Ronaldo

It's blatantly obvious and has been for months for those of us with sense that he should be on the shoulder of the last man and nowhere else. Put him in a position where he has to use graft, skill or strength andf he's basically a sunday league player.

I've got to hand it to Ashley, his sense of timing is beyond incredible

Let him play in his position then judge him

Wiki seems to have him down as 20 league goals for that season. Of course he should start as what is the point of bringing in experienced loan signing & not playing him. espn had 21, not that it matters in the slightest Of course it does as it means your PR guff like "he's hit more than 20 in the championship in one season" is ever so slightly not correct. but it is correct me old china plate

Wiki seems to have him down as 20 league goals for that season. Of course he should start as what is the point of bringing in experienced loan signing & not playing him. espn had 21, not that it matters in the slightest

I don't think he will be a premiership striker but owt is possible so i'm not going to rule it out completely

We've established that he wasn't good enough for Villa, ok. He's hit 21 and 18 in the championship in 03 and 05 and managed 14 in the premiership in 06. He also managed 5 goals for Villa in 07-08 despite only starting 1 game that season. He's capable of goals is all i'm saying.

I never said he 'could never be a premier league striker' though.

Harewood's a proven scorer at this level, he's hit more than 20 in the championship in one season and managed 14 in the premiership a few seasons back. Stop saying he's been shit at Villa, the fact that O'Neil has had him permanently on the bench doesn't relate to our situation at all.

Probably, but as I said, Drogba is a massive exception. He was initially idenfied as a defender for one. I don't Carroll ever being a great player. Sorry, but there it is. If anyone thinks he will, i'd love to hear why.

Drogba is the exception, but to be fair he has fantastic natural pace and strength. I don't really see such an outstanding attribute in Carroll.

Unbelievable statement, considering the striker you champion Drogba scored 7 goals in 47 games in his early career yet you say he is the best striker in the world. I didn't see Drogba play before his days at Marseilles so I can't comment. I have seen Carroll for the last year though, and he looks to be a pretty fucking rubbish football who occassionally uses his size to very good effect.

he needs a better first touch, better heading ability, better awareness of the game, better/some shooting ability and to improve his balance somehow. Not going to happen tbh, as said above, he'll probably end up your typical championship target man. He can cause problems but he isn't the future of the club sadly.

I agree it has had some contribution this season but i was thinking more along the lines of whether it was a significant contribution, and i think he offers less than Loven, Harewood and Ranger. Imo Carroll offers a very limited package and he has a negative effect on our general attacking play, and he's generally not performing as a striker should. I also agree that he is a lot more energetic and hard-working than Harewood, but that's not what we need right now, we need goals and Harewood looks like he's going to score a lot more than Andy. As for his heading, predictably i'm going to disagree because i really think his ability in the air is not that good as with all of his strike partners this season, his flick-ons never seem to connect very much, is that an endictment on them or him, who knows but i wouldn't like to play with him because i would have no idea where his headers would end up. excellent post

Drogba is better than them both tbh, easily a more complete player

it isn't even 4 games, it's 2 games and 2 cameo appearances

You just despise Harewood, it's embarrassing. Clearly the most likely of all our strikers to score.

Why on earth did I type Guthrie? Harewood is a proven goal scorer who will get us more goals than Carroll and Ranger combined, he has to start

Ah you're right. Let's play Lovenkrands and Harewood instead. the point is, Carroll and Ranger cannot play together

Not Carroll and Ranger again man, we need goals

It's becoming more and more obvious to me that while Carroll could and probably will be a very useful player for us, he'll never be a premiership striker. If there's nothing significant to seperate Carroll and Ranger's contribution right now, i'd be tempted to stick Ranger in, given that he has the most potential by far.

read it however you want. What worries me about Carroll is that he seldom looks like he's going to score.

1 in 4? Come on Come on what? What happens if Harewood does get to ten games and has only scored 2 or 3? I'm surprised Carroll doesn't get the Oba Martins 'coming back from an injury' excuse afforded to him as well. Harewood played less than half and hour against Ipswich and QPR. He's the only proven goal scorer we have fit and has to persevered with.

you wanted Lovenkrands on the left, so yeah, wouldn't put it past you

1 in 4? Come on