Will Liverpool look to Defoe?

Reports surfacing late last night from The Mirror claim that Liverpool are preparing a £10m bid for Tottenham's out-of-favour front man Jermaine Defoe. Given tha fact that Liverpool have struggled to score goals this season and Defoe is not a certain starter for Harry Redknapp's team this could well be on the cards.

Many a Liverpool fan would welcome Defoe to Anfield seeing as he is a natural goalscorer who has performed well wherever he's played. The striker is currently playing second fiddle to Luka Modric even though he's scored seven league goals in 15 league appearances this term starting only seven times, compared to Modrics's two goals from 19.

However, as a Liverpool fan, I see no reason to question that. If Redknapp feels there is no place for Defoe in his team then I'd be pleased if Kenny Dalglish saw fit to make him a Liverpool player. The current situation at Anfield is clearly unacceptable. Notwithstanding the price tag that seems to weigh so heavily on Andy Carroll's shoulders, his profligacy and apparent inability to put the ball in the net must for sure be a concern for Dalglish. The Reds' boss has publicly backed Carroll but I'm not sure that the level of dissatisfaction shared by 99.9% of supporters isn't a factor for him.

The absence of Luis Suarez has simply highlighted the fact that Dalglish needs to spend in order to maintain any momentum gained thus far this season. The weekend's result showed that without Suarez, Liverpