Football boots, do they matter?

Kent Brockman

What boots do you wear?
What colour would you NOT wear?
And most importantly do you wear different boots depending on the pitch/weather?

The reason I ask is that I have one pair of boots, predators(bought for a bargain) even though the gold ones I tried on were the most comfy I'd ever worn:o.
Not good enough for the gold ones lol!

The boots I have state 'for soft or very soft ground' but I played during the summer and my knees were in a bad way after about 5-6 matches. Could it be the boots??
edit: they have blades with steel tips

Mars Bar

A young lad from my town did a project on boots and how they effect you and he won a young scientist award for it. They do have some part to play alright.
He damaged his cruciate ligament because of his boots...the lad isn't even out of primary school yet. Don't know if he is back playing football yet.
I haven't seen the actual project myself but would love to.

Oh and the only boots that don't ruin my feet are fake Adidas boots(I can't afford or justify paying loads of money for a pair of boots). I usually go for white...

Neil3030

Kent Brockman wrote: »

What boots do you wear?
What colour would you NOT wear?
And most importantly do you wear different boots depending on the pitch/weather?

The reason I ask is that I have one pair of boots, predators(bought for a bargain) even though the gold ones I tried on were the most comfy I'd ever worn:o.
Not good enough for the gold ones lol!

The boots I have state 'for soft or very soft ground' but I played during the summer and my knees were in a bad way after about 5-6 matches. Could it be the boots??
edit: they have blades with steel tips

Well pitches are at their firmest during the Summer months, so those steel tipped blades wouldn't typically sink in all that well. May or may not have contibuted to your knee probs. They should do you for the next few months with softer winter pitches though. When summer comes round again I'd get a pair of moulded short stud/short blade boots.

As for what colour? You have seen that Yorkie ad I presume? :rolleyes:

liamygunner29

Only white
Am good enough
:cool:

CR 7

Only wear pink vapors with my name embroidered, and only wear each pair once.

Royale with Cheese

Black for me. I'm just that shit.

kippy

I'd say so long as they are comfortable and fit you properly they dont make a blind bit of difference to your football playing ability. There may be some that protect you more than others out there but the idea that an expensive branded, new fangled latest techie developed boots will improve you as a player is pure tripe, put forward for Nike, Adidas et al.
Its a massive business.

Insect Overlord

Colour? Only important if they look revolting, in which case avoid.

I've had good results from Total 90s and Predators, but they tend to split underneath after 6 months.
Puma boots look great but more often than not the back studs are positioned too far in from the heel so they give me strange blisters.

dreamers75

Can only wear flat sole boots, Nike give me curly toes

Adidas F range do the job for me. Preferably black but sent the missus to get me a new pair gave her PN number and she came back with blue ones cos they looked nicer :rolleyes::D

Mint Sauce

play on astro turf, wear addidas (black/white) astrotruf boots, only performance inhancing they do is give me more grip, i'm still $h!te

Eire-Dearg

dreamers75 wrote: »

Adidas F range do the job for me. Preferably black but sent the missus to get me a new pair gave her PN number and she came back with blue ones cos they looked nicer :rolleyes::D

Serves you right.

grenache

Do football boots matter? Well i wouldn't fancy playing barefoot

leninbenjamin

I think the feedback a boot gives is important, and this is very much determined by the leather. I find softer leather makes it easier to judge the roll of the ball, the weight, the slipperiness of it and that when on the ball.

Overall though the most important thing is the shape and how it fits your foot. And that is very much dependent on brand. I used adore Adidas boots, but more recently Nike have been much more comfortable (my feet are probably spreading as i get older or something).

The impact of the studs themselves are debatable. Some say blades are more likely to cause strains in the legs as they root the player to the ground even if their momentum is causing them to turn etc., but i don't think anyone has produced any evidence to back up this assertion.

Xavi6

Adidas for me. The pitches over here are generally rock solid so you can only wear mouldies. Cheap plastic boots will only lead to friction causing blisters.

I have two pairs -



and

monkey9

Yorkie!!! They're not for girls!!!!

Theresalwaysone

liamygunner29 wrote: »

Only white
Am good enough
:cool:

I dunno. Lazy enough for white boots maybe.

podge018

studs = soft ground
mouldies = hard ground

Nalz

if they're not multicoloured and cost less than 150 quid then they can f'uck off imo

TheDoc

I was a big Nike vapour user. Bout two pairs a season.

Only ever wore blades. Stubs annoy me no end and you just cant use them in summer due to the firmness of the pitches, I also found it sometimes hard to do any dragging manouvres with studs.

Vapours I always felt were better for me. As a number ten I used to have to get the ball under control quickly and the vapours just felt lovely to cushion a ball and take it under control.

They were also animal for hitting a volley with, amazing boots.

