Muscle

[Keef Chedwyn]

Stop trying to make a point, that would be a good place to end this.

Now?

 

[Bladesway]

I'm not commenting on Baxters diet ....... more the fact that our miniature skilful players will NEVER influence this Division because they get decked and no foul is given at this level. Evidence ...... sumo style throw on Scougal at Bradford.
We are too small, too slow and too weak, at the moment, for this Division ..... as evidenced by our league position and getting beaten in the semis by a team that were stuffed in the final.
UTB & FTP

You can change that with 2 or 3 players. A centre half (perhaps 2) and a central midfield "enforcer". You are way too cut and dried with your assumptions in my opinion.

 

[Pinchy]

No-one fights the corner for proper football more ferociously than I. However, I do, to the surprise of some, appreciate the need for pace, power and athleticism but only founded on a sine qua non platform of talent. This elusive combination crystallised in the Arsenal Invincibles. It made them....err.....invincible.

We do need an infusion of height, power, pace and athleticism; of that I have no doubt whatsoever. But here's the rub for Bladey Blades...no room at the inn for Tel and young Louis I'm afraid...

 

[wizadry]

The point I'm making is that although it's a contact sport, and that upper body strength may help, my view is that there are enough examples of what might be called players of slight build who excelled in football - Strachan, Archie Gemmill. Giles, Hazard, Iniesta, are a few who come to mind - to counter the near obsession with muscularity. I can understand why a trend has developed towards this type of thing, but it doesn't actually make for better players. Returning to the example of Messi, he's shown enough times that brawn can be left floundering against his relatively meagre build, but then I suppose that applies to most players he plays against.

This for me is where people don't understand weak and strong in accordance with size iiyb. Messi might be small but he isn't weak, he's quite stocky and rarely gets shrugged off the ball, so is Hazard (never gets shrugged of and rarely tackled) and so is Iniesta, i can't speak for the others as they were a tad too early for me.

What the OP says is pretty much spot on, if Murphy, our best player coincidently was as strong as some of the players mentioned, he doesn't need to go body building but he just needs to put that bit of extra work in the gym, he'd be an even better player than he is now and would propably be playing in the Prem as a result of this, some of our other players have to follow suit aswell.

What i'm trying to say is you can be small but still strong and the examples you are using are exactly this, alternatively our players are small and weak, there's a bit of a difference mate and it's this that we need to balance out over the next couple of months.

 

[itsinyerblood]

This for me is where people don't understand weak and strong in accordance with size iiyb. Messi might be small but he isn't weak, he's quite stocky and rarely gets shrugged off the ball, so is Hazard (never gets shrugged of and rarely tackled) and so is Iniesta, i can't speak for the others as they were a tad too early for me.

What the OP says is pretty much spot on, if Murphy, our best player coincidently was as strong as some of the players mentioned, he doesn't need to go body building but he just needs to put that bit of extra work in the gym, he'd be an even better player than he is now and would propably be playing in the Prem as a result of this, some of our other players have to follow suit aswell.

What i'm trying to say is you can be small but still strong and the examples you are using are exactly this, alternatively our players are small and weak, there's a bit of a difference mate and it's this that we need to balance out over the next couple of months.

Not sure who your first line is directed at wiz, was it a conversational trick where you were discussing other people with myself? Or was it aimed at me?

None of the posts I wrote on this mentioned weakness, not sure where you got that from. I made it quite clear that what was required was balance, both in physique and those areas of athleticism that can make so much difference. The one point I did stress is not to sacrifice talent to a philosophy that is blind to what a player can bring to the team. And yes, I do recognise what strength is when it's added to a diminutive player's upper torso. It has to be applied proportionately so as not to give the appearance of a mini Bill Bixby.

