The only striker I've ever seen do the donkey-work for the side and manage to score on a consistent basis at the same time is Ian Rush. A massively rare breed and people like Kuyt and Bellamy aren't good enough to do both. Time to sign a lazy bastard who can stick the ball in the frigging net.
True.
None of Crouch, Kuyt, Bellamy, Fowler or Morientes can be called a complete success in my view. They are not all failures, but none have performed consistently at the level we should expect from a Liverpool striker.
I'm sick of people making excuses. Our strikers don't score enough goals and they have not been good enough to win us the title. Stagger Lee is right to raise such a question - Rafa's record signing strikers is average at best. Our strengths are our central midfield and our defensive back five. That's fucking obvious.
We have had a striker who is "a lazy bastard" on the books all season; Fowler & lots of people say he didn't play enough. What makes you think Benitez will play someone else who is "a lazy bastard" more often? - Don't kid yourself that Fowler works hard, he's relied on his talent for knicking goals, always has, he's been fucking brilliant at it (& I love him for it) but he doesn't & never has work his socks off for the team.
And about even raising the subject of Benitez's ability to judge strikers... It's no coincidence that strikers cost more cash than regular players. Unless you strike it really lucky, £15m net per season is not enough to buy a shit hot striker who will transform the side.
Our record signing is £14m for Cisse, just go and look how many players, not just strikers, but players ManU & Chelsea have who cost more than him.
Benitez has had to cut his cloth accordingly
* Crouch (£7m) - has done alot better than expected
* Kuyt (£10m) - has been about par for the course in his first season
* Fowler (free) - well, we've discussed him already
* Morientes, (£6m) - didn't cut it in England but most people were salivating at the prospect, and for only £6m!!
* Bellamy (£6m) - it's all about molly-coddling this twat, something Benitez hasn't been prepared to do, and most commentators expect us to make a healthy profit when we sell him this summer just 12 months after we bought him, good investment.
I'd agree that it's not exactly a litany of success but, given that we've paid below average prices (for strikers) for most of them and that you concede they have performed at least averagely, is it really reason to question his ability to judge a striker?
I don't think so.