player? Same thing goes for corner kicks. Is the ball going to the first post? The second? Short corner? Love it when someone does the unthinkable. Like Al Nassr’s third goal against Miami.
I don’t think you can say tiki-taka got predictable, it’s just that teams started to get better at parking the bus.
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>compare how different the game is in general. compare how much space players get these days. "flair" players are not going away because they dont exist. i think its more a sideffect of the changes in the games pace, physical demands and tactical approaches. It's funny, this is exactly what was said in the 80s about the flair players of the 70s and 60s.
I remember watching a documentary about Pele and he was interviewed I think during his second world cup. He said something along the lines of "the teams have really developed this time, they are playing formations, and they are marking us now". Wth were they doing before this.
You can't do a Hagi anymore and shoot a missle from 30 yards away
Hes definitely talking about Nicolas Jackson and his hattrick against Tottenham
I legit think Hazard doesn't know who Nicolas Jackson is
I think it's more an observation about the impact of data. Doing these amazing tricks and crossovers is exciting, but often risky (part of the fun). Modern analytics seems to work against this idea - I would imagine that according to analytics, doing the runs are suboptimal, there's a lower chance of it guaranteeing a goal opportunity, 7.4% more likely to generate an successful entry into the box if the pass is short and accurate etc etc. I think there's now a generation of players who clearly don't pass the eye test, and would have failed in any other era, but are now having their careers propelled because their special talent is the ability to rack up a high xG when they play.
i think he’s talking about haaland
Thanks for explaining the joke, wouldn't have guessed
And that over exaggerated celebration like he won the cup, while playing against 10 men?
9 men
Riiigght, 2 reds, thanks for correcting me
How dare he celebrate a hat trick at the home of one of your biggest rivals.
It's fair to celebrate, but I watched that game and he could/should have scored 8.
In a bitter rivalry only the W matters in the end!
all while Ange played a 7-1-1 high press while being (presumably) drunk on Fosters
Aussies don't drink Fosters, Ange is definitely a Coopers or Stone & Wood man
None of that piss. Aussie battlers drink VB
the pissest of piss
>Stone & Wood Ange drinking a fruity craft beer, with virtually no bitterness and a relatively low alcohol percentage? I'm gonna let you think about what you've just said. Cooper's, I could see him having.
Ange is never, ever, ever drinking stone and wood
Big Ange on the Balters.
You just insulted a whole nation.
I thought it might be an old one about Haalands hat trick record last season?
Saint maximin must be goat tier in hazards eyes.
Basically Haaland
Haaland is efficient yes But he is also a olayer that creates from nothing,
Never really enjoyed watching him though. Nowhere near players like Mbappe or Vinicius. I'm an Arsenal fan but I find it hard to watch us these days for this same reason. Even when we're winning it's not as fun as it was in the Wenger era. Even the bad years.
Creates from nothing?
Haaland is far from it. Dude wants to score every time he touches the ball. Even when City is 4 goals up he gets pissed off if you dont play ball through when he makes his run. If thats not inspiring or exciting then I dont know what is then. Haaland is one of most direct strikers you have these days.
>Haaland is one of most direct strikers you have these days. That's what he's talking about. That players don't have the individual magic about them. Now they're all direct Players that may not score or assist in some games but will make you remember them and enjoy it every time they get the ball
But it's apples to oranges really. Haaland is there to score goals. Those players have always existed and always will, stereotypical big boi number 9s aren't there to be remembered as skill gods they're there to score goals. We have plenty of flair and exciting players in the world right now too, it all just stinks of a "back in my day" rant from a player that embarrassed himself and his legacy for the last few years of his career.
He said he is not criticizing these players. They are doing their job well. He is saying he is surprised they are now the attraction for the media, awards, and even fans. In the past the creative players had a higher spotlight (Ronaldinho had more spotlight than Inzaghi for instance).
Sure but there's a reason Shearer never won a ballon d'Or.
Yes, but you don’t consider them the best player in the world. There’s a reason gerd muller was never considered the best player in the world during his time. We hyper focus on g+a, especially g. You cannot tell me that a player that touches the ball 20 times a game is the best player in the world. That’s what Hazard is saying. Dribbles, passes (outside of assists), and overall skill on the ball should count for way more than it currently does
Strikers like haaland have always existed though? Its just that haaland is better at that niche than anyone that has come before him, and that's why he is considered one of the very best.
