Arshavin

[Rackybear]

This whole bentley 'bad crossing' I feel is a bit exaggerated.

If bentley crosses the ball and it does not find a players head then people will label it a bad cross. Do you honestly expect him to land the ball flat onto darren bent's head 8 times out of 10.

The reason people have noticed his great crossing at times for england and blackburn is because the dangerous deliveries he does put into the box are met by strikers / players who are willing to make moves towards the ball and try to get their head on it rather then wait for it to land dead on their forehead.

As far as im concerned he has put some decent deliveries into the area, but Bent's unwillingness to sometimes actually make a decent run or effort to go towards the ball has been passed off as a "poor" delivery from bentley.

Yes ill admit sometimes his crosses have not passed the first man, but it has not been as bad as some make out apart from that.

 

[jamesc0le]

clearly we need a target/link/composure up front. pav could be that player but he is a million miles away from that because of the language/new country/poor team/low confidence/poor service syndrome. so we will have to wait at the very least until next year until we know if he is to be a succesful link/target/composed prem striker or one that feeds of the link man.

we need a stop gap immediately, another player from our team to change his role, especially against the better teams, we would need the sticky player to get anything from the game.

one player i would use is gareth bale. he has great potential to be a sticky composed player in a high position, only problem would be im not sure how good his heading is for flick ons and knock downs. and although strong, im not sure if he is tough enough to withstand that position.

so the one i would go for is corluka. he might be the slowest thing since the hudd mk1 but he is so good on the ball, strong, heading is good.

that would require a reshuffle at the back until january possibly, so i would put jenas at RB and gunter at CB.


maybe even hudd could be the temp, who knows, but i would want corluka to be the new ginger pele

ginger charlie?



anyways, a new look 442

------------------gomes
---jenas--gunter--woodgate-----bale
len/b'ley---modric--zokora--- o'hara--
--------corluka----bent/pav/gio

modric to get forward on occasion, zokora ohara sitting back mostly
bale/jenas getting forward/overlapping

 

[DC_Boy]

The reason people have noticed his great crossing at times for england and blackburn is because the dangerous deliveries he does put into the box are met by strikers / players who are willing to make moves towards the ball and try to get their head on it rather then wait for it to land dead on their forehead.

.

good stuff Racky - see my point about RSC and also why we needed someone like milito - who as far as I can see is decent in the air

yes eventually we got pav but for various reasons that hasn't worked so far except for one goal v Toon (and very welcome that was of course

none of our mid seem much good at getting their head onto crosses

to be fair Keane never was either, but he and Berbs compensated in other ways

but getting Bentley in should have really got across to the board we needed someone else in addition to Bent to be able to get on the end of Bentley's crosses - but no for those first three vital games we were left with Bent and Berbs whose head wasn't getting onto anything but the next plane to manchester

 

[van_Pommel]

I think we need to start playing a counter attacking game. Lennon, Gio and Bent are all lightning quick so if we soak up some pressure and then release it early out to them they should be able to do some damage.

I'm sick of watching us pass it between ourselfes just inside the opposition half and getting nowhere.

 

[SpurSince57]

How do we counter-attack against sides whose game plan consists of packing their own area and trying to hit us on the break? We can only counter-attack sides that come out to attack us, and we know who they are.

But yes, we need to be much quicker and more incisive in getting the ball forward, and if we insist on playing one up front the midfield has to be up there in support. We could have Berbatov up there instead of Bent and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference the way we've been playing so far.

 

[DC_Boy]

there are certainly no easy answers as to how we can break down teams who even at home refuse to come at us

we tend not to be in football for killing games through boredom thankfully

I bitterly remember how in the 70s some teams would come to the Lane and spend a good ten minutes of the game passing the ball back to the keeper and other time wasting tactics

i mean great sometimes you got a point maybe even two - but kill the game why don't you

there were many resons why crwods started to drop in the 70s and the 80s but the levels of negativity before the three points for a win and the no back pass rule came in was one of them

a bit off the point I know - but I hate this negativity especially from home sides - how you conquer it mmmm

a classic way is join them in a battle of attrition and be superior at set pieces - not always a good move for spurs

 

[mil1lion]

We need to up the tempo. We need to force our play on the opposition. We did this a bit better in the home game against Hull, and were unfortunate to lose that game. We need to keep the same mentality. Stop passing it around without conviction and be more forceful in attack. Get the ball out wide quick. Get the ball through to Bent quick. Catch the opposition off balance. And create gaps. If we misplace a pass, then keep trying. Stop hiding, and get on the ball. Believe in our ability. If we can do that then the goals will come. Once we start scoring, we'll keep on scoring. Believe in ourselves and we'll win. Bottom line, we're better than Stoke.

