Like most of us I’m unable to can’t come to a definitive opinion on Mauro Zarate’s abilities given the lack of action we’ve seen from him but what I do know is I think is that he is better than a 53rd minute sub – ie fifth choice.
His appearance at Everton showed us that this is a bright player with bags of ability who can change things – what he needs is a chance to show that over a run of games.
From what we are hearing at ClaretandHugh, his opportunity may come over the next couple of games with the injury situation unlikely to improve for two or three weeks.
Chiekhou Koutaye could be back next week but reports on the other four – Downing, Song, Valencia and Sakho are not encouraging.and we may even have to make do without them over the next couple of games.
Of course nothing is certain and that is the worst case scenario but surely if that turns out to be the case there has to be a place in the side for the Argentinian.
However, let’s hope that if he does, he won’t be involved in a “let’s hump it forward” situation that confronted him in the last 20 minutes. We’ll never see him at his best in such a scenario. I felt for him!
He was brought here in the first place to play off Andy Carroll and, to provide some variation to the play. Whilst I prefer not to knock Carlton Cole’s contribution down the years, he and Carroll don’t work as a pair.
There’s little point in moaning about the fact that Sam Allardyce loves a big man or two but yesterday against Everton proved again that these two don’t work too well.
I think the manager has to face the fact that Kevin Nolan too needs to be looked at very hard indeed and that whatever reservations he may have about Zarate, it’s surely the time to give him his chance.
We also need to keep playing football and Zarate can provide a real spark in those circumstances. A return to the style of play we saw in the last 20 minutes isn’t the answer to our current problems.
Zarate, however, may prove to be part of the answer.
Thank you for calling this out. That was another game where our manager’s poor choice of starting players has led to a loss. Why Zarate and Jarvis did not start to offer us speed and creativity was unbelievable. Playing Cole and Nolan must have seemed a gift to Everton. This shows that Sam has not changed and is easily falling back into his comfort zone. We must not only look at Nolan and Cole but also Big Sam.
Although injuries to a large extent forced BS hand I am not sure that starting carroll and Cole was such a good idea.
I believe that it would have been better to start zarate with Cole and continue Andy’s rehabilitation from the bench.
I know that zarate has had problems with adjusting to the prem, injuries and loss of form so I can understand why BS was reluctant to start with him. But the recent public criticism clearly fired zarate up as was proven when he came on.
It is also easy to overlook the fact that before today Jarvis was one of the most frustrating and inconsistent players at the club.
Nolan was/stayed on mainly due to there being nobody else(take Sakho,valencia,downing and kouyate out injured, who’s left?), and the disgraceful treatment of amilfitano. McCathy blatant red card scissor tackle!
Sometimes it is easy to criticise when we loose but with all the injuries bs had little room for manoeuvre. Also with such a weakened side it was the ref who cost us the game(lukaku offside and mc Cathy def red card). Our first team would have been more than a match for this average toffee’s side.
Good piece. Considering he’s on £3m a year why can’t he and his analysts just see the obvious as it is to the rest of us.this is now 7 points dropped due to poor management in the last three games.Toon this week will be a stern test so expect the excuses to come out early for this one
I agree with all that’s been said. Zarate showed all and sundry his capabilities but again was Allardyce watching?Love the comment Hugh about reverting to that style of play in the last 20 minutes.Shows me that when under pressure the manager has little idea. Allardyce can blame the officials all he likes but his starting combination did not work or will ever work.