I dont think our Strikers are not good enough. On the contrary, i think we have the best strikers in the league. WHy? Becos all our strikers are different.
You look at Chelsea, they have Drogba, Shevchenko, Kalou and Pizzaro. Of the 4, only Drogba makes the grade in EPL. Shev is a disaapointment, kalou is not really a striker (similar to Babel i would say but less pacey) and Pizzaro also not that great. Other source of goals - Lampard, Malouda, Terry and SWP etc
Man U - 3 strikers, Saha (injury prone and not consistent), Rooney and Tevez (both very similar) and all 3 are quite weak in the air. Other source of goals - Scholes, Giggs, Ronaldo, Nani and O'shea.
Arsenal - 4 Strikers, Adebayor (inconsistent, not prolific, if you notice, his goals has dried up for the last 5-6 games), Van Persie (inconsistent and very injury prone), Bendther -too inexperience, not very prolific also (open goal also never score) and Eduardo (havent get used to EPL, workrate suspecting) - Other source of goals Fabregas, Helb, Rosicky and Toure etc.
As you can see, the main bulk of goals for the other 3 top teams are actually scored not by the strikers. Liverpool strikers has generally done well this season except for Crouch in EPL as he has played like less than 90mins in total? It is our midfield and defence that is not contributing. Gerrard only scored 2 goals in EPL so far and others like Benayoun, Pennant, Babel, Alonso, Riise (one of the key players in scoring imo) are not scoring much.
For Kuyt, i think Rafa played him too much. based on Kuyt's workrate, he can at most last 60-70mins at that break-neck pace. Sometimes i think Kuyt just work too hard and not work smart. A true striker know when to pounce whereas Kuyt just pounce at every ball, even some that he has no chance of winning. The trick is to conserve energy for the sudden burst of pace. You see Fowler does it, Rush does it, Shearer does it, Owen Does it, RVR, Henry and Torres does it. Kuyt need to let the game flow to him. Only when the team is all pressing then he shd chase the ball more. Otherwise it's like a headless chicken.. ala gerrard sometimes.
For Crouch, i think Rafa shd have played him more... certainly in matches where the defenders may not be comfortable with Crouch's height. i.e. Arsenal, Everton match comes to my mind. Crouch is an underrated finisher also, you've seen how he do scissor kick, overhead kick etc, so he can play with ball at feet as well.
