SkellyIsWatching - 2/11/2015 09:53
plumbob - 1/11/2015 19:11
Hearn was equally ineffective yesterday even with ball to feet!
The real value in Hearn is not as a Johnny on the spot player in the box.
If you look at Hearn's goals, especially when with the Cod's, his real value is as a pacey striker, who plays on the shoulder of the back four, freely across the front (not just centrally) and gets in behind with electric pace.
In order for Hearn to be effective in this way, our style of play has to be less direct, which promotes the opposition defenders to sit deeper, which limits the space behind them for Hearn to play in.
So essentially Hearn needs a team that can keep possession and play clever pass and move football in the middle third. This then forces the opponents to play higher up the pitch, enabling Hearn to latch on to clever balls behind them. Historically Hearn has both the strength and pace to terrorize opponents in that area of the pitch and you would put your mortgage on him to score goals all day long.
One word of caution though. If ever we had the personnel to play football around these principles, playing to Hearn's strengths, I am not overly sure that his body is still up it. He is a fair bit older now and his injury history nightmare has all been linked to a player that relies on pace. Pace injuries so to speak.