Bridge'srightfoot wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Douglas Higginbottom wrote:I would say Valencia is a very good player. A real winger who has the priceless ability to cross the ball well and doesnt need a lot of space to do it. AJ has bags of skill but his crossing is poor.
I think Valencia is a good winger but not quite good enough. AJ isn't a great winger & not as athletic but is a far better footballer imo. If AJ played for the rags though, he & his team mates would be trained to create that simple kind of move which led to their 1st goal. It's no coincidence that there were a line of rags players awaiting that ball in. It's not impossible (especially against Kolarov) to deliver that cross, in fact I recon I could do it now. We would be looking to get round the back though & never have the players in position nor the intention to deliver that ball.
They work to a formula which results in goals unless you stop them. If you stop them they try something else. We try something else 1st. It is the only area in which they are better than us: rehearsed simplicity.
But would you agree we are missing a player like a Valencia? We've not had a quality 'winger' since Petrov imo. he was brillaint in his first season before he got crocked. Pacey and a great delivery- always causes problems.
I know a poster on here who will disagree with you about Petrov lol.