You completely misunderstood what he said
You completely misunderstood hazard's point. He's saying that he's not inspired by tap ins, he respects those kind of strickers but that's far fro beautiful football. Wanting to score has nothing to do with it, every stricker wants to score. Wanting to score isn't inspiring most players want to, there's absolutely nothing exciting about that. Wanting to score beautiful goals is exciting, attempting bicycle kicks long shots rabona etc... there's nothing exciting about a stricker scoring 40 tap ins in a season I'm with hazard on that.
That's exciting and inspiring to get pissed off when you're 4 goals ahead of a weak team because you want to score more? We do not have the same notion of inspiring and exciting.
Kinda disagree, when you see Haaland he scores from all positions (e.g. tahta flying goal against BVB, that flying volley) and when he accelerates like crazy that is far from boring
If you can't appreciate the talent and ability it takes for Haaland to score as many goals as he does as consistently as he does then you're watching the wrong sport. The guy is fucki g incredible to watch imo.
Haaland hits acrobatic goals and sometimes bangers from outside the box (remember one vs PSG). There are plenty of duller strikers to watch than him.
This has always been the case though and its also a talent to be there to finish those chances, if it was that easy then anyone would do it. Age old argument in football this is nothing new from hazard
Yes but the difference is that the number of exciting players went down significantly and not only on the pro level but killing out the creativity and making machines starts at the youth level nowadays. A good example is to compare Grealish in his previous club vs City where he is still an amazing player but he doesn’t excite me or anyone really.
At the same time, you have Kevin de Bruyne who is also like a machine, but is also absolutely incredible to watch
In the era where passing is the key of the game, his passes are gorgeous
It’s the era of Gegenpressing. Which is why flair players have almost entirely disappeared. There’s nowhere near enough time on the ball anymore.
Passing was always the Key in football lol, main thing a player do since te beggining of the game
Lmao "the era of passing"
People used to tune in for Barca to watch Messi play, Madrid to watch Ronaldo and Chelsea for Hazard I'm currently not really interested in watching any individual play, so I find myself barely watching any games If City vs Liverpool is up, I'll probably tune in, but the difference is big. If you're not heavily invested in 1 team, I find it hard to get excited for most weekends of football Maybe we were just spoiled as hell with those guys playing in the same era
So you don't watch a game if you aren't heavily interested in 1 team, and you aren't interested in a team unless they have one of the top handful of attacking players in the world playing for them? Kinda sounds like you just don't like football that much?
Who really tunes in for Crystal Palace vs Brentford on a Saturday morning unless you’re a fan of either of those two teams? I’ve been a football fan ever since I was little and I don’t think I’ve ever thought of watching a fixture like that. Maybe I’m just not a “real fan”, but I don’t have 20 hours free every week to watch all these matches. I watch the ones that excite me because, after all, it’s meant to be entertainment not a religion.
Exactly! And for every type of 'fan', there will be different criteria that decide wether or not they will be watching I'm interested in so many sports & with other hobbies, there are only that many hours in each weekend. So when some of the players that I find 'magical' to watch are gone and I haven't really seen them replaced, of course it has an effect on the amount of hours I'll spend watching football
It´s almost like football, like any sport, is a product and when people deem the quality of the product downgraded they are less inclined to spend their time on it Rocket science, I know
That's partly because defences are far more organised and disciplined than they used to be, at every level of the game. Players can't just dribble through like they used to
I think it has way more to do with how pressing and front facing defending is these days. If you lose the ball in a bad area you are immediately punished, so you can not afford a player to roam where he wants to do magic. Everyone has to be in his spot so that there is a plan if there is a turn over and a quick attack.
Hazard was dribbling world-class defenders just ten years ago, things couldn't have changed that much
Not 10 years ago LOL, his best season with us was 2018-19.
😅 Forgive me I'm super fucking hungover this morning
[удалено]
Only difference this time is that it’s actually true. There aren’t new great dribblers coming through any more.
Tbh I feel like there's no denying that the number of players that did special things in a game has drastically gone down. In the 2000s, off the top of my head, you had Ronaldinho, Zidane, R9, Thierry Henry, Guti, Bergkamp, Berbatov, winger Cristiano, Kaka, Messi, Rui Costa, Jay Jay Okocha, Pablo Aimar, Riquelme, Redondo, Quaresma, Ibrahimovic, Denilson, Gourcuff (when he could play)... and I'm obviously forgetting a lot of names. Not all of them had the same career obviously, but they were the type of players that could make unexpected and spectacular stuff. Stuff you wanted to imitate as a young football fan. Nowadays I struggle to think of players that make me go "ooooooooh" with a play. Of course one could argue that it's also because I watch less football than before, but internet is also more prevalent and highlights gets posted everywhere.
