Houllier - summer 2002, Benitez - summer 2006

[kurtangle01]

I'm not saying Cisse is better, but let's put it this way, i cant really see Bellamy scoring 19 goals this season, if i'm being honest.

Fair enough but the time to judge that is at the end of the season not 8 league matches into it.

I bet you never thought Crouch would score that many last season either.

[anfieldanfield]

I can't believe that after 8 Premiership matches some of our fans are saying that Bellamy isn't as good as Cisse! Give him a chance FFS!!

What good would Cisse have been to us now with a broken leg?

Thing is mate, it's not just 8 games though, is it ?

We've all been watching Bellamy for years and years in the Premiership and know all about his quality and weaknesses.

[Craig_H]

Fair enough but the time to judge that is at the end of the season not 8 league matches into it.

I bet you never thought Crouch would score that many last season either.

Probably not, no.

So i must be right on Bellamy then, because i've never been wrong about TWO things before

[anfieldanfield]

[QUOTE=kurtangle01]Fair enough but the time to judge that is at the end of the season not 8 league matches into it.

I bet you never thought Crouch would score that many last season either.[/QUOTE]

He didn't though, did he ?

[Rich]

End of the day, if Rafa feels he can win more games with Bellamy playing rather than Cisse, I aren't going to argue.

Cisse offers, searing pace, incredibly hard shot, unpredictablity, and a lack of work ethic.

Bellamy, offers pace, abilty to pick the pass, lose of temper, and will put the work in.

Neither offers the complete package.

[TartanTerror]

I think the issue is to look at where the problems lie. It comes down to finishing. The table below is comprised of stats taken from the Official EPL website ( I calculated shooting percentage myself). They are generating a boat load of chances, they just aren't hitting the back of the net. How many times has the ball gone off the post? The other thing that is obvious is the defending has been crap. Simply taking 10% of chances would increase the goal total by 3 more goals - A goal in each draw would have meant 6 more points. . . The point of all this babbling is that I think they ARE playing well enough to win in terms of build up play - they simply are not taking the chances they generate.

Club Shots/Goals Shot % Goals Conceded

1.) Man U 136/17 12% 5
2.) Chelsea 92/13 14% 4
3.) Pompy 95/12 12% 3
4.) Arse 120/11 9% 4
5.) Villa 77/10 12% 5
6.) Bolton 47/7 14% 3
7.) Bitters 82/13 15% 8
8.) Reading 53/9 16% 9
9.) Blackburn 85/9 10% 10
10.) LFC 127/9 7% 9
11.) Man City 94/6 6% 9
12.) Fulham 63/8 12% 12
13.) Mid'brou 79/8 10% 13
14.) Tottenham 92/5 5% 10
15.) Newcastle 82/6 7% 6
16.) Sheff Utd 73/4 5% 10

The other stat I found interesting is that Pennant is ranked 33 in number of crosses played. We have three players on the team ahead of him - Gerrard, Aurelio, and Finnan. It seems that at least until this point in time, he has not been doing what he was brought here to do. BTW the number of crosses are 34, 20, and 16 for Gerrard, Aurelio, and Finnan respectively. Pennant has 15 crosses in 6 appearances - a little over 2 crosses per game - unacceptable if these numbers hold up over the course of a year.

Sorry about the formatting on the table

[kurtangle01]

Thing is mate, it's not just 8 games though, is it ?

We've all been watching Bellamy for years and years in the Premiership and know all about his quality and weaknesses.

What more do you want from him? And yes it has been 8 matches. I agree that we have seen him for other clubs but it's only 8 matches in a Liverpool shirt. To compare his previus form is a bit unfair IMHO. Judge him at the end of the season and see what you think. If he's only scored 8-10 goals then I think you'll find me agreeing with you. I think he'll do even better than Ciise though.

[Rich]

OK, lads, let's just face it, we are ****, and we know it....

[anfieldanfield]

What more do you want from him? And yes it has been 8 matches. I agree that we have seen him for other clubs but it's only 8 matches in a Liverpool shirt. To compare his previus form is a bit unfair IMHO. Judge him at the end of the season and see what you think. If he's only scored 8-10 goals then I think you'll find me agreeing with you. I think he'll do even better than Ciise though.

Fair shout, the stat that smacks me in the face though, is 11 games in a Liverpool shirt this season, 2 goals. This isn't nearly good enough.

Sure, he was brought in to offer pace, width, bite etc, but ultimately, strikers are judged on goals. Fingers crossed Bellamy produces the goods sooner rather than later.

[kurtangle01]

Fair shout, the stat that smacks me in the face though, is 11 games in a Liverpool shirt this season, 2 goals. This isn't nearly good enough.

Sure, he was brought in to offer pace, width, bite etc, but ultimately, strikers are judged on goals. Fingers crossed Bellamy produces the goods sooner rather than later.

2 goals isn't great, that I do agree with, but with 30 games to go in the league plus F.A. cup, League Cup and CL matches to play...

[Bob]

Fair shout, the stat that smacks me in the face though, is 11 games in a Liverpool shirt this season, 2 goals. This isn't nearly good enough.

Sure, he was brought in to offer pace, width, bite etc, but ultimately, strikers are judged on goals. Fingers crossed Bellamy produces the goods sooner rather than later.

Bellamy is not a striker!!!

He's a forward right/inside right, and has been utilised as such by Rafa, thus far - that's where your argument falls flat!

Bellamy will offer a lot more to the team dynamic from that position, over the course of the season, than previous players have in the same time frame.

Yes, of course you're right to criticise his lack of goals. But after eight games, give us a break! We're not ****ing Real Madrid here - give our lads a chance FFS!

[anfieldanfield]

Bellamy is not a striker!!!

Erm, what ?

[Craig_H]

give our lads a chance FFS!

So they can put it into row Z?

[Red_Polo]

I can see where you're coming from but I don't see any more similarities than differences between the two summers. Pennant and Aurelio are looking very disappointing so far, yes, and we missed out on some serious quality in Alves. But Kuyt looks a terrific signing, Gonzales will be good for us given a run in the team, and I think Bellamy will be chipping in with goals more regularly now that he's got the monkey off his back.

[Red_Polo]

So they can put it into row Z?

It's too early after the game for those jokes