"The big lad up front"

[Working class pride]

With the comedy of Andy Carroll tonight against Italy, then will the minority of Brighton fans asking for Poyet to "buy a big lad up front" to "give another option" have learnt?

When English kids start playing 5 a side football until they are 14 then the likes of Carroll and Heskey up front for England will be history. England did as well as they could with limited passing ability.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Agree. Pass and Move.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Perhaps that big lad Defoe,of the players he took.

 

[Marshy]

Keep Keep Keep the ball, a big lad up front is fine as long as he is good at this.

 

[Ernest]

Well we tried the Spanish tactic of playing without a striker last season for many games and that didn't work did it ?

 

[RowleyBirkinQ.C(deceased)]

I'm no fan if Carroll but we were so poor when he came I thought he showed some good touches. Some good headed flicks, good chest control to hold the ball up. If your going to criticise anyone, Rooneys your man. Another poor performance tonight.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Carroll was a hell of a lot better than Rooney tonight and the header against Sweden was one of the best headed England goals I've ever seen.

 

[Questions]

Hodgson had to play a big man up front..... We have no other options at the moment but if we want to contest at this level we,ll need to re-think from the bottom up with what we teach.
Does anyone have a child playing junior football ? It's laughable some of the coaching that goes on.

 

[SWCspider-man]

To be fair Andy Carroll did nothing wrong in my eyes,
One thing I do like about him is that regardless who es playing against he's willing to clatter someone and make it known he's there, all about presence which unfortunately Welbeck does not have.

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

The scary thing is, Carroll is a lot better than Heskey, and a lot (most) people on here would be happy to sign him...

 

[RowleyBirkinQ.C(deceased)]

The scary thing is, Carroll is a lot better than Heskey, and a lot (most) people on here would be happy to sign him...

Indeed James. Indeed.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Nothing wrong with a big man up top if he can play. Think for us (the Albion) it's about having options for certain games against the more physical sides in the league.

 

[GT49er]

The 'big lad up front' did alright tonight - certainly a lot better than Wellbeck. I agree that Young should have been taken off rather than Milner, though - he didn't seem to do much for us tonight.

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

He did well, and does do well when we actually get crosses in but by the time he came on we had resorted to passing it to the keeper and hoofing forward.

 

[Captain Sensible]

I think Carroll did well. Wasn't used snough in this tournamentzz I think he'll be a hit in Brazil. Good player.

 

[Surf's Up]

Unfortunately the "big lad up front" seems to be one of the team components necessary to get promoted from the Championship and yes, we did play without a striker for many games last season but to do that successfully you also have to have half a dozen skilled, technical players who can move the ball around without giving it away and who can score goals

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Shearer made an utter tit of himself as a pundit though. He (and Guy Mowbray) kept on and on about Carroll's different dimension, Shearer going as far as to suggest "They [Italy] won't have seen anyone like him before" and wondering how they'd cope.

What? Don't tall people exist in Italy? FFS, Carroll is 6'3". Balotelli is 6'2". Is there some sort of freakish ability that comes with that extra inch in height?

 

[Questions]

Shearer made an utter tit of himself as a pundit though. He (and Guy Mowbray) kept on and on about Carroll's different dimension, Shearer going as far as to suggest "They [Italy] won't have seen anyone like him before" and wondering how they'd cope.

What? Don't tall people exist in Italy? FFS, Carroll is 6'3". Balotelli is 6'2". Is there some sort of freakish ability that comes with that extra inch in height?

They won't have seen someone who has his sort of touch and special awareness, no.
32 million ? Come on, it is funny.

 

[Was not Was]

Is there some sort of freakish ability that comes with that extra inch in height?

On last night's evidence, complete inability to even attempt a pass or through ball when in possession on the break.

 

[Silk]

Hodgson had to play a big man up front..... We have no other options at the moment but if we want to contest at this level we,ll need to re-think from the bottom up with what we teach.
Does anyone have a child playing junior football ? It's laughable some of the coaching that goes on.

But you have to remember that at this level the coaches are just the parents of the kids doing it. It can take years for them to get coaching qualifications so you will always have a mixture of coaching abilities.