Academy & U21s

[DutchRover]

I think it is the reality for most academy guys at all clubs, very rarely you get an Adam Wharton type who is too good to ignore, but more often the first team has holes (from injury or sales) and the manager chooses a guy who has impressed him in training, not u21s. Whether they sink or swim is up to the player and their ability. 

Not saying manager won't have been told by academy coaches or watched games himself, but there is a great degree of personal preference and luck involved.

[arbitro]

15 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Modern footballer for me. He can run a bit, tackle a bit, head the ball a bit, pass the ball 20 yards. Has he got the “ X” factor ? Can he make play ? Not that I can see.

I really don't understand this obsession with pace in modern football. Of course it's an asset but for me pace has to be aligned with other things like good decision making or a final pass. See Kargbo for evidence of this.

Everton had a lad playing last night and on his first run my thoughts were he's exceptionally quick. However he kept running down blind alleys and didn't look like he could pass water. He got the hook after offering no threat.

[rigger]

2 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I really don't understand this obsession with pace in modern football. Of course it's an asset but for me pace has to be aligned with other things like good decision making or a final pass. See Kargbo for evidence of this.

Everton had a lad playing last night and on his first run my thoughts were he's exceptionally quick. However he kept running down blind alleys and didn't look like he could pass water. He got the hook after offering no threat.

Or you could look at it. If you have the basic skills to be playing at pro level, football skills can be practiced, speed can't.  

[arbitro]

1 minute ago, rigger said:

Or you could look at it. If you have the basic skills to be playing at pro level, football skills can be practiced, speed can't.  

I have a theory that lots of really quick players have no real football brain.

And you can't coach natural footballing intelligence.

[47er]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I have a theory that lots of really quick players have no real football brain.

And you can't coach natural footballing intelligence.

There's also the matter of "spatial awareness"---some players instinctively  know the position of everyone else around them, they can receive the ball and put it through the eye of a needle without having to look up.

Adam Wharton' brain apparently comes out tops in this particular ability. He is super-intelligent.

Edited 52 minutes ago by 47er

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, 47er said:

There's also the matter of "spatial awareness"---some players instinctively  know the position everyone else around them, they can receive the ball and put it through the eye of a needle without having to look up.

Adam Wharton' brain apparently comes out tops in this particular ability. He is super-intelligent.

All the tests they ran on Pele as a young player showed the same thing. He almost had eyes in the back of his head.
You can have real “ football intelligence “ without being anywhere near ready to go to Cambridge or Oxford. Wayne Rooney had it at 17. He just didn’t have much non football intelligence.

Back in the day I remember listening to Malcolm Allison talking about this. He illustrated the point with a bit of play regarding George Cohen and Bobby Charlton. Charlton had the ball  and Cohen was making an overlapping run. Instead of passing the ball more or less into Cohen’s run Charlton passed it yards further forward, almost to the byline. This compelled Cohen to cross the ball as soon as he got to it. Allison explained -  “ That’s Charlton pulling the strings, he’s knows Cohen is a bit of a ditherer on the ball, so he’s passed the ball there to give George only one option - cross the ball “.

[arbitro]

I think it was Bobby Moore who answered 'the first two yards are in your head' when he was quizzed about his apparent lack of pace.