Liverpool FC Forum

[stmichael]

I think it's becoming increasingly obvious that we need to bring in another striker this summer who can partner Torres, in games predominantly at Anfield where teams defend very deep, or to be an impact from the bench and be reliable should Torres be suspended, injured or resting. With the Torres/Gerrard partnership working so well, unless one of them gets injured or needs a rest any back up could end up spending a lot of time on the bench and the players/quality that we want to sign are not going to come to us if there is a good possibility of not getting regular football.

Players like Voronin and N'Gog are acceptable, but we have too many of those strikers who are 'okay' and too few we can rely on - we really need one more striker who is a reliable 15-goals-a-season striker because otherwise we are too weak. Keane was a step in the right direction but, fatally, was ineffective on his own in Torres' absence.

I think its essential that we think about promoting Nemeth to the first team as a) He looks a very tidy player/striker b) Is not going to cost anything and c) Is going to be more patient that any big name striker we may try to bring in as cover for Torres. However there's no guarantee that this will happen. We don't however need someone high profile because they will not be able to start every game. I've heard the likes of Kanoute, Darren Bent, Daniel Sturridge mentioned but I'd like to hear your suggestions?

[Dundalk]

I agree we need to bring another forward in but for me it would be more for cover and rotation rather than a first team spot. Gerrard and Torres are doing well in the roles they have at the moment. If it aint broke dont fix it

[RobinHood6969]

I think it's becoming increasingly obvious that we need to bring in another striker this summer who can partner Torres, in games predominantly at Anfield where teams defend very deep, or to be an impact from the bench and be reliable should Torres be suspended, injured or resting. With the Torres/Gerrard partnership working so well, unless one of them gets injured or needs a rest any back up could end up spending a lot of time on the bench and the players/quality that we want to sign are not going to come to us if there is a good possibility of not getting regular football.

Players like Voronin and N'Gog are acceptable, but we have too many of those strikers who are 'okay' and too few we can rely on - we really need one more striker who is a reliable 15-goals-a-season striker because otherwise we are too weak. Keane was a step in the right direction but, fatally, was ineffective on his own in Torres' absence.

I think its essential that we think about promoting Nemeth to the first team as a) He looks a very tidy player/striker b) Is not going to cost anything and c) Is going to be more patient that any big name striker we may try to bring in as cover for Torres. However there's no guarantee that this will happen. We don't however need someone high profile because they will not be able to start every game. I've heard the likes of Kanoute, Darren Bent, Daniel Sturridge mentioned but I'd like to hear your suggestions?

Kanoute wouldnt be a bad option IMO

[sworth26]

Personally I would take a punt on Tuncay.  I know he is not what you would call prolific but I think in a decent side he could get you 10-15 easy.

[inglis5]

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. The rumours of Eto'o (though probably false) started me thinking about how we accomodate a second top quality striker. I think everyone admits that we have struggled to break sides down at Anfield so there is definitely a requirement to add additional creativity / firepower. Before thinking of names I think it is key to look at the likely formation... Would Rafa leave out one of his holding midfielders & play Gerrard a bit deeper behind a front two? If this is the case then a second out and out striker may be the way forward. If he does decide to go this way then perhaps we need a bigger man (Klose, Kenwyn Jones) who pose the constant aeriel threat that we don't currently have?

The other (and more likely option) is that he would like to have a 3 man central midfield (one slightly left, one sitting central and one slighty right), two wingers and a centre forward. In this scenario the purchase of Barry to play centre-left makes more sense.

So what we would be missing is someone who can play wide left / wide right and down the middle. As it is unlikely we'd be able to find such a player we probably need to focus on someone who can play the centre and wide right positions as I think we have the left properly covered.

So what attributes do they need? Pace, creativity, strength, proven Premiership experience?

Annoying Babel and Kuyt can / should be able to do a job but that's a different argument

Personally I think the one signing that would be brillinat for us would be another one of their Dutch colleagues - Robin van Persie. Although he has contract issues though I've no idea if we'd be able to get him.

