22 Dec 2024 17:33:29
Big fan of Nico Jackson me but his aerial game just isn't it or at least not yet anyway. he's not a powerhouse against low blocks as i could see why our Sporting Directors were interested in Duran and Samu.
Doesnt mean Jackson isn't a great player. We had similar issues at home to Palace and Forest against teams that sit back. For this team to carry on growing i would go for one of Duran or Samu as fingers crossed if we get champions league we'll need two top strikers.
Unfortunately i feel Nkunku will leave. He's just not as good as Cole Palmer or a number 9 in the premier league. We need the Drogba/ Costa type as the next piece of the puzzle.
22 Dec 2024 17:55:20
I may well be wrong but wasn’t that the first game we haven’t scored in since the opening game of the season.
22 Dec 2024 18:08:27
MattW1988, I think Jackson is a good player but not great. We have plenty of players who are skillful and we score a lot of goals from open play. For a team which plays with wingers we need an ariel threat in the 18 yard box. In tight games or big games we need to be able to mix it up in the opponents penalty area with a bit of muscle. We are a goalkeeper, centre back and striker away from winning the title.
22 Dec 2024 19:57:48
Well if you all keep liking him he’s probably a lovely lad but he will not be a prolific forward he looks like someone playing in soccer aid who doesn’t play football.
22 Dec 2024 20:26:18
The use of the term “prolific” is interesting.
Most recent Chelsea fans would have Drogba as there top striker and he certainly had a knack of scoring important goals in big games, although I never forgave him for getting sent off in the Champions League final.
I think he only scored more than twenty goals in a season twice and if I remember correctly he scored 16 goals in both his first two seasons.
He used to occasionally drive me made with a poor first touch but then a few seconds later destroy CH and score a wonder goal. I also seem to remember him getting loads of assists.
22 Dec 2024 21:15:53
Drogba was indeed a top class striker and more importantly a big game player. Leaving aside his goals his presence in the box and knock-ins created chances for other players ( as did Costa) . Also, Drogba made significant defensive contributions; he tracked back and was important in defending set pieces. There is absolutely no comparison between Drogba and Jackson.
22 Dec 2024 21:26:16
I wasn’t comparing Jackson and Drogba as players only there scoring stats. They are vey different types of players.
I’m not a fan of comparing players. The best two CFs I’ve ever seen play for Chelsea were Greaves and Ossie and you couldn’t watch two more different players but in my opinion they were both brilliant but just offered individual sets of skills.
22 Dec 2024 21:41:09
Tom, yes exactly Drogba was a CF, Jackson isn’t. That’s my point, we need to be able to mix it up with a forward with an aerial threat when games are in the balance.
22 Dec 2024 22:12:59
Jimbo, we have had this debate before about what a CF looks like in this “so called” modern era and we have different views. That isn’t to say I wouldn’t have love a a CF who was mobile, quick, good first touch and good in the air but they seem to be very thin on the ground these days!
My point was the use of the word “prolific. ” I assumed it was used in the goal scoring sense hence my use of comparative stats of Jackson and Drogba. I repeat obviously they have/ had completely different playing styles.
22 Dec 2024 22:46:56
Tom, I disagree, a centre forward is a centre forward, it had nothing to do with the modern era. True, in the modern era teams can be successful without a CF, and instead rely on goal scorers e. g Salah. All I am saying is that a proper CF would add an extra dimension to our game.
22 Dec 2024 23:22:03
Jimbo, I have already acknowledged we disagree.
We had this debate yonks ago. It could well be that a so called “proper” CF could add a “different dimension” but it could just as easily take away “another dimension. ” I repeat, I would love us to sign a CF who has it all.
I repeatedly said who my No1 choice was all of last season and I would now add the lad at Newcastle to my very short list of CFs.
23 Dec 2024 00:21:39
Tom, I’m struggling to think of what “ dimension” we would lose. I think Guiu could fit the bill in a couple of years but he is young and as we have seen with young players, things can go wrong and expectations can be too high: Broga being a prime example although I never rated him. Watching MOTD Gusto should have a penalty, if Pickford was an outfield player he probably would have had a red card as well.
23 Dec 2024 05:17:36
I’m struggling to think of a recent top team that played or plays with a CF who is or was an “aerial threat” in the traditional sense. Only Forest out of the current top four have a CF who is solid in the air.
23 Dec 2024 05:24:18
Sent before I finished.
Also, a lot of teams now seem to play wide players so they can cut inside onto there stronger foot to shoot not to cross.
City, Liverpool, Villa and now the Gooners have spent seasons without playing CF’s who were an aerial threat in the traditional sense.
23 Dec 2024 08:42:17
Interesting Tom you mention those teams not having a CF for crosses.
What they do have is a goal threat with their defenders from corners and set pieces, something we font have therefore they can get away with not having the CF.
23 Dec 2024 09:51:53
Bill that’s a good point. Of course as mentioned above Drogba was a massive asset defending corners.
Maybe the last CF we had who was good in the air was Giroud but my god he so slow. Of his task wasn’t made easier because we had wingers who couldn’t cross the ball over the first man. That used to drive me bonkers.
I think Jackson is better in the air than Watkins, Havertz or Jota. Another strange thing is the gooners seem to have two wide players who can cross a ball but no dominant in the air CF. The scousers have TAA who seems to be able to drop a cross onto any players head but again to my old eyes they don’t have that type of CF.
23 Dec 2024 18:58:50
Tom, I think that the Gooners primary target will be a an old fashioned No 9. I have to disagree with you about Jackson, the three players you mentioned are better the air than him. Jackson has attributes as a forward but heading is not one of them, he can’t leap from a static position in the box but that is not surprising as he has historically been a wide player.
23 Dec 2024 19:10:44
Then we will have to agree to disagree.
I hope the gooners do go for a so called “old fashioned No 9.
23 Dec 2024 21:10:08
Tom, be careful what you wish for.