Chicharito Loan Watch | Real Madrid

His finishing has always been a terribly inflated aspect of his game. The idea that he is better at putting the ball in the net than the likes of Rooney, Van Persie and Falcao verges on silliness.

I've never rated Hernandez as highly as most others do. Most clubs, if not all of them, want something more from their strikers. Even clubs at the bottom of the league seek a more rounded player that can help them dictate games and ultimately keep them in the league.

This loan move was silly from the outset and he now finds himself in a position in which his stock is as low as it's ever been. Clubs will still take a punt on him; who wouldn't like the idea of having them in their squad? But his value will have decreased quite dramatically and that is easy to understand.
 
If the fee offered is less then 10m then I'd rather keep him at OT as a 3-4th striker. Money is better spent in midfield and defense.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It was his greatest quality and praised accordingly, surely? Never mind on here, he was constantly singled out by pundits on the telly for having exceptional movement in the box.

Not sure about the best finisher bit. Looked like the heir apparent to Ole early on in his United career but missed an awful lot of easy chances in his last couple of seasons. He's a real confidence player but having struggled, mentally, with setbacks early on in his career (seriously considered giving up football altogether at one point) you have to wonder if he'll ever get that self-belief back after it went sour at United and now Madrid. That's why he wasn't suited to the super-sub role IMO. Should have suited him perfectly but obviously messed with his head to be marginalised like that. When he's not playing full of confidence he can look a really poor player.

Also, if there are a "ton of clubs that would love a player like him" surely even Woody could drum up a decent fee? I suspect he won't be very sought after at all, with a fee that reflects this.
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He has enough quality that Real Madrid deemed him worthy of a place in their squad. Like most players, he needs regular matches to show his best form. Its up to him whether he wants to move away from the elite clubs and play most matches, or have a career similar to Solskjaer where he is happy playing a part for one of those teams. Either way I still think he would have a valuable member of our squad this season.
 
We currently have Falcao, RVP and Rooney and all seem struggling to score. So seriously I wonder why we're blaming Hernandez for not being able to succeed where these players are failing.

May I remind people that we won the treble without having a single world class striker. Yorke was the best of the bunch but he was not world class. Andy had pace and was hardworking but he was no where near the likes of Alan Shearer. Teddy was one of the most intelligent players in the EPL but he didn't had the technique to match that while Ole was a better version of Hernandez. Yet we humiliated everyone and we kept ending in the opponent's net. The reason for that? We had a well organized and balanced side filled with players who actually care + we were utilizing tactics which brought the best of that particular side. Maybe we should aim to get that balance and passion back before we point fingers to our players.

I am not suggesting that Hernandez is world class. He's not. However he bring pace to the team and he's a good finisher which makes him useful to have around especially in certain games. If a 20m fee comes our way then we should consider it. However if not, let us not sell the guy for peanuts. I am sick of seeing that happening at OT.
 
In theory, he's perfect as a third or fourth choice striker. I assumed he would slot right into that role. It doesn't seem to be something he's keen on, though. His performances certainly dipped significantly once it became apparent he'd slipped down the pecking order. There's a certain mentality squad players need and I'm not sure he has it. Which is a pity because he's unlikely to be a first XI player for an elite club any time soon and he's not got the physical presence most smaller clubs look for in their strikers. Genuinely struggling to think of a striker like him starting every game at any other club, small or large. Don't watch much European football, though. Can anyone else think of a similar player out there?
 
He will be good for the likes of Swansea, Newcastle or even West Ham this season. But I'd keep him next season if he is happy being 3rd choice, depending upon the Falcao situation.
 
Robbie Boy said:
Aye, fair enough, I was probably wide of the mark with that assessment.
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Don't get me wrong it doesn't mean he wouldn't be able to score a lot if he played for Arsenal. I think he could since he's a lethal finisher, but a tweak in tactics should be need.
 
RedMachine03 said:
He will be good for the likes of Swansea, Newcastle or even West Ham this season. But I'd keep him next season if he is happy being 3rd choice, depending upon the Falcao situation.
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You see, this is the thing, he wouldn't be a good fit for those clubs either. Swansea wanted and now need a striker like Bony. Aside from the goals, his worth and general work paid dividends and created a balance amongst the whole side.

West Ham have Carroll, Valencia and Sakho, all powerful forwards that fit the purpose of their play.

