I can understand why people don't really think having very good finishing is enough to make up for being a terrible 'link up' striker. What I can't understand is why people think that being a very good 'link up' striker is enough to make up for being a terrible finisher.
The Shopping List—aka We've got flipping great wadges of cash
Pirlo ey? He's missed quite a bit this season through injury, though it mightn't be the worst gamble in the world seeing as he's free. At least our set-pieces would improve a bit.
De Rossi has one year left on his contract apparently and so does Flamini. Either of those and i'd be very very happy with our midfield.
If he's too old for Serie A, how could he handle the Premiership?
No thanks.
We need to get rid of the deadwood, get in a quality replacement for Song and recall Lansbury. Do that and we're sorted in midfield.
Captain wrote:He's not awful at all. He's a quality premiership striker.
Probably the most underrated/unappreciated striker in the PL
We dont need Pirlo cos we've got Jack, and I'm not being facetious with that comment at all.
I don't think anyone would think you were, Tim.
... just with young midfielders like Jack and Aaron I could see benefits to having a legend like Pirlo around for a season or two. Particularly considering how many games Denilson and Diaby get in central midfield.
I think someone like Pirlo would be perfect if you consider him a replacement for Diaby/Denilson.
I think Tim is right.
Pirlo would theoretically be for Wilshere what Bergkamp was for Henry. In my opinion he's been the best playmaker in the world the last decade, and easily the one with the widest repertoire. Not even Xavi has been close. The way he plays makes age much less of a factor to consider too. The main problem is that we'd end up with a very unbalanced midfield. In Milan Gattuso is positioned a bit higher up to apply more pressure on the opponents right away, thus allowing Pirlo to be more effective from deep. If we lose Song for him that task would be entirely down to Jack instead. He'd have to play instead of Jack rather than alongside him, and he doesn't press well enough to do that.
I'd be very, very worried if he ended up at either United or Chelsea though, because both of them are set up brilliantly to accomodate someone like him.
Not too bothered now that he's just a senior player looking for a payday. 3-4 years ago it would have been different but I doubt that he would have a significant impact now.
Captain wrote:He's not awful at all. He's a quality premiership striker.
Exactly. If he played he'd for Villareal and Schalke instead of Villa and Sunderland everyone would want him, same as the Charlie Adam stuff. Bents quality, right place, right time sort of striker. Exactly what we need. If we had him as well as RVP we'd be in great shape.
Captain wrote:Not too bothered now that he's just a senior player looking for a payday. 3-4 years ago it would have been different but I doubt that he would have a significant impact now.
Agree with you here as well, he doesn't even dominate in Serie A anymore, never mind the Premiership where he wouldn't have the legs. A legend of a player but he's exactly that, not a current option.
And he's not going to come here to take Denislons place so lets not give it the "better than Denilson" line cos I'm pretty sure that covers about 90% of midfielders in the top leagues throughout Europe at this stage.
qs! wrote:Captain wrote:He's not awful at all. He's a quality premiership striker.
Exactly. If he played he'd for Villareal and Schalke instead of Villa and Sunderland everyone would want him, same as the Charlie Adam stuff. Bents quality, right place, right time sort of striker. Exactly what we need. If we had him as well as RVP we'd be in great shape.
Well the fact is he is playing for Villa and Sunderland. He's been scoring goals for a while now, why is it that no big club has gone in for him if he's that good?
Also worth pointing out that he struggled in the only team he was in that didn't play on the counter.
Bent's only an impressive striker if you don't actually watch him play. Sure he scores a lot of goals, but boy does he miss some chances too. He needs to be the focal point of the team, the man every shred of creativity in the team is aimed towards. I wouldn't want him here in a month of Sundays. A bang average footballer, much like most of the others who are popular with our fans at the moment.
Was still their top scorer that year despite missing loads of games.
It all depends on what you want from a striker. Most clubs in Europe set their teams up in a way that differs to ours. Bent is good at what he does. I think it's wrong to call him average. I reckon he could do well at United if given a chance, for instance.
bent is so, so average. pirlo would be useless here - he's much too slow now and he doesn't cope well with pressing. either player would actively hurt our team because they'd waste resources that could/should be better utilised elsewhere.
He's a striker and he scores goals, certainly an upgrade on Chamakh
For some reason, goals don't seem to matter anymore. 
United and Chelsea should go for modric. Though pirlo would be a neat fit for them both
Pirlo would be great for United.
Might even be great for Citeh. If they drop Barry, they can play Pirlo in the deep-lying playmaker role and allow Toure to continue playing his midfielder/striker role. They might be able to bring their forwards into the action a bit more