ParkEndParody
Player Valuation: £750k
The thing which annoys me about Jelavic is that other top strikers will break their neck to get in the box, Jelavic just jogs. He looks far too tired.
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The thing which annoys me about Jelavic is that other top strikers will break their neck to get in the box, Jelavic just jogs. He looks far too tired.
Baines' left foot
Player Valuation: £90m
He did alright last night I thought. Better than in previous games, plus he was ill.
Summerskin
Player Valuation: £35m
His first touch with his back to goal is infuriatingly bad, better performance tonight though.
Little Ralphy
Player Valuation: £15m
Is he still carrying an injury? He doesn't look properly fit sometimes, and a little slow to react.
But saying that, it can't be easy when some players have a tendency to over play at times before putting the ball in. I'm speaking mainly of Pienaar there, enough with the 3 yard passes trying to look clever, actually pick out the correct pass and create a goal scoring chance instead. Otherwise the striker is checking his run about 5 times because he doesn't know when the ball is coming in. I also think it could be that last year we were a little more direct to Jelavic, and as a team probably played slightly deeper at times, so he was getting the ball in good positions earlier as he was our focal point. This season we've seen Fellaini move further forward and he has become the pass everyone looks for first, and I think Jelavic is struggling a little with being second choice, as he’s not getting as many good chances. He made a few decent movements in the box last night and it didn’t come to him, with the players choosing other options instead. Last season I think we’d have given him the ball and he’d have taken the chance. I think he’s getting frustrated by it, personally. I noticed Gibson seemed to be looking for Jelavic a bit more last night, so hopefully if Gibson can get back playing sooner rather than later then we may see Jelavic getting involved more in the right areas.
But saying that, it can't be easy when some players have a tendency to over play at times before putting the ball in. I'm speaking mainly of Pienaar there, enough with the 3 yard passes trying to look clever, actually pick out the correct pass and create a goal scoring chance instead. Otherwise the striker is checking his run about 5 times because he doesn't know when the ball is coming in. I also think it could be that last year we were a little more direct to Jelavic, and as a team probably played slightly deeper at times, so he was getting the ball in good positions earlier as he was our focal point. This season we've seen Fellaini move further forward and he has become the pass everyone looks for first, and I think Jelavic is struggling a little with being second choice, as he’s not getting as many good chances. He made a few decent movements in the box last night and it didn’t come to him, with the players choosing other options instead. Last season I think we’d have given him the ball and he’d have taken the chance. I think he’s getting frustrated by it, personally. I noticed Gibson seemed to be looking for Jelavic a bit more last night, so hopefully if Gibson can get back playing sooner rather than later then we may see Jelavic getting involved more in the right areas.
CahillsCornerFlag
Player Valuation: £70m
Better than Fellaini for me last night, who, apart from his goal, disappointed me. Jelavic made a great run in the second half, put a great ball across the 6 yard box, and Fellaini had randomly stopped.
this and if is dosnt swop him for darren Bent
Little Ralphy
Player Valuation: £15m
Fellaini needs to impose himself on the whole game and not for just half of it. He’s a great player but he still tends to drift in and out at times, which tends to coincide with much of our play being less productive as the players are still all looking for him. Once he imposes himself for the whole game everyone will be after him.
PeterMeter
Player Valuation: £1m
SUPPLIES! (see how it works on several levels. Pretty awesome, huh)
Tennessee Blue Mike
Player Valuation: £50m
TBH we haven't supplied him the goods to excel. He will start to gain potency again. No worries. This won't be Yakville.
Royal Blue Jersey
Player Valuation: £35m
HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SENSE
A
Aidey9
Guest
Samps
Player Valuation: £500k
The way I see it, Moyes has clearly changed the system since 2nd half of last season, pushing Fellaini further up to replace the attacking mid berth vacated by Tiny. That's clearly not in dispute.
On the surface this seems like a good idea - Felli's proving it by bagging every game he plays lately. However, Fellaini presents more of a target for all manner of passes than Tim ever did, in no small part because he can beast people both in the air and on the deck. When Tim was around, by contrast, our midfield would look to play the ball straight to Jela who'd made the early run towards the 18 yard box. Hence why Tim seemed useless last season. Back to Jela though, this is what he seems to thrive off - playing off the shoulder and making clever runs, along with balls whipped in low to the 6 yard box in the event the other team's defence has got itself back in position in time. At this stage, Tim would have taken up a position on/near the penalty spot and lurk in the hope of a cross or a rebound, which rarely came as Jela had already buried it.
