4 Dec 2012

Striker shock? BR has to ignore Didi's controversial transfer advice...right?

It's becoming a cliche to say it, but it's blindingly obvious that Liverpool need to bring another striker to the club during the January transfer window, and I think most Reds fans would agree with that. Anfield legend Dietmar Hamann has a different view, however, and he believes the club is fine in the striker department.

Posting on Twitter, Hamann revealed his 'worry' over the club's ability to offload Kenny Dalglish's transfer flops in January, but insisted that Liverpool should buy more midfielders, and no strikers. He explained:

"[Liverpool] have to hang on till January and hopefully bring a couple in. Don't think we need a forward as I don't want to see Suarez on the wing.

"We need a winger and somebody who can nick a goal from midfield. The club is well short of the Top 4, [and] unless there is some quality brought into the club things won't change in a rush.

""How much will the club recoup for Carroll Henderson and Downing? £75m the club paid for them. My worry is that we can't get rid of some of the players in January makes you wonder what could have been"


With 13 goals so far this season, Luis Suarez is Liverpool's main source of goals, and he is not being helped by the club's midfielders, who've scored a piffling four goals in 14 league games.

The likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Nuri Sahin, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling are supposed to be players who can 'nick a goal from midfield', but it's not happening. With the way the team is set-up, how likely is that to change if two more midfielders come in?

Another attacking, goalscoring midfielder would definitely be a bonus, but that still does not change the fact that if Suarez gets injured/banned, there is no one to replace him.

I usually agree with most things Didi says, but on this occasion, he may be wrong. Unfortunately, it may be the case that Brendan Rodgers feels the same way; indeed, earlier in the season, he said:

"It is no good having a goalscorer scoring 30 goals and no-one else scores - I've always been against that theory. For me it is a team ethic. You bring in one striker who can score you goals, which is great, but it's not good for the team if the rest don't score. For us it is trying to have players in different areas of the field who can cause a problem"

It seems unthinkable that Liverpool will not bring in a striker in January, but if it doesn't happen, it will be a major shock to the system, and fans will almost certainly be apoplectic with rage.

Kenny Dalglish found himself in the same position last January: a striker was desperately needed, and he/FSG decided they'd rely on Andy Carroll.

Well, we all know how that story ended, and if Rodgers doesn't want to suffer the same fate, he better convince FSG to put up the cash for a quality striker.

Jaimie Kanwar


40 comments:

  1. its covinceing fsg thats going to be the problem imo

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  2. but not Sturridge. A big head. always injured and cant score goals
    The apprentice likes him because he was a junior coach at Chelsea where he also saw the next Gerd Muller ie Borini

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  3. Agree. Sturridge isn't the answer.

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  4. I can see where Didi is coming from. It will be difficult to bring a world-class central striker in who would have to sit on the bench because we already have Suarez there. Although we all think Suarez would be great on the wing it seems that both he and more importantly BR, wants him in the middle. It could end up being a similar situation to Barcelona with Messi and Ibra. IMO what we need is quality winger or two for the starting 11 and some quality back up for Suarez. Ideally that will be Borini... lets hope so!

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  5. I would agree we do need someone for the wings, neither side scores goals, which is a big problem. Sterling is great, but I would prefer he was used as a impact sub for now. He is young and playing him every game may not work out best for us or him in the long run. We do need another striker who can score goals, but this would mean moving LS to right wing, or right of the front three rather. We don`t play 4-4-2 so we only use one striker per game. I know LS plays right of the front three for his country but he has said he prefers the central role in a interview a few weeks ago. I cant see Daniel or Huntlear or any of the others we have been linked with being that great on the left or right, and this is the problem. So while I think we need a back up striker who is good, I would in princple agree with Didi that its the wings and AM that are our weakest area. LS scores, the rest don`t.

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  6. I wouldn't worry about him coming- reports say(and I want to believe it) that he demands 80 000 a week- no way fsg will go for it knowing his transfer fee...

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  7. The issue arises when LS gets banned or is injuried. That is the problem, you need a great striker who is happy to be on the bench. Not many around like that.

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  8. Why would BR take any notice of Hamman

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  9. How about human cloning? We could have 3 Suarez's upfront

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  10. Don't forget Sturridge made an impact at Bolton and finished his loan spell with 8 goals in 12 appearances at the club.

    So far for Chelsea he has made 93 appearences, scored 24 and 11 assists.

    He can be a selfish player but that's not a bad quality when you're a striker!

    It's about game time. He was impressive at Bolton scoring some wonderful goals. There's a lot of quality now at Chelsea. If he get's the game time at Liverpool he might just have the impact we need!

