Playing Style
As a young child Smith played as a central midfielder, before converting to a striker at age 12. At 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m), Smith is shorter than the average Premier League footballer. He is a quick player capable of kicking the ball with his weaker left foot, and prefers being part of a team that plays passing football, than one that employs a more direct style. Upon signing him for Portsmouth, then-manager Paul Hart said of Smith:
I’ve liked Tommy for a long time. He’s clever, infectious, enthusiastic and a hard worker. He can play as a centre-forward, behind the centre-forward or out wide, so covers a lot of positions. He’s going to be a great asset to us.
Read more about this topic: Tommy Smith (footballer Born 1980)
Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or style:
“A lifetime [or, eternity] is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child.”
—Heraclitus (c. 535–475 B.C.)
“The difference between style and taste is never easy to define, but style tends to be centered on the social, and taste upon the individual. Style then works along axes of similarity to identify group membership, to relate to the social order; taste works within style to differentiate and construct the individual. Style speaks about social factors such as class, age, and other more flexible, less definable social formations; taste talks of the individual inflection of the social.”
—John Fiske (b. 1939)