Sorry but you are naive. 

 

Most academies these days spend a lot of money on providing psychologist, teaching youngsters basic things like paying bills/running a household and just all round general support. City ruined an entire academy of players, which included Ireland, Johnson and Richards, to an extent, because they failed to allow them to develop mentally. There is an immense amount of stress and pressure these players go through and many people simply can't handle it.

 

I also think people need to reassess how they speak/react to those that struggle and are considered "mentally weak", they get the piss taken out of them and as a result do things to prevent that from having that happening. Johnson resorted to drinking and partying, trying to act like a "lad" and Balotetti keeps acting out and, for some reason, it's considering having a laugh when really it's a cry for help. It's all a bit too macho for my liking. These are issues that will linger on long after their football career without proper attention. 

 

As for whether or not Sterling is mentally tired, well a 19 year old who was relative unknown a season ago is now expected to be Liverpool's and England's best player on a regular basis...I would believe it. More importantly, I wouldn't risk not believing him. 

I agree and disagree with you Remodez, I agree regarding the part where you say people need to reassess how they view people who are considered mentally weak because it's not really a laughing matter but then you spew some right cobblers, going on about City ruining an academy worth of English talent and how Johnson, Balotelli's drunken behavior is a cry for help.

 

So how comes the foreign lads coming through our academies don't seem to get ruined???? People like you need to accept that the majority of young English talent don't know how to deal with any sort of limelight, The foreign kids are all well attached to their families therefore they can keep their feet on the ground, Is it City's fault or any other Premier League clubs fault that the English young talent are on bad terms with the family, Living round the girlfriends house or living with the girlfriend in an expensive flat, Buying expensive stuff to impress friends, Going boozing up 5 star rated night clubs and other petty rubbish like that, People like you are not helping them, You are only giving them a platform to vent their frustration over nothing, Giving them an excuse.

 

If you are using Michael Johnson and Mario Balotelli as your argument, You are on a hiding to nothing, So Balotelli's behavior is a cry for help, It hasn't got anything to do with him being an arrogant, immature man who still lives his life like a boy or a teenager? What about Michael Johnson, So is getting arrested constantly for drink driving a cry for help or someone who hasn't got their priorities in check? The guy had everything, It's his own fault he messed up, Why should you make people like him the victim in all of this and in turn blame the club he was at? If i get arrested for drink driving tomorrow can i blame my work place and get away with it? 

 

Anyway, This Raheem Sterling issue doesn't seem to be anything that we are debating, It's got the smell of Liverpool trying to send the FA a message or he's just an ungrateful sod who thought he might get away with it, Let's remember Sterling was accused of assaulting a bird a few years ago, He's no angel. 

So Bayern are willing to offer 30 million for Ozil, and apparently Sanchez is unhappy also. The latter is a weak rumour at the moment, but i would not be the least bit surprised. Arsenal are falling apart at the seams and i reckon most top players want to avoid them as much as possible. Wenger is a poor man manager and tactically he will never reach the level of Jose; he is just not good enough. 

Edited October 13, 201411 yr by enigma

So Bayern are willing to offer 30 million for Ozil, and apparently Sanchez is unhappy also. The latter is a weak rumour at the moment, but i would not be the least bit surprised. Arsenal are falling apart at the seams and i reckon most top players want to avoid them as much as possible. Wenger is a poor man manager and tactically he will never reach the level of Jose; he is just not good enough.

Not heard the Sanchez rumour before, must say if he is might show why he was so frustrated at times against us.

Wenger appears to be losing the dressing room there, his problems are there to say the game has moved beyond him as a manager. He used to find raw talent for cheap, everyone's doing that now, people also forget he inherited a good squad when he joined which lasted for a long time. He would have done himself a huge favour retiring with the FA Cup in May.

Edited October 13, 201411 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

I agree and disagree with you Remodez, I agree regarding the part where you say people need to reassess how they view people who are considered mentally weak because it's not really a laughing matter but then you spew some right cobblers, going on about City ruining an academy worth of English talent and how Johnson, Balotelli's drunken behavior is a cry for help.

