Just read a stat in the Daily Mail (wife's choice) that says we've attempted the fewest dribbles of any PL side this season. 40 short of Sunlan who are next up. With a midfield of Thudd, Livermore, Meyler and Elmo it's hardly surprising. I'm sure it'd have been different had Brady and Aluko remained fit. Thoughts?
If using the goalkeeper and defenders as makeshift trebuchets constitutes passing the ball about, you're spot on.
I often say we lack pace and guile, looking pedestrian and predictable. In that is dribbling. I admire the passing ability of someone like TH, but there's nothing quite like a player taking others on and beating them. It's what I was brought up on. We do miss Aluko and Brady.
We rely on Elmo's crossing too much. Every time we get the ball on the right wing, Elmo or Rosenior will wait for the other one to overlap him. It gets tedious after awhile, if Brady or Aluko stayed fit our dribbling statistics would be higher. Boyd, Brady and Aluko are the only players in the team that are willing to pick the ball up from deep and run at the opposition with pace. There's no substitute for pace, defenders are more likely to be ****-scared of Bale, Ronaldo, Messi or Hazard running at them than the likes of Kenwyne Jones or Yannick Sagbo.
Aluko and Brady missing makes a big difference, but at the end of the season the only stat that counts is points gained over the season
I like this observation about Rosenior and Elmo. It seems ridiculous how much they stop and wait for the other to overlap, but it does work well. Sometimes Rosenior passes out wide to Elmo who's practically on the touchline but he still runs all the way around him to overlap. Seems very inefficient.
