I understand most people's reasons why he would be poor buy, simply because his final ball is not up to scratch.
Aaron Lennon is a very pacey lad, I'd put money on it he's within the top 2/3 fastest players in the league. What is the only thing we haven't got? Pace and width, this guy offers us it, in large abundance. Another thing I like about Aaron Lennon is that he hugs the touch line. Every winger we've used this season Kuyt, Jovaovic, Maxi, Cole and Meireles (at times), they don't do this. The natural element of their game is to go towards the ball which means they drift towards the central area. That's one reason why we've struggled this season. At times there were about 5/6 players within 20-25 yards of each other because everyone looks to go in the middle. We need at least one player who hugs the touchline which will give us an outlet option (cross into the box) and it also gives the other players more space to play in through the central area. We struggle to break down teams at times, it's fairly easy to defend against us IMO, all opposing teams do is just flood the central area and we just don't have any space to play in. How many times have I read on this forum, "We can't keep the ball", "we can't pass today". The main reason is because we haven't got an outlet ball and space to play him. And a wide player like Lennon would give us that.
His final ball is poor to say the least. He doesn't have any accuracy with his crossing. Although I do believe that Dalglish would help Lennon work on his final ball, training with players with fantastic delivery such as Gerrard will increase his accuracy. If he does improve his final ball, not to a Gerrard standard but to a consistent standard then we will have a top class winger on our hands. His pace and skill is unmatched in the league IMO. Walcott is similar in terms of pace and final ball but he doesn't have the skill Lennon has and he doesn't offer width like Lennon does, Walcott does get more goals though.
My favorite winger in the league Valencia, I think Lennon play a very similar style to him. A player who hugs the touchline, and all he does is whenever he gets the ball, he just runs down the wing and crosses. Also Valencia's crosses are exactly the same quality and style, so the receiver in the box should have a pretty good idea on what's coming into the box. All he goes is float it into the box for a player to head in. United get a lot of goals like that, and they haven't got any decent headers of the ball, imagine Carroll getting onto those crosses.
So he has the skill and pace to become a top class winger, if he improves his final ball then I think he would be an excellent player.
« Last Edit: Jun 26, 2011 08:46:25 pm by lfc_ynwa »
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