"The Llorente Project" - Has having a 'target man' option worked?

[Lighty64]

This. Llorente of 7-8 years ago would be a fantastic option but Llorente aged 35 is not a long term option, a Timo Wener or even a Zaha as a back up striker would be great.

not being funny but Zaha is not a player that will join as a bench option, and to be honest is his most dangerous on our left, but when Kane is fit, Son is better on our left and a lot more productive.

 

[dontcallme]

I maintain the view that any out and out striker as backup to Kane is not going to work. Whether it is an up and comer or an experienced international the player will only get game time when Kane is out and as a result not get enough minutes to be match fit and play to their level.

Llorente was never the most mobile so doesn't fit our play. He disappointed last season but has done OK this.

I believe Son is our backup striker. He mostly plays the wing forward position so get plenty of time on the pitch so never lacks match fitness through being Kane's backup.

We then have Moura as 3rd striker so we can buy an upgrade on Moura or keep Kane, Son and Moura as our strikers.

I know some want competition for Kane but the idea that we are going to buy a rival to, arguably, the best striker in the world is simply unrealistic.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

not being funny but Zaha is not a player that will join as a bench option, and to be honest is his most dangerous on our left, but when Kane is fit, Son is better on our left and a lot more productive.

Good point about playing on the left actually didn’t think about him like that as he can imo play RW and CAM and ST and I saw him playing RW or ST for us with son moving to RW or CAM but suppose it depends on how poch would like to fit them all in.

We have been after a few RAM’s though like the guy that went to Barca from the french team, but then we were also after aeasengon (LAM) so who know what poch’s plan is, sometime in the transfer market I wonder if we have a plan lol.

 

[Khilari]

Llorente's strength is his link up play and heading ability.
Whilst his link up play is often quite good, often it is not.
His heading ability is poor on the evidence I've seen.
His ability with the ball to feet is poor.
His shooting is non-existent.
He lacks any pace.

Whilst I don't want to join the somewhat ridiculous Janssen bandwagon (that he should start based on what we saw against Brighton), I have to admit that he looked far more potent (despite that missed last minute header) against West Ham after coming on than Llorente has in most games.

But we are hampered by injuries and having signed no-one are where we are and must believe it is possible to achieve top 4 and have a go in Amsterdam so I'll be supporting him if he plays. ¡Vamos Fernando!

 

[mpickard2087]

Also we already have Son and Moura for the versatile players who can either play wide and through the centre. I'm not so sure a third is needed.

As I have said many times, Poch likes his No.9 with presence. He's always had them in his teams. For variety/depth I think he'll want that option beyond Kane. These sorts of players, especially those not first choice/named Kane, are more workhorses though who play support roles and aren't going to be your main threats, I think fans have to realise that.

In all truth I don't personally think Janssen was that far off it in prototype - he's keen, he puts himself about, he can shrug off and roll or pin defenders and lay off for oncoming players - but the step up to the top level of the game was beyond him in terms of speed of the play, his touch etc.

I think we'll go down this route again, but it will have to be a similar path considering they're going to be behind Kane - buying an up and coming player rather than established name.

 

[Lighty64]

Good point about playing on the left actually didn’t think about him like that as he can imo play RW and CAM and ST and I saw him playing RW or ST for us with son moving to RW or CAM but suppose it depends on how poch would like to fit them all in.

We have been after a few RAM’s though like the guy that went to Barca from the french team, but then we were also after aeasengon (LAM) so who know what poch’s plan is, sometime in the transfer market I wonder if we have a plan lol.

I honestly don't think Zaha is accurate enough to play through the middle. he has done that plenty of times for Palace and against teams that don't sit deep, and he has 5 goals. when I've seen Palace he looks his best on the left, him and Townsend swap over for periods, our front 3 when playing well don't swap for a physical amount of time, they might drift across depending how the play is going.

going back to the main subject, with the way we play these days, it will never suit a target man, not until we learn to whip accurate crosses into the danger area instead of floating them. floating them gives defenders and keepers time to react and if lucky to reach our player they then need to be able to generate the power and direction

 

[guiltyparty]

This. Llorente of 7-8 years ago would be a fantastic option but Llorente aged 35 is not a long term option, a Timo Wener or even a Zaha as a back up striker would be great.

Zaha, the 80m back up striker

 

[Flashspur]

De Ligt said Nando caused them problems and that is good enough for me!

 

[Shadydan]

Target man is fine if we have players who are able to cross the ball to him...

We don't seem to he capable of that.

