Thursday, 10 June 2010

Eduardo da Silva 2009/2010

After a lengthy recovery from a leg break, and a few hamstring problems, Eduardo da Silva finally made his full comeback from injury at the start of the 09/10 season.

Unfortunately he looked a shadow of his former clinical self, missing dozens of easy chances and relying on some massive strokes of luck to score.

However there was an upside to his season - the loss of pace and finishing skills forced him to adapt his game to become more of a provider for others, a role he seemed to do a decent job in as this video demonstrates.

The highlight of his season was scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup 3rd round with a world class header, a brief reminder of the predatory instincts within.

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ben's avatar

ben · 772 weeks ago

has dudu really lost pace since the leg break? i haven't seen much convincing evidence of this. he was pacy before, but no walcott, and he looks pretty pacy at 0:12 in the clip. i feel like it's something commentators have said during matches but i feel like it's more about confidence and sharpness than raw pace.
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BackwardsGooner 61p · 772 weeks ago

The main reason I feel he's lost pace is he's repeatedly being beaten to the ball by keepers when released behind the defence (it's happened quite a few times, Burnley, Bolton etc). He looks sluggish, like he's struggling to accelerate.
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jbgooner · 772 weeks ago

Is that an issue with his pace though? Or does he still have the fall-out from the Celtic game in the back of his mind? It is definitely an issue, but more than anything Eddie looks reluctant to fully commit when it's 50/50 between him and the keeper. The stick he got from the dive was just incredible... beyond anything I've seen with any other dive, for some time.

Beyond that though, his one-on-one finishing even when he has time on the ball has been sub-par. The misses against Spurs were pretty shocking.

The other thing is, and I know we only saw him 3/4 times, during 2008/09 when he made his return he looked good. The first half against Cardiff he was on fire, all over the field - scored a goal in open play and even tried a shot from near the half way line. So how much of a factor was the injury, or is it other things that held him back? The fall-out from the dive, the change in system [that really didn't suit him?]
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BackwardsGooner 61p · 771 weeks ago

Maybe, I have to agree he looked a lot sharper in his initial comeback in 08/09, but then he did have a few groin injuries so I'm not really sure if it's a physical or a psychological thing. If he doesn't show any improvement in pre-season I think we should flog him, he can't really perform out wide and in the middle he's arguably 4th choice behind RVP, Bendtner and Chamakh.

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