Poll: Footballers: Fit athlete's or big girls blouses?

choose..

  • Fit Athlete's

    Votes: 43 50.0%

  • Big bunch of girls blouses

    Votes: 43 50.0%
  • Total voters
    86

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Watching a report on the Newcastle - Liverpool match which I assume was played yesterday evening where Liverpool won 2-0 I was rather taken aback when the Liverpool manager commented on what he thought was poore ball control in the sec half. And the excuse he gave that there might had been some tiredness from a previous mid week game.

Is this possible? I thought footballers were very fit yet it serms they can only fit enough for one 90+ minutes performance once a week. This cannot be right surely as the World cup finals would need to be spread over a year.

Or is it just another excuse from a manager to explain away a poor work ethic from his team? I am not a football fan so I may well have missed such a comment. But I do not think I have ever heard a manager call his team a bunch of lazy so and so's after a poor performance even when it is blatantly obvious that this was the case.
 
They're elite tier athletes playing professional sport in one of the most demanding league competitions in the world.

To call footballers big girls blouses is a meaningless and lazy stereotype.

The Liverpool manager was simply managing the news. Just because he said it, doesnt necessarily follow that he meant it.
 
mike gunnz said:
They're elite tier athletes playing professional sport in one of the most demanding league competitions in the world.

To call footballers big girls blouses is a meaningless and lazy stereotype.

The Liverpool manager was simply managing the news. Just because he said it, doesnt necessarily follow that he meant it.
Click to expand...

It is not the first time I have heard the excuse of a midweek game causing tiredness and affecting a weekend game. So are footballers fit or not or is one 90 minutes game all they can manage?
 
Many times I've heard Managers, Commentators and TV Pundits use it as an excuse but I've never heard a player use it as an excuse.
They should be capable of playing a full 90 minutes every day with no side effects, lets face it, they do train nearly every day for hours.
 
They are fit athletes, no doubt about that, but at the same time they are big girls blouses!

Edit: removed my comments to keep it on track. They should be able to play 90 mins multiple times each week without poor effect on their performance
 
Big girls blouses when any other player gets within an inch of them or they trip over i would say most are pretty fit and if they have pushed hard in training or mid week game then it might explain it but honestly given what they are paid they should be making sure they can last for two games a week
 
Big girls blouses, a sport for the weak haha.

But seriously i don't think they are all that fit compared to other sports and the Olympics.

"Performance data shows that a top footballer can cover a distance of over 10k per game, perform up to 40 explosive sprints, and hit running speeds of over 30kph. But a player’s fitness has to be multilayered in order to meet the diverse demands of the modern game. "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/acti...ou-as-fit-as-a-Premier-League-footballer.html

So 6mile run with a bit of sprinting which for a lightweight skinny guy not that impressive over 90mins, but really they play a game which is what they train to be good at not being the fittest in the world.
IIRC F1 drivers are considered much fitter than footballers and have to train more.
 
They are extremely fit. I know a couple of footballers, frequently at my gym and cycle and jog through the same park etc, and they are very fit chaps and I come from a background of knowing very fit people. When the manager says there is a bit of tiredness he means their condition is not at 100% he doesn't mean they need to go and have a little nap. When you are not at 100% then that fractional difference between someone of equal ability will make a difference over the course of a game where they cover a good 7-10km not all at the same pace but at a series of accelerated bursts which require agility and involve turning. Are they as fit as say an MMA fighter - then no but then an MMA fighter is not competing twice a week either and has downtime and rest time after a fight.

As for a manager not calling a player lazy then for most such a comment would still be delivered but out of the public arena, would not be given even if true because it would break some players confidence they are called coaches for a reason because they coach people forwards not berate them through fear, and for some it has been done in public because there manager knows full well that a certain player will respond positively. Jose Mourinho said the later in an interview in the past month. As fort being big girls blouses then it's obvious that to fall to the deck will more than likely give your team an advantage and secondly if you moved as fast as Ronaldo then anything clipping you at the speed he moves at even with his strength will bring you down. For that matter Ronaldo is one of the most complete athletes you'll see in any sport if you were to compare strength, agility and speed. I can't think of anyone else I would think who would get close tbh.

I would also point out if they aren't fit how come when we see the most talented ones doing things we would consider to be associated as unhealthy we see a corresponding large dip in form. If it were the case that fitness is not as pronounced as I believe it is such an effect would not be visible.
 
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They focus all their training and fitness to be at a peak for 90mins - some guys cover 13odd k in a game which given all the changes in direction, stop start etc is pretty good going.
I'm sure different training would result in different types of performance but its hard to compare across other sports/army etc because the training is focussed for purpose.
 
mike gunnz said:
They're elite tier athletes playing professional sport in one of the most demanding league competitions in the world.

To call footballers big girls blouses is a meaningless and lazy stereotype.

The Liverpool manager was simply managing the news. Just because he said it, doesnt necessarily follow that he meant it.
Click to expand...

This.
 
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