lionsden

I'm telling you that these top strikers have scoring ratio less than 25% most of the time and they are able to flourish and score as many goals as they do because their respective teams are usually very creative and they are constantly fed with top quality service to work with. The amount of chances Aguero, Suarez,Cavani miss is mindblowing but they are allowed to do that because they usually have plenty of opportunities over the course of the game to rectify their mistake. How many dead easy/ clean through on goal/one on one/easy tap ins have our strikers had this season and missed. I bet it's not even up to 8 . but we are led to believe the team creates chances which our strikers often fail to capitalise on. With our current set up and tactical approach any striker would struggle (by their usual standard) and wouldn't perform optimally because we do not provide the right conditions for strikers to flourish. it really is that simple. We might score more goals but it will simply paper over the cracks. We need to address the underlying issue first and foremost.

I will like to see what people will blame our attacking deficiencies on when we buy a worldclass/top striker and the current problem of struggling to break down compact defences and inability to retain quality possession still persist. Some people are in for a rude awakening. The only way I see this problem being neutralised is if we can somehow find a striker with 96-100 % efficiency rate, who would make the absolute most of every scraps he gets because that's what our strikers usually have to feed on/work with. such striker might exist on mars. with the way we play football, I don't see a top striker changing much. the changes must come from the training ground which starts with a change of mentality, philosophy and direction. We all watch football and how many times have we seen world class strikers struggle because they were left isolated, frustrated and deprived of quality services upfront leading to an ineffective attacking impact from these top strikers. It happens quite a lot especially in big games due to a tactical approach and set up that doesn't allow strikers to flourish.

Juan is playing like shit at utd and has been for the entire season and what's your fucking point?

but but but He works hard though and that's all that matters. a £30m workhorse. Jesus wept.

And predictably he's made a scapegoat for the team's woeful performamce in the 2nd half. Was he the reason why we were chasing shadows throughout the 2nd half and failed to manage a shot on target after Hazard's pen?. When will people just admit that we play pathetic, one dimensional football collectively as a team and often struggle to retain possession against top/decent teams and when we do have majority of possession against crap teams who strategically let us have the ball, we rarely do anything meaningful with it barring some moments of individual brilliance. Until we learn how to keep the ball and create quality chances against any defence, we will continue to have this issue. Jose is out of touch with reality if he expects our strikers/players to convert most half chances they get scarcely in matches. Messi who's arguably the most efficient and most clinical finisher in the world has a conversion rate of just 26 % and Jose expects us as a team to have damn near 100% conversion ratio from scrappy, half chances? How about we figure out how to create quality chances in abundance first instead of scapegoating a striker who everyone already acknowledges as awful for our lack of attacking fluency and ideas.

Exactly This plays perfectly into PSG's hand and we have not shown the ability to calve out quality chances against teams who aren't too interested in bombing forward and don't have to. I shudder to think what Lavezzi, Cavani and Lucas will do to us on the counter as we inevitably leave space behind for them to exploit.

Jose has yet to show he has the tactical nous to break down packed defenses and stoke city this season have not only showed their trademark grittiness but also the ability to counter and even play possession based football (shocking I know). This could easily be another point dropped which would effectively end our title hopes (if it's not already over).

Post of the century. The whole youth development policy is shambles. you can stockpile and loan out all the talented youngsters in europe but without conviction aka balls to introduce and embed them into the 1st team, it all counts for nothing. if our policy is to purely make profit off these youngsters then fine but I don't want to hear any bollocks from the club hierachy about the bullshit youth development that they have been spouting for near a decade.

And this is a fact some are oblivious to. I have been saying it all along that our squad is massively overrated and lacking in world class players but some would have you believe we are on par with some of europe's elite.

The big difference is, Utd play with 2 strikers, sometimes even 3 which makes chicharito's playing chances much better than of he joined a team that plays with only 1 striker as a third option.

Since ffp was introduced

Not really. objectively speaking anyway. There's a big difference between status and squad quality and the strength of the competition. the latter factors significantly dictates expectations and success not status afterall AC milan are also one of the biggest clubs in europe but no one expects them to win shit. For example, a club like Bayern would be expected to win atleast one trophy per season because they have the luxury of 2 key factors which we currently lack. the best squad in their domestic league and arguably Europe plus the gap between them and the competition they face in the Bundelsiga is huge and the Dortmund's injury crisis further widens the gap . In contrast to the EPL where 4 teams are competing for the title.

What's shocking is how uncreative and one dimensional he's become (well he was like that under jose before he left so wasn't a sudden deterioration but it was put down to loss of confidence/form). What has happened to the little magician that could create something out of nothing. looks like a shell of his former self and that's painful to type. But then again Silva was very poor last season but has regained his mojo and looks like the silva of old again so we will just chuck it down as a bad season for him, I expect him to return to form next season.

Just out of curiosity. without hindsight, who here would have kept Sturridge at the expense of Lukaku. Basically who rated the 11/12 AVB Sturridge as a better player and striker than Lukaku.

I can't disagree with much of this. If (and it's a big IF and a big ask) he eventually replaces Lampard and his goal scoring output then I would be a happy camper indeed and will tolerate his lack of creativity much much better.

Matic would flourish even better with a DLP next to him. Luiz has been decent in CM alongside matic, I will give him that but let's not get carried away. if a decent offer comes in for him I had take it and use the money to buy a proper DLP/striker. We aren''t missing Luiz in defence and he's not the solution to our midfield in the long term and on a consistent basis.

Try majority of Chelsea fans for starters

The former even though I find him extremely overrated by many as his actual footballing ability and output aren't consistent with the hype and accolade he receives but he's not a bad player at all. far from it. just not a playmaker and overrated that's all. In layman terms I rate him as a good player but not a "potential to be one of the best players/no 10 in the world" good

First half of the season i.e from August to December his stats in the league reads 5 goals and 0 assist (that's ZERO assist for a playmaker) in 18 appearances. That's your definition of amazing form?

Which is the primary duty of a no 10. It's a'kin to a striker that can't finish for shit. like it's a bad thing to criticise and not rate players who are lacklustre at their primary duty. How's this any different from when people were using the all round play/assists stats and work ethic argument to excuse Torres lackluster finishing, positioning and movement in the box which are primary requirements of a striker. If you will be taking up the playmaker position then you have to deliver or relinquish the role to someone that can actually create. And not just the lack of creativity either, the amount of times I have seen him lose possession due to a combination of sloppy first touch, lack of finesse and composure and wayward passing is shocking for an outfield player nevermind a no 10.

The entire quote sounded like dig at Ramires and Mikel. to motivate them to do better perhaps

What explanation? Bushman wrote "To answer your question, it really makes no sense to continue here" "but Oscar has a lot more to offer than you may think, at least, I feel that way" is that your idea of explanation? Such Excellent, well thought out and ground breaking analysis from you.

To those claiming Costa burst unto the scene was sudden and only happened this season in Radamel's departure/absence didn't see him carry AM 2nd half of last season or chose to ignore it when Falcao went AWOL after his brilliant start which prompted the then Valencia coach Valverde to suggest that he's a more complete player and has become more valuable to the team than the Colombian. a statement that didn't go down well with many.

I don't get the feeling that Jose rated him from the start and I wouldn't be surprised if theres substance to the rumours. It will be a real shame because he never got to fulfill his dream of playing for his beloved club. if we must sell him it has to be abroad. Another potential repeat of the Sturridge gaffe will be unbearable.

More money for one and better exposure and no one is denying that the EPL has that in abundance but the french league is still one of the best 5 leagues in Europe La liga EPL Bundesliga Serie A Ligue 1