01 May 2016 09:13:33
Interesting reading redseven, although as always stats only give us half the picture. For one thing the EPL has changed quite a lot over the last 20 years, and most of those strikers were signed under a different manager who will have different ideas and playing style to whoever is in charge next season.
What the stats seem to point to is that players with some experience do better than those with little, but older players find it harder to adapt. So we are best signing players who are about to enter their prime.
Also signing players from within the EPL has been more successful than those for outside it. Again it will be easier for them to adapt.
One point I noticed and its only a little one is I'm sure Larsson scored a few EPL goals for us, and he was over 30. I'm assuming you forgot about him. If your going to look over the stats then make sure you include everyone as it throws the anaysis out otherwise. Dong Fangzhuo was another striker we signed I'm not sure you included in your assessment.
Finally it shows some of the elements of what might be best to look for, but it shows nothing stylistically. Do we want a channel runner, do we want someone who'll hold their position or someone who'll drift, do we want someone who can play the target man role, do we want a poacher or a creative forward.
There are still so many questions left unanswered wh.
01 May 2016 12:48:27
Larsson only scored 1 EPL goal in 7 games and 3 in 13 total. Dong only played 3 times for us and never scored. The latter was probably as much a marketing ploy as a footballing decision. Neither of them had careers at United sufficiently long to trouble redseven's analysis. If anything they tend to prove the point that EPL experience is a big factor whichever type of forward you are looking for.
01 May 2016 13:01:44
Shaps - I hadn't forgotten about Larsson but chose to omit him as he was only a loan signing. Even so - his strike rate was way below 0.33 so that wouldn't have made a difference.
Dong Fangzhuo completely slipped my mind - but again - he'd have only served to show that young strikers haven't been overly successful with us in comparison to other age groups and that players from outside the Premier League often find it difficult to adapt.
Tbh it was only a bit of fun really. I'd be more interested to know whether players like Solskjaer and Yorke would have been as successful under LVG or Moyes as they were under SAF or whether Falcao might have worked had he been playing in the team of 1999 or 2008.
01 May 2016 13:35:07
You left out Diego Forlan as well.
01 May 2016 14:05:47
El Loco - Correct you are. I realised after posting the above reply that he and Jordi Cruyff (debatable as to whether he played as a striker or attacking mid) were both missed out. It wouldn't surprise me if there were one or two more. Owen.
In hindsight I probably should have used Transfer League rather than trying to remember all of them off the top of my head.