Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
I thought this could spark an interesting debate regarding 90s/early 2000s footie and today's football
Zidane "Today's football is more physical, back in my days you could make up for a lack of physicality with technique, nowadays it's complicated"
- Thread starter BalanceUnAutreJoint
- Start date
I thought this could spark an interesting debate regarding 90s/early 2000s footie and today's football
Today’s professional footballer is definitely much fitter, able to run faster and for longer, as well as being physically bigger and stronger, so I think he has a point. That’s due to better training, nutrition, etc but also some dodgy chemical enhancement that football will have to reckon with at some point.
I think he's referring to athleticism which is no doubt greater today so in that aspect he's right.
The game is less physical today in the sense of two players coming together eg tackles
Talent wise le tissier would still be a cracking talent but his lack of athleticism would mean he'd struggle I'm today's game
The game is less physical today in the sense of two players coming together eg tackles
Talent wise le tissier would still be a cracking talent but his lack of athleticism would mean he'd struggle I'm today's game
Yep he's pretty much talking about the ability to run more and keep a high level of intensity game after game over a season hence why he mentions how he struggled to recover in his playing days.
He doesn't really mention strength or contact.
Yeah, it's miles better now.
Well, of course, it should go without saying really.
If you're not a top level athlete nowadays then all the talent in the World won't be enough to play at the very highest level. Same goes for mental attributes like tenacity, bravery, work-rate, desire and aggression.
If you're not a top level athlete nowadays then all the talent in the World won't be enough to play at the very highest level. Same goes for mental attributes like tenacity, bravery, work-rate, desire and aggression.
Is KDB naturally a top talent? Is Kane? I think training and nutriotion had come on leaps and bounds, and perhaps some subtle enhancements as well.
Zidane would be a more fit player if he played today.
I do miss the the languid, lazy 10s that did nothing off the ball, but were absolutely magic with it.
Obviously nowadays, we are squeezing every drop out of distance covered and those kind of players now need to be able to put in a shift off the ball.
As good as he was, it would be hard to see Le Tissier playing for any one of the 17 teams that stayed up this year.
Obviously nowadays, we are squeezing every drop out of distance covered and those kind of players now need to be able to put in a shift off the ball.
As good as he was, it would be hard to see Le Tissier playing for any one of the 17 teams that stayed up this year.
It would be bizarre to argue current football isn't light years ahead in terms of physicality given there's been 20-odd years of improvements to training and sports science since Zidane's day. Any team from that era taken as they were then would be run over by your average PL team.
As a rule though I'd be inclined to think the vast majority of great players from back then would have been fine in the more physically intense present if they had those benefits during their development.
As a rule though I'd be inclined to think the vast majority of great players from back then would have been fine in the more physically intense present if they had those benefits during their development.
I don't know if that's the case though. People have physical upper limits in the same way they have technical limits. Players who were very technically skilled but just weren't fast or fit enough might have been discarded by academies
Agreed, because while they’d be expected to do much more work off the ball, they’d also enjoy far more protection on it. So it’s give and take.
Those upper limits could be improved with the better nutrition and training methods available now, not to mention the pitches are no longer strength sapping mud baths any longer
I think Zidane will be the next City manager.
It just makes too much sense.
I always thought the time when Maldini was sliding at your legs was more physical - but I think what he is trying to say is that football is more physically demanding on a player than it ever was even if it wouldn’t be physically strong per se.
It just makes too much sense.
I always thought the time when Maldini was sliding at your legs was more physical - but I think what he is trying to say is that football is more physically demanding on a player than it ever was even if it wouldn’t be physically strong per se.
But some people might just never have the fitness to cover 10km plus in a game twice in a week with all the nutrition and training in the world. It's impossible to say that modern training and nutrition would bring players up to the required physical standard. Some would but some probably wouldn't
Alternatively, due to far better sport science applied throughout his whole development at literally every level, Le Tissier would actually be an even better player than he was.
Yes, he means physical fitness.
Interesting. Seeing the Angel Gomes thread piping hot of late, I wonder if smaller players like him or Bernardo Silva or Mata could have been as successful back when Zidane played. It might just be my memory but I can't recall a too many diminutive player like that in those times aside from say Scholes.
