Radamel Falcao

[yuvala 2,167]

I feel like we're gonna screw up and start the season without a proper striker, AGAIN.

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

I feel like we're gonna screw up and start the season without a proper striker, AGAIN.

Need to Buy Cavani/ Lewa ASAP.

[Sheva. 5,373]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzt6l6_falcao_sport#from=embediframe

2nd goal vs Barca this season.

[jmarlow 458]

The guy is a beast! I find it funny how people seem to think he is overrated now! he is world class and still the 2nd best striker on the planet imo!

[Blue Ninja 1]

One of the best in the world...

[BlueLyon 9,359]

This forum is ridiculous. Falcao is world class striker. Period. Its up to our coach, formation and tactics if he will ever be world class striker here. Personaly I think he would be absolutely best striker in the world in Real Madrid. Used to league and real has top support.

Here is another question though...

[Leif 6,006]

Take away his finishing. Make it irrelevant for a second.

Someone name 1 attribute he has which is 'great' please. I may grow a full beard before someone can think of something.

[Jype 6,398]

Take away his finishing. Make it irrelevant for a second.

Someone name 1 attribute he has which is 'great' please. I may grow a full beard before someone can think of something.

Movement, absolutely top-notch. No matter how good a player's finishing is, he will rarely score if he always finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time or stands still like Torres.

That wasn't so hard now, was it? Tell me, what does your beard look like?

[Leif 6,006]

Movement, absolutely top-notch. No matter how good a player's finishing is, he will rarely score if he always finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time or stands still like Torres.

But what does he do with that movement exactly? Get himself into scoring positions - but I said to discount finishing, so in this respect it's useless.

He doesn't use that 'movement' like Drogba does; To drag away defenders and create space specifically for a teammate to take advantage of.

It would and will also be debated that his movement is as good as 'great'. He's like a ton of led stood still for most of the game until his teammates get into the final 3rd.

[Reddish-Blue 2,495]

He can use it as a recruitment tool for the coming season. If players see that a name as big as Falcao is willing to go there, they can too.

Just like PSG. Lucas last season see's a bunch of big names go there and has the pick of just about every big club to choose from but opts for PSG because they paid him WAY more than he was worth.

Lucas only had two options....PSG or Man United. Real Madrid wanted him in 2 seasons time..

Then United pulled out because they didn't want to pay over 30 million.

That left Lucas with an easy option...take a massive pay increase and go to PSG or stay in Brazil for another year..

[Leif 6,006]

What Falcao doesn't bring to a team:-

Defensive contribution - He has good aerial ability, but he's rarely brought back for corners or opposition free-kicks as since he's used to having a team built around him, he's relied upon to finish the chances. He can't do that from a counter-attack if he's in his own box. He also doesn't have the pace to counter-attack greatly. (I'm not saying he has zero pace so no one bring that up.)

Decent passing - You expect a striker to be able to pass a ball. From what I see, he's slightly above Torres when it comes to passing - not a compliment. The amount of times he tries to pass to Turan or Koke only to see it go well wide of his target and out for a throw-in is baffling.

Set-piece taking - He can't take consistent free-kicks to save his life. He scored 1 'screamer' free-kick I believe at Porto and 1 injury-time free-kick game winner a month ago or so for Atletico. All his other hits have been over the bar, over the wall, or into the 'keeper's hands.

Physical presence - Yes, he may be 'strong' for his size and have decent aerial ability, but he doesn't bring it all together. He can't act as a focal point. He can barely hold the ball up for his teammates unless he's against a novice defender who tries to hack at his legs from behind.

Crossing ability - Force him out wide and he won't be getting a cheeky rabona cross in like Torres or a low-driven cross in like Drogba, but instead a 'was that a shot or a cross?', cross.

A 'never give up' attitude - That's not to say he won't score at the end of the game to save a point or win all 3, but he doesn't fight for his team - ever. He rarely chases the opposition. He never seems to break a sweat. If you go to Madrid and look up their most recent dictionary, find "Lazy" or even "Lethargic" on one of the pages. I'd put the chances of seeing a little scribbled Falcao face next to one of the words very high.

What he does bring to a team: -

Great finishing in 1-on-1 situations and long-shots which will almost always test the 'keeper.

'Movement' apparently which'll get him into the position to do the above.

Creativity. Not when it comes to movement or passing, but when it comes down to "shall i chip the ball into the net? shall i take an athletic shot? how about both!".

He'll head the ball into the net if you cross the ball to his head.

But let's just break this down even further.

1: Do we have decent crossers in our team? No! Our players can barely cross to save their lives. That's his aerial ability already useless aside from when Cech boots it up-field. Don't think Schurrle will fix this either if he arrives. He'd much rather shoot at goal and leave a frustrated Falcao with his hands pointing where he wanted the ball. Can you picture it? I can.

2: If the opposition 'keeper is on top form and thus nullifies Falcao's finishing, what else can he do? ... Does he have that Drogba-like understanding of the striker role where he can drag defenders away and create space for another goal-threat? From what I've seen, no.

Can he act as a Target Man simply to offer support to the players around him? No. Aerial ability can't be confused with target man ability. That can wind up dangerous.

3: Is he versatile? I've never seen him play anywhere but as the loan striker up front with supporting players out-wide. I'll assume not but I could be wrong.