 

So how comes the foreign lads coming through our academies don't seem to get ruined???? People like you need to accept that the majority of young English talent don't know how to deal with any sort of limelight, The foreign kids are all well attached to their families therefore they can keep their feet on the ground, Is it City's fault or any other Premier League clubs fault that the English young talent are on bad terms with the family, Living round the girlfriends house or living with the girlfriend in an expensive flat, Buying expensive stuff to impress friends, Going boozing up 5 star rated night clubs and other petty rubbish like that, People like you are not helping them, You are only giving them a platform to vent their frustration over nothing, Giving them an excuse.

 

If you are using Michael Johnson and Mario Balotelli as your argument, You are on a hiding to nothing, So Balotelli's behavior is a cry for help, It hasn't got anything to do with him being an arrogant, immature man who still lives his life like a boy or a teenager? What about Michael Johnson, So is getting arrested constantly for drink driving a cry for help or someone who hasn't got their priorities in check? The guy had everything, It's his own fault he messed up, Why should you make people like him the victim in all of this and in turn blame the club he was at? If i get arrested for drink driving tomorrow can i blame my work place and get away with it? 

 

Anyway, This Raheem Sterling issue doesn't seem to be anything that we are debating, It's got the smell of Liverpool trying to send the FA a message or he's just an ungrateful sod who thought he might get away with it, Let's remember Sterling was accused of assaulting a bird a few years ago, He's no angel. 

I didn't really bring nationality into it actually, it just so happened that City back then had a lot of English youth and the names of the more famous cases just so happened to be English. I don't know how true the English v foreigners comment is, seems like a lot of assumptions to me but as that's not my main point I'll leave it.  

 

I used Johnson and City in general as an example because it's the most recent example I can think of where there is such a colossal failure in regards to the well being of their players. 

 

Almost every graduate in that group of players had mental problems (I actually forgot to include Ched Evans to my list but the less said about him the better), I don't believe that's just a coincidence. Johnson, Ireland and Samaras have all talked about this and even have stories about the club during this shaky period and about the lack of support available. By the time City started putting more emphasis on it, no doubt spurred on by what had happened to Johnson, it was too late for Johnson to reap the benefit. They could only do damage control at that stage.

 

While Johnson certainly contributed to the downfall of his career, there's no denying that City could and should have done a lot more at the time to support him. They were thinking short term and throwing players into the team that weren't mentally prepared and as a result ruined the careers of several promising players. 

 

I didn't really bring nationality into it actually, it just so happened that City back then had a lot of English youth and the names of the more famous cases just so happened to be English. I don't know how true the English v foreigners comment is, seems like a lot of assumptions to me but as that's not my main point I'll leave it.  

 

I used Johnson and City in general as an example because it's the most recent example I can think of where there is such a colossal failure in regards to the well being of their players. 

 

Almost every graduate in that group of players had mental problems (I actually forgot to include Ched Evans to my list but the less said about him the better), I don't believe that's just a coincidence. Johnson, Ireland and Samaras have all talked about this and even have stories about the club during this shaky period and about the lack of support available. By the time City started putting more emphasis on it, no doubt spurred on by what had happened to Johnson, it was too late for Johnson to reap the benefit. They could only do damage control at that stage.

 

While Johnson certainly contributed to the downfall of his career, there's no denying that City could and should have done a lot more at the time to support him. They were thinking short term and throwing players into the team that weren't mentally prepared and as a result ruined the careers of several promising players. 

 

Ok, Fair point, I'll agree we were a mess during those days but i still don't see why it should be on the clubs to get players mentally ready, Surely being a professional footballer or in an academy, Being mentally ready is the least you can give or demand? Look at the injury rate at Arsenal with Welbeck suffering a knock on international duty, I can blame clubs for physically not having players ready or having a bad rep for not keeping players fit because that's their duty but how can a club or a manager consistently keep players mentally ready or truly know what's going on inside a players head if they are that flaky or if they have been driven off the right tracks by the money, women or possible fame.

 

If i'm working in Tesco's and suddenly my old man gets me a job with a big accounting firm which triples my wages, If i start boozing or hanging with the wrong crowd and start derailing my life, It's my own fault and no one elses, In my book anyway. I just think as a society we have this habit of finding ways to sympathize with people who have gone off the tracks due to fame or money and it's wrong, The only form of sympathy a player will get from me is if he goes through serious depression, Which is not caused through his own bad decisions but more of an illness that blindsides you.

