What’s More Important?
A few questions for our readers - go through the list, pick your answers and share your thoughts in the comments:
What do you value more as a football fan?
1. Winning the league or winning the cup (consider the highest level cup competition your team can compete in a regular season)?
2. Having the best players or having the best team?
3. The number of goals a player scores or the quality of opposition he scores them against?
4. The number of goals your team scores or the quality of opposition the goals are scored against?
5. Winning a game through diving for a penalty or losing a game by not diving?
Which is a closer goalscoring chance?
6. Hitting the post / crossbar from outside the box or a goal-line clearance (defender or keeper) from a shot six yards out?
7. Hitting the post from outside the box or missing the goal from six yards out?
What is more important in taking penalties?
8. mental strength or regular playing position / amount of practice?
And finally…
What’s worse:
9. Sacrificing your career to satisfy the demands of millions of football fans or doing what you think is necessary to create the best future for yourself?
Pick your answers and share your thoughts in the comments below.
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1. Winning the CL because its prestigious.
2.Best team, best players dont always make the best team and cohesion is more important then one player.
3.Number of goals a player scores, if you cant score against the weak teams you wont win anything and you need a player who might not score against quality but against crap will score 90% of the time.(c.ronaldo is an example)
4. Qaulity of opposition, this is where the team steps up, maybe the highest scorer doesnt score the goal but due to a team they win(chelsea last season)
5.Losing a game by not diving, winning through cheating just doesnt sit right.
6. cross bar, it beat the goalie but just missed the target.
7. missing clear chance, nothing to beat should be a goal 100% of the time.
8.Practice. With practise comes mental strength and ability to place ball better.
9. Best future since the time in football is short, that said for a player earning more then 1 million a year the first one since even earning 1 million for 3 years should mean you will be pretty well off when you retire, but only if the team that your playing for is the reason you are adored and considered the best. If the team(manager) accepts an offer from a rival team and doesnt look like they want you to stay then its ok to go.
1. Cup. If set aside those big guns, obviously the cup is the best an average club can settle for.
2.Best Team. Since when is the player more impt then the team?
3. Number of goals a player score. If u talk about the quality of the opposition then u might as well score a wonder goal against a lesser opposition(Messi vs getafe)
4.Quality of the opposition. Unless the quality opposition sent out a 2nd string, then it will be the other. Maybe there should be a seperate table that measures Clubs in that way, like FIFA Rankings.
5.Losing. no point hiding that u cant win a gameof course if the opposition dived to win a game, i wouldnt feel so bad. and afterall, we were drawing all long and u want to dive for a pt?
6.if it was a defender clearance(keeper beaten) or keeper finger tip save, i would save that would be a closer chance(on target). but if the keeper save it comfortably all had not trouble at all, i would say hit the cross bar is better(off target but stretching the keeper)
7.Missing a goal frm 6 yards. Unless u are unstable, i see no reason to score frm a open goal or even when it is a simple tap in.
8.Mental strength. pen in the first min, 92 min or pen shoot out after ET, needs mental strength. 1st min, just started the match, body not at the peak, 92min - tired, pen shootout, pressure. Practice of u want to hit the top corner or something.
9.Sacrificing for million of fans. If u really want to enter the ever complicated life of football, then u have to make sure u make either make it big or do something else. i mean most footballers we know are more or less had a chance to go to collage, but because we know them and made it big thats why is is not much of a regret going into football.
1. Winning CL is the biggest accomplishment of any club team.
2. Having the best team.
3. The quality of opposition he scores them against, who cares if you get a hat trick against teams at the bottom when you already win 4, 5, or 6-0? If you step up big for your team in crunch time against a rival or strong opponent is key to a strong competitive run at titles Drogba’s two goals against Arsenal after being down a goal last season is the only reason Chelsea had a chance at even tying for the League Title last season.
4. Same as above, a 1-0 win against Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Mad. Inter Milan, B. Munich, etc. is much better for your team’s chances at success than a 4-0 win against Fulham or Cologne.
5. Winning a game through diving for a penalty, if you want to win you will do what it takes to take your team to victory. If the ref sees it your way then it must have been a foul anyway, if he doesn’t your way is when it becomes a dive.
6. Goal-line clearance (defender or keeper) from a shot six yards out. Six yards out and you can’t just power it home? Put it in the back of the net son, hitting the post? it really doesn’t have a chance of going in, it’s not in the area of a goal being able to be scored.
7. Same as above, getting that close from further out is just an unlucky/lucky event that is more difficult and usually a last stitch effort, missing from six yards out is a pathetic display of finishing.
