Dribblers

[ArcspacE]

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?

No

 

[Jordinho]

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

Bentley likes to dribble, but he's brick at it. It's like he's moving in slow motion.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

No

ok

 

[elltrev]

I don't think the problem is that we don't have many good dribblers per se; it's that we don't have many forwards full stop! Most of the dribblers you mentioned from other teams are wide players or strikers; it's the fact that we only have two first-team wingers and one first-team striker that's the main issue (discounting Kane, Bentley, Dos Santos and Townsend).

We need to buy 3-4 more 'forwards' to have a decent squad, and I'm sure some of those would include good dribblers.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

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.

How many extra points is AVB worth over Redknapp?

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

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.

Don't understand this. How can we be so poor and yet apparently be super fit, and yet then we become unprofessional, unfit and don't train etc and finish 4th, 5th, 4th.

 

[harr1984]

fudge dribbling if you've got passing, ball retention and movement. Possession football is what dominant teams do.

Temas learn how to defend when all you do is pass the ball - this even applies to Barca. You need to have a player or two who have that x factor, the ability to dribble past players when teams defend deep and in numbers. That's why i wanted us to be in for Victor Moses

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Temas learn how to defend when all you do is pass the ball - this even applies to Barca. You need to have a player or two who have that x factor, the ability to dribble past players when teams defend deep and in numbers. That's why i wanted us to be in for Victor Moses

You need the ability to mix it up. I do think dribblers are generally over rated though, but they do excel against poor defences.

 

[Mumorn]

Gave up after reading Gervinho. The guy looks so uncomfortable with the ball like he doesn't even have control of it.

 

[metalgear]

looking at the rarity of dribblers, man utd's Shinji Kagawa seems reasonable at £17m.

 

[DHSF]

A squad needs a skill mix capable enough to beat teams who pose different strengths.

When facing a stubborn team such as Sunderland dribblers wont help but a Thudd may help.

When facing teams who will attack us then the likes of Lennon and Bale will help.

When playing away from home and playing counter attacking football then yeah dribblers will of course help.

 

[Rob]

A squad needs a skill mix capable enough to beat teams who pose different strengths.

When facing a stubborn team such as Sunderland dribblers wont help but a Thudd may help.

When facing teams who will attack us then the likes of Lennon and Bale will help.

When playing away from home and playing counter attacking football then yeah dribblers will of course help.

I'd amend that last sentence to:

When facing teams who will attack us and playing counter attacking football then the likes of Lennon and Bale will help.

When playing home or away against sides who play every man behind the ball (which are the types of opponents who have been our achilles heel for years now) yeah dribblers will of course help.

Just my opinion that against these sort of opponents there's normally very little space between the defensive line and the forward line and passing (whether along the ground or otherwise) is usually too fine an art due to the lack of space and amount of bodies, whereas a couple of deft touches can see a player on the othe side of this with the ball at his feet. Also when the more organised sides are returning to defend and set up in their defensive duties they normally do so in such a way as to already be in a formation designed to cut out the quick defence splitting ball. A player like bale would run at the player whose role is would be to cut out the pass and puts the whole defence on the back foot.

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

Dribbling or running with the ball at your feet is a skill learned at a very early age and is difficult to teach once old habits are learnt. We have failed to produce such players in Brotain for years because kids play on reasonable surfaces with large balls. African and South American kids play on crap grounds with any type of ball and touch and control are learnt like walking. I know this debate is about out teams lack of that type of player but this really is my pet subject. We will never produce world class players in this country until parents, self promoted coaches/managers are kept away from kids and just let them play and enjoy the game. Kids will develop and think for themselves, sure they start out all chasing the ball but they will figure things out. The pressure on young kids is terrible and I know of at least 8 of my sons friends who stopped playing because of the big mouths on the touchlines. This is the greatest game in the world but everyone must remember it is a game to be played for relaxation and pleasure plus the friendships it can bring.

 

[braineclipse]

There are different types of dribbling, but no team can be great without having some great dribblers in the side.

It remains an excellent way to bypass opponents and unbalance organized sides.

You don't have to be a Bale or Lennon type burst past someone and then outrun them for 20 yards with the ball afterwards, although that's obviously helpful. For me the stuff Modric does where he skips past someone just enough to create space for a pass into the final third is just as important. That's something that Huddlestone, Sandro, Parker and Livermore very rarely do and although you could in theory make up for that with excellent passing and off the ball movement that's just not going to happen any time soon.

Barca are probably the best pass and move side in the world, yet they rely on Messi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Sanchez and Pedro to add that dribbling to create unbalance in sides that park the bus and without it they would be a lot worse off.