Rafa's strikers....

February 2, 2006

This has been discussed before.

IMO that in Rafa's game philosophy, those who think that his strikers are 20 goal getters are gonna be dsiappointed.

He has shown many a time that his front man is not necessarily a goal getter, but a holder and a supplier for the midfielders to get into the goal scene.i guess thats what he instructed Mori to do. Thats probably resulted in Mori's poor goal stats.

However, whether his system will work or not in the PL as it did in the Laliga, is yet to be seen and convincing. Thats another point for discussion.

stressederic · February 2, 2006

Depends what you mean by 20 goals a season.

I'd be happy for any of our strikers to score 10 and set up another 10 goals.

February 2, 2006

Thats only 20 goals for Pool then!

Seriuosly, i think Rafa would rether have a 10 goal striker with 30 goal assists. 10 assist may not be enough. It seems Rafas system is banked on the holding abilities of his front man, whom i may not even label a striker. His "strikers" appear to be the midfilders.

alias75 · February 2, 2006

This has been discussed before.

IMO that in Rafa's game philosophy, those who think that his strikers are 20 goal getters are gonna be dsiappointed.

He has shown many a time that his front man is not necessarily a goal getter, but a holder and a supplier for the midfielders to get into the goal scene.i guess thats what he instructed Mori to do. Thats probably resulted in Mori's poor goal stats.

However, whether his system will work or not in the PL as it did in the Laliga, is yet to be seen and convincing. Thats another point for discussion.

I think thats correct but the fact is our strikers are getting plenty of chances they simply arent taking enough of them. I agree that Rafas way of playing isnt reliant on a 20 goal a season stirker which is a good thing but we still need to be more prolific in front of goal, for the precise reason as we saw today, if you only have a 1 goal lead the game is never safe.

Ideally we'd have strikers that can provide the link up play but when they get 3 chances in a game take 1 of them, at the moment that isnt happening. Rafa has obviously noted that problem which is why Robbie was brought in. Im sure he'd hope Morientas would score more goals, he has done all his career but here he isnt getting the 1 every 3 games he should.

If we were maybe creating only 1 or 2 chances every game as happened sometimes under GH then maybe you could forgive our stirkers, but the facts are most games we've created 6 or 7 very good chances which arent being taken. I think its pretty clear that Cisse wont be around next season and i have a feeling Morientas is on borrowed time too, if we do bring in those finishers we will be such a better side, imagine the current team with a van Nistelroy in the side, thats the type of player we need.

February 2, 2006

I think thats correct but the fact is our strikers are getting plenty of chances they simply arent taking enough of them. I agree that Rafas way of playing isnt reliant on a 20 goal a season stirker which is a good thing but we still need to be more prolific in front of goal, for the precise reason as we saw today, if you only have a 1 goal lead the game is never safe.

Ideally we'd have strikers that can provide the link up play but when they get 3 chances in a game take 1 of them, at the moment that isnt happening. Rafa has obviously noted that problem which is why Robbie was brought in. Im sure he'd hope Morientas would score more goals, he has done all his career but here he isnt getting the 1 every 3 games he should.

If we were maybe creating only 1 or 2 chances every game as happened sometimes under GH then maybe you could forgive our stirkers, but the facts are most games we've created 6 or 7 very good chances which arent being taken. I think its pretty clear that Cisse wont be around next season and i have a feeling Morientas is on borrowed time too, if we do bring in those finishers we will be such a better side, imagine the current team with a van Nistelroy in the side, thats the type of player we need.

i think its not easy for the striker to balance between his own instincts to score and to let the rushing midfilders to score. i say this because there are a lot of ppl here slagging off Mori for his lack of goals. i belive its not for his lack of ability to score but his lack of ability to balance between striking and providing. If rafas central policy is to bring the midflders into play, its awfully hard for a natural striker to "want to provide " fro others. This i believe is leading to his leack of goals while he is wroking his socks off.

Compare that with Crouch.....Crouch is a better provider as he is seen less as a "striker" with his height and all, whereas Mori is a natural striker.

February 2, 2006

This is the worst bunch of strikers we've had for some time. It doesn't matter what 'type' of strikers Rafa is fond of, their job is still the same as all other strikers - scoring goals. And none of our lot seem capable of doing that on a regular basis. It tells you how dire the situation is when we're all pinning our hopes on Robbie getting us the goals, a player who hasn't exactly been prolific in recent seasons.

At one point we had a peak Fowler, Owen, Heskey and a young Baros as our options up front, at least two of those guaranteed us 20+ goals a season. And now we're left with at least 3 strikers who probably won't get 20 between them (Robbie not included since he's new and everythng).

Forget about a right winger and left back, a goal scoring striker (yes they do apparently exist) is what we desperately need.

Edited February 2, 2006 by Red Mist

adayinthelife · February 2, 2006

IMO that in Rafa's game philosophy, those who think that his strikers are 20 goal getters are gonna be dsiappointed.

He has shown many a time that his front man is not necessarily a goal getter, but a holder and a supplier for the midfielders to get into the goal scene.i guess thats what he instructed Mori to do. Thats probably resulted in Mori's poor goal stats.

Mista scored near on 30 goals in Benitez' last season at Valencia and this is just another excuse for the poor form of Morientes.

He hasn't adapted to the pace and power of the league and he forever seems to be caught on his heels which combined with his lack of pace makes it a constant struggle for him.

