s@int wrote:andy_g wrote:Bamaga man wrote:One more thing, for the experts who have replied in this post, and that claim flair is not needed to help us achieve title challenges.
Why are you all whining and moaning we need to sign wide players this summer, when we all ready have Kuyt, Babel, Pennant and Yossi ! ?
could it be because out of those 4 only one is a genuine winger and who still leaves much to be desired?
any good manager should be able to bring out the best in a player and/or adapt him to play within the manager's system without compromising any of his natural game or ability. we have seen that benitez already has the ability to get players to play for him in unusual roles - babel on left wing with limited success and kuyt as wide midfielder with arguably a huge increase in effecttiveness. my view is that the majority of managers will have some ideas on how any new player should play and that very few will be told 'just get on with your own game, son'. whether a player is willing to be 'moulded' or not is the real issue and it seems very much like quaresma is not.
Kuyt started off as a wide player/winger and played there for years and Babel has played most of his professional and international career as a left winger, so I don't think it was any great leap for either player (or Rafa). So I am not really sure of your point Andy?
All players play at the direction of their manager, sometimes to the detriment of the individual but for the good of the team. Rooney for example has been widely acclaimed for sacrificing his individual abilities for the good of the team :-
Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that he must "define" Wayne Rooney's role at Manchester United this season after conceding that he has allowed the 22-year-old to sacrifice his natural abilities for the sake of the team for too long.Link to full articleThis unfortunately can have a very negative affect on a player, who risks not only his reputation, but his confidence and even his career at the club.
Sissoko for example was asked to undertake a role for which he was eminently unsuitable in the latter stages of his career with us. His confidence (not high to begin with) dropped as did his performances and even though he had sacrificed himself "for the team", was sold on.
So to cut a long story short (or shorter) a player also has to weigh up what affect the managers ideas may have on his career, and if making a manager happy in the short term may damage or help his career in the longer term.
As another example, when Jimmy Greaves was asked to tackle back and work harder for England, he refused saying if he did that he wouldn't be able to be in the right place to score or have the strength to sprint for the through ball. While he was knocking goals in for fun, it was easy to overlook him strolling about, but when he hit a dry patch (or the bottle) he hadn't much else to offer.
In conclusion while it may seem arrogant of Quaresma (and others) to refuse to take on additional or different roles sometimes its to protect their reputations and careers.