IPOH, June 28 — In this day and age, leaning on potential is not enough to succeed in the beautiful game. Great players like Pele, Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho succeeded in the game thanks to hard work and some flamboyance to bamboozle their opponents.

Having been in the Malaysian football scene for many years, Perak's fitness coach V. Sam Pakiaraj feels that many Malaysian players want to be these stars, but they are nowhere near their level as they lack individual brilliance, strength and fitness.

"Most of the foreign footballers have their own techniques. Cristiano Ronaldo has the ability to reach the ball at the right timing, Neymar has the ability to dribble past a player within a few seconds, Ronaldinho is capable of doing a no-look pass.

"All these skills which they have been doing are not taught by the coaches, they create it by themselves. This is what lacking in our local football players,” he told Malay Mail.

Sam, who is a certified fitness trainer, said footballers should take their own responsibility to identify their individual techniques which they are good at and train on their own to improve.

He added that in modern football, the coach's role is not teaching techniques, but more on the games's tactics.

Sam said the individual techniques are what will make the tactics a success.

"For example, Ronaldinho has the ability in holding the ball in midfield. When the game is too intense or high-pressure, he will calm it down by holding the ball.

"We hardly see local footballers doing that. Lacking are the techniques and whatever tactics applied by the coaches,” added Sam.

Sam also said this is the reason why most coaches prefer playing foreign players.

"Why are foreign players getting a better chance to play? Simple, they do extra work to improve their acceleration, kicking, strengthening their leg muscle and many more which are not taught during training. So when they're in the field they can perform,” he said.

Sam also pointed out that most of local footballers are not aware of the importance of conditioning and strengthening exercises and have a wrong impression about gym work.

"Players think that speed, strength and techniques come naturally and the two hours training in the field are sufficient. But, this is wrong. Players need to do conditioning and strengthening to keep their body in a good shape and avoid injuries,” he said.

"Doing extra training in gym is not about hitting the weights or carrying bar. There are lots of other exercises which will improve the strength, like training on the Bosu ball, TRX suspension training, agility drills and many more.”

Sam is also the founder of the Fitness Lifestyle Gym. He has been the fitness coach for the Perak football team since 2014 and said he had personally directed the players to go to his gym to improve their strength and fitness.

Sam's initiative in turning players into their best shape has certainly brought an impact to the Perak football team. They are currently ranked second in the Malaysian Super League and possibly can finish their campaign in the same position with just four matches to go.

Sam also said local footballers are lacking a healthy lifestyle.

"A professional footballer must have a disciplined lifestyle.They should have a proper sleeping time, proper diet and proper recovery session. Their body is their weapon and they need to take care of it to perform well,” he advised.