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norfolkbroadslim

Are we still lacking pace upfront?

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We have made some good signings so far and I am far from being critical or negative. 

 

When you look at other clubs, it got me wondering do we have enough pace upfront, especially if we are playing counter-attacking football, which is fairly probable in a lot of the away games?

 

Who do we have with real pace upfront (in attack and in midfield)?

 

Is pace still seen as being important in the PL?

 

 

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Pace and the ability to utilise it is an amazing asset. Goal scorers are highly rated but if you think back to the Villa game last season it was Agbonlohor that did us, not Benteke. I''d love to have a player like him here. Villa fans are very lucky and the icing on the cake for them is he is one of their own. And I think that''s the only way we will get a player like that here. Through our academy.

 

 

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Villa were one of the clubs I was thinking of when I posted this.  Benteke, Agbonlahor & Weimann are all fast and have a decent touch.  I think Villa rely a lot on the pace they have and it forms the basis of a lot of their play.

 

I quite agree Nutty that pace is one thing, but the ability to utilise is the key. 

 

I do however think that we could sign a decent enough player with pace.  Someone who has already made it would cost mega money, so it would be a case of unearthing a gem from somewhere.

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I think Ricky is deceptively quick. Watching the game and the highlights on MOTD there were 2 or 3 times where he seemed to effortlessly make up ground on Distin who is not slow at all. I dont think Wolfie has the pace of Redmond or anything, but as fas as clinical strikers go i think hes got plenty.

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I watched RVW closely at the RS friendly and he does seem to be able to put on a very quick burst over 5 yards, which is probably the most important thing for a striker.

 

Redmond obviously pacey and when Olsson came on in that game he looked quick too.

 

So I think we now have pace that could trouble defenders when these guys are in the game.

 

In answer to the OP, I think pace is always valuable in football at any level.  It makes it harder for the defence to push up so creates more space to play in,  and it accentuates any errors made by defenders.

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The majority of players are quite quick. It''s the initial acceleration and change of pace which are the best attributes to have. But that costs money and there arent too many players about who have that alongside the technical attributes.

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[quote user="Mervmeister"]Hooper is very quick over short distance. Much quicker than the wolf.[/quote]

I wouldnt bet my money on that. Wolfie has amazing acceleration. He got his reputaton from those short bursts of speed in eredivisie. Not that he would be fastest man on the earth, but for his size he is quite quick and even thought Hooper isn''t slowpoke, I cant say which one is faster for short distances.

In my opinion we have enought speed for every position if needed. Redmond and Bennett are fast. Hoolahan can easily get rid of most of players for short distances and Olsson has a reputation of a speedster and at least when Finland played against Sweden he was clearly fastest man on the pitch.

Whittaker also is surprisingly fast when he get his legs going and Tettey + Fer can give us some speed for middlefield too and Bassong isn''t slowest of centre backs.

Only fellows whose speed sometimes concerns me a bit is Johnson, Snoddy, Turner, Martin and Garrido. (In lesser extent Bennett too.) Snoddy is sometimes too slow to beat opponent on the wing, Johnson cant cover enought area alone, Turner have to use lot of pulling and pushing in 1 vs 1''s and Martin/Garrido are sometimes afraid to go forward as they woudlnt get back fast enough.

But those are issues that can be covered with roling the team right that they can stay most of the game in their comfort zone and be very effective players without the pace.

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I am not saying that it is true now, but about 15 months ago Howson was reckoned to be the quickest then over 20 yards - some of the slowcoaches at that time have gone, and been replaced with players with quick pace.

 

As others have said, there are two sorts of pace - firstly to get off the mark and move 10 yards very quickly, and secondly to maintain a burst over a longer distance. Wingers clearly need the second kind, and with Benno injured only Redders and Olsson remain of the winger variety.

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The pace that''s valuable and makes all the difference is over very short distances. Pace of body and thought. Gary Doherty would beat most forwards over long distances. So would Duncan Forbes.

 

 

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It''s pace over a short distance AND being able change direction that counts.

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