29 Nov 2012

'LFC can't rely on him' - Aldo writes-off goal-shy Liverpool star. Premature...?

Prior to his injury in October, Liverpool striker Fabio Borini had managed only one goal in eleven games for the club, which is not the greatest return on a £10m investment. To be brutally honest, the team hasn't really missed the Italian since he's been on the sidelines, but he's due to return in January, which will boost an already paper-thin squad. Hopefully, Borini will chip in with some Premier League goals on his return, but Anfield legend John Aldridge isn't too optimistic about that possibility.

In his column for the Liverpool Echo today, Aldo urged FSG to be 'bold' and back Brendan Rodgers in the January transfer window. The former Reds hitman believes the club need at least two new attacking players, and fears that Borini will continue to be unreliable in front of goal. He argued:

"We’ve got Fabio Borini to come back from injury but I don’t think we can rely on him for goals in the second half of the season.

"I hope Borini proves me wrong but it looks like he will need a year or two to settle in.

"We need at least two players who can come in and make an instant impact and January is absolutely crucial for us".


Borini doesn't appear to be very popular amongst ex-Reds. Mark Lawrenson is not a fan of the Italian either, as he revealed in his Mirror column recently:

"[Borini] looks like he just hasn't got it at all. He might look the part if they persevere with him as a central striker, but at the moment it doesn't look like he is up to it. You have to ask why didn't Roma buy him where he was on loan?"

Ian St. John also believes the 23-year old is not doing enough to justify his place in the team. Prior to Borini's injury, he told LFC TV:

"Borini's got to do more; I haven't seen much of him at all. He should be backing up Suarez and getting into the box. He's not imposing on games, and we need to see more of him".

For me, its way to early to be throwing Borini under the bus. To be fair, before he got injured, the Italian was played out of position in almost every game.

Borini finally played centrally for a while against Sunderland, but despite getting into good goalscoring positions and forcing saves, Rodgers reverted to playing Suarez centrally in the second half, and then subbed him off in the 64th minute.

During his loan spell at Swansea, Rodgers often played Borini through the middle, and the striker rewarded him with 6 goals and 3 assists in 12 appearances.

That's a decent record, but with Suarez in red-hot form in the central striker's role, it's highly unlikely Borini will get a consistent chance there when he returns; and if the Reds sign another striker in January, his chances will be even more limited.

In fact, if a new striker hits the ground running and bangs in goals regularly, Borini could conceivably end up being a squad player, which is probably not what he had in mind when he signed for the club.

Jaimie Kanwar


15 comments:

  1. The guy is a lightweight. Toatal waste of £10m. In the documentary "Being Liverpool" Rogers said he was a natural goalscorer!!!
    How come he doesn't score goals then and tbh doesn't even get to play upfront.
    Fowler was a natural goalscorer, can you imagine him playing every week right or left wing.
    Afraid Rogers hasn't got a clue - David Brent in disguise.

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  2. No clue why people would write off Borini given that he's only had a few games in a Liverpool shirt.

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  3. The kid is highly rated in Italy. He was brought to the Euros to gain experience in the same way Ericsson did with Walcott. He might still come good. Give him time.

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  4. Because after even only a few games you can have an idea whether or not a player has it or doesn't have it. Borini doesn't look as if he has it.

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  5. Agree, way too early to write him off. As for Mr Lawrenson's comments, I remember us not signing Anelka when we had the chance

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  6. Mr. Kanwar

    Have you though about adding less of your own opinions to the site? You pick up some very interesting pieces from other sources, but I for one usually skip your page because of your own comments. I am of course not saying that I only read articles/blogs from people I agree with but I believe that you at times back you own opinions with questionable/biased data (probably accidental). The piece you did on Assaidi not being backed by the manager is an example.

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  7. i think he'll score goals,but hardly be prolific,i think at 10million we were mugged!!

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  8. I think he is a average player. However I will reserve judgement until he gets a few solid games.

    That is all.

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  9. Even i don't see Borini making immediate impact when he comes back from injury, he hasn't shown anything in the games he played to prove that he has something special in his armory. He might turn out to be a good squad player but i don't think he'll ever be world class.

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  10. Just like it was the case with Lucas Leiva.

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  11. It took Suarez a year and a half to start scoring regularly, bit too early to loot at consigning Borini to the reject pile. Let's at least give the guy a bit of time before shoving him out the door.

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  12. Listen, Borini is at the club now so lay off him. He's injured now and he didn't play that many matches and none of them through the middle. Let's give the kid a chance for crying out loud before writing him off.

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  13. I'm not sure that Borini's best position is playing as a central striker. I recall reading a statistical analysis, at the time that we signed him, which showed that while he had played across the whole of Roma's front three at various times, he was over 60% more productive on an attempts to conversion basis when he played on the left of the three.

    That would appear to be where the evidence points to being his most effective goal-scoring position.

    I also think that it's far too early to tell after so few games and a lengthy injury whether or not he's a write off.

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  14. Do you remember Thierry Henry's first season at Arsenal by any chance? The man was pants. It took him eight games to get his first goal and he has admitted that he had to "relearn everything about the game" after he moved from Italy to England.

    He ended up with 26 goals at the end of that first season but had only scored five by Christmas, if I remember rightly.

    I think you're jumping the gun.

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  15. Borini is such a good player, just give him time and the next thing you know he is the top goalscorer of the prem

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