Hernandez doesn't offer a team that bit extra. He isn't worth building a team around when you consider many club's and their scouting department can find goalscorers with an important physical edge. A manager at QPR will plump for a Charlie Austin over a Hernandez every day of the week, and his physicality and ability to involve himself positively when the going gets tough is exactly why.

All of these clubs would take Hernandez in a squad capacity, certainly. Like I said, he's a cracking option. But he isn't the full package and most likely never will be. Even the likes of West Ham and Swansea want the full package.
 
Bilbo said:
He has enough quality that Real Madrid deemed him worthy of a place in their squad. Like most players, he needs regular matches to show his best form. Its up to him whether he wants to move away from the elite clubs and play most matches, or have a career similar to Solskjaer where he is happy playing a part for one of those teams. Either way I still think he would have a valuable member of our squad this season.
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In fairness, the way he has completely dropped out of sight suggests they don't think that much of him. So in that sense I'd consider their judgment of his ability more telling than their decision to take him based on reputation. The reality is that they needed to fill that slot and owing to the Di Maria deal they could take him for next-to-nothing.

I like the guy and wouldn't criticise him for making the same move that most players would but he was never going to make much of an impact on that side, much less considering the way they play. I suspect he'll get a decent move next summer but I don't see it being to a top club. I wouldn't even be surprised if, as was suggested a few weeks back, he pitches up in the MLS. Given his profile and age he could be a huge star there. That said, I think the likes of Newcastle, Stoke, and all of the teams below would be mad not to at least have a look at him.
 
I think he'll get sold for a low number, personally I dont think its worth letting him go for anything under 15....His goal record to games for us, was worth more than that. If put on the market last summer Im sure we could have got more. Dont think his loan to Real will have helped his value. He'd do well at Spurs always surprised they didnt sign him. Obviously Kane there now but he could still do well there I think, and they must be in the market for a striker and let Soldado go.
 
IwatUwat said:
I think he'll get sold for a low number, personally I dont think its worth letting him go for anything under 15....His goal record to games for us, was worth more than that. If put on the market last summer Im sure we could have got more. Dont think his loan to Real will have helped his value. He'd do well at Spurs always surprised they didnt sign him. Obviously Kane there now but he could still do well there I think, and they must be in the market for a striker and let Soldado go.
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He has a year left on his deal, I think. If so I imagine we'd be doing really well to even get £10m.
 
Brophs said:
He has a year left on his deal, I think. If so I imagine we'd be doing really well to even get £10m.
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That's why it was kind of an odd decision to loan him. If we're thinking it brings his price down that much, then surely it isnt worth the wage saving.

I think if you sold him in the summer, if he gets some games and goals at Real between now and the end then maybe we could still get a decent fee. But not sure he is going to get any game time. Plenty of prem clubs that could have done with him this year.
 
IwatUwat said:
That's why it was kind of an odd decision to loan him. If we're thinking it brings his price down that much, then surely it isnt worth the wage saving.

I think if you sold him in the summer, if he gets some games and goals at Real between now and the end then maybe we could still get a decent fee. But not sure he is going to get any game time. Plenty of prem clubs that could have done with him this year.
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Almost certainly a sweetener in the Di Maria deal. Same logic that saw Nani go to Portugal when the Rojo deal looked like stalling.
 
christy87 said:
Are you seriously saying he is worth less than Shane fecking Long, 15 to 20 million would be a minimum for a proven goal poacher for a lower league side.
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Southampton overpaid for Long. You can't consider that the benchmark, just like Andy Carroll for £35 million wasn't the benchmark a few seasons ago.

The fact of the matter is that we're talking about a guy who'll be 27, won't have played much football for the previous two seasons, will be in the last year of his contract, and will be a gamble for any team willing to give him first team football (given that he's repeatedly said that's what he wants). The only one of those that can be negated is the last one, and that's basically if someone like Juve come sniffing to have him on their bench instead of ours.

He needs to make a step down, whether it's lowering his expectations of where he'll start games, or accepting he's going to be on the bench at a top side. When you consider that's what has to happen, you're going to struggle to get more than £10 million for him, never mind £15-20 million. Any of the top sides thinking he'll be a good option off the bench aren't going to want to pay much for a 3rd or 4th choice striker, and the sides lower down haven't got the transfer budget to be splashing that sort of cash on a guy who's going to represent a massive gamble as their 1st choice.
 
Kag said:
His finishing has always been a terribly inflated aspect of his game. The idea that he is better at putting the ball in the net than the likes of Rooney, Van Persie and Falcao verges on silliness.

