LFC: Striker Needed

By guest writer: Jamie McLaughlin

I watched the Liverpool match the other night against Manchester City and although I think they played well enough, they were seriously lacking as an attacking force. The ban on Suarez is going to be a real problem, and you could see that there was a lack of movement or options with Carroll playing a lone striking role.

I am not having a go at Andy Carroll, but if Liverpool want to play the big man up front I believe he needs a playing partner alongside him. Carroll doesn’t have the pace or movement to terrify defenders, so he needs some support, because he is good at holding the ball up and winning headers.

Liverpool have very few options in attack, they have Carroll who has struggled to score so far, Dirk Kuyt is another option, or Bellamy who has a lot of pace which could be their best option. The fit again Gerrard could play just behind a lone striker or Shelvey, who played this role against Aston Villa.

But the options are very few with or without Suarez and Liverpool should be looking to bring another striker in this January, because it is imperative that they finish in the top four this season or they could drift away from being a top four club as the gap could widen.

Liverpool are in a decent position in the League at the moment, within striking distance of the top four, but with a lack of firepower, this could be a serious problem for the rest of the season. To be fair, scoring goals has been a problem all season, with so many chances spurned from the Anfield side, but the problem will be greater, especially with the absence of the influential Suarez.

Out of the attackers Liverpool have at their disposal, Craig Bellamy has looked the most likely to score. Kuyt has been struggling to get a game and hasn’t scored all season after finishing top scorer last season and Andy Carroll has struggled to fit in to the Liverpool style of play. The team can’t depend on the superb defence to limit the opposition all the time as the attackers struggle to score.

January is historically a difficult month to bring new players in, but Liverpool should be scouring the planet for another striker, or this season could drift away after so much promise. We will just have to watch this space for the next month and hope Liverpool can bring a much needed striker in to bring success this season.

Written by Jamie McLaughlin, who writes for Anfield News

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Rumour Mill: Is Wigan striker answer to Liverpool scoring problem?

Top Premier League clubs including Tottenham, Liverpool and Sunderland have been the alerted to the availability of Wigan's Victor Moses, after the winger's agent revealed that talks over a new contract have stalled.

Liverpool has been courting the Nigerian-born England Under-19 international last season when he was with Crystal Palace.

Moses has been one of the Latics star performers in the last six months, having only previously shown flashes of his ability following a much hyped transfer from Crystal Palace in January 2010.

As his stock has continued to rise, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez opened talks over a new deal just over a month ago, but despite initial contact being made, the negotiations have since stalled, much to the frustration of his agent Tony Finnigan.

   “We talked to Wigan about a contract five weeks ago but still haven't seen anything,”

“My phone goes all the time. Victor's got his admirers out there,” – Finnigan explained.

Wigan would be hopeful they could fend off interest from Sunderland, but should Spurs, Liverpool, or even Chelsea, who have all previously scouted Moses, come calling, it would be a different matter.

A bid of around £8 million would almost certainly convince Martinez to sell, as he plots a January reshuffle of his squad, to aid his sides battle against relegation.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

Source: Metro

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LFC: Accepting the Wrong Decision

By guest writer: Jamie McLaughlin

Through gritted teeth, and with no admission to guilt Liverpool have now accepted the decision by the FA to ban Luis Suarez for 8 matches. Both Liverpool and Suarez issued statements of resignation to the fact that they have to accept the ban, although in their statements there is no admission of being guilty to the charge.

But deep down they know that it is pointless and a waste of time to challenge the FA in a case involving a Manchester United player whose manager is the “Godfather” of the FA and Suarez was found guilty before the trial on the grounds of one man’s word against another man’s word with no witnesses.

The alleged victim Evra was apparently a more credible witness with his testimony, regardless of his history of troublemaking and even once trying to get a grounds man into trouble at Chelsea.

The FA was obviously just wanting to make an example of someone after showing discontent at Blatter’s comments towards racism recently. Suarez has just been made a scapegoat in this whole political affair.

An 8 game ban seems terribly harsh for the crime when a player can end a player’s career with a reckless challenge on the field and may not even get a ban for his crime. Funnily enough an example that springs to mind involved another Manchester United player, Roy Keane whose career ending tackle on Alf-Inge Haaland resulted in Keane receiving a 3 match ban and a small fine of £5000, OK so he got another ban later when he admitted in his autobiography of deliberately trying to “hurt” Haaland, where he received a 5 match ban for his comments. So in total Keane’s ban resulted in the same as Suarez, but I know what I think was the more serious crime and yet the punishment seems lenient to say the least.

The ban is not the biggest factor in this case, although it will hurt Liverpool’s ambitions this season. The biggest factor is that Suarez has been labelled a “racist” and mud sticks and this will never leave him. Everywhere he plays in England he will be subject to abuse from the opposing supporters and as we saw recently at Fulham he will receive no protection from anybody and he will be under scrutiny as all eyes will be on a reaction from him as he will be expected to show no retaliation, like he showed at Fulham which resulted in another ban for the unfortunate striker.

I also fear Liverpool losing him altogether as I would consider leaving this country if I was him and go to a country that will appreciate his talent. I hope for Liverpool’s sake that he doesn’t feel like me, but life will be so much more difficult for him now in this country.

But one thing that Suarez can be sure of is that he will never walk alone as long as he remains at Liverpool.

Written by Jamie McLaughlin, who writes for Anfield News

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Video Highlights: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

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Liverpool FC accept Luis Suarez eight-match ban

Liverpool FC may seems to be wanted to get the case quickly out of their way and focus on the playing field instead. Liverpool announced on Tuesday that they will not appeal the penalty given to Suarez for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, but in a strongly worded statement the club maintained the 24-year-old is innocent of the charge.

By accepting the punishment despite not accepting culpability, Suarez is not scheduled to be eligible again until the Feb. 11 match against Manchester United, whose defender, Patrice Evra, was the target of the striker’s insults. Uruguay international Suarez tonight began his suspension, missing Liverpool's match at Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League.

Despite a public outcry, Liverpool continues to back the player who was signed from Ajax a year ago.

Dalglish also defended the decision of the Liverpool players to wear T-shirts in support of Suarez ahead of their game against Wigan last month – and insisted he is not worried that the former Ajax man will be targeted for the rest of his career in England.

Let us know on your thought about Liverpool FC accepting the FA’s verdict on the comment box below.

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