AS Liverpool fans reran the horrifying opening day defeat to West Brom in their minds, they could be forgiven for silently cursing their wasteful centre forward who missed at least three very presentable opportunities against the Baggies.I submit, however, that this is no new phenomena and Luis Suarez will forever be the kind of player who will miss chances that his talents demand he should take. It has been evident for 18 months at Anfield and was even on show during the Olympics for Uruguay.For all his qualities and his Eredivisie exploits with Ajax, the little number 7 is no clinical finisher. Perhaps it is a problem that can only be rectified indirectly.
Opposites attract and for Luis Suarez’s negatives, Liverpool must find a positive.
Rather than lamenting Suarez’s near misses and shanked sitters, Liverpool should be focused on finding a solution to the profligacy of their star player from another source.
Suarez will have games where he will gobble up three wonderful goals from relatively difficult chances (i.e. Norwich away last season) but then follow it up with a string of misses in the following games that lead to Liverpool firing blanks. And there is the main obstacle that Liverpool must overcome. If Suarez isn’t scoring, who is?
For a long time Liverpool have been bailed out by clinical front men who, regardless of how they were playing in a match, would more often than not stick the ball in the net given half a chance. From Torres to Owen to Fowler to Rush to Aldridge, Liverpool have always had someone in their team that guaranteed goals no matter how peripheral they were during a game. Luis Suarez is the antithesis of this. He guarantees sparkling performances week in week out (did anyone think, finishing apart, that he performed anything less than brilliantly at West Brom last Saturday?) but he does not guarantee goals. His finishing is as unpredictable as his bamboozling twists and turns.
However, Liverpool’s lack of goals is not all his fault. Suarez is what he is. He’s a magician, a conjurer, a creator who people rejoice in watching and he needs a sidekick to take the weight of Liverpool’s goal scoring duties from his shoulders. Perhaps a slight reshuffling of the front line would help. Maybe Fabio Borini playing centrally with Suarez filling one of the wide attacking berths would provide more for Liverpool in terms of goals. Borini is a player who can finish chances, as we have seen at Roma, but he is also a player whose work rate, knowledge of Rodgers’ system and game intelligence are perhaps better utilized from one of the wide forward positions that Rodgers’ has placed him in thus far. If that is the case then Liverpool must find another regular source of goals, and quick.
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Stewart Downing started in the other forward position alongside Borini and Suarez at the Hawthorns, but is anyone expecting more than five league goals out of him this year? It simply isn’t enough for a wide attacker to contribute when the man leading the line is unreliable in terms of his finishing. Oussama Assaidi will hopefully add some much needed firepower to Liverpool this season, but that is again a huge gamble on a young player who must first find his feet in the Premier League before becoming a first team regular. Whichever way you dress it up, Liverpool don’t look like a team that are going to be significantly more clinical than they were last year when they recorded just 47 league goals. It is a concern that seeing otherwise good performances being undone by wretched finishing could again be an all too common occurrence this season.
Just imagine for a moment, if you can without being sick in your mouth, that Fernando Torres had stayed at Liverpool and was currently playing alongside Suarez. Presuming that they could have dovetailed as effectively as their talents suggest they would have, how many goals do you think the Spaniard would have scored? I’ll venture a guess at significantly more than the 11 that Andy Carroll has scored in his 57 Liverpool appearances thus far. The space that Suarez creates for his strike partners is immense. He is forever pulling defenders out of position and gliding past them, but too often he won’t have a partner waiting to profit from his beguiling movement or the composure to finish his excellent build up play himself. Torres would have benefited hugely but alas, he is long gone from Merseyside. Liverpool need a new goalscorer. If they had a ‘fox in the box’ (not Franny Jeffers, mind), they would be an infinitely more frightening attacking proposition.
With Carroll still kicking his heels on the touchline so far this season and the likes of Adam, Cole and Spearing seemingly only taking up space in the bloated midfield portion of the squad, perhaps Brendan Rodgers would be best served by moving these fringe players on (admittedly at a huge loss in Carroll’s case) and bringing in a proper foil for his best player to work off. Luis Suarez is a number 7, not a number 9. He’s a Peter Beardsley in need of a John Aldridge to work off.
