Would it be so bad

[kamikaze80]

i agree, eduardo knows where to be and bendtner is a monster in the air (when he's in the box). unfortunately, bendtner makes a lot of runs from the centre out to the wings, which just takes him away from goal. being a monster in the air out by the corner flag doesnt do us much good

 

[AshburtonGhost]

A few spectacular goals don't equate to a top class matchwinner for mine. He doesn't have the overall ability to turn a match around when nothing is going for us and has shown that repeatedly over the past few seasons.

Portsmouth, at home, 0-2 down. He came on and we managed to tie it up.

Or a certain Villareal game, where we looked truly bereft of ideas.

You are being very selective in your memory.

Not necessarily, I have already said that when he is working hard he is a very effective forward. Unfortunately when he is not working hard, he is, for the most part made redundant, a few world class quality goals aside.

 

[Anzac]

It's also about horses for courses.
As much as we've talked about square pegs from AW, IMO our attacking play these past few seasons has been geared towards suiting Ade (and I'm not saying that it's deliberate). Consequently he's the player best suited to taking advantage of that - such as coming off the bench v W Ham.

Our attacking style has not been geared towards suiting Adebayor. It is decided entirely to accomodate our most valuable player - Fabregas.

That Fabregas benefits most from high mobility/workrate strikers because he likes to look for the defense splitting pass doesn't mean we designed our game around Adebayor.

Maybe I worded it poorly - I don't mean that it's deliberate but as a combination of things starting with TH in the lone role where he eventually demanded the ball be played to suit him. We became dependant upon TH to score, and we've followed that on with Ade in the same role, and in some ways Ade himself feels the same way & perpetuates it - he's even said similar things in the press about players putting the ball where & how he likes it.

Big difference in the current team being that the supporting cast isn't as strong as that TH had, so we are/were almost more reliant upon Ade. One of the issues that discourages our movement around the box IMO is Ade = when he gets the ball in the area he's unlikely to pass & will look to shoot first & pass only if he can't create space for himself.

 

[tactica442]

Ade's problem is mainly with his motivation and mindset. Technically he's still a top player and continues improving.

I am not surprised by reported Ancelotti's interest in Ade at all. The manager witnessed how Nesta, one o the best CB in Europe, pulled his own hamstring despite managed some first-timing clearance/ball-lobbing off Ade. Ade may not be that good in the eyes of some Arsenal fans. But he will continue to do well in other teams/leagues. I don't know how general fans in Europe perceive Ade's quality, but he's surely popular back in his home continent. Perhaps that's why his ego bloats.

One of Ade's offering is tactical option by playing lone striker, especially against English teams. Problem is when the team rely on a lone striekr whose mind detracts from his job, the team's attacking natually becomes less efficient.

 

[Anzac]

Ade's problem is mainly with his motivation and mindset. Technically he's still a top player and continues improving.

I am not surprised by reported Ancelotti's interest in Ade at all. The manager witnessed how Nesta, one o the best CB in Europe, pulled his own hamstring despite managed some first-timing clearance/ball-lobbing off Ade. Ade may not be that good in the eyes of some Arsenal fans. But he will continue to do well in other teams/leagues. I don't know how general fans in Europe perceive Ade's quality, but he's surely popular back in his home continent. Perhaps that's why his ego bloats.

One of Ade's offering is tactical option by playing lone striker, especially against English teams. Problem is when the team rely on a lone striekr whose mind detracts from his job, the team's attacking natually becomes less efficient.

It's the last paragraph that highlights the pro's & con's. IMO Ade's physical attributes flatter to decieve in regards to his suitability to play as the lone striker = it's not his natural game & he's not suitable for us to lump direct balls/crosses at him & expect him to do well. His preference is for the ball to be played behind the defence for him to move onto - hence the numbers of infuriating offsides.

IMO this is as much an issue as his attitude, and also contributes to his attitude. I have no doubt that in a better system he would perform better - he's as much a victim of the square pegs / compromise syndrome as any other player.

Bottom line we either adapt our style to suit the available resources/players, or we secure the players to better suit the system/style requirements - we can't continue to do a half assed job of each. Perhaps a move away would actually be beneficial for both him & the team if we fail to resolve the issues - same arguement applies for any player/s, including Cesc.

 

[graham_ka]

what do you guys mean by square peg again?

 

[Anzac]

what do you guys mean by square peg again?

For me it is about using players in roles they are not best suited to:
Ade - target man;
RVP - link man / lone striker / wide man in a 442;
Nik - lone striker / wide man;
Eduardo - wide man;
Vela - wide man;
Theo - wide man;
Nasri - CMd / wide man;
Diaby - wide man / CMd;
Denilson - wide man / CMd;
Eboue - wide man;

That's not to say that they can't do a job in these positions / roles, but that IMO it doesn't utilise them to the best of their abilities. Further to this it also means that the team does not perform to the best of it's capabilities & that either scenario is NOT condusive to any sort of challenge for silverware.

The 2nd aspect is in regard to our patterns of play - asking the players to fit the system, rather than adapting the system to best suit the available resources. Prime example being the general concensus on A-M that a 433 style would better suit the current players rather than a 4411/451.

 

[graham_ka]

Oh okay, I hear ya Anzac. Thanks for the clear up.

No lie that Ade has always performed his best with a strike partner.

I guess the question is if Eduardo and him compliment each other well, or does Eduardo just compliment everyone well, because he's such an intelligent and talented footballer...

Time will tell...

If RVP or Eduardo were injured I wouldn't want to rely on Vela or Simpson as back ups in PL games. Which is why Ade is not expendable, by any means, in my opinion, in our current situation.

 

[Biggus]

We've never had a decent run of games to judge Ade and Eduardo together.

 

[graham_ka]

We haven't had much run of games period from Eduardo, which was sort of my point.

If he scores 20 league goals and starts 40 games, than the "would it be so bad" suggestion is actually something serious to think about.

That would have to go along with 10+ goals from Vela and Walcott and Bendtner with 15+ for the season.

We would need to see blatant development, consistency and improvement from the younger strikers.