Guest GAMMELL Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Trevor Benjamin anyone ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Trevor Benjamin anyone ? Get that avatar changed young man! Theres only room for one Disco Des in this land! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Martins has some good points and some bad. to start with, the issues of contention: Control: First touch is usually decent, sometimes superb, sometimes embarrasing. the goals vs city and bolton, or when he takes players on, show off how good it can be, but he'll also have a couple of moments in each game where it lets him, and the side, down. this can be improved upon, both by working on his first touch in training, and also by trying to minimise its effect on his all round game. Drogba was slaughtered for his first two seasons in his country, for his donkey-esque tendancies. his control hadn't actually improved last season, but he was using his pace and strength in the right way to mask his weakness or simply make it irrelevent. Movement: was poor when he first arrived as he stayed central and made few runs, but he showed flashes of how good it can be last season, albeit inconsistently. This season he is showing excellent movement consistently, the way he hangs on the shoulder of defenders and exploits space out wide is fantastic. was hammered for this last season, but has silenced his critics on this front. one aspect of this he could improve is anticipation, not so much making runs in behind that he is good at, but dropping deep to receive passes, or making space for himself when the pitch is congested with defenders. perhaps explains why he is so much better away from home when the pitch opens up, but quieter at SJP when the opposition defend deep. Passing: sometimes makes the wrong choice, or is too selfish in hogging the ball rather than making the obvious pass. though of course this is a sign of youth, N'Zogbia does the same thing and Martins is only a year older. his link-up play has been good this season, certainly against Everton i thought him and Smith worked very well together, bringing others into the game. smith received a lot of praise for this but Martins was at least his equal in this respect. i think he lacks vision but many strikers do, having eyes only for the goal, so not a monumental flaw in his position. still room for improvement, Owen's all round game was awful up till fairly recently. Final ball/Finishing: the biggest aspect of his game to work on, by far. can be amazing as some of his more spectacular goals show, but his recent misses are evidence of his overall lack of finesse. i also think confidence plays a part, when he was in good form in the middle part of last season, he would've put such chances away. whether he'll move into such form when he is in and out of the side now, is still a questionmark. Overall though he is prolific enough, but could score more frequently rather than in sporadic 6 or 7 game runs. his delivery can be good, his cross for Owen earlier in the season could not be bettered, but on the other hand, against Everton he was in the same position and sliced it behind for a goal-kick. then there are other aspects of his game - strength, aerial ability, acceleration, pace, work ethic. pretty good to great in these areas. So overall, a young player of obvious talent, still a little rough round the edges, who has made a lot of progress in the one year he's been with us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Can't disagree with any of that. Especially the bit about the movement. When people list his deficiencies, people still say movement, but as i've been trying to say on several occassions this season - it's improved dramatically. Great post. Sums Martins up perfectly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredbob Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Can't disagree with any of that. Especially the bit about the movement. When people list his deficiencies, people still say movement, but as i've been trying to say on several occassions this season - it's improved dramatically. Great post. Sums Martins up perfectly. About the best summary i've seen on Martins! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggio Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Swapping Martins for Gudjohnson would be the worst footballing decision Allardyce could make. With an injury prone Michael Owen likely to miss plenty of games throughout the season, we'd be left to form a strike partnership containing two of Viduka, Smith, Gudjohnson and Ameobi, not to mention that Gudjohnson has been average for a few years now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Swapping Martins for Gudjohnson would be the worst footballing decision Allardyce could make. With an injury prone Michael Owen likely to miss plenty of games throughout the season, we'd be left to form a strike partnership containing two of Viduka, Smith, Gudjohnson and Ameobi, not to mention that Gudjohnson has been average for a few years now. I'd like to think it would be Gudjohnsen for Emre. With someone like Anelka replacing Martins (should Martins leave). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Its his 50th start tonight, if he starts. 20+ goals from those 50 wouldnt be a bad return. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggio Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Swapping Martins for Gudjohnson would be the worst footballing decision Allardyce could make. With an injury prone Michael Owen likely to miss plenty of games throughout the season, we'd be left to form a strike partnership containing two of Viduka, Smith, Gudjohnson and Ameobi, not to mention that Gudjohnson has been average for a few years now. I'd like to think it would be Gudjohnsen for Emre. With someone like Anelka replacing Martins (should Martins leave). I'd rather have Emre in midfield than Gudjohnson as I think he'll offer more in that position when fit, not just from a creative point but his closing down of the opposition and how he helps up build from the back which cuts down on the amount of long balls we play, Gudjohnson isn't that good in midfield and we'd be going down the route of playing people out of position again. Gudjohnson should have been signed instead of Smith really as both are capable of filling the midfield and attack roles, just that Gudjohnson is a massive upgrade with his ability on the ball. Shame he was injured at the time or things might have been different. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It was more the 'like for like' aspect - i.e. Gudjohnson not being Martins replacement. I think I'd prefer him to Emre here though. Agree he would have been a better option than Smith too and I like Smith. As a forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Its his 50th start tonight, if he starts. 20+ goals from those 50 wouldnt be a bad return. Not bad at all for someone who apparently can't shoot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colos Short and Curlies Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Forgot about his first touch Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Forgot about his first touch Tbh, his first touch was still rank at times tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Forgot about his first touch Tbh, his first touch was still rank at times tonight. And yet they were frightened as fuck of him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Forgot about his first touch Tbh, his first touch was still rank at times tonight. And yet they were frightened as fuck of him. He does look a bit scary. He scares himself. He scares his own feet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Snrub Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 His thigh muscles scare me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 No movement, can't shoot etc etc.... Forgot about his first touch Tbh, his first touch was still rank at times tonight. And yet they were frightened as fuck of him. He does look a bit scary. He scares himself. He scares his own feet. He had nothing on Faye tbh, Spurs visibly stained their Daz whites when he came near. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElDiablo Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Looks better when it's hit to his chest rather than on the floor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 He'll never consistently be able to bring the ball under control and give it to a team-mate with a couple of neat touches, you can see he just lacks the natural composure on the ball. So he'll always be a frustrating player to some extent. But he's got enough ability to do something with the ball from nothing at any given time, and his pace is simply frightening, so he's a tremendous weapon. It's all about minimizing his flaws and accentuating his positives. He has to play to his strengths more, he doesn't just knock the ball by the defender and try to skin him for me. He should be doing that or else playing a very simple pass then looking to make a run, cos with the ball at his feet and with time to look up he's pretty shabby tbh. But with someone like a Viduka to build the play through up front he can be a very good striker for us, and with good coaching I believe he can learn to be very effective out wide in a 4-3-3, where you want your wingers to be very direct. Plays with a lot of passion, hopefully he has that work ethic to push himself to be better. He's still a very rough talent, but I really hope we stick with him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Liam Liam O Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Thought he did very well tonight, certainly the pick of our forward players Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Appearances: 50 Goals: 22 Has there been anyone, other than Shearer and Ferdinand, who has as good a return as this after fifty games? Since the Keegan days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Appearances: 50 Goals: 22 Has there been anyone, other than Shearer and Ferdinand, who has as good a return as this after fifty games? Since the Keegan days. 50 starts; 57 appearances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 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