Strikers have gone extinct. We live in a world of the midfielder. I believe pretty much every team plays with the five midfielders and the striker's role is to LINK up with the midfielders. Gone are the days of Weah, Kluivert and Batistuta. These were men who had ONE FUNCTION. SCORE A DAMN GOAL. They were not concerned with linking up or being part of the system. They lived on a far away mountain and only called upon to score a goal. That's it, nothing more and see you next Easter. Right now, only TWO strikers exist. Balotelli and Lewandowski. What makes the Polish man so good?
Once you give Lewandowski the ball, he WILL control it. Whether it reaches him in the air, or at his feet, he will keep it under good care and get things going.
Second, Lewandowski does not need to be in the perfect place to unleash a shot. He constantly either tries to run diagonally through space, or can create an opportunity for himself. This means that the midfielders don't need to give him the perfect ball. Just like the REAL Ronaldo, Lewandowski can UNLEASH a maddening strike from forty y's.
Lastly, as the winning goal against Arsenal showed, all great strikers are ALWAYS a threat. You let them go for a second, they will make you suffer. Lewandowski did not have many chances in the match, but all he needed was that GOLDEN chance...and unlike a lot of names I could mention, the Polish hitman took his chance. Game. Set. Match.
He will leave. I will be very surprised if he remains at Dortmund for long. This isn't because he is too good for Dortmund. It's a mixture of the guy stupidly wanting to leave an amazing coach and team and other clubs seeing what he can do and being ready to splash the cash in order to get him. I believe Klopp can always find good players, but this man he found is going to be VERY hard to replace. The striker is an extinct artform now, but there are still those that remind us of how VITAL that position is to a winning team.
HH
