One thing that occurred to me, whilst watching the game on Boxing Day, was how poor we arm as a team in terms of having any ability to head a ball. We can cope defensively to get distance on clearances, but who do we have who can strain the neck muscles and make the opposition’s net bulge?
Beckford has no heading ability at all.
It’s not the greatest part of Nugent’s game
Gallagher? None
Wellens? Nope
Dyer? Ha ha
King? Hurrah! Yes, when the team is playing in a way that allows him to get in the box.
Konchesky? A little, but not the tallest
Peltier? Coventry apart – can’t think of many examples
Bamba? Interesting one. You’d think he should have, but in an attacking sense no. He just seems to jump up and the ball rebounds off him in a random direction.
Mills? Possibly more than Bamba, but doesn’t go up so often. He’s hardly Walsh, Elliot or Taggart though ...
Schmeichel? Probably, he can do everything else. Maybe too much of a gamble to do it too often.
I guess it makes you realise why we keep resorting back to the immobile, lumbering Howard who is still the best header of a ball, in the squad, by a country mile.
Just a thought ....
The ability to head a ball
posted on 28/12/11
I dont think it will be too long until Matt Mills scores a header. He has gone close a few times.
posted on 28/12/11
I totally agree with you Joby. Heading the ball seems to be a lost art throughout modern day football. I wrote a similar article about Jack Hobbs a couple of years ago. He always seemed to head the ball on top of his head like a school kid. One of my first city favourites was the Doog, he could head a ball.
posted on 28/12/11
I've heard it bad for the brain? We should be o/k don't think there is to Meany in city team. Joking
posted on 28/12/11
While not as concussive as the blows boxers have to take, heading does, I gather, slowly lead towards that cumulative condition 'punch drunk'. Lineker is said to have taken the line that he was happy to head the ball to win matches, but he was buggered if he was going to traumatise his brain on the training pitch.
posted on 28/12/11
Is there still an issue with heading footballs these days? Being comparatively lighter than the leaden 'balloons' of yesteryear I didn't know 'punch drunkeness' remained a problem.
Sadly, the likes of Jeff Astle suffered from the effects of being a specialist header of those heavy balls, and it ultimately contributed towards his death.
posted on 29/12/11
I believe that FA/FIFA max and min permissible weights for balls are, in fact, the same as in Astle's day (14-16oz) – and perhaps surprisingly, one ounce heavier than those played with by Victorian and Edwardian footballers.
Those are the legal weights at the time of kick-off, mind. One area in which balls have improved a great deal is in water resistance. The synthetic ball absorbs virtually no water during the match, whereas no amount of dubbin and elbow-grease could prevent the real leather footballs of my youth gaining an ounce or two on a rainy day.
posted on 29/12/11
...'gaining an ounce or two on a rainy day'.
Hence we were all given Bata 'Cup Tie' hard fronted football boots in my locality (aged 7 upwards) so that we could toe-punt it halfway down the field and not bother heading it.
I always wanted to copy that Ken Keyworth goal in the '63 Cup Final but failed miserably.
posted on 29/12/11
Well, yes, the elasticity profile of balls is much more important than minor variations in mass. Kicking/heading a 16oz hollow steel sphere is very painful, while doing the same to a 16oz foam-rubber sphere isn't – even though the two are exactly the same weight.
A wet 1960s leather ball was as elastic as a breeze block, which is why the football toe-cap of the era was carborundum-resistant. And if you took a ferocious, long-arced swing at the ball, missed and caught the other kid's shin… well, let's say I remain convinced that South American footballers are taught how to writhe on the ground, simulating injury, by watching 8mm silent footage of wet Wednesday afternoon matches from English schools in the 1960s.