And at times, Falcao looked worse than RVP ... get what I mean? It's a pointless statement, especially with the additional remark 'at times'.
I don't think that working hard in terms of chasing every ball is neccesarily a big criteria for a good striker, especially in a posession based system. RVP never has been one of the hard working ones like Rooney or Tevez. Fans usually prefer the 'working his socks off' kind of strikers, which is kind of understandable as they should work for the millions they get, but mostly the real goalscorers aren't the busiest type of footballers. Remember Gary Nevilles analysis of Rooney against City at Old Trafford? He usually pops up everywhere, but in that game, he had probably less of the ball than in any other match and wasn't everywhere on the pitch, yet he fullfilled his role, pinned the centrebacks back and made space for other players. Less workrate, but beneficial for the general play. Sounds contrary, but that's the way it is at times.
I can't agree with your statement that he doesn't make runs. He isn't a sprinter or a workhorse who chases every ball, but around the penalty box, he sees space or that the defender lost him for a second and makes a clever movement, which creates space and time for him. His technique and finishing normally does the rest. Especially in the first half of the season, he made a lot of these runs, but most of our players (except Carrick at times) didn't see him or opted for the safer back or sideway pass and therefore it counted for nothing. We are playing a posession based football, mostly have up to 60-70 percent of the ball. Do we really another hard working forward, who drops deep and isn't at the box? Everybody is talking about pace up front. But how are we going to use a lighning quick player, when there is no space to run into for most of the times in the final third? We need clever players, who make space for themselves with an intelligent run, technical players, who have a good first touch and are able to beat a man with skill and are a good finisher.
As I said in my first post, all of our strikers didn't look good last year. Our strike force contained Rooney, Falcao and RVP. Most of the time, they all looked average and that's where I see the problem. What's more likely, three world class strikers suddenly becoming ordinary over the course of a season or the team not creating enough decent chances? Yes, they missed some sitters as well, not denying that, but most of the time, we lacked quality service upfront. It's the same when people say our defence is shit. We haven't got a real standout defender in the mould of Vidic or Ferdinand at the moment, but especially in the first half of the season, we didn't defend like a team and therefore made our defenders look like amteurs a lot of times. It's not just the defence, the midfield or the strikers, the whole team has to work like an organism. We have to defend together and we have to attack together with the right balance.
I'm not insistent on keeping RVP at all times, but should we get rid of him just for the sake of it? We won't get a good fee and probably have to pay a percentage of his wages to make the deal happen anyway. So it's not like we are going to save ourselves a fortune and can refinance a quality player from that money. We need to have the best team available at the start of the season. If we have a better suited alternative up our sleeves, then I'm absolutely fine with that decision, but I can't think of a lot of strikers who would improve us and are available.