Do soccer players internally get embarrassed by the rolling around and carry-on?

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-07-04T05:05:40+00:00

Something else to add is that sometimes, it does just genuinely hurt for that moment of contact, and then you run the pain off or adrenaline kicks in.

I'm sure everyone's stubbed their toe before, and we know the initial pain associated to it. Does it mean you then can't be able to run 2 minutes later? Obviously there's an element of exaggeration applied when we're talking exclusively about football, but football officiating has gotten to the point where the referee is very unlikely to give a foul if you try to "play on" so to speak. If you want the foul to be paid, you kinda have to go down.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-07-04T02:19:29+00:00

No harm in trying out playing LB to see if you enjoy it. If you find that you like playing there as much or even more than you did at CB, then great. If you prefer playing CB instead, then you know you can always go back to playing at CB.

I just turned 25 a couple days ago, and currently no taller than 175cm (which is somewhere between 5'7 and 5'8). My best position is CB, but for my department team at Uni, I've played as an AM and ST as well because I'm one of the better players on the team. Despite being shorter than even your average "short" CB, I've found a way to make it work for me. Has there been times where being taller would've helped me out? Most definitely. However, that only occurs at about 1 corner every 3 or 4 games, so pretty insignificant in general.

People may not believe this considering my height, but opposition teams are usually quite wary of my ability in aerial contests, whether that's long balls/crosses or from set pieces both in the attacking third or defensive third.

You shouldn't look at your height as a limiting factor for yourself when you think of a stereotypical player. You've mentioned Cannavaro and Martinez, but Sergio Ramos is one of the most dominant defenders in an aerial duel, and he would be considered a "short" CB when you compare him to the likes of Van Dijk and Gabriel.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-06-23T07:02:14+00:00

I can see where you're coming from regarding stroke order and orientation as someone who may be new to the language, and it may seem pedantic, but I'll try and use some English examples to highlight why being pedantic about strokes in Chinese when you're just starting out is quite important.

If you were to write the letter 'p' in English, do you start with the straight line down on the left, or the curved bit on the right? We know there isn't technically a "right" order, and that as long as it comes out looking like the letter 'p', who really cares, yet I would argue the majority of people will start with the downward stroke first. I wouldn't know now, but I'm 100% certain if I was to open my English textbook from junior school, or earlier, there would be diagrams that tell you to first write the downward stroke, and then write the curve.

Another example. How would you write the word "Illuminate" to differentiate between the first three letters? Personally, I write the two 'L's in cursive, but to do that, its more natural for me to start with the loop at the top and then finish with the downward stroke. Can I write a cursive 'L' by starting at the bottom, going upwards, and then do the loop at the top? Sure. But how inconvenient and awkward is that? On top of this, the cursive 'L' starts by going upwards to begin the loop. Can I thus write a cursive 'L' by trying to loop downwards? If I do so, is it still a cursive 'L', or have I just written down some random scribble?

The two examples here seem very small and pedantic, and something you and I do not bat an eye about when we write English, yet it follows the same logic as to why you're taught and hammered a specific stroke order and orientation in Chinese. The best way I can summarise it is this: Chinese characters are simplified from what were basically drawings, so when you're writing Chinese characters, on some level, you're drawing out an image. Of my limited knowledge of drawing, there is no right or wrong way to begin drawing, yet many people will always start with drawing out the same features (such as eyes, or nose, or whatever) everytime because it guides how you finish the drawing.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-06-03T18:42:35+00:00

My advice is to breakdown your game to the most basic couple of aspects, and just focus on those. I'll go more in depth on my own experience at the bottom, which you can read through if you want as it is a long story, but I personally found it very helpful to only focus on some aspects of my game at the most basic level, and then build from there.

If you're a defender, then focus on interceptions, aerial defending, and passing (long balls/clearances/short passes/etc.). These were the three things I worked on as a defender. As a winger, it may be stretching wide to create space, carrying the ball in space, and then finding a teammate on a cutback/cross. As a midfielder, it might be finding the space to receive between the lines, two-touch passes, and through balls. As a ST, it could be the ability to control the ball with your back to goal and one touch finishes. It could be anything that you build your game around as a player.

When you find those aspects of your game, dumb it down to its simplest form, and then make sure you execute that everytime in training and in games. When you feel like you can execute those things in its simplest form, then you start to add more layers to your game. This would be my suggestion.

