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grefstad

Grabban and his mobiility

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AN chose Grabban due to his mobility and ball retention.

But was he particularly mobile? I dont think he chased the ball much, but left Wes to do it, and Wes was turing badly in the second half due to this, I think.

If Wes had been able to stay on the pitch a bit longer, we may have put Arsenal to the sword, as we were on top late on, and with Wes to pull the strings, we could have pulled it off.

Lots of ifs and buts, ofcourse, but still...

Yes, Grabban scored, and overall did fairly well. He is a strong lad, when he wants to be bothered, but I just can not help thinking that he seems a bit too "selective" in his efforts for the team.

Agreed, there is little point in running around like a headless chicken, but at times, I was screaming for more involvement and effort from Grabban, but did not get it.

It could be down to instructions from AN, but surely he would have wanted more harassing and movement from his front man, since he was likely to be subbed for Jerome/Mbokani in the second half anyway?

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[quote user="Wes Hooly Fan"]Things must be miserable in Scandinavia this time of year for you to constantly barrage the forum with such negativity. Cheer up ffs[/quote]

Whats wrong with you, miserable git?

I was asking questions about Grabban''s involvements last night, and what do I get in response?

Stupid people like you dont bother to answer with anything than useless oneliners.

People like you are why this forum is virtually dead.

Why dont you try discussiong something related to NCFC instead of your continued useless "contributions" to this forum?

But I guess you prefer the happy clapper method. Raise no questions, do not think, or make up your own opinion. Clap when you''re told, stay in your seat, and keep quiet.

You are such a valuable part of this forum, WHF, such a valuable member. You must be proud of yourself.

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Lafferty and Jerome chase the ball but rarely score at this level Grabban chases less but holds the ball and scores goals. Which do you prefer goal scoring forwards or chasers

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To be honest I Was impressed by Grabban''s effort and work rate. He was looking for runs into the channels and when they had the ball was either pressing or cutting off angles to reduce the ball carrier''s options. The two players who I was disappointed by the effort of was Redmond and Dorrans, he looked interested breaking but didn''t track back and gave up far too easily for my liking.

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[quote] Lafferty and Jerome chase the ball but rarely score at this level Grabban chases less but holds the ball and scores goals. Which do you prefer goal scoring forwards or chasers [/quote]

Obvious answer to that question.

But, if Grabban had not scored last night, what would you have said about his overall performance?

It is easy to be blinded by his goal.

Overall, I don''t think he was poor, far from it. Held the ball up well on several occasions.

But I would perhaps expected more "eagerness" from a man who has been so long out of the frame, and now got a chance.

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[quote user="grefstad"][quote] Lafferty and Jerome chase the ball but rarely score at this level Grabban chases less but holds the ball and scores goals. Which do you prefer goal scoring forwards or chasers [/quote]

Obvious answer to that question.

But, if Grabban had not scored last night, what would you have said about his overall performance?

It is easy to be blinded by his goal.

Overall, I don''t think he was poor, far from it. Held the ball up well on several occasions.

But I would perhaps expected more "eagerness" from a man who has been so long out of the frame, and now got a chance.[/quote]

Are forwards not judged on goals ? The touch for his goal was amazing and when his chance came he scored. Afraid Jerome keeps missing simple chances so until Grabban stops scoring he will now be first choice I reckon

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Our style last weeks seat deep with many body behind the ball not suit at all most of our forwards.

Mbokany is worst option with this system as he not moved on big perimeter.

If we try to play counter attack style most of this season badly need mobile striker option as Rob Earnshaw or Craig Bellamy type.

Whats why AN have interest on Dwight Gale.

Grabban pressing good and hold ball but so far missed too many chances when he start.

All in all we have too many attackers but most of them is quite similar...

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In fairness you know nothing about me Grefstad and I''m not the only one you''ve labelled a "happy clapper". I''m far from it, I just don''t see the necessity in critising Grabban when he had a decent game, and scored a goal in a very good performance against one of the best teams in Europe.

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Grabban work rate was very good in fact. I think people are being a bit misled by the fact that we clearly had tactical instructions not to press when Arsenal were playing keep-ball in their own half, particularly first half.

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Surely part of Grabban''s role (as with any striker) is to know when to work and when not to (unless the OP is expecting headless chicken, marathon running efforts).

Ruuuun, Graaaaaabbaaaaaaaaaaan, ruuuuun...

Apples

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Agreed Hogey, Arsenal are never going to start launching balls into the box from their own half so there is no real need to waste energy and leave space behind with a very high press.

We pressed as soon as they reached the halfway line with the ball, which allowed us, once possession was regained , to attack them, which , on the whole we did very well.

AN and the players got it right, right,Wright!!Easy game for Arsenal.......My Arris i was.

