Jozy Altidore's mere selection over the fit-again Steven Fletcher for the West Ham game, never mind his shocking miss, caused plenty of raised eyebrows, so just what was behind Gus Poyet's thinking? Well, after the game, he explained it: I watched a few of the games and when we've been at home, we miss people going in behind. I think Jozy does it a bit better than Fletch. And then when it was a bit more open, you can have Fletch in the box. It was just a decision. If Jozy scores, you would be saying what a great decision I made! We're searching. I think I need to find the formula because at the moment, this is the group we've got and we have to go with that. So, basically, worried about a lack of penetration, it was deemed that Altidore would make more incisive runs off the ball and open up better passing opportunities for the midfield that Steven Fletcher, who plays deeper with his back to goal. I can accept that. A player like Fletcher is very creative if he has pace around him and running beyond him, but he's unlikely to worry many defenders from a physical standpoint himself. The 'why Jozy, though?' question doesn't really end there, though. Connor Wickham is not aggressive enough for my liking, but he has the sheer size, stature and mobility to worry a back four. May be it's worth trying that in the apparent perpetual search for 'the formula'? I actually like Wickham on the left. Well, I understand it, at least. Poyet likes a striker playing from that position and Wickham is about the only one even remotely suitable. However, the longer the goals are running dry with Wickham stood out on the touchline, the bigger the elephant in the room it will surely become.
Should I close this thread? It seems you have covered just about every point already. (or, in short, This^^)
It was just a wrong decision, probably only explained by the need to put him in a shop window so we can sell him in january
Poyet is right and Jozy did alright in the first half apart from missing his chance. Poyet was right to pick him imo. I wouldn't be opposed to him starting the derby either, he played great there last season.
See I agree with Parker TBH. Think Jozy made some space for others, couple of nice runs and got himself in a position to score few nice passes and held the ball up well - IMO too many are basing his "first half performance" on one millisecond of activity rather than looking at his whole game
No, we are basing the decision on 1 premiership goal, and a string of poor performances, ironically until we have someone better there is a case for playing Jozy in the derby, but it is a tough decision given his record. I have stated many times that I would prefer to move Conner into the main striker position with Fletch just behind him, both players could then attack the goal from central positions as that is where most goals come from.
That's not this decision clockstander - My comment was I thought he played OK on Saturday up until the miss - you cannot base a decision on 1 games performance on a string of performances - that defeats the entire purpose. I still believe (perhaps not yours or WMS even) a number of people formed their opinion on Saturday's performance on a millisecond of poor forward play and not on 45 minutes of general decent contribution
It's a question of pace. Opposition won't worry about space in behind as Fletch isn't quick enough to run those channels. Whether Jozy is much quicker though is debatable?! We need a lot more pace up front and that is the major thing LC needs to address in the transfer window
How about jozy and connor as inside forwards, fletch up top. Just batter the **** out of them. With AJ and Seb Picking up the pieces just behind the front 3, we should be able to pick up goals from midfield. seb and AJ should be able to put decent balls into the box for Fletch to thrive off. But there's no way on gods earth Jozy should start up top as main striker. The only clinical finisher we have for that dept is Fletcher. We could always bring on Giacc or Alvarez for one of the three up top, or AJ if he tires. Fook knows....
Something to be said for this. Their defense was shocking at the Arse, but we'll never expose it without a positive plan of action. If Giacc is fit, I'd love to see him back, but will he be ready for a derby? Seb and AJ for me.
Really depends on how we set ourselves up at the Sports Direct Arena, Jozy bullied their centre halves last year and it wouldn't surprise me if he did it again. Had a big all discussion about Jozy on a different thread, and I maintain that people always overlook positive contributions by him and focus on his lack of goals. His goals are a serious issue, but we don't have someone like Bony who is physically a beast and will score goals. For us it's one or the other.
What about Watmore? The kid looks brilliant, stick him on the left instead of Plug and get him some game time. I might have just found out that he used to be on the books at United as a kid so am now biased and think he's your best player by a mile.
Strange one, think that they're worried about throwing him in when only a couple of seasons ago he was playing in the conference. He does extremely well for the u21s though and has done for a while, I had been hopeful we'd have seen more of him at this stage.
You should give the kid a shot, it seems kids have to be superman nowadays to get a shot, unless they're given a chance through so many injuries to other players. He's defo gonna be your best player.
Doubt if he will be given a start until we have more points under our belt. Get him on when we are a couple of goals to the good though.
Klinsman would pick Jozy ahead of Conner because he suits his set up. What worries me is it is nearly January, all 3 are fit, and Gus can't fit any of them into his game plan. Suarez would struggle how we are set up. It has me beat.
