stressederic

Momo Alonso Morientes

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It's almost uncanny the similarities between them this season, and us last year at times.

Not allowed, part of the deal to bring him here.

Chris Waddle?

Dudek - 7 - had nowt to do all night, but when Henry had a go from range, the ball was moving around a fair amount, and Dudek did the smart thing. Concentration across the game is what great goalkeepers are made of. Finnan - 8 - Had a hard job in the second half, as most of Arsenal's attacks came down his way, and as Henry drifts out that way he had to be on his toes, but does he ever have a bad game defensively? Still got forwards to overlap and support the attacks as well. Best right back in the country. Carra - 8 - Carra was Carra, marshaled the line perfectly, and linked up with Hyppia expertly. Hyypia - 8 - Same as Carra, and still nearly scored with a flick Zola would be proud of. Riise - 8 - Best left back we've got, Arsenal tried to target him early in the game, but he saw them off, and supported attacks right throughout the game. Gerrard - 7 - Great crossing, tracking back and tackling. Doing a job he's probably not keen on for the team, and doing it well. Unlucky with the pnealty as well. Momo - 9 - Feck me what a monster. Alonso - 8 - Can't remember seeing a side give him that much time and space for a while, his passing was exquisite at times, and got his foot in when needed. Kewell - 7 - Their right back will probably have nightmares tonight about Kewell. Gave him a hell of a time during periods, but started to tire in patches. Nearly scored an amazing overhead. Morientes - 7 - The stick he;s getting is unbelievable. Worked his nuts off all night, and just needs one to deflect off his knee and go in. Fowler - 7 - Ah God, I thought that effort on 51 minutes was in! Rafa - 9 - Sent out the team to do the job and put Arsenal under pressure and thats exactly what happened, and when the subsitutions needed to be made what does Rafa do? Sends one on to set it up, and the other to finish (sort of).

Those two sentences are really all thats needed. Its impossible to deny that Morientes isn't scoring when he should, but thats what happens when you're confidence dips. Every striker in the world goes through it, we've seen it before with Owen and Fowler and Heskey, but as long as they keep working hard and plugging away we always knew that eventually the ball will hit them on the a*** and go in, and they'll be able to move on again.

Easily. Even the team from our the treble season when we thumped them 4-0 were better.

Your stuck on the goalscoring again, hell Bergkamp went an entire year without scoring in the Premiership! Their both link strikers. Their both capable of scoring excllent goals. Neither are particularly prolific in the English League. Bergkamp is rightly considered a legend, an unbelievably good player, whose scored some wonderful goals, that Leicester City hattrick is about as good as they come, but the differences really aren't that big. I've never seen Arsenal fans get on Dennis's back because of his lack of goals, because they appreciate what he does for the team around him. Tonight Morientes worked f***ing hard for the team and is getting sod all credit for it. All people keep saying is "He should be scoring goals." Yes he probably should have scored tonight, but that doesn't erase all the other work he put in, and I've seen Bergkamp miss some shockers as well.

Yep, I thought of going for Dalglish, but opted for Bergkamp as he's a bit mor econtemporary, and avoids the inevitable "Ah but that was back then" argument. Could refer to Litmanen as well. Maybe he will, but just because he's not scoring goals, doesn't mean he isn't working hard and benefitting the team. The only thing his game was lacking today was a finish to one of his chances, the rest was excellent, I don't think he was beaten in the air all game, and his flick downs, layoffs and passes were intelligent and accurate, and its been that way in plenty of games, especially during our unbeaten run.

Go back to Reina, he's been the man this season, and for some reason Dudek and United just don't go well.

The Bergkamp comparison is enough to prove you don't need to be scoring 30 goals a season in the Premiership to be a useful and important forward.

Except they are comparable. Virtually every argument throught out this thread, espceially the one I've quoted has been of the opinion that setup and link up play outside the box is of no use if you don't score goals as a striker. Well Bergkamp's hardly been a prolific scorer for Arsenal, and yet is correctly regarded as one of the best players the Premiership has ever had. Tonight, in recent weeks, and during our unbeaten run, Morientes consistently linked up well, passed well, set up chances and set up goals. Tonight he was awesome in the air, won everything, held it up nicely, laid it off, tracked back, harried defenders and is being slated and called crap. Yes his finishing wasn't great at all tonight but the guy is low on confidence and needs our support. If he'd just stood around all day and done f*** all all the flak would be justified, but he didn't. Bergkamp is a prime example of an excellent link striker, doesn't score many goals, but is crucial to the team. What exactly is Morientes doing different at the moment?

Even with the penalty though he did what you'd want a Ref to do. He took a long hard look at it, took the time to consider it, see how the play was moving on and then made the decision. I think from his angle it probably looked more like a penalty then it actually was. The simple rule for all refs in this case is obvious. Stop. Think about it. Consider the state of play. Give Liverpool a penalty. Golden rules they should all follow.

His confidence is low, and he needs the support of the fans and the players to get him through it.

I agree. Tonight his movement, chasing down, link up play, passing etc were all excellent, but he's lacking in confidence at the moment. Being the best fans in the world we of course know that the best way to build a players confidence is to put the boot in repeatedly. If you want to pick on a world class striker who was f***ing abysmal tonight, I'd suggest people looked at Thierry Henry, despite the fact that apparently he's scored every chance he's ever got ever.

He was pretty poor at the start of the season, and in the Super Cup Final he was shocking, but over the weeks just before his injury he was looking very good indeed. Playing well, making chances, linking up with the strikers well.

I'd not heard about that cash incident. Top man Jamie!

Chelsea will do United. It's their last home game of the season, they'll be wanting to sign off in style.

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I didn't say he couldn't score goals, I simply said I believe he is to restrictive in his play. You're right about the entertaining. That league game against Blackburn was fabulous. Also Liverpool have scored 31 goals. You've also conceeded 27. Congratulations, you've nearly conceeded as many goals as we've scored.

I'm afraid our survey says yes. But just for the record, Van Nistelrooy is a fine striker with a great goal ratio, but he forces you to play a very specific type of football. You were a better team with better striking options with Cole and Yorke up front then with Ruud. Rooney is an excellent player, but I think he'd do better with a different striking partner as well. And yes a thread started by a United fan started simply for backslapping self gratification is irreverent nonsense.