2021/22 Dominic Calvert-Lewin

[Littlesue]

Ball never smoked, didn't drink much, his vice was gambling, no rose tinted glasses either, there was no cocaine around in them days, if you think modern player's all stay away from that stuff and all other temptation you would be wrong, they're not all as squeaky clean as you think.

Spot on, they may not smoke but they replaced it with other vices, coke, cocktails and easy women lol

 

[Steve Wigan]

There will always be individuals, but as a general rule, players are far fitter now. Sports science has defeliped performance levels enormously. Players look after themselves far more, follow diets etc.

The great thing about Bally was that he did all the simple things about the game, control, passing, movement,awareness, very very well indeed. Consequently he was always 'in the game'. Unlike, for example Alex Young, who could be absolutely outstanding, but disappeared for part of the time, particularly in away games.

 

[roy vernon]

Ball was the fittest player I've ever seen, if he was around today he would be held in the same regard as Messi, believe me, he was that good.

The best player, bar none, I ever saw in a blue jersey, it would cost a kings ransom to buy him today. Mr, Perpetual Motion, Colin Bell at City was another phenomenally fit player, also it has to be remembered, they played their football on energy sapping mud heaps with barely a blade of grass during the winter and each player would have been expected to play a minimum of 42 games per season, if they were a first choice player.

When you add into that the brutal nature of the tackling back in those days, the lads back then were very fit, just in a different way. For the younger lads who think football was rubbish back then, just have a look at some footage of the Everton team of the late 60’s, or take a look at players from that era like Best, Charlton and Greaves. Sky didn’t invent good footballers.

 

[Cow kecks]

The best player, bar none, I ever saw in a blue jersey, it would cost a kings ransom to buy him today. Mr, Perpetual Motion, Colin Bell at City was another phenomenally fit player, also it has to be remembered, they played their football on energy sapping mud heaps with barely a blade of grass during the winter and each player would have been expected to play a minimum of 42 games per season, if they were a first choice player.

When you add into that the brutal nature of the tackling back in those days, the lads back then were very fit, just in a different way. For the younger lads who think football was rubbish back then, just have a look at some footage of the Everton team of the late 60’s, or take a look at players from that era like Best, Charlton and Greaves. Sky didn’t invent good footballers.

I don't know if you have done stadium tour but I did a couple of years back, it was conducted by Mark Higgins, a truely nice man, he was talking about modern player's and how pampered they are.Outside the treatment room he was telling me he spent most of the time in there getting pain killing injections before and at halftime on matchday, he said Sharpie used to give him load's of sympathy, not because of his though, he was just terrified of needles!

 

[Cow kecks]

I don't know if you have done stadium tour but I did a couple of years back, it was conducted by Mark Higgins, a truely nice man, he was talking about modern player's and how pampered they are.Outside the treatment room he was telling me he spent most of the time in there getting pain killing injections before and at halftime on matchday, he said Sharpie used to give him load's of sympathy, not because of his though, he was just terrified of needles!

Not because of his injuries ?

I don't know if you have done stadium tour but I did a couple of years back, it was conducted by Mark Higgins, a truely nice man, he was talking about modern player's and how pampered they are.Outside the treatment room he was telling me he spent most of the time in there getting pain killing injections before and at halftime on matchday, he said Sharpie used to give him load's of sympathy, not because of his though, he was just terrified of needles!

 

[Bluestar]

By sports science do you mean enhancement?

No, I mean the discipline around training , fitness and diet that generate elite performance. It is now a recognised field studied at university.

Players have access to many different types of coaching to help them, dieticians, conditioning coaches, sports psychologists etc. None of that existed before the 90s to any significant degree. It is now routine and all footballers in the PL are miles fitter on average than they used to be.

 

[Cow kecks]

No, I mean the discipline around training , fitness and diet that generate elite performance. It is now a recognised field studied at university.

Players have access to many different types of coaching to help them, dieticians, conditioning coaches, sports psychologists etc. None of that existed before the 90s to any significant degree. It is now routine and all footballers in the PL are miles fitter on average than they used to be.