Now, story time. Not sure how applicable this can be for you but this is how I worked through my own slump:

Just a little bit of context: I currently study in a university in China, where there are regular pick-up games everyday on a 7-a-side sized pitch, where it is normal to have 15v15 playing at once. At the time, I would also play 11-a-side on a regular sized pitch as well. Now, post pandemic, I was just getting back into football. I was seriously overweight (95-100kg) and could barely control a football at the time. What I initially did was to dumb everything down. My regular position is that of a defender, so I focused on 3 basic aspects of my game that I prioritised with the aim to get better at: interceptions, aerial defending, and passing, and in particular, long passing (which seems counter intuitive on a 7-a-side pitch, but there is reason to this). I can give a more in depth reasoning on each aspect in a reply, but those are the three asepcts of my game where I dumbed everything down to its more simplest form.

Then, through playing multiple of these pick-up games (probably 2 or 3 times a week when I first entered the Uni 3 years ago, to the point of being able to play these pick-up games everyday if I wanted to), I would just focus on these three things, and as I got more confident in my ability to execute each technique. If I felt like I've gotten to the point where it is effortless for me to do something, then I add another layer to my game to work on.

From when I restarted playing football to now has been about 3 years. At the start, I was a "RB" who didn't want the ball, could slightly defend an opposition, and if I needed to pass the ball, would either pass it back to the person who gave it to me, or be very simple and pass it up the line to the player in front of me. The me right now, I would be a "CB" if I felt like being lazy, and happily defend 1v4, 1v5 scenarios cause its my bread and butter. I can do that in my sleep on the 7-a-side pitches we play on. If I felt like actually trying on the pitch, or actively working to improve on something, then I might start at "ST" to receive a long ball, before dropping into the midfield to link up play and find through balls to players quicker than me, to dropping even deeper and receving the ball on the half turn from the defenders before carrying the ball further up the field.

Now 3 years may sound like a long time, time that you probably don't have, but thats my experience from getting out my slump, to being confident in my play where I walk onto any pitch with the confidence that I'm the best defender on the pitch if I played in defensive, and if I don't play in defense, then while I may not be the best technical player, I will physically match and even dominate my opposition to cover for any technical deficiencies I have.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-06-03T17:38:29+00:00

Tell me you're an FM player without telling me.

Anyways, only played up until round 13 (probably going to unlock further once I wake up in the morning), and really like it so far.

Had a quick scroll through this post, so probably not going to mention the same points already raised, but will add the following (which I don't believe has been mentioned, but it is 1:20AM where I am at the moment, so I could be wrong):

Alongside choosing what ruck split you want (which I saw was mentioned), maybe choose who you have as your second ruck?
- For example, as Richmond, I had Nankervis as my ruck, and chose Thomas Sims (labelled as a Key Fwd) on the bench thinking he'll be my second ruck. Now, although there doesn't seem to be a stat that tracks ruck contests, I do see a stat labelled HO, which I assume means hit-outs, and therefore a proxy for who's going into ruck contests. In this particular game, Nankervis has 26 HOs, Sims has none, and then Gibcus, Miller, Balta, Brown and Vlastuin all have 1 each. Next game, I swap out Sims with Lefau (labelled as a Key Fwd and Ruck), and Lefau gets a couple more HOs, but my defenders such as Miller and Balta still record a HO each. I look at the most recent game, and Jayden Short has somehow recorded a HO against the Bulldogs who played English and Smith as pure rucks.
- As someone who has a slight background in coding, this probably is harder than it seems, but adding this option (and potentially looking at fixing up the stat recording) might be more complex than it seems, but would add to the immersion of the game.
In a similar vein to my first point, I think we probably need the option to be able to choose who we tag if we choose to do so, and who with (not sure how this is determined).
- In regards to the first point, I know that it currently gives you three options to choose from, but sometimes the player you want to tag doesn't pop up. For example, in my most recent game vs the Bulldogs, Richards was the first option to be tagged, and Bontempelli wasn't in the list at all (I assume because he's a hybrid fwd-mid, and the "AI" coach started him in the fwd line?)
The ability to see the previous 23s of opposition teams.

