Is this me or has modern, lower league football become incredibly dull? My club, Blackburn Rovers, are having a torrid season. At home two wins, three draws, and six losses not forgetting two abandoned matches!! Leaving the results to one side, lets look at the football itself from both home and away sides. I have yet to see an exciting game. Yes, Rovers won yesterday but the football was tedious, slow, ponderous, with ball retention being the only priority. Millwall, while one could see flashes of why they're top six, were very, very poor. Our crowds, never great, are dropping off a cliff, probably less than 7,000 actually in the ground yesterday, and when I look at the standard of play it's not surprising.
Are coaches and managers watching the PL and bring patterns of play from there to the lower leagues? I hardly ever watch PL football but it appears to embrace ball retention, extremely accurate passing and some beautiful balls to open up space. This works if a side has the talent but it doesn't if the players simply cannot do it. It isn't the players fault if they're asked to do more than their talents allow.
I genuinely haven't seen an exciting performance from any side at Ewood this season, none of the visiting sides showed any adventure whatsoever. Yes, the majority got a result, but is it entertaining? I travelled 6 miles to the ground yesterday and if I'm honest I wish I hadn't bothered. Goodness knows how the few hundred Millwall fans felt after a 500 mile round trip to die of boredom and watch a very poor performance from their side. I will continue to go to Ewood, mainly because my son needs a carer with him, and because deep down I'm a Rover but at the moment I cannot see any reason to watch Championship football. The weather was great, a ride would have been much more fun.
Is it me? Or has the excitement completely gone from lower league football? Todd Cantwell apart, Rovers don't have a creative or exciting player at the club.