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Can you make a bad player better?
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I'm a bad player. Never been much good. I'll run around a lot, reasonable fitness and strength, but my close control and reading of the game is piss poor.
It's too late for me at my age, and whilst I know a good coach and lots of practice would make me better, could it ever have made me actually any good?
Not good enough to get paid for it, but good enough to hold my own on a Sunday morning.
Transpose this across to someone like Pidge. Great at much of what he needs to do, in the top 1% of footballers if you include all steps of the game, but can he be taught better decision-making and passing? Or has he reached the ceiling? (This is *not* a knock at him, just using him as an example)
Edited by BALDOCKBORO at 11:35:08 on 14th January 2026
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
Views: 448
Phil Neville had an incredible career and was arguably not in the top 3 sportspeople in his immediate family.
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
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Absolutely, anyone can be coached to be better (to a ceiling of course). Luther is a prime example. He has never been a bad player but under Evans and since he’s kicked on from being someone I’d happily have seen leave at the bottom of League Two to an integral part of a team at the top end of League One. That’s massive credit to him for being receptive to bettering himself and putting in the hard graft to do so.
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
Views: 380
Luther is a good example of someone who has improved such a lot.
You are right, everyone does have a personal ceiling. Any one of us can make great improvements to begin with, in whatever we do, in sport, work/career or life. Improvements will become less and less obvious as time moves on and become much harder to achieve, even with the same effort. In football, as a forward, it's those final, small improvements that are the difference between scoring and not. It is, therefore, a case of keep persevering to reach your ceiling...or your goal, so to speak.
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
Views: 431
Reidy also got a lot better until he wasn't any more.
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
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Depends where your ability-ceiling is. I reckon I've been bumping my head on mine since I was about 20. I played almost weekly at least for 30 years, (with some good players, one of whom has his A licence and has coached semi-pros and Championship academy level for years).
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
Views: 505
What!
Slow start to the day?
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
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There was a long read article from a journo who's been playing regularly for 15+ years and is still in their words 'woeful'. They are now well into a one-to-one coaching plan with limited results.
Got me thinking.
And being retired, yes every day is gloriously slow.
Edited by BALDOCKBORO at 12:05:39 on 14th January 2026
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Re: Can you make a bad player better?
Views: 419
I've just accepted I don't have the sporty gene.
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