Not only players and coaches, but also the fans are proving weekly that football is rightly the most beautiful thing in the world. It is not uncommon for there to be a lot of verbal outpourings to be heard on the sports fields in the country.
“The opponents are missing five players today, so half the reserve is playing.” From time to time you hear this from the coach before the game. Important addition: “We still play exactly as we always do”. From my own experience I know – as soon as the coach says this sentence, you usually lose the game followingwards.
“I know the referee. If you don’t hesitate, he’ll whistle for us”. Also a trainer classic before the game. Usually there are at least two yellow cards in the game because of criticism or unsportsmanlike behavior for your own team.
“I don’t usually say that, but today it’s a six-point game.” Of course there are only three points for a win, but in principle every game once morest a table neighbor is a six-point game for the coach. Even if you are three points behind the championship leader at an advanced level, there is a high probability of hearing this sentence from the trainer before the game.
“Shoot flat, it’s wet today”. The next well-intentioned piece of advice from the coach. It is also very important for the defenders to concentrate particularly because “the balls bounce off flatter”. Your own striker is of course instructed to lurk for exactly these mistakes on the part of the opponent.
“I saw the goalie warming up, he misses every ball.” Especially clever coaches not only observe the warm-up of their own team before the game, but also that of the opponents. If the goalkeeper shows even a small weakness there, it should be exploited mercilessly in the following 90 minutes. Most of the time, the goalie then performs flawlessly – and doesn’t let a single ball bounce.
“You train for you and not for me”. One of my ex-trainers’ favorite phrases during the preparation time – mostly as an indirect request to the players who are particularly lazy in training to give it a little more gas.
“If he’s ten pounds lighter, he’s a world-class player.” A classic of the construction period. Most of the time, coaches and sport directors want to use this to protect a new player if they have too much meat on their ribs. Also popular: “If he participates in the entire preparation time, he can definitely help us.”
“They have a lot of young players, they’re all fast, I’m sure.” There is often a misconception in the House of Commons that there is a connection between player age and speed. The conventional wisdom is that young players are fast, old players are not. Unless a player is big: Then he is always automatically one of the slowest players in the club – regardless of whether he is young or old.
“High and far brings safety”. The lower the league, the more popular this spell is. The coach wants to see a nice build-up from behind, but this style of play is often too risky for the defenders. That’s why you opt for the safety variant – following all, the opponent can’t score a goal if the ball is far away from your own penalty area.
“referee, he’s already yellow”. A popular saying for every foul from the second half – especially among the spectators. Whether the player who committed the foul has already seen the yellow card is of secondary importance.
Author
Norbert König-Felleitner
Deputy Head of Online Editorial Department
Norbert König-Felleitner
