Off Topic Best Premier League Strike Partnership

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Lord Jonjomort

Lord Jonjomort

Well-Known Member
Feb 25, 2014
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From the BBC, I was reading about the best strike partnerships and they listed them all, in a poll, as follows:

Partnership Team League goals (*42 games)
Andy Cole & Peter Beardsley Newcastle (93-94) 55*
Alan Shearer & Chris Sutton Blackburn (94-95) 49*
Robbie Fowler & Stan Collymore Liverpool (95-96) 42
Alan Shearer & Les Ferdinand Newcastle (96-97) 49
Dwight Yorke & Andy Cole Man Utd (98-99) 35
Kevin Phillips & Niall Quinn Sunderland (99-00) 44
Eidur Gudjohnsen & Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Chelsea (01-02) 37
Thierry Henry & Dennis Bergkamp Arsenal (03-04) 34
Wayne Rooney & Ruud van Nistelrooy Man Utd (05-06) 37
Daniel Sturridge & Luis Suarez Liverpool (13-14) 52

No point in doing the poll on this site, but looking at it and thinking objectively, it's really hard to see past Cole/Beardo, Shearer/Sutton and Shearer/Ferdinand. Henry/Bergkamp were class players above and beyond but in my opinion it wasn't really a proper partnership, as such, they weren't co-dependent, more individually brilliant players.

So being the rose-tinted geordie I am, I clicked on Beardsley/Cole to see the results. Can you guess what %age of voters went with this one? Go on, have a guess.....





.....2%. As many picked this as picked Philips/Quinn, I sh!t you not.

Nope, this entirely objective poll from the BBC has Man U munchkins Yorke/Cole - with the second lowest goals scored - as taking 29% of the vote. Behind them, Henry/Bergkamp - the actual lowest total goals - 20% of the vote. And third with a massive 18% is Suarez/Sturridge.

Sure, I'm biased, but do these results reflect reality? Or is it just a playground vote where everybody has to wear a red top?
 
Lord Jonjomort said:
From the BBC, I was reading about the best strike partnerships and they listed them all, in a poll, as follows:

Partnership Team League goals (*42 games)
Andy Cole & Peter Beardsley Newcastle (93-94) 55*
Alan Shearer & Chris Sutton Blackburn (94-95) 49*
Robbie Fowler & Stan Collymore Liverpool (95-96) 42
Alan Shearer & Les Ferdinand Newcastle (96-97) 49
Dwight Yorke & Andy Cole Man Utd (98-99) 35
Kevin Phillips & Niall Quinn Sunderland (99-00) 44
Eidur Gudjohnsen & Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Chelsea (01-02) 37
Thierry Henry & Dennis Bergkamp Arsenal (03-04) 34
Wayne Rooney & Ruud van Nistelrooy Man Utd (05-06) 37
Daniel Sturridge & Luis Suarez Liverpool (13-14) 52

No point in doing the poll on this site, but looking at it and thinking objectively, it's really hard to see past Cole/Beardo, Shearer/Sutton and Shearer/Ferdinand. Henry/Bergkamp were class players above and beyond but in my opinion it wasn't really a proper partnership, as such, they weren't co-dependent, more individually brilliant players.

So being the rose-tinted geordie I am, I clicked on Beardsley/Cole to see the results. Can you guess what %age of voters went with this one? Go on, have a guess.....





.....2%. As many picked this as picked Philips/Quinn, I sh!t you not.

Nope, this entirely objective poll from the BBC has Man U munchkins Yorke/Cole - with the second lowest goals scored - as taking 29% of the vote. Behind them, Henry/Bergkamp - the actual lowest total goals - 20% of the vote. And third with a massive 18% is Suarez/Sturridge.

Sure, I'm biased, but do these results reflect reality? Or is it just a playground vote where everybody has to wear a red top?
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It's always the same on those BBC polls. Just comes down to shear numbers in the end. People vote for the clubs they support and Arsenal always seem to do very well on them, as well as the obvious Man Utd ones. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the popular Arsenal forums regularly announced when these polls are on and mobilised their users to vote.
 
People just vote their club. Its a tough one. Sutton and Shearer were class but it was more down to Ripley and Wilcox. They weren't a partnership as such. The same goes for Shearer and Ferdinand. How much was down to Ginola's wizardry?

To me Cole and Beardsley were a true partnership. Beardsley was breathtaking the year Cole banged in 41. He literally laid on so many of those goals. And bagged 25 for himself.

So were Quinn and Phillips (in a different more direct way). Despite Summerbee/Kilbane helping they still worked well together with knock downs and so on.

I'd also disagree on Henry/Bergkamp - I think there wasn't such an obvious link between the two. Henry played a strange position at times coming deep from the left. How many of his goals were simply down to his individual brilliance. Quite a few I think.

