Good or potentially good players playing in mediocre leagues
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There really aren't. Make the list. Or maybe someone already has... let me check and get back to you.
He would blame anything of course, and has trouble seeing things, but still.
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Arsenal news: Arsene Wenger blames high-quality pitches for lack of world class strikers
Arsenal manager explains why he didn't sign a centre-forward this summer
Arsene Wenger has blamed the high-quality pitches on which young footballers learn to play for a shortage of strikers across Europe that he regards as the most acute in recent history.
Having failed this summer to find a suitable centre-forward, Wenger on Friday identified a wider trend of European nations producing vast quantities of creative midfielders at the expense of strikers and defenders. “We now produce good technical players because there are nice pitches,” said Wenger.
“Before, you played in the park where you had to kick the ball up front and you had to fight. A boy of 12 who played against a boy of 16 had to be shrewd and push to get the ball. All those kinds of things have gone. The strikers are South American today. Europe doesn’t produce strikers anymore.” According to Wenger, the fact that so many South America players learn their game either on the streets or in public parks is actually to their benefit in developing specialist skills in certain positions.
The two leading goalscorers in recent Premier League seasons are Sergio Agüero and Luis Suárez, respectively from Argentina and Uruguay, while Argentina captain Lionel Messi has been the most prolific goalscorer in world football during the past decade.
Wenger then noted how Germany and Spain, the two most successful international teams of recent years, have thrived often without even bothering with a specialist centre-forward.
“Germany played in Scotland and against Poland with [Mario] Götze up front,” said Wenger. “He’s a creative midfielder. Before that they played with [Miroslav] Klose who is 36. I don’t think it’s because we [managers] do not want to play with a typical striker but they haven’t got one who’s really convincing at the top level. Spain won the World Cup with basically Cesc Fabregas centre-forward.”
So how does this cycle get broken? A radical solution would be for academies like Arsenal to stop providing such perfect pitches for their young players. Wenger believes that there is a need for coaches to intervene at an earlier age, perhaps 14, to ensure young players learn the particular art of very specific positions.
“We cannot now destroy the drainage to create water on the pitches and lift the ball to work on the heading,” said Wenger. “I think we have to find another way. What I am convinced of is that in the academies we have to specialise the players. There is an age from five to 12 where you have the acquisition of the technical areas.
"At 12 to 14 you start to develop the speed and physical qualities but from 14 onwards, when you start to position the players for their careers, maybe you have to work with the specificity of a position again, something we got naturally before in the street or in the park.” Another issue for English clubs, says Wenger, is that the vast broadcast revenues of the Premier League is already creating a two-tier transfer market.
“People are not stupid – they read how much money the English clubs get,” he said. “Today the value of a player depends on the identity of the buyer only. If a small club goes to buy the same player, the price is divided sometimes by two or three.” Wenger could find no outfield player that he regarded as value for money during the summer and, although he believes that Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez can each get 20 goals, he wants the scoring load spread this season.
“Sometimes you have to trust your players and play them,” he said.
“People want always the absolute certainty that they will be successful. It is not like that. I played Nicolas Anelka and people asked me, ‘Why did you not buy anybody?’ Thierry Henry the same. I said, ‘Let him play, maybe he will score’. It is not a science that everybody masters and where we can absolutely predict how many goals everybody will get.
“I would rather have Ramsey get 15, Ozil 15, Cazorla 10. Otherwise, if you have only one player who scores, when he is injured, you don’t know who will score.”
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[article]
Arsenal news: Arsene Wenger blames high-quality pitches for lack of world class strikers
Arsenal manager explains why he didn't sign a centre-forward this summer
Arsene Wenger has blamed the high-quality pitches on which young footballers learn to play for a shortage of strikers across Europe that he regards as the most acute in recent history.
Having failed this summer to find a suitable centre-forward, Wenger on Friday identified a wider trend of European nations producing vast quantities of creative midfielders at the expense of strikers and defenders. “We now produce good technical players because there are nice pitches,” said Wenger.
“Before, you played in the park where you had to kick the ball up front and you had to fight. A boy of 12 who played against a boy of 16 had to be shrewd and push to get the ball. All those kinds of things have gone. The strikers are South American today. Europe doesn’t produce strikers anymore.” According to Wenger, the fact that so many South America players learn their game either on the streets or in public parks is actually to their benefit in developing specialist skills in certain positions.
The two leading goalscorers in recent Premier League seasons are Sergio Agüero and Luis Suárez, respectively from Argentina and Uruguay, while Argentina captain Lionel Messi has been the most prolific goalscorer in world football during the past decade.
Wenger then noted how Germany and Spain, the two most successful international teams of recent years, have thrived often without even bothering with a specialist centre-forward.
