One-footed players: the one thing guaranteed to wind me up in a game (& in turn mean that my companion will be subjected to my further griping about it). Every team has such players, but we seem to have more than our fair share at the moment, especially down the left. Any well-briefed opponent (i.e. all of them) will know exactly what to do to stop JFC and De Silva (& to some extent Aribo, Konsa at RB) hurting us.
So while we huff and puff about the predictability of our tactics and formation, what about the players themselves, and their predictability?. How many times does JFC go backwards or sideways because that's the direction his left foot is pointing?
One incident yesterday was a good illustration. De Silva has the ball in the final third, and cuts inside towards the corner of the penalty area. He's done well and made space for a cross in a dangerous position, and they are queuing up in the box. But he crosses with his left, which results in an awkward cross bending away from goal, difficult to convert. Spear in a right-footer from there and that's a really tough one to defend. How can a guy schooled at a top academy and in the England age group teams be so limited? Why hasn't this been coached out of him?
I don't buy the argument that 'his right foot isn't any good'. Well, try and improve it then, but in the context of a game you have to try something different occasionally.
Older fans will remember Paddy Powell's brilliant goal at Palace, where he cut in from the right and pinged a beauty in the top corner with his 'wrong' left foot. But how many people remember Malcolm Allison's confession the next day?: "I told Jim Cannon to let Colin Powell come inside because he doesn't have a left foot". Not much has changed....
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Having said that when was was the last time one of our wingers or full backs crossed it in first time, seems a dying part of the game.
Every day the PE teacher had us kick a ball using both feet into the circle of his choice. Simple.
~Ok it's not quite that long.
I love Da Silva but he has shown this season that he has a major weakness. He doesn't ever take on the full back & invariably will get level with the oppositions penalty area & then pass back or inside (usually to a player standing 2 yards away). Interesting to note how we scored our first at Northampton (and if we hadn't had done then who knows what the final result might have been) - Page getting in a cross close to the byeline which meant it was easier for an on-rushing forward to score.
As I said above, I think he is a great players, but I don't think he'll ever play for a top Premiership side. Maybe a new promoted one or a perennial struggler, but I doubt any top manager will pick him as their regular LB purely because of his height.
I'm sure most of these players could use their weaker foot in an emergency but why choose to use it when they're perfectly capable with their preferred foot?
If these players were truly capable of playing to the same level with both feet then they wouldn't be in the third division.
I don’t really understand why any player paid for a living doesn’t consistently train their weaker side. Maybe they do and it just doesn’t translate into as good an ability there, they don’t trust it or use it.
That said, if every once in a while you went outside and whipped one in, that would screw up the opposition plans no end.
Maybe players devote so much time to their levels of fitness that they're unable to spend more time improve their technique so their weaker foot gets better.
And maybe we are better with fit, well-developed players than showy footballers who can play keepy up but who have to be substituted after an hour because they're tired and we are four down.
I think that coaches, fitness experts etc know how to optimise the talent they have. And that managers won't pick players who are two-footed, if both the feet are useless.