Stat declines that make no sense.

As the title suggests, there are some stats which don't make sense to decline, obviously players can lose pace etc, but abilities like strength are generally, if anything more improved with age. Whilst players getting worse is no where near as extreme as last year, quite shocked to see my main striker losing points off his concentration, work rate, strength, technique and determination.

Because when you look at the context...

Concentration - How much attention and for how long a player is full focused on the tasks at hand during a match, now just because a player reaches 34/35 I don't think he loses the ability to focus on the match.

Work Rate - I can understand this declining in players who have become very complacent at a club. However, when a player has just come in as one of the top 3 players in the impressive section of the monthly training report, surely his work rate off the field isn't in decline which means it probably wasn't on the pitch either to warrant a decline in it.

Strength - If you ever have seen the worlds strongest man competition, a man in his early-mid 30's is no where near of the strength required, usually getting to the right levels of strength at about 37 onwards. So why does strength decline when in truth, its probably the one attribute a player can keep increasing throughout his career.

Technique - One of the very last things to go on a player is his ability to hit a ball, ex-players in their 50's etc can still kick a ball better than the average person.

Determination - This basically mirrors concentration.

Then there a few in the grey area, influence, off the ball, composure, bravery, positioning, anticipation. All attributes that you can from a perspective understand declining, but perhaps not at the same rate as pace, acceleration, balance, dribbling etc.

I totally agree with you. It's already been discussed on these forums (I don't remember the name of the thread) and IIRC Riz from SI said that he would look at this issue.

Think of these drops as the player losing his motivation to play.

Personally I'd like to see major shocks (even for younger players of 28-29-30) to the players who all of a sudden, inexplicably start to concentrate less, loses their determination etc. to emulate a player having achieved all he wanted in football and starting to think about life after football in his last few active playing seasons (and potentially moving to smaller teams as a result). Not all players play to the same level of concentration or determination throughout their careers..

I can understand that, and would indeed appreciate it in moderation, but then you get players like sheringham, romario, gary speed etc who like to keep going as long as they feel they can or until they achieve something (ie 1000 goals). But still, some stats are almost inexplicably dropping, even if a player does lose the will to play football and all motivation etc, things like technique, first touch really are the last things to abandon a player.

Robbie Savage springs to mind ...

Savage is a complete waste of space!

Concentration - How much attention and for how long a player is full focused on the tasks at hand during a match, now just because a player reaches 34/35 I don't think he loses the ability to focus on the match.

Strength - If you ever have seen the worlds strongest man competition, a man in his early-mid 30's is no where near of the strength required, usually getting to the right levels of strength at about 37 onwards. So why does strength decline when in truth, its probably the one attribute a player can keep increasing throughout his career.

If anything these two actually decline the older any person gets.

Concentration- The older you get the worse your concentrationh skills become, i know this is out of context (within footballing ages, but im sure it still applys to a 20 year old and a 34year old.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7749690.stm

Strength - using the Worlds strongest man competition in reference isnt good, as they are constantly trying to improve there muscle by way of weight lifting etc. Not much running around or anything else. a prime example of players strength declining is Ryan Giggs, although he has never been one of the strongest players out there he has been able to hold his own against others, but in recent years he has been out strengthed off the ball on more than one occasion. But to counter act this, he has been more knowledgable and whitty in getting past players of strength.

isn't conecntration linked to stamina though, hense why it may reduce in an older player

isn't conecntration linked to stamina though, hense why it may reduce in an older player

I think your right on that, not sure though.

But overall it does depend on the player, if they have high natural fitness they will keep high levels of strengh etc. But then again even these players stats decline, albeit at a lower rate than others.

Strength will not necessarily improve with age. It depends on a lot of factors including the willingness to train, determination levels and whether the player is overtraining.

Ryan Giggs, although he has never been one of the strongest players out there he has been able to hold his own against others, but in recent years he has been out strengthed off the ball on more than one occasion. But to counter act this, he has been more knowledgable and whitty in getting past players of strength.

I think this is partly due to the fact that the premiership is now stronger than it used to be and is filled with bigger, stronger players than before. But I think mostly it's due to the fact that he has completely lost his pace. In the past he could breeze past players and didn't need to outmuscle them. He gets caught out now and knocked off the ball because he is slow.

I think this is partly due to the fact that the premiership is now stronger than it used to be and is filled with bigger, stronger players than before. But I think mostly it's due to the fact that he has completely lost his pace. In the past he could breeze past players and didn't need to outmuscle them. He gets caught out now and knocked off the ball because he is slow.

ok fair point, but the principle still applys.