Will a new striker really solve our problems?

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

This is my first post and I apologise for the length.  I have followed the message board for some

time but haven’t really felt the need to get anything off my chest, until now.  Everyone seems to be calling for new striking

options and I can see that this will bring renewed hope but I will it really be the salvation we are hoping for?

 

What’s been clear from pre-season is

that we were not scoring enough goals and this has continued throughout the

season.  We seem to be better defensively

(when Bassong plays) but we have lost the impetus going forward.  With only six league goals for our strikers, we are

not creating enough chances for them to capitalise on and this has been evident

whether we play 4-5-1 and even on the rare occasion we have played 4-4-2 (like

today). 

 

So why are we not creating chances for our strikers?  In my view, we are not delivering enough

balls into the box during open play and I think the problem may lie with the

way we play our wingers.  Interestingly,

we persist on playing our wingers on the wrong side, which means they have to

turn inside, thereby keeping our play narrow.   When balls are then delivered in, they will

be in-swinging and these are easier to defend against because defenders can

play the way they are facing. 

Alternatively, our strikers need to glance the ball towards goal rather

than attack the ball full on.  If we were

to deliver balls from the left/right side with the left/right foot the ball

will be out-swinging; easier to attack and more difficult to defend against

it. 

 

The key area for delivering balls into the box is the by

line (or close to it) because there are so many options (conventional cross,

hard and low across the face, float to the back post or even pull back to the

edge of the box for a shooting opportunity), all of which are difficult to

defend against.  I have watched every

game this season and have seen little evidence that we try to work the ball

into these crossing zones enough or even into shooting opportunities on the edge of

the box.  That’s not to say we haven’t

done it at all because Holt was given an excellent chance today when Jackson

crossed from exactly the area I am talking about but generally our attacks have

been narrow, because the wrong-sided winger has to turn inside.

 

I would like to see us play to our strengths.  Both Holt and Morrison are good in the air

and rely on crosses into the box.   I

genuinely believe that Holt has the ability to score lots of goals, because he

proved it last season, but he (or any other striker) has to be provided the

service from midfield to enable him to do so. 

Jackson is a different proposition; he needs to play in a

4-4-2 so that he can clean up the scraps by playing off the bigger man.  If he plays on his own up front, we have to

change our tactics by either delivering the ball hard and low so that he can

use his pace to get ahead of the defender or we need to work the ball into

shooting positions on the edge of the box so that he can capitalise on

goalkeeper errors or defender deflections. 

 

Now the question is; do we have the personnel to deliver the

quality of service?   I haven’t seen much

evidence that our wingers have the ability to take on players like traditional

wingers but what each of them undoubtedly have, is the ability to deliver crosses

and this has been proved with their set-piece delivery.  We therefore need to use the full backs to

support them and by using crisp triangle passing with the other midfielders, work

the ball into the position where the wingers or the full-backs can deliver the

killer ball.

 

In summary, IMO until we sort the tactics out, buying a new

striker may not achieve all that we are hoping for.

[Gingerpele 0]

Apologise, I have not yet read your post, but I am in no fit state to do so. It does look lovely though.

Our problems will all be solved by Super Chirssy Martin.

Or the return of Bassong & Whittaker. Plus new striker.

[kingsway 94]

I''m the pope if our problems will be solved by Chris Martin!

What a ridiculous comment!

 

A new striker is needed, we''ve needed one all season but like others have noticed, we aren''t creating chances for the striker to score and Grant Holt is rarely in the proper position down the middle to score!

 

Surman and Howson proved today how we could still do with better back up in midfield which would likely help us to make more chances!

[Andrew Spanton 1]

In short, no a striker will not solve our problems but it will be another piece in the jigsaw.

I agree with your analysis and we need to get those crosses in the box again. In my view part of the problem is that our full backs do not get forward enough to help build-up play down the flanks. Russell Martin tried today but doesn''t generally get forward much in an EPL match. Garrido seems to be playing very conservatively over the last couple of months, which is a shame given that he possesses a very good cross.

[Gingerpele 0]

kingsway me old mucker, I thought obvious sarcasm was obvious? I did not know it would be not read as sarcasm....

[kingsway 94]

How do you know I wasn''t being sarcastic?

The answer is still the same with Chris Martin!

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

Agreed.  It’s probably

part of the defensive plan CH has put in place but it should be achievable because

we have plenty of defenders or the two holding midfielders to provide cover

when they do venture forward.  Our wingers need that support or overlap from the full backs.  We used to play that way but haven''t seen it this season.

We live in hope.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Good OP and welcome.

We are creating nothing for the strikers we have, in fact we are flogging Holt and giving him nothing.

We score a lot of goals from headers (usually) and this means crossing in active play and not just set pieces.

It is the withdrawn full backs. Russ and Tierney are the best advancing full backs although Garrido and Whitaker are the most solid and keep possession best.

Hughton seems incapable of seeing this but he might have a change against Spurs because wing backs are their strengths and he does strange things.

We HAVE to get the full backs forwards and compress the play because we have no strikers capable of carrying the ball from deep at speed. It looks like Hooper can! But without more forward full back play is this enough?

[Monty13 2,229]

Its a long post and i think you have described one of the problems, not all of the problems, we have going forward.

The short answer is it no it wont, but like others said, one more part of the jigsaw.

[Gingerpele 0]

[quote user="kingsway"]

How do you know I wasn''t being sarcastic?

The answer is still the same with Chris Martin!

[/quote]

Well my sarcasm-dar is pretty poor, I can hardly even tell if what i''m saying is sarcastic or not...

[Gaz_in_NZ 9]

No. We need 3 strikers, we don''t have any worth shouting about.

[Kanadyan Kanary 121]

My point was more that it doesn''t matter how many strikers we buy. If we can''t get decent delivery into them, they won''t score.

[Hannibal II 0]

We could of had Messi and Ronaldo up front today they still wouldn''t score we created one decent chance all game against a side 5 leagues below us.

We need to created chances and to do that we need to play a formation that allows this with freedom not the fear we have been playing with