Leon Best - Positional awareness

I've just been reflecting on some previous games, and i've just realised how unlucky Leon Best has been. He's been excellent with 6 goals in 10 games, but the bloke has gotten in some fantastic positions, and in alot of cases, if another player had just made a simple pass to him, he would have had a tap in.

The one i remember most, and the one that got me thinking about this subject, was the chance against Sunderland away. Enrique linked up with an amazing lob through ball from Jonas, Enrique ran into the box, and instead of playing a square 3 yard pass to Leon Best, he decided to belt it and try and score himself, and he missed. Best looked extremely frustrated, as he would have had a tap in.

Best is certainly not world class, but the bloke has excellent instinct and is always in a position to score goals. He reminds me alot of Darren Bent. He may not score many amazing beasty goals, but he will be a prolific goal scorer. He's got excellent composure infront of goal, good positional awareness and hunger to score.

He's been very unlucky not to have 10 or 11 by now. The one which i felt extremely sorry for him, was the shot that hit the bar vs Spurs, if it was an inch lower he'd have put us 1-0 ahead, and Coloccini's goal would have been the winner.

Leon Best is our best striker by a mile, and should definitely get regular starts next season.

 

agreed

please log in to view this image

 

ahahahhahhaa

 

Yeah I am a Leon Best fan. Agree with everything in the article. He seems to really want to play for the club and always runs his socks off. A passion for the club and effort is all you can ask for, and he certainly does that.

 

Yep, him and Ba as our two strikers next season

 

Cant just have 2 strikers though, we need to sign 2 then use Best as 3rd choice and Shola 4th IMO.

 

Wel i don't think we need to buy two expensive quality ones. Buy Ba, then buy a young prospect. We really just need squad depth, so if need be we can switch formations from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1.

We'll have Ben Arfa and a few new midfield/attacking additions. I was thinking of Jarvis, Gervinho and O'hara.

 

I was thinking of a certain Vargas. He can play out wide because of his pace and skill, and obviously he's a great finisher so he can play in the ''hole'' at times. Him and Ben Arfa rotating in a 4231/4411 would be electric and terrific!

O'Hara - Maybe. Decent player, not sure he'll come here to warm the bench though.
Jarvis - Maybe. Good player, but nothing outstanding, not the quickest but he's a real grafter/hard-worker so it all depends on the transfer fee Wolves demand.
Gervinho - Oh yes, baby.

Edit : On the Leon Best topic.. he's a decent striker. He's got enough pace to cause some degree of trouble, he's a hard-worker, very decent finisher, decent mobility/movement and good skill/ability on the deck. He's OK although not someone I'll have as a starter if we have ambition. Good 3rd choice/back-up he'll be next season. I expect 1/2 strikers depending on the formation Pardew opts for(currently looking like a 4411/451/4231 with Ben Arfa playing the AM role).

 

that is amazing! hahah

and Tash, for once I agree with you 100%!

 

When you say young prospect, who did you have in mind?

I would hope we spent 17-20 million on two decent strikers, maybe one for 12 million and another for 6 million. We have to be ambitious. There is no point in Pardew, Nolan and Llambias coming out with all this talk of Europe in a couple of years if they don't plan on starting preparation for it. They need to make a statement to the fans and get the show on the road.

 

Rep

 

Yeah, definitely could've had one away to the mackems if Enrique had played it across to him

 

How about Messi?

 

I'm a massive fan of Best. He does pretty much everything right that we need him to, you mentioned Bent but I prefer him to Bent because he puts in far more effort and can help in the build up

 

Agree to an extent...even last year when he couldn't score a smack deal in pennywell he was doing well to get into the positions!

I would be worried if he was our main goal threat though, so far he's had a dry spell and a purple patch (these sound like something you'd pick up into a cafe in Amsterdam) so I wonder how many goals he'd get in one fully fit season...his goals to games record so far in his career is hardly that of a premier league starter!

 

he has a chest of sponge, the ball just hits it and lands at his feet, its brilliant

 

Ah Nah!! Great ball control!

 

How about Peter Odemwingie as cover next season? Great pace, great mobility, relatively low wages and a decent finisher. 11 goals in 27 apps is a very decent return. Only issue is that he's 29, so he doesn't fit into our ''under 26 policy''.

 

can't see west brom letting him go cheaply, he'll cost so much he wont be worth it as cover

 

This, he's their main asset imo, clubs will have to pay 10-12 million to get him.