8. Why should either matter? 12 yards out one on one with the keeper if you can’t hit the corner with a hard pass than how can you be expected to hit a runner with a pass, or a standing mate with a defender closing in? If you cant hit a penalty 99.999% of the time, find a new day job. (Sorry Terry, your slip in the CL league final is no excuse, no body else slipped, or your fancy crap Ronaldo, or Anelka blaming not warming up? its one hit at the ball, how much do you need to warm up for that?
9. It really depends. As long as you don’t lie to the fans and say how much you love them and the club just to leave 3 years later because 29m isn’t enough is a little bit of crap if you ask me. If you are honest and say you are leaving because you feel like its time to move on or just want new opportunities and never claimed to want to stay for the rest of your carrier, then go and be happy, if you lie about your intentions burn in bloody you bastard, your not irreplaceable
1: League (im a liverpool supporter and we’ve won champs league 5 times already)
2: Best team
3: amount a player scores
4: Quality of opposition (again I’m a liverpool supporter and we cant seem to score against man u or chelsea)
5: losing by not diving. then i can say that my team aren’t cheats like manchester united
6: goal line clearance
7: miss from right in front ie marlon harewood fa cup final 2006, mario gomes euro 2008,
8: Practice makes perfect
9: sacrificing your career. football fans don’t realise that because football is professional, players are going to follow the money, after all they had to get themselves good in the first place. what do fans do for players? jack all. they criticise them when they do badly. And if they do like a player, it is because the player had to prove himself to the fans in the first place
1) The domestic league (since Maccabi Haifa from Israel will never win a Europoean title)
Amount of experience
2) Having a good team that plays well together
3) The opposition he scores against, since those are often the goals that matter most
4) The opposition, swince scoring goals against close rivals and teams close in the standings wins games
5) Winning by diving since if you can get away with a dive, its part of the game
6) A goal line clearance
7) A miss from 6 yards out
9) “Sacraficing” yourself, since club loyalty is the most important thing in the game, and anyway, if you make 30,000 pounds a week, why sell away thousands of fan’s hopes for 50,000 a week, since you will never be poor anyway.
1. winning the league - since it takes consistency to win a league.
2. having the best team - this way you are likely to win something; remember Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo & Beckham?
3. the number of goals a player scores - football is about entertainment and goals are entertaining.
4. the number of goals your team scores - ditto.
5. winning a game through diving - teams will win games and teams will lose games, the important thing is that players play the game fairly.
6. hitting the post / crossbar from outside the box.
7. hitting the post from outside the box.
8. mental strength - I know, I take these.
9. Sacrificing your career to satisfy the demands of millions of football fans - if your club has millions of fans, you would hardly be sacrificing anything by staying with them. Looking for a move away would be just selfish.
Scratch that and make it “losing a game by not diving”
1 Winning the cup, you can grind out a chelski season, but the cup has drama and passion.
2 Best team
3 Quality of opposition - no good being able to score a dozen against the dross and not being able to score in a big game.
4 Opposition but you are going to have to do both to win something!
5 Everyone dives its gamesmanship, great if your player gets away with it, crap if its the opposition. Must be the quality of the dive, Gerrarards a great diver, Ronaldo sh….
6 Goal line clearence. Hello the post and the bar are a miss, just not as big a miss as a goal kick.
7 Dont care, no goal, no point!
8 Mental strength, you hear of players who stay after the team has left practicing and practising and they still fluff under pressure. Its not that difficult skill wise unless you do a ronalddo, lose your nerve, frat about and fail!
9 Best future, come on people, if you don’t think of yourself who else will? Would you turn down a new job on £10K more because your gonna miss your mates?
1. Winning the League. It takes really hard (team)work and effort to win a League, specially one like the Premier (I’m a Liverpool fan), a Cup you can win on luck in a penalty shootout or a mistake of a referee even if you have been the best team through the whole tournament. With the league it is much harder for that to happen (except if you are Juventus)
2. The best team. You can have no famous or world class players on a team and still have a good tournament or even win it if the players have good chemistry and understand each other. ie: Russia in Euro 08. Although it always helps having a few good player but not go mad getting them like Real Madrid who would sell their soul just to get C.Ronaldo or when they got Figo, Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo and never won crap.
3. The number of goals he scores because it is entertaining to watch him (and probably the team to) play. And generally the players that score the most goals score them against good and bad team ( I said GENERALLY, because it is not always like that)
4. This one is hard but I´d have to say Quality Of Opposition because what good will it make to score 6 or 7 goals to a crappy team if you can´t score in the important and decisive games?
5. I would rather lose a game by not diving as hard as it could be to see my team lose but I would be incredibly dissapointed if they win by diving, considering how much I hate players like Drogba who dive pretty often.
