by thebigbangtheo » Tue Jan 15, 2019 1:32 pm
A lot of players have started their careers in one position only to become established playing another.
Ashley Cole and Kieran Gibbs started off as wingers who then became full backs, as were Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia who made that transition much later having already become established as wingers.
The defensive development of Sead the Impaler comes across as being stuck on zero, and in my mind at least he actually seemed to be just a tad bit better defensively during his initial displays for the club.
With this in mind I am starting to wonder if there is still good scope to continue down this road, or if we would be better off to just change tack now and actually play him full time in that winger position we are deficient in.
We know he will do the graft and pressing stuff to supress the opposition in their own half and to me has all the tools to be very effective in that role. All the issues we have with him defensively are primarily within our half of the pitch where for the most part he would no longer be deployed. He has linked well with all our strikers and the same could be said of our attacking midfielders too.
It is well known that first and foremost you should play to your strengths, and without doubt the strength of this cuddly teddy bear is his attacking prowess.