 

[worcestersauce]

there are certainly no easy answers as to how we can break down teams who even at home refuse to come at us

we tend not to be in football for killing games through boredom thankfully

I bitterly remember how in the 70s some teams would come to the Lane and spend a good ten minutes of the game passing the ball back to the keeper and other time wasting tactics

i mean great sometimes you got a point maybe even two - but kill the game why don't you

there were many resons why crwods started to drop in the 70s and the 80s but the levels of negativity before the three points for a win and the no back pass rule came in was one of them

a bit off the point I know - but I hate this negativity especially from home sides - how you conquer it mmmm

a classic way is join them in a battle of attrition and be superior at set pieces - not always a good move for spurs

Liverpool :evil:

 

[DC_Boy]

some of the games were horrible weren't they WS

 

[van_Pommel]

How do we counter-attack against sides whose game plan consists of packing their own area and trying to hit us on the break? We can only counter-attack sides that come out to attack us, and we know who they are.

But yes, we need to be much quicker and more incisive in getting the ball forward, and if we insist on playing one up front the midfield has to be up there in support. We could have Berbatov up there instead of Bent and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference the way we've been playing so far.

Absolutely. We need to be much more direct.

The last few games its as if there's a new rule where we're not allowed inside the opposition area, maybe they've been playing too much 5 a-side. They just line up outside the area and pass it between themselves until we lose it.

What we need to be doing is playing the ball into space for Bent, Lennon, Gio to run after. There's alot of pace in the team but we dont seem to be using it all that well.

 

[SpurSince57]

What's worrying is that this is something which was happening last season. Against PSV Berbatov and Keane were on the edge of their area frantically waving while the ball went sideways, sideways, sideways, sideways and finally back to Robbo to hoof upfield. That was hardly the only example, either, and it's what makes our possession stats so misleading. Why hasn't it been addressed?

 

[DC_Boy]

What we need to be doing is playing the ball into space for Bent, Lennon, Gio to run after. There's alot of pace in the team but we dont seem to be using it all that well.

fair point VP - that's why I want hudd in the team on sun - he can do this

I wouldn't play GDS - but if lennon is fit and ready - yep let Hudd play the passes for those two (and anyone else at the relevant time

 

[Sputic]

fair point VP - that's why I want hudd in the team on sun - he can do this

I wouldn't play GDS - but if lennon is fit and ready - yep let Hudd play the passes for those two (and anyone else at the relevant time

When has he ever done this? Whenever he passes the ball forward he overhits it straight to the keeper or for a goalkick.

 

[DC_Boy]

When has he ever done this? Whenever he passes the ball forward he overhits it straight to the keeper or for a goalkick.

Hi sputic well I think he has - but I take your point - maybe I'm grasping at straws

but who else can play the through balls for us then?

 

[van_Pommel]

When has he ever done this? Whenever he passes the ball forward he overhits it straight to the keeper or for a goalkick.

Really?

The Hudd's inconsistant at the moment which can be put down to his inexperience(the best CMs dont tend to reach their best until mid 20s, ie Carrick, Lamps, Gerrard, Pirlo, Xavi, apart from Fabregas of course). However when Huddlestone is on his game his passing is as good as anoyones, particularly his long passing. His technique when making contact with the ball is fantastic. I just hope he can overcome his weaknesses. Unfortunately for him the fact that he is slow is down to his size and there's not much he can do about that.

 

[Sputic]

Really?

The Hudd's inconsistant at the moment which can be put down to his inexperience(the best CMs dont tend to reach their best until mid 20s, ie Carrick, Lamps, Gerrard, Pirlo, Xavi, apart from Fabregas of course). However when Huddlestone is on his game his passing is as good as anoyones, particularly his long passing. His technique when making contact with the ball is fantastic. I just hope he can overcome his weaknesses. Unfortunately for him the fact that he is slow is down to his size and there's not much he can do about that.

Yes really.

He looks really good doing it though, languidly and effortlessly playing through-balls to nobody.

And the fact that he is slow is not solely down to his size. He is slow mentally too (on the football pitch that is, not commenting on his general intelligence). He needs so much time on the ball to decide what to do. And this is a player who has played solely in England.

 

[worcestersauce]

some of the games were horrible weren't they WS

There was often more going on on the terraces than the pitch.
And to expand my theme Liverpool :evil: nobody killed a game like they did, if they scored in ten minutes you knew it was going to be 80 minutes you'd rather spend poking your own eyes with a pointed stick.

Regarding VP'S point, I thought Modric was trying that more and more in the last game, he needs to do it quicker though, I'm sure he will and then we will see the results.