BigDunc'sFod
Player Valuation: £35m
If everyone is skilled then adding hard work wins the day. If everyone is working hard, a creative flourish is the difference.
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evilwebby
Player Valuation: £50m
I don't disagree with the OP statement, and football is certainly littered with examples of talent that didn't work hard enough.
But just to play devil's advocate there is more to it than just "talent". In the book "The Sports Gene" by David Epstein, he looks into what truely makes world class athletes, and one of the conclusions is that your baseline talent is one factor, but another is your response to training. BOTH are (epi)genetic. Put simply, you can have very gifted athletes who have a high baseline but don't have a great response to training, and on the other hand you can have an athlete with a lower baseline but who is a high responder. Ideally of course, you want someone who has both a high baseline AND a high training response, but it is not always fair label those who did not quite live up to their early promise as lazy or not working hard enough, because they could well have simply have had a low training response.
Anyway, if you have time I would highly recommend checking out the book. A fascinating read.
But just to play devil's advocate there is more to it than just "talent". In the book "The Sports Gene" by David Epstein, he looks into what truely makes world class athletes, and one of the conclusions is that your baseline talent is one factor, but another is your response to training. BOTH are (epi)genetic. Put simply, you can have very gifted athletes who have a high baseline but don't have a great response to training, and on the other hand you can have an athlete with a lower baseline but who is a high responder. Ideally of course, you want someone who has both a high baseline AND a high training response, but it is not always fair label those who did not quite live up to their early promise as lazy or not working hard enough, because they could well have simply have had a low training response.
Anyway, if you have time I would highly recommend checking out the book. A fascinating read.
evilwebby
Player Valuation: £50m
I would say that Ronaldo is the greatest example of someone with both talent AND an unsatiable work ethic. He was renowned for putting in the extra hours. It's amazing that he is 32 and still in absolutely peak form.
Paul Rideout
Player Valuation: £40m
If he wasn't undervalued by Real Madrid then why was he deemed surplus to requirements and sold to Chelsea?
dave abrahams
Player Valuation: £8m
I often use three footballers to illistrate the way players go about their careers and add to the talent they have or haven't got. Two players who were big on Merseyside Alan Ball and Kevin Keegan were not born with natural skill, they were
talented but limited, both of them worked hard and continued with philophosy every day of their football life, Ball helped by his dad and Keegan mostly on his own dedication. They were never self satisfied, always putting in the extra work on the training ground to improve their skills. All this work paid off as their playing career shows, they were recognised all over the world for their ability, but it was, in the end all down to their need and want to be better than the natural ability they were born with.
Then take Joe Royle, born with all the natural skill most players would kill for, could use both feet, excellent ball control,
could beat a man, good hard shooting with both feet and a brilliant header of the ball. Even with all this Joe could have improved but he was too easy going, content with ability he had. Alan Ball used to roar at him in training, telling him to put more into his game.
Joe was still a very good player but never really improved, didn't work at his game, could have put more effort in. I know he had trouble with his back which didn't help but he really should have had a much better career than he had.
Talent means a lot but it can always be improved with hard work, the more you work at your game, staying behind after
training etc. the better you will become.
talented but limited, both of them worked hard and continued with philophosy every day of their football life, Ball helped by his dad and Keegan mostly on his own dedication. They were never self satisfied, always putting in the extra work on the training ground to improve their skills. All this work paid off as their playing career shows, they were recognised all over the world for their ability, but it was, in the end all down to their need and want to be better than the natural ability they were born with.
Then take Joe Royle, born with all the natural skill most players would kill for, could use both feet, excellent ball control,
could beat a man, good hard shooting with both feet and a brilliant header of the ball. Even with all this Joe could have improved but he was too easy going, content with ability he had. Alan Ball used to roar at him in training, telling him to put more into his game.
Joe was still a very good player but never really improved, didn't work at his game, could have put more effort in. I know he had trouble with his back which didn't help but he really should have had a much better career than he had.
Talent means a lot but it can always be improved with hard work, the more you work at your game, staying behind after
training etc. the better you will become.
You mean on there " day players " which are still about.....
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