Not many people in Scottish football would have heard about Falkirk striker Farid El Allagui before Wednesday night’s Scottish League Cup third round match against Rangers. But after the French-Moroccan helped himself to a brace to shock Ally McCoist’s men in a 3-2 victory for the Bairns they will know about him now.
Signed from SO Romorantin – a club plying their trade in the murky depths of fourth tier French Football- the 26-year-old has made an instant impact since his move in the summer to the Falkirk Stadium.
Pressley brought El Allagui in on trial after he was recommended by his former team mate at Hearts, Stefano Salvatore. The striker produced a series of fine displays whilst there to prompt the Bairns boss to snap him up on a permanent basis and the target man has repaid his manager’s faith.
With nine goals in nine appearances the forward has fired his side into third place in the league and secured a passage into the later rounds of both domestic cups.
His double against Rangers on Wednesday night highlighted his explosive jump and his very good positional sense , some call it instinctive but as Kieran Duffie whipped in a cross, the 26 year-old knew where to be, to rise above the visitors defence and bullet a header past Neil Alexander in goal.
His second bared a similar resemblance with 16-year- old Craig Sibbald starting the move by launching a counter-attack and then producing a splendid cross for El Allagui to power another header past Alexander.
But there is more than just finishing to his game. At 5ft 11, he may not be the tallest centre forward but his powerful leap gives him the ability to out jump most players at his level which has built the foundation for Falkirk’s attacks this season.
The Bairns under former managers John Hughes and Eddie May played with a slow tempo where keeping the ball was the main focus but while it proved successful for a spell and it is questionable at all under Eddie May, teams learned to thwart this type of strategy, and a fresh approach was needed.
El Allagui has enabled Pressley to bring in this new refreshing style to the side by offering an outlet up front. Falkirk now opt to play with a direct and quick tempo with goalkeeper Michael McGovern starting an attack by launching a long ball to the French Moroccan where he has a tendency to win most headers even despite the height advantage defenders have on him.
This alleviates the pressure from the young Falkirk side – they have at least six academy graduates starting most games – because they are further up the park and are playing in the oppositions half rather than their own which has happened under previous regimes.
The 26-year-old is also unselfish, his ability to hold up the ball bringing others around him into play such as Sibbald on the left, David Weatherston on the right and Kallum Higginbotham through the middle combine a potent three-pronged attack behind him which has been the focal point for Falkirk’s goals this season.
But after his impressive displays so far it remains to be seen whether Falkirk can hold onto their star striker before bigger clubs start sniffing around this talented prospect.
No comments:
Post a Comment