Is there an excuse for footballers to be one-footed?

Gegilworld93 wrote:

Ginger Mourinho wrote:
Yeah I'm serious, Ashley Cole's a fantastic Left-Back. Take the game at the Nou Camp for example. For that brief spell when Terry got sent off and Barca got on top and scored he kept battling and trying to win the ball. Name some better Left-Backs than Cole?

Marcelo
Coentrao
Baines
Abidal
arguably Adriano
Filipe
Lahm
Jordi Alba

Right... Do you really wanna play this game? First of all, Baines, Abidal, Filipe and Coentrao are nowhere near Cole's ability at left back. Marcelo, Lahm and Alba are fair choices though. But what you're saying is, because 3 players are better than Cole at left back he is no longer one of the best left backs in the world.


Ronaldo, Messi, Rooney, Falcao, Cavani, Benzema are all better than Van Persie, therefore Van Persie is not one of the worlds best strikers.


Obsessed, possibly... Correct, definitely.

Yeah, I would say that even if all those players were better than Cole, that would still put him in 'one of the best' category.

SBSP wrote:Coentrao is always the weak link when Barca play Madrid.

He's clearly not, why do you think Mou keeps playing him in big games?
Fantastic for Portugal, needs a bit of continuity to be as good for Madrid.

Trent wrote:Marcelo is great going forward but not very strong when players are running at him. Cole is great at both.

Oh the old cliché. Marcelo is actually a great tackler, where he has difficulties is defensive positioning.

Alvaro Pereira and Emilio Izaguirre are better than Cole as well.

well if you can travela like quaresma, why even bother improving your weaker foot

Schnix wrote:well if you can travela like quaresma, why even bother improving your weaker foot

Oh my god

Fonseca wrote:

Schnix wrote:well if you can travela like quaresma, why even bother improving your weaker foot

Oh my god

He tries that about 4 times a match and it works about once a season. Still pretty unique though.

A professional footballer should be two footed, the weaker foot doesn't have to be as strong/accurate as the primary -- but if you're a right footed player and a ball comes toward your left foot and you can't direct it accurately something is wrong.

SBSP wrote:Coentrao is always the weak link when Barca play Madrid.

He was one of the best players on the pitch in their last match. Don't think he was beaten once that day.

bad coaching + lazy players. sometimes only either one or the other...sometimes both

when you have dedicated wide players i can understand if some have certain limitations but its pretty sad to see central midfielders like that. liverpool is good example, bunch of no technique 1 footed monkeys playing in midfield

when youre so 1 footed like that you have to think more when passing off the direction on your weak side even if u use ur good foot. it takes an extra time of thought whereas if your confident already with your weak foot or if u have no weak foot at all then its easy and you dont have to anticipate receiving the ball with bad foot and trying to rethink/visualize the route you can pass to your target its just natural

What a goal by Quaresma!

mauro=beast wrote:bad coaching + lazy players. sometimes only either one or the other...sometimes both

when you have dedicated wide players i can understand if some have certain limitations but its pretty sad to see central midfielders like that. liverpool is good example, bunch of no technique 1 footed monkeys playing in midfield

when youre so 1 footed like that you have to think more when passing off the direction on your weak side even if u use ur good foot. it takes an extra time of thought whereas if your confident already with your weak foot or if u have no weak foot at all then its easy and you dont have to anticipate receiving the ball with bad foot and trying to rethink/visualize the route you can pass to your target its just natural

Is that like you not using CAPITAL letters.

SBSP wrote:My dad brought this up earlier today. Surely all professional footballers should be at least somewhat competent with their weaker foot, but there are some players who will almost never use their weaker foot. Why?

There are a few reasons. Some people are born with poorer weak side co-ordination than others and it's harder for them to improve their weak foot. Some people are just not confident with their weak foot I suppose so they stick to their stronger side. Eg RVP a few years back
Some are just proper disability guys lo lo lo.

