2004. Like watching a different sport.

Give me this over 2 teams aimlessly passing around the back just to keep possession

And this is why Van Dijk is the best PL CB of all time

It was more spontaneous and authentic then🥰

Much better today tbh

@cm9798v2 To all the people slagging this off, this is one passage of play. It’s not like that was how even the whole of that game was played, let alone every game. But you would get periods like that, rather than every game between any two teams looking pretty much the same.

2003/04 was probably peak football. Mourinho won the Champions League and was about to enter the English scene. Greece won the Euros, playing twice against the host nation without losing. Rooney was on the rise, and Beckham had just moved to Madrid. What a time to be alive!

We can all pick out clips and make assumptions about whole eras

In today’s game Henry stays down after that tiny challenge and claims a head injury, ref stops play and then we get another 10 minutes of sideways football. 💤

Yet way more fun and spontaneous than in 2024

Completely different. Every team plays the same boring statistics based style now, and players no longer have individuality. The game has changed but for the better.