What's the standard of football like in League 2 now, compared to.............

[BillyStubbsTears]

You can say without a shadow of a doubt that the sides who contested last years WC final would absolutely obliterate the finalists from 1962. That's not even a matter for debate. It would be 20-0, minimum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8zASj4IE3E

With that as a baseline, halve the timespan and watch the video of the 1990 Argentina vs W Germany final. The standard had improved beyond recognition, but the pace and general quality of passing, control and shooting, and the space afforded to players in midfield are very much not up to the modern game. Again, I cannot envisage any scenario where either of those sides would have remotely troubled the WC finalists from last year. Messi and Mbappe would have murdered a side giving them that much room in and around the box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ZiZYZZ34Q

Our memory plays tricks on us. We remember being exhilarated years ago, but we didn't appreciate at the time that standards and expectations would rise so high over subsequent years. So, because we had moments where we saw sides play brilliantly by the standards of the time, we remember that as absolute brilliance, not the relative brilliance it actually is.

[Padge_DRFC]

Watching that Mansfield clip, it struck me just how much time Blundell had on the ball for the two goals as well, especially the first one. Not sure if the defender (no. 5) was knackered, couldn't be arsed or just couldn't run, but it's actually quite funny watching how little attempt there is to prevent Gregg from scoring the goal. I think it's the same defender waving a half-arsed leg at the 2nd finish too. I must've watched those goals 50 times over the years and it's something I've only just noticed.

Miller had longer in the 90th minute than that v Mansfield then fell over instead of shooting

[Reg of the Rovers]

I think you're all forgetting that there is definitive proof to resolve this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc2To-pKMSg

[drfchound]

I think you're all forgetting that there is definitive proof to resolve this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc2To-pKMSg

Not seen that before Reg.
Really funny.

[mrfrostsdad]

Well, sorry to stir the hornets nest, but after watching us again today (and that was one of the better matches I've seen this season) I still wouldn't have any of that lot in the team that won the League 20 years ago.
Yes, the game has changed, and probably players are fitter now, but surely they would adapt to current 'trends?'
It's not just that I think our promotion winning team was better, this is just so ******* boring. What in Gods name do the coaches actually learn these days to get their badges?

[DonnyOsmond]

Well, sorry to stir the hornets nest, but after watching us again today (and that was one of the better matches I've seen this season) I still wouldn't have any of that lot in the team that won the League 20 years ago.
Yes, the game has changed, and probably players are fitter now, but surely they would adapt to current 'trends?'
It's not just that I think our promotion winning team was better, this is just so ******* boring. What in Gods name do the coaches actually learn these days to get their badges?

The point isn't that they won't be able to adapt to the level or fitness eventually, it's that on both of their days, this current team despite being very average at this level would beat our team from 20 years ago which was a top team at that point in time.

[Cramby10]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

[i_ateallthepies]

Absolutely bang-on, Cramby.

[Campsall rover]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

Last seasons team was worse. That was by far and away the worst team since 97/98
That team would have struggled to finish out of the bottom 3 in league 2 never mind league 1
The only reason we almost stayed up was that quite remarkably there were 6 teams last season that were garbage. 6 teams who only got 42 points or less.
9 out of 10 seasons we would have finished bottom last season.

[Cramby10]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

Last seasons team was worse. That was by far and away the worst team since 97/98
That team would have struggled to finish out of the bottom 3 in league 2 never mind league 1
The only reason we almost stayed up was that quite remarkably there were 6 teams last season that were garbage. 6 teams who only got 42 points or less.
9 out of 10 seasons we would have finished bottom last season.

sorry you’re right. I kinda lumped em all together as there’s many of the same faces.

[DonnyOsmond]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

It's a debate because you're not understanding what's being said. The relative standard of football as a whole is higher than it was back then, this isn't an opinion, it's a fact. A random Premier League team, like Fulham nowadays would probably do well against the Man Utds from those days or the Arsenal invincible team, because they'll be faster stronger, etc.

Your debate is just how this team has been doing against current teams at our level, we all know we're a bit crap right now.

[BillyStubbsTears]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

We have the worst side relative to the standard of the day. Well, apart from last year anyway, I don't question that.
The point is that the standards of today are unrecognisable from the standards of 20 years ago. As I keep saying, go watch that Mansfield video.

[Lesonthewest]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

Totally agree, that team would wipe the floor with the current one in my opinion.

[mrfrostsdad]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

Totally agree, that team would wipe the floor with the current one in my opinion.

Yep, totally agree with you both. This lot are shocking, but we still have an outside chance of getting in the play offs ( as I said at the start of the thread) To me that is enough evidence to show that League 2 football is garbage compared to 20 years ago.
I note the comment about the Premier League, this is not a comparison of the Premier League 20 years ago, it's a comparison of League 2 football.
This is the worse football I've ever seen at this level (all the teams with a couple of exceptions) it's total dross

[Michael Shaw]

The current team are shocking and the results are there for all to see. No contest. Give me Fergie's squad any day.

