West Ham agree fee in region of £15m with Liverpool for Andy Carroll

[toon25]

Ian Wright better than Shearer? Good grief.

[madras]

Ian Wright better than Shearer? Good grief.

footballer, not striker.

[TRon]

Shearer had far more to his game than Wright madras.Better finisher with either foot,better in the air,better at holding the ball up,better at crossing and whilst he was at Blackburn,better at taking on and beating players too.

 

Ian Wright had genuine pace though and he used that to devastating effect on the break.

[madras]

Shearer had far more to his game than Wright madras.Better finisher with either foot,better in the air,better at holding the ball up,better at crossing and whilst he was at Blackburn,better at taking on and beating players too.

wright was as good a finisher and had a better touch. what shearer had and where most of his goals came from was the ability to just be exactly where the ball was going to go in the box and hit it.

[Incognito]

We'll have to agree to disagree but to say Wrighty had a better touch than Shearer is mental imo.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Shearer's touch - see his goal at home to Villa. You could also throw in technique too regarding that goal. His touch was massively underrated. Mind, Madras is right, Wright's touch was pretty good. I thought Wright was a tad too one dimensional myself though which is why at European and international level he looked out of his depth at times in the same way Cole did for Man Utd and England.

[madras]

Shearer's touch - see his goal at home to Villa. You could also throw in technique too regarding that goal. His touch was massively underrated. Mind, Madras is right, Wright's touch was pretty good. I thought Wright was a tad too one dimensional myself though which is why at European and international level he looked out of his depth at times in the same way Cole did for Man Utd and England.

to diverge a little on the international thing, that, to me was down to seeing all international games as a step up and plying it safe on the big stage. beardsley done exactly the same thing.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Shearer's touch - see his goal at home to Villa. You could also throw in technique too regarding that goal. His touch was massively underrated. Mind, Madras is right, Wright's touch was pretty good. I thought Wright was a tad too one dimensional myself though which is why at European and international level he looked out of his depth at times in the same way Cole did for Man Utd and England.

to diverge a little on the international thing, that, to me was down to seeing all international games as a step up and plying it safe on the big stage. beardsley done exactly the same thing.

 

Interesting theory. You could be right. That and chance. Wright and Cole in particular, two prolific goalscorers for two of the top sides in the division, just didn't get many chances for England. That for me however was mainly down to the fact that despite both being good enough clearly, they had in front of them in Shearer, a far better all-rounder, rather than not performing when getting their chance.

[madras]

Shearer's touch - see his goal at home to Villa. You could also throw in technique too regarding that goal. His touch was massively underrated. Mind, Madras is right, Wright's touch was pretty good. I thought Wright was a tad too one dimensional myself though which is why at European and international level he looked out of his depth at times in the same way Cole did for Man Utd and England.

to diverge a little on the international thing, that, to me was down to seeing all international games as a step up and plying it safe on the big stage. beardsley done exactly the same thing.

 

Interesting theory. You could be right. That and chance. Wright and Cole in particular, two prolific goalscorers for two of the top sides in the division, just didn't get many chances for England. That for me however was mainly down to the fact that despite both being good enough clearly, they had in front of them in Shearer, a far better all-rounder, rather than not performing when getting their chance.

i just remember the ammount of times with beardsley and wright playing for england and thinking "in the league he'd have shot there or went past him there" but instead, head up and safe pass.

[Colocho]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Shearer's touch - see his goal at home to Villa. You could also throw in technique too regarding that goal. His touch was massively underrated. Mind, Madras is right, Wright's touch was pretty good. I thought Wright was a tad too one dimensional myself though which is why at European and international level he looked out of his depth at times in the same way Cole did for Man Utd and England.

to diverge a little on the international thing, that, to me was down to seeing all international games as a step up and plying it safe on the big stage. beardsley done exactly the same thing.

 

Interesting theory. You could be right. That and chance. Wright and Cole in particular, two prolific goalscorers for two of the top sides in the division, just didn't get many chances for England. That for me however was mainly down to the fact that despite both being good enough clearly, they had in front of them in Shearer, a far better all-rounder, rather than not performing when getting their chance.

i just remember the ammount of times with beardsley and wright playing for england and thinking "in the league he'd have shot there or went past him there" but instead, head up and safe pass.

 

You're probably onto something there like. I've thought the same. England players seem to be the worst for it. Its as if they leave all form of responsibility back at their clubs when appearing for England. Shoot? Nah, I'll pass. I think there is a big fear of failure culture in our game and for me it stems all the way back to grassroots footy and with the kids' game. I've seen it myself with my nephew who would ribble the ball out of defence for fun with much success while the coach screamed "get rid" or "not in your own half" and the classic "knock it long to the forards"

 

That is why I'm enjoying Jack Wilshere of Arsenal, a real talent. I love how confident on the ball he is, with either foot. He could have five players around him and still demand the ball, and still find a man and still make a positive forward move. I'd build England around him mever mind the big tall Geordie number 9...

[alpal78]

One good game in six since he left.

