[VanGaalEra]

When exactly was he the best number 9 in the world?

2011/12 RVP was waay better
2012/13 I'd still say RVP was better, Lewandowski was better as well
2013/14 Suarez, Aguero, Ibrahimovic
2014/15 Aguero

I'd maybe but Falcao top 2/3 from 2011/13 but not sure if he was the best overall no 9, definitely up there though

Falcao at Porto was the best number 9 in the world and then confirmed that at Atleti as people wanted him to prove himself in a tougher league (not Portuguese liga) and he proved it.

 

[Red Shorts]

When exactly was he the best number 9 in the world?

2011/12 RVP was waay better
2012/13 I'd still say RVP was better, Lewandowski was better as well
2013/14 Suarez, Aguero, Ibrahimovic
2014/15 Aguero

I'd maybe but Falcao top 2/3 from 2011/13 but not sure if he was the best overall no 9, definitely up there though

Bit of an exaggeration, there. Some would argue Falcao was better, some would say RvP. But to say RvP was way better is a tad far.

As VanGaalEra said, he was the best #9 in the world at Porto, then continued his ways at Atletico. He pretty much brought through Atletico through the Europa league group stages and scored a vital goal almost every game there, as well as ripping apart Chelsea in the Super Cup. These moments were evident that he was one of the top #9s in the world, and certainly was at one stage or another. What can definitely be said is that he has been one of the most consistent.

 

[Redo91]

He's not one of the best number 9s in the world any more, that's the point.

It's clear to anyone who watched him regularly at Atleti, he's a complete shadow of that player.

Based on what 600 minutes of football? Suarez has had a poor start to his career at Barcelona yet I'm not saying he is a shadow of the player he was at Liverpool even though based on his performances so far for Barcelona that's exactly what he is. I am able to recognise that he has only played a few games there and is settling into a new team and league. To say he is in decline would be ridiculous. The same applies to Falcao (even more so due to his injury). It's clear to any reasonable person that you cannot judge a player based on a handful of appearances, especially one who is recovering from a serious injury and playing for a new team in a new country. As I said earlier if he is playing like this in 6-12 months then yes he has declined. To say he has declined based on a handful of appearances is both stupid and wrong. Anyone that thinks that is either an unreasonable United fan/bitter opposition fan or has a very limited knowledge of football.

 

[Redo91]

Yeah, again that's cool but I've never said anything about Balotelli being a good signing.

I think the whole point is it's extremely ironic for a Liverpool fan on a United forum to say Falcao has been a flop (when he hasn't) while ye lot made signed two strikers in the summer for a combined fee of just under £20 million and they have managed the grand total of one league goal between them.

 

[RoadTrip]

Based on what 600 minutes of football? Suarez has had a poor start to his career at Barcelona yet I'm not saying he is a shadow of the player he was at Liverpool even though based on his performances so far for Barcelona that's exactly what he is. I am able to recognise that he has only played a few games there and is settling into a new team and league. To say he is in decline would be ridiculous. The same applies to Falcao (even more so due to his injury). It's clear to any reasonable person that you cannot judge a player based on a handful of appearances, especially one who is recovering from a serious injury and playing for a new team in a new country. As I said earlier if he is playing like this in 6-12 months then yes he has declined. To say he has declined based on a handful of appearances is both stupid and wrong. Anyone that thinks that is either an unreasonable United fan/bitter opposition fan or has a very limited knowledge of football.

You're preaching to a crowd who won't reason. Many fans (myself included at times) will write players off or suddenly change their opinion about someone. It defies logic, but just how people are.

 

[DWelbz19]

I think the whole point is it's extremely ironic for a Liverpool fan on a United forum to say Falcao has been a flop (when he hasn't) while ye lot made signed two strikers in the summer for a combined fee of just under £20 million and they have managed the grand total of one league goal between them.

There is no irony, Balotelli and Lambert being wank makes no difference to the fact that Falcao looks nowhere near the player he was two seasons ago and hasn't proved his worth to sign permanently. Bob Loblaw hasn't stated Falcao has been a flop at all, nor has he even mentioned Balotelli.

 

[Jed I. Knight]

Falcao: 604 minutes played, 3 goals + 3 assists; 101 minutes per goal or assist
Balotelli: 737 minutes played, 0 goals + 0 assists; infinity minutes per goal or assist (737 / 0 = infinity)

Dividing by zero isn't infinity, it's disallowed. Just like a goal would probably be if Balotelli were to ever score one again.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

When exactly was he the best number 9 in the world?

2011/12 RVP was waay better
2012/13 I'd still say RVP was better, Lewandowski was better as well
2013/14 Suarez, Aguero, Ibrahimovic, Costa
2014/15 Aguero, Costa

I'd maybe but Falcao top 2/3 from 2011/13 but not sure if he was the best overall no 9, definitely up there though

As an out and out goal scorer, Falcao was better than RvP and Lewandowsk in 11/12 and 12/13. From 12/13 season:

40 apps for Falcao, scored 34 goals.
49 apps for Lewandowski, 36 goals.
48 apps for RvP with 30 goals scored.
If you take assist stats into consideration, then Lewandowski + RvP would edge it, but that's not really Falcao's game. He's a proper goal scoring no.9.

