Kermorgant was a great cult hero for the club yet when he was up front (the same with Iwelumo) the ball was coming back far too often cos we were playing route one Football far too often. Route One is an ancient tactic now which teams know how to deal with, look at the World Cup this summer... The teams that have attacked with pace are the teams that have gone furthest in this competition... Holland v Spain was a perfect example. I know we dont have the quality of either team but you saw how easy it was for Holland to deal with the big man (Diego Costa) and how quickly they broke against a slow Spanish side with the likes of Robben / Blind etc...
Fair point, A4L, but the Championship is a far cry from the World Cup. I'm not slagging our league, for it is exciting and unpredictable, but a big man with good feet and the strength to hold the ball up is a staple requirement for the lesser equipped teams.
Nah I know no one is slagging off the Championship... Exciting / Unpredictable are only two of many words that describe what is I believe the best Competition in the world because it is so competitive... I just feel this season (Bringing in Vetokele possibly £2m spend... Gudmundsson worth around £2m possibly) we're not one of those lesser teams now and that playing the right way we could be serious dark horses for the season i.e. When you look at the Championship at the moment... You see Blackpool with only eight or nine players you'd be an absolute mad to even rule them out of managing something
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/relegation Bookies have Blackpool as already down and us and the Wall as neck and neck to go down with them..... either the bookies aren't aware of the superstars we are signing or they just don't understand Championship football?
I would deduce that they understand Championship football a lot better than RD. Bob probably knows the score and is already looking forward to getting his contract paid up at Christmas. The bookies don't always get it right, but they get it right a lot more often than the media "experts" and infinitely more often than fans (and owners) who are inevitably biassed and blinkered. Being temporarily deprived of oxygen can cause people to become light-headed and delusional. Being temporary deprived of league football seems to be having the same effect on some of our regular posters who are refusing to accept the blindingly obvious. On a separate topic, when the World Cup groups were first announced, I was derided on here for saying that Brazil wouldn't win because they would buckle under the weight of expectation. I cannot now find that old thread, but my detractors may post their apologies here.
Dishonest post. Ponders and I are not advocating Route One football as Plan A, nor would we willingly do without fast forwards. We are saying that in the Championship a team needs a player tall and strong enough to be able to hold the ball up front before laying it off, and hopefully pose an aerial threat in the goalmouth as well. Kermorgant was very good at that (by Championship standards). He was just as skilful on the ground as our other attackers and it was not his fault he had to deal with so much lofted rubbish. I don't think World Cup performances have much to do with a Championship side trying to avoid relegation, but since you introduced the topic, the four semi-finalists' main strikers were: Klose - over 6ft Muller - 6' 1" Higuain - over 6ft van Persie - 6ft Huntelaar - 6' 1" Jô - 6' 4" Fred - 6' 1" Are going to accuse them of playing "Route One" football? In fact, most successful teams mix in a bit of Route One. Spain and Barcelona's rigid adherence to tiki-taka has been found out and countered this season. Germany especially mix in the occasional long ball to the front to stop opponents pushing up too far. I don't see the semi-finalists relying on any paperweight shortarses like Vetokele on their own up front. Whether he will prove to be any good remains to be seen, but for sure he won't get far in the Championship without a big guy to help him up front. Even though he did quite well, Ghoochanijhad did not hold up the ball well except when wide. Pigott does not look as if he will break through in the near future, if ever. Parzyszek is hopeless. So we need someone else who can withstand a tackle. The guy Tucudean mentioned sounds exactly the right type. Whether he is good enough is another matter.
He is left-footed. Posters here went mad when Harriott was played on the right or the right-footed Green was played on the left. I agree, Trying to find a team to stay ahead of Blackpool, Rotherham and Millwall in the table.
He's left footed, Eddie, but it seems he's in the "roben" mould. Not in talent, but in style. It's where he plays for Iceland from what I've read, and he seems decent for them there!
Strongest team, based on the evidence from Welling: Pope Solly Gomez Morrison Wiggins Gudjmondsen Moussa Cousins Buyens Ventekole Reza I actually find this line up quite sobering when you see it written down
But how could you tell what Moussa, Gudjmondsen were like, they didn't play at Welling, neither did Reza.
Oh blimey, "Pedantic Plumb" strikes again. I think I preferred it when you were in Cyprus * I am basing my strongest line up on what I saw at Welling. Everyone is raving about You Tube wonder Gudmondessen, surely he is better than Lawrie Wilson * - that was a joke BTW, don't go stropping off like you usually do.
