Luis Garcia

[Rory Fitzgerald]

Please indulge me and try not get bored after the first 2 or 3 paragraphs, my real thoughts are half way through the post.

 

Lets save us all a history lesson and recognise that he has scored some of the most important goals in our recent history yet has been the most frustrating performing in his short time here.

 

I have thought about his strengths and his weaknesses and tried to understand why and when he displays his best and worst. Is it his position, does he need to play on the left or right or as a support striker. I don?t think it?s a positional thing at all.

 

I initially came to simple conclusion that he is good at home and bad away. But that was far too simple and critics of that theory would have pointed to the following goals away from home to dispel that theory:

 

Birmingham in the 2-2 draw last season

Leverkusen in the 1-3 away victory

West Brom 0-5 away win

Norwich 1-2 away win

Sunderland 0-2 victory

 

In fact such goals in such games pointed me in a different direction in assessing little Luis Garcia. I don?t want this to sound like a ?too simplistic? assessment ? the lad has a big impact when we are dominating games but when games are going to be tight and possession a harder to come by then he is less effective. That, I hear you say, could be applied to anyone its that moronic, but I would think otherwise.

 

I think his strengths are;

- his inventiveness,

- willingness to get into the box when we go forward,

- ability to thread some good balls to the strikers, and

- a knack of becoming a third striker when we attack and floating in to score some crucial goals.

 

All these strengths are really only effective in the last third of the pitch and consequently its these strengths that have made him an valuable player for Liverpool as they are all directly linked to goalscoring, creating goals and also indirectly making goals by becoming a third striker at times and distracting defenders by taking up threatening positions. Think of the 3 goals in Istanbul, who took the ball out of the net on the 3 occassions ? Garcia, he was the nearest player to the goal on those occasions and its that willingness to poach that enabled him to score against Everton at home when Morientes had his shot saved. This is the Luis we love. Now think about this, when we have lots of possession at home and against the weaker teams away, Garcia?s performances are much more effective. Liverpool are in the final third a lot more, creating more and therefore likely to score more ? this is Garcia?s party, this is his chance to step on to the dance floor and do his stuff, this is when Liverpool fans are singing about a midget that has a sangria related drink problem.

 

 

Now flip it over, the Luis we hate, the one where we are screaming for him to be dragged off because he is useless, giving the ball away, not in the games. I think this is likely to happen more and more in the tough home games and tough away games. Games where possession is at a premium and Liverpool being in the last third is rare. Now we see a Garcia that has little pace and a penchant for flicks. Doing this in the center of the park can drive us nuts, unfortunately when Luis is not in the final third then he can become a liability. Also, his lack of pace means that when we spring a counter he could slow things up whilst his wandering nature (which is harmless when we dominate) can leave areas on the pitch exposed when we play a better team. Take Everton away, him and Fowler we poor in my book and Garcia was poor at OT (ok, who wasn?t I hear you grumble).

 

 

 

So, to sum up, playing Garcia in home games and in away games when we should dominate should see him produces his best stuff. Playing him in away games against the Man U?s, Chavs, Bolton, Everton and Arsenal is less likely to pay dividends I believe.

 

Can I have your thoughts ?

[Andy @ Allerton]

ZZZZZZzzzzzz

[Rory Fitzgerald]

You only read the first line ya b*ll*x

[Cobs]

You only read the first line ya b*ll*x

a wise choice

[Andy @ Allerton]

You only read the first line ya b*ll*x

 

[Bigal]

scored away at bolton which should have stood in his first game and he did the same last season, and played well when he came on.

 

I think Garcia is harshly labelled as a home player only. There are plenty of times he scored a goal away which have been important. Boro away 2 seasons ago he had a goal chalked off there which would have put is 1 up.

 

He scored at arsenal away as well last season, which would have got us a point if not for an unfortunate mistake from gerrard

[Stevie H]

luis is bloody great and will probably never really get the credit he deserves as a gifted, technically-proficient footballer. love the guy.

[AE]

Luis is going to replace momo for the next 3 months and boss the midfield.

[Andy @ Allerton]

Luis is a superb player - suprised he gets so much stick for losing the ball when certain other players do it as much, if not more.

[HeWonItFromBrock]

Worth some in depth analysis as no player divides opinion more.

 

For me he needs players to link up with in the final third to be the most effective, he often looks poor when he's isolated. It tends to be the weaker teams away or at home when we commit most men forward.

[Jeff guitar]

Luis Garcia

 

The lad is a f***ing genius. Its his self belief and willingness to try anything that can leave fans frustrated. Weigh up the times his skill and ambition has won us games against the times his misplaced passes or the times he's underperformed has cost us games and he's worth double his weight in gold.

[Kahnee]

So, to sum up, playing Garcia in home games and in away games when we should dominate should see him produces his best stuff. Playing him in away games against the Man U?s, Chavs, Bolton, Everton and Arsenal is less likely to pay dividends I believe.

 

The trick, of course, is to learn how to control these games more, press these teams more, dominate them and give Garcia the platform from which to create

[PLY]

The fact that he scored against Chelsea in the European Cup Semi Final and the FA Cup Semi Final flies in the face of the can't play in big games against hard teams theory.

 

Luis is very technically gifted player who gives us a dimension that we don't other wise have. His only thought is to beat his man and create or score. Unfortunately the down side is that when things don't come off he often loses the ball.

