Liverpool FC Forum

[Reinas No.1 Fan]

Luis Garcia is one of my favourate players and im sick of him showing himself up through his passing, and in turn the slating he gets on this place.

So far he has played on both wings and in attacking midfield and one or twice up front.

My opionion of Garcia is he is a striker (support striker at least) play to his strengths and limit his weaknesses.
e.g.

we know he can finish (goals against, birmigham (A), Betis (A), Sunderland (A) just for this seasons examples) playing him up front would give him this chance more often, he has a little pace so we could use him in an Owen sort of role.

We know he can shoot from distance (goals against, charlton (H, LS), Juve (H, LS), Tottenham (H, LS). Playing his as a support striker or striker would allow him more chance to do this.

He has decent (not brilliant) ball control this would be usefull up front.

We all know he is one of the worst passer on our team (evidence every game he plays bar 1 or 2) Playing him up front limits his passing option and therefore limits his passes per game.

In conclusion playing him up front would be playing to his strengths and limiting his weaknesses it would also exploit his ability to be on loose balls (Arsenal this season both goals he scored) no to mention allow him more chance to use his headering ability (which is suprisingly good for such a short guy) If you think about the goals Ive mentioned they show Garcias ability in the areas I mentioned his finishing ability and long range shooting.

I think ive included everything I wanted, but does any one have anything to add or just general I agree or disagree. I would like to find out your opinions on this. Oh and please dont slate me.

[bigmick]

At his best Garcia can certainly play in the hole/support striker for the very best of teams. Unfortunately he has been way short of his best all the way through this season, his ball retention being atrocious even by his own profligate standards.
He would actually be most suited to playing uptop alongside someone like Morientes out of all our forwards and it's unfortunate for Luis that his countryman is probably the only person who is a regular first-team starter who has had even worse form than the talismanic little Spaniard. If memory serves, we tried the Garcia/Morientes combo in an important European game but with Nando "milk-floating" around the pitch and Luis falling over it every five minutes, it was just about the most impotent combo that Liverpool have everfielded upfront. For those who can remember Eric Meijjer that is certainly saying something.
I don't FWIW think that Luis is necessarily suited to playing alongside Crouch. He needs somebody who is capable of intelligent interplay, feints, dummies and deflections allied to subtle one-twos in and around the opposing centre-halves. A front man for Crouch would be an Owen, a Defoe, a Cisse with a brain transplant who can anticipate, guess even where the ball is going to land and gamble on committing to that space. Luis will do this with rebounds and with attacking space from crosses but I think there are better options for the Crouch support role.
So you are left with a dilemma. He offers such a goal threat ( I don't know how many goals he has scored this season but when you consider the vast majority have come from the wing and he has played awful all season, it really is a staggering achievement to get into double figures) that Rafa would really like to squeeze him into the team somewhere.
My own feeling is that I would tend to agree with you about his best position being uptop. If we were in posession of a David Villa type of striker I would go with it. It has to be said however and I say this as one of Garcias biggest admirers, that until he performs the basics and the fundamentals of the game much better than he does at the moment it is very difficult to make a strong case for playing him at all. That is to say upfront or anywhere else.

[woof woof !]

I love "Lil' Louis"  BUT ...... like caviar he's a luxury item . 

His occasional brilliance masks his many many mistakes .

In fairness, many of those mistakes are down to a teamates inability to read what Louis will do next .

Who's to blame  ?

[metalhead]

At his best Garcia can certainly play in the hole/support striker for the very best of teams. Unfortunately he has been way short of his best all the way through this season, his ball retention being atrocious even by his own profligate standards.
He would actually be most suited to playing uptop alongside someone like Morientes out of all our forwards and it's unfortunate for Luis that his countryman is probably the only person who is a regular first-team starter who has had even worse form than the talismanic little Spaniard. If memory serves, we tried the Garcia/Morientes combo in an important European game but with Nando "milk-floating" around the pitch and Luis falling over it every five minutes, it was just about the most impotent combo that Liverpool have everfielded upfront. For those who can remember Eric Meijjer that is certainly saying something.
I don't FWIW think that Luis is necessarily suited to playing alongside Crouch. He needs somebody who is capable of intelligent interplay, feints, dummies and deflections allied to subtle one-twos in and around the opposing centre-halves. A front man for Crouch would be an Owen, a Defoe, a Cisse with a brain transplant who can anticipate, guess even where the ball is going to land and gamble on committing to that space. Luis will do this with rebounds and with attacking space from crosses but I think there are better options for the Crouch support role.
So you are left with a dilemma. He offers such a goal threat ( I don't know how many goals he has scored this season but when you consider the vast majority have come from the wing and he has played awful all season, it really is a staggering achievement to get into double figures) that Rafa would really like to squeeze him into the team somewhere.
My own feeling is that I would tend to agree with you about his best position being uptop. If we were in posession of a David Villa type of striker I would go with it. It has to be said however and I say this as one of Garcias biggest admirers, that until he performs the basics and the fundamentals of the game much better than he does at the moment it is very difficult to make a strong case for playing him at all. That is to say upfront or anywhere else.

