by ferrarilover » 08 Nov 2012, 02:24
I think Torquay Boy has a good point, I agree that our chaps seem always to get a bit excited.
I used an analogy in conversation on this topic a while ago, which relates to sports car drivers. I'm not talking about F1 here, just the enthusiastic weekend racers with their Renault Clios and Honda Civics, stripped, caged and fitted with Toyo R888s, belting round Brands and Coombe on a Sunday afternoon. These guys will get quicker lap on lap, because they will have some idea of the maximum speed at which they can attack each bend on a lap, but that speed will gradually increase as the race goes on, until one lap, they overcook an entry speed, or squeeze on just slightly too early and end up with two wheels on the grass. The speed at which this occurs varies according to driver and is based on their talent (since all the cars are identical) It's at that point that they know precisely how fast that bend can be driven, and they stick to it. The same theory can be practiced in football. Start off, 18 yards out, dead centre of goal and just dolly the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Then, do it again but a little bit harder, repeat until you miss, then throttle back on the power and that is pretty much (the abridged version, of course) how hard you can strike a ball from that position to get it reliably on target into the bottom corner.
We see it when the lads are warming up doing that shooting drill. They all, to a man, try to blast the ball as hard as they can, and they all, to a man, miss with a good 90% of their efforts. When I recently had cause to attend Liverpool v Swansea, LFC did the same drill, but rather than just hit the ball as hard as possible and hope, they took the line of first ensuring they hit the target (which 80% of shots did), then being concerned with power later in the drill. The majority of the shots were, in fact, hit considerably harder than any of our boys could possibly conceive of, but then, we are talking about Gerrard and Suarez here. But it was the astounding accuracy which struck me. Every shot, whether struck powerfully or not, was nicely on target and offered the keeper (Doni, I think) absolutely no chance.
How hard is it lads? Yes, I understand that your £50 goal bonus will buy lots of FIFA credits (or whatever children's game is flavour of the month this week), but how about trying to hit the target first, and burst the back of the net second?
Further proof, have a look at the goals of both Van Persie and Oscar tonight in the Champions League. Neither of them easy finishes, and both a million times more difficult than the majority of the chances we spurn every week, yet both took their time, got their shots off accurately and with just the requisite power. Equally the Celtic winner (what a result that is, by the way!). Almost identical to the Bodin chance against Harrogate (except from the other side, and I'll concede Bodin had an attending defender at close quarters), the Celtic lad composes himself and opts for a classy finish across the keeper, Bodin opts to attempt to set the world record for first football in space and hits it, with the most agricultural hack of a left boot you'll see this side of Hackney Marshes on a Saturday afternoon, and hits the roof of the away end, very, very hard.
The goal is 8 yards (24 feet) wide and 8 feet tall, meaning it takes up an area of 192 feet^2. A goalkeeper with his hands up is 8 feet tall and can jump 8 feet, giving him an effective height of 10 feet. Apply some High School mathematics (too American?) and we see that that allows him to cover an area of 157 feet^2 (of which an amount I can't be arsed to calculate) is wasted by being above the crossbar, this will be somewhere in the order of 8% of the total area covered by the goalkeeper. This leaves us with 47.5 feet^2 of unprotectable goal to hit. A ball is about a square foot, meaning there are 47.5 wholly unique positions to hit where the keeper won't be able to reach the ball. From just 54 feet away (18 yards), how hard can it really be? Power is no the answer, regardless of the power in a shot, if the keeper can't reach it, he can't reach it.
Matt.
I think Torquay Boy has a good point, I agree that our chaps seem always to get a bit excited.
I used an analogy in conversation on this topic a while ago, which relates to sports car drivers. I'm not talking about F1 here, just the enthusiastic weekend racers with their Renault Clios and Honda Civics, stripped, caged and fitted with Toyo R888s, belting round Brands and Coombe on a Sunday afternoon. These guys will get quicker lap on lap, because they will have some idea of the maximum speed at which they can attack each bend on a lap, but that speed will gradually increase as the race goes on, until one lap, they overcook an entry speed, or squeeze on just slightly too early and end up with two wheels on the grass. The speed at which this occurs varies according to driver and is based on their talent (since all the cars are identical) It's at that point that they know precisely how fast that bend can be driven, and they stick to it. The same theory can be practiced in football. Start off, 18 yards out, dead centre of goal and just dolly the ball into the bottom corner of the net. Then, do it again but a little bit harder, repeat until you miss, then throttle back on the power and that is pretty much (the abridged version, of course) how hard you can strike a ball from that position to get it reliably on target into the bottom corner.
We see it when the lads are warming up doing that shooting drill. They all, to a man, try to blast the ball as hard as they can, and they all, to a man, miss with a good 90% of their efforts. When I recently had cause to attend Liverpool v Swansea, LFC did the same drill, but rather than just hit the ball as hard as possible and hope, they took the line of first ensuring they hit the target (which 80% of shots did), then being concerned with power later in the drill. The majority of the shots were, in fact, hit considerably harder than any of our boys could possibly conceive of, but then, we are talking about Gerrard and Suarez here. But it was the astounding accuracy which struck me. Every shot, whether struck powerfully or not, was nicely on target and offered the keeper (Doni, I think) absolutely no chance.
How hard is it lads? Yes, I understand that your £50 goal bonus will buy lots of FIFA credits (or whatever children's game is flavour of the month this week), but how about trying to hit the target first, and burst the back of the net second?
Further proof, have a look at the goals of both Van Persie and Oscar tonight in the Champions League. Neither of them easy finishes, and both a million times more difficult than the majority of the chances we spurn every week, yet both took their time, got their shots off accurately and with just the requisite power. Equally the Celtic winner (what a result that is, by the way!). Almost identical to the Bodin chance against Harrogate (except from the other side, and I'll concede Bodin had an attending defender at close quarters), the Celtic lad composes himself and opts for a classy finish across the keeper, Bodin opts to attempt to set the world record for first football in space and hits it, with the most agricultural hack of a left boot you'll see this side of Hackney Marshes on a Saturday afternoon, and hits the roof of the away end, very, very hard.
The goal is 8 yards (24 feet) wide and 8 feet tall, meaning it takes up an area of 192 feet^2. A goalkeeper with his hands up is 8 feet tall and can jump 8 feet, giving him an effective height of 10 feet. Apply some High School mathematics (too American?) and we see that that allows him to cover an area of 157 feet^2 (of which an amount I can't be arsed to calculate) is wasted by being above the crossbar, this will be somewhere in the order of 8% of the total area covered by the goalkeeper. This leaves us with 47.5 feet^2 of unprotectable goal to hit. A ball is about a square foot, meaning there are 47.5 wholly unique positions to hit where the keeper won't be able to reach the ball. From just 54 feet away (18 yards), how hard can it really be? Power is no the answer, regardless of the power in a shot, if the keeper can't reach it, he can't reach it.
Matt.
