Football is the most exciting sport in the world and the reason why hundreds of thousands of people will leave their homes this month to go and sit in the January cold.
People travel all over the country following their teams and to watch the best players. They pay good money to see some entertainment (and hopefully a win for their team).
But over the past 12 months the defensive nature of many teams is becoming all too apparent. Ask football fans all over the world who the best player in the world is and the common answers you will get back is Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta or Xavi.
I’d put a lot of money on no one saying Ricardo Carvalho or indeed any other defensive player.
Yet it seems nowadays it’s more important not to lose rather than to win.
Scotland manager Craig Levein’s decision to deploy the 4-6-0 formation is the clearest sign yet of just how negative football is becoming.
Levein is a fine example of the increasingly negative nature of football, as his decision to adopt such a formation was not in a game against the attacking threat of Brazil or World Champions Spain, but against the Czech Republic.
No longer a force in international football, the Czechs are now ranked 30th in the world and did not even qualify for last year’s World Cup.
The days of Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborsky are long gone, so the need for the most defensive formation ever seen is ridiculous.
However, the Scots are not the only culprits.
The World Cup in South Africa is widely regarded as one of the most boring tournaments of the modern era. Switzerland’s one-nil win over Spain in their first group game despite barely getting out of their own half and having nine men behind the ball on a consistent basis is a perfect example of just why the tournament was so forgettable.
Indeed Spain were on the receiving end (quite literally) once again in the final against the Netherlands in which a record number of cards were shown by referee Howard Webb.
I understand why, against teams with the attacking threat of Spain that opposing teams must do all they can to try and cancel out their opponents, but in the last year or so the quality of many matches has notably deteriorated.
Inter Milan’s route to Champions League glory last season was very much based on the defensive quality of Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Walter Samuel and Javier Zanetti.
To say they did not deserve to win the competition would be unfair, but in reaching the final they scrapped past Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate despite losing 1-0 in the Nou Camp in a game where they actually had no attempts on goal.
Yes zero shots on goal.
The 4-5-1 formation which more and more managers are now using can be hugely effective, as is shown by Manchester United’s one-nil win over Arsenal a couple of weeks ago.
But it is not so much the formations that bother me, it is when a team shows no desire to attack and actually try and win the game.
This season’s Manchester derby was a dull affair (somewhat predictably after all the hype surrounding the game) as there was a huge emphasis on not losing the game. Roberto Mancini’s side were fully focused on simply on doing just that, which was highlighted by the reluctance of their midfield players to get forward and support the isolated Carlos Tevez.
City were more concerned with keeping at least seven players behind the half way line.
As the home side and a team looking to challenge for the Premier League, this was just yet another sign that football is changing. And not for the better.
I just wish I could watch El Classico every week.
Images from the Guardian Sport Website
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