Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
Surprised Madine has had so many goal attempts, I think of Ronnie Moore when I watch him play because he he seems to be a striker who, apart from not scoring for us, is also not missing many - I think Ronnie Moore scored four times for us in 79/80 and my clear recollection is of me thinking that it's hardly as if he is missing sitters every game, he just never got into the positions where he was likely to have chances. To be fair to Moore, he always put in a really big shift for the team and was prepared to go out into wide areas to allow spaces to develop for others to exploit - for someone with such a good scoring record at his other clubs, he was very unselfish and it was his strike partner, the less mobile and less naturally talented, Gary Stevens who benefited most.
Madine was clearly the main man at Bolton and so I would guess he was not expected to move around as much as Moore used to with us, but I wouldn't say too much has changed at Cardiff for him in that respect because, apart from twenty odd minutes I think it was at Ipswich, he has been up front by himself.
Zohore is far more mobile than Madine is and I'd say possibly a majority of the running he does in a game for us consists of trying, and mostly failing, to close down defenders as they pass to each other at the back - it always gets a round of applause from the crowd and, very occasionally, it may cause mistake to be made by our opponents. However, I've always thought of it as a bit of a pointless exercise and would prefer to see our main striker using his energy making the sort of attacking runs which enable him to show the best parts of his game, but then you get back to the quality of the service he gets and the ability of his team mates to consistently pick him out with the sort of pass Gunnarsson gave him against Forest.
Zohore is poor in the air for his height, but it struck me how many of Madine's goals in the videos I saw of his time at Bolton were from headers. He is a different type of striker from Zohore who needs a completely different type of service and yet, with our team seemingly unable to hit many of the sort of passes that would bring the best out of the Dane, it is striking how few chances a team which nearly always plays with two wingers create in open play from aerial crosses towards a centre forward - perhaps those who have seen more of Madine playing for us in the flesh than me (he's played far more football for us away from home than at home - another factor which makes it harder for him to score) can remember headed chances in open play that Madine has had, but I can't recall one of them.
I mentioned in the thread about Zohore flattering to deceive that I don't feel the strikers are the issue when it comes to their lack of goals, it's a team and style of play that, as ccfc is my life says, fashions very few decent chances in open play for those leading our attack - we aren't good at providing opportunities for a quick, strong forward who runs the channels and likes to play on the shoulder of his markers and we also struggle when we have somewhere who relies on strength and aerial ability more, so you have to wonder, what sort of striker would prosper in our team with the current way of playing?