Radamel Falcao

[Santiago. 1,500]

That's a bad example though don't you think? Torres is just plain shit, he's not a team player or a goal poacher, he's just shit.

Cavani is a leader, he is a captain upfront, he demands goals, he doesn't go cry or sulk when he can't score goals, he goes out and makes sure he scores goals. Cavani is also a very tough player and will get on the end of anything, just the type of players you want in the Premier league, with a good first touch and good technical abillities, has a good finish on him, perfect striker. In a good team he could net you 30 a season in my honest opinion, he's very underrated.

Where as Falcao is dominent, but he would be extreemly ineffective if the team isn't playing well or can't provide creativity. Falcao struggles to make a simple pass, although he's probably one of the best goal scorers in the world, however Cavani benefits the side more. You can use Torres as an example, but i can use the example of all the goal poachers who have came here and failed, only Drogba was a worthy striker and he was far from a goal poacher, he was a team player. Anelka was a fantastic player, goal poacher now and then but hardly overall.

Torres IS a team player and its a fact believe it or not. Think he was second or third in assists last year and already is continuing to provide goals, but not scoring them. Which is our biggest issue. Not having a striker to score us goals when we need them.

I'm not referencing that Falcao would be a better option than Cavani, just placing down the facts that every team needs a pure goal scorer. Last season, Barca's movement was clinical in their style of play, but during the last course of the season, they struggled due not having an all round pure finisher, IE David Villa and it was obviously visible. Alexis scored as well as Pedro, but they were mainly supporting the play rather than driving at goal. Messi's brilliance got them that far and literally carried them for goals and is still carrying them now.

You can say Falcao is beneficial in certain areas, (Finding the ball in the back of the net, strong in the air, creating his own goals, both right and left footed) and Cavani as well, (Team play, leadership, strong character).

But whether we buy Falcao and Cavani, are team is filled with midfielders and their main job has to be to get the ball in the back of the net or we will not be able to compete with the likes of City and United. Simple.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I know it's gone to shit, but even you know yourself that we can't do that. We are going to need a striker regardless, Lukaku is still too young for me, huge pressure, and he still has to prove himself regardless, Demba Ba is a good player but he's not great. We are going to need that forward, it wont always be this way, we will have another great striker one day.

Demba Ba, Lukaku, Torres + one other (and it doesn't necessarily have to be Falcao or Cavani, either) would do it for me. Provided they are rotated properly and/or paired in tandem by someone who knows what they are doing.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Demba Ba, Lukaku, Torres + one other (and it doesn't necessarily have to be Falcao or Cavani, either) would do it for me. Provided they are rotated properly and/or paired in tandem by someone who knows what they are doing.

That's too much depth. We only play with one striker so our third striker would get absolutely no time. Lukaku was our third striker last season when we had two misfiring strikers and he still only started 4 games, all of them pretty unimportant. If Chelsea are going to play 60 games or so, that means roughly 30 starts for 2 different strikers. You can have three strikers playing regularly if you have a different formation or if, like Anelka, one of the strikers is capable of playing on the wing, but 4 people for 1 spot is a waste of money and talent.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Demba Ba, Lukaku, Torres + one other (and it doesn't necessarily have to be Falcao or Cavani, either) would do it for me. Provided they are rotated properly and/or paired in tandem by someone who knows what they are doing.

Yep, this is the view I've always held. Having options which you can rotate could be much more effective than putting all our eggs in one basket and baring the consequences should it not work out.

[Peace. 4,352]

I do not want this deal to go through ; and thus for three reasons :

* First off, I do not believe that Falcao is the type of striker we need. He is undoubtly the best striker when it comes to score goals ; but that's that. Yes, we do need someone who scores a lot of goals, but we do need more : someone able to have a notable workrate, having good capacities for link-up play and able to be an anchor up-front. A player as Cavani would be the perfect fit (I really do want him). He certainly will score less goals than what Falcao could do - However, he is himself a very goal-scorer and would bring more to our side, in my opinion. Also, I do not like the kind of player that Falcao is and I deeply believe that this kind of players is not the fit for a club aiming to be a powerhouse. In order to fulfil the potentiel of that sort of players, you do need to build the team around him - yes. That is exactly what a big club should not do. I do not like the way we're dependant to Mata, by the way.

