Thoughts on various players - Mellor, Nunez, Garcia + Baros
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:21 pm
I've been reading and paying attention a lot of what fellow Reds had to say on players such as Antonio Nunez,Luis Garcia,Neil Mellor,Milan Baros,etc..... What I have noticed the most is that when a player plays poorely or is in poor form then he's automatically rubbish overall. I disagree to a certain extent.
Obiviously a player like Salif Diao is in fact rubbish, no matter how much time you give him he will never show an quality on the pitch. He's not a naturaly talented footballer in my opinion, I am still wondering what Gerrard Houllier saw in him because I can't see it and neither can anybody else.
Neil Mellor
Mellor doesn't have the pace or the crossovers to show for and he's not a world class player neither is he a high quality player however he is a natural goalscorer. Despite that he's overweight a bit and that he does not have the pace and everything that a top striker should have, he has the ability to scoregoals. He is a natural goalscorer as he has scored vital vital goals for us this season. Now he has not scored 20 goals but he has scored when we need the goal. i.e. vs. Arsenal
Mellor is not Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry however he is the type of player we need for vital times. This year we've had a lot of injuries and we lost our main strikers so when Mellor came off the bench he made a difference. Therefore I do not think we should sell Mellor because we never know when our strikers may be injured.
Luis Garcia
Garcia has played for Benitez before and some fans have said that he's awful and others that he is brilliant at times. I'd like to believe that Benitez sign Garcia for no reason, he knows Garcia fairly well as Garcia has played for him before in Spain. I am sure Benitez knows that Garcia gives the ball away easily but I am pretty sure that he knows what a creative player Garcia is. He is inconsistent but that he can improve like so many others such as Robert Pires, Reyes,etc... You give him space and he will create something you might remember him by despite that he might had just given the ball away five mintues ago and he has scored some brilliant goals. Because he's such a creative player he chooses to attempt to score a cracker when a simple tap in would do and the ball blazes over the goal but that's the type of player Garcia is.
We all agree that Benitez is a good manager, a type of manager who can take us back to our glory days so he must know that while Garcia has his weaknesses as all footballers that Garcia also has strengths that can be vital in a game. If Garcia was to put on some weight as in muscle by working out a bit more, he wouldn't be such a lightweight player so he wouldn't get knocked off the ball so easily. That's something he will have to work on and I think that he can improve as I am an optimist.
Antonio Nunez
Benitez said that Nunez was good in the air and that he is a good crosser of the ball. We also know that Nunez has played for Real Madrid reserves more than he has for the starting team however he's not a poor player imo as some have said. With time he will become an essential player. He has already shown that he can improve in every game he plays in. I've noticed that when Nunez crosses the ball and nobody gets at the end of it some feel that he's a poor crosser but that's not always true. We have no player that can get on the end of that ball in the air so because of that you can not blame Nunez however since we have sign Morientes that might change. Once again I think that he will become a good player for us if he is given time, he has the talent and the skill and the ability. Players like Diao can't be given time because they posses no talent, no skill and are not gifted at football imo.
Milan Baros
A lot of drama concerning Baros. I would like to remind all that Baros has spent a lot of time on the Liverpool bench while Houllier is in charge so those who are angered that Baros didn't score 20 goals when Houllier was here, well doing such a thing from the bench is very hard. As all players he has weaknesses and bad habbits. He likes to run with his head down but thats a bad habbit and that's being worked on as Benitez has pointed that to him and he is improving. He's showing better awareness and is linking up with players better than he did when he first started playing. He makes a difference on the pitch and with Morientes I think he will become a superb player and continue to improve. 11 goals scored, 8 in the Premiership, he can only score from this point on.
Those are just some of the players that we have talked about most. A lot of players have improved this year such as Carragher,Finnan,Pongolle,etc.... and I think we should not write off players such as Nunez,Garcia until the end of the season. Not all players adapt the same way or adapt in the same amount of time. While it took Alonso a short period of time to adapt, it might take another player more time. All good players are different.
