Over the last 3 or 4 weeks I have seen the most fascinating player I have come across in years. I know very little about him or his background but I have seen him play 3 times in that period. All I know for sure is that he is 14 years old.
So here are the facts he is right footed and shows above average technical ability for his age. He can control the ball as it comes to him to a good standard with both feet although he prefers to use right foot. He can strike the ball well and can shoot strongly with both feet. He can run with the ball and has decent 1 v 1 ability.
His most obvious flaw was that he was a really poor footballer.
He was fascinating to watch because he clearly had a good level of mastery of the ball but played football as if he had no idea how many opponents were in the other team and they just popped out of the ground randomly to surprise him.
At this point I think it is a good time to mention that he wasn’t a player who just looked to take players on all the time as we have all seen players who have a good technical level but just run with the ball constantly.
He was a player of huge contrasts. He had little difficulty controlling passes he received but he never scanned before they came to him. He played quite difficult first time passes comfortably although there was no real reason or advantage to play first time. When he ran with the ball a couple of times even though facing forwards and could see the whole picture in front of him he dummied to go into space then ran literally straight into 1 or 2 other defenders.
The way that first came to mind to describe him was that he had the technical ability of a good 14 year old player but played like a 7 year old.
The point of this blog is how a player manages to attain this level of mastery of the ball while still being at the very beginning of learning any mastery of the game itself.
I have followed the recent debate on Twitter about opposed and unopposed practices at training. I can’t help feel that this player has done lots of unopposed practice.
Therefore he has had less practice at the perceiving of the football situation and also the decision making about the football situation but he has done lots of practice at performing the football action.
I just found him fascinating as I couldn’t figure out any other reason unless there was some other (possibly medical) issue I know nothing about to explain how he could be so good and so bad at the same time.
Love to hear what you think.
Please leave a comment or email me seanthecoach@icloud.com
Or if possible leave a comment on Twitter @SeanDArcy66
Till next time
Right Back on the Bench 
I’d say most likely his awareness is poor. Some players just dont look around them selves constantly / regularly. Despite some playing many games, they just dont do it, it is a thing that needs training, and also good communication from your teammates. Some people also have poor peripheral vision, which can be improved with training as well. Joe
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The point of the blog was how poor his awareness, game sense whatever we call it was and yet he had good control over the ball.
He might have played many games but I question how much football he has played because a player doesn’t need to be told everything about how to play football and just playing TAG with your friends teaches you which side of an opponent to go to have more chance of success.
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