What makes a nutmeg?

They don't seem to care where the ball was going before they start celebrating :)

 
When I aimlessly kick the ball through your legs is not really gonna be called a nutmeg by anyone with half a brain.

But scoring a goal, completing a pass to someone on my team or collecting the ball myself on the other side are all good enough for the application of the nomenclature for me, Clive.
 
I always wished there was footage of the game George Best nutmegged Cruyff after predicting it and he apparently nutmegged Neeskens in that match too.
 
Putting the ball through the legs of your opponent and retrieving it on the other side of him. It's a bit like taking the piss. Leaving him for dead in other words. Used as a dribbling technique.
 
you have to say it before you do it, or as your doing it. That proves you meant it.
 
Where the name came from, thought this was interesting.

The verb nutmegged is listed by the Oxford English Dictionary as "arising in the 1870s which in Victorian slang came to mean 'to be tricked or deceived, especially in a manner which makes the victim look foolish'."

The word arose because of a sharp practice used in nutmeg exports between America and England. "Nutmegs were such a valuable commodity that unscrupulous exporters were wont to pull a fast one by mixing a helping of wooden replicas into the sacks being shipped to England," writes Seddon. "Being nutmegged soon came to imply stupidity on the part of the duped victim and cleverness on the part of the trickster."

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/sep/07/theknowledge.sport
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's kinda nuts either way once the ball goes through their legs.

I do however back up the point you're trying to make when it goes to goalies. Messi for example hit it low and hard at Courtois, I honestly don't think he was aiming for in between his legs regardless of how good his finishing is. To ''nuts'' a keeper you have to hit it at them, no striker ever tries hit it at the keeper. In fact if they did they wouldn't be a good striker.

So ya, there is no such thing as a nuts on a keeper when shooting/scoring a goal.
 
Trizy said:
It's kinda nuts either way once the ball goes through their legs.

I do however back up the point you're trying to make when it goes to goalies. Messi for example hit it low and hard at Courtois, I honestly don't think he was aiming for in between his legs regardless of how good his finishing is. To ''nuts'' a keeper you have to hit it at them, no striker ever tries hit it at the keeper. In fact if they did they wouldn't be a good striker.

So ya, there is no such thing as a nuts on a keeper when shooting/scoring a goal.
Click to expand...

This is wrong. Many players have been quoted over the years saying that they've often intentionally tried to shoot between the keeper's legs. This stuff gets done in training sessions too.
 
Back in the day on the PS2 game Fifa Street, you would only get points if you nutmegged a player and got the ball back.

Also the head to head real life game known as 'Panna' has the following rule:by nut megging your opponent and keeping possession of the ball - ends the game.
 
People are basing this 'having to get the ball back' bullshit on Panna which is a game with its own rules.
 
Keeps It tidy said:
Putting the ball through the keeper's legs is not a nutmeg. For it to be a nutmeg you have to get the ball back.
Click to expand...

Depends for me. If you were 1-on-1 with the keeper, there wasn't much space between the 2 of you and, and you toe-poked through his legs into the net that's good enough for me. A shot from any sort of distance, nah.

Zlaatan said:
Where does the term nutmeg come from?
Click to expand...

Never really thought about it until now. Surely it's because your nuts are between your legs too?
 
In a way to resolve the dispute why not have two tiers for it:

  • Nutmeg - Have to get the ball once you've played it through opponents legs
  • Meg or 'Megged' - Putting it through opponents legs i.e. he just needed to meg the keeper there.
 
I’d say a nutmeg is putting the ball through a player’s legs with a purpose. So obviously megging someone and retrieving the ball counts, to me megging the keeper to score counts and even can be argued that megging someone resulting in pure embarrassment counts. That last one is a bit more dubious.

Megging someone and it going to another player or out of play doesn’t count, or you’ve seen before someone play a hard grounder pass and it catch the defender off guard and subsequently going through his legs - doesn’t count. It has to be deliberate too.
 
Paranoid Android said:
This is wrong. Many players have been quoted over the years saying that they've often intentionally tried to shoot between the keeper's legs. This stuff gets done in training sessions too.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine a lot of players try it in training as it's just training. Messi was too far away to attempt it imo.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
That link that Zlatattack posted a few posts up states that it the player has to regain the ball for it to be a nutmeg.
Click to expand...

'The aim is to kick, roll, dribble, throw, or push the ball (or puck) between an opponent's legs (feet).'
It mentions this..
'Kicking the ball through an opponent's legs in order to get the ball past them and back to the original player is a dribbling skill which is commonly used among football players'
but not that it's needed. Just that it's a commonly used.

I'll go with the rules of the street, not Fifa Street *does Westside thing with hand*

Raees said:
In a way to resolve the dispute why not have two tiers for it:

  • Nutmeg - Have to get the ball once you've played it through opponents legs
  • Meg or 'Megged' - Putting it through opponents legs i.e. he just needed to meg the keeper there.
Click to expand...

No way!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.