Although it doens't talk much about football, the Sports Gene by David Epstein is a must read. Genetics/ biology plays a huge part in your ability in various sports.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sports-Gene-Talent-Practice-Success-ebook/dp/B00CQ1D1OI
Talented players with terrible work ethic
- Thread starter PvsNP
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sports-Gene-Talent-Practice-Success-ebook/dp/B00CQ1D1OI
I think a lot of the names mentioned is less a case of work ethic and more a case of the lack of the right mentality to push on.
Thanks for posting the video. That was pure filth! Forgot how good he was.
I can see that I exaggerated in my first post here, as I don't think that every human in the world could reach Messi's or Ronaldinho's level if they just practiced enough. What I was contesting was the idea that players that have great technique, but lack other aspects of their game, are simply "gifted", and that they have squandered away this "gift" because they didn't become top class players.
It is possible to work on different things in football, and if player A spent an extra hour after training doing running exercises his entire life, and player B spent the hour working with the ball, it doesn't mean that B is more lazy than A because he runs 10 km a game, while A runs 13 km.
I also think that a lot of players could have reached a higher level if they worked more on the technical aspect of their game, and that they kind of get a free pass by people saying that they simply reached their limited technical level that they were born with.
Any professional midfielder can run 13km a game, its a question of will in that case.
Theo Jansen could have been a great player if he went to the gym instead of the pub and would've stopped smoking at half time.
Obvious one is Rafael van der Vaart who's love for pretty girls and patatje oorlog held him back from true greatness.
Also wasnt Berbatov kind of lethargic?
Obvious one is Rafael van der Vaart who's love for pretty girls and patatje oorlog held him back from true greatness.
Also wasnt Berbatov kind of lethargic?
-Riquelme
-Adriano
-Recoba
-Laudrup
-Ronaldinho
-Balotelli
-Cassano
-Pato
-Le Tissier
-Arshavin
-Quaresma
-Adriano
-Recoba
-Laudrup
-Ronaldinho
-Balotelli
-Cassano
-Pato
-Le Tissier
-Arshavin
-Quaresma
Robinho?
He was a massive talent and went for a big fee to City....seemed to just give up shortly after.
He was a massive talent and went for a big fee to City....seemed to just give up shortly after.
Berbartov's body language on the pitch was painful to see.
I can think of plenty of English players that were up there with the very best.
Of the ones i've watched;
Scholes
Beckham
Ashley Cole
Shearer
They're not on the level of Pele, Maradonna, CR7 and Messi, ie players who could claim to be GOAT - but the band of extremely good players world class players below that level, could easily feature these 4 guys. I don't think there is anyone who can do everything on a football pitch, and you could argue about exact ranking of players (should Roberto Baggio be ahead of Del Piero etc), but generally in terms of being at that same level - these guys are there.
Bestie could play with a hangover and still run the shit out of anyone else.
If Zlatan goes on a run he's out of the game for 10 mins but that's probably down to his age and physique.
He didn’t lack work ethic just didn’t live up to the hype. After City, he played for AC Milan for a while and didn’t do to badly there. Robinho wasn’t lazy on the pitch or showed up overweight.
A little harsh on Best, the guy was an alcoholic.
Wouldn’t classify him as very talented in all honesty.
Great vid. I'm looking for the one where he 360s the a defender and slots in the corner from a tight angle but can't find it, or I misremembered it.
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Agree mate he was but he was also very lazy, never tracked back and helped out the rest of his team hence why he had so little England call ups
Stephen Ireland. Had all the talent in the world as a kid, but with minimum effort. It all came natural and easy to him upto a point - but then when he needed to get the head down and bring it to the next level after his young player of the year nomination - he slowly drifted away to mid-table level.
Robert Prosinecki. x1000
Travesty that he’s not mentioned much.
Travesty that he’s not mentioned much.
