Match Reaction vs The 'Ammers (away).

[selassie]

I find it a little simplistic view, even if it would work in practice. Not sure it would serve him any better playing CF than him playing on the left. You have to be more than fairly strong to pull it off in the prem. You have to be a physical match for the Centre halves in the prem who are typically the strongest players in the division.....unless we are happy with our CF being totally physically dominated for the entire 90 minutes.

AT Dortmund he starts on the left....never mind what actually happens when they attack. If it is naturally his game to get beyond the lines and link up with another more powerful player then he can do so without actually starting as the CF imo.

I do find it strange that you believe 40 million to be a fair valuation considering some of the other views you've expressed. I don't think the valuation is too far north of what he is worth, but I'm not quite sure he is worth 40 million to our team as it is.

Well that's your opinion. I find your view pretty simplistic that you feel a CF has to be a physical match for the Centre Halves. Reus is more in the mould of say Aguero or Suarez, he's not a brute but is no weakling either. Where players like Reus, Suarez or Aguero excel are in their movement and finishing, if you have that you will succeed in PL. Of course they have the added advantage of having upper body strength, but on the ground is where they excel.

If you watch Dortmund closely whilst Reus does start from the left he very much roams across the frontline, not too dissimilar to Bale actually.

What's strange about my valuation of Reus? He's a proven performer in CL, he has had 2 very good seasons for Dortmund in CL playing at a high level, he is a proven performer in Bundesliga, he is a starter for Germany who IMHO are currently the best national side in the world. He's on the cusp of being credited as a world class player who has delivered for a sustained period of time.

Reus would fit into our game easily IMHO, he's a highly technical player with world class movement and is a great finisher, he's also very good from set pieces.

[Xhaka Can’t]

West Ham can't be that shit, they put 3 past Spurs...

Post of 2013 lol:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

As a short guy being hard to knock off the ball (which is what I was talking about rather than ability), Messi isn't a one of a kind. There are tons of them around including Gotze, Iniesta and Ribery. They're skinny midgets but they can make players like Essien look silly when they hold them off and shield the ball so effortlessly. Reus has that in his locker and has the ball control to boot.

Reus isn't even short at 5'11 and can handle the physical side of the game. Shorter strikers have succeeded in the Premier League like Owen, Defoe, Robbie Keane and even Wrighty. You dont have to be built like a tank.

He has a buy out clause so he is attainable, as long as he wants to leave.

Messi plays the false 9 role. His starting position is never anywhere the CB's.....anyone who has watched Barca in the last several years would know that. Is Reus to do the same? Come deep or start from the area our midfield will be? Would he congest an already congested area with our players who look to cut in or come in field anyway? We do not play the ball anywhere near as quickly or fluidly as Barca. Much of this season we have been happy for the opposition to have the ball whilst we bide our time. The absence of a forward presence near the CB, means we would have no focal point up top or anyone to play it off like Giroud has been doing. That means a entire change of dynamics to our play. It is a vastly different way to play...which frankly is not the concern....the concern would be whether a player like Reus can make that work and changing our whole way of playing for a player who there's little evidence for being able to play there.

On the basis of the argument seemingly forged here I cold suggest any player with decent body strength and speed should play CF for the Arsenal, Ribery, Robben, what about draxler? He's quick, skilful with an eye for goal? But that would be a gross over simplification of what it takes to play there in the premier league imo. Nobody in German football has played him there.....have they simply been overlooking something all this time?

Michael Owen flourished before the regular use of the 433 in a 442. If you go back and check the climate of football at the time you will find that to be true. The same goes for Keane, Wright and Defoe who ironically is seldom trusted to played as the lone striker role these days in spite of Spurs being desperate for goals and him having a proven goal scoring record. It is also different when your football education has come from here where you naturally learn how to play against the sort of opposition you find here.