* Secondly, trading Courtois in order to have the deal done is not a wise thing to do, definitely not. Petr Cech has been injured quite a lot of times this season (it's not like he was out for six months, but he was a lot more injured than other seasons). I read here and there that he has concerns with his body and might not be able to play eternally (even though I do not know whether there's some true in it !). Furthermore, with his head being hurt seriously in the past, he is more weak than any other player - one more knock to his head and it might be the end of his career. Finally, next year Cech will enter his tenth season at the club. That is a lot. He has won everything here : once the Champions League, three times the EPL, four FA Cup, two League Cup. He has been a great servant for the club, and might be tempted to go and see whether grass is greener elsewhere ; and that would be understandable ! From his point of view, adding a Liga or Serie A to his CV would be tempting.

We do not know what tomorrow is made up of. I do not know whether what I said will occur or not ; that is just hypothetical. But if the board expects Cech to be forever here - given what I have aformentioned - and/or reckons that someone of the like of Turnball is good enough to take over ; then there're retarded, plain and simple. The wisest thing to do, into my eyes, is to get Courtois with us this summer, keep him over here for one or two seasons, try him out, and assess the situation at the end of that period. And if he is not needed, then sell him.

* Finally, I do not want Falcoa here because I deeply believe that the board want him for the wrong reasons. Into my eyes, there aren't after him because he is the best, but because of what he does represents. It seems that this club is running after a chimera. And that chimera is an expensive-high-profil-superstar-striker. It was the case with Shevchenko and the ladyboy, and I do think it is the same with Falcao. Voilà voilà.

[Kojo 4,676]

Torres IS a team player and its a fact believe it or not. Think he was second or third in assists last year and already is continuing to provide goals, but not scoring them. Which is our biggest issue. Not having a striker to score us goals when we need them.

I'm not referencing that Falcao would be a better option than Cavani, just placing down the facts that every team needs a pure goal scorer. Last season, Barca's movement was clinical in their style of play, but during the last course of the season, they struggled due not having an all round pure finisher, IE David Villa and it was obviously visible. Alexis scored as well as Pedro, but they were mainly supporting the play rather than driving at goal. Messi's brilliance got them that far and literally carried them for goals and is still carrying them now.

You can say Falcao is beneficial in certain areas, (Finding the ball in the back of the net, strong in the air, creating his own goals, both right and left footed) and Cavani as well, (Team play, leadership, strong character).

But whether we buy Falcao and Cavani, are team is filled with midfielders and their main job has to be to get the ball in the back of the net or we will not be able to compete with the likes of City and United. Simple.

It doesn't matter if he provided some assists, that's mainly due to the fact he was constantly overplayed and he's obviously going to have some affect just like any player would and all he did was back off. Being a team player is like Didier Drogba, Drogba wasn't a goal scoring striker, goals just came with him because he was that good. The amount of team goals we had because of Drogs was crazy, Anelka, Malouda & Kalou were grabbing shit loads. Due to the fact Drogba could get his team into the game, Torres is just messed up, he can't play in the system and he has been very poor when given chances, it's like his mentallity isn't there at all, and it never will be.

Like i said you can't have that as an example, Torres is not a team player, he's a player who is lost. Cavani is probably the closest striker to Drogba at the moment who is 'world class' standard, and he's way off, so it's saying something. Not in terms of class, just how much of an impact Drogba has on a team, Cavani however has better impacts in some areas, he's a very brave striker who relishes oppertunities, look at his goals agianst City, he's a monster player.

