The issue for me is it is easy to say every flick or trick is worth trying, but Pelle has been trying them every time. I can't remember the last time he held the ball up and laid the ball back with a simple pass. He need to remember that simple can be beautiful. He seems to think that he HAS to do something special every time he gets the ball, but a good centre forward can keep the ball and play it simple; he doesn't do that at the moment and needs to.
He obviously feels the need to prove he is good. When you are scoring goals its easy but when they dry up you try other things. When you come on for only 10 minutes its even more exaggerated with just a short time to 'prove' that you deserve a place in the team. He really needs a goal or two to give him some peace of mind.
The good thing for Pelle is that Saints is the place that you get given time...can't believe the dog's abuse that Bale is getting because his goals have dried up (until recently) and he failed to pass to that massive ***** Ronaldo. I, for one, will be more pleased for Pelle when he scores than for Saints...he just needs it to happen.
Good thinking batman, it may well have been that (rubbish fish impression mind you, we can scrub that off his list of talents).
Haha, no I wasn't suggesting it *was* that, it was just the only thing I can think of where you do that action a few times!
Never heard it If you could give us a turn, I'm sure we'll pick it up... *this is where we need live video chat*
You'd think that. I believe if Graziano concentrated on getting to the ball first, getting his body between the defender and the ball before a good first touch, he'd then be able to lay it off simply (backwards) to a supporting midfielder. This would make him look excellent and a very good player. Mark Hughes was probably the master at that in his day. Shane Long did this a few times on Sunday and looked good for it. Mane also.
I'll be delighted too Fran. I just wish I could put my arm around him (while stood on a ladder) and tell him he doesn't need a champagne touch every time... Champagne football is simple football. Quite often footballers try too hard for the fancy/killer stuff when things are not going well because they are desperate to prove their worth. He has a huge worth to us, but right now he MUST start doing it simple.
Haven't seen the whole match replays but I seem to remember Pelle getting a couple of important defensive touches and also tried a a cheeky lob towards goal as the final whistle blew that may have gone in, but went wide and may have been too late anyhow.
Would anyone start Pelle vs Burnley? I'd keep Long up there. When Pelle plays we hoof it up to him, but with Long we passed it around more like we did at the start of the season.
I thought Long and Mane did well vs Terry/Cahill/Ivan with long balls, challenged for everything and won a fair bit!
I fully expect Graziano to be back in the starting line-up against Burnley. Shane was put in front of Chelsea for the express purpose of turning and stretching their defence, which he did quite well. However, later whenever the ball was lofted out of defence he had little ability to shield it and lay it off, in the way that Pelle excels at, even when he's off-form at scoring. This is a home match and, with all due respect, it is Burnley. We will be taking the game to them, not trying to catch them on the break, so I expect them to sit quite deep and not allow any space behind. Pelle is much better at playing in front of a defence than Long and I expect him to start and perhaps be replaced after 70 minutes by Long, unless he's in the middle of a scoring spree [which seems unlikely at the moment]. I also expect Mane to increase his goal tally this weekend with assists by Pelle and/or Tadic. We'll see.
