Death by a thousand kicks.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/extra/7r...f-the-screamer
Interesting article on the BBC website about the slow demise of long range goals and efforts. I recall posting something on here a few years ago looking at how teams were shooting from distance less and even passing the ball long less than before. In some ways this might be seen as the death of more exciting football by data and expected results given certain scenarios.
Death by a thousand kicks.
phew, I thought my ex had passed away..
Am I unusual in thinking "don't shoot" whenever the Cardiff City Stadium crowd cry "shoot" when the ball gets within thirty yards or so of the opposition's goal? Maybe it's because of the team I support, but I have very little confidence that any of our players can score on a regular enough basis to make the long shot a worthwhile option. Actually, that's noit quite true, Aaron Ramsey showed at Leicester last season that shooting from distance is not a waste of time where he is concerned and that's backed up by a catalogue of impressive long range goals down the years - Joe Ralls is another who I would not write off completely as he's lining up a twenty five yard shot and Rubin Colwill's goal against Southampton earns him the right to try something similar, but, as for the rest, I'd be telling them it's best not to bother and, as for Marcelos Siopis (one club goal in his whole career), I'd be banning him from shooting full stop!
From a personal point of view, I'm too old really to comment on this with any authority, but in my limited experience of using them, I found the m odern day football too light to feel that I was "in control" of any shot i tried to hit from distance. This is probably down to my technique never being good enough to strike shots from outside the penalty area true enough to feel I had a chance of succeeding with a long shot no matter what ball was being used, but, daft as it may sound, I felt more confident I could do when using the heavier one used when I played on a regular basis.
I suppose it's down to what you're used to and on the rare occasions I watch a kid's game these days, the players seem more keen on showing their "tekkers" by trying slower, more precisely placed shots into the corners of the net even if the shot is from twenty yards plus out.
It's hard to argue with the conclusion that the screamer is disappearing because the stats show that it isn't productive enough - of course, everyone remembers the thirty yarder that flies into the top corner, but the twenty or more others that fly high, wide and not very handsome tend to get forgotten about, except that they can't be in the modern game where there will, no doubt, be an analyst there to transorm it into data.
The two best players I've seen at City as far as long distance shots are concerned are John Buchanan and Peter Whittingham. Although Whitts was capable of hitting long shots with a lot of power, he was more "modern" in that placement was probably more important to him than power. The opposite applied with Buchanan (who did his shooting with the heavier ball I mentioned earlier) who I think was capable of beating a keeper for pace more than anywhere else and, while there was an element of placement involved, it was the power with him that was more important.
The evolution of football in the PL has virtually eliminated the 'screamer' - and those long distance strikes nowadays tend to come when players cut in from the wing. Teams invariably get 10 men behind the ball and pack the centre, pushing play down the wings, where they feel they can defend more easily. Thus the boring sidesways back and for trying to open up defences, find a gap to exploit. It doesn't deliver excitement even though the PL boasts it's the best.
Trevor Brookings screamer against Hungry will always be my favourite, especially when the ball got stuck in the goal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf5aLJLP-vw
The first (and maybe second) round of the euros certainly made it look like the screamer was coming back. But then the shots from long range seemed to disappear again.
I wonder if too many young players have spent too much time trying to replicate that weird way Ronaldo messes up free kick after kick, rather than learning how to really hit a long range shot properly. There's my old man rant over!
Check out the Brama that Duran just scored for Villa!!!