Seeing someone like Redknapp up close must of been a great experience. What you're saying makes me think the TV coverage has room to improve It would take a lot of coordination from a producer who understood the game, but you'd think for a few of the biggest games they would add some additional camera coverage.Good thread this.
To a newcomer I’d say the pace of the game at the top level is characterised as ‘slow-slow-slow-then-quick-lightening quick’! The speed is both of thought (seeing a pass or making a run) and of physics.
*blatant bragging to follow….
I played at a good level when I was a kid (Spurs and Palace, then non-league, then pub football!!). I was 5’10 at 14 and was moved to CB where I had the game in front of me, which suited me very well. Trouble was I never got much past that height and was inevitably moved into midfield. At Palace, for example, I was continually frustrated by my lack of speed. I was slowish-ish in a straight sprint but that’s not the entirety of it. The game seemed to be being played around me.
The kids who ‘had it’ either had searing pace, combined with impressive athleticism AND/OR had the ability and touch to buy themselves time to make the right decisions.
As for where to watch in the ground, I’d say I used to like the freedom of terraces to choose to watch at pitch level some of the time and then at others higher up to see the tactical plans play out.
I sit up in the 5th tier Paxton/West at WHL where I can see a lot of the movement and space. On the few occasions I’ve sat down low at the new ground I’m amazed by footballers touch (rightly it’s second nature).
The best player I ever played with was Jamie Redknapp, who could see things we mere mortals just couldn’t. As Spurs fans we were accustomed to thinking of him as slow (and he was for the average PL player) but his slow would have been our lightening quick!
On thing that is hard to pickup on TV is what changes managers make at the half. You can see that something clearly is different, but it's not obvious to me what was done to take something away from the other side or open the attack. Surprisingly, the TV commentators don't seem to pick up on things for the most part, more that they react to what you can already see.