We need to stop blaming the strikers. It's the most elementary of football analysis to blame the strikers when the goals stop flowing. It's so basic as to be useless, and it's incredibly annoying to see everyone complaining about Dzeko and Balotelli as if they're the issue.
The team as a whole is failing miserably. Tevez has 2 goals in his last 12 games. Even prior to that we were mostly getting by on solid defensive efforts and Tevez making the most of our scant chances, and that isn't sustainable by anyone, it is bound to lead to scoring droughts.
Dzeko has done a lot of good things in our shirt, but we haven't been close to capable going forward in a manner to make him, Carlos, or Balotelli into a serious threat. Forwards threaten when they're able to take on a stretched or misplaced defense, and we've been completely unable to stretch or disorient a defense pretty much all season. Liverpool opened us up last night by beating our midfield and forcing the defenders to stretch wide, it opened up space for a few deflected balls to find some talented players in dangerous positions, but our slow attack rate and lack of midfield means that these opportunities don't present themselves for our strikers, which means they basically either have to take on 4 or 5 guys, get on the end of a corner kick, or wait for Silva to threat a needle and take a half chance. None of these are good, sustainable scoring options.
Our problem has been and continues to be the midfield. When people talk about the service a striker receives, it can't be limited to the idea of crosses being lobbed into the box--that's only one aspect. We've just been shockingly incapable of turning defense into offense and creating a break that affords strikers the space and options needed to truly unlock a defense. When a player like Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez manages to struggle scoring it's preposterous to me that people look at them or Dzeko and blame them for an inability to score. Our woes are in getting these players into positions where scoring is anything more than a prayer, we're not generating nearly enough chances, breaks, or stretching, and we're paying a very heavy price for it.