I also think that a topic like this can become something of a fashion blog. No doubt we'll have small players in future, but if they impress then we'll hear no more about their physical limitations. The question is not so much about small players, it's that we have too many of them. Getting that balance throughout the squad is what's needed, so that players of lesser physique have protectors when necessary. The very last thing I want is to see us overburdened with either end of the physical spectrum. What I do want is to see quality players appear in our shirt, so whether that's an uncompromising center half who leaves no one in doubt as to his intentions, a midfielder with either guile and silky skill or a crunching tackle that can break up play, or a forward who doesn't fanny about and knows what his job involves, to score goals and assist in the scoring of goals. I don't think any supporter will care if a future Blade happens to be slight in stature or someone the opposition bounce off, just as long as they're good enough.

 

[Darthblade]

I'm not disagreeing about the fact that we're overburdened with small players. My feelings regarding this are at odds with most posts on this subject as it seems to have become a fashionable theme that forgets the previous 4 seasons in this division. Then we were simply shit, now we're shit and small. The longer we're in this poxy division the more reasons we'll find for our failure. Yes, we need more physical balance, but lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater. If we see a truly talented player whose physique is on the small side, let's not dismiss him simply because he's not built like a brick shithouse.

I agree with you ...... we don't want to return to the piggy hoof style, however, we do need players who can "look after themselves" whilst playing decent, fast attacking football.

I'm a fan of Scougal, Baxter, Reed, Murphy, Flynn etc but I believe that in this agricultural division, with the incompetent, crap referees we get for league games, we will never escape from L1 with the current squad.

Look at the teams that have been promoted in the last few years ....... none of them were a diminutive squad like ours.
UTB & FTP

 

[itsinyerblood]

I agree with you ...... we don't want to return to the piggy hoof style, however, we do need players who can "look after themselves" whilst playing decent, fast attacking football.

I'm a fan of Scougal, Baxter, Reed, Murphy, Flynn etc but I believe that in this agricultural division, with the incompetent, crap referees we get for league games, we will never escape from L1 with the current squad.

Look at the teams that have been promoted in the last few years ....... none of them were a diminutive squad like ours.
UTB & FTP

Don't imagine this is directed towards you Darth, but in all my posts on this topic I've said exactly that, we need balance, as all decent teams do. Why anyone thinks I'm waving a flag for players under 4'6" is beyond me. I wish, before posting, anyone wishing to write to me would actually read what I've written. That way it'll inform before a post is entered into, saving the poster, and myself, the waste of energy it takes to correct this mistaken view.

 

[wizadry]

Not sure who your first line is directed at wiz, was it a conversational trick where you were discussing other people with myself? Or was it aimed at me?

None of the posts I wrote on this mentioned weakness, not sure where you got that from. I made it quite clear that what was required was balance, both in physique and those areas of athleticism that can make so much difference. The one point I did stress is not to sacrifice talent to a philosophy that is blind to what a player can bring to the team. And yes, I do recognise what strength is when it's added to a diminutive player's upper torso. It has to be applied proportionately so as not to give the appearance of a mini Bill Bixby.

I also think that a topic like this can become something of a fashion blog. No doubt we'll have small players in future, but if they impress then we'll hear no more about their physical limitations. The question is not so much about small players, it's that we have too many of them. Getting that balance throughout the squad is what's needed, so that players of lesser physique have protectors when necessary. The very last thing I want is to see us overburdened with either end of the physical spectrum. What I do want is to see quality players appear in our shirt, so whether that's an uncompromising center half who leaves no one in doubt as to his intentions, a midfielder with either guile and silky skill or a crunching tackle that can break up play, or a forward who doesn't fanny about and knows what his job involves, to score goals and assist in the scoring of goals. I don't think any supporter will care if a future Blade happens to be slight in stature or someone the opposition bounce off, just as long as they're good enough.

It was a post on the topic at hand and not specifically aimed at you, sorry i didn't state that mate. Some of the things in your post however did bring me to some of the conclusions i ended up writing, that's the reason i quoted you but on the whole it was just a generalisation and no more in which some people do get confused in that they think small people are automatically not strong enough when that quite clearly isn't the case, although it is with our team.