FL2: Torquay v Accrington Stanley 27th Feb 2010

I think Justin has adequately answered your somewhat innocent viewpoint by underlining that skill and technique will get you nowhere in sport without huge commitment, massive determination and intense focus. It's what separates the men from the boys, those who remain in the game and those who don't.

Where Anthony trains with Arsenal ALL the boys in his squad have exceptional skill and technique, but in the fourteen months he has been there he has seen many depart and in the main they have been the ones who show a lack of focus, definciency in concentration and therefore a lack of progress within their own skill zone. I used to worry that he couldn't "Keepy Uppy" with the best of them as that seemed to form the basis of every warm up, but then I was told it was not a problem as how often is that skill used in a match situation and if it was what would the overall interuption of that be to the general possession and progression up the pitch to his team? I was told that they were more interested in Anthony's exceptionally mature reading of developing situations on the pitch, his quickness of thought and his rapid transformation of thought to action....................you make apass in front of him at your peril because he'll swoop on you like a Jackdaw! He knows when to apply the technique of ball tricks and he knows when not to. He's two footed, balanced and has almost perfect first touch.

When he plays in an Arsenal shirt it is to silence from the assembeld crowd and the emphasis is indeed on technique, skill and patience. When he plays in an A Class game (with at least four others of his Arsenal squad) in the Camden & Islington Midweek Youth League it is before noisy, partizan crowds, against some teams that are dying and highly motivated to beat them and he is indeed (as the season progresses) on the receiving end of doubled up marking, rapid closing down and some pretty desperate tackling. He's blessed with a wonderful temperament whereby he doesn't retaliate and he has an arrogance that will lead him to disdainfully look down his nose at an opponent who has taken liberties and I've even heard him invite that opponent to see if he fancies trying it once more and be made a fool of again.

He also knows that his tackling has to be tough and hard and his ariel challenges fierce..................he's learning all that and he's getting the best of both worlds. Skill and technique at Arsenal and real life and grittiness at A Class.

So you won't catch me whingeing and moaning when he gets clumped, I stand alone or with a select one or two parents who are like me and keep schtumm and don't get upset by what goes on. He was on the end of one such "cut you in half" tackle the other week that resulted in the only red card I have ever seen in football of that level and there was no complaint from either he or I. They had a tough challenge to overcome last Friday night before overcoming it and their single goal win put them five points clear at the top of their league.
He and a team mate successfully spent most of the game doubling up on an especially talented opponent rather than getting forward in his usual fashion................his team mate was eventually subbed at the insistence of the ref for persistent fouling, Anthony was lectured for the ferocity of his tackles ~ good for them, this was Kings Cross not the Kings Road!

Nathanial Rowe-Turner is probably trying to make that bridge between the calm environment of development football and the hurley burley of league 2 relegation battles. I've yet to see him play, but I empathise with him and just wish those who support the team he plays for would show a little more support for his efforts; it's not easy.

So to return to your question of what is the point of learning all those skills? It is of course to enable them to overcome the huge challenges they will face, but once again as Justin and I are telling you; skill and technique on their own will not suffice.

I agree completely. Much has been made by the chippy know-it-alls that Buckle was fortunate to orginally inherit a squad of four players, which enabled him to assemble a squad for his first BSP campaign in circumstances that other managers would have killed for.

It's certainly been a risky strategy getting rid of the more experienced members of the BSP-protomoted side and relacing them with rookies on loans or short-term contracts mid-season (a strategy that has been a bit too risky for my liking). However, Buckle's remit was to achieve survival this season, and he is on course to achieve that. If he can achieve that AND produce a blank canvas for next season, then in my opinion he will be completely vindicated.

The question for now however is whether he can keep us up with the squad her currenttly has. And although yesterday's win make that more likely, it's an outcome that is still very much undecided.

There probably are other factors but those factors would not be up for public scrutiny, what happens in the board room stays in the board room unless the board decide to release any info, if they don`t release any info then there probably is a very good reason and we will all have to just trust the boards decisions, it`s not difficult, frustrating maybe but not difficult!

1 Now thats a much nicer way to put things merse and far better than some of the terms and words you choose to use yesterday and therefore it makes keeping the debate going with you all the more possible


2 no disrespect intended here but I have been watching football as long as you have and longer than Justin, so sorry but I don't think I need telling anything by you or Justin as I'm very well aware that skill and technique on their own will not suffice. I watched football in the days it was a much more physical game than it is today and feel that something has been lost from it with so much of the physical aspect taken out of it.

Time to do a merse here and ask who else is posting and supporting yours and Justin's argument and you are doing it with out ever seeing the player in question even kick a ball or saw the challenge he made on the winger.

Yesterday you said it would be my naivety that would see us relegated, really? what will get us relegated is playing players who are only just learning the game in key positions where we need experience.

No one will have ever a problem with a young learning player coming on for the last twenty minutes in a game that is safely won and in the bag, but we are in a relegation dog fight and need players on the pitch who can do the job better than other players we have here.

Take some time and read the match reports again and apart from one, find another poster who felt he played well and looked like he knew what he was doing and is the right player to play at left back we need NOW.

Also take some time and read what I have really said about the challenge, because this was not one of those doing it for the team type challenges you see when a player finds he is the last man and feels he has to foul to stop the other player going in on goal.

By the way it is also my view that those doing it for the team challenges are also very wrong and once again it is no more than cheating in my book. So Steve Davis needs the black ball to win the match and old Jimmy White gets up and knocks the ball off coarse with his cue and it then misses the pocket.

That would never be allowed or considered acceptable, yet for some reason in football some feel its alright to break the rules and not play the game in a sportsman's like way, as long as the team gets to win.

Thats what is wrong with the game, that is what is so wrong with the mentality of some fans and that is what ruins the game and creates all the problems so many football clubs are now facing as they look to cheat and bend every rule because winning is the bee and end all of everything in their minds.

What bald?