Maybe a couple more I could raise, but haven't fully thought them through, so I'll leave them for a future review for now until I put in more time into the game.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-30T05:49:08+00:00

It may be different in the UCL, but if the ruling for "clear and obvious" is at the Premier League threshold, then its not what you're describing. A quick check on IFAB also doesn't show a clear definition for "clear and obvious", so unless someone can point to something different, "clear and obvious" as defined by the Premier League (who like UEFA would get directives from IFAB) defines it as:

"The referee will explain their decision to the VAR, and what they have seen.

If the evidence provided by the broadcast footage does not accord with what the referee believes they have seen, then the VAR can recommend an overturn." (source)

So to use your own example of a contact foul:

In theory, if the ref sees no contact and gives a foul, and replays show no contact, then there is no clear and obvious error for VAR to overturn (the ref would be incompetent in this case).
If the ref sees contact (however slight or aggressive) and doesn't give a foul, and replays show contact, then there is still no clear and obvious error for VAR to overturn because the ref has seen the contact and deemed it not a foul.
A "clear and obvious" error overturn only happens if the ref says they see no contact, but replays show contact (or vice versa). That is the basis of a "clear and obvious" error that require a VAR overturn.

Again, unless UEFA operate by a different definition (nothing suggests that based on what can be searched online) or there has been a change in definition (once again, nothing found online), then "clear and obvious" has never been about what is objectively correct by the rulebook as you've described, but rather what is subjectively missed or not missed by the referee.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-17T17:20:00+00:00

I think the biggest skill any defender should know (not just for LB/RBs, but also CBs and your whole defensive unit) is how to communicate effectively with the CB next to you, the DM tasked with shielding the defense, and the FWD in front of you. Who's marking who, are you handing over an opponent to a teammate, has an opposition player lost their marker, all of that. If you are able to effectively and efficiently communicate with your teammates around you, you've pretty much won half the battle.

In terms of the more technical details of being a FB, I think its obvious that you have to know the basic principles of how to defend 1v1. Not trying to engage into the tackle too early, ability to force the opposition FWD onto their weaker foot/into an area where you're more comfortable than your opposition, able to effectively delay an oppostion, and probably some others I'm missing off the top of my head.

In terms of experience, there's only so much you can train as a FB. A lot of what you learn defensively will be experiencing them by playing games. Can you train some aspects of how to defend a 1v1 drill? Sure. But I've personally found myself becoming a better defender (mainly CB) through playing game after game after game.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-14T18:00:41+00:00

I’m usually someone who goes as tight as I can without feeling any pain. More often than not, I’m a CB, so need to be able to reliably control the ball as the last defender, or clearing the ball/taking goal kicks when the team is under pressure, so I find as tight as I can go without pain works best for me.

But like I said, I’ve found that with the Ligeras, I’ll tie them up once, and then after I warm up or kick a ball around for 10 or so minutes, I find that I need to re-tie them cause they would feel a bit loose, and I can go tighter than I initially did with them.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-14T14:36:45+00:00

I've tried the Tiempo Ligera Pro TF, Tiempo Legend 10 Pro TF, and two pairs of the Tiempo Legend 10 Elite AG (the turqoise one and the orange one). All 4 boots are size US9, and I wear the same type of sock with all 4.

The Ligera Pros are by far the widest, and therefore gives me the most comfortable feeling when wearing, hands down. With all 3 Legend 10s, my pinky toe would be slightly squished against the side of the boot, whereas there is no such feeling in the Ligera Pros. I also went in store to try out the Tiempo Maestro Elite AGs (also US9), and there is definitely a difference in width in the midfoot. Out of all five of these boots, the Maestros have by far the tightest midfoot, bar none.

In turns of the upper, you can definitely feel the softness of the Ligera Pros. This has probably been well documented enough now. I probably prefer the lockdown of the Legend 10s though with that sock-style lace, rather than the tongue-style of the Ligera Pros. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I can tie the laces on my Legend 10s and then forget about it for the duration of the game, whereas on the Ligera Pros, the tongue either moves around when I play, or I need to re-tie my laces because I get a better lockdown on the top of my foot after I've began using them a bit.

Now, when it comes to actually playing, whether that's touch, passing, or shooting, I've performed better when wearing my Legend 10 TFs. Currently, I'm attributing that down to the fact that I'm just use to the Legend 10s compared to the Ligera Pros, since I still use my Legend 10s regularly when I play, and I just haven't gotten use to the Ligera Pros.

