I would say around the ankles on the basis of events in the Liverpool camp this week.
Milan Baros finished as the club’s top scorer last season on 13 league goals, a proverbial mile ahead of his strike partners. He spent the first half of the season terrorizing the Premiership and turning centre-backs inside out week after week; now, Rafael Benitez is edging Baros out of the club, and assuring the other, blundering strikers of their futures in his team. Just what is going on? Let’s tackle the issue up front; and yes, it does need to be addressed. Very few fans actually appear to understand what is truly going on between Liverpool manager and Liverpool striker, and who on Earth can blame them? Perhaps the baffling issue can go some way to being solved as we look into the Czech’s Liverpool career, into his life since Benitez took charge, and into what exactly is causing the Baros Blues.
The night air had a tingle in Istanbul, a tense but rigid atmosphere which was eating into the hearts of players from both Liverpool and AC Milan; as a lone cameraman gradually edged along each orderly line of players, their emotionless faces betrayed nothing of what must have been running through their minds. Jerzy Dudek, as is- or was- customary in a Liverpool shirt, gave a quick wink, nodding his head confidently, ignoring the Champions’ League anthem which blasted out on the stadium’s vast loudspeakers.
Among the faces was one which may have been feeling just a little shocked, a little startled to be stood where he was at that moment. Djibril Cissé had begun to peak at full fitness, scoring two goals in the previous game at Anfield against Aston Villa, surely securing a place in the starting eleven of the final. Djibril had every reason to think that he would beat Milan Baros to that spot up front on May 25th, a man who had scored barely more goals in half a year than Cissé scored in that very match. But Benitez was in a copiously experimental mood that night; he threw in Harry Kewell behind Milan Baros, perhaps to do nothing but shock the opposing team when they gazed over Liverpool’s team sheet.
I’m not serious about that of course, but it was amongst the best explanations I could come up with for the boss’ selection that night. I, along with thousands of other Reds fans, was becoming agitated to the point of distraction with Baros; having spent half a season singing his praises and believing that he was finally coming to fruition, the deceptively strong front man was flopping big-time in front of our very eyes. I kept backing him to come good, every time our number five walked out onto the pitch.
“Just watch, Milan will grab a brace today,” I’d mumble on the Kop to my dad sitting alongside me.
But I was mistaken.
I watched as he missed chance after chance after chance after chance, and then began to moan about not getting enough playing time. He jeopardized Liverpool’s Derby hopes by missing a hat-trick of gaping opportunities, then deciding that he would get himself sent off plainly out of personal frustration. The Blues nearly came back to haunt us because of that, and Garcia was already limping around bravely as if the team didn’t have enough problems. Needless to say, Baros came back three games later, was substituted after looking well wide of delivering the goods and then had the audacity to complain afterwards. The moaning’s beginnings were where I started to think about stepping off Baros’ train of admirers; maybe I had bought the wrong ticket.
He never really looked like threatening again after that. Before and after, false dawns of hope against Leverkusen and Fulham did not fool anybody into thinking he would start scoring again, and yet still, Milan Baros was picked that night in Istanbul whilst a seemingly fitter, more eager and in-form striker sat on the bench. Sat thinking about his dream of scoring in the European Cup Final for Liverpool.
Putting tactical conclusions aside, perhaps Benitez sat down and looked at what Baros could do, instead of what he couldn’t. Rafa will have noted the 22 goals in 36 games for his country, the 13 he had grabbed in a red shirt already that year, mainly in the first half of Liverpool’s season, and the enormous potential that the lad undeniably possesses. He is an undoubted threat; Milan Baros is as strong as an ox, has superlative turning ability, and compliments that with flashes of outstanding finishing ability and coolness of mind. Maybe Benitez simply visited the Baros family home, and observed the trophy cabinet in which surely stands a perfectly polished European Golden Boot.
Whether it is for the team, or just because he can, Baros tends to give everything he possibly can when he is out on the pitch. Nobody can take that away from him, and it is conceivable that Rafa was pondering that fact over and over when he scribbled down the front man’s name on that fateful night in Turkey. Surely then, if you are prepared to choose a man ahead of your £14 million striker in the most momentous match of you managerial career, you are not prepared to sell him. Right?
Wrong.
“Milan is a good player, he was top scorer last season, but we have more options now and maybe some offers,” said Benitez. “At the moment we are working with all our strikers and Baros does have a future here. I am not preparing for anyone to go; I am working with my players.”
He continued, “But if we receive any offers maybe some of them can go. It depends on the offers and it depends on the player also.” For such a decisive and imperious bloke, Rafa Benitez’s English can be mind-boggling at times. He contradicts himself pretty clearly here, making it conclusive in my mind that Milan Baros is heading for the back door at lighting speed.
The reasons for this rest not only with the lack of recent goals and attitude problems noted above. Different newspapers obviously make what they can of the situation: Baros doesn’t fit into Benitez’s style of play, Baros is ignorant of teammates, Baros runs down blind alleys with his head down all too often, Baros isn’t a natural finisher, and Baros doesn’t get on with Benitez. The list goes on. And quite frankly, rightly so. I agree with all of the aforementioned statements and then some. He is a man who has only shown glimpses of what he could- no, he’s nearly 25 now- should be. Benitez may simply look at Milan Baros and see a lost cause; a player who has developed a style of play so steadfastly that he cannot be reached, cannot be coached into looking up and spotting a pass.
The boss likes to mould the players in his team; he told Gerrard last season that he should be a better player, he coached Luis Garcia into understanding English football, and he buys mostly youthful lads who can be shown the way by brilliant Benitez. But when the material you have to mould with has become concrete-like, yet is only halfway to being what you want it to be, then maybe you have to throw that material in the bin and start again with a different substance. Milan Baros for Peter Crouch; hardly a natural switch, but then again, Benitez would hardly want one, would he?
The European Cup Final served as nothing but confirmation of Benitez’s concern over Milan Baros. He is ignorant, selfish, and does not understand the game in the way he really should. He remained on the periphery until being subbed for Cissé, who struck a sweet penalty in the shoot-out and fulfilled that Liverpool dream. A dream Baros was never likely to even have; if Milan Baros ever has a football dream, then it is not about Liverpool, it is about Milan Baros. He came out last season with talk of his burning desire to join Barcelona, and unsettled things on Merseyside throughout by suggesting that he may ‘have’ to leave if he didn’t stop constantly getting substituted.
Indeed, the Baros Blues have been set at the back of both the player’s and manager’s minds for some time now. Rafael Benitez has seen enough: he might be top scorer, but he just doesn’t fully make the grade and never will. If a Liverpool fan fails to understand why their goalscorer is being sold, then they should refer to the fact that Milan Baros is not good for the club, the manager, or his teammates, and another striker will certainly take his place next season, probably scoring more goals than just a meager 13 in a total of 1879 minutes of play.
The only thing that will keep the man at his current club is a lack of willing bidders, which is certainly a possibility. But if Benitez gets his way, and we must be confident that he will, then there is no doubt what will happen to Milan. He will take the hint sooner or later.
Bye bye, Baros.