In football we love a superlative; great players are described as world-class, good goals are described as fantastic, and a routine save becomes unbelievable! It seems that when it comes to the game remaining objective is much easier said than done.
As a fan it is difficult keeping things in perspective, you naturally lean towards speaking favourably about the team you support and its players and this ultimately leads to overpraise. A fan favourite will often be overhyped when in reality he is little more than a good footballer; everything he does will be deemed incredible when in fact he has done little more than keep the ball. Now consider an opposing fan's opinion on the very same player; useless, overrated and profanities will often be used. When offering an opinion it seems that rationality is excluded.
There are different ways you can measure the quality of a player/situation: you can compare player against player, you can assess the impact a player has on games, you can consider a single situation and the effect it had on the outcome of the game. However in every case it is all relative, no single moment should be definitive. A save can only be as good as the shot, a tackle can only be as important as what happens next, and a goal can only be as good as the difficulty of its execution.
To be considered world class surely a player needs to be widely accepted as one of the best three in his position? It does not discredit a player to call him very good, but does calling a very good player world class not devalue the greats?
Goalkeepers are subjected to the overhyped praise and unfair criticism more than most. A relatively simple save is wonderful, but a conceeding a goal can be described as poor goalkeeping. Goalkeepers make saves because they have trained to do so, goalkeepers conceed goals because outfield players practice scoring - something has to give.
In our minds football is a game of intricate passes, world-beating dribbles and wonder goals; but in reality it is more keeping it simple, over hit passes and tap-ins.
Here's to another weekend of mediocre football with an abundance of average, a sprinkle of good, and hopefully a moment of class.
As a fan it is difficult keeping things in perspective, you naturally lean towards speaking favourably about the team you support and its players and this ultimately leads to overpraise. A fan favourite will often be overhyped when in reality he is little more than a good footballer; everything he does will be deemed incredible when in fact he has done little more than keep the ball. Now consider an opposing fan's opinion on the very same player; useless, overrated and profanities will often be used. When offering an opinion it seems that rationality is excluded.
There are different ways you can measure the quality of a player/situation: you can compare player against player, you can assess the impact a player has on games, you can consider a single situation and the effect it had on the outcome of the game. However in every case it is all relative, no single moment should be definitive. A save can only be as good as the shot, a tackle can only be as important as what happens next, and a goal can only be as good as the difficulty of its execution.
To be considered world class surely a player needs to be widely accepted as one of the best three in his position? It does not discredit a player to call him very good, but does calling a very good player world class not devalue the greats?
Goalkeepers are subjected to the overhyped praise and unfair criticism more than most. A relatively simple save is wonderful, but a conceeding a goal can be described as poor goalkeeping. Goalkeepers make saves because they have trained to do so, goalkeepers conceed goals because outfield players practice scoring - something has to give.
In our minds football is a game of intricate passes, world-beating dribbles and wonder goals; but in reality it is more keeping it simple, over hit passes and tap-ins.
Here's to another weekend of mediocre football with an abundance of average, a sprinkle of good, and hopefully a moment of class.
Football Minded,I think the perception of a performance in in the eye of the critic.Thats a good thing because unlike many statistic heavy sports, opinions run myriad in football because you can have a debate about soccer. Its hard to argue points where the statistics tell a big story but in footie corners dont man much,nor does possession or how many times the CB picks his nose.
ReplyDeleteThis abstractness allows these opinions.
Im amazed that in footie one can make a statement and hear in no uncertain terms that what you thought was completely off the mark.
There are no such dichotomies in American sports for instance.The statistics ARE the story.
No give me football any day and its viewpoints.
As far as the quality versus Mediocre,its really like anything else. Average and occssionally Good happens and sometimes something special will happen but whats assured is it bwill happen when IT wants and not when we expect it!
Ronnie (Spurs Canada)