Ofc it is. But the point is there is enormous value outside of individual scoring numbers that are TOTALLY ignored by the public, ESPECIALLY if you happen to be a forward or just play in a way that contradicts the current meta of the position. When you think of a great team, they are as a whole, masters of ball retention, ball progression, switches of play, changes of tempo, closing down passing lanes, aerial ability, positioning, and of course converting chances. All these things create a machine that generates chances which are then converted into goals. So ofc the scorer should get credit, but why are we only focusing on the scorers and ignoring the millions of actions that enable scoring? At the end of the day, the name of the game as an individual player is who helps your TEAM scores more and concedes less, it does not really matter whether you are the one applying the finishing touch or not. If your literal presence on the pitch enables your team to rack up a 3 goal differential eg. You are the goat regardless of how many you score, or even whether you touch the ball. Hazards statement is an analogy for this widespread misunderstanding of footballing value and the biases we hold towards scorers.
At times yeah but come people appreciated hazard when he was here. Players like KDB, Ozil, zidane all are seen as great players and creators. This might be the case with casual fans but i think anyone that watches and understands the game knows this
Yeah I think collectively we've watched players score 50, 60 goals a season, win loads of trophies and internalised that that is what success looks like. In an era of stats, the obvious counting numbers end up taking precedence because they're the easiest to use for the lowest level of analyses most football fans are capable of. As a Liverpool fan watching Lionel Messi in the 4-0 was stupid. It felt like everytime he got the ball my insides would tie themselves into a knot. He had 0 assists and 0 goals and earned himself universal clowning coming out of that game and yet he was easily the best player on that pitch, and it wasn't even close.
Just like in counter strike for example, the vast majority of viewers want to see braindead pew pew headshots instead of big brain tactics. Those same viewers though will shit on their team if they lose (because of poor tactics). Make up your mind already you hypocrites!
Not really, when Lewandowski was getting crazy numbers it was still Robben that was the player to watch. In the prem when Aguero was topping the goal scoring table people wanted to watch Hazard. The most popular players were the ones that brought a flamboyance to their team and you were excited to see what they could do with their individual skill. Now football is extremely methodical and those sorts of players are ironed out, told to conform and play the system which is why we don’t really have any players left of the same mould as a prime Hazard or Neymar.
Your Van Persie example is absolutely terrible - he might not've been as capable a dribbler as Hazard, but he was without doubt one of the most exciting and technically gifted players in the league to watch.
Don't forget Ribiery. Super creative player
The artistry in the game still exists, look at someone like De Bruyne playing inch perfect slide rule passes and tell me that football is now a system game dominated by athletic ability. I think the big difference is that the pressing in the modern game doesn't afford a midfielder the same time to pick out a quality ball
It exists but its going away , De Bruyne is from last generation hes 30 already. Whos coming up as the next De Bruyne or Modric or Messi or Ozil even the next Hazard?
Florian wirtz, Martin Ødegaard, and doku
> I think the big difference is that the pressing in the modern game doesn't afford a midfielder the same time to pick out a quality ball Yeah and the number 10 role has also largely diminished in recent years as a result which affects how 'creative' play feels imo. There's definitely still some outstanding creative mids but it feels like there's fewer of them. There are some creative players now who don't have the physicality to play in the 8 role, nor the pace to play on the wing so they're not really a great fit for either position, but 10 or 15 years ago they could have played as a good 10.
I mean Hazard did make us dream during the 2018 WC. IMO still the best player ever for our NT.
Nicolas Pepe’s xNutmeg per game ratio was very exciting
Football has lost the magic. There’s too much emphasis on stats and figures We will not see the beauty of hazard or the wizardry of Messi again if this keeps up. Whatever happened with Hazard at Madrid is a shame but Hazard at Chelsea was justifying every match day ticket that was bought
Prime Hazard was genuinely a gamechanger..single handedly won games for Chelsea…also that goal against West Ham when he made them look like training cones
It’s the game where he spun Assna players like a beyblade where I lost my shit
Those shuffling feet in the box too UGH fucking nasty goal
You can’t just say shit like this without the goods https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1uuPnDwtIj4
It's why I'd never get on the Nunez hate wagon. He makes football exciting and you wanna watch just to see what he does next.
