Ruud Gullit has launched a fierce attack on the state of modern football and revealed he has stopped watching it because he finds it ‘horrible’.
The former Chelsea star, 63, described Arsenal’s clash with Chelsea on Sunday, which has triggered a furore over the rise in ugly set-pieces, as ‘completely rubbish’ and claimed the modern-day player lacks ‘guts’.
Gullit’s comments come after Liverpool boss Arne Slot admitted Premier League games were not ‘a joy to watch’.
‘I’ve decided to stop watching football… football has become absolutely horrible,’ Gullit, who also managed Chelsea and Newcastle, said during a podcast on the Dutch television channel Ziggo Sport.
‘I watched Arsenal against Chelsea, what a completely rubbish football match. I saw players trying to create corners, trying to create throw-ins, I saw ball boys ready to give towels to the players.’
‘I’m waiting for players who will dare to take on defenders again, someone like Lamine Yamal. I miss the joy.
Arsenal’s win over Chelsea on Sunday has triggered debate about the state of the game
‘I simply don’t enjoy football anymore. Everyone is just performing tasks on the pitch. Where are the players who dribble? Where are the players with guts? Everyone just passes, passes, passes, and passes some more.’
Set-pieces have become a hot topic in the game this season, with Premier League leaders Arsenal facing criticism for their style of play and reliance on dead-ball situations.
Both of Arsenal’s goals in the 2-1 win against Chelsea came from set-pieces, taking the Gunners’ tally to 16 league goals from this ploy, equalling the most by any side in a Premier League season, alongside Oldham in 1992-93, West Brom in 2016-17, and Arsenal themselves in 2023-24.
In his pre-match press conference for Tuesday’s clash with Wolves, Slot said: ‘You have to accept it. I think it’s mainly here in the Premier League. If I watch other leagues, I don’t think there’s so much emphasis on set-pieces.
‘If I watch an Eredivisie game, which I still do, I see goals being disallowed and fouls on goalkeepers being given and I think “wow, that’s a big difference”. Here, you can almost hit a goalkeeper in his face and the referee still says “just go on”.
‘Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it. If you ask me about football, I think about the Barcelona team from 10, 15 years ago. Every Sunday evening you were hoping they would play.’
There has also been debate about the increasing amount of grappling between players at corners.
Manchester United manager Michael Carrick believes wrestling at set-pieces in the Premier League is worse than ever despite clubs being told it was going to be stamped out.
Ruud Gullit said he has stopped watching football because he no longer enjoys the game
‘I think it’s gone too far. It wasn’t long ago where we were told that you couldn’t really lay a hand on anybody in the box and it was it was going to be stamped out and clamped down on. And it’s crept in, it’s gone stronger.
‘I think, obviously, the success of set-pieces, and corners in particular, probably in terms of being able to put so many bodies close together, has made more teams do it because the success rate is so high. So it’s understandable why there’s so many teams trying it and doing it.
‘But in terms of it as a game, it doesn’t feel that we’ve quite got that balance right. So I don’t know what to do about it. It’s not for me to decide that, really. In the meantime, you’ve got to deal with what’s in front of you and if it’s allowed, then you’ve got to play to it.’