[Owzat]

The problem is our best formation doesn't fit two up front, so we're never going to keep more than two or three strikers happy. I see Voronin as being quoted as looking at his options, not wishing to be fifth or sixth in the pecking order at Liverpool which is a change from a previous quote not so many months ago. Will we get much better than Voronin to come, sit happily on the bench and play sub roles as much as starting roles? (or less starting roles)

Even if we went for a "second striker" to play off Torres, wouldn't that disrupt the current balance of Gerrard playing off Torres? I like the system we play, I think our players work well in it, but it's not exactly "striker friendly". Do we bring in a striker to play on the left and dump Riera? We need strikers, we can't rely on Torres and the current back-ups, but how good we can get and how happy they'll be is the issue for me more than naming names

[tubby]

As I said in the rumors section Sturridge is available on a free. He would make a good backup striker. But otherwise we still need an established striker to partner Torres. Someone who can act as a target man and hold the ball up. Someone like Crouchy, I was thinking Fernando Llorente.

[Owzat]

no more hoof up to striker types thanks

[stmichael]

Personally I would take a punt on Tuncay.  I know he is not what you would call prolific but I think in a decent side he could get you 10-15 easy.

Very good shout.

[tubby]

Yeah I said he would be good before Boro first signed him. Surley he would want out in the summer too.

[Alex G.]

As I said in the rumors section Sturridge is available on a free. He would make a good backup striker. But otherwise we still need an established striker to partner Torres. Someone who can act as a target man and hold the ball up. Someone like Crouchy, I was thinking Fernando Llorente.

Fernando Llorente is an amazing player, and perfect for the english league. He´s tall, good header, strong, and very skilful with the foots.
He´s from my city and he´s the local hero here, but I think he wouldn´t cost more than 10-14 millions.

Crouch is worst than him but probably cheaper.



THIS IS LLORENTE

[tubby]

As I said in the rumors section Sturridge is available on a free. He would make a good backup striker. But otherwise we still need an established striker to partner Torres. Someone who can act as a target man and hold the ball up. Someone like Crouchy, I was thinking Fernando Llorente.

Fernando Llorente is an amazing player, and perfect for the english league. He´s tall, good header, strong, and very skilful with the foots.
He´s from my city and he´s the local hero here, but I think he wouldn´t cost more than 10-14 millions.

Crouch is worst than him but probably cheaper.

Yeah he could play the same role Crouch played but obviously as you say he is a better player. I wouldn't want someone like Torres like for like as that would mean he probably couldn't fit in the current system when Torres is in the first team.

Rafa likes big men too, he had Carew before, then Crouch....

[Sabre]

I think all of us agree that the striker position should be a primary goal.

I like many names that are being mentioned in this thrad, Kanoute and Eto'o are more similar to the dynamic role Keane had, but I think they have more quality than the Irish.

Llorente is all different as they have described above, but we could use him, and I think he'd have the right mentality if we played with one striker and he was in the bench.

Of Tuncay I've seen very little but the little I have seen I liked it.

Hopefully if we didn't get a striker in the winter market is because it was impossible to bring quality names like the ones mentioned and that will come this summer. We need it.

[GYBS]

Carew,Tuncay,Sturridge and LLorente all good suggestions

[Alex G.]

As I said in the rumors section Sturridge is available on a free. He would make a good backup striker. But otherwise we still need an established striker to partner Torres. Someone who can act as a target man and hold the ball up. Someone like Crouchy, I was thinking Fernando Llorente.

Fernando Llorente is an amazing player, and perfect for the english league. He´s tall, good header, strong, and very skilful with the foots.
He´s from my city and he´s the local hero here, but I think he wouldn´t cost more than 10-14 millions.

Crouch is worst than him but probably cheaper.

Yeah he could play the same role Crouch played but obviously as you say he is a better player. I wouldn't want someone like Torres like for like as that would mean he probably couldn't fit in the current system when Torres is in the first team.

Rafa likes big men too, he had Carew before, then Crouch....

Yes bav, and its obvious that we need big man, liverpool play sometimes with long balls from Carragher and Reina, our style is very physical.