Best EPL era Striker

Nailz

In my own honest opinion, and despite the fact I seriously dislike him, I have to say it has got to be Alan Shearer. The fact he moved to Newcastle United just as they were about to decline in terms of quality and league finishes a year or two after he moved — ultimately leaving Arsenal as sole challangers with Manchester United for the title — he was still a total goal machine and a very classy attacker.

After that I would probably say Henry, hats off to guy, he could do some astonishing and surprising things at anytime in the match, he was quite literally a match winner, Arsenal wouldn't have been what they were in the early to mid-2000's if he wasn't playing for them, himself and Denis Bergkamp were something to behold.

In my opinion Bergkamp and Cantona came after these two, it's impossible to deny eithers' class, in fact the majority of this threads' posters appear to be in agreement with that sentiment for Denis Bergkamp at the very least, but for Eric Cantona; he, in typical fashion, divides opinion. Cantona is hated by as many people as he is loved, and the vast majority of that hatred has stemmed mostly from club rivalry — Liverpool, City and obviously Leeds — as well as people hating him for his own charisma, confidence and him being utterly mental. Like Henry and Bergkamp and Shearer he could change a game through pieces of brilliance and his own sublime imagination. I really can't see any good reason why he shouldn't be mentioned here. He had all the right attributes to be here, and then some.

Seaneh

Am I going to have to be the one to do this?

Cantona wasn't a ****ing striker.

He was a #10, a second striker, maybe, in today's game you could compare him to the likes of Cassano, Pastore, Kaka, etc.

They play off/behind a striker, not as a striker.

Also, he wasn't as good as UTD fan's make him out to be.

Nailz

Seaneh wrote: »

Am I going to have to be the one to do this?

Cantona wasn't a ****ing striker.

He was a #10, a second striker, maybe, in today's game you could compare him to the likes of Cassano, Pastore, Kaka, etc.

They play off/behind a striker, not as a striker.

But you don't have any problem with mentioning Bergkamp? Or are you just picking Cantona because he's the onl Forward you have a problem with being mentioned? To be fair it depends on how loosely you use the term "Striker".

Seaneh wrote: »

Also, he wasn't as good as UTD fan's make him out to be.

You're making us sound like Liverpool supporters for goodness sake.

Roger Sterling

I always think that people who put Cantona up there with Henry et al, of even Rooney are too young to have seen him.play and sre jydging him by his undoubted importance as a catalyst rather than his overall ability. He was the perfect player at the right time for United yo take them from good team to championship team.

Legend all the same though.

kingtubby

When Chesea were at there best Drogba's effectiveness as a striker allowed the whole team to play defensive while Chelsea still supplied a strong goal threat. I think that is a value he added to the team which is not be shown by looking at goal scoring statistics.

Imo Henry was the best striker of the EPL era followed by Drogba.

eagle eye

Alan Shearer wins best striker/forward for me all day everyday. He had two great feet, was great in the air, excellent at set pieces and could read the game so well. He was a leader on the field too.

Henry is next and after that it gets muddled although Wayne Rooney stands out for me to this point in his career. Drogba is up there but thats all you can say really about him.

Eric Cantona was like Bergkamp and they both were great at what they did. Cantona is a Premier League all time great but he was what I'd call a football tweener, that guy who isn't necessarily a forward or a midfielder but a bit of both.

Paully D

Alan Shearer for me. No one else did it for as long and as consistently as Shearer. At Blackburn he had just over a 1 in 1 scoring average and for Newcastle he had practically bang on a 1 in 2 average.

Considering that at times with Newcastle he was often playing with injuries which started to affect him a lot towards the end of his career and he rarely had the settled side or manager that other players listed on this thread had as the board constantly chopped and changed things on the field, his record is phenomenal. He also adapted his game after the injuries caught up with him and there's not many players who can do that while remaining almost as good as they were before.

Of course the likes of Henry, Cantona, etc are better footballers and much better on the eye, but for the most part I don't care what my striker does as long as he puts the ball in the net, and the goal scoring charts show that there was no one better than Shearer for doing it for as long as he did.

Thierry Henry would be second on my list.

Roger Sterling

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

niallo27 wrote: »

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

It's a romantic thing. He was the talisman during the start of a successful era. It's a bit of delusion but hardly a heinous crime. Anyone picking Fowler or Bergkamp is guilty of the same crime.

