I'm just saying that we are one of the best teams in the league and I don't understand why some are saying we have no chance.
How do you defend against height?
- Thread starter lamby
- Start date
-
Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
-
I'm not saying we don't have a chance... this is a policy we need to employ against any difficult side. Rochdale last year for example, pansy passing fancy football wasn't working and we couldn't pass it into the net, we needed to start being tough... hoof ball and grinding out a result, you can't always win playing stylish football.
In terms of long balls being played up to him, it's all about the second ball. You have to except that he will win the majority of headers but we have to make sure we are in a postion get the ball once he has.
In terms of corners and attacking headers it's a case of getting up fractionally before and putting him off as much as we can. He can not be allowed any free headers inside the area, even if there is no chance of beating him to the ball someone needs to jump with him every time.
He is incredibley slow which gives you an added opportunity to intercept.
In terms of corners and attacking headers it's a case of getting up fractionally before and putting him off as much as we can. He can not be allowed any free headers inside the area, even if there is no chance of beating him to the ball someone needs to jump with him every time.
He is incredibley slow which gives you an added opportunity to intercept.
I think the problem we have had is when we have struggled to break sides down, we haven't had any attacking players on the bench who can come on and change the game. With the additions of Sharp, Lee and to a lesser extent Falque and Puncheon, we now have the depth in the squad to be able to make some real quality impact substitutions.
This is the best answer I've seen. We'll have to get a bit rough with him as well probably.
He's a powerful weapon but have to watch the rest of the team as well. Other teams make this mistake with Lambert.
Excellent thread. I play in defence and it truly is very difficult to mark someone taller than you . If they get the ball up to him flick - ons and headers on goal are inevitable. Take Lambert for example, he always wins in the air and only recently have defenders resorted to dirty tactics. I expect Martin and Fonte to be among the fouls on Saturday.
it looked like zigic hurt his knee or over stretched scoring his fourth goal on tuesday so hopefully hes injured for saturday
According to the BBC:
Unfortunately for us.
Crouch was/is extremely average [actually, I would say he is verging on poor] with his head for a player with his obvious height advantage. Therefore it isn't relatively any harder to defend against him in an aerial sense than against the average forward. Anyone who is tall and favours the aerial approach is going to be a problem. If we had Hooiveld playing I wouldn't be in the least worried, as he wins every header in defence, partly because he is so tall himself anyway, and partly because his positional sense is pretty damn good. Aaron Martin may find himself with an uphill [sorry] battle. What we need is a fully fit and mobile Rahdi Jaidi from a few seasons back. Zigic wouldn't get a look-in. 
Worth noting that Zigic has been fairly ordinary save for the game against Leeds, and he did his damage against O'Dea and Lees, both 6'1"; we'll have either the 6'3" Martin or the equally-sized Jos Hooiveld back there, and while Zigic will have a significant advantage in height over both, those extra couple inches might allow them to at least challenge in the air.
This when defending set pieces, front 2 studs on your boot against his calf and jump. When defending long balls someone challenge him with someone else mopping up the 2nds. Also play a high line so his headers aren't threatning, have Brum got a quick ST who plays alongside? Is King quick? If not then there is no danger in playing the highline
Teams with a big man up top tend to play a certain way. Set pieces tend to be where the goals come from and they are almost impossible to defend.
A few have mentioned don't give away corners etc and that really is true! ( no one wants to give away a throw against Stoke). The benefit is that most big men (crouch exception) are not that great on the deck or very mobile so if were clever about what we do it effectively leaves us playing against 9 outfield players and becomes our own advantage!
Teams that overly concentrate on the big man tend to get punished due to letting in other players, or defensive mishaps (giving away needless freekicks etc).
If we play a high line and put pressure on their midfield it won't give them the space to exploit us.
We need to play like the teams that have beaten us at St marys!
A few have mentioned don't give away corners etc and that really is true! ( no one wants to give away a throw against Stoke). The benefit is that most big men (crouch exception) are not that great on the deck or very mobile so if were clever about what we do it effectively leaves us playing against 9 outfield players and becomes our own advantage!
Teams that overly concentrate on the big man tend to get punished due to letting in other players, or defensive mishaps (giving away needless freekicks etc).
If we play a high line and put pressure on their midfield it won't give them the space to exploit us.
We need to play like the teams that have beaten us at St marys!
You have to stop him attacking the ball, therefore avoid giving him space to run into. From a standing leap it is harder to get power behind the ball, so we need to block off his space.
How many goals has Zigic scored in the last couple of years ? - very few. For a big guy , seems a bit of a blouse to me. In Fonte and Aaron I trust !
We didn't have any problems with Carew at St Mary's did we? Although I was terrified every time they played the ball up to him, Jose and Jos had him under wraps. The real problem imo is that we really miss Hooverbag.