I've never rated Hernandez as highly as most others do. Most clubs, if not all of them, want something more from their strikers. Even clubs at the bottom of the league seek a more rounded player that can help them dictate games and ultimately keep them in the league.

This loan move was silly from the outset and he now finds himself in a position in which his stock is as low as it's ever been. Clubs will still take a punt on him; who wouldn't like the idea of having them in their squad? But his value will have decreased quite dramatically and that is easy to understand.
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How many teams have strikers that can help them dictate a game? There's a very small number of strikers who can do that to any decent level. There's a lot more to being a good goal scorer than finishing. Hernandez is a very goo goal scorer and there will always be teams looking that.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
In theory, he's perfect as a third or fourth choice striker. I assumed he would slot right into that role. It doesn't seem to be something he's keen on, though. His performances certainly dipped significantly once it became apparent he'd slipped down the pecking order. There's a certain mentality squad players need and I'm not sure he has it. Which is a pity because he's unlikely to be a first XI player for an elite club any time soon and he's not got the physical presence most smaller clubs look for in their strikers. Genuinely struggling to think of a striker like him starting every game at any other club, small or large. Don't watch much European football, though. Can anyone else think of a similar player out there?
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He was fine with that role under Alex Ferguson because he knew how to make him feel he was important. Moyes hadn't a clue and managed him terribly. He hasn't quite recovered from that yet it seems.
 
keep him unless united can get 15m minimum. re-sign him if need be. got 16m for danny , danny , danny and he's not first choice. look at what other lesser teams paid for lesser talent.
 
Kag said:
Even clubs at the bottom of the league seek a more rounded player that can help them dictate games and ultimately keep them in the league.
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Have you seen some of the shite strikers playing for the lower team? I don't see many lesser teams with strikers who dictate games. Please provide a few examples.

Hernandez will have plenty of clubs in for him, he's a goal scorer & that's a valuable commodity.
 
Alex99 said:
Southampton overpaid for Long. You can't consider that the benchmark, just like Andy Carroll for £35 million wasn't the benchmark a few seasons ago.

The fact of the matter is that we're talking about a guy who'll be 27, won't have played much football for the previous two seasons, will be in the last year of his contract, and will be a gamble for any team willing to give him first team football (given that he's repeatedly said that's what he wants). The only one of those that can be negated is the last one, and that's basically if someone like Juve come sniffing to have him on their bench instead of ours.

He needs to make a step down, whether it's lowering his expectations of where he'll start games, or accepting he's going to be on the bench at a top side. When you consider that's what has to happen, you're going to struggle to get more than £10 million for him, never mind £15-20 million. Any of the top sides thinking he'll be a good option off the bench aren't going to want to pay much for a 3rd or 4th choice striker, and the sides lower down haven't got the transfer budget to be splashing that sort of cash on a guy who's going to represent a massive gamble as their 1st choice.
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No 12/13 million is the going rate for shit strikers look at altidore 13 million to Sunderland now that's a striker worth 50p couldn't score in a whore house, what would a club like Sunderland, West brom, stoke pay for him no mind some of those Italian clubs.
 
christy87 said:
No 12/13 million is the going rate for shit strikers look at altidore 13 million to Sunderland now that's a striker worth 50p couldn't score in a whore house, what would a club like Sunderland, West brom, stoke pay for him no mind some of those Italian clubs.
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It looks like I'm going to have to repeat this again, because you're clearly not understanding the situation.

Firstly, teams overpaying doesn't make it the going rate. Secondly, come the summer, Hernandez will be 27, in the last year of his contract, and won't have played a great deal of football for two seasons; teams won't be focusing too much on his form in 2012/13 and before, they'll be looking at how little he did for United under Moyes and his time at Madrid this season. Thirdly, United generally don't get as much as they could when moving players on that aren't in the plans for the team. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see him head out on loan again and leaving on a free once his contract is up.

If he is moving this summer, he's got two options. He can accept he's going to be on the bench for a side challenging for the title in one of the top leagues, or make the step down to a lesser league, or to a club hoping for CL football.

If it's the former, he's going to be 3rd or 4th choice for them, and apart from City, top sides tend not to splash the cash on backup players. Looking at players being back-up strikers, we've recently seen Lambert move to Liverpool for £4 million, Remy move to Chelsea for £10.5 million, Balotelli to Liverpool for £16 million, and Welbeck to Arsenal for £16 million. Even then, it could be argued that the last two were signed to be in the starting XI.

