I've been thinking this for a while and with each game that passes, the thought is continually re-enforced...
We have a major problem with our central midfielders. I love Alonso, i love his vision and touch, how assured he is on the ball and his ability to think quickly. He's a top drawer player.
Likewise, Sissoko is fast becoming a must-have in our team. The rapid progress he's made, and will continue to make, is extremely pleasing.
They're both very very good players.
But (there had to be one), when you couple them with our strikeforce, be it Kuyt/Crouch, Bellamy/Kuyt or Crouch/Bellamy (i've not included fowler, because i dont see him as being a long term feature of our team sadly), we encounter a major problem.
Bellamy, as we know, isnt a target man. He works the channels, uses his pace, comes wide and gets involved. Good. No problem.
Kuyt too, drops off, can go wide, link the play and plays a part in the build up of our attacks.
Crouch does less of this, and in the context of this issue, is less of a problem. His abysmal heading IS a problem, but that's another thread entirely.
Now, if we take into account the fact that Kuyt and Bellamy drop off and go wide, AND the fact that, despite Pennant probably not being everyone's cup of tea, he DOES get wide and deliver PLENTY of crosses, we reach the problem at hand. Often it's Bellamy or Kuyt who has gone wide and played the ball to Pennant, who crosses whilst the aforementioned passer is still out wide. But of course, sometimes it's Kuyt or Bellamy themselves who will be drifting wide and crossing the ball. So...
Bellamy goes wide and crosses - only Crouch is in the box. Nothing much to aim at. Kuyt goes wide, same problem. Crosses are ideally not aimed at one individual player, but at AREAS in the box. If a winger puts a cross into a good area, at the right pace, he cant do a lot more. It's then upto the man in the area to attack this ball and get himself a goal.
So, when Pennant delivers into the box and we only have Crouch there, the chances of him finding the big man are remote.
This is where we have a problem with Alonso and Sissoko - they do NOT get themselves into the box. They're not a goalscoring threat from crosses or freekicks. Momo isnt a threat at goal whatsoever, as it goes. But Alonso isnt a goal threat from inside the box, because he very rarely gets there.
Contrast this to players like Rosicky, Scholes, Lampard and Cahill.
We dont have that.
Sure, Gerrard can be that for us when he plays in CM, but that isnt often and even when he does, he's often the one doing the crossing.
This is something we lack and it's SO obvious and frustrating.
Even at HOME, we rarely seem to have more than 2 players in the box when one of our players is wide and crossing the ball. It's horribly annoying and is also the reason so many of our crosses are so easily cleared, or fly away without any real danger.
Has no one else been frustrated by this? I'm (almost literally) pulling my hair out at every game these days.
*sigh*
We have a major problem with our central midfielders. I love Alonso, i love his vision and touch, how assured he is on the ball and his ability to think quickly. He's a top drawer player.
Likewise, Sissoko is fast becoming a must-have in our team. The rapid progress he's made, and will continue to make, is extremely pleasing.
They're both very very good players.
But (there had to be one), when you couple them with our strikeforce, be it Kuyt/Crouch, Bellamy/Kuyt or Crouch/Bellamy (i've not included fowler, because i dont see him as being a long term feature of our team sadly), we encounter a major problem.
Bellamy, as we know, isnt a target man. He works the channels, uses his pace, comes wide and gets involved. Good. No problem.
Kuyt too, drops off, can go wide, link the play and plays a part in the build up of our attacks.
Crouch does less of this, and in the context of this issue, is less of a problem. His abysmal heading IS a problem, but that's another thread entirely.
Now, if we take into account the fact that Kuyt and Bellamy drop off and go wide, AND the fact that, despite Pennant probably not being everyone's cup of tea, he DOES get wide and deliver PLENTY of crosses, we reach the problem at hand. Often it's Bellamy or Kuyt who has gone wide and played the ball to Pennant, who crosses whilst the aforementioned passer is still out wide. But of course, sometimes it's Kuyt or Bellamy themselves who will be drifting wide and crossing the ball. So...
Bellamy goes wide and crosses - only Crouch is in the box. Nothing much to aim at. Kuyt goes wide, same problem. Crosses are ideally not aimed at one individual player, but at AREAS in the box. If a winger puts a cross into a good area, at the right pace, he cant do a lot more. It's then upto the man in the area to attack this ball and get himself a goal.
So, when Pennant delivers into the box and we only have Crouch there, the chances of him finding the big man are remote.
This is where we have a problem with Alonso and Sissoko - they do NOT get themselves into the box. They're not a goalscoring threat from crosses or freekicks. Momo isnt a threat at goal whatsoever, as it goes. But Alonso isnt a goal threat from inside the box, because he very rarely gets there.
Contrast this to players like Rosicky, Scholes, Lampard and Cahill.
We dont have that.
Sure, Gerrard can be that for us when he plays in CM, but that isnt often and even when he does, he's often the one doing the crossing.
This is something we lack and it's SO obvious and frustrating.
Even at HOME, we rarely seem to have more than 2 players in the box when one of our players is wide and crossing the ball. It's horribly annoying and is also the reason so many of our crosses are so easily cleared, or fly away without any real danger.
Has no one else been frustrated by this? I'm (almost literally) pulling my hair out at every game these days.
*sigh*
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