Front 4

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Cjay
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Front 4

Post by Cjay »

Samu Saiz, Kemar Roofe, Pablo Hernandez, Gianni Alioski.

Have they turned a corner :-D

3 of them have been moaned about this season (Saiz has been largely immune but he isnt faultless).

But vs Boro all 4 did really well, they were lively, they were tricky, they were pacey, they were swapping positions. Roofe was up top, then it was Saiz, then it was Ali then it was Pablo, must have been a nightmare for the Boro lads.

But, they were also combative, Ali was the most fouled player on the pitch officially, Pablo was joint 2nd for tackles made, Ali was joint 1st. Between Ali , Saiz and Pablo they made 9 tackles, take Phillips out of it and thats more then the rest of the side put together.

We know they can all play, but all 4 of them have been accused of being to lightweight for this division, that wasnt the case vs Boro, if you take out the front 4 (forgetting the goals) we dont win, because they all made important defensive contributions,.

Gonna praise 3 of them now, not Saiz, he gets plenty of praise.

Roofe- I wasnt convinced by him, still not entirely convinced in all honesty, but he was crucial vs Boro, involved in both goals (the 2nd was exceptional play), he does need to provide more of an actual goal threat if he is to play up top, but he showed that he can do a good job for us up there.

Hernandez- Goal and assist aside, fair doos know he can do that. Its his defensive contribution he gets the most praise for, in the past he hasnt done enough defensively, but he did wonderfully against Boro, he was as combative as anyone, thats not his natural game so he deserves special praise for that.

Alioski-Much more like the guy i watched for Macedonia, the fact he was most fouled and had more touches then any other player (apart from Ayling who was on the pitch longer) shows how important he was for us, he seemed more confident and thats what we need. Defensively he was excellent to as usual.

Was Boro the game where all 4 of them finally adapted fully to Championship football and now kick on? Hope so
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Re: Front 4

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Point is, I'd like to know whether the front 4 interchange is what TC coached or whether it just happened. I'd like to think the former because that would mean TC is truly on the way to becoming a great coach.
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Re: Front 4

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Norm wrote:Point is, I'd like to know whether the front 4 interchange is what TC coached or whether it just happened. I'd like to think the former because that would mean TC is truly on the way to becoming a great coach.
I really should be sleeping :lol:

My gut is its coached and natural . . . Ali is naturally versatile, Pablo made his name as a winger but as he aged became a number 10 and Saiz is the opposite to Pablo, natural number 10 but has played wide so likes to drift. Roofe isnt a traditional forward and drifts wide and comes short naturally.

Very much the Barca way, interchangeable players so i like to think TC has coached them to do it along with there own natural instincts.
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Re: Front 4

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Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets be fair,,, its been one really decent performance from what,,,, 8 or 9 games? I could have been a complete fluke, im not sure TC has that in his locker, Im almost convinced he still know his best 11,,, I hope im wrong but lets see what kind of performance we can muster up tonight against the current league leaders and arguably the best side league and the team to beat this season.
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Re: Front 4

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LevLeeds wrote:Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets be fair,,, its been one really decent performance from what,,,, 8 or 9 games? I could have been a complete fluke, im not sure TC has that in his locker, Im almost convinced he still know his best 11,,, I hope im wrong but lets see what kind of performance we can muster up tonight against the current league leaders and arguably the best side league and the team to beat this season.
We'll know by Saturday evening whether these four make a total upturn to our form & Boro' wasn't just a one-off, that is if TC sticks with the four up top !
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Re: Front 4

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1964white wrote:

We'll know by Saturday evening whether these four make a total upturn to our form & Boro' wasn't just a one-off, that is if TC sticks with the four up top !
True, Wolves and Barnsley 2 of our hardest games and again it depends if TC even picks the 4 again.
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Re: Front 4

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LevLeeds wrote:Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets be fair,,, its been one really decent performance from what,,,, 8 or 9 games? I could have been a complete fluke, im not sure TC has that in his locker, Im almost convinced he still know his best 11,,, I hope im wrong but lets see what kind of performance we can muster up tonight against the current league leaders and arguably the best side league and the team to beat this season.
In fairness, the 3 behind Roofe have shown this sort of form before, Ali, Saiz and Pablo were superb for a good few games, but seem to have drifted off a bit in recent times.

Of course not get ahead of ourselves, but it was nice to see those 4 play so well and work so hard :-D
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Front 4

Post by Gandalf »

Roofe is the weak link. I would much prefer Lasogga or even Ekuban up top. Saying that, TC may bring in Dallas tonight in place of Hernandez.


