Roberto Soldado Starved

[SlunkSoma]

He's a really poor footballer.

Where you sitting behind me yesterday by chance?

 

[Francis Gibbs]

Not sure he is a poor footballer but he certainly is adding very little to us - his fault or fault of the system is debatable

 

[schwinebikkje]

I think his lack of chances has something to do with timing. He makes smart runs in behind the defence but no one picks the pass. Then he has to drop back and receive the ball i front of the defence and that is not playing at his strengths.
He is a fox in the box, but no one knows where the fox runs.

 

[sunnydelight786]

Not a poor footballer by any stretch of the imagination but as I have stated before he was not the type of striker we needed (post 7). By the game it looks like we have dropped a huge bollock by signing him. Sad really as he seems a really likable chap. I hope he proves me and my doubts wrong, I honestly do, but it was a Benteke/Negredo/Lukaku/Drogba type we need not a penalty box shark.....

 

[grahamg88]

I think I read some stats from Newcastle game that soldado only received 9 passes all game from our Midfielders none from Townsend or Siggy. That's pretty telling!

 

[double0]

Soldado falls into the Darren Bent type striker relying purely on service but hope its more Ruud Van Nestleroy in the long run but from what I've seen so far hasn't any other way of playing.
If you look at the top strikers they can score the pens tap ins free kicks headers goal from nothing. You get the feeling from the games seen so far Soldado needs spoon feeding.

 

[mabizela]

Soldado and Defoe are both goal poachers and you can't play poachers upfront on their own. We have to play 2 up top, realistically Kane or Adebayor with a bit of presence. We also need to play wingers that run down the line and cross the ball, everytime we cut inside Soldado is crowded out and doesn't quite have that strength to hold it up in the box.

 

[Joeyboey]

For 26 million pounds he should have more to his game than finishing chances others create for him. To be honest I expected a lot more from him but it's still early days.

If Defoe had started 10 league games this season I guarantee he would have had more than 1 league goal from open play.

I'm not meaning to be negative, just trying to call it the way I see it.

 

[Gbspurs]

For 26 million pounds he should have more to his game than finishing chances others create for him. To be honest I expected a lot more from him but it's still early days.

If Defoe had started 10 league games this season I guarantee he would have had more than 1 league goal from open play.

I'm not meaning to be negative, just trying to call it the way I see it.

I find myself in the same boat. Not writing him off but I'm struggling to see why we thought he was a better investment than Benteke or various others we decided not to spend big on.

I'm happy to give him time to settle, forwards don't always start in fire. Lets see what happens by season end.

 

[Damian99]

Told you guys he's an average player but some argued and felt I was speaking nonsense. Told you guys benteke would be the better option but was told I'm an idiot, look at him now, and tell me whether I was right or wrong, I'd be leaning toward the Told you guys he's an average player but some argued and felt I was speaking nonsense. Told you guys benteke would be the better option but was told I'm an idiot, look at him now, and tell me whether I was right or wrong, I'd be leaning toward the Told you guys he's an average player but some argued and felt I was speaking nonsense. Told you guys benteke would be the better option but was told I'm an idiot, look at him now, and tell me whether I was right or wrong, I'd be leaning toward the Told you guys he's an average player but some argued and felt I was speaking nonsense. Told you guys benteke would be the better option but was told I'm an idiot, look at him now, and tell me whether I was right or wrong, I'd be leaning toward the former.

Goal scoring stats fool people, players like soldado don't score loads in the prem. He has no special qualities, and its not reflecting well against prem defenders...as I said it would.

I'm confident that I'm going to have to wait till the end of the season for people to see the

Do you know how fucking annoying the phrase "Told you guys" becomes.

 

[Kendall]

Do you know how fucking annoying the phrase "Told you guys" becomes.

I guess probably about as annoying as being told to jog on and being called an idiot when you call it early.

Told ya so.

 

[only1waddle]

Do you know how fucking annoying the phrase "Told you guys" becomes.

He hasn't piped up and said he called the same on Negredo too.. Wonder why?

 

[sunnydelight786]

I find myself in the same boat. Not writing him off but I'm struggling to see why we thought he was a better investment than Benteke or various others we decided not to spend big on.

I'm happy to give him time to settle, forwards don't always start in fire. Lets see what happens by season end.

The point is at the age of 28 and costing 30m euros you expect instant return, none of this settling time rubbish as he's supposed to be the finished article. Lamela was clearly signed for the future hence the slow intro, Soldado wasn't and quite frankly speaking I've been very disappointed so far....

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

The point is at the age of 28 and costing 30m euros you expect instant return, none of this settling time rubbish as he's supposed to be the finished article. Lamela was clearly signed for the future hence the slow intro, Soldado wasn't and quite frankly speaking I've been very disappointed so far....

I think you're jumping the gun a bit with that opinion of him.

