Despite all the talk of RVP making the difference at Utd, they would still be top without him. We would be 2nd ahead of City and Spurs without Bale would be in 6th a massive 15pts worse off.
Despite all the talk of RVP making the difference at Utd, they would still be top without him. We would be 2nd ahead of City and Spurs without Bale would be in 6th a massive 15pts worse off.
Despite all the talk of RVP making the difference at Utd, they would still be top without him. We would be 2nd ahead of City and Spurs without Bale would be in 6th a massive 15pts worse off.
Barcelona will be nothing much without Messi. RM rely on Ronaldo... Maradona for Argentina etc etc history is littered with world class individuals making the difference. We tend to sell them.
The thing that strikes me is that we have gone from last year with our top striker having 30 goals last season to a team where the main striker is only our third most important goal scorer. Cazorla is top scorer and Theo joint second with Giroud but there have only been 2, 3 at most, where Girouds goals have been decisive in winning games. If we still had a top striker with the improvements elsewhere in the team we could be challenging for 2nd rather than in a battle for top 4 which could go to the end of the season.
These "where would X be without Y" articles are so pointless. As if teams wouldn't compensate on the task of the "missing" player. Like I said on a post on the Spurs board there is no "all else being equal" principle that applies in real life. Same was being sad about us with RvP last season that we would be a lower table team, yet with him gone and very little enforcements coming in we are at about the same place.
This shows alot of things - obviously Utd are just the strongest team all round but it also proves ..we lack a decent CF. Because removing the top scorers actually helps our position. Walcott is still our Top scorer despite playing on the wing for most the Season and despite the fact he has'nt scored in several months.
United may well have been top with or without RVP, but the Q is, by how many points? Would they have been running away with the title without RVP? I doubt that considering the amount of points he's won for them, and points he won for them in crucial games gives them more confidence for the other games they had coming. For example you can't measure RVP's winning goal against City in simple terms of winning them the points, but the major confidence boost it gave them, and the major blow it gave to City.
You can spin this multiple ways. You could take the positive look by pointing to how well spread out our goals are or you could be a cynic and ask, would we be challenging for the league if we'd signed a proper, world class striker or kept RVP? I guess we'll never know the answer to that.
Actually our top scorer is Santi Cazorla, so this table is us with Giroud. So Giroud is so average, that he actually stays in the team, and Santi has to make way. Whilst ManUre have a clear top dog, we're stuck arguing over who our most important contributor is goal-wise.
Here's what we do know: -Arsenal again, have not challenged this season, and are yet again, scrapping for top 4. -Manunited, with RVP, have gone on to win and capture the title from City, a season after losing it to them. That's what we know for sure.
I guess one could also say that Walcott is only our top scorer by virtue of the fact that he has scored against Reading, West Ham and Newcastle amongst others. Hardly teams to strike fear into opponents. Lies, damned lies and statistics...
.[/QUOTE] I guess one could also say that Walcott is only our top scorer by virtue of the fact that he has scored against Reading, West Ham and Newcastle amongst others. Hardly teams to strike fear into opponents. Lies, damned lies and statistics...[/QUOTE] That doesn't make any sense!