If Morientes does play against Man Utd and has a stinker I hope I don't hear or read that he's "poor". If you can't see that Morientes will change our firepower up front than go to the eye doctor for a check up. Feel free to post your thoughts on what I have said,etc...
Obiviously a player like Salif Diao is in fact rubbish, no matter how much time you give him he will never show an quality on the pitch. He's not a naturaly talented footballer in my opinion, I am still wondering what Gerrard Houllier saw in him because I can't see it and neither can anybody else.
Neil Mellor
Mellor doesn't have the pace or the crossovers to show for and he's not a world class player neither is he a high quality player however he is a natural goalscorer. Despite that he's overweight a bit and that he does not have the pace and everything that a top striker should have, he has the ability to scoregoals. He is a natural goalscorer as he has scored vital vital goals for us this season. Now he has not scored 20 goals but he has scored when we need the goal. i.e. vs. Arsenal
Mellor is not Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry however he is the type of player we need for vital times. This year we've had a lot of injuries and we lost our main strikers so when Mellor came off the bench he made a difference. Therefore I do not think we should sell Mellor because we never know when our strikers may be injured.
Luis Garcia
Garcia has played for Benitez before and some fans have said that he's awful and others that he is brilliant at times. I'd like to believe that Benitez sign Garcia for no reason, he knows Garcia fairly well as Garcia has played for him before in Spain. I am sure Benitez knows that Garcia gives the ball away easily but I am pretty sure that he knows what a creative player Garcia is. He is inconsistent but that he can improve like so many others such as Robert Pires, Reyes,etc... You give him space and he will create something you might remember him by despite that he might had just given the ball away five mintues ago and he has scored some brilliant goals. Because he's such a creative player he chooses to attempt to score a cracker when a simple tap in would do and the ball blazes over the goal but that's the type of player Garcia is.
We all agree that Benitez is a good manager, a type of manager who can take us back to our glory days so he must know that while Garcia has his weaknesses as all footballers that Garcia also has strengths that can be vital in a game. If Garcia was to put on some weight as in muscle by working out a bit more, he wouldn't be such a lightweight player so he wouldn't get knocked off the ball so easily. That's something he will have to work on and I think that he can improve as I am an optimist.
Antonio Nunez
Benitez said that Nunez was good in the air and that he is a good crosser of the ball. We also know that Nunez has played for Real Madrid reserves more than he has for the starting team however he's not a poor player imo as some have said. With time he will become an essential player. He has already shown that he can improve in every game he plays in. I've noticed that when Nunez crosses the ball and nobody gets at the end of it some feel that he's a poor crosser but that's not always true. We have no player that can get on the end of that ball in the air so because of that you can not blame Nunez however since we have sign Morientes that might change. Once again I think that he will become a good player for us if he is given time, he has the talent and the skill and the ability. Players like Diao can't be given time because they posses no talent, no skill and are not gifted at football imo.
Milan Baros
A lot of drama concerning Baros. I would like to remind all that Baros has spent a lot of time on the Liverpool bench while Houllier is in charge so those who are angered that Baros didn't score 20 goals when Houllier was here, well doing such a thing from the bench is very hard. As all players he has weaknesses and bad habbits. He likes to run with his head down but thats a bad habbit and that's being worked on as Benitez has pointed that to him and he is improving. He's showing better awareness and is linking up with players better than he did when he first started playing. He makes a difference on the pitch and with Morientes I think he will become a superb player and continue to improve. 11 goals scored, 8 in the Premiership, he can only score from this point on.
Those are just some of the players that we have talked about most. A lot of players have improved this year such as Carragher,Finnan,Pongolle,etc.... and I think we should not write off players such as Nunez,Garcia until the end of the season. Not all players adapt the same way or adapt in the same amount of time. While it took Alonso a short period of time to adapt, it might take another player more time. All good players are different.
If Morientes does play against Man Utd and has a stinker I hope I don't hear or read that he's "poor". If you can't see that Morientes will change our firepower up front than go to the eye doctor for a check up. Feel free to post your thoughts on what I have said,etc...