Quote Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda View Post
All good points - especially the last one. He is very good at it but refs don't like to give those. Even the one he did get against Villa the ref didn't want to give. Mind you, we'd have more chance of Antonio Conte giving us a penalty at the Lane than Lee Mason and John Moss
Oh, PS, LA.

2-3 months ago, I read an article about false 9s and said why don't we play ESR there? Everyone here rightly pointed out that while he'd take loads of the chances Laca's missing, he couldn't do the "dropping deep and also using his strength in and around the box to keep possession and play short passes" bit Laca does so well.

Yet yesterday, Mikel was saying ESR could be a very, very good 9.

But I now agree with what you lot say. A major part of ESR's skill set is that he'll track back and cover to the edge of our own box and then spring forward on the counter. He can do that out-wide or No.10, but couldn't if he was playing as a 9. When we counter in that way, we often end up playing via Laca in the centre circle.

Also strange that he said ESR could play left wing, left AM, right AM and no.9 but not 10 which is what I think his best role would be, though I fully accept Odin's been great there and we should work the other 3 around that.

I'm also not sure what the difference is between a left winger and left AM, and why he can play right AM but not right wing.