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Re: Front 4

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LevLeeds wrote:Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Lets be fair,,, its been one really decent performance from what,,,, 8 or 9 games? I could have been a complete fluke, im not sure TC has that in his locker, Im almost convinced he still know his best 11,,, I hope im wrong but lets see what kind of performance we can muster up tonight against the current league leaders and arguably the best side league and the team to beat this season.
Excellent post - fully agree.

If we beat a rampant Wolves away from home then yes, we can start to say we have well and truly turned the corner. I think we are in for a very difficult night and would therefore see a draw as a real positive too.
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Re: Front 4

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Cjay wrote:In fairness, the 3 behind Roofe have shown this sort of form before, Ali, Saiz and Pablo were superb for a good few games, but seem to have drifted off a bit in recent times.

Of course not get ahead of ourselves, but it was nice to see those 4 play so well and work so hard :-D
Absolutely and long may it continue. TBH It was probably the first game where all 4 played brilliantly all at the same time. Theyve had games separately were they've been very good, but not linked well and had games like 8 or 9 out of ten together. If they continue like that, we will do well. Just need the defense to sharpen up. Looking fwd to tonights game now.
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Re: Front 4

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Gurj wrote:Excellent post - fully agree.

If we beat a rampant Wolves away from home then yes, we can start to say we have well and truly turned the corner. I think we are in for a very difficult night and would therefore see a draw as a real positive too.
Cheers Gurj. :tup: Roll on tonight. Very much looking fwd to it, just hope we turn up. Id take a draw, fingers crossed we put in a decent performance and deserve to take more. 8-)
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Re: Front 4

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Gandalf wrote:Roofe is the weak link. I would much prefer Lasogga or even Ekuban up top. Saying that, TC may bring in Dallas tonight in place of Hernandez.


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With fat boy Lassie there would not be the movement that Kemar has... he gets into postions that Lassie couldn't and thus draws the defenders out asnd gives the other 3 a chance... He also gets into postions that he could score from if the ball was passed to him..

he really works a lot harder than Lassie.... Ekuban is a different prospect, and I think he could work in that position given a little time.
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Re: Front 4

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Totally different types of strikers. Roofe is an instinctive striker, more likely to score from 30 yards with a volley into the top corner than to score running through on goal and having time to think over where to put it. Lasgga is a calmer finisher, doesn't waste energy but put the ball in the right place and because he reads it well he will be onto it in a flash and knows at what point to hit the ball and doesn't rush at it. Either striker can look great or sh*t dependent largely on what service they get.
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Re: Front 4

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Roofe or Lassie debate is difficult.

Lassie has been criticised for a perceived lack of effort and.movement at times but he has a good goal and assist record.

Roofe is praised for his workrate and link up play but posed 0 goalscoring threat vs boro.

Roofe needs to up his goal threat or very soon his workrate and movement wont matter a jot, his primary role is to score goals.

If Ali, Saiz and Pablo have an off day and Roofe gets one chance all game he has to take it.

Concern with Roofe is as has been said, out of the pair you'd prefer that chance fell to Lassie.

For all the criticisms of Lassies movement he has scored a good few goals by timing his runs and moving into the correct place.

Roofe deserves to start vs wolves, but he needs to actually provide a goal threat tonight.
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Re: Front 4

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Pablo once again showed he can't play away from home.
Saiz tried and set up the goal but was guilty of losing possession on numerous occassions.

Roofe was running about like a headless chicken.

Ali scored again :-D
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Re: Front 4

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LevLeeds wrote:Cheers Gurj. :tup: Roll on tonight. Very much looking fwd to it, just hope we turn up. Id take a draw, fingers crossed we put in a decent performance and deserve to take more. 8-)
Sadly our fears about not getting too carried away after one decent win were well founded. Wolves were as good as I thought they would be especially once they scored to HT. They could and should have been out of sight. But frutstrating thing for us is we got ourselves in to the game and actually looked on top for a while after but one moment of immaturity/stupidity ( call it what you want ) took away any hope.

All is not lost though. I would have gladly taken 6 points from these 3 tough games so if we can somehow ( I say that because of our awful record at Oakwell ) get a win on Saturday it will have been a good week, despite last nights mauling.
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Re: Front 4

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Gurj wrote:

.....................

All is not lost though. I would have gladly taken 6 points from these 3 tough games so if we can somehow ( I say that because of our awful record at Oakwell ) get a win on Saturday it will have been a good week, despite last nights mauling.
We can only hope Gurj - Barnsley always raise their game for us Let's hope our yo-yo goes high again.
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