 

That's all well and good in theory but unfortunately International football is a very strange world indeed, I refer you to comments made by Platini when Franck Ribery was rumoured to refuse to report for international duty with France:

 

"If Deschamps calls him up, then he has to come to the national team,'' Platini told Bild am Sonntag. "That's written in the FIFA statutes. If he doesn't report for duty, then he would be banned for three matches for Bayern Munich.

"It is not the player's decision whether he represents his country, it's the decision of the coach. Ribery cannot simply decide for himself whether he wants to play for France or not.''

 

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/341465.html#SvR3mluQp5QCk47m.99

 

The coaches decision is final, if Hodgson says they play, then they play and it's not up to the players not the parent clubs to interfere with that decision making. 

 

 

I agree, but I'm arguing for what it should be and I will support any player from any club that takes that stand. The current system is a disgrace.

don't be silly sydders, footballers are fit but no way athletes, an athlete is someone like rebecca adlington or your own thorpedo, who will do up to 70,000 metres a week in the pool plus, weights, and  cardio, or mo farah who will run 170 miles a week that's an athlete, the footballers who run the most are midfielders even a good one like pogba with a big engine will run 12k a match, in spurts,most of them not all, do you think someone like mo farah will sneak off for a crafty snout? anyone with half a brain knows smoking canes your aerobic capacity. so that excludes spoony and welsh*t!

 

75%+  of Pogba's 12km is what is called "intermittent sprints", which is intense sprinting for periods followed by periods of low-intensity movement. 

If Mo Farah tried to sprint for 9kms, intermittently, on top of football training, he'd likely cough up his insides. The body adapts specifically to the demands of each sport.

I see Raheem Stirling's on the bench after complaining of feeling tired.

Lers see if Brenda takes note, or runs him into the ground

I read somewhere (Apologies with no link) that Brenda has said he won't expose Sterling to too many minutes. Time will tell when that big head of his is in the chopping block. He seems to be blaming Roy for his poor start. Typical! Accountability runs severely thin here in the States and I am sure it's no different in the UK.

75%+  of Pogba's 12km is what is called "intermittent sprints", which is intense sprinting for periods followed by periods of low-intensity movement. 

If Mo Farah tried to sprint for 9kms, intermittently, on top of football training, he'd likely cough up his insides. The body adapts specifically to the demands of each sport.

 

Dont agree. Farah virtually sprints an entire 10k!! have you seen the speed that guy runs at not to mention the last few miles/laps he absolutely guns it weather its 5k or 10k or a marathon plus he has no rests or recovery because hes still in the race etc!

 

Farah would outlast any football player any day of the week high or low intensity, imo.

Edited October 13, 201411 yr by Bigthrobberus

Dont agree. Farah virtually sprints an entire 10k!! have you seen the speed that guy runs at not to mention the last few miles/laps he absolutely guns it weather its 5k or 10k or a marathon plus he has no rests or recovery because hes still in the race etc!

 

Farah would outlast any football player any day of the week high or low intensity, imo.

mo farah runs around 22 kph, try it at the gym tomorrow. pogba runs nowhere near that speed,he may run something approaching it for 20 or 30 metres  but thats it, and i was really talking about the training, aspect footballers do nothing like that of farah or  ian thorpe, felix magath got the sack at fulham cos he wanted the the players to run 10 k twice a week to get them fitter and they didn't want to do it.

He's a 16 year old kid, Who supports Chelsea, It took him I think 1 hour to do this and he just got his video and youtube channel advertised by the mailonline and mirror, Not really pointless is it, I'd rather my kid did that than play as City against United on amateur level and win 10-0 every time.

No offense mate, I would rather have my kid on the pitch playing as a youth and coming up the ranks to actually do what Costa has done thus far and then have some other kid make videos of him. I know that is a tall order but one doesn't know their true potential sitting inside replicating on some video game their hero's goals. By the way, I much rather have my kid making video game replicas of him/her saving lives as a surgeon. Where are those video games? Not trying to open this up to some moral debate but priorities are priorities. Here in the States we ship kids with 3rd grade level reading skills to the most prestigious universities to play sports so the school can bank on multi million dollar endorsements and sponsorship. Normally the kid gets hurt or doesn't cut it professionally and they are left with an IQ of 90 with no knowledge or skillset.

Edited October 13, 201411 yr by DoubleHelix

I've been putting 2+2 together and getting 5 a lot recently

It's OK, that's why you are a City fan. I am joking just had to reply after you set yourself up.. Nothing personal, just a joke.

