The debate on why we are not scoring

OK this is the place to discuss the reason why our forwards are not producing the goods.

We have been totally dominating teams all season and on average have been creating 20 goalscoring opportunities per match. Our inabiltity to convert these chances into goals beggars belief.

Please tell me why you think this could be? In my opinion even forwards who are off form do better than ours are. Even unlucky forwards do better than this? So why is this happening?

Please let's try to have an intelligent discussion as to the reasons for this.

i.e. Our forwards are f>>>>> crap is not a discussion.

Over to you

I'm afraid nobody have the answer. And Rafa must be looking for a solution for months now.
I can't understand. All our strikers are international players, have scored a lot of goals in the past and should score at least 2 or 3 goals for each 10 chances.
I can only explain it by a lack of confidence.
Morientes is a class player but will never adapt perfectly to the PL. Cissé is... well, is Cissé. Crouch is not a goalscorer, he's here to create chances. Fowler was not fit enough until the last game. He misses competition rythm now. But he should score, even if you cut him both legs.

JLB I just feel sorry for Raffa and I hope he is not becoming dissilusioned.
All he can do as manager is set out a team that creates opportunities for the strikers to score from and then ot is up to the strikers to do that.

I am asking myslef though am I missing something here? Is there something in the way we play that could be changed? I just don't understand how your whole strikeforce can collectively fail to score goals!

It is not as if we are a negative side that sits back and doesn't attack teams and only creates one or two chances per match.

Yes, I can't remember a similar case in Liverpool or any other team. It happens sometimes (in fact, quite often) with one striker of the squad. But the whole strikers ?!! Who has ever seen such a thing ?!!

Does anyone have an expalnation other than a jinx!

Pour moi, ce qui manque c'est de la puissance: un démanageur de surface comme Mellor par exemple. Rafa a choisit la technique et la vivacité, mais visiblement il leur manque à TOUS ce petit plus.
L'exemple frappant est notre incapacité a utiliser les coups de pieds arrêtes.
On accumule les corners et les coup francs, mais sans se montrer vraiment dangeureux. C'est pour ça que le retour de Gerrard au centre est important car il doit nous apporter sa puissance devant le but.

Look at FSP he goes out on loan and scores straight away.

I think Raffa must be having sleeples nights trying to find the answer.

très souvent lorsqu'on a un corner,stevieG le joue à deux tout près du poteau de corner.
ça ,c'est un truc que je ne supporte pas!!!
on perd le ballon à chaque fois.

EXCACT !

Good point Autumn, I think Gerrard should either be in the box attacking the ball at corners or he should be on the edge of the box. He should not be taking them though.

As for your point Yves I am not sure how somone can put themselves about in a crowded penalty area becasue this is what is happening due to our domination of teams there is no room. Our forwards finishing is abysmal
Yves and you cannot single out anyone of them they are all equally to blame. It has got to the stage that instead of taking on a shot at goal they are looking to pass it to someone else.Even when in the 6 yard box!

as far as i'm concerned(ça sent les expressions-type apprises au bac,ça ),i think our strikers are pretty much static.
they seem never to move.nando is always static,crouch is static as well.
cisse is the only one to move.
against charlton,he found himself in good position two or three times.
but he missed his opportunities.

that was our main problem against benfica a couple of weeks ago.
no movement up front.
that's so easy for the defenders,isn't it?

C'est sûr qu'un vrai avant-centre typique de PL nous ferait le plus grand bien. Un gars costaud, qui n'a pas peur d'aller au duel, mais aussi assez rapide, plutôt bon techniquement et adroit devant le but. Genre Shearer quoi.
En fait, il y en a un de gars comme ça. Je bassine tout le monde avec depuis un an. C'est Dean Ashton, ancien d'Alexandra Crewe et de Norwich. La saison dernière, il a débarqué à Norwich en cours de saison, venant de Crewe où il enfilait les buts comme des perles. Et il a failli sauver les canaris de la descente pratiquement à lui tout seul. Là, il vient d'arriver à West Ham lors du dernier transfer window. Et il marque. Vous avez vu son but contre Everton ce week end ? Ben jetez y un oeil, et dites moi si ce n'est pas ça qui nous manque.

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=ashton2_1.zip

(Merci au site Rafa's Red Men pour le clip)

I think there is a lot of truth in what you are saying Autumn and JLB we don't have strong physical striker as Raffa does not seem to like that sort of player. As for the lack of movement do you think this more to do with the lack of understing between any of the strike partnerships we have tried?

