Dokko Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 With SA branding Martins as a 'squad player' and commenting that Martins may become unhappy with his role (and rightly so since the fat man is starting ahead of him) do you think its the right way to go, or is there a better pairing up front for you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stozo Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 IF you can get Owen & Martins working together up front then that has to be our best pairing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 IF you can get Owen & Martins working together up front then that has to be our best pairing. It would be my choice. Viduka hasn't done enough to warrant keeping Martins out of the team. Might not be the perfect physical combo, but with Viduka looking like a 40 year old, neither is having him playing with Owen, which is obviously SA preferred starting line up. PS: Removed the other vote as you never get anyone following through with the please state, lazy cunts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wor jackie Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 owen and viduka personally. big tough bloke in viduka who can hold the ball up well, as well as being able to rifle them in. partnered by owen beacuse he thrives off strikers like this, playing around them (like heskey for england) and he'll get you 20+ goals a season. i think if you play owen alongside martins you take a big part of his game away. having said that, oba is a fantastic prospect and is unlucky the other two players are on form at this moment in time. but oba will get chances as the other two are prone to injuries from time to time. good time to be an nufc fan that's for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Nguyen Van Falk Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Owen and Martins, Viduka for the more physical games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colos Short and Curlies Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Owen and Martins. Might not work immediately, but we should look to build a defence and midfield to work to the strengths of these two Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DavB93 Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Owen and Martins for me.. You haven't put Shola in the list.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElDiablo Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Viduka & Owen. Our problem last season was the ball was coming back to the defence and midfield too quickly as Martins, Dyer, Sib etc couldn't hold it up. Viduka is good at holding the ball up and gives us a presence up there that Owen thrives on. I like Martins but it's Viduka and Owen all day for me. For example tonight I would start Viduka (if fit) and Owen, then use Oba as sub and instruct to him to run the channels and lines to pull their already tired defence out and leave space for Owen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 I'd like to see Owen and Martins given a chance to establish a partnership. I think it's daft to say that it won't work, just because none of them are big. If we try it and finds out that they are being outmuscled in every game, fair enough, we need to get either Viduka or Shola in there, but to say it won't work before even trying it doesn't make any sense Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kenton Magpie Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Owen & Martins are too similar for me, it's always best to go for a little and large man combo so I opted for Owen & Viduka Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkhead Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Owen and Martins must play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lamby1976 Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Has to be Viduka and Owen due to the way SA plays he will always use the 'big man small man' combination. If we were to play both Owen and Martins together he would have to change his style of play which I cant see him doing to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate End Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 With Manchester United midfield you could play Owen and Martins up top because there Midfield is so strong and you have Ronaldo, Nani and Scholes to make up for Owen and Martins lack of ability outside the box. But for us with our Midfield I think you have to play a Owen and Viduka partnership most games and play threw Viduka with him being your focal point of attacks with Owen playing on the shoulder of the defenders and getting the goals. I know Obafemi Martins is a fantastic player but I think when Mark Viduka is fully fit after a good amount of games this season I think we will see Viduka being quite unstoppable with Owen as a partnership. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredbob Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 For me i'd love to see martins and owen working together, but think it'll be a partnership we'll rarely see, i think Smith will get a chance before martins does if viduka is injured. Owen is the obvious starter and its a matter of fitting the strikeforce around him, a few years ago pre injuries i genuinely think martins and owen would be successfull because martins likes to drop deep whereas owen is always on the last man, opening up spaces between the 2 allowing for through balls, but nowadays owen has adapted his game to playin off a big man and playing in the box, which isnt what martins can provide. Definitely will be Viduka and Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorpinho Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Viduka may just be unfit at the moment, but in the games i have seen him play this season he has looked poor as a 'target man'. Martins actually seems to win more headers than Viduka! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardsleymagic Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 I'd like to see Owen and Martins given a chance to establish a partnership. I think it's daft to say that it won't work, just because none of them are big. If we try it and finds out that they are being outmuscled in every game, fair enough, we need to get either Viduka or Shola in there, but to say it won't work before even trying it doesn't make any sense To be fair I think Sam must have thought about this himself, maybe he's tried it in training and it hasn't worked that well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Swift Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 I reckon Smith is a better option for the team than Viduka is. He's more mobile, more versatile and will work harder for the team. He might not have the touch of Viduka but how often has Viduka actually shown it in the first five or so games for us? Smith can do the flicking-on and holding up play job almost as well as Viduka can, and probably better as well because he doesn't require pin-point passing from the midfielders to get involved. With Viduka, it's almost a situation where if you lob it up and he's not in a 2 meter radius then he isn't going to get it because he's too slow. Though Smith isn't the fastest, he's certainly faster than Viduka! This is not a knee-jerk or biased opinion as well. I just think that maybe Viduka's form last season has tricked many fans into believing he's better/more consistent that he actually is and will be for us. I remember when Roeder was wanting to sign Viduka last year and many people on the forum was vehemently against it. I think last year was an anomaly, it could actually be due to it being a 'contract' year for him. And with Ameobi not being good enough, Smith is my choice to play the target-man role. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greydos Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 For me it's Owen Ameobi Martins. Lob the ball up to ameobi and his first touch will reliably go anywhere, leading to many 'accidental' assists for owen or martins i think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptoon Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 For me it's Owen Ameobi Martins. Lob the ball up to ameobi and his first touch will reliably go anywhere, leading to many 'accidental' assists for owen or martins i think. I voted Martins and owen, but i agree i'd like to try shola over Viduka at the moment. Viduka has been very disapointing/crap, bar one admittedly good goal, he's been almost completely dominated by the CB's in every one of our games, if this had been shola there would be uproar calling for his head/ him to be dropped. Heskey whom would of been an unthinkable option for many on here at the start of the season seems much more attractive player than the big slow, weak,unmobile, almost non entity that is Viduka at the moment. Shola would have scored/contributed much much more than Viduka so far imo. I have never seen a player in a defenders pocket the way Viduka was in Laursen's for us V villa too. Owen and Martins are our best option imo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lamby1976 Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 For me it's Owen Ameobi Martins. Lob the ball up to ameobi and his first touch will reliably go anywhere, leading to many 'accidental' assists for owen or martins i think. ;D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Short term, we have to try Owen and Martins. Long term, Viduka/Owen no question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howaythelads Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 As I said in a different thread, 1 from Owen/Martins paired with 1 from Smith/Viduka. My first choice would be Owen and Smith. This clamour for Owen/Martins reminds me of the refusal of many to see the obvious with Parker/Emre even after loads of games together. One could be out, we'd play well, make loads of chances yet people still clamoured for them to be paired in CM. Fair enough, a partnership of Owen/Martins hasn't been given a good chance but I don't want to see points risked doing that over a prolonged period, the manager should assess this in training. If they do get a run together and form a consistently good partnership for the benefit of the team I'll be happy to have been wrong this time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thespence Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 My first choice would be Owen and Smith. That was my choice as well. I think a lot of people have looked at Heskey & thought Owen needs a big man next to him if that was the case Stevie Mac should of stuck with Crouch. What Owen's strike partner needs to be is physical like Al was & like Heskey is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Luque Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Martins Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 all 3 preferably, but Martins has to play i think and so does Owen, i think against slow defenders you have to play Martins and Owen together. But i think we need to play all 3 most of the time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now