I agree with Bigmick, He has been off form all of this season. He is a very talented player but he needs consistancy! I'm sure he will be back at his best

[ivor_the_injun]

I've wondered about this for a while - we're pretty much all agreed that we need 4 strikers. I certainly wouldn't have Luis as one of the 4, but one thing he gives you is versatility, and he'd definitely be an option for up front if injuries or suspensions hit.

For example, an on-song Crouch with an on-song Garcia playing just off him would be a great combination. He's a frustrating player, has had a generally poor year, but he still bangs them in over the course of a season.

[adamnbarrett]

Yep I agree with Dudek's no1 fan. His best position is up-top where he played most of last season. Alright, he gives the ball away far too often but when playing up top, when he loses it we are not in as much danger. Most of our success last season came from Garcia playing behind Baros, especially in the Champions League. With having great passers of the ball in midfield like Gerrard and Alonso who can spot good runs that Garcia makes, makes us very hard to defend against. Despite what people say, Luis is an intelligent player and would give us a better attacking option when playing behind someone than crouch and morientes just up top together. Luis is a good finisher and is our best headerer of the ball which is ironic as we have a 6ft 7 striker compared to Luis who is 5ft 7. Garcia is that kind of player who can just make something out of nothing, have a poor game but pull out a world class strike out of the bag. His reactions are top notch for example against Arsenal home and away when he followed up saved shots. Luis, like many players are quality, if played in the right position. Which in his case is just behind the lone striker.

[2520years]

He's not suited to playing wide as he's not pacey enough.  He's got skill, invention and trickery so I think he'd play well with Fowler.  His finishing is sometimes excellent, but he's also capable of missing sitters.  I think ideally he'd play behind Fowler, but I can't see Rafa playing a team with neither Nando nor Crouch.  He's well worth keeping, but he one of the 'options' that Rafa keeps talking about, rather than a regular team member.  The most disturbing thing about him is that he appears to be turning into Prince.

[RichardLFC1]

I also agree i think Lil louis should play as a supporting attacker think we could get a few goals from him there

[davo_LFC]

He's not suited to playing wide as he's not pacey enough.  He's got skill, invention and trickery so I think he'd play well with Fowler.  His finishing is sometimes excellent, but he's also capable of missing sitters.  I think ideally he'd play behind Fowler, but I can't see Rafa playing a team with neither Nando nor Crouch.  He's well worth keeping, but he one of the 'options' that Rafa keeps talking about, rather than a regular team member.  The most disturbing thing about him is that he appears to be turning into Prince.

i agree, i reckon him and fowler would be good together because fowler has the ability to create space for garcia and also find him with passes.

[redmikey]

I have said fowler and garcia a few time as i reckon it would give us a bit of craft up front instead of lumping it up to crouch, but rafa likes a target man to build the attack off, so in rafa we trust

[JC_81]

Garcia as a striker wouldn't work imo.  He scores his goals either from outside the box or by ghosting into dangerous positions from either wing unmarked.  Finding these positions is a skill in itself, but imo if he were to start up front then he would be more easily marked.  He isn't quick and he isn't strong.  He wouldn't be able to hold the ball up and he wouldn't reach balls played over the top.

As a withdrawn forward in the hole then yes.  Clearly this is his best position, but the problem is that this system isn't necessarily best for the team and won't necessarily be successful in the premiership.  I personally believe that we will have more success when we find a good front pairing being fed by quality service from both flanks, rather than trying to use a playmaker just behing a main striker.

Someone else suggested Garcia may be best used as an impact sub and I'm thinking maybe that's a good shout.  He's definitely a good man to have in the squad, but his performances this season don't warrant a place in the starting 11.

[Ace Ventura]

Garcia as a striker wouldn't work imo.  He scores his goals either from outside the box or by ghosting into dangerous positions from either wing unmarked.  Finding these positions is a skill in itself, but imo if he were to start up front then he would be more easily marked.  He isn't quick and he isn't strong.  He wouldn't be able to hold the ball up and he wouldn't reach balls played over the top.

As a withdrawn forward in the hole then yes.  Clearly this is his best position, but the problem is that this system isn't necessarily best for the team and won't necessarily be successful in the premiership.  I personally believe that we will have more success when we find a good front pairing being fed by quality service from both flanks, rather than trying to use a playmaker just behing a main striker.

Someone else suggested Garcia may be best used as an impact sub and I'm thinking maybe that's a good shout.  He's definitely a good man to have in the squad, but his performances this season don't warrant a place in the starting 11.

Good post John.

Luis would be a decent option as the striker in the hole and i would play him there tonight.
But i wouldnt play him there in home games i think we need better options.
We havent got that just yet so behind Crouch for me could be potentially interesting.
I also feel that long term he wont be a starter but i would definately keep him as a substitute, he is always likely to pop up with a goal.