Liverpool FC Forum

[woof woof !]

Sabre , do I sound like a statiscian to you ?

How can I give stats on Nando v Mellor or Pongo when they have have played f'uck all footy ?

Precisely. Your topic description is "fine line between faith and reality", and I think that putting to play Mellor who hasn't played f'uck all footy, is in the realms of faith, more than the realms of reality. That's all! We're playing at the top level here, Champions League, F.A quarter of finals, fighting second place on the EPL, not bad for LFC's standards last 10 years.

Mellor IMHO isn't and never will be anywhere near good enough. If we can get money for him in the Summer then take it. Pongo I'm not so sure about. At least he does posess intellience and poses a goal threat so I would've kept him and loaned out Morientes.
The combinations haven't really been tried yet and nor will they be while we insist on playing Morientes every game. Lets try Cisse/Crouch  Crouch /Fowler

I agree, this combination (specially the latter) should be tested. And given some games to prove it right or wrong.

I was never suggesting that Mellor would be more successful than Morientes but given Nando's failure to capitalise on the faith shown to him by Benitez (viz the number of games he's been given) ,surely at some stage Rafa may have been better served by giving the likes of Mellor and Pongo a bit more of a go ?

I don't for one minute see Mellor as a long term solution BUT for this season only could he have produced much less than Morientes ?

I don't think so .

[dawson99]

i think erik meijer would be more successful than morientez

[woof woof !]

This discussion seems to have focused on "Morientes v Mellor "    That was far and away the last thing on my mind .

I was trying initially to express a doubt about Rafa's ability as an offensively minded manager .

I realise this leaves me open to a lot of stick from the "I'm gonna divorce my partner and marry Rafa brigade" . I'm not for one minute ignoring what the man has done for this club     .

However (or but for those of you who are unused to words of more than one sylable )" it only takes a second to score a goal" (Brian Clough ? ) and no matter how well we may defend and control a game for most of a match ,until we have the personnel and tactics to turn domination into annihilation we will always be one second away from succumbing to a sucker punch .and yet there are times when we seem content to play for a draw or hold on to a one nil lead even though we are in control . (Sometimes the fact that we settle for the status quo does in fact hand the initiative to the opposition)

Some have said this thread is unecessary as it's been done a hundred times before  , fair enough .My only excuse for starting it is that NEVER until now (in my time) have I seen a Liverpool team of so much quality with so little teeth .

My advice to Rafa
Do unto other's ..................and do it quick , before they do it to you ! .

[Lando_Griffin]

Well as much as it pains me to say it - Fowler just isn't doing the business right now.

He needs time to get his fitness back, and the cheeky flair that made him such a fantastic striker.
The longer he is played alongside Mori, the longer it will take, as although their link-up play is pretty good, neither possess the pace to exploit the openings.

If either Fowler of Mori had even half the pace of Cisse, we'd have a damn site more goals from the pair of them.

My gut instinct is that a Fowler-Crouch partnership would be the best overall, but regarding pure efforts on goal, Fowler and Cisse would definately be the best option.

I don't rate Cisse at all, but the fact is - he's f*cking fast, and with Robbie he'd get a good 5 chances per match. The opposition would invariably play deeper, and Fowler would then be in the area he is still deadly in - the penalty box.

Could it be that despite Cisse's obvious flaws, he is the only striker we have who would profit from Robbie's guile?

[Lando_Griffin]

Not to mention that if we had Fowler and Cisse upfront, we'd HAVE to stop playing f*cking long-balls every two minutes.

[bigmick]

Could it be that despite Cisse's obvious flaws, he is the only striker we have who would profit from Robbie's guile?

