What on earth do our coaching team do?

Stig

Full Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
1,873
This may sound too basic to be reasonable but; Antony has been at United now for two seasons, I think. He shows absolutely no confidence or inclination to kick the ball with this right foot. Why on earth have we not had specific training sessions with him running down the righthand side of the pitch and crossing the ball with his right foot ?

How long can it possibly take to teach a professional footballer to kick the ball competently with his other foot ? We made my youngest left footed in 4 days when he was 14 months old. A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.

It's so absolutely basic - why are our coaches not addressing the problem ? He's not the only one that would benefit from this training.

Yes Giggs couldn't use his right foot, but he wasn't an inverted winger and it never hampered his game. Most players are predominately one footed, but for Antony and and a couple of others it really hampers their game and we do nothing about it, and it is a very simple problem to solve. I am sure that in one week Antony would be a better play, more productive for the team, and increase is market value when people saw him beat his man and cross with his right foot 5 times in a game.
 
Stig said:
This may sound too basic to be reasonable but; Antony has been at United now for two seasons, I think. He shows absolutely no confidence or inclination to kick the ball with this right foot. Why on earth have we not had specific training sessions with him running down the righthand side of the pitch and crossing the ball with his right foot ?

How long can it possibly take to teach a professional footballer to kick the ball competently with his other foot ? We made my youngest left footed in 4 days when he was 14 months old. A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.

It's so absolutely basic - why are our coaches not addressing the problem ? He's not the only one that would benefit from this training.

Yes Giggs couldn't use his right foot, but he wasn't an inverted winger and it never hampered his game. Most players are predominately one footed, but for Antony and and a couple of others it really hampers their game and we do nothing about it, and it is a very simple problem to solve. I am sure that in one week Antony would be a better play, more productive for the team, and increase is market value when people saw him beat his man and cross with his right foot 5 times in a game.
Click to expand...
Maybe because Antony is so shit he cant learn.. Maybe you can teach an 50 year old man to be good enough to play some lower sunday league where noone can see if you are shit or just bad Maybe its not worth the time learn Antony because he will just be shit with both feet
 
Stig said:
This may sound too basic to be reasonable but; Antony has been at United now for two seasons, I think. He shows absolutely no confidence or inclination to kick the ball with this right foot. Why on earth have we not had specific training sessions with him running down the righthand side of the pitch and crossing the ball with his right foot ?

How long can it possibly take to teach a professional footballer to kick the ball competently with his other foot ? We made my youngest left footed in 4 days when he was 14 months old. A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.

It's so absolutely basic - why are our coaches not addressing the problem ? He's not the only one that would benefit from this training.

Yes Giggs couldn't use his right foot, but he wasn't an inverted winger and it never hampered his game. Most players are predominately one footed, but for Antony and and a couple of others it really hampers their game and we do nothing about it, and it is a very simple problem to solve. I am sure that in one week Antony would be a better play, more productive for the team, and increase is market value when people saw him beat his man and cross with his right foot 5 times in a game.
Click to expand...
You may find that it’s a little easier to make your weak foot strong enough to play in your local pub team than it is in the Premier League.
 
I'm not sure if this is serious. Do you know how incredibly rare it is to be good with your weaker foot? Everyone asides from a genetically lucky few have had to train their weaker foot specifically for thousands of hours.

A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left
Click to expand...
That's an insane comparison. What is that supposed to prove exactly? You don't think Maguire, who's getting criticised for his cross stopping, wouldn't eat every cross put into the box by your mates like Dwight Howard playing against kids? When crossing it needs to be pinpoint and crossed with enough pace so it can't be defended against. Your beer league isn't capable of those kind of crosses.

It's so absolutely basic
Click to expand...
Explain how.
 
This cannot be a serious question... A bit too elaborate one for trolling too, though
 
Snow said:
I'm not sure if this is serious. Do you know how incredibly rare it is to be good with your weaker foot?
Click to expand...
On the other hand, do you know how incredibly rare it is to be so bad with your weaker foot at this level?
 
mu4c_20le said:
On the other hand, do you know how incredibly rare it is to be so bad with your weaker foot at this level?
Click to expand...
Famously common for left footed players to be bad with their right as they didn't have to compensate when fighting for positions as right footed players.
 
I just made this point in another thread yesterday.