“Germany played in Scotland and against Poland with [Mario] Götze up front,” said Wenger. “He’s a creative midfielder. Before that they played with [Miroslav] Klose who is 36. I don’t think it’s because we [managers] do not want to play with a typical striker but they haven’t got one who’s really convincing at the top level. Spain won the World Cup with basically Cesc Fabregas centre-forward.”
So how does this cycle get broken? A radical solution would be for academies like Arsenal to stop providing such perfect pitches for their young players. Wenger believes that there is a need for coaches to intervene at an earlier age, perhaps 14, to ensure young players learn the particular art of very specific positions.
“We cannot now destroy the drainage to create water on the pitches and lift the ball to work on the heading,” said Wenger. “I think we have to find another way. What I am convinced of is that in the academies we have to specialise the players. There is an age from five to 12 where you have the acquisition of the technical areas.
"At 12 to 14 you start to develop the speed and physical qualities but from 14 onwards, when you start to position the players for their careers, maybe you have to work with the specificity of a position again, something we got naturally before in the street or in the park.” Another issue for English clubs, says Wenger, is that the vast broadcast revenues of the Premier League is already creating a two-tier transfer market.
“People are not stupid – they read how much money the English clubs get,” he said. “Today the value of a player depends on the identity of the buyer only. If a small club goes to buy the same player, the price is divided sometimes by two or three.” Wenger could find no outfield player that he regarded as value for money during the summer and, although he believes that Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez can each get 20 goals, he wants the scoring load spread this season.
“Sometimes you have to trust your players and play them,” he said.
“People want always the absolute certainty that they will be successful. It is not like that. I played Nicolas Anelka and people asked me, ‘Why did you not buy anybody?’ Thierry Henry the same. I said, ‘Let him play, maybe he will score’. It is not a science that everybody masters and where we can absolutely predict how many goals everybody will get.
“I would rather have Ramsey get 15, Ozil 15, Cazorla 10. Otherwise, if you have only one player who scores, when he is injured, you don’t know who will score.”
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He is not really - he is only the best player because there are many factors you don't even think about:-
1) Poor quality of defenders
2) Rules in football favor the attacking player - you don't need to look too far back to see how bad the treatment was to strikers in the past by tough defenders. Maradona, was kicked shit less when he played for a short spell in Spain.
3) I think that refs offer both Messi and Ronaldo more protection than most other players. They are hardly injured ( I know he is now) but he has been durable given the position he plays.
4) On the world stage where nations bring together their best players neither of them shine that bright do they ?
All the goals and stats associated with both of them need to be taken into the context of football in this time. The movement of players between different countries at such young ages in my view is quite damaging and as a result we are getting these mediocre players everywhere.
National sides for the most part are far inferior to the club sides good players play for.
Ronaldo and Zidane were better than both.
Ronaldinho, Romario, Weah were just some of the many who were better than Ronaldo.
George Weah was better than Cristiano Ronaldo?
Before Chelsea.
The difference is the length of time Messi and Ronaldo have been at the top of their games which sets them apart. But to me that is irrelevant to how good you are. Even though they've been at the top for over a decade, they have never reached the same heights as Ronaldo or Zidane.
Tom Finney was way better than George Weah though.
In 1980 I was 5 years old, but I remember well enough to know that in the 90's there were rough tackles and plenty of shirt pulling and the referee's have favored the attacking players since 2009 on-wards, this was a good thing as it has facilitated more goals in the game and believe it or not less injuries to attacking soft pussy players. As for naming 5 players better than Messi or Ronaldo - if you are asking in this day and age ? - No I cannot. But those players before them were better in ways that people these days will never understand.
Both of those players were taken in at an early age - hell it is well known that Messi was given some sort of hormone treatment by Barca when he was around 11 - 13 years of age. When you see them do stuff on the pitch it seems almost soul-less to me, because everything they do is based on things that they have mastered on the training pitches. Now contrast this with the likes of Zidanne, and Ronaldo (of Brazil) :-
Zidanne - use to literally dance with the ball, and you could see in it a kind of roughness that speaks volumes of someone who probably played outside on the streets. It was beautiful to watch him turn and spin with that ball as multiple players tried to take the ball off him.
Ronaldo - in football there has been nothing more exciting form a striker than when he use to suddenly turn and run, you could see very muscle in his leg just pump up and it was like watching a predatory tiger in the wild. He scored many goals where he had to beat multiple defenders, and run at breathtaking speed, and then BOOM the power of his shots were so accurate and powerful.
Sorry just don't see these two boys as most of you guys see them.
Zidane and Ronaldo (Brazilian) were better than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi is better than them all.
Messi is better than them all.
I'm not falling for your made up footballers again Gene.
Robbie Fowler was world class and consistently good?
He was never world class and he was only consistent for 3/4 years.
The fact you included him and say you don't think Ronaldo or Messi are that great makes your entire post laughable.
I think Robbie was easily world class in his pomp.
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