Post by eaststand on Apr 27, 2012 14:25:00 GMT 1
I posted this on the Llorente link but i thought i'd expand on it on here:
If Dzeko is going to be sold in the summer, then i think we need to be very careful in identifying his replacement. Different people have taken different things from the Tevez return, but for me it has highlighted our need for a match winner; someone who can grab the game by the bollocks when we aren't playing well and change things. It is a little early to tell with Aguero but if we are to go off of the last two years we have 3 strikers (without Tevez) who in their current maturity/state are not solitary match winners who can be counted on.
Balotelli could very well become one, but he has a hell of a lot of maturing to do and i am not fully confident anymore he will ever have the attitude to fully fufill his potential; however, such is his ability and potential, if we can get him 90% of the way there he will still be more than worth it.
With Aguero, like i said, it may be a little early to say but i think he relies heavily on others around him. But from what I've seen of him this season he needs a Nasri, Silva, Yaya or now Tevez to be playing well in that game so he can play off of them; he doesn't tend to generate his play on his own.
Dzeko is just frustrating beyond belief. He has the ability, of that there is no doubt. But, as his deceptive goals tally shows, he only scores goals when we are playing well, when the team is flowing forward attack after attack and he gets chance after chance. At the start of the season i really thought he was beginning to get the premier league and how to work his opposing CB's from left to right, to separate them at times to create space for the recipient to exploit when he flicks the ball on or brings it down and lays it off. But that was short lived, whether it's because he needs to play 80 minutes every game because he's a SWP type player who gets form with games and cannot play the rotation policy or whether it's because Mancini rested him and knocked him out of his stride. But whatever the reason, it shows exactly what we cannot afford in the premier league.
As much as i hate him, Wayne Rooney has carried that United team AGAIN. Not only in his goals but his chance creation. He's the absolute focal point of the team and i think I've only seen them win one game this season where he didn't play well, whether it be for the full 90 or turning it on for 20 minutes when it was need, which was Blackburn away. That starting XI is mostly dire, even with Vidic and IF they win it, it will be due in a huge part to Rooney with Scholes and Valencia playing the backing vocals. Tevez was that for us, he was someone who could do it alone and if he is to be moved on in the summer we need to replace his individual ability, mental toughness and (albeit for an easily lead puppet) his ability to understand and read the game better than any striker in europe.
But this is the reason i think we need to be very careful in selecting the replacement. There is Llorente who certainly showed his class last night, his link up play and awareness in and around the box was brilliant to watch and he can most certainly finish. But IMO he'll have a lot to learn, i cannot see him hitting the ground running like Aguero. Dzeko is the fine example of a big, target man with very little acceleration that has failed to exert his physical presence against prem defenders and as a result has struggled big time. You've got to look at drogba pre-malaria and drogba now. He was an absolute mountain both on the deck and in the air, he had reasonable pace over 5-10 yards and you couldn't get the ball off of him; he was undefendable. IMO his malaria brought forward his physical degradation due to age and he's lost a yard of acceleration and struggled to adapt. But pre-malaria he had the ability to change his style of play when he wasn't getting any change in the air and unfortunately Dzeko doesn't have that in his locker. If Dzeko is to stay however, Drogba now is my reason why he can still be massive for us but he has to get the premier league more, understand how to play to his strengths; he cannot hang all the blame on the lack of service from wide areas because i'm not criticizing his goals return, it's his hold up play. Gary Neville said if you lined up all the strikers in the Prem Drogba would be the man defenders would least like to play against because of the hard time he gives them; Dzeko would be very low on that list because defenders don't come of the pitch knowing they've been in a game when they play him.
We need players that can change a game when we aren't playing well, not just one who can score when we are, which i feel is the reason for why Dzeko's goal tally doesn't tott up with his performances. Ultimately we do need a Tevez type; Balotelli could be that but he's got a hell of a lot of growing up to do. I wouldn't want to say he will/wont tick these boxes but i think we need to be very careful with the striker we need to buy, they need to be a game changer and not another striker with ability in abundance but lacking in the mental strength and tactical know-how to create space in a league where it can be hard to find and then do the right things when they find that space. Maybe next season Aguero could become this; but as the papers, the pundits and their cats have all pointed out, we'd have won the league at a canter with Tevez available and for that reason i don't think I'll ever be able to fully forgive what he did (not the Munich thing, but the 4 month sabbatical).
There are a lot of good strikers available out there; Huntelaar, Cavani, Llorente, Falcao, Hulk etc. but it will take the right one and some very shrewed analysis from Mancini, Kidd and Platt for them to become a great striker for us.
