Pellè's drop in form seemed to roughly coincide with what we now know to have been Tadić's groin injury, so hopefully we'll see both of them back to their best this season. Having said that, I think Mané will be our top striker now he's fully adapted to the Prem.
I feel that you should be able to discuss our players abilities without being accused of being over critical. We are what we are, all of our players have strengths but have weaknesses too. If they were near perfect, we would be a CL team or we would have lost them to one.
Was there a drop in form, or a drop in goals? I have always felt he is a good threat, but has a lot missing. His hold up player is not good enough for our level and hasn't been most of the season. He makes the wrong decision too many times.
I'll just add that he contributed a hell of a lot to our season though. Love him, but as an individual player he is not much more than average for the level. Sometimes it's about the team fit.
Yes I agree, I was just making a general comment . Probably prompted by this; but I do think some of the posters here are sometimes a little sensitive to critical observations.
You sound like one of those supporters who think every player who plays for Saints is amazing, but boo them if they leave.
Nope, I criticise players if and when it is needed. You're making Pelle out to be a a lot worse then he is, having a similar first season to Lambert in his first year in the PL.
This is the attitude that is completely wrong imo. He didn't have a similar season to Lambert at all, goals wise is about the only thing comparable. If you only judge a striker by his goals then fair enough, I don't.
Pelles hold up play and bringing others into the game was superb, along with winning numerous headers. What more do you want!?
I didn't think it was brilliant at all, and felt that most attacking play was slowed down/broke down because of Pelle. I fully admit that I am not a fan of the target man style striker, unless they are truly exceptional, like Ibrahimovic for example, so I probably am being very harsh on Pelle. I just don't rate him at all.
I think the main problem with Pelle is that he is great, but in terms of last seasons team was probably the weak link. I think you could argue that most of last seasons team could play for a top four side, except Pellé. I rate him, but fans expectations are really, really high, and he's the player that could be improved upon.
The problem is that a really ace PL striker is out of our price range. Lambert was a fantastic striker that no PL club came in for and we were lucky to get him and he was lucky to get us, but will be hard for us to get that standard of striker again. The minute Pelle starts putting away his chances (and he does create a hell of a lot) is the minute that other teams will be sniffing around. Personally I think he will have a very good 2nd season for us.
Last time I checked, this was a thread about the signing of Maarten. Not yet another thread about Pelle.
Forum threads are not motorways, but more like an English country lane which wanders where it will. It may arrive where you want to go, but then it may not.
I disagree. Even watching the Audi cup I watched him show and then let the CB knock it off him. I also watched him have a first touch that bounced back 6' a few times. He did this on a hell of a lot last season. What gets remembered more is the one in seven first time flicks (not headers) that put someone through. For me his season was epitomised by Spurs first equaliser. The ball cam to him just near the half way line, player in support and instead of a simple hold up and lay-off, he tried a fancy back heel. 30 seconds or so later, Spurs scored. He did some good flicks and link up play, but he tries the killer ball every time and I am sorry but his general hold-up play is not good; certainly not top half premier league.good hold up play is when the ball sticks. I hope he improves in that area this season. I hope Maarten has a good season
Take out your last line and I agree. He is so big and strong that he should be fantastic at holding it up. He doesn't. He very often waits for the ball and this allowing a defender to get nick it away.
The big man seems to be our very own version of Godwins Law at the moment. "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving H̶i̶t̶l̶e̶r̶ Pelle approaches 1"
I thought Pelle's hold-up play really drastically dropped off going into the 2nd half of the season when I was very impressed with it at first, which I found more troublesome than his struggles in front of goal. The positive is that personally I thought it was almost entirely poor decision-making (mostly as FLT says, trying the low percentage flick or backheel rather than simple passes to feet) which can be resolved and also can be influenced by many factors, for example the more things went wrong for him in the box perhaps the more he felt he needed to make things happen elsewhere which caused him to constantly force things. I don't think Pelle is a player who's going to drag us to new levels but if that area of his game can be refocused and Ron can get the balance of the three behind him correct, by basically choosing wisely who draws the short straw of playing on the right, then we can have a very potent attack next season. Also I think Stekelenburg is great.
