mariachi-19
Full Member
Something I hear often, and think is plain wrong, is that some players are technically "gifted", like they were born with some ability to dribble or control the ball, that other players never could be capable of. Like any other form of abilities, good technical ability can be learned, through hard work, repetition, discipline etc.
If there are any ability in football that a player is born with, and that you can't learn if you're not born with, it's physical abilities like height and pace. There's no reason why someone like Andy Caroll shouldn't be able to be as good as Lewandowski or Benzema, who have similar physiques, or why Walcott or Lennon shouldn't reach the level of Sanchez or Willian. In that sense I would rather label players with great physical abilities, but limited techinal ability as the lazy ones, than the ones who are technically "gifted", but don't have the necessary physical or mental abilities.
Sorry but that's wrong. Having coached junior footballers at a reasonable level, players develop different attributes that extend beyond their physical ability. Michael Owen, as example, had one of the best striking instincts ever seen in football. The only player that arguably has come close to it in the last 20 years is Cristiano Ronaldo. Nobody and I mean nobody (not even Messi) has or probably will have the same level of total ball mastery as Ronaldinho had.
A significant amount of drive and practice does go into getting that good, but if it was simply down to practice a lot more players would be that talented