So, I just had a huge debate over whether players are born with several natural positions and if they can develop them. I believe that certain players are natural in different positions, and it is possible for them to adapt to a position and also become natural at it. We were using Giggs as an example. He began his career at United on the left wing and played there for almost ten years. Recently, Ferguson has been deploying him in the central midfield and he can also play on the right wing if he really needs too. My mate thinks that a player is born with one natural playing position, and they will never develop another position in which they feel at home. We can also use Thierry Henry as an example. He used to play on the left wing for much of his young career, so you would assume that it was his natural position. Later, Wenger moulded him into one of the greatest strikers in the world (arguably). Does that cross out his natural ability on the left wing, or is he now natural at both being a striker and a winger? Tell me you thoughts. Discuss!
By definition, you can't become "natural" at a certain position. The word means that you were born with that ability or instinct or whatever, a lot like natural rights that we all have. You can develop to feel comfortable and world class in different positions, but by the definition of the word you cannot become natural at a position you weren't comfortable at before.
But what if you didn't know you were a natural at something. What if a player was installed on the right wing for the early part of his career, and then for some reason he played in an attacking midfield role and he felt at home. Maybe players never uncover their truly natural position.
This is such a broad topic. You can apply it to all aspects fo life, artistic skills, intelectual skills and emotional skills. IMO, it is a combination of the two things. Born skills and acquired skills.
We're talking about natural football positions. Can players have multiple natural positions, and can they develop another natural position? Those are the questions.
By the definition of the word, you cannot develop a natural position. You could, hypothetically, discover a new natural position I guess, but with the scouting and coaching systems in place I'm pretty sure a player would know what it is by the time they are a pro.
It's pretty self-explanatory. It's the position in which you most feel at home. Everybody has their "place" on a team.
Don't know, I can't say for sure. I would say probably he is naturally a left winger, though. When he gets the ball he tends to make a move towards the wing and runs with the ball; not something a striker would typically do. Also, iirc when he first moved to Arsenal he had trouble as a striker initially and wasn't scoring many goals. Obviously he overcame that, but to me that indicates a period of learning about the position and perhaps trying to simulate natural striking instincts. Once he mastered that, and got used to the English game, there was no stopping him.
So after he mastered it, does that make him a natural? I think the blending of his left wing mentality, his pace, and his clinical finishing makes him such a unique player. But I'm always on Henry's dick, so my opinion is pretty damn biased.
No it doesn't make him natural, because he had to master it. Being natural at it means that you didn't need to, particularly, learn how to do it. Obviously you still need to work on it - players aren't just born with brilliant skill - but there is something there already. I guess this is where the phrase "second nature" comes into play. He's not "natural" at it, since he had to learn how to do it, but it has become "second nature" to him, because he doesn't have to think about what he's doing all the time, if you see what I mean
Good point. Now what about this: A player (I can't think of an example) is "natural" at two positions without needing extra training. So do you think player can be natural at two positions? Or more?
a player can't develop a natural position. a natural position would be whatever position comes naturally to that player. but yes, i think a player could have more than one.
Yes, for a start there's a the ability to be a winger on either side (or full back on either side). I also think there is potential to be a natural at a kind of drop-in forward and attacking midfield (think Rooney). Also looking at United's system (especially of last year) players must be capable of playing winger on either side, attack and attacking midfield all at once. However I think it's probably not quite possible to be natural at two completely unrelated positions, like full back and striker; it's just not going to happen. I do, however, think that in the future we will see that, actually, people are probably really natural at one of six positions: goalkeeper, centre half, full back, midfield, attack or striker. From that group, players are then moulded into more specific players such as left wing (which in itself could derive from midfield or attack). This was fine for the systems of old - like a rigid 4-4-2, but now we are seeing fluid systems like Man Utd and Arsenal, and we are seeing that players need to be world class in multiple positions. As this feeds its way down to the youth systems, players should be able to develop their natural positional ability across multiple positions. Basically, to sum this up I am saying that each player is either a goalkeeper, full back, centre half, midfielder, attacker or a striker. However, at the moment this identified and then people, in general, are put into a much narrower position at a young age. This means that they get a lot better at that one specific area of that position, but won't improve at any of the other specific positions within the vague position. A prime example of this is Cristiano Ronaldo; he is clearly just a specialist attacker. He can play winger, attacking midfield or striker with ease. That's because he did not have his options narrowed at a youth level where, perhaps, a player like Andy Cole or Dwight Yorke would have done.