6. The question I don´t really like considering that a miss is a miss and which ever way a team won win with either but the closest probably is the bar.
7. post from outside but, again, who gives a crap? a miss is a miss what you want to do is score not get close.
8. Mental Strength because you can be a good player at set pieces (penalties) but if you don´t have enough mental strength you can get to nervous, etc and miss. ie: Schevchenko Liverpool vs Milan penalty shootout, Beckham vs France and Portugal in Euro 2004. And Fabregas vs Italy Euro 08 scores the winning penalty even when he has never been known for penalty taking and isn´t the penalty taker with Spain or Arsenal.
9. Sacrifice your career to satusfy the demands of millions of fans is worse… Why the hell would I stay if I´m beeing offered thousand or millions more and with whichever fans they will praise you if you help the team and play well and will eat you alive for one mistake. But in the case of players like Lampard I take that back, because he says a bunch of crap about staying a loving his team and it hasn´t really seemed like it the last few years and probably he will leave.
interesting answers, thanks for sharing.
Mine:
1. Winning the league - consistent quality over time. Cup has glamour but little substance.
2. Best team.
3. The number of goals a player scores - because goals will win you games.
4. The number of goals your team scores - same as above.
5. Winning a game through diving for a penalty - no medals given for being a honest loser at the end of the day.
6. Goal-line clearance - unless the keeper is nowhere in site and the guy from outside the box hits the crossbar instead of the empty net, the keeper usually has the shot covered. In front of the goal, anything can happen - handball, deflection, etc - it’s a harder chance but also a better goalscoring chance.
7. missing the goal from six yards out - closer to the goal = better chance to score, it’s not rocket science.
What is more important in taking penalties?
8. mental strength - at the highest professional level everyone practices penalties before key games and the regular penalty takers are well-practiced anyway. The difference ends up being your composure, and sometimes pure luck. Mental strength can minimize the influence of luck.
9 Sacrificing your career to satisfy the demands of millions of football fans - definitely the worse option. Short career, fickle fans, fickle clubs and all that.
1. Winning the league is great, but if we’re talking about the Champions League, there’s nothing like the euphoria of your club being the champions of their continent. But, like Ahmed said, winning the league shows consistent quality.
2. Having the best team - if you’ve got great players, that’s great, but great players don’t necessarily make a great team.
3. Number of goals ultimately makes the most difference, but we most remember the ones that are scored in the derbies, the cup finals, and the title deciders.
4. Certainly better when that 5-1 is against a rival, but whenever you’re outscoring the other team, then it’s good.
5. A win is a win at the end of the day, but if it didn’t come the right way, it tends to come back around on you sooner or later, and you lose one by a questionable decision or don’t get the decision called in your favor when you should.
6. Goal-line clearance - you end up pissed off either way, but at least you know the shot was on target.
7. Missing the sitter.
8. Mental strength - Who cares if you’re the shiz and you worked hard day in, day out to get to a high level if you don’t have the stones to come through when it matters?
9. Best interests - You only live once, and when you’re in sports, you’ve got a pretty short window to make he most of your career. You don’t want to have any regrets when you hang it up.
1. Winning the league or cup: As an Arsenal fan, either the league or Champions League would do right now, to be honest. We can’t be too fussy. At a push…Champions League. Though I may say ‘league’ tomorrow.
2. Best players or best team: Team, usually, but there is a pleasure in taking a shine to a particular player, eg. Sex…I mean, Cesc Fabregas.
3. Number of goals a player scores or quality of opposition: The latter. Six words: Robbie Keane, record Irish international goalscorer.
4. Same as 3 but for teams: Generally, quality of opposition again.
5. Winning through diving or losing through not diving: The moral maze, eh? Partly depends on the type of dive: if it’s the kind where there is a foul and the player fouled exaggerates to ensure the ref sees it, it’s fair enough. A foul manufactured from nothing: I would retreat into a deserted wood on ponder on the quandry for forty days and forty nights, at the end of which deciding…I don’t know.
6 & 7: A miss is a miss is a miss, no? I like to think you can have a beautiful miss like you can have a beautiful goal, but that’s a different issue.
8. Penalties: mental strength or amount of practice?Mental strength, but only because technical proficiency is a subset of mental strength. If you have a well-practised routine that you know you can use in a match situation, it’s going to give you more confidence. This exists side-by-side with ‘bottle’.
9. Sacrificing career for fans or suiting yourself: Generally, suiting yourself. A career is short and job security hardly lock-tight; if a manager decides he doesn’t like your face you’re screwed.
Won’t stop me bitching about Adebayor, though.