Interesting that Mackie’s ‘dog chasing a tennis ball’ routine in relation to running towards a goalkeeper is seen as a positive by so many. He never gets near it before it’s smashed clear, and while it might make the good old fashioned English football fans wipe a tear away, it means he’s offside for the next 15-odd seconds while he trots back in line with their defence. Meanwhile if we win the header or the second ball there’s nobody up top to look for, so the ball has to go backwards or sideways which pins us in and stops us being able to attack / counter effectively. By the time he is back onside, even if we have the ball the other team is set.
To think this charade is in any way positive is to fundamentally ignore the game in front of you. When you play an isolated central striker it becomes a problem if they’re always gallivanting around chasing the goalie. Ever wondered why players higher up don’t indulge in this routine to anywhere near this extent? It’s for that very reason - it takes them out of the game for a sustained period of time as well as needlessly running down their stamina. They will only do it if they know the keeper will play it short and therefore they won’t be left stranded 30-40 yards offside, and the only sides you will see doing it often are the ones who have a pair up front who like to bash about a bit, such as Burnley, where one chases down and the other doesn’t, so that they’re available to receive the ball in the event that the defence / midfield wins it back. If you’re old fashioned and think that blindly running towards the goalkeeper ten times a game makes someone a hero then I can understand why you’d think Jamie Mackie is great, but all it does is take him out of the game and lose us the ability to get going. Especially since it isn’t even like he goes towards the keeper and then arcs his run and comes back to get onside quickly, but rather goes full a**e in the air, Kung fu kick, flying past the goalkeeper to show how committed he is. It doesn’t do anything.
Still, at least when he bundles in his third goal in near on 40 appearances at some point in the next half a dozen matches, it’ll give me the joy of seeing people trying to make out that it proves he’s great.
