With lots of us fans wanting the club to add another CF to the squad, I thought it might be interesting to compare the top handful of clubs in the league and see how we measure up at the moment. Arsenal: 1st Choice: Giroud 2nd Choice: Welbeck 3rd Choice: Walcott Chelsea: 1st Choice: Costa 2nd Choice: Falcao 3rd Choice: Remy City: 1st Choice: Aguero 2nd Choice: Bony 3rd Choice: Kelechi (some 17 year old youth player is the only other striker in city's first team squad after selling Dzeko) Utd: 1st Choice: Rooney 2nd Choice: Hernandez 3rd Choice: Depay Liverpool: 1st Choice: Benteke 2nd Choice: Sturridge 3rd Choice: Ings (Liverpool also have Balotteli, Borini and Origi in the squad) Spurs: 1st Choice: Kane 2nd Choice: Adebayor 3rd Choice: some youth player? No other strikers in the squad. Edit: just seen they've signed Njie from Lyon. So how do you think we compare to the others? It looks like a few of those teams could do with another striker to me. Chelsea have Costa who will spend lots of time out with injuries and suspensions and falcao as the main back-up who if he continues his form from last season won't be good enough. City have aguero who would start at any team in the world, but if he gets injured it's only Bony to cover. Utd have Rooney but for back-up they have a player they sent out on loan last season and a play more likely to play other positions who is unproven so far in the league. Liverpool have plenty of strikers but whether any are good enough or stay fit enough to fill there needs is yet to be seen. And spurs have Kane who has had a quality season but is young and Adebayor who is likely to leave, so they need to bring someone in. And of course we have Giroud who is a 20ish goals a season striker, who adds a lot but isn't in that world class bracket, backed up by Welbeck who seems to be having some injury issues and although he has a lot of good attributes is not exactly lethal in front of goal. And Walcott who has potential to be a very good CF and against certain teams will get plenty of goals, but against others would be a poor choice at CF, and he is likely to be needed on the right wing. If we were to add a benzema-esque player I think we'd be right up there for CF options, but where would you rank us at the moment?
It's all much of a muchness. You could easily say that ANY one of those clubs are only a signing away from having a quality attack. And yet without it they all look so average. The prem used to be great in terms of strikers across a number of clubs, but now we struggle to set the world alight with them.
On paper, Chelsea has the best depth and City has the best single CF of them all. If Maureen can get Falcao to fire, then he will have the best attack of the Prem, with Remi as good as any back up option that anyone can have. Liverpool hasn't got a bad attack at all with both Benteke and Sturridge as proven Prem goal scorers, but Brenda has his work cut out fitting both in his system. Spurs has the least depth with just Kane and the mericural Adebayor. We have a good overall attack that is supported by a very good forward/midfield line up. We have the solid and dependable Giroud who is ~15 goal a season Prem player and good hold up man, with Walcott chipping in when conditions suit. Our main issue is Walcott and Welbeck as not proven Prem CFs. Walcott is better on the right wing and Welbeck needs to improve his finishing/control/hold up play drastically to be a viable option. We have no outstanding CFs and i'd probably put us around the bottom of the pile in terms of best single CF and depth. Our main strength comes from our midfield and wings, which will be the deciding factor this season.
I think Depay is going to be TOP quality so Utd's is looking good. Chelsea currently though have the best options.
Time will tell. As it is though we need another proven CF. We're not challenging without it. I read somewhere above someone talking about goal threats all over the midfield. I dont think that's enough to be challenging for either of the top 2 trophies. Last season we scored more from midfield than at any time in the last 8 or 9 years. Which was great to see and is a real bonus...but that's all it is, a bonus. We (and imo you) need a 30+ a season bare minimum striker to come in. That's your bread and butter to smash this league at least.
Well yeah agree with that. The thing is at Arsenal we have a WF capable of 30+ goals (Sanchez) which is quite unusual. But yeah I agree, a TOP centre forward would make a big difference.
The thing is if we add WC striker who can get 25-30 goals add rotate with giroud who will get 15. then add in Sanchez and Walcott who may also get 30 goals between them, and 15 from Ramsey ox ozil and that's 85-90 a season - is that enough to win the title? Answer yes, but as we don't have the WC striker getting then we are likely to only score 60+ goals a season which is not enough!
Sanchez can get 25-30 on his own. My main issue with Giroud is that he's just not sharp enough in tight situations. With his workrate and size he will get a good number of goals but for a CF he 's not clinical enough in high pressure games. (where teams often press hard from the back) So its not just about numerics its also about when/where the goals are scored.
