Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:19 am

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not asking anyone to judge Nando based on last nights kickabout. Truth is, I have had grave concerns for some time that his undoubted class and technical ability are not going to be allowed to flourish in English football.
He doesn't seem to be blessed with an abundance of pace, so playing off the shoulder of the last man is clearly not an option. This would indicate that he will probably drop into the hole and get involved in link-up play. Despite his deftness of touch however, he is desperately short on upper body strength it seems to me. His ball protection and retention is not good enough, while he often gets beaten to the ball by his marker when it's played into his feet.
He obviously has a good spring so crosses into the box should provide him with a goal or two, similarly he seems to a decent hit with both feet so may score the odd one from distance. My problem is that he has the look of a striker that will continually find it difficult to influence a game over here save for the odd goal here and there. He has the look of a 8-10 Premiership goals a season man with little or no extra input to me. Not a disaster but not enough if we're to gatecrash the top three and the title race.
I hope I'm wrong because he's obviously a very talented player who is easy on the eye but I ask the question, would he get a game at any of the top three based on what we have seen?

by **jonnymac1979** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:54 am

I've read a few people saying he's suited to the lone striker role as well. I'm not personally convinced about that, if I'm going on the Carling cup final last season. Saying that he wasn't fit then. But, and it's a big but, when he finished top scorer in the Champions League for Monaco, was he not the furthest player up the field getting on the end of quality crosses? This guy can indeed play. He just needs time.

I think we'll see a little bit of over-reaction today on Morientes. If he would have slotted those two chances in the first half last night, we would have been walking in at half-time last night 4-0 up. You wouldn't have hard a murmur about his game last night then.

As it turned out, it just didn't happen for him last night no matter what he was trying to pull off. One of those nights. The best players have them sometimes.

I think Rafa knows how he wants us to eventually play. He will utilise the skills Morientes possesses to good effect. I think we'll see a lot more of him this season Mick. Doesn't really answer your question, but one thing I want to see more of this season is this man in the air. Did you see the spring this guy has got? He can outjump ANYONE when attacking crosses.

by **Ciggy** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:54 am

I hope he does come good Mick, He is a class player, it would be a shame if he could'nt cut it.
He will probably score quite a few in the CL, once he finds his form again.
But we are still very short on the striker front, now it looks like baros is a goner.
I would pull out all the stops to bring Michael Owen back, a few will say your joking, well no Im not.
Think about it the WC next year he will be only warming Reals bench and he will be wanting to play for Sven and be first choice.
Him and Cisse had a great pre season in the USA.
And I am positive him and Morientes would be a great partnership.
Bring back Michael please rafa.

by **hawkmoon269** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:35 am

I think Nando will do ok. He is lacking confidence, and the quality crosses, which he feeds off - Zenden looks promising on this front! Lets wait until he is match fit (and sharp) until we pass final judgement!

Remember too, he scored twice at Wrexham

by **laza** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:38 am

I definately not worried about Mori at the moment , though im still waiting to see if Cisse can cut the mustard as the my jury was still out on him before his terrible injury. While full credit to him for almost miracle return, he has yet to prove himself as a 14 million pound striker and with current Baros situation it is a concern that we have a strike force that hasnt exactly set the league alight in goal scoring
I certainly welcome Michael Owen back with open arms

by **The Ace1983** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:47 pm

Fernando Morientes can do it, Rafa would not have brought him in if he couldn't. He was part of one of, if not "The", greatest strike force of all time at Real. Maybe we need to bring our team up to that quality for him to function properly, and what an incentive that is. In all fairness, he's still finding his feet and eventually he will show us what he has shown the world. Pure Class. Rafa Knows, oh yes, Rafa knows...
:eyebrow

by **JBG** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:01 pm

I remember you making comments about Morientes last season Mick and those comments came back to me last night.

His performance against TNS reminded me of a performance he put in against Crystal Palace.

He looked very sluggish over the first 3 or 4 yards.

It could be the case that its simply down to a lack of match fitness. However, Rafa has been saying that about him since January.

We desperately need Nando to come good because if he fires on all cylinders, it can help bridge the gap. He needs a decent run in the side and hopeuly he'll play in most of the qualifiers and manages to stay injury free.

by **stmichael** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 2:20 pm

I agree that Morientes was poor last night, but there seems to be a general worry about where our goals are gonna come from full stop. Well Rafa has never had a 20+ goal scorer in any of his teams yet has been highly successful.

Last year, Chelsea won the Premiership at a canter, without any player scoring more than 15 goals in the League. It doesn't matter who scores, as long as nobody is deadweight and everybody chips in. For years, we relied too heavily on Fowler and Owen to score our goals. Now, given a good number of games, and barring injuries, I would expect both Morientes and Cisse to score 15+ each this season. When you then consider that the likes of Gerrard and Garcia should also eventually end up in double figures, thing's aren't so bad after all.

Blowing the Budget on a striker (and who? by the way) is madness when it's blatantly obvious that we desperately need a new centre back.

by **LFC #1** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:01 pm

JBG wrote:I remember you making comments about Morientes last season Mick and those comments came back to me last night.

So do I JBG.

That thread started some really good debate about whether Nando would cut it here or not.

Nando is class their is no doubt about it, but he has said himself he doesn't fancy the physical side of the game and he may never prove to be the world class striker we want him to be in the league. Europe however is a whole different kettle of fish. The slower pace of the game in Europe allows more tiem on the ball, and Nando has an excellent first tocuh and is a great link-up striker, and the extra space and tiem in the Euroepean game allows him to play to his strengths.

He is also a fantastic header of the ball and
hopefully Figo will come to LFC and renew his partnership with Nando which was so effective when the two played together at Real Madrid. I rember one game whwn Nado scored 5 goals and I think 4 of them were headers on the end of a Figo cross.

by **LFC #1** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:54 pm

Bigmick's original thread.

by **JohnBull** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:01 am

No.
Bring back Owen.

by **dawson99** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:17 pm

i like nando, but baros and cisse have hit the floor running this pre-season it seems and i dont know if nando would be first choice. His confidence is low but if he gets on a nice little run i think he is one of the best in europe at what he does.

I like nando, maybe its because of the chanps league. i was wasted when we won (werent we all) but my lasting memory is benitez talking to nando. Nando looked happier than anyone and he wasnt even playing. It was just a nice moment ok?

Its too early to say: get rid, bring back owen. Lets see what nando can do for us, the guy ahs a lot to offer, and im just hoping he gets the chance to offer it in fron of us

by **A.B.** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:40 pm

Give Morientes a full season before you pass your final judgements on him, we're talking about bringing back Owen after three pre-season games.

by **XSD** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 1:02 am

Even if he doesn't cut it in the premiership he's a useful player to have onboard for the Champions League games. His ability in Europe could never be questioned, and it provides us more options when we need to rotate the squad between a midweek CL tie and the weekend premiership fixture.

by **lakes10** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:19 pm

I took some stick last year for saying that he was past his best.

I now dont think that but what i do think is that he is not cut out for prem football, i an sure he will still get us a few goals this year and you can bet thay will be good ones but he needs to stick in 25 goals a year.

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Fernando morientes. - Can he cut it in england.

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