Former Liverpool player Mark Lawrenson was reacting to the news about Steven Gerrard staying at Anfield on BBC Radio Five Live when he talked about his opinion on another player whose future was in doubt, Fernando Torres:
“Torres is a top class player – a world class player on his day – but Liverpool haven’t got the games out of him and if Chelsea come in and offered really serious money for him, I would seriously think about that. I might, if of course Roy Hodgson was given all the money, get 2/3 players in. All of a sudden the squad would look very strong and be certainly beefed up. They could challenge for a Champions League spot.”
There are two reasons why I disagree with this opinion. The first is regarding Torres’s injury. Lawro rightly points out that the Reds have not seen enough of Liverpool’s front man, especially in the last two years where injury has hindered the amount of games he has played. However, there are some important issues surrounding Torres’s injury record that must be considered. The fact that he hasn’t had a rest in three years since the summer of 2007, and the fact that he is over relied upon by the Reds in regards to striking duties have meant Fernando’s body has been put under unnecessary strain.
Something that might help him stay fitter for longer periods despite being over played is the new Sports Medicine and Sports Science department that has been put in place under Australian expert Dr Peter Brukner. They specialise in injury prevention and has already had an impact on Roy Hodgson’s decision to play youngsters in upcoming friendlies and Europa League ties. Roy will also no doubt be looking for striker cover in the summer meaning pressure for Fernando to come back as quickly as possible will be lower, and he he will have greater time to recover from injuries.
The second reason, in response to Lawro’s opinion that Torres’s sale could finance moves for 2 or 3 top class players to get back into the Champions League, I believe our challenge for fourth would be more hindered by Torres sale, rather than being a beneficiary. Sure, we could purchase a new striker or two, but will they score crucial goals like Torres has in crucial games over the last couple of seasons? If he stays fit, he is truly worth his wait in gold.
I am also of the opinion that the squad we have now is only a few players short of competing next season anyway. A midfield with Maxi Rodriguez, Steven Gerrard, Alberto Aquilani and Joe Cole is not half bad, and a fully fit Torres could really benefit from the creative talents from these players. Of course, there is a question over whether the Reds have the squad depth to compete next season, especially if injuries occur once again, but I believe the numbers can be made up through the sale of other less vital players, and bring in quality performers rather than a quantity of squad players.
Such an argument is of course academic if Fernando asks to leave Anfield. If that happens then we must get the most we can for the player and reinvest all the money into the squad on players who will improve the team.
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Lawro is talking rubbish as usual. He is no longer one of us like Hansen, Kenny, Rush, etc. Not even sure it is he speaking on his own or making the case on someone’s behalf. Selling Torres is madness in itself but when he talks about Chelsea in particular, that cannot be without motive or prompting. After all he was part of the previous vicious media campaign against Benitez. We don’t want or value his comments and should not give them any more attention, now or in the future. The lunacy of his argument applies equally to Gerrard, Riena, etc. Let’s sell them all if tempting offers come it and buy 5/6 more players. Let’s scare opponents with the numbers at our disposal. Absolute rubbish as usual and I will skip the next reference to him on this site.
Who cares what Lawro thinks he should keep his opinions to himself, the Liverpool fans like myself are sick and tired of his deluded opinions. Hes always moaning about something and never really praises the team when it is doing well. Its true when people in the past have accused him of being a closet Utd fan, even if he did play for us.
The team needs to look to the future with the likes of Torres and Gerrard and now Joe Cole, its because of these players we are still able to sign some decent players, if we sold him then who would want to come to us in our current climate we may have the money but would the owners let the manager spend it all, and even if they did no big name players would want to come.
