With Baros doing so well at Euro 2004 (as of today, he's the tournament's leading scorer), I was wondering how this influences his place at Liverpool for next year. Does this earn him an automatic place in the starting XI, or will he still see limited action? I know he was hurt some last year, but now will he become a more permanent fixture on the team, along side Owen, Cisse, or whoever? What do you guys thinks?
At this point Diouf chimes in and says he will score 15 goals a year on the heels of his major tournament performance, nail a brace against southampton, and effectively be turned into a defensive midfielder to cover for the hoofing and hoofed jamie c, ruining his confidence and forcing him to dream of sealing a nice little gig in le championat. actually with benitez in there, i think baros will kick ass. kick ass!
I hope Benitez is watching Milan Baros VERY closely, because he has been absolutely awesome so far in Euro 2004. I'd expect Baros to play a huge part in our plans for this season and beyond.
To put in bluntly, he will have one. I don't think that was necessarily the case before this tournament started. A month ago we had 1 pretty good striker, one unknown, and a couple of "projects". Now it seems as if we MIGHT have an embarrasment of riches on our hands up front. Three good-to-great strikers is a VERY good problem to have. Most of you probably remember how nice it was to have the Owen/Fowler/Anelka triumverate a couple years back. Certainly better than the alternative.
I don't think Barros will have an automatic place, but neither will Cisse. There will be plenty of games to around this season and all 3 strikers will play a major role. The Owen/Barros partnership has never really worked, and I think Barros is benefiting from playing with a player like Koller. We need to find which partnerships work the best and try to take advantage of it.
I thought Baros was impressive for Liverpool last year (when Houllier saw fit to play him). Have to say he has played against 2 pretty poor defenses (germany and latvia) in Euro '04. Still, he has looked much more lively than Owen did. At this point I would think Owen and Baros start the season as first choice as it usually takes players a little time to adjust to the differences between the French and English leagues' so Cisse may not be ready right away. It COULD be the case that Owen will be the 3rd best striker at Liverpool in a years time.
Hansen, for what it's worth, commented on the BBC postgame today that Baros and Owen make for a clumsy partnership--and he attributed it to the way Owen plays. He added, and IIRC he's right, that Baros' best results came last year, when Owen was hurt and Heskey played the target-man role, providing service to Milan. To stay on topic, I'd say that Benitez has to give him a run-out to start the season. I haven't seen enough of Cisse in the past couple of years to see how he's developed as a striker, but I'd be interested in anyone's opinions as to which of the three possible pairings would be most effective (Owen-Baros, Baros-Cisse, Cisse-Owen)--and whether certain partnerships might be more effective in Europe as opposed to the Prem. ----
I haven't seen enough of Cisse either. I've managed to catch Auxerre matches here and there. I think that he and Baros both are better than Owen in that they are stronger and probably more complete players (better in the air and with both feet). Owen has great instincts (the finish against Portugal was exquisite) but really looked poor for parts of the season. To be honest he doesn't have the best shot in the world either. I suppose a lot of his performance was the way Houllier had Liverpool play. I think Baros might be better at linking play than Heskey (he can't be worse). Be interesting to see how Cisse does in the preseason matches. I would have to imagine that one of the 3 strikers is going to be pretty unhappy if they are on the bench. If you are the number 1 striker for the Czechs, England (or is that now Rooney), and probably the 2d or 3rd choice for France I imagine you want to be a starter for your club team. And then there is Pongolle...
Is it just wishful thinking to imagine that all three could play at the same time? I know that each (Owen, Cisse, and Baros) are strikers, but it seems a shame that all three can't be used together. Italy, for example, played this past Euro 2004 with Totti playing just behind Vieri and Del Piero. Is that sort of system possible at Liverpool? Could a move to a 4-3-3 system work, or maybe a 4-3-1-2? I know this is a stretch, but does anyone think this could work?
I can't see that working. All 3 of the Liverpool strikers are pure strikers. None of the 3 are very good playmakers. In fact, the BBC commentators were criticizing Barros because he tends to keep his head down when he runs with ball. For the 3 striker system to work, 1 of the strikers would have to sit behind the other two and play the role of creator. That is not the strength of Barros, Owen, or Cisse. However, there is no reason why all 3 can't play siginificant roles this season. With the Champions League there will be plenty of games to go around, and there is always injuries. Maybe we could get 45 goals between the 3 of them.
Did it work for Italy? Just kidding. I would enjoy seeing that too, but I have no idea what RB is going to do. I think that Cisse has blazing speed and a very good shot and we all know what Owen can do on his day. The only problem is we never know when it will be a good day for Owen anymore. Baros has improved a lot since coming back from his leg injury and his performance this tournament has boosted his status at Liverpool. Owen needs to change something, perhaps learning how to shoot a ball like Cisse and Baros can. That has always been his glaring weak point if you ask me, his inability to shoot from some distance. Lets hope the guys in the attack get the job done this season!
It's a good sign that Baros seems very eager to stay and prove himself with the new manager: http://www.itv-football.co.uk/Teams/Liverpool/story_116896.shtml ----
I think we are going to have problems finding the right formation for Owen/Cisse/Baros. I would be inclined to sell Owen or Baros and try to find a playmaking forward in the Litmanen/Beardsley/Rooney mold. You wouldn't call him a playmaker exactly at 6'8", but I was impressed with Koller in yesterday's match. Good in the air of course as you would expect, but I was surprised at the quality of his distribution and link-up play. Wonder how much he'd cost...