Very light though and you felt a serious bang if anyone stood on you.

Never liked addidas predators which we huge at the time I was playing.

Isnt it also weird that some boots are just for some positions.

Strikers and wingers always have fancy colours and boots, defenders always have black boots and keepers always with the puma kings, or so it was when i played

I remember our keeper was injured and id to play a game in goal in my vapoours and the slagging i got from the opposition was unreal.

Kent Brockman

Xavi the top ones in your photo look very similar to mine. the tip of the studs are removable and can be replaced with plastic ones (but they cost half the price of the boots) and i cant imagine it would be too easy to get them on and off too often

Fromvert

Winter
http://www.footy-boots.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/adidas-world-cup-football-boot.jpg

Summer
http://www.footballbootroom.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/adidas-copa-mundial.jpg

Nothing else will do. Simple as.

ErinGoBrath

For the past couple of years I've been using Puma v1.08 boots for astro, soft ground and firm ground. I stock up on 3 pairs at the start of each season. Got a really good price for the 3 on www.kitbag.com.

Although they don't offer a whole lot of protection they are lightweight and are fantastic when dribbling/shooting.

Highly recommended.

pierrot

Remember when Predators came out first? Paul Ince was hitting swerving drives from all over the place. We would go down to Lifestyle Sports and feel the rubber on the display shoe.

inforfun

Xavi6 wrote: »

Copa's FTW

Coloured boots are for show ponies

Theresalwaysone

I have a pair of the first predators here somewhere. Got them when I was 12 or so, I was convinced they were the best thing since sliced bread by sneaky marketing by Adidas in their Playstation game "Adidas Power Soccer".

Crap game mind.

As everyone has said, World Cups by far the best.

anplaya

inforfun wrote: »

Copa's FTW

Coloured boots are for show ponies

got copas and f50s. copas are definately the most comfortable boots ive ever worn.

Saint_Mel

Havent played this season at all but my choice over the past few years has been:



and



and then



Tried blades, Adidas F30+ but I'm a keeper and the shuffling/side-to-side movement was causing friction between the blades and my foot which lead to a bit of plantar fasciitis

Blazer

inforfun wrote: »

Copa's FTW

Coloured boots are for show ponies

without a doubt the finest and most comfortable pair of boots I'd ever worn.
I didn't want them originally as I wanted a fancy pair but mate told me to buy and that I'd never regret it.
He was dead right. If only they had an astro turf variation

Pro. F

Kent Brockman wrote: »

The boots I have state 'for soft or very soft ground' but I played during the summer and my knees were in a bad way after about 5-6 matches. Could it be the boots??

Knees need a lot of protection from the muscles in the thighs. If footbal is your only/main exercise your knees might suffer if you don't do leg strengthening exercises. Especially in the summer on harder ground.

You wouldn't need to use weights or anything like that. Squats, sometimes called Hindu Squats, are really effective and really easy to do. Just make sure you do them correctly and the most important is that you do them slowly. You could ask on the fitness forum for a link to a good instruction video if you're interested. Also if you do do strength work be sure to do some stretching of the muscles you have strengthened and the opposite muscles (back of leg) too. Oh and don't do the strength work the same day you play football because that would be too much demand and might give you an injury.

Hope that helps and doesn't sound preachy

Blazer

I also found that the stairmaster is a great way of building up the calf and thigh muscles as well...really made a difference to me.

Seaneh

Yes, boots matter.

A lighter, thinner leather boot (copa's, puma king etc) mean more feeling and better ball control, passing and accuracy.

Boots worth wearing.

Addidas Copas.
Addidas World Cups (for winter).
any of the new Puma King range (Kangeroo skin being me material of choice).
Diadora's named boots are daycent
Umbro Specials are comfy enough.


that is all.

I hate the new Addidas and Nike plastic feeling crap.

slingerz

Copa Mundials for the summer/hard ground

Predators for the softer ground

Xavi6

Kent Brockman wrote: »

Xavi the top ones in your photo look very similar to mine. the tip of the studs are removable and can be replaced with plastic ones (but they cost half the price of the boots) and i cant imagine it would be too easy to get them on and off too often

Yeah you probably have the SG (soft ground) version. I have the FG (firm ground) ones.

With the SGs you can remove the blades as they're held in by a screw then replace them with moulded versions. Not too much different from changing ordinary studs really.

Ferris_Bueller

Speaking of boots I could do with a new pair, but unfortunately I am not in a financial position to buy two seperate pairs for soft/hard ground, after reading this thread it looks as if Adidas World Cups or Copa Mundials, possibly Puma Kings, would be the way to go?
But are mouldys any good on grass pitches? Play about half my football on grass and the other half on astroturf or other hard grounded surfaces.

