So at the game last night I was reminded how useless Jackson is, the only player I've ever seen get a hattrick from a 5/10 performance at best (vs Spurs this season).
Arsenal have a few question marks over whether they have a proper out-and-out striker who will bang in 20+ a season in the league.
Nunez never gives me confidence, you feel like every chance he wants to just smash his laces through it so he'll score the occasional worldie whilst fluffing another handful of chances (his conversion rate of 13% is comfortably the worst of any player with 10+ goals). Appreciating maybe Gakpo, Jota in the mix here but none of them seem to be world beaters at striker.
At MU, Rashford is decent but blows hot and cold plus doesn't seem to play as an out and out striker that often, Martial doesn't look like a £50m player to me, Hojland one for the future perhaps.
At Spurs, fair enough Son can fill that role well but he's not quite at Kane's level.
Finally Man City, no issue there for me (despite the flak Haaland has copped of late).
So for me personally that's only two out of the six where I'm looking at it and going nothing needs to change there. The others, I look at it and go if I could pluck out a top striker and drop them in that club, they'd be improved.
Now, I accept that part of this will be down to changes in formations / tactics, with many teams playing a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or whatever and relying on more goals from the widemen / inverted forwards. Salah, Saka etc end up as top scorer sometimes for their clubs. Palmer this season for Chelsea. I get the fact that we've moved on and are no longer playing four-four-***ing-two, yeah?
But even so, if I think about it just in terms of the main striker, and compare to years gone by, it feels like less teams from the traditional 'big six' have that top striker. Just stop a moment and think about Drogba, Auba, Suarez, Ronaldo, Kane, Aguero etc (plus many others I could mention).
Or to flip it round, if you asked me to pick a striker from the traditional big six clubs, and replace with the best striker from that club when they were in their pomp, there's not many where I'm voting for the new guy.
I don't fully buy the idea that the modern game doesn't need strikers, I think it can accommodate the lack of a good traditional striker a bit better, because you get more output from elsewhere, but I still think a top striker can put that extra icing on the cake.
If you look at the challenger clubs that are muscling their way into top six like Villa and Newcastle, they both have strikers getting in and amongst the goals (Watkins and Isak both in top 5).
Arsenal have a few question marks over whether they have a proper out-and-out striker who will bang in 20+ a season in the league.
Nunez never gives me confidence, you feel like every chance he wants to just smash his laces through it so he'll score the occasional worldie whilst fluffing another handful of chances (his conversion rate of 13% is comfortably the worst of any player with 10+ goals). Appreciating maybe Gakpo, Jota in the mix here but none of them seem to be world beaters at striker.
At MU, Rashford is decent but blows hot and cold plus doesn't seem to play as an out and out striker that often, Martial doesn't look like a £50m player to me, Hojland one for the future perhaps.
At Spurs, fair enough Son can fill that role well but he's not quite at Kane's level.
Finally Man City, no issue there for me (despite the flak Haaland has copped of late).
So for me personally that's only two out of the six where I'm looking at it and going nothing needs to change there. The others, I look at it and go if I could pluck out a top striker and drop them in that club, they'd be improved.
Now, I accept that part of this will be down to changes in formations / tactics, with many teams playing a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or whatever and relying on more goals from the widemen / inverted forwards. Salah, Saka etc end up as top scorer sometimes for their clubs. Palmer this season for Chelsea. I get the fact that we've moved on and are no longer playing four-four-***ing-two, yeah?
But even so, if I think about it just in terms of the main striker, and compare to years gone by, it feels like less teams from the traditional 'big six' have that top striker. Just stop a moment and think about Drogba, Auba, Suarez, Ronaldo, Kane, Aguero etc (plus many others I could mention).
Or to flip it round, if you asked me to pick a striker from the traditional big six clubs, and replace with the best striker from that club when they were in their pomp, there's not many where I'm voting for the new guy.
I don't fully buy the idea that the modern game doesn't need strikers, I think it can accommodate the lack of a good traditional striker a bit better, because you get more output from elsewhere, but I still think a top striker can put that extra icing on the cake.
If you look at the challenger clubs that are muscling their way into top six like Villa and Newcastle, they both have strikers getting in and amongst the goals (Watkins and Isak both in top 5).
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