Liverpool FC Forum

by **parchpea** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:18 pm

We do need a striker and centre half. The club know this as their interest in Woodgate shows. They also had no time or money to replace Owen. Im sure they want to address these issues in the window depending on availability and finance. For now we must work with what we have. Providing they all perform we will do ok. Im still encouraged overall and feel confident Benitez will make good choices.

by **A.B.** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 10:15 pm

Rafael wants his midfield to score alot, like at Valencia and that is what you will all see.

by **Scottbot** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:20 am

Granted Cisse looks raw but some of you guys talk as if the lad has played a stinker every game and that isn't the case. He should have bagged a couple more goals and his hold-up play has been pretty shocking but i've seen a few flashes to give me confidence he will get to grips with English footy. I can see why some are moaning about the lad but i won't make my mind up till after xmas. Don't wanna harp on about Owen but his leaving has clearly put a ot of pressure on Cisse an maybe that has affected him a touch.

As for the game on Monday. We didn't lose coz Cisse and Baros were doing their job up-front. We lost it coz the Mancs turned up an we didn't. They were stronger in the tackle, they won every 1st and 2nd ball and played like they needed it.

by **A.B.** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:54 am

^spot on. Mancs won because they wanted to win more than us, we slacked off.

by **azriahmad** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 4:22 am

A.B. and also other guys, although Cisse is still trying to adjust, I feel that the he has not shown enough for us to be worth 14 million and the longer it goes like this, the worse it becomes. While one is still "adjusting" one also has to be effective at unsettling the opposition or giving them a hard time. he has failed to to so. Drogba, although not exactly scoring more, is more successful at this.

Looking at his goals in Auxerre, he had to do much less then here at Liverpool, as over there he mostly comes up at the end of the moves to score but now, he has to take on the defenders more. perhaps it is not his game this way and we may have to change the way he is supplied. He is no Henry and he is not at his best taking on defenders.

This is just my opinion.

by **Redrider** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 8:32 am

azriahmad wrote:although Cisse is still trying to adjust, I feel that the he has not shown enough for us to be worth 14 million and the longer it goes like this, the worse it becomes. While one is still "adjusting" one also has to be effective at unsettling the opposition or giving them a hard time. he has failed to to so. Drogba, although not exactly scoring more, is more successful at this.

Right on ! Cisse is not demonstrating any glimpses of 'star quality' It is hard to see that he is going to be any more succesful than Heskey.

by **Live4pool** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:41 am

Cisse is the current strike partner of Henry - that's a pedigree despite the present state of French football.
Our forward line is still unable to click - see how many wasted balls in the final third ?
As many of you had observed, the current Pool squad still lacks the telepathetic understanding - but the passing is still more attractive than Houllier's. With more games that will be overcome.

If we missed out on honours again this year it's our defending.
We have the weakest backline of the top EPL teams (excluding the current Manure squad) Carraghar is a good and loyal servant but he has his limitations. Wonder why Benitez didn't raid the Valencia's squad for the likes of Ayala ?

There is still hope. Pires took nearly 2 seasons to come good with Gunners and became a regular in the French squad. The newbies in Pools will shine soon too.

by **Redrider** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:48 pm

I don't disagree with the theories of time for Cisse to develop and understanding and also to settle in etc.
But the 'chink of light' that we are missing from this £14m footballer is some indication of his star quality. To date Cisse has kept this under wraps. All we have seen are some electrifying runs from deep, most of which have been (wrongly) flagged offside. Whilst that is ok, it is not real top class stuff.
Alonso and Garcia have both given us an indication of what we can expect from them and when they really hit their top game, they look a mouthwatering prospect. But Cisse has not clocked on yet, despite making an appearance in every game to date. Maybe he is showing it on the training ground, but I don't see it on the pitch. He looks like a £2m support player to me.
We still need our main strike man :cool:

by **whylongball?** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:19 pm

garciafan wrote:You guys really think that Liverpool lacked firepower and are in the same mess as before. For me there was hardly any difference in the Liverpool play between the Monaco game and this game. The play out ont the flanks was a weak link then and was in this game also. The only difference being Monaco were allowing Garcia a lot of space.

