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Dribblers

SUIYHA

SUIYHA

Scott Parker
Am I the only one seriously fudging worried by the lack of players who can carry the ball in our squad? Obviously the striker issue is the number one right now, but this is surely not far behind.

Emirates Marketing Project - Aguero, Tevez, Nasri, Silva, Johnson, Toure
Man Utd - Nani, Valencia, Young, Kagawa, Rooney, and to a lesser extent Hernandez, Anderson and Jones if he plays in midfield
Arsenal - Walcott, Podolski, Gervinho, Chamberlain, Rosicky, technically Arshavin is still there and Cazorla is about to sign
Chelsea - Hazard, Marin, Oscar, Sturridge, Torres, Mata, Ramires...Benayoun and Malouda are also still there and they are sniffing around Hulk and Moses too.

Tottenham - Bale, Lennon, Defoe. At a push, possibly Dos Santos and Townsend might feature. Modric would count but I don't expect him to be here.


This is a crucial attribute for a top squad to have, yet we have very little of it in our side right now. Sure, we also have Assou-Ekotto and Walker, but all of these sides have full-backs that can get forward too, I'm talking about the attacking players.

People have often said over the last couple of years that Man Utd's squad is weaker than it used to be and Ferguson is working miracles to get the results. But I've never thought it was weak. It is extremely balanced. Whilst some of the players might have obvious deficiencies, you never get a Man Utd XI that is lacking a core attribute. Hoddle's Tottenham had lots of good technical players but lacked pace. Jol's Tottenham had plenty of pace but lacked technical players in the centre of the pitch and lacked leadership. Now I feel we have lots of good technical players who can pass the ball, control it, work themselves a bit of space in a tight area and shoot, see VdV, Sigurdsson, Huddlestone etc, but a big lack of players who can actually run with the ball at pace and take on opposition players.

Too many times last season, particularly when one of Bale or Lennon wasn't playing, we had lots of possession but couldn't create enough chances. I think a big part of that is because of a lack of players who can run with the ball. Those who can hit teams on the counter attack, who can find a way through parked buses, and who can pull defenders out of position and free up space for others.

As far as I'm concerned, strikers are the number one priority, but if we don't sign anyone else who can run with the ball then the highest we can aim for is 5th at best. Is anyone else as worried about this particular situation as much as I am?
 
fudge dribbling if you've got passing, ball retention and movement. Possession football is what dominant teams do.
 
What we lacked last season was more the tactical drilling to have team movement and attacking strategy - we just relied on haphazard flashes of individual brilliance. I'm confident AVB will fix this.
 
Spursalot said:
Name me a decent possession football side without dribblers?

Dribbling maintains possession.
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I know they do have players who can run with it (just like we have Bale and Walker etc), but the Spanish team players rarely break stride with the ball. All their running is done off the ball.
 
Gutter Boy said:
I know they do have players who can run with it (just like we have Bale and Walker etc), but the Spanish team players rarely break stride with the ball. All their running is done off the ball.
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It's strange then that the most effective players do run with the ball. Dribblers are required.


Messi, Ronaldo, Yaya Toure, David Silva to name a few all look at their most dangerous running with the ball.


Even Modric looks more dangerous when he runs at people with it.
 
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Just one dribbler can put the whole defence on the back foot. Even the most organised ones. Bales does it to sometimes, but someone central causes the most threat.
 
I've thought exactly the same. We need to be signing technical dribblers who can run with the ball at speed.. The better you are with a football the more time and space you make for yourself. Redknapp set us up to only have dribbling from the wings and tactically it made us very predictable. We could realistically aim for the likes of Matias Fernandez, Christian Eriksen and Adrian if we wanted dribblers.
 
Back in November we were playing West Brom and it was Lennon's first game out. I can't remember the end result - I think we won 1-0 but we were woeful. Without the width that two quick wingers who can dribble was giving us we lacked any invention and our goal came from work between VDV and Modric through the centre. I said then that we needed a new winger and was extremely disappointed when January came and went without remedying what I've always believed was glaringly obvious. I know it's going slightly off track but VDV is not a dribbler and it meant the opposition only had to put 2 men defending on one side of the pitch. A replacement in the wings with the ability to attack with the ball at his feet would have given us the missing option which saw our early season shape (and form) disappear.
 
Dembele has the change of gear in his running with the ball that can be very useful...impressive
 
Gutter Boy said:
What we lacked last season was more the tactical drilling to have team movement and attacking strategy - we just relied on haphazard flashes of individual brilliance. I'm confident AVB will fix this.
Click to expand...


To be honest, this has been the case for at least the last 15/20 years.
 
ramos did try to instil discipline but failed. we were so organized we were able to beat chelsea in the final.

he went too far with the special diets and fitness training and i believe there was some sort of dressing room revolt.

team's fitness has never been the same since then.

and i believe AVB will fix this too.
 
From what I've seen of Sigurdsson he is v. good at carrying the ball forward past players with the ball at his feet. His goal against NY showed he is willing to run through a crowd of players in the area intelligently until he has the space to get a shot away. From what i've seen of him this is a regular part of his game.
 
SUIYHA said:
Tottenham - Bale, Lennon, Defoe. At a push, possibly Dos Santos and Townsend might feature. Modric would count but I don't expect him to be here.
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You've forgotten Bentley! After Bale he's probably our best dribbler. Only problem is he never knows when to release the fudging thing. #-o
 
metalgear said:
ramos did try to instil discipline but failed. we were so organized we were able to beat chelsea in the final.

he went too far with the special diets and fitness training and i believe there was some sort of dressing room revolt.

team's fitness has never been the same since then.

and i believe AVB will fix this too.
Click to expand...

This. We seemed to have a coherence that day that I haven't seen us display in any of the doomed semi-finals/ finals we've gotten into since.

Carling cup final? Went to penalties, bottled it. FA Cup semi-final v Portsmouth? turgid, then panicky once they scored. FA Cup semi v Chelsea? Crumbled after the goal that never was.

We need a plan to fall back on when things look difficult or grim, else the players'll just get frustrated and start making mistakes. Hopefully we'll get that now, and that may compensate for some of the squad's flaws.

Not all of them, though. Danny, still waiting, chum. Ade + A.N.Other, please.
 
I'd say Ade's pretty good with running with the ball. I know he's not our player but still.

Was thinking this morning, is there any substance to those Dzagoev links at the start of the summer and the ones that have just re surfaced? He'd tick this box for sure as well.
 
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