Jamie Vardy - BBC Sport - Vardy set to reject Arsenal

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Originally Posted by Kano

Liverpool had Suarez and Sturridge scoring for fun, over a hundred goals and still didn't win it. There's more to it than that.

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There is more to it than that but Liverpool's squad was nowhere near good enough to win the league and Suarez almost single handedly won them the title regardless.
OK, they didn't win it but he clearly made a difference to them, when he left they weren't as good. Of course a player like that makes a difference and it would have made us a difference to us last year.
Whether it would have made enough difference to win us the league is obviously something we can't know, it's almost pointless debating it further.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

The stats are misleading. There are way too many games where it looks like we're struggling to just get a shot on target. We'd be waiting well into the first half or even 2nd just to test their keeper. There aren't many games where we're missing sitter after sitter.

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Agree, but wouldn't a top striker have made a difference in those games too?

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Originally Posted by Letters

There is more to it than that but Liverpool's squad was nowhere near good enough to win the league and Suarez almost single handedly won them the title regardless.
OK, they didn't win it but he clearly made a difference to them, when he left they weren't as good. Of course a player like that makes a difference and it would have made us a difference to us last year.
Whether it would have made enough difference to win us the league is obviously something we can't know, it's almost pointless debating it further.

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My point of contention is the belief that a new striker would've won us the title. I've seen that said a few times with seemingly absolute certainty and I don't buy into that same level of complete confidence. It just seems odd that this way of thinking is starting to appear, given it was only a couple of months ago that most fans were frustrated to one level or another on so many other issues.

Exactly a top striker isn't just about finishing ability it's about positioning. What makes Welbeck a better option than Giroud is the way he makes and opens up space in the way Giroud just doesn't.

That said I certainly don't disagree that we could stand to be more direct, be confident to run with the ball more and open up space that way.

I wouldn't ever claim to have complete confidence, obviously I can't know what would have happened, but the number of times I saw us blundering away missing chances while Ozil facepalmed at the ineptitude of our strikers makes me think it would have been enough. Anyway, we all agree we need a top striker, surely?

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Originally Posted by Kano

No we're saying it still probably wouldn't have won us the league because the once it became clear the other big teams weren't involved, this squad should've had enough to win. But we didn't even last the course in terms of challenging, that's why it comes down to more than one player. Giroud has more pedigree than Vardy early last season. But it was absolutely clear that despite having the best chance to challenge properly for the title, Wenger isn't up to. Better striker or not. Too many other problems all over the squad. You don't just look back at a scenario, drop someone in and it all works out how you retrospectively imagine it to. Lack of energy in games, terrible football, sloppy passing, stupid goals, Flamini starting for weeks on end. The list goes on. That isn't going to change next season either. Hopefully he leaves gracefully at the end of next season.

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Spot on.

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Originally Posted by Gooner23

According to Ornstein he's still weighing up the offers, has this all just been a ruse by his agent to get a bigger contract at Leicester?

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He's got a big decision to make, I'm not even sure if we have offered him first team football, well through the middle. I honestly wouldn't be that surprised if Wenger stuck him on the wing assuming he does join.

The more time I have had to think about this deal the more uneasy I am with it. Yeah he's a decent enough player, yeah he scored a bucket load last season, some of them very good goals...I'm just not sure he's right for us and it doesn't address the fact we need a solid long term option up top.

I think we'll get 2 half decent seasons out of him max, it's a helluva investment for someone like that.

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Originally Posted by Kano

My point of contention is the belief that a new striker would've won us the title. I've seen that said a few times with seemingly absolute certainty and I don't buy into that same level of complete confidence.

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Our goal scoring and defended stats are not especially different to that of Leicesters or Tottenhams

Man City the top scorers got five more goals than us in a season where we registered our lowest goal tally for seven years

Away from home we scored more goals than anyone else but we couldn't hold onto leads or we were having to come from behind, and at home a better striker could have got us points at home to Liverpool, Southampton, Swansea and Crystal Palace.

Could have even got us back into the game against West Ham and Chelsea

Away from home, we had two goalless draws from
Seven so the problem came with an inability to close out the game.

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Originally Posted by Letters

Agree, but wouldn't a top striker have made a difference in those games too?

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Probably. But if we're talking about a top striker that's dependent on service, I don't really know.

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Originally Posted by Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie

Our goal scoring and defended stats are not especially different to that of Leicesters or Tottenhams

Man City the top scorers got five more goals than us in a season where we registered our lowest goal tally for seven years

Away from home we scored more goals than anyone else but we couldn't hold onto leads or we were having to come from behind, and at home a better striker could have got us points at home to Liverpool, Southampton, Swansea and Crystal Palace.

Could have even got us back into the game against West Ham and Chelsea

Away from home, we had two goalless draws from
Seven so the problem came with an inability to close out the game.

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Just looking at three key games last season, Southampton was just miserable and down to defence and midfield. Wenger himself said we lost because Southampton won more challenges in key areas. Walcott had more touches in our own half than theirs, despite us having 65% of possession! Man Utd away and Swansea at home we had no energy, seemingly no focus in important matches. A striker wouldn't have helped us then because the problems were everywhere else. One of those across the season was as you point out, failure to see out and control matches.