39 shots. Thirty nine shots. One crashing against the bar, thirty eight others hardly even troubling Adrian in the West Ham goal. What is it that makes us so devastating on paper, but so timid on the pitch? I sat there last night, uninspired by what should have been a kick about in the park. The same West Ham team that lost 9-0 on aggregate to City just a week or two ago, defending so easily against a team hoping to finish above the Manchester club this season.
Feel free to disagree, but I was not - and in fact have not been all season - convinced by Eto'o; Hat-trick hero and all the other accolades that arise from a monumental career. A great professional, sure, but when he gets the ball I just don't ever sense that he's going to produce anything special. Perhaps the same applies to Fernando; capable of producing an edge-of-your-seat moment now and again, but never really developing the threat of your Aguero's and Van Persie's. I think, for me, the fundamental difference is the touch. That touch that Torres so famously had at Anfield, or Eto'o in his days at Barcelona. I just feel our strikers lack that world class instinct. That killer touch. Something that perhaps has not been seen since the peak of Didier's career. Even when that touch wasn't always there, he certainly made up for it in his physical approach; his desire to beat his opponent, be it in the air or on the floor. To put it simply, my belief is that our forwards are too similar to our trio of attacking midfielders. You could put Eto'o or Torres in any of those roles and they'd have the same impact on the game. A performance such as last night is the perfect example of a game that was crying out for a target man. I looked to the bench and I was astonished, to consider a team that had so much talent at the beginning of the season - almost too much at one point - now with no attacking player to come off of that bench and make a difference. Our loan list is endless. Players that I feel could offer us something different; Piazon, Lukaku, Traore and so on. Of course I'm not suggesting that they should never have gone out on loan, because undoubtedly they've developed as players; Piazon is just one example of a loanee having a remarkable season away from the club.
So, with Deadline Day an hour away as a I write, what can Chelsea fans hope for? I personally have felt over the last few days that there is still another to arrive, however it may not necessarily be an attacker. Jose knows we need a striker, and boy do we. It's just a question of who's available and at what cost. Who would you like to see - realistically - arrive before tomorrow's deadline?
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