Standing on the Edge of the Future

As Premier League clubs limp through the Champions League knockout stages, attention returns to their playing styles. Specifically, Arsenal and City receive blame for playing a “boring” style of football, leading fans to dream of a different era.

As the hype around the “Barclays man” last year showed, the game’s natural evolution comes into conflict with what football fans grew up with.

Perhaps the impact of social media and the ability to view highlights of any player created a stronger era of nostalgia. For as strong as that feeling continues to be, the game marches on. 

While Pep became the face of the backlash of modern football, his career mirrors how much the game has changed since his stint at Barcelona. The obsession with efficiency crept into the game in ways never seen before. As Pep changed his system at every subsequent club, he only reacted to the growing trends, so as not to be a victim of them.

As systems and tactics change, so do players’ roles, sometimes league by league. Much has been made over the creative winger disappearing from the Prem, but that position still lives. The issue for Prem fans lies in how the league has become the harbinger of the issues football grapples with.

At one point, the Premier League stood as the envy of the continent for the quality of the football played.

The balance shifting back towards other leagues reflects the natural cycles in sports, not the end of football.

Since ushering in an era of City dominance, Pep became the sin eater of modern football. Every new managerial trend that irks fans falls on the feet of Pep.

Despite Jose Mourinho’s previous greatness, no other manager’s influence on modern football impacts it quite like the Spaniard’s. No matter the stint, imitators came, but never saw the success. The wave of imitators left fans tired of the same style being played across Europe.

The technical demands of his systems at both Barça and Bayern meant that other managers needed more to keep up with the Spaniard. After all, Iniesta and Xavi can’t be plucked from trees. However, his City represented a new form of football that slowly reached its nadir this season.

Since winning the Champions League, most associate the manager with this efficient, defensive football that rarely takes risks. Quite the contrast for a manager who made his name off one of the most exciting teams the sport has ever seen.

Arsenal’s newfound dominance stems from a new mindset that football is seeing. One that hyper focuses on statistical advantages, creating sides that exploit the actions that yield the best chances. Corners become the primary threats, as they statistically prove to be the best chances to score.

For all the hate pointed at the Gunners, their advantage comes from recognizing the exploitation in the system. While it clearly differs stylistically from tiki-taka, this cautious approach is just a reinvention of the sport. Every manager and side attempts to find the next innovation that will unlock the formula to dominate.

Winning tactics changed over time; at one point, the ultra-defensive catenaccio Italian style ruled Europe, but bored audiences.

Over time, this system became obsolete, as will Arteta’s tactics; nothing lasts forever in this sport.

No matter the form of nostalgia, the very emotion comes from a world that is changing. Unable to recognize the state of the sport, we retreat to an era that feels more comfortable. 

Credit: Manchester City-Facebook

Every time discourse around the state of the sport returns to the product on the field, highlights from previous eras quickly follow. Fans spent the latter half of the week posting videos of the wingers who tore the Prem. Many feel that the Prem’s golden era died out the moment that these wingers left the sport.

In a way, as football enters this new era, one hyper-focused on efficiency, the chaos and unpredictability of the sport continues to disappear. Every aspect of the sport that fans fell in love with feels so foreign. 

Being nostalgic in this manner risks losing the forest for the trees. Yes, the game looks completely different now than it did a decade ago, but that’s true of any era. We all gravitate towards feelings that remind us of our fondest moments.

However, what feels different about what we’re living through is this sensation of ripping the copper out of the house. From new TV deals to insane training regimens, everything needs to be optimized. Everything must be micromanaged so that the tiniest opportunity can be exploited. 

Again, optimization dates back to the sport’s start, but there’s a death drive aspect to the current era. The final merger of player, sport, and business seems almost complete. Leaving no room for the beauty of the sport to break through.

Yearning for a time when football seemed simpler is natural, especially as the sport transforms into something so alien.

These feelings are not new, however, as every generation goes through this soul searching.

As the Prem continues to dominate financially, their failure to fully separate from the rest of Europe raises questions about the league’s true strength. As the league tries to create a style that emphasizes efficiency above all else, those efforts bleed into everything surrounding the sport.

The tension between the need for efficiency and the beauty of the sport’s randomness leads to a disconnect with fans.