by Rafa D » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:26 pm
I was about to start a thread a few days ago that has something to do with this. I actually got about half way through, read it and realised I was waffling on quite a bit so I will have another go.
Recent News suggests that Voronin has signed a pre-contract agreement to play for us next year. When I first heard this my first thought was of initial surprise. He is 27 years of age and his 6 goals is not exactly setting the Bundesliga on fire at the moment. However his signing did get me thinking about the reasoning Rafa would have behind such a surprising transfer.
At Liverpool we have been blessed with brilliant forwards over the years. The most recent are Rush, Fowler and Owen. These 3 strikers would virtually guarantee us goals in the 20+ bracket. How we failed to win a Premiership in the 90's with these strikers all on the books never ceases to amaze me. Rafa's reign unfortunately co-incided with the departure of arguably our best ever forward Micheal Owen. We can all think now what might have been and what could of happened but its not worth it, Rafa came in and Owen left.
Rafa "inherited" our record buy Dibs Cisse, Milan Baros and little else in the striking department. Our top scorer that year was either Garcia or Gerrard with a paltry 13 goals. I know Milan was in double figures but not many poss . 10 or 11 goals and Cisse was injured for the majority of the season. So because of the little striking options and the servere injuries we had that year, it is not worth analysing.
However the years after makes far more interesting points to consider about our strikers.
Crouch, Cisse, Morientes, Fowler, Kuyt and Bellamy are all strikers of a high quality. Look at Morientes for example. He is a legend in Spain, much like our God here. His record is phenomonal and he is truly a world class striker. He regularly broke the 20 goal a season barrier for Real Madrid and also for Monaco on loan. When we signed him we had some player on our hands. However he never seemed to quite cut it in a red shirt. In 51 games for us, he scored a paltry 12 goals. He has scored that amount in 20 games for Valencia already this season. Some point to the culture clash, the different styles of the Premiership. Maybe.
Cisse. Came here with a big fee and a big reputation. He scored goals for fun in Ligue 1 in France and won the golden boot 2 years on the bounce. It seemed like we were buying goals. However, many times he failed to produce. He may not be the most gifted player technically, but he did have electric pace and must of had something about him to score as often as he did, and is now doing again in the French Ligue. He scored 9 goals in 33 league games for us last year. 9. Some will point to Rafa's reluctance to play him up front. Maybe.
Dirk Kuyt. "He's a 20/20 player" according to Martin Jol who chased him so feverently in the summer before Dirk turned them down and became a legend in the making at Anfield. 20 goals and 20 assists, according to Jol. His record in Holland is amazing. The last 3 years there for are Dirk read 25 goals, 36 goals, and 22 goals. Thats more impressive than the famous horse faced cunt that played down the road for the Scum. Since he has been here, he has shown us all what he can do and we are very pleased with what he has done. His reading of the game is brilliant, his movement top notch and he is really starting to get to grips with the English football. His 9 league goals in 21 appearances don't read too bad to be honest and surprised me a little. However still not as impressive as his Dutch goal record. "Yeh buts thats because the Dutch Leagues a piece of piss". Maybe.
I could do this about the other strikers, Crouch and Bellamy but I won't. Crouch and Bellamy both scored goals regularly and in high numbers before they became one of us. All our strikers over the past 2 years that have been brought in, have scored goals, and lots of them. However the frequency of there goals seemed to have dried up when they pulled on that famous red shirt, why?
The quality of our league? the different culture? Maybe. But in my mind, its all down to tactics. Some of you won't like this but Rafa's tactics are not set out to be kind to strikers. He likes compact teams, hard working teams, and tracking back teams and the strikers our part of this team. Like he said, he prefers the goals to come from all over the pitch. Look at his Valencia blueprint. His strikers there were not prolific, but they won the league playing the way he wants to play.
Look at how we set out defending corners for example. Every one of our players are in our box defending. Compare that to United who leave at least one player on the counter or Mourinho who sometimes has the cheek and the balls to leave 3 players on the half way line!
We went on a record breaking run of clean sheets last year. The defence got all the plaudits, but look a little deeper. Look at how much Crouch, Mori and Dibs helped out in defence and the ground they covered tracking back etc. Our whole team contributed to that amazing run and Rafa and Gerrard were very keen to point that out in interviews.
Also the rotation policy of Rafa is least beneficial to the strikers. More often than not, the strikers are probably the most rotated part of the team. Its a common known fact, strikers need games to get into a ryhthm. Aldo will tell you this time and time again on match day on 96.7. The stats don't reflect this.
It makes me realise why Rafa has gone for a player with Voronins attributes. He's hardworking, and a team player.
Rafa likes to defend from the front line for better or worse. The strikers natural attacking instinct has to be curbed for the good of the team - it could also be the reason why the less agile, but more instinctive finisher Robbie Fowler has had so little playing time this year. Some might not be happy with it, but I trust Rafa knows what he is doing, and has the medals to go with it. So I'd lay off the strikers to be honest, there all out there doing their bit for the team and at the end of the the day thats what matters most.
The Team.
Sammy Lee wears Liverpool undies
