There’s a habit in football chat that does my head in: a forward gets caught, goes down, and suddenly the whole thing becomes a lecture about “sharpness” or “fitness”. Sometimes it’s not that deep. Sometimes the defender is simply rapid, the attacker has to take an action at full tilt, and bodies do what bodies do.
On this one, I don’t really see what else Isak is meant to do. He’s not strolling through, taking an extra touch and getting swallowed up. He’s taking the shot first time on his left foot, and that matters. A first-time finish isn’t just about wanting it more; you’ve got to get your stride right, open your body, and actually strike the thing cleanly. That little adjustment can be the difference between a proper hit and a scuffed effort that ends up in Row Z.
Recovery pace changes everything
The key part here is Van de Ven’s pace. If you’re up against a defender who can genuinely eat up ground, the attacker’s margin for error is tiny. You can do most things right and still look like you’ve been “caught” because the other lad’s engine is just different.
And it’s not just the top speed either. It’s when the defender reaches it. If Van de Ven is already moving and doesn’t have to break stride, while Isak has to adjust to shoot, you can see why the gap closes so quickly. People watching in real time often assume the attacker had an extra yard, but that yard disappears in a blink when the recovery runner is already in full flow.
Finishing on the run isn’t a straight sprint
What gets ignored in these debates is that forwards rarely get to run a perfect 100 metres like it’s a track. They’re checking shoulders, shaping to shoot, trying to keep balance while defenders are clipping at them. It’s messy. And the moment you’re preparing to strike the ball, you’re not sprinting optimally anymore.
So when someone says “he should’ve been quicker”, the question is: quicker doing what, exactly? Quicker to shoot? He’s already hitting it first time. Quicker to run? He’s not in a pure foot race, he’s trying to finish a chance.
Fitness talk can be an easy stick to beat players with
That’s why I think it’s unfair to pin an injury on a lack of fitness here. Injuries happen in high-speed actions, especially when a player is stretching, adjusting, or bracing for contact. Sometimes it’s bad luck, sometimes it’s the cost of playing on the edge.
If anything, what this highlights is the fine line at Premier League level: one defender with outrageous recovery pace can turn a clean-looking chance into a collision of bodies and decisions made in fractions of a second.
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