Is Samuel Eto'o the world's best striker?http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/piersedwards/2010/11/six_months_ago_the_question.htmlPiers Edwards
Six months ago the question couldn't have been asked but it's certainly relevant now following the coaching changes at Inter Milan, Diego Milito's recent absence and the goals, the endless goals: is there a better striker in the world right now than Samuel Eto'o?
The Cameroonian's goalscoring ability hasn't been in question since his Real Mallorca days but it was hidden under a bushel during Jose Mourinho's reign at the San Siro given the latter's preference for Milito to single-handedly spearhead this attack.
"When we had the chance to bring in Eto'o, I thought I could play 4-4-2 and 4-3-3," Mourinho has said. "I knew that in Europe you needed to be more balanced and Eto'o could give me that."
So the Portuguese bought the Indomitable Lion for his versatility which initially saw Eto'o deployed as Milito's partner before being withdrawn more and more onto the flanks until some were jokingly describing him as a full back.
It's impossible to knock the ploy though since Inter secured an historic treble - and Eto'o, for the record, says he's grateful for the unexpected modification to his game, one which displayed the depth of his footballing ability.
"I will never stop thanking Mourinho - he made me discover a different position," the 29-year-old has said. "I never imagined I could play there. He made me more complete and this gives me more security."
That said, the arrival of Rafa Benitez has unleashed the predatory beast that is the Douala-born destroyer, the man whose Barcelona spell brought 108 goals in 144 league games.
"With Mourinho we played on the counter-attack, with Benitez we press more and that's better for forwards because we win back the ball higher up the pitch and create more chances," Eto'o has said.
"For a forward it's important to play close to the goal. It's more complicated for me when playing on the wings."
Eto'o started out wide under Benitez but with greater freedom since he was largely relieved of his back-tracking duties and, with a point to prove after Cameroon's disappointing World Cup, the Indomitable Lion - 'I had a bad summer' - is back doing what he does best.
He's the leading scorer in both Serie A, with seven in nine, and the Champions League where he's red-hot - with seven in four. In his first game up front following Milito's injury, Eto'o bagged a hat-trick against Werder Bremen, and he's been there ever since.
And while the three-time African Footballer of the Year's finishing is impressing (not just the poacher's goals that were his bread-and-butter at Barca but also well-hit efforts from the edge of the box), so is his all-round game as well - particularly his movement and link-up play.
The weighting of Eto'o's passes are normally near-perfect, as his assists in the Champions League wins over Werder Bremen and Tottenham Hotspur showed.
His close control and first-touch are also world-class, able to kill a lengthy ball dropping over his shoulder (witness his sublime second against Bremen) or control any pass fired at him - as shown when scoring against Palermo or teeing up Dejan Stankovic in the 4-3 win at home to Spurs.
The Cameroonian gave a master class in the art of a forward in the first half of that match, making two and scoring two, the second a typical Eto'o strike where his run off the shoulder of the last defender was timed to perfection.
At White Hart Lane on Tuesday, Harry Redknapp's perfectly-executed tactics ensured Tottenham's midfield cut the crucial supply lines to Eto'o but the insatiable forward still brought Inter back into a match where they were over-run, scoring a beauty out of nothing to set Spurs hearts racing.
To be the world's best out-and-out striker at present, the Inter star would clearly have to be better than the usual cast. So is he?
For my money, the only man who can rival him at present is another African - Didier Drogba, whose form (like Eto'o's) has been unaffected by this summer's World Cup and who's bagged seven goals so far while creating another six.
Although their styles differ - one a battering ram of brute force strength who is good in the air and on the deck, the other a smaller more lithe version with a greater element of finesse - their unerring eye for goal is as good as their form this season.
The same cannot be said of other big names - David Villa and Diego Forlan - who are suffering a World Cup hangover, while recent pretenders to the throne of the world's best forward have dropped off: see Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres.
There is of course another man who's flying even if Cristiano Ronaldo is not an out-and-out striker, playing more central these days admittedly but in the hole behind Gonzalo Higuain. The winker kept Madrid in the title hunt last season, on his own at times, and he's picked up where he left off in La Liga, netting 11 in nine.
Lionel Messi has also been banging in the goals for Barcelona (12 now) despite not being at his best, fatigue seemingly taking its toll, but the Argentinian is another who cannot really be considered as a pointman.
Across Europe, there are dozens of strikers in good form (Nicolas Anelka and Fernando Llorente to name but two) but I guess the question, in true pub banter style, is this: if you had to choose a striker to convert a chance upon which your life depended, who would it be? I know mine.
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