Sep 21, 2022·edited Sep 21, 2022Liked by Dr. Patrick May
You and me probably have better technique than Schmelle, so do a lot of amateur players i know. But it's all worthless because they don't have his athleticism and they don't have this technique when athletic players like him run towards them. What amateur players can't fathom is that their technique declines rapidly when someone athletic like Schmelle and other players in the highest league run towards you. You have less time, you panic more. The other thing is that doing technique things on the ball is a whole different level between doing them at 25km/h and doing them at 35km/h.
My technique is excellent vs children. They can't pressure me even in huge numbers. I'm completely "Pressing-Resistent". Now let Aubamayang pressure me with an acceleration, speed and agility that i have never experienced in real life and i will just stumble the ball.
I have seen this with Auba multiple times against team that played him for the first time, they knew he was fast, but adjusting for it on the field, stop doing things that are automatic, realizing you can't do things now in a certain range where he is, is a completely different thing. Apart from the fact that there is a boundary to adapt to someone like him.
If you think about that one big Kuba miss into the empty goal. People said i would have made it, but the difference is, you would not have been there in the first place because you don't run 36km/h. And having the technique and strength to hit a ball after a 36km/h sprint is something complete different to doing it at 25 km/h. Apart from the fact that the ball bumped shortly before he hit it from a bump in the lawn.
What Schmelle excelled in and was at a world class level was anticipating the game defensively. He was so good at anticipating lost balls and intercepting passes and players in a Gegenpressing manner. That was his main skill that made him elite and was a very good fit for BVB. He was very stiff at the Hips and wasn't a very good defender from a standstill or 1 vs 1 he had to do everything to prevent getting into these situations. Something that Hummels does nowadays to often.
You and me probably have better technique than Schmelle, so do a lot of amateur players i know. But it's all worthless because they don't have his athleticism and they don't have this technique when athletic players like him run towards them. What amateur players can't fathom is that their technique declines rapidly when someone athletic like Schmelle and other players in the highest league run towards you. You have less time, you panic more. The other thing is that doing technique things on the ball is a whole different level between doing them at 25km/h and doing them at 35km/h.
My technique is excellent vs children. They can't pressure me even in huge numbers. I'm completely "Pressing-Resistent". Now let Aubamayang pressure me with an acceleration, speed and agility that i have never experienced in real life and i will just stumble the ball.
I have seen this with Auba multiple times against team that played him for the first time, they knew he was fast, but adjusting for it on the field, stop doing things that are automatic, realizing you can't do things now in a certain range where he is, is a completely different thing. Apart from the fact that there is a boundary to adapt to someone like him.
If you think about that one big Kuba miss into the empty goal. People said i would have made it, but the difference is, you would not have been there in the first place because you don't run 36km/h. And having the technique and strength to hit a ball after a 36km/h sprint is something complete different to doing it at 25 km/h. Apart from the fact that the ball bumped shortly before he hit it from a bump in the lawn.
What Schmelle excelled in and was at a world class level was anticipating the game defensively. He was so good at anticipating lost balls and intercepting passes and players in a Gegenpressing manner. That was his main skill that made him elite and was a very good fit for BVB. He was very stiff at the Hips and wasn't a very good defender from a standstill or 1 vs 1 he had to do everything to prevent getting into these situations. Something that Hummels does nowadays to often.