Against us when his team was losing 4-1, despite the team not being able to give him assistance, i remember the lad running back in defence and covering and marking drogs, he even stopped Drogba from getting a one on one. That's fantastic mentallity it really is, most strikers would give up (strikers who have Cavani's technique do anyway, as most have their own arrogance, Drogba was one of them).

But you are definitely right, Falcao would probably come here and score goals, but you have to think of the money. I think it would be much better spent on Cavani, as Demba Ba is similar to Falcao (obviously he is some way off in terms of class, but as a goal scoring striker who gets upfront all the time) we already have that goal scoring striker to bring on, however we don't have anyone who can do what Cavani can do upfront. Only Drogba has been able to do that job for us eversince Roman arrived, being the dominent forward upfront, even when managers changed their systems which kicked Drogba out, he still somehow found a way to get into the team and prove he's number one.

[sainttourist 68]

don't understand why so many of you became pessimistic. He is proven goal scorer, best in the box. It's obviously that we miss killer in the box after Didier left. This is main Torres weakness - he is rare open in the box. We have a lot players who can build up play. But if you search for striker who is more involved in the game, there is another uruguayan out there.

[Santiago. 1,500]

Agreed with everything bar the notifications on Torres

[Hutcho 8,443]

I think everyone is being slightly picky and he would be a great signing for us. Not saying he is the best option, or the best value or the right thing to do. But if it comes down to it and roman pulls the trigger, there will be very few who won't look forward to seeing him in a chelsea shirt.

[Marvin123 484]

Lukaku, Ba,and Feruz will be enough for our 1 striker system

[BlueLion. 21,491]

That's too much depth. We only play with one striker so our third striker would get absolutely no time. Lukaku was our third striker last season when we had two misfiring strikers and he still only started 4 games, all of them pretty unimportant. If Chelsea are going to play 60 games or so, that means roughly 30 starts for 2 different strikers. You can have three strikers playing regularly if you have a different formation or if, like Anelka, one of the strikers is capable of playing on the wing, but 4 people for 1 spot is a waste of money and talent.

It's too much depth for 4-3-3, which is a system we no longer suit no Didier has left.

Back to good old 4-4-2, with a big one and a little one, á la Eidur and JFH.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

It's too much depth for 4-3-3, which is a system we no longer suit no Didier has left.

Back to good old 4-4-2, with a big one and a little one, á la Eidur and JFH.

Err, they were both roughly the same height.

[Billy. 2,742]

dont need him we got Lukaku

[English Freak 456]

It's too much depth for 4-3-3, which is a system we no longer suit no Didier has left.

Back to good old 4-4-2, with a big one and a little one, á la Eidur and JFH.

We could still use a 4-3-3...depending on: a) our next manager & the development of Lukaku

At the end of the day, if our next manager thinks Falcao can fit into Chelsea's tactics, then Roman should pull the trigger...

[The only place to be 11,313]

Lukaku, Ba,and Feruz will be enough for our 1 striker system

I'd be fine with this so long as we strengthened elsewhere. If we get this Markovic kid as well then why go after Falcao?

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Lukaku, Ba,and Feruz will be enough for our 1 striker system

Lukaku, Ba,and Feruz = RVP,Rooney,Chica,Welbeck / Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko

[communicate 2,703]

That's too much depth. We only play with one striker so our third striker would get absolutely no time. Lukaku was our third striker last season when we had two misfiring strikers and he still only started 4 games, all of them pretty unimportant. If Chelsea are going to play 60 games or so, that means roughly 30 starts for 2 different strikers. You can have three strikers playing regularly if you have a different formation or if, like Anelka, one of the strikers is capable of playing on the wing, but 4 people for 1 spot is a waste of money and talent.

3 striker is max for 1 striker system and preferably one of them can play on the wing

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Out of interest, which 15 players do you think we should sign instead?

Just Cavani when speaking of striker...