You r absoloutely right, if i'm the opposition manager i'll be smiling away if i see the opposition team sheet with Momo & JAR playing together as Momo can't start an effecttive attack while u just have to pin JAR to L'pool's half and make sure u push him to the by-line and he can't do anything effective as he's through and through a left footed player and he can't turn to his right leg and goes pass defenders. If we care to notice, opposition defenders seldom allows JAR to go passs the half way mark, if he does makes sure he does not go near the 4th quarter, and if he does he can do damages. Besides being too left footed, we have to admit that JAR does not have the speed, so he can't outrun defenders from his own half, when he's at his own half he'll struggle to start an attack as he's got a problem trying to go pass defenders and if he does he can't run the length as he does not have the speed and he'll most probably loose the ball and we've seen that time and again. What Rafael Benitez (RB) is asking of JAR is something impossible for him to perform due to his natural shortcomings. If RB wants JAR to be effective, make sure someone else starts the attack, get JAR to run and park himself at the last quarter, make sure the pass goes to him to do the damage. Actually, he's got a very good cross and shooting abilities, RB is just not exploiting these strong points and just exposing his weaknesses week in week out (pretty frustrating) and blind to JAR shortcoimings, which JAR can't do much about it. Jermaine Pennant is the same, interms of its weaknesses except that he's on the right and yet RB keeps asking him to start an attack from his own half??? At times i just wonder whether RB notices the 2 players natural shortcomings and camouflage it and work to their strengths???
Our JAR is almost equivalent to Arsenal's Hleb & Aresene Wenger is smart and realises that Hleb does not have the speed so don't try to outrun defenders. When Hleb gets the ball, he passes to someon else and he sprint to the oppositin 3rd or 4th quarter and starts to do the damage due to its trickery moves.
Having said so much, i hope RB realises these weaknesses and starts to work on them, otherwise, our 4 world class strikers will be be reduced to just average strikers.
As for Momo he'll have to really work on this ball control first, otherwise he'll be a liability as the Marseille game has proven so. I'm of the opinion he's only 1/2 a great player at the moment as he can only defend not start an attack where any world class midfielder is expected to be able to do so. It reminds me of the not too distant pass of Patrick Vierra which can break down an opposition attack and start an effecticve attack and we saw opposition palyers grabbing, tripping, pushing, rugby tackled him to break - up an attack.
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