It has been said time and time again this season, but once again Liverpool’s wasteful finishing cost them crucial points in the race for fourth place. A goalless draw at Wigan could so easily have been a victory, with the Reds failing to convert a whole host of chances, including when Ali Al-Habsi saved Charlie Adam’s second half penalty.
A damning statistic emerged after the game. According to Opta Sports, Liverpool have the lowest goals-to-shots ratio in the Premier League, scoring with just 8.5% of their efforts. With the league average currently standing at 13.6%, it’s clear that someone in the side really needs to step forward and start scoring on a regular basis.
The Reds’ rivals for that fourth place spot all have players all over the pitch capable of scoring goals. Players who can have a quiet game but still pop up and score at any time. Tottenham have Van Der Vaart, Bale and Adebayor. Chelsea have Sturridge, Lampard and Mata. Robin Van Persie may be carrying Arsenal single-handedly at the moment, but he can almost always be relied upon to hit the back of the net.
Liverpool do not currently have that luxury. Luis Suarez is their top league goalscorer, but even he has just five goals from 17 games. Of the rest of Kenny Dalglish’s squad, no player has more than two goals. The Reds have only managed more than two goals in a game once so far in the league this season, and that was way back in August.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
With Suarez facing up to the prospect of a potential eight game ban, the front line could get even weaker. So what can be done? Andy Carroll has many critics, but he still has not enjoyed a decent run in the starting line-up. He deserves a chance to at least find his feet with regular playing time.
There were numerous occasions against Wigan when Stewart Downing put a cross into the box, only for no Liverpool player to be there waiting to attack it. At the very least, Carroll would bring a new dimension and a new threat with his aerial ability. The problem is that when he does start, Liverpool seem to resort to gameplan of playing long balls in to him; using it as the main attacking strategy rather than an added extra.
The other option would be to bring someone new in during the transfer window, but that is easier said than done. It’s difficult enough to find a striker who will settle in and start scoring goals straight away, but Fenway Sports Group may be reluctant to splash the cash with Carroll still yet to make an impact.
There’s no obvious answer to Liverpool’s striking problems, but the management must attempt to find one as quickly as possible. Dalglish will know that his side cannot afford to drop too many more points, and with the defensive aspect of the side already taken care of, the attack really needs to be looked at.
WATCH LIVERPOOL V BLACKBURN OR LIVERPOOL V NEWCASTLE! 188BET are offering the opportunity of winning Match Tickets. Please CLICK THE BANNER BELOW to be in with a BIG chance of winning the massive prize!
–
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool or like us on Facebook
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an obvious answer? Perhaps buying a striker in January? But as you say rather ridiculously, “there is no obvious answer” we must let that pass!
What twaddle…
Yeah we could go out and buy the most prolific striker in Europe like City did with Dzeko last January….oh wait he scored 2 goals in 15 appearances last year for them. Or we could go get an establlished reliable verteran striker with one of the best strike records for years like when we bought Morientes….oh wait no that didn’t work either! Buying a new striker does not always mean immediate goal return even the very best strikers can sometimes take a while to get going Thierry Henry took a season of playing rubbish before became a decent striker and Van Nistelrooy went on to become a great for the scum but didn’t score in his first 8 games, a new striker is needed because we need more options but as the article hints it’s not a magic wand that will be guaranteed to solve all our problems.
Yh but none of those players looked crap even though they weren’t scoring!
Everytime iv seen him play out whole shape changes and we look crap and he just looks out of his depths.
Im not saying Carrol is a crap player… He has a very intelligent football brain and good ability, but He just doesn’t fit into our team.
Horses for courses springs to mind.
@lfc4life – Sorry mate i don’t see any brain in carroll, all he did was jog around the 3/4 up front like he did at newcastle waiting for passes,*#@& lazy player.
Statistics may not lie but lets get on to improve our game but most people would agree the striking dept.needs more beef.
Huntaaler or Podolski-may be both!
Damio wont help at present,nor is Dembele.certainly city wont sell Tevez to us,and his wages are also a bar.i cant see anyone else.
I do agree that something has to be done, but one point about that stat is that we also have the 2nd or 3rd highest amount of shots created which then skews the percentage. Obviously more need to go in! No doubt! But say Blackburn may have only created say 20 chances but if say 10 go in that’s 50%. they are still bottom. We have missed 4 penalties, and hit the woodwork 17 time this season, with a little change in luck that’s an extra 21 goals which would be more than man city. It’s better that we are creating them than not. We do need to improve. Stevie should be back soon and should improve the penalties stat at the very least. And Newcastle game is coming up which is traditionally is good for lots of goals! 😉
buy podolski before any other club buys him
he will be perfect at liverpool and also his cost is reseanable
Should we fail to sign anyone in January, I would most certainly play Maxi off Andy Carroll. He has been proving since the end of last season, that he has the knack to be in the right place at the right time, with a killer instinct in front of goal.Had it not been for the heroics of the QPR goalkeeper he could have ended with a hatrick, to add to the goals he scored against Chelsea. He is a very intelligent player and deserves to be given more time on the pitch.
Scoring goals is not just down to the forward,but then again we dont really have a out and out forward do we?in the past liverpool teams that went on to win things had players from midfield who could score plenty of goals,this present lot in the middle must be the poorest that we have had
in many a year,to say i am disapointed in downing,henderson and adam is putting it mildly,
dont these players practice shooting?and the fortune wasted on big andy,we should of bought
better players than that lot,if kenny doesnt go out and buy one or two players in the window we will struggle to finish in the top six never min
the top four.
The last time Andy had 4 back to back league starts he scored in 2 of them, he may not be perfect but in the 5 games since then he has only spent 107 minutes on the pitch and only one start which he didn’t finish, hardly enough time to make an impact. He could still be the kind of striker that gets a goal every 2 or 3 goals if playing regularly but as the article says the team need to keep playing like they do when he isn’t on the pitch, the myth of Andy being some huge attacking arial threat annoys me, most of his goals are actually scored with his feet not head.
podolski is supposed to be one of the biggest w@nkers in modern football.
there’s NO WAY you should want him anywhere near liverpool
What can be or must be done if LiverpoolFC don’t get the needed player the only solution for Carroll is simple he has to return to the Academy of the remaining 2 or 3days on training every week specialized for freekick penalty or corners to score goals and goals and goals be very proud of sitting with something on the bench he have enough time for Liverpool and for England international team of his age .Academy job is to complete what’s missing in players YNWA
nah,folks,we nid podolski and either huntleer or lewandoski for starters.get these 2 strikers.we nid a winger like ramirez,we also nid xaqiri and a defensive midfielder.so we nid a team like this,reina,johnson,agger,skertel,enrique,fernando/montolio,steve g,shaqiri,ramirez,podolski,suarez
Apparently he has asked for a move more than once stating he is unhappy with his time on the pitch and wants to either go to a top 4 club or back to Newcastle.
Kenny has told him to work harder in training.