Emile Heskey – A Frustrating Footballer
Posted by Olly on June 1, 2004, 12:57:51 pm
For me, there is one word that sums up Emile Heskey perfectly. That word is frustrating. In the 4 years that he was at our club, his performances veered from the sublime, to the downright atrocious. For a man who Rivaldo once stated would be the only English player to get into the Brazil side, he has now left Anfield with many of us wondering if Rivaldo meant Botswana.
Emile Heskey joined Liverpool in March 2000 for a club record fee of around £11 million. Eyebrows were raised at the amount of money spent, but fans acknowledged that big money was needed in order to buy good, young English players. Heskey, under the tutelage of Martin O’Neill at Leicester City, had started to gain recognition as an extremely powerful centre forward who was equally strong in the air and on the floor. He was seen as the perfect partner for the more nimble Michael Owen, and with the two lads having played together for various England youth teams, it was hoped that the partnership would reap instant rewards.
Emile’s impact was almost instantaneous. I remember his first game for the Reds vividly. Standing outside Anfield without a ticket (touts were charging £80 for a game against Sunderland!), the game just a few minutes old, a huge cheer came from the Kop, as Heskey went down under a challenge in the penalty area. Anfield went deadly quiet as Paddy Berger placed the ball on the spot, and then let out another huge cheer as the ball nestled in the corner of the net. Unfortunately the rest of the game was spent listening to the radio in the Albert, rather than watching the new man from the stands, but from all accounts after the game, the lad had done well.
In my opinion, Emile’s main asset has always been his strength. He always looked far more comfortable with the ball played into his feet, where he could hold off a defender with ease, turn quickly, and run at the heart of the defence. During our glorious treble season Heskey did this time and time again. What an awesome sight it was to see this huge brute of a man pick the ball up and charge at defenders before unleashing a shot goalwards. You could see defenders panic, not knowing how to deal with our big number 8, as he sped past them. And the lad had a shot on him as well. He could bang them in with either foot with very little back lift, and was an obvious menace in the air. He quickly forged a good partnership with young Mickey Owen, and in our treble-winning season he scored a credible 22 goals. Defenders started to double up on him in an attempt to contain the threat he posed, but this simply resulted in creating more room for his strike partner. Liverpool seemed to have found a modern day Toshack.
Three games stand out for me. The away game at Derby County in 2000 when he showed all his attributes of power, pace and strength to score a hat-trick. The game at Elland Road in 2002, where the Reds destroyed Leeds 4-0, and Heskey scored two. And the unforgettable game against Roma in the European Cup in 2002, where a strong Emile Heskey caused the Roma defenders all sorts of problems, scored a soaring header, and helped set-up a vital 2-0 victory on Houllier's return after 5 months absence from the club.
Emile also appeared at times to have a lot of mental strength. He played 16 games for the England Under 21’s, has 40 caps for the national side and has played in numerous European games for Liverpool. During this time he has suffered some appalling racial abuse in Eastern Europe and Italy. One such game was against Boavista in Portugal in 2002, where despite the Portuguese team containing a number of black players Heskey was singled out for abuse. Yet through all this, he didn’t let his game suffer, illustrating the true character of the man.
In stark contrast in the last couple of years a missed chance could wreck all his confidence on the field. So where did our Emile go? What happened to the man that could reduce solid defences to rubble?
It was around the time of our nightmare game against Basel away in the European Cup in November 2002, that we first saw Emile drift out to the left-hand side of midfield. Over the pursuing months, this happened consistently for both Liverpool and England, so much so that he appeared to be spending more of his time on the left hand side than he was up front, supporting Owen. The argument for this was that Emile was a willing runner, who would provide a strong physical presence on the flank – as well as the fact that neither Liverpool nor the national side had anyone else to play there.
Heskey settled into his ‘new’ position well, despite not being too sure as to why he was being asked to play out wide. He battled well, and helped out in defence when needed. As the ultimate professional that he is, when asked whether he enjoyed playing there his response was always the same – “I’d play anywhere the boss told me to”. Over the following months, Premiership defences became fairly used to seeing Emile out wide and Mickey up front on his own. The goals started to dry up rapidly and we all saw the big man struggle to find any confidence or enthusiasm – everyone that is apart from our manager. And so Emile kept plodding up and down the wing, being a ‘team player’. He quickly appeared to lose his striker characteristics – he lost his touch, he seemed to lose his awesome strength, and he lost his ability to stick the ball in the back of the net.
Worst of all, he seemed to lose interest. How many times did we see Emile lose the ball up field, only to then slump, shrug his shoulders and shuffle back to the halfway line? Not surprisingly there were calls for him to be dropped, as fans demanded that the lively Baros be given a chance. Instead of attempting to prove his critics wrong, this simply resulted in knocking his already fragile confidence, and so the sorry saga continued.
Last season we saw both the Jekyll and the Hyde in Emile Heskey. His tally of 12 goals wasn’t all that bad, and he put in some great performances – Fulham away, where the travelling support stood shocked as Emile burst to the near post in front of his marker to volley in a cross; Chelsea away where a commanding centre forward performance helped the Reds to their first win at Stamford Bridge since 1989, and where Stevie G stated afterwards that when he’s like that Emile is unplayable; and ironically away to his new club Birmingham, where we all saw the old Emile back.
In stark contrast we also witnessed some shockers. At Portsmouth away in the league Heskey started brightly only to then disappear from view after 10 minutes. This became a recurring theme throughout the season. But the game that stands out for me as one that perfectly sums up the sense of frustration one gains when watching Heskey, is the League Cup game away at Ewood Park. In what was a highly entertaining game of football, Emile gave a great centre forward display scoring two good headed goals. We were awarded a penalty towards the end of the match, and with the travelling Kopites chanting for the big man to take it, he reluctantly picked up the ball, and placed it on the spot. A man that should have been full of confidence and looking for his hat-trick, then nervously stepped up, and blasted the ball high and wide. As much as the fans sang his name afterwards, I think we all knew that it would take some time before Emile would be able to get over that miss.
I’d like to see Emile do well at Birmingham City. I’m fairly sure that he’ll be a success and will get back to scoring form, if played in his favoured position. When he realises that he can scare defenders to death, he’ll be unstoppable. It’s just typical of the man that frustratingly we will probably watch him do this with that horrible blue shirt on.
Good luck Emile. Sorry it didn’t work out.
© Olly 2004
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