Liverpool lose two good players?
It’s quite easy to become sentimental about seeing both Hamaan and Cisse leaving Liverpool, although you would be insane to argue that Liverpool have not brought in better players.
Hamaan’s comic transfer (where he went to Bolton but then got himself transfered to Man City (netting Bolton 300,000 pounds in the process)) is also a clear indicator of the difference in the quality of managers (Sam Allardyce and Stuart Pearce). More importantly for Liverpool though, this means that along with Vladimir Smicer, Rafa Benitez is slowly clearly out Houiller’s old guard and rebuilding the team from scratch.
Cisse’s departure is different, and perhaps the one area where Liverpool might have made a mistake. The loan move to Marseille, once finalised into a transfer will net Liverpool 8 million (and for a striker the quality of Cisse that is quite cheap, considering that they brought in Bellamy for 6 million, which was a steal), but you have to wonder that as a first or second choice striker Cisse is a far better option than Dirk Kuyt. Peter Crouch, despite criticism levelled towards him, is a fine centre-forward but you wonder why Benitez was not ready to use Cisse’s pace and willingness to stick it out at Liverpool despite a patchy season (which still saw him score a lot of goals). Even on the wings he is a better choice than players like Harry Kewell.
My view is that Rafa’s preference for a 4-5-1 formation means that there is no space for a traditional centre-forward like Cisse. But I’m still stumped as to why Benitez was so insistent on selling him – it’s not his injuries, because he got injured after Liverpool decided to sell him.
Topics: Football Transfers, Liverpool
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“is also a clear indicator of the difference in the quality of managers (Sam Allardyce and Stuart Pearce)”
You having a laugh??? What has pearse ever done? fat head has done an amazing job at Bolton over a number of years..Where as Pearce did ok for half a season and pretty crappy after that..
Glad cisse is gone too but gutted that didi has.
Best of luck to both of them..
July 12th, 2006 @ 21:24Ahmed,
If we get £8m for Cisse it will be one of the deals of the decade. Cisse should have been a 100 metre runner. He has no footballing intelligence and gives up on a pass unless it is played exactly where he wants it. He is not a Liverpool player and never will be. Rafa is spot on again as he usually is. Unlike Nando he had neither the class or grace to go quietly.
I hope he recovers from his leg break and gets his ‘dream’ move to Marseilles. Thanks for the cup final goals Djibril but our sights should be set on League titles and to win those u need footballers not sprinters.
David C. – Dublin
July 12th, 2006 @ 22:54I can’t believe you think Cisse is a better choice as a winger than Harry Kewell!!! You must have been watching different players.
July 13th, 2006 @ 15:15To be brutally honest, Cisse is one of those players that does not play for 70% of the time. Trying to climb to the top of this league requires players to have heart and character, Cisse had neither. His vision was terrible, his link up play even more so, the 8 million will be warmley accepted by 95% of Liverpool fans.
July 15th, 2006 @ 06:01Now that Cisse is gone who is the one striker out there that can score goals like Cisse did last season despite being played out of position?
Bellamy has premiership experience but what has he done? Fowler is not being used, Kuyt needs more time and Crouch is substituted when he is on form.
November 19th, 2006 @ 21:08come on, mate, cisse better than kuyt? i would agree that cisse is slightly better than once our record signing -el hadji diouf..another flop. cisse uses his pace to play football, not his brain.i couldn’t believe we bought him for 14m, i wouldnt even buy him for 14k……
November 30th, 2006 @ 23:52if you think cisse is good compared to crouch, bellamy, kuyt and torres thn u r wrong
n maybe Hamaan is gd but very old n if u have got alonso, gerrand, mashanro and sissko
July 10th, 2007 @ 18:52Though I can accept the fact a club has contractual rights over a player, why show fear if the player decides to move to a rival club. MU Management should have said to the player and liverpool, go ahead , we do not fear anyone even if it means a MU players joining a rival club.
August 23rd, 2007 @ 12:28For MU to make statement like we do not want any MU player to join rival clubs in PL , more so liverpool, it underlines their fear of that club. Surely MU should be proud of of track record and achievements. NO one players can make a remarkable difference in the performance of a club. 11 players and the able substitues and their combined performance makes the difference. I have simply lost faith in a mighty club.
Hamann certainly was a great player (great, not good -see champions league final 2005) but he was getting older, and with a foursome of young strong central midfielders including a man who does exactly his role in Javier Mascherano, it was time to let him go.
As for Cisse, I too thought about whether he should have been let go, but despite his dazzling pace, Cisse did not prove to be a finisher. A willing runner yes, but not with great quality on the ball. Looking at Liverpool’s current strikeforce (replacing the likes of Baros with Torres), I don’t believe you could say he’s been missed.
Yes he did score goals last season despite being on the wings, but a lot of those goals were in qualifying for the Champions League against lowly opposition.
To say Cisse is a better option than Dirk Kuyt is quite ludicrous though if you have watched Liverpool matches in their entirety. Perhaps highlights would show you runs at pace from Cisse, not something Kuyt ever could offer. But Kuyt has shown an ability to create, the ability to head a ball, great touch and above all an amazing work-rate. Cisse lacked all of these.
Cisse is a great sprinter, and certainly a top striker in a lesser team or league, but ultimately not up to the level of a Premier League challeneger.
August 23rd, 2007 @ 15:03