I've no doubt they are a lot better looked after today but I still stand by my belief that having all these things doesn't make them better at actual football, most of them are strong runners! How many of today's player's can't actually pass a ball 5 yard's? Bigger and fitter still doesn't make them good, Messi is a dwarf in the game today but he can play real football!

 

[Vaughan]

I don't know how old you are but I can remember a time when you could only have one sub, that core group needed to be injury resistant/play though as best they could. Sure everyone gets a proper injury at somepoint and that's a bit different, but each player knew that if you have a prolonged spell on the sidelines then there's a possibility if your replacement comes in does a good job you are out the door. Without the mega bucks of today, that meant not putting money on the table.

Since the evolution of squads, pay, employment laws and the number of substitutions per game have increased it does appear that more players suffer from all kinds of niggles that your 70's/80's counterparts would have played through. Now yes this could be that they are more finely tuned and thus a bit more on the limit and they probably run faster and clock up more miles but it's also plain to see this generation are a bit more softer, weaker mentally than the older ones where generally you had to grow up a bit faster.

How much can be apportioned is up for debate but there is no doubt there is a link that these modern players that have good contracts, they get paid whatever and don't need to push themselves quite as hard as ones way back that would just be shown the door.

And none of them can run anymore and all have dementia. Let’s bring it back

 

[Bluestar]

The best player, bar none, I ever saw in a blue jersey, it would cost a kings ransom to buy him today. Mr, Perpetual Motion, Colin Bell at City was another phenomenally fit player, also it has to be remembered, they played their football on energy sapping mud heaps with barely a blade of grass during the winter and each player would have been expected to play a minimum of 42 games per season, if they were a first choice player.

When you add into that the brutal nature of the tackling back in those days, the lads back then were very fit, just in a different way. For the younger lads who think football was rubbish back then, just have a look at some footage of the Everton team of the late 60’s, or take a look at players from that era like Best, Charlton and Greaves. Sky didn’t invent good footballers.

Of course there were goood footballers, there is no denying it. The point is that for all sorts of reasons, fitness and technique have improved through knowledge, understanding and technique. The PL is a far higher standard than the old Division One. It has the pick of world players. Even teams in tgd bottom half are stuffed with internationals.

The league pays eye watering salaries and has performance services to match.

 

[Cow kecks]

And none of them can run anymore and all have dementia. Let’s bring it back

All have dementia,I find that very insulting to all the ex player's who are still very intelligent.Dementia is not exclusive just to footballers, people from all walks of life contract it! My mother suffered with it and she never played football. Anyway, let's get back on topic and talk about Dom, did you know that when the player's get into their training gear they at Finch farm they can have their clothes dry cleaned for when they are finished training? I'm sure Dom being very fashion conscious absolutely loves that!!!!

 

[Jeff Jones]

The game is far faster and athletic now. Players used to go out and get canned the night before games. It simply wouldn’t happen anymore. Players ar3 athletes.

If you watch games from the 70’s and 80’s they are comically bad. There is no comparison to the current PL where the best players from aroundvthe globe ply their trade.

There was lengthy footage of an Everton home game we won 3-1 in 1967 here recently which I watched for about 20 minutes and
the quality of the football was better than anything I see now. I made a note of the thread intending to go back to it, but lost it.

 

[Bluestar]

There was lengthy footage of an Everton home game we won 3-1 in 1967 here recently which I watched for about 20 minutes and
the quality of the football was better than anything I see now. I made a note of the thread intending to go back to it, but lost it.

I watched some of the classic games from the eighties and they are terrible.

 

[Cow kecks]

I watched some of the classic games from the eighties and they are terrible.

Depends on who you were watching, if it was rs games you're right, they were terrible to watch.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Is Dom back in full contact training?

 

[Jeff Jones]

I watched some of the classic games from the eighties and they are terrible.

Which has nothing to do with what I said. I watch most of the matches played in the twenty twenties and most of them are terrible.