Well?

I personally think it's extremely difficult to play well if you're surrounded by a bunch of below-average players. No matter how good my touches may be, they will result in nothing because team-mates don't know how to play properly.

I've encountered this problem many times before.

People say Argentina of 86 was 'carried by Maradona' or something? Well he may have been the star of their success, but I'm willing to bet any amount that his team-mates were all highly talented players. He couldn't have been half as good as they say he was if he had average team-mates.

Then people say Liverpool was carried by Gerrard in the CL final against Milan. That's bullsh-t, what about Dudek? Xabi Alonso? Smicer? Luis Garcia? CARRAGHER. These players all contributed greatly as well.

So is it possible to be a good player in a bad team? I think so, but I don't think it's possible to perform very well in a team full of sh-t players. After all, football is a team sport. So if seven or eight 11th's of the team are average or worse, it takes an incredible performance to be seen as a great player in that team.

That's a problem in football these days, I think. A great player may be surrounded by a bunch of shit players so he never reaches his potential, when if he was given the chance in a team of good players, he may be a star.

what about Maradna in Napoli.

forget maradonna is napoli, without team mates u are nothing

^I agree, Maradona against Napoli is a simple thing of INSPIRATION brought by a very talented player within the team.
Napoli weren't performing very well, Maradona came; they were inspired more than anything and they felt like they could raise their game up and they achieved something great.

I agree with tifoso, you can't have a great team based on one player only. Do you really think Lampard would have brought success to the Chelsea team if he didn't have talented players like Robben, Drogba, Terry, Makelele as his teammates?
Highly unlikely that he could have.
But as I said one player can inspire a team and that's what happened during the Ac milan -Liverpool game when Gerrard sparked the comeback.
Great playerS make great teams.

Nah,

Liverpool just had a big slice of chelseas luck

okay, good teammates r obviously vital bcpos they help u win games, it is even better if they r ur friends then u will not compete with each other n play as acompact n more complete team.

I think a great player can bring inspiration to a group of decent/good players, but without a group of great players, you'll never have a great team.

Being surrounded by good players is essential for a good team. One amazing player can make the difference in a good team, he could not do the same in a team of mediocre players.

I have been in this situation twice recently as I have moved and each time I had poor showings at tryouts and got placed with the 'B' team on both occasions. At first my team was at least above average, and we had a winning season.

The second time my team was poor to put it politely, and scoring 2 20 yard rockets in a game doesn't mean anything when you lose 8-3 (true story). Similarly, in an indoor game, we lost 11-2. I scored when goal straight off the kick-off by dribbling their entire team. I felt great, but at the end of the day, you still lose.

Regarding Maradona, the Argentina and Napoli he played in were poor teams. I'm not saying they sucked completely, but player for player they were low, not the type of team you would ever think had a shot at the title. Maradona made up for any deficit and added much more, thanks to his genius skill and leadership.

I, on the other hand, am no Maradona. Therefore, I also get extremely frustrated with the lack of skill from my surrounding teammates. I cannot perform at my best in a team without having a solid group to work with.

Having a good team is very important. Trust is very important. I've played in this team before (i only play street soccer so btw) where the other players weren't even average. Because of this i found it hard to trust them ahead of myself, and in the end I held the ball too much and left the opponents pouncing and tackling me all the time.

If you're an offensive player, having a good team, especially the backline, is essential. It gives you the assurance knowing that when you go upfront, you have the liscence to take risks, because the backline will be there, and they will be solid against the counter attacks.

good post marc^ that is just how i feel i hate having unreliable teammates it sucks

I don't like it when u try to explian to a teammate they did something wrong n they just ignore u, like 4 school rep, our defenders kept on comitting our captain shouts at em like a 100 times but they still reckon their doing it rite.

I agree its so f***ing annoying ^

^LMAO.

I've got a defender who's just like that on my team in 7 a side football, he doesn't even mark goalside ffs, one of the most basic principles of defending, he just doesn't listen no matter how many times i tell him i keep having to bail him out time after time. He doesn't listen to me because he's got an ego problem, he wants to compete against me for some reason so he never takes advice from me. would replace him i f i could, but we don't have anyone else at the moment.



I agree with that partially, although it is still possible to stand out even in a bad team, the last 11 a side team i played for was pretty poor, we had maybe 3 good players and ended up bottom of the league, that didn't stop one of our players shining through. He was playing upfront with possibly the worst player in the north east (he was actually that bad ) he was working with basically nothing yet he still managed to get himself trials with darlington and a few other teams.

So yeah it is possible, just very difficult.

Good team-mates are very very important.

