When I hear cracks about soccer strikers being lazy, I always picture pot-bellied Giorgio Chinaglia of the New York Cosmos from the 1970's.
I wasn't much of a footballer in those days, although I played a couple high school games in around '71. Just because I was fast and too small for eggball.
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. As quoted in Listening and Speaking : A Guide to Effective Oral Communication (1954) by Ralph G. Nichols and Thomas R. Lewis, p. 74
Pretty funny post to read after watching Kessel put in a very good effort in a game that doesn't mean anything nor even count towards his stats.
If you believe last night was a good effort, then your standards are very low. I saw another night where Kessel worked hard a few times, but floated around most of the night.
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Originally Posted by ULF_55
You miss a thought here though. Maybe it is your years of coaching has lead you to only see it one way.
Perfectionists get disappointed when they are not perfect. When that shot didn't go where he wanted or he doesn't score he gets down on himself. Myself I see Kessel blaming himself when things don't go right. I don't see quit I see someone beating himself mentally, and that takes him out of the moment into the doubt.
While I may aspire to be perfect, I know it will never happen, and I understand that no player will ever be perfect either. That is why I only demand that my players control what they can control - their effort and their attitude. Those are the same two things that Kessel can control, and I don't think he gives a consistently good effort, nor does he bring a positive attitude to the rink.
When I see Kessel miss a shot, I see a selfish and spoiled kid that feels bad for himself, not the team. Why he feels bad is only half of the issue though - the other half he how he responds to feeling bad. Most of the time, when he misses a shot, he bangs his stick and loafs around for the rest of the shift.
You can read into that whatever you want, but the fact remains he doesn't handle it well, and regardless if it's the selfhishness I see or just the mental weakness you see, it's all part of a negative attitude. If he had a proper attitude, there would be no banging of the stick, no moaping, and no feeling sorry for himself. He would just get back in the play and do his job. If he feels like he let the team down, he should work even harder to make up for it, shouldn't he?
I played 2 years of high school soccer, but all I got was mop up duty. Guys my size were "eggballers". But I brought a certain energy level in practice that coaches kept me around. I did score the final goal in our championship game, but it was the 7-0 goal, so it wasn't too important.
I agree. Kessel often frustrates me with his softness on the puck, his alleged poor work ethic, and his often one dimensional approach to offense. Having said that he's a good player with supreme speed and a quick snap shot. Unfortunately I think his head holds him back from what his talent could really accomplish.
While I may aspire to be perfect, I know it will never happen, and I understand that no player will ever be perfect either. That is why I only demand that my players control what they can control - their effort and their attitude. Those are the same two things that Kessel can control, and I don't think he gives a consistently good effort, nor does he bring a positive attitude to the rink.
I see a lot of the same things you see, but I think you are way overboard on the bad attitude thing. I think he is a selfish player and he does get down on himself, but I think his effort is mostly there. But there are times he fakes effort.
But, I don't see this horrible attitude you seem to be alluding to, I see a maturity issue. I've seen it several times around teams. What he needs is a lightbulb moment, and a good coach will find that moment at just the right time. Find a way to convince him he'll control the puck more and score more goals if he back checks better, and he'll be one of the better back checkers on the team. He'll work his ass off if it means more goals. You will never convince him to work hard because he has to.
I see a lot of the same things you see, but I think you are way overboard on the bad attitude thing. I think he is a selfish player and he does get down on himself, but I think his effort is mostly there. But there are times he fakes effort.
But, I don't see this horrible attitude you seem to be alluding to, I see a maturity issue. I've seen it several times around teams. What he needs is a lightbulb moment, and a good coach will find that moment at just the right time. Find a way to convince him he'll control the puck more and score more goals if he back checks better, and he'll be one of the better back checkers on the team. He'll work his ass off if it means more goals. You will never convince him to work hard because he has to.
Don't you see laziness and selfishness is part of a bad attitude?
Not sure those are labels per say, are they not observations of the obvious?
I surely was not impressed with his typical "fly by" on the rebound produced from the Lupul shot.
Honestly , what the heck could he have been thinking? He had just dropped the pass to him and his strategy was to go behind the net? To what end? Other then to avoid the chance of being hit.
Lazy players don't reach the heights that Kessel has
You can fly surprisingly high on talent alone.
Where Kessel falls is up to everyone's personal idea of what "lazy" means, but I doubt many would list him among the hardest working guys on the team. Compare him to a somewhat similar guy like Grabovski, and there's an obvious difference in the way each player plays without the puck on his stick.
Phil has always had the talent. When he was in Boston no one questioned his skill everyone questioned his heart and he was a nightmare in the dressing room. If you remember they scratched him in the first round of the playoffs a few years ago. He's one of those players who feels entitled.
Last edited by habsprospects: 09-28-2011 at 06:12 PM.
Reason: removed manually added sig
if you try hard enough i guess you can convince yourself to see anything.
I have no reason to want to believe he is lazy, so I have no reason to convince myself of anything.
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if it was true for one sec it'd be snuffed out by RW/BB and he wouldn't take another shift
For whatever reason, RW and BB have different standards for Kessel. All the things that Kadri was blasted for last year are things that Kessel does on a regular basis (cheating offensively, making bad turnovers, swooping, not back-checking, and getting pushed off the puck).
Strikers are lazy. They're self centered and showboats.
Midfielders are the thing.
I wouldn't call them lazy so much as a victim of their own position on the field. If the opponent is pressing in your own 18, then obviously the opponent's defence has little to defend against. It's the forwards jobs to cover that midfield and wait for a clearance or possession to be reclaimed. There's no offsides in your own half. It's the same idea of sticking one of your hockey forwards on the opponent's blue-line for a PP rush, knowing there's no 2-liners anymore.
Midfielders are the backbone of the team, I agree. I play both forward and midfield. Depends on what is needed. It's nice having a left foot up front, though. I'm kinda excited to play some football now. Burloak pickup!
Where Kessel falls is up to everyone's personal idea of what "lazy" means, but I doubt many would list him among the hardest working guys on the team. Compare him to a somewhat similar guy like Grabovski, and there's an obvious difference in the way each player plays without the puck on his stick.
What I mean is more along the lines of that Kovalev and Kessel needed to work hard to get to the point where they don't look like they are working as hard as everyone else but still producing.
What I mean is more along the lines of that Kovalev and Kessel needed to work hard to get to the point where they don't look like they are working as hard as everyone else but still producing.
You'd be surprised how far talent can carry some people.
