An overreliance upon a single player has been a recurring theme in football throughout the ages. It is an accusation that has been levelled at several Premier League sides, but over the course of the last decade few have been tarred with the ‘one-man team’ tag with greater frequency than Liverpool.
Gérard Houllier’s latter years at Anfield were characterised by an apparently excessive dependence upon Steven Gerrard, with this trait subsequently spilling over into the first half of Rafael Benitez’s regime, before the signing of Fernando Torres – an acquisition which soon prompted the imaginative ‘two-man team’ label (although curiously and contradictorily, the side’s alarming slump following their second-place finish in 2008/09 was attributed by many to the departure of midfielder orchestrator Xabi Alonso).
The sale of Torres and Gerrard’s increasingly common enforced absences were supposed to have banished Liverpool’s overreliance upon talismanic figures to the past, but Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm’s recent comments suggest that this may not be the case.
Speaking in the aftermath of the two sides’ recent 0-0 draw at Anfield, Vorm opined:
“Maybe they rely too much on [Luis] Suárez. He is a player with incredible qualities. He’s a world-class player – I’ve played a lot of times against him in Holland and he has scored a few goals against me, so it is funny to see him again. But maybe they rely too much on him. He is a player who can make a difference, you know that. But he didn’t, and they didn’t score. Maybe because we kept him quiet they didn’t have other options. Perhaps that is unlucky for them, because in the future he will score, you can see that. We did our homework and we worked hard for the full 90 minutes to deny him the chances, and that is what you have to do when you arrive at Anfield.”
Last Saturday’s deflating draw with Swansea, arguably Liverpool’s most disappointing home display of the season, saw Suárez marginalised for large periods of the game as he produced an uncharacteristically muted performance.
The effervescent Uruguayan, excellently marshalled by Garry Monk and Ashley Williams, struggled to perforate the Swansea backline, with Liverpool subsequently appearing toothless and far from penetrative, despite the presence of £55m worth of additional attacking talent in Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing.
Liverpool are not the only side in the world whose attacking threat is substantially enhanced by the presence of one such on-song player – few can deny that Manchester City, Arsenal and Barcelona are more daunting prospects with the aid of David Silva, Robin van Persie and Lionel Messi respectively – but statistically speaking it is hard to refute Vorm’s claim.
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No, we’re not a one-man team! cos if we were, i’d like to think we’d rely on someone who can score more than 4% of his chances!
we have been called it before relying on gerrard even though we had masch , reina, alonso, torres. now they are saying suarez even though we have lucas that we are reliant on and enrique and reina and all though gerrards career we have not been any good at the back without carra. and it is the same now carra is the one player who leads our team and organises it without him we do not look the same.
We spent far too much money on mediocre British players who haven’t improved the team at all. Which means it usually falls on our one world class attacking player, Luis Suarez, to make things happen when Gerrard isn’t around.
Downing is really annoying me. I knew he was average, but I didn’t realise he was such a lazy and gutless player. When the going gets tough, Downing literally disappears.
Suarez won’t be at Anfield for long if he keeps scoring for Uruguay and we fail to make Champions League again and keep buying average British players for crazily inflated fees.
i’d like to see him score for LIVERPOOL never mind uruguay! definately NOT world-class yet but certainly has the potential
It’s because a few players are not performing, particularly Lucas.
28 games he has started 25 and come on for 2 others and in a team game where we have played him as a loan striker or part of a front 3 you’re surprised he has had involvement in 2 thirds of our goals? Shocking stat that honest! Any team with Suarez in will be better than without him in its the same with every exceptional player but football is a team sport. Barca better or worse with Messi? Obviously better! Would they stop winning games if he was injured for a year? No! And to take the Swansea game into point the 2 best moments for us were the top class last minute save to deny Johnson and when the cross came to Carroll, he nervously blasted it due to pressure to perform and hit the bar bit more composure and he had the time to calmly tap it in but all these so called supporters lack of support is obviously getting to him and making him rush his chances. My point is neither of those chances were Suarez but a different day would have given us a 2 nil victory if Vorm wasn’t in good form and Carroll was.
Kuyt, bellamy, suarez all r second strikers.
We need a poacher.
Some one like Higuain
We have one in KUYT ! but he is only used that way if someone is injured !
We need a new coach. FRANK RIJKAARD. Suarez needs help to score, which he is not getting. For now, those helps will only come from Bellamy and Kuyt. We need creative players or suarez-like e.g, Eden Hazard, Tevez/Llorente, Coutinho, Ever Banega, Keita or Tiote. These players will give us tittles and take us to the glory days.
Ashfatt, you wrote that Lucas was handicapped. Sure he is just like you are. You might need to check your eyes!
Lucas is 4 years in LFC, with man of the match performances litter over 4 yrs; now what has Downing, henderson and adam added to the team affirmatively? Infact if Lucas is handicapped, then those 3 are living corpses.
KK said he improved the team, that means complementing to make better but instead he has reduced the team as only the original core are producing namely, kuyt, lucas, pepe, agger, sktel. Only 2 of the new 7 have brought results in perofrmance namely suarez and enrique.
Lucas is just not good enough, can’t you all see? are you all blind? no wonder our team is so mediocre when the team is built around Lucas, oh my god…
Agreed!!!
Liverpool need a world class playmaker comes this January transfer to partner Adam or Gerrard. Lucas should be on the bench or be sold…enough said.
we bought crap.it been said so many
times im tired of hearing it.
what baffles me is kk still sticking
with them. downing, adams,
henderson, carrol and to some extent
lucas. plus the money that was spent
makes it more painful for most us fans.
these players were supposed to settle in immediately bcoz of epl experience.
for how long? i would have rather kk put more faith in our youth system.
morgan is scoring like its a hobby.
suso could pass better than adam.
sterling will rule the left wing. and
the composure of coady in midfield.
kk should swallow his pride and admit he bought crap and rectify it. if we dont
buy 3 big name signings come jan.
forget champions league. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE DONT MAKE CL SPOT? WHICH WAS THE INTENDED TARGET. SOMEONE WILL GET FIRED. SOMEBODY SUGGESTED FRANK RIJKARD. IM UP FOR UP THAT IF WORSE COMES TO WORST. the thing kk could do to please us is atleast give the young lads time on the pitch. even if they are on the bench
Remember Liverpool must be very very careful now as KK has signed underrated players.LFC must buy now as it will be a leeds united or will always be 10th in the league.Fans will never see LFC be champions again.My Mind is telling me that if we don’t buy these players now lfc will never never never be champions again.Never as nor a cup also.Now Damien must be very very quick in the signing of these players as the two Manchester,Arsenal,R Madrid,Chelsea,Tottenham,Barcelona will try to buy quicker than us.Look at Caroll garbbage.Dalglish is not a maurinho or a rafa or a rednapp.Later on will know if dalglish will succeed as Lfc should sell underrated players like (Caroll, Carragher,Skrtel,Wilson,Johnson,Flanagan, Aurelio,Doni,Henderson,Maxi,Downing,
pachecho,kurt,Adam(spearing is too good for him).Bring on Players Like Marin,Hazard, Ericksen,papadoupoulos, Duzdask,Gotze,Aquilani,Bale,M.Marin,baye,cahill,M.sisoko,
Payet,S.jovetic,Mamadou sakho,hummels,jan vertogen,Ym-villa,wilshere,neymar,
Bale,Lucas Moura,Jack Rodwell and the return of F.Torres then we can compete.