Yet still it seems to boil down to people on here wanting to pay tens of millions for a player who they simply see as a 'great' finisher (if you go by his Youtube clips or his freak game against us, that is. He misses just as many shots as other strikers. Only his technique is better in my and many pundits eyes, not finishing.). Yes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity

Now, realistic alternatives who'd likely cost less than Falcao's price-tag yet offer far more and have on-par or close-enough 'finishing':

Lewandowski

Lukaku

Rooney

Cavani (He's leaving Napoli at the end of season. The reported prices are rubbish and he'll go for what he's worth.)

Kalou

That's just off the top of my head. If i revise the list in the morning i'll be able to add 20 players.

You know that Jackson Martinez player at Porto? Ask around Porto fans and even Benfica fans. He is considered to be much better, yes, much better than Falcao. He doesn't have as many 'show-reel goals', but when it comes to your own team that's not what you want. You want the player who is better for your team. Martinez is much more of an all-round striker who actually contributes to the team when he's on a dry-run without scoring. (That said, he currently has 25 goals in 27 league games with Porto.)

My conclusion: Falcao has been given the title: "King Of The Europa League". It's for good reason. That is his level; Europe's 2nd-tier, playing for Madrid's 2nd-tier club. He's a player for the highlight reels. The fact he even seems to entertain the idea of moving to LIGUE 2 club (but soon to be Ligue 1) Monaco shows that he knows this. For every 'wondergoal' you show me of his, if it's on Youtube or Vimeo, I'll be able to find an easy miss.

The teams he's played in have all been built around him. No Premier League teams work like that. It's not how the league works. You won't survive if you rely on one player no matter how good they may be.

I feel like the casual fan of football who sees the media hype surrounding Falcao (the media are clueless at times), a few Youtube goals and was lucky enough to conveniently watch one of his better games get the impression he'd somehow improve their team. In this case regarding Chelsea you would be wrong. He'd be the 'team'. And what happens when you build the players around you to suit Falcao (it's the only way he performs to a decent level) and he gets injured?

No Falcao, no party. (But if Summer ends, the transfer window closes and there's no Falcao here, I'll have my own party.)

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

Leif, on 13 May 2013 - 12:24 AM, said:

But what does he do with that movement exactly? Get himself into scoring positions - but I said to discount finishing, so in this respect it's useless.

He doesn't use that 'movement' like Drogba does; To drag away defenders and create space specifically for a teammate to take advantage of.

It would and will also be debated that his movement is as good as 'great'. He's like a ton of led stood still for most of the game until his teammates get into the final 3rd.

That's palpably nonsensical. Your saying ignore a attribute which leads to goal scoring opportunities? Falcao by his very nature is a rematador and fundamentally a striker. Also this isn't Hernandez we're talking about, this is Falcao.

Since youth he's been touted for greatness, making his debut in the Colombian league at 13 years old. The reason it took so long for the world to recognise his talents was down to his knee ligament problems. This also impacted his attitude today when Falcao plays you see the dedication. Their's not an ounce of fat on him! He's strong (not excessively), quick, technically gifted but most importantly CLEVER and score from any position. He has a natural instinct to score. The name El tigre is testemant to his predatory instincts.

Whenever he has been fit he scored goals. He was the first player to be top scorer in the Europa League for two consecutive seasons (albeit Europa) and has also achieved loads of other great milestones. Over 100 goals in Europe, make no illusions he's a world class striker whether you want him here or not. His record speaks for himself and wherever he goes he scores, he will score a lot of them. I'm not saying I want him here particularly but to insinuate he's not world class is wrong.

[Leif 6,006]

@Eviltwinz93,

But that's my point. That's just 3 paragraphs (well-written and all valid) about finishing. Just being a good finisher doesn't make you world-class. If Messi had his current level of finishing but none of the work-rate, passing, pace, dribbling and creativity, he wouldn't be 'world class'. If you took away Ronaldo's exact same traits and just left him with his finishing no one would consider him world class. So why the exception for Falcao? If he's been deemed for greatness, why is he plying his trade at Madrid's 2nd club and looking likely to move to one of French football's smallest clubs?

[JDY 1,290]

@Eviltwinz93,

But that's my point. That's just 3 paragraphs (well-written and all valid) about finishing. Just being a good finisher doesn't make you world-class. If Messi had his current level of finishing but none of the work-rate, passing, pace, dribbling and creativity, he wouldn't be 'world class'. If you took away Ronaldo's exact same traits and just left him with his finishing no one would consider him world class. So why the exception for Falcao? If he's been deemed for greatness, why is he plying his trade at Madrid's 2nd club and looking likely to move to one of French football's smallest clubs?

Because no other club is stupid enough to pay what Atletico are asking. In this sense, I agree he's been overrated.

[Leif 6,006]

Chelsea, City, Anzhi, PSG and so on have all had the money to sign him for around 2 seasons now.

Before that, when he was at Porto, you could easily add Man United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, even teams like Tottenham, Roma, Malaga & Bayer Leverkusen. (He was sold to Atletico for £33m, but they definitely got ripped off IMO. Coulda left for around £25m had someone played hard-ball.)

My question is - Why did none of these clubs, and so many more, not sign him? Could it be that the collective wisdom of football personnel on those club's boards saw through the media hype too?

He wasn't 'unknown' like some claim. Any follower of Portuguese football, South American football, even just Europa League football knew who this guy was because of his stats.

The stats look enticing, but once upon a time so did Diego Forlan's, Robinho's, Juan Veron's, Kleberson's, Anderson's, Jo's, Crespo's, Shevchenko's, Kezman's & Afonso Alves's.

If my memory serves me correctly, the only player to actually bring their sort of stats from a smaller league to the big league was Van Nistelrooy.