Arsenal v Man City. 1st March 2018. 72nd minute. Oleksandr Zinchenko comes on. Commentator states "the weather wont bother this young Kevin De Bruyne lookalike after playing in the Ukrainian league" or something to that effect. Long sleeve top but no gloves or leggings. So I look around to see what other players are wearing additional warm weather clothes. Aguero - gloves as usual. Otemendi likewise. Most other players all gloves and long sleeve tops. Camera pans round to Vincent Kompany. The man is in short sleeves. It was freezing minus degrees and snowing. The only player on the pitch as far as I remember in short sleeves (and a bald head to boot)! A central defender hardass mentality? Reminds me of something I was contemplating last season around this time with Watford players who weren't afraid of the cold during a game against someone I can't remember. It was at that time a while ago that I looked around from the stand during one of those mundane dull games, where my mind started to wander to other things and I started to take note of who on the pitch wore what in the cold. Deeney's tough right? He won't be outdone by anyone! The actual answer - Prodl and Kaboul were the only 2 in short sleeves. 2 Central defenders. So is it that central defenders are born with thicker skin? Are they immune to the cold? Are most central defenders born of a county with a gene variant that allows them to tolerate more extreme cold temperatures than other players? Or is it a central defender's message to the oppo - I'm tougher than you and you area a soft warm weather fairy!!! Will be interesting to see who wears what in tomorrow's game as well as all the other games in the league. If I'm so inclined, I may report back.
Does anybody know why players have largely stopped wearing proper long sleeved football shirts? Nowadays they mostly seem to wear a long sleeved undershirt with a short sleeved football shirt on top. I used to think it might be to make it harder for opposition players to grab the shirt, but then you might miss out on fouls being awarded. Maybe the new trend is more streamlined?
I think the number of layers and protection in the form of gloves, etc, has increased directly in line with their wages.
Didn't our greek goalie wear short sleeves the other week? I've always thought that's a good sign of being tough.
It used to be against the rules for keepers to wear short sleeves, to avoid mistaken identity re handball in the area. That always seemed sensible to me. Why did they abandon it?
I think keepers could wear short sleeves but only if they wore gloves to assist refs with handballs etc. But as all keepers wear gloves now think that's why the rule was dropped I'd guess.
Another possible reason may be that, being Watford central defenders, they were being massively overworked compared to the rest of the team - therefore negating the need for extra clothing?
I’ve never understood why so many players wear gloves and short sleeves, assuming of course it’s an option? If you're so cold you need gloves, surely you’d enjoy having warm arms too?
They're not simply worn for warmth, more for protection - the cold affects extremities first, rather than other parts of the body. Frostbite & chilblains will generally start at the fingers/toes/ears/noses because the blood flow to them stops in order to keep your vital organs warm.
Long sleeves give something for defenders to grab on to by the players side and out of the sight of the ref, so a lot of strikers wear short sleeves and skintight longer sleeves underneath if they're cold.
