Today vs yesterday

[SwedishBaggie]

Read an article in The Guardian today by Jonathan Liew, about the City-Pool game, where the following was written:

”The game is fitter and faster, and more complex and refined than it has ever been. The Norwich City of 2022 would wipe the floor with Manchester United’s class of 1992”

Opinions?

I think I know what to expect… 😇😎

[mickd1961]

Absolute bo l l o c k s.

The Albion team of 78 would murder the present Norwich City side.

Watch the old videos closely, the players were just as fast in those days and far more skilful, they had to be as the pitches were so bad.

They do talk modern day rubbish.

[viaductbaggies]

Was there any football before the premier league was invented in 92 ?
The way some people go on I think they’ve never been to a game in the good old days

[Dubbag]

I think the modern teams would wipe the floor with the older teams alright but for different reasons then suggested.
I think many of the tackles made by the older teams would have the team down to less then 7 players very quickly....

The contact for me is the big change in football not the off side or any of that shyte......but just the lack of physical challenges in the game.
The mentality of players from years a go was harder and stronger then today.....no underground heating either......
But who would wipe the floor with who....well the question should be termed under which set of football rules are you playing by??????

[wbaliquidator]

Fitter yes, forwards more athletic
Skill, not for me dont see it myself
Todays players are more mechanical than skillful - in my opinion.
But the laws of gravity are the same and humans are much the same for tens of thousands of years

The world record for 100m is measured in 100th of a secondand and its taken decades to shave off a second or so.

Could name dozens of really fast wingers Late 60's - 90's with great control AND produce a decent cross at the end of it
In recent years the best i've seen was Roben the dutch fella when Chelsea came

[baggiematt]

I don't think players are better now than they were in different eras. There is no one now with anywhere near the class that Zola, Bergkamp, Di Canio etc. had. However, tactics have evolved to make higher pressing the more dominant system, particularly in top sides. That calls for different types of players than the previous eras.

I know there were workhorses in different eras, but it was common for each side to have at least 1-2 'luxury players'. There was the poacher who didn't chase down defenders or the playmaker who just wanted to be in space and not close down...those are the players that are redundant in elite football now....heck even most premier sides. Every player has to put a shift in and not just running around, it's high intensity sprints as often as required.

Centre halves also aren't what they used to be. If you play a higher line, the centre half needs pace and to be able to play nearly as good as a centre mid. Would Tony Adams feature in a modern elite team? No chance but he was a quality defender.

[baggiematt]

Roben the dutch fella when Chelsea came

For me, Robben is the best I've seen at the Hawthorns. We got mullered one year by Chelsea (5/6-0) and he was incredible. No one new what to do with him.

[SwedishBaggie]

I don't think players are better now than they were in different eras. There is no one now with anywhere near the class that Zola, Bergkamp, Di Canio etc. had. However, tactics have evolved to make higher pressing the more dominant system, particularly in top sides. That calls for different types of players than the previous eras.

I know there were workhorses in different eras, but it was common for each side to have at least 1-2 'luxury players'. There was the poacher who didn't chase down defenders or the playmaker who just wanted to be in space and not close down...those are the players that are redundant in elite football now....heck even most premier sides. Every player has to put a shift in and not just running around, it's high intensity sprints as often as required.

Centre halves also aren't what they used to be. If you play a higher line, the centre half needs pace and to be able to play nearly as good as a centre mid. Would Tony Adams feature in a modern elite team? No chance but he was a quality defender.

Pretty much my views too.

[Omegstrat6]

Have asked myself similar question many times before, but every time I watch clips on you tube of old matches I feel the same way. I don't doubt that today's players are generally far more technically fitter now but that certainly doesn't make them more skillfull and players of yesteryear were also much tougher because of both the kind of pitches they played on and the more physical nature of the game then. Wonder how many of today's obscenely paid lot would perform on either a rock hard, frozen pitch or a mudbath, let alone against players such as Norman Hunter, Gordon McQueen, Stuart Pierce, Tommy Smith etc.!

I'd put our classic 78 team to win against the vast majority of the current premiership ones-certainly Norwich!

Pace in itself is not the only thing either and my dad has memories of watching Stanley Mathews playing late in his career when he was in his 40s and still beating defenders with his skill on the ball.

I guess it's a bit of a daft question really, asking whether modern footballers are " better" than ones of yesterday. I mean, would you ask whether modern musicians or actors were better than older ones? More a question of differences and the culture/constraints of the time. A quick look at any of the clips on YouTube of players like George Best, Pele, Cruyff, Garrincha, Maradona etc soon shows that the skills of players like Ronaldo or Messi are far from unprecedented.

[mickd1961]

My old man explained to me early in my football education that with the quality players the pace is not that important, they gain five yards due to what’s between their ears.

I wasn’t lucky enough to see Bobby Hope play but I saw Giles at Leeds matches with my dad and at Albion, he had no pace yet the opposition couldn’t do a thing about him.

I’d have loved to see Gary Neville or Carragher or Kyle Walker trying to deal with Willie!