I know earler in the season Crouch and Cisse just got in each others way, so now they seem to stay so far apart it doesn't work.

Crouch cause a lot of problems but he rarely finds his strike partner with any ball he wins in the air. In fact I can symathise with whoever is trying to partner him because the ball can fly off him in any direction. As his pertner you cannot say to yourself OK I will take up a positon here and he will knock it on for me as he doesn't seem capable of finding his partner consistently.

Morients hasn't got either the pace nor the determination to get on the end of anything.

Cisse lacks concentration and the ability to be a team player.

Fowler? Probably a lillte early to be judging him but he hasn't got much time to prove himself.

there's nothing i can add,shanks,you seem to sum up everything perfectly.
cisse created lots of opportunities.he was the only one to do so upfront on saturday.
his physical capabilities help,he will end up proving he can do something.
remember drogba was 25 when he was transfered from guingamp to marseille.
cisse can prove he's a great striker.

At the moment, I can only see one solution : Crouch-Fowler. I don't know if it will work, but we have already tried all the other possibilities. Without success.

Summing it up is not going to change anything though and Raffa has to act.

He can't let Cisse go unless we recover a large part of the 14.5 Million we paid for him.

Morientes someone would probably buy but I don't think that Raffa wants to admit that he is just not suited to the Prem but it is patently obvious that is the case.

Crouch for all his faults does cause defences problems and the other players in the team should be taking advantage of this which they are not.

Fowler if we can keep him fit and sharp is a natural predator and lets face it that is exactly what we need. So who thinks Fowler will bag a hat trick against Benfica?

I agree JLB Crouch /fowler looks like our best option but a major re-think of our striking options in the close season would seem to be needed.

Yes, obviously, we need to spend some money there, it's the only way of competing with Chelsea next season.

Je viens de voir un long résumé du match de l'Ajax de ce week end. Ils ont, comme d'habitude, beaucoup de jeunes joueurs très talentueux.
Notamment deux très bons ailiers, Rosenberg et Rosales, un autre striker avec lequel je vous bassine depuis longtemps, Huntelaar, et aussi Boukhari qui n'est pas maladroit du tout.
Bref, ça ne me dérangerait pas qu'on aille voir du côté des Pays-Bas l'été prochain.

I don't think that the problem of the attack is a problem of quality of the players. it is a problem of self-confidence. when the forwards don't strike during 5 or 6 matches, then they are put automatically useless pressure and start to doubt. it is what occurs with our reds. it is difficult to believe that players like morientes, fowler, crouch or cissé forgot all their instincts of strikers. I think that they needs a psychological assumption of responsibility in the current case.

Good point naim.If we buy another striker I am not sure that he will score more goals than the others.If morientes or cissé scores a hat-trick I am convince that they will score more goals thereafter.

I do not include/understand really anything, however morientes marked with Monaco or real, but with us it is completely transparent... frightens me really, and in more if rafa releases us then...

kewell711 wrote:

I do not include/understand really anything, however morientes marked with Monaco or real, but with us it is completely transparent... frightens me really, and in more if rafa releases us then...

Moro never adapted to the PL. Damage because it is a good player, very skilful technically, although a little slow.

All our stirkers seem to have quality without doubt. Morientes link up play outside the box is excellent, Crouch's ability to disrupt defenders and occupy 2 defenders at once is without doubt, Cisse has blistering pace and can score goals, Fowler is the most natural predator in the Prem.

But none of them are doing what they are paid for scoring goals. The other factor we have not brought into the equation yet is the absolutely top class performances by the oppostion goalkeepers who have visited Anfield this season. I have seen some astounding performances and I can't remeber how many times the away goalkeepr has won the man of the match?

So is it simply a jinx? If so someone should tell Raffa to send for the Marabou pronto.

selon le times,les stats prouvent qu'on est l'équipe qui tire le plus au but du championnat,que ce soit en tirs cadrés et en tirs non cadrés.
alors,mister morinho,on est une équipe si ennuyeuse à voir jouer?
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Entertainment table
By Bill Edgar
LIVERPOOL AND CHELSEA have often argued about who plays the more attractive football, so there will probably be particular pleasure at Anfield that Rafael Benítez’s team have moved above their rivals in the entertainment table.

Liverpool may be struggling to score goals — or, Robbie Fowler might point out ruefully, assistant referees may be struggling to spot their goals — but it is not for the want of trying.

They have recorded the most shots on target in the Barclays Premiership this season and by far the highest number of attempts off target, as well as corners, while their position in our table is further strengthened by the fact that they have committed the fewest fouls.