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Speed matters as the Premier League’s fastest players go head to head
February 9, 2008 – 11:47 am
The Premier League is all about pace.
In fact, one of the league’s main attractions is the frenzied pace and nature of any given top-flight game. That’s why clubs look for pacey players to go at speed past ageing defenders - and not many are faster than England duo Gabriel Agbonlahor and Aaron Lennon.
The Aston Villa forward has been in terrific form and earned a first England call-up accordingly while Tottenham’s attacking midfielder has found his best form again and has been the inspiration behind the Juande Ramos revolution at White Hart Lane with Spurs reaching the Carling Cup final and Lennon expected to star at Wembley against Chelsea.
Yet which of the pair can claim to be the quickest? Nike are working on the new Mercurial Vapor IV boot and created a test to find out just how fast the fastest players in the Premier League really are.
Working with top coaches they set up a challenge to test who was the fastest to the ball and who was the fastest with the ball. This way we wanted to get a better test of a player’s real ‘football speed’ rather than a simple sprinting contest. So they organised for two of England’s fastest players to take part in the timed challenge. The results certainly prove interesting, not just settling the debate on which player is fastest, but also giving us an insight into their speed and technique.
Aaron Lennon’s fast but he has to take two touches round one pole, while Gabby is a bit closer control but is more upright and doesn’t lean into corners so much. And as you can see by the mud kicking up, it had been a wet day at the pitch when they took the test, which slowed both players down - but which can claim to be the king of the England squad?
Watch the videos exclusive to Footballing World below to find out and then in the comments section list any other players you would like to see run the test - and we’ll get on to Nike about them taking on the ‘football speed’ challenge.
http://www.footballingworld.com/2008...-head-to-head/
February 9, 2008 – 11:47 am
The Premier League is all about pace.
In fact, one of the league’s main attractions is the frenzied pace and nature of any given top-flight game. That’s why clubs look for pacey players to go at speed past ageing defenders - and not many are faster than England duo Gabriel Agbonlahor and Aaron Lennon.
The Aston Villa forward has been in terrific form and earned a first England call-up accordingly while Tottenham’s attacking midfielder has found his best form again and has been the inspiration behind the Juande Ramos revolution at White Hart Lane with Spurs reaching the Carling Cup final and Lennon expected to star at Wembley against Chelsea.
Yet which of the pair can claim to be the quickest? Nike are working on the new Mercurial Vapor IV boot and created a test to find out just how fast the fastest players in the Premier League really are.
Working with top coaches they set up a challenge to test who was the fastest to the ball and who was the fastest with the ball. This way we wanted to get a better test of a player’s real ‘football speed’ rather than a simple sprinting contest. So they organised for two of England’s fastest players to take part in the timed challenge. The results certainly prove interesting, not just settling the debate on which player is fastest, but also giving us an insight into their speed and technique.
Aaron Lennon’s fast but he has to take two touches round one pole, while Gabby is a bit closer control but is more upright and doesn’t lean into corners so much. And as you can see by the mud kicking up, it had been a wet day at the pitch when they took the test, which slowed both players down - but which can claim to be the king of the England squad?
Watch the videos exclusive to Footballing World below to find out and then in the comments section list any other players you would like to see run the test - and we’ll get on to Nike about them taking on the ‘football speed’ challenge.
http://www.footballingworld.com/2008...-head-to-head/
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