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Do We Need "A 25 Goal a Season Striker"?



Acker79

Acker79

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Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
We keep talking about this creature we supposedly need, but do we?

Martin Samuel has written a couple of times over the course of the last few months about how key the sale of Ronaldo was to Man Utd failure to win the league. Ronalo was the only midfielder that could match Lampard's goal scoring rate.

(MARTIN SAMUEL: Welcome to the house of fun: It's Madness as Chelsea dance to a happy beat | Mail Online for one example)

This season just past only 28 goals didn't come from our forward line. 16 from Forster, 14 from Murray, 6 from Dickinson, and 4 from Barnes. (all competitions).

One of the things that has bugged me this season when I saw us play was that our midfield wouldn't support the forward line enough, too often we'd be behind chasing the game and we'd get the ball to our forward line and leave them to it.

Do we need a 25 goal striker as much as we need a free scoring midfielder? or two mildly free scoring midfielders? (Bennett got 9 which is decent enough, Crofts got 7) Do we need defenders chipping in with more goals (or will the ones we have be more capable of chipping in goals with better set pieces/set piece takers)

Should we stop hanging our hopes on a rare and expensive 25 goal striker, when we can make up for it with more goals coming from the rest of the team?
 




algie

algie

The moaning of life
Jan 8, 2006
14,713
In rehab
Bennett with 9 is decent enough? Only decent?

When was the last time a Brighton winger got 9?

That is a fantastic return for a 21 year old.I expect him to hit double figures next season.
 


Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee

Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee

You can't change fighters
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Jul 25, 2005
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i am drunk, and as such.....my views are bollocks and do not count :drunk:
 


Meade's Ball

Meade's Ball

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Jul 7, 2003
13,653
Hither (sometimes Thither)
A goalscoring midfielder is more rare to find in the lower leagues, i'd say, who could have made it to the top, but a goalscoring striker is an unearthed gem who never had the confidence as a youngster to really take the chance potentially offered to him. A 'presence' seems more noticeable in someone from an early age along with that deep combination of ambition and a clean strike of the ball.
We need that spine of a team that includes a regular-scoring frontman. 25-a-season would be great, but 18 would still make someone a star and seem enough.
I think there's quite a lot of work in Gus' hands from front to back. Especially if Murray arses off.
 


Acker79

Acker79

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Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
algie said:
Bennett with 9 is decent enough? Only decent?
Click to expand...

Yeah, decent enough. Not bad not exactly blow away special. When you read about lampard hitting 20 plus, (I know we don't have a lampard at our club, but we're not playing against premier league opposition, it's about equivalents) 9 isn't exactly division title winning contribution.

But one midfield player alone scoring 9 isn't enough. We need goals coming from all over the pitch, if we have that, the pressure for our forwards to top 25 a season is lessened, the need to sign a 25 goal scoring striker is lessened, etc.
 




Acker79

Acker79

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Nov 15, 2008
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Brighton
Meade's_Ball said:
A goalscoring midfielder is more rare to find in the lower leagues, i'd say, who could have made it to the top, but a goalscoring striker is an unearthed gem who never had the confidence as a youngster to really take the chance potentially offered to him. A 'presence' seems more noticeable in someone from an early age along with that deep combination of ambition and a clean strike of the ball.
We need that spine of a team that includes a regular-scoring frontman. 25-a-season would be great, but 18 would still make someone a star and seem enough.
I think there's quite a lot of work in Gus' hands from front to back. Especially if Murray arses off.
Click to expand...

Quite.

Aren't 18 goal strikers easier to find than 25 goal strikers? As such if we get one of them, and a midfielder who can chip in with 10 to go with Bennett's 10+ (assuming an improvement next year on this season's total), if our defenders can put away 10-15 between them, isn't that more of a realistic transfer goal as a collective than a single 25 goal a season striker?
 


M

mcshane in the 79th

New member
Nov 4, 2005
10,485
We do need another goalscoring midfielder to match Bennett and hopefully get into double figures. But we also need a 25+ goal striker IMO
 


algie

algie

The moaning of life
Jan 8, 2006
14,713
In rehab
Acker79 said:
Yeah, decent enough. Not bad not exactly blow away special. When you read about lampard hitting 20 plus, (I know we don't have a lampard at our club, but we're not playing against premier league opposition, it's about equivalents) 9 isn't exactly division title winning contribution.

