Leo - the new Ormo?
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Midfield scoring sensation and yummy humble pie flavouring Oyvind Leonhardsen apparently wants an inside job...
'story' from the OS...
After scoring in successive home games, Oyvind Leonhardsen is clearly making his mark at Villa Park. But the Norwegian international admits he would still love an inside job.
Leo has now started two matches at Villa Park, scoring on each occasion and has been a regular throughout the six-game unbeaten run – plying his trade down the right in midfield.
The early-season capture from Spurs is delighted to have finally been given an extended run-out in the side, but admits he would still love a more central role.
He commented: “I’ve played a lot on the right during my career, but I really prefer to be on the inside with someone else out wide.
“I feel I can be more dangerous from that sort of position, because I’ll never be a winger who takes people on.
“But I feel I can be effective within a system and it doesn’t really matter as long as I’m in the team.
“I’ve said before that it’s important for my confidence to be out there playing. I know what I can do and it’s great to be out there playing.”
...at the risk of being wrong yet again about our Oyvind I'd say that he's far more use to us on the right of the midfield quartet. He's not a winger (at least we agree on that) and he's certainly not tall but I think he's showing signs of being the new Ian Ormonroyd.
Yes, I know it sounds silly - small Norwegian midfielder compared to lanky Yorkshire forward, but they've both 'kind of found themselves' occupying unexpected wide positions in GT Villa teams. Each was worth more to the team in terms of balance (always a vital ingredient in GT teams and one that was missing at Villa until very recently) than their individual skills.
With Oyvind his game can be split into 3. At the back he's cover for the rightback - an ideal job for a scurrier like him, esp if he can cut out the odd silly foul. In the middle he has to cover defensively (see above) and link up the forward play. I'm not 100% convinced about him going forward and he seems to have 'positional concerns' himself about this role but he was part of the sweeping passing move for the 4th goal against West Ham and does a good job of keeping up with play.
In the final 3rd he's already playing a central role. We're missing out on a (not very good) right winger as he cuts inside but getting another midfield goalscorer in the box. It's not symmetrically balanced, but it seems to work in terms of team balance - at least from what I've seen in the last couple of home games. Check the re-runs of the goals - if he's not directly involved (his own 2, Allback, Vassell) he's usually in the frame.
Discuss
Copyright 2008 - Captain Vulture
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