How in the name of god is someone who's just turned 22 a failure? In his first season he was doing ok then went 17 games or so without a goal due to being burnt out, which would have happened with a lot of players who'd played such a high octane game in their first full season of professional football.
Yes your midfielders and wingers are there to create chances but nowadays your forwards do too, how many teams do you find who have 2 strikers who both hit 20+ goals? Not very many, because you often have a striker who gets 20ish and another who chips in with 10-12 and a few assists. As I said, Warne got what, 10 in both his seasons here? But he created a boatload of chances for others by chasing lost causes and harrying defenders into mistakes etc, so are we gonna sit here and slag Warne off for not being prolific enough?
In our side last season we couldn't create chances to save our lives, so if I got offered a striker who could create chances simply through working hard, I'd accept that offer, on the grounds that the more players we have who can create chances (whether through technical ability on the ball, or movement/pressure off it), the better.
Kuqi wasn't just slated for the chances he missed, he was slated for his attitude and decision making. Yes Tounkara misses chances and makes the wrong decision at times, but the difference is he's just turned 22 whereas Kuqi is approaching 36.
I don't get what the problem is with us taking a chance on him, I don't think he'll be asking that much £ wise, he seems to have his head screwed on, and will work hard for the team. He is rough around the edges but I think there's potential in him. No one is saying he'll be a week in, week out starter for us, but on a 12 month deal with the option of another year he's worth a shot. If it doesn't work out, he goes in 12 months. If he fires in 12 and gets a few assists, we can take out the option of the second year. If he does even better, we can take up the safety option of the second year and maybe get a few grand for him.
I see what you're saying with regards to strikers being there to score goals, but to write a 22 year old off as a 'failure' because his strike rate isn't madly impressive is ludicrous, time is still on his side.