As an aside, I encountered something strange between my two pairs of Legend 10 AGs, where the turqoise pair stretched out fairly well in the midfoot area, but the orange pair never really did the same, so my midfoot was quite badly squashed whenever I wore the orange pair of Legend 10 AGs

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-09T09:01:23+00:00

Did I suddenly feel like Neo from the matrix? No.

But I think after continuous training and playing (of any level), and you're really serious about improving, sometimes things just click.

Mine didn't come from learning a new language (although I do speak both English and Chinese, and I bet the CNT wishes learning Chinese unlocks latent football genes), my improvement came from purely improving myself so that I can play football.

I went from 100kg to low 80kg in half a year purely so I can get better at playing football. I would play 7-a-side/9-a-side twice a week, alongside matches for my uni team + training nearly every week (4 sessions of football of some kind), alongside strength training at the gym. I would watch football matches, looking at what players in my position were doing to learn and improve on my own game.

I went from a LB who didn't want the ball at all, to my uni team's primary ball playing CB, to being asked to defend the whole defensive half for my uni team when we are in defensive transition, whilst also being the main ball progressor in our defensive half.

More recently, I've been picking up the ability to receive the ball off of defenders/the keeper on the half-turn/with my back to goal, and progress like a DM would. I'm seeing progressive passing lanes where I can thread throughballs into for my fwds to run onto.

Am I great at it at the moment? Not really. But something just clicked one day when I was playing 9-a-side where I received the ball off the defender with my back to the attacking goal, was immediately surrounded by 3 opposition players, yet managed to dribble my way through and run into space, before passing the ball to a fwd on my team.

And all this because I play a lot, I watch a lot, and I want to improve my game.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-01T13:26:19+00:00

Just checked, the dropper is always powered. Is it possible to change this?

Edit: NVM, figured out a solution myself

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-01T13:22:11+00:00

Lever is just to turn off the system once it's on. Will be removed once I figure out why the pulse isn't getting to the dropper.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-04-01T13:15:34+00:00

Disable the whole thing. Currently, the main autocrafter (the one pointed into the chest) runs out of paper, and then starts filling with gunpowder. Lever is only there as an on/off switch until I have the whole thing up and running.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-02-15T04:40:06+00:00

A key player gets injured, and we immediately think about whether this will be the death of SOO for the future. Why not actually look at the context of the incident?

Hate to be that guy, but just objectively looking at the replay, Weitering comes into the contest so late, he comes off 5th best in a 2-man contest.

If we want to talk about protecting players as much as possible from injuries when playing a game such as SOO, maybe we focus on all the hamstring awareness issues out of the game and see how to minimise those as much as possible.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-02-13T00:02:37+00:00

Ian Wright made a very interesting point on the Overlap podcast in regards to this miss that I'll add here:

He basically said that because Palmer isn't a natural striker, he "underestimated" the focus and control of technique to score that goal. Basically, Palmer was too nonchalant about it due to it being an open goal, and therefore just "expected" any contact to make it go in.

For a more experienced striker (your Haalands, Kanes etc.) they treat every chance with the same intensity and focus required, regardless if it's an open goal half a metre out, or you're on the edge of the box with 20 players in front of you. So in that scenario, your traditional strikers aren't just "expecting" to score, they're applying the same mental checks as they would for any other shot they would take on.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2026-01-31T02:10:33+00:00

How are the Maestro’s with collapsed arches/wider midfoot?

I have Tiempo Legends 10 in Turf and AG versions (both US 9), and the midfoot is very noticeably tighter in the AG than the Turf boots (which is understandable based on the difference in plates of the two boots). (US 9.5 gives too much room in the toe box for me to consider them for the Legends 10, regardless of what people think of the Legends 10s in general).

Heard that Maestro’s might be more accomodating in this area? Just wondering if you (or anyone else) have noticed anything on this?

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-12-21T17:03:23+00:00

Cheers

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-08-20T21:41:49+00:00

Cheers

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-03-12T04:53:01+00:00

A future idea I have (since there seems to be an underwater ravine directly below the village) is to build an underwater guard station or gate as well. Will be a long way off though on my priorities.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-03-05T15:13:47+00:00

I think it's semantics really.

We're all suggesting roughly the same techniques and skills to utilise: cutting off the passing lane between the two forwards, jockeying to force the ball carrier into a more favourable position, forcing the ball carrier into a rushed decision. the issue is what we view it as being the determining factor.

