The Ball.

The Southampton manager complained of how light the FA cup ball is. Why are there different balls, oh, its about money. I much lament the passing of the leather ball, since plastic came in, its been pretty awful.

Having said that if its true that a leather ball causes brain damage, then it cant be helped. You could make a leather ball talk, we had leather balls growing up playing on the park as well as at school.
The flight is slower, the ball responds if you put spin on it, top, or side, not so much plastic, if at all.

Plastic balls came in when i retired from football, the flight is flatter, a leather ball gets up and down quicker. That makes a big difference with crossing.

The bounce is a joke with plastic, when it bounces from a height, you can light a fag waiting for it to come down. Its so light, a keeper has to feather a kick so he doesnt belt it over the opposing bar.

The unpredictable flight, and the remarkable speed at which it flies makes the modern ball nothing more than a toy. The modern ball diminishes the players who can pass, skilled passing is rare. Having said that, passing IQ is low. The inductive pass doesnt exist, risk is verboten, possession is king.

If you watch running off the ball when a team is in possession, its very poor. Good passing requires a runner. Is running off the ball any part of training.? Its got to be no. Shanklys Liverpool knew how to rip teams apart with running off the ball.

This is modern football, a toy ball, and a collective footballing IQ of 45.