20 Oct 2016 13:11:30
To change the mood, i'm just wandering what's others thoughts on the way football is going.
I mean all the best players in the world gone by even players today all learnt to play football on the streets.
Now for young people its all but stopped, not allowed anymore and most youngsters now are indoors on Playstations and ipads.
I have been to a few football camps and contact is not allowed in some of them.
My question is are kids been overcoached and aren't up for a good tackle. they are not allowed to play natural ability anymore, not allowed to play with instinct.
Its all about athletes now, spoed passing, no tackling.
Will we ever see the likes of a pele, messi, best, again even a scholes giggs keane.
Are players overcoached now?

1.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 13:28:19
Think there has been a discussion like this before with one of ed's. I don't think kids in poorer countries and south America all have consoles etc. They will still generate a lot of young players Imo if they don't get involved with crime. Not so sure about our country though. Even my son is limited as to how often you can play football in the playground. Seems to be more about athletism than it is about skills and techniques. I played at a good level up to 18 and I still remember getting shouted at from the touchline sometimes to "get rid".

2.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 13:35:46
Leahy12 this is a good question and one I was thinking about a week or two before. This is a slight change of topic but still going down the same road.

I read last week that Celtic have a 13 year old kid who was called up to play for their under 19's or 20's. A day later he was being linked with City, Chelsea etc. This kid is 13 years old. I don't think this should be allowed at all in the modern game. Something has got to change with the way clubs recruit for lack of a better word - infants.

I don't know how it can work but I would like to see a draft system where a kid cannot join a major club (say a top division club) until he is 18 and then must sign a non negotiable 2 year deal worth no more than say 5k a week. If this was the case it would not only slap a lot of the 'too rich too soon' attitude out of these young kids but it would also be giving back to grassroots football by allowing these kids to play at that level rather than getting poached so early.

After reading reports about this 13 year old boy from Celtic and the pantomime that seems to be coming with it I just think enough is enough and something has to be done to curb this type of thing from happening. The game is now full blown crazy.

3.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 13:45:10
I think football is fine. In the 90's and early 2000' we had players like Cantona, Giggs, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Fat Ronaldo, Henry, RVN, Raul, Eto'o. all these are classed as legends and some even called the very best goal scorers in the game. yet in todays game we have players like Neymar, Suarez, Messi, aguero. all making those players goal scoring records look ordinary.

So IMO if we were to say are players getting better? i'd say yes.

Are they over coached? maybe, but it's not stopping these young guys from becoming good players.

4.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 14:31:31
Short answer Leahy, yes i think young players are overtrained.

Maze, you are absolutely correct, and he's one of many players.

Sport in general has changed, more and more players are now doing what the manager/ coach says. You could see players last 2 years at United where LVG was in their head.

5.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 14:41:34
Yes but messi learnt how to play football on the streets.
If you look at rooney now you could say he is burnt out but at 16 he was a beast of a man another street footballer.
I agree with you maze about that boy from celtic. there's too much pressure on them boys now at a young age.

6.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 15:41:28
Good call that maze.

7.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 16:08:53
Did anybody read the interview with Nicky butt where he said he brought a circus performer in to teach the kids how to fall? He said something along the lines of they wer getting so many upper body injuries through fallin after a challenge because they wer so pampered and wernt out climbing trees and playing other sports they didn't kno how to land.

8.) 20 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 16:48:04
I agree with you in that Maze and Warrington red i read that ass well and it does sound like a good ideas.

Also by playing other sports as well as football will open up your muscles will make you a lot stronger then just playing Footie.

9.) 21 Oct 2016
20 Oct 2016 23:46:37
Academy set up is a bit of the issue I think. Chris waddle and Peter Beardsley both lament the lack of youth clubs etc these days where kids played against men etc and had to learn to be a bit more streetwise etc.

Academies take kids to young and they are pampered and protected too much, training may be better arguable but mentally they are soft and mollycoddled so take things like being dropped or slagged off i the press like the end of the world.

Personally I think the production line style of academies kind of takes the romance out of football and the grass roots game suffers as a result. we all know the inevitable result when the roots of something are slowly dying sadly.