Van Persie's goal today is what strikers do. In the same situation there is no way that Torres tries a first time shot. He attempts to dribble by going wide, half beats the centre half then comes back inside half beating the centre half again, then he semi falls over, recovers, and passes the ball to the other centre half, makes a valiant but vain attempt to win the ball back, the shoulders slump a slight bit more, and another tiny bit of life seeps out of the man.

I still, for the life of me, don't understand why, after losing Anelka, Drogba and Kalou and loaning out Lukaku, we haven't bought a single striker in the summer.

Oscar, Hazard, Mata and co, all that creativity and no potent striker to be on the end of it. RVP with those guys behind him? 40 odd goals a season.

Van Persie's goal today is what strikers do. In the same situation there is no way that Torres tries a first time shot. He attempts to dribble by going wide, half beats the centre half then comes back inside half beating the centre half again, then he semi falls over, recovers, and passes the ball to the other centre half, makes a valiant but vain attempt to win the ball back, the shoulders slump a slight bit more, and another tiny bit of life seeps out of the man.

I couldn't like this coment, it was spot on but so sad to read

People dreaming about Falcao are out of the minds.

What in god's name would make Roman spend that much on a forward again? Shevchenko was a disaster, Torres has been a disaster, and I dont see why he would just rush into another potential fiscal disaster.

Other teams can find reasonably priced strikers who score in bunches. Dont see why we are so fixated on the biggest, most expensive one available.

Shevchenko was finished at the highest level and Torres had just had an awful World Cup and very poor first half to a season for Liverpool. These mistakes were of our own making because we were not thinking before we went and got them. Falcao would not be a risk in my opinion, just like it wouldn't have been a risk to try and sign Aguero which i was begging Chelsea to try and do.

Edited November 4, 201213 yr by Scott Harris

He was hardly alone in that, the service to him was terrible, we didn't draw because one player didn't turn up. It's a team game and most of them didn't look up for it today not just Torres....

See, that's the excuse I've heard most of all about Torres. Why single him out when others were poor,too and the classic "no service" quote.

Yes, he wasn't the only one playing badly, but Torres was out of League Cup game and was supposed to be fresh and yet he looked his usual helpless self.

As for service, a top class striker creates things on his own when the service is not there. Look at RVP's goal yesterday. It wasn't a great service that supplied him with a goal scoring opportunity, he was at the right time in the right place and the second the chance presented itself he didn't hesitate and put it away. That's what strikers do.

As someone mentioned it earlier in the thread, in a course of a season there will always be games when the team struggles and doesn't produce their best for various reasons. This is when a top class striker comes in handy, he'll save your bacon by scoring goals and getting points in fixtures where seemingly everything's gone against you. Can you honestly remember such game with Fernando playing that part? Even worse, on so many occasions he's a hindrance rather than help, his whole body language speaks volumes about his shattered self confidence, he doesn't strike fear in any of the opposing defenses, and his own teammates suffer because they have a spent force leading the attacking line, who's constantly in the wrong place, hiding from his responsibilities and time and again making wrong decisions that hurt the team.

I think we've spent too much time guessing what needs to be done to accommodate Torres and finding excuses for his poor performances. He's done very little to justify that faith and he still looks miserable out there. If sending him to the bench makes him even less happy, I couldn't care less. Give Sturridge a run of games to see how he fares and in January either bring back Lukaku or buy someone who knows what the job of a striker entails.

Enough of this sh*t already.

See, that's the excuse I've heard most of all about Torres. Why single him out when others were poor,too and the classic "no service" quote.

Yes, he wasn't the only one playing badly, but Torres was out of League Cup game and was supposed to be fresh and yet he looked his usual helpless self.

As for service, a top class striker creates things on his own when the service is not there. Look at RVP's goal yesterday. It wasn't a great service that supplied him with a goal scoring opportunity, he was at the right time in the right place and the second the chance presented itself he didn't hesitate and put it away. That's what strikers do.

As someone mentioned it earlier in the thread, in a course of a season there will always be games when the team struggles and doesn't produce their best for various reasons. This is when a top class striker comes in handy, he'll save your bacon by scoring goals and getting points in fixtures where seemingly everything's gone against you. Can you honestly remember such game with Fernando playing that part? Even worse, on so many occasions he's a hindrance rather than help, his whole body language speaks volumes about his shattered self confidence, he doesn't strike fear in any of the opposing defenses, and his own teammates suffer because they have a spent force leading the attacking line, who's constantly in the wrong place, hiding from his responsibilities and time and again making wrong decisions that hurt the team.