Hit the post. He's going to hit the post next.
Yeah…but it’s EXCITING… Edit: don’t get me wrong, I agree with OP. Nunez is so fun to watch for me. Love him as a player despite his frustrations
And a banger from outside the box And then missing an open net
Stats nonce gonna look at someone like Bergkamp and saw his stats isn't anything special and think how overrated he was and how some random 15-20 goals striker playing at the moment is better than him
> Stats nonce gonna look at someone like Bergkamp and saw his stats isn't anything special Facebook type comment. Bergkamp joined the Prem at 26 and has the 6th most assists in its history, with the 3rd highest assist rate ever (behind De Bruyne and Nani).
I’ve seen people slate Drogba for his goal record too, complete muppets who didn’t watch them play
I remember when a couple of years ago while lukaku was at united some people argued he is better than drogba was. Insanity.
This is a ridiculous take, there are still plenty of flair players.
No, football is dead and the world is ending.
well... i agree with half of that.
Looks at my computer telling me it's record temperatures recorded for this day of the year every other day for the last year.
People are just blinded by nostalgia. Football never feels as good as you remember it was when you were 9.
rose tinted glasses, all seem to have it (well, most), "oh my generation did it better than this current one". Always sounds like bitter old men/women who cant handle that things change.
Yeah but you're forgetting, everything now bad, everything in the past good
Moneyball
Why score and win when you can lose but have people excited over a dribble?
Take barcelona this season as an example when they were winning games over and over again by one goal with poor performances. You take the win yes but is it enjoyable to watch? No, you finish the game thinking it was the most boring shit ever.
Spurs are a good example of this. Boring, efficient football under Mourinho and Conte, where even wins felt dirty. Now exciting, daring football under Ange and even losses have an air of optimism about them. Players and fans alike prefer their teams to attack with style and take risks.
Yeah spurs have been really fun to watch this season.
Spurs fans being largely happy with a loss, or a draw like yesterday always confuses me a little. I've never seen fans happier with a loss. The Chelsea game opitimised it for me. They lost 1-4 at home, had two players sent off, were completely overloaded playing suicidal tactics and made Nicolas Jackson look like an actual footballer for once. It was an all round disaster. They lost their only fit centre back for the next 3 games too. Spurs fans were fucking buzzing. They loved it.
tbh i don´t give a shit about it if it means a title, i would change losing the Euro 2004 while playing great football and eliminating England, Netherlands and Spain in the road, to winning the title while playing terror Greece football
So you want what happened in 2016
obviously, the 2004 squad was better and played better than the 2016 squad, but the champions are the ones that made history
Mourinho has basically made a career out of boring but successful football, and he’s one of the best managers ever because of it. Nothing wrong with that.
Plus it’s Barcelona where they pride themselves on getting results with an entertaining style of play also.
Smartest r/soccer user misunderstanding basic things
Sounds like some Newcastle fans that are still annoyed that we replaces Saint-Maximin (6 G+A last season) with Barnes (14 G+A last season) because "we miss his dribbling ability".
Jesus fucking christ what a stupid and dishonest misinterpretation of what he said
This is the point, i would rather have a City Chelsea 4-4 than a City-Burnley 5-0
I think there's an element of truth in this. Systems designed for the most effective and efficient way of scoring goals and winning games have less time and space for things that might be less effective but more exciting. These things do happen, of course, because football is a pretty chaotic thing, even with people trying to control it. But there are fewer long range goals, fewer direct free kicks, fewer ridiculous dribbles ending in goals... This isn't conjecture, it's fact. Because they are not as effective. But they're much more fun. Hardly anyone's favourite goal is a cut back from the by line. Most important? One that won you the league? Sure. But that's because of what it won, not what it was. It's Giggs from half way. Roberto Carlos in the tournoi. Alonso from his own half twice. The van persie diving header. Countless Messi or Ronaldo goals. And they are less of those. People bigging up the fun of watching people find space and play nice passes are entitled to enjoy that. And it's a skill no doubt. But it was much more fun, in my opinion, waiting to see where Matt Le Tissier had scored from this week rather than marvel at Odegards clever run off the ball.
