• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Ibe

Status
Not open for further replies.
I think young players who have to compensate for their physical disadvantage, compared to senior players, with other qualities (technique, grit, cunning etc) often turn out better than those who already have Premiership-ready physique at 18 and might be relying on it too much. Therefore I predict that Sterling will be a better player than Ibe.

If I had any spare money, I would even be willing to bet on it.
 
A good biggun will always beat a good littlun.

So far Ibe looks the better bet. Either way, with both in the team, in a couple of years we'll be mustard.
 
I think young players who have to compensate for their physical disadvantage, compared to senior players, with other qualities (technique, grit, cunning etc) often turn out better than those who already have Premiership-ready physique at 18 and might be relying on it too much. Therefore I predict that Sterling will be a better player than Ibe.

If I had any spare money, I would even be willing to bet on it.

Except that Sterling is the one who made the earlier breakthrough by virtue of having a physical advantage, great pace/acceleration without much by the way of grit/cunning. I think premiership ready physique is a thing of the past, half of the premiership are midgets now, even 10 years ago Owen must have been about 6 stone when he took the league by storm, its more about attitude than physique.

If a player is prepared to work hard and deal with the physical demands of the league he has a great chance regardless of build, if he doesnt want to know about it then he could be built like Tyson and wont make a difference.

To me the question mark over Sterling is his attitude, hes had a pretty easy rise to the highest level, hes had his nose bloodied so to speak last season and found out its going to get alot harder from here on out, this year he has to come back and prove hes either up for the challenge and wants to take his game up a level or hes going to be a youtube star from reserve games against players who will never make it make it at the top level.
 
No doubt. But Ibe has got the right build as well. Something Raheem is missing.

What is the right build? A load of nonsense.

Look at Messi - not exactly know for his imposing muscular physique.

Neither was Michael Owen.

Nor Ian Rush.

It's more about the ability to exploit your own talents and gifts to the full, than whether you're a big unit.

Sterling's pace, movement, technical ability & desire to push himself will determine how successful he is.

You don't have to out-muscle big PL defenders - you just have the think & act quicker.
 
What is the right build? A load of nonsense.

Look at Messi - not exactly know for his imposing muscular physique.

Neither was Michael Owen.

Nor Ian Rush.

It's more about the ability to exploit your own talents and gifts to the full, than whether you're a big unit.

Sterling's pace, movement, technical ability & desire to push himself will determine how successful he is.

You don't have to out-muscle big PL defenders - you just have the think & act quicker.

I think the think & act quicker point is reserved for the very best players. Generally speaking, tiny players don't make it (look at the average height in the league) to the top.
I don't know why physique should be so easily dismissed.
 
Surprised people are trying to dismiss strength and physique as important factors. All things being equal a strong player will always have an important advantage over a weak one - look at Maradona, or the original Ronaldo - because it's still a physical game.

IMO Sterling's main problem last year was his size, not so much his natural stature but that he hadn't actually started filling out as all men do at some point. He just looked like a child next to most PL players, and that made it so much harder to hold off challenges and keep his balance etc. He looks better in that respect now, but I'd guess he'll probably take a couple more seasons yet to completely mature. That's just not a problem Ibe has.
 
Look at Messi - not exactly know for his imposing muscular physique.

Messi is stocky and has good strength, which he puts to good use.

I don't think you have to be 'of a certain build' but you do need to be able to hold your own at a minimum.

Suso and Sterling to varying degrees struggled with that last season but there is no reason to make a big deal out of it - it's nothing that time and a bit of gym work can't solve.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom