“A decade or so ago, football was facing a crisis of style. Physicality and pace, it seemed, were taking over. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson admitted looking at Arsenal’s midfield and realising there was an overwhelming need to add muscle to his ball players. The result was a series of viscerally thrilling encounters that featured bust-ups in the tunnel, pizza being thrown, the hounding of Jose Antonio Reyes and not a whole lot of football.” World Soccer