I really think henderson is starting to show why he was our "top" target in summer, great energy, keeps the ball well, fantastic energy and is quite adaptable to other positions i,e CM/RW i wasn't impressed when he signed, but glad to be proved wrong. opinions?
He has shown everyone how to deal with the "Big fee" tag that our signings seem to be lumped with. He has kept his head down, worked hard and improved his game, You have to credit Comolli for his work here. Hopefully we'll say the same about Downing in a few weeks and then Carroll at the end of the season
Hope so, Downing is just too predictable for me, bit of a let down as i thought he would be a great signing. And i also think carroll will come good, performances surgest so.... just not goals.
well the two things he's got in his favour is he'll run all day and he's very willing to work at it so attitude is good. I think personally we need to be mindful (like lucas) of giving him a break if he does muck up a few times if kenny sticks him in at cm. I don't know about downing, i'd like him to stay wider and get the ball in more but equally that requires a carroll type to stay in the box. I don't get why he is drifting about so much cos he's certainyl not got the "vision" or that awareness to pick a pass... he;s a good winger so go be one!
I Don't think with Downing its about being a mobile midfielder - he is naturally a left footed player. He is often deployed on the right and this means he drifts infield to take a shot, while Johnson overlaps. If he was deployed on the left and told to stay out there, he'd be able to send in balls from the left. But with Enrique out on the left providing width, unless we have Carroll on the pitch, that doubling up isn't going to pay dividends...
dunno it depends on the type of ball in... low cut backs and such are very scorable by suarez and kuyt. downing just needs to play left wing and stay out there. dirk if playing needs to go do the same cos i'm sick of him being nominal right wing and being over on the left side of the pitch and turning round looking to play the ball right... its kind of funny in a way seeing he's not the best passer as well he always seems shcoked not to see himself waiting ofr a pass.. If it is 4-4-2 the positional discipline is required from downing, kuyt and carroll while its suarez who should be roaming about.
MITO - I agree in the main, but if you want balance, perhaps Maxi on the right rather than Kuyt to provide more width...?
Funny thing with fans is, when hendo burst between two players and dipped a shot on to the post, if he'd lost the ball trying that he'd get slated for not using the wide man, even though he did use him in a different way as the defender on his left was looking for that pass which gave him the opening to burst through, he made a quick intelligent decision, more please from the rest too. A lot of good posession was wasted against Fulham & Swansea on attacks by poor choices, and why oh why can our players not see when someone is in miles of space free on the right or left respectively. That has happened quite a bit because the player on the ball doesn't get his head up. Poor choices indeed in attacking play. In saying all of that it is early doors, team not a year together though the improvement is quite obvious. Formation has not been our problem, nor tactics, Spurs apart we concievably could have won the rest of the games. A massive improvement on last season and the one before, I am happy with the progress as it stands now I believe we can win at the start of any game, a feeling sorely missed for a time. The players let themselves down and we don't win, that;'s our main fault.
He's looking like a great signing just goes to show that most football fan's don't really have a clue.
