During the second half of the EPL season Junior was played centrally behind the striker. He was a striker at the youth level, but was switched to left wing at St. Pauli 3 years ago.
"We are back bitches" - Adolf Hitler.
Even if that ^^^^^^ is the case we still need a point man playing in front of him. I can see us playing a 3 man attack with Simeon, Jr. and Simpson but we would have to work on it and it would have to be a change of style. At the moment I think having Ali G up top is the best option with 3 attacking mids playing off him.
jpg is right, he has played effectively centrally in the hole. His stats in more than one game showed that he was given the freedom to roam a great deal. He seems to be able to find the spaces behind a deep central striker.
I agree with the shared sentiment that we shouldn't waste time courting those who don't long to wear the maple leaf.
But Hoilett is a special case and can fill a special need.
I don't know why we can't enlist some Canadians of signifcance - the Prime Minister, Steve Nash, Drake, Wayne Gretzky - to give the call a call and a bit of encouragement.
Is there a role the Vs can play in facilitating this. Might we issue a press release encouraging Hoilett to commit to Canada? Sorry if this is well-trodden ground. New here.
Positions
Hoillet gives you a number of options where you can play him but none of them are as a central striker or target man. That would just be a waste of his natural talents. We all saw Jackson struggle to get involved in games when he was alone up top relying on questionable service and not allowed to spend time with the ball at his feet. Hoillet would look the same way. He relies on being able to pick the ball up a bit earlier and then beat defenders with his pace and from there he has a fair bit of ability to cross the ball as well as creating his own shot.
He is used out wide for the most part by Blackburn because he is by far the best option that they have out there and they rely on him making wide runs and occasionally drifting in to the middle. He did start in more of a central attacking midfield role a few times this past season and was effective there but I don't think that would be the best place for Canada to use him.
I do get that CMNT is lacking a central striker as i dont think Friend or Gerba are good enough to get the job done for us at the level we want to be but we have to work with what is at our disposal rather then trying to make the players we have fit into a system that does not suit them. So I would agree with the people who have commented about a change in formation being needed if Junior does decide to commit. I like the idea of more of a 4-3-3 formation but that would put more pressure on Hutchinson and De Guzman to perform every single game.
Jackson/Simpson/Hoillet would be dangerous to any CONCACAF nation.
We need Junior!
What's be talked about in the past regarding this is no longer relevant as things have changed and we have been shown the weakness our own side possesses. This is exactly the discussion I want to get started here, and yes I think we do need to take action on our part as a collective (resistance is futile). A press release is a good start, but I think we need to think of ways to go beyond that, whether directly aimed at Hoilett or aimed at others who can add oomph to our trying to convince him.Originally Posted by kittiwake30
My initial idea was that we need to contact which ever club he signs his sought after deal with and ask them if we can either speak directly to him or have a message given to him (which we would have to make sure it does somehow). This is the most direct approach aside from someone actually physically going to the club and asking to speak with him, which would happen when pigs fly. It's probably not the best approach either, so hopefully we can brainstorm an acceptable action or set of actions we can take to make sure he declares for us.
8-1 And We're Still Here
Just throwin some ideas out there, but how about a series of suggestive, yet cool images of him as the Canadian soccer hero and send them to him. Can create a series of images, like one with him on a Wheatie's box wearing a Canada kit, fake newspaper clippings "canada qualifies for 2014 Brazil!!" posters, etc... Simple enough to do for someone with graphic design training (which I have..) I'm not really a huge fan of trying to seduce people to join us, but at the same time I'm also sick of sitting on our asses and keeping our fingers crossed.
$$$$ talks
Simple as this - big money needs to get Junior over here - BMO needs to get on board. Scotiabank, Magna - I don't care whom - he should be getting corporate money and advertising. That is what will bring him to Canada.
Adidas ads, whatever. Corporate canada just doesn't get on board, and I'm SURE the CSA is trying to do this.
several years ago, I approached Dairy Farmers of Canada with an idea to get soccer into its advertising framework. As you may recall, they threw money behind the Olympics and had some decent ads as well.
If Canadian companies start talking, then he makes more trips home. Then he gets attention for the big games. Then...then...
Show me the money!
He is extremely important, he is the only game-breaker we have and it is of massive importance that we cap him.
I think he will play for us but we will have to wait
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