But one midfield player alone scoring 9 isn't enough. We need goals coming from all over the pitch, if we have that, the pressure for our forwards to top 25 a season is lessened, the need to sign a 25 goal scoring striker is lessened, etc.
Click to expand...

I asked you when was the last time a Brighton winger got 9.
 












Acker79

Acker79

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Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
Caveman said:
Blimey that should be a pub quiz question. :lolol:

Brooker? Steve Penny? ? :lol: Seriously, does anyone know, I have no idea!
Click to expand...

Just going through soccerbase, the top scorers outside our forward line for the last ten seasons:

2008/09
Adam Virgo 6

2007/08
Dean Cox 7


2006/07
Dean Cox 10
Dean Hammond 11


2005/06
Dean Hammond 4
Paul McShane 4


2004/05
Adam Virgo 8


2003/2004
Chrs Mcphee 9 (soccerbase lists him as midfield)


2002/03
Paul Brooker 6


2001/02
Paul Watson 5


2000/01
Paul Watson 8

Not sure which are wingers and which are centre midfield etc.
 


Acker79

Acker79

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Brighton
mcshane in the 79th said:
Can someone with more enthusiasm than me compile a list of the top 6 clubs this year and their top scorers? Yes I am lazy, sorry
Click to expand...

For all competitions:

Norwich
G Holt 30
C Martin 23
W Hoolahan 14


Leeds
L Becchio 17
J Beckford 31


Millwall
N Harris 18
S Morison 23


Charlton
N Baily 13
D Burton 14


Swindon
C Austin 20
B Paynter 29


Huddersfield
L Novak 14
J Rhodes 23
T Robinson 16
 


Silent Bob

Silent Bob

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Dec 6, 2004
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I have't read the article but if it's claiming Ronaldo was a midfielder in his last couple of seasons at MAn U that surely invalidates any argument it attempts to make.
 




Acker79

Acker79

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Nov 15, 2008
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Brighton
Here's the most relevant section.

During the Jose Mourinho era at Chelsea, the biggest problem for United was matching the goals scored by Frank Lampard from midfield.

Then Ronaldo hit his stride, on one occasion with 42 goals in a single season, and United won the League each time. Without him, Lampard has reclaimed his status as the most significant player in the Premier League.

It is not that Manchester United do not have a great goalscorer. Wayne Rooney has been exceptional this season and unless hampered by injury in the final weeks would no doubt have comfortably broken through the 30-goals barrier.

The problem was that Chelsea had a rough match in Didier Drogba, whose three goals on Sunday made him the top Premier League goalscorer with 29 goals.

Where United had no answer to Chelsea, by contrast, was in finding an equal of Lampard, who finished with 26 goals from the heart of midfield.

Ronaldo used to rival him, often outstrip him, as a goalscorer but this season United’s midfield players have been required to form alliances of four or more just to cancel out his total.

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Luis Antonio Valencia, Darren Fletcher and Ji-Sung Park would have to club together to tally one more than Lampard. The most prolific midfielder for Manchester United has scored seven times, Lampard has scored more than that this season just in games against Aston Villa and Stoke City.

The second highest goalscorer for United this time has been the collectively unfortunate members of the opposition. Dimitar Berbatov, a £30m signing, has been outgunned by own goals.

Read more: MARTIN SAMUEL: Welcome to the house of fun: It's Madness as Chelsea dance to a happy beat | Mail Online
Click to expand...

There were other articles where he brought this up, but I'm not sure which ones (the titles of the articles in the archive were not helpful).
 


Silent Bob

Silent Bob

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Dec 6, 2004
22,172
ok, it seems to me that the real point is you need your team to come up with x amount of goals to win leagues/make playoffs/etc. Where they come from isn't the point, the point is you get them. So if you play two up front and the score 20 each the need for goals from midfield is highly likely to be less than if they both get 10, or you play one up front.
 


The Modfather

The Modfather

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Dec 13, 2009
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Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Its a no brainer really. If we want to finich in the top2 we have to have a 25 goals a season striker.

The proof is in the pudding. We have manged to get out of this division twice recently, and both times we had a striker hitting 25+ goals (Zamora & knight)
 


J

J-Scott

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Mar 9, 2009
87
I don't think we need a free scoring midfielder as much as a decent striker.

Bring back Leon Knight.
 




O

O Lads

New member
Dec 16, 2004
1,541
''25 goal a season strikers'' don't actually exist. If Glenn Murray was playing up front for Norwich this year he probably would have scroed 25 goals. It's the quality of service and the team surrounding you that counts, not just your ability alone.
 




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