Blackburn Rovers blog: Sam needs new striker, not new system

3:13pm Wednesday 28th July 2010 in Chris Flanagan Photograph of the Author By Chris Flanagan, Sports reporter

Blackburn Rovers blog: Sam needs new striker, not new system Blackburn Rovers blog: Sam needs new striker, not new system

IF even Spain opt to play 4-5-1, with arguably the two best strikers in the world at their disposal, then Blackburn Rovers should not worry about having to play two up front this season.

The concept of the strike partnership has been a crowd pleaser for decades, but its flaws have been exposed.

Three of the last four at the World Cup played with just one up front, and England were so woeful that the cries of ‘4-4-2’ often heard from disgruntled Premier League fans across the country were replaced with the rather unusual demand for 4-5-1.

This journalist is no advocate of coping everything Spain do, but when the possession-hogging World Cup winners opt to play David Villa on the left wing and Fernando Torres in a lone striking role rather than simply pairing the two, you have to wonder why.

Rovers need a striker, of that there can be no doubt.

But that does not necessarily mean altering the system that has brought success – both to them last season and to Allardyce throughout his career.

The ability to score goals has to be the main prerequisite of any newcomer to Ewood Park.

But maybe the ideal solution is a player capable of making that impact either from a wider role or as a lone striker. Villa did it for Spain, although no-one expects Rovers to be able to afford players quite in that class.

When Allardyce signed Nicolas Anelka for Bolton, Kevin Davies moved to the right for 18 months. Davies is a target man and it should not have worked, but it did.

Changing to two up front takes Rovers into unfamiliar territory.

It is a tactical adjustment that could take some time, whether 3-5-2 or 4-4-2, and such a switch could leave them vulnerable to being outnumbered defensively – either on the flanks or in central midfield.

Allardyce’s way of setting up a side has been criticised over the years, by fans of both the opposition and his own team. But time has proved that it works. Rovers need a goalscorer, not a whole new way of playing.

Comments (3)

4:31pm Wed 28 Jul 10

kevin e says...

Surely it would be ideal to have a playing and coaching staff who could adapt to both systems.

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If we are to improve on last season we have to convert draws into wins and there will be times, given an additional quality striker, where 4-4-2 could be used to good effect.

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We believe that we are about to unveil a new striker - perhaps we will get to see a more adventurous approach to some games.
Surely it would be ideal to have a playing and coaching staff who could adapt to both systems. . If we are to improve on last season we have to convert draws into wins and there will be times, given an additional quality striker, where 4-4-2 could be used to good effect. . We believe that we are about to unveil a new striker - perhaps we will get to see a more adventurous approach to some games. kevin e

5:12pm Wed 28 Jul 10

Marcus28 says...

In same games you do have to be more defensively specially away from home. But when we play against teams at home who are at the same level than us or less and we have still played with one up front thats what bothers us fans. They are games where if we had more attacking options we would have scored more. A difference to also putting us in the same frame as spain and other successful nations is that we do not ahve the attacking flair from the midfield to get up to the front to actually make it more attacking and thens when we have just ended booting the ball to lone striker and then seeing it come straight back. Also 442 does work it failed for england because they dont have any natural width down both flanks which if 442 is to work is what u need which as we know was what Blackburn have always done and what won us the premiership. Secruity word find soon hopefully is talking about a striker cause been looking for one long enough he most be somewhere maybe under ur fat sam did u sit on him
In same games you do have to be more defensively specially away from home. But when we play against teams at home who are at the same level than us or less and we have still played with one up front thats what bothers us fans. They are games where if we had more attacking options we would have scored more. A difference to also putting us in the same frame as spain and other successful nations is that we do not ahve the attacking flair from the midfield to get up to the front to actually make it more attacking and thens when we have just ended booting the ball to lone striker and then seeing it come straight back. Also 442 does work it failed for england because they dont have any natural width down both flanks which if 442 is to work is what u need which as we know was what Blackburn have always done and what won us the premiership. Secruity word find soon hopefully is talking about a striker cause been looking for one long enough he most be somewhere maybe under ur fat sam did u sit on him Marcus28

12:18pm Fri 30 Jul 10

ashman says...

Looking at the fixtures list for this season...come end of September I think we will be near bottom..if not at the bottom of the table. Sick of us just starting badly and then slowly clawing our way up..i know we dont have as much money as the next team but there are teams with less money than us and they do sometimes come out with a good result....look at Burnley (pardon my french) they started so well last season compared to us, but was happy they went down and we were tenth.
Looking at the fixtures list for this season...come end of September I think we will be near bottom..if not at the bottom of the table. Sick of us just starting badly and then slowly clawing our way up..i know we dont have as much money as the next team but there are teams with less money than us and they do sometimes come out with a good result....look at Burnley (pardon my french) they started so well last season compared to us, but was happy they went down and we were tenth. ashman

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