Monsieur Salut writes: what strikers want to do is score goals. The best of them, like Brian Clough, Kevin Phillips and Jermain Defoe among our greats, also have a selfish streak. Above all, they want their names on the scoresheet.
Lewis Grabban usually has no one to pass to anyway. But his tally in a miserable Sunderland season must make him, overall, a happy man. He is not bought but borrowed and he is also fully aware other clubs are casting an eye in his direction.
Could Chris Coleman make him happy enough to resist others? Would it help if Coleman had just enough financial leeway to bring in another quality player to feature alongside him – even if only sometimes – and offer the knock-ons, the head-downs, the feints and the rest of a good footballer’s tricks and especially if his partner upfront happened to be great in the air, which Grabban is not?
Salut! Sunderland may have unearthed such a player, who could offer SAFC a strike partnership at least reminiscent of Quinn-Phillips even though the one I have in mind would pair two six-footers.
Step forward Jozy Altidore.
Could Chris Coleman be the manager to draw out of Jozy what predecessors couldn’t.
Look at Jozy’s play as he helped Toronto to victors in the MLS league cup final against Seattle Sounders. Not just the well-taken goal but the power and skill he added to Toronto’s attacks.
Yes, I realise he probably wouldn’t come back even if we wanted him. But watching the clip you’ll find below, I couldn’t help thinking back to what we briefly had from Victor Anichebe.
And trust me when I say Jozy’s touches of class will have been appreciated by at least two Toronto Mackems.
Bill Taylor drew my attention to his “other club’s” success, saying: “Great goal from Altidore. It was a Toronto-Seattle final last year, too. Seattle basically parked the bus in front of the goal, forced a scoreless tie and won it on penalty kicks. So last night was doubly sweet.”
And I would be surprised if Martin Bates wasn’t also chuffed.
I’ve saved the clip for last…
How about not talking about Altidore anymore.He’s gone and i’m glad.He just wasn’t good enough.As for new players in the January transfer window,how about trying to get Charlie Adams from Stoke on lone,hes not playing much and i’m sure he’s better than anyone we have in midfield at the moment.
This guy was just a lower league player,in fact he was useless.He couldn’t get a game for any northern league team,he is too slow and does not have enough skill to play up front with anyone….leave him where he is,we aren’t that desperate yet!
You obviously didn’t watch the video.
I watched it and both goals were offside,,US soccer is very poor….If u think Altidore is any good,well at us level he is a galloping carthorse..bloody useless
(via Facebook, from the chairman of the SAFC North America Supporters’ Association) …
Nope. He’s good in the MLS, we’ll leave it at that.
I always felt sorry for Josy. He was playing in a side that had no creativity, and relied on long, hopeful punts up-field. The problem with that was that Josy for some reason, couldn’t jump, and rarely got his head on anything, often being out jumped by smaller players.
IMO he is a player that needs the ball played in front of him, so he could use his pace to put defenders under pressure.
Sadly, we seemed to lack any semblance of tactical nous, and the long aimless ball tactic continued even when we had Jermain Defoe up front, all 5′ 6″ of him.
Hopefully, we now have a manager with the ability to formulate a more sensible tactical plan?
Very impressive from the clip. Could he settle on Wearside?
All credit to Stefan Frei, Seattle’s goalie. Without him, it could’ve been a cricket score. He was the hero of last year’s penalty shootout, too. A Swiss national, he’s spent his entire footballing career in North America and, ironically, made his professional debut with Toronto FC in 2009.