One year ago, I was playing in a great team, where I improved a lot and learned a lot.
Now I'm playing in a crap team, so it's easy for me to stand out, but every match I'm losing 0.5% of my abilities. Sometimes, we misunderstood our team-mate, because we don't know what he wants.
Just 2 weeks ago, I played in midfield with one of my friend from the other team, the great one, who's also a midfield player, and we played awesomely great togethers, he assists me twice, I scored 3 goals, I assist him once and he scored 3 goals also. We were doing a lot of good one-two, and we were making intelligent runs in the middle, because we knew what the other was going to do...
So it's important to have good team-mates, but most importantly team-mates you know well

yeh i think its impotant to hve gud team mates, because u can stand out as a gud player but still the team performance would be poor if the other guys aint up to par........it can also make it hard for the 'better' player in question

Yea this is a tough question... When i was 13 i played in a below average team... It was nice for me because i could pretty much do whatever i wanted.... And it helped me to stick out more... I am now 14 and i am playing in a much better team... players are on the same level as me when it comes to how to play the game and the mental side of it... It has helped my game alot but sometimes i get frustrated that im not getting alot of ball and am not able to show my ability properly...

you have to have teammates that arn't selfish and know how to play the game. If you don't you will not have a good team.

You do indeed need skill, but a balance of physical skill with mental skill is key. I'd prefer to play on a team with guys who were average players as long as their mentality and mind-frame was about the team (not being selfish) and was able to read plays properly. If you have team-mates that pass, everyone will be involved in the scoring. I enjoy the mental side of the game over the physical when it comes to the team effort. When we play pickup, I get too frustrated when my team has a lot of skilled players, but they don't think like a well oiled machine.

I started playing football on adults teams in University team. People there were intelligent, so it was nice playing with them during 3 seasons, and have discussion with them after the games, about other things.

Then, I finished my studies and went on a Amateur football club. Because I'm Greek living in Paris, I went on the greek team playing there. But they were some clanic stories inside, and I played for one year only and quit because i never felt "home" there. I went on a team, where the coach was totally stupid. After 6 monthes, 11 players (out of 35) decided to quit the team. I was one of the 11. With some of this guys we went on an other team and stood there for 2,5 years. It was quite good but the team loose some of the managers of the team and it was never like before then. Also there, I was with my friends from the previous team but we can't say that we became friend with our new team-mates.

Then, I decided to come back to the greek team because they offered me a real good project. I took my friends with me. And I'm still there (for the 6th year) and I can say, this club is like a second family. You really want to train and to play on week-ends. We had this trip in Belgium for an International game.

I mean, you can't be good in a team if you don't like the people you're playing with. Personnally, I really prefere to be in a team where your team-mates are here for you, and you are here for them.

sounded like you were going to take the approach of im the best on my team and everyone bow down.
but i agree with everything you said.

I think it depends on what you consider as good teammates.

The best teammates are the one who are both skillful and team oriented.

on the other side of the coin, it doesn't matter how skillful ppl are if he doesn't pass the ball. IMO those people who thinks they're good are actually worse than those who are not as skillful. Because they will be limited by their skills vs the other team.

so IMO good teammates mean people who listen to opinions, plays a team game with nice passes and plays.

I play for fun on wednesday nights in indoor 5on5. some of them are just so bad in soccer. they can't trap the ball at all or shoot or whatsoever~ But a couple of them tries hard in defense, they pass the ball and not do anything stupid. So yea they suck, but they play for the team. meanwhile there are a couple guys who also suck in skills and suck in soccer, they dont pass the ball and they dont listen to the team(staying up and not coming back for D). Those people piss me off really bad.

I can understand not everyone is Ronaldo, so I try not to blame anyone's skill. as long as you're willing to learn and listen to the team and play as a team, I am more than willing to play with you. Results are overrated when you're playing for fun with friends, as long as you play a good game where everyone were contributing, then its all good.

Very important, I play on a club team during the fall and indoor after fall season, now both of my club teams are good we mostly all have good ball skill and thinking ability, but my high school team is shit except for me and three of my friends so if I ever pass it to anyone but them the ball gets lost and it pisses me off because were the 1s who always have to get it back so we have a problem scoring because the ball hardly gets on our side of the field its hard to finish with just about 4 players passing the ball between us.

Well if you want to fucking win...

I agree
Good team mates are very important. My team is really bad, I'm the best player in it easily and its so hard to do anything because if I pass, the other team will get the ball off my guys

What kind of question is this lol.

I think to be a good team and win games you need
good team mates
because the team is the way to win games and titels

Good teammates are unbelivably important. RARELY you will have talents (Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Maradona etc etc) who can by themselves transform a team, and make everyone else around them better. More often than not though, in an environment where most of the players are similarly talented, teammates are hugely important, as he who thinks he is Messi's heir apparent will surely fail. IE last night I had a league game and we were a man down the entire match, and on our team was a new guy who had plenty of skill, but he thought he was the second coming of C. Ronaldo. Very selfish player who attempted to look fancy with his tricks, but lost possession and missed numerous opportunities for myself and teammates when we were open. There is nothing more beautiful in football IMO than a group of 5 or 6 guys who put together a series of intricate passing moves that leads to a goal. The understanding that is needed for this and the time it takes to develop this understanding is what makes good teams great.

as they say in some coaching philospohies,

once individuality is forgotten, and the team work as a team should, then you know you have what you need.