What Lion said above. Sounds like selective memory to me.
From what I can tell, the game has gotten a lot more physical, you're right about that. And it also makes just having skill much less useful than before. As a striker, if you can't handle other defenders, you're useless. Look at Messi. Great skill but he's also very quick and strong as hell. It's nearly impossible to push him off the ball. Plain speed and power won't make you a great player, they'll make you a useful one. Aka Walcott, Milner, etc. But you still need technique and believe it or not, it takes a lot of it to control a ball and pass when you're running full speed as opposed to jogging or walking.