Yes, that is a serious question. Two players who ‘offer more than just goals’ as strikers. But how much more? Who would you rather have? Fortunately a member of the Football365 Forum (lol tb x) has done the analysis for us. Read on to see who comes out on top…

A comparison of their goals and assists since Tevez came here:

This is obviously an area where Tevez should win by a margin having played with some of the best players in the world. Davies has played in a poor Bolton team for the last 4 years. Tevez only scores slightly more goals than Davies and Davies gets slightly more assists than Tevez.

Neither of these strikers are ‘out-and-out goal scorers’ and are both praised for their work rate. This would suggest that the amount of tackles they make is similar.

Tackles by Davies this season: 60 (more than any other striker)
Tackles by Tevez this season: 15

Davies makes four times as many tackles as Tevez.

But surely Manchester City are a much better passing team than the long ball merchants at Bolton. Tevez will probably have attempted four times as many passes as Davies? He hasn’t.

Successful passes by Davies this season: 691 (61 leading to a shot at goal)
Successful passes by Tevez this season: 671 (30 leading to a shot at goal)

Davies comes out on top by a distance.

Maybe Tevez isn’t contributing because he is being fouled to often by the opposition. This would mean that he wins lots of free kicks for his team. He doesn’t.

Free kicks won by Davies this season: 105
Free kicks won by Tevez this season: 29

Again there is a massive gulf between the two.

These stats can only go so far as to compare the two players. They can’t prove the fact that Davies is much better in the air than Tevez, they can’t prove that Davies is much more influential to his teammates than Tevez and they can’t highlight Davies’ superior attitude. All of these things are almost certainly true.

In conclusion. Kevin Davies >>>>>>>>>>>> Carlos Tevez.

So there we go. Thanks to lol tb x for the analysis – the original thread can be read here (you will need to sign up).

Lookalikes are ten-a-penny – anyone can make Dirk Kuyt look like Sloth from the Goonies, or Peter Reid look like a monkey. It takes more to put two people together stylistically and functionally; players who remind you of one another, players who play like each other – players that could be clones of one another. Playalikes. Number five in our series is a first – Threealikes. Three players who play the same. Three!

As you can guess from the hybrid title, our threesome are all wingers. They are all young, all black, all quick, all suspect positionally, all lacking a part of their football brain, all have a dodgy end product. All are confidence players, all have represented England, all are right footed, all are diminutive… our three are Theo Walcott, Sean Wright-Phillips, and Aaron Lennon.

Let’s do a direct comparison:

Let’s look at the anomalies, now – Wright-Phillips is comfortably the oldest at 27, Theo Walcott is comfortably the tallest, at 5″9, and Lennon has the worst strike rate, with a goal every 12 matches as opposed to about one in eight for the other two.

It would be interesting to see their respective assist stats; but unfortunately that’s not easily discoverable. If Lennon does not have at least a comparable rate to the other two, he could satisfactorily be classed as the least productive. But then he is a slightly different player – he does hug the touchline, whereas the other two come infield a lot more – and both SWP and Walcott have been tried as strikers, something that has never (probably correctly!) been tried with Lennon.

Nevertheless, despite these differences, these three players are undeniably ‘playalikes’. Quick, and trrifying for defenders, each would be arguably world class if they had a better end product. Wright-Phillips is now destined to be a ‘nearly’ or a ‘never was’, at 27 he is not going to find the consistency required to be a top, top player (staggering that his transfer fees have been so high really). Walcott definitely still has time, and has shown flashes that he could become more Henry than Andy Cole. Lennon looks a lost cause already – he just doesn’t seem able to cross or shoot properly. There are signs recently that he could improve, but the jury is out, and very nearly decided on a ‘no’.

Walcott would be your choice if you could have any one of them, hence Capello’s preference for him on England’s right flank (not to mention his hat-trick on the biggest stage). But were Don Fabio to go for SWP, or Lennon, would anyone really notice…?

Lookalikes are ten-a-penny – anyone can make Dirk Kuyt look like Sloth from the Goonies, or Peter Reid look like a monkey. It takes more to put two people together stylistically and functionally; players who remind you of one another, players who play like each other – players that could be clones of one another. Number four in our series: Shay Given and Jussi Jaaskelainen.

It may seem strange to pick two goalkeepers, as all they do is keep the ball out of the net; but then all defenders do is stop strikers scoring, and all strikers do is try and score… but there are huge variations in the way they do it. There are also variations in goalkeeping styles, but Given and Jaaskelainen are firmly on the one side, the excellent shot-stopper who are fond of a punch, the slightly smaller than average but hugely athletic keeper with amazing reflexes. Pepe Reina is another in this mould.

Given is only 6″1, relatively small for a keeper, and Jaaskelainen is only slightly taller than that. Contrast that with Van Der Sar, 6″6, David James, 6″5, and Petr Cech 6″6, and you can see the difference.

