Ronaldo

So you're defining a target man as someone who get's the ball mainly in the air. An old-fashioned English centre forward. Therein lies the problem. Old Fasihioned. It is not current. That sort of football is not succesful anymore which is why that sort of player has been phased out. You need to update your idea of what a target man is otherwise, as I suspect you want, this arguement will go round and round. Football has changed and old principals are no longer valid, thusly your position is not valid as the position of target man you refer to is no longer part of the game. When I said 'target men are a thing of the past' I was referring to my understanding of the definition. ie the conventional idea of a striker principally used as a target for long, high balls. This type of player, imo is extinct at the top levels of the game. And this is what I primarily see Carroll as, which is why I made the assertion in this thread in the first place.

It was the 1-0 against France in 02. The Ivory Coast weren't even in the tournament, if confusing his nationality isn't bad enough.

Just because he's complete, doesn't make him a target man. Most of his good work in the last 4 seasons has occured when he gets the ball to his feet.

About 7000 there by the looks...Portsmouth look awful btw...anyone who finishes beneath them must be s****. Which is a shame as under Hart they looked very good but weren't getting the results now they look bad and aren't! They've improved in the league under Grant.

Shola seems to.

Aye, £12m for Downing says it all.

That's his only major strength that i've seen.

Well since it was my first post that you quoted, you must have seen it.

That was my original point tbh.

Interesting that they sugggest that the £1.5m bid has been neither accepted or rejected.

I'd define target man as basically a player used to make the absolute best of long and high passes. Drogba does this well but there's so much more to his game he isn't imo a conventional target man.

Especially compared with the 3rd round Carling Cup tie against us.

Yeah, it's brilliant. In addition to giving by far the best odds of course.

If I though the opinions were worthless I wouldn't argue against them in the first place. The discussion in this thread tonight has been pretty good, I think.

Hell of a strike, Portsmouth are in a hell a mess. Shame for Grant, who's easily good enough to keep this rabble up, if they were getting paid on time.....

Yeah, same with Drogba imo.

Thought this was a forum for debate, ban me if i'm wrong. Sitting on the fence and trying to constantly look cool doesn't appeal to me.

Take it you disagree with me then eh.

Says the fan of a stiker who's record is 34 championship games and 5 goals. Give over man, offer some sort of valid opinion instead of just spouting shite.

On a par with the most daft thing i've heard today (and i've listened to Darren Gough for 3 hours) but fair play to you for being honest.

What on earth does that have to with his control? You know man.. I have flalwess ball control when I'm playing keepy-ups in my room. I bet most League 2 players also do. Defenders man, you know the guys that stop you from controlling the ball. I think of ball control as the way you stop the ball and dribble under pressure. Are you saying that Carroll has better control than Loven because he holds players off better?

Actually no, they don't. See if you can spot why.

Cheers lads. Not that it'll win you any fans on this board, the growing trend being to say stuff like 'Never seen him play but he must be s**** coz he plays for Leeds.'

This is what i've asked lads, sensible answers please. Chelsea . Liverpool had Crouch at that time. Fiorentina - they got a champions league spot with Luca Toni and his record breaking year Better, but you see my point? Playing with a target man isn't the way to go anymore.