Last 2 pairs of boots I had were F50s and Predators, but both pairs ALWAYS gave me blisters after matchs, and recently I've been getting a horrilbe pain, sometimes even swelling, on my ankle, could this be down to the boots?

villains77

i have allways used adidas predator. i have four (old ) pairs that are still in good nick and usually use the moulded blades or the metal blades . I used to wear just studs but could feel the studs when iam running so my mate gave me a lend of a pair of adidas and never looked back as i find predator's are so comfy to wear.

cruizer22b

I was looking for a pair of boots the other day but could not find Diadora's anywhere, does anyone know if they still sell them here and if so where ?

I always went for Diadora or Puma King 10 years + ago because they seemed to be much lighter then predator and other boots. I always felt like I was wearing a pair of clogs with some brands. Might have been just me though :rolleyes:

Blazer

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Speaking of boots I could do with a new pair, but unfortunately I am not in a financial position to buy two seperate pairs for soft/hard ground, after reading this thread it looks as if Adidas World Cups or Copa Mundials, possibly Puma Kings, would be the way to go?
But are mouldys any good on grass pitches? Play about half my football on grass and the other half on astroturf or other hard grounded surfaces.

Last 2 pairs of boots I had were F50s and Predators, but both pairs ALWAYS gave me blisters after matchs, and recently I've been getting a horrilbe pain, sometimes even swelling, on my ankle, could this be down to the boots?

Christ man...why would you keep wearing them?
Another reason the mate recommended the copa's to me was so he could "borrrow" them for a few GAA matches he had.
But as far as I know you can' use them on Astro or anything else..but i could be wrong..

CHD

Puma boots are the best imo.

Morf

Currently wearing:



Future Purchase:



Had to give away because I wear orthotics and I couldn't find anything suitable to fill the groove for the power pulse when i removed the insole:




Yes I am a fanatic.

blackbetty69

yeah boots defo make a difference imo.. most comfortable boots iv worn were air legends, €130 but well worth it... just got the new nike 360 boots, ones that mascherano wears.. pretty happy with them

Xavi6

Had a pair of Legends for a while and they're a nice boot. The all white didn't quite my image as a centre half though! :pac:

zAbbo

Can someone recommend a comfortable, soft pair of trainers for 5-aside Astro?

I've never liked the hard astro runners with a big round lip at the front, makes it hard to have any kind of touch.

I've been wearing a cheapy pair of Adidas HG blades, but was playing last night and landing on a guys arm accidentally and don't like the idea of injuring anyone, and those blades left a pretty nasty imprint

I've had a look at ProDirects Astro section.

Going to be ordering today, needs to be size 10.5 or a tight 11...

Xavi6

zAbbo wrote: »

Can someone recommend a comfortable, soft pair of trainers for 5-aside Astro?

I've never liked the hard astro runners with a big round lip at the front, makes it hard to have any kind of touch.

I've been wearing a cheapy pair of Adidas HG blades, but was playing last night and landing on a guys arm accidentally and don't like the idea of injuring anyone, and those blades left a pretty nasty imprint

I've had a look at ProDirects Astro section.

Going to be ordering today, needs to be size 10.5 or a tight 11...

I play indoor and have the indoor version of these Nike Tiempo Natural II -



Comfy as fuck with a pair of gel insoles and give a nice feel of the ball.

event

zAbbo wrote: »

Can someone recommend a comfortable, soft pair of trainers for 5-aside Astro?

I've never liked the hard astro runners with a big round lip at the front, makes it hard to have any kind of touch.

I've been wearing a cheapy pair of Adidas HG blades, but was playing last night and landing on a guys arm accidentally and don't like the idea of injuring anyone, and those blades left a pretty nasty imprint

I've had a look at ProDirects Astro section.

Going to be ordering today, needs to be size 10.5 or a tight 11...

that in JJB?

i use copa mundials for there, just moulded studs.
never liked wearing those runners tbh

zAbbo

event wrote: »

that in JJB?

i use copa mundials for there, just moulded studs.
never liked wearing those runners tbh

Yup in the JJB

Tbh, I haven't liked wearing runners (normal ones) or even the special indoor (yellowish sole) or the hardended small moulded sole designed for Astro/3G

But I'm gonna give it a go, was thinking these



Bit bright, but are 10.5 and look to have the mesh instep.

Probably can't go too wrong with Mundials or Kaisers though.

lordgoat

Copas are the nicest boots i've worn, had afew pairs of puma kings and liked them alot too, really depends on what you find fits best i think.

ccosgrave

I love my Copas, they're beautiful boots.

One thing I find makes a difference that people haven't really mentioned is that it's a bit more difficult to control the ball at times with studs. From time to time, particularly when I'm used to wearing moulded studs, I find that the ball sometimes just simply jars off the front pair of studs when I'm trying to control it. It's rare, but it can really make a difference in important situations.