Is the Premier League Boring? by Gary Smale
There has been a lot of talk in recent months that the Premier League this season is becoming something of a borefest-although I can imagine fans of Arsenal, Sunderland and possibly Leeds will likely dispute this. Currently the Gunners sit on a relatively healthy seven point lead at the summit (albeit Man City have a game in hand and are scheduled to play the leaders at the Etihad stadium in April)
Sunderland and Leeds have bucked the trend of recently promoted clubs by acquitting themselves well , the Mackems in particular sitting very comfortably in midtable.
So, why boring then? The critics regularly point to heavy dependence on set piece goals by the leaders as one reason, they have even referred to as Set Piece FC by their detractors. It could be argued that it involves a great deal of skill to cross a ball so accurately on to the head of an attacker. The purists however argue that the great champions of the past were more aesthetically pleasing when scoring goals, a mazy dribble or an intricate passing move to open up the defence. It is unlikely that any fans of Arsenal will be complaining about how they won it if they manage to life the glistening trophy in May.
Another gripe of pundits is the regular use of long throw ins to score. Many fans remember Rory Delap in his Stoke days hurling the ball deep into the opponents box. This tactic was largely derided and mocked as it was mainly used by teams with the less skilfull players as a way to even up a game. It is now used by a number of teams in the Premier League who see it as a useful weapon in their armoury. Critics are concerned with the length of time needed to take the throw in, regular use of towels to dry the ball, getting players into position is affecting the flow of the game. FIFA is now looking to put a time limilt of 5 seconds to take a throw in for next season which is likely to curtail this tactic.
Talking of time in the game, many Premier League games are only seeing the ball in actual play for 55-60 minutes of the allocated 90 minutes. Many fans are feeling short changed by this and are putting pressure on officials to look for solutions to see more actual action. After all, fans are paying higher and higher prices to attend games and have the right to expect value for money.
Then of course there is VAR. There does not seem to be a Premier League match that is not involved in some kind of controversy. Each week, fans are pundits are perplexed by how certain decisions are given in matches , more and more incidents are subjective and not ‘clear and obvious’ which was the reason for bringing it in. This is leading to some fans deciding to abandon the game as its something they no longer recognise. This is a worry for the clubs as it will ultimately affect their bottom line which seems to be the most important thing for the League.
The Premier League is the most profitable and most watched League in the world but alarm bells should be ringing as the disquiet is becoming louder. If fans decide they have lost interest in watching then major problems will ensue.
