Shaelumstash
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- Joined
- 30 Apr 2009
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Re: Edin Dzeko legend
This article sums it all up for me.
http://www.lifesapitch.co.uk/opinions/why-edin-dzeko-is-manchester-citys-glory-boy/
In most industries people are happy to take as much money as possible for doing as little work as possible. In football it is different. Players may earn grotesque amounts but, when it comes to matchday, they want to do as much work as possible. There are a few exceptions, such as Winston Bogarde, but generally players want to play. It’s kind of in the job description.
After Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko came off the bench to turn defeat into victory at West Brom last month, he stressed how he saw his role. “I’m not a super sub,” Dzeko said. “I want to start games.” In September, Cesc Fàbregas, while moaning about his lot at Barcelona, went further. “There’s no such thing as a great substitute in the world of football,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you what makes a great substitute.”
How about the ability to score match-saving or match-winning goals to order?
Without Dzeko’s goals as a substitute against Southampton, Fulham and West Brom this season, City would be in eighth, nine points off the pace. Nor would they have won the title last season: Sergio Agüero’s career-defining winner against QPR would have meant nothing without Dzeko’s header a couple of minutes earlier, even if Dzeko has inevitably played the Kevin Horlock to Agüero’s Paul Dickov. The statistics from Dzeko’s two-year City career are particularly striking. When he starts a game he scores every 196 minutes; as a sub he scores every 51. In elite competition (Premier League and Champions League) the disparity is even greater: a goal every 252 minutes as a starter, a goal every 44 as a sub.
This is not to say that being a substitute is intrinsically preferable to starting the game. Most of the time it isn’t, but nor is the substitute role necessarily the consolation prize it is perceived to be. Football needs to open its mind in this respect, especially players – and particularly those with the set of skills suited to the role. A good substitute needs the ability to instantly integrate with a game in which the pattern has long since been established. If he plays up front he must have the nerve of a bomb-disposal expert when it comes to finishing, because there is a world of difference between getting a clear chance in the first minute and the 90th. Pace is also handy, though, as Dzeko has shown, not essential.
In other sports, particularly in the US, people are more appreciative of the substitute. In football, nobody challenges the received wisdom that being in the first XI is the only place to be. Yet substitutes have the chance to decisively influence the game when it really matters. About 23 per cent of goals are scored in the last 15 minutes of games; most football matches have a law of increasing returns, with each minute being more important than the last. Being an attacking substitute is, in many respects, glory work. These players deal in football’s most precious currencies: goals, points and even trophies. Ask Victor Moses, Chelsea’s match-winner against Shakhtar Donetsk. Or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scorer of the most famous goal in Manchester United’s history at the Nou Camp 13 years ago.
Solskjaer is one of only a handful of truly great substitutes. There is also Liverpool’s David Fairclough and the West German winger Jürgen Grabowski, who was dubbed “the best substitute in the world” after terrorising tired defences, particularly England’s, at the 1970 World Cup. Dzeko is not in that class but he is probably the best substitute in the English game at the moment.
That football is missing a pantheon of great substitutes isn’t due to a lack of great substitutes. It’s more about the way we perceive the role.
A number of potentially great substitutes, such as Theo Walcott, will start most games in their career. In most cases that’s fair enough – Lionel Messi would make a great sub, but only a lunatic wouldn’t start games with him – but in others it is not so clear cut. And in some, as with Dzeko, there is almost undeniable proof that a player is better from the bench. Perhaps it is time he embraced the role. Everyone wants to be the best at what they do. As a starter Dzeko is just one from the bottle; from the bench, he is a special one.
This article sums it all up for me.
http://www.lifesapitch.co.uk/opinions/why-edin-dzeko-is-manchester-citys-glory-boy/
In most industries people are happy to take as much money as possible for doing as little work as possible. In football it is different. Players may earn grotesque amounts but, when it comes to matchday, they want to do as much work as possible. There are a few exceptions, such as Winston Bogarde, but generally players want to play. It’s kind of in the job description.
After Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko came off the bench to turn defeat into victory at West Brom last month, he stressed how he saw his role. “I’m not a super sub,” Dzeko said. “I want to start games.” In September, Cesc Fàbregas, while moaning about his lot at Barcelona, went further. “There’s no such thing as a great substitute in the world of football,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you what makes a great substitute.”
How about the ability to score match-saving or match-winning goals to order?
Without Dzeko’s goals as a substitute against Southampton, Fulham and West Brom this season, City would be in eighth, nine points off the pace. Nor would they have won the title last season: Sergio Agüero’s career-defining winner against QPR would have meant nothing without Dzeko’s header a couple of minutes earlier, even if Dzeko has inevitably played the Kevin Horlock to Agüero’s Paul Dickov. The statistics from Dzeko’s two-year City career are particularly striking. When he starts a game he scores every 196 minutes; as a sub he scores every 51. In elite competition (Premier League and Champions League) the disparity is even greater: a goal every 252 minutes as a starter, a goal every 44 as a sub.
This is not to say that being a substitute is intrinsically preferable to starting the game. Most of the time it isn’t, but nor is the substitute role necessarily the consolation prize it is perceived to be. Football needs to open its mind in this respect, especially players – and particularly those with the set of skills suited to the role. A good substitute needs the ability to instantly integrate with a game in which the pattern has long since been established. If he plays up front he must have the nerve of a bomb-disposal expert when it comes to finishing, because there is a world of difference between getting a clear chance in the first minute and the 90th. Pace is also handy, though, as Dzeko has shown, not essential.
In other sports, particularly in the US, people are more appreciative of the substitute. In football, nobody challenges the received wisdom that being in the first XI is the only place to be. Yet substitutes have the chance to decisively influence the game when it really matters. About 23 per cent of goals are scored in the last 15 minutes of games; most football matches have a law of increasing returns, with each minute being more important than the last. Being an attacking substitute is, in many respects, glory work. These players deal in football’s most precious currencies: goals, points and even trophies. Ask Victor Moses, Chelsea’s match-winner against Shakhtar Donetsk. Or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scorer of the most famous goal in Manchester United’s history at the Nou Camp 13 years ago.
Solskjaer is one of only a handful of truly great substitutes. There is also Liverpool’s David Fairclough and the West German winger Jürgen Grabowski, who was dubbed “the best substitute in the world” after terrorising tired defences, particularly England’s, at the 1970 World Cup. Dzeko is not in that class but he is probably the best substitute in the English game at the moment.
That football is missing a pantheon of great substitutes isn’t due to a lack of great substitutes. It’s more about the way we perceive the role.
A number of potentially great substitutes, such as Theo Walcott, will start most games in their career. In most cases that’s fair enough – Lionel Messi would make a great sub, but only a lunatic wouldn’t start games with him – but in others it is not so clear cut. And in some, as with Dzeko, there is almost undeniable proof that a player is better from the bench. Perhaps it is time he embraced the role. Everyone wants to be the best at what they do. As a starter Dzeko is just one from the bottle; from the bench, he is a special one.