Playing without a target man

[captainvindaloo]

Now come on, don't exaggerate....

Hope this fella's available in January! We should sign him up!

 

[jonnyboy316]

DCL to play the role of Marcus Bent

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

If we did have a target man, and with the way we set - up, the lack of pace, he would only end up isolated anyway.

 

[Norwegian Cow]

what was our last target man? yakubu?

 

[Rudolf Hucker]

what was our last target man? yakubu?

Fellaini was used in that role.

The hater's heads will fall off, but Kone was a fairly capable target man. Lukaku certainly benefited when he was up there with him.

 

[blueblue]

Who could play that role if his head wasn't up his own bum is Mirallas.

 

[Rudolf Hucker]

Who could play that role if his head wasn't up his own bum is Mirallas.

In an u11s league maybe.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

I

Fellaini was used in that role.

The hater's heads will fall off, but Kone was a fairly capable target man. Lukaku certainly benefited when he was up there with him.[/QUOTE
I thought that, but decided I must have dreamt it because everyone else said he was useless

 

[Rudolf Hucker]

I

He was fairly useless as a goal scorer to be fair, but he could put himself about & tidy hold up play.

 

[lancs blue]

Robles can play up front. Just need to tie the hands together

 

[APN_EFC]

If we assume a front 4 of Sandro, DCL, Rooney and Sigurdsson, it might work, but needs probably a mature Lookman, Mirallas on those days that he actually plays like a proper player, and whatever attacking skills Klassen has, which we haven't seen yet as he's only just got here. I really like the link up of Lookman and DCL, I think Rooney and Sandro can share most of the up front striking duties, it just remains to be seen what we do Right and Left while Bolasie is out, Mirallas is ..whatever he's done, Geri is gone, and what else?

I think it could be an exciting front 4, but we just haven't seen it gel yet!

 

[Moham-17]

You certainly can play without a target man. There's plenty of people who would rather we did I think, but I'm not sure we have the players to do it.

Most of our defenders aren't comfortable on the ball, so they end up playing quite a lot of long balls when under pressure. Without a target man that's going to mean the ball just comes straight back. Sigurdsson's strength is crossing the ball, and Klaassen's appears to be getting ahead of the striker into the box. Neither of which are massively useful without a striker playing with their back to goal. We also lack players who can pick passes from midfield, so if Sandro is going to play centrally I'm not sure who's going to be playing him in.

I think we'll be asking DCL to step up big time this year.

That's a big ask.

Good enough against mid table teams.

Won't be enough for top 4-6.

 

[Moham-17]

Think we will be fine personally until we bring one in. There's not many better than Rooney at dropping off to link up play. If we can get runners beyond him think we'll be fine.

Also think Sandro is quick enough to play off the shoulder when required.

DCL is more suited to a target man role than Rom was, just a shame he hasn't developed a scoring instinct yet.

Why is DCL more suited in your opinion if you don't mind my asking?

 

[Bob Elstone]

The failure to recruit the one position we needed filling more than any other sealed our fate - no top 6.

 

[DanB90]

Why is DCL more suited in your opinion if you don't mind my asking?

Because I've actually witnessed him win a header, using his body to shield the ball and bring down a ball punted at him without it canonning 3 feet back the way it came from.