I don't think so, Fowler in his prime was ****en lethal, as good as anybody. He didn't have the careers other players but at his prime he was up there.

It wasn't just injuries for Fowler. He couldn't cope when the league became more physical and athletic. Instead, players like Anelka and Henry were thriving. He never adapted his game.

Fowler was a good finidher but never fulfilled his potential. By the team he went to Leeds he wss a portly has been when he shouldve been reaching his peak. None of that crop of Liverpools had the mental strength or drive to be the best compared to that of the Scholes, Becks generation at Utd.

clubberlang12

Shearer, with out a shadow of a doubt for me. An absolute goal machine from all over the field. Both feet, in the air, set pieces, inside or outside the area. He had strength in abundance and was deceptively quick also. His goal record speaks for itself and the consistency over which he did so is fantastic. Add into the mix that the Newcastle team he performed in was no where near the quality that Henry, Drogba, RVN had along side them makes it even more impressive for me. What would a "Shearer" be worth nowadays????

After that i'd have to say Henry. A very good goal scorer but also provider. Scored some magical goals and a pleasure to have seen him perform in the Premiership. But let's not forget the quality around him during his spell there. Would he have done the same in the Newcastle team Shearer played in?

After the two mentioned it would have to be Bergkamp. The man was a genius with the ball and did things others could only imagine. His collection of truly memorable goals is vast and no matter what team you support you can't help but admire his ability and technique.


After that i think it's up to personal opinion. Let's not get our knickers in a twist over the "striker" role or the "No.10" role as i'm sure the OP meant it as a forward player. No need for people to start going all Football Manager 2012 and say he's a trequarista not an inside forward .

Liam O

Ah well sure the correct answer is Cristiano Ronaldo anyway so it doesn't matter. I know there's going to be debate about his position but in his last 2 or 3 seasons he was in as advanced a role as Henry ever was.

Nailz

Liam O wrote: »

Ah well sure the correct answer is Cristiano Ronaldo anyway so it doesn't matter. I know there's going to be debate about his position but in his last 2 or 3 seasons he was in as advanced a role as Henry ever was.

Ah yes, the argument is definable through whether the player is a Striker or a Centre Forward, but I would definitely leave Ronaldo out of it as we was by-and-large considered a Winger. His attacking positioning was just flawless.

ceegee

Liam O wrote: »

Ah well sure the correct answer is Cristiano Ronaldo anyway so it doesn't matter. I know there's going to be debate about his position but in his last 2 or 3 seasons he was in as advanced a role as Henry ever was.

Was just coming in to post the same. Absolutely pi**ed all over every other EPL player in his last few years at United. And pretty sure he can be counted as a striker, seeing as people complain if you include him in any list of midfielders

G.K.

Mark Viduka should have more mentions I think. :pac:

buyer95

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

True, but he played with a crap club, carried them on his back & maybe I've rose tinted glasses on but his highlight reel is amazing

He was the kind of player that would go missing for entire games, then bang in a wonder goal, and thus his highlight real is amazing. A very good striker, but was always overhyped.

LiamMc

Matthew le Tissier

chopperbyrne

Shearer is definitely the out and out best striker in the EPL era.

If Owen had managed to stay relatively injury free, he'd be up there too.

Cantona was an excellent forward, but he was never really a striker. Similar to Bergkamp.

pickarooney

G.K. wrote: »

Mark Viduka should have more mentions I think. :pac:

How he beat Jimmy Flody Hasselbaink to a mention I'll never know.

JFH would probably be close to the top of a list of players you'd least like to be hit in the bollocks with a ball at ten yards by.

Sanity_Saviour

pickarooney wrote: »

How he beat Jimmy Flody Hasselbaink to a mention I'll never know.

JFH would probably be close to the top of a list of players you'd least like to be hit in the bollocks with a ball at ten yards by.

Think Hitzlsperger would have something to say about that :pac:

AdamD

Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Thierry Henry
Fernando Torres (at Liverpool)

In that order for me

TheDoc

Henry just ahead of Shearer for me and then Ruud just behind.

If we did " best number 9 in EPL" you could start banging out Bergkamp and Cantona, never seen either as a striker

mitosis

Tony Yeboah for the spectacle if not volume.

