How many players can actually ride a tackle in todays football?

[simplyared]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privilege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

 

[Pink Moon]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privalege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

Because the opposition players have also developed more skills thus getting them booked or sent off is too big of an advantage.

 

[Kappa123]

You don't watch Neymar if you think he can't ride a tackle. Literally one of the best alongside Messi, Hazard, etc

 

[caid]

They all can but why would they bother? Its not in their interest to ride the tackle outside of pretty specific circumstances

 

[Snow]

Anyone with good balance can stand off a tackle. Some have it just ingrained in them from birth to go down. The best players go down when they see they've got nothing to gain from standing. See Salah for example. He can pretty much withstand anything but goes down if he can win a penalty or the ball control has been lost.

 

[RedStarUnited]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privalege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

The simple answer is they dont want to. Hazard and Neymar are exceptional dribblers but they decide to fall much more frequently than they should.

I have always maintained, this is one of Messi's most unappreciated part of his game. For a person who dribbles so much, he doesnt go down nearly half as much as he could if he wanted to.

 

[Mr Smith]

They all can but why would they bother? Its not in their interest to ride the tackle outside of pretty specific circumstances

Basically this. When they want to a lot of them can, but bad precedent set by referees over the last decade has made it mostly counterproductive to do so.

Adama Traore can though. There was an amazing one he shrugged off against Spurs last week.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

George Best would have gone to ground more easily had he played in this era too. This just seems to be a complaint of our times more than anything.

 

[adexkola]

George Best would have gone to ground more easily had he played in this era too. This just seems to be a complaint of our times more than anything.

Valid complaint (from an aesthetics point of view)

Few things more glorious than seeing an attacker ride a few tackles enroute to a solo goal. That's always how I score the winning WC goal in my dream

 

[RedTiger]

Pogba can ride a tackle.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Valid complaint (from an aesthetics point of view)

Few things more glorious than seeing an attacker ride a few tackles enroute to a solo goal. That's always how I score the winning WC goal in my dream

It's a valid complaint but aiming it at the capability of the players is misplaced. Players tend to be a product of their times. Obviously there are always exceptions like Messi due to sheet talent.

 

[berbatrick]

A whole lot of it here, in his best season for us

 

[Cascarino]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privalege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

High risk high reward style tackling tactics aren’t in fashion. Many managers don’t want a player going to ground or overcomitting and giving the opponent an opportunity. Wan-Bissaka reminds me of an old fashioned footballer in that he goes for and pulls off high risk high reward tackles very often,

 

[thepolice123]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privalege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

Riding tackles is not even a skill, its just deciding to keep balance after being tackled.

Rules are there to be exploited. Take the Watford game for example, our players were the shit kicked out of them. If all our players decide to "ride tackles", I have no doubt that Watford would have absolutely shithoused the game and make us lose points after a fustrating game. If our players go down easily, the ref will get pressured to call fouls. Watford will become more card wary and thus lessening their shithousery.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Mahrez.

 

[Cascarino]

Riding tackles is not even a skill, its just deciding to keep balance after being tackled.
.

Why’s that?

 

[thepolice123]

Why’s that?

Because it simply is just skipping challenges which practically every player can do and the good dribblers with superb balance naturally do it better? Is it really an exclusive skill in itself and something that can be added to the top footballers of today?

"Riding tackles" sounds nice and conjures the image of a player using the force of the tackle to propel himself forward while standing firm. But let's be honest, in reality if a defender comes lunging in at full speed and you don't jump out of the way, you are going down no matter what.

I agree you don't see it often these days. The modern game has an additional focus on player safety and players are exploiting this at every opportunity.

 

[Amar__]

You don't watch Neymar if you think he can't ride a tackle. Literally one of the best alongside Messi, Hazard, etc

Hazard

Hazard is the master at drawing fouls, he literally pushes his left foot ahead of him because he is drawing fouls all the time, it's one of the most cnutish behaviours you can see in top leagues. I have no idea why people can't see that and why are referees buying it most of the time.

 

[Kappa123]

Hazard

Hazard is the master at drawing fouls, he literally pushes his left foot ahead of him because he is drawing fouls all the time, it's one of the most cnutish behaviours you can see in top leagues. I have no idea why people can't see that and why are referees buying it most of the time.

I mean, none of that changes the fact that he has an incredible ability to ride a tackle due to his remarkably low centre of gravity. But sure, I agree.

