Few people would defend sysvinit, and few would argue against systemd as an init and rc system.
People complain against systemd as a tightly coupled collection of subsystems replacing previously very loosely coupled subsystems. Those subsystems have turned straight from bazaar to cathedral, so of course this will raise concerns.
The debate isn't systemd vs sysvinit, but s6 vs shepherd vs runit vs systemd, bazaar vs cathedral, and choice vs absence of choice.
People complain against systemd as a tightly coupled collection of subsystems replacing previously very loosely coupled subsystems. Those subsystems have turned straight from bazaar to cathedral, so of course this will raise concerns.
The debate isn't systemd vs sysvinit, but s6 vs shepherd vs runit vs systemd, bazaar vs cathedral, and choice vs absence of choice.