Liverpool FC Forum

[Leonmc0708]

Guys there is no comparrison whatsoever between Danny Murphy and Luis Garcia.

One is an average joe bordering on decent player and the other can do things with a football that very few can.

Prior to Danny Murphys recent upsurge in form no one on here had even thought twice about him leaving.

Average players look better in sitty teams, fact

[Ola Mr Benitez]

So garcia would loook fantastic playing for Everton... lets send him across the park!!

[Leonmc0708]

So garcia would loook fantastic playing for Everton... lets send him across the park!!

You say that to take the michael, but its true.

Luis Garcia would walk into every other English Club's teams other than maybe Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd, and he would still get a fiar few games at Man Utd and Arsenal.

There is no doubting his quality, ex Barcelona, Spanish International, you dont play there by accident.

[stmichael]

Prior to Danny Murphys recent upsurge in form no one on here had even thought twice about him leaving.

this is so true.

last season at charlton, their fans were constantly on murphy's back. now this season, he's been given a bit more freedom and he's suddenly the best thing since sliced bread.

we got rid of murphy and brought in alonso. i don't know about you but that seems like a decent swap to me.

[Ola Mr Benitez]

I think we will have to agree to disagree.  I just don't rate the player.  He must give possesion away with at least 50% of his passes.

I agree he has scored some amazing goals and last year, did well scoring 13 but there are far too many other parts of his game that are not good enough.

His possesion, tackling, passing are often poor, and often leads us to losing possesion or giving away free kicks. 

I think for you to actaully forgive his bad points he should be having at least 4 or 5 shots on target per game, having at least 25 goal assists and scoring about 15 goals per season.  Right now he doesn't  look like that type of player.  Maybe I'm asking too much??

I hope he improves coz I like the lad, but right now, he is not good enough.. or should I say, I don't think he is good enough.

[Leonmc0708]

There’s always a player like it – believe me.  There’s always a player unlike the others.  There’s always one who tries the impossible.  There’s always one who will bring the crowd off the edge of their seat at the vital point in the game.   But by the same token, I can show you a player who will divide and frustrate the fans.  Some will go against him, some for him.  Some just want him out altogether.  He’ll bring some off their seats, and some screaming in despair. 

We’ve had a lot of players like that over the years.  Even in my short time supporting the club, I remember players that could,  dead set, split 45,000 + supporters and millions across the globe.  Notable examples are the likes of Vladimir Smicer and Jari Litmanen.  You could put them into a stadium filled with fans, give them the ball, tell them to do whatever they want, and within minutes, 20,000 fans would be oohing and aahing, and the rest would be screaming ‘What’s that soft doing?’  Somehow, I’ve always been an ooh and aah type of guy – I love watching players who will dare to do the impossible – I always have.  I was never a fan of the grizzled defenders, the showy stuff upfront was what I wanted to see.

Which brings me to the one player who can have me off my seat STILL in today’s Liverpool FC.  That man is one Mr Luis Javier Garcia Sanz.  Now, there’s many will have closed the page right here – some people just refuse to accept that Garcia is Liverpool standard.  People have forgot something about this class little man.  People forget what he can do playing for Liverpool.  I don’t care who you are – be you Rafa Benitez or Joe Public in the Centenary – somewhere along the line you have to admit Garcia is one of those elite breed – those who can change a game with a single flick of the boot.  There isn’t many of those players left that I refer to as ‘game-breakers’ in football today.  But Luis is one.  If you don’t believe me – please watch the Juventus game from last season again.  You tell me when you watch that ball arch towards the top corner past the most expensive keeper in the world, that that shot wasn’t Liverpool class.  Hell, try and tell me it wasn’t World-Class.  Go on, try it.  Try and tell me we’ve had that sort of player before, who can make mugs of players in an instant.

This is my whole point – Luis is in the elite.  I understand that people think he ‘doesn’t get stuck in’ or ‘isn’t committed enough, the fancy foreign nancy’.  Well I’m sorry but I don’t believe a word of that.  Remember Everton at home?  Who stayed on for 90 minutes, on one leg, giving it his all?  That same Luis Garcia.  As for giving the ball away, supposedly another one of his weaknesses – I don’t believe in that either.  Of course, I’m not naïve enough to believe Luis is perfect – far from it.  But I do believe that Luis is an unfair scapegoat.  To me, he really does seem the man everyone blames when something goes wrong.  Even if he has his best game for us and we lose 1-0, he’s to blame somewhere for giving the ball away.  And I hate it.  I hate having to defend Luis time after time.   I hate defending him because I feel like I’m the only one who can see the talent he has got.  I know the man has talent and I know he can show it.  Don’t get me wrong I know he has flaws – however he works hard to eradicate them though, and he’s constantly declaring his love to Liverpool.  He’s committed, and he can change games in an instant.  I Love Luis Garcia.  And I’m sure I’m not the only one.  Luis Garcia is a man who can make me rise to my feet in a second.  There has never ever been many of them in my lifetime.

But now to the whole point of what I’m saying.  His efficiency is often criticized by many members of our fanbase, and to be quite frank that hurts, because I know he goes out there, red shirt on, and will give 100% time after time.  But I also know that Garcia, while not always producing efficiency, CAN produce that crackle of electricity and spark that we have lacked in a long, long time.  People always used to say we lacked the man who would do the incredible, preposterous and impossible.  Yet somehow, we picked him up from Barcelona on that day, and now everyone wants to change the genius we have in him.  Man oh man, what more do we want?  We have quality, and we have a man who will raise everyone to their feet.  Edge of my seat? I’m not even on my seat when he does some of the things he does.

