1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

He came as a striker but was moved out wide when we realised he couldn’t finish. 

He was and remains the best penalty-taker in CFC history  ;)

Kalou... FA cup final at Wembley, half hour into the game, things are starting to get tense and we begin to worry about not scoring.

Kalou, cometh the hour, cometh the man.

 

21 hours ago, Snedger said:

Despite clearly needing one, the idea of us signing a striker just worries me.

In my mind we have a pretty poor record when it comes to signing strikers, but is it really as bad as I envisage it? I first started watching Chelsea in the 1982/83 season and in that time, off the top of my head we have had three great strikers. Dixon, Hasselbaink and Drogba. We've had two or three that have been very good but haven't quite worked out for some reason Crespo, Costa, and we've had a pretty long list of failures/disappointments (Cascarino, Sutton, Fleck, Kezman, Batshuai, Mutu, Sturridge, Falcao, Shevchenko, Remy, Giroud, Lukaku and some ?very expensive failures - Morata and Torres. Then there have been some that have done alright, but nothing special, Flo, Anelka?, Vialli, Hughes, ?Eto'o Pizarro and Ba as maybe they were at the tail-end of their careers or only signed as a stopgap.

I figure that whoever we sign will not work out. It's just how we roll when it comes to centre forwards. Maybe we'd be better trying to find a midfielder who can shoot straight and isn't afraid to. Lamps was certainly a better finisher than a lot of those listed above.

Agree with most of that, however I'd put Anelka in the 'very good' category personally.

22 hours ago, Snedger said:

Despite clearly needing one, the idea of us signing a striker just worries me.

In my mind we have a pretty poor record when it comes to signing strikers, but is it really as bad as I envisage it? I first started watching Chelsea in the 1982/83 season and in that time, off the top of my head we have had three great strikers. Dixon, Hasselbaink and Drogba. We've had two or three that have been very good but haven't quite worked out for some reason Crespo, Costa, and we've had a pretty long list of failures/disappointments (Cascarino, Sutton, Fleck, Kezman, Batshuai, Mutu, Sturridge, Falcao, Shevchenko, Remy, Giroud, Lukaku and some very expensive failures - Morata and Torres. Then there have been some that have done alright, but nothing special, Flo, Anelka, Vialli, Hughes, Eto'o Pizarro and Ba as maybe they were at the tail-end of their careers or only signed as a stopgap.

I figure that whoever we sign will not work out. It's just how we roll when it comes to centre forwards. Maybe we'd be better trying to find a midfielder who can shoot straight and isn't afraid to. Lamps was certainly a better finisher than a lot of those listed above.

Surprised no ones mentioned Casiraghi.  Scored the legendary goal that crushed Phil Babbs manhood.

20 hours ago, chi blue said:

I await the abuse, but Durie was pretty good, until he left to go north!!!! For family reasons, Kevin Wilson was okay

Durie was a great player when he was with us. I remember he was not just a decent finisher but also really good running at defenders. Of course he quickly got scrubbed from most of our good memories when he unforgivably left for North London. Kevin Wilson wasn't as talented but he always gave 100% and scored a lot of important goals in our promotion season. We certainly had plenty of goals in our strikers back then. Dixon/Speedie/Durie and then Dixon/Durie/Wilson.

Another striker I liked back then was John Spencer. He had a couple of really good seasons for us in a very mediocre team.

32 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Surprised no ones mentioned Casiraghi.  Scored the legendary goal that crushed Phil Babbs manhood.

A legendary moment but his only goal for us sadly

17 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Durie was a great player when he was with us. I remember he was not just a decent finisher but also really good running at defenders. Of course he quickly got scrubbed from most of our good memories when he unforgivably left for North London. Kevin Wilson wasn't as talented but he always gave 100% and scored a lot of important goals in our promotion season. We certainly had plenty of goals in our strikers back then. Dixon/Speedie/Durie and then Dixon/Durie/Wilson.

Another striker I liked back then was John Spencer. He had a couple of really good seasons for us in a very mediocre team.

Loved Spenno. Thought he was under-rated and pretty skillful. He scored some great goals for us - remember a cracking volley against Liverpool and of course the goal in Vienna when he ran the length of the pitch with those little legs!!

 

46 minutes ago, DarkMata said:

Surprised no ones mentioned Casiraghi.  Scored the legendary goal that crushed Phil Babbs manhood.

That was bad luck he was too brief.

Others not mentioned that were ok, John Spencer, Mark Stein, Paul Furlong.  None were prolific yet for a season or so they kept us going.

32 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Another striker I liked back then was John Spencer. He had a couple of really good seasons for us in a very mediocre team.

11 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Loved Spenno. Thought he was under-rated and pretty skillful. He scored some great goals for us - remember a cracking volley against Liverpool and of course the goal in Vienna when he ran the length of the pitch with those little legs!!

That goal in Vienna is perhaps the highlight of my time watching the Blues.

 

1 hour ago, DarkMata said:

Surprised no ones mentioned Casiraghi.  Scored the legendary goal that crushed Phil Babbs manhood.

