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The most overrated aspect of Premier League football
By Krish Ajmani
Hundreds of millions of individuals consume football for entertainment. Out of these, a significant portion tune in to the Premier League. Fans go to games, watch in the pub or at home and some seek out secretive streams.
The draw of the Premier League is easy to see. Before the Manchester City and Liverpool duopoly, the title races were open and competitive. The level of the rest of the teams in the league is high, with upsets coming thick and fast.
England’s top flight also provides a level of physicality that supporters revel in. Many celebrate a crunching tackle as vigorously as a goal. Much has been made of the difficulty of coming into the Premier League. Not only is the speed of play faster, there is more physical contact and strain on the body.
What is the most overrated aspect of Premier League football?
Yet perhaps this has been accentuated beyond necessity. Physicality is a quality extremely important to football and how players are perceived. Yet it is often overrated. Fitness and maintaining one’s body at the highest level possible is invaluable. However, the traditional view of a player sliding into tackles, sprinting around the pitch and wrestling with opposition players to win the ball is outdated.
Physicality matters in the context of a team’s style of play. The physicality demanded by Burnley is quite different from the physicality required in, say, the Manchester City setup. Burnley need players with stamina and defensive nous, along with the ability and physique to defend deep in a low block.
Manchester City, however, needs players’ bodies to keep up with a pressing-intensive, expansive style. None of City’s midfielders can be considered imposing midfielders in the traditional sense. The likes of Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are not rugged, gritty stars that will battle for the ball in the middle of the pitch. They are still physical players in their own right when viewed in the context of their style.
The game has evolved. Rules and referees offer players somewhat more protection (unless of course, Bukayo Saka is being kicked for 90 minutes straight). The Premier League is still physical. But how physicality is defined has changed.