Last night I didn't play football on the same pitch as a professional. On the surface this is not an unlikely statement; professional footballers seldom hang around sport centres asking "Any chance of a game?". During the two previous weeks' games however I had shared a pitch with a professional. For the sake of privacy I won't divulge this North Walian club's player identity, let's call him "Mike W".
"Mike W" helped to reinforce my ideas about professional footballers; they are definitely better at football than most people. While we were sweatily misplacing passes "Mike W" strolled around without breaking sweat passing every ball, usually first time, straight to the feet of the intended recipient. Nothing fancy just accurate. A pass never went astray, even when he was spraying the ball about. For example a 50 yard pass straight to my feet, whilst I was running. Contrast that with some of the other players; they tried to dribble the ball into the goal via a slalom of legs nearly every time.
The difference between players that look good at a layman's level and a professional level is immediately noticeable; at my level players simply aren't good, despite what they may think. Good for their level maybe but not good in the absolute sense. There is no economy of movement so consequently everything is done to look good. A few tricks to outwit lumbering park players is one thing, actually playing intelligent football is beyond them.
"Mike W" made the game look easy. Bill Shankly was right; football is a simple game. Unfortunately you have to be good to make it look simple. Imagine the situation; you here someone moaning at a footballer or even better, calling them crap, and you don't agree with their opinion. You can take solace from the fact that if they were any good they'd be playing football and not propping up a bar boring everyone with their pointless rambling.
A professional attitude