With Felli now fulfilling this role though, Jela finds himself largely redundant as the ball always comes in to Fellaini who then, 9 times out of 10, passes it out wide so he can get in the box to get on the end of the subsequent cross, or has a go himself. What role does that leave for Jela? He's not likely to be the first choice target for any cross when Felli's in the vicinity, so all he can really do is try and find space to present a clear option for any follow up attack, or use his movement to stretch the defensive line. With a lack of pitch to push forward into, he ends up at the periphery of the box/the back post. When we seem to want to play it intricately through the final third he ends up finding himself as an option for the wingers/full backs and therefore far from being in a goal scoring position. For someone with his finishing ability, this is criminally inefficient use of our primary goalscoring threat.
I'd propose dropping Felli back in second halves, especially if we're already leading at the interval. Get him to beef up the central midfield with Gibson, allowing Osman to get forward and be more creative in the middle, therein giving Jela a good stab at getting on the end of balls intended solely for him to do his sweet sweet thang with, as per last season. Felli could still get up for set pieces with Ossie filling in for him, so it's not like we'd lose his aerial threat entirely. Would also mean he'd leave some in the tank for if/when we really needed it.
Current system is simply squeezing out our loveable Slavic wonder, and I don't think there's much he can do about it until we start playing ever so slightly more directly again. If not, then maybe give Vellios a couple of starts after the Spurs game and see if he can do any better. Jela on the bench can then come on absolutely ravenous for an opportunity to slot, and sh!t right up jarg opposition defences who have already been tenderised by the big boys.
On the surface this seems like a good idea - Felli's proving it by bagging every game he plays lately. However, Fellaini presents more of a target for all manner of passes than Tim ever did, in no small part because he can beast people both in the air and on the deck. When Tim was around, by contrast, our midfield would look to play the ball straight to Jela who'd made the early run towards the 18 yard box. Hence why Tim seemed useless last season. Back to Jela though, this is what he seems to thrive off - playing off the shoulder and making clever runs, along with balls whipped in low to the 6 yard box in the event the other team's defence has got itself back in position in time. At this stage, Tim would have taken up a position on/near the penalty spot and lurk in the hope of a cross or a rebound, which rarely came as Jela had already buried it.
With Felli now fulfilling this role though, Jela finds himself largely redundant as the ball always comes in to Fellaini who then, 9 times out of 10, passes it out wide so he can get in the box to get on the end of the subsequent cross, or has a go himself. What role does that leave for Jela? He's not likely to be the first choice target for any cross when Felli's in the vicinity, so all he can really do is try and find space to present a clear option for any follow up attack, or use his movement to stretch the defensive line. With a lack of pitch to push forward into, he ends up at the periphery of the box/the back post. When we seem to want to play it intricately through the final third he ends up finding himself as an option for the wingers/full backs and therefore far from being in a goal scoring position. For someone with his finishing ability, this is criminally inefficient use of our primary goalscoring threat.
I'd propose dropping Felli back in second halves, especially if we're already leading at the interval. Get him to beef up the central midfield with Gibson, allowing Osman to get forward and be more creative in the middle, therein giving Jela a good stab at getting on the end of balls intended solely for him to do his sweet sweet thang with, as per last season. Felli could still get up for set pieces with Ossie filling in for him, so it's not like we'd lose his aerial threat entirely. Would also mean he'd leave some in the tank for if/when we really needed it.
Current system is simply squeezing out our loveable Slavic wonder, and I don't think there's much he can do about it until we start playing ever so slightly more directly again. If not, then maybe give Vellios a couple of starts after the Spurs game and see if he can do any better. Jela on the bench can then come on absolutely ravenous for an opportunity to slot, and sh!t right up jarg opposition defences who have already been tenderised by the big boys.
Seamus Colemole
Previously deathbyropeandglass
Reckon we should do a Barcelona and play without a striker.
Drop Jelavic and sell him for £12 million in Jan, push Fellaini up and play Barkley behind him.
Drop Jelavic and sell him for £12 million in Jan, push Fellaini up and play Barkley behind him.
kenada_blue
Welcome to Barcelonaton FC
We built our team around Cahill, which could sometimes isolate the main striker.
We've just replaced him with Fellaini.
Replace Jelavic with Johnson, Yakubu, and Saha with varying degrees of individual skill
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