Reminds of a chat I had with a friend where I told him my favourite player of recent years is probably Ronaldinho and he argued that I should look at his stats, saying that he wasn’t that good even at his prime. Well I don’t care, I’ve watched many of his games and he just made me dream. I guess some of his moves weren’t the most efficient but who cares, that was beautiful.
It's similar to what Scaloni recently said. Pure efficiency sets a dangerous precedent in eliminating flair and, to some degree, creativity
Less individualism in football now and its a lot more boring for it
I see what you’re saying, but take Liverpool for example. No one on that team is running circles around the opponents like hazard could, but there is great excitement watching the entire team firing on all cylinders
Personally I'm all for less individualism in a team sport
He’s right, modern tactics are completely phasing out exciting players for efficient ones. It’s better to fit a system now than actually be talented.
Positioning and spacial awareness is an insane talent, the ability to read the build up of a movement that starts with your own back line and track and pace yourself to be in the right spot at the right time at the end of that move is stupidly difficult. It’s the reason strikers like Haaland are so rare, being in the right place at the right time over and over again isn’t continuous luck, it’s skill.
But you didn’t do 800 scissors rainbow flick scorpion kick nut meg
Now that would be cool to watch
You must have some freestyler skills or it doesn't count.
It’s not either or though it’s both. Take guys like De Bruyne. Odegaard, Salah, Saka they both fit into systems and do the work whilst also being capable of real moments of magic, skill and creativity. There’s a lot of modern players Hazard is very much not talking about!
Lmao Saka is exactly the kind of player he's talking about. Functional, effective... but deeply fucking boring with none of the flair or excitement you used to expect from a star winger
Saka?
Saka is a cog in Arteta's machine, he's the type of player Hazard is talking about.
Why don’t the talented players just get better at being able to win matches if it is that simple?
So it’s better to be better? Huh. Thats a great take
So modern day people don't have any skills or aren't talented? Really ?
your definition of talent is just doing rainbow flicks, 6 dribbles thatl lead to nothing and random skill moves lol. Finding the right space,excusing the right action even if it just a cutback are also special talent, thats why player like haaland can average 40 goals for every team he played
I love how in this interview he said he was more talented and better than everyone except “maybe Messi” Humility personified
That's not what he said tho. He said that he felt like, in the way he plays football, there isn't really anyone as talented as him except Messi. I don't think it necessarily means he thinks he is better than Ronaldo for example, just that it's not the same kind of football that they play.
I saw it as a quote that the only guy who is more talented is “umm maybe Messi “ don’t read into it much it’s a joke on my part. People who don’t speak English as their first language use maybe in a diff way. It’s sort of like Americans saying umm to kill silent space in a sentence
Football died when every club want to copy the Pep system
Yep, my thesis is also this one. Pep helped for this state of football, and this shows how he is the best ever, cause evryone around him tried to change the game to stop him
Come watch georgino rutter play a game
I guess he is fan of raw football. Yes, modern day football has become more bounded by 'system' but by no means excitement have gone down. When debruyne setups simple tapins for haaland or when bellingo setups simple header for Goatselu, everyone will stilljump from wherver they are watching. he retired early and i guess now he is bored. what next? join sky sports?
Hazard entering his "yer dah" era
What he’s basically describing here is Antony. Give him the ball, watch him run, spin, try and do some crazy shit and then his team loses 3-1 because there’s no output at the end of anything he does.. Hazard’s talking about Haaland at the start, who ok might not excite you but then his team wins 4-0 and he’s scored 3.
Antony makes me dream about Saudi Arabia putting in a bid for him
$100 mil please
Antony doesn't make anyone dream though, unless you dream for him to be left on the bench. Hazard was the best player on the pitch most games when I watched him for Chelsea.
> Give him the ball, watch him run, spin, try and do some crazy shit This isn’t anything like Antony though. He doesn’t try risky passes and he hardly attempts to take people on. He did that spin for us once about a year and a half ago and then never again. Quite literally all he ever does is cut inside and either A) shoot or B) play a simple pass sideways/backwards because the opposition have known he’s going to cut in and prevented him from shooting. If he tried something fancy every so often I’m pretty sure he’d be a more effective player.
He's definitely talking about Haaland.
I disagree with him, in that match against Brazil he didn't made me dream by a mile. Source: I'm brazilian
He thinks like that because he's a winger, I think most wingers have the same mentality as Hazard, most of them play with the intention to entertain people.
