[TheBrom]

Would a new striker be not first choice every week though?

I think progression would be a top class striker pushing Rondon down to second choice and HRK third.

That would be the ideal scenario. But is there another striker in the Rondon mould available to us that would work with our style?

And what happens with Rondon when he's no longer first choice?

Is HRK going to be happy being 3Rd choice or do we need to find someone else who is (if there is such a thing)?

Or is it better to have a plan b for our shape and tactics, so that we sign someone a bit different to Rondon that we change our style for when we play them? Perhaps when chasing a game or playing against the lower teams. That way we have a use for two strikers, rather than both fighting for the same position?

All difficult questions that we'll have to try to sort in the summer

[smethwickw]

That would be the ideal scenario. But is there another striker in the Rondon mould available to us that would work with our style?

And what happens with Rondon when he's no longer first choice?

Is HRK going to be happy being 3Rd choice or do we need to find someone else who is (if there is such a thing)?

Or is it better to have a plan b for our shape and tactics, so that we sign someone a bit different to Rondon that we change our style for when we play them? Perhaps when chasing a game or playing against the lower teams. That way we have a use for two strikers, rather than both fighting for the same position?

All difficult questions that we'll have to try to sort in the summer

Competition for places is desperately needed. It would hopefully spur him on to do better. At the moment he's undroppable even if he doesn't score another goal this season. I agree we need another different type of striker. One with pace who scores goals. Rondon works hard but his end product is generally poor.

[TheBrom]

Competition for places is desperately needed. It would hopefully spur him on to do better. At the moment he's undroppable even if he doesn't score another goal this season. I agree we need another different type of striker. One with pace who scores goals. Rondon works hard but his end product is generally poor.

Totally agree, and hopefully if that does happen Rondon remains determined to fight for his place, rather than getting annoyed and wanting to move on.

[tuamigos]

Totally agree, and hopefully if that does happen Rondon remains determined to fight for his place, rather than getting annoyed and wanting to move on.

What's the average stay at a club for any player now about 3 seasons?
Rondon's approaching that now so maybe he might want to start looking

[TheBrom]

What's the average stay at a club for any player now about 3 seasons?
Rondon's approaching that now so maybe he might want to start looking

Exactly, then do we need to find another new striker on top of the first one? With a replacement for HRK too?

[wba_1996]

Still staggers me that there are fans out there that don't rate Rondon. Only 5 players from the clubs below us have scored more than him this season (7), from those only Defoe (14) has scored over 9 goals. And I'd argue that Rondon offers a lot more to our side than just scoring goals.

[TheJacko2000]

Still staggers me that there are fans out there that don't rate Rondon. Only 5 players from the clubs below us have scored more than him this season (7), from those only Defoe (14) has scored over 9 goals. And I'd argue that Rondon offers a lot more to our side than just scoring goals.

Agreed, not sure if people realise how much of a coup it was to bring the lad here either, and solely down to a regulation change in Russia.

[Adder]

Yep, Slimani was mentioned above, he's good in the air but does nothing like as much as Rondon whenever I've seen him play - including against us. Rondon is ideal for us with one or two clever players around him in attack. We obviously need to buy at least one more striker though and we might as well make it a good 'un.

[SirTonyPulis]

Still staggers me that there are fans out there that don't rate Rondon. Only 5 players from the clubs below us have scored more than him this season (7), from those only Defoe (14) has scored over 9 goals. And I'd argue that Rondon offers a lot more to our side than just scoring goals.

I'd bet that the strikers below us in the table would score more goals than Rondon if they played for our team. Rondon has a good work rate but thats about it.

[TheJacko2000]

I'd bet that the strikers below us in the table would score more goals than Rondon if they played for our team. Rondon has a good work rate but thats about it.

Maybe so but our team would certainly be worse, with less points and less total goals. I wouldn't take any centre forward from a team below us ahead of Rondon.

[wba13]

Well said jacko Rondon is a bloody good striker and some fans won`t realise how good he was for us until he`s no longer here

[wba_1996]

I'd bet that the strikers below us in the table would score more goals than Rondon if they played for our team. Rondon has a good work rate but thats about it.

Virtually every comment you've made on this site is slating either Rondon or Chadli, 2 of our best players... 

[tuamigos]

Maybe so but our team would certainly be worse, with less points and less total goals. I wouldn't take any centre forward from a team below us ahead of Rondon.

I'd take Deaney or Carroll.

[The Black Pearl]

I'd take Deaney or Carroll.

Deaney has barely scored this season, Carroll is a sicknote.

[wba13]

If and thats a big IF Carroll could stay fit he could be an effective striker but would not put him before Rondon because of his fitness issues as for Deeney good striker but in my opinion not even close to Rondon

[albion59]

If and thats a big IF Carroll could stay fit he could be an effective striker but would not put him before Rondon because of his fitness issues as for Deeney good striker but in my opinion not even close to Rondon

Rondon is nowhere near the striker Carroll is, for a striker he doest score enough.

[Baggie79]

Rondon in my opinion is the best we have had for years, Carroll dont make me laugh, would you want a striker who plays 38 games or 8?

[WBArgo]

Rondon isn't perfect but I still feel he's a very good player for us. The problem with him which will always be there is that sometimes his finishing can be a bit poor (I would probably fancy Chadli and Phillips on a 1v1 over Rondon which says a lot)

Having said that, his energy and hold-up play is vital for the team. I think he could do with a good partner though, but by no means is he bad at all. Regarding Deeney, he is probably slightly better but also scores a lot of penalties and would these days cost way more due to being English. Carrol is better but is also always injured so it's not much of a comparison.

[FallOutBoy]

Rondon is nowhere near the striker Carroll is, for a striker he doest score enough.

Carroll is a complete and utter donkey. In no other country in the world would he have played top tier football, let alone for the international team. To say that he is a better striker than Rondon is frankly ludicrous.

[wba13]

Sorry 59 I like Carroll but he`s never fit and he is not better than Rondon anyway Its not all about scoring  Rondon does the donkey work and drags players out of position thats why we have scored a lot more goals this season

[TheBrom]

Rondon in my opinion is the best we have had for years, Carroll dont make me laugh, would you want a striker who plays 38 games or 8?

Carroll is a complete and utter donkey. In no other country in the world would he have played top tier football, let alone for the international team. To say that he is a better striker than Rondon is frankly ludicrous.

Sorry 59 I like Carroll but he`s never fit and he is not better than Rondon anyway Its not all about scoring  Rondon does the donkey work and drags players out of position thats why we have scored a lot more goals this season

To be fair he's only got one goal less than Rondon this season despite being injury prone/donkey/ridiculous etc. Not saying he's a better player, just sharing the stat

[wba_1996]

This thread is unbelievable.

Carroll is a decent striker but injury problems mean he'd never be a better option than Rondon.

As for Troy Deeney... I don't even know where to start 

Rondon is no world-beater, but is massively better than some of our fans seem to realise.

[tuamigos]

Deaney has barely scored this season, Carroll is a sicknote.

Deaney has scored the same number of Prem goals as Rondon (7) in 27 games.
Carroll has scored 6 in 12 games

[SmethDan]

Given our squad and style of play, I wonder if we'd be eighth in the Premier League if we'd only got 12 games out of  Rondon  .

[VVVAlbion]

It's like comparing Granny Smiths to Cox's. Yes they're all apples but they all taste different. Rondon is probably the best striker for the Pulisball style that we play and there is no guarantee that a different striker would score more in that style no matter his pedigree. (Michael Owen at Stoke?)