Leon Osman

Useful squad player ?

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stop upsetting Leon

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Dithering Dougie said:
Osman's link up play might not be on the same level of Pienaar but he's far from "gash" in fact in his last game against Burnley he played Baines in with a lovely ball for the Eto'o goal. Like Pienaar, Osman can take the ball under pressure and draw fouls in dangerous areas of the pitch as well as playing one touch football. We've got no one else in the squad who can play this role when Pienaars injured, and it's a vital position for the way Martinez sets us up. Also like Pienaar he offers cover for Baines when he powers down the line, both step backwards and prevent the opposition right sided player having the full length of the pitch to run into while Baines is out of position, regular winger like Mirallas or McGeady don't do this as part of their natural game and we get exposed to easily.

He's clearly ageing, but pace has never been something he was blessed with so he'll be good for a year or maybe two as a squad player that can drop in when we are short or need to see out a game. The important player we need to be looking to replace is Pienaar, but it will be expensive and maybe their isn't an ideal candidate around at the moment and it looks like Martinez might be thinking he can coax another year out of both him and Osman until someone eventually turns up, hence the contract extension.
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I can't agree that this was a "lovely" ball. It was a straight forward 3 meter pass, in fact he had to stop the initial pass to Baines, in order to pass the ball to Baines. Ball was going to him anyway.
 
DualityNSNO said:
I can't agree that this was a "lovely" ball. It was a straight forward 3 meter pass, in fact he had to stop the initial pass to Baines, in order to pass the ball to Baines. Ball was going to him anyway.
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He receives the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box and lays it off to the byline, if Baines had of taken it earlier Eto'o or Lukaku weren't in the box to get on the end of it.


There's a link to show it all

http://eatmygoal.tv/2014/10/26/samuel-etoos-bullet-header-vs-burnley/
 
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Dithering Dougie said:
He receives the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box and lays it off to the byline, if Baines had of taken it earlier Eto'o or Lukaku weren't in the box to get on the end of it.
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Baines would've never crossed it in first time. Even if so - straight forward, literally, pass in a super short distance. Hardly a "lovely ball", or even a moderately tough pass to pick out.

Even if you count that as a positive influence, remind me what he did afterwards? I remember him receiving the ball by the centre and dwelling and passing back, about 5 times. Once was when he could've literally turned and tried to be more influential as there was no one around - he just took a few steps towards our own goal and gave it back to the CB.

Top blue though, isn't he?

I'm not against saying he's played well when he has, but one swallow does not a summer make - the fact he managed that amazingly inspirational pass to Baines is completely overshadowed by he fact he then proceeded to do absolutely nothing all game. And that's his usual performance, it's not a one off - he'd maybe, probably, if he's lucky enough, make some kind of moderate and simple contribution to an attack about once a game, at most, but then do nothing. It's been like that for a long time now.

Plus ffs how can you not work on your strength your whole career?!
 
DualityNSNO said:
Baines would've never crossed it in first time. Even if so - straight forward, literally, pass in a super short distance. Hardly a "lovely ball", or even a moderately tough pass to pick out.

Even if you count that as a positive influence, remind me what he did afterwards? I remember him receiving the ball by the centre and dwelling and passing back, about 5 times. Once was when he could've literally turned and tried to be more influential as there was no one around - he just took a few steps towards our own goal and gave it back to the CB.

Top blue though, isn't he?

I'm not against saying he's played well when he has, but one swallow does not a summer make - the fact he managed that amazingly inspirational pass to Baines is completely overshadowed by he fact he then proceeded to do absolutely nothing all game. And that's his usual performance, it's not a one off - he'd maybe, probably, if he's lucky enough, make some kind of moderate and simple contribution to an attack about once a game, at most, but then do nothing. It's been like that for a long time now.

Plus ffs how can you not work on your strength your whole career?!
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It was perfectly weighted, without Osman creating the right angle for Baines to put in a cross we wouldn't have scored. We had 3 players in the box and they had 7 defenders back, without that we'd be crossing from deep and they'd have got their defence set.

I'm not saying it was Osman's finest game, he was average at best. But here's the shocking news, players don't always play well. Clearly the reason he's small is because of genetics, he's small and wirey I'd imagine without being any kind of expert in any way he'd could spend hours in the gym a day and he'd never put muscle mass on.

Not sure what being a "top blue" has to do with anything here though?
 

Dithering Dougie said:
It was perfectly weighted, without Osman creating the right angle for Baines to put in a cross we wouldn't have scored. We had 3 players in the box and they had 7 defenders back, without that we'd be crossing from deep and they'd have got their defence set.

I'm not saying it was Osman's finest game, he was average at best. But here's the shocking news, players don't always play well. Clearly the reason he's small is because of genetics, he's small and wirey I'd imagine without being any kind of expert in any way he'd could spend hours in the gym a day and he'd never put muscle mass on.

Not sure what being a "top blue" has to do with anything here though?
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Most people adore him cuz "he's a blue through and through".
Anyway - it was a good ball, I can agree, but it was nothing spectacular. And I'd say he was below average - looked well slow on and off the ball.

Reason he's small - yeah, genetics. But strength is something that can be worked on in the gym, especially as you're getting older I'd say it's more or less crucial - helps prevent injuries and also, for smaller players, provides you with an extra outlet to your game - your pace might start to go, but your physical presence can still be there. There's plenty of people on this forum that have more experience and knowledge than me in the fitness area, but I'd say it's not the hardest thing to do, especially for a professional sports player - you have to keep a diet anyway, I'd imagine, and gym work is already there to be done... 2+2=4.
 
Mirallas was about to sign a new contract with us but when he done his hamstring Everton withdrew it to wait for the result of the scans. He was not impressed with that one bit.

@chicoazul is that what you heard and why Arsenal are sniffing around like a baghead through a bag of rubbish.
 

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