The Dalglish column (bit of a dig?)...

[gene hughes]

I remember Houllier rarely playing Baros but maybe I'm wrong

 

[rurikbird]

Imagine how more effective we would be if we'd spent 35m on a striker who didn't require the same again spent on other players and several years worth of integration just to make adequate use of his talents.

The hint should be in the fact that I would struggle to think of the last time a top team spent money, time and effort trying to get a big target man in, so that they could lump the ball up to... sorry, I mean, "long range aerial pass with pace" to.

City haven't... Utd haven't... Arsenal haven't... Spurs haven't... Newcastle haven't... Chelsea haven't.

West Ham, Sunderland, Wolves, Everton... well they have, I suppose.

Actually Giroud is a physical target man who, like Carroll, doesn't have silky technique. So Arsene will be working on a similar problem as Brendan this season - how to integrate a classic target man into a possession-based game. I think it's not impossible.

I agree with Kenny's point, Barca's way is not the only way. In fact, scoring goals the way Barca does it (patient positional attacks with the whole opponent's team behind the ball) is the hardest thing in football. It's much easier to score on a counter when your attackers have space and defenders are out of position. Hopefully we will have the midfield that can keep the ball and control the tempo of most games, but we don't (and will not) have attackers like Messi and Iniesta who can slip through defensive traps with quick one-twos and dribbling. So we will need to find different ways to attack and turn possession into goals. Maybe Carroll can be a part of that? At least I'm not ready to give up on him.

 

[Modo]

Actually Giroud is a physical target man who, like Carroll, doesn't have silky technique. So Arsene will be working on a similar problem as Brendan this season - how to integrate a classic target man into a possession-based game. I think it's not impossible.

I agree with Kenny's point, Barca's way is not the only way. In fact, scoring goals the way Barca does it (patient positional attacks with the whole opponent's team behind the ball) is the hardest thing in football. It's much easier to score on a counter when your attackers have space and defenders are out of position. Hopefully we will have the midfield that can keep the ball and control the tempo of most games, but we don't (and will not) have attackers like Messi and Iniesta who can slip through defensive traps with quick one-twos and dribbling. So we will need to find different ways to attack and turn possession into goals. Maybe Carroll can be a part of that? At least I'm not ready to give up on him.

but we don't (and will not) have attackers like Messi and Iniesta who can slip through defensive traps with quick one-twos and dribbling.

Erm...Suarez?

 

[rurikbird]

Suarez can dribble, but cannot finish. That's the difference between him and Messi. To be fair, Suarez is more of a nuisance and works harder than Messi.