Sturridge has a higher pass success rate and his hold up play and movement is superior to Torres, Torres looses possession around 5 times per match on average and his passing success is around 70%. No offense but as far as holding the ball up is concerned Torres is average at best; working harder would depend on the occasion he can be arsed to work hard certain games others he goes into invisible mode and the second option is far more prevalent.

 

We did have problems finding the net last season, there were plenty of games where Torres taking his chances would have meant we were ran away victories instead of draws or close games which were nerve racking. He played 22 FULL 90 Minute games a total of 2572 minutes in the Premier League alone and scored 8 goals - a goal every 321 minutes he was on the field for us, that's THREE AND A HALF full matches.

We had 25 matches that we either Won; Drew or Lost with a ONE GOAL MARGIN a striker that actually takes a shot or finishes one of the chances he creates for himself might have not only put us in contention for the title last season but it might have made us Champions. Because even games that were won by a ONE GOAL MARGIN are usually down the the wire and players like Mata; Hazard can not be subbed off for some rest for future matches. If he had done the job for which he was signed - putting the ball in the back of the net we would not have had to battle for the last spot in the CL but instead would have been in our rightful spot over the last decade as challengers - the rest of the squad was more than capable. 

 

Please watch Sturridge against US or Manchester City and tell me when, WHEN HAS TORRES PRODUCED PERFORMANCES LIKE THOSE?

 

 

Lukaku's time and thread anyway, sorry for derailing this thread, we've wasted enough time on the biggest flop of the English Premier League and his awesome hold up play and work ethic

STOP BUMLICKING STURRIDGE!!!

Sturridge's pass completion success is so high because he never actually passed, greedy ball hog.

Seriously though, for every good thing Sturridge would do he would do an equally infuriating thing like not track back, shoot when there were better options or just not releasing the ball.

I've said before about him, sometimes a players face just doesn't fit and I think this was the case with Sturridge. He's got the move to Liverpool he clearly wanted so we should just forget about him now and focus on the squad we have.

Please watch Sturridge against US or Manchester City and tell me when, WHEN HAS TORRES PRODUCED PERFORMANCES LIKE THOSE?

 

Are we comparing Sturridge and Torres playing in a Liverpool shirt or a Chelsea one?...

 

Let's just end the debate, it's a Lukaku thread. You've suggested Sturridge would've been a better option for us than Torres as a striker, I disagree. Evidently we're not changing each others' mind.

 

We've got three strikers to start the season for the first time in years, and we've got the best batch of attacking midfielders behind them we've ever had. Let's just look forward to a good season.

Sturridge was fantastic last season for Liverpool while we toiled with two strikers that couldn't score league goals to save their lives, I don't think anyone can deny we got the short stick in this fiasco.

we continuously played the non-player torres over sturridge, a lad who always made things happen, a lad who is still making things happen at liverpool (seem to recall a certain game against some team in blue in which he came on and changed the match) whilst we still persist with a non-player

and his selfishness was always overblown by fans. yes his decision making was awry at times, but he actually got himself into positions to make good or bad decisions whilst the non-player torres did nothing at all in the first place, and yet fans seemed to be angrier at sturridge?

still rattles me that we didnt use him at all and then sold him whilst still playing fecking torres the whole time. absolutely no clue why it played out like that

Edited August 14, 201312 yr by onebelo

Question: Which of the two young Belgian strikers and friends Lukaku or Benteke will score more goals in the Premier League season 13/14?

Edited August 14, 201312 yr by evissy

Benteke will play more often and the whole team will look to create for him, it really depends how many matches Lukaku gets this season - he needs to establish himself as first choice in order to outscore Benteke

Playing well against France apparently!

Belgium frontline Hazard---Lukaku---DeBruyne...just saw that. Have to check the second half.

^ on top of that they are facing sagna and koscielny at defenceline of france.

Oh my word how Lukaku has already made koscielny his bitch. No competition between those two. Belgium and our lads playing well. 0-0 still

Lukaku's had 3-4 good chances or hes created them in the 7 mins I've watched the game so far...

Lukaku's off for Benteke after almost scoring from DeBruyne's off pass.

Missed an open goal!

Missed an open goal!

DeBruyne's pass wasn't quality there though. Could have stretched there probably.

 

Good 15mins of him from what I saw against a Premier League defence (Sagna--Koscielny--Abidal--Clichy).

 

Lukaku laid off a shot for Pocognoli very nicely holding off Koscielny with his hand with so much ease. He needs to play against Arsenal. That pair is so off.

and his selfishness was always overblown by fans. yes his decision making was awry at times, but he actually got himself into positions to make good or bad decisions whilst the non-player torres did nothing at all in the first place, and yet fans seemed to be angrier at sturridge?

t

"Selfish" is not a criticism for a striker. It is totally invalid- the best strikers are inherently selfish. A striker needs to want the ball and want to shoot.

A consistently good predictor of a striker's form/ability is their shots total- the likes of RvP, Falcao, Lewandowski etc all averaged close to 4 shots per game. A high shots per game ratio suggests a player who is getting into potential scoring positions more often than others. Sturridge had a far higher average than any of our strikers. There is absolutely no room in football for strikers who want to play as midfielders, much less leading the line in a lone striker system.