 

His goals apart I thought he was quite average against Man City myself and today he was woeful. I'm probably like a broken record I know but I truly believe as a footballer he is really average and although he will cause a side problems with his height and strength a smart defender or tactics would easily nulify him in my opinion.

a lot of goalscorers would be classed like that.

 

Not £35m ones

shearer wouldn't have got a game for us in midfiled and that was a world record fee.

 

You've lost me there.

he was the equivlient of the current 35mill striker and never seemed to be a brilliant footballer, just very effective at scoring goals and leading the line. like carroll.

 

Don't agree with that, think Shearer was twice as good on the deck.  Not to mention being cleverer and more sensible...

and carrolls better in the air. carroll is also better on the deck than he's given credit for.

 

Better than he is given credit for, maybe.  Better than Shearer?  No chance.

andy carroll can go past a man with the ball more often than shearer ever used to. neither are fantastic footballers, shearer was on his own as a goalscorer but then he was the most expensive player in the world, carroll isn't.

 

Go past a player? Are we talking of Carroll here? Maybe you confused him with Suarez. The only time I saw that was against Villa when he had acres of space on the counter and  sort of skipped past a defender. The other times he went 'past a player' (if you can call it that) is when he literally barged his way through. Shearer at Blackburn and at before the injury was much better on the deck. Don't forget Shearer's long rangers and free kicks were ace too. The only time I've seen Carroll do that was against Liverpool where the defeders for some stupid reason stood off him and invited him to shoot. In terms of headers I think they are almost equal. Carroll again use his height and strength whereas Shearer used movement and his intelligence. When they connect with headers, it's usually a goal or close to one, though I think Shaerer has marginally the better technique.

 

Yes Carroll can still improve and who knows might one day be better than Shearer in his prime but the funny thing with potential is that it could go both ways. So far I agree with HTT, I only see an above average/good one dimensional striker.

[Conjo]

Didn't he make a few good runs with the ball in that game against Liverpool as well, dribling past two or three players?

[henke]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

[Hanshithispantz]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

[Ishmael]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratio, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Can't argue with this.  Good post.

[Colocho]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Carroll is 22 ffs. 

 

I'm too young to know what Shearer was like at Southampton/Blackburn but I don't see any reason why Carroll won't become as good as Shearer.

[Ishmael]

Attitude.

[Dr.Spaceman]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Carroll is 22 ffs. 

 

I'm too young to know what Shearer was like at Southampton/Blackburn but I don't see any reason why Carroll won't become as good as Shearer.

 

Shearer didn't fall off bar stools in local charver establishments for starters.

[madras]

err wasn't it about how good a footballer he was technically not how good a forward he was. for example i don't think he was good enough technically to play anywhere except as a striker to any great effect, whereas ginola could play in midfiled or up front due to being a technically better footballer.

[Dokko]

Attitude.

 

And intelligence.

 

 

[Hanshithispantz]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Carroll is 22 ffs. 

 

I'm too young to know what Shearer was like at Southampton/Blackburn but I don't see any reason why Carroll won't become as good as Shearer.

I never said he would or wouldnt, did I

 

Just saying he hasn't got as good technique with his head than Shearer ever had, his age is irelivant. If he gets better during his career then fair enough, but he may stay at the same level, he may get worse etc. We can only argue the current Carroll, not some hypothetical future Carroll

[madras]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Carroll is 22 ffs. 

 

I'm too young to know what Shearer was like at Southampton/Blackburn but I don't see any reason why Carroll won't become as good as Shearer.

I never said he would or wouldnt, did I

 

Just saying he hasn't got as good technique with his head than Shearer ever had, his age is irelivant. If he gets better during his career then fair enough, but he may stay at the same level, he may get worse etc. We can only argue the current Carroll, not some hypothetical future Carroll

carroll is a better header of the ball in the box but outside the box (not going for goal) wins the ball and has little idea where it's going.

[SteveMc]

Shearer > Any other English striker since Lineker.

 

Since Greaves, i reckon.

This.

 

Shearer's as a goal scoring at Blackburn (and early Newcastle days) was absoltely sublime, his goalscoring record during that time was ridicilous and I doubt there is many people in the English game who have a better goals to games ratios during a 5-6 year period, ever.

 

And although you can say Carroll is better in the air due to shear size and power, there's no way he's a better header of the ball than shearer ever was, both attacking it and flicking it on.

 

Carroll is 22 ffs. 

 

I'm too young to know what Shearer was like at Southampton/Blackburn but I don't see any reason why Carroll won't become as good as Shearer.

I never said he would or wouldnt, did I

 

Just saying he hasn't got as good technique with his head than Shearer ever had, his age is irelivant. If he gets better during his career then fair enough, but he may stay at the same level, he may get worse etc. We can only argue the current Carroll, not some hypothetical future Carroll

carroll is a better header of the ball in the box but outside the box (not going for goal) wins the ball and has little idea where it's going.

 

I don't think he's a better header of the ball in the box either.  He's missed some sitters this season, particularly from corners.

[Hughesy]

Has someone actually tried to makea genuine argument to suggest that Ian Wright was a better footballer than Shearer?  Is it April Fool's?