I think we've spent too much time guessing what needs to be done to accommodate Torres and finding excuses for his poor performances. He's done very little to justify that faith and he still looks miserable out there. If sending him to the bench makes him even less happy, I couldn't care less. Give Sturridge a run of games to see how he fares and in January either bring back Lukaku or buy someone who knows what the job of a striker entails.

Enough of this sh*t already.

That will be Roman that decides that. Sheva was his 30mill grand signing and he had to be the one to let him go when he flopped. Now it is Torres. Roman will decide when enough is enough.

I think someone has to come in in the January transfer window. Be that Falcao, the return of Lukaku who has done very well at the Baggies, or A. N. Other.

We need a striker who will do the bits that Torres is doing but will also put the ball in the back of the net more often. If we had RVP instead of Nando we would have practically won the EPL title already. There is no denying the signing of Van Persie was a master stroke by old Red Nose.

Play Cahill at front . He looks our best finisher lol

Hunteelar and Ba would be my preference as cheap alternatives to Falcao in January and when you consider Utd & City have 4-5 strikers we are really short.

He still scored one more than Nando did this weekend ;)

He also missed at least 4 excellent chances, too add to his goal tally, failed on numerous occasions to set up team mates who were in better goal scoring positions.

He also missed at least 4 excellent chances, too add to his goal tally, failed on numerous occasions to set up team mates who were in better goal scoring positions.

As i said hus first 90mins in a long time & lets not act like Torres diesnt f**k up 9 times out of 10 when he's 1 on 1. Dont forget that Lstudge set up Moses superbly aswell n Moses messed it up.

Sturridge deserves a run in the team Nando gas gad his chance.

Hunteelar and Ba would be my preference as cheap alternatives to Falcao in January and when you consider Utd & City have 4-5 strikers we are really short.

Short of strikers we may be, but to keep on saying, this team has all these strikers, that team has a abundant amount of strikers, the rest of the league teams have wonderful strike force, then why have they not scored more goals than Chelsea? bar one.

We have got what we have in the way of strike force, and unfortunately we have to live with it until the powers to-be decide who/when some one comes in.

I'd say no to Ba I think. He had a great spell where he was scoring, but it seems to have dried up quite a lot now.

I'd say no to Ba I think. He had a great spell where he was scoring, but it seems to have dried up quite a lot now.

Reason I wouldn't go for Ba is the dodgy knee.

No to Huntelaar aswell would be no better than Torres.

Edited November 4, 201213 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

we've been linked with hunterlaar for about 6 mill, if we got him for that price it's definitely worth the risk, i mean i know he hasn't got much pace but he's a proper goal poacher, something i think we really need with the rest of our players being so wasteful

we've been linked with hunterlaar for about 6 mill, if we got him for that price it's definitely worth the risk, i mean i know he hasn't got much pace but he's a proper goal poacher, something i think we really need with the rest of our players being so wasteful

6 million I guess would be worth it but why would his club ET him go so cheaply? Hasn't he been banging them in for them?

Huntelaar only has six months left on his contract, which explains the low price.

Fernando Llorente might be another planer to look at too.

Just a stupid thought...Has anyone thought he may now be misfiring on purpose to be sold by the club..I dont believe hes ever been happy here...Possibly?

You could have something there. Or perhaps he's been poisoned by the media, probably The Daily Mail (although why anyone reads that rag I'll never know), with a promise that when he does seek a transfer they'll be positive about him. Yet another way to damage the club.

& has for Demba Ba does he really have a dodgy or its a case of an RVP "past injury record". Ba has scored 7 goals already this season one less than RVP & if I am not mistaken playing off Cisse. Considering he has a clause of £7.5m I reckon he is worth a punt along with Hunteelar.

Ba would be a good buy, its just that i'd fully expect him to get an injury that would put him out for a long time if we got him. I'd rather have llorente than hunterlaar but i think bigger clubs would be in for him and we'd have to fork out a big fee and ridiculous wages, some of the wages we're paying our players right now is ridiculous, joe coles on something like 90k a week and i'm pretty sure he's never played one good game for us

I'd take Huntelaar any day, but he's cup tied for the UCL, so I doubt that transfer will go ahead.

I think Falcao will be to rich, both in terms of initial fee + wages....one wonders what our worldwide scouts actually do for a living...clearly not scouting strikers that come any cheaper than 35-50 mill...I am sure there are unknown gems out there somewhere especially in South America and Africa...? or am I dreaming..

What about Jovetic in front of our 3 magicians? That could be interesting and could work very well I think. All four of them would score plenty of goals and have plenty of assists.

And also, think about to have these kind of forwards in our club in one time: Falcao, Jovetic, Lukaku, Sturridge, and also Torres if he wants to compete for starting place.

How good is this Jovetic?