- Jan 28, 2011
- 5,314
- 11,048
Whether Soldado or Adebayor has been utilized as the deeper player depends on what you look at. On one hand, when the opponent is in possession of the ball and on our half of the pitch, you will more frequently see Adebayor falling back. In fact quite deeply so. Also whilst defending set pieces, we utilize Adebayor far back due to his presence in the air.
However, when we possess the ball on the opponent's half, or when we are trying to win back the ball on the opponents half, there is no doubt in my mind that Soldado is consistently the deeper player of the two. I say this based on the match vs. Stoke and vs. ManUtd. I sat in almost the exact same spot both at home and away. (The rest of the matches I've seen on screen only).
Bearing in mind how far back Adebayor sometimes is, it is interesting that despite that, his average position on the heat chart above (#10) is still slightly ahead of Soldado (#9)
Whether I am happy with this way of sharing the work load is still to be determined. On one hand, I'd prefer the roles when we are in possession of the ball to be swapped. On the other hand, I quite fancy how well Soldado is working for the team in this role. To me he is almost the complete forward, and there will be no "almost" once he starts scoring more regularly.
Where am I going with this in terms of this tread. Vs. Palace, I do believe it would advantageous should Soldado should be rested to completely recover from his slight knock. Who else to fill in for Soldado than...Lamela. Yes, he might be a tad to physically weak to own that role at this point. But I don't care for this specific match. Infact, I'd quite enjoy seeing him up against the likes of Parr and Bolasie (which might be among the opposing players in the room Soldado often fills).
The rest of the team as vs. ManUtd.
vs man u
the below paints a more accurate picture of where they spend most of their time on the pitch. It clearly shows that Ade spends more time in deeper positions