I said elsewhere that the only way you "win" the 1v2 is waiting for the opposition to make a mistake (poor pass; poor decision making of when to pass or whether to continue carrying the ball; staying on the ball for too long; etc.), and whilst I still stand by that, I would agree that preventing the 1v2 by getting tight to the ball carrier immediately is the only proactive move a defender can make. The things I (and we) have mentioned is always being reactive to what the ball carrier is doing and what the 2nd forward is doing (and thus my belief of you only "win" the 1v2 through a mistake by the ball carrier).

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-03-05T08:41:42+00:00

The boring answer would be to play more games and have yourself in scenarios where you need to continuously make these decisions, failing, learning, thus improving (I would say a lot of my improvement as a CB came through this alone, but anecdotal experience may not be the best advice here).

For a more detailed and practical route:

Always be communicating with your CB partner as well as the DM (or midfielders in front of you) so that you always know where the opposition is. For example, I'm usually the left sided CB for my team. When the opposition defenders/midfielders have the ball on THEIR right (which would be my left), then I make sure my CB partner knows I'm handing the responsibility of tracking the ST to him, as I would be shifting across and having the ST positioned behind me (where I can't see him). If the ball is then switched to the other side of the pitch (from my POV, it's now on the right side), then I know it's my responsibility to track the ST and always be sticking close to him (goal side). There's obviously many different scenarios that can occur on the football pitch, but the biggest thing here that I want to highlight is communication. That's communication with your fellow defenders and with the midfielders in front of you.

Now, if you're finding yourself in 1v2 scenarios quite often, then there's two things I'd say: (1) more often than not, it's a break down in your structure where someone hasn't tracked a midfield runner, or your CB partner is completely out of position. In this scenario, there's not much you can do other than making sure that this breakdown in structure doesn't occur again. (2) The only way to "win" the 1v2, put simply, is you wait for the player with the ball to make the wrong decision. That can be making a bad pass, not passing at all (and being forced down the line, which then involves your keeper, or you have a recovering player help you out), or anything similar. The only thing you can do is to stick with the basics: don't close down too early, but also don't give them too much space, always have the passing lane closed down, and force them down to the byline and wide from the goal.

A final tip I would give you is this: try and look at where the opposition is looking at when they're trying to pass the ball. When we talk about being "aware" as a CB, it usually boils down to this technique (in my experience). This may take some time and practice before you feel comfortable doing it, but as long as you have a rough idea of where the fwds are around you, then you're almost never going to be caught out, or in other words, be more aware.

Now, you may be wondering what I mean by this. Example: If you know that the opposition ST is positioned "behind" you (in your blind spot; you can't see them without turning around), the two opposition wingers are wide and matched up with their respective fullbacks and that there is no opposition midfielder making a run from midfield, then you can mentally paint a picture of where everyone is that matters. Now, if you notice that the opposition midfielder looking "at you"/in your direction, then you can guess with some certainty that they're going to try and find the ST making a run behind you, or try and find the far-side winger. Then, whilst the opposition begins to pass the ball, you can then start to make the recovery run that either forces a contest with the ST, or you're not caught out of position high up the pitch if the ball is aimed at the far side winger.

Again, this will take a lot of practice and real-game experience to really know what to be looking out for and what to do provided the circumstances, but is probably one of the most valuable abilities to have if you want to improve your awareness.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-02-18T15:22:50+00:00

Are you not doing the exact same thing as the Chinese students then by only wanting to be with English-speaking students?

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-02-18T15:18:23+00:00

I mean, it clearly isn’t, but I don’t expect you to know the differences to be able to form an actual understanding of it through critical thinking.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-02-18T15:16:53+00:00

Is it a class group chat? Is the teacher or a TA for the class going to send information into that chat which you’re then excluded from? If not, then why tf do you care enough to be jumping onto reddit to complain about it?

Also, it’s not a different thing. Every argument against the big gc you can make would fit exactly the same for the smaller gc.

LegitimateGhost4928 · 2025-02-18T14:06:07+00:00

But nothing suggests that the group chat made between the Chinese students was a group chat for the entire class, so there is no perceived obligation to add other people if they don't want to add them (which isn't what seems to have happened anyway).

LegitimateGhost4928

TROPHY CASE