 

[shoggy33]

He's done his bit, but its definitely time to say goodbye in the summer. It would be nice to have a viable alternative to Kane so he doesn't have to play every minute, or even someone who could play with Kane allowing us to mix things up a bit. Doesn't necessarily have to be someone who just sits on the bench until Kane gets injured.

 

[Kiedis]

He's been decent to have as an option and we have taken some crucial points by going full Brexit and whacking it long. Having him on the pitch is detrimental to our overall game though. It makes it tempting to go long, and the game we've worked on since Poch arrived isn't geared toward long balls and flick ons, and Llorente really isn't very good at making a longer pass stick by getting it under control and holding off the defender.

 

[daryl hannah]

When I look at the rest of the top 6, there;s really only Giroud who could be considered a target man. City and Pool don't have one/haven't had one for years. Why did we plump for Nando?

Chelsea don't really play Giroud, either.

 

[UncleBuck]

He's done his bit, but its definitely time to say goodbye in the summer. It would be nice to have a viable alternative to Kane so he doesn't have to play every minute, or even someone who could play with Kane allowing us to mix things up a bit. Doesn't necessarily have to be someone who just sits on the bench until Kane gets injured.

Should have gone for Vardy two seasons ago, admittedly he’d have cost a lot however I’d say his stock now from then would be considerably less this summer.
He’s three years younger than Nando so even if he cost £25-£30m considering we paid £12m for Nando I think it’d be money well spent.
He’s not a regular starter at Leicester so I don’t see him not playing every week an issue to him, personally I think he’d be a brilliant option for us.

 

[ljinko888]

I feel sorry for our back up strikers.

Both Llorente and previously Janssen had this issue where they had to sit and watch for ages while Kane started and finished every game with little 5-10 minute cameos keeping them busy.

Llorente got to the point where he'd only played 13 minutes of league football by December. And then when Kane got his yearly ankle injury we suddenly wheel Llorente out to save us. What kind of preparation is that?

All things considered I think Llorente has done as good a job as he can.

 

[danielneeds]

There's two parts to this. One Llorente's physical powers have obviously declined and he looks like a 34 year old.

But also two, as a team we don't really adapt well to playing a target man-style game. It's almost as if everything Poch asks them to do match-to-match needs to change when Llorente is on the pitch, and it doesn't happen.

We need someone who can cover who has a a bit of power, decent speed, and can fit in with our passing. It's hard to find that guy who'd happy to sit on the bench.

 

['O Zio]

When we signed him after his season at Swansea I actually thought it could turn out to be quite a smart signing, if a little underwhelming. Although he's too slow and immobile, I think at least half of the blame for his lack of success has to lie with the rest of the team and the tactics as well. The other players at times just seem to have no idea how to play with a target man. The amount of games where we've had Llorente up top but still tried to play as if Harry Kane is there is ridiculous. I think first of all it shouldn't be that difficult to know how to play with Lllorente but secondly if it is somehow difficult for whatever reason, then it's not acceptable that after a full 2 years with him at the club, the coaching staff seemingly haven't bothered to practice with the team some sort of tactic or system for when Llorente is playing but Kane not, or when both of them are playing even. It just seems like we stick him on and the players are left to just work it out for themselves which leads to some really shite build up play half the time.

One of the problems is that his lack of mobility means he's easy to double up on and therefore it's hard for players to pick him out successfully but even if we signed a top notch target man we still won't be effective until we create and practice some sort of system based around that

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Without him we wouldn’t be in the champions league semi final. It’s worked.

In a (registered) squad of up to 25 players, there is always room for a target man option. If Llorente leaves, we must replace). There is literally no downside to having him, it’s not his fault if there aren’t (purportedly) enough options in other areas. He’s not the season we only have one player like Son.

 

[Japhet]

The role that we've expected Llorente to play relies on players running off him and accurate crosses into the box. We've given him neither. If the experiment hasn't worked it's not all Llorente's fault by a long shot.

 

[vuzp]

Llorente has a place in the squad for me but I think the service we give him is crap, our set pieces corners free kicks are incredibly poor and our crosses (more so lack off) are just unbelievable for a team in the top 4,
yes you can just lump the ball up to him but if no runners are coming to help what's the point.
I have to say I like Llorente, yes he is getting older but we really need to improve the service to him when he's playing.

 

[dontcallme]

Without him we wouldn’t be in the champions league semi final. It’s worked.

In a (registered) squad of up to 25 players, there is always room for a target man option. If Llorente leaves, we must replace). There is literally no downside to having him, it’s not his fault if there aren’t (purportedly) enough options in other areas. He’s not the season we only have one player like Son.

I am more of the opinion that if he wants to stay one more season then fine but if he leaves we don’t need to replace him with a target man.