A bit late to the party, but football was definitely better before (fuck off phonics). What I loved about my man Cuauhtemoc was how he got to move all over the pitch doing whatever the fuck he wanted, just putting lobbed through balls into the box over and over. You don't get to do that shit anymore. You had a ton of players like that. The big lumps who would just stand around waiting for a cross. The wingers that could do nothing but cross the ball. Midfielders only there to break legs. And on and on. You could tell how a team would play based on who their star player was. Players today might be even better technically, but they spend 95% of their efforts pressing, tracking back, etc. Tactical discipline is king.

Fwiw, it was probably even better in the 70s/80s. A few gifted players running circles around a bunch of hacks.

Then again, I don't watch football anymore, so what do I know.