by Cocacolajojo1 » Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:48 am
I think the quality of the pitch is something that needs to be considered as well. The likes of today's Barca or Bayern wouldn't have been able to play their fast paced, along the ground, passing thirty years ago. The amount of money poured into the game has also led to better pitches and for example over here in Sweden, most pitches nowadays are made of articial grass. It will be easier for people to get away with their dribbles and through balls than before. When Perez took over RM again his first aquisition was the pitch gardener (or whatever they're called) from Arsenal, who had recieved numerous awards for best pitch and so on.
With pitches of high quality, setting your team up for an offensive approach with less emphasis on defense is less risky than when the surface is all bumpy and sandy. There will, for example, be less cases of your attacks getting thwarted, followed by a risky counter attack, because of a pass going astray after hitting a bumpy patch on the pitch. Of course the arguments put forward above with the relative attractiveness of attacking football compared to defensive football, the changing rules of the game and the Barca copying are true as well. But I do think the increasing quality of pitches has to be put up there as a long term development that has spelled the decline for the defensive aspect of the game.
"I used to be 6 foot 2 with curly hair, look what it's done to me"
"In my career so far it's the most important goal. You score the goal in the last minute to win the title. You're not sure if that's ever going to happen in your career again. I wish I could tell you how I did it but I can't. I thought for all the world that Mario was going to have a go himself but he just moved it on one more and it fell at my feet and I just thought: 'Hit the target, hit it as hard as you can and hit the target.' And it went in."
