Strikers - Owen & Bendtner

MK Gould · Post by **MK Gould** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:30 pm

Arsene being interested in Michael Owen looks to be one of the stronger rumours doing the rounds. What do people think? He's only made 49 appearances in the last 3 seasons, but if we could get him fit then he is still only 27....

Great news as well that we've signed up Nic Bendtner for 5 years. After Bentley & Stokes its nice to see someone come up through the ranks, score goals on loan & then be given a chance to prove their worth in our shirt.

PS I see these as supporting, not replacing, RVP & TH!!!!

DDignam · Post by **DDignam** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:07 pm

If we could get owen fit then he has an eye for goal and is teh sort of finisher we do need,

i would however prefer Nik Anelka back, dont like either as much as teh other, but anelka is a better player,

my opinions on teh quality of owen comes from his days at liverpool, that 3-4 years back now, he has been injured and is yet to prove he can still cut it and stay fit. Big risk to take to be stuck with a turkey, look at newcastle. let him stay there till jan, proove he can play and then snap him up in jan (ready for CL also- no eurpoe for teh toon this year) - if we coudl get a striker i woudl wanna search around before setlling on own

Gunnerz4life · Post by **Gunnerz4life** » Thu May 24, 2007 6:00 am

I heard somewhere that Arsene approached Newcastle and asked them if they were going to play Owen and Martins next season. If they werent, he wanted either one of them.

I dont really know about Owen to be honest. And he is not going to cost any less than 14 million if he is made available which i dont think he will given his recent meeting with Sam Allardyce. He is too injury prone.

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Thu May 24, 2007 10:07 am

Gunnerz4life Owen has a clause in his contract that if a club comes in with an offer of Â£9 million he can leave,A fit Owen would be a great signing because he is a proven goalscorer.Even with a limited number of starts he still scored goals in Madrid.If we dont sign Owen our priority is still a 20 goal a season striker.

Gunnerz4life · Post by **Gunnerz4life** » Thu May 24, 2007 11:36 am

donaldo wrote:Gunnerz4life Owen has a clause in his contract that if a club comes in with an offer of Â£9 million he can leave,A fit Owen would be a great signing because he is a proven goalscorer.Even with a limited number of starts he still scored goals in Madrid.If we dont sign Owen our priority is still a 20 goal a season striker.

You're absolutely right about our priorty being a 20 goal a season striker. But im not really convinced if Owen is what we are looking for. Its too much of a risk i feel. Do we really need an injury prone player given the amount of injury problems we have each season?

Chopper · Post by **Chopper** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:21 pm

Heard a new one today....

Apparently we have asked Charlton if we can have Darren Bent on loan for the season and if they get promoted next season they can have him back and if they don't then we keep him for an agreed price.

Sounds bizarre but is all over my local paper and seems quite logical as away to get a useful striker for cheap and fend off interest from other clubs as unless Charlton desperate for cash and they have already said they don't want to sell him then puts us top of the queue.

On the Owen/bentdner debate, I like the idea (although concerned about Owen injuries) as could stick Henry on left and Van Persie on right (as he plays sometimes for Holland) giving us the natural width we have been crying out for.

Trevheff · Post by **Trevheff** » Thu May 24, 2007 2:26 pm

We already have two 20+ goals strikers: Henry and RVP. 13 and 12 goals respectively last season having only played half a season (or less in Henry's case).

We need a wide player, goals from midfield and a new Centre Back (remember we lose Kolo for a few weeks in Feb for the African nations). Personally I'd like a new right back too but can't be greedy now can we!

Utd scored 83 goals last season. Lets be conservative: If Henry and RVP gets 40 between them, Adebayor chips in with 10, Bendtner and Walcott add say 5, we get 15 out of our midfield and we allow 5 from our defense. That's 75, 12 more than this season and that's being conservative.

If everyone stays fit I think the goals will come. The real issue to be addressed is to stop them going in at the other end.

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Thu May 24, 2007 2:49 pm

Trevheff i agree both Henry and RVP are 20 goal a season players but what if one or both are injured like this season.Adebayor proved he is not prolific and Bendtner is only 18. Even when both Henry and RVP play we still missed a hatful of chances.I just dont think the back up is good enough if one of our main strikers is injured.

And yes we do need a wide man and a centre half.

Trevheff · Post by **Trevheff** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:02 pm

Valid point Donaldo, but we do have 4/5 strikers and we can't just buy incase we have injuries. If we did buy a new striker and everyone stays fit, what would we do then? Personally I wouldn't like to see any of the current strikers leave the club.

I doubt we'll have much to spend this summer. To buy a striker worthy of replacing what we have already would cost a fair wack and I just feel that the money would be better spent addressing other areas of the team.

Can't disagree for one second that we missed far too many chances last season. But if those chances had been falling to Henry and RVP on a regular basis would we have missed so many?

DDignam · Post by **DDignam** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:58 am

I think our options up front are limited in the style we play. We do have great srikers who finish, but for the number of chances we create we just dont score enough (even when were are playing well). So many games i have been at highbury and grove thinking we should be six up, were never six up even during our best seasons.

I would be happy to loose a striker to bring in someone who just hits the ball goal wards from in an around the box (somthing owen wont do for me- would love a van nistlroy type player - if we had him we would dominate with teh number of balls dropping at his feet)

I dont know who to loose, henry and rvp must stay, ady has been good this year, not sure how much of this has been him looking very good on teh back of henrys poor form and lack of rvp. think we need 1 in every position, at teh back, wide man and target man

green gooner · Post by **green gooner** » Fri May 25, 2007 10:48 am

If Bendtner could shoot in and around the penalty spot instead of passing to a team mate , he would become an overnight sensation

Chunky The Gooner · Post by **Chunky The Gooner** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:00 pm

Id have a fit Owen at Arsenal but he wont be first choice and as he seems injury prone now I doubt it would happen.

tenementfunster5 · Post by **tenementfunster5** » Fri May 25, 2007 12:05 pm

I think we have enough striking cover and would only sign, as Wenger would say, Super Super class players. With a fit TH14, RVP and Ade we look good. Add to that the prodigious talent of Wallcott and the ability of Bendtner we don't look too shabby.

Trevheff · Post by **Trevheff** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:25 pm

I agree with Tenmen, currently we're well covered up front.

As for Adebayor, I don't think he is in the class of Henry or RVP when it comes to technical ability or finishing (but then we are comparing with the very best!), but he's given us an added dimension the way he leads the line and in certain games I think he's been the key player the way others have played off him. His finishing needs to improve, but I think he's a much better player now than when he arrived and being young there is plenty more room for improvement. And as for his work rate, I think he's phenomenal - never hides, never shirks it and never stops running. Don't you just love that in a player.

Not only have we got 5 good strikers they are also a great blend of age, experience, style and technique.

Now as long as we can stop conceding we should win the quadruple!!!