First time I've seen him play for any sort of time in the PL yesterday and he didn't set the world a light but I took some heart out of what I saw. He's pretty quick and obviously massive! He will win headers and we know from you tube he can score with his head. I don't want to turn this into a MM thread, we've got plenty of them, just tactics opinions of other posters. We play one up front most of the time. We have 4 options as Joe hasn't had a look in this season. FC - our number 1 striker, he's strong, quick and decent in the air. He does score goals at this level. He can have some very 'off days' though and my biggest problem when he plays on his own is he's absolutely useless with his back to goal. A lone striker must be able to hold the ball and link play FC is terrible at this. Odem - doesn't have any of the required attributes to do the lone striker job. His 'best' performances have been from the right. Every time we start him up front on his own he is useless and is correctly subbed early 2nd half. Mayanrd - only been used as a sub. Thought he made a difference at hull when introduced but there are serious question marks about whether he has what it takes at this level. If played on his own up front I'm sure we'd see the same result as odem. Cornelius - not ready yet apparently. I saw a striker who is much better with his back to goal than any of the others, is quick enough to channel a ball to and chase in behind. Has scored goals at his old club and international level so should take the chances when they come. We're playing a winger now so would offer an option to get crosses into. So the way I see it we have 2 strikers in odem and Maynard who have to play in a 2. Fc can do a job on his own and the only other player we have who can do that is Cornelius. He may not be ready but how much worse than Odem could he be? Yesterday has to be the last time Odem starts up front on his own for me. Am I Just being impatient or do anyone else see signs he might be ready to give a chance? Let's be fair none of our other strikers are exactly 'undroppable'!
Should have come on instead of FC yesterday, he actually won some headers and held off defenders things that a front man should be able to do. He looks ready and the more game time he gets the better we will get. Will we ever play 2 up front though ??
The problem is if we play two up top who drops out of midfield and how exposed will our back four be. Medel Mutch Noone and Witts. That doesn't provide much cover. Or Medel Gunnar Cowie and Witts. Little or no supply to the strikers. Not easy this management business is it?
While he might not have been up to starting I have been saying for the last couple of weeks that Corney should come on earlier to give defenders a more physically tough time when they are tiring. Albion being a real case in point. I think both he and Malky have been done a bit of a dis-service in some of the criticisms raised as clearly he suffered 2 injuries early in the season and was probably not fully fit when he played at Accrington and suffered the second injury. That being the case and to ensure no ongoing weakness in the injury Malky was right to bide his time before bringing him back and, up to a point, a gradual return via the bench was probably best. However, he now needs more game time to show us what he is capable of. Southampton might not be the one for him to start but Sunderland will be especially if Wes brown is banned for 3 games after his red yesterday.
We've seen with Kim, Mutch and Noone, that MM eases players into the first team. It might be the same with Cornelius ..... .......except MM might have run out of time. As you said Stevo, with the team we have, we need a back to goal striker not someone who runs the channels. FC as the attacking mid might be the option as he could be a player to get beyond Cornelius. Bellamy or PO on the left, Medel, Whitts/Mutch, FC in the middle and Noone on the right with Cornelius up top.
I don't want to turn this into an anti-Odem thread, but for me he's been next to useless up front. I've said so a number of times on here, and I just can't see what he brings to the side. He is not direct enough and fiddles about with the ball allowing defenders to regroup behind him. He consequently runs up blind alleys and the number of times he's lost the ball in decent attacking situations is scandalous. At least FC IS direct and has an eye for goal, but agree, his holdup ability with his back to the goal is non existant - that isn't his game at all. He seems like an "off the shoulder of the last defender" type of player like Chopra in his prime - and he can finish with the right service, the goal against Man U was superb. Cornelius is certainly an unknown quantity in the target man role, but looks like he can control the ball with his feet and head in that role. The problem for me is I just can't see Malky playing a genuine 4-4-2 in this division at the moment. As has been mentioned, if we did, who would you strip out of the midfield? We have to continue with a genuine wide man (Noone) - the difference that makes is obvious this past couple of games. Hitting someone in the centre from out wide gives us a whole different option. Balls played across opponents goalmouths are far more effective with defenders back pedalling than straighter balls pumped up there. They're food and drink for big defenders facing upfield - they've got to be turned and made to run toward they're own goal. A winger going outside them and taking his FB on seems to be regarded as the "old fashioned" way, but it works if you've got a target.
I just think even if Cornelius isn't the finished article he is our best option for a lone striker. If we are going to play defensively he'd help with set pieces (both ends). Anfield is the first time this season I've seen a city striker play with his back to goal well. I'd play him as the one striker and let FC be the impact sub either joining him or replacing.
Thank god for a post on the football and we can all agree we must use a more attacking formation. Sadly Odem has not produced what he is capable of and I was devastated when I saw he was our lone striker. Sitting back allows teams to put a lot of pressure on our defence but it is different when we put pressure on the other side. I have nothing personal against any player the manager or the owner and hope that to everyones surprise things actually get sorted and we have a much happier outfit all round. I was upset at how we set up against Liverpool which spoilt the first half and was glad we had a different second half to cheer us all up. We will see players differently and I think Frazier is class, Kim is hard working and very tricky, Noone has shown quality on the wing to trouble any side, Mutch is so much improved as I never rated him last season...he has proved me wrong and well done to him. Cornelious has not even had a chance to play in the side but showed very willing and we have no one else like him up front. With sides easily getting past our midfield we don`t really have to worry about losing a player there to strengthen the attack. I hope this post can concentrate on the football. jck
I thought acorn did well in the short time he was on, seemed to hold the ball up well and was very keen to get involved.