Man U were really lucky with the second goal and it was not as if Liverpool were short of ability atleast not in the midfield. They showed they had a fighting spirit in 2nd half. The difference in this match was C Ronaldo along with some really slack deffending on his flank and some poor play upfront. When guys like Ronaldo are playing as good as they were you need you left mid to help in deffence and Kewell was really found wanting in this area which was partly the reason for the attacking momentum united gained. Coupled with the fact that Cisse was playing so pathetically in the first 20-25 mins Liverpool were surely in for trouble. I almost felt vindicated about his inability to link up play. There was one instant where Garcia had just crossed the ball to right side and Cisse just let it go not even giving it a try and on top of it He gave Garcia a stare. At that moment I felt Players like him are not even worth 1 million they are a liability to the team. However afterwards he started to drop in deep and atleast get some passes going in the united half. so that is really an improvement for me and in the later part of his game I also saw him chasing few balls, which is good and he is showing signs of improvement.
There was another problem Liverpool in the first half were making most of the movement through the center never utilizing the flanks which cost them dearly in posession as most of Man U deffence and Midfield was there. In the second half when they started using these flanks they had united under pressure . Hell even Kewell started to show flashes of skill near the very end of the game where he took on deffenders and crossed in couple of balls but he is still a very weak link if Liverpool want to press with counterattacks. Another thing is Garcia is just being given too much responsibility to carry out attack. I have seen him play a lot in spain. He has the ability to take one or two men and get in good balls from out wide but he is not the sort of link up forward liverpool are trying to make of him well not yet but I am sure towards the end of the season you will see some mesmerizing skills from him. And another thing The deffence was admirable conceding goals from corners with unmarked deffenders and wrong refreeing is not what you call a bad deffence. And Finnan is really wasting a spot in the starting line up even though he got the lucky goal. There is also one definite positive I can see, Xabi Alonso is starting to really influence the game more and more, which will lift pressure of Gerrard

rightly so

by **Redrider** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:43 pm

OK, fine commentary on the game.
But sticking to the point. Cisse is not displaying any spark of 'star' quality, at £14m you expect to see some occasional sparkle that say's this a man for the future.
I am sorry, but even taking into account his goal at Spurs, I only see an ordinary player. A good support man as an alternative to a main striker. We are missing the main man and will never be Baros.
The mid-field is looking good and we will make something of it, even without SG. The defence and Dodgey Dudek have identified limitations.
But the serious worry is that we have no leader of the line, despite slashing out £14m. :blues:

by **bigmick** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:53 pm

To be fair to him, 'no leader of the line' and 'no good at holding the ball up' are accusations he would probably own up to. I don't think he professes to be that type of player. I've not seen the lad before he came over but he looks very much like the sort of player who will always be more effective with passes slid in behind people for him to run onto than one played up to his feet. In this respect he is very much like Owen.
He looks OK in the air and his finishes against Spurs and Monaco were crisp. I thought he did nothing wrong with the One on One against the latter, hitting the target with a good shot. In common with a lot of foreign strikers, he looks disinterested at times (Henri often looks like his mind is elsewhere) but the difference is Henri, Drogba and to a lesser extent Vanhorsefeatures exude menace and threat to an extent that a defence is often rendered nervous against them. At this point, Cisse doesn't display this.
I don't quite buy the 'Reyes was rubbish last year' argument. There were obvious signs of his talent from day one. My suspicion is that rather like Liverpool of old, Arsenal posess enough good players to enable them to introduce a new player gently and gradually play him more (also its not that easy to get a game I guess). I remember him scoring I think it was two against Chelsea in the cup, one of which was an absolute screamer so the signs were definately there.
All that said, Cisse has certainly shown more at this point than Diouff did (I know he got two goals on his debut but IMHO was very poor) and we should always remember when criticising him that he didn't set the fee at 14 mill, someone else did.
Just a couple more points, sorry to go on. I've got a suspicion that he's slightly overwieght, notice the fatness around his face (nobody else has mentioned this I don't think so maybe its my imagination) and this should be worked on if it is the case.
Finally, before everybody jumps down my throat and says give the lad a chance, gun-jumper etc etc, let me say that I have and will continue to do so. Nobody will be happier than me if he scores 18 goals in the Premiership this season. The only thing is, and I guess this is the crux really, if you gave Rafa 14 mill to spend on a striker do you think he would have bought a better or worse player than Cisse? No prizes for guessing what I think.

by **Live4pool** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:53 pm

Michael, come home. all is forgotten.

by **Live4pool** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 3:57 pm

One thing for sure, Benitez has more faith in Gracia than Cisse.

by **the great one** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 4:12 pm

Live4pool wrote:Michael, come home. all is forgotten.

well liverpool aint his home and never will be his a blue and always will be and a small thing of bein brought up in chester :angry:

by **Redrider** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:03 pm

Shame on Owen that we need to have a topic title of 'No Firepower'. If he had been a tad more open about his intentions or given Rafa a seasons grace we would have had time to find a Top Striker, instead of being forced into a position where we are expecting instant results from Baros and Cisse. Having said that I would still have him back in January if his Madrid dream comes apart at the seams. :blues:

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No firepower - Baros and cisse not the answer

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