2005 was a superb year for Liverpool Football Club. We saw a fifth European Cup victory and some real progress of the team’s performances in the Premiership. The last two weeks may make you feel that our progress hasn’t been as Rafalutionary as it seemed, but I think you’d be wrong.
The games against the Mancs and Chelsea were so depressing, but there were plenty of positives to take from them that really emphasised the progress we are making. Both of these games were away from home and you would have expected home teams such as these to have dominated the play and possession against us. This certainly wasn’t the case and in both games we were clearly the better side in almost every area of the pitch. I say almost because clearly we were not as good in front of goal and in this time of reflection, that is the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb about our team.
In the Houllier years we actually did the double over the Mancs in two consecutive years. How good did that feel? The truth is though, this disguised the fact that in most of these games we weren’t actually the better side. This year we clearly were the better side with the glaring exception of our strikers.
We can’t expect miracles, at least not in the space of time since Rafa took over. We don’t have the Russian billions of Chelsea or the commercial greed of the Mancs. What we do have is a manager who has moved the club on leaps and bounds in just 18 months.
Rafa’s purchases have on the whole been good. Alonso is clearly the shining light of these and Reina has been very solid despite apparently pulling a machete out of his shorts yesterday and slicing Robben within an inch of his life. Sissoko alternates between dogged and wayward but shows good promise and Garcia is frustrating at times but has shown his class at key moments. If any of Rafa’s purchases require questioning though, it is perhaps in the forward line.
Morientes, £6.5M from Real Madrid – wow, were we all delighted when we finally got Nando. A proven quality goalscorer in La Liga and the Champions League, here was a nailed-on certainty to be a Kop superstar. So why hasn’t it worked? To be honest, it’s a difficult one. There don’t seem to be many weaknesses in his game. Okay, he’s not quick but he’s got pretty much everything else in his armoury. The only thing I can think of is that he’s just a bit of a wuss. The English League is very physical compared to the Spanish or French leagues and with big defenders like John Terry and Einstein Ferdinand roughing him up when they can, perhaps he just doesn’t like it up ‘im.
Crouch, £7M from Southampton – we all took a sharp intake of breath and thought it was a lot of cash but Rafa must know what he’s doing so that’s good enough for us. So, has it worked? The short answer is no. The better answer is that we are probably expecting too much from him. He needs a goalscorer to play alongside him. Crouch has shown that he’s better with his feet than we thought he would be but he’s not as good in the air as we thought he’d be. His aggression has been questioned and he does seem to be a bit lightweight against defenders in the area.
Fowler, free from Man City – could he be the answer? It was so exciting against Birmingham. The overhead kick was agonising to be ruled offside. He did enough to give us hope though that he could be what we are looking for. Having missed out on Owen (who would have been ideal to play with either Morientes or Crouch) we so badly need Fowler to be back to something approaching his best. If he doesn’t do it then I feel we may be struggling until we find someone who can.
Our three biggest rivals have some of the best finishers in the game over recent years. Crespo, though we may currently loathe him, is a great player and I would love him to be in our side. Thierry Henry’s class goes without saying and Arsenal have been so lucky to have him. I can’t give the Manc players any credit obviously because nobody should ever do that. Suffice it to say that players like these don’t come along cheaply and the Liverpool board may have to splash out some big cash to get one.
Who might it be? Who is around at the moment that could fill the role? Defoe is an obvious possibility, not first choice at Tottenham, he would appear to have the attributes we require. Michael Owen? It’s still a possibility. Newcastle are the pits at the moment and Owen surely won’t want another season languishing in the lower half of the table without European football. He left Liverpool for heaven’s sake to win things instead of coming 3rd or 4th. Again though, he wouldn’t be cheap – Newcastle paid £16M and won’t want to sell him unless it’s around that figure.
Perhaps it is all academic after all. Perhaps we won’t need either of them and we can spend the cash on getting Joaquin from Betis when they get relegated in May. If he has the desire it can all be good and we can sleep soundly in our beds at night. Come on Robbie! We’re counting on you.
