Goals, Goals, Goals (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink)

Member Name: Insane Tommy

Product:	Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Date:	29/08/01 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Power of Shot, Power in General

Disadvantages: Selfish, Un-Motivated, Un-Disciplined

Well what can you say about the enigma that is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – lazy, arrogant, selfish, melodramatic, unmotivated, temperamental, petulant – BRILLIANT! Jimmy returned to the English game last year, costing Gianlluca Vialli a cool £15million and whilst Vialli has departed, Jimmy is still knocking them in for the Blues. Whilst I have only seen him play in real life a handful of times (I support a team that play in a 'real' division)
I have seen him on the box plenty of times, he's simply superb.

Born back in 1972 Mr. Hasselbaink has always enjoyed his goalscoring, banging them in for fun in the Dutch League and breaking nets throughout the Portuguese League with Boavista, the big question was – could he make it in a proper league? He moved to Leeds and proceeded to take England’s top league by storm. The Yorkshire club was truly blessed, until he decided he wanted a little more money, he left Yorkshire in a huff for Athletico Madrid (at the time only a Spanish or Italian club would pay the monopoly-style amounts that he demanded). Despite Atheltico’s relegation Jimmy was the Premera Lega’s (I’m not wholly sure how you spell that – my Spanish just about stretches to ‘uno beer por favor’). With Madrid in a real sticky financial mess Chelsea swooped for Jimmy at the start of last season, paying £15million (a club transfer record) for the Dutch goalscoring magician. He repaid that figure with a bag full of goals last season, he finished as the Premier League’s highest goalscorer and looks set to do it again! Whilst he’s only got one goal so far (that was against Southampton on Saturday) this is more to do with his new teamates needing time to gel, Hasselbaink is simply a natural goalscorer.

Hasselbaink’s game is all about aggression. He’s quite an imposing player, he’s 6’2’’ and of a muscular build. Whilst alre
ady quite physically menacing he’s also a very aggressive player, he’ll race around clipping your ankles until you make a mistake, very much like Alan Smith. Jimmy has a pretty laid back style, he never really seems interested or motivated, but when the ball gets into that final third he will soon spark to life. He loves to run onto through balls, using his pace and power to gain ground on defenders and muscle past them. However it’s his shooting technique which is truly enviable. The power he gets on his shots it second to none, with little or no back lift. Throughout last season he banged in goals from all positions, I would particularly highlight the goal he got at Old Trafford against Man Utd where he got the ball on the edge of the ‘D’ and powered it in. He also does the ‘simple’ stuff so well. He’s always in the right position for an easy tap in, note the goal against Southampton at the weekend. He really is the perfect striker – well maybe not perfect…

I say maybe not perfect because there are a couple of flaws in his game. Firstly he is incredibly selfish, and whilst this can be a good trait for a striker to have, sometimes he will spurn the chance of one of his teamates scoring. Secondly he is a bit of a ‘hot head’. For starters he left Leeds in pursuit of glory and money, if he’s done this once then perhaps he will do it again? Whilst I’m confident Chelsea would meet any wage demands he made they seem to be the perennial underachievers of the Premier League and perhaps he will want a move to a more successful club before his career fizzles out? On the pitch too, his aggression often gets the better of him, sometimes he takes his little niggling too far, such as in last years charity shield with his little stamp on Roy Keane. He always seems to flail his arms about and often over dramatises an incident, last year playing for Holland he got sent off for
some disgusting play acting. He, like Alan Smith, just needs to calm down a little.

As for this season I expect Hasselbaink to have another successful, thought the goals might be a little harder to come by, not because defences are stronger but because Ranieri is changing the tactics and personnel of Chelsea. The opening two matches of this season saw Chelsea employ a 4-3-3 tactic when Jimmy is the lone man up front with two wingers nearby. Whilst Jimmy is well built his lack of motivation and inability to come to the ball means that this tactic might lack effectiveness, it will also take a little time for the new faces of the Chelsea midfield to gel together so the chances won’t flow for him just yet. The sight of Jimmy will still strike fear into the hearts of defenders across the country and he’ll still create chances for himself and will put away any sniff of a chance that others gift him, he could be a good bet for the Golden Boot again!

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