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Yevhen Konoplyanka

Finney Is Back said:
Good call. I don't remember him ever beating a player with the ball at his feet and he certainly wasn't quick. Mata is another good example - neither really a dribbler or a quick player.

You could probably also count Paul Scholes who played as the advanced midfielder for Man Utd on many occasions (although that was more in the 4-4-2 days - but still same sort of role.

Carzola at Arsenal?... Doesn't seem like a player who relies on pace or dribbling?

Lampard at Chelsea? Used to play as the most attacking midfielder - very little pace, rarely even attempted a dribble but hugely successful for many years. Prior to that there was Guy Poyet - again not pacy or a dribbler, just a creative footballer with good touch, who was excellent at getting into the right areas and then taking the right option.

What about Zidane for Real Madrid? Isco now? Diego for Athletico last season? Riquelme a few years ago?

I would say the biggest attributes required to play as the central attacking midfielder are touch, vision, positional sense, movement, bravery and confidence. pace/dribbling ability are merely a bonus. For example Aaron Lennon has both pace and dribbling ability but I think he would make an awful attacking central midfielder precisely because he lacks several of those other attributes.
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Your examples are very weird imo. For one i specifically said "in this league" so that rules out half your post and i don't actually agree with some of the things you've written.

1) Mata isn't a dribbler? what? i mean he can do other things equally well but he has good pace and is a v.good dribbler.

2) I don't ever remember Paul Scholes actually playing off a striker in a number 10 role. Yes he played as the most advanced midfielder but off the striker? nah.

3) Cazorla is a good dribbler.

4) Lampard...like Scholes he never played just off the striker. The most advanced of a midfield 3 doesn't mean the number 10 role.
 
Kingdawson said:
The names you listed are good dribblers and are reasonably fast (all faster than Eriksen that's for sure). VDV is a good example though..
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I don't think Fabregas is any faster than Eriksen personally.

The dribbling point confuses me a bit. Most very good attacking players will have very good close control and some dribbling skills and thus will be able to dribble past a player once in a while at the very least. That's very different to players that rely on dribbling to take on players frequently and run at the opposition with pace.

veron23 said:
you said Bergkamp was pretty much a number 10.

A number 10 and a support striker is the same position on the field but different role/responsibility
The same way an out and out winger and an inside forward may start in the same position on the field but have a different role.
The same way Sandro and Gerrard start in the same positions but have different roles. and so on and so on

Baggio and Ozil will both start in the same position between midfield and lone striker but have completely different roles and dictate the game in totally different ways.
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One of the differences between a number 10 and a support striker for me is the amount of goals scored. Looking at wikipedia it seems to match up with what I remember of Bergkamp, he didn't score a ton of goals, particularly not in the second half of his Arsenal career.

It could be that my use of a number 10 is a bit too wide when including Bergkamp in this instance, but for my memory he played clearly deeper than a striker and his main responsibility wasn't goalscoring when playing that role.
 
Kingdawson said:
Your examples are very weird imo. For one i specifically said "in this league" so that rules out half your post and i don't actually agree with some of the things you've written.

1) Mata isn't a dribbler? what? i mean he can do other things equally well but he has good pace and is a v.good dribbler.

2) I don't ever remember Paul Scholes actually playing off a striker in a number 10 role. Yes he played as the most advanced midfielder but off the striker? nah.

3) Cazorla is a good dribbler.

4) Lampard...like Scholes he never played just off the striker. The most advanced of a midfield 3 doesn't mean the number 10 role.
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Ah I see.... You are talking about number 10's as opposed to attacking midfielders.... I apologise...

In that case.... Teddy Sherringham, Dennis Bergkamp, Gus Poyet, VDV, Berbatov, Rooney.... That is off the top of my head. There are probably lots of others... Like I say Pace and dribbling ability are certainly nice to have - but I think the other attributes I listed are more important. Do you think Lennon or Townsend could play as a number 10 for example?!? Equally I wonder whether Robben make a good number 10?
 
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What? you're still confusing me. I'm talking about attacking midfielder in the role behind the striker....besides....Poyet and VDV do not have the same role as the others you mentioned.
 