Also, Terry wasn't a natural with his left, but he worked on it so that he became really good with both feet. You can do it. It requires dedication. Not every player has that though.
 
Not really related but in relation to coaching Wilcox is going to need to go over EtH head and demand possession.
 
How do you know we haven't tried to improve his weaker foot? If football coaching was as simple as identifying a players weakness then just simply improving on it with great coaching then great managers would never need to buy better players. It just doesn't work like that. Some players can't improve on certain aspects of their game. Like Valencia with his left foot, I find it hard to believe that SAF and co never looked at Valencia and thought he would be a more effective winger if he had a left foot. Or were they bad coaches too?
 
Whilst the OP’s post is a little basic, it doesn’t seem far out of keeping with Antony’s own comments before the season started:

“Antony admitted to writing down his goals for the year and it was here he declared he will improve his right foot and fans are going to see the improvements.

“It’s there written on paper in my objectives — more work on the right foot, score more goals and assists. I’ll show you these notes one day and you’ll see the results this season.”

It does seem odd that Antony is having to write down “do more work on right foot” as a genuine objective for himself. You’d have thought it would have been an absolute focus of the coaching team for the last two years.
 
Not every player thinks about improving weak aspects of his game. Some, like Antony, believe in playing to their strengths as they see it.

As for the question before us, I've been wondering what goes on in training under ETH for a long time. Fine, we see pressing in competition but when we have the ball it's a shambles. We can create chances here and there, and I believe Bruno has lead the PL in chance creation the last two seasons, but we're very poor with our finishing.

I hope Ruud can work a miracle in training, as it's pretty clear now the players aren't listening to ETH, but I suspect the problem is more psychological than technical or physical. When I watch our players play football I see a lot of panic and little composure. Antony is desperate for the shot that isn't there and he panics and skies the ball. Maguire is in his six yard box and lets a ball roll by him rather than man up and clear it. Rashford panics into a wall of defenders. Zirkzee crashes the goal line when there was no need for it. Loads of defenders attack the player with the ball and leave three men open.
 
They don't steal @Bastian's thread, that's for sure.

Aside from that they pop balloons, chew bubblegum, and nurture talent. And they're all out of talent and balloons.
 
I totally agree with the sentiment/question. Using Antony as an example, no one is asking him to shoot and score everytime with his right foot like Beckham, nor perform bicycle kick or rabona with his right every other minute. However, I don’t think it’s too harsh to ask of a professional football player, who plays on the right wing, to run down the touchline and deliver accurate, dangerous crosses by his right foot from time to time, instead of cutting in every single occasion. I totally understand he’s not comfortable with his right foot, but ability to pass or cross with it occasionally should be a minimum requirement, and he can totally be coached to do it, right? I mean for crying out loud.
 
Stig said:
A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.
Click to expand...

This sounds like someone who should be on our radar.

Think he'd go for a couple of hundred grand a week?

(Mind you, he'd have to work - or at least "work" - weekends.)
 
Not this shit again. Under Ole this question as asked as nauseum and Carrick and McKenna were painted as clueless buffoons.

It turns out things are a little more complicated than they appear. We've also only had 2 games under pretty much a whole new team of coaches and in the last few games he's actually played in he seems to be using his weaker foot a bit more so the thread is a little redundant.
 
Stig said:
This may sound too basic to be reasonable but; Antony has been at United now for two seasons, I think. He shows absolutely no confidence or inclination to kick the ball with this right foot. Why on earth have we not had specific training sessions with him running down the righthand side of the pitch and crossing the ball with his right foot ?

How long can it possibly take to teach a professional footballer to kick the ball competently with his other foot ? We made my youngest left footed in 4 days when he was 14 months old. A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.

It's so absolutely basic - why are our coaches not addressing the problem ? He's not the only one that would benefit from this training.

Yes Giggs couldn't use his right foot, but he wasn't an inverted winger and it never hampered his game. Most players are predominately one footed, but for Antony and and a couple of others it really hampers their game and we do nothing about it, and it is a very simple problem to solve. I am sure that in one week Antony would be a better play, more productive for the team, and increase is market value when people saw him beat his man and cross with his right foot 5 times in a game.
Click to expand...
I remember reading that LVG ran training sessions where players were only allowed to use their left foot’s. Then their right foot. It was all done to make players equally competent with both feet.
 
