Derby VS Newcastle

[Dave]

Has the "fat and lazy viduka" played during the international break? If not he may come back a little more refreshed.

 

Spent two weeks eating Pringles and watching DVDs.

[Nobody]

Has the "fat and lazy viduka" played during the international break? If not he may come back a little more refreshed.

He's been injured

[Guest LucasUnger]

Has the "fat and lazy viduka" played during the international break? If not he may come back a little more refreshed.

 

Spent two weeks eating Pringles and watching DVDs.

 

can u still get the original pringles in england?

they are forbidden in austria! should i start a new thread???

 

[wor jackie]

derby are an awful team who we must punish on monday night with our superior team. i'd go:

 

                harper

beye  cacapa  rozehnal  enrique

milner  geremi    butt    nzogbia

            ameobi  owen

[Guest LucasUnger]

derby are an awful team who we must punish on monday night with our superior team. i'd go:

 

                harper

beye  cacapa  rozehnal  enrique

milner  geremi    butt    nzogbia

            ameobi  owen

 

i'll  send u 20 quid if this will be our team

[Guest SpinTheBlackCircle]

 

                harper

beye  cacapa  rozehnal  Zog

      Smith  Butt  Geremi   

     Martins owen  Milner

 

[wor jackie]

alreet.

[Yorkie]

Has the "fat and lazy viduka" played during the international break? If not he may come back a little more refreshed.

 

Yup. Will do him wonders if we start him on the bench, give him twenty minutes, then start him against West Ham/Arsenal (depending on how Martins and Owen play together). That should have been done in the first place with Viduka, imo - but then hindsight's a wonderful thing. He'll make a canny impact sub once Martins and Owen have run the legs off the defenders by seventy minutes, n'all.

[SUPERTOON]

Cant wait till this one hoping for a win

 

still say 0-2 toon dont know who will score

 

reckon if he plays Smith will get one

 

COME ON

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Given

 

Faye

Cacapa

Rozehnal

Taylor

 

Milner

Butt

Geremi

N'zogbia

 

Martins

Owen

[Shak]

Smith and Owen up front I reckon.

 

------------------------ Given

 

Beye/Taylor -- Cacapa -- Rozenhal -- Enrique

 

 

Milner ------- Geremi ------- Butt ----- The ZOG

 

 

--------------- Owen ---------- Smith

 

If Enrique isn't fit and ready to go then we'll move N'Zogbia to LB and go with 4-5-1 I reckon.

[Yorkie]

I'd be well annoyed if Smith was picked upfront ahead of Viduka and especially Martins in this game. I think Smith can do a good job up there, don't get me wrong, but Martins does not deserve to be benched again.

[Shak]

It's a choice between Owen and Martins though for the most part I reckon, and it's not even a contest there tbh.

 

This game might be an exception, I'll give you that, but long-term Owen and Martins as a partnership can't possibly work.

[Yorkie]

This game might be an exception, I'll give you that, but long-term Owen and Martins as a partnership can't possibly work.

 

Pretty bold statement, given that it's only ever been tried once. And that was in one of our shittest performances of the season (well, tbh, was probably one of our better ones ) at Reading. You can't make that judgement yet. I think it could work to an extent, if enforced properly. They've conbined well in their last couple of games after all, albeit for limited time on the clock.

[James]

I reckon Owen could work as the centrepoint of a 451/433 if Allardyce can persuade him that it will benefit him.

[Shak]

Suppose anything is possible, but I'll be mighty shocked if they were to ever form a good partnership.

 

Owen has always been best with a striker partner who will do the bulk of the work in general play, allowing Owen to contribute sparsely in terms of active build up play and play on the shoulder of the last defender, always threatening to get in behind. He then comes into his element in the box, where he's as good as anyone.

 

Heskey is a good example, he's always getting about doing the bulk of the work. Rooney will be the same when they eventually get a run of games together for England, as Rooney likes to drop deep and link the play.

 

The threat of Owen in behind also gives his striker partner more room to play in.