 

Somebody else summed him up quite succinctly thus - "Luis is boss but he gives the ball away. If he didn't he'd be Ronaldinho and you can't buy him for £6m"

Edited November 10, 2006 by PLY

[Rory Fitzgerald]

The end point I am trying to get at is this

 

If Rafa believes that we are going to be on the back foot and intends to play on the counter attack (as Kuyt revealed his tactic was in the PSV away game), should Garcia play - will he be effective ? I am simply trying to find out what the right games are to play him in.

 

By all means have him as a sub for such games.

 

Take Arsenal home and away last year and Bolton away last year as Bigal said. He was substitute brought on in those games and he scored as Liverpool were in a position to chase those games as we were losing or drawing and needing to win.

[MarkD]

Causes me more trouble than any other player. The SKY tv/'Easy' chanters at the game are so influenced by what they are told that they are blind to the guy's good points and there are many. I defend him so often it makes me wonder what people actually want from their players. He's gutsy, never shies away, is passionate and skilfull and bloody frustrating - usually all in the same move. When he has gone, we'll hear how much people liked him/miss him.

[Cooldude]

Don't know why people find him frustrating, as I've never had. He gives the ball away, so what, he's one of those players that you'd give slack for doing something like that. Incredibly gifted, some of the things he does on a football pitch are magical

[Guest Kev]

I think it's an excellent post, well thought out, well worded and kept me gripped from the first word to the last.

 

I do think though Garcia is most effective in Europe. Only Gerrard has scored more in the Champions League than Luis.

[Andy Mac]

Not surprised to see Tetti's name reading this thread . Luis infuriates and delights me in equal measures. I read a post on here (or was it on RAWK) that sometimes in games you need a player like Luis to change the game, do the unexpected break the rigid formation of play ( No more so than the FA cup semi-final last year - I think his best game for the club) and I'd agree with that.

 

Anyway. I'm glad we've got him and I hope we keep him !

Edited November 10, 2006 by Andy Mac

[Rory Fitzgerald]

The fact that he scored against Chelsea in the European Cup Semi Final and the FA Cup Semi Final flies in the face of the can't play in big games against hard teams theory.

 

Luis is very technically gifted player who gives us a dimension that we don't other wise have. His only thought is to beat his man and create or score. Unfortunately the down side is that when things don't come off he often loses the ball.

 

Somebody else summed him up quite succinctly thus - "Luis is boss but he gives the ball away. If he didn't he'd been Ronaldinho and you can't buy him for £6m"

 

Thats not quite my point, in the Chelsea games you pick out, Liverpool were dominating at the time, we flew out of the traps in the CL semi-final and he drifted in and poached a goal and in the semi-final we bashed them for 70 mins and he was very effective.

[PLY]

Thats not quite my point, in the Chelsea games you pick out, Liverpool were dominating at the time, we flew out of the traps in the CL semi-final and he drifted in and poached a goal and in the semi-final we bashed them for 70 mins and he was very effective.

But based on the theory that he can't play in those games , he wouldn't have been selected in the first place and would have been unable to make the contribution that he did.

[Kahnee]

I can't take this thread seriously until someone starts a post with "I love Garcia but..."

[RP]

I have never found Garcia frustrating. I think he is an excellent player. As someone said above, if he never gave the ball away his name would be Ronaldinho and he wouldn't be playing for Liverpool. The nature of his game is that he will give the ball away - he is always trying something, he has the ability and imagination to see things that others can't.

 

Sometimes I think people get frustrated that he isn't Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher. Not much he can do about that though.

[chiliking]

Thumbs up for the thorough analysis, Rory, a very good effort to make the ultimate "how to understand and use Luis Garcia"-guide.

However, the guy is a genious, and they work in ways us imbecils can never ever understand. There's no way we can solve the enigma, other than look at the game-statistics after matches, and take it from there.

garcia can within seconds move from genious to idiot like no one else.

It's like buying a soundtrack; some of the tunes are fantastic, others so bad they make you angry, and you end up making a compilation.

[AE]

I have never found Garcia frustrating. I think he is an excellent player. As someone said above, if he never gave the ball away his name would be Ronaldinho and he wouldn't be playing for Liverpool. The nature of his game is that he will give the ball away - he is always trying something, he has the ability and imagination to see things that others can't.

 

Sometimes I think people get frustrated that he isn't Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher. Not much he can do about that though.

 

 

Well he could make more of an effort with his accent, Jan did.

[Rory Fitzgerald]

But based on the theory that he can't play in those games , he wouldn't have been selected in the first place and would have been unable to make the contribution that he did.

 

That depends on whether Rafa was sending his team out to drive forward. Think of the CL semi-final, we were gonna come out of the traps like a bat outta hell and keep going until we scored and we would need a Luis Garcia to help score. As it turned out we got a goal so quickly it surprised us all and we then had to defend and we saw little of the ball up front.

 

Juventus at home aswell, Rafa sent the boys out and we bashed them and Garcia was invaluable around the box.

 

Now, instead of looking at this retrospectively. Arsenal on Sunday, I will come out and say that I believe we will see less of the ball. I dont think we will dominate and therefore I dont think Garcia will be an effective choice. But thats me. I just want to identify players that will have a big impact in certain games.

 

Bellamy vs slow defenders

Crouch vs small defenders

Garcia against weak teams

Sissoko against strong teams

and so on and so forth

 

I am not terming Garcia a bad player just trying to align his talents to games when he will likely have the biggest impact.