The Curse of the Back-up Striker

[dmishra]

Every single season ever since I've started supporting the club, we've signed a back-up striker. This is the list:

1998 – Dundee
1999 – Meijer
2000 – Litmanen
2001 – Baros
2002 – Diouf
2003 – Sinama-Pongolle
2004 – Morientes
2005 – Fowler
2006 – Bellamy
2007 – Voronin
2008 – Keane
2009 – N’Gog
2010 – Jovanovic
2011 – Bellamy
2012 – Borini
2013 – Aspas

Can we fucking get it right for once? I mean Baros is the star in that list.

 

[Athens]

I would have Bellamy before Baros...

 

[Athens]

As a striker of course. It goes without saying Baros would be a more gentle lover than Bellamy.

 

[dmishra]

All of them, including Bellers, lasted for what, 2 seasons at the most? Most got dropped within a year. What a spectacularly shit list.

Aspas is certain to fail now.

 

[Y1]

Isn't Moses a back up?

 

[juniormember]

When Sturridge came in, he played either outside or sat on the bench while Suarez played down the middle. So in that sense we succeeded there.
Fowler helped us earn points when he came back.
Bellamy, what a night in Barca!
Pongolle shouldn't be on that list. He came into the youth/reserve team on the back of an impressive championship at youth level, as did Le Talec.

 

[cloggypop]

Litmanen was a great player. We did however sign him too late and not use him properly.

 

[dmishra]

Morientes was a great player too. The point is they all failed.

Baros and Bellamy the minor exceptions, I suppose.

 

[Squiggles]

Many of them weren't signed as a back-up striker. They were signed as first team players and became 'back up' because they were shit. They all failed at that, too, because they were shit.

 

[Y1]

Well, Daniel Sturridge was signed up to be a backup for Suarez.

 

[Athens]

Litmanen was a great player. We did however sign him too late and not use him properly.

Correct. He was a great player, great skillz as the youth of today would say. Or so I'm lead to believe.

 

[Delinquent]

Litmanen was a great player. We did however sign him too late and not use him properly.

 

[Mistadobalina]

2005 - Fowler. What a fucking great day that was! I guess we all knew he wasn't the Robbie of old. But still, it was such a fantastic feeling to know he was back were he belonged! He did ok too.

 

[Frogfish]

Strange Sturridge doesn't make the list but Aspas, signed as purely a squad player, does. 😉 And even that Aspas (who's not the back-up striker) has 'failed' after just 4 matches ?

 

[Judge Jules]

Jari Litmanen was hopelessly messed about by GH. Apart from one game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when everybody in our team played like drains, he improved us every time he played.

I don't buy the "signed him too late" bit BTW. After Litmanen went back to Ajax he played Champs League football successfully for them. If GH hadn't had his head up his @rse about him, he could have been another Gary Mac for us.

 

[cloggypop]

I agree he was still good enough but we should have got him years before we did. (Even if he was winning stuff with a great Ajax team then off to Barcelona). I got sick of Dutch people asking me why we were not using him at all or using him in the wrong position when we did.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

because we're talking about the same GH who played Heskey at LW, Carra at FB and Salif Diao.

 

[Judge Jules]

Agree about Heskey and Diao, but not about Carra. He was originally put at LB because we were short of one, and he actually turned out to be excellent there, far better than he was at CB in those days.

 

[Fabio]

Is Sturridge really a back up? He's played when fit and he's played with Suarez..