Benitez underlines Morientes's worth
Aug 10 2005
By David Prior, Daily Post
BEFORE Steven Gerrard's outrageous late entry in Istanbul, Fernando Morientes had a perfectly fair claim to the title of last season's finest headed goal.
It was February 5, the Spaniard's home debut against Fulham, and the Anfield air was thick with anticipation.
Most supporters felt that were he anywhere near as good in the flesh as he'd seemed in almost single-handedly propelling Monaco to the Champions League final a year before, he'd be the answer for Rafael Benitez's goal-hungry side.
And within minutes he'd delivered. Latching on to a Luis Garcia cross that appeared to ask an awful lot of his compatriot, Morientes managed to duck his head and somehow power the ball across Edwin van der Sar and into the far corner of the net.
It was a goal that incontrovertibly came from a higher sphere of football. And yet, what a false dawn that has so far proved to be. With his Champions League ineligibility preventing any kind of cohesive run in the side, Morientes, still struggling to recover full fitness after an injury-hit start to the season at Real Madrid, often looked off the pace and badly lacking in sharpness.
Three goals in 13 games was the underwhelming statistic he ended up with come May, and while he par-tied as hard as anyone come that glorious night in Istanbul, Morientes knew more than anyone that his contribution to the Anfield trophy cabinet was still very much more a dream than an accomplishment.
His manager is keen to see the real 'Nando', too. But to his mind, it's not just the player who needs to improve - it's also the players around him. The service they provide to their long-haired targetman will be crucial over the coming months.
"I have been training every day with Morientes and he has been training really well," said Benitez.. "We need to improve as a team for him. We need to cross more balls and with Crouch and Morientes we can improve the way we work down the wings.
It will be better for Morientes and we will see more things from him. I am sure that he will score a lot of goals. I hope to see the best of him in the next few months.
"When you see a player of his quality training as hard as he is doing, then you know he will score goals. He has good ability, is good in the air, can pbutt and can shoot with both feet.
"He maybe needs to improve with the pace of the game here and he knows that, but we need to start giving him more opportunities to score. Sometimes we need to play more to his game by putting in more crosses and signing a winger."
He added: "I don't think Morientes will leave. He is very happy here and he wants to do his best for us. It is important that he is happy with the city and the team and the club."
The need for Morientes to begin to justify his high billing has been made more acute by Crouch's arrival and Milan Baros's impending departure.
Aston Villa are believed to be nearest to a deal for Baros, with German side Schalke 04, West Ham and reportedly Everton all having failed to lure the Czech away from Anfield.
And Benitez, speaking candidly on the subject for the first time, is clearly eager to see Euro 2004's leading marksman leave - albeit only at the right price.
"I like Milan. He is a good player," said Benitez. "But we need to use the money to buy players in other positions.
"It is not because we are disappointed with Milan. We need this money so we can look at other positions and improve them. We have six or seven strikers at the club and we know that we can get money for one of them, so this is one thing we can do. It is like if you have three left-backs at a club. You don't need that many, so you can really sell one if you want.
"I read a lot of rumours about the situation and some clubs seem to be asking about taking the player on loan. We are not thinking about letting him out on loan. We will keep him if we don't have a good enough offer."
Benitez added: "We will try to find a centre-back good enough for us, with or without any money from a Baros sale. It's just that if we have more money, it makes things easier. We are working with Zak Whitbread and we are happy with him, but we need another player in that position.
It's really difficult to sign the players we want at the moment. Our pre-season started a lot earlier than most clubs and that was a problem for us in terms of signing players. Some clubs are only deciding now what kind of signings they will need, but we have already been talking about it for three weeks. We still have three more weeks before the transfer deadline."
A good result tonight, and an aggregate victory in two weeks' time, will obviously further help Benitez in his search for new players. More noughts in the bank, however, is not the Spaniard's main motivation.
"It will obviously be better for us to be in the group stages of the Champions League. But I am not thinking about the money," said the manager.
"I want the team to play in the Champions League, this club is not worried about the money. It is important for this football club to win trophies, not to win lots of money. You can win and lose money but only the trophies are always on show in the record books and the trophy room."
Liverpool v Bulgarian Opposition
Overall Record
P6 W5 D0 L1
Previous Meetings
2003-04 Levski Sofia H 2-0 A 4-2 (UEFA Cup)
1981-82 CSKA Sofia H 1-0 A 0-2 (European Cup quarter-finals)
1980-81 CSKA Sofia H 5-1 A 1-0 (European Cup quarter-finals)
Best Betting Odds H 8-11 (Ladbrokes, Skybet) A 5-1 (bet365)
D 5-2 (Coral, bet365, totalbet, ukbetting)
