How good are headers really?

horsechoker

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You'll rarely see a header win any goal of the month/season awards.

It seems like any goal with the head can never match up to foot strikes.

This begs the question, how good are headers?

Are they underrated?

One of the few headers to gain a lot of plaudits

 

rimaldo

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the main reason is that the majority of premier league footballers have one head and two feet. this means they are twice as likely to score a goal with a foot as they are with their head, therefore twice as likely to score a footed banger than a headed one.
 

horsechoker

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the main reason is that the majority of premier league footballers have one head and two feet. this means they are twice as likely to score a goal with a foot as they are with their head, therefore twice as likely to score a footed banger than a headed one.
 

(...)

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Basile Boli scored in the space of a few days 1 header that won the only Champions league won by a french club, and probably the best header I have seen against PSG :
 

rimaldo

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i get your point. he did score a lot of goals but it’s a cropped picture. he does have two feet as well and wasn’t just a floating head during his playing days.
 

moses

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I have no idea either, yet.
Rooney scored a nice one in a second leg against Milan. not goal of the season stuff, but nice.

God it was great when we were good.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Ronaldo turned it into an artform, and then there's Messi against us in the CL which was quite impressive since he's only 4'3".
 

RG77

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I'd prefer them, guess partly because they aren't as common (?) as the footed ones.

A 'recent' one that comes to mind is Ronaldo for Juventus, can't remember who the opposition was but he jumped and stayed in the air for so long you'd think he was flying.
 

moses

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I have no idea either, yet.
I'd prefer them, guess partly because they aren't as common (?) as the footed ones.

A 'recent' one that comes to mind is Ronaldo for Juventus, can't remember who the opposition was but he jumped and stayed in the air for so long you'd think he was flying.
We mostly say kick a ball, not footed.
 

Chief123

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You'll rarely see a header win any goal of the month/season awards.

It seems like any goal with the head can never match up to foot strikes.

This begs the question, how good are headers?

Are they underrated?

One of the few headers to gain a lot of plaudits

Headers don’t get goal of the months because they are virtually all right next to the goal. You can’t do a spectacular long range header.
 

moses

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I have no idea either, yet.
I always enjoy scoring a header more than scoring with my feet. Dunno what that says about which is better. Probably just a reflection of me being shit at heading the football.
I'm fecking crap at it. Especially when challenged. I jumped for a header once as a kid and the coach called me over and asked what I was doing. I said I was jumping for the header. He asked why. Told me not to again and just hope the other dude missed it and at least then I wouldn't be on my arse if he did.
 

Chief123

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the main reason is that the majority of premier league footballers have one head and two feet. this means they are twice as likely to score a goal with a foot as they are with their head, therefore twice as likely to score a footed banger than a headed one.
Not quite how it works.

We have 2 shoulders and 2 ears, but we aren’t twice as likely to score with a shoulder than we are with a head.
 

Pogue Mahone

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I'm fecking crap at it. Especially when challenged. I jumped for a header once as a kid and the coach called me over and asked what I was doing. I said I was jumping for the header. He asked why. Told me not to again and just hope the other dude missed it and at least then I wouldn't be on my arse if he did.
:lol: Sounds familiar. Especially the when challenged bit. I’m quite tall too. For all the good it ever did me. Constantly losing headers to wee lads. Could never work out why. Probably a combination of cowardice and frailty.
 

Oranges038

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Headers don’t get goal of the months because they are virtually all right next to the goal. You can’t do a spectacular long range header.
Didn't some guy score one from his own half once?

Think Suarez also scored one from about 18 yards against Norwich or WBA maybe.
 

Lay

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Ronaldo turned it into an artform, and then there's Messi against us in the CL which was quite impressive since he's only 4'3".
Yeah, it was a really good header. Strange at the time as they were going by the narrative that Messi has never scored against an English side (totally ignored C.Ronaldo never scored against a Spanish club at that time) and he fecking headers it in like an English centre forward.
 

RedDevil@84

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You'll rarely see a header win any goal of the month/season awards.

It seems like any goal with the head can never match up to foot strikes.

This begs the question, how good are headers?

Are they underrated?

One of the few headers to gain a lot of plaudits

Headers are underrated unless it is Ronaldo jumping so high that his feet touch the defender's shoulders.
 

tomaldinho1

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Yeah, it was a really good header. Strange at the time as they were going by the narrative that Messi has never scored against an English side (totally ignored C.Ronaldo never scored against a Spanish club at that time) and he fecking headers it in like an English centre forward.
Looking back at that still annoys me, Rio sleeping. Free header in a CL final to a 5'7 player is criminal.
 

stevoc

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the main reason is that the majority of premier league footballers have one head and two feet. this means they are twice as likely to score a goal with a foot as they are with their head, therefore twice as likely to score a footed banger than a headed one.
Your logic seems sound but if we calculate it by surface area then the average players head has at least 20-30% more surface area than both their feet combined. If you factor in heads the size of Harry Maguire's then that figure could go up to as high as 70-80%.
 

Charles Miller

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I'm not tall. Never been able to win air duels. So i developed a disdain for this techinique. I think its overrated anyway.
 

Red the Bear

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Ronaldo's header against roma and then against us in 2013 were great.

To answer your question I guess it kinda looks sloppy that's why it doesn't get the the acclaim it deserves.
 

RedDevilCanuck

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Red00012

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Posters giving out there’s 3 transfer tweets threads yet there’s no problem with horsefhoker creating one every day for the sake of it
 

Eli Zee

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Headers don't come close to winning goal of the season because they never rely on skill tricks, beating defender(s), scoring from far away, etc - all things that are very impressive looking for spectators

They're usually up close and just go by the keeper who can't react in time.

its like asking why aren't tap ins are never winning goal of the season - because there are way more impressive goals every year!