A I'll start with an apology if I'm opening up old wounds but I've only just seen the highlights from the Brentford game. I've been in a high level meeting in Singapore with our scouse friend (for you non-believers he is a high *anking official in his own mind). Anyway I've not read through all the posts on that game so apologise (again) if this has already been mentioned but did anybody notice that the closest person to the Brentford scorer was Lafferty and he started at the same place as Whittaker and others, just outside the opposition box. I'm not a booing fan, don't agree with it, but a striker who runs 70-80 yards, albeit without preventing a goal, I think deserves some praise. His work ethic IMHO is not in doubt and I think AN see's that.
The title is rubbish - if I knew how to change it I would. The thread is more about my appreciation of Laffertys' contribution. If somebody clever could do it that would be great.
urgam, post: 7549583, member: 1003894"]That any better?[/QUOTE] Only that It accurately reflects my point...thanks
I made the point in the match thread I think, Lafferty was the closest person to the play after Turner and Cuellar, which does beg serious questions as to what Olsson, Whittaker and Johnson were doing. Despite getting booked every game and his poor scoring record, I like Lafferty. A physical presence in a wide position gives us different options, and I don't think we've really made proper use of him.
He works hard but as an attack minded player offers far to little going forward. Admirable as his tracking back was, I would rather our midfield did it's job and allowed an effective attacking player to be ready to create or score given the chance. He's a liability and a donkey to boot! Bah!
I'm more interested in the high level meetings in Singapore with Unbeleivable Anfield . Why do you need to start every post with your claim to be on the way to or just returned from a high level business meeting you plonker?. I'm guessing your U Anfield account is banned or you forgot your password. Lafferty cost over £4m I believe & having scored just 1 goal & the fact that he has a very impressive yellow card collection for a bit part player doesn't make up for running about like a headless chicken trying to to the jobs that our defenders constantly fail to do. Massive waste of money IMHO.
I made reference on another thread that as one of the tallest members of the team at 1.93m (thanks Wikipedia !) he doesn't attack at corners. Twice on Saturday he was stood just in front of the halfway line when we had corners - surely we'd need his "physical presence" at opportunities such as these ?
I have assumed it is because he can't head the ball well. However, I still think regardless of that he should go into corners because he will inevitably occupy one of the biggest defenders on the opposition team, allowing one of our better attacking players a shorter opposite man. And even if he's not great at heading the ball, at least with his height he may get a chance at goal, which is better than nothing at all!
I really hoped Lafferty would do well for us the youtube clip of his goals for Palermo was quite impressive and he scored a brilliant free kick pre season . His attitude has been good and he puts in a shift but there must have been better wingers out there for the money we spent on him. I would consider Josh a better player he has two good feet pace to burn and has scored a few class goals . There is still time for Lafferty to show what he can do this season but compared to Pilkington and E Bennet he would not be considered as an improvement , granted they both had bad injury records but they could beat players cross well and chip in with vital goals.
SN23 I'm not UA no idea where that assumption came from it was (obviously) my poor attempt at humour, I won't try it again. To follow up on the OP I agree with most points on here about Lafferty, I didn't understand why he was bought in the first place, but I do think he can't be faulted for his running even if most of it appears to be pointless.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I strongly disagree on Lafferty being pointless. He offers some unique skills, which we don't really have elsewhere - he's a superb target man and has an excellent touch. He can actually play the ball and he strikes it very well. As a package, because he's neither here nor there I appreciate it's difficult to know how to use him properly, especially when his shooting has been a bit wayward, but all round I think he is an excellent utility player. I think the issue is not with his talent or the various aspects he offers, it's that he doesn't seem to naturally fit into any of the systems we use. I've been a strong advocate of him being on the wing, even though I appreciate that a lot of people don't like it because it looks unnatural. I'm coming round to the fact that we need an out-and-out left winger instead if we're putting Jerome and Hooper up top. I think Lafferty might be better used as a sub - either on the wing or to replace Jerome and produce a better target man. The trouble is he doesn't really have the features of an "impact sub" so either starts or doesn't play at all. But I think his energy could actually be better used in dying moments, rather than currently overdoing it from minute 1 and being a walking yellow card. On the odd occasion when Lafferty has been playing well, he has been unstoppable IMO. But for all the above I accept he leaves more questions than answers and that's always going to make it tricky no matter how much you rate a player.
Not seen alot of Lafferty but when I have he's been a bit rubbish. There is nothing about him that appeals to me, nor does he have any skillset to warrant a position as a left winger or central striker. We sold Surman for a million, and signed Lafferty for 4. I know which player I would rather have.
