Naismith as a striker

[raib]

I think we should play him as the main striker more often and leave lukaku wide. It worked well against Arsenal. When teams come to GP and defend, the movement of Naismith could help us score more goals, and make more chances.

The way we keep the ball on the floor and pass it, Naismith is the type of player that makes runs and you can play through balls to him - his movement is very good.

Lukaku likes to run with the ball and cut in a shoot - it is hard to get the ball off Lukaku when he runs at you. Naismith playing wide, does not have the same affect. Naismith will not run at you with the ball as he is not that fast, but makes up for it with his movement.

Naismith/Lukaku/Mirallas show they have a good understanding.

 

[ijjysmith]

That Lukaku wide thing won't work every time.

 

[neil999]

He's a false striker mate, Barry's a false centre back and Coleman's and Baines are false full backs, falsies all over the show

Howard's a real keeper still mind..

 

[ijjysmith]

He's a false striker mate, Barry's a false centre back and Coleman's and Baines are false full backs, falsies all over the show

Howard's a real keeper still mind..

We tried a false keeper in that cup quarter final.

It didn't go well.

 

[Deco]

He's a false striker mate, Barry's a false centre back and Coleman's and Baines are false full backs, falsies all over the show

Howard's a real keeper still mind..

Does that mean Howard's a false striker?

 

[Librarian]

He puts it where it fits

 

[toffeejack]

He puts it where it fits

are we still talking about footy here?

 

[Huyton Layne]

Think he'd get shut down by the certain left backs and Naismith wouldn't get as much freedom against other centrebacks.
It was a good tactic against that arsenal side and it's nice to have as an option for other games but our normal set up works great and Naismith deeper plays to his strengths

 

[Librarian]

are we still talking about footy here?

Well, slotting is slotting like

 

[BlueLlama]

The Lukaku out wide thing worked manily because it was so unexpected and was a deliberate targetting of a gash player. Big Rom is a striker.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Naismith behind Lukaku. Naismith's positioning, movement and finishing is class in that position. Even his interplay is good. A world of difference from playing on the wing. Youd never put Bergkamp Berbatov Van Nistlerooy on the wing would you? Put players in their proper position.

 

[chriswho]

The Lukaku out wide thing worked manily because it was so unexpected and was a deliberate targetting of a gash player. Big Rom is a striker.

Naismith behind Lukaku. Naismith's positioning, movement and finishing is class in that position. Even his interplay is good. A world of difference from playing on the wing. Youd never put Bergkamp Berbatov Van Nistlerooy on the wing would you? Put players in their proper position.

Both right. It worked so well because of the matchup AND the unexpected nature of it. Naismith is at his best when he can run freely and let his energy and unorthodoxy cause havoc and press defenses. Naisy and jelavic were stars together. Seeing rom and naismith up top together is fun. Let him run, and let's just trust Roberto to identify and exploit match ups. It is a good time to be a blue boys, let's just enjoy it.

 

[thirdmantackle]

You'd feel sorry for our opponents in upcoming games. How can you prepare when you don't know what formation and team selection Bobby will put out.

 

[West]

I really liked what I seen on Sunday it was magical. Wouldn't mind if we gave Coleman the right hand side just have a player covering him and have mirallas/ rom barkley and naisy dropping in the gap every now and then

 

[toffeestillidie]

I'm guessing Martinez opted for Lukaku out wide because he knew Monreal would not be able to mark him and he would punish the high line they were trying to keep, it was a stroke of genius but like others have said its not something that will work week in week out.

It's nice to have that in our bag of tricks though, if Lukaku isn't receiving the ball in the middle because his acceleration is poor or our wingers are getting bullied and aren't able to whip in crosses, we can potentially pull this out.