Are we a better team without Pelle?

I don`t know. I think we may be less predictable, and against certain teams a more mobile approach would be better.

 

Not sure he is quite the target man to replace A Ricky type player When we just have him up top. When we are attacking with 2 up top he is a much better player. So I guess it depends on what formation we play with him in the line up.

 

Similar questions have been asked about England without Rooney. I think the answer in both cases is that the team often seems to have a better shape when every forward move isn't going through one player; but yyou can't blame the one player for that.

In truth you could have asked this question about Rickie Lambert, and as I recall quite a few people did. I think a better question might be how do you integrate a natural goalscorer like Pelle into a mobile and unpredictable forward line?

 

Horses for courses. Nice to have a choice. Pelle has had to cope with being virtually our only striker (until Ron discovered Shane Long stuffed behind the sofa) and has had to play when not fit. RK said yesterday that Graziano wasn't totally fit even now....though he nearly got put on yesterday when Long looked injured. There will be games where Pelle is the choice and games where he could be put on when the opposition is tired. As I said before....nice to have a choice.

 

Yes. And that isn't me saying that based on our last two games, or even since the very start of our poor run. I've been saying it for some time now. I've been desperate for us to play Long and Mane through the middle together. Quite how Austin now fits into things, I haven't really thought about - but I'll leave that to Ron.

Pelle doesn't offer pace in behind. He can give the ball away too easily with his fancy flick attempts. He isn't deadly clinical. And he isn't a total beast in the air and with his body - some sort of Lukaku-Carroll-Benteke mixture - that puts those faults to one-side and makes him un-playable and therefore un-droppable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for Pelle to be sold (although yes, if the right offer came in for him, I wouldn't be against us accepting). I still think he's a great option to have in the squad.

 

I wonder if we have a slight blip and Long drops in form people will change their minds again?

Pelle wasn't the problem. How we played when Pelle was in the team was. It was basically hit everything to Pelle and see what he can do. No wonder the guys knee went. The poor form came when we kept doing the same thing over and over and Pelle was injured so he had no chance.

 

I think the adjustment in formation has made an impact.
BBC had the formation down as 3-4-2-1 on MOTD last night.

Pelle and Long are obviously completely different strikers, but whether it's holding the ball up or working the channels, you need support and this set-up provides that.

 

Now we have Austin, I think Pelle will have a greater impact on games. Our regular front two should be Pelle and Austin IMO. Where Pelle's flick ons have been aimless before with Austin around he will snap up the loose ball more times than not.

 

Agree with Beddy it really depends on who the oppositions is, our line-up and what formation we choose to play. We certainly have looked more of a threat going forward in the last 3 - 4 games and 5 across the back seems to suit our offensive options but I think Pelle still has a part to play?
Perhaps the question is more about Pelle's desire to be a bit player, rather than a regular.

 

With few exceptions, there are few players who can be guaranteed a start. Isn't that what a squad is about? Pelle is a handful for opposition defences, and I look forward to seeing a refreshed Graziano return. I'd like to see a less knackered Pelle playing fewer games but being the formidable machine we know he can be.

 

I think we are if only for a couple of simple reasons. If you compared Shane to Pelle.

Shane although being smaller will win more headers.
In the instances when a ball is not inch perfect into Pelle's chest he will spend the next 20 seconds gesticulating to the player who failed him or talking to himself ref etc and in that time Shane or Mane would have just gone after the ball or already started pressing.

For all the good things Pelle does he tends to annoy me because he is very quick to start telling others to press when he should have started pressing as soon as the ball to him wasn't right. Defences just walk past him as they seek to get the ball into their midfield.

 

Tbh he has had a bad knee for months now. So him pressing wasn't a option. He played through the pain because Ron asked him to. He played with the injury so long that it went on him and he was forced to take a rest.

 

Was going to like that, but you can't like a player being injured. This is why we need another striker. Some people don't seem to realise stuff like this....they look at a MF or CB and say, why do we need another one....because you can give injured players time to recover instead of rushing them back and all the fans turning on them because they are 'crap'.

 

Partly agree. Pelle was part of the problem. Injury or not, he is hit and miss at holding the ball up with his back to goal and playing simple balls back. When he decides that is what he is going to do, he looks great.

I agree that Pelle isn't helped when we float the ball about 12" above his head. That's like bread and butter to most Premier League CBs. I think we are far too predictable with him in the team and it is easier for CBs. Where he is lethal, is when we get beyond the fullback and get a cross over for him from the byeline.

Someone referred to him as a natural goal scorer, but I don't think he is a natural.

 

Problem was that is all we did. "Oh that's knock it to Pelle he will hold it up again" the amount of times we did that made Pelle look worse. The defenders could read it a mile off which made it harder for him. It was as if Pelle had a magnet just above his head. The amount of times we lumped it to him of course he is going to have problems.

 

When we did that 100% agree, but he often got the ball other than that and he would continually try the flick or the champagne pass. Great to do that now and then, but not all the time.

I got a lot of stick for criticising him last season (I presume the knee wasn't an issue then). If you watch the Spuds game from last season, I think it was the Lamella goal that was one that drove me nuts. We had been under the cosh and the ball came out to Pelle near the half way line. It was crying out for him to hold it up and relief the defending, but he tried a fancy pass rather than the simple one that was on offer and a few seconds later they scored.

Games like Swansea this season and the first half of the United game he looked incredible because he held it up and played the way he was facing. What is even crazier is that I he was carrying a bad knee, he should have been doing that even more as flicking and twisting/turning is more hazardous to the knee.

 

I see that refs are ignoring Long being bashed about. Glad it's not personal...not just Pelle....you can kick the stuffing out of any Saints striker without fear of retribution.

 

Plenty of players do the same though? But because everything went through Pelle it looked worse. Look at Mane? He is in the top 6 of losing the ball in the whole of the Prem. But because we are now changing it up and other players are stepping up it doesn't look as bad.

 

Haha, no. Not even c!ose.

FTR, Long has won 33 of 77 headed duals this season. Pelle has won 70 of 124.

 

I actually see Mane better had holding the ball up wih his back to goal than Pelle.

Pelle doesn't run at people, Mane does so that's hardly a comparison of how well someone holds the ball up with back to goal in the CF position.

Just my opinion.