Sydney he had a shot every 24 minutes which translates to a little under 4 shots per match - and that was during the time he was out on the wing. So the higher average you quoted is similar to those forwards - Torres has always averaged about 2 shots per game, doesn't matter if Sturridge is on the wing or someone else. It was farely obvious he was used by AvB the way AvB used to use Hulk and he was fairly successful in that time

 

Here is the article in EPL Index for 2011/2012 Season http://www.eplindex.com/18484/wide-forwards-fashion-stats-comparison-moses-walcott-nani-sinclair.html

 

Obviously he had more shots than the other wide forwards he is compared to, but he has also a better accuracy than most of them bar Walcott. 

Edited August 15, 201312 yr by Las7

"Selfish" is not a criticism for a striker. It is totally invalid- the best strikers are inherently selfish. A striker needs to want the ball and want to shoot.

A consistently good predictor of a striker's form/ability is their shots total- the likes of RvP, Falcao, Lewandowski etc all averaged close to 4 shots per game. A high shots per game ratio suggests a player who is getting into potential scoring positions more often than others. Sturridge had a far higher average than any of our strikers. There is absolutely no room in football for strikers who want to play as midfielders, much less leading the line in a lone striker system.

 

Depends if you defining being 'selfish' and being piss poor at making decisions as two seperate things.

 

Of course you want strikers to be confident and eager to get a shot off, the last thing you want is a player like Torres who looks sh*t scared to take a shot in case he misses the target- I would say this all goes without saying.

 

What you also want in a striker, or any attacking player for that matter is the ability to display intelligence and a reading of the game in order to maximise their offensive threat for the overall benefit of the team. It is all very good being selfish and considering this a positive thing but there has to be balance and being selfish stops being a positive thing when it prevents goals for the team as opposed to creating them.

 

You say all the best strikers are selfish but the best strikers will also know when to release the ball, when to pass the ball and when to retain possesion by bringing a team mate in as opposed to slamming yet another shot at goal and watching it hit the side netting whilst all the team mates that have sprinted the length of the pitch to provide an outlet all look like they wasted their time.

Sydney he had a shot every 24 minutes which translates to a little under 4 shots person match - and that was during the time he was out on the wing. So the higher average you quoted is similar to those forwards - Torres has always averaged about 2 shots per game, doesn't matter if Sturridge is on the wing or someone else. It was farely obvious he was used by AvB the way AvB used to use Hulk and he was fairly successful in that time

Here is the article in EPL Index for 2011/2012 Season http://www.eplindex.com/18484/wide-forwards-fashion-stats-comparison-moses-walcott-nani-sinclair.html

Obviously he had more shots than the other wide forwards he is compared to, but he has also a better accuracy than most of them bar Walcott.

If you analyse the SpG of all the top goalscorers you'll see that they all average around the magic number 4.

Last season, Torres and Ba averaged under 2 shots per game. Lukaku bested them both (2.2 SpG) despite playing the majority of the season as a sub.

Depends if you defining being 'selfish' and being piss poor at making decisions as two seperate things.

Of course you want strikers to be confident and eager to get a shot off, the last thing you want is a player like Torres who looks sh*t scared to take a shot in case he misses the target- I would say this all goes without saying.

What you also want in a striker, or any attacking player for that matter is the ability to display intelligence and a reading of the game in order to maximise their offensive threat for the overall benefit of the team. It is all very good being selfish and considering this a positive thing but there has to be balance and being selfish stops being a positive thing when it prevents goals for the team as opposed to creating them.

You say all the best strikers are selfish but the best strikers will also know when to release the ball, when to pass the ball and when to retain possesion by bringing a team mate in as opposed to slamming yet another shot at goal and watching it hit the side netting whilst all the team mates that have sprinted the length of the pitch to provide an outlet all look like they wasted their time.

I agree but I'm talking about trends, not specifics. Strikers who take a lot of shots score a lot of goals, suggesting chance is just as important as skill.

Strikers who don't take many shots are relying solely on their clinicality, which means they are much more subject to form and confidence and score less goals.

The situation you describe is much rarer than you think. As long as a young striker is consistently racking up those shooting chances he will score eventually.

For the sake of parsimony, I would want to judge a goalscorer by how good they are at getting into scoring positions. Everything else, such as unselfishness or clinicality, is a product of form and experience.

I agree in principle but sturridge boosted his numbers by taking too many speculative shots hen a pass was a better option. Torres doesnt get into shooting positions often enough and when he does, he doesn't always shoot.

The top strikers will usually have a pop shot at the beginning of the game to get the crowd up, and test the keeper. After that they usually get 3/4 shooting chances a game, which is down to instinct and good movement.

I think lukaku will get a lot of shooting opportunities when he plays, his physical size and strength gives him an extra half yard to get a shot away, and his movement is getting better all the time. I think his instinct has always been there, a lot of his goals, like the roma goal, he's been in the right place at the right time, which is something only the best have, and its very difficult to teach.

Just had a dream that we won 4-1 and lukaku got a hattrick!  I'm of down the bookies

If he is the future...why do we want another striker?

If he is the future...why do we want another striker?

 

Because the future isn't now? 

If he is the future...why do we want another striker?

 

Presumably because he's not necessarily the present?