Before I start this opinion I will tell you something my coach told me about a year ago, he said "the boots don't make a great footballer, a great footballer makes a great footballer" quite confusing eh! But what he meant was that the boots could only help you if you need to squeeze a bit more out of your game. THEY WILL NOT. make a bad footballer any better.
I was asked to try out with Bradford City last year after they saw me playing at a final for my local team. I was spotted by a guy called Luke and after the match he told me to contact him on an address he gave me on some paper. In the match I scored two of the 4 we scored altogether. I played the match in a pair of Nikefootball boots. The boots weren't flash but they were comfortable and they let me hit the ball with enough power but still gave me the overall accuracy that I needed. But I did find that the boots could be developed further to meet my needs.
I phoned Luke and he told me to come to the pitch I played the final on where he would give me some further details on what the day would entail. When I got there all he could look at were my boots. He kept hinting that I should buy a new pair for my tryouts. He advised me that I should buy what most attackers do the "Adidas Predator" I agreed with him and said I would get some at the weekend.
At the weekend I went to the local sports store and I was amazed at the different pairs and incarnations of the same boot. They had ones with different patterns, colours and also a worker said that they could put your name on the boots for an extra fee. The boots were already £100 so I decided that I would just leave the name thing. £100 seemed very steep, and especially because I had steered clear of them when they first came out. I thought the hype was too much and that a bit of extra rubber couldn't make all the difference.
When I got home with them I persuaded my dad to come with me to the field. Since I was 10 he would make me stand at one end of the field and I would have to kick the ball towards a target (mostly him). In the past few years he would make me stand about 50 metres. The problem was that I had to kick the ball hard, but to kick it hard meant that my accuracy dropped.
On the field I kicked the ball a few times and with about 30 minutes getting used to the feel, I felt that I could kick the ball hard whilst keeping a high accuracy rate. I was over the moon and I needed this confidence boost for my upcoming trial.
At the trial the boots kept me playing well, and I got in. I was tackled really badly a few months ago and I have not played the same again. But I have started playing well again and my new Addidas Predator are serving me very well.
My overall opinion is that you should buy these of you are a player who likes to shoot and cross the ball, also I would not recommend these to rich kids that are poor at football because they will not make you any better. These are boots that help you squeeze out every ounce of available skill you've got, and they get a definate 10/10 from me .
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I enjoyed reading the first page of your reviews. Thank you for rating some of mine.
LL
Festa 17.02.2002 20:58
If they had helped improve players I might have recommended them to one of the Boro players! Good opinion.
The_Game11 08.02.2002 01:29
Good op. I was gonna get a pair when they came out but they was a bit expensive. Some wise words about how boots cant make bad players good. Some useful info.
Advantages: Improves first touch, accuracy of passing, and ability to curl ball. Disadvantages: the durability is poor under regular use, and will not last a full season