Makhtar Gueye

[den]

Gueyes’ abilities or otherwise are really nothing to do with our wingers or anyone else’s weaknesses. 
 

If you’re a good player, you’re a good player no matter who else is in the team.

Edited Wednesday at 14:09 by den

[rigger]

4 minutes ago, den said:

Gueyes’ abilities or otherwise are really nothing to do with our wingers or anyone else’s weaknesses. 

But they contribute to the amount of chances ( or lack of ) created for Gueye.

Edited Wednesday at 14:13 by rigger

[den]

10 minutes ago, rigger said:

But they contribute to the amount of chances ( or lack of ) created for Gueye.

Yes, they do to an extent. 
All the good strikers I’ve ever watched create most of their own chances though. They can burst through the middle with pace, or create chances by movement in the box, they can time a leap for the ball and get power and accuracy into their headers. Some of them aren’t prolific goalscorers but their technique creates chances for others. Sometimes they are just penalty box predators and little else.

I don’t see any of that.

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, den said:

Yes, they do to an extent. 
All the good strikers I’ve ever watched create most of their own chances though. They can burst through the middle with pace, or create chances by movement in the box, they can time a leap for the ball and get power and accuracy into their headers. Some of them aren’t prolific goalscorers but their technique creates chances for others. Sometimes they are just penalty box predators and little else.

I don’t see any of that.

That was not the question. We have a striker that looks to have certain physical attributes, why are we not playing to these attributes ?

[den]

1 minute ago, rigger said:

That was not the question. We have a striker that looks to have certain physical attributes, why are we not playing to these attributes ?

I haven’t seen any attributes. 

[rigger]

11 minutes ago, den said:

I haven’t seen any attributes. 

 So you haven't seen that Gueye is a six foot plus, physically strong athlete. He is an ideal target for crosses into the box. At this point in time, criticism is concentrating  on what Gueye hasn't got, rather than what he has.

[den]

10 minutes ago, rigger said:

 So you haven't seen that Gueye is a six foot plus, physically strong athlete. He is an ideal target for crosses into the box. At this point in time, criticism is concentrating  on what Gueye hasn't got, rather than what he has.

It’s not true that we haven’t been crossing the ball into the box. Of course we have. He’s not a good header of the ball and never looks like scoring off those crosses.

[its_rovertime]

Being a striker myself for a couple of decades (not professional level, but a fairly decent local standard) I always try to to pay close attention to our forward players and especially our new recruits in that area so far this season. Having watched Big Mak for a few games now I think his hold up play is actually very good if the ball is into his feet or chest, he also doesn't mind a battle in the air. When he takes the ball in and lays it off or plays someone in on goal, he looks very handy. He also looks to make some intelligent runs in behind the defence, but either isn't being seen or played in by his team mates, hoping Cantwell may be able to remedy this with a few more games together.

The problem definitely comes when he tries to over play, against Watford I'm not sure what he saw a couple of times, playing 30-40 yard passes out of play. I think maybe he was trying to do too much after his early successes this season, not sure. Then you have the issue that his finishing looks miles off it at the moment, he seems to lack composure and snatches at his opportunities, dragging and scuffing shots wide or straight at the keeper. Maybe bagging a goal or two will help him settle, but his technique does look suspect, so who knows if that can be rectified! As previous posters have said, he does look like he should be strong in the air but we are yet to see him really dominate and win headers in the opposition box to get efforts on goal. Obviously we can caveat this with the fact that we don't really seem to get many crosses in during open play, but the ball rarely finds him from set pieces either.

Overall, IMO, I think he could turn out to be a useful championship striker, not one that's going to get you 20 goals a season but if he can keep it simple, occupy centre halves and bring others into play, he could yet still be an important cog in the system. I guess we can all just hope that he turns out to be more Rudy than Samir! I'm also not sure what we can really expect for a bag of crisps and some Venky's Express vouchers, until the owners sell up we are forever going to be shopping in the bargain basement hoping to unearth a gem, or praying that the academy produces again...but I digress.

 

[rigger]

1 hour ago, den said:

It’s not true that we haven’t been crossing the ball into the box. Of course we have. He’s not a good header of the ball and never looks like scoring off those crosses.

From what I have seen, we usually start concentrating on crosses into the box, just after Gueye has been taken off for someone smaller. Or before he comes on.

[den]

33 minutes ago, rigger said:

From what I have seen, we usually start concentrating on crosses into the box, just after Gueye has been taken off for someone smaller. Or before he comes on.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree on him then. No problem.