Yes he cost 30m Euros and Yes he is 28 years old, but he didn't get the return in goals he had at Valencia by simply grabbing the bull by the horns, the play around him matched his style of striking perfectly.

I believe we could benefit from him a lot more if he managed to form some kind of partnership with either Holtby or Eriksen. Neither of these two have had enough first team PL action to form a creative partnership with him like the one he had with Banega at Valencia.

We have the players to match the striker its all about getting our best 11 together and damn well sticking with it. Way too many changes come game day really do have an adverse effect on our creativity and therefore goal scoring ability as well.

 

[WiganSpur]

How many chances has he had to score though? In the Europa game against Tblisi he had two chances and scored two goals. Admittedly against Cardiff he could have scored but the only clear cut opportunity he's had after that was the chance at Villa and he took that excellently.

His confidence is shot at the moment because he's getting no service and he's worried the manager and the fans aren't going to take to him. Once he gets the opportunities and gets a couple more goals under his belt he'll start banging them in, providing we can keep on supplying him.

 

[mpickard2087]

I wouldn't dispute that our play in the final third leaves a lot to be desired, but for all those lamenting the lack of through balls to him I will say this:
When you are in the midfield/wide positions and see someone up there who a lot of the time doesn't have much pace to chase after the ball or get away from defenders, nor strength to hold them off, you probably question whether to pass it to him at all and choose another option in the heat of the moment... Lets face it, we have all probably been there in Sunday League or whatever standard we play at, thinking twice about giving it to the players who we don't trust with possession of the ball

 

[Donki]

I think I read some stats from Newcastle game that soldado only received 9 passes all game from our Midfielders none from Townsend or Siggy. That's pretty telling!

This tells it all, there is no supply, it doesnt matter who the fuck you play up front of you dont get him the ball he wont score.

People saying "oh we needed a big guy up front", so what would of happened there would of been long balls from the back up to the front, then we would have had "we playing far to direct, why is Daws playing that long ball". AVB needs to get the 3 behind our front man to look up and play a pass, take a chance one a through ball into space, we are shit at this. There was at least 2-3 occasions when Bobby was just ready to get set free and wasn't seen. Townsend's decision making is terrible in all aspects of his game, he dribbles when he should pass, he passes when he should shot and he shots when he should be doing a multitute of other things. So fucking frustrating.

 

[Donki]

I wouldn't dispute that our play in the final third leaves a lot to be desired, but for all those lamenting the lack of through balls to him I will say this:
When you are in the midfield/wide positions and see someone up there who a lot of the time doesn't have much pace to chase after the ball or get away from defenders, nor strength to hold them off, you probably question whether to pass it to him at all and choose another option in the heat of the moment... Lets face it, we have all probably been there in Sunday League or whatever standard we play at, thinking twice about giving it to the players who we don't trust with possession of the ball

Soldado doesn't lack strength IMO, he has had a few battles with defenders and cant rememebr him yet being over powered, the players behind him dont have the vision to see him. I mean its not that Bobby isn't scoring NOBODY is scoring. We seem clueless in attack and thats down to what goes on in training.

 

[mpickard2087]

Soldado doesn't lack strength IMO, he has had a few battles with defenders and cant rememebr him yet being over powered, the players behind him dont have the vision to see him. I mean its not that Bobby isn't scoring NOBODY is scoring. We seem clueless in attack and thats down to what goes on in training.

Personally I think his play in this aspect is patchy, sometimes he does well but others he gets brushed aside.

I was including stuff like through balls for him to run onto and into the channels, he has been given a few in his earlier games and he didn't have the legs to get onto them. Whilst I don't dispute that our play is clueless, just saying if he was given these mythical through balls I'm not at all convinced there would be a massive improvement.

 

[Donki]

Personally I think his play in this aspect is patchy, sometimes he does well but others he gets brushed aside.

I was including stuff like through balls for him to run onto and into the channels, he has been given a few in his earlier games and he didn't have the legs to get onto them. Whilst I don't dispute that our play is clueless, just saying if he was given these mythical through balls I'm not at all convinced there would be a massive improvement.

I think the way AVB wanted us to play was nice quick passes outside and around the box Lamela, Eriksen, Holtby, Towesnd, Siggy are all on paper good passers of the ball. All are comfortable on the ball and should be able to knock the ball around and find a bit of space... I dunno why they arent doing this. All our passes ar knocked about just as they get inside the final third and when they get in or around the area they shit themselves, Il go back to Soldado's goal from open play. Watch it again we seemed to do it sooo easily, quick passes, great movement and a great finish. Thats what I think AVB is tryign to drill into them but I have no idea why its not happeneing. There is no one pushing up to link the play and everything seems soo indecisive.

I still think its early days but we have a massive 2 games coming up, both are winable IMO but we need to be a lot more adventurous.