If it's the latter, the sides generally can't afford to be spending much more than £10 million on a player, and when they do, they tend to want someone who's massively in form, not someone who they're gambling on regaining form from over 2 seasons ago. Ulloa moved to Leicester for £8 million, Bony to Swansea for £12 million, Cornelius to Cardiff for £7.5 million, Ba to Besiktas for £4.7 million, Cisse to Newcastle for £10 million, Adebayor to Spurs for £5 million, Michu to Swansea for £2 million, and Remy to QPR for £8 million. Hell, Tevez and Sturridge moved to Juventus and Liverpool respectively for just £12 million each, and the fee for Pelle to Southampton is believed to be somewhere around £8-9 million.

Just because a team occasionally overspends on a shit player doesn't mean that the going rate for strikers changes, particularly not strikers who are 27, haven't played for 2 years, and are in the last year of the contract.

He's not going to be happy staying at United, and he'll just be taking up a space in the 25 man squad. He'll be behind Rooney, van Persie and Wilson in the pecking order, Falcao if he stays, and probably Di Maria and Fellaini too. He's probably worth about £12-15 million, but we'll be lucky to get much more than £5 million for him, if we even get a fee at all. Anything close to or above £10 million would be a massive surprise to me. We haven't got a hope in hell of getting near £15 or £20 million for him though.
 
Alex99 said:
£20 million+ for Hernandez? :lol:

He'll go for £4-10 million, if he doesn't leave on a free after another loan move. He'll be 27-years-old by the time next season starts, and he'll have started fewer than 20 league games since summer 2013 (he'll be lucky to reach 15 the way things are going). Unless he changes what he wants, he's going to struggle to find a club. He thinks he's good enough to be starting for the best, but he's found himself warming the bench at both United and Madrid now.

I'm not convinced he's a 15-goal-a-season striker either. He's a luxury player for top sides, and he's great when he's got a few other attacking players doing all the build-up for him, whilst all he has to concentrate on is getting into the right place to score, but he's always struggled when he's been the main man up front. Given that it's unlikely a top side will take him on, the quality of service is going to decline if he moves. If he's willing to make the step down, he's going to struggle to find a starting place at any of the better clubs in the PL. Chelsea won't touch him, we won't sell to City or Liverpool, and I doubt he'd find himself in the starting 11 too often at Arsenal, Spurs, Everton or Southampton. Although I imagine he'd want CL football still, even if he's not at a club with a decent chance of winning the competition.

If he wants to start regularly and play CL football, he's suddenly looking at a move to somewhere like Turkey, Greece, Russia or Ukraine, or accepting that he'll be at a team that's chasing the final qualification spot in Spain, Italy, France or Germany.

I fully expect him to move, start most of the first 15 or so games but struggle for goals, then end up warming the bench anyway.
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He might fall to a team of the caliber you suggest, but you have to be completely off base with what he'd sell for. Football--eespecially the Prem--is flush with cash, and he is a striker. Even in his current state you couldn't get a whiff of him for £4 million.
 
It depends on what he wants. If he is willing to accept his role of the super sub, he can add alot of value to United and a host of other clubs. I don't think I'm alone in thinking a few times this season that I wished we still had Hernandez. If what he's looking for is a regular starting place, he's really going to have to lower his expectations and move to a club like Sunderland.

If I were him, I'd consider moving to MLS specifically to LA or Houston. He gets a regular starting place, will make more money than playing for a mid table team in Europe, be closer to home and will have a better shot at winning trophies than at any other club he could potentially sign for. On top of that we'd probably get a better transfer fee from MLS than we would from a European club.
 
Distracted Steward said:
He might fall to a team of the caliber you suggest, but you have to be completely off base with what he'd sell for. Football--eespecially the Prem--is flush with cash, and he is a striker. Even in his current state you couldn't get a whiff of him for £4 million.
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I'm not sure I am completely off base, whatever that means. He offers little to our team and is massively out of favour, and any potential buyer will know that. Since selling Ronaldo, the highest transfer fee we've received was for Welbeck at £16 million. That's a transfer to a league rival, of a player who had a fairly regular place in the first team squad. Outside of that you're looking at £7 million for Kagawa, £4 million for Berbatov and Buttner, £3 million for Zaha, Evra for £1.5 million, Fabio for half a pack of Wrigley's Extra, and Fletcher, Anderson, Ferdinand and Vidic all leaving for nothing.

