i did a preivous post about whether we had too many midfielders. The general concensus of opinion was that most felt it was good to have options. I believe this is fair enough when choosing a starting 11 to play in a way to suit the opposition of that day, but what happns when things aren't going quite right. We need a couple of players on the bench that can be brought on and change the game (impact players),ones that could just nick you that goal or provide that defence splitting pass. Who have we got? Ngog,Kuyt........not really that type The only one i think could do this job is Aquaman,and rumours are still goin round about him leaving. Is our next best hope ,Soto on and throw him up front??Get his head on something We defo need a back up stiker who could be this man! A modern day David Fairclough or dare i say it Ole Gunnar Solkjaer That late goal that turns a point into three makes all the difference to the league position, the year we finished second Macheda did it for Man U without his couple of goals towards the end they would not have won it that year
Joe Cole and Maxi spring to mind.Not necessarily starting,but coming on as subs due to the position they play in,they are neither central midfielders nor wingers,they drop into the pocket between the midfield and the attack and get into positions defenders don't like.They are players capable of exploiting the tiredness of the opposition.Similar to Paul Scholes towards the end of his career.
Impact players - Suarez, Gerrard, Downing (to a certain extent, he has to have something to work with), Adam, Johnson, Kelly, Aquilani, Carroll. All of them, if they were to come from the bench would add something to the team which would help. Which is the definition of an impact player.
Neither of them have the presence to be impact players unfortunately. Cole is lacking something he once had and Maxi requires service to score a goal, neither would become noticeable if thrown onto the pitch in a struggling game.
Ze Liverbird. I was refering more to the position they play in.Neither are pigeon holed players,they aren't specialists in one particular area,but they can impact games by coming on and exploiting the tiredness of the opposition.David Fairclough was probably one of the best examples.When he was brought on against St Ettiene it was done because he was different to what was already on the pitch.He was told to run around.He may have created space..thus making an impact.However nobody expected him to score but he did.
To be honest, the last two names i would want to see coming on to make an impact are 'Cole' and 'Maxi' (of course excluding Poulson!).
Maybe Ngog will do then, he is certainly diferent and runs around chasing a lot, usually the ball h has failed to control!
I think we have plenty of impact players! The OP seems to be reffering to subs off the bench though. From the bench Mereiles springs to mind but it's a hard question as we don't know our starting 11 yet.
We have plenty of options to change a game, we haven't got a prolific goalscorer sitting on the bench but who has!!?? Our midfield = Gerrard,Adam,Downing,Lucas,Henderson,Meriles,Aquilani,Cole,Kuyt? - only 4 (maximum 5) will be playing at one time, the rest are the impact players. That is a strong midfield.
Exactly If he's not already on the pitch then Aquaman can certainly be influential, likewise Meireles.
In all honesty we already have 2 Impact Players - Suarez and Gerrard both of whom can come off the bench to change the entire dynamic of a game. Now, we would normlly expect Suarez to be a starter. This would therefore negate his use as an impact player. However, my gut tells me that KK is looking to build a squad that can operate efficiently and effectively without 'star' players. Last season we learn't that we did not have to have either Gerrard or Torres on the pitch to win games. Therefore I can forsee games in which Suarez does not feature. Gerrard is a different question. Nobody seems to know just how well/badly his recouperation has been. Maybe we will not see him this season as a regular starter. However when he arrives on the touchline the sense of expectation rises, the cavelry has arrived. Gerrard is talismanic for Liverpool because he can change a game. To be fair the same can be said for Rooney at United (oh that hurt!), Drogba at Chelsea and vP at Arsenal - for me that is what makes players like these worldclass. Of all of these gerrard stands supreme because he has done it at international, European and premiership levels and more than once.
One was a cup game and he was loaned out soon after. Some impact. I'd rather have Ngog if Macheda is the rule. I think players get seen as 'impact' players simply because they come on as subs more often. Babel was an impact player, albeit a poor one. Davie Fairclough was #1 sub in an era when you only had one sub. You could call Michael Owen an impact player at Utd. Don't forget the changes a manager makes along with a substitution. It's not just about having Lucky Larry on the bench.
