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"Smith + Man Utd = Good or Bad?"

Yeh do you think Smith would be good at United?

I think he would be good, but not amazing. He needs a club where he will be the star player, like Leeds. I think that's the only way he will shine. Although having said that, he will get the service at Man Utd that he may not get elsewhere.

I think he would be better off at a mediocre club, a bit like Liverpool :p

Your opinions?

Neó wrote:
> I think that's over-exaggerating a bit Wookie

Well at least I wasn't this harsh...

A letter from the Football365.com site:


Smithy: Just Not That Good
He's a Leeds lad 'through and through' - well at least until another club comes along. He doesn't know it yet but he ain't that special. More sending-offs than goals last season and when other Premiership clubs find that he is probably at best a Nationwide striker and no better than Steve Bull [he played for Wolves].

Probably best to stay put and carry on being a hot-head icon.
George K Brown

On a par with Heskey?

Your lack of knowledge is muchly amusing.

Smithy is a striker without being a striker - for want of a better description, he's a defensive striker, and needs to play alongside a goalscorer, though, I don't think Smithy got 10 red cards last season, did he? Oh, and how many times was he booked in the last, say, 18 games?

If he doesn't play for your team, you just don't see it - it's teh same with anyone who's got a 'passion' (Savage, Keane). If he doesn't play for you, you tend to hate him.

And I'll hate him when he moves to them scum biatchs

One of the new Leeds blokes has hinted they may be close to agreeing an £8m transfer with Man United - looks like it's gonna be a good summer already! :D

ÂLŠ†ÂÎR wrote:
> Your lack of knowledge is muchly amusing.

Can you be more specific?

Do you mean to imply that Smith is better than Heskey, or that I'm having a laugh and that Heskey is much better than Smith?

Solskjær wrote:
> One of the new Leeds blokes has hinted they may be close to agreeing
> an £8m transfer with Man United

You do know that that means he'll probably come to Chelsea in a few weeks time..... :P

WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Can you be more specific?

Smith is quite simply one of the most naturally gifted and hard working players I have ever seen at Elland Road. On a par with one performance Heskey the so called "confidence player"? Don't make me laugh.

ÂLŠ†ÂÎR wrote:
> Smith is quite simply one of the most naturally gifted and hard
> working players I have ever seen at Elland Road.

Okay, fair points. But do they necessarily make him a top-class striker?


> On a par with one performance Heskey the so called "confidence player"?

Okay then. I did a bit of digging around on PremierLeague.com at the facts & figures. Anyone can check these - it took me about 10 minutes to put the following together.

Smith scored 9 goals this season - 2 more than Heskey.

Also on 9 goals for this season...

Bent (Leicester), Boa Morte (Fulham), Davies (Bolton), Nemeth (Middlesbrough), Nolan (Bolton), Rooney (Everton), Scholes (Man Utd) and Sheringham (Portsmouth).

Average-to-good strikers, some midfielders, and a once quality striker who's well past his prime.

Fair enough, this season can probably be discounted because of the failings of the rest of the Leeds team. But for the other seasons, Leeds have certainly been a force to be reckoned with, and he's hardly been prolific, naturally gifted or not.

Smith started playing for Leeds in the 98/99 season. Let's work backwards to that point.

3 goals last season. Heskey got 6.

4 in 2001/2002. Heskey got 9.

11 in 2000/2001. Heskey got 14.

4 in 1999/2000. Heskey got 10.

7 in 1998/1999, his first season. Heskey got 6.


So if anything, Heskey would seem to be marginally the better of the two.

But over all, I stand by my claim that Smith is on a par with Heskey. He doesn't fall over anywhere near as much, granted, but unfortunately he doesn't score any more goals as a result of his higher stability.

So Smith's young? Yes. Room for improvement? Certainly, very much so. But he has had 6 seasons in the top flight, and I would expect him to be capable of better by now.

Okay, Heskey is a couple of years older at 25, but Smith is the same age as Owen (23), who has proven far more prolific, acheiving 16 goals or more in all but one of those same seasons.

We'll see what he's like given top quality service in the box, something not seen very much from the Leeds team. If he's still not scoring lots of goals then you can give him the ultimate insult and compare him alongside Heskey :-D

The thing is, though, This season, Smith's been playing in a team where his best suppliers were Pennant, who's on loan from Arsenal, and Milner, who's in his first top flight season.

Heskey played in a team whos midfeild contained Gerrard and Kewell.

Who's got the better supply?