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Interesting Palacios info from vital

AngerManagement

Well-Known Member
May 15, 2004
12,518
2,739
Plus wider passing range. Zoko's short-range passing accuracy is as good as any—it's when he tries something more exotic that things go wrong (although in fairness he's pulled off several cracking long passes). He's also a stronger tackler.

(This from what little I've seen.)

I think Zokora's short passing range stats lie to an extent.

quite often he plays a poor pass behind the man or not into his run which causes the collecting player to either check his run or wait/move to be able to recieve the pass. (in otherwords poor pass)

However these type of passes still count towards a succesfull completion because they did get to the intented player (even though there was no way he could fail to do us under no pressure and passing a couple of feet)

He does also make some decent passes at times but more often then not he makes the type of awful pass I am trying to describe, meaning to me that he is a poor passer of the ball over all (even though at short range his stats my suggest to the contray)
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
We could play that way. Harry used Kranjkaar infield from the left at Pompey. I'm not 100% convinced Ekotto is solid enough at left back and Bale certainly isn't so i think we'd need a new left back.

If he isn't, neither is Clichy after some of the whoopsies he's made this season. Still room for improvement, I'll grant, but he's got better and better.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
42,490
78,064
If he isn't, neither is Clichy after some of the whoopsies he's made this season. Still room for improvement, I'll grant, but he's got better and better.

Ekotto is winning me over. And it is his first full season in the Premier League really so if he keeps improving this season, then he could be great next season for us. At the moment i'm about 80% convinced :)
 

Mr-T

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2006
2,603
563
I wonder if we'll get crazy Hondurans on here now, they might be even better than the Bulgarians and Egyptians!
 

$hoguN

Well-Known Member
Jul 25, 2005
26,662
34,802
he can play DM too, his defensive side of the game and his linking play are his best features, box to box is the wrong discription for him as he is no Gerrard or Lampard
 

garyhopkins

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2008
1,535
907
Like Corluka, Palacios comes with ringing endorsements from the fans of his previous club. That's great news because having watched both Wigan games he didn't stand out as a 14m player. However I tend to focus on our players, so I hope the Wigan fans are right and he lives up to their enthusiasm. Pity he isn't a goalscorer though...
 

JollyHappy

Well-Known Member
Oct 9, 2005
1,441
1,161
I hate to upset anyone here but I wonder if Harry's view of CM is Zokora and Palacios which would mean no room for Modric.

Harry has said a few times that our squad is unbalanced and I think most people recognise that although Modric is a class act, fitting him in the team causes issues.

If Palacaios is not a defensive midfielder then I can't see anyone playing with him expect Zok or maybe Hud

We shall wait and see!!
 

InOffMeLeftShin

Night watchman
Admin
Jan 14, 2004
15,105
9,122
I'm not sure that is necessarily the case with Palacios. I've seen him play a few times and I watched the Wigan game versus Man City last weekend specifically to see him, and a lot of the time he was playing deeper than Cattermole. He seems to read the game quite well and whilst off the ball he seemed to jog around, he still managed to turn up exactly where the ball was when there was something happening.

When they had to defend, he seemed to be right there in the thick of the action, and when they attacked he got on the ball. His passing was good most of the time, although there were a few casual moments. When he ran with the ball he was like Jonah Lomu and he didn't panic on the ball like Zokora does.

I think he will be excellent with Modric in a 442 (particularly at home), and if we need the extra men in midfield away from home, he can partner any of Jenas, Zokora, O'Hara or Huddlestone with Modric more advanced. He gives us options because of his strength and in particular his canny ability to be in the right place at the right time (i.e. he actually has a brain and some defensive awareness).
 

Adam456

Well-Known Member
Jul 1, 2005
4,458
3,124
Well his signing adds flexibility that's for sure. I can def see many an away game or game against top 4 where we could play a 4-5-1 with Zoko and Palacious sitting behind Modric. Thing is that since Harry has brought back Defoe and seems to want to partner him with Pav our line-ups look very 4-4-2
 

talkshowhost86

Mod-Moose
Staff
Oct 2, 2004
48,262
47,333
I'm not sure that is necessarily the case with Palacios. I've seen him play a few times and I watched the Wigan game versus Man City last weekend specifically to see him, and a lot of the time he was playing deeper than Cattermole. He seems to read the game quite well and whilst off the ball he seemed to jog around, he still managed to turn up exactly where the ball was when there was something happening.

When they had to defend, he seemed to be right there in the thick of the action, and when they attacked he got on the ball. His passing was good most of the time, although there were a few casual moments. When he ran with the ball he was like Jonah Lomu and he didn't panic on the ball like Zokora does.

I think he will be excellent with Modric in a 442 (particularly at home), and if we need the extra men in midfield away from home, he can partner any of Jenas, Zokora, O'Hara or Huddlestone with Modric more advanced. He gives us options because of his strength and in particular his canny ability to be in the right place at the right time (i.e. he actually has a brain and some defensive awareness).

