Spending big money on a player

[vocey]

I agree - i like bellamy as a footballer - hes a pain in the backside and is the only striker weve got that has pace and can beat a man. Unfortunately - i think there is something really good about all 3 strikers yet none of them are in the top drawer class.

if you look at the 3 of them, they all offer something different, but only in playing it off to the box player we so badly crave,
each of the 3 is a second striker, and badly need a foil to put the ball away,
but is there any of that type of player out there anymore????

[simey85]

Spot on. There was nothing wrong with Bellamy's pass. It was almost the only pass on, given the position of the defender.

Kuyt was at fault. He should have been on the back post by the time the ball got to him. He hung back, inadvertently keeping the defender in between himself and the ball...... certainly not by choice, but because he was in two minds... Either because he as unsure whether Bellamy would pull the ball back or play it across the face of goal or because he was having another schizophrenic episode!

That is Kuyt's major fault....... unlike selfish players, and I use that term loosely, such as Owen or Fowler he is always looking to offer himself up as an option for a team mate.

An out and out striker would have gunned it for the far post, looking for the tap in. A midfielder would look for a pullback, because they instinctively try to move to positions where they have space and options.

Kuyts tendency to be involved in team play means that sometimes he thinks more like a midfielder than a striker.

I think that he needs to keep doing what he is doing when he is 30 yards from goal…. But when we have the ball 25 yards out he has to be a little more focused on getting into “tapin” positions

thats the way i seen it too kuyt should have done one or the other looked for the pull back or steamed in at the back post he seemed in two minds! if he had done that he makes bellamy's mind up for him!

[Michael]

thats the way i seen it too kuyt should have done one or the other looked for the pull back or steamed in at the back post he seemed in two minds! if he had done that he makes bellamy's mind up for him!

Actually mate you have made a much better point than I did….

Kuyt’s movement should have told Bellamy where to make the pass….. rather than wait for the pass to be made!

[Lecter]

do we though? Is that what we really need? What proven goalscorer have Man United got this season while they are 9 points clear? What proven goalscorer did Chelsea have last season and the season before when they totally carved up the league?

How many titles did we win when Fowler and Owen were scoring lots of goals?

Sometimes I think its the easiest thing to say but I think we need strengthening in other areas as well as up front. I am not convinced that our problems will suddenly be solved by somebody that we think might score 20 league goals in a season. The last 2 "proven" goalscorers we bought were Cisse, and Morientes

Couple of interesting stats nicked from elsewhere

BBC top six scorers (all games) for the top 4 teams:

Crouch 13
Kuyt 10
Bellamy 9
Gerrard 8
Fowler 7
Luis Garcia 6



Ronaldo 16
Saha 13
Rooney 12
Solskjaer 10
Giggs 6
Scholes 6



Van Persie 13
Henry 12
Adebayor 10
Silva 9
Julio Baptista 8
Aliadiere 4




Drogba 29
Lampard 17
Shevchenko 11
Ballack 5
Kalou 4
Essien 4

Stats for this year in Spain

Morientes 10 goals
Pongolle 10 goals
Eto'o 6 goals
Villa 10 goals
Torres 8 goals

[tomasjj]

thats the way i seen it too kuyt should have done one or the other looked for the pull back or steamed in at the back post he seemed in two minds! if he had done that he makes bellamy's mind up for him!

I thought he should have gone for the pull back, as this was the easiest option.
He missed the train imo.

[Lecter]

actually, the more i think about it, and the ammount of playing time he is getting, it could well be Crouch who gets shown the door.

I'd be VERY surprised if Crouch was shown the door

I have a hunch that we will see 5 strikers on our books next season

[Lecter]

We can probably get around £20m for Bellamy and Crouch in the summer and that would probably be enough to sign Alves.

Jesus wept

Why bother selling those players when A) we will more than likely be able to afford Alves anyway B) you will have to replace them anyway

Personally I'd rather keep Kuyt, Crouch and Bellamy and bring in another top quality forward to compliment the strikeforce

[Lecter]

He hasn't a good enough last touch and that is the most important thing in football. It doesn't matter how hard you work or quick you are if your last touch isn't good enough.

He missed a very easy pass to Kuyt who would have had an open net to score in. Even a pub player would have made that pass.

He isn't good enough.

AF you have had a downer on Bellamy since day and frankly its all a bit boring

IMO our strikers should be judged on whether they have contributed more goals than last seasons strikers - I bet you the answer is yes they have

We need another top quality striker but I think you'll be disappointed if you think Bellamy will be the Fall Guy to accomodate the incoming striker

One thing you have to ask yourself if Bellamy was such a poor player or distruptive influence why oh why are players like Carragher making these sorts of comments about him "I like Craig Bellamy and I think he's absolutely hilarious," said Carragher with a smile. "He works hard in training and when he plays. He moans a bit, but his attitude is spot on and I've seen enough people at this club who have had a bad attitude. Who toss it off in training, find a game a bit tough and come off injured.