Earl Hafler · February 2, 2006

Mista scored 18 league goals.

And Rafa isn't using the same system.

Sir Tokyo Sexwale · February 2, 2006

if we win, I don't give a monkey's who scores or how many they score.

50 oggys a season & I'd be happy

12twelve · February 2, 2006

Mista played off the front man for most parts of the season in 03/04 due to Aimar's injury, surely that doesn't count?

Maldini · February 2, 2006

When are people going to notice that Gerrard has 18 goals this season?

Earl Hafler · February 2, 2006

if we win, I don't give a monkey's who scores or how many they score.

50 oggys a season & I'd be happy

And sometimes you run into a Jurgen Macho or Maik Taylor when nothing is going to get past them. It took a deflected Gerrard shot to beat Taylor tonight - at his best he's an unbelievable keeper. The save from Xabi's freekick was obscene.

We should have won and didn't. Maybe if garcia has a few games under his belt he would have put away that chance but he didn't.

Main concern about tonight is how we played against them when they had XI on the pitch.

Positives were Kewell and Agger.

Siang · February 2, 2006

just loved Agger...

had a decent debut...

when was the last time we had a blonde shaggy hair central defender...

February 2, 2006

How does wanting his striker to be a provider more than a scorer tie in with comments that they need to finish the oppertunities they get and the signing of Fowler.

Think it's all a bit of a myth to be honest.

Toni · February 2, 2006

i think its not easy for the striker to balance between his own instincts to score and to let the rushing midfilders to score. i say this because there are a lot of ppl here slagging off Mori for his lack of goals. i belive its not for his lack of ability to score but his lack of ability to balance between striking and providing. If rafas central policy is to bring the midflders into play, its awfully hard for a natural striker to "want to provide " fro others. This i believe is leading to his leack of goals while he is wroking his socks off.

Compare that with Crouch.....Crouch is a better provider as he is seen less as a "striker" with his height and all, whereas Mori is a natural striker.

A forward, if a good player chooses to do the best move every time, may it be a shot or pass. It s not about "balancing your own instincts" (whatever that is)...It s about good decision making and choosing to do he right option every time.

Our strikers do not score enough and Rafa is far from happy with their return, in fact he loaned Fowler.

No petty excuse can suffice to justify our strikers poor return of goals.

Billy Dane · February 2, 2006

just loved Agger...
had a decent debut...
when was the last time we had a blonde shaggy hair central defender...

Agger.....blonde.....

Ombudsam · February 2, 2006

This has been discussed before.

IMO that in Rafa's game philosophy, those who think that his strikers are 20 goal getters are gonna be dsiappointed.

Why did he try and buy Owen and then sign Fowler? How come Mista got 24 in rafa's last season

Thats only 20 goals for Pool then!

Seriuosly, i think Rafa would rether have a 10 goal striker with 30 goal assists. 10 assist may not be enough. It seems Rafas system is banked on the holding abilities of his front man, whom i may not even label a striker. His "strikers" appear to be the midfilders.

That's a ridiculous statistic. No one gets 30 assists. Henry had one incredible season where he got something like 28goals and 21 assists but that was the best player in the world playing as well as he can

Rusty Shackleford · February 2, 2006

No-one denies that goof overall team play is a fundamental attribute to any striker in a Benitez team. But still it should be recognised that our strikers are there to also score goals, and quite often it is one chance in a match that leads to a winning goal. We don't have strikers of good enough calibre to bury that one chance.

We need at least one striker that is capable of doing both, preferably in his prime or approaching it.

February 2, 2006

This is the worst bunch of strikers we've had for some time. It doesn't matter what 'type' of strikers Rafa is fond of, their job is still the same as all other strikers - scoring goals. And none of our lot seem capable of doing that on a regular basis. It tells you how dire the situation is when we're all pinning our hopes on Robbie getting us the goals, a player who hasn't exactly been prolific in recent seasons.

At one point we had a peak Fowler, Owen, Heskey and a young Baros as our options up front, at least two of those guaranteed us 20+ goals a season. And now we're left with at least 3 strikers who probably won't get 20 between them (Robbie not included since he's new and everythng).

Forget about a right winger and left back, a goal scoring striker (yes they do apparently exist) is what we desperately need.

Couldn't put it better myself.....

crisps · February 2, 2006

how much would we get for mori crouch n cisse!? 15m ish ?

Edited February 2, 2006 by mikeyj

Toe · February 2, 2006

how much would we get for mori crouch n cisse!? 15m ish ?

i'm assuming you missed out the decimal point?

Ombudsam · February 2, 2006

Rafa last season said that 13 goals wasn't enough from his top striker. Why this fixation on the belief that he doesn't want his strikers to score. Just because you may happen to like them doesn't mean that they are doing their job in it's entirety.

JohnA · February 2, 2006

i guess thats what he instructed Mori to do. Thats probably resulted in Mori's poor goal stats.

Moro's poor finishing has been the main cause, he's had enough chances created for him..........

Eiler99 · February 2, 2006

argh.

...

Edited February 2, 2006 by Eiler99

McBain · February 2, 2006

I doubt Rafa is particularly happy with how our strikers have performed this season. And I doubt he was ever happy in the past when Carew or Sanchez scored single figures

It does seem to be a trademark of his though

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