Why our left hand side is potentially useless, post-Shearer, whoever we play.

[James]

Sir Bobby Robson's Foreword in Alan Shearer - My Illustrated Career:

 

This may sound strange to peple not in the game but I was always impressed with the way he (Shearer) could convert crosses whether they came in from the left or right. Look closely at other strikers, they are better from one side or the other. Alan was lethal from either flank.

 

He is right. Of our strikers, Owen and Martins are much better at converting chances when the ball comes from the right hand side, particularly with headers. Smith's pre season goal was from the right as well, in fact, the majority of our goals scored from crosses have come from the right.

 

The exceptions of course are Martins' overhead kick versus Bolton, which doesn't really count as he was afforded so much time and space, and Viduka's brace versus West Ham.

 

In fact, Viduka is the exception it seems, as he appears to convert more from the left from what I've seen both here and at Boro.

 

However, there are quite a few times when we have made a good fast move down the left, that Viduka hasn't been able to keep up with. Therefore, there is no-one we can rely on to put the ball away when it is delivered from the left.

 

Its not ideal, but for now, our best option is to always play Viduka, and get Duff to use his slow dribbling tendencies, or get Milner to waste time cutting back on to his right to allow Viduka to catch up when necessary. Of course, this also allows the opposition to compose themselves, so the cross, and the movement from Viduka would have to be bloody good.

 

This is clearly a big problem. We may have plenty of very healthy sperm down our left hand side, but you need a good quality egg as well for there to be any potency, and this is not the case. Sperm count may be poor on the right, but there is still a much better chance of them finding the egg.

 

Clearly we need to find strikers better at converting from the left, or preferably find players that can create from the right flank, even if it means sacrificing a very good left sided player to pay for it.

[The College Dropout]

Okay.

[Syrette]

Right you are.

[ChezGiven]

I dress to the left but swing both ways.

[greydos]

I think SBR was trying to illustrate that some strikers find it harder to convert chances from both flanks when they are in position not that some strikers don't keep up with the move etc. It's because it requires different body positioning, just like shooting with the left foot is more difficult because the right leg is often not used as the standing leg and so is not well placed or braced, getting the body in the correct position for headers from the left may be more difficult for some strikers.

 

I don't think owen counts as favouring the right more than the left as he converts any chance he gets. We just don't make many chances, regardless of from the left or the right

[Guest MaetihS]

never thought that we missed Shearer so much...even in his last playing days for us (slow and immobile), he provides leadership upfront, strikes fear in defenders and not to mention his goals n general play. bet these days, none of our strikers put defenders on their toes mybe except for Owen cos of his reputation.

[Dinho lad]

I remember the times when people were saying that we'll play a much more fluid game when Shearer leaves.

[Wullie]

There's a bloody good reason why our left hand side is shite, and none of it has anything to do with the above.

[Shak]

There's a bloody good reason why our left hand side is s****, and none of it has anything to do with the above.

 

 

Factamundo, like.

[Guest Pie]

There's a bloody good reason why our left hand side is s****, and none of it has anything to do with the above.

I quite agree.

[NSG]

Sir Bobby Robson's Foreword in Alan Shearer - My Illustrated Career:

 

This may sound strange to peple not in the game but I was always impressed with the way he (Shearer) could convert crosses whether they came in from the left or right. Look closely at other strikers, they are better from one side or the other. Alan was lethal from either flank.

 

He is right. Of our strikers, Owen and Martins are much better at converting chances when the ball comes from the right hand side, particularly with headers. Smith's pre season goal was from the right as well, in fact, the majority of our goals scored from crosses have come from the right.

 

The exceptions of course are Martins' overhead kick versus Bolton, which doesn't really count as he was afforded so much time and space, and Viduka's brace versus West Ham.

 

In fact, Viduka is the exception it seems, as he appears to convert more from the left from what I've seen both here and at Boro.

 

However, there are quite a few times when we have made a good fast move down the left, that Viduka hasn't been able to keep up with. Therefore, there is no-one we can rely on to put the ball away when it is delivered from the left.

 

Its not ideal, but for now, our best option is to always play Viduka, and get Duff to use his slow dribbling tendencies, or get Milner to waste time cutting back on to his right to allow Viduka to catch up when necessary. Of course, this also allows the opposition to compose themselves, so the cross, and the movement from Viduka would have to be bloody good.

 

This is clearly a big problem. We may have plenty of very healthy sperm down our left hand side, but you need a good quality egg as well for there to be any potency, and this is not the case. Sperm count may be poor on the right, but there is still a much better chance of them finding the egg.

 

Clearly we need to find strikers better at converting from the left, or preferably find players that can create from the right flank, even if it means sacrificing a very good left sided player to pay for it.

 

Corner on the left, IIRC.

 

As well as that, Viduka vs West Ham and Owen vs Everton both came from the left.

 

This thread is just a poor excuse for why we're utter, utter shit.

[johnnypd]

James in "trying to find zany new angle to approach same old issues" shocker.

[Guest alex]

[danswan]

Are you saying that Beye has a low sperm count?

[Tooj]

I've heard some shit in my time. And it all seems to come from you.

[James]

So are people disputing what Robson says about strikers being better at converting chances from one flank opposed to the other?

 

Owen has always been more prolific from crosses from the right hand side (although that doesn't mean that he doesn't sometimes convert crosses from the left), as has Martins at Newcastle.

 

I had mentioned Viduka versus West Ham - He clearly prefers it from the left, the only question is whether he can keep up.

 

The bottom line is that we need to get our right hand flank sorted, preferably with a pacy player so that we can provide crosses that Owen and Martins stand a better chance of converting.

[Guest jcricthon]

If Bobby's theory is correct, then why are our best crossers/players on the left, and why is our most energetic (and in my opinion best) striker in Martins playing on the right wing....next to the corner flag?

[Dave]

Any crosses would be nice.

[James]

Question is, do those on the left have enough confidence that our strikers will do anything good with those crosses, because if they don't, they are going to instead try to cut inside or dawdle on the  ball to try and keep possession.