How do you define technical ability?

[Madmax 9,219]

Ivanovic? That's a very strange one. Personally wouldn't put him anywhere near that list.

I was debating it with myself a little while writing that down too, but he won it for me over Cahill or Terry because of the skil set he's improved upon since being played at right back. All three are strong headers of the ball, Cahill and Terry are good last ditch tacklers but weak markers (except against slow lumps like Carroll and even he embarrassed JT in the FA Cup final last year) while Ivan is a more rounded defender. He's comfortable performing just about every duty against most types of opponents. Terry's midfield past has given him a very good passing range though.

[Madmax 9,219]

This is just my opinion, but i don't think that tackling and marking can define a player's technical ability. If that was the case then all good defenders could be called technical players, for example Walter Samuel was a good defender in his prime but you can hardly call him technical.

I tend to view the term 'technique' in relation to the player's position and the duties that position entails, so for me, those two are an absolute must for centre backs but less so for a central midfielder, even though I think a CM is a technique-heavy position because of its location on the pitch. If you leave out tackling and marking, you're left with ball control, touch, etc which are too standardized. What, then, separates a good technical defender from a good technical midfielder?

[Styles 9,790]

Maybe I wasn't specific enough in my opening post. I really meant technical ability in terms of passing, control, technique ON the ball under pressure etc.

[Spike 12,049]

Passing

First touch

Dribbling

Shooting

FKs

Crossing

Corners

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Absolutely flabbergasted at that. He is one of, if not the, worst when it comes to technical ability in the squad. His first touch is embarrassing.

Hazard is a very good passer. Maybe his final pass isn't what we want but generally he's one of our best at keeping the ball under pressure and keeping the ball moving. He plays on the half-turn which is very difficult to play against. Technically he's by far one of our best player.

The problem with Torres's first touch is more mental. He shows that he can have a great first touch when he gets the ball on the wing or in the half way line, it's just that when he's close to goal he shits himself and messes everything up. Even his passing and dribbling are technically excellent when he does them right.

I never said that Hazard is not a good passer, just that his technique in passing is not perfect which are two different things as I attempted to explain in the Ramires example. You are mistaking technical ability for flamboyancy. For example, Claudio Marchisio and Niko Kranjcar are for me two of the best players I've ever seen when it comes to technical ability, but they are by no means the 'fanciest' players around.

[Styles 9,790]

The problem with Torres's first touch is more mental. He shows that he can have a great first touch when he gets the ball on the wing or in the half way line, it's just that when he's close to goal he shits himself and messes everything up. Even his passing and dribbling are technically excellent when he does them right.

I never said that Hazard is not a good passer, just that his technique in passing is not perfect which are two different things as I attempted to explain in the Ramires example. You are mistaking technical ability for flamboyancy. For example, Claudio Marchisio and Niko Kranjcar are for me two of the best players I've ever seen when it comes to technical ability, but they are by no means the 'fanciest' players around.

Absolutely not the case. I was marvelling at players like Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Alaba, Gundogan, Martinez etc last night and they are far from flamboyant. They can do everything on the ball at a very good level.

Torres' first touch is not mental. It's just not good enough consistently. And the same goes for Ramires. They are capable of getting it right occasionally but it's the consistency that makes the difference between a technically competent player and a poor to average one. There are plenty of games when Torres doesn't do a single thing right with the ball. His touch is poor, his control poor, his dribbling poor, his passing shocking... and that has happened more often than not in the 3 years he's been a Chelsea player. That isn't a mental issue, it's a technical one.

[Rmpr 8,977]

This is different for each position, people here only talking about atracking players, but a GK can be tachnically gifted and so does a defender!

It is super hard to define what it really is, but in a broader sense, it is the talent and ability one has that separares him from the rest. Meaning that the definition itself in words is very subjective and almost impossible to do. However, it is easy to categorize players whenever you watch them play. For instace, how do you define what is needed for a painter to be a good painter (seems naive, but try to put it in words)? But, it is super easy to look at a painting and decide if it they artist is good or not, inst it?

JT is technically gifted and he has only a few of the attributes people listed. And I could go on and on...

