Isa Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) They don't play Klose every game anyway due to his age. They still prefered Floccari to deputise for him though. You may correct me but last season in Serie A, Klose played 29 games and scored 15 goals. So I think they played him the majority of games. 26 actually and how many of the 12 he missed did Kozak start? Edit: I meant 26 started. It's 29 including substitute appearences. But the original comment was that they don't play Klose every week, when it's obvious they do when fit he starts. Yeah sorry I got a bit confused between league and cup games (Klose is generally rested for the latter). However he did still not start 12 games (admittingly via injury) and Kozak only started 5 of those. As I say, he was almost always used as an impact sub and a cup player. Edited October 23, 2013 by Isa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Klose played 29 games and started 26. Floccari only played 3 games more and 6 starts more than Kozak in league all season. He was their 3rd top scorer overall Those 6 extra starts showing that he was ahead of Kozak in the pecking order. Kozak was only used as an impact sub and a cup player. He wasn't rated any more highly by the management to be more then that. they did spent nearly 10 million on him so id expect he would be pick ahead of him. Kozak got more games than Zarate doesnt automatically make him a better player The same case a player doesn't fit into a managers plans so they play others. It happens and wouldn't use it to judge him anyway. I hope he's taken out of the firing line as he's becoming a bit of an easy target for people. think Benteke being back will help him with that, Kozak will still be getting game time but dont think he will start many with Benteke and injury and suspensions aside probably wont get another start til FA Cup Agreed, and pretty sure just by watching the way CB plays the game and trains will be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 not just that he will also learn how we play and strengths of the other players as he didnt have a pre-season with them and moment he was signed was rushed onto international duty. through all the negatives we only lost 1 league game with him up front(dont count Newcastle he only played 20 minutes that day) and that included City and Spurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) not just that he will also learn how we play and strengths of the other players as he didnt have a pre-season with them and moment he was signed was rushed onto international duty. through all the negatives we only lost 1 league game with him up front(dont count Newcastle he only played 20 minutes that day) and that included City and Spurs. Agreed but we can't use those stats as he never won a header. Though he was also the most fouled player. Edited October 23, 2013 by SikhInTrinity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Our best chances today came when Kozak was on, he put himself about a bit and seemed a little bit better in terms of being up to pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Yeah he looked bright when he came on except for one dodgy pass, his touch seemed better and he looked fired up, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted November 2, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted November 2, 2013 Didn't notice him out there, so he must've been one of our best players today. Oh, he's a striker? ... nevermind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. What? Benteke was our best player in the second half by a mile. He held the ball up well and laid it off well. Dunno what your point is as it makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Benteke is too easily marked out of games this season. Every team does the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted November 2, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. What? Benteke was our best player in the second half by a mile. He held the ball up well and laid it off well. Dunno what your point is as it makes no sense. Don't know if everyone would agree with you Bunnski. Especially in the first half though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Benteke is too easily marked out of games this season. Every team does the same. But as soon as Kozak came on, we saw Benteke get into space and almost score from a header. I think this is how Kozak can work alongside the Beast, we saw Weimann and Gabby often drag players away from from him last season but this season it's stopped from a combination of bad form and opposition players wising up. You'll often see players easing off Weimann now, who can barely hit the target let alone score a goal, to stick with Benteke and stop him from getting space. Kozak is a somewhat unknown quantity, apart from being obviously a target man - if we can get some decent crosses in it will be difficult for defenders to mark them both out which is what we saw when Benteke nearly scored today IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Helenius is an unknown quantity, couldn't he have done the same? Two No. 9s together isn't a viable way forward in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Benteke was very poor today but still came the closest to scoring and was very lucky with that great effort in the second half that was saved by West Ham's keeper. Kozak to be fair did OK when he came on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. You keep saying this and it's **** stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. You keep saying this and it's **** stupid. heh ironic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 If Kozak had performed the same as Benteke today, he would have been absolutely crucified. You keep saying this and it's **** stupid. heh ironic. Heh good one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Helenius is an unknown quantity, couldn't he have done the same? Two No. 9s together isn't a viable way forward in my opinion. I agree and I personally wouldn't want it to be 'our way of playing', but it gives us a different option at least. As for Helenius, I don't think he is strong or combative enough to play in such a role in our league yet. I do want to see him playing though as I think he can really become a good player, his footwork is fantastic, I just think he and Kozak are completely different players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Helenius is an unknown quantity, couldn't he have done the same? Two No. 9s together isn't a viable way forward in my opinion. I agree and I personally wouldn't want it to be 'our way of playing', but it gives us a different option at least. As for Helenius, I don't think he is strong or combative enough to play in such a role in our league yet. I do want to see him playing though as I think he can really become a good player, his footwork is fantastic, I just think he and Kozak are completely different players. I think Helenius would complement Benteke far more then Kozak ever will. I don't see how playing two players in the same mould together up front will work. Stoke are the only team I can think of that did this and it is no coincidence that they were the lowest scorers in the league for two years running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Helenius is an unknown quantity, couldn't he have done the same? Two No. 9s together isn't a viable way forward in my opinion. I agree and I personally wouldn't want it to be 'our way of playing', but it gives us a different option at least. As for Helenius, I don't think he is strong or combative enough to play in such a role in our league yet. I do want to see him playing though as I think he can really become a good player, his footwork is fantastic, I just think he and Kozak are completely different players. I think Helenius would complement Benteke far more then Kozak ever will. I don't see how playing two players in the same mould together up front will work. Stoke are the only team I can think of that did this and it is no coincidence that they were the lowest scorers in the league for two years running. Like I said I agree with you and it isn't a style of play that I'd like to become our own, but against West Ham away from home for example, it is very difficult to play through the middle as they completely pack out the midfield (especially with the way our own midfield played today). Our best chance of scoring today was from crossing the ball in and it worked best, in my opinion, with having Kozak up there alongside Benteke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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