If he consistently does that then he'll be a massive signing for us. One of the things that infuriates me about Zokora is his uncanny ability to be in the wrong place pretty much all of the time, so if Palacios can improve on that then we'll be ok.
 

degoose

Well-Known Member
Jul 3, 2004
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i would probably like to see palacios and zokora play together and let the flair players like modric and lennon play on the wings, i could definetley see them playing in the same team if we play a 4-4-1-1
 

spur_souljah

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2008
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408
Hes definitely a DM, theres no way we would have got an attacking player because modric is exceptional.. He had a good scoring record at his first club (1 in 3 i think) so hopefully he can score for us, does anyone know how many assists he got for wigan?
 

InOffMeLeftShin

Night watchman
Admin
Jan 14, 2004
15,105
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If he consistently does that then he'll be a massive signing for us. One of the things that infuriates me about Zokora is his uncanny ability to be in the wrong place pretty much all of the time, so if Palacios can improve on that then we'll be ok.

He wasn't perfect, like I said a few sloppy passes and a few heavy touches, but most of the time he was good on the ball. But I was really impressed with him in general, he cut out quite a few balls and just seemed to always pop up in the action defensively and when attacking. Really, really strong too, can keep the ball just shielding it with his body and leans players off the ball. Defused situations well. The odd rash challenge, but I'm sure you could have guessed that with the 10 yellows so far this season.

I think he will add some strength and awareness as well as some real aggression from the centre.
 

KeaneIsKeane

Active Member
Nov 6, 2006
1,203
12
You lot who think he's going to force Modric out are off your rocker. Harry likes Modric and Modric is our best player. I'd still like to see us play a 4-5-1 that turns into a 4-3-3, but that'd mean dropping Defoe which Harry won't do. Modric reminds me a little of Hleb I guess he could play on the wing, but I really like him in the center of the pitch. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but surely we have to sell the CMs. We have way too many.
 

Coyboy

The Double of 1961 is still The Double
Dec 3, 2004
15,506
5,032
Some good points here, though I don't see the need for a new left back Million, Ekotto has been very good. I think Palacios can be an upgrade on Zokora and I can't see the need or Levy okaying another eight figure transfer fee on another central midfielder. INOMLS has outlined well the reasons why Palacios can work fine with Modric and with both of them what a lot of people are missing is that surely our possession and retention of the ball will be better so we won't be chasing shadows as Zokora and Jenas often are.

The midfield needs to defend as a unit and of course we need players with specific responsibilties and roles but if we can have a midfield of Lennon Palacios Modric and a workman like Bentley, that should be sufficient from a midfield's perspective. We also have two strikers who can hold the ball up in Defoe and Pav but only if it is played to feet, so a Heskey would not go amiss.

What we have to focus on, though harder than signing a new player, is what to do when we lose the ball. As we are a new team, we will surely experience the same problems we did earlier in the season. Modric passing it one way, Pav running the other as an example. When that happens we need discipline from our players but also a footballing brain as to where the danger lies so that the ball can be intercepted. From the clips I saw against United, Palacios is perfect for this. Whereas Zokora was often chasing a certain player and the leaving hole elsewhere and this was partly because he might have been the only midfielder defending.

Lastly, to help them out don't our defenders need to push up more to squeeze the space and nip opposition attacks in the bud? This happens seldom without King and is a symptom of a perennial Spurs' defecciency; lack of leaders. Woodgate needs to step up to the plate. I believe we concede or have conceded so many goals from long range and elsewhere because the defence sits too deep and invites pressure. We need to change that and one of the ways is to get the team working together and defending together. Rednapp is usually good at this but we have still stuggled because our goals for is still poor. Hopefully Palacios indirectly and Defoe directly will change this.
 

GLUESODA

Active Member
Sep 28, 2004
781
121
As 1 or 2 have said already, Palacios sits between the defence and the midfield, exactly like Carrick used to, sweeps up an unbelievble amount of intercepts, tackles BRILLIANTLY and is always an outlet - and best of all makes it look so effortless and easy.

Cattamole seemed a bit more mobile than him though, not really offensive, but doesent read the game like Palacios, just runs after the ball all the time, closing players down and putting them under pressure.

Wigans Midfield seemed similar to to the Jenas & Carrick days of Carrick reading the game and Jenas just running and closing down everything, and pushing into the box when attacking

Think the point here is that both midfielders need to work equally as hard, we cant just have an offensive central midfielder, and a defensive one.

Modric could potentially grow into this role, but he'd have to sort out his defensive duties big time. Jenas and O'hara are worthy backups too. The Hudd is still young and could, with alot of hard work and a good run of continous games form a great partnership too with Palacios, pushing modric left or behind the striker again...
 
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