Training at close to physiological capacity for 30 years of one's life isn't exactly a walk in a park. Especially compared to your average desk jockey where the closest thing to physiological stress is a walk to a photocopier

The mental and physiological stress athletes go through in the space of their career is grossly underestimated by most people.

Speak for yourself. Some of us have way more stressful jobs than a footballer. These guys lose a match. Me I lose my job and livelihood and cannot support my family. Nothing greater than that. Not tooting my own horn because many if not all have that stress. By the way, what is a photocopier? Have you seen Xerox stock lately?

If Mata went to Arsenal, Wenger would just play him out of position like he did with Ozil.

new rumour this morning. Apparently Arsenal are unhappy at Arsenal 

If Mata went to Arsenal, Wenger would just play him out of position like he did with Ozil.

 

He'd play him either on the wing where he's found at both Chelsea and United he doesn't have the legs to track back quickly enough for a pressing game or most likely or in central midfield where his almost inability to tackle would mean there are gaping holes in the middle of the team. 

 

Mata is a special talent but you've got to give him license to play in the area behind the striker and let him dictate play or else he's a wasted luxury. 

I think Mata would do well in Italy. A slower pace of game would make him look amazing.

 

I didn't really bring nationality into it actually, it just so happened that City back then had a lot of English youth and the names of the more famous cases just so happened to be English. I don't know how true the English v foreigners comment is, seems like a lot of assumptions to me but as that's not my main point I'll leave it.  

 

I used Johnson and City in general as an example because it's the most recent example I can think of where there is such a colossal failure in regards to the well being of their players. 

 

Almost every graduate in that group of players had mental problems (I actually forgot to include Ched Evans to my list but the less said about him the better), I don't believe that's just a coincidence. Johnson, Ireland and Samaras have all talked about this and even have stories about the club during this shaky period and about the lack of support available. By the time City started putting more emphasis on it, no doubt spurred on by what had happened to Johnson, it was too late for Johnson to reap the benefit. They could only do damage control at that stage.

 

While Johnson certainly contributed to the downfall of his career, there's no denying that City could and should have done a lot more at the time to support him. They were thinking short term and throwing players into the team that weren't mentally prepared and as a result ruined the careers of several promising players. 

 

 

Sorry mate but you way off the mark when you bring two players who have been convicted of serious offences in court into a conversation about a player who is said to be mentally tired for a match. Mental illness does occur but to condone drink driving or rape by young men who know well that both are socially unacceptable trivialises the offences.

As for Raheem he is more than likely caught in the classic club/country row with two managers pulling in different directions and he is caught in the middle with the media applying their own pressures. Yes that could make him mentally unprepared for a game.

If Mata went to Arsenal, Wenger would just play him out of position like he did with Ozil.

Exactly

Antoine Griezman has said he rejected a move to Arsenal in order to play for Atletico, This revelation comes on the day Ivan Gazidis has said Wenger has got Arsenal in a great position, The only problem will be finding his replacement.

It's nice to see Rio get charged by the FA for showing his true colors, Even better that it was a fellow Citizen who riled him up, And all of this from the guy who wants to be a future England manager people. 

Antoine Griezman has said he rejected a move to Arsenal in order to play for Atletico, This revelation comes on the day Ivan Gazidis has said Wenger has got Arsenal in a great position, The only problem will be finding his replacement.

Hes right, who else are they going to find that can go nearly a decade without a trophy, selling players all over the place, while being paid one of the biggest wages for a manager in football and still manage to brainwash the deluded dumb goonies into backing him. He`s a genius.

Madness in the Serbia v Albania game that was abandoned tonight by Martin Atkinson, Hope Kolarov is okay Lol

Hes right, who else are they going to find that can go nearly a decade without a trophy, selling players all over the place, while being paid one of the biggest wages for a manager in football and still manage to brainwash the deluded dumb goonies into backing him. He`s a genius.

He's a director's dream. He's managed to hoodwink Arsenal fans into throwing increasing money into the board's pockets while dampening expectations.

Only became aware the Sterling situation just now, what a load of cr@p about burn out. If he's really tired, why is he allowed to go back to training at liverpool? send him to a beach resort for a week of pampering for god sake. 

 

Dear Jose, please pull Cahill out of the international due to fatigue, we will see what the FA says.