Cole and Yorke were a partnership. I think Cole got back something with Yorke he craved in that deeper Beardsley type. Yorke was no Beardsley though.

The best partnership that never happened was Shearer and Cantona. That could have been something ridiculous.

Overall even without the bias, I can't see how you look past Cole/Beardsley. It was so telepathic and the returns were ridiculous. 66 in all competitions and 55 in the league alone? Tells you how **** our defence was <laugh>
 
Where's Ronaldo & Tevez - 45?

Aguero and Jesus might smash the lot of them statistically but 'best' doesn't necessarily mean most, so Cole & Yorke imo for spearheading the greatest achievement in English club football history.

Word.
 
Tel said:
Where's Ronaldo & Tevez - 45?

Aguero and Jesus might smash the lot of them statistically but 'best' doesn't necessarily mean most, so Cole & Yorke imo for spearheading the greatest achievement in English club football history.

Word.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the Yorke and Cole thing. Man U had so much more than that to thank for those achievements for all you could they spearheaded it. Beckham, Giggs, Solskjaer, Scholes probably all got double figures across all competitions that season. Probably great proof that great teams will always outdo great double acts or individuals. Not sure how much Sheringham managed that year but him and Solskjaer did provide the vital touches.

And it was a great team.

****s.

We were ****e again by then.
 
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Cole and Yorke played in the best team by some distance. I don't say that in a disparaging manner but I do think they were decent players rather than excellent ones. Best partnership, no I'm not having that. I'll accept that overall Man Utd '99 were possibly the best team of the past 25 years though.

This isn't about the team though, it is about the partnership. The top three for me are: 3rd Quinn/Phillips; scoring that many for a midtable side was an amazing achievement. 2nd Cole/Beardsley Excellent work and the sheer number of goals was impressive 1st Suarez/Sturridge; as a partnership they were tearing teams apart, they should have won the league that season but their defence let them down. The highest goals-per-game ratio.
 
Would have loved to see that Shearer-Ferdinand partnership go for a few seasons (and injury free). They were unplayable on a regular basis.

On paper, Henry-Bergkamp looks the best. They weren't too bad on grass either.

I'm not sure how you could say Cole-Yorke over Cole-Beardsley when Beardo was easily a superior player to Yorke IMO. 66 goals hasn't been bettered either and they didn't have the same level of quality supporting them unlike a lot of the other partnerships mentioned.
 
Gutierrez's Right Boot said:
Strike partnerships are dying out thanks to 4-2-3-1. When you look at the the possibilitys we have Perez or Gayle up top with mitro or Joselu
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You are right- its hard to think of any true striking patrnerships now as very few teams play with two up front. I always thought Shearer and Bellamy were a great pair even if they did hate each other.
 
Wish we'd have kept sturridge and Suarez together for more than a season.

Theyve not even even got a mention despite getting 52 goals that year! In terms of shear numbers they out did anyone (ignoring the seasons that played extra games).

Both individually brilliant but linked up so well together as a partnership. Suarez deep with Studge on the shoulder behind. Still best and most enjoyable season watching them two play together.
 
InBiscanWeTrust said:
Wish we'd have kept sturridge and Suarez together for more than a season.

Theyve not even even got a mention despite getting 52 goals that year! In terms of shear numbers they out did anyone (ignoring the seasons that played extra games).

Both individually brilliant but linked up so well together as a partnership. Suarez deep with Studge on the shoulder behind. Still best and most enjoyable season watching them two play together.
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Think you'll find I put them as my first choice in my post!

Sturridge gets a tough press, if he was injury-free he'd be awesome.
 
haslam said:
Think you'll find I put them as my first choice in my post!

Sturridge gets a tough press, if he was injury-free he'd be awesome.
Click to expand...

I missed that and only saw it after I posted <laugh>

Its so frustrating because the injuries have robbed him of that extra bit of pace that made him be able to mix up his game. He still is awesome in the box and ball at his feet but can't quite go in behind in the same way he could.

Hed score 20 goals a season easily if was injury free. Was up there as fastest lfc player to 50 club goals, ahead of fowler and Owen! Says it all really
 
Really rate Sturridge. Remember when he was still at Chelsea(?) mentioning on a thread on here that he was one player I would happily break my dislike of the loan system for.

Has class, has style and a wonderful player to boot. Pity about the injuries as he could have been world class. Hopefully he can take something from when Shearer was seriously injured but came back still an excellent player although not quite what he was before the injury. Speed in a forward can frighten defenders and when combined with the talent Shearer had and Sturridge has can make for an awesome player.

As an aside I wouldn't put Sturridge and Suarez as the best striker pairing partly due to Cole and Beardsley and partly because I cannot stand Suarez and what he stands for.
 
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