would the new-era of footballers be able to cope with 1930's-1960's top teams?

Question

i reckon half the footballers now, if they kicked a football back then they would fall over...

i was thinkin more along the lines of the tough tackling and the no nonsense back line, pretty hard tackles.

Answer 1

Yes, not only will this era cope, it will thrive. New era football is more technical, tactical and physical fitness demanding. In the old era, you will see a few superiour players flourish while the rest of the team or the league is down right at the bottom. You don't quite see that in the new era. Every team is competitive, every team is beatable and quite frankly anyone can be a star. Don't also count out the age difference between now and then.

Answer 2

It all depends on what referees would allow. In the the pre-war years and up until the late 60s it was pretty much anything goes. I mean you could pretty much chalk off half the goals that most centre forwards scored at the time in today's standards.

I do agree though that skill is skill whatever the era. Players like Finney, Di Stefano, Puskas, Matthews et al would probably thrive even more today with protection from referees.

When you talk about the pace of the game today it's really only the Premiership that has pace at it's core. Look at Serie A or La Liga. The patient passing game is still king on the continent and it shouldn't be forgotten that the slow, defence minded Italians are the current World Cup holders.

It's just progress. The general population is much fitter than back then so it makes sense that footballers would be the same. It would be good to see Henry go up against Gentile though.

Answer 3

That John Doe guy above clearly has no idea at all what he's talking about. Yes there is no question that general fitness has improved..modern players are very fast and the matches are played at a break-neck pace. But skill is skill whatever the age, and there were FAR more highly skilled players back in the day. These days, there are a few skillfull players and the rest are simply big athletes. Less time on the ball means less skill and more pressure on a player just to get rid of it to a team-mate and not lose possession.

And what the hell does he mean that the modern league is more competitive and anyone can win it? Really??? Check the statistics mate, the exact opposite is true. The League has never been as sewn up by a few rich clubs as it is right now. We are in an era of total dominance by two or three teams at most, the rest just make up the numbers..and thats predictable and plain boring.

And the age difference?? Does he think that players back in the day were all ten years older on average than now???!!! Fool.

Answer 4

I know what you're getting at, with the difference in the ball - actually the specifications for the weight of the ball haven't changed; it's just that today's balls don't absorb water so don't get heavier in wet conditions.

Having said that, I don't think the great teams of the 1930s-1960s would be any match for today's Premiership sides.

Today's players are fitter, stronger much better all round athletes. The game is so much faster now. Just look at old football matches - even things as recently as the 1980s - and the game was much slower, players had much more time on the ball than today.

I don't think any pre-1970 team would last 90 minutes at the pace the game is played today and any current Premiership side would batter even the best from yesteryear.

Sadly, I don't think the greater skill involved has made football a better game!

Isuballs! We're talking about proper football - not that over-padded stop-start nonsense that you Americans seem to like.

Answer 5

If you took a 11 man team 3 from 30s 3 from 40s 3 from 50s and 2 from 60s and put them up against a team consisting of Henry, Rooney, Beckham, Ronaldhino etc the older team would thrive in the tackle but in terms of gameplay the new team would crush them because technically the new team would be so much better.

Answer 6

No, today's spoilt, overpaid, egotistical 'stars' would be unable to cope with the hard but fair game of yesteryear, played in a spirit of sportsmanship, dedication and strong physical contact. Playing in a tried and trusted W-M formation, supported by skilful wing-halves such as dashing Johnny Haynes, the likes of Dixie Dean, Nat Lofthouse and Eddie Hapgood would dominate the sissies that pass for Premiership stars. The modern player that falls over at the merest contact, and playacts would generally be unable to cope with skills such as the shoulder-charging, heading a wet leather ball and skilful two-footed tackling. OK, Premiership players may have better diets but they are more prone to injuries (whoever broke a metartasal in the 1930s? no one! the boots were tougher) and they lack the experience of playing against a giant stopper centre-half or skilful inside fowards.

Answer 7

I've no doubt that any modern team from the championship could beat the top teams from that era because of superior technical skill and endurance. But if they had to live on the footballer's diet from that era, wear the boots and kick the thicker, heavier ball, all the while working fulltime in another occupation I don't think they would find it so easy.

Answer 8

If you mean for example how would the England '66 team (Banks, Stiles, Charlton(s), Hurst, Peters,Moore etc) would cope with the 2006 squad (rooney, gerard, cole, campbell, lampard, terry etc), I think it would be an honourable draw....but only because the former are mostly in their late sixties now..or sadly demised!
But seriously, players like Pele, Puskas, Best et al would have been giants in any era.

Answer 9

Now a day things are no longer like before were you'd see Pele or Maradona coming from the defense beating everyone including the goalkeeper...

Today everything is more and more difficult and physical. Eg. Ronaldinho used to do some of it in the past 2-3 years but now he can't do that anymore.

That's just shows we can no longer compare today's football to yesterday's.

Tchao!

Answer 10

No they would not. Lets talk about their behaviour. Not only being able to kick a football around, which I doubt they would be able to do at the weight it used to be. You would not see them treating the other players the way they treat them now. they were gentlemen. I'm heartily sick of their pampered spoilt ways. I believe that they shouldn't be getting the amount of money they get. The poor people pay outrageously high prices for their tickets. Lower the ticket prices and the players wages.