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  11. Rodgers invested over 10 million in a young striker called Borini, if we buy another top striker for top money, where does Borini fit in? With the hope that Morgan and others are virtually ready to take the step up to the first team, again what will happen to their development? Maybe if we just got a loan signing of a top striker or a top goal poacher in the twilight of his career that may be the answer. In the preferred formation of 4-3-3, maybe attacking midfielders are the answer and Didi is right as not many strikers like to be played out wide.

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  12. These reports have already been dismissed by Sturridge's agent, unfortunately.

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  13. I can see what DH is saying, he does not want a central striker coming in(Say Klass Huntelaar)if he plays then Suarez will have to play elsewhere(Outwide as DH says)
    Suarez has proved himself as a great central point of attack, he needs an able replacement but the way the system is we play this being a squad player.
    BR will be looking for strikers who can operate in the 3 striker positions, say Walcott or sturridge who could play left, right or central striker.

    Personally love to see a quality No 10 come in similar to Muniaz at Bilboa

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  14. We need another striker, its as simple as that. If Suarez ends up injured, then not only do we not have any midfielders who can score, but we also have no strikers who can score.
    Lets be honest we arent going to attract many 'top' strikers, so I wouldnt worry about them sitting on the bench a little bit. Or change the formation? Why do we have to play 433 all the time. Why not have Suarez sit just behind the striker, im sure he would be pretty effective in that role. Then have either Allen, Lucas or Gerrard in the 2 positions behind them. Still with 2 wingers.

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  15. I disagree with Hamman. If Suarez gets injured then what? A club should have 3 first team striker and at the moment with only have 2.

    For this January we need to buy a striker and a winger. I am still unsure of Suso as he dies towards the end of games but I have great belief in him, think he will be a class player.

    With Sturridge I just think he is the sulky type. If we but him for £12-£15M he might think he's the shizz and act accordingly. Plus if reports are correct...this whole 80K a week is ludicrous. He needs to be scoring 25 goals a season to get that. And even Walcott too with his 80-100K a week demands.

    I prefer we get Ince as the winger or Mertens. As for a striker Bony seems good.

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  16. Will be interesting how we shape up against west ham without luis, hope we can rest as many players as possible in the europa game, i personally dont mind if we bow out the competition, we havent a hope of winning it with this current side & it would let us focus on the league more. I agree with most of what didi says but still think a striker is essential as well, its just so sad the money we have wasted, lets hope we get it right in future, No sturridge, no bent please!!

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  17. Damn... He isn't a bad player, at all, but his commitment, and his attitude in general are the biggest problem...

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  18. I see your point but this competition gives our young players and sub players a chance to play and get some experience. Wisdom was handed a starting role against Young Boys and doubt BR would have played him so quickly in the PL if he didn't impress for us at the Europa game. Plus when it gets to the quarter finals then it gets quite tough and interesting. A nice run in the Europa League is not a bad thing I think.

    No Sturridge and Bent only on loan.

    I would not mind Walcott if he plays on the right.

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  19. This is crazy, we need a striker desperately. The player that comes in has to be able to play in any of the front three positions which is maybe why we seem to be looking at Sturridge (a player I don't rate). I'd like us to have a look at Remy, he's strong and quick and can play anywhere along the front three. I'd like to see us look to the continent for the signings, British players are overpriced and not as good technically. We've already been stung in the British market and need to learn from our experiences. Henderson-18m or Michu-2m, unbelievable...

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  20. We definitely need another quality striker. The game at West Ham this weekend will sadly underline this fact.

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  21. They wouldn't pass to each other...

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  22. True, but imagine the havoc they would cause in the final third. Opponents wouldn't know anymore whether they were boys or girls.

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  23. I think that 2 would be enough for that, 3 would be exaggerating...

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  24. The problem is the same when we had Torres we needed a good back up striker then. But That would take financial backing from the board

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  25. Cavani, Llorente, Huntelaar, Bent.

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  26. Agreed. I think its also a case of improving what we have, which right now in some areas isn`t hard. Walcott would be brilliant for us. His pace would go so well with Sterlings, and with them three upfront, it really gives us a good edge. Walcott can then also play in the main striker role if LS is out. Also Walcotts goal record is top notch for someone who mainly plays out wide, and his assits aint bad either considering how much everyone slates him for being a head down player.

