Tangled Metal wrote:It crossed my mind that they have been taught their patterns of play / structure and rigidly adhere to it. Unable to change and adapt.
Some players are better at it than others. Those who play on a team, where they train several days a week, if they aren't as flexible, can typically learn multiple structures/strategies over time. Some people are only every really good at one type of play, but a good coach & teammates can manage that to some extent. Ideally, the national squad will be selected from those who have the best possible combination for flexibility and skill, but sometimes the ideal isn't available, and they have to settle for one or the other.