Could Baros’ injury have been better timed to dissuade Mellor from possibly contemplating a switch to the team he supported as a boy? That’s not to say of course that he was looking to move on.
Baros’ hamstring injury picked up on international duty last night, looks to be another damaging blow to Liverpool’s trophy credentials. The Reds’ strike force in terms of genuine goal threat is now almost non-existent. The onus on scoring goals now falls heavily and unremorsefully onto the shoulders of the kids – with Mellor, sitting expectantly at the head of the pecking order.
Now that Michael Owen is a Bernabeu favourite and now that Baros joins Cisse on the treatment table, the young Mellor is now essentially the only out-and-out striker with a semblance of scoring pedigree (be it reserves or first team) currently available to Benitez.
We do still have Harry Kewell and Florent Sinama-Pongolle within the Liverpool ranks, that’s true. But Kewell is more of a winger and I’m not entirely comfortable with him playing up front and he’s still far from his best form. While the French forward is still a vastly in-experienced yet highly promising 20-year-old.
It’s these question marks I feel, that mean both Kewell and Pongolle will be a supporting role and the undertaking of the main striker mantle will be the destiny of someone else.
That very responsibility of leading the attack, will inevitably land at the feet of Neil Mellor.
I’ve mentioned before that Liverpool’s striker predicament will go along way to shaping Neil Mellor’s future in the red of Liverpool. After all he’s getting to that age were he’ll attract interest from other clubs, his home town team of Sheffield United and the focus of Robson’s West Brom’s attentions last week a case in point. He needs to make a real impact sooner rather than later.
Obviously, no one could have envisaged that just to make the striker situation at Anfield that little more interesting, Liverpool would then go on to loose Baros for what reports are suggesting will be for over a month. Now for Mellor, the notion of make or break has even higher resonance.
Described as the most natural finisher at the club by Ian Rush, Mellor will now have numerous chances to show Liverpool fans and Benitez what he is all about. I hope Mellor pushes on, rolls his sleeves up and grabs the opportunity with both hands.
It’s time for Neil Mellor to fulfil his promise shown in the reserves and become a true goal-scoring darling of the kop. His brace against Middlesbrough last week really could be just the beginning. It’s time for Gerd Mellor to shape his destiny.