Kolarov - "Football fans know nothing about football..."

padr81

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“I don’t have to promise anything to anybody, only to myself in terms of working hard and giving everything, and that’s what I’ve always done since I started playing football. The fans have the right to be annoyed, we respect that, but they must be conscious of the fact they know nothing about football. I like tennis and basketball, I have played both since I was a kid, and I get angry when my team loses, but I would never offer tactical advice because I have no idea about it. It’s a general problem, fans of every team should understand that.”

True or False?
 

Pablo76

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“I don’t have to promise anything to anybody, only to myself in terms of working hard and giving everything, and that’s what I’ve always done since I started playing football. The fans have the right to be annoyed, we respect that, but they must be conscious of the fact they know nothing about football. I like tennis and basketball, I have played both since I was a kid, and I get angry when my team loses, but I would never offer tactical advice because I have no idea about it. It’s a general problem, fans of every team should understand that.”

True or False?
True. Check Redcafe for details.
 

Rozay

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Very interesting statement.

For the lifelong footy obsessed fan, like myself, you are near enough convinced that you have developed a professional-level understanding of the game. That said, there’s always a chance that you’ve missed it completely, and we will never get close enough to the pro game to know for sure either way.
 

Negan

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False. I don’t need to be a singer to know somebody is a bad singer.
 

padr81

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True. Check Redcafe for details.
I'd plump for true as well.

I only have to look at my own posts to know I'm full of shit, but I think we probably know far less than we think. But on the flip side, everytime I watch Paul Merson or Lawro etc... I think there is no way that guy knows anything about football that average Joe does not.
 

Negan

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Evaluating something to be of good or mediocre quality is one thing, understanding why and and knowing how to fix it is completely different.
Sometimes the answer is obvious.
 

padr81

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False. I don’t need to be a singer to know somebody is a bad singer.
I don't think thats his point though, I think he's more having a go at manager x, should start player y in position z because tactically that would make team A better. Or in United terms half this forum saying Jose should start Martial up front instead of Lukaku because... or people who say we should have went 4312 tonight because team B play a high press and etc..

Thinking we know tactically whats best for our clubs over paid professionals, thinking we have any idea of how football really works at a tactical level etc... I'm for one super guilty of this myself.
 

donkeyfish

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Nothing is an overstatement, but a smaller overstatement than fans claiming to understand the game well.

Just the sheer volume of information from testing and observation on the training ground is enough to realise any outsider will never be well equipped to conclude about why things happen. And that's just one of many reasons.
 

el3mel

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He's definitely right, but I'm not sure he should say it that honestly.

It's true that the standards fans evaluate players with are usually different from the manager's.
 

Ekeke

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For the majority of fans, correct. Those who take the time to analyze things, incorrect. But those fans are a minimal amount.
 

WensleyMU

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Fans have a very basic understanding of the game, primarily the actual match itself.

Watching football and having a save game on FM doesn't qualify byou as an expert, though we all like to think it does.
 

robinamicrowave

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Remember the last game of the 12/13 season when he had a rowing match with the City fans in the Colin Bell Stand? Sounds like he hasn't backed down from his stance that fans know very little of what goes on on the pitch.
 

WensleyMU

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For the majority of fans, correct. Those who take the time to analyze things, incorrect. But those fans are a minimal amount.
Not really. In fact those amateur analysts are worse than anyone for thinking they know it all, when in reality they know nothing.
 

Gentleman Jim

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Kolarov upset a few flakes in his time at City but was a great teammate to have.

Will make a good Manager one day if he decides to go down that path (in the Simione mould).
 

Theonas

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I don't think thats his point though, I think he's more having a go at manager x, should start player y in position z because tactically that would make team A better. Or in United terms half this forum saying Jose should start Martial up front instead of Lukaku because... or people who say we should have went 4312 tonight because team B play a high press and etc..

Thinking we know tactically whats best for our clubs over paid professionals, thinking we have any idea of how football really works at a tactical level etc... I'm for one super guilty of this myself.
Exactly. The first clue for me is when the answer seems something as obvious as switching formation and playing a certain player in a different position because they are not a real CB or FB or whatever. It simply is beyond logical to assume that such obvious alterations have skipped the minds of people who are involved in training and get access to the the sheer volume of data managers usually have.
 

Irish Jet

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This is a ridiculously stupid thing to say.

Fan’s aren’t as qualified to make decisions for sure but the idea that people who watch football every week can’t tell good from bad is pretentious as f*ck.

Of course you can get a general understanding of what’s working and what isn’t. When it comes to solutions yeah fans have limitations but when your watching a clearly physically broken down player playing every week it’s not out of the fan’s intellectual capacity to say he should be dropped.

It’s a sport. We’re not splitting atoms here. Stick to your Christmas carols you City prick.
 

worldinmotion66

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What a load of shit. Everyone thinks they work hard because it's pretty character damning to admit otherwise, but the majority of people/players could work harder.

I know from my experiences in pubs watching games that there are a lot of absolute idiots that know nothing about football, or anything at all to be honest. But that doesn't mean all non pros know nothing.

It's not a particularly complex sport.
 

Adisa

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Listening to a lot of ex pro, footballers don't know much either.
 

WensleyMU

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Listening to a lot of ex pro, footballers don't know much either.
The older ones certainly don't and that's because of how far the whole sports science element has evolved.

Players who played in the 80s often sound clueless for example.
 

Amar__

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Fans mostly have no idea about football, he is right, but there is big percentage of footballers who are far worse than fans when it comes to football knowledge even though they had education during their entire career.

There are even some managers who are clueless, it's ridiculous to listen them.
 

WensleyMU

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I reckon most people here could predict which posters will claim it's bollocks ;)
 

hobbers

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Most footballers know feck all about it as well. Hell even some managers have feck all clue, a la David Moyes.

Fair enough, most footballers are quite dim witted so tactical approaches etc probably do seem very complicated to them.
 

Irwin99

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I've listened to Phil Neville and Peter Schmeichel as pundits over the years...i'm not convinced that many pros know much about it either.
 

Classical Mechanic

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He’s right. I like some of Sam Allardyce’s post match comments because he points out multiple mistakes that lead to a goal. Forum folks tend to focus on the last mistake only and then we are often guessing. Football forum debate tends to revolve around posters proving they were right about a certain player, most of us do it.
 

pocco

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Depends really. Some fans only see the game in black and white, they don't really take into consideration the fact that there's so much more going on behind the scenes and the human factors that footballers face like us. They'll form opinions based on what they see over 90 minutes but there's so many factors to why things can sometimes be bad, but that doesn't mean it will always be the case.

I could round off a long list of players that were written off on here, such as Bale when Spurs lost every time he played. He was considered a joke on here, but the Spurs management knew more and persevered with him. There's loads of examples, loads surrounding us right now.
 

VeevaVee

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I think some people like to pretend football is this super complicated thing with loads of high tech shenanigans going on behind the scenes these days. I really don't think it is.
 

Isotope

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Judging by how a much better players than Kolarov still talking shit as pundits, I don't think I agreed with him.