Have you heard Wright talk or seen him play. He would kick you in the nuts if you asked him to take a corner free kick or drop deep into the field for the build up play. The man saw the goal at all times and his every breath was in accordance to putting the ball in the back of the net. You're not telling me Reus is that kind of player?

Pretty much every player has a buyout clause and if not they have a price. That doesn't mean he is attainable in the sphere of reality. Messi has a buyout clause. Nobody thinks he is actually attainable. Wenger is never going to pay 40 million or whatever people say his clause is whilst he has Podolski, Santi and Ozil to play wide left. Never.

To the person who suggested we sign both Reus and Costa that might conceivably cost us 80 million? Whilst Wenger surprised me with the Ozil signing, I don't think it is exactly going to become the norm.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Well that's your opinion. I find your view pretty simplistic that you feel a CF has to be a physical match for the Centre Halves. Reus is more in the mould of say Aguero or Suarez, he's not a brute but is no weakling either. Where players like Reus, Suarez or Aguero excel are in their movement and finishing, if you have that you will succeed in PL. Of course they have the added advantage of having upper body strength, but on the ground is where they excel.

If you watch Dortmund closely whilst Reus does start from the left he very much roams across the frontline, not too dissimilar to Bale actually.

What's strange about my valuation of Reus? He's a proven performer in CL, he has had 2 very good seasons for Dortmund in CL playing at a high level, he is a proven performer in Bundesliga, he is a starter for Germany who IMHO are currently the best national side in the world. He's on the cusp of being credited as a world class player who has delivered for a sustained period of time.

Reus would fit into our game easily IMHO, he's a highly technical player with world class movement and is a great finisher, he's also very good from set pieces.

It is my opinion, well noted. Suarez is a physical match as is Aguero for any defender in the league. It's almost as if a player as skilfully gifted as Suarez can't possibly possess impressive physical strength. Well they do. Please let's not try to lump Reus in with Suarez or Aguero. Aguero would knock anyone on his arse. I wouldn't call either a 'brute' because they both have too much footballing ability to be lumbered with that title.....but imo Suarez and Aguero have the strength of brutes.

So yes. I think in the prem if you want to be amongst the best you do have to be a physical match for the CB's in the league. Not necessarily twice as strong as them to knock them out of your way like some oaf, but strong enough to hold them off, occasionally knock them off, give them the shoulder charge back and simply physical enough to fend them off whilst executing the technical things in your game.

RvP, Rooney, Suarez, Aguero, Negredo, Lukaku, Giroud all have enough about them physically to be successes to greater or lesser extents.

You have pretty much repeated my assertion about Reus. He starts from the left and he gets somewhat of a free role in his actual forward play, which fluent and fluid. SO tell me? Why actually play him from a different position to the one he plays so well from at Dortmund. I repeat, if this is his natural game and it works from where he has been so far (starting from the left), what is the actual need to start him at CF, where the emphasis and starting position changes as its proximity approaches the CB's?

[milla]

Well that's your opinion. I find your view pretty simplistic that you feel a CF has to be a physical match for the Centre Halves. Reus is more in the mould of say Aguero or Suarez, he's not a brute but is no weakling either. Where players like Reus, Suarez or Aguero excel are in their movement and finishing, if you have that you will succeed in PL. Of course they have the added advantage of having upper body strength, but on the ground is where they excel.

If you watch Dortmund closely whilst Reus does start from the left he very much roams across the frontline, not too dissimilar to Bale actually.

What's strange about my valuation of Reus? He's a proven performer in CL, he has had 2 very good seasons for Dortmund in CL playing at a high level, he is a proven performer in Bundesliga, he is a starter for Germany who IMHO are currently the best national side in the world. He's on the cusp of being credited as a world class player who has delivered for a sustained period of time.

Reus would fit into our game easily IMHO, he's a highly technical player with world class movement and is a great finisher, he's also very good from set pieces.

