Couldn't find another thread with the same subject so thought I'd make one myself.

There has been a lot of talk about Hulk joining us but how many strikers do you think we need?

We have Torres as our main striker, Lukaku as back up and Sturridge aswell.

I'm not sure we need to spend a lot of money on another player, Lukaku cost us 18 million lets give him a chance as a rotation player.

I reckon we could definitely do with 1 more accomplished striker. We still can't pin all our hopes on Torres and if he does get injured, I don't think Sturridge/Lukaku have the experience to lead the line in the big games like a UCL game. Sturridge was rubbish in the second half of last season and Lukaku didn't exactly light up the reserves league last season. They do both deserve more playing time, but I think we do need more experience up front. Can't really decide who I would like us sign, not a big fan of Hulk really, far too inconsistent to warrant a £40million price tag. I know it's not going to happen but I would love Llorente to sign, he's got everything apart from pure pace (which we already have more than enough of). Also gives us the option to hit it long as a plan B, a la Drogba.

I don't want to see Lukaku on the bench again all season he needs to play so i would loan him out.I would buy another accomplished striker because we cant rely on Torres all season and Sturridge we haven't yet seen play CF to say how good he is in a Chelsea shirt plus he can play out wide so he gives s more options than Lukaku.I like Hulk but i wouldn't pay the £40 million pound fee,maybe Jovetic or Falcao.

Also gives us the option to hit it long as a plan B, a la Drogba.

Please God, no.

Hitting balls long to the big guy up front only works when that guy is Didier Drogba, e.g. one of the best strikers of the decade.

Please God, no.

Hitting balls long to the big guy up front only works when that guy is Didier Drogba, e.g. one of the best strikers of the decade.

It's just another option for when a team is proving hard to break down, and apart from DD I can't think of a better target striker than Llorente...

I think there is a time and a place for the long outball. But with Didi gone it will be used less. Personally I think.another strikers is needed. But that is because I have little faith in Torres turning the corner and scoring 25+ goals next season. Given that we seem destined to stick with him I would advocate a player who is flexible and capable of playing with a Torres as well as without him. Rossi would have been perfect. But his injury rules him out.

we don't need another striker. best to give lukaku and sturridge the game time. we are one of the few teams where we have potent scoring midfielders who can share the burden. lamps, mata, hazard, and for a defencive midfielder ramires is scoring important goals as well. even the defence are chipping in!

No point buying a striker to stick him on the bench. What will that do to the likes of lukaku and sturridge confidence? Them along with torres hopefully are the future of this football club and we need to put a bit of faith in them.

we don't need another striker. best to give lukaku and sturridge the game time. we are one of the few teams where we have potent scoring midfielders who can share the burden. lamps, mata, hazard, and for a defencive midfielder ramires is scoring important goals as well. even the defence are chipping in!

I don't where the idea that ramires is a defensive midfielder came from he's more of a box to box player and his best games I've seen him play were on the wings? I think if we sign Oscar then we won't be signing a striker anyway and we are far more likely to play with a false number 9 if we are really struggling

Don't need another striker, we have enough and I prefer it this way. Now Danny can get games upfront. Worse comes to worse Hazard can play upfront as well.

I don't where the idea that ramires is a defensive midfielder came from he's more of a box to box player and his best games I've seen him play were on the wings? I think if we sign Oscar then we won't be signing a striker anyway and we are far more likely to play with a false number 9 if we are really struggling

He's played as a defensive midfielder for Brazil and Benfica many times. It's nothing new at all.

It certainly isn't his best position though, which is exactly Fearnley's point.

It certainly isn't his best position though, which is exactly Fearnley's point.

I think another striker is needed, we have no idea if Torres will be prolific next season, and if Lukaku will score goals...that aside Sturridge and Hazard are our only logical choices remaining....we need another striker to fall back on if Torres has another bad season and any of our other strikers get injured. We don't need to spend 40million or buy a world class player just a guy that will score us goals when needed will do.

He's played as a defensive midfielder for Brazil and Benfica many times. It's nothing new at all.

Robert Hutu played up front for us on more than one occasion...does that make him a striker? Or would you class David villa as a winger because that's where he plays for Barcelona? A players position is the one he is best recognised for, his versatility just shows the strength of the man

Please God, no.

Hitting balls long to the big guy up front only works when that guy is Didier Drogba, e.g. one of the best strikers of the decade.

It's all about having options, and it is certainly a good option to have if your attacking players are lost for ideas for breaking down a solid defence.

