Headed goals

Another two headers made all the difference today; this time from Mo and Sadio who are hardly giants. We are leading the league in headed goals with 8 and I wouldn't be surprised if we were among the top in Europe in this statistic (would love some info on this from @KingBinny).

It's such a big part of our attacking game nowadays; it's impossible to imagine us flying so high in the standings without all these goals from Trent's, Robbo's and Hendo's crosses. I find it ironic, having suffered through the Downing-Carroll years where Kenny's big bet on aerial dominance proved to be an unmitigated disaster that it took a continental coach to perfect this way of scoring and in fact take it to a completely different level.

 

Trent and Robbo have now combined for 43 assists since 2017-18.  Staggering.

Are they one of the best full-back pairings in history?

 

I think it’s down to having such quick forwards who’s movement mean defences are distracted by the possibility of a through ball on the deck or to feet that they forget about the cross and get caught ball watching.

Couple that with the deadly crossers we have and we will continue to score a load of headers.

 

Get it right.

2 quick forwards and a flabby melt.

 

They've been doing fantastically but come on.

 

Someone post the video highlighting robbo and Trent's passing yesterday , that outside of the boot 50 yarder down the line from taa to Salah was fucking insane

Two incredibly talented kickers of the ball combined with three intelligent forwards just equals opportunities galore

 

Mo's goal was a thing of absolute beauty. Two fantastic long passes.

City may have that creativity in midfield but they don't have our threat from the air. It's just a incredible weapon for us.

 

Yup the perfect advertisement for wingbacks who can kick the ball,not just run

 

Still doesn’t score enough

 

Everyone knows about the talent taa but for its remarkable that roberston has kept up his performance levels

 

He doesn't fucking score enough. He hasn't scored a goal in 8 matches.

And he currently has a grand total of three (3) league goals in 12 games, which is mediocre at best. He has many qualities, but let's not pretend finishing is one of them.

 

I know. That’s why I said it. He’s great but he’d be unstoppable if he scored another 10 goals a season. He’s very fortunate to have Mane and Salah either side of him. He’d still be a good CF but playing with them cover up the weaknesses most notably lack of goals

 

You guys are thick. Firmino helps to cover Salah's defensive deficiencies and is often who sets the play up or creates the space to allow them to penetrate. It is as designed and why we only have dropped 2 points so far. He is certainly capable of scoring more than he has been, but would we better off for it? No!! His style of play this year is as designed as Trent being our playmaker, Hendo occupying RM, Firmino going LW and Mane going RW while Salah goes to CF when we are winning. This is a well oiled winning machine and Firmino is the perfect team player. He sacrifices individual statistics for the team.

It is fucking shit that Neville sees it more than our own supporters. He has even be more of a CAM this year than a CF.

 

To be fair to DB & Brendan, they weren't criticising Firmino and I think both recognise his value. They just point out that he is not a prolific goal scorer - which is fine

 

I know what they said, but he CAN score a lot more goals than he is. He has been playing a certain way to facilitate the other two even more for quite awhile now. He isn't getting into those scoring positions even close to as often as the others and that is by design. He is capable of scoring more goals than he is now, however, that may be to the detriment of the team and certainly to the others. Complaining that he doesn't score every game is beyond foolish.

 

Name some pairings who are definitively better. No one is saying (yet) that either one is individually among the greatest fullbacks ever, but as a pairing? And contributing to their team's success? It's a reasonable conversation to have.

 

Sagnol & Abidal?
Carlos & Cafu?
Marcelo & Alves?
Alba & Carvaljal?
Zambrotta & Grosso?
Cole & Lauren?
Baines & Cole.....Nah I'm joking there
Lahm & Alaba?
Zabaleta & Kolorov?

 

All good choices (though I think you've got a couple of the pairings mixed up, unless you're talking international v club). I don't think Trent and Robbo as a unit are too far off the pace there really, though. We need a few more trophies, incl the league, of course, to speak to the team success - but I think they are up there.

 

You didn't specify on the pairings

They've done fantastically until now but to be labelled as 1 of the 'best fullback pairing in history' you need to have done it over a period of time.

At present they are 1 of the best, but when you start throwing in history....shit hits the fan