In my opinion our football is a bit too slow and predicatable at the moment. I watched the 1976 European game v.Frankfurt on YoutTube last night, our 1989 league cup win over Liverpool and some other games and I can't believe
A) How many chances we created over the course of a game and
B) How direct we were at times, even players like Dev and Sir Trev getting the ball forward to the strikers and bypassing midfield at times.
We've got to mix it up people! The short interpassing is great on the eye but the long ball can be a very effective weapon if used sparingly - as Liverpool have demonstrated in recent games.
Curbishley over used the "lump and hope" but is Zola under utilising the long ball? Remember how Sears got that one and only goal? Long ball, headed on by Ashton and bingo!
So, should we mix it up more?
Showing posts with label Freddie Sears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freddie Sears. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Sears of Sorrow
I blogged before the game about my concerns over Sears and I'm afraid I saw nothing last night to suggest that the kid has what it takes to make it at Premiership level. Yes he ran around, yes he closed down West Brom defenders, yes he managed a shot but, be honest, did he ever look like scoring? It is a sobering thought that a whole year has now passed since his solitary goal in West Ham colours.
Where-as Collison and Tomkins have shown genuine, and in Collison's case remarkable, progress this season, Sears has gone backwards. The desperate amongst us are suggesting that Sears looked a better player alongside Ashton, but they were clearly not at the Macclesfield game when Sears huffed and puffed for sixty or so embarrassing minutes alongside Beano before Turds called time on his night and sent Cole on as a replacement. Immediately our attacking play had a new potency, just as with the arrival of Di Michele in the Cup game away to Boro. Now Macclesfield were bottom of the old Fourth Division at the time, winless, clueless and there for the taking. Sadly, poor Freddie looked out of his depth against even this most modest of opposition.
Last night there was a huge gap between Di Michele and Sears for most of the night. The Italian dropped deeper and deeper in search of possession and Sears hung the wrong side of the last defender, repeatedly being caught offside on the rare occasions we progressed ten or so yards inside West Brom's half. Again you do have to wonder about both the striking instincts of the lad and his intelligence when journey men defenders can catch him out so easily by stepping out.
The fact is, Sears has now been on the pitch for a total of 832 minutes (not counting injury time) without scoring a goal. Do the maths and that is nine full games plus some. Now that in itself isn't a disaster as Cole shows, but what really concerns me is that apart from one effort away to Sunderland, when he should have done better, he hasn't even looked like scoring. Yes Cole can be profligate when through one on one with the keeper but at least he gets into the position in the first place. Why is it that Cole, a target man who drops deep to link the play, can engineer openings in almost every game, yet Sears, an out and out striker who offers very little outside of the final third, has never once burst clear of the opposition back line since that debut goal?
Hopefully it is just confidence. I watched him during the warm up last night and was struck by the utter lack of conviction when taking warm up shots. There was an awkwardness, an embarrassment, a fear of missing in front of the watching thousands - and that was when it didn't matter. The kid needs a goal but we can't keep waiting and hoping. I called last night as make or break for Sears and unfortunately he looked broken. Maybe, just maybe, playing on the break at Blackburn will suit him better. But he really is in the last chance saloon now - and with his baby face there isn't even the prospect of drowning his sorrows!
Where-as Collison and Tomkins have shown genuine, and in Collison's case remarkable, progress this season, Sears has gone backwards. The desperate amongst us are suggesting that Sears looked a better player alongside Ashton, but they were clearly not at the Macclesfield game when Sears huffed and puffed for sixty or so embarrassing minutes alongside Beano before Turds called time on his night and sent Cole on as a replacement. Immediately our attacking play had a new potency, just as with the arrival of Di Michele in the Cup game away to Boro. Now Macclesfield were bottom of the old Fourth Division at the time, winless, clueless and there for the taking. Sadly, poor Freddie looked out of his depth against even this most modest of opposition.
Last night there was a huge gap between Di Michele and Sears for most of the night. The Italian dropped deeper and deeper in search of possession and Sears hung the wrong side of the last defender, repeatedly being caught offside on the rare occasions we progressed ten or so yards inside West Brom's half. Again you do have to wonder about both the striking instincts of the lad and his intelligence when journey men defenders can catch him out so easily by stepping out.
The fact is, Sears has now been on the pitch for a total of 832 minutes (not counting injury time) without scoring a goal. Do the maths and that is nine full games plus some. Now that in itself isn't a disaster as Cole shows, but what really concerns me is that apart from one effort away to Sunderland, when he should have done better, he hasn't even looked like scoring. Yes Cole can be profligate when through one on one with the keeper but at least he gets into the position in the first place. Why is it that Cole, a target man who drops deep to link the play, can engineer openings in almost every game, yet Sears, an out and out striker who offers very little outside of the final third, has never once burst clear of the opposition back line since that debut goal?
Hopefully it is just confidence. I watched him during the warm up last night and was struck by the utter lack of conviction when taking warm up shots. There was an awkwardness, an embarrassment, a fear of missing in front of the watching thousands - and that was when it didn't matter. The kid needs a goal but we can't keep waiting and hoping. I called last night as make or break for Sears and unfortunately he looked broken. Maybe, just maybe, playing on the break at Blackburn will suit him better. But he really is in the last chance saloon now - and with his baby face there isn't even the prospect of drowning his sorrows!
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