Who knows, with someone else taking the goal scoring burden off his shoulders, maybe Suarez would loosen up a bit and finish a few more of the chances that he gets. Finding an out and out goalscorer could even unlock more potential from Suarez. Just nobody mention Michael Owen. He’s a negative force too far.
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Well said. What worries is we already knew this and yet it looks like the manager came in and spent the core of his money on central midfield!!!
Either he signs a goalscorer or changes the way he plays the front three, or ideally both. If not we WILL have another mid table finish and another management search will begin.
You are talking about Suarez, what about RVP? after 6 years in the EPL he is now a good finisher? what about yesterday Borini? Suarez is human, he is creating chances because Liverpool does not have a capable player that can create a chance for him, Liverpool needs a number 10, a David Silva ex.
Luis suarez breaks defenses but the big problem is luck of quality players to buck him up,messi cannot break defenders and score by his own frequently ecspecially how defenders in the epl play .we need good buckup quality for suarez
mr,writer pls look for some other things to write and don’t look at issue concerning Suarez or are you an agent whom they sent to write against Suarez, Suarez was bought as a supporting striker and if in his lucky day he always score goals and a day of hard luck there is nothing he can do as human,after all some top strikers also miss chance in front of goals even penalty they always miss so pls we should support our players to charge them to put all their effort.
Excuse me but were you talking about the same Borini who made such a pig’s ear of being in front of goal against Hearts? Jf Rodgers wants to find a goalscorer, he need only look down his bench until he reaches a tall lad with a ponytail; that is, unless his actual vision is as myopic as his footballing vision.
On a related matter, has he had it written into the Liverpool players’ contract that Pepe Reina has to receive the ball on every fourth pass or sooner?
In LFC Bench there is a donkey sitting with a stallion’s price. BR’s problem is his predecessor was an incompetent racist, spent money on native garbage.
By the way, what makes you think that a 10mn worth player (his real price won’t be more than 7mn had he not been English, 1/5 of the money paid by KD) ‘ll score more goals than Suarez?
Agreed, I don’t care if Suarez has 11 goals, but has 25 assists. Solution, when Suarez has the ball, get as many players in and around the box as possible, believe me with lots of backup and Suarez’s mastery we’ll hit the back of the net more times than not.
It is common knowledge that Suarez is at his supreme best when hunting in tandem with a class attacker. Unfortunately Anfield management have never quite grasped this idea and continually fail to provide that all important partner. It is an ironic parady of the days of Torres before him to be sure. Time for them to wake up and grasp the concept that there is no “Roy of The Rovers” player in this modern game and GET HIM a quality , and I mean quality , running mate. Perhaps then we shall see the rewards moving us forward and also bringing back some semblance of “Fortress Anfield” that BR keeps on about! The answer ,and therefore the responsibility , lies in his hands alone!
Bring back King Kenny. He has the solution.
Suarez can be a perfect No. 10 (or 7/11 i. e. winger) but we are trying to make him a No. 9. I have absolutely no problem for the low conversion of Luis – it’s our misfortune that the previous Manager wasted money & now Luis had to pay the penalty.
I don’t want my best player to be wasted for tap ins. Had KD not wasted 85mn on those British garbage, we could have bought a No. 9 like Huntelor, Higuan, Damio, Cavani, Lorente or Soldado; a couple of wingers like Mata, Remi, Shakiri, Cazorla, Laveiz, Lamela or Pastore. Playing with a genuine No. 9 with 2 wingers & Luis as No. 10 & SG & Lucas at CM (Instead of those 4 Carroll, Henderson, Adam & Downing), we would have been fighting for top 3 last year.
Whenever I see these 4 in LFC Red, go through a bitter taste in my mouth & I am quite happy that KD was “Sacked”.
Been playing Footy Manager have we?