Having a striker capable of holding the ball up and adding a physical presense up front can only be a good thing, even the best passing teams in the world like Barcelona could have done with that option, in fact I would say it would have completed their squad last season.

To dismiss the option of ever having any striker capable of utilising a long ball outlet in the future just because Drogba has moved on is ridiculous.

Edited July 11, 201213 yr by mclovin83

For sure we need another one. With Torres still yet to prove he can be consistant and Lukaku still very much unproven (and would probably be better sent off on loan) we should be looking at someone like Hulk who can play on the wing or as the main striker.

I would be very worried if we dont sign another striker before the window closes.

I do think this will be a late in the window thing. I think Torres will be given until August 31 to prove he can carry the burden alone. If we do bring in another striker I wouldn't be surprised if it was on deadline day.

I still have my hopes pinned on Falcao

Really tough call. More so than in any other area of the field for sure.

There are signs that Torres may well give us a better return this year with Drogba gone and his reasonable end to the season and decent performances in the Euros. And there is definitely enough evidence over the last 18 months that Sturidge has what it takes ability wise to play up front for us, certainly as second choice to Nando.

But on the other hand, Torres would not surprise anyone if he again failed to find the net with any regularity and Studge's recent illness and occasional attitude issues could all result in a pretty blunt tip to our team.

There is always Lukaku but personally, I just don't see him having it yet (if ever) and it seems that a loan season at a decent team in a decent league would be the best way for him to be a strkier for us in the future.

So I guess that you could argue that we could well be found a bit light in the quality striking department next season. The difficulty is that anyone we brought in who would fill us all with confidence that they could score a lot of goals would apart from being expensive, put Torres back in a similar position to what he was in last season.

Maybe Hulk is the best option as he could provide decent striker cover while not being blatantly in competition with Torres. And if he does have to go there we have Ramires to cover the right flank.

I really like Falcao and I think he'd be a huge hit. He could even be the difference between 3rd and 1st this season. But he would almost certainly mean the end for Torres and I'm not sure that the club are ready for that yet.

Edited July 11, 201213 yr by Snedger

Robert Hutu played up front for us on more than one occasion...does that make him a striker? Or would you class David villa as a winger because that's where he plays for Barcelona? A players position is the one he is best recognised for, his versatility just shows the strength of the man

What are you going on about? You said you don't know why people said Ramires is a defensive midfielder, I told you it's because he's played there for Brazil and Benfica and you're saying I'm wrong because he's not recognised for being a DM despite spending his entire career at Benfica playing DM? I don't understand. He's never played on the wing as an out and out winger, that's a myth. In the Benfica system the manager realised early on that the left side was their weakness so he decided to use a system where the whole team would shift to the right. This would mean that the 4231 would turn into more of a 41212, with Garcia moving from left defensive mid to central defensive mid and Ramires moving out to the wing to overload the right hand side along with the RB and right winger (Probably the reason why he looked good as a winger to you) and get crosses in to Cardozo who would have much more space on the left hand side. That was only when attacking, every other time Ramires played as a traditional defensive mid/pivot.

What are you going on about? You said you don't know why people said Ramires is a defensive midfielder, I told you it's because he's played there for Brazil and Benfica and you're saying I'm wrong because he's not recognised for being a DM despite spending his entire career at Benfica playing DM? I don't understand. He's never played on the wing as an out and out winger, that's a myth.

He's played in the "3" of a 4-2-3-1, and not in the middle - that's where he was playing pretty much the whole time under RDM. The Napoli second leg and the Barcelona games might be legendary, but they're hardly mythical.

Just going off what he's done for us, I think Ramires is best somewhere in midfield he can do a lot of running and drift out to the wing when there's space. In a 4-3-3, that puts him in the Essien role; in a 4-2-3-1, it makes him a relatively defense-oriented winger. Playing in a static double pivot didn't see his best performances for us this season, and Brazil shifting to use that formation has been part of the reason he doesn't play much for them these days (at least according to the Brazil World Cup Blog).

He's played in the "3" of a 4-2-3-1, and not in the middle - that's where he was playing pretty much the whole time under RDM. The Napoli second leg and the Barcelona games might be legendary, but they're hardly mythical.

Just going off what he's done for us, I think Ramires is best somewhere in midfield he can do a lot of running and drift out to the wing when there's space. In a 4-3-3,

that puts him in the Essien role; in a 4-2-3-1, it makes him a relatively defense-oriented winger. Playing in a static double pivot didn't see his best performances for

us this season, and Brazil shifting to use that formation has been part of the reason he doesn't play much for them these days (at least

according to the Brazil World Cup Blog).