Alan wrote:

mauro=beast wrote:bad coaching + lazy players. sometimes only either one or the other...sometimes both

when you have dedicated wide players i can understand if some have certain limitations but its pretty sad to see central midfielders like that. liverpool is good example, bunch of no technique 1 footed monkeys playing in midfield

when youre so 1 footed like that you have to think more when passing off the direction on your weak side even if u use ur good foot. it takes an extra time of thought whereas if your confident already with your weak foot or if u have no weak foot at all then its easy and you dont have to anticipate receiving the ball with bad foot and trying to rethink/visualize the route you can pass to your target its just natural

Is that like you not using CAPITAL letters.

ouch this really hurt my feelings

but then i remembered that youre in a wheelchair

so now im like

Alan wrote:

mauro=beast wrote:bad coaching + lazy players. sometimes only either one or the other...sometimes both

when you have dedicated wide players i can understand if some have certain limitations but its pretty sad to see central midfielders like that. liverpool is good example, bunch of no technique 1 footed monkeys playing in midfield

when youre so 1 footed like that you have to think more when passing off the direction on your weak side even if u use ur good foot. it takes an extra time of thought whereas if your confident already with your weak foot or if u have no weak foot at all then its easy and you dont have to anticipate receiving the ball with bad foot and trying to rethink/visualize the route you can pass to your target its just natural

Is that like you not using CAPITAL letters.

Pretty ironic?

SBSP wrote:My dad brought this up earlier today. Surely all professional footballers should be at least somewhat competent with their weaker foot, but there are some players who will almost never use their weaker foot. Why?

I'm not following the logic. Exactly why should they be competent with both their feet?

Laurencio wrote:

SBSP wrote:My dad brought this up earlier today. Surely all professional footballers should be at least somewhat competent with their weaker foot, but there are some players who will almost never use their weaker foot. Why?

I'm not following the logic. Exactly why should they be competent with both their feet?

Either you're a complete moron or you're being a cocky twat again.

Going by experience it's most likely the latter.

How can you not follow the logic. A two footed player has an advantage over a one footed player. You can't disagree with that. Fair enough if it's a sunday league player who doesn't train who's one footed. But for professionals there's no excuse. They train nearly every week day. If they're can't even execute a 10 yard pass with their weak foot they should work on it. How can you dispute that.

I used to not even be able to kick a ball with my left. Then whenever I was having a kick around with my mates I would play for periods only with my left. It caused embarrassment a lot of the times but now I can pass, shoot, and sometimes cross with my left. If I can do it a professional can.

My game improved massively. If I received the ball on the left and needed to do a quick pass because a player was through, I could do it. Instead of having to shift the ball and giving my opponent vital time to close me down.

There is no excuse.

But go on, enlighten me with your drivel.

Laurencio wrote:

SBSP wrote:My dad brought this up earlier today. Surely all professional footballers should be at least somewhat competent with their weaker foot, but there are some players who will almost never use their weaker foot. Why?

I'm not following the logic. Exactly why should they be competent with both their feet?

Watch Enrique play.

Get the ball on his right, and he will do everything to get the ball to his left foot to pass it. Close him down, he ends up doing some spin with the ball and trying to dribble the ball out of trouble, when a simple right footed pass is on.

Plus the extra time trying to get the ball to his left foot, is time that the opposition have closed him down and the opportunity for a quick pass is over and the opposition have regrouped.

Grenade wrote:

Alan wrote:

Is that like you not using CAPITAL letters.

Pretty ironic?

Come on, tell me my grammer is bad and im so stupid.

mauro=beast wrote:

Alan wrote:

Is that like you not using CAPITAL letters.

ouch this really hurt my feelings

but then i remembered that youre in a wheelchair

so now im like

You think, you should see me moving in that wheelchair. I would run you the fuck down, and come back and give you some more.

In fact I can't be arsed with the drivel you come up with so I drew a pic.



