Wheres the skill?

[Davy]

Commentators every week ask the same question of Scottish footballers and heres my theory. Over the 80's and 90's there was a big push to get back to basics. Go to any training pitch and you would have seen players playing one or two touch football, in order they learned crisp sharp passing. Zoom forward to Hibs games recently. When have you seen a player holding a ball for more than 2 secs? They get the ball and spray it around, often aimlessly and it ends up back to the keeper. Im all for crisp passing if there is a purpose to it. Remember playing with your mates in the local park. Who did you hate most? Usually the guy who held the ball forever and was known as the greedy one. Yet I bet more of the greedy players went on to better things! They were learning to hold the ball comfily when about 20 others were all scrapping for a tap. And then when we played with gates as posts and maybe a tennis ball. You had to be pretty accurate to score in a gate with someone in goals. Nowadays kids play with huge goalposts and can simply lob the keeper, until the keeper grows and catches the ball easily because the kids have not learned about positioning the ball and watching the moves of the keeper.

How I long for a player at ER again who is comforable on the ball and isnt afraid to hold onto it. I doubt its a coincidence that Sauzee, Mixu, Latapy, O'Neil, Harper, Murphy were all non Scots. What happened to the greedy (but skillfull players you played with as a boy, did they play amateur/junior etc or rise higher)

Discuss!

 

[Jack]

The way Scottish football is played I fear most of these players are in orbit, probably still on the way up!

 

[Beagle]

Commentators every week ask the same question of Scottish footballers and heres my theory. Over the 80's and 90's there was a big push to get back to basics. Go to any training pitch and you would have seen players playing one or two touch football, in order they learned crisp sharp passing. Zoom forward to Hibs games recently. When have you seen a player holding a ball for more than 2 secs? They get the ball and spray it around, often aimlessly and it ends up back to the keeper. Im all for crisp passing if there is a purpose to it. Remember playing with your mates in the local park. Who did you hate most? Usually the guy who held the ball forever and was known as the greedy one. Yet I bet more of the greedy players went on to better things! They were learning to hold the ball comfily when about 20 others were all scrapping for a tap. And then when we played with gates as posts and maybe a tennis ball. You had to be pretty accurate to score in a gate with someone in goals. Nowadays kids play with huge goalposts and can simply lob the keeper, until the keeper grows and catches the ball easily because the kids have not learned about positioning the ball and watching the moves of the keeper.

How I long for a player at ER again who is comforable on the ball and isnt afraid to hold onto it. I doubt its a coincidence that Sauzee, Mixu, Latapy, O'Neil, Harper, Murphy were all non Scots. What happened to the greedy (but skillfull players you played with as a boy, did they play amateur/junior etc or rise higher)

Discuss!

That's how me and my mates used to play in the street and at school lunch break. You're spot on with ball control and shooting accuracy. I went on to be a regular 25-26 goals per season player at amateur level - no' bad for a left winger.