Pelle doesn't hold it up as well as people make out. Or maybe I should say, he hasn't been recently (didn't see yesterday, so don't know about that). In other recent games, we have lost possession fairly easily when the ball has gone long to Pelle. He either has tried to play a first time ball or the CB has got round him to intercept.
I tend to agree, though I wouldn't necessarily blame Pelle.
We are out of sync a bit on offense. Pelle loves to play those quick layoffs but if we play a long ball up to him, there's no one there to receive it.
I think he does hold the ball up at times, but usually it ends up him receiving the ball 40 yards out, holding it for a bit, and then still winding up passing it back to a midfielder. It's hard to fault Pelle for doing his job, coming back, and helping us retain possession, but it's also kind of hard to say we're getting a lot out of that.
Against Swansea, we weren't getting good crosses into the box. Against QPR, we were successful in taking advantage of Elia and Mane's speed on the counter. So Pelle's lack of scoring/significant role isn't exactly his fault. But at the same time, if we're not taking good advantage of what he brings, then we need to make some adjustments.
To me, Pelle and Tadic have a good personal rapport and their playing styles complement each other. I don't think it's a coincidence that both players went cold at around the same time Tadic was moved. I'm not saying we have to play Pelle and Tadic (with Tadic on the left) every game, either.
We have lots of good attacking options, and I like them all in their own way. But we can mix-and-match based on opposition. I wouldn't be averse to trying Tadic in the middle at times, or benching Pelle for Mane at others. Maybe Djuricic can be the guy we need to play off Pelle in the center.
I'm not that worried about goals because our defense has been fantastic and I think we have the quality upfront we need. But it's an area where Koeman will have to do a bit of tinkering.
