[Archived] Di Santo -

[BPF]

Di Santo will never make it at this level.

End of story

[MarkBRFC71]

Whilst it's hard being a lone striker, he missed plenty of chances so he should keep his mouth shut.

If he goes back to Chelsea and complains about being a lone striker then he'll be out of that club straight away. Both Drogba and Anelka have played as lone front men to great effect, so if Di Santo can't hack it then he's obviously not good enough.

To be fair, Chelsea play that way but don't rely on purely lumping the ball up to Drogba or Anelka at every possible opportunity which is pretty much all we did when Franco played regularly. Also their version of the system involves midfielders getting forward much more than ours does - probably down to the fact that their players are simply better able to do so - and also Sam seems inherently negative so the team naturally sits deeper (at least for the first 45 mins).

I still think that we missed a beat in not pairing Franco and Niko, but hey, that ship's sailed now.

[LeChuck]

Yeah fair point, it would be much easier playing as a lone front man for Chelsea. Having said that, Anelka made a good job of it under Allardyce at Bolton.

If he hadn't fluffed so many chances then I'd probably be more willing to listen to his whinging.

[MarkBRFC71]

Yeah fair point, it would be much easier playing as a lone front man for Chelsea. Having said that, Anelka made a good job of it under Allardyce at Bolton.

If he hadn't fluffed so many chances then I'd probably be more willing to listen to his whinging.

Didn't Anelka play as one of the wide players in the 3 at Bolton? I thought they used Davies as the focal point/battering ram ....

[LeChuck]

Nah, Anelka played as the lone striker and Davies got moved out to the right wing. Obviously that meant they could still use Davies as the Samba-style battering ram from set pieces, but otherwise Anelka was leading the line.

[gumboots]

Exactly which part of that statement is not valid?

Just how much more mid-table could we possibly get ?

I wasn't suggesting it wasn't valid. I merely said that he's gone home, someone's asked him the questions and he's probably hurting because he didn't make the grade with us. He's a kid with pride and so you put the failure on anyone but yourself. He could have been more of a success if he'd put the one on one away or at least a couple of them and that would have boosted his confidence and possibly led to more starts. I don't think he was particularly damning of our club or said anything that wasn't true. He worked hard when he was on the pitch and I'm sorry it didn't work out for him.

[alexanders]

Nah, Anelka played as the lone striker and Davies got moved out to the right wing. Obviously that meant they could still use Davies as the Samba-style battering ram from set pieces, but otherwise Anelka was leading the line.

This raises a question for me.

Why haven't Sam used Di Santo as Davies and Nikola Kalinic as lone striker? Surely Di Santo is in a similar mould to Davies and could have been moved to the right wing.

[braddock]

Nah, Anelka played as the lone striker and Davies got moved out to the right wing. Obviously that meant they could still use Davies as the Samba-style battering ram from set pieces, but otherwise Anelka was leading the line.

anelka was already a proven european striker at that point though

di santo was still learning

shame we couldn't teach him much

[LeChuck]

This raises a question for me.

Why haven't Sam used Di Santo as Davies and Nikola Kalinic as lone striker? Surely Di Santo is in a similar mould to Davies and could have been moved to the right wing.

I think we did try it one game...Stoke away was it? Wasn't very successful as I recall.

Davies has a decent cross on him and loves to tackle, so he makes a decent right winger. Di Santo didn't really have any of the attributes to do it, which is probably why Sam never attempted it again.

[alexanders]

I think we did try it one game...Stoke away was it? Wasn't very successful as I recall.

Davies has a decent cross on him and loves to tackle, so he makes a decent right winger. Di Santo didn't really have any of the attributes to do it, which is probably why Sam never attempted it again.

I guess Sam might be looking at this type of striker now then. Who can play as a right winger or lone striker and use Kalinic as a right winger or lone striker. Time will tell.

[Hughesy]

Rooney doesnt struggle upfront on his own....or Drogba....or Torres.....or even Darren Bent.

Its not a swipe as such, but his comments tread a very fine line - perhaps had he bagged more of his chances in that long run he had then he would have played more too!

[brian_gallagher85]

Swipe or not, the lad missed chances that my 80 year old granny would have buried in his team at Ewood.

