Fabregas: Football has turned into a sport for robots. Coaches are obsessed with numbers, instead of talent, they play faster and stronger

Cesc Fàbregas has had a fabulous career. With Spain he has won the World Cup, the EURO twice, the Premier League, La Liga and the Europa League. Yet he doesn’t like where current football is heading.

Fàbregas is a Barcelona graduate, but he made his first steps in adult football at Arsenal. There he played 7 successful seasons before returning to Barcelona in the summer of 2011. After three years in Catalonia, he returned to London, but this time to Chelsea. After five seasons, he went to Monaco, where he is now in his fourth year of a rich career.

however, the 34-year-old midfielder hasn’t made many appearances in the current campaign, with only three starts to his name. And quite possibly it has something to do with his dissatisfaction with where current football is heading.

“Football has changed. It’s changed a lot. It started about five years ago and I’ve seen it with several coaches. It’s methodologies that were based on a lot of automatisms where the coach basically tells you where to pass in which situation. In addition, the player has to be put in a certain position every time. It makes football a game for robots,” Fabregas said in an interview with Spanish daily Marca.

The modern concept of football that Fàbregas is talking about is evident. There is much more monitoring of kilometres run, metres sprinted and the creativity of players is practically disappearing from the game. Spanish football, which has always prided itself on technical and creative football, is taking a big hit.

“Then there are GPS. A lot of coaches are obsessed with numbers. If you don’t reach certain numbers, you don’t play. Sometimes I’m old school about it. I’ve had great moments in my career, at some stages I didn’t even train properly and had great seasons. Now it seems like if you don’t practice, you can’t play well. Everything now revolves around science, numbers and GPS, ” Fàbregas dislikes.

Speed over talent

“A modern coach wants a footballer to be physically fit. If a player is faster than another player who is just a little bit slower but has more talent, the faster and stronger player plays. I am convinced of that,” says the Arenys de Mar native.

In his career, Fàbregas has had stints in the Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1, so he knows what he is talking about. Thanks to his Spanish blood, it is ingrained in him that football is an unpredictable game in which you have to surprise the opponent, trying to surprise them with your creativity. That’s why he doesn’t like the current games.

“You watch the game and you know what’s going to happen. A bit of pressure, a long ball and the striker with his back to goal passes to the wingers or midfielders. In a lot of teams it becomes terribly monotonous. It seems to me that because of the obsession with numbers, talent is taking a back seat,” the 34-year-old central midfielder said.

Source: Marca