Don't you just love the way football fans get hold of a label and attach it to players? Possibly the most ludicrous I have ever heard is the phrase "impact player" currently being applied to Diamanti.
So he is an "impact player" is he? And that means what exactly? He has an impact on the game presumably! Well thank Christ for that! What does that make the rest, non impact players? "West Ham had one impact player on the pitch today and 10 who made no impression on the game whatsoever!" The reasoning, in the case of Diamanti, seems to be, if you have an impact on the game, then your time on the pitch should be restricted. "He is an impact player so don't give him more than 30 minutes!" Hello? If he is an impact player, get him on from the bloody start! "Oh no, that would never do, impact players should play 30 minutes tops, maybe 35. You can't have an impact on a game for more than that!"
What a load of old tosh. Tevez is an impact player. Maradonna was an impact player. Ronaldo is an impact player. For impact, read "Liable to change the game through a flash of unpredictable brilliance." Now I am not putting Diamanti in the same bracket as those three, but could you see their managers saying, "Impact player, let's put him on the bench and only send him on when we are losing with 30 minutes to play"? Diamanti is unquestionably the most unpredictable player we have at the club at the moment. I am sure there will be times when we want to scream at him, just as there were times when we felt Di Canio could be doing more in a game, but then he will stun us with a flash of brilliance that could potentially turn the game! Why limit his time on the pitch if he can win a game in a moment? Why does that moment have to be at some point after the 60th minute?
I can see the logic in using players like Hines and Stanislas as substitutes, bringing on young quick legs when defenders are tiring, but where is the logic in leaving your greatest creative talent sitting on the bench twiddling his thumbs? Get him on from the start and let him impact by putting you ahead, not clawing back a goal when you are already two goals behind!
Impact player? God, some people do talk out of their arses! Like I did last week when I called Diamanti a gimp and suggested he shouldn't be in the team! That haircut has changed everything!
3 comments:
Well said that man
One take on it would be that Dimanti can't last longer than 60 minutes at the moment (mind you neither can a lot of the rest of them) as his fitness and adjustment to the league isn't up to standard.
Sending him on against fresh experienced Prem players means he will struggle - particularly being incredibly one footed.
Putting him on at 60 minutes against tiring players means he can cause havoc al a Arsenal last week, he gets his fitness up, he has time to adjust and changes the game in our favour...
Admittedly you want that sort of creativity from the start but last week was the first time he has been played in his proper position so starting him this time providing we line up correctly could mean we look as good from the start as we did at the end...
Either way he is proving to be more effective than 'The Wizard' we are building a team around...
I must be getting old, they used to be called super subs (Davy Fairclough anyone?).
These days it seems we must have a sound bite for everything. “Sod the substance just give me plenty of good sound bites” as our politicians tell their speech writers. So in today’s climate super subs have become impact players.
You’re right to deride this pony expression. If by impact we mean the ability to affect the outcome of a game then shouldn’t the player be given the full 90 minutes? The more time spent on the pitch the greater the opportunity to produce a significant moment. Now if Diamanti had Usain Bolt’s turn of speed it would be worth bringing him on towards the end of a game when defenders might be tiring but this ain’t the case with the Mad Bastard* Diamanti.
Let’s start with him and, hopefully, finish with him although he does have the look of a player who could pick up a red card or three during a season. You’re right to say we need a player who can do the unexpected.
(*copyright HF – but I wanted to use this expression)
S4W
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