Post by Keano on Oct 29, 2008 12:19:44 GMT
After a season of complaining about our strikers not being clinical enough, I'd like to .. disagree! There are types of strikers, some are hard workers with not so much end product (i.e. Smith). Some are clinical but with little work to do aside from that (arguebly Ruud, Henry and Van Persie). And some are a mix of both, and our strikers fall under that category.
I'll use last season (2006/07) as an example. First half, Rooney was playing off Saha then off Larsson, he did so much work in midfield but had very little end product. Towards the end of the season when Larsson left and Saha got injured, he was asked to play the lone role, obliged to hold the line and not track back and what happened ? He was absolutely clinical towards the end of the season.
Raul falls under the same category I believe. A very hard working forward with a clinical touch. Last year he went through a dry spell, was working hard to come out of it. so hard that he forgot that he should be in and around the box. In fact, he was chasing shadows back in his own half. This year, with the arrival of Sneijder and the new 4-3-1-2 formation, Raul was mostly in and around the box at all time. Thus, was in the mental state to have one of his best seasons for a while.
The arrival of Tevez rurther strengthened my belief that a striker can be absolutely clinical, but when he works too hard, he simply doesnt have that calmness about him to put the ball in the back of the net regularly. People blame him for missing easy chances, and rightly so since its his job, but the guy works TOO hard in the middle third that he simply isnt in the best of shape once he gets the ball inside the penalty box.
Proven goal scorers like Ruud, Henry, Ronaldo, Crespo and co might work for the team but not as hard as the above mentioned. They know that their job is to score goals whereas Rooney and Tevez want to take part in the build up play, want to chase back and stuff. Whoever has seen Tevez in his early years knows what am talking about. One on ones were absolute goals for him, you;d bet your house on it. He was that calm and confident in front of goal.
Drogba is a perfect example. In his first season he did so much for Chelsea, worked hard at creating openings for his teammates but didnt score that much himself. But when he started playing on top on his own, parking himself in the final third, we saw how deadly he really is. Teams might be gaining something when their forwards do so much work defensively, but they lose more IMO. When Rooney chases someone 80 yards back then sprints 80 yards forward and gets a chance believe me, he wont score.
I believe our strikers are clinical enough but at the moment they are just working too hard for the team. I've been trying to find reasons to why Ronaldo has been pushed up front on alot of occasions and I believe this is one of them. He always seems to have that freshness and calmness about him in the final third. He might not do that much for the team defensively, but 42 goals speak for themselves. And I believe the amount of work Rooney and Tevez do compared to Ronaldo's and when you look at the amount of goals they scored compared to him, is no coencidence.
I'll use last season (2006/07) as an example. First half, Rooney was playing off Saha then off Larsson, he did so much work in midfield but had very little end product. Towards the end of the season when Larsson left and Saha got injured, he was asked to play the lone role, obliged to hold the line and not track back and what happened ? He was absolutely clinical towards the end of the season.
Raul falls under the same category I believe. A very hard working forward with a clinical touch. Last year he went through a dry spell, was working hard to come out of it. so hard that he forgot that he should be in and around the box. In fact, he was chasing shadows back in his own half. This year, with the arrival of Sneijder and the new 4-3-1-2 formation, Raul was mostly in and around the box at all time. Thus, was in the mental state to have one of his best seasons for a while.
The arrival of Tevez rurther strengthened my belief that a striker can be absolutely clinical, but when he works too hard, he simply doesnt have that calmness about him to put the ball in the back of the net regularly. People blame him for missing easy chances, and rightly so since its his job, but the guy works TOO hard in the middle third that he simply isnt in the best of shape once he gets the ball inside the penalty box.
Proven goal scorers like Ruud, Henry, Ronaldo, Crespo and co might work for the team but not as hard as the above mentioned. They know that their job is to score goals whereas Rooney and Tevez want to take part in the build up play, want to chase back and stuff. Whoever has seen Tevez in his early years knows what am talking about. One on ones were absolute goals for him, you;d bet your house on it. He was that calm and confident in front of goal.
Drogba is a perfect example. In his first season he did so much for Chelsea, worked hard at creating openings for his teammates but didnt score that much himself. But when he started playing on top on his own, parking himself in the final third, we saw how deadly he really is. Teams might be gaining something when their forwards do so much work defensively, but they lose more IMO. When Rooney chases someone 80 yards back then sprints 80 yards forward and gets a chance believe me, he wont score.
I believe our strikers are clinical enough but at the moment they are just working too hard for the team. I've been trying to find reasons to why Ronaldo has been pushed up front on alot of occasions and I believe this is one of them. He always seems to have that freshness and calmness about him in the final third. He might not do that much for the team defensively, but 42 goals speak for themselves. And I believe the amount of work Rooney and Tevez do compared to Ronaldo's and when you look at the amount of goals they scored compared to him, is no coencidence.
Thats something I wrote at the back end of last season. Seeing as Rooney is scoring for fun, has anyone noticed any change in his game ? Were any of my points valid, or did I drink too much .. ermm coffee at the time ? ;D
