By Sandy Lerman THIS is a contentious subject: Do QPR need a 20-goal-a-season striker? This question has been the basis of heated debate amongst Rangers fans for quite some time. It took on greater urgency in the summer, when we off-loaded our top scorer

By Sandy Lerman

THIS is a contentious subject: Do QPR need a 20-goal-a-season striker?

This question has been the basis of heated debate amongst Rangers' fans for quite some time. It took on greater urgency in the summer, when we off-loaded our top scorer from last season, Dexter Blackstock, to a rival Championship team, where he was scoring quite regularly until his recent injury.

We also let Heidar Helguson go out on loan. And even though Helguson didn't exactly fire us to glory last season, he is still a striker. Who was going to score goals for us?

There was Rowan Vine and Patrick Agyemang, of course, but both players were returning from long-term injuries. We added Alessandro Pellicori - but he is a complete unknown hardly featuring for us this season due to injury. Oh yes! What about Angelo Balanta - no, same story as Pellicori!! So we brought in Jay Simpson from Arsenal on loan.

That list hardly inspires confidence, does it? And yet, a quick glance at the league table shows that Rangers currently have the third best scoring record in this division (behind West Brom and Cardiff).

We have scored more goals at home than any other team (although not quite as many on the road). And, as we are all well aware, in the space of six consecutive games, Rangers scored a total of 18 goals. Impressive statistics!

Simpson, with seven goals, is now our top scorer, one ahead of Wayne Routledge and Akos Buzsaky (both midfielders). Adel Taarabt, Gavin Mahon, Mikele Leigertwood and Ben Watson (all midfielders) have added to our tally, while Vine and Agyemang (our original strikers), have scored one apiece.

In other words, we have been scoring goals all over the pitch: strikers and midfielders have been doing the job that we have so desperately called for one man to do. Isn't that better? If we had to rely on just one player for all those goals, would we be doing as well now as we are?

One striker is usually targeted by the opposition. Whereas, when two or three defenders descend on say, Routledge, it takes one decent pass to an unmarked Rs player and we're in with a scoring opportunity. Clever, right?

Rangers are playing as a team and scoring as a team. And, at least in my opinion, that is preferable for creating and scoring goals, rather than relying on just one, 20-goal-a-season player. What do you think?