On field leaders are they a thing of the past?

[Clutton Caveman]

I have over the years watched many games on TV and in person where a single player has by shear will drag himself and his team to a result.

Players who we love to hate like Shaun Derry, Billy Sharpe, Ian Holloway, and players we loved like Paul Ince, Steven Gerrard, Graeme Souness , Norman Hunter and of coarse the great Gerry Gow.

To these players winning was everything and they did everything they could to win including giving a mouthful to a teammate that wasn't giving everything.

I wonder is these types of players are no longer around.

Perhaps the coaching from such a young age, or the lack of hunger coming from the comfortable life style that players enjoy now.

 

[Kid in the Riot]

I was thinking about this in the context of watching a lot of non-league football over the past few weeks. It's interesting that at level 8 football (southern league division one, so the Bristol Manor Farm and Yate Town's of this world) you don't hear many of the players shouting/motivating on the pitch. Level 8 is a pretty decent standard. Yate, for example, quite often have City/Rovers youngsters on loan.

When you go and watch levels 9 and 10 though, Hellenic Prem/Div One & Western League Prem/Div One, so Thornbury Town, Brislington, Bitton, Cadbury Heath, Clevedon, Keynsham etc....the players are incredibly vocal on the pitch (most of it bad language!) and this is encouraged by the coaches on the touchline. I would guess that most players at levels 9 and 10 are good county standard players that haven't been in the youth systems of pro clubs, whereas at levels 7 and 8 where clubs have money, then you get a better standard of player that has likely had pro coaching at some point.

The better the standard of players and coaching, the more robotic teams are, their tactics and positioning is much better drilled. They know where their teammates are and so less on-field direction is required. Higher up you go in the system, the less vocal teams get.

I also think having vocal players and creating an atmosphere on the pitch used to be seen as giving you an edge over the opposition, whereas it is now probably viewed by sports psychologists and scientists as wasting energy.