 

[Trezeguet17]

Young Ronaldo 9 is a prime example.
Every game in Italy defenders tried to butcher him and he just bulldozered through them

 

[simplyared]

Riding tackles is not even a skill, its just deciding to keep balance after being tackled.

Rules are there to be exploited. Take the Watford game for example, our players were the shit kicked out of them. If all our players decide to "ride tackles", I have no doubt that Watford would have absolutely shithoused the game and make us lose points after a fustrating game. If our players go down easily, the ref will get pressured to call fouls. Watford will become more card wary and thus lessening their shithousery.

Your wrong on that my friend. You can name 6 components that are skill related to many sports: Re the subject "riding tackles" I would say involves most of those qualities.
The obvious ones:
Balance - the ability to keep an upright posture while standing still or moving.
Reaction Time - the ability to react or respond quickly to what you hear, see or feel.
The others:
Agility
Coordination
Power
Speed

 

[Brightonian]

Martial rides more tackle than your mum.

 

[Denis' cuff]

George Best would have gone to ground more easily had he played in this era too. This just seems to be a complaint of our times more than anything.

wrong

he preferred to humiliate the clogger

 

[Gio]

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

Fewer players go to ground today. Mainly because the punishment is greater when they don't get the ball, whereas in the past wiping out an attacker was unlikely to get a yellow or red card. So the likes of Best and Maradona had to ride challenges, otherwise the advantage they had created for themselves would be wiped out - they'd be brought down when tearing through a defence, the defender would avoid any punishment, and the opposition could get 10 men behind the ball at the resulting free-kick. There was no incentive for them to go to ground because the balance between attacker and defender was so skewed.

 

[2 man midfield]

The game has changed. Breaking up play or winning your team space up the pitch has become more useful than one player running at their entire defence.

 

[simplyared]

wrong

he preferred to humiliate the clogger

And boy did that entertain!

 

[simplyared]

 

[Yagami]

Adama Traore seems to ride a dozen tackles every game. Rarely does he go down as, like @Denis' cuff said above about Best, he prefers to humiliate the opposition.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

At a pinch I’d say Messi can ride a tackle but there aren’t many in the game today who can imho.
Imagine if the brilliant George Best had thrown himself to the floor everytime a defender stretched out his leg or even tried to just take him out. Imagine what we’d have missed. For those of you who never had the privilege of seeing Best can log on to you tube and enjoy. Most sequences involving Best, you will see a master at work, how he almost dances over lunging tackles from desperate hatchet men the likes of Ron (chopper) Harris who became a victim of total humiliation at the hands of the Irish genius.

Makes you wonder how even better the likes of Neymar, CR7 and many others could have been if they added that quality to their game.

Just think utd may not have won the European cup in 68 if Bestie had gone down when that Portuguese defender had no other intention than to just whack him. No he saw it coming, rode the tackle, stayed on his feet, rounded the goalie and slotted the ball in the back of the net. ”Poetry in motion!”

Yes this could be described as a tribute to Best but the question still remains: why don’t we see this more in todays game now that players seem to have developed more skills?

Thing is George rode tackles but the terrible scars of tackles that were allowed stayed with him long after

 

[simplyared]

Adama Traore seems to ride a dozen tackles every game. Rarely does he go down as, like @Denis' cuff said above about Best, he prefers to humiliate the opposition.

He,s an exception imo in todays football. Obviously his strength playing a big part. However his will to stay on his feet rather than go down and take the free kick, get the oponent booked or whatever, should be applauded and encouraged. I reckon it pays off both for himself and his team. It certainly does in terms of entertainment!

 

[thepolice123]

Your wrong on that my friend. You can name 6 components that are skill related to many sports: Re the subject "riding tackles" I would say involves most of those qualities.
The obvious ones:
Balance - the ability to keep an upright posture while standing still or moving.
Reaction Time - the ability to react or respond quickly to what you hear, see or feel.
The others:
Agility
Coordination
Power
Speed

Isn't it just simply good dribbling to beat players?

Felt like you're picking the result of a skill display and explaining like it is another unique skill itself, something of a lost art and exclusive to only players of the past. I think if you look at dribbling videos of Ronaldo, Neymar, Mbappe, Hazard you can see plenty of instances where they "ride tackles".

Personally, I'd go as far to say to modern footballers are more adept at withstanding tackles and physical challenges than players of the past, the difference now is that the option not to benefits them more.

 

[Jimble]

you mean like this from Giggsy