@ nl sports analysts,

what has happened to the classic goalpoachers? has football changed?

as a snap-shot of top-level modern football, let's take last season's champions league quarter-finals. the main striker for each of the eight teams in the

first legs were: mirko vucinic, wayne rooney, kevin kuranyi, samuel eto'o, emmanuel adebayor, fernando torres, mateja kezman and didier drogba.

of those, only kezman even comes close to being an old-style poacher, and even he was operating as a lone forward,

there as much to create space with his movement as to score (and, it may be noted, he was playing for Fenerbahce,

probably the weakest of the quarter-finalists).

man united  also won the league and champions league without a recognised goalpoacher. i doubt this would have happened fifteen years ago.

why are these rare breed of footballers going extinct?

It depends on the pattern the club is playing.

We still have the Lucatoni, Ruud Nistelrooy, Ibisevic, Amauri, marko Janko, Klose

dayokanu:

It depends on the pattern the club is playing.

We still have the Lucatoni, Ruud Nistelrooy, Ibisevic, Amauri, marko Janko, Klose

I think they are now extinct!!!!!
Luca Toni, RVN, Klose and the rest don't offer much threat outside the box.
Where are the Luiz Ronaldo, Batistuta, Ivan Zamorano, George Weah, Gerd Muller, Gerd Muller, Hossam Hassan, Gary Linekar??
The strikers we have today are k'inda like a hybrid of the old partnership(TWO IN ONE).
Whereas in em days, u have a classic goalpoacher(Ronaldo) and a creator(Bebeto).

More:
Crespo (Lazio),Mijatovic,van Basten,Ian Rush,Abel Balbo,even our own Yekini,Christian Vieri (Juventus).
Pure old-school goal-getters.
No longer in vogue today.

~Sauron~:

I think they are now extinct!!!!!
Luca Toni, RVN, Klose and the rest don't offer much threat outside the box.
Where are the Luiz Ronaldo, Batistuta, Ivan Zamorano, George Weah, Gerd Muller, Gerd Muller, Hossam Hassan, Gary Linekar??
The strikers we have today are k'inda like a hybrid of the old partnership(TWO IN ONE).
Whereas in em days, u have a classic goalpoacher(Ronaldo) and a creator(Bebeto).

I thought that was what a goal poacher was. Someone who was virtually only useful inside the box. The type of guy who would score with his hip if necessary.  

Ronaldo (whats with the Luiz?) can never, never be called a poacher. He scored a couple of screamers in his time and was almost as dangerous outside the box as inside. Yes I know what wikipedia says. I think they are wrong.

Pipo Inzaghi is the goal poacher par excellence. His only talent is knowing how to position himself and score rebounds. Van Nistelroy is also very effective.

I think nowadays the game is so physical and technical that you can't afford to have someone whose only reason for existing is to beat the off-side trap. Good strikers are now people like Torres who can also put a lot of pressure on defenders.

Eastbay:

More:
Crespo (Lazio),Mijatovic,van Basten,Ian Rush,Abel Balbo,even our own Yekini,Christian Vieri (Juventus).
Pure old-school goal-getters.
No longer in vogue today.

They are no longer in vogue. See the way SAF disposed Van Nistelrooy and failed to get a replacement for the past 3 seasons.
Since Ruud's exit, United have won 2 EPL titles and one UCL. . . . . .Managers say having a poacher upfront makes the midfielders lazy and all they want to do is to lump balls forward to the target man and expect him to do the damage.

These days, managers are more comfy with rotating forwards. 4-6-0(formation).
It confuses the opponents' defence as they find it hard to know who to mark.
Besides, defences are now more difficult to break down. Defenders don't make silly mistakes or lapse in concentration like they used to in em days.
The complex OFFSIDE RULE has also done it's bit for players that sit on the shoulders of the last defender.

Today's game has changed! coaches want productive players now and not just ones that would sit in the box and add little or nothing to the overall team play.Goal poachers tend to have very low work-rate which is unacceptable in today's game hence the possibility of extinction besides that players are now awake to the fact that you don't have to be a striker to score goals the top scorer in the whole of Europe last season was not a striker!

Sauron,
You're right.
Case in point:United in 2001/2.
Ruud was played in Europe mostly as a point man.United's midfield hardly got forward and we limped to victories.save for the tie with Deportivo La Coruna in the Q/Finals.
Now formations abound that makes you wonder if there really is a point man on ech team.
I think that's a response to how defensive most teams have beome over time:holding midfielders all over the place.So opposing coaches seem to drop the notion of an out-and-out 9.
Rooney,Henry,Eto'o,Messi,all do their work mostly out of the box.And midfielders seem to be scoring most of the team's goals each season due to the changes.Strikers these days seem like midfielders,dropping deep for the ball.
But Huntelaar seems to be the last of a dying breed.He looks like the box player of yore

@Eastbay,
Man Utd didnt limp to viictory in the days of Ruud
He scored 4 in a game and he was highest goal scorer in the CL for 2 consecutive years.
But the overall output of the team was poor. why because ppl like DjembaDjemba, Quiton Fortune, Fletcher, Oshea, Silvestre, Alan Smith and co would not win anything in Europe cos they are not good enough