No, I´m not blind, we really are 14th in the league.

[dontcallme]

Essentially the OP was correct. We don't have a cutting edge strikeforce in the way when we had Klinsmann/Sheringham or Keane/Berbatov.

Defoe is a very good striker but can find himself struggling against top opposition and while I usually like his one-mindeness it does make it difficult for him to create a great partnership.

Crouch works hard but needs to add goals to his game. He defends set-pieces really well why can't he attack them? Crouch and Defoe will always score goals together but often find themselves failing to threaten good defences because it's so one-dimensional.

Keane, I love Keane and I can't decide if his best days are behind him or if he only really excels when he has the right strike partner. Whatever the situation I sadly can't see him reliving his best days with us again and at the end of the season I think he needs to make way for a new striker.

Pav well he's never really impressed. Harry appreciates a strong character. While Dawson, BAE and Bale have all found themselves out of contention they have all worked hard enough and played well enough to make themselves first squad players again. Pav hasn't shown anything to show he warrants a chance. Saying Defoe, Crouch and Keane aren't playing well doesn;t mean Pav gets a shot, he needs to earn it. You won't see Welbeck being given a chance because berbatov isn't at his best.

 

[Alfieconnman]

An interesting thread. I think that, in a fairly short space of time, we have become as reliant on Lennon as manure were with Ronaldo. This is all very well when he is available to play but there has to be a contingency plan when he is not. Ours seems to be to play Crouch and lump high balls into him. It worked quite well when he was used as a sub "impact" player but not any more. Other sides have worked out how to deal with him very effectively and there is the added handicap that his sheer size (vertical not horizontal) and awkward looking style leads refs to consistently award free kicks against him - often when he is not at fault at all. Sadly, Harry does not seem able to come up with an alternative. We are at our best when playing at pace and playing in to our strikers from the wings and in my view, if there is no Lennon, we should go for the next best option, Gio or Rose or A.N. Other but someone with genuine pace on one or both wings. We need to address this problem quickly since we may well have to face the fact that Lennon will be gone this summer, as all our best players have done in the past. A stratospheric salary and a huge transfer fee will, lets face it, be irresistible. We also have developed a major problem in the striker department. Defoe is a predator striker and good at it but is also a selfish little sod who is only interested in his own goal tally (contrast this with the Keane/Berbatov partnership). Crouch does not "feed" that well and is becoming less effective as other teams are learning to cope with his height and style. Keane is way past his best and is a dead man walking. I had hoped that Pav and Defoe could strike up something special between them but alas this was not to be. I would have given Pav a longer run and feel that he has lost out mainly because Harry brought in his own man in Crouch - but perhaps this is just sentiment on my part. Opinions will differ of course but my concern is that we are fast becoming too heavily dependant Lennon, to the extent that any further absence from the side could lead to a very depressing end to the season. Now where did I put those pills?