They don’t have the height, but compensate aplenty with their speed and agility. Given has made a huge difference to Man City since going there, instilling much needed confidence into the back five, and Jaaskelainen has helped Bolton punch above their weight for several years now. By making the spectacular saves, made necessary by their size and possible by their ability, they inspire team-mates and demoralise opponents. They look unbeatable because the saves they make are harder than those made by the bigger keepers.

Springy and strong, and the masters of last gasp incredible saves – both are masters of the double stop, jumping off the ground to deny a striker a second time – they are actually better to watch than a huge keeper who dominates the box, getting in the way of more shots, but not actually making as many good saves.

Shay and Jussi, for being entertaining goalkeepers who have an influence far beyond standing between the sticks, we salute you.

Number three in our series: Dimitar Berbatov and Eric Cantona.

Sir Alex Ferguson himself noted the similarities between the current and erstwhile Man Utd strikers – both hugely talented, both temperamental and mercurial, both at once hugely influential yet seemingly uninterested.

Sir Alex specifically identified the knack both had/have for scoring crucial goals – Cantona did on many occasions (perhaps most famously his fantastic FA cup final volley against Liverpool), and Berbatov is starting to; witness the solitary goal in last night’s win against Boro that kept United in touch with the leaders.

Both stand in excess of six foot; Cantona the bigger, but Berbatov nonetheless a physical presence, and perhaps the better in the air of the two (though Cantona was also an excellent header of the ball). But both belied their size with a superb first touch and the ability to do magical things with a football. Berbatov beating James Collins on the byeline will be one of the enduring memories of this season, and Cantona was equally skilful.

Not only in playing style, but also in personality, do these two geniuses evoke each other. Both exude arrogance on and off the pitch, marching around with a haughty insouciance, surrounded by a certain aura. Enigmatic and hugely charismatic, they appear a cut above the likes of Wayne Rooney even on a rain soaked mudbath in Wigan on a Monday night. Footballing aristocrats, if you will.

We will never forget Cantona’s remarkable assault on Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmonds – one of the most astounding things ever seen on a football pitch (or off it, depending on your viewpoint) – nor his pseudo-philosophical ramblings in the press conference that followed. While Berbatov is yet to ‘distinguish’ himself in similar fashion, and lacks the fiery temperament of Cantona, it somehow wouldn’t be surprising if he shoved himself in the limelight with a similarly self-destructive action.

For their footballing aura as much as their footballing ability, Eric Cantona and Dimitar Berbatov, two of the most gifted footballers to grace our shores, we salute you.

Let us leave you with this remarkable montage of Cantona’s finest moments in a Man Utd shirt – if Berbatov can come anywhere near matching this, he’ll have been a revelation.

A big thanks to our guest contributor Andrew ‘Tiger’ Walker – and he’s embraced one of our features, which we always like.

Playalikes: Number 2 – John Terry & Nemanja Vidic

Both these centre halves are colossuses. They are extremely dominant in the air at both ends of the pitch and chip in with their fair share of vital goals – Vidic as recently as Saturday evening against Sunderland.

They are exceptionally brave, both having suffered some sickening facial blows in the pursuit of clean sheets. In the world of Terry and Vidic, a tackle is not a tackle without taking a good thick slice of the man, not forgetting the ball.

Just as their strengths mirror each other, so does their most obvious weakness. Neither player is blessed with great pace, leaving them susceptible to rapid forwards in the Gabriel Agbonlahor mould. The Villa striker has scored twice against Chelsea in the last two seasons and just last month was brought down after outpacing Vidic at Villa Park, an offence for which the Serbian was lucky to escape a red card and/or penalty.

As such, Vidic and Terry are at their best alongside a more mobile centre half – step forward Rio Ferdinand and Ricardo Carvalho to complete the two most formidable central defensive partnerships in Europe.

Most apt phrase: ‘He’s better in the air than Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell’

Least apt phrase: ‘This lad would give Usain Bolt a run for his money’

Yep, that’s right. Playalikes.

Lookalikes are ten-a-penny – anyone can make Dirk Kuyt look like Sloth from the Goonies, or Peter Reid look like a monkey.

It takes more to put two people together stylistically and functionally; players who remind you of one another, players with similar styles – players that could be clones of one another.

The first in our series:

Xabi Alonso and Michael Carrick

These two players have virtually created their own position – the defensive midfielder who doesn’t actually defend, but sits in front of the back four picking passes.

They cannot tackle, cannot head, have no pace, don’t score many goals – but still play an invaluable role keeping the side ticking over, picking up the pieces and playing the simple ball, delivering delicious cross field passes.

They don’t get assists – theirs is not the final pass – but more often than not have played the ball early in the move, or picked up the loose ball and started the phase of play that led to the goal.

Both are immensely technically gifted with two good feet, and both have great footballing brains. They are ‘intelligent’ players, ‘technical’ players, ball players. They would be unique players, but there are two of them…

Xabi Carrick and Michael Alonso, for creating your own position, not tackling, scoring, heading, or creating, yet proving invaluable to your side, we salute you.

Most apt phrase: ‘Has a great range of passing’

Least apt phrase: ‘Tigerish tackling, burst of pace, won the header’