Crap football phraseology

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

"If we don't win this then it's definitely points dropped"

lol!! Can't believe that was actually said.

Possibly the best (worst!) I've ever read on here.

although it's typically said with the implication of it being two points dropped rather than a point gained.

[Row Z Royal]

No problem with that as there's a bit of interpretation, but getting nothing for a defeat is moot points.

I'm here all week

[Wax Jacket]

Apparently the Germans are very bad for translating the names of foreign teams in German, so Milan are Mailand there. They also insist of adding the city, so Arsenal are Arsenal London.

that's just the German name for Milan though. In Italian and Portuguese (and I guess Spanish) Munich is called Monaco, for instance.

Well, yes, but the point is we don't call Napoli "Naples" or Torino "Turin".

there is no point. the biggest point is that it's a silly and irrelevant thing to get upset about.

[Man Friday]

The phrase "technical ability".

Yes, I know everyone these days uses it but it means "skillful".

What the 'effin 'ell was wrong with that word when about 15 years ago it was repaced by the phrase "technical ability"?

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

There is a difference. "Skillful" covers a variety of skills used in the game, while technical ability tends to be purely about ball control.

[papereyes]

Yeah, I'd agree with that.

Someone who is technically very good could be not very skillful (I'm thinking some defensively minded defenders here).

I think the reason that it's come into use since "about 15 years ago" is because, basically, English teams are playing in Europe again, maybe?

[PlasticRoyale]

Do players actually knock on the managers door?

[Man Friday]

There is a difference. "Skillful" covers a variety of skills used in the game, while technical ability tends to be purely about ball control.

Bollox. If anything, it's the other way around. It's only used because it has more syllables and therefore gives an impression of intelligence. My work environmnet is full of this crap these days. If they're mutually exclusive terms, then why isn't the the term "skillful" used anymore? It's because the term has been (unnecessarily) REPLACED, not added to.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

There is a difference. "Skillful" covers a variety of skills used in the game, while technical ability tends to be purely about ball control.

Bollox. If anything, it's the other way around. It's only used because it has more syllables and therefore gives an impression of intelligence. My work environmnet is full of this crap these days. If they're mutually exclusive terms, then why isn't the the term "skillful" used anymore? It's because the term has been (unnecessarily) REPLACED, not added to.

Because now we'd be more specific. We are more likely to say what they are actually good at, rather than say skillful, which does sound like praise that belongs on a school playground.

We've moved on, and exposure to different kinds of skills from abroad mean that skillful is redundant as a phrase now. Shane Long, for example, could be said to be one of the more "skillful" players in the championship, but anyone who thinks saying he's one of the best for technical ability doesn't know what they are talking about.

Technical ability, in this country at least, is all about ball control. It's something we noticed that foreign players were typically a lot better at than ours, but always had this belief that we'd prevail through working harder.

[Man Friday]

Because now we'd be more specific. We are more likely to say what they are actually good at, rather than say skillful, which does sound like praise that belongs on a school playground.

But we don't, do we. The pundits have just replaced the word "skillful" with "technical ability". So they now say, "X has got great technical ability" instead of "x is very skillful". They never elaborate. It simply makes pundits sound more intelligent and football more complex than what it is. It's premier league language that makes f*** all more sense than the old "football league" language. It's hype, no more, no less. Just like "New Labour" and other such crap.

We've moved on, and exposure to different kinds of skills from abroad mean that skillful is redundant as a phrase now. Shane Long, for example, could be said to be one of the more "skillful" players in the championship, but anyone who thinks saying he's one of the best for technical ability doesn't know what they are talking about.

I'm sorry but this is just tripe.

Technical ability, in this country at least, is all about ball control. It's something we noticed that foreign players were typically a lot better at than ours, but always had this belief that we'd prevail through working harder.

Foreign players were typically more skillful (and still are), I agree.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Because now we'd be more specific. We are more likely to say what they are actually good at, rather than say skillful, which does sound like praise that belongs on a school playground.

But we don't, do we. The pundits have just replaced the word "skillful" with "technical ability". So they now say, "X has got great technical ability" instead of "x is very skillful". They never elaborate. It simply makes pundits sound more intelligent and football more complex than what it is. It's premier league language that makes f*** all more sense than the old "football league" language. It's hype, no more, no less. Just like "New Labour" and other such crap.

Pundits have been talking about technical ability for years. It's just that in the 80s there were very few players in this country who had any.

When England played someone like Yugoslavia, the pundits would often go on about the superior technical ability of the opposition.....ok, a fair bit of that was because they knew oxf*rd all about the opposition in reality and were just generalising to try and justify the fee for their "expertise", but they weren't wrong.

Tony Adams was a very "skillful" defender for Arsenal and England, for example, but nobody in their right mind (or just anyone who understands the phrase) would say he had good technical ability.

I appreciate you may live in a world where skillful and "technical ability" are synonyms, but I doubt many others see it that way.

We've moved on, and exposure to different kinds of skills from abroad mean that skillful is redundant as a phrase now. Shane Long, for example, could be said to be one of the more "skillful" players in the championship, but anyone who thinks saying he's one of the best for technical ability doesn't know what they are talking about.

I'm sorry but this is just tripe.