Again, my memory might not be that reliable, but apart from the tragic early end to the lads career, in the run up to that game against West Ham, I recall that he couldn't buy a goal. According to Wiki, just 1 goal (ref'd above) in 15 appearances. Seem to recall he was a tad unlucky and he had a penchant for hitting the woodwork.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

That was bad luck he was too brief.

Others not mentioned that were ok, John Spencer, Mark Stein, Paul Furlong.  None were prolific yet for a season or so they kept us going.

Spencer and Stein must have been the shortest ever striker partnership but they were effective. Another striker worth a mention was Clive Allen. He only stayed for about a third of a season but he scored a lot of goals. If only we could find a loanee like that right now.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

That was bad luck he was too brief.

Others not mentioned that were ok, John Spencer, Mark Stein, Paul Furlong.  None were prolific yet for a season or so they kept us going.

Spencer and Stein was good players and very good finishers, always remember that quality pen taken by Stein in the 4-3 vs Spurs.

15 minutes ago, forbzy said:

Spencer and Stein must have been the shortest ever striker partnership but they were effective. Another striker worth a mention was Clive Allen. He only stayed for about a third of a season but he scored a lot of goals. If only we could find a loanee like that right now.

If we aren't even considering recalling Abraham, I would see if we could get Hernandez. 

Has the knack of scoring goals (mainly against us). Still only 30, proven in PL and WOULD score more goals than Morata & Giroud combined. Would rather see him coming off the bench than options we have currently.

 

11 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Spencer and Stein was good players and very good finishers, always remember that quality pen taken by Stein in the 4-3 vs Spurs.

Made even better as Sp*rs had not long missed a penalty! Great game that, after a shocking start.

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

If we aren't even considering recalling Abraham, I would see if we could get Hernandez. 

Has the knack of scoring goals (mainly against us). Still only 30, proven in PL and WOULD score more goals than Morata & Giroud combined. Would rather see him coming off the bench than options we have currently.

 

So we go from signing players from Arsenal’s bench even lower to signing ones from the ‘ammers.

Just bring Jimmy Floyd back for 6 months, I reckon he’s still got it. 

I read that former striker of ours and Welsh International Gordon Davies, is now a pest control expert. 

From goal poacher to rat catcher.

50 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

I read that former striker of ours and Welsh International Gordon Davies, is now a pest control expert. 

From goal poacher to rat catcher.

It’ll be nice if he could catch Suarez.

I’ll get my coat.

3 hours ago, Munkworth said:

So we go from signing players from Arsenal’s bench even lower to signing ones from the ‘ammers.

Just bring Jimmy Floyd back for 6 months, I reckon he’s still got it. 

He'd score more than Morata!

7 hours ago, Snedger said:

Again, my memory might not be that reliable, but apart from the tragic early end to the lads career, in the run up to that game against West Ham, I recall that he couldn't buy a goal. According to Wiki, just 1 goal (ref'd above) in 15 appearances. Seem to recall he was a tad unlucky and he had a penchant for hitting the woodwork.

Thats right.  I remember hoping for him to score every week.   Reminds me of the current situation, but unlike Morata he just didn't get to the point where I'd completely given up hope.

I made my thoughts known in some of the other threads, however...

I believe we should be pursuing Callum Wilson. We certainly shouldn't be going anywhere near £50m but a fair and reasonable price of £35-£40m would be an acceptable compromise I think. 

He meets the home grown quota, as well as possessing time on his side. We would be getting at least 5 years of peak Wilson and he has the potential to be even better than he is now. It's actually quite scary to think of the kind of partnership he could form with Giroud at the top. Giroud would win all the balls over the top and crosses from the side and Wilson would knock them in for fun.

36 minutes ago, EngineerJoe said:

I made my thoughts known in some of the other threads, however...

I believe we should be pursuing Callum Wilson. We certainly shouldn't be going anywhere near £50m but a fair and reasonable price of £35-£40m would be an acceptable compromise I think. 

He meets the home grown quota, as well as possessing time on his side. We would be getting at least 5 years of peak Wilson and he has the potential to be even better than he is now. It's actually quite scary to think of the kind of partnership he could form with Giroud at the top. Giroud would win all the balls over the top and crosses from the side and Wilson would knock them in for fun.

It's a nice thought but he could be another knee injury away from retirement with what he's had already. Also we don't play with two strikers and if we were to play with two strikers and those were the starting two we'd be in serious trouble.

Where's the fella who wanted us to sign Andy Carroll?

6 hours ago, RMCM said:

Where's the fella who wanted us to sign Andy Carroll?

He got sacked last season. 

36 minutes ago, Slojo said:

He got sacked last season. 

If you are referring to Conte, he is technically still employed by Chelsea.

 

I think that we are going to have big problems getting a quality striker in January. I think that the best would be for Morata to stay until the summer and than try to sign a world class striker.

Some analysis here of EPL strikers

Aubameyang has the best conversion rate, followed by Wilson and then Salah.

Aubameyang has also missed the most big chances.

Interesting side comment Pedro as a winger has a 100% conversion rate of big chances.

https://www.football365.com/news/who-misses-the-most-big-chances-its-an-arsenal-man