Quote:
Originally Posted by KingEric7
Throughout the years, right down from school years up to where i am now, i've come across some talented footballers. There was one kid i knew who was absolutely leagues ahead of anyone else i'd come across and he used to go past people for fun, be it in a game or just pissin' about a bit.
A lot of the lads i knew kept playing football after their education. These lads are now scattered around lower leagues apart from this very same guy who is of league 2 standard.
Whilst thinking about this topic the other day, it got me thinking that these lads were actually incredibly good at football, much more talented than anyone i've ever met, yet the level of football they reached in the grand scheme of things was not exactly elite. If these guys weren't good enough, then who are?
This got me wondering about how good the average Premiership footballer actually is. Even the Brambles, and the other such footballers of the Premiership must be absolutely sublime with a ball at their feet. I have no idea what it'd be like if we were chucked into the deep end straight into a Championship game, for example. Would we even be able to receive the ball and move it on successfully? It is bizarre to think that even the least talented of footballers in the top 2 leagues are able to do absolutely incredible things if necessary. These are the very same footballers we laugh about and label them shit.
I guess the point of this thread is to ask you lot whether you know anyone of the highest standard in English football or any other nation. If the answer is yes, then just how good are they?
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Interesting thread
Although seemingly based on inherent talent / abillity / natural fitness and mental strength I'd say luck is a huge part in dictatiing whether a player 'makes it'.
Like any other 'talent' based industry we've all heard of / seen grew up with people who were infinitely 'better' more 'gifted' than many of those that are actually making it in their chosen fields
For myself I've seen more purely talented players get nowhere near making it not becuase they lacked anything other than being in the right place, right circumstances in their life, knowing the right / wrong people, at the given time when opportunity might have come knocking
In youth situations due to physical inequality its quite difficult for a club to say with confidence that a given player will make it - that speed king skinny winger running full backs into the ground in the under 13's suddenly gets lead in his feet when those same full backs at 14 get musclular strength that makes it much easier to deal with the once elusive winger who now looks out of his depth although maybe still has all the ball skill attributes he was born with. At that point he can find other less competitive pursuits that seem more attractive than some crazy coach / parent barking at him. Many gifted players fall by the wayside at this point
If you are seen by the right scout who can maybe focus on a gift you have in a specific way then you can get lucky and a club can nurture and invest in your future should you be able to withstand the highly competitve nature of the business
Can you take the pressure? As a physically stronger 15 yr old you may well be up for it, being a warrior for the youth side even making into the reserves but than maybe bumping into say, Roy Keane, getting back from injury playing a reserve team game can make you change your mind
......big time ! as you then realise that these 'big guys' are full on competitve even in a lower tier (for them) game
I think being able to mix with your other footballers helps, staying on the periphery of a circle , can put you on the wrong side of 'team spirit' as they say and its easy to see why - I've seen brilliant players that were out and out loners never mixed with the lads which oddly imo created bad feeling towards them - should'nt do but footballers are like that having that semi tribal mentality and managers like it that way- all lads together!
Mental strength is everything imo more so than talent up until the higher reaches of the Premiership Id say. I mean no one can argue that Savage for instance is any better than some of our old playground mates from our youth can they - hes rubbish - cant trap a ball, merely a destructive player. Does that take talent ? take tactical awareness ? take exatraordinary fitness levels, It may take some discipline and focus to simply stay with one opposing player and kick him but that hardly seperates him from say 50 players on this forum in a positive way does it.
Good question Savage was at Utd was'nt he? - Just exactly what did they see when he was invited to play alongside Scholes Beckham Giggs in that youth team? Begs belief frankly but they saw something - maybe not
!
I do feel once you start looking at the top half of the PL then real talent and the capacity to recover mentally is what it is all about, being a stopper player is not enough to keep your place , defenders have to be able to do more than simply defend especially in the modern game and dealing with different types of tactical games that come from playing against european sides one week and league sides the next is always problematic but the modern footballer deals with it admirably imo - most of them anyway
In essence talent at the top level ( which takes natural technique as a given) is a basic component to that level but natural fitness ( good stamina levels) and a 'hard as nails' mental toughness can get you up to Championship level without being the most gifted imo