Torres and Gerrard

[Guest Anders Honoré]

In the midst of all the kuyt/voronin/alonso/whoever bashing and/or justified criticism going on at the moment, I think it's worth taking a moment to appreciate just how fecking brilliant these two have been for us this season. Best in the league in the respective positions for me and players that would shine as the jewels in the crown with better players around them as well.

 

Little more than halfway into the season and they have already got 32 goals between them. And that's a midfielder and a striker. Gerrard scored fecking 10 goals in 11 games and people hardly batted an eyelid. Torres is sex on legs, but I think Gerrard might be having an even better season.

 

gerrard+torres vid this season

 

Looking at that, it's also impressive to see how many of torres goals Gerrard was directly involved with, either with the final pass or the one just before it.

 

We're damn lucky to have them.

[Billy Dane]

We're a two man team though. According to sky if it wasn't for their goals we'd be 10th in the league.

 

(Ronaldo and Tevez have scored approx half of Utd's goals but this is not the same cos Utd are grate)

[Rimbeux]

Quite agree.

 

Torres has just been incredible, the way he's made goals for himself out of nothing, and done it consistently has been awe inspiring, imagine if we were fully functioning in attack.

 

Gerrard's 15 goals from playing near all games in a two man midfield is phenomenal with just about 60% of the season gone. Also been some tremendous performances early season and a strong fight back to form after the England and injury nonsense. Great player.

 

One more on their level and we'd be really motoring. Hopefully it will be young Ryan.

[Leo No.8]

They are both incredible footballers; I actually get the feeling Gerrard appreciates having someone else at his level in the team to take some of the burden off and this has helped his form this year.

 

That said, it is worrying that we are almost entirely reliant on these two to win us games. We have good performers defensively but when we get into the final third only Gerrard and Torres look consistently dangerous.

 

When those two have an off day we tend to draw against the weaker sides or lose against stronger opposition.

 

There are a number of players I like such as Benayoun, Kewell and Crouch but you have to look at exactly how much they have done for us in the league this year? It's not much; possibly down to not playing enough but when they have played only Benayoun has really shown flashes.

 

Babel looks a real talent as well but he's very raw still, and my concern is when we come up against a fairly solid defence it's only our two main men who actually look capable of doing something to break them down.

 

If we're to have a really good run in the second half of the season we need greater continuity of selection and for some of the fringe players to prove they have what it takes to play at this club.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Leo No.8

[Hassony]

a couple of players at the same level next season (in addition to Babel) and we will have a great chance of winning the league

[Rimbeux]

a couple of players at the same level next season (in addition to Babel) and we will have a great chance of winning the league

 

 

We get that and there's a great chance of winning everything!

[Hassony]

We get that and there's a great chance of winning everything!

 

we'll just need Hicks and gillet to give Rafa £60m to spend on two players

[Eiler99]

I read somewhere that they've only scored about 51% of our goals while Ronaldo and Tevez have scored 59% of Utd's goals, so I blame Torres and Gerrard for us being out of the title race already.

 

[Stevie H]

They are both incredible footballers; I actually get the feeling Gerrard appreciates having someone else at his level in the team to take some of the burden off and this has helped his form this year.

 

That said, it is worrying that we are almost entirely reliant on these two to win us games. We have good performers defensively but when we get into the final third only Gerrard and Torres look consistently dangerous.

 

When those two have an off day we tend to draw against the weaker sides or lose against stronger opposition.

 

There are a number of players I like such as Benayoun, Kewell and Crouch but you have to look at exactly how much they have done for us in the league this year? It's not much; possibly down to not playing enough but when they have played only Benayoun has really shown flashes.

 

Babel looks a real talent as well but he's very raw still, and my concern is when we come up against a fairly solid defence it's only our two main men who actually look capable of doing something to break them down.

 

If we're to have a really good run in the second half of the season we need greater continuity of selection and for some of the fringe players to prove they have what it takes to play at this club.

we definitely need more goal threat and more quality attacking players. babel will become one, benayoun's useful, crouch isn't enough of a consistent threat and kewell's finished. pennant needs to add a goal threat to his game.

[Hassony]

we definitely need more goal threat and more quality attacking players. babel will become one, benayoun's useful, crouch isn't enough of a consistent threat and kewell's finished. pennant needs to add a goal threat to his game.

needs to add more than that, and his goal scoring has been rubbish all his career, so its unlikly to improve now

[shaq]

We're a two man team though. According to sky if it wasn't for their goals we'd be 10th in the league.

 

(Ronaldo and Tevez have scored approx half of Utd's goals but this is not the same cos Utd are grate)

 

Putting on my Kaizer hat...

 

Ronaldo and Tevez have scored 26 of their sides 43 goals this season, about 60%. The remaining 17 goals have been scored by seven players.

 

Torres and Gerrard have scored 18 of our sides 33 goals this season, about 54%. The remaining 15 goals have been scored by seven players.

 

So if Liverpool are 'just a two man team, then so are Man U.

 

Same can't be said about Arsenal and Chelsea, who have both had league goals scored by 12 different players. Chelsea in particular have spread the goals around. Their top scorer, Drogba, is on 5 goals, despite Chelsea having scored 35 goals so far.

[Rimbeux]

Putting on my Kaizer hat...

 

Ronaldo and Tevez have scored 26 of their sides 43 goals this season, about 60%. The remaining 17 goals have been scored by seven players.