Where's the myth that Eriksen is slow?.. He's quicker than a lot give credit for. No slower than Ozil.
 
Mumorn said:
Where's the myth that Eriksen is slow?.. He's quicker than a lot give credit for. No slower than Ozil.
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I noticed that earlier in the season, I thought he was slow but showed a couple of bursts of pace that made me think otherwise...
 
Kingdawson said:
What? you're still confusing me. I'm talking about attacking midfielder in the role behind the striker....besides....Poyet and VDV do not have the same role as the others you mentioned.
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I'm confusing you?.... To be honest you're confusing me a lot more! What type of role are you talking about here?..... the second to last 1 in a 4-4-1-1 type formation? Or the central one of the three in a 4-2-3-1 type formation? (IMO there is often very little difference between those two roles) Or something else entirely?

I have named several attacking midfielders who didn't rely on pace or dribbling ability and then also several number 10s of the same ilk.... Basically I have named players who played in a central position, not as an out and out forward, but without a huge amount of defensive responsibility. i.e. "attacking central midfielders" or "number 10's". I am interested in what way you feel that Rooney, Berbatov, Sherringham and Bergkamp had a different role to Poyet and VDV?

You think that pace and dribbling ability are the key attributes to playing the attacking central role off of the striker, I disagree and ask you again - do you think that Lennon or Townsend would be good options in this role? I'll add Theo Walcott to the mix there as well, perhaps even Raheem Sterling - do you think they would they make good central attacking midfielders?... After all their main attributes are their pace and their dribbling ability.
 
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All this anal talk of differences between roles is a bit Football Manager - the central midfielder in the 3 of a 4231 will vary in his duties from team to team because positions on the pitch aren't set in stone and managers can adapt their tactics (or should do at least) to the players they have available.
 
Agree billy. Looks like we should have a wiki to define the roles. The regista, the libero, the trequartista, number 10, false 9, inside forward etc...

Bergkamp, Zola, Baggio were classic number 10s. Playmakers. Same as a regista, a deep lying playmaker, but further forward. The trequartista.
 
Not many Russians/Ukrainians have done well in this league. I remember Zhirkov was class in Russia and did nothing at Chelsea. Even Roman doesn't bother to sign them anymore.
 
P.D. said:
Not many Russians/Ukrainians have done well in this league. I remember Zhirkov was class in Russia and did nothing at Chelsea. Even Roman doesn't bother to sign them anymore.
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People used to say the same about all Eastern European players until Berbatov, Modric and co did well over here.
 
P.D. said:
Not many Russians/Ukrainians have done well in this league. I remember Zhirkov was class in Russia and did nothing at Chelsea. Even Roman doesn't bother to sign them anymore.
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Not many english players do that well either but there again Roman doesn't sign many of them either.
 
attacking midfielders (most attacking of the 2 or 3):
rui costa
kaka
gazza
lampard
vdv

number 10s (playmakers)
ozil
riquelme

withdrawn/support strikers
baggio
zola
bergkamp
berbatov

technically all play in the same position in the hole but have completely different roles and affect the game in completely different ways. a lot would depend of who the number 9 is and what the managers style is.

for example a team with a target man would would benefit from an attacking midfielder who makes runs in the box latching on to the target mans hold up play.
likewise a poacher would benefit from a number 10 through passes.

mixing and matching however usually doesn't give the same best results

lampard and drogba worked
vdv and crouch worked
lampard and soldado however would not work
 
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Yevhen Konoplyanka set to sign...

Looks like a deal is about to be done for Konoplyanka, hopefully this Ukrainan settles quicker than Rebrov and Pav, Russians and eastern europeans often take time to adjust..

Personally i would have liked us to go for Kevin Mirallas as he's more proven but this lad is talented and for 7 mill is a very good deal considering he was being touted around for more than 25 mill not so long ago. Can now see Lennon leaving to balance the books

http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/22/totte...vhen-konoplyanka-in-7m-transfer-deal-5031776/
 
Re: Yevhen Konoplyanka set to sign...

The Metro are reporting that the Express are reporting that he is about to sign which they took from Gazetta probably or some old article just to click bait.
 
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