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AN had to justify the selection so just waxed lyrical about Grabban streghths, whether or not they were on show yesterday would not have changed AN''s comments. I''m still of the opinion that he will be no more prolific than the rest of our strikers in this league.

He needed a game, to either encourage him to fight for his place more or to pop him in the shop window. Either way a brave call, and good one as it turns out. Good management in my book.

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[quote user="TCCANARY"]"People like you are why this forum is virtually dead. "

It''s not dead, it''s just pining for the fjords.[/quote]+1 [:D]

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I think the key thing that was quite apparent (well I thought it was anyway) was that Grabban wasn''t expected to close the defenders down and leave a stupidly large gap behind him for one of the most skillful midfields in Europe to tear us apart.

Grabban''s role was to block off the angel to Cech''s left (as he''s a lot taller than Hoolahan) so that Cech would feel he had only half the pitch to aim at and with Hoolahan pressing the players forcing them to play it longer than they would have liked.

His movement off the ball was good and he showed some good awareness yesterday. People always clamor for "more running" but I actually agrred (it''s very rare I know) with Rob Butler last night of "do you really think if a player was lazy, they would get their chances in the premier league?"

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His second touch for the goal looked like it shocked him. As it shocked me, as it was the right touch but normally he over cooks it and hence his poor conversion rate.

However he took his goal and that will be what the record books state, his work ethic are there for the sport scientists and for game analysis by the coaches. Now we move to the next game where he may get a start, I believe mbokani is our better striker and feel jerome would score more than grabban this season.

Grabban needs to prove it over a few games and it is on the goal scoring that he needs to prove it, workload etc gets you so far, but if you don''t shoot you do not score. Without shooting you do not win games.

It is unfortunate that when we get our few chances hoolahan and howson both missed yesterday. Hopefully a few more clinical additions are made in January as in this league you cannot miss those chances. That is usually my argument for grabban and I do think he does miss too many, but yesterday he scored and we got the draw. Against Watford I expect him to make a number of chances for himself and hope he scores.

I will admit I want him out of the door, that is due to his disrespect to all at ncfc at the cup game. If there were things going on, I am sorry but you do not do that to your team,club or fans. He knows that and certainly there will be offers for him if he does not get a run of games and most importantly a run of goals.

Sorry to say I expect that he will not get the run of goals, but he has a chance to be a premiership forward if he has a run with us now and scores, otherwise I do think he will be sold to Bournemouth or a championship team. Yes Bournemouth are in the premiership, but he certainly would not be their saviour.

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Greg Downs on Canary Call summed it up well, so listen to that.

I wouldn''t be surprised if AN changes the team again for Watford, as he seems to have a plan for every team we play, in a ''horses for courses'' type of way.

Grabban was the right sort of player to play against Arsenal. Jerome would have done a good job as well. We were saying that Mbokani would not have been as good against Arsenal, just because of what he offers our team, against them.

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AN says he has no issues with Grabban after the Rotherham incident, and he has had to work his way back into contention.

I believe AN when saying that, but if Grabban is suddenly out of the picture again, people will say his inclusion vs Arsenal was a way of putting him in the shop window.

However, the most likely scenario is that AN is sticking to his principles, and playing different horses for different courses. Good use of the squad imho.

We don''t need Grabban in the shop window. We know Bournemouth are interested, probably more than ever in January with all the injuries they got, and I guess we will get a pretty good price should we decide to sell.

Selling to a direct competitor in the lower reaches of the Premier is probably out of the question though.

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He played lone striker and scored.

He may not chase every lost cause, thank goodness, but he was in the right place when I mattered.

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Watched Grabban closely yesterday and whilst he may do a lot of running about, chases down defenders and generally looks busy, he never gets in a tackle or wins the ball back. He goes hell for leather, gets within a couple of yards of defenders & then eases up. Both Jerome & Mbokani are much better at this aspect of the game and frequently win the ball back.Thought overall his passing was poor but credit to him for hitting the back of the net when it mattered.

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No player, when upfront on his own, against one of the best passing teams in the league is going to constantly press for 90 minutes. He''d be dead within 30 if he tried. As others have mentioned tactically there was obviously no instruction to press the centre backs all the time. It seemed when we did do that it was if him and Wes could press as a pair, not him on his own.

I was worried in the first 20 minutes that we were letting them get too far into our half without pressing but as the game wore on we started to get into them more. It was important to shut down Carzola as he is the route into Ozil/Sanchez and Giroud and just closing down defenders would leave him totally free.

To the person who said he doesn''t win tackles- that is just not his job. In fact to do it well you actually want to leave off in those last couple of yards as if you over commit it is easy for quality players to play the exact pass you need to be cutting off.

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