Liverpool Striker Crisis

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

I didn't realise just what a bad situation they were in until i seen some shocking stats on Sky Sports News there.

In 2006 in both the CL and the EPL Cisse, Fowler, Crouch and Morientes haven't scored a single goal. Its around 10 games each they have played also.

Im sorry but that is absolutely shocking return for players that were bought for big money and on big wages, bar Fowler.

Few Liverpool fans here so maybe they could enlighten me to what the problem is?

Are they just missing chance after chance or are not many chances being created for them by the men behind them?

I'd be pretty worried at the minute if i was a Liverpool fan as they are going to struggle to stay with Man Utd if they ain't scoring goals.

[Burt Saddo]

never saw the game last night so I am just going on what was reported on Talksport, but they said Liverpool had 8 good chances to score in the first 20 minutes against Benfica so it would seem the chances are being made going on that report.

[Kop66]

Few Liverpool fans here so maybe they could enlighten me to what the problem is?

Aye, the're all shite, that's the problem well nearly

We create chance after chance every game we play but it's just not happening in front of goal.

Worst offender for me is Morientes, he rarely looks confident and the sooner he buggers off back to Spain the better. Rafa has to much confidence in him and it's not working.

Cisse is an out and out striker and is never going to score a goal being asked to play down by the corner flag, i would like to see Rafa play him as a central striker for 3 back to back games, just to see if it improves things.

Crouch, has some good performances and is a menace to defenders but my 7yr old daughter gets more power in her shots and headers than him, he should only play in certain games, not the majority imo.

Robbie has had 3 chalked off now and his positioning off the ball is second to none, he'll start winning games for us soon.

[all_funkt_up]

Kiko - our saving grace is the fact that up to now we havent conceded many.

We have on average 15 shots per game in the Premiership. Of these, we convert around about 1 in 13. Thats why we are where we are. We have had the most shots on goal of any Premiership team this year infact and yet have a very poor return.

Crouch, Cisse and Morientes have yet to bag a Premiership goal this year. Between them they have 37 Prem starts without a goal (since NYE). Thats the equivalent of a full premiership season almost. Fowler at least has had 3 disallowed and has therefore shown that he still has the nack. Just a matter of time til he scores but it isnt enough.

Crouch and Morientes are played in too similar a role for me. They need someone to play off them, someone that offers something different. Crouch and Nando are slow as hell and hinder us on the break. Beggars belief that we have Cisse on the bench and these 2 lumbering in tandem up front. I would play Crouch with Cisse and Nando with Garcia as they are 2 partnerships that should work better. It pisses me off frankly that Cisse has never been given a chance. He gets 13 minutes here and there and is then stuck on the wing isolated and sulking. I would give him 5 games up front to prove himself. I am sure given a bit of faith he can score and isnt that bad a player. Sod's law says we let him go for fuck all next summer and he is top scorer wherever he plays next year.

Lets be honest though, this situation is of rafa's doing. We have a one dimensional strikeforce who have no confidence and then Mellor and Sinama on loan!!!! Sinama looked great v Luton then we loan him out. He doesnt mind playing wide right and can drift inside too an play as a second striker. Something we are lacking at the moment. He is something different, someone different to bring on and letting him go on loan was definitely a mistake IMO. I cant see that (a) we are better without him (b) playing at blackburn will improve him or (c) that we got a lot of money for loaning him.

Senseless waste IMO having them out on loan.

Fowler will come good and Crouch has potential. Cisse can yet redeem himself but Morientes is a definite one for the Transfer Window.

[all_funkt_up]

Oh and worth noting that Baros has 10 goals in 23 games this season and he's only 24. I was very sad to see him go, arguably we are weaker this year than last up front. Just when we need strength in depth and pace up top, we have neither

[Winrew]

Morientes couldnt hit a cows arse with a banjo

[crowie]

Its always amazed me why Cisse is never the number 1 striker but the majority of the postings on the Betfair forum by Pool fans say he is crap. Have to say I haven't watched Liverpool games closely enough to agree/disagree but as Kop/AFU said, he is never going to show his best as a right winger, which he isn't. He seems to have a decent record at international level, is fast and strong and had a decent scoring record in France did he not, where goals ain't exactly easy to come by. Personally I would give him the rest of the season up front as number 1 striker.

I have never been convinced by Crouch. He has the obvious advantage in the air but he just doesn't look like a footballer and as Kop says, his 7 year old (girl) could hit a ball harder Could possibly be used up front as a target man to provide lays offs, flick ons for Cisse but you still need him to get at least double figures in goals a season as a 2nd striker.

As for Robbie, well the Pool fans love him but I personally thing he is a squad/bench player at best nowadays, someone to come on with 20 mins to go and snatch a winner. I don't see him as a starter every week or a first choice, basically if he wasn't a first choice for Man City, he shouldn't be for Liverpool. Only problem with keeping him as a supersub is that it looks like Robbie needs games and match fitness and he isn't going to get that sitting on the bench for 3/4's of the game every week.

Morientes is a bizarre one, great season in the CL the season before he joined, good strike rate at Real, Spanish internationalist but looks short of confidence and slow as a cart horse. Maybe he just isn't suited by the physical nature of the English game as you surely don't become a bad a player as he looks over night.

Personally I would give Cisse the rest of the season, if he does the biz then get someone to partner him next season, keep Crouch and Fowler as bench options for either the poacher or long ball options late in the game.

