+- Simulation Soccer League (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com)
+-- Forum: Player Development (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Capped Point Tasks (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=23)
+---- Forum: Articles (https://forum.simulationsoccer.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=46)
+---- Thread: Manny's Journal - W259 (/showthread.php?tid=11169)
Manny's Journal - W259 - iltornante - 2026-11-07
It has been a busy couple of weeks, and I am already noticing the differences between academy football and minor league football. My coaches gave me an intense summer training program, designed to maximise my explosiveness and speed ahead of the new season. I can feel the difference already, but I would be lying if I said this did not make me feel like I have regressed in other areas.
The coaching staff at Seoul insist that this will work out better in the long-run, though. And I do not think it would be wise to argue. They are experienced, I am not. It is strange in some ways, that a sport which prides itself on valuing technical skill over pure athleticism, often relies on athleticism anyway. Philippe used to tell me this was true at lower levels within the game because physical attributes like strength, speed, and stamina, when they are significantly better than your opponent, can be difference makers. At lower levels, nobody has the technical skill to make up that gap.
But conventional wisdom has always told us that this does not carry to the elite level. Smaller, less athletic players have often dominated. Andrea Pirlo, for example., dominated midfield for over a decade, despite not being relatively small, and not much of a runner. Roberto Ayala and Fabio Cannavaro were elite defenders despite being significantly shorter than the average defender. I was bigger and faster than Lionel Messi when I was 14, yet he is probably the greatest footballer to ever live.
So now I wonder. Perhaps the physical level of the SSL is just very high, and in order to make use of my technical skills, I first need to be able to keep up physically. And if this is true, perhaps these players we laud as elite, despite being "less physical" were always actually significantly better than average athletically too, and the players we considered above them were the elite of the elite.
For now, I will listen to my coaches, work hard, and do whatever I can to be the best version of myself I can be. Time will tell if I can reach a level that has people including me in "greatest of all time" debates.