 

I like Martins, but his play is very erratic and I don't see him being someone we want to build the play through at all. Smith is similiar in style to Heskey, gets about and will be very involved. Viduka when fully fit I reckon will gel very well with Owen too, as a bit of space to work in will benefit him immensely.

[Yorkie]

For me, too, Viduka would be the centrepoint of our attacking prowess, then Owen in behind as you say. But Viduka isn't fully fit, and i'm not impressed with Smith so far. Martins is erratic, yes, but when he's high on confidence and playing well he's sublime - and he's both those things at the moment. He's the second best striker at the club currently, and deserves a place in the side.

 

I'm not saying it's the best long-term partnership, and your philosophy of Owen being better when in behind/playing off someone is spot on; i'm just saying that Martins and Owen is worth a go at this present moment in time.

 

Also, if you look closely at his recent games (i'm excluding the England games here, because Heskey has been playing), Owen has been doing a lot more 'getting about', and generally doing more work in and around the box than before he got the injuries. Martins could profit from that.

 

Also, against a slow Derby defense lacking in quality, and with Milner and N'Zogbia running the flanks, we could pass them off the pitch - and with two pacy strikers in the shape of Owen and Oba, we could quite possibly wipe the floor with them tomorrow night.

 

Also - as i mentioned previously in the thread, if the strike-force is lacking the cutting edge in the second half, we can withdraw one of them and Viduka would make an excellent impact sub. Or even Smith.

 

Like i say, it's not the best long-term combination in the squad, but it's worth a shot tomorrow night.

[Howaythelads]

Suppose anything is possible, but I'll be mighty shocked if they were to ever form a good partnership.

 

Owen has always been best with a striker partner who will do the bulk of the work in general play, allowing Owen to contribute sparsely in terms of active build up play and play on the shoulder of the last defender, always threatening to get in behind. He then comes into his element in the box, where he's as good as anyone.

 

Heskey is a good example, he's always getting about doing the bulk of the work. Rooney will be the same when they eventually get a run of games together for England, as Rooney likes to drop deep and link the play.

 

The threat of Owen in behind also gives his striker partner more room to play in.

 

I like Martins, but his play is very erratic and I don't see him being someone we want to build the play through at all. Smith is similiar in style to Heskey, gets about and will be very involved. Viduka when fully fit I reckon will gel very well with Owen too, as a bit of space to work in will benefit him immensely.

 

Good post, mate. Couldn't agree more, tbh.

[Yorkie]

Gah!

 

I agree witih Shak aswell, just for the record. But what you're outlining there Shak is my idea of the long-term formula. Short-term, Owen and Martins should be tried out against Derby imo.

[Howaythelads]

Gah!

 

I agree witih Shak aswell, just for the record. But what you're outlining there Shak is my idea of the long-term formula. Short-term, Owen and Martins should be tried out against Derby imo.

 

If FS has ideas of pairing Owen with Martins I'd sooner he did it in training or in practice matches rather than when there are 3 points at stake. Should just go with whatever is thought to be your best team, really. For me that is still one from Owen/Martins plus one from Smith/Viduka.

[Yorkie]

Gah!

 

I agree witih Shak aswell, just for the record. But what you're outlining there Shak is my idea of the long-term formula. Short-term, Owen and Martins should be tried out against Derby imo.

 

If FS has ideas of pairing Owen with Martins I'd sooner he did it in training or in practice matches rather than when there are 3 points at stake. Should just go with whatever is thought to be your best team, really. For me that is still one from Owen/Martins plus one from Smith/Viduka.

 

Would you agree that, at the moment, the two best performing strikers are Owen and Martins? They haven't been paired together so we don't know whether they'll be good/shit/whatever, but it's worth finding out given how well they're playing and given the opposition's defense.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Has the "fat and lazy viduka" played during the international break? If not he may come back a little more refreshed.

 

Spent two weeks eating Pringles and watching DVDs.

I've just moved into me flat for uni, and I have to say, don't knock that lifestyle until you've tried it. (Albeit swapping Pringles for cans of Caffrey's).

[Dinho lad]

Gah!

