The College Dropout

Funny how everyone agrees with what I first saw at Stoke.

Well apart from Tiote being poor.

None of what you have typed is true.

I'm not a huge fan of Carroll but this is so true and accurate. Sometimes you just need that "out" ball. Someone to relieve pressure, soak it up,hold it up, link it up, someone for the others to play off. Carroll is an Alan Pardew player all day. Someone to give it to and hope for the best. I'd rather have neither but if we have Pardew, might as well have Andy too.

Agree that Cisse has a poor season so far but why bring him into this particular argument. The front post is a vital position when defending a corner. We should know, we always hit the oppositions. Didier Drogba was excellent at it, a real wall. Heck, even Robin Van Persie is very good at it. It can make a big difference to the number of goals conceded from corners imo. You normally want an attacker there because they are used to attacking the ball and not good at marking. Cisse is rather crap at it. Carroll is superb at it.

He's the main reason why I don't think Pardew has much say over the transfers. From what i saw from him, he picks the ball up from defence and starts attacks. He's rarely been asked to do that here.

I've been on holiday. Came back on Friday, just enough time to watch the game today Glad I missed the Derby like.

He's not in bad overall form infront of goal. He's just not lethal.

All the lad offers is goals and he's not great at that either. What I would like is a striker that can contribute to the other 10 players and isn't just reliant on the others performing for him. Doesn't do enough for the team. Not brilliant at what he does.

This "lack of chances" thing is bollocks. If our team can't create a lot of chances (and we created enouh to be 2/3 up by half time) for our striker then our striker needs to: 1. Create chances for himself ala Suarez 2. Create chances for others ala Berbatov 3. Score from scraps ala Ba 4. Be a target to play around ala Carroll (sorry but this is true) What he can't do. Is need 4 clear-cut chances to score 1 goal.

For someone so dependent on others to score regularly, his finishing isn't good enough imo.

And he has a decent clause. He'll not stay at QPR if they get relegated.

I read they offered double. At the smallest, 1/3 increase which is plenty. his attitude seems fine to me. It's not like he was whoring himself out.

Whilst I basically agree, there was much more to it. One of which is Cabaye/Tiote competing well against 3 men often. Dominate? No. Compete well? Yes. This allowed us to utilise a real strike partnership. Ba combined very well with Best and Shola. The presence of Best/Shola allowed Ba to feed off flick-ons and th extra space in the box as we would always at least have two in there. By February Best/Shola/Ba had scored something like 20 league goals.

Tired of this line of logic. If I was reaching the prime years in my career. I'd choose Yahoo over Apple if they offered twice my wages. And to be honest, our direct situation wasn't entirely different from QPR's.

In a 4-4-2 you won't dominate possession against 3 opposition. Whenever it was 4-4-2 against 4-4-2 we looked very impressive because we saw more of the ball. Last year we must've been the only side apart from Man Utd. in the top 8 who played with a 4-4-2. A real 4-4-2 at that. A good part of that success was down to Cabs/Tiote competing well against 3 rivals allowing us to utlilise the extra man up top. No doubt they both play better with each other than without.

Remember when people thought Tiote/Cabaye didn't work very well? Despite being 2 vs. 3 more often than not and still getting results.

Puyol can also play football though. So can John Terry. It's not one of the prime things that makes him a top player. Vermaelen/Kos doesn't work but not because of a lack of strength/aerial threat. Most great defensive partnerships have a complimentary mix. Just look at the great partnerships in the last 5 years. Sidenote: Always felt Pepe/Ramos were too similar.

Thiago-Nesta are phsyically immense all-rounders. Even when Nesta lost a fair bit of his pace he was still very strong and great in the air. If Barcelona can have Mr. Gutsnglory Puyol so can we.

Shame we didn't get a 25 year old Viduka. The old one just played for a contract.

Has that ever worked for a side? You end up with teams launching it long and trying to be bullies. Closest thing I can think of is Ferdinand/Evans and they got bullied in the past despite Rio always being pretty strong and good in the air. Ramos and Varane perhaps but Ramos just looks soft and can play a bit. He's very strong, aggressive and great in the air.

As much as people love the Colo/Mapou/Carvalho types, they need the bruisers alongside em as much as the bruisers need them. All about complementary skills.

All day for me.

Tbh Neville is the only one who seems like he actually watches the game and the others just come up with meaningless cliché crap on the go. Aye he brings up points from several other games that show he's done his research.

He's easier on England players and Man Utd. players. His style is more analytical and less judgemental/sensational so he can get away with it.