Can we play without the target man?

[The Doc 0]

I was pondering this question the other day when watching the DVD of last season with my good mate Tufnell Park Canary and it struck me that in the last games of last season, when we were undoubtably at our best, we did play passing football without relying on a target man. It seems to me that sven is not a very good target man when it comes to winning headers and holding up the ball, but when we played leon and sven together and hux on the wing/free role we didn''t seem to rely on sven doing this. It was when playing in this formation we saw the very best of sven. Also in recent games, especially against arsenal I notice hux seems to thrive on dropping back to left wing.

There are 2 main ways of implimenting this:

1. Do a straight swap of Hux and Bently position wise - I feel we haven''t seen the best of bentley on the left and Hux often drifts into his terratory. I feel this might just be our best option

2. Play Leon up front with sven/doc/jonson with hux on left and bentley on the right - This would alow our most natural goalscorer into the starting 11 and allow balls to be played thru the wings. This may be far to attacking and leave us very exposed at the back however.

Although not a target man I think Jonson may be worth considering as a striker given his recent swedish record. What do you guys think? If the 1st Sept comes and we haven''t signed anyone this question will have to be answered. I cannot see the Doc being a satificatory answer to our problem

[AJ 1,359]

i dont think so holloway;

Norwich still need a man who can play as a target man,

But not just that, roberts did the job but not good enough;

We need someone who can run with the ball at pace, use skill, hold th eball up and who is good in the air.



And holloway, hux was not at left wing he was on a ''free role''.

I would personal like to start how we finished last week:


-----------Green-----------
edworthy-flem-charlton-drury
-----------Safri------------
----francis-------Bently-----
----------Huckerby--------
-----Doc-------Mckenzie----

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

In some ways its a shame that we have had Iwan up front for so many years! Season after season we lofted balls up from the back for him to lay off or bring down. It''s going to take quite a bit of training to pass it up through the midfield. Don''t get me wrong, I''d love us to play more the passing game but I think it''ll take time

Keep the faith

[Creative Midfielder 2,203]

So far as I''m aware there is no rule against playing it through midfield sometimes even when you have a target man in the team.

The best teams will always mix it up but of course teams will generally play to their strengths. In recent years ours was Iwan, but that hasnt always been the style. When we had Crook in midfield there was little requirement for a target man (although a striker who can score with his head is still very useful).

I think our problem at the moment is that we dont have either a target man or a midfielder who is sufficiently creative to make the chances through incisive passing. If we could find one my preference will always be for the creative midfielder but the reality is that target men are easier to find.

[mr carra 0]

to get away without target man requires that everone in the team is comfortable on the ball and can play a full part. We needed a target man last year because we had Flem/Malky/Holt in the team. We still have Holt & Flem so we need a target man. Only the very classiest teams can do without one and we are nowhere near that level (and with our resources are never likely to be). In an ideal world maybe...

[shardy 0]

I agree totally with you aj on the team selection but possibly put bentley on right side and let hux drift from his natural left side (his most effective position) so basically a
4-4-2. Trouble is bit weak defensively down left.
This is the only way to play hux and mackenzie together from the start which must be done imo

come on you yellows

[mr carra 0]

there''s no point playing Bentley on the right. All he''d be able to do then is put crosses in and there''s not a lot of point as we won''t have enough players in the box (one of our strikers will be Hucks and he won''t get on the end of them). Better to have Bentley on the left where he can cut in and shoot (he looks damned dangerous doing that so far). Having Hucks on that side should keep defenders busy and give him plenty of scope to do so.

[Northern Canary 0]

i think a target man would help but not essential, the players we have are all capable of scoring goals but just dont seem to be confident enough to have a go, IMO. They all seem to keep laying it off to each other. Its only i minor complaint but i would just like to see more shots on goal

[moobag 0]

I agree with the line up from AJ
& if we do sign a new front man who would The Doc replace in the back 4 - Flem or Charlton?