[prsljen31]

Nando needs just a smart,first pass player around him to show his class and I think that is the reason that Fowler joined Reds.Crouch is a dummy,Cisse lacks a brain cells,he is 100m runner at his best......Fowler-Nando could work for us,but we aren`t have much time.Other problem for us is that we have so strong midfield and we are without proper right winger,Liverpool style is to have big man in the middle and great wingers,and we have that originaly when Steve G and Harry are in the squad,but than we have Xabi almost alone in midfield cause Momo and Didi have luck of creativity for upfront players........Rafa needs badly someone like Joaquin,someone pacey and classy,Garcia is decent player,great player,but he isn`t pure winger,just as Harry isn`t pure cause his crosses and not good enough,but he has pace and skills and can play that role in this moment........

[cains]

imo cisse has not got enough time upfront this season.. I think he could be the quality target man, we need... But he has to be used as that then..

Morientes.. (first express flight to spain)

Fowler.. As mentioned.. Not good enough for city, not good enough for pool.. But can be used as sub..

crouch.. Enough said about him.. And agree with the rest of the post.. Not good enough..

If we should need crouch upfront, to take the long balls down, then we need 2 attackers beside him.. Cisse and some one else..

But hey, we have played with 3 attackers before, and still not scored a single game...
But we produce over 20chances each game..

Cant believe benitez is saying defence was the problem agains benfica..

[fasteddy]

Interesting to read all the views here, but I don't thinks it's fair to say that Liverpool have a 'striker crisis', when in reality... taking the stats into account and using Liverpool as a measure of what constitutes a crisis, you can put most of the EPL in the same category.

As a rough guide I always think your best striker should have double the tally of your best midfielder...my own thing, so argue all you want, no probs...

How many sides actually meet this very 'rough' criteria?...take a moment, don't rush now.....ok. The answer is ....11.

Who are they? Who are these clubs that have a solid and productive strikeforce/striker doing the job they were brought in to do? ...or more importantly, which 9 clubs have an attack that don't stamp their authority on the side?
Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Bolton, Man City, Blackburn, Birmingham, Sunderland , Portsmouth.
All of them usually have at least 2 up front, yet they don't get the returns.

Is it formation?:
Spurs play 2 up front and bang them in, Manyoo are lethal , Arsenal is "Thierry" but he often plays a wider role and isn't always as central as some, West Ham do it week in week out, Charlton have Bent, Wigan and even West Brom!...you know the others.

Liverpool have a 'squad scoring crisis' :everyone is to blame. They play in such a way that they often bypass the role of the 'real' strikers. Think when Kewell or Gerrard is on one of their runs...it's like a wave of red approaching the box...they're all looking for it. When it works it is good to watch, but when the goals cease to fly in, even though the players still do, the fingers point to the strikers....that is unfair. Can only piss them off. It would me.

Rafa is at fault for instilling this 'everyone have a chance, have a go' mentality, just like Jose at Chelsea. Of course it is of great benefit to have threatening players all over the park, but it seems like they want to pressure their attack , remind them that there are others to fill their shoes,
..Why? are they thinking that this will keep them on their toes?

'Winning games in which you were not required'.... is how it could be seen.

Liverpool are lucky to have such a sterling defence because many times this season their 'all for one , one for all' goal scoring methodology has left them wide open to counters, balls over the top etc...
DO THE JOB YOU'RE PAID TO DO..before trying to do someone else's!

The midfield should not have 'scoring' goals as their KEY priority...'setting up' goals-yes, assists-yes..all good.
I wonder what the midfield would say if the saw their entire defence flying past them, shouting back over their shoulders " Mind the goals for us...we want a pop!"
....never happens, nor does the any exchange between areas , really, EXCEPT up front...that's where the GLORY is, isn't it?

I may be digressing,with slight exaggeration, but my point is that if , in this case Liverpool, paid more attention to the relative roles of the squad, and their individual responsibilites, maybe your strikers would have the time to score more often, maybe they would see more of the friggin ball!, MAYBE they would FEEL like strikers....get a groove on ...and bang them in.

Now that Stevie G and the rest have lost their touch, it's ok to step back and leave the strikers in the spotlight?...bollocks.

[prsljen31]

Great stuff FastEddy,just great............

[all_funkt_up]

Disagree eddy. If the strikers werent getting the service, then I could well say that it was a team problem. They squander so many good chances its untrue.

The simple fact of the matter is that when we were on our great run at the start of the season - the midfield were scoring for us.

Our strikers didnt open their account from open play until mid-October. Mid October FFS, I dare say that Ruud and Henry were on double figures by that point! Simply not good enough is it!? Zenden, Gerrard, Alonso and Garcia masked our failures up front. Now they have stopped scoring, we are failing.

Chelsea have enough good players to ensure that they dont need a talisman. Within a game or 2, Chelsea will have 3 players in double figures. Still isnt good enough I know and a decent striker played reguarily would bag more. Liverpool would be lucky to have one player on double figures come the end of the season

If we had Yakubu up front, we would finish second this year. We simply dont have a pacey goal scorer who can guarantee 15 plus goals per year. I dont think its fair to criticise the midfield for scoring or taking shots - maybe it underlines a lack of confidence in the strikeforce.

It should take a turn for the better now that Luis Garcia is back, errr maybe not this weekend but we will beat Fulham at least on Wednesday.

[all_funkt_up]

5-1 Liverpool

Fulham must be bad.

Crisis, what crisis.

Cisse is up front, running at players. Created 2 goals and nearly scored a minute ago himself. Deffo one to watch on Sky Sports 1 - highlights at 10pm

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bring on the Tooooooooooon at the weekend

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[christianu]

How was Fowler?

[Kop66]

Deffo one to watch on Sky Sports 1 - highlights at 10pm

Nice one AFU, didnt realise it was on