 

Torres and Gerrard have scored 18 of our sides 33 goals this season, about 54%. The remaining 15 goals have been scored by seven players.

 

So if Liverpool are 'just a two man team, then so are Man U.

 

Same can't be said about Arsenal and Chelsea, who have both had league goals scored by 12 different players. Chelsea in particular have spread the goals around. Their top scorer, Drogba, is on 5 goals, despite Chelsea having scored 35 goals so far.

 

 

If Lampard and Drogba had been fit all year, they'd be just the same as they have been the last three seasons. I think if we were cooking on gas going forward we'd be scoring a few more, conceding less and getting more points. There is a nervous paralysis that infects us. More players on the level of those two would obviously help, but it's up to the others to man up and take some responsibility, not hide.

[Valleys Red]

I think I'd also add Reina to that list. He's been consistently top class again this season and seems to be taken for granted, esp in the media (6th best keeper in the world according to UEFA, wtf?!).

 

Gotten so used to sh*tting myself whenever a passback was made to our keeper - its so refreshing to not have this feeling anymore (unless Charlie gets a game!). but, like gerrard & torres, he's got supreme confidence and the ability to match.

 

so, in summary, we're a 3 man team and not a 2 man team!

[Hobbsie]

Babel is still a bit raw but I don't think its going to be too long before we have a 4 man team!

[PhilM]

needs to add more than that, and his goal scoring has been rubbish all his career, so its unlikly to improve now

 

If we had a better striker alongside Torres, Pennant's goal threat would be in the form of more assists.

[fred milne]

If we had a better striker alongside Torres, Pennant's goal threat would be in the form of more assists.

There's more quantity than quality to his crosses. Too many are floated aimlessly in the general direction of the penalty area ending up as meat & drink to the opposition keeper/CBs.

[The_Adder]

If we had a better striker alongside Torres, Pennant's goal threat would be in the form of more assists.

 

Pennant aint good enough... Compare him to Ronaldo, Hleb and Cole/SWP and you'll see why. Infact compare him to Arteta, Agbonlahor too while your at it.

 

Need someone so much better. Benny is a much better bet for that position.

 

But ypu Stevie and Torres: EXCEPTIONAL. So happy they our ours... Theres a fair few more like Carra, Agger, Xabi and Pepe, just wish could call Masch ours too. . .

[yellow jumper]

There's more quantity than quality to his crosses. Too many are floated aimlessly in the general direction of the penalty area ending up as meat & drink to the opposition keeper/CBs.

 

it's true he needs more end product.

 

he has the advantage of being our one real touchline hugging wide man though. while never deadly with his delivery, he also crosses better than all of our wide players bar aurelio (finnan might have a shout i suppose). he's also developing an ability to come inside to decent effect, the assist for benayoun at wigan comes to mind. his pace is also useful and he's generally careful with the ball; a decent outlet, if nothing else.

Edited January 18, 2008 by george lees

[San Diego Red]

On a side note: brilliant video there.

[fred milne]

while never deadly with his delivery, he also crosses better than all of our wide players bar aurelio (finnan might have a shout i suppose).

Gerrard is capable of delivering superb crosses when he moves out to the right, but I accept he goes there less frequently these days.

 

a decent outlet.

He is but we need much more than that. I'd rather we used Benayoun in that position or, even better, Gerrard.

[CaptainXabi]

Agree with a lot of what's said about Pennant. Especially now with the Tog as the main man and Crouch getting much less action, the floated ball into the box Pennant usually provides isn't that effective. Plus the lack of goals is hard to overlook.

[D.Boon]

It still amazes me that a man as knowledgable as Rafa actually spent money on and then continues to play Pennant.

 

Its a crazy world

[Rimbeux]

It still amazes me that a man as knowledgable as Rafa actually spent money on and then continues to play Pennant.

 

Its a crazy world

 

 

Despite not being at all dynamic, and no real individual threat, he's one of the better players on the ball, quite nippy and creates a lot of openings. I can actually see him ending up at Newcastle if the cant get Wright Phillips!

[Florist Cinema Pond Goal]

The way we're set up with 2 deep central midfielders and 4 to go forward and attack we're crying out for one or two more with the creativity, spontaneity and incisiveness of these 2. I'd keep Benayoun and one of Pennant or Kewell to rotate in and fill one of the 4 attacking berths and have the other 3 taken up by top bracket players. You look at the sides in which 2 deep midfielders has worked and the wide players and forwards have always been top quality penetrating attackers, assisted by full backs adept at taking up attacking positions and becoming involved with play in the final third.

 

We're nearly there, the summer window will be massive.

[David Hodgson]

Quite agree.

 

Torres has just been incredible, the way he's made goals for himself out of nothing, and done it consistently has been awe inspiring, imagine if we were fully functioning in attack.

 

Gerrard's 15 goals from playing near all games in a two man midfield is phenomenal with just about 60% of the season gone. Also been some tremendous performances early season and a strong fight back to form after the England and injury nonsense. Great player.

 

One more on their level and we'd be really motoring. Hopefully it will be young Ryan.

 

One more, 'great', two more, 'dare to dream', 3 more and we're 'winning that league'.

 

Will someone please just arm Rafa with the requisite 60-70m to do the job.

 

Torres, for me, has proved the validity of SigNinG BIg nAmES.