Red 1 has called for a 1-2. But he's fucked me over and hit it slightly behind me on my left side. Normally I would shit it and move the ball to my right foot, but by this time Red 1 has strayed offside and Blue 1 is right on his arse. Blue 2 has also closed me down and forced me to turn around and go backwards. Red 1 is calling me a shit cunt.

But not this time. I've worked on my left and knocked the ball through first time with my left foot. Red 1 receives the ball and ends up doing fuck all but the chance was there. I call him a shit cunt.

I think it's piss poor that some/most footballers are so reluctant to use their opposite foot. If you watch Valencia play, and see it in context of "use both feet", that shit is hilarious

CollieBuddz wrote:

Laurencio wrote:

I'm not following the logic. Exactly why should they be competent with both their feet?

Either you're a complete moron or you're being a cocky twat again.

Going by experience it's most likely the latter.

How can you not follow the logic. A two footed player has an advantage over a one footed player. You can't disagree with that. Fair enough if it's a sunday league player who doesn't train who's one footed. But for professionals there's no excuse. They train nearly every week day. If they're can't even execute a 10 yard pass with their weak foot they should work on it. How can you dispute that.

I used to not even be able to kick a ball with my left. Then whenever I was having a kick around with my mates I would play for periods only with my left. It caused embarrassment a lot of the times but now I can pass, shoot, and sometimes cross with my left. If I can do it a professional can.

My game improved massively. If I received the ball on the left and needed to do a quick pass because a player was through, I could do it. Instead of having to shift the ball and giving my opponent vital time to close me down.

There is no excuse.

But go on, enlighten me with your drivel.

What's with the hostility?

I didn't say there wasn't an advantage to being two footed, there clearly is. Obviously any player who can would strive to become two footed, however not everyone have that sort of talent or ability. Some are born with the ability to use both feet equally, some are trained at a young age to rely on their weak foot, while others are trained to rely on their natural leg to achieve the best short-term results (the majority of youth coaches). As a result they became infinitely more competent with their natural foot than their weak foot.

Don't forget that these players are already several times better than the majority of players around the world, and it probably took considerable effort, practice and dedication to achieve relative competence with their natural foot. Add to that tactical education, different techniques that need to be learned, precision practice, etc, etc, and you are left with one foot which can do things most of us could only dream of, and another which compared to the majority is quite good, but not really on the level you would need for a professional to be considered "competent". Naturally you will keep using the foot you are most comfortable with, which will also yield the best results. Some, like Antonio Valencia and David Beckham, specialize their ability to the extreme by putting as much effort as possible into their natural foot and through that achieve a high accuracy rate with their natural foot.

They can probably all use their left foot to some degree, however compared to their natural foot it's simply not good enough. You may argue that they train enough to become highly competent with both, but unless you start at a very young age or put in several more hours of training, than achieving relative competence is very difficult. Most of them have already put in considerable time in order to reach the level of ability that has enabled them to become professionals, and I would guess most of them did so by training and improving their natural foot. It would take a massive amount of time, effort and practice to reach that level with both feet.

You really underestimate the level these players have reached.

The hostility is because of the arrogance. By saying "I don't follow your logic" is stupid. It was fairly obvious what he was getting at. You could see it but acted like you didn't because once again you just act like your p.o.v is correct and you disregard all others.

Where has anyone said they expect players to reach anywhere near the level of their stronger foot. This is about players who near enough refuse to use their weaker foot. You massively overestimate what players do in training. They train for about 3-4 hours a day. A lot of that is fitness and tactics. All it takes is an extra hour every day or so to just set up some targets and try hit them with the weaker foot. Nothing strenous, just getting your body/brain used to using the weaker foot.

Football is their lives, they don't understand how lucky they are to do what they're are doing. If they can't be arsed to put that extra bit in then they better have one of the best stronger feet in the world.

You don't understand at all. You strike me as a person who has mastered FM and read every tactics book there is and now thinks you've done it all but hasn't actually played the game.