[milla]

You have pretty much repeated my assertion about Reus. He starts from the left and he gets somewhat of a free role in his actual forward play, which fluent and fluid. SO tell me? Why actually play him from a different position to the one he plays so well from at Dortmund. I repeat, if this is his natural game and it works from where he has been so far (starting from the left), what is the actual need to start him at CF, where the emphasis and starting position changes as its proximity approaches the CB's?

Isn't that is how Suarez and Aguero play? Despite starting as CF,they drift all over the pitch (free role) and don't like to be squeezed between two CBs.

[Niall_Quinn]

In the end I thought we came back excellently after going behind against the run of play. At no time did I think we wouldn't beat them, we were superior in every department. The ref playing by the rules helped a lot - it makes such a difference to the final score. Good that the crowd was patient with Giroud - he had another poor day, though not through lack of effort, and there's no point getting on his case because he's all we've got right now.

Special mention to the BT commentary team - just awful, had to switch it off and watch in silence.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Isn't that is how Suarez and Aguero play? Despite starting as CF,they drift all over the pitch (free role) and don't like to be squeezed between two CBs.

It's not so much a free role they play.... it's just a central position allows more room for moving around. You don't see the likes of Aguero tripping over Yaya Toure's toes because he is planted in the midfield area. They vary their play by coming short, dropping deep or going long as and when the situation requires and they are well equipped to do so. They move according to the play rather than the limitations in their game.

Like I've already said. If the suggestion here is that in giving Reus a free role, you are truly maximising his talents then insisting on him playing CF would appear strange. Positionally speaking, he would be much freer on the left where he can start from an area which is less occupied by the oppositions defenders and where you can really build up a run rather than receiving the ball and feeling the CB's breath on your neck. That is precisely why Cronaldo plays on the left for Real and it has not been criticised or questioned too heavily despite the player being a goal machine of a type we have seldom ever seen throughout history.

[Dr Singh]

It's a simple point really. For someone to be successful as the focal point of an attack in the EPL (433/451 formation), they can be as skilled as anyone, but it's almost a minimum requirement to possess some degree of power.

Suarez, Rooney, Tevez and Aguero are all absolute pitbulls. They aren't the tallest, but they can more than hold their own physically against any CB in the league. It's for this reason they can really showcase their skill as a focal point.

I'd argue that someone like Hernandez, Vela, Walcott, Soldado and even Eduardo would all really struggle to be the focal point of any EPL attack. They lack the minimum strength requirement to be able to hold up the ball. It's not good enough to rely on skill and be a poacher in the EPL, unless you're as good as someone like Messi for sake of argument! It's been seen for ages.

Suarez, Rooney & Aguero all weigh around 80kg. Reus weighs under 70kg, and is thus nearly 2 stone lighter. He's a classy player, but he simply wouldn't be able to hold up and shake off EPL defenders.

Having said all of this - I'd be absolutely elated if we did sign Reus, but I'd be hoping he'd be signed to play on the left wing, and for no other position. His partner in crime Lewandowski is far more what we need.

Due to everything I've said above, I'd also hate the idea of us signing Pato. No thanks. Diego Costa. Hell yes.

[milla]

It's not so much a free role they play.... it's just a central position allows more room for moving around. You don't see the likes of Aguero tripping over Yaya Toure's toes because he is planted in the midfield area. They vary their play by coming short, dropping deep or going long as and when the situation requires and they are well equipped to do so. They move according to the play rather than the limitations in their game.

Like I've already said. If the suggestion here is that in giving Reus a free role, you are truly maximising his talents then insisting on him playing CF would appear strange. Positionally speaking, he would be much freer on the left where he can start from an area which is less occupied by the oppositions defenders and where you can really build up a run rather than receiving the ball and feeling the CB's breath on your neck. That is precisely why Cronaldo plays on the left for Real and it has not been criticised or questioned too heavily despite the player being a goal machine of a type we have seldom ever seen throughout history.

In this case, lets just agree to disagree.