A top quality, clinical striker

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Your first sentence is incorrect and I don't even know why you would make that assumption.
Because :
a) you refused my claim that United need a striker who plays like a Suarez

b) you went on to claim 'he isn't a work horse'


For me workhorse is a role not a matter of skill,...
Which is precisely the problem. We simply don't see the term the same way. To me a work horse is a dynamic player with high end work rate, not a role. So it makes a no sense to me to tell me that a player I consider 'a work horse" like Suarez would add nada to our attack. That's all it is





Suarez is a complete striker that will adjust his role depending on needs sometimes he is creative other times he is industrious while Van Nistelrooy was a pure finisher. My point is that, that's not the role that we are lacking, we lack skill and creativity which matches with your last point.
It really doesn't. I clearly talked of strikers like Drogba, Suarez and Diego Costa, (Tevez/Rooney even) known for their intelligent interplay and off the ball dynamism. Who as a result add a level of creativity and completeness to attack they are a member of. The type of which we have absolutely none upfront.

Yet your reaction to that was we DONT need such a player to improve our attack. Which confused me. But that's cleared now I think....
 

King_Cantona07

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One key problem is coaching department. Need to hire quality coaches for a change than rookie carrick and youth promoted mckenna. Do they know enough to make a struggling team work. Players becoming coach may work in an already good coaching team. Like what a pep or mourinho setup carries a team of coaches.
 

JPRouve

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@Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber, you are assuming things that I didn't say while adding a lot that you didn't say. Now that you have expended on it I see your point, I wouldn't use the term workhorse to describe it but that's not really important now that I know what you mean.
 

Woeisme

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Surely its a style of play that we need firstly.

Lukaku will score plenty of goals if we were playing to his strengths. (the same Lukaku who scored plenty of goals for West Brom and Everton)

Rashford ( who I don't rate) would be better suited to a different style. Some thing like Leicesters title winning counter attacking knocking it over the top or in behind the defenders for Vardy to run onto.

No one has any perception of what the plan is at the moment. Hence Huddersfield are a Goal keeping calamity away from keeping a Clean sheet against us.

How many goals do we need from a striker in a league campaign to be happy with him? 20? 25? (Lukaku got that for Everton). No team in the league has got more than that from their " Top quality" striker this season!

Perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree here?
 
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Surely its a style of play that we need firstly.

Lukaku will score plenty of goals if we were playing to his strengths. (the same Lukaku who scored plenty of goals for West Brom and Everton)

Rashford ( who I don't rate) would be better suited to a different style. Some thing like Leicesters title winning counter attacking knocking it over the top or in behind the defenders for Vardy to run onto.

No one has any perception of what the plan is at the moment. Hence Huddersfield are a Goal keeping calamity away from keeping a Clean sheet against us.

How many goals do we need from a striker in a league campaign to be happy with him? 20? 25? (Lukaku got that for Everton). No team in the league has got more than that from their " Top quality" striker this season!

Perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree here?
Possibly,though it doesn't help that Lukaku has been quoted recently about being unsure with his future at the club while also commenting on wanting to play in Italy,likely sometime soon.
Ole's use of Lukaku also draws up conclusions that he may not feature in our plans for next season and beyond.
 
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Until we have more creativity in this squad, there’s not many strikers around who will turn around our misfortunes.
Indeed.For all of the faults of our forward players we're not exactly supplying them with continual,consistent opportunities to get on the score sheet.
 

johanovic

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Dembele from Lyon
Milik from Napoli
Piatek from AC milan
Kane from Spurs
Jovic from Frankfurt

These are players that would be good strikers for United
 

11101

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We don't have creative players, Pogba and Mata only are those type of players. Our squad is devoid of great passers between the lines or great crossers (our full backs are terrible)
We don't have Messi, Xavi and Iniesta on the field but Pogba is one of the world's best and some of the others are capable of creating more than they are doing. They can't do it when Lukaku is hiding behind his marker and Martial is stood still though.
 

RussellWilson

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If Ole thinks we can go into next season with Rashford as our main striker we in for another long and shit season.
 

RussellWilson

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I think Joao Felix will end up as a striker and a damn good one and would be my choice to carry out attack out of the next gen.
 

Jezpeza

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Think jovic is the only truly clinical one easily available. Icardi has 110 goals in 180 serie a appearances, which is a better return rate than jovic, but Dont think hes attainable though unless we swap lukaku and loads of cash. With lukakus public serie a musings could be a good deal for all parties but dont think our management are smart enough to pick up on stuff like that
 

kouroux

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We don't have Messi, Xavi and Iniesta on the field but Pogba is one of the world's best and some of the others are capable of creating more than they are doing. They can't do it when Lukaku is hiding behind his marker and Martial is stood still though.
Who are the others you're talking about apart from Pogba. I don't see them, maybe Mata.
 

11101

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Who are the others you're talking about apart from Pogba. I don't see them, maybe Mata.
Sanchez, Martial, Rashford and even Lingard have all shown they are capable of making decent passes and assists. Not saying they're good enough, but they're all better than they've shown this year.
 

kouroux

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Sanchez, Martial, Rashford and even Lingard have all shown they are capable of making decent passes and assists. Not saying they're good enough, but they're all better than they've shown this year.
I don't believe that, they have been playing at their real level.
Sanchez is washed up for good, Lingard is never meant to be better than this, never mind being creative. Rashford is too raw and selfish and Martial is very very far from being creative on a consistent basis.
 

The Boy

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True that we need to put more chances on a plate for our forwards but you couldn’t trust any of ours to put away the half chances that Aguero and Kane do and that will be the difference at the top level.

The Rashford chance yesterday was a great example. Any player can make a mess of a chance like that but it’s indicative of our wayward and costly finishing. A city player would have controlled it, shifted out of his feet and curled it in.