I've played with and against (one being a player who played a big part in the second goal which took Northampton to penalties against Liverpool) semi and professional footballers. I don't underestimate the levels they've reached. Some have just been blessed with an athletic ability which they thought they could live off and they've got what they deserved out of the game.

You think every player is as dedicated as people like Ronaldo or something. You're wrong. Some are so fucking arrogant they think they don't have to put work in on the training ground. Don't talk out of your arse all the time.

CollieBuddz wrote:The hostility is because of the arrogance. By saying "I don't follow your logic" is stupid. It was fairly obvious what he was getting at. You could see it but acted like you didn't because once again you just act like your p.o.v is correct and you disregard all others.

Actually I don't see why being a professionals should mean that they should be competent with both feet. The fact that I don't follow the logic behind it is not a swipe, a sarcastic or a undermining comment. I simply don't see the logic behind it, which is why I asked. I am not disregarding anyone's point of view, nor am I claiming mine is the only correct one. I am asking for clarification, so your hostility is quite misplaced.

As for once again, I'm not sure where I have argued that my point of view is the only correct one before.

CollieBuddz wrote:
Where has anyone said they expect players to reach anywhere near the level of their stronger foot. This is about players who near enough refuse to use their weaker foot. You massively overestimate what players do in training. They train for about 3-4 hours a day. A lot of that is fitness and tactics. All it takes is an extra hour every day or so to just set up some targets and try hit them with the weaker foot. Nothing strenous, just getting your body/brain used to using the weaker foot.

For their weaker foot to be at all useful they would have to reach a level of relative competence. If your weaker foot can't handle the technique involved then it's a pointless move to make. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm saying it takes more than a little practice to become competent enough for it to become relevant in a professional match. A misplaced pass, a horrendous touch or a poorly taken shot can have a pretty big impact on a match.

CollieBuddz wrote:
Football is their lives, they don't understand how lucky they are to do what they're are doing. If they can't be arsed to put that extra bit in then they better have one of the best stronger feet in the world.

I don't follow that. If someone like Valencia or Beckham spend 2 hours more than their team mates every day practicing and training their natural foot, then those players who spend the regular amount of time on training would never be able to reach that level. Obviously if you are talented enough and lucky enough to become a professional footballer you should want to become the best one possible, but sadly I don't think that's how most of them think. I don't know how many players put in extra hours, but I don't think there's whole lot of them.

CollieBuddz wrote:
You don't understand at all. You strike me as a person who has mastered FM and read every tactics book there is and now thinks you've done it all but hasn't actually played the game.

I've played with and against (one being a player who played a big part in the second goal which took Northampton to penalties against Liverpool) professional footballers. I don't underestimate the levels they've reached. Some have just been blessed with an athletic ability which they thought they could live off and they've got what they deserved out of the game.

You think every player is as dedicated as people like Ronaldo or something. You're wrong. Some are so fucking arrogant they think they don't have to put work in on the training ground. Don't talk out of your arse all the time.

You're putting words into my mouth. What I said was that it would take a lot of effort and extra training to reach that level. I never said that they were all dedicated professionals, quite the opposite actually. The general level of training they go through at their club isn't enough to reach relative competence. As a result they would have to put in the extra hours, and as you said, many of them simply aren't bothered to do that. Those who are would in many cases be comparably competent with their weaker foot, exactly because they put in the extra hours.

I'm not arguing that it's not useful, nor am I arguing that it's not worth the extra training time. I'm arguing that being a professional footballer doesn't necessarily mean that they should be competent with both feet in a match situation.

I'm going to make my points clear then I'm done with this.

I'm not expecting any player to do anything world class with their weaker foot. You act like everything a top level player does, someone in the sunday league couldn't. They don't, a lot of players ONLY do the simple thing. There's a few players in the premiership who I believe have the technical ability of a top sunday league or saturday league player. They are professionals because of physical ability, positioning, and vision. All I expect is that IF the best option is to play a quick/short pass, or even shoot (there's a lot of strikers who refuse to shoot with their weaker foot and will often waste an opportunity trying to shift to the other side) they do it.

