Man Utd v Barcelona: Champions League Final (with poll)

[papereyes]

There does need to be some tweaking of the way we bring up our kids playing football, but I think the most significant thing would be to improve the quality of the surfaces they play on. It's difficult to perfect your touch and technique when your playing on the majority of the pitches in this country.

That certainly doesn't help to develop skillful players.

I agree but would suggest that the size and scale of the pitches and goals is perhaps as important.

[Hoop Blah]

There does need to be some tweaking of the way we bring up our kids playing football, but I think the most significant thing would be to improve the quality of the surfaces they play on. It's difficult to perfect your touch and technique when your playing on the majority of the pitches in this country.

That certainly doesn't help to develop skillful players.

I agree but would suggest that the size and scale of the pitches and goals is perhaps as important.

Absolutely.

Part of the lack of facilities is youth specific pitches. It means that kids play on pitches that are too big, and then adults often end up on pitches that are too small and nobody's happy.

The cost of hiring a substandard pitch in Reading is shocking. Even the pretty good council ones locally aren't really much cop.

[Dirk Gently]

Absolutely.

Part of the lack of facilities is youth specific pitches. It means that kids play on pitches that are too big, and then adults often end up on pitches that are too small and nobody's happy.

The cost of hiring a substandard pitch in Reading is shocking. Even the pretty good council ones locally aren't really much cop.

And at the same time the great mass of TV money coming into the game is being squandered on an ever-increasing salaries arms race to players - so that even mediocre players can command £20,000 a week. Notice how it's always represented as a weekly amount, because if they did it as an annual figure then people might realise that it's over a million pounds a year.

What level of facilities for grassroots football would just one "top" player's salary fund?

[frimmers]

sorry to be the fly in the ointment,but older 'nobbers may be aware that i spend a good deal of my time in spain: kids kicking footballs on street corners and dirt yards is not an uncommon sight......does not seem to have harmed a new generation of players and/or subsequent ones.....i would contend that the mackays,gilzeans,gascoigns, hoddles, le tissiers et al honed their collective talents on a pristine playing surface: but what stood them apart from the rest was the battle on the corner of high street anywhere when jumpers served for goalposts.....

[Alan Partridge]

sorry to be the fly in the ointment,but older 'nobbers may be aware that i spend a good deal of my time in spain: kids kicking footballs on street corners and dirt yards is not an uncommon sight......does not seem to have harmed a new generation of players and/or subsequent ones.....i would contend that the mackays,gilzeans,gascoigns, hoddles, le tissiers et al honed their collective talents on a pristine playing surface: but what stood them apart from the rest was the battle on the corner of high street anywhere when jumpers served for goalposts.....

with parked cars, moody old people and youporn, this generation never had a chance of that.

[papereyes]

There was a Waddle interview recently and they asked where he got his dribbling style/skill from.

There used to be 20, 30 a-side games on the parks near where he lived and it got so confusing that he basically decided that the only way to get anything done was to dribble through the masses.

[Whore Jackie]

There does need to be some tweaking of the way we bring up our kids playing football, but I think the most significant thing would be to improve the quality of the surfaces they play on. It's difficult to perfect your touch and technique when your playing on the majority of the pitches in this country.

That certainly doesn't help to develop skillful players.

I agree but would suggest that the size and scale of the pitches and goals is perhaps as important.

Absolutely.

Part of the lack of facilities is youth specific pitches. It means that kids play on pitches that are too big, and then adults often end up on pitches that are too small and nobody's happy.

Some are better than others. My 8 year old plays in the Berkshire Youth Development League and I’ve been pretty impressed. It follows the FA’s Laws of Mini Soccer to the letter. He’s currently playing 20 minutes halves, on miniature pitches and appropriate sized goals. That rises to 25 minutes for U11 and then it’s 11-a-side for U12.

Their development is very much down to the club and, most importantly, the coach. My son’s club has achieved the FA Standard Charter and runs four U8 teams. Three are run by coaches whose philosophy is about skill, passing, teamwork and development. As parents we’re encouraged to be wholly supportive, any shouts of ‘Hoof It’ are strongly discouraged. The other team sums up all that is wrong with kid’s football. Their training sessions consist of fitness work and not much else. They play a long-ball system and the matches are feisty encounters on and off the pitch. They’ll probably be the kids that make it.

[The whole year inn]

Are there copies of the film that Guardiola made fto inspire the Barca players out there anywhere

Spanish TV showed it on Monday apparently

[LUX]

he basically decided that the only way to get anything done was to dribble through the masses.

Joey Deacon taught him that.

[SLAMMED]

Well 56% of us were wrong, me being one of them.

LOL @ the people who voted for Barcelona after the game had finished

Just after the game finished, the votes were:

Man United: 56%
Barcelona: 44%.


Now look at them

People think they are clever for voting Barcelona after they already won