Unknown to most of non-portuguese people: Dani was considered the most talented player in the world of his generation. Rui Costa was his reserve at U21 and bellow national teams. But all he cared was party hard like there was no tommorrow.
Sérgio Conceição: hard to put him here, since he had a very sucessful career overall. He was not a lazy player, but rather a hard-working goalscoring winger (he started his career as fullback and only became a winger in Italy). But his belic personality made him an easy target for clubs to dismiss him after a couple of seasons
Sérgio Conceição: hard to put him here, since he had a very sucessful career overall. He was not a lazy player, but rather a hard-working goalscoring winger (he started his career as fullback and only became a winger in Italy). But his belic personality made him an easy target for clubs to dismiss him after a couple of seasons
Not disputing that fact, but he could have been better had it not been for him valuing the lifestyle he had more than working hard and training at 100% (if he actually turned up).
@InLevyITrust his alcoholism is well known, but doesn't mean he couldn't have been even better.
Thats my point, I'm Northern Irish, I dont think its fair to say he had a lack of work ethic the man was ill.
Il say David Ginola, hell of a player, but lazy.
It's tough to argue for him above Messi/Ronaldo because of their longevity/stats but he's my favorite attacking player. If he had CR's monk-like dedication to fitness he'd have been the GOAT IMO - at his prime he was like a mix of the two, so strong and powerful but with all the tricks, flicks and a thunderbolt shot
Wow what a shot he had on him
Interestingly the thumbnail on that video is him playing against us at Old Trafford. I don't recall him scoring against us though?
He hit the post with that shot I recall but with a brilliant effort.Wow what a shot he had on him
Interestingly the thumbnail on that video is him playing against us at Old Trafford. I don't recall him scoring against us though?
The amount of smoke he subjected his lungs to, it's a miracle he could even get out on to the pitch in the latter part of his career.
Could do just about everything apart from running though.
Tomas Brolin. Had the world at his feet at one stage but ate his way out of football. Voted their worst ever player by Leeds fans.
No doubt he had his illness, but he still preferred the celebrity lifestyle more than his footballing one, he could have been better is all I'm saying.
Platini. Great player but looked like he was out for a wander on the pitch. Always half expected him to spark up and ciggie and sit down for a bit. Post playing he obviously didn't fancy working hard either....."you'll give me how much for doing what?" c'est magnifique
English hooligans getting a good old fashioned kicking from the Irish police didn’t help his debut either
Dinho was a fantastic athlete, he had great strength. balance and was very quick, both off the mark and even had great outright pace. His workrate defensively doesn't take away from the fact that he himself physically was rather imposing. The tricks were amazing but he was much more than that. Compare him physically to Robinho for example and its polar opposites.
Read it a few years ago, good recommendation.
I don't know why there are still some people on the internet claiming otherwise when both science and common sense say it obviously does.
Cassano for sure, always happy not to be a drug-dealer in Bari thanks to football but mad and lazy, he was 95kg at Real, eating cakes and banging girls day in day out ffs 
Because they think it supports muh racism and muh sexism amongst other things.
The king of them all, Adrian Mutu.
Edmundo.
What is the story about Pato, wasn't his problem that he was injury prone?
Yes, he is not a case of weak work ethic. He had dozens of muscular injuries in a short period of time. Apparently his muscles tend to react like when you step on a nail.
Alexandre Pato is a sad history tbh. He could be one of the players to watch in the last 10 years. He just had bad luck.
Being lazy is not the main blame (injuries) but R9 without injuries and lack of motivation, would 1000% be the GOAT of football, far more physically and technically talented than Ronaldinho, and more physically talented than Messi.
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i don't like the thread title. The fact that we, the supporters, ever heard a specific players name makes it highly unlikely that this fella has "terrible" work ethic, because if that was really the case, he would never have made it to becoming pro at all. It is safe to assume that for every player who makes it even to second league, let alone international fame, there were a few dozens just as talented but not being as determined or hard-working as him.