[drfchound]

The current team are shocking and the results are there for all to see. No contest. Give me Fergie's squad any day.

I can’t see us being able to put together a squad as good as that one any time soon.

[Cramby10]

You’re wrong. So very very wrong. You can be as fit as you damn well like, which is doubtful in my eyes anyway, but when you can’t score in a brothel and can’t keep a clean sheet very often and half your team are weaklings then there’s only one outcome. And there’s one glaring omission yet to be mentioned. The Penny side had balls the size of watermelons, this current shower are gutless wonders.
I’m still flabbergasted that this is even a debate. We have the worst league side since relegation to the conference on our hands.

It's a debate because you're not understanding what's being said. The relative standard of football as a whole is higher than it was back then, this isn't an opinion, it's a fact. A random Premier League team, like Fulham nowadays would probably do well against the Man Utds from those days or the Arsenal invincible team, because they'll be faster stronger, etc.

Your debate is just how this team has been doing against current teams at our level, we all know we're a bit crap right now.

I understand fully what you are saying and I still disagree wholeheartedly. It’s not a fact at all. It’s your opinion. Everything looks neater because they’re playing on better pitches but that’s about it. You could argue that Pennys lot were better because they could perform on such heavy pitches that are draining on the body. And you cannot tell me with a straight face that our lot at the moment are faster and stronger than the Penny players. We have amongst the slowest and weakest (physically) squad we’ve had for an age.
Put the players up against each other man for man in their relative positions and you wouldn’t touch hardly any of our current crop. Putting a ball into a net doesn’t change over time and I’d have Greg, Browny or Mcindoe to slot it home over any of our forward thinking players. Heading and tackling or passing doesn’t change either but you get my drift. The only thing that has changed is that the tactics have slowly disappeared up their own arse and over complicated a game which is in essence very simple.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Have any of you watched that Mansfield video?

If the standard of football hasn't improved, why does no team encourage defenders to launch the ball 100 foot up in the air over their shoulder these days?

[i_ateallthepies]

That is only the tactics/playing strategy you're talking about, there is far more to the standard of football than just that.  One factor not so far mentioned is that the relative wealth of the clubs at the top of the pyramid has increased massively and allows them now to hold far larger squads of players.  The top clubs could probably all field a reserve team that could compete  in the Championship and similarly Championship clubs have a reserve team that could compete at Lg1/2.
The quality players are sucked up into the higher tiers, leaving the dregs to the lower tiers.

Rovers' current team would get steamrollered by Penney's team if they tried to play with Schofields tactics.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Have any of you watched that Mansfield video?

So I guess that's a "no" then?

In the first 3 minutes of the video (which includes 30 seconds of no action after a goal, there are FIVE instances of defenders housing the ball aimlessly down the park, one of the worst up and under crosses you'll ever see, Leo going to head a long punt and running under it by ten yards in a way reminiscent of something Cukur did last season and got rightly crucified for, and absolute Keystone Kops defending for our goal.

Those two sides were battling it out at the top of the league. If they gave the ball away like that today, they'd not see it again for 15 minutes.

Regarding the concentration of talent at the higher levels, I see it 180 degrees differently.

The top clubs now dominate world markets for players in a way they never did in previous generations. The consequence is not that they dominate home grown talent. Quite the opposite. There is a much smaller market at the top for the best British players, so they get pushed further down the levels.

[Cramby10]

That aimed at me? Ye I’ve seen it. Was there on the day also. Not pretty I agree. It’s one game in isolation. How many times have this lot been shite this season? Too many to mention. Ironically it’s the teams that lump it are precisely the ones we struggle against. I’m sure we’ve conceded from a long punt down the middle on a number of occasions this season. Not that penny’s lot played like that often.
But there’s simply nothing you can possibly say that will convince me that todays rovers frauds would turn over Penny’s red arrows. Nothing at all. We can’t even turn over Kings Lynn.
We agree to differ.

[i_ateallthepies]

The top clubs were dominating world markets for players 20 years ago too.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Cramby.

"Lumping it" these days means playing long but generally well directed balls. You simply never, ever these days see defenders hoofing the ball over their shoulders when not under the most extreme pressure. There's three examples of that in 3 mins on that video, plus another two examples of players facing forwards and hoofing the ball into orbit when not under particular pressure.

Those defences would not have a clue what to do against a modern high pressing game. They'd be absolutely overwhelmed.

[Cramby10]

Again. We agree to differ. We’ll never know.

[BillyStubbsTears]

We do know actually. Because if a style that involved randomly hoofing the ball aimlessly out of defence every 40 seconds was remotely competitive against modem tactics, some manager would utilise it. The fact that none does is your answer.

[Cramby10]

Go have a lie down lad.

[mrfrostsdad]

Has everyone changed their mind tonight?
Or is there still someone out there deluded enough to think a single one of this shower of absolute shit would get in our promotion winning side?