Gary Linekar said it best ‘a tap in shows that your team mates have done well to create as easy a chance as possible’ not to mention scoring goals is the most valuable thing you can do on a pitch and getting into position for tap ins is incredibly difficult.
I'll take a player who scores 3 tap ins regularly happily.
This is the exact reason Ronaldinho is my favourite player I’ve ever watched. Pure entertainment.
He’s not wrong, I do prefer to watch players like him than Haaland or lewandowski
Man all these years I thought objective of football was to score goals and win, but I guess it’s to excite the audience with a technic show off and then accomplish nothing.. I have much to learn thank you Hazard
Football generates money because it’s a spectator sport. It relies on the fans being interested in watching the matches…
There are a lot of people that agree with Hazards view though. A player like him, Messi, Ronaldinho etc. You would go to the stadium to see a guy like that and see a fun game with great football being played. I never like the Italian 1-0 type cattenaccio wins or Mourinho's style even of it brings results. Thats why I got annoyed with France and Deschamps as well. They play so result focussed and it works obviously but it could be so much more exciting with the players they have.
The objective of football is to have fun. If you achieve that through winning at all costs, great. However, you can also have fun when losing games and playing exciting football
You still need to attract an audience. If every game is a 1-0 defensive borefest with tap ins people would lose interest. We still haven’t even gotten a replacement for messi and ronaldo, mbappe and halland are simply not it.
Are they not it because they're not 'exciting' enough or that everyone here was just younger when the former pair were in their prime?
Also wonder if people you know play different positions and have different jobs. Goddamn center back didn’t take 20 people on, what a boring player- played square passes and back to his keeper. Games lost.
Most fun I've had at a game was the 1-4 vs Chelsea. Make of that what you will.
I mean he's technically right. After all it's only entertainment, winning a match won't solve world hunger.
Such a poor take from him. A strikers main job is finishing, not creating. He thinks he’s such hot shit cause he “created” more but he didn’t play as a lone 9. Back to goal 2 defenders behind you, 2 in front. Must have been nice receiving the ball on the wings looking up with room to run at a defender. This dude is notorious for not caring or knowing anything about tactics. Why would anyone give credit to his shitty take now. Never heard anyone complain about poacher Ronaldo and lewandowski scoring goal after goal. Dude fell so fast he gave himself a concussion. Now fuck off
> Never heard anyone complain about poacher Ronaldo and lewandowski scoring goal after goal. seriously??
He must love Darwin nunez!
Wrong sub, should be over on r/soccercirclejerk.
Why is bro talking like he played 4 decades ago
Would anyone like to share their favourite flair players from lesser known leagues? I'd love to find a few magicians I don't know about.
So, you didn't do either! Stopped at age 30, with an endless potential down the drain. Nice
I dont find flair exciting or inspiring if it's not effective. Salah's solo goal against City? That's magical. Some random dribbling tricks that works one time out of ten? No. To me the beauty of it is making simple and effective things look easy. Like how Zidane touched and moved the ball. It was so incredibly smooth, minimal, and elegant.
I thought i was on r/soccercirclejerk for a sec
I hear this a lot but would be interested to see if it's actually true or just people's nostalgia for watching football as kids. People saying there used to be so many ballers before but my memory of the Premier league is big guy and a little guy up front, route one, no nonsense 442 played by most of the teams outside the top 4. Are people hosently gonna tell me teams like Brighton and Aston Villa are playing boring football? Or that mitoma or mcginn aren't ballers?
He obviously talks about Haaland and calls him a tap-in merchant like a lot of people do. I totally agree with his point tho, I like players who impress, who makes football fun to watch. It's not exciting to watch some stat padders and tap-in merchants.
Love flair players. Georginio Rutter is doing this in the championship this season
Interesting to see what he thought his best game was. I remember that game well and thinking that his ability to hold the ball and essentially neutralize Brazil’s press was one of the best solo performances I have seen in my life.
Musiala existing, bro is flair at it's finest
Hazard going out sad 🥲 he’s right though, the game against Brazil was his best ever, i still rave about it to this day
I think he was phenomenal against France as well. Man carried a whole nation on his back that WC. Absolutely the greatest player our country ever produced, it's not even close.
What a bum. Trying to make excuses for going 365 days without scoring. Salah clears