If Dzeko is going to be sold in the summer, then i think we need to be very careful in identifying his replacement. Different people have taken different things from the Tevez return, but for me it has highlighted our need for a match winner; someone who can grab the game by the bollocks when we aren't playing well and change things. It is a little early to tell with Aguero but if we are to go off of the last two years we have 3 strikers (without Tevez) who in their current maturity/state are not solitary match winners who can be counted on.
Balotelli could very well become one, but he has a hell of a lot of maturing to do and i am not fully confident anymore he will ever have the attitude to fully fufill his potential; however, such is his ability and potential, if we can get him 90% of the way there he will still be more than worth it.
With Aguero, like i said, it may be a little early to say but i think he relies heavily on others around him. But from what I've seen of him this season he needs a Nasri, Silva, Yaya or now Tevez to be playing well in that game so he can play off of them; he doesn't tend to generate his play on his own.
Dzeko is just frustrating beyond belief. He has the ability, of that there is no doubt. But, as his deceptive goals tally shows, he only scores goals when we are playing well, when the team is flowing forward attack after attack and he gets chance after chance. At the start of the season i really thought he was beginning to get the premier league and how to work his opposing CB's from left to right, to separate them at times to create space for the recipient to exploit when he flicks the ball on or brings it down and lays it off. But that was short lived, whether it's because he needs to play 80 minutes every game because he's a SWP type player who gets form with games and cannot play the rotation policy or whether it's because Mancini rested him and knocked him out of his stride. But whatever the reason, it shows exactly what we cannot afford in the premier league.
As much as i hate him, Wayne Rooney has carried that United team AGAIN. Not only in his goals but his chance creation. He's the absolute focal point of the team and i think I've only seen them win one game this season where he didn't play well, whether it be for the full 90 or turning it on for 20 minutes when it was need, which was Blackburn away. That starting XI is mostly dire, even with Vidic and IF they win it, it will be due in a huge part to Rooney with Scholes and Valencia playing the backing vocals. Tevez was that for us, he was someone who could do it alone and if he is to be moved on in the summer we need to replace his individual ability, mental toughness and (albeit for an easily lead puppet) his ability to understand and read the game better than any striker in europe.
But this is the reason i think we need to be very careful in selecting the replacement. There is Llorente who certainly showed his class last night, his link up play and awareness in and around the box was brilliant to watch and he can most certainly finish. But IMO he'll have a lot to learn, i cannot see him hitting the ground running like Aguero. Dzeko is the fine example of a big, target man with very little acceleration that has failed to exert his physical presence against prem defenders and as a result has struggled big time. You've got to look at drogba pre-malaria and drogba now. He was an absolute mountain both on the deck and in the air, he had reasonable pace over 5-10 yards and you couldn't get the ball off of him; he was undefendable. IMO his malaria brought forward his physical degradation due to age and he's lost a yard of acceleration and struggled to adapt. But pre-malaria he had the ability to change his style of play when he wasn't getting any change in the air and unfortunately Dzeko doesn't have that in his locker. If Dzeko is to stay however, Drogba now is my reason why he can still be massive for us but he has to get the premier league more, understand how to play to his strengths; he cannot hang all the blame on the lack of service from wide areas because i'm not criticizing his goals return, it's his hold up play. Gary Neville said if you lined up all the strikers in the Prem Drogba would be the man defenders would least like to play against because of the hard time he gives them; Dzeko would be very low on that list because defenders don't come of the pitch knowing they've been in a game when they play him.
We need players that can change a game when we aren't playing well, not just one who can score when we are, which i feel is the reason for why Dzeko's goal tally doesn't tott up with his performances. Ultimately we do need a Tevez type; Balotelli could be that but he's got a hell of a lot of growing up to do. I wouldn't want to say he will/wont tick these boxes but i think we need to be very careful with the striker we need to buy, they need to be a game changer and not another striker with ability in abundance but lacking in the mental strength and tactical know-how to create space in a league where it can be hard to find and then do the right things when they find that space. Maybe next season Aguero could become this; but as the papers, the pundits and their cats have all pointed out, we'd have won the league at a canter with Tevez available and for that reason i don't think I'll ever be able to fully forgive what he did (not the Munich thing, but the 4 month sabbatical).
There are a lot of good strikers available out there; Huntelaar, Cavani, Llorente, Falcao, Hulk etc. but it will take the right one and some very shrewed analysis from Mancini, Kidd and Platt for them to become a great striker for us.