Shearer and Henry were machines, but what defines "best"? Most prolific? If so that's not debatable. So I go for glory!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfLz-WgbqY8

grohlisagod

Henry or Shearer, simple as.

Henry was the definition of unplayable at times. Just ask Jamie Carragher.

Shearer was an absolute goal machine. Would have loved to have seen how he'd have gotten on in another league.

CSF

Van Nistelrooy or Shearer

super_furry

Henry by a very large distance.

chopperbyrne

super_furry wrote: »

Henry by a very large distance.

Shearer played in 441 EPL games and scored 260 EPL goals.

Henry played in 258 EPL games and scored 175 EPL goals.

However, it only took Shearer 253 EPL games to score 176 EPL goals.

So no, it is not Henry by a very large distance.

EuropeanSon

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Shearer played in 441 EPL games and scored 260 EPL goals.

Henry played in 258 EPL games and scored 175 EPL goals.

However, it only took Shearer 253 EPL games to score 176 EPL goals.

So no, it is not Henry by a very large distance.

There's more to it than goals. Throw in assist stats there and you'll suddenly see a very large distance.

Just to be clear, I don't think it's all about stats, but as you seem to, I'm responding with reference to stats.

srfc19

Roger Sterling wrote: »

None of that crop of Liverpools had the mental strength or drive to be the best compared to that of the Scholes, Becks generation at Utd.

Except for Mcmanaman.

kryogen

For sheer goalscoring and pure predatory ability and class it is Ruud Van Nistelrooy all the way

wonderfullife

A peak Kevin Phillips remains the only english footballer to win the European Golden Boot. He's worth a mention anyway!

My top 5 would be:

Shearer
Henry
Ian Wright (185 goals for Arsenal in 279 starts)
Andy Cole
Fowler

kryogen

Just cause the Wright starts/goals was posted

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Prem Starts 130
Prem Goals 95

Pretty sexy eh

Super-Rush

Torres had 65 goals in 102 games for Liverpool before he retired.

smokedeels

It's between Ruud and Henry for me, at a push I'll go with Henry because he is a better all round player.

Re: Cantona. Personally, he is my favorite, but it's more so for intangible reasons, the same reasons that drive Liverpool fans to vote for Fowler. When dealing strictly with the question asked I feel that the two I mentioned above are better choices.

The_Kew_Tour

On his day Fowler was top class finisher no doubt about it.

Still though Henry ad RVN were just little more clinical imo.

In few years this could have couple of more players.

death1234567

wonderfullife wrote: »

A peak Kevin Phillips remains the only english footballer to win the European Golden Boot. He's worth a mention anyway!

No he isn't.

pickarooney

wonderfullife wrote: »

A peak Kevin Phillips remains the only english footballer to win the European Golden Boot. He's worth a mention anyway!

My top 5 would be:

Shearer
Henry
Ian Wright (185 goals for Arsenal in 279 starts)
Andy Cole
Fowler

And Michael Owen won the Ballon d'Or and broke 20 goals 5 times (virtually every time he played a full season he did it) along with 40 international goals but hasn't been mentioned once. Strange.

I wouldn't pick him as the best myself but he's a better shout than players like Cantona or Fowler.

aidan24326

Best all-round striker of the EPL era is Thierry Henry without a doubt. For a few seasons at Arsenal he was unmaekable. Alan Shearer a close second.

Shearer wasn't necessarily the most skilful player and he didn't do things the sexy way but by god he knew where the goal was. Excellent in the air too for a guy that wasn't overly tall, he'd often win balls in the air against defenders that were bigger than him.

Van Nistelrooy deserves a mention too. His goals to games ratio was outstanding. I remember at one stage he was averaging a goal per game in the champions league (32 in 33 games or something like that)

Hulk Hands

Ronaldo pisses on everyone without even technically being a striker. Still though, you can make an argument that he was, at which point this stops being a debate.

Henry next with Shearer or RVN behind

bullvine

Its almost an insult to call Henry a Striker, he was so much more than that.

bullvine

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Ronaldo pisses on everyone without even technically being a striker. Still though, you can make an argument that he was, at which point this stops being a debate.

Henry next with Shearer or RVN behind

Totally!

Ronaldo is the greatest attacking player to grace the premiership.

