It’s obvious why Liverpool are out of the title race and now out of the FA Cup — it’s because there’s a large Luca Toni-shaped hole where their first choice centre forward should be.
Sure, you could blame Saturday’s FA Cup defeat by second division Barnsley on the decision to leave Torres, Gerrard and Reina out of the starting line-up, or perhaps, being kind to Rafa Benitez, on the instability of the club following the takeover.
That would be to miss the point. On Saturday at Anfield it was a familiar story for Liverpool fans, as Benitez’s team played some lovely stuff at times, yet failed to beat inferior opposition.
Red Floyd at Have You Ever Been To Liverpool summed it up with, ”We just can’t finish sides off, be it Barnsley and anyone else.”
It’s often pointed out that Benitez has a good record on transfers, and that’s true in the sense that there have been only a few costly disasters (see Paul Tomkins’s blog for an exhaustive list). There’s one thing Benitez has been unable to do, however, and that’s find a centre forward he can trust.
The Spaniard let Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse go, to be replaced by Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin. Yet none of those players has been an unqualified success as a striker. Certainly the coach doesn’t seem satisfied with any of them.
Fernando Torres has had a great first season but Benitez knew when he signed him that the former Atletico Madrid man is a second striker rather than an out-and-out centre forward.
What Liverpool might have achieved this season with a player like Luca Toni up front. Bayern Munich signed the Italian World Cup winner from Fiorentina for just 11 million euros and he’s enjoying a spectacular first season in the Bundesliga.
His hat-trick against Hanover 96 on Sunday took his total in the league to 13 goals in 18 games, and his overall tally to 22 in 26 competitive matches.
Toni is an uncomplicated player, blessed with patience, much neater control than many in Germany were expecting and a ruthlessness that Liverpool’s current forwards do not possess. All that for 11 million euros.
Of course, there are other players as good, if not better than Toni. Ruud van Nistelrooy would have suited Liverpool just as well, or they could have taken a chance on other out-and-out goalscorers like Eduardo da Silva or Afonso Alves. Then maybe questions like this one at Liverpool Pies wouldn’t even have been raised.
I wrote on this blog some time ago that in Fernando Torres Liverpool may have found their new Dalglish. Sadly, they’re no nearer to finding a new Ian Rush.
Kevin Fylan, Berlin
PHOTO:Toni celebrates his second goal against Hannover, February 17, 2008. REUTERS/Christian Charisius
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12 comments so far
Also, thieves broke into Luca Toni’s Italian villa this weekend, so in a way he might as well have been living in Liverpool.
- Posted by BrianHe certainly is an English type of centre forward, not like Del Piero, Baggio and the like.
- Posted by Claudia PennettaHe is powerful, sometimes a bit lumbering, but certainly does the business. He was a late starter in football and is making up for it now. Fiorentina were surprised when he chose Bayern, but surprisingly there wasnt much other interest except for vague talk from Milan.
He would have suited the Premier League perfectly. Can’t imagine him playing with Torres though.
- Posted by Mark MeadowsBrian, I wish I’d thought of that…
- Posted by Kevin FylanYeah he may have made a difference but every other week he’d find himself eating a cornetto on the bench with the other ‘rested’ unfortunates. To my mind there is one big reason why Liverpool’s seasons under Benitez have been stuttering and that is the ludicrous ROTATION policy. Players have to play together regularly so they can understand patterns of play, gain an appreciation of styles and therfore start to anticipate movements. Rotation will never allow players to get on the same wavelength. You have to keep playing the same 8 or 9 players each week or we will never succeed in the league. If Benitez hasn’t got this yet perhaps he never will??
(Notice how he’s now referre to as Benitez rather than Rafa now)
- Posted by JimIf Liverpool had signed Luca Toni… - Reuters Soccer Blog
I am loving the Luca Toni hype at the moment. He is good tho, although I remember putting him in my fantasy team for the world cup and he did fuck all.
- Posted by footballfilter.comI agree on the rotation. Liverpool’s problems realy started when the coach decided to drop Torres. The defence has been reasonably settled, I think (or at least it was at the start of the season) but you never know what combination of midfielders/forwards will be on the team sheet from one game to the next.
- Posted by Kevin FylanSaw today, by the way, that Atletico are supposedly eager to snap up Benitez. http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbo l/1a_division/atletico/es/desarrollo/109 1311.html
No idea if there’s any truth to that, but I’m sure Rafa wouldn’t have any shortage of offers.
- Posted by Kevin FylanAgree, Jim, players need to play together regularly.
- Posted by DaveA very good piece Kevin. But we must remember not necessarily have players succeeded in the Premier league, despite being great in Europe. Fernando Morientes is one excellent example. He was shipped in with great expectations but shipped out after a dismall performance.
- Posted by Nachiket KelkarAnd yes the ROTATION policy has to change so the players can start to play as a team and develop a better coordination, that will help them see teams off.
Very good article and I agree with Jim too. Practice is the best way to success.
- Posted by Andrew ObserverVery good article, Kevin. And I agree with Jim too, practice is the best way to success: it gives better team feeling.
- Posted by Andrew Observer