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"Only those who will risk going too far"
"Can possibly find our how far they can go"
                                                                                           T. S. Elliot, Poet and Dramatist

Poetic License Quotes

Original quotes have been made by individuals worldwide, often in foreign languages that do not translate well into English, are often not clear to all audiences or often use words that are not appropriate for all audiences.

Quotes that appear on this website have been edited and re-written in clear simple English so all site visitors, including children, may better understand them and not be offended by them.

For example, Johan Cruyff, one of the best players and managers in the world, has hundreds of quotes in Dutch that have been translated and been published worldwide. "Je gaat het pas zien als je het door hebt" in Dutch translates to "You can only see it when you get it" in English. Our "poetic license" quote is "You'll understand it when you get it".

A simple quote an example question explains
Cruyff's quote "For every disadvantage there is an advantage" makes little sense to most site players, regardless of age or language spoken. For our website visitors we publish Cruyff's quote followed by a question. 
"For every disadvantage there is an advantage"
  • Your teammate is red carded in the second half of a game and your team must play with one less player. You can't talk to your coach.
  • How does your team turn the disadvantage of playing down a player for the rest of the game into an advantage? 
A team of 12 year old girls came up with these answers in under 10 minutes:
  • When the opponents win the ball apply instant high pressure on all opponents to win the ball back as close to the opponents goal as possible.
  • Apply instant high pressure, starting with the opponent with the ball and then all opponents to whom the ball can be passed, starting with those opponents in the best position to help our opponents score,
  • Apply very high pressure to the opponent with the ball so they can't look up to find their teammates to work with,
  • If all opponents to whom the ball can be passed are covered and we have an extra player, we should double team the opponent with the ball,
  • If we don't have enough players to mark every opponent we should mark the closest ones first and leave the opponents in a negative position closer to our opponents goal unmarked,
  • We need to play loud, aggressive and so intense our opponents feel that they are playing down a player.

Were their answers good or are there other things they could do to turn the disadvantage into an advantage? If you know of any please enter them in the Feedback comment area below and let us know.