It's unique pressure being a striker
The trials and tribulations of a striker, they are a funny breed, a set of worriers, probably more so than any other player, or so it seems.
Emmanuel Adebayor for instance says he has to feel loved, wanted to give his best and blames any loss of form on a lack of confidence if the manager isn't showing faith in him.
Every striker misses sitters. every striker goes through a barren patch, even the best, and the longer it goes on the more it drains confidence until sometimes they look like a park footballer when a chance arrives. This doesn't happen very often in other positions.
A striker sets the highest transfer fees, gets paid the most money generally because his role is to win games. The rest of the team are basically there to give him the opportunities to stick the ball in the net, he gets all the glory for their work.
When he is misfiring however he is letting all his team-mates down, they are doing their bit and he is wasting it, he is costing his side valuable points. He scores you get points, he doesn't you don't. That's how it is for a lot of teams. Strikers are aware of this, it's what creates the pressure they have to play under, a type of pressure no other player has, apart from perhaps the goalkeeper, his mistakes lead to a goal and cost points.
The two are rabbits in the headlights, there is no hiding place for them, whereas mistakes in any other part of the field can be rectified and often forgotten. A striker or keeper error is exposed so everyone remembers it.
It takes a strength of character and mind to be a top class striker, some have the ability but not the mental character to go with it, Adebayor is again a prime example. Soldado has only scored 7 goals in 37 games in the Premier League and rarely seems to have had any confidence.
The club haven't helped, when he has scored to get a monkey off his back he gets dropped. Instead of building his confidence we give it another battering. He needs chance after chance and his striking ability will return but that involves him having game after game, not in the side, out the side. All that does is heap the pressure on giving an 'I must score this time' feeling, which is only making matters worse.
We all saw the relief when he scored against Cardiff in March and we dropped him. he has revealed to the Daily Mirror that the fact the supporters still want him to succeed is special.
He is a player who has not fired since he has been with us but that everyone knows has quality. He is a player you feel you want to give up on but can't. Goals just seem tantalisingly close, always just out of reach. We have all willed the ball into the net and with him staying until the end of the season we'll have to keep willing the tide to turn.
Emmanuel Adebayor for instance says he has to feel loved, wanted to give his best and blames any loss of form on a lack of confidence if the manager isn't showing faith in him.
Every striker misses sitters. every striker goes through a barren patch, even the best, and the longer it goes on the more it drains confidence until sometimes they look like a park footballer when a chance arrives. This doesn't happen very often in other positions.
A striker sets the highest transfer fees, gets paid the most money generally because his role is to win games. The rest of the team are basically there to give him the opportunities to stick the ball in the net, he gets all the glory for their work.
When he is misfiring however he is letting all his team-mates down, they are doing their bit and he is wasting it, he is costing his side valuable points. He scores you get points, he doesn't you don't. That's how it is for a lot of teams. Strikers are aware of this, it's what creates the pressure they have to play under, a type of pressure no other player has, apart from perhaps the goalkeeper, his mistakes lead to a goal and cost points.
The two are rabbits in the headlights, there is no hiding place for them, whereas mistakes in any other part of the field can be rectified and often forgotten. A striker or keeper error is exposed so everyone remembers it.
It takes a strength of character and mind to be a top class striker, some have the ability but not the mental character to go with it, Adebayor is again a prime example. Soldado has only scored 7 goals in 37 games in the Premier League and rarely seems to have had any confidence.
The club haven't helped, when he has scored to get a monkey off his back he gets dropped. Instead of building his confidence we give it another battering. He needs chance after chance and his striking ability will return but that involves him having game after game, not in the side, out the side. All that does is heap the pressure on giving an 'I must score this time' feeling, which is only making matters worse.
We all saw the relief when he scored against Cardiff in March and we dropped him. he has revealed to the Daily Mirror that the fact the supporters still want him to succeed is special.
"After a long time without a goal I was delighted that I could help the team to victory. Azza [Aaron Lennon] played me in, I controlled it well and when I shot I thought, ‘Please let me score’.
"I always feel the supporters love me and the moment the referee blew for half-time just after the goal everybody sung my name. I welled up a little bit. I had a tear in my eye. It was very special. I needed to score because, while in the previous few games I’d felt good, it’s important for a striker to hit the target. It’s not possible to score in every game but now I am back in the goals I hope this continues.
"When you have a lot of good players around you, you can only play better and I think this style of playing suits me 100 per cent. I just need to take advantage of the great players I have got playing around me."
He is a player who has not fired since he has been with us but that everyone knows has quality. He is a player you feel you want to give up on but can't. Goals just seem tantalisingly close, always just out of reach. We have all willed the ball into the net and with him staying until the end of the season we'll have to keep willing the tide to turn.
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