 

I agree witih Shak aswell, just for the record. But what you're outlining there Shak is my idea of the long-term formula. Short-term, Owen and Martins should be tried out against Derby imo.

 

If FS has ideas of pairing Owen with Martins I'd sooner he did it in training or in practice matches rather than when there are 3 points at stake. Should just go with whatever is thought to be your best team, really. For me that is still one from Owen/Martins plus one from Smith/Viduka.

 

Would you agree that, at the moment, the two best performing strikers are Owen and Martins? They haven't been paired together so we don't know whether they'll be good/shit/whatever, but it's worth finding out given how well they're playing and given the opposition's defense.

 

They've played together last season for few games. Didn't look promising, but still too early to judge, imo.

[Baggio]

Suppose anything is possible, but I'll be mighty shocked if they were to ever form a good partnership.

 

Owen has always been best with a striker partner who will do the bulk of the work in general play, allowing Owen to contribute sparsely in terms of active build up play and play on the shoulder of the last defender, always threatening to get in behind. He then comes into his element in the box, where he's as good as anyone.

 

Heskey is a good example, he's always getting about doing the bulk of the work. Rooney will be the same when they eventually get a run of games together for England, as Rooney likes to drop deep and link the play.

 

The threat of Owen in behind also gives his striker partner more room to play in.

 

I like Martins, but his play is very erratic and I don't see him being someone we want to build the play through at all. Smith is similar in style to Heskey, gets about and will be very involved. Viduka when fully fit I reckon will gel very well with Owen too, as a bit of space to work in will benefit him immensely.

 

I don't agree with this Shak for a few reasons.

 

First of all Michael Owen has scored goals with whoever he's been partnered with, he got something like 7 goals in 10 games while being partnered with Shearer, he also had the best goals to minutes played ratio while playing in Madrid next to Ronaldo so it's fair to say he can score playing with any type of partner, he's also scored goals in the past while being partnered with Fowler and Anelka.

 

What he does need however is to have pace in the side to make space for him, whether that's coming from the wings or midfield or wherever, having players that can stretch play and pull defenders out of position will give Owen the chance to find space in the box and be a bigger threat for us.

 

Heskey has been a good partner for Owen, mainly because of the amount of time they've played together rather than them being ideally suited for each other, I don't think it's as simple as saying Smith is similar to Heskey so he'll be a good partner too though, especially as their record of playing together for England is hardly glowing.

[Howaythelads]

Suppose anything is possible, but I'll be mighty shocked if they were to ever form a good partnership.

 

Owen has always been best with a striker partner who will do the bulk of the work in general play, allowing Owen to contribute sparsely in terms of active build up play and play on the shoulder of the last defender, always threatening to get in behind. He then comes into his element in the box, where he's as good as anyone.

 

Heskey is a good example, he's always getting about doing the bulk of the work. Rooney will be the same when they eventually get a run of games together for England, as Rooney likes to drop deep and link the play.

 

The threat of Owen in behind also gives his striker partner more room to play in.

 

I like Martins, but his play is very erratic and I don't see him being someone we want to build the play through at all. Smith is similar in style to Heskey, gets about and will be very involved. Viduka when fully fit I reckon will gel very well with Owen too, as a bit of space to work in will benefit him immensely.

 

I don't agree with this Shak for a few reasons.

 

First of all Michael Owen has scored goals with whoever he's been partnered with, he got something like 7 goals in 10 games while being partnered with Shearer, he also had the best goals to minutes played ratio while playing in Madrid next to Ronaldo so it's fair to say he can score playing with any type of partner, he's also scored goals in the past while being partnered with Fowler and Anelka.

 

What he does need however is to have pace in the side to make space for him, whether that's coming from the wings or midfield or wherever, having players that can stretch play and pull defenders out of position will give Owen the chance to find space in the box and be a bigger threat for us.

 

Heskey has been a good partner for Owen, mainly because of the amount of time they've played together rather than them being ideally suited for each other, I don't think it's as simple as saying Smith is similar to Heskey so he'll be a good partner too though, especially as their record of playing together for England is hardly glowing.

 

How many times has Owen played up front with Smith for England? That is what you mean, isn't it?