So, in what direction do you think football is headed? Focusing only on the technical side of things (ie. What actually happens on the field) and not the politics (eg. Superleagues) or finances (eg. greater inequality). For example, here are some of the things we've seen in the 2010s: Major focus on building from the back, which has made ball-playing keepers and defenders premium assets. Two roles have gone out of style from elite level club football: Defensive fullbacks (who is even the next Thuram?) and classic no.10s (Is Ozil the last of his kind?) Wingbacks establishing themselves as some of the main playmakers of the elte teams (see Alves, Kimmich, and TAA). The monopoly of the no.9 in the scoring department destroyed, not only by Messi and Ronaldo, but also the Salahs and Sterlings of this world.
Hmm, Nottingham Forest seem to have been in reverse mode in terms of the trends! Re: poet's points for the last decade: 1 - Please go back to it Forest! If it wasn't common in the 70s, 80s, 90s you were 'ahead of your time'! But still recently I watch them in the current generation on TV and become so frustrated by aimless balls from defence to nobody (even though at the height of my disbelief, the ball ends up with Sammy Ameobi and he makes a fantastic assist vs Blackburn lol, and even though Forest are currently 3rd in the second tier which is good compared to the rest of the decade lol) 2 - Forest do have Joao Carvalho, who they paid £13m for. The only thing is currently he's not playing much, and not actually played as a number 10 when he does play! 3 - Forest aren't doing that (although a 2nd tier team like I said, and to be fair Ribeiro gets forward decently I think, and Cash was a former winger/midfielder so that's a nice conversion and not a defensive minded one - he even seems to have been attracting PL clubs recently) 4 - Forest are relying on Grabban quite a lot in terms of goal scoring too, when we used to be masters of scoring from midfield and '3rd man runs' etc too. So maybe time for Back to the Future by the side of the River Trent! As for the next decade, it's not impossible I guess to see a return to actual liberos in some teams to extend the ball playing defender role further (perhaps in a back 3/5 system though), although unlikely perhaps. Maybe more and more teams will work on 'beating the press' although it's difficult for 'poorer' clubs playing against richer ones.
The attackers would be the main defenders (tall, strong, good tackle, pressure, interception) and the defenders would be the main attackers (dribblers, press-resistant, good passers, vision etc), still a lot of tactical fouls. Of course the time will only count with the ball rolling, 30 minutes x 2.