Striker crisis

Headache for Brendan

Okay maybe the heading is making it sound more dramatic than it really is but with the departure of Carroll and management not being able to secure a 3rd striker before the summer transfer window closed, its fair enough to admit that Liverpool FC do have a problem up front. Brendan Rodgers obviously had a plan as all good managers do before the start of the season and Andy Carroll wasn't ideally involved in it so he was mainly benched and only thrown on when desperately needed. I agree 100% with Rodgers when he said he cant afford to have a striker of Andy's price tag being the 3rd choice and also with such a high salary, so it was a no brainer to palm him off else where but the idea was to get a suitable replacement, unfortunately that didn't happen and as explained by club owner John W Henry, its not only the fans whom were disappointed.

Linda Pizzuti and John Henry

Realistically speaking it wasn't a bad window for LFC, they secured to signings of 3 top players namely Sahin, Borini and Allen all of which found their way into the starting 11 and we cut off the highly paid players who weren't featuring that often, Carroll mentioned earlier being one of them and Charlie Adam being the other along with Maxi, Kuyt and others. Carroll, Adam and Kuyt whom we must give credit to for holding the team last season as they all provided valuable contributions and I wish them success at their new clubs for the season.

Andy Carroll on loan at Westham

Back to the problem in our strike force, in terms of 1st choice players there is only Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini for the boss to choose and sometimes like last Sunday against LeArse that combination just didn't do anything, Suarez being wasteful with possession whilst Borini was lucky to get a touch at times. We controlled the game well but much like last season the finishing just was not there. The stats were in our favour for most of the match but the important one being goals was not.

So what are our options?
 

Dani Pacheco

• We could always dig into our reserves where we have the likes of Morgan who impressed in our tour to the USA and there's Pacheco who I feel hasn't been given a decent run in the team. I've seen glimpses of the kid with the various managers we've had in the past 3 seasons and I really think if given the chance he could do well. He has great vision, he is pacey and knows where the goal is, perhaps he needs more confidence and being given first team chances will give that to him. 

Alessandro Del Piero

•  The other option is we look at a free agent, the thought did cross my mind at 1am on September 1st "what about Michael Owen?" then my brain kick started and I smacked myself for thinking such a thing. Anyway that wont happen seeing that he has signed with Stoke City. There were other rumours of recent linking Drogba to LFC, I'd take him in a heart beat but there is no way we could come close to matching the pay he's getting in China! Another one mentioned in the mill was Del Piero, the Italian legend who spent most of his career playing for Juventus was let go at the end of last season and looked certain he was going to play for Sydney FC but talks collapsed early this week. There's no doubting his quality and his experience will be invaluable to the players at the club but we all have to wait and see if Rodgers opts for any of them.

Didier Drogba

Until then there is really nothing us fans can do but hope and pray. The start of the new season does look like a disaster but its only been 3 games and not the easiest of fixtures too. We've shown we have the quality and there is a significant improvement by most of the players it just needs to start going in our favour in the final 3rd of the pitch.

You'll Never Walk Alone