Chucky the tree

Ronaldo only broke 20 goals once in the PL. Not even close to the best.

inforfun

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Ronaldo only broke 20 goals once in the PL. Not even close to the best.

That makes Ronaldo sad.



Henry the best striker pure on goals scored and assists given.
If it was the best EPL goal scorer it would be Ruud van Nistelrooij

Roger Sterling

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Ronaldo only broke 20 goals once in the PL. Not even close to the best.

He has a good case to be made for the best player ever to grace the PL in any position tbh, and is a shoe-in for any all time PL eleven.

wonderfullife

Strikers are there to score goals so you have to have Shearer, Cole, Henry, Fowler, Ruud, Owen, Ferdinand, Wright etc at the top.

If you go past goals as a criteria, i.e. all-around forwards, then the list expands greatly and can include the likes of: Le Tissier, Zola, Bergkamp, Yorke, Sheringham, Rooney, Keane etc

keano_afc

Hard to ask a qestion like this and expect some fans not to be biased towards their own clubs.

As far as I can see that can be the only reason for the mention of Cantona's name.

Roger Sterling

keano_afc wrote: »

Hard to ask a qestion like this and expect some fans not to be biased towards their own clubs.

As far as I can see that can be the only reason for the mention of Cantona's name.

As Utd fan I agree with this. If it was a list of most iconic or most influential then he's be a good shout. But greatest ever in the PL era? Sadly, no.

aidan24326

Cantona is a player that will always divide opinion. He was such a character and such a personality that sometimes people judge him on that rather than the football.

On the Plus side:

-Technically gifted, great control
-Pretty good finisher
-Capable of the briliant, the unexpected
-Proved himself a match-winner on many occasions

Negatives

-Not the quickest
-Not as prolific a goalscorer as the likes of Shearer and RVN
-Impetuous, sulky, could be a liability when not in the mood
-Probably wouldn't get in the current United team
-Didn't have the pace and power of Henry, the clinical finishing of Shearer.

Damn good player though, and even if he wasn't a prolific goalscorer he did have a knack for getting vital goals. He was never your hat-trick-against-Bolton sort of player.

Roger Sterling

aidan24326 wrote: »

Cantona is a player that will always divide opinion. He was such a character and such a personality that sometimes people judge him on that rather than the football.

On the Plus side:

-Technically gifted, great control
-Pretty good finisher
-Capable of the briliant, the unexpected
-Proved himself a match-winner on many occasions

Negatives

-Not the quickest
-Not as prolific a goalscorer as the likes of Shearer and RVN
-Impetuous, sulky, could be a liability when not in the mood
-Probably wouldn't get in the current United team
-Didn't have the pace and power of Henry, the clinical finishing of Shearer.

Damn good player though, and even if he wasn't a prolific goalscorer he did have a knack for getting vital goals. He was never your hat-trick-against-Bolton sort of player.

He was the little bit of je ne sai quoi that a very good United side needed to go on and become a great championship side. The perfect player at the right time to be the final piece in the puzzle. He was a catalyst for the success that followed, was a huge influence on the next generation of younger players coming through at the club and mentored them through their initial years and had a stunning ability to score important goals.

However when you view him as an indivisual he wasn't in the class of the likes of Shearer, Henry or Drogba, or indeed players who followed him at United like RVN and Rooney. He never delivered in Europe (even taking into account the restrictions on players etc that were in place at the time) for one.

A great icon of the modern game and an inspirational part of United's recent history, but never a great player in the overall scheme of things in my book.

Cool f*cker though.

Hulk Hands

keano_afc wrote: »

Hard to ask a qestion like this and expect some fans not to be biased towards their own clubs.

As far as I can see that can be the only reason for the mention of Cantona's name.

I agree too but its funny that theres no objection to bergkamp continually being mentioned when he has even less right to be nominated than Cantona

Skylinehead

Hulk Hands wrote: »

I agree too but its funny that theres no objection to bergkamp continually being mentioned when he has even less right to be nominated than Cantona

Bergkamp was better than Cantona. Neither were strikers though, so it's a moot point.

bad2dabone

Henry was pure magic. The best. RvN was a machine. Even though I'm not a united fan I can see why Cantona is adored, he was special. I think aguero will be remembered as another great in years to come