He may have scored both goals for the Foxes - who are still a hefty seven points off the Championship playoff places - but in my opinion he should be nowhere near the Leicester team sheet. Not now, nor for the foreseeable future.
I will give him his due, he does have the odd touch of quality. He has the ability to score some absolute wondergoals, as he demonstrated with his two 30-yard screamers against Crystal Palace in November. He also takes a very good penalty. He still has a 100% record for the Foxes from the spot with his unique back-to-goal run up technique. His delivery from set-pieces is also of a high standard...sometimes.
Unfortunately for Paul, he is not playing American Football. You cannot succeed in a footballing side just by being able to convert from deadball situations. I would hope that most of the eleven players in the side would be able to consistently hit the back of the net from just 12 yards away. Paul Konchesky, one of Leicester's best players this season, is also a proven free-kick specialist.
'Gally' is a luxury we cannot afford.
When it comes to making tackles, he is nowhere to be seen. I have lost count of the times he has bottled 50/50 challenges or simply made token gestures as an opposition winger flies past him as though he isn't there - to be honest, he might as well not be.
He is useless in the air. The crux of this inability comes from his sheer lack of strength which results in him just being blown off the ball whenever he and an opponent go up for a header. Although, to describe his attempt as 'going up' is extrememly generous as he very rarely even gets off the ground.
The key to succeeding in the Championship is pace and width. Gallagher offers neither.
He is simply not quick enough to beat a man. Whenever he gets the ball, he has to resort to stopping, looking up, waiting, finding a man, and then either playing a short ball inside or a hopeful cross-field 50 yard pass. This does nothing but kill the tempo and stop any momentum that has been built up.
And he doesn't get wide enough either. He constantly gets drawn into the centre which leaves right-back Lee Peltier as the only attacking wide option down the right hand side. This also has terrible defensive consequences. Because he always gets drawn infield, he is unable to pick up his man and the opposition always have an overlap down his side. This leaves Peltier stuck trying to mark two men and results in unnecessary danger which should be easily prevented. He even has the cheek to stand and point and accuse his fellow players of not picking up the free man.
Now this is not completely Gallagher's fault. He is the first to admit that he isn't a natural wide player. Much of the blame, I have to adsay, lies with the manager. From the moment Nigel Pearson returned to the Foxes for his second managerial spell, he has complained that the squad is desperately lacking in width. He amended this problem in the January transfer window by signing winger Ben Marshall from Stoke and aquiring Aston Villa's Nathan Delfouneso (primarily a striker but has played on the wing all his career) on a short-term loan - both Premier League pedigree. Despite this, Pearson insists on persevering with golden boy Gallagher.
The problem is that after today's brace, Gallagher has secured his place in the side for the foreseeable future. Leicester, who have not won two league games back-to-back all season, need to string a good run of victories together if they stand even a chance of scraping into the playoffs. This is simply not possible when such lightweight, slow and tactically inept players such as Gallagher are on the team sheet every week at the expense of other, more destructive, options.
He is a luxury we cannot afford.
3 comments:
Spot on - and until Gally,Howard,Oakley and Wellens ffs are still at the club,I am afraid the team will never move upwards - but mid table obscurity will be all we can acheive - not good enough + you forgot to mention his inability to beat the first man from a corner - that is subday league at best - Gash.
Gallagher scores goals. End of. To say that he does't deserve a place in the team when the likes of Lloyd Dyer is playing week in week out is quite frankly ridiculous. Whilst I admit that Dyer's pace can cause problems, the quality of his final ball is so poor that it negates all of the work he has done getting himself into that position. He is essentially a speedboat without a driver. Pearson needs to recognise this and give Marshall a chance to prove himself on Tuesday.
I completely agree, Dyer is in almost the same boat. He's just a 100m sprinter with boots on, his final product is indeed woeful. However, I would much prefer to play against Gallagher than Dyer.
Post a Comment