The Prem may be flush with cash, but no one in their right mind will be splashing it on Javier Hernandez, as great as he was for us 3 or 4 season ago, especially when he'll be in the last year of his contract. As I said, I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Valencia or Napoli took him on loan next season and he left on a free in Summer 2016.

I don't know where so many of you are getting the idea that we'll be getting a big fee for him.
 
Think we'll get about 6-10m for him and send him off with our best wishes. Can see LvG rather giving minutes to Wilson.
 
Were playing a teenager with literally no league experience because we are lacking pace up front. Hernandez would have surely had a share of game time and his stock still be fairly high. This has been another fück up really, although it has afforded Wilson the games to develop and he does look a more complete centre forward.
Have to wonder if we would have a few more goals in the tight games we drew though, Hernadez, for all his lack of build up play has an amazing ability to drag defenders around with his movement. Van Persie likes this.
 
gasmanc said:
Were playing a teenager with literally no league experience because we are lacking pace up front. Hernandez would have surely had a share of game time and his stock still be fairly high. This has been another fück up really, although it has afforded Wilson the games to develop and he does look a more complete centre forward.
Have to wonder if we would have a few more goals in the tight games we drew though, Hernadez, for all his lack of build up play has an amazing ability to drag defenders around with his movement. Van Persie likes this.
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yep , he scores the same goals that falcao has , a header and 3 tap ins , not out of the ordinary for hernandez. has more pace but less in his game than falcao but his runs off the ball always added space to the side. the only upside is wilson's getting the playing time. he went from playing a lot to nothing after united signed RVP.
 
Now I'm certainly not saying I would take him over Falcao, lol but he would have been an excellent addition to the squad, especially when we've struggled with static movement.
 
Have you guys ever actually watched Hernandez play? When we're struggling to create chances, he's literally the last forward you want on the pitch.
 
Alex99 said:
Have you guys ever actually watched Hernandez play? When we're struggling to create chances, he's literally the last forward you want on the pitch.
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Too true
 
Alex99 said:
I'm not sure I am completely off base, whatever that means. He offers little to our team and is massively out of favour, and any potential buyer will know that. Since selling Ronaldo, the highest transfer fee we've received was for Welbeck at £16 million. That's a transfer to a league rival, of a player who had a fairly regular place in the first team squad. Outside of that you're looking at £7 million for Kagawa, £4 million for Berbatov and Buttner, £3 million for Zaha, Evra for £1.5 million, Fabio for half a pack of Wrigley's Extra, and Fletcher, Anderson, Ferdinand and Vidic all leaving for nothing.

The Prem may be flush with cash, but no one in their right mind will be splashing it on Javier Hernandez, as great as he was for us 3 or 4 season ago, especially when he'll be in the last year of his contract. As I said, I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Valencia or Napoli took him on loan next season and he left on a free in Summer 2016.

I don't know where so many of you are getting the idea that we'll be getting a big fee for him.
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Fair points. Welbeck went in a clear out, though. To be clear, I don't thing he'd go for a big fee. Any less than £10 million and I'd be surprised, but I don't see him going for a paltry sum. Even a modest uptick in appearances and former would ensure that.

While Welbeck and Kagawa were cleared out, I'm curious to see if Woodward can selol players for more once things stabilize.
 
Kag said:
You see, this is the thing, he wouldn't be a good fit for those clubs either. Swansea wanted and now need a striker like Bony. Aside from the goals, his worth and general work paid dividends and created a balance amongst the whole side.

West Ham have Carroll, Valencia and Sakho, all powerful forwards that fit the purpose of their play.

Hernandez doesn't offer a team that bit extra. He isn't worth building a team around when you consider many club's and their scouting department can find goalscorers with an important physical edge. A manager at QPR will plump for a Charlie Austin over a Hernandez every day of the week, and his physicality and ability to involve himself positively when the going gets tough is exactly why.

All of these clubs would take Hernandez in a squad capacity, certainly. Like I said, he's a cracking option. But he isn't the full package and most likely never will be. Even the likes of West Ham and Swansea want the full package.
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You're putting down Hernandez on the basis of the old English mold. Why are you comparing him to the likes of Carroll or Bony. Bony's good but he's not an improvement on Dzeko. Newcastle play with Ayoze Pérez up front who's a smaller player than him.

Hernandez' general play improved as the seasons went on. That's despite having few starts. He's in the all PL all time top 20 in minutes per goal. He's the same age as Bony but hasn't got close to his minutes yet his career total is similar despite having played the majority of his career as a sub in the PL when Bony has played for the majority of his career in Netherlands and Czech Republic. Carroll hasn't scored 20 goals in a season in his career and he's only a year younger.

