[Sanjay]

Players are at the club to perform well in matches but they can't perform well in matches without training. My Father was a very good football player, cricketer and squash player in his day and without his training and practice, he would have never played football and cricket for his county and he wouldn't have won all his squash trophies. When I was a kid, I was always taught by Pete Wilson (He was a well respected goalkeeping coaching for Leicester City) and my Father that training is more imporant than matches because training is where you practice and perfect your skills and without training in football, there is no point in matches because a team and its players cannot learn how to play together, build up a relationship, stay fit and show their desire to play for the club. Matches is just the icing on the cake and the payoff to all the hardwork.

Look at every other career and sport. Snooker players can't just go out and play professional snooker, they have to practice for years before they can compete and then spend 8 hours a day practicing to become the best player that they can be. It's the same with tennis, cricket and every other sport. Even in normal life, you can't just walk into a hospital and perform brain surgery without any training or join the army and get sent to war without any training. Even after that initial training, you still have to practice to perfect your skills.

Put simply, matches in football may be important in terms of gaining success but without training, there can't be any success.

You talk such a lot of common sense, Josh. I’m sure we all know people who have a ‘natural ability’ to achieve their ambitions in life without necessarily having to put extra effort into obtaining them. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us have to spend many many hours learning, training and practicing (mental or physical) to enhance our individual skills in the hope of getting what we’ve worked so hard for, however unfair it may appear - that's life.