Apologies for the use of a rather obvious title (like a moth to a flame, I was irresistibly drawn) and, indeed the tardiness of this article in entering the blogosphere (given that Torres signed for Liverpool almost a week ago), but with frenzied transfer activity in store over the next couple of days (with Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun looking set to arrive at Anfield) and with Steven Gerrard proudly boasting that the arrival of Torres signals Liverpool’s intent, now might be an ideal time to take stock and assess whether Torres really can help Liverpool make the push from regular Big Cup qualifiers/Premiership nearly men to being genuine title contenders.
First of all, what I think everyone has agreed on from all the discussions I’ve seen/heard re. the Torres transfer (and this is something I would definitely go along with) is that the fee that has been paid for him is ridiculously inflated; I’ve seen reports where the fee has oscillated between about £20m and £26m, but even the lower end of those estimates seems rather excessive for a player of potential rather than one of proven talent (which he has yet to demonstrate consistently and irrefutably.)
As for Torres the player, I must admit that I, like a number of Liverpool fans, have my doubts about his credentials as a striker. On the one hand, his goal record is hardly fantastic (last season, he managed only 14 goals for Atlético, and has yet to score more than 20 goals in a single season; the closest he has come to achieving that feat was in the 2003/04 season, and even then 6 of those goals were penalties.) On the other hand, as Sid Lowe rightly pointed out in his excellent article (which was obviously far better than this humble post), one could argue that the fact that he was playing for Spain’s answer to Manchester City (i.e. Atlético de Madrid, a side for which mediocrity and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory have become stocks in trade) may go some way to explaining that tally. Certainly, he is unlikely to have encountered a coaching set-up that is as good as the one currently in place at Liverpool (and, given that his current Spain boss is the country’s most high profile Simian simpleton, Luís Aragonés, that includes the national side as well), which may yet bring him on a level. Similarly encouraging to me as a Liverpool fan is that pretty much all of the “big four” clubs have been linked to Torres at one point or another (which is why the claims on various different football sites that “Wenger/Ferguson/Mourinho wouldn’t be stupid enough to blow £20m on Torres” have been so amusing during the past few days.)
It’s also quite possible that Torres may have been brought in to improve Liverpool’s style of play; too often last season, aimless long balls were punted forward in the general direction of Peter Crouch (or, worse still, the likes of Bellamy and Kuyt, who were never likely to win aerial battles), which made us rather 1-dimensional going forward. The fact that Torres plays in a similar manner to the way Michael Owen used to (i.e. on the shoulder of the last defender, with pace and strength being his main assets) might help us to play a more expansive attacking game, with through balls being played along the ground rather than through the air. Similarly, it’s conceivable that the runs of Torres may help to create space in the box for the likes of Kuyt in particular (but also, potentially, Voronin and Crouch), given that the vast majority of their goals are scored from 18 yards or less. That said, all of this will be rendered redundant unless we improve the service to the forward players, which will involve us getting a couple of wingers (which is why the links to Babel and Ricardo Quaresma are encouraging.)
Anyway, that’s quite enough Kop chat for one day. I’ll be chipping in with my preview on the 2007/08 Premiership season once all the transfers have been conducted (which will of course feature my view on how I think my own team will fare), and, who knows, I may even be penning something regarding the big European leagues; in the meantime, keep your comments coming (as they’re always gratefully appreciated.)
Later,
Prof
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2 comments:
Liverpool's ambition is plain to see, and I'm sure you're glad that the new Yank owners are spashing the cash - but, no matter how much money a club spends, there's simply no such thing as a surefire "good signing" any more (eg Shevchenko and Ballack at Chelsea). I honestly don't think that either Torres or Babel will be enough to lift you into the same league as Man U and Chelsea, although you may do well in the cups again. Your main problem is the manager, who a) is too defensive and b) has a limited understanding of the transfer market. Managers rarely get spoken about in the same way as players in terms of their influence, but I think that Fabio Capello, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti really are in a league of their own (admittedly, I'm not so sure about Capello these days). It seems that a manager, with a 5-year+ established "system" behind him, is absolutely invaluable these days - both Milan and Man U over-achieved last year on the back of it. So maybe you'd better stick with Rafa after all...
On a side note, as a Serie A follower, I'm very worried about the trend of transfer prices being massively inflated by the Premiership. The donkey (Bianchi) that Man City are about to buy is barely worth £880,000, let alone £8.8 million.
By the way, is there any way of subscribing to this version of the blog?
I don't know if there's a subscription option for this version of the blog, but I'll have a look for one; failing that, I could send an e-mail out to you informing you of when a new blog has been posted.
Re. Torres and Babel - You may well be right on that one (though Quaresma might make more of an impact if he arrives.) The problem is that, when it comes to the big name players, we are always likely to lose out to the likes of Chelsea (i.e. Abramovich's bottomless pockets) and, until the new stadium is built, Man United; as a result, much like Arsenal, we have to look for young players with promise (rather than established stars) and train them up to become top class players. That may or may not happen with Torres and Babel, but we can't afford to go for the Eto'o's, Tevez's and Villa's of this world.
Re. Benitez - I think you're being slightly harsh there; he can be defensive at times (but then that's arguably also true for Mourinho and Capello) and his knowledge of the transfer market often concentrates on Spain (but then you could argue that Wenger concentrates largely on Ligue Un.) As far as I'm concerned, we would not have reached 2 Big Cup finals in 3 years (winning one of them) without him in charge; any manager that can win the Champions League with Djimi Traore and Milan Baros must have something about him. That said, this will be the 1st summer that he will have had big money to spend, so there's pressure on him to create a winning side this time around (if Torres flops, it could cost Benitez his job.)
Re. Bianchi and inflating transfer prices - The general trend for transfer prices is something that is a worry; again, I blame the Abramovich takeover of Chelsea for pushing up transfer fees at a time when they were starting to return to sane levels. I can see clubs attempting to spend money they don't have and going the way of Leeds United, though I think that that's probably more likely to happen to Premiership sides, as they're more likely to pay over the odds for players (like in the case of Bianchi) than clubs in La Liga or Serie A (Mind you, I've heard rumours about Berlusconi spending crazy money to bring Ronaldinho to Milan, so you never know...)
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