You're so massively underrating Hernandez because you neglect the most important thing. He scores goal. There's not anything more important in football. Just look at how much teams pay for strikers. Look how many massive flops there have been in only the last few years. Remember that Milan guy, current manager of them, Pippo Inzaghi. Played for Milan for 11 years. Won the CL twice. Played for Juventus before that. Only thing he was said to be good at was scoring goals. Well guess what? Hernandez' goal scoring record is better.

I rate him higher than Welbeck, Remy, current Drogba, Borini, Lambert, Soldado, Adebayor, Long, Pelle. Those are the nr. 2 and 3 (and in one case nr. 1) for every club competing with United except City (they have really good strikers).

I'm certain that if Hernandez had played every minute instead of RvP this season that his goal tally would be similar, if not better. Definitely would have scored more than Falcao, but to be fair to Falcao he's had to deal with coming back from a tough injury and he didn't get a proper pre-season. On a leveled playing field Falcao would be better, probably.
 
Alex99 said:
Have you guys ever actually watched Hernandez play? When we're struggling to create chances, he's literally the last forward you want on the pitch.
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Nah. He's harder to mark than any of our strikers and wouldn't drop as deep. He's our best striker at finding space for himself inside the box. That's the reason he scores so much. His finishing is decent but where he tops other players around him is that he's hard to mark. Often enough he's more clever than the passer of the ball. Countless times have I seen him free himself and make a run (often at the near post) but the crosser didn't spot it.
 
Snow said:
You're putting down Hernandez on the basis of the old English mold. Why are you comparing him to the likes of Carroll or Bony. Bony's good but he's not an improvement on Dzeko. Newcastle play with Ayoze Pérez up front who's a smaller player than him.

Hernandez' general play improved as the seasons went on. That's despite having few starts. He's in the all PL all time top 20 in minutes per goal. He's the same age as Bony but hasn't got close to his minutes yet his career total is similar despite having played the majority of his career as a sub in the PL when Bony has played for the majority of his career in Netherlands and Czech Republic. Carroll hasn't scored 20 goals in a season in his career and he's only a year younger.

You're so massively underrating Hernandez because you neglect the most important thing. He scores goal. There's not anything more important in football. Just look at how much teams pay for strikers. Look how many massive flops there have been in only the last few years. Remember that Milan guy, current manager of them, Pippo Inzaghi. Played for Milan for 11 years. Won the CL twice. Played for Juventus before that. Only thing he was said to be good at was scoring goals. Well guess what? Hernandez' goal scoring record is better.

I rate him higher than Welbeck, Remy, current Drogba, Borini, Lambert, Soldado, Adebayor, Long, Pelle. Those are the nr. 2 and 3 (and in one case nr. 1) for every club competing with United except City (they have really good strikers).

I'm certain that if Hernandez had played every minute instead of RvP this season that his goal tally would be similar, if not better. Definitely would have scored more than Falcao, but to be fair to Falcao he's had to deal with coming back from a tough injury and he didn't get a proper pre-season. On a leveled playing field Falcao would be better, probably.
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I have to disagree here. I am based towards Hernandez, but he'd be lost in this slower, more static LvG attack.
 
I think most people misunderstand what type of striker works best in the 'slow methodical paint-drying' philosophy LVG has us playing. What you need to make this work is actually a striker in the Hernandez mold. Someone who is constantly moving, running in behind and running into channels. They don't need skill and finishing as much as they need pace and energy.

Our issues up front aren't just down to a lack of creativity behind the strikers, I personally believe our static strike force - RVP in particular - is the biggest issue. Whether it's fitness, age, desire or what, RVP is spending large chunks of a match walking or standing still. Falcao moves a bit, but is maybe only now getting fit. If RVP wasn't the Dutch captain, I do wonder if he wouldn't have been Klose'd by LVG.
 
Distracted Steward said:
I have to disagree here. I am based towards Hernandez, but he'd be lost in this slower, more static LvG attack.
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I agree. Hernandez is all about getting into some space in or around the small box and getting easy tap ins. He did a great job of scoring at the end of Fergie's era when we were creating chances for fun. The reality of the situation is his first touch is terrible. He's also not very good at taking on and beating defenders. Not great at mid to long range shooting either. He would struggle in our current system which requires technically sound players.
 
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