[Madmax 9,219]

Torres' first touch is not mental. It's just not good enough consistently. And the same goes for Ramires. They are capable of getting it right occasionally but it's the consistency that makes the difference between a technically competent player and a poor to average one. There are plenty of games when Torres doesn't do a single thing right with the ball. His touch is poor, his control poor, his dribbling poor, his passing shocking... and that has happened more often than not in the 3 years he's been a Chelsea player. That isn't a mental issue, it's a technical one.

Torres doesn't even enter into this debate for me, afaic (bar his finishing), he was never a technical player but a physical one, his pace was electric and Benitez built Liverpool around this attribute.

[TrippingStep 336]

Technical ability is the how well players can execute skills on the ball such as passing, shooting, ball control, first touch...etc according to certain references that have come to be defined as the perfect way to execute those skills like how to execute a half-volley, or first time control or long pass..etc For example, Ramires does not have 'traditional' goo technical ability but he can still execute stuff, even at full speed but in his own style. (Tbf, Ramires is an exception to the rule because he was never part of an academy when he was young).

Naturally, any player at this level must have good technical ability, but the players that have overall world class technical ability in our squad are for me Mata, JT, Lampard, Luiz, and to a lesser extent Oscar and Cole. Hazard has world class technical ability when it comes to ball control and dribbling, but I can't say the same for his passing. Mikel has world class technical ability when it comes to passing, but I can't say the same about his shooting and dribbling.

PS: For all his faults, Torres still has excellent technique on the ball.

Are you serious with Torres, on the ball he's more like Gervinho, ok he can fool some defenders with their pace and the fact that temselves don't know what they will do and are not really in full control when they drive with the ball at their feet.

Against Everton, Torres made me smile when he was on the left edge of the box with the ball at the outside of his foot, he was trying to go towards the box but he had to come backwards three times because the ball was moving sideways and not forward

Mata is exceptionnal with his trapping technique for corners, free-kicks near the box and floating pass upside the defense but he lacks on his right foot.

Hazard is world-class on his lay-off play with outside his foot (like Oscar goal against Prague), backheels lay-off aerial or not, lay-off with foot behind his stance leg ( his rabonas that look so easy, another play where it seems easy play behind his stance leg). But he must work on striker finish and shooting technique.

In close space, his technique to put the ball on the ouside of his foot the further apart with his body between the defender and the ball is a good way to keep the ball from the defenders.

Lampard is world class on first touch finish.

If I resume, I would say Mata is world class on little floating pass, corner and freeckicks near the box, Hazard on his lay-off in nearly all positions with Oscar quite good as well on this, and Lampard on first touch finish in the box.

[Styles 9,790]

Are you serious with Torres, on the ball he's more like Gervinho, ok he can fool some defenders with their pace and the fact that temselves don't know what they will do and are not really in full control when they drive with the ball at their feet.

Against Everton, Torres made me smile when he was on the left edge of the box with the ball at the outside of his foot, he was trying to go towards the box but he had to come backwards three times because the ball was moving sideways and not forward

Haha I know exactly what you're talking about and that was hilarious. It was second half on the left side. Three times he tried to dribble but each time he couldn't get the ball to move in the direction he wanted. I think even the fans started laughing at that point.

If I could sum it in a gif it would be this

[Badboy 1,526]

DUTCH MAN ! Berkamp... Van Persie.... Van Basten I would say if you want to see technical quality look no further then the Netherlands... you will see the answer in action not words !

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Good question.

For me, technical ability is about having awareness and a good peripheral vision. A player with technical ability should be able to know what his next move will be before having taken the move before that. He will possess excellent passing qualities, good first touch instincts, 1-touch play perhaps. Most crucially, he'll 90% of the time know when to make the right pass, when to shoot or when to hold up play.

The players I then think we have that present these qualities are:

1. Luiz
2. Mata
3. Oscar
4. Hazard

I'd also co-sign what Madmax said and include Azpilicueta.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Ramires is the perfect example of a player with shitty technical ability lol.

[JDY 1,290]

Only Mata, Hazard, and Luiz. Terry is also very underrated technically.

Oscar's first touch is too inconsistent.

[communicate 2,703]

I thought we have plenty of Football Manager gamer in this forum

FM summarize player perfectly in my opinion, they separate player attributes based on their technical,mental and physical attributes.

Just use this chart