Having watched match of the day I noticed that teams have become extremely well organised. West brom were at home against City yet their organisation was perfect from start to finish. I recently read an article in 442 that said that defending has become so organised for certain teams that it takes a sublime piece of skill to draw defenders out of position to score.Is this the case ?.
There are still plenty of goals in football, in fact probably more than ever before. Until goals dry up, defending isn't too good.
I think the fact that teams are still being beaten 8-2, 5-0, 4-3 - even in the Premier League - suggests that defending has, in contrast, become harder in some circumstances. So no, defending hasn't become "to good".
There was a time, back in the 70's, IIRC, where it seemed as if all there was going to be was a few 1-0's, each Saturday at 5pm, amidst an ocean of 0-0's. I may not be 100% sure of the exact era, but I know I quite went off football for a few seasons. Defending was certainly at a pinnacle, at that point. Ah, I remember. In response to defence minded football, they changed the points system from 2 for a win to 3 in order to get teams to be more attack minded. It took a little time, but it worked.
I always appreciate it when teams are set up very well defensively. There are still a lot of goals being scored and for a team like West Brom to grind out a 0-0 against Man City for me is good for the game, I don't want to see Man City thumping teams every time. West Brom were the first team Man City haven't scored against in the league for a very very very long time. You should give credit to them and Roy Hodgson. Teams try to park the bus against us and it very rarely works. There is a lot more to it than simply 4-5-1, 4-6-0, 5-5-0 formations and getting all 10 outfield players behind the ball and just booting the ball back or trying to counter with 2-3 players. You have to actually know what you're doing as you invite a lot of pressure, you also need a lot of stamina and fitness if you intend to score on the counter, you have to threaten on the counter or the other team will be able to throw everyone forward which is why it's very hard to do as if you just keep booting the ball back eventually you are going to concede barring a miracle
Hodgeson is an organisational genius and made fulham probably one of the most well organised well drilled teams in europe.
As the last World Cup showed, defending has probably just become more of a priority. Unless the two teams are quite evenly matched, it's likely one will be going for a draw and trying to pack the midfield to kill the game. Even some of the better teams, such as Italy and Brazil, made defense a priority and it made for rather boring viewing. I don't think the skill of defending has become better, I just think that defensive tactics have become more commonplace.