Is Lukaku really a match winning top drawer striker ? Rashford has more to his game than goals but he’s a one in three at best and Martial is just too inconsistent to ever be relied upon for goals.
Every player makes mistakes, but the more chances they have the more likely they are to put them away.

2018-19 season so far

Utd shots: 500
City shots: 663
pool: 562

Utd shooting accuracy: 43%
City shooting accuracy: 38%
pool shooting accuracy: 39%

Utd crosses: 621
City crosses: 763
pool crosses: 703

Point is so far this season your shooting accuracy has been better than City's and Liverpool's, but the amount of shots you're getting away is way lower. I've picked out crosses as it's a regular way of creating chances and again you're way behind City and Liverpool. You can check out the stats yourself on the premier league site. You'll see the other big difference is defence, your errors leading to a goal for example is twice that of City and Liverpool, your blocked shots is lower, tackle success is lower etc

It's very easy to write a narrative about wasteful strikers as that's what we remember the most after a match, the missed chances and that's what often makes the headlines and clickbait. But actually misplaced passes from defence and midfield, a lack of movement, creativity and runners from midfield, poor tackling and covering all lead to poor service to the front three.

On top of that Rashford is still young, developing and inconsistent, Martial is also still developing and Lukaku isn't served properly, all three are also under the most intense pressure which has built and built as your run has got worse.

I'm not saying your front line is packed with world class strikers, better than Aguero or Kane. In fact I've called here for you to buy Sancho and Felix to shake things up at the front a bit more. But its the rest of your team that needs sorting as a priority, not your striker!
 

quackattack

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Braut Haaland could be one to monitor. Very unfinished, but his physics are insane already. Bet he is on Ole's radar at least since he was the one who broke through in Molde during his managerial career there.
 

The Boy

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Braut Haaland could be one to monitor. Very unfinished, but his physics are insane already. Bet he is on Ole's radar at least since he was the one who broke through in Molde during his managerial career there.
Son of Alf-Inge Haaland (Leeds and City, his career was ended by one of Keane's worst ever tackles!) and a Leeds United supporter! Wonder how he'd feel about playing for Utd!
 

Ibi Dreams

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Son of Alf-Inge Haaland (Leeds and City, his career was ended by one of Keane's worst ever tackles!) and a Leeds United supporter! Wonder how he'd feel about playing for Utd!
That's probably a myth. At the time Haaland already had big problems with his left knee (Keane hit his right), and had surgery on it after Keane's challenge that didn't really fix it
 

Eric7C

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What year are you in? Nobody sits back against us anymore. Every team seems confident and pushes forward when facing our rabble these days.
I take it you didn't see the game against Huddersfield.
 

cyril C

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:lol:

Continue thinking there's a striker out there that can get 25 goals in this current team.
A diver perhaps? We create typically 2 chances per game and conceded at least 1 elementary goal, so that special player need to create 3-4 chances ON HIS OWN and converted at least 3 chances every game. Then help on defending set piece and block behind DDG slip in as well. A diver might be the easiest way out, get 4 penalty kick per game hopefully convert 3 of them.
 

AnotherDayIsToday

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Why not try Pogba as a striker and Lukaku on the right wing. Rashford on the left side as a winger. And offer chelsea 2 million for Hazard to be on the midfield.
 

Zlatattack

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Maybe we should just spend all our transfer budget on Kane? That'd fix us i reckon.
 

Vedder

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We don't have enough of a sample, do we? Yes, he is clinical no question, but his strengths don't really lie in all-round CF play, which is the level of forward that United should ideally aspire to have.
If we get him, Dybala will probably be unveiled bungee jumping with Fred the Red.
 

Le Red

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I take it you didn't see the game against Huddersfield.
Come on they're hardly a parameter are they? :lol:
Just to be clear, I'm not having a go at you, I just don't think our recent problems were caused by other sides parking the bus.
 

quackattack

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Son of Alf-Inge Haaland (Leeds and City, his career was ended by one of Keane's worst ever tackles!) and a Leeds United supporter! Wonder how he'd feel about playing for Utd!
I can't see what that has to do with anything tbh. Ole was Liverpool supporter. And I take it we have never had a former Leeds (or Liverpool, or Arsenal, or Chelsea) player or supporter in our squad:)
 

Scroto Baggins

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Maybe we should just spend all our transfer budget on Kane? That'd fix us i reckon.
Too much investment on one player given all the other things that need fixing. He would cost an absolutely bonkers amount of money, might as well just offer to pay off Spurs flashy new stadium loans.
 

Eric7C

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Come on they're hardly a parameter are they? :lol:
Just to be clear, I'm not having a go at you, I just don't think our recent problems were caused by other sides parking the bus.
No they weren't, not in their entirety. However, in the course of rebuilding a team, a well-rounded CF would be better than a striker like Vardy who is only good at finishing and being really fast (and not for long now, he is 32). If and when United get stronger, parking the bus will return as a major tactic.
 

Cheekiey

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Surprised no one has mentioned Sebastien Haller, Jovic's Striker partner. He'd be a great option to have.

19 goals and 12 assists all comps he really should be considered. French, 6'3, 24 years old, strong as an Ox, silky on the ball unlike you usual lanky strikers, he isn't that slow either and has a great work rate. Even as an option off the bench he'd bring something different to our attack.

A few of my French mates want him to start for France with Griezmann playing off him, They say he's a mixture of Benzema and Giroud with much better work rate.


 
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redIndianDevil

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As a team we don't create enough chances for anyone to be clinical. I'm not sure about this stat, but someone here in CAF said that Messi's conversion rate is about 15%. Are we creating six clear cut chances for our players?