Details from the Middlesbrough game

[Ned the Donkey]

I'm pretty sure one very famous cricketer bowled right-handed and threw left-handed (or was it vice versa) - I thought it was Fred Trueman but Googling isn't turning anything up.

 

[themaninblack]

I'm pretty sure one very famous cricketer bowled right-handed and threw left-handed (or was it vice versa) - I thought it was Fred Trueman but Googling isn't turning anything up.

Jack Leach did that at least once yesterday

 

[themaninblack]

Jack Leach did that at least once yesterday

Er, bowled with his left, threw with his right

 

[Wapping Blade]

I’m very right footed/handed (but scored plenty of goals with my left foot) but lead with my left foot running.

 

[Silent Blade]

Am right handed at everything apart from opening "hard to open" bottle tops and eating

 

[VM198]

I have a couple of ‘trivia’ questions from last night’s game, small details, but perhaps with wider implications. I wonder if anyone knows the answers (I don’t).
1. We started the game with 6 left-footed players (goalie, 4 of back 5, Fleck). Has this ever happened before? With the absence of Baldock, Bogle and Basham, it was remarkable that such an ‘unbalanced’ back 5 played so well as a unit. If only JOC was fit, we could rest Egan and go for a full house!
2. In the ‘old days’, it was common for away teams to make us kick the wrong way (towards Lane End second half). It rarely seems to happen now. Does anyone know whether stats show that this ploy actually worked? Assuming it was Wilder’s tactic last night, I think it backfired - the team were clearly up for it from the start, and seemed to pick up from the noise on the Kop quickly. We have quite often been slow starters recently, and perhaps kicking towards the Lane End in the first half is a factor. Any thoughts?

I'm one of your biggest supporters, if you don't know and of the same generation, as I think you know.
So, I am a tad amazed about question one. Pro footballers should all be two footed, other wise your soon sussed and half your game is gone.
Question two. Once over the white line its a football pitch and your in your element. Know the geography of it if not the topography. I, like you I'm sure, have played on pitches where a sat nav would have been useful forgetting around, couldn't see one wing from the other or could only see the crossbar of the opposing goal.
Think it's just a supporters thing. When you play you can influence matters, when you don't you look for things like this as a substitute for not being able to influence.
I prefer blades to kick Lane end first.
Personal observation HBT, no criticism. UTB.

 

[wak1889]

Same as me. Left handed, left footed. Any sport that requires holding an implement with 2 hands (golf, cricket) I played right handed but anything 1 handed (tennis, badminton) is left handed.

Exactly the same here

 

[wak1889]

Exactly the same here

Although at work I use my right hand to operate my mouse

 

[WalkelyFan]

I remember (around 2008 Messi scored a hat trick - right, left and header.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Are left footed players predominantly left handed too? Asking for a friend. Wondered if anyone knew.

Harry Boyes is left footed & right handed.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I’m right handed but am actually far more dexterous with my left hand, which I put down to being a guitarist. If anything fiddly needs doing its always the left hand.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

My left hand is just there for balance and holding a fork unless I need to open a jar then it comes into it’s own. At football though I’m genuinely two footed, which has always added to my anger about professional players who don’t even try.

 

[N20 Blade]

Harry Boyes is left footed & right handed.

Billy v qpr back in the day.

 

[N20 Blade]

I remember (around 2008 Messi scored a hat trick - right, left and header.

Billy v qpr back in the day.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

I'm one of your biggest supporters, if you don't know and of the same generation, as I think you know.
So, I am a tad amazed about question one. Pro footballers should all be two footed, other wise your soon sussed and half your game is gone.
Question two. Once over the white line its a football pitch and your in your element. Know the geography of it if not the topography. I, like you I'm sure, have played on pitches where a sat nav would have been useful forgetting around, couldn't see one wing from the other or could only see the crossbar of the opposing goal.
Think it's just a supporters thing. When you play you can influence matters, when you don't you look for things like this as a substitute for not being able to influence.
I prefer blades to kick Lane end first.
Personal observation HBT, no criticism. UTB.

Please question what I say as often as you want. The older you get, the more you realise that there are so many things you don’t know (or have forgotten). All these years watching football, and there is so much I don’t know. I hope I am always willing to learn.
On the specific topics: I am sure all professional footballers are better with their wrong foot than I ever was with my good foot, but I don’t think many are genuinely two-footed (where it’s hard to know whether they are right- or left-footed).
On kicking the wrong way, I always assumed that the likes of Liverpool benefitted from kicking towards the Kop second-half, but maybe it’s a myth, all part of the psychology. Hodgy always said he played best in front of a big, noisy crowd, but in his case it was the Liverpool Kop or the Stretford end motivating the opposing keeper. And I always assumed that under Covid, with no fans, the home advantage seemed to disappear, and that was because of the fans’ absence. Footballers are public performers, and we all like an audience. But stats may well show that most goals are scored second-half, as tiredness sets in. The only thing I am sure of is that for some reason we don’t often ‘kick the wrong way’ nowadays. Which suits me, because sitting behind the Kop goal, it looks much bigger than the goal at the Lane end, so is a nightmare for defending a 1-0 lead! Football is all about the point of view.
Do keep your questions, observations, memories coming. The more, the merrier.