Anyway, Falcao's stats from the last few season put him up there with any striker you care to name.

 

[NoPace]

A 25 goal a season striker who scored 59 goals in 4 seasons with us and only hit 20 goals once?

He's still 3rd all time in Goals Per Minute in Prem history, I think, behind Aguero and Henry. Give him a normal starting season and I would expect him to hit 25 in all comps.

He's not as good as Falcao, but considering the age gap, Falcao's health issues, the massive wages gap and probably a 30 million difference in selling off Hernanez and bringing in Falcao, and it's hard for me to see the case for not spending that cash on buying off Reus' agent or or hitting Laporte's release clause or whatever other positive thing we could do with the cash.

 

[Revan]

When exactly was he the best number 9 in the world?

2011/12 RVP was waay better
2012/13 I'd still say RVP was better, Lewandowski was better as well
2013/14 Suarez, Aguero, Ibrahimovic, Costa
2014/15 Aguero, Costa

I'd maybe but Falcao top 2/3 from 2011/13 but not sure if he was the best overall no 9, definitely up there though

On 2012-2013 he was the best number 9 in the world. Better than RVP and likely better than Lewandovski. It also can be argued that he was the best striker in the world in 2011-2012, though I would say that RVP was slightly (no waay) better. On Porto he was great too.

 

[stepic]

It's like some people here want him to fail. Really odd. Whenever I see him and RVP together Falcao is the one that impresses me more. More hustle, more desire, more creativity. And this is from a player in a new team, new league, and not at 100%. What do people actually expect?

 

[Ekeke]

It's like some people here want him to fail. Really odd. Whenever I see him and RVP together Falcao is the one that impresses me more. More hustle, more desire, more creativity. And this is from a player in a new team, new league, and not at 100%. What do people actually expect?

They play different roles, especially together. RVP's discipline to stretch the backline allows his strike parter and the attacking players more space to work in. If he came to the ball all the time like Falcao the defence could just press and never have to worry about whats in behind them. He also holds on the ball better with defenders at his back.

If Falcao did those things brilliantly, we wouldnt need RVP in the lineup

 

[bm_5]

It's like some people here want him to fail. Really odd. Whenever I see him and RVP together Falcao is the one that impresses me more. More hustle, more desire, more creativity. And this is from a player in a new team, new league, and not at 100%. What do people actually expect?

Same here. RVP has looked disinterested and off pace all season, but because he gets a lot more minutes, scores more goals. If Falcao looked as awful as RVP has, everyone would be burning Old Trafford down to send him back to Monaco! Robin's unwillingness to give up the ball when he has even a sliver of a look at goal also makes it worse for Falcao.

Van Gaal also has made some ridiculous decisions with his substitutions of Falcao (like in the Stoke game), and has refused to play him with Wilson or anybody other that RVP up front.

 

[RedFish]

Well, he's shown enough for me all things considered ( new league, injuries etc etc). He's absolute class IMO and probably the best 'natural' finisher/no 9 we've had since RVN. i just hope he gets the chance to prove it.....

 

[JUPITER]

Well, he's shown enough for me all things considered ( new league, injuries etc etc). He's absolute class IMO and probably the best 'natural' finisher/no 9 we've had since RVN. i just hope he gets the chance to prove it.....

With what he's shown thus far!?

That's a bit unfair on RvP who's fired us to our 20th title, and Rooney who's been a far, far better 9 for us than Falcao has thus far.

Hell, Javier Hernandez, who cost us £6m scored 20 goals for us in his debut season - something that no-one had done since Ruud.

Falcao's a long way off Hernandez's debut season at present and people are saying he's the best #9 we've had since Ruud and that we should shell out £40m for what we've seen thus far!? Ridiculous, get some perspective.

I want Falcao to succeed, but he needs a massive 2nd half of the season to justify us signing him imo.

 

[Sammyjunn]

The majority of the posts in this thread are entirely based on what he's done in the past, what he's doing/performing now, seems irrelevant. ..

With what he's shown thus far!?

That's a bit unfair on RvP who's fired us to our 20th title, and Rooney who's been a far, far better 9 for us than Falcao has thus far.

Hell, Javier Hernandez, who cost us £6m scored 20 goals for us in his debut season - something that no-one had done since Ruud.

Falcao's a long way off Hernandez's debut season at present and people are saying he's the best #9 we've had since Ruud and that we should shell out £40m for what we've seen thus far!? Ridiculous, get some perspective.

I want Falcao to succeed, but he needs a massive 2nd half of the season to justify us signing him imo.

 

[RedFish]

With what he's shown thus far!?

That's a bit unfair on RvP who's fired us to our 20th title, and Rooney who's been a far, far better 9 for us than Falcao has thus far.

Hell, Javier Hernandez, who cost us £6m scored 20 goals for us in his debut season - something that no-one had done since Ruud.