Now from personal experience I don't believe it's hard to build confidence using your weaker foot. I don't think I ever used my left foot until I was 19. The same with my mate who I play football with a lot. We both started training our weaker foot at the same time and in about the same length of time we both became confident using it. Again nothing out of the ordinary. Just if, for example, we're through on goal and the only option is to shoot with the left foot, we can do it and get it on target. The amount of times I'd previously just thought I'd have to get the ball on my right and ended up losing possession was ridiculous. I started scoring much more just because defenders couldn't just show me onto my weaker foot, because I was still atleast a bit of a threat and I could work the keeper. I'd say it took 20 hours (over a few months) to get to that level. It's not as hard as you're making it sound.

A shit shot on goal is better than losing possession.

Going by that, there is NO excuse why a player who plays football nearly everyday can't do that. You agree that a two footed player is better than a one footed player, so what are you arguing against? I'll repeat, I don't want them to train their weaker foot to be as good Beckham's or Valencia's stronger foot(I don't know what you were saying in that paragraph). I just expect a professional to use their weaker foot even if it's just a last resort.

If you argue against that, I'm sorry but you just don't know football.

If you're a footballer "relative competence" should be the bare minimum of the ability required for the opposite foot. Come on man.

Schnix wrote:well if you can travela like quaresma, why even bother improving your weaker foot

I remember watching that goal live. It was in the Euros right?

CollieBuddz wrote:I'm going to make my points clear then I'm done with this.

I'm not expecting any player to do anything world class with their weaker foot. You act like everything a top level player does, someone in the sunday league couldn't. They don't, a lot of players ONLY do the simple thing. There's a few players in the premiership who I believe have the technical ability of a top sunday league or saturday league player. They are professionals because of physical ability, positioning, and vision. All I expect is that IF the best option is to play a quick/short pass, or even shoot (there's a lot of strikers who refuse to shoot with their weaker foot and will often waste an opportunity trying to shift to the other side) they do it.

Now from personal experience I don't believe it's hard to build confidence using your weaker foot. I don't think I ever used my left foot until I was 19. The same with my mate who I play football with a lot. We both started training our weaker foot at the same time and in about the same length of time we both became confident using it. Again nothing out of the ordinary. Just if, for example, we're through on goal and the only option is to shoot with the left foot, we can do it and get it on target. The amount of times I'd previously just thought I'd have to get the ball on my right and ended up losing possession was ridiculous. I started scoring much more just because defenders couldn't just show me onto my weaker foot, because I was still atleast a bit of a threat and I could work the keeper. I'd say it took 20 hours (over a few months) to get to that level. It's not as hard as you're making it sound.

A shit shot on goal is better than losing possession.

Going by that, there is NO excuse why a player who plays football nearly everyday can't do that. You agree that a two footed player is better than a one footed player, so what are you arguing against? I'll repeat, I don't want them to train their weaker foot to be as good Beckham's or Valencia's stronger foot(I don't know what you were saying in that paragraph). I just expect a professional to use their weaker foot even if it's just a last resort.

If you argue against that, I'm sorry but you just don't know football.

I never argued against that. As I said there are a million arguments as to why two-footedness is useful. What I said was that it takes extra effort, and because of that some players won't bother because it is more work than they "need" to do. The fact that they are professional footballers doesn't mean that they all are willing to put in the dedication and effort required, that's all. Being a professional doesn't directly translate to relative competence, and professionals will have many excuses. Because it does take extra effort and it does come in addition to what they already do, and hopefully in addition to any extra work you put in, unless you are naturally gifted of course..

In some cases, perhaps even many cases, the club is at fault for not demanding this to be standarized training. In Barca, Inter and Ajax ( That I know of) training your weaker foot is part of the general training regime, and the youth departments have several weak foot only training sessions. In an environment like that it's easier than one where it comes as an additional hour or so on the training field.