38 goals in 37 games, meet The Hunter - yours for €20 M

[talkshowhost86]

Those championing Huntelaar (and I'm undecided on it personall)...would he have worked in the system we played last night? Considering how much of our play revolved around adebayor's link-up play and running the channels, I think anyone else we bring in needs to be able to do the same.

Can Huntelaar do that?

 

[tobi]

Not as well as Adebayor or Saha but better than Defoe.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Not as well as Adebayor or Saha but better than Defoe.

Hmmm...I'm not sure Saha is particularly good at it either so that is a bit worrying.

 

[tobi]

Saha can hold the ball up and lay it off, Huntelaar can do that plus his movement and anticipation is better than all of them.

 

[Misfit]

Get Bale and Hazard to run into the channels, then ping the ball into KJH. Kushti.

 

[BillyWhizz]

Those championing Huntelaar (and I'm undecided on it personall)...would he have worked in the system we played last night? Considering how much of our play revolved around adebayor's link-up play and running the channels, I think anyone else we bring in needs to be able to do the same.

Can Huntelaar do that?

Why do we have to play this way if Ade is no longer at the club? We would just adapt slightly to fit the striker, we don't really play this way when Ade doesn't start (or when we've tried it doesn't really work). And if Luka keeps pushing forward like he did last night for a change then we've players closer to the front man. If Bale/VDV/Hazard-Remy whoever can't supply a striker like Huntelaar then we might as well just give up.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Why do we have to play this way if Ade is no longer at the club? We would just adapt slightly to fit the striker, we don't really play this way when Ade doesn't start (or when we've tried it doesn't really work). And if Luka keeps pushing forward like he did last night for a change then we've players closer to the front man. If Bale/VDV/Hazard-Remy whoever can't supply a striker like Huntelaar then we might as well just give up.

My point was that when Ade hasn't played this season we've been shit. We massively rely on having a striker who can hold the ball up and link the play which is what Ade does so well. If you take him out of the team for Huntelaar, what system do you play?

If Huntelaars hold up play isn't good then he has to play with another striker who can hold the ball up. That means no Van der Vaart or no Lennon. It also means that we have to play 4-4-2 then Modric can't get near the strikers as he's one of our only two central midfielders.

It's all very well saying the midfielders should be good enough to supply a striker, but so much relies on the striker actually bringing those midfielders into play in the first place. I'm not saying Huntelaar can't do that, but if he can't he's not the right man for us.

 

[mattyspurs]

My point was that when Ade hasn't played this season we've been shit. We massively rely on having a striker who can hold the ball up and link the play which is what Ade does so well. If you take him out of the team for Huntelaar, what system do you play?

If Huntelaars hold up play isn't good then he has to play with another striker who can hold the ball up. That means no Van der Vaart or no Lennon. It also means that we have to play 4-4-2 then Modric can't get near the strikers as he's one of our only two central midfielders.

It's all very well saying the midfielders should be good enough to supply a striker, but so much relies on the striker actually bringing those midfielders into play in the first place. I'm not saying Huntelaar can't do that, but if he can't he's not the right man for us.

I understand what you are saying TSH, and I agree with you. But I do think that his hold up play has been improved upon, so I do think he has that in his locker. So if he can hold it up, bringing our other attackers into play, and scores 20+ per season, then it's happy days.

 

[talkshowhost86]

I understand what you are saying TSH, and I agree with you. But I do think that his hold up play has been improved upon, so I do think he has that in his locker. So if he can hold it up, bringing our other attackers into play, and scores 20+ per season, then it's happy days.

Definitely, and I was genuinely asking those who have seen more of him than I have. When he went to Real he struck me as basically a poacher (a sort of good Bent/Pavyluchenko/Defoe) and I haven't seen alot of him since then. In his cameo against England he looked very good and if he has added that element to his game then we should be in for him like a shot.

I just look at how poor we've been in the games where Adebayor hasn't played and worry that without that sort of player we're about half the team we can be. We therefore need to be sure that any other striker we bring in has that in their locker.

 

[BillyWhizz]

My point was that when Ade hasn't played this season we've been shit. We massively rely on having a striker who can hold the ball up and link the play which is what Ade does so well. If you take him out of the team for Huntelaar, what system do you play?

If Huntelaars hold up play isn't good then he has to play with another striker who can hold the ball up. That means no Van der Vaart or no Lennon. It also means that we have to play 4-4-2 then Modric can't get near the strikers as he's one of our only two central midfielders.

It's all very well saying the midfielders should be good enough to supply a striker, but so much relies on the striker actually bringing those midfielders into play in the first place. I'm not saying Huntelaar can't do that, but if he can't he's not the right man for us.

Don't disagree it just means we only have a plan A doesn't it? I just can't see why we have to play this way basically getting it up to Ade asap, hoping he can hold it up while the others get forward. It has to come down to tactics really, whenever I've watched VDV for Holland you won't see him coming as deep as he does for us and getting the ball of the centre backs. If he stayed further forward and closer to our striker (i.e. his position) we could start playing a slightly different way therefore wouldn't have to rely on a big lanky bloke up front so much.

Ideally we would sign Ade and KJH (or someone like) to give us more options.