We shouldn’t sell Torres. like you said, his injuries were due to overplaying than actually being injury prone. Rafas over relaince on our only real striker proved havoc for Torres. If we could get one or possibly even two strikers to cover for the less important games, and rely on Torres to do what he does best in the big matches, then all we really need is a quality left back and another decent young creative mid which would give us some depth. Now that is 5 players granted, but as roy seems to be letting the deadwood go, its more and more likely that we will get at least 2-3 of these 5. But letting Torres go would be a big mistake, purely because Torres has proven his worth, but would his replacment be of the same calibre….
Easy….No!
torres can play 60 a game, that’s the kind of player he is, and under Roy I think he will get a lot more rest than under Rafa. Lawro shut your trap you write terrible articles which only get attention b/c they create controversy. then again english journalism is so horrid these days it’s no less than I expect from an englsih journalist. pure 100% drivel.
yeah thats right… if you rely on one person for so long then the player is bound to get injured. IF we can get another good striker like huntelaar, then the pressure is halved for el nino! simple, if the funds are there or any good swap deals with our fringe players.
Lawro is speaking as a pundit nothing more, the impartial supporter would probably think it is good business to sell Nando for £50-60 mil. Just like we would think £25-30 mil is good business for Villa for Milner. This is the year Roy will blood a lot more of the younger players so they will be better for next years campaign, our target this season is champions league qualification. Next year we will finally have new owners who will have started to build our new stadium and will give Roy a warchest to mount a serious challange on all fronts. With 3-4 real quality additions added in the positions that Roy will decide need to be strengthened after assessing the squad he has over the course of this season. This year fringe players like Pacheco, Amoo, Ayala, Kelly, Ngog, Darby, Spearing, Nemeth, Shelvey need to show they can be relied apon when senior players are rested or injured. If we have new owners by the end of the year it would be bad business to do our shopping in the January transfer window as the best players are unavailable and the others are vastly overpriced.
he’s not one of us any more or he talks s***e…..what B*****KS! why? because his opinion is different from yours? stop having a pop at lawro guys, i don’t agree with his opinion either but the man is an Lfc legend and is entitled to his opinion!
although i don’t agree with him, i do understand his arguement but i think if these new doctors and sports scientists we have employed are all they’re cracked up to be then hopefully they will keep nando fit and there is NOBODY who can replace a fit fernando torres!
£50-60m to spend on players is awesome! but liverpool will be lucky to get more than half of torres’ sale to spend on players
Firstly I agree, we shouldn’t sell Torres, but Lawro has been miss-quoted here and people are reacting accordingly. The full interview begins discussing Masch and Lawro rightly points out, that if Masch wants to leave and his heart isn’t in it, then we should sell him and use the money best we can, he then goes onto to state the same for Torres – that is, if he wants to leave then we should sell him. Lawro isn’t recommending the sale of Torres, only pointing out what every fan surely agrees with, we should only keep players who want to play for the team.
EVERYONE WILL HAVE THERE OPINION ON TORRES BUT ANY TEAM THAT COMES UP AGAINST LFC WITH THE LIKES OF GERRARD, COLE, TORRES MUST HAVE TO BE WORRIED WHAT THEY WILL AND CAN DO
ROY HAS BEEN VERY SMART IN HIS SELECTION OF PLAYERS AND NO GOING FOR THE 20 MIL+ PLAYERS THIS WILL NOT GIVE YOU TITLES AND CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LOOK AT REAL MADRID THEY STILL CANT GET IT RIGHT AND THEY SPENT 100 MIL+ ON PLAYERS WE WILL RULE EUROPE AGAIN SOONER THAN WE THINK
LFC THICK AND THIN GO REDS THIS SEASON
The usual ballacks from M L. He has constantly undermined LFC over the past few seasons with his comments. Now he has the change of manager he pined for he is still trying to destabilise the club (as if we haven’t enough of that with Dastardly & Muttley). We need to keep our best players & strengthen the side around them as R H appears to be trying to do.
No way then the Bloody YANKEES will use the money for their debit repayments so we must be careful in this matter and really he attracts some fans for liverpool in asian region also he gives money in commercial sales which our new players wont give…….