Falcao's a long way off Hernandez's debut season at present and people are saying he's the best #9 we've had since Ruud and that we should shell out £40m for what we've seen thus far!? Ridiculous, get some perspective.

I want Falcao to succeed, but he needs a massive 2nd half of the season to justify us signing him imo.

He's been injured and hasn't started the majority of games. Imo it would be unfair to judge him in the limited game time he has had for us. He seems to be fit now, so lets see what he can do. ...

 

[Crashoutcassius]

He reminds me of Forlan when Forlan was at united, but a career in reverse. Supremely talented but nothing seems to come off and even he can't believe it at times.

I would say that I think we'll get the best out of falcao when the service improves dramatically. You really need to put the ball in the danger zone 10-15 times a game to get the most out of a predator like falcao or someone like hernan crespo, but we just pass it back and forth between smalling and evans

When young gets down the line and whips a decent ball in falcao nearly always omes close to making something happen. His movement is excellent and he just throws himself at the ball. If this happened far more often he'd be banging them in

 

[Sandikan]

He reminds me of Forlan when Forlan was at united, but a career in reverse. Supremely talented but nothing seems to come off and even he can't believe it at times.

I would say that I think we'll get the best out of falcao when the service improves dramatically. You really need to put the ball in the danger zone 10-15 times a game to get the most out of a predator like falcao or someone like hernan crespo, but we just pass it back and forth between smalling and evans

When young gets down the line and whips a decent ball in falcao nearly always omes close to making something happen. His movement is excellent and he just throws himself at the ball. If this happened far more often he'd be banging them in

you can't help but think the old style of 4-4-2 with 2 quality wingers constantly creating chances would have suited him down to the ground.

the current style doesn't really at all.

 

[FujiVice]

He's having a shocking game today. Sad to see. In fairness he's not the only one, but he just doesn't look at the races here.

 

[Ekeke]

Wilson is definitely a lot brighter and more effective so far

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Whoever pays £30+ million for him needs their head checking a shadow of the player he was

We have the exact same player in rvp that's similar in everyway.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

He's having a shocking game today. Sad to see. In fairness he's not the only one, but he just doesn't look at the races here.

I don't think smalling smashing the ball up into the hole for him to challenge for is really his gme

 

[Roboc7]

Works hard, good finisher and great attitude but he can't run.

 

[Kayo]

Give me Bony for half the price any day.

 

[FujiVice]

Poor fecker runs like he's got an anchor chained to his leg.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Weak, slow, poor hold up play, absent, really poor match from him and he needs to earn his place. Start Rooney up front next match.

 

[Aboutreika18]

One of the top 5 strikers in the world, folks.

That chance around 30mins where he was outsprinted by a Yeovil defender was sad to see. That knee injury's ruined him as a top level striker.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

Abysmal today, not surprising you scored minutes after he went off.

 

[Roboc7]

One of the top 5 strikers in the world, folks.

That chance around 30mins where he was outsprinted by a Yeovil defender was sad to see. That knee injury's ruined him as a top level striker.

He has lost some pace, too slow for us, would be better off somewhere like Madrid where he can just stand in and around the box and wait for service.

It would be ridiculous for us to consider signing him for anything like 30-40m.

 

[Jagga7]

One of the top 5 strikers in the world, folks.

That chance around 30mins where he was outsprinted by a Yeovil defender was sad to see. That knee injury's ruined him as a top level striker.

Spot on, that was truly sad to see.

 

[2E_MUFC]

If he gets no service he won't get the goals. Simple

 

[Walrus]

Didn't think he was as bad today as some are saying, although I was never a fan of this transfer in the first place. He puts in a shift, utilises his strength and shows good movement in the final third. Obviously rusty but that is expected.

I do feel that had we kept Hernandez or Welbeck this season instead of getting Falcao our attack would have much more versatility to it, due to their pace.

 

[FujiVice]

Times running out for Falcao. I think maybe that's why he's started every game for us recently. We need to at least give him games to see what he's about these days. At 29 with a major injury over the last year, there's no way he's staying here past May.

 

[Man-United]

At his best at Atletico, was he quick back then?

 

[VanGaalEra]

At his best at Atletico, was he quick back then?

He's never been a speed merchant.

 

[Bubz27]

Only player to do anything going forward in the first half for us.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Looking forward to him and ADM in the same team, can see ADM racking up a lot of chances for him.

 

[FujiVice]

Only player to do anything going forward in the first half for us.

Standards must be rock bottom if that's considered doing something.

 

[ItsEssexRob]

I dont even think his movement or strength was good today either, always seemed to be in the wrong place. Honestly reminds me of the way Torres played for us with the awful touches and never being in the right place.

 

[Bubz27]

Standards must be rock bottom if that's considered doing something.

Well I'm only comparing him to the other attackers on the pitch today. He held the ball up, looked like he megged a player and opened the play up on the right side.

It wasn't spectacular by any means but more than Wilson or Rooney in the first half. A lot of us are judging Falcao to very different standards than other United players right now.
He has always thrived on service and isn't getting much at all.