Playing with a guy like Koller would be helpful to any striker. Not because of his playmaking skill, but because he is great in the air and can hold the ball up. But to be fair, Koller had nothing to do with either of Baros' goals yesterday. Both goals came from great passes out of the midfield, and fantastic finishing from Milan. Thats the kind of football I hope we play at Anfield next season. With Heskey gone we don't have a target man to play long balls too. Its time we start passing the ball and building are attacks through the midfield. This way Owen won't be isolated up front chasing hopeless long passes from Riise and Henchov.
cisse has thrived in the one man striker role he has taken up with Auxerre with a playmaker/support striker playing off of him. His performances for France were always sub-par whenever he was paired with another striker. and the baros/owen partnership hasn't been great as has been said before. we really are missing a player such as rooney who can fit the role of secondary striker, although ALT may grow into that for us. Which then would leave us with 3 strikers competing for one spot instead of two, causing some unrest. if somebody were crazy enough to offer us 12 million quid for owen, i'd advise we take it.
You guys don't need to worry about all three strikers playing a major role through the entire year. With Owen and Baros' injury records, Cisse, and even Pongolle will get a lot of time on the field, especially when you consider the large amount of games and competitions professional teams play in.
As folks here have already mentioned...Cisse, Baros, and Owen are out and out strikers. Of the three, I'd say Owen is probably the best passer and creator of the bunch. All three of these guys are very well suited to Rafa's style of attack...he love's to motor down the field and press even the slightest advantage. I see Liverpool bringing in a fast left winger...Vincente has said he is not leaving Valencia and that's too bad. Were it possible, he'd be an awesome piece of the puzzle. Vincente is fast as hell and cross the ball in wonderfully from the left wing plus he is a fantastic finisher from the left side. Pressing up the field with: Baros/Cisse----Owen/Cisse Vincente Gerrard would be any defenses nightmare. Vincente won't happen, though, so I'll just stop there.
I'm glad we have an embarassment of riches here. Hopefully Benetiz will not play any favorites and put a team together that's best placed to win each game, and consider the season as a whole. Hopefully it'll be a long successful slog for all players, and I'm sure they'll get a chance to prove themselves. I don't know what all the plans are for pre-season. I know Liverpool (along with several sides) are coming over to the States for a few matches (and hopefully Benetiz can field a full squad and put the team through its paces) and come to a decision as to its best formation for the beginning of the season Btw, where does Kewell fit into all of this. Wouldn't he be more of a creative influence and feed the front two ? I know he wasn't really fit during the season and he knew it himself and promised the fans that he had a lot more to offer. I like the fact that each of the strikers offers something different. It's what we need. We have to adopt and change, and I hope Beneitez can work to the strengths and weaknesses of each pairing I'm really glad that Baros is having a good tournament, and also that Owen redeemed himself and Stevie is staying, and with comments from Erikkson that he hopes that Kirkland will be in the running for WC2006, I hope that he also gets a few games this year. Hopefully Baros will get some encouragement from his Euro outing and the new boss will endeavor to make all the pairings work
I wouldn't mind seeing Baros, Owen and Cisse up there all at once. That might spark some new strategy and it might just pay off.
Like someone said earlier, Benitez will just have to play different combinations up there, and whichever one works best, I say stick with it, no matter who it is.
If we play with three strikers - or more like it three forwards - I would expect to see Le Tallec, Kewell or Smicer in the hole behind the forwards (Cisse and Owen/Baros). In fact, Kewell may be an excellent partner for Cisse (in a withdrawn role). To be honest, I think that Cisse and Owen will be our starting front line and Baros will be a frequent sub and infrequent starter until there is an injury. He is young and works out well as a substitute - so as long as he gets lots of minutes it shouldn't be too much of a problem. If Michael Owen doesn't score at a great rate - I think we will see Baros get more starts. Benitez will have the mandate to form the team around the best-performing players. Especially if MO does not sign a new contract fairly soon (or at least progress in the contract talks). If Michael Owen is stubborn about his contract - he will have to be sold midway through this season. If that is the case, Baros will immediately get much more playing time. Florient Sinama-Pongelle plays very similarly to a young Michael Owen. He drew many penalties and was very dangerous in his limited time with the first team, although he is still a very raw player.
if hes at the club next season... saw this on the lpool site http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N145296040630-1349.htm looks like another chelsea player having words with an international team m8 to join 'em Baros has confermed yet again tho that he wants to stay. I saw him come on as sub a few times last season and I have to say he looked very dangerous running at defenders. Hope his euro performances force Rafa to give him a fair go that he didnt seem to get under GH. As far as Owen is concerned I think he will sign (he wont now just so i have egg on my face, lol), as his value and the wage he cound demand from another club has prolly somewhat dropped due to his performances in portugal and a season which certainly wasnt vintage Owen for the club (amittedly the supply wasnt always there). He's no longer the hottest of properties and needs a decent season to get a move to 1 of the european giants he would want to play for IMHO.