"Craig's not like that. He wants to improve every day and he loves his football. He phoned me on Sunday because he knew I'd also be watching the Carling Cup final, just to say how good Arsenal were."

[Johnny]

Jesus wept

Why bother selling those players when A) we will more than likely be able to afford Alves anyway B) you will have to replace them anyway

Personally I'd rather keep Kuyt, Crouch and Bellamy and bring in another top quality forward to compliment the strikeforce

Same Here,ther`s no need to sell any of our strikers,their replacemente could be worse,give them time.

[tomasjj]

AF you have had a downer on Bellamy since day and frankly its all a bit boring

IMO our strikers should be judged on whether they have contributed more goals than last seasons strikers - I bet you the answer is yes they have

We need another top quality striker but I think you'll be disappointed if you think Bellamy will be the Fall Guy to accomodate the incoming striker

One thing you have to ask yourself if Bellamy was such a poor player or distruptive influence why oh why are players like Carragher making these sorts of comments about him "I like Craig Bellamy and I think he's absolutely hilarious," said Carragher with a smile. "He works hard in training and when he plays. He moans a bit, but his attitude is spot on and I've seen enough people at this club who have had a bad attitude. Who toss it off in training, find a game a bit tough and come off injured.

"Craig's not like that. He wants to improve every day and he loves his football. He phoned me on Sunday because he knew I'd also be watching the Carling Cup final, just to say how good Arsenal were."

I think Bellers will stay if he keeps in line.
Apart from Fowler, I think Crouch is the one most likely to be sacrificed if we want to get in another top striker.

[Lecter]

Same Here,ther`s no need to sell any of our strikers,their replacemente could be worse,give them time.

My big worry is that every summer we see a big turnover in our playing staff with 4 or 5 players coming into the first team / squad

They all take time gelling and we end up only getting into our stride in November and by then we are merely playing catch up

We have already agreed to sign Voronin, and the Argentine left winger Leto?

We need a top class forward and a right winger adding to the existing squad imo and thats it

[Johnny]

My big worry is that every summer we see a big turnover in our playing staff with 4 or 5 players coming into the first team / squad

They all take time gelling and we end up only getting into our stride in November and by then we are merely playing catch up

We have already agreed to sign Voronin, and the Argentine left winger Leto?

We need a top class forward and a right winger adding to the existing squad imo and thats it

Yip,i want us to start next season with exactly the same team that wins the CL final.

[Lecter]

I think Bellers will stay if he keeps in line.
Apart from Fowler, I think Crouch is the one most likely to be sacrificed if we want to get in another top striker.

I dont think Crouch will go either

Rafa has compared Voronin to Garcia (a players who can play between the lines)

Also Rafa has flirted with 3 upfront on occasions this season and I have a feeling because of that we might see 5 strikers at our club next season

We need to keep changes to a minimum imo lets bring in a few new players but lets not lose what could be a decent fallback position

Our problem over the last few years is that we have been replacing 4 or 5 players and at least every season we've had 2 forwards leaving and 2 arriving all this takes time to gel

Keep Crouch, Bellamy & Kuyt and bring in Voronin plus a top qualuity one and I'd be happy

[Diego]

IMO our strikers should be judged on whether they have contributed more goals than last seasons strikers - I bet you the answer is yes they have

i don't know, judging them on last seasons goals is not the comparison we need imo, last season we didn't score enough and this season is the same. the point is that when we play really well we brush teams aside scoring 3-4 goals, and we don't know how to win ugly, we haven't scored in 9 games this season and that speaks volumes to me. it means that our strikers are not match winners and don't produce the goods when we need them the most in the league (somehow europe is different). i like our strikers, and i don't want them out cause of that, but football should have no sympathy, i'm not saying their bad, we either need them to be better or we need to get better strikers.

[Lecter]

i don't know, judging them on last seasons goals is not the comparison we need imo, last season we didn't score enough and this season is the same. the point is that when we play really well we brush teams aside scoring 3-4 goals, and we don't know how to win ugly, we haven't scored in 9 games this season and that speaks volumes to me. it means that our strikers are not match winners and don't produce the goods when we need them the most in the league (somehow europe is different). i like our strikers, and i don't want them out cause of that, but football should have no sympathy, i'm not saying their bad, we either need them to be better or we need to get better strikers.

The funny thing is if you look at the likely Premiership winners their most consistant match winner isnt a striker but a winger

I'd like to see our strikers hitting the ground running in August not having to wait until they settle in / gel

We cannot afford to make too many changes if we want to hit the ground running