Is football getting moire defensive?

Seven World Cup Play Off matches have produced seven goals so far with five of them coming in one match. There hasn't been a goal scored yet in the first three second leg matches and the last of the first leg games also finished 0-0. Maybe I'm imagining it, but there seems to be more 0-0s about in domestic football as well which would suggest that sides are going out with a more defensive mindset. However, until Switzerland decided to hold on to their lead for the last half an hour in their second leg, it seemed to me that both they and Northern Ireland were trying to play on the front foot, but, the finishing, particularly from the home side, was woeful, so there might be an argument (which I would agree with to an extent) which says that, if there are less goals being scored, it's more to do with a decline in the quality of finishing than more defensive attitudes.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Seven World Cup Play Off matches have produced seven goals so far with five of them coming in one match. There hasn't been a goal scored yet in the first three second leg matches and the last of the first leg games also finished 0-0. Maybe I'm imagining it, but there seems to be more 0-0s about in domestic football as well which would suggest that sides are going out with a more defensive mindset. However, until Switzerland decided to hold on to their lead for the last half an hour in their second leg, it seemed to me that both they and Northern Ireland were trying to play on the front foot, but, the finishing, particularly from the home side, was woeful, so there might be an argument (which I would agree with to an extent) which says that, if there are less goals being scored, it's more to do with a decline in the quality of finishing than more defensive attitudes.

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What we are seeing in international football, is a fairer distribution of knowledge. We see even the smallest of countries now adopting tactical knowledge being passed on through-out the world. The simplest rule of football is that if you haven't got the natural talent available to you then you set-up to be difficult to beat.

When you combine that knowledge with a set off games that the winner will then qualify for the biggest tournament in world football, you will see a series of games, with safety first football being player. By the very essence these are not the top team in the world, they are all teams that finished second in their groups. Neither of these teams then want to make the mistake that leads to their country missing out.

In English football we have seen a trend where goals have dropped per game from the 1950s, however this plateaued in around 1975. and we see around 2.6 goals per game on average in the top flight of English football

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Seven World Cup Play Off matches have produced seven goals so far with five of them coming in one match. There hasn't been a goal scored yet in the first three second leg matches and the last of the first leg games also finished 0-0. Maybe I'm imagining it, but there seems to be more 0-0s about in domestic football as well which would suggest that sides are going out with a more defensive mindset. However, until Switzerland decided to hold on to their lead for the last half an hour in their second leg, it seemed to me that both they and Northern Ireland were trying to play on the front foot, but, the finishing, particularly from the home side, was woeful, so there might be an argument (which I would agree with to an extent) which says that, if there are less goals being scored, it's more to do with a decline in the quality of finishing than more defensive attitudes.

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Failure in football is an increasingly more expensive mistake. The cost of losing results in teams being more defensive.

Since the first game of the play offs (Croatia 4-1 Greece) there have been just been 2 goals in 6 games.
None of those games were particularly watchable either.

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Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee

Failure in football is an increasingly more expensive mistake. The cost of losing results in teams being more defensive.

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This.

Especially in the premier league where a few teams are fighting for the champions league and the rest just want to survive and pick up next season’s big payday.

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Originally Posted by The Bob Banker Spanker

Since the first game of the play offs (Croatia 4-1 Greece) there have been just been 2 goals in 6 games.
None of those games were particularly watchable either.

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These came via a very dubious penalty and an unfortunate deflection as well.

These days I struggle to think of a genuine world class number 9 currently plying his trade.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Seven World Cup Play Off matches have produced seven goals so far with five of them coming in one match. There hasn't been a goal scored yet in the first three second leg matches and the last of the first leg games also finished 0-0. Maybe I'm imagining it, but there seems to be more 0-0s about in domestic football as well which would suggest that sides are going out with a more defensive mindset. However, until Switzerland decided to hold on to their lead for the last half an hour in their second leg, it seemed to me that both they and Northern Ireland were trying to play on the front foot, but, the finishing, particularly from the home side, was woeful, so there might be an argument (which I would agree with to an extent) which says that, if there are less goals being scored, it's more to do with a decline in the quality of finishing than more defensive attitudes.

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European football, perhaps.

While we were enjoying Euro 2016, it was hardly a classic tournament for the neutrals - lots of cagey games.
At the same time the copa america centenario was being held in the USA and in comparison that was a goal fest.