Tim wrote:
Ricky1985 wrote:
Come on mate, it's Gervinho we're talking about.
He lacks the technique required to put it where he wants to when striking a football, the knowledge that he can't makes him nervous when he tries.
From 12 yards he can put it on a sixpence Ricky. Dont doubt it. I've played with plenty of good standard non league players who train once a week and can ping a ball in to the top corner at decent pace from 12, 18 even 25 yards, pretty much at will. Gervinho trains 2 hours a day 300+ days a year and is a £10 million footballer. His technique is absolutely good enough to strike a good dead ball. It's when you add in a 6ft 3 supremely athletic goalkeeper, 50'000 fans, the world's press, the hopes of a nation and 5 TV crews that he struggles.
Did you see the Zambia 'keeper, mate? 😆
Jokes aside, I agree all of those things play their part, of course they do, Drogba showed that earlier in the match, but I beg to differ on Gervinho's shooting ability.
Just because he's a top level footballer does not mean every aspect of his game is top level. He's a horrendously poor striker of the ball, and has obviously done very little since he started playing football to improve it - unless you believe he was born with a handicap of not being able to put his foot through a ball?
If he trains all those hours a day and dedicates a significant portion of it to improving his ball striking, then his ball striking gets better. It's that simple. If his ball striking gets better, and his confidence in it naturally goes up with it, then when he's faced with a one-on-one or a pressure penalty, he will handle the pressure better than if he knows he can't strike a ball for toffee.