Le Tissier would obviously benefit with today's sports science and diet knowledge, but some things are genetic and from an interview by MLT he said himself he just wasn't made that way.
So he would be a better version of himself but still miles behind most.
I personally think football has suffered from too much emphasis on athleticism and less about flare, but I also think the game has got too tactical and players are over coached to a strict way of playing.
Obviously it's a results game but I find it less entertaining than the past (although we also had the Wimbledon of the world which wasn't really about football and more about kicking lumps out of the opponents)
Horses for courses I suppose, in 10 years time the game will be different again for better or for worse
He's right the game is becoming less and less focused on the technical side every year. Football today is much more methodical and mundane.
Yeah but then look at KDB, he’s hardly an athletic physique naturally and is the best player in the PL.
I honestly think players like ale Tissier and Rooney if raised in this era would just be even better.
He’d refuse to follow any of that science mumbo jumbo anyway.
If he could be arsed....I dont think Le Tissier lacked athleticism he was just a lazy feck that got by on being a "mecurial" talent. I dont think he would make it with his attitude today no matter what sports science you throw at him.
Marco Van Basten and Ronaldo 9 will beg to differ that the game is more physical now than it was back in the early 90s
the tackles those two had to endure and as a result end their career early was poor and I don’t see Mbappe or CR7 having to put up with what they diD
the tackles those two had to endure and as a result end their career early was poor and I don’t see Mbappe or CR7 having to put up with what they diD
Sounds like most of us are in agreement he probably means athleticism
He's talking about fitness and speed and the like
Yeah, but more specifically i think he means the general physical conditioning of players today is much higher than it used to be. I wouldn't necessarily say players are more athletic today but conditioning nowadays has a much higher bar.
I think the main differences to Zidane's era are:
- every player needs to put in a defensive shift from front to back, or your pressing won't work that well.
- which results in the need for players to be able to make sprints almost non-stop for 90 minutes.
- acceleration, pace and stamina of course play a large role in that
- on the other hand, I feel like CBs, DMs and GKs, also need to be technically more adapt to avoid getting caught on the ball from a pressing trap.
- every player needs to put in a defensive shift from front to back, or your pressing won't work that well.
- which results in the need for players to be able to make sprints almost non-stop for 90 minutes.
- acceleration, pace and stamina of course play a large role in that
- on the other hand, I feel like CBs, DMs and GKs, also need to be technically more adapt to avoid getting caught on the ball from a pressing trap.
On the other hand, in the 90s you could kick a player a lot more to reduce their effectiveness
No white text?
Compare a list of the best attacking players from 2005 to now. Footballers are becoming robots. There’s barely anyone I would pay to watch in the modern game. Managers are too obsessed with control, playing into the opposition area, cut backs and tap ins. I blame Pep.
I’ve long wondered how a fullback like Irwin would have fared in todays game where the position requires you to essentially be a track athlete. Kyle Walker being the prime example of athleticism over footballing ability in this regard.
I’ve long wondered how a fullback like Irwin would have fared in todays game where the position requires you to essentially be a track athlete. Kyle Walker being the prime example of athleticism over footballing ability in this regard.
PEDs, Doc.
Athleticism side yeah for sure it’s better. But technically speaking I think it’s far worse. I also think the disparity between leagues has grown so much that it’s also less competitive.
I do miss the lazy 10s and the utter shithouses in defence who’s main focus was to kick the man rather than the ball
. There’s not many players I’d pay to watch, it’s all very controlled nowadaysOf course, it works both ways, you could argue that today's stars wouldn't be able to cope with the demand of the game 20-30 years ago, can you imagine the histrionics of CR7 with the tackles allowed back then for example
I think the football I saw the most growing up was Serie A of the late 90's and it was definitely not a gung ho, caution to the wind exhibition of raw talent. Be lucky to get more than one goal.Athleticism side yeah for sure it’s better. But technically speaking I think it’s far worse. I also think the disparity between leagues has grown so much that it’s also less competitive.
I do miss the lazy 10s and the utter shithouses in defence who’s main focus was to kick the man rather than the ball
Rooney probably smoked more!
Bet he also ate ketchup