Is speed important in the EPL?

Yes speed is important.

Henry is REALLY fast. Isn't he?

 

Unfortunately, the authorities don't allow it.

 

Yes, speed is important, but a better question might be: Is speed overrated?

You are right, speed is just one aspect of a player's game, and it's not the most important. I'd say vision (the ability to see the whole field, know where everyone is) and confidence (that borders on arrogance) are more important. You need touch and you need skills and you need to know how to play the game. Anyone who ever watched Renaldo Nehemiah (or any of a host of fast WRs) try to play football knows that speed is NOT the be all and end all. But, it's better to be fast than to be slow (just like in BBall it is better to be tall than not, all things considered).

Speed can be a problem if is used to cover up other deficiencies or it becomes a crutch or if as a player slows down he can't compensate for the loss of speed.

Look, Ronaldo was stunning when he first came out, his speed was frightening. Now that he's lost the supreme speed he had, he's still great, but he's one of the few who've made the transition. By way of very facile comparison, I don't think Owen has. We'll have to see what happens as Henry starts to lose a step.

 

Roy Lassiter was super duper fast.

 

not so much when you have 11 men behind the ball.

 

Theres more to being a good player than speed, look at Bellion.

 

I have often cited speed as a critical component, but as has been pointed out above, it is not the only component. In general I would say that in the Arsenal system speed is very important because of the way we use the wide spaces to spread the defenses and open up space in front of the goal. We are also a very fast counter attacking team.
At the national coaching camps, they cite speed as one of several factors that make up the player. I don't have my notes, but certainly things like skill level, vision, and "heart" are major factors in success on the field as well.

 

is speed important in the premiership?

only for wide players.

 

Another example is Darren Huckerby, fast as you like, but no vision, so he goes past people for toffee, then can't see the pass or the player...

 

Speed is very important, both mental and physical speed that is. My example of speed kills is you lot and that Mob in West London. If I looked at a major difference between Spurs and Arsenal and Chavski is the general team speed, the quick passing, break away speed etc. Reyes stands out as a good example, although he can be suspect in front of goal, the one he took against Tottenham at the 'library' ooops Highbury was made out of pure speed. And there were a number of occasions in that game where your speed should have culminated in more goals.

 

I would say quickness is more important. It doesn't really matter if you are blindingly fast, although it helps. What is more important is quickness of thought and action. Bergkamp is a prime example of this.

 

Speed is good, but it needs to be combined with touch. One of Henry's greatest assets is being able to manuever well with the ball and set himself to turn on the speed and get seperation.

 

dribbling?

 

dribble, pass, give and go, etc.

 

Hard to argue with this... Shearer is a great example. He was never a speed demon, and look what he accomplished. Furthermore, look at some of the top defenders in the EPL - they are relatively slow to compared to say Italian defenders, but they can make up for that with impeccable positioning and determination.

On the whole debate of whether speed is overhyped or not, I think speed does get overrated because speedy players tend to score great goals that make all the highlight reels... and when they blow by defenders, nothing makes them look worse.

Then there's the question whether everyone can play with really speedy players...

 

IMO, the italians are the best positionally/reading the game.

 

then you'll be stereotyping..

 

Who of you guys play or have played? If you're a defender, do you want to cover the fast person or the slow one? If you're an attacker, would you rather go against a slow defender or a fast one? Seems simple to me.

Speed matters, and not just on the wings. It is not the only thing that matters but it's pretty darn important. The team that has the ability to transition quickly from defense to offense and back will always have the advantage over the team that can't move as well.

Importantly, speed is one of the things that is hard to change very much. You can coach it to a limited extent. There's an expression in basketball that "you can't coach height". To a lesser degree this is true of speed. A player may not be the most skillful, but if he is fast I would take the chance on him because I can coach skills but, at the professional level, players just aren't going to get much faster.

Lastly, it seems to me that there is some difference in leagues, primarily due to the officiating. The EPL has very permissive officials that allow shirt tugging, grabbing the players and very physical play that slows players down. Other leagues are tougher on this kind of thing for just this reason- they want to have the fast play.

 

speed isn't as important for other players than it is for wideplayers. aslong as a striker/defender is good at reading the game, they'll do fine.

 

Maybe I misread the question. You may be OK with "doing fine", but that is not good enough at the top levels of play. You are right that it may not be "as important" but it is still important. If you can't stay with your man in the middle of the field, you will hurt the team just as surely as if you can't stay with him down the wing.

 

it's called reading the game. cesc isn't fast infact he's rather slow but he's a very good player in the premiership.

 

topcat I play three times a week... I see plenty of lightning quick guys with no other skills... its like hockey... fast skaters are wonderful, unless they cant do anything else.

 

I think it's important to define speed vs. quickness. Quickness is something needed up front or in the middle, just about creating that bit of space to get a pass off or a shot off. Bergkamp still has this at his "advanced" age.

Speed on the other hand is just being able to run past people. Obviously these aren't mutually exclusive and are usually found together but speed is needed for the wing and as I said quickness up front. A quick first step is all you have to have but if you combine these two with great ball skills (such as Henry has) then you get a great player.

Of course, you can have all the quickness and the speed in the world and not be able to play in the EPL.