So you think Shane Long has good technique? I'm not knocking the lad, as there are many worse out there, but his first touch is constantly terrible. Leroy Lita was "skillful", but he his attempts to trap the ball made him look like he had pinball flippers attached to his boots. He had poor technique.

Technical ability, in this country at least, is all about ball control. It's something we noticed that foreign players were typically a lot better at than ours, but always had this belief that we'd prevail through working harder.

Foreign players were typically more skillful (and still are), I agree.

No. They have better technique. I've seen games in the German lower divisions, or the Czech League for example, where the players' ball control put ours to shame (and I include most of our old premiership team in that). They were deficient in other areas though, and would have been very poor players in our team.

Similarly when England did play those tricky away games against "crack" opposition with superior technique, England still usually came away with the points, as being technically superior doesn't mean better overall, just better in one aspect.

[Man Friday]

Tony Adams was a very "skillful" defender for Arsenal and England, for example, but nobody in their right mind (or just anyone who understands the phrase) would say he had good technical ability.

I appreciate you may live in a world where skillful and "technical ability" are synonyms, but I doubt many others see it that way.

Adams was not a skillful defender (relatively speaking). He therefore did not possess great technical ability (because it means the same darned thing).

I don't give a damn that the vast majority have been conned by the phrase. The vast majority of people believe in a God and that there's no such thing as climate change. The vast majority of people are gullible idiots.

Leroy Lita was "skillful", but he his attempts to trap the ball made him look like he had pinball flippers attached to his boots. He had poor technique.

No, he was unskillful in trapping the ball.

The word means the same thing. It just has more syllabules and, like a lot of other words these days, has replaced the more mundane, old-fashioned, word.

I appreciate the way you're contending your side of the argument and not allowing the discussion to descend to personal abuse but I just don't agree with you. In short, the phrase"technical ability" had not been heard of 20 years ago and has now replaced the word "skillful" - in my view because it makes people using it sound cleverer.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Tony Adams was a very "skillful" defender for Arsenal and England, for example, but nobody in their right mind (or just anyone who understands the phrase) would say he had good technical ability.

I appreciate you may live in a world where skillful and "technical ability" are synonyms, but I doubt many others see it that way.

Adams was not a skillful defender (relatively speaking). He therefore did not possess great technical ability (because it means the same darned thing).

It means the same to you.

After all, when pundits etc talk about the superior technique of a foreign team, even teams that are worse than England, do you really believe they are just saying the teams are better?

When they talk about the traditionally poor technique of English players, are they just merely saying they aren't very good?

You don't even suspect that the aspect of skill they are referring to is ball control?

I don't give a damn that the vast majority have been conned by the phrase. The vast majority of people believe in a God and that there's no such thing as climate change. The vast majority of people are gullible idiots.

...or people have noticed that a lot of foreign players seem to be better than us at this particular skill, which is referred to as "technical ability".

Really, the next time someone says that, substitute it in your mind with "has good close control" as see if it makes more sense than just saying "he's good".

Leroy Lita was "skillful", but he his attempts to trap the ball made him look like he had pinball flippers attached to his boots. He had poor technique.

No, he was unskillful in trapping the ball.

can you think of any player described as having good technique who coudn't trap a ball?

The word means the same thing. It just has more syllabules and, like a lot of other words these days, has replaced the more mundane, old-fashioned, word.

I appreciate the way you're contending your side of the argument and not allowing the discussion to descend to personal abuse but I just don't agree with you. In short, the phrase"technical ability" had not been heard of 20 years ago and has now replaced the word "skillful" - in my view because it makes people using it sound cleverer.

20 years ago, when teams spearheaded by the likes of Lee Chapman or Alan Smith could win the league, you could virtually pigeonhole all players in the league into one of two camps - you had your workers, like Bryan Robson, and you had your flair players, like Glenn Hoddle. It was generally the latter type who were called skillful.

Skillful is just too non-specific in an era when people are aware of more styles of play and player than previously. It was only as shade of 20 years ago, after all, that people genuinely believed that great teams like the AC Milan team of the late 80s would be "no more than halfway" in the English first division. It was a slow dawning.

Technical ability, as a phrase, probably is overused, and probably is used to cover up ignorance quite often by saying something which sounds like the pundit is actually knowledgeable, but that doesn't mean the phrase itself just means skillful - not even if Andy Towsnend uses it to describe every half-decent champions league player.


I have to say though, skillful does sound as outdated as someone calling a curled shot a "banana shot".

[Big Foot]

Noticed on Twitter a lot lately that a number of journos have started referring to players by their initials and squad number

i.e. Nicholas Bendtner becomes "NB52"

[Bandini]

This is a top, top thread.

[floyd__streete]

Noticed on Twitter a lot lately that a number of journos have started referring to players by their initials and squad number

i.e. Nicholas Bendtner becomes "NB52"

Serves you right for using f*cking Twitter then.

[soggy biscuit]

The fashion of pronouncing any 'S' in a Portuguese players name as a 'sh' sound.

[Wax Jacket]

The fashion of pronouncing any 'S' in a Portuguese players name as a 'sh' sound.

they'd be right half the time tbf

[soggy biscuit]

The fashion of pronouncing any 'S' in a Portuguese players name as a 'sh' sound.

they'd be right half the time tbf

Yes but not all the time, hence my grumble

[Silver Fox]

TBF right half the time is 50% more right than Andy Townsend is on any other subject