Liverpool FC Forum

[Scottbot]

I popped onto RAWK earlier to day and noticed a thread asking if Rafa should have kept Baros instead of bringing in Crouch? Well for me that was a complete no-brainer. Crouch brings far more to the table, is infinitely more suited to Rafas' preferred style of play and has done everything asked of him this season. But it did get me thinking that Baros would surely have made a bigger contribution to the team this season than either Cisse or Morientes.

I was a fan of Baros for some time and put up several posts on here defending the lad untill his attitude/comments to the press and ultimately his lack of goals let him down. However, he still made a real contribution to last seasons European cup success particulaly as he was the clubs only fit striker for much of the season. He hasn't set the world alight at Villa this season but then like last season, he has struggled with injuries just as he has looked like finding some form.

If you had the option and you could go back in time would you have sold Moro or Cisse instead of Baros last summer? would you do the swap tomorrow if it was the only deal we could get?

[Lando_Griffin]

TBH, almost any striker would be better than Morientes ATM.

As I remember it, though, it was Baros' whining which ultimately led to his sale.

Baros would have scored more goals than Mori, but then so would Diouf, and I wouldn't want that turd back.

We must move onwards, and although he'd have scored more goals than Mori, he still isn't good enough for LFC.

[RUSHIE#9]

As usual it's another of those 'what if' situations. You could say what if cisse hadn't have been injured and we'd have seen what he's really like last season would HE have been sold instead of baros; what if we hadn't have signed peter crouch would baros have still been a liverpool player, or most importantly and more likely is what if our strikers had all been scoring loads of goals this season would anybody have raised this question. I think that the last point is the more pertinent      one and to be honest i still think that rafa would have wanted rid of baros 'cos he simply was too greedy and just didn't suit his style of play that he wanted the team to be playing.

Come this time next season we'll probably be asking 'what if we hadn't signed defoe or ronaldo or kuyt or...' who knows, theres just no point in asking what if IMO we just need to get on with what we have.

[stmichael]

in a word no.

we have a go at cisse for his poor awareness and finishing but baros was no better. infact we should have sold him after euro 2004 when his price would have been at it's highest. in the end we nearly doubled our money anyway so it was a good piece of business.

crouch offers far far more and he's also scored more goals than baros this season, despite not scoring for his first 19 games.

[Bad Bob]

If put to the sword I'd swap Cisse for Baros.  They both are aggrevatingly unaware and are abyssmal when given a moment to think about things rather than relying on instinct but at least Baros worked hard for the team.

I still would not swap Morientes for Baros, though.  Yes, he's been a huge disappointment and, yes, he'll probably be on his way this summer after failing to adapt to the English game but he is still a canny veteran with a vast amount of experience at the highest level, who still happens to have good technique, despite his lack of goal threat and suspect finishing this season.  I'd just trust Nando more to deliver the goods in important situations.  For instance, I don't know that Baros would have laid the ball off for Fowler against Blackburn.  He'd probably would have had a crack himself and found the side netting.

Having said all that, though, I've had no regrets about shipping Baros out and I'll be just as glad to see the back of both Nando and Cisse.

[The Specialist]

I would swap either Cisse or Morientes for Baros, yes. Baros was frustrating to watch at times (Morientes is more frustrating than Baros to watch. Baros might have wasted chances, and run around like a headless chicken at times. But atleast he got himself into good positions, and looked like he might be able to score! A possibility was there). He also was a handfull for defenders and worked his socks off for the team. These two don't do that much at all. To be honest, I thought Baros looked excellent in pre-season (Scored a marvelous volley against some team or other, and had seemed to improve his awareness. I don't know if anyone remembers his assist for a Morientes goal back then, where every move of that play was top class from him (or "for him" but better perhaps). I think some people might as the reaction was "WTF? Is this  the same player?" Anyway, I was excited from those showings last summer and thought he would have a great season this time around. He was sold off, though, as we all know. With all this said, would I want him back at the club now? No. I just thought it was silly to sell him when we have the likes of Cisse and especially Morientes still at the club.

[RedWolf35]

why does everyone think that Nando is definitely off in the summer?

he's staying I am 100% sure



Rafa believes in him god knows why but he does

[JBG]

The Baros arguement has been done to death.

Milan Baros had his supporters for 2 and a half years calling for him to be a first team regular.

When he was promoted as our first choice striker he didn't cut musturd, simple as that.

[dawson99]

in a word no.

we have a go at cisse for his poor awareness and finishing but baros was no better. infact we should have sold him after euro 2004 when his price would have been at it's highest. in the end we nearly doubled our money anyway so it was a good piece of business.

crouch offers far far more and he's also scored more goals than baros this season, despite not scoring for his first 19 games.

thats more than one word, but im in total agreement. he wasnt doing it for us and we should have sold him as soon as he won top scorer in the euro champs. we woulda got a lot more money and hed be at a bigger club

[Bad Bob]

why does everyone think that Nando is definitely off in the summer?

he's staying I am 100% sure



Rafa believes in him god knows why but he does

Maybe it's wishful thinking Redwolf...

My view is that Rafa's certainly curtailed Nando's minutes after he finally put a couple of side-footers in a month back.  I read that to mean that Nando was played through the dry spell in order to give him a chance to find his confidence.  Unfortunately for him, the other strikers started scoring at the same time and looked more dangerous than him.  As such, Nando rarely gets a game anymore.

I personally think that Rafa's lost faith in him and I suspect that there will be several Spanish teams that would love to sign him this summer.  Knowing Rafa, he'll hold out for a decent transfer fee but won't hesitate to cut Nando loose.

[redsince2001]

considering we bought reina with the money we made 4m selling baros and since reina has managed 2 keep a lot of clean sheets resulting in us having the 2nd best defensive record in the league ....I would say no.

P.s, how many goals has he got 4 villa in the EPl?? he has been injured most of the time.

[Dundalk]

The Baros arguement has been done to death.

Milan Baros had his supporters for 2 and a half years calling for him to be a first team regular.

When he was promoted as our first choice striker he didn't cut musturd, simple as that.

Well thats it isnt it, he got his chance of main forward at the club so much so that he started the european cup final as our only forward, a game in which we scored 3 goals in

How many did he get?

[redsince2001]

Come this time next season we'll probably be asking 'what if we hadn't signed defoe or ronaldo or kuyt or...' who knows, theres just no point in asking what if IMO we just need to get on with what we have.







totally agree:p

[Garymac]

Why on earth should we have kept Baros?

Hes found his level at Villa now, just about, he scored a few goals for us against little clubs but how many do you remember against quality teams like, United, Arsenal, Chelsea and in Europe, he didnt make the grade and more importantly, didnt improve over 2 years, he is still that headless chicken now, that he was in 2003.

6 million was great business in my eyes.

[Scottbot]

Jesus, everyone jumped all over this.  It seems hapen a lot on here these days and is one of the reasons this forum is going to rats. I admit that Baros has been 'done to death' when he was at the club and he's probably been done a couple of times since. I probably should have just kept my thoughts to myself.

I just got thinking how unusual it is to have such a successful season (in terms of league progress, FA Cup run) and to do so with a group of strikers who have been (on the whole) awful for nearly the entire season. It's been a good season, i just wondered if it might have been a better season had we offloaded Cisse/Moro and stuck with Baros is all. Sometimes fans regret selling a player, even players they wanted to go at the time. I was curious to see how many (if any) were regretful that Milan left in the summer.