That's my hunch as well Lando. The obvious and first choice pairing is Crouch and Fowler for me, and until we've seen Robbie alongside the big fella I would hesitate to make any judgement on him. But one that will probably only get tried in an emergency and when all else fails, Fowler/Cisse just might be the one.
All that said, it would be desperately unfair on Crouch who has been a good signing and done very well this season. He's actually at the crossroads. Hit form and bang in 10 goals between now and the end of the season and have a decent World Cup and he will be the first name down amongst the strikers for next season and widely considered an established Liverpool player and a bargain at 7 million. Score two between now and the end of the season and many will doubt whether he is actually good enough, and will consider the signing a failure.
My money is on him netting a further 5 or 6 times to keep us all guessing and arguing. FWIW I think he's both a good signing and a good player who will probably improve 100% (ie become twice as good as he is now) over the next couple of seasons. I've never gone along with this "he links up play" b0ll0cks, they said that about Heskey. Strikers must score and Crouch will, plenty of times.

[Lando_Griffin]

Let's hope so, BigMick. Let's hope so.

[woof woof !]

[
Edited I get  the veneer thing now, he meant that I was hiding something unpleasant after a cover of civility, well, I must admit that sometimes I do so, but it's not to hide, but not be too harsh!. BTW, I do know some little details about some of you, but I didn't know the 50 years supporting Liverpool of Woof Woof, I thought he was young like me. ONly for that, he deserved more respect, and it's not veneer of civility or praise, this one, but what I think 

 

Veneer in the context I used = a polished covering of what lies beneath .

Don't give it a second thought Sabre , you're still one of the better contributors to this forum .Just stop mentioning my f'ucking age !  (leave that to me }      .

"Worra F'ucking Liberty "

[redmikey]

by far the best thread i have read on here

[Redrider]

Our best option up front is Morientes and Ciise.
The combination of pace allied to guile and incisivness, reminds me very much of Balmer and Bimpson in their heyday, who between them scooped 43 goals in one season, 4 in the Liverpool Senior Cup Final against Southport at Haigh Avenue, I was there !!
The dam will burst soon and we will be awash with goals. All you nay-sayers will be loading up with Humble Pie.

[redmikey]

Our best option up front is Morientes and Ciise.
The combination of pace allied to guile and incisivness, reminds me very much of Balmer and Bimpson in their heyday, who between them scooped 43 goals in one season, 4 in the Liverpool Senior Cup Final against Southport at Haigh Avenue, I was there !!
The dam will burst soon and we will be awash with goals. All you nay-sayers will be loading up with Humble Pie.

what? who? cissie?

what?

i've had to put my beer down to read this to try and make sense .

the best option is cissie out side the ground selling scarfs

fowler and ? upfront and who the feck are balmer and bimpson

are you stoned and laughing at a joke no one else gets?

[Redrider]

Sense is obviuosly a tough one for you !
Stick to your beer

[redmikey]

and acid is working for you . stop spoiling a great thread with sh.it posts that are just there to annoy.

[dawson99]

redmikey, im gonna agree with redrider here, a bit... i do think cisse should get a chance up front, but id play him with fowler.

Cisse may not have played well, but has he really been given the chance up front? The mori thing baffles me, how he can play game after game and not score is just bizzarre, but if he doesnt play now his confidence is shot to sh!t so we have to let him play on.

[ivor_the_injun]

In the Prem, we've scored 3 in a match 3 times this season, and I do think someone's for a serious spanking before now and the end of the season.

The main problem right now is the midfield (won't dwell - there's another thread on this topic) - Morientes isn't going to put away his sole chance in a game, he's going to need 5 or 6 clear-cut chances to go on.

Against Benfica, Gerrard was out for the majority, and our reliable big hitters of late, Kewell and Alonso, both had stinkers. Normally at least one of those three spurs the rest on by the quality of their own play, and this week that simply didn't happen.

It'll come. There has definitely been too much rejigging up front though, and since Christmas nothing that has been tried up there has worked. I can see Rafa's case for perservering with Morientes to see if the rust simply falls off the guy in time, but personally I'd like to see him admit defeat for now and give Crouch and Fowler a run together.