I was just thinking of how different Chicharito is to the other strikers in our squad... Many fans bemoan the fact that he doesn't offer nearly as much to the team during build-up play as Rooney and Welbeck do, but all (sane) fans agree that he is a top-class finisher. This is not a "is he better than RVN thread" though, but it's more about his role in the squad. I think it is hugely beneficial to have different types of strikers in our squad. Yes, he needs to improve his build-up play and clearly the coaches are working on that aspect of his game. But I think that we are fortunate that our other strikers are so good at playing the supporting role as well, so that Hernandez could easily link up with either Rooney or Welbeck. If we had RVN as our main striker then they would not be able to play together, in the same way that Chelsea struggled to get Drogba and Torres playing well together... To state the blatantly obvious, RVN was our last pure poacher of a striker, whose primary aim was to be in the box to convert the chances (150 goals in 220 games, including 38 in 47 European games. Not too shabby). Personally I think it's better to have a clinical, natural finisher like Chicharito and then work on his build-up play, than have a hardworking striker and try to work on his poacher instincts. A lot of Hernandez's strengths are based on instinct and are very hard to teach if it doesn't come naturally. He's still young but I believe he's going to be a phenominal striker for us, along with Rooney and Welbeck. He's working hard on his physique too, and is very popular among the players, so it's all looking very good for the future.
We are crying put for a Ruud to be honest. Hernanadez is a long, long way off even being mentioned in the same breath as Ruud. I admit, it's not often we play with an out and out poacher as our goals are usually fairly evenly distributed throughout the side but this season a No.9 of genuine world class like Ruud would have won us the league.
Possibly. But if we'd had a Ruud we may have ended up the same as 03/04 with him bagging loads of goals by insisting everyone else pass to him and so no one else makes a meaningful contribution. Or even worse like 04/05 where he doesn't bag loads of goals but still insists everyone else passes to him. I still don't think it's a coincidence that RVN's spell at the club was our worst in 20 years, and the five years after he left were among our best ever.
Maybe it was a one off but I thought his link up play against Swansea was a vast improvement on before. Could tell he was only coming deeper because he was not having any luck getting picked out, but he got involved and did his part in the moves. Hopefully with a rest this summer he will come back looking as sharp, or sharper than when he first joined.
Yes, agreed on that front. BUT, wouldn't his finishing havebeen welocome this season? I think so. When Ruud left, Ronaldo and Rooney took up the mantle and our approach changed but that isn't to say a 35 goals a season poacher wouldn't sit well in the squad.
