The Hornets are also not thought to be pursuing another striker after Rudy Gestede joined Aston Villa. So if QSF is sticking with what we've got he must be confident we've got more than adequate cover for Deeney in Vydra, Ighalo & FF. If that's the case, and the fact he didn't want to chase down Gestede as cover for Deeney as he disagrees with the 'long ball option', it makes you wonder whether he sees Deeney as having a long term future with us? .
What?! Why? Has Deeney not developed into a complete forward then? Has he not shown he is equally adept at a short passing game as he is more direct football?
I'm basing my thoughts on the premise that Gestede was seen to be back-up for Deeney and that if QSF doesn't buy into the idea of having another talismanic target man on our books, then his idea of a no.9 must be a very different type of player to what we've been used to with Deeney. Thinking the unthinkable really, but if QSF is successful and starts to impose his philosophy even more, then will he ultimately be able to persuade the Pozzo's to replace Deeney with his preferred type of no.9.
Gestede is a target man Deeney is a complete striker They are not the same, which is why QSF didn't want Gestede, but has played Deeney is every game in pre-season
I don't see Deeney as a target man though really. He's excellent at holding up the ball but average in the air and an awful lot of his goals are him running on to through-balls or smashing it in from 10-15 yards. None of those are typical target man attributes.
Deeney is strong and determined, and has decent pace for a big guy. But he does not offer much of an aerial threat, nor would I refer to him as a target man. If he was 2-3 inches taller, then I'd certainly label him a complete forward. If our manager doesn’t want a target man because it doesn’t fit his ideology, fine. But if we keep giving the ball to the opposition in the final few minutes because we have no outlet or are tapping it around too close to our own box, then this might be a little more costly. Let’s just hope our managers skills translate to English football, and he knows exactly what he is doing. After all, quality should mean quality, whichever league you manage.
There are very few target men in the premier league, or any top level football It's counter productive to play percentage balls long to the big fella when you are up against the worlds best defenders, all that happens is you give the ball to the opposition and they come back and hurt you with it
And, from what I've seen, he is actually better at holding the ball up than Gestede. Deeney takes the best qualities of a big man, but brings so much more to the table in technique, pace, finishing. Say what you like about 4-2-3-1, but I think Deeney is made for that lone striker role, and with time he'll shine in it.
I'm not a coach, or manager, and this is just my own opinion, but personally I hate one up front, it lets opposing defenders know who to mark because the ball is always going to the lone striker, put a second one into the equation and it splits the option.
Did you watch the Sevilla game? Ighalo was playing alongside and even in behind Deeney at times. That's the point of the 3 players supporting the striker.
That's not how it works in practice, though. A lone striker is supposed to make runs/drop deeper, giving the defence a choice: follow him (and get pulled out of position) or let the striker move around unmarked. If it's the former choice, then the second strikers (the 3 in 4-2-3-1) can now attempt to exploit the space. If the defence go with the latter then the front man is available to receive the ball and maintain possession in danger areas. It's also more difficult for defences to pick up a lone striker at times, since the responsibility for marking him can vary depending on where he moves to. Confusion or communication issues can allow the striker to break free. 4-2-3-1 is designed to create overloads and overlap play. I don't think we're quite there yet (which isn't a surprise considering how many new signings we've brought in), but the counter play isn't as simple as sticking two CBs on Deeney to pull him out of the game. The threat in a 4-2-3-1 comes from more places than just the front man, and the 3 behind Deeney are going to be key to our success with the formation.
Couldn't have put it better myself except we all know Vydra and Ighalo will be no ordinary midfield runners, for one thing they are both expert at finishing one on ones with the keeper, a rare trait that sets them aside from the usual pot-shotters. Few teams if any will be able to cover all bases on the rare occasion that all three (including Troy) are on the pitch at the same time.
We havent had a chance to see Deeney's aerial threat because we've not had a decent crosser for years. Last one I remember who wasn't bad at it was Adam Johnson and he was on loan.
Yes I did, and for a lot of it Deeney was isolated with far too much space between him and the midfield.
That's less to do with the formation and more to do with the lack of Abdi and Jurado. You need quality creative players to close that gap.
Good to read qsf has no intention of people,along long balls to a target man. Against Sevilla we did that too often, but it's clearly not our plan, which is good because it was crap
Oh I'm not saying we should have signed him at all, although if we did I wouldn't have been upset about it. I just thought it was good that he scored against Bournemouth. Put it down to miscommunication mate, what I was trying to say has been taking wrong. It was a positive comment
It was a real pleasant surprise to get home and find that Muff lost at home to a not very good side. Norwich lost too but I was expecting that.
Some pundits made it sound like he had been a top Premier league striker with loads of experience. I know the guy was at Cardiff but don't think he played much.
He looked every inch a Championship player tonight but wasn't helped by a total lack of service from the other Villa players. On tonight's showing, they'll be in the mix at the bottom - they don't seem to have any creative players whatsoever. They were smashing aimless long balls up front even before Gestede was on the pitch and didn't have a single shot for the last half hour when they were one goal down at home. Villa are a nothing team, just floating around the lower reaches of the Premier League playing terrible football with no ambition, hope they go down.
Amavi looks a very good player though, I can't see him staying there for long if performs like that throughout the season. I just don't see where the goals are going to come from for Villa once teams twig that marking Gestede well at corners negates about 80% of his talents. Ayew looks as ineffective as I expected. Agbonlahor hasn't been a goalscorer for a good few seasons.
They were playing Man U so aren't exactly going to get much change out of them...even more so when Van Gaal has Man U set up to pretty much nick a goal and then defend.. Our strikers/attacking players probably won't either..
