pudge said:
A common debate is that Edin comes on when players like Silva have come off, stunting are overall attacking game.
But if you were to take the hull game as an example, Dzeko and Negredo each played 45 minutes (Edin the first half, Negredo the second). Silva came off on 66 minutes, giving Negredo and he 21 minutes on the pitch together compared to Edin's 45. (Sergio also came off at 75 mins)
Negredo's passing success was 91% compared to Edin's 75%
Dzeko won 2 aerial battles to Negredo's 1.
Negredo managed 3 shots to Edin's 0.
They were both dispossessed twice but Edin gave the ball away (turnover they call it) once whereas Negredo didn't.
They each had one tackle to their name but Negredo had an "effective clearance" as well.
Dzeko was given a 6.1 and Negredo a 7.
With Negredo's current form, as well as Aguero's, it would be hard to drop either. Especially if just to let Dzeko rebuild his confidence, we can't afford any passengers per say. All strikers want to play obviously but it's hard to drop one "in form", again, especially given what people claim can be done in doing so with regards to Edin. I'm sure he'll get more minutes if he continues to work hard and do such things like he showed he can in that Newcastle game.
This is honest debate btw, frustrating that I feel I have to state that.
I can't remember the details of the Hull game, except that it was a forgettable performance by the entire team (probably why I can't recall it...), but I'm perfectly happy to accept the numbers you quote which suggest Negredo played better than Dzeko in that game.
I also don't think we should just play someone to get them back in form to the detriment of the team, like we did for about two years with Robbie Fowler, before he finally started playing well and immediately buggered off back to Liverpool. It worked a bit quicker at the start of this season with Aguero - it seems a long time ago given his amazing recent form, but he didn't exactly start the season with a bang, and there were plenty of comments on here to the effect that Pellegrini should keep playing him despite his poor form.
However, as with the Hart/Pantillimon debate, the dreaded 'd' word changes the debate entirely. It certainly seems unfair to
drop Negredo or Aguero (suggesting they've done something wrong or aren't up to the required standard), but it's a lot more reasonable to suggest that we utilize all our attackers a bit more evenly so that (a) they last the whole season in better shape, and (b) one or other of them doesn't get pissed off. You can criticize Dzeko all you want for being a mard-arse, etc., but it's not good management to let your employees get pissed off regardless. Unfortunately, repeated unfair assessments of Dzeko's ability have led to the belief that it would be a disaster to play him. Not just a slight step down from the preferred partnership up front, but a
disaster.
I'm of the belief that if we rotated our strikers (yes, even Aguero), there'd be no noticeable difference in our results week-to-week. If Negredo's better, then there might be a slight drop in our probability of winning a game (80% to 75% for example), but that wouldn't be noticeable unless you kept careful stats for the whole season - certainly not on a game by game basis. We weren't crap against Cardiff because of Dzeko, or against Hull or Bayern or Stoke. And if he plays on Sunday and we lose, he won't be the reason we lose. Even if he misses a sitter in the last minute, the question would have to be asked why the game was decided by a sitter in the last minute - that would show a collectively poor performance once again. If you want to play your 'best' team against the hardest opponents, fair enough (although it still doesn't guarantee success - look at the Chelsea game), but to freeze a guy out from games against Everton and West Ham looks a bit harsh and unnecessary to me.
It's a long, hard season with (hopefully) 60 or more games for us, so it seems a little ill-advised not to use all your resources - a
fter all, if Aguero or Negredo gets injured from overplaying, how would everyone fancy having to play Dzeko 90 minutes every game...?