[Exiled_Rover]

Rooney doesnt struggle upfront on his own....or Drogba....or Torres.....or even Darren Bent.

Its not a swipe as such, but his comments tread a very fine line - perhaps had he bagged more of his chances in that long run he had then he would have played more too!

They don't struggle upfront on their own because they're not left isolated.

Kalinic suffers from the same problem as Di Santo; both spent 80% of the match 30 yards away from a teammate. It's the system Allardyce operates, it's not pretty, but it's effective. Sadly neither Kalinic or Di Santo suit it in it's current form.

[sparkspakespoke]

They don't struggle upfront on their own because they're not left isolated.

Kalinic suffers from the same problem as Di Santo; both spent 80% of the match 30 yards away from a teammate. It's the system Allardyce operates, it's not pretty, but it's effective. Sadly neither Kalinic or Di Santo suit it in it's current form.

Spot on. Di Santo would have scored a lot more this year if he had been starting for Chelsea.

[JAL]

I read the article and kept looking for the parting swipe... there doesn't appear to be one. We are a mid table team, he was up front on his own fighting for the ball, quite often with very little support.

Think he is stating facts to be fair.

Thats how I read it, hes a young lad with lots of potential with probably lots of experienced professional footballing people supporting him thinking why hasnt he scored more goals at Rovers.

Every time he missed a one on one, you just hoped he'd get another chance to score quickly but it never happened like that instead it went on longer before the next chance came along and then when he missed that, the groans then were all too noticable from the crowd thus the confidence levels dropped which isnt unusual especially for such a young lad whose working in such a foreign environment.

Surely though none of us can deny that he didnt fight for the ball and give his all when he was on the field though.

[Florida Rover]

Look he played in 24 games total(22 league) and based on premierleague.com stats he took 25 shots that resulted in his loan wonderful goal("We'll always have b###ley,Franco").Granted our system this year at times was difficult to operate in as a forward but these are professionals paid to put the ball in the back of the net.He may look back on this year with better feelings once some time and perspective have taken effect.

You know were he available for say 2.5£ millI would advocate purchasing him.We all wish he had done better.Hopefully no hard feeling between Chelsea and us as I would love to their club whom uses their young cast offs.

[MarkBRFC71]

They don't struggle upfront on their own because they're not left isolated.

Kalinic suffers from the same problem as Di Santo; both spent 80% of the match 30 yards away from a teammate. It's the system Allardyce operates, it's not pretty, but it's effective. Sadly neither Kalinic or Di Santo suit it in it's current form.

The manager's negative employment of the one up front is part of the problem; the other bit is the fact that Rooney is supported by Valencia, Scholes, and Giggs etc, Torres by Gerrard, Benayoun and Maxi etc, Drogba by Malouda, Lampard and Cole etc.

Compare that to Niko having to rely on Pedersen, Andrews and an ageing, half-injured (usually) Dunny and you can why he struggles.

[LeChuck]

Di Santo receives first call up for Argentina: http://www.wiganlati...-up-460583.aspx

Happy for the lad, he always worked hard here.

I was a bit gutted when we didn't sign him. I'm sure most of us saw that he had a lot of potential, he just didn't score enough goals for us. Seems to have sorted that side of his game out over the last 12 months. Wigan have got a cracking player now.

[RoverScot]

Di Santo will never make it at this level.

End of story

Shows how much has changed in 2 and a half years when we aren't at that level any more and Di Santo is.

Di Santo and Chimbonda - the Conquerors of Burnley

[Salgado Is A Hero]

They're playing Saudi Arabia or someone like that though....can't see him making their real squad. I certainly don't think he's anywhere near the level of players like Aguero, Tevez or Higuain.....even with all the deflected goals he managed last season.

[The Rover of Finland]

Didn´t Mauro get a call also last season? Same kind of match. Di Santo has improved since leaving Ewood but isn´t nothing but decent PL striker.

[LeChuck]

Didn´t Mauro get a call also last season? Same kind of match. Di Santo has improved since leaving Ewood but isn´t nothing but decent PL striker.

I think he got called into a squad that was full of those players (same sort of thing as Boselli, also at Wiga). It looks pretty much a full strength squad apart from Di Santo; Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Di Maria, Mascherano...all the big names.