Richard MichaelIs Ledley King the exception or the rule?
As if Ledley King were not fragile enough, this week Fabio Capello and Harry Redknapp have fought a ferocious tug-of-war over the injury-prone defender. It is the familiar dispute of club loyalty against national pride. But what is most remarkable about this row is that King can play at all.
By Redknapp’s admission the players doesn’t train at all in preparation for a game and doesn’t train at all in recovery from a game. He is simply wheeled out onto the pitch – especially when times are most desperate – and then stretchered off when the time is right.
It goes against all coaching discourse about preparing for peak performance. How can a player be physically fit enough for 90 minutes? Mentally ready for ? and tactically in tune to the practices of his team and nuances of their opponents? Surley the chalkboard is insufficient preparation for elite football whether it be at international level or in the Premier League.
So either King is a freak of nature with awesome physical attributes in spite of his fragile limbs or is football far simpler than we buy into? Despite the rhetoric, the montages and the cash fuelled hyperbole, could football really be quite a basic game out over 90 minutes demanding though it is played?