Please, PLEASE appreciate this special talent we have.   And just when you’re in the Kop and LG takes stick for lack of efficiency – just remember that LG will produce the electricity to prove you wrong.

Luis Garcia.  He Drinks Sangria.  He’s Come From Barca.  And he’s bringing me joy. 

Copyright John Porter 2005.

RAWK page where I borrowed this excellent peice of writing

[84-1106852058]

To lose the ball you have to have the ball.Garcia has more possesion of the ball than most.Stick with him with the talent he obviously has things will come right.

[Houllier=LFC]

Garcia is an intelligent player whos constantly making runs to create spaces, not many of our players are doing it. On the other hand, hes guilty of giving away possession too cheaply.

[oakton]

how many times have u guys seen this? Garcia's got the ball and an opposition player come towards him, and Garcia just jumps and let the ball go and his opponent has the possession of the ball.

He gives up too easily, weak!

[66-1120597113]

Garica does give balls away - sometimes almost passing to the opposition. However, if you study him, you will see that a good percentage of his balls are clever balls, attempting to carve open a defence - they don't come off, however it is mostly the 'right' type of ball to play, rather than the easiest.

You could swap the name of Luis Garcia to Danny Murphy and the paragraph would read the same...  But how many people here would want him back?

We have swapped a 13 goal a season English man who sometimes (moretimes than Garcia actually) played a winning defence splitting pass, but occasionally (a lot less than Garcia actually) gave the ball away, for a spanish version.

Who is the better player though???

Great point fella!
All the more sickening is that Murphy is now playing the best football of his career at charlton!

[A.B.]

Murphy is playing well for Charlton because he has two other central midfielders doing the tracking back and the tackling for him.

[parchpea]

Agree with an earlier poster here. Its a cigarette paper between Murphy and Garcia. Rumour had it that Murphy had too much to say for Rafas liking, but hey thats likely gossip. We didnt get a better replacement for Murphy thats for sure. Oh, and he cost us £6m when we sold Murphy for £2m. Great deal 

[zarababe]

I think Garcia is a superb player, his goal scoring record is superb and he is the attacking edge that you often need when games are a bit of a stalemate.

The reason people get on his back is because he gives the ball away, and I agree it can be frustrating, but I will offer two reasons why rather than excuses for it:

1) He is unlike other players brave enough to try the flick/stepover/turn/dink etc on the pitch. So many players can do those kind of things, but are restricted by their manger/team formation from trying it.

2) New members of the squad, (and indeed older established  ones) need to adapt to Luis' style of play as much as Luis needs to adapt to the English league. Just like two strikers (are you reading this Cisse, Crouch, Nando and Ping Pong) need to form an almost telepathic understanding of each others movement and style of play, so do the other members of Luis' team need to understand what he will try to do with the ball.

You need different types of players in your first 11 to mould a winning team. Some need discipline and a great reading of the game, some stamina and a terrific engine to cover every blade of grass, some need lighning pace and a keen eye for goal, some agility and a bravery to put your body on the line and some need lots of skill and endevour and a good footballing brain.

Luis falls into the last category. The disciplined readers of the game, like Carragher for example are not the kind to see the killer pass or try the audacious lob from 35 yards (remember that Mr Buffon), so they give it to players that can/will like our little Luis.

Dont get me wrong, I think Luis needs to work on his game in terms of playing the more simple ball at times, but if he does give the ball away, its only through trying to create a chance for the team.

People forget all too easily the goals and chances people have had when they see the odd stray pass.

I can only presume that some of you people who have openly slated Luis on here are the same di.ckheads who sit behind me at the match and slate Kewell, Garcia, Riise, Traore, and many other players everytime they misplace a pass.

Misplaced pass' and tackles are what football is about, if a team never misplaced a ball or pass then it would be a boring game to watch. Players need encouragement, not slagging and berating after something they try goes wrong.

Thing is, its only certain players that you lot pick up on anyway. Gerrard misplaces plenty of passes, but there are not threads started every other day about dropping him are there?

Quality post and right on.. 

[bigmick]

It's all opinions of course but Luis Garcia compared to Danny Murphy? I don't know what to say really. Suffice to say that without being rude to anybody I don't think there is any comparison in any way shape or form whatsoever.
I posted earlier that I think Luis is woefully short of form and confidence (probably due in small part to the collective groan that goes up from many when he gets the ball) and would benefit from a spell on the bench. I hope when he comes back though, that the fans appreciate him for what he is, a flair player who can change the game.
I'm an armchair fan almost totally these days so I can't contribute but those in the ground that don't get behind Garcia do the club a disservice in my view. I can't for the life of me get the Danny Murphy thing at all, sorry.

[A.B.]

Champions League, smahmpion league!!!

Why are we all going on about the champions league? ??

The Premiership is the big one... Its the one we want, isn't it...  I think we could win the champions league again, even with our current form, but do we look anywhere nearer winning the league than when we managed by Roy Evans or Gerrard Houllier?

When was the last time we finished 5th in the League??

Is that really what you want?

How many teams have won the league, by scoring less goals than virtually everybody else?  That is our problem this year, no-one, including Garcia looks like scoring..

Garcia scored 8 goals in the Premiership last year, thats 3 more than he did in the Champions League.