OriginalThinking
New member
Chess isn't a perfect fit for football - in your example the Chess player would be the football coach and the players the pawns. So yes coaches will recognise tactics that have been played before and can formulate plans against those formations based on experience, practice and study. However the point of genius is that it is often unpredictable or adapts constantly. As soon as Fischer realised that the old tricks weren't effective any more he'd come up with new ones - that is the difference in genius. In the same way that a genius coach (like Ferguson) will adapt over time.
Why is it that Messi was better than Henry at his time in Barca for example? Both had probably put in the same level of practice growing up, but Henry actually had way more experience at the top level of the game and had played under Wenger at his peak. Yet despite these advantages Messi was clearly the better player. He shouldn't have been according to your logic.. Henry's physique is clearly better suited to modern football. He's taller, stronger, more naturally athletic. Yet Messi was a more efficient finisher, created more chances for Barca and was more likely to beat his man. The difference between Messi and Henry is that despite all his experience Henry's natural talent was much less than Messi's - 7 years of extra experience, 7 years of extra coaching could only take him so far. The same goes for Pele. A 22 year old Pele playing today with less footballing knowledge than Villa would still be better than him. Experience and practice can only take you so far.
Genius can't simply be trained, it can't be drummed in - otherwise every player coming out of La Masia would have Messi levels of talent as they all put in the same level of practise, have the same coaches, would all have been trained on how to beat a man, the best place to position themselves to defend...yet despite all this only a select few make it to the highest level. If the odds are, as they say even and everyone is given the same level of training then how can you explain this except for god given natural talent making a huge difference?
Or is your argument that if Villa had trained twice as hard as Messi from birth, coached personally by Cruyff for 20 years then he might be as good as Messi? I doubt physically it would even be possible and Jordi was clearly not a patch on his old man, despite having him around most of his life. It just doesn't work like that.
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