Correct! And my point was his position is the position he is most recognised for and that is a box to box midfielder due to the sheer energy and athleticism he shows in getting up and down the pitch! My point about David villa and robert Hugh is the fact that they have played in different positions due to the demands of their clubs it doesn't change the fact that David villa is a striker and Robert Hugh is a centre back

He's played in the "3" of a 4-2-3-1, and not in the middle - that's where he was playing pretty much the whole time under RDM. The Napoli second leg and the Barcelona games might be legendary, but they're hardly mythical.

Just going off what he's done for us, I think Ramires is best somewhere in midfield he can do a lot of running and drift out to the wing when there's space. In a 4-3-3, that puts him in the Essien role; in a 4-2-3-1, it makes him a relatively defense-oriented winger. Playing in a static double pivot didn't see his best performances for us this season, and Brazil shifting to use that formation has been part of the reason he doesn't play much for them these days (at least according to the Brazil World Cup Blog).

Are you talking about for Benfica cause that wasn't the case, they always lined up in a 4231 and adjusted accordingly. We looked a lot more of a threat when he was making runs straight down the middle from the DM/pivot position next to Mikel/Lampard, it gave us another dimension to our attack. When he went out to the wing we lost that attacking threat and we were left with Mikel playing it safe all the time and Lampard not having much to work with. It's why I brought up the Benfica point, he started in the middle in a DM role and made runs out wide and/or down the middle. That's far more effective than starting out wide and just running down the flank.

Correct! And my point was his position is the position he is most recognised for and that is a box to box midfielder due to the sheer energy and athleticism he shows in getting up and down the pitch! My point about David villa and robert Hugh is the fact that they have played in different positions due to the demands of their clubs it doesn't change the fact that David villa is a striker and Robert Hugh is a centre back

You realise that a box to box midfielder is the same thing as a pivot/DM, right? In a 4231 system, the player playing next to the proper DM (in our case Romeu or Mikel) is a box to box midfielder (i.e. pivot). That's an essential part of the whole system, some teams get away with playing two out and out DM's but that's not what I was suggesting we do with Ramires.

He's played in the "3" of a 4-2-3-1, and not in the middle - that's where he was playing pretty much the whole time under RDM. The Napoli second leg and the Barcelona games might be legendary, but they're hardly mythical.

Just going off what he's done for us, I think Ramires is best somewhere in midfield he can do a lot of running and drift out to the wing when there's space. In a 4-3-3, that puts him in the Essien role; in a 4-2-3-1, it makes him a relatively defense-oriented winger. Playing in a static double pivot didn't see his best performances for us this season, and Brazil shifting to use that formation has been part of the reason he doesn't play much for them these days (at least according to the Brazil World Cup Blog).

Are you talking about for Benfica cause that wasn't the case, they always lined up in a 4231 and adjusted accordingly. We looked a lot more of a threat when he was making runs straight down the middle from the DM/pivot position next to Mikel/Lampard, it gave us another dimension to our attack. When he went out to the wing we lost that attacking threat and we were left with Mikel playing it safe all the time and Lampard not having much to work with. It's why I brought up the Benfica point, he started in the middle in a DM role and made runs out wide and/or down the middle. That's far more effective than starting out wide and just running down the flank.

Correct! And my point was his position is the position he is most recognised for and that is a box to box midfielder due to the sheer energy and athleticism he shows in getting up and down the pitch! My point about David villa and robert Hugh is the fact that they have played in different positions due to the demands of their clubs it doesn't change the fact that David villa is a striker and Robert Hugh is a centre back

You realise that a box to box midfielder is the same thing as a pivot/DM, right? In a 4231 system, the player playing next to the proper DM (in our case Romeu or Mikel) is a box to box midfielder (i.e. pivot). That's an essential part of the whole system, some teams get away with playing two out and out DM's but that's not what I was suggesting we do with Ramires.

Robert Hutu played up front for us on more than one occasion...does that make him a striker? Or would you class David villa as a winger because that's where he plays for Barcelona? A players position is the one he is best recognised for, his versatility just shows the strength of the man

robert hutu?.is that the cousin of bobby tutsi?.i thought they played for rwanda.we need creative midfielders that will give whoever plays up front no excuse,if they don't do what they are paid to do.SCORE GOALS.

Edited July 12, 201213 yr by kevin o'kane