Withnail said:
Not this shit again. Under Ole this question as asked as nauseum and Carrick and McKenna were painted as clueless buffoons.

It turns out things are a little more complicated than they appear. We've also only had 2 games under pretty much a whole new team of coaches and in the last few games he's actually played in he seems to be using his weaker foot a bit more so the thread is a little redundant.
Click to expand...
WHAT ABOUT FLETCHER??? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT DOES FLETCHER DOOOOO
 
It might sound easy, but playing with your opposite foot is very hard. Throw in 10 opposition players trying to take you out whilst running with the ball and it's even harder.

Just try wiping your arse with your opposite hand and see how easy it is.
 
Let’s just say the cones have never looked more immaculately placed than they do these days.
 
Try to train your left hand to do everything your right hand does (if you are righted handed). Tell me how it feels. It's same with the feet. Antony is not a good footballer and it has nothing to do with his right foot.
 
I get the actual sentiment behind the question. Not sure what goes on during the training session because we don’t see anyone improving whatsoever
 
The original assertion aside, you can actually find old training videos of Arjen Robben training his right foot with a private trainer for hours on end… after regular training. Even then his off foot was nothing to write home about, but the chance of danger from adding 4 or 5 goals a few assists with the off foot helped him tremendously.

But again…. We are talking months and years with private trainers, doing things with his off foot that most of us can’t do with our main: so definitely not easy.
 
Chelsea Dubbing said:
It might sound easy, but playing with your opposite foot is very hard. Throw in 10 opposition players trying to take you out whilst running with the ball and it's even harder.

Just try wiping your arse with your opposite hand and see how easy it is.
Click to expand...
Just try wiping your arse with your opposite hand and see how easy it is.

But with practice I would get better at it. In two years he has not improved one iota with his right foot. I am not asking for miracles, just for a professional athlete to be able to kick a ball about 15 to 20 yards into a space about 12 * 12 yards at a reasonable height at a reasonable velocity. I'm not asking him to learn a new fine motor skill and go and compete at the Olympics. He is a professional footballer and if in one week of intensive practice they can't get him to a standard of being relatively poor at it within one week, and relatively OK at it within a month something is wrong. They have had two years.

I've seen him hit a right foot shot from outside the box that went high and wide, so he can use it. I think I can recall 2 or 3 kind of crosses with his right foot. We are not starting with absolutely nothing here. We are starting with a top level professional athlete and sportsman who with a little direction could improve both his ability and confidence with a weakness that he has. Why has it not been done ? That's my question.




.............. Antony added: "It has been a period of a lot of learning. I try to learn from each criticism and understand where I can improve. I have been working silently to evolve and show my football on the field. I have also been training my right foot, to make it better. I know my potential and I know why Manchester hired me. I want to repay all of this on the field."
  • 21:31, 18 MAR 2024 - It seems that he needs to spend more time on it and have a bit more support from the coaches.
 
Last edited:
I am really good at writing letters, but someone at work is better. Maybe I should learn to write with my left hand so I get more chances.
 
2 years to improve and change habits you had for... 14-18 years ? Actually not all that much, I'd say.

I think it's a weird specific topic to target if you want to bring up the "what are the coaches doing ?" thing. I feel he'd be easier drilling down defending the back post, set pieces, tracking back on lost possession than massively improve your weaker foot.

Then again I am probably wrong because improvement in positioning and situational awareness have been slow to come by.
 
Stig said:
A chap, where I live, who is in his late 50s has lost his place on the right hand side of midfield to a youngster* so practiced a bit with his left foot and now plays on the left.
Click to expand...
Can he send his training plan in to the club?
 
Leftback99 said:
Can he send his training plan in to the club?
Click to expand...
Sure, it involves kicking the ball various distances with your weaker foot, whilst running and whilst standing still. It is very complex.
 
Nonameisknown said:
Try to train your left hand to do everything your right hand does (if you are righted handed). Tell me how it feels. It's same with the feet. Antony is not a good footballer and it has nothing to do with his right foot.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I’m in my 30’s and completely left footed, nothing could feel less natural to me than to try and use my right foot during a game of football.
Obviously I can pass and shoot with it but no matter how much I train it always feels awkward and unnatural.
 
Why are we playing with inverted wingers in the first place? Rashford and Antony couldn’t score in a brothel, maybe play them on the same side as their dominant foot and see what happens, can’t be a whole lot worse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.