***Official*** English Football Season 2020-21

[GIMH]

Maybe but getting injured at 24/25 then never getting back to pre-injury level is almost the norm for the best PL strikers. Shearer, Owen, Fowler, Torres, Kane. Shearer and Kane stand out for having still contributed a lot after their peaks, whereas the others quite quickly became very mediocre.

True that.

Depends which injury with Owen - he had that many. He was only 24 when he went to La Liga but his best days were already behind him. But it was only after his injury at the 06 WC that he became run of the mill.

Where does Rooney belong in this conversation? His decline was so severe it's easy to forget how good he was.

 

[sledger]

Rooney as well.

Edit: beaten to it by Rooney's neighbour

 

[GIMH]

Rooney as well.

Edit: beaten to it by Rooney's neighbour

You'll have to come up with new jokes when I don't live in Merseyside anymore

 

[sledger]

You'll have to come up with new jokes when I don't live in Merseyside anymore

Who's joking?

 

[sledger]

RE: Owen, he definitely declined massively, but there were external factors that contributed to his decline tbf to him. Like with Beckham, the game moved on in a way that kind of left him behind, and his style of play didn't really fit in well with the way a lot of teams were beginning to set up. I remember in Shearer's ill-fated spell as Newcastle manager Owen was basically deployed so deep he was basically playing in midfield in a few games, and it was hilariously (and predictably) dire.

 

[GIMH]

The Owen of late 90s/early 00s would fit in fine in the modern game though

I guess what makes Henry, Shearer and Aguero so special beyond just their immense ability is that they did it for so long. Most 'strikers' that last that long are more of the Sheringham variety.

I wonder if Scaly still thinks Henry was crap.

 

[Uppercut]

I don't really think of Rooney as a striker exactly. He had a couple of great seasons there, but United were better in the years when he played a support role.

Honestly I don't really remember how good he was. I rated players very differently 15 years ago. I think Ozil's performances at the 2010 World Cup changed my idea of what it meant to be a good creative attacker, because he was amazing in a way I'd never seen before. Rooney was having a shocker for England, and was hopeless in exactly the way that Ozil was great. Obviously that's exactly when Rooney's form dropped off a cliff, but even so, if I watched peak Rooney now I wonder if I'd notice limitations I didn't see at the time.

 

[sledger]

The Owen of late 90s/early 00s would fit in fine in the modern game though

I guess what makes Henry, Shearer and Aguero so special beyond just their immense ability is that they did it for so long. Most 'strikers' that last that long are more of the Sheringham variety.

I wonder if Scaly still thinks Henry was crap.

"Fine" is probably the word tbh. Peak Owen was a great finisher with rapid pace and good movement, but offered nearly nothing else in terms of link up and etc. Most teams demand more than that from their main forwards these days.

 

[Pothas]

Still think anyone that fast and with that level of finishing would be hugely successful now, maybe he would be a wide forward.

 

[Pothas]

Henry top for mine. Aguero battling with Shearer for 2nd. Suarez was as good I think but doesn't have the longevity in the league. Kane could join that group depending on how his career goes from here.

Yep Suarez definitely worth a mention. Only Henry as good at his peak? (not including Ronaldo)

Those injuries always prevented Aguero having that one ridiculous year, he really should have had a 35 goal season at some point.

 

[Uppercut]

Still think anyone that fast and with that level of finishing would be hugely successful now, maybe he would be a wide forward.

Yeah I see sledger's point but I don't fully agree, if you saw him at 19 today you'd think he had a basically unlimited ceiling. The game has generally got more favourable to smaller faster players, and with modern coaching and injury management I think he'd have a better overall career now than he did at the time.

 

[sledger]

Still think anyone that fast and with that level of finishing would be hugely successful now, maybe he would be a wide forward.

Yeah, it's very possible to be fair. But again, I have memories of him operating from wide areas in his Newcastle days and him being totally ineffectual. Granted, he was pretty much shot by this point anyway, but still. There was also just something about his running that wasn't physically imposing or dynamic in the way the running of the best wide forwards often is I think. Difficult to explain what it is, and it has nothing to do with his height. I rather suspect that were he to have his time again now and play as a wide forward he'd be more or less at the Theo Walcott level. Which is... would be fine... I suppose haha.

 

[Pothas]

We have not even mentioned van Nistelrooy, feel he is kind forgotten now.

Hasselbaink was pretty great as well, not at the level of others mentioned here but he scored loads of goals.

 

[sledger]

Defoe and Anelka two other notable names as well. Again, clearly a cut below most of the names mentioned. Several cuts in some cases. But still scored nearly 300 goals between them.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah, it's very possible to be fair. But again, I have memories of him operating from wide areas in his Newcastle days and him being totally ineffectual. Granted, he was pretty much shot by this point anyway, but still. There was also just something about his running that wasn't physically imposing or dynamic in the way the running of the best wide forwards often is I think. Difficult to explain what it is, and it has nothing to do with his height. I rather suspect that were he to have his time again now and play as a wide forward he'd be more or less at the Theo Walcott level. Which is... would be fine... I suppose haha.

Yeah think we can pretty much ignore his Newcastle days. Think defenders would be pretty terrified of peak Owen today, he would get so many penalties.

 

[sledger]

Robbie Keane, Yorke, Les Ferdinand and Andy Cole other obligatory mentions.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, it's very possible to be fair. But again, I have memories of him operating from wide areas in his Newcastle days and him being totally ineffectual. Granted, he was pretty much shot by this point anyway, but still. There was also just something about his running that wasn't physically imposing or dynamic in the way the running of the best wide forwards often is I think. Difficult to explain what it is, and it has nothing to do with his height. I rather suspect that were he to have his time again now and play as a wide forward he'd be more or less at the Theo Walcott level. Which is... would be fine... I suppose haha.

Nah you're not remembering peak Owen right. He'd regularly get on the ball and run at defenders and they'd absolutely **** themselves. Walcott never had the same level of agility or close control.

 

[sledger]

Haha just seen on Wikipedia that Peter Crouch has more Premiership goals than Drogba. Just doesn't seem right at all.

 

[Pothas]

Defoe and Anelka two other notable names as well. Again, clearly a cut below most of the names mentioned. Several cuts in some cases. But still scored nearly 300 goals between them.

Anelka had such a weird career.

 

[sledger]

Nah you're not remembering peak Owen right. He'd regularly get on the ball and run at defenders and they'd absolutely **** themselves. Walcott never had the same level of agility or close control.

Yeah probably am tbf. However, Owen's best goals (imo) were the ones where he picked up the ball and blew past several defenders before poking the ball into an unreachable corner of the goal. Walcott never quite did this in the same way, but the plenty of his goals could described in a similarish way. The reason why I compared Owen to him was mainly because Walcott is/was another player who is/was basically completely reliant on pace, movement and finishing. Granted Owen was better than Walcott at all of these, but it's not the worst comparison imo.