VAR

Football was once a game of skill, passion and raw emotion. This has now
kicked into a new era, but the beloved game’s rapid evolution may not always
be for the better. As technological advancements and commercialisation takes
the field, the sport’s soul is being sold for profit over passion. From the
introduction of VAR to the rise of corporate sponsors, football is changing and
losing its special touch.

The game we see now is to dull and monotonous and has a lack of personality.
Football, when it was at its best, was about watching your favourite player
showboating, doing skills and dribbling through the defence to score a beautiful
goal. Now its all about optimisation, playing how the coach wants you to play
and if not you get subbed off. It's all about scoring a goal and bulking up your
defence, shutting down any sort of interesting play. At the highest level of
football today, in the Premier League, there is little to no individuality despite
the numerous teams trying to win the game. It’ all about getting more money
and buying robotic players who can pass around for 90 minutes. Rather than
showing off their skills, footballers are now built to show off their looks and are
made to put on makeup and oil themselves up to advertise for big brands, but
when you look back at some of the players from the past like Zidane, Pirlo, Xavi
and Rooney, we must wonder: how did football turn out this way?

One of the most significant changes to football in recent years is the virtual
assistant referee, known as VAR. In theory, this was meant to create fairness in
games by VAR accurately spotting key moments like goals, offsides, penalties
shots and red card incidents. But it has not lived up to the hype. Instead, many
fans argue that is has significantly impacted the pace and excitement of the
game. Previously, when the goal was scored, if the referee hadn't made an on
field decision of any fouls being made , it was counted as a goal, with only
extreme exceptions to this. This left fans in no doubt that the goal was valid,
but now fans have to wait for VAR to clear their goal as legal before any
celebrations can be made. Even after the goal is cleared there have been cases
where VAR was incorrect and the decision has to be reversed, ruining the
atmosphere of the game and demotivating the players and the fans. Any
premature celebrations are mocked when VAR determines that the goal or key
moment should've been disallowed. This leads to an unwanted period of
suspense as the goal has already been scored, the play has already been
made, and the adrenaline has passed. Football, as a sport, is supposed to be
random and spontaneous, but now, due to the constant interruptions from VAR,
it dilutes the game’s intensity in the name of fairness, which is a big mistake
for the sport. Of course, fouls should be punished, but referees already
previously made on-field decisions and there was no reason to change things.

Another factor that is contributing to the decline of football is the increasing

complexity of strategies being used by the top teams. Previously, football was

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very much focused on an individual skill and brilliance, with players able to
show a great deal of personality on the pitch, the focus on creating solo
chances with flair. Today, however, it is different due to strategies building
more on defence. Managers are more focused on things like structured
formations, possession play, passing from the back, passing back to the keeper
and employing position advantages to always be available to teammates with
the ball. While this is the optimal way to play the game, it is also much blander
and lacking originality, making it less entertaining for the fans. Furthermore, it
doesn't allow players to express their personality and history of where they
came from and does not allow players to express their originality and creativity.
For instance, players from Brazil are known to be more technical and flashy
with their dribbling and passing, while Spanish players are known for their
passing and composure with the ball. These different play-styles is why fans go
to these games, but with the creations of formations like 4-2-3-1 or the 4-4-2
and finally the 4-3-3, these formations are much more centred on a solid
defence making it much more difficult for opponents to take break through with
most of their plays being shut down by being overwhelmed, as more defensive
formations are more rigid and harder to beat, rather than using a full offensive
team that would open up the defence in return for a beautiful and more
success full offensive plays. This allows the opposition to score more, which
creates a large amount of intensity, and makes these games more action
packed. But now managers have taken over the teams, overthinking the plays
and they are not allowing their players to move freely with the ball, making
them stick to the most optimal setup and passing strategies, without letting
them do what they do best, which is entertain.

Time-wasting, something football shouldn’t be proud of, is an ongoing problem

in today’s game, with often seen tactics like prolonged free kicks, fake injures,
or other deliberate delays. This severely hurts the integrity and appeal of the
sport while allowing for teams to maintain the lead in the game. In practice, it
disrupts the flow and makes it a boring game for the fans to watch. As this goes
on supporters become frustrated, not only with the game time being wasted
but also their own time, making it an unenjoyable experience for everyone. The
normalisation of time wasting makes for a poor spirit of fair play between
teams, which is one of the core themes of football. This issue has become so
problematic that organisations like UEFA and FIFA have thought about
employing things like a stop clock or adding time on for injuries, overall if time-
wasting isn’t checked, it may cause a massive decline of viewership in football

CONCLUSION???

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Bibliography??
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