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  27. no to sturidge pliz rodgers will bring the axe on himself by buying sturidge.buy damiao,bony ince,and walcot instead

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  28. I agree we want quality up front around suarez but im not too sure its out-and-out wingers we're looking for if we do decided to mave suarez as our main striker and not bring in another. Luis is scoring so Dimi might be onto something here....he's the only part of the team that's working so why mess with it? If we do keep LS up front the last thing we need are wingers who will get to the by-line and cross the ball because suarez is not going to be winning too many headers. We need attacking midfielders who would opperate almost as second strikers to suarez. Imagine LS trhough the middle and two players such as moutinho and erikson on either side of him in those AM possitions. We would start playing more through the middle and have more success penetrating defenses and have more midfield contribution to chances on goal. With wingers, we are losing support for L S in the box when a cross comes in when he's the only one there. Play through the middle and occasionally go out on the wings with our full backs cause instead of LS being in the box alone ud have him and the two AMs always in the area, drastically increasing our chances to score. (disclaimer: I dont think we can buy moutinho and erikson but if we could find players of that type or get people like shelvey to play more like that then we could start scoring more....bar the obvious point that our boys also need to practice shooting on target in practice more often)

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  29. Read the latest press about andy carroll, reckon his value is decreasing by the week, whoever ultimately thought he was worth 35 mil deserves crucifying, lets hope he,s our last big money balls up

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  30. I have said it before and i will say it again. We need to gut our team and start the rebuilding process from scratch. We need to build a team around Suarez. Mind you it it will take more than a couple of seasons to achieve the team we need to take us up to a top four finish.

    Didi Hamman is partially right and partially wrong. In the striker department Hamman has it wrong we do need reinforcement that is sure. Suarez goes down and we are looking at Shelvy or Fabio Borini. Borini can not be expected to support Suarez in the goal scoring department. I don't think the ex-Roma man has adjusted to the BPL and no one knows exactly when that will happen.

    Hamman is correct that we do need a proven winger brought in in January. Assaidi has failed to impress. I do not know what it was that Rodgers saw in him but he has failed to recreate that form at Anfield. Enrique has actually deputized better in that position while Downing plays as a left back.

    For us to be really competitive a team again these following players have to be sold and more technically gifted replacements brought in. The team needs to be gutted.

    (1) Jaime Carragher

    (2) Stewart Downing

    (3) Andy Carroll

    (4)Assaidi

    (5) Jordan Henderson

    (6) Fabio Borini

    (7) Joe Allen

    (8) Joe Cole

    (9) Danny Ward

    (10) Doni

    (11) Sebestian Coates

    (12) Jordan Henderson

    (13) Dani Pacheco

    I realize that i am probably making enemies among many of the Anfield faithful by composing this list. I think it is time we were true to ourselves and asked ourselves some hard questions. The club has been misfiring of late on so many levels with a majority of our goals coming from just one man Luis Saurez. It is painfully clear that a lot of our players have failed to leave up to the expectations that we had for them when we spent mega bucks on them to bring them to Anfield.


    These players have to be replaced no matter how popular they are and more technically sound replacements brought in for us to think of seeing a top four finish and champions league play again.

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  31. Keep Allen, and I think we did not see what Assaidi is capable of- and think we will...

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  32. we need to get back to the club we were 10 years ago even back to the level of quality we possessed on that faithful night in Istanbul in 2005.

    If Assaidi and Allen remain at the club they certainly should not be in the starting eleven. At least not based on their current form. We need to get rid of the deadwood and build a leaner meaner team around Suarez.

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  33. Agreed. And those two each have potential to become one of our best 20 players when we return to cl and start to challenge for the title, in my opinion. And we need 20, right?

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  34. Hi Chib, i notice you put henderson in your list twice, does that mean he,s twice as crap as the rest, lol, have to agree to a certain extent, the squad still needs a major cull for us to dramatically improve

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  35. We still need a striker as we can't rely on just Suarez. Yesil, Morgan and Borini are not there yet and may never be so we need a striker. Just not a 35 million quid one like I said in another topic. I just saw Kaka play against Ajax and he still looks great. Not sure why he doesn't play much at Real but there's a player who I'd break the bank for. Imagine him and Gerrard in the same midfield with Lucas just behind them. Even for only two seasons that would be enough to put a smile on my face for the next five years.

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  36. i am for bringing on older players if they are in good form and can positively influence the youngsters on the squad. I don't care personally about a players resale value. We need a talented hands on deck because we are in crisis mode at Liverpool at the moment.
    If we can get a player who is 29 for whom scoring comes as easy as breathing then i say let's sign him.

    A squad of at least 20 quality players will give us the depth we need on the bench that is for sure

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  37. I really think that the story about 28-29 years is too old is not something fsg believe(at least not any more).
    In every sport(and aspect of life I think) the combination of youth and experience is the winning one.

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