How important is a hold up striker?

BringBack_leGin · Sep 2, 2010

One thing I will say is that if we develop him right, merely from the clips I've seen of him (I didn't make any academy matches last season I'm afraid, despite my regularity in previous years) Harry Kane looks like he might have the magic combination of goals and hold up play if we develop him right. He's not just doing well because he's bigger than all the other kids, from what I've seen he's great on the ball, can dribble despite not having much pace and can see a pass, and he scores pretty much every time he plays.

danielneeds · Sep 2, 2010

mil1lion said:
I don't think there is much wrong with using Barca as an example. For the simple fact that we don't want to use Arsenal as an example :grin:

They too play a similar style of football to Barca. Yet they are some way behind Barca as shown in the Champions League last season.

Barca are just an easy example to use because they're wonderful to watch. It's the same for the Spain national team too.

There is no better team to take examples from that's for sure. Even though we're on a different level alltogether, the style of play can still be implemented with our team.

I disagree totally. You can only play that kind of football with the most technically gifted players.

I think its dangerous for our fans to aspire to be like Barca - its totally unachievable for us in our lifetime, most probably forever. When they have the right coach and president, they can can cherry pick the best players from Spain both through transfers and through the La Masia academy.

The academy is the most important part, because they basically take the cream of kids from almost 1/3 of Spain (Real and Athletico Bilbao being the other major players), the money they spend on it is staggering. Due to academy rules, and the traditional catchment areas of clubs in this country we couldn't do this even if we wanted to.

I strongly think a more pragmatic model is needed for us. High tempo, quick on the break, more akin to United at their peak in the 90's and 00's.

danielneeds · Sep 2, 2010

BringBack_leGin said:
One thing I will say is that if we develop him right, merely from the clips I've seen of him (I didn't make any academy matches last season I'm afraid, despite my regularity in previous years) Harry Kane looks like he might have the magic combination of goals and hold up play if we develop him right. He's not just doing well because he's bigger than all the other kids, from what I've seen he's great on the ball, can dribble despite not having much pace and can see a pass, and he scores pretty much every time he plays.

I'll wouldn't hold my breath on this. We haven't developed a genuine PL class forward in my lifetime (30 years), apart from Crouch - and even then we pretty much tossed him away.

BringBack_leGin · Sep 2, 2010

danielneeds said:
I strongly think a more pragmatic model is needed for us. High tempo, quick on the break, more akin to United at their peak in the 90's and 00's.

I've long been saying that I think we're a very good, exciting side on the counter. Bale and Lennon out wide, good passers in the side in Huddlestone and Modric, two out and out forwards up front (let's face it, all four of our strikers are out and out strikers first and foremost). I think we are dangerous and exciting on the break and have developed into a similar side to the Utd side which won the treble.

BringBack_leGin · Sep 2, 2010

danielneeds said:
I'll wouldn't hold my breath on this. We haven't developed a genuine PL class forward in my lifetime (30 years), apart from Crouch - and even then we pretty much tossed him away.

Maybe not, but the batch of kids at the club now, joining when they are around 11/12/13, seem to be developing far better, and performing much better in their league each season, than ever before, and increasingly each year. Arnesen and Comolli might have some credit to take in the first few years. They may not all make it, but I am convinced that one or two will.

danielneeds · Sep 2, 2010

BringBack_leGin said:
Maybe not, but the batch of kids at the club now, joining when they are around 11/12/13, seem to be developing far better, and performing much better in their league each season, than ever before, and increasingly each year. Arnesen and Comolli might have some credit to take in the first few years. They may not all make it, but I am convinced that one or two will.

We can only hope. I am still gonna be keeping my eye on Connor Wickham this year though. That boy looks like a monster of player.

mil1lion · Sep 2, 2010

danielneeds said:
I disagree totally. You can only play that kind of football with the most technically gifted players.

I think its dangerous for our fans to aspire to be like Barca - its totally unachievable for us in our lifetime, most probably forever. When they have the right coach and president, they can can cherry pick the best players from Spain both through transfers and through the La Masia academy.

The academy is the most important part, because they basically take the cream of kids from almost 1/3 of Spain (Real and Athletico Bilbao being the other major players), the money they spend on it is staggering. Due to academy rules, and the traditional catchment areas of clubs in this country we couldn't do this even if we wanted to.

I strongly think a more pragmatic model is needed for us. High tempo, quick on the break, more akin to United at their peak in the 90's and 00's.

I was refering to the style of play rather than the level they play it at. Which is why I mentioned Arsenal, as they too play that style at a lesser level than Barca. The difference between the 2 is the workrate of the Barca players. Something we're capable of doing when we don't have the ball. We do have the players to play the right way aswell though. Sure they're not all world class like Xavi, Iniesta, Messi etc. But that doesn't mean we don't have the players to do it. There are plenty of technically gifted players here now.

We'll never have the possession of Barca but we can certainly take note of the way in which they play. We do have the more ugly side if we need to use it for certain games too. No doubt we'll need to call on that at times aswell.

steve · Sep 2, 2010

Not as important as hold up stockings...

theShiznit · Sep 2, 2010

Although it is preferable. If you have excellent movement amongst midfield and strikers (interchanging position) it's not that important, especially with 3 good midfield passers in Modric, VDV and Thudd, Modric's movement is class, as is his ability to receive the ball in tight spaces, hopefully VDV will offer similar and the two will link up nicely. Also hope Sandro can pass the ball better than Palacios (and Zokora before him)

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How important is a hold up striker?

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