By Samindra Kunti
October 7 – Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff has warned against too much complacency among players in the modern game at the Aspire Academy Global Summit on Football Performance and Science in Berlin.
Borussia Dortmund’s coach Thomas Tuchel, who is in his first season with the club in Nordrhein-Westfalen, raised the issue during the 2-day congress backed by Qatar’s Aspire in the German capital.
“With talented players I can only say to coaches: prepare obstacles for them,” said Tuchel. “In the past, I was always sure to create optimal conditions. It’s great to optimise, but this excellent comfort zone that we allow players today can lead to a shortcoming: [how] to overcome obstacles. Who can lead the dressing room when it’s not air conditioned, when there is no shuttle service, when the laundry has not been done? You only learn to overcome obstacles that way.”
Johan Cruyff, Holland’s all-time legend, agreed with Tuchel.
“I think the same way,” explained Cruyff. “When we were young you had to play in the street and young people can’t do that anymore. The surface was bad and if you fell down you would hurt yourself, so you learnt not to fall over. For small players they quickly understand they’ve got to be technically better than the others, if they are too slow the bigger players will knock them over. These sorts of things help players think.”
“The problem today is that a lot of coaches think for the players,” continued the former Ajax and FC Barcelona player. “You have to put something in front of the players that they have to think about. As soon as you do something you don’t know how to do or aren’t capable of, you get better. For example, if you’re right footed learn to play with the left, you will make mistakes but you will learn.”
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