Kanadyan Kanary 121 Posted January 26, 2013 This is my first post and I apologise for the length. I have followed the message board for sometime but haven’t really felt the need to get anything off my chest, until now. Everyone seems to be calling for new strikingoptions 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 isthat we were not scoring enough goals and this has continued throughout theseason. 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 arenot creating enough chances for them to capitalise on and this has been evidentwhether we play 4-5-1 and even on the rare occasion we have played 4-4-2 (liketoday). So why are we not creating chances for our strikers? In my view, we are not delivering enoughballs into the box during open play and I think the problem may lie with theway we play our wingers. Interestingly,we persist on playing our wingers on the wrong side, which means they have toturn inside, thereby keeping our play narrow. When balls are then delivered in, they willbe in-swinging and these are easier to defend against because defenders canplay the way they are facing. Alternatively, our strikers need to glance the ball towards goal ratherthan attack the ball full on. If we wereto deliver balls from the left/right side with the left/right foot the ballwill be out-swinging; easier to attack and more difficult to defend againstit. The key area for delivering balls into the box is the byline (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 theedge of the box for a shooting opportunity), all of which are difficult todefend against. I have watched everygame this season and have seen little evidence that we try to work the ballinto these crossing zones enough or even into shooting opportunities on the edge ofthe box. That’s not to say we haven’tdone it at all because Holt was given an excellent chance today when Jacksoncrossed from exactly the area I am talking about but generally our attacks havebeen 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 airand rely on crosses into the box. Igenuinely believe that Holt has the ability to score lots of goals, because heproved it last season, but he (or any other striker) has to be provided theservice from midfield to enable him to do so. Jackson is a different proposition; he needs to play in a4-4-2 so that he can clean up the scraps by playing off the bigger man. If he plays on his own up front, we have tochange our tactics by either delivering the ball hard and low so that he canuse his pace to get ahead of the defender or we need to work the ball intoshooting positions on the edge of the box so that he can capitalise ongoalkeeper errors or defender deflections. Now the question is; do we have the personnel to deliver thequality of service? I haven’t seen muchevidence that our wingers have the ability to take on players like traditionalwingers but what each of them undoubtedly have, is the ability to deliver crossesand this has been proved with their set-piece delivery. We therefore need to use the full backs tosupport them and by using crisp triangle passing with the other midfielders, workthe ball into the position where the wingers or the full-backs can deliver thekiller ball. In summary, IMO until we sort the tactics out, buying a newstriker may not achieve all that we are hoping for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gingerpele 0 Posted January 26, 2013 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingsway 94 Posted January 26, 2013 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! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew Spanton 1 Posted January 26, 2013 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gingerpele 0 Posted January 26, 2013 kingsway me old mucker, I thought obvious sarcasm was obvious? I did not know it would be not read as sarcasm.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingsway 94 Posted January 26, 2013 How do you know I wasn''t being sarcastic?The answer is still the same with Chris Martin! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kanadyan Kanary 121 Posted January 26, 2013 Agreed. It’s probablypart of the defensive plan CH has put in place but it should be achievable becausewe have plenty of defenders or the two holding midfielders to provide coverwhen 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rudolph Hucker 0 Posted January 26, 2013 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? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty13 2,234 Posted January 26, 2013 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gingerpele 0 Posted January 26, 2013 [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... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaz_in_NZ 9 Posted January 26, 2013 No. We need 3 strikers, we don''t have any worth shouting about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kanadyan Kanary 121 Posted January 26, 2013 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hannibal II 0 Posted January 27, 2013 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites