Jimmy Greaves was well before my time, Kevin Keegan I know only from hgihlight footage and I only really remember Lineker at the end of his career. In my time though without a doubt Alan Shearer by a country mile as a player.Though you could argue purely comapring their England careers that it's Michael Owen.
Shearer was enormous, Lineker was brilliant, but England never been bless with Strikers (or penalty shooters....)
I wonder if Fowler stayed with Liverpool until now, how many more goals he would have scored more instead of leaving in 2001
As a pure out and out striker it has to be Shearer. Great in the air, strong, incredible shot, mentally very tough, consistent... and to score the number of goals he did in the modern era is amazing.
Unfortunately too many injuries (especially a knee injury in '98) plagued his early to mid-twenties, could have been one of the greatest for sure. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oom5t5uSUmk&feature=related"]YouTube- Liverpool - Robbie Fowler (goals)[/ame]
It's difficult to say, Lineker was a great predatory striker but I'd say it has to be either Shearer or Keegan.
I saw a number of great strikers play for England. They all had their own attributes. Lineker had lightning pace, Allan Clarke was a genuine "sniffer". Bobby Charlton could kick a football harder than anybody I have ever seen. Keegan had boundless energy and Shearer was a big, bullocking, battering ram of a striker. All first class goalscorers and all unique in their own way. But Jimmy Greaves had the lot. Some said he was a goal line tap-in merchant. Well, yes, he could do that, but I remember seeing him play for Spurs against Manchester United in one particular match at White Hart Lane in 1965 Check out the third Spurs goal in the match at the link below. Some "tap-in merchant", eh..? (if the link doesn't work, Google: spurs v man utd (1965) Youtube [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jYTLfukNUg"]YouTube- Spurs v Man Utd (1965)[/ame] That goal was easily the equal of Maradona's 1986 World Cup goal against England.... better I would suggest, because Greaves beat people like Pat Crerand and Nobby Stiles, and not Peter Reid and Terry Fenwick..!! (I could have beaten them..!!) Jimmy Greaves was quick.. Much quicker than he was sometimes given credit for. He could shoot equally well with either foot, he could head the ball like a bullet and in all the games I saw him play, he rarely put a shot off target. I always thought his high ratio of scoring was mostly due to that.... His ability to shoot on target. I don't think there are any stats going back to the 1960's and early 70's that would support that.... it's just the memory of a starry-eyed schoolboy from that time. It must have been a great sadness that he lost his place in the England team during the 1966 World Cup. After failing to score in the group matches, he was replaced by Geoff Hurst. The rest is history. There is a famous photograph of the England bench jumping with joy at the moment of triumph in the final, whilst Jimmy Greaves sat on the bench, motionless in his own disappointment at missing out on the greatest game of his life. But I remember the goals I saw him score. Whether they came from tap-ins, rocket like shots, bullet headers or mazy dribbles, Jimmy Greaves was the consummate goalscorer. No matter what the attributes of any of the others, Jimmy Greaves came closest to having them all. Thanks for the memories, Greavsie. It was a privilege to see you play.
That goal was quality but anywhere near comparable to Maradona's, don't be silly. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rW-lK9F6TU&feature=related"]YouTube- Maradona Goal V England 1986[/ame]
i'd go with jimmy greaves also, for some reason i always had the opinion he was underated in england but after reading this thread maybe not
[I agree w/almost everything that you posted and I appreciate another nod for Greavsie as England's top out&out striker. But, I think that we should further clarify whether this thread is supposed to be about naming England's all-time top STRIKER or the all-time top FORWARD. As deadly goalscorers/marksmen the likes of Greaves, Links, Hunt, etc. were, they couldn't hold a candle to the likes of Tommy Taylor, Lawton, Lofthouse, Shearer, etc. playing as an old-fashioned #9/centre-forward. Do you see what I'm trying to get at here? As an aside to 'Appy Addick: it's good to see another "old-timer" here on the boards keeping names like "Sniffer" Clarke & Sir Bobby Charlton still in circulation. ]
huh? Am I blind? I would say the other way a round. Shearer, Lineker ... were purely a goal scorer with lesser ball skills (control and dribble) Lofthouse had good skills but lack of good goal instinct of a "great" scorer type. Greaves had them all ... as a rare skillful English striker ever produced! Lately, Owen gave English fans some BIG HOPE in WC98, but then he quickly got saturated after 2002! Rooney seemed to have it all too, but his shooting precision is NOT YET blossomed to help him into among greatest strikers
First you need to do better in reply with "quote" ... its very hard to read yours Secondly, I guess you're the one who is BLEEDING (LOL) as being the ONLY ONE crying out loud for Lofthouse name (most would favourize Shearer no doubts) No need to repeat his 30goals/33games in the era that had BIG GPG - hence adjust to modern games ratio, he is just a very good one no more no less. Plus, his career goals in English 1st divivion (not as strong as EPL now) was NOTHING to be proud of. Shearer proved for England in Euro96, while Lofthouse only proved in friendlies I had expressed enough in other thread. ENOUGH SAID Lastly, Klose might have better GPG for Germany team than Klinsman, but is did not necessary mean he is better than Klinsman. Other example, Romario had better GPG for Brazil than Ronaldo, but who is the truely better striker? Ronaldo had better GPG in most biggames, while Romario banging in more hat tricks in friendlies ...
Lofthouse only played a handful of competetive games (if we exclude the Home Nations Championship), but he did score in every one of them. He has 3 goals in 2 World Cup qualifiers and 3 in 2 World Cup finals matches.
You clearly never saw Nobby Stiles, Bill Foulkes or Pat Crerand play. Nobby Stiles had a saying: "The ball might go past me, the player might go past me, but not both at the same time". Nobby would take one or the other out. Bill Foulkes lived through the Munich Air Disaster. he was tough. Jimmy Greaves skinned them both. I always had a bit of doubt as to the "Greatness" of Maradona's goal. Yes, it was good, but who did he beat in that run..? Terry Fenwick and Peter Reid. Reid was an old man, puffing along and almost passing out from oxygen debt due to the match being played at altitude. Terry Fenwick played most of his career in the old second division with Crystal Palace. A reasonable comparison today would be to put Cristiano Ronaldo running at a defender from the mid table of The Championship. Maradona only had to beat a journeyman player and an old man with knackered knees. It is true that he did it with class, and he did it with flair, but it needs to be put in context. If that had been Nobby Stiles he was trying to go past, he wouldn't have made it to the halfway line on that run. Either the ball would have been wellied into the back of the stand or Maradona would have been. Nobby didn't take prisoners. .
[No, he definitely did not: I saw all three of them play as well, and regardless of which of the two goals you think was of the higher quality, Stiles, Foulkes, and Crerand were ALL business whenever they stepped onto the pitch, IMHO.]
Alan Shearer and Newcastle United have thousands of fans all around the world he is not just a striker who is capable to score goals he is a legend.Some may not know the meaning of this word.They dont want to see the reality cause of their jealous manner.Yes you noobs the colors of Shearer were never red they were black and white cause he is the best striker ever upperdeck promo code
So is there any doubt that it's Greavsie? Especially if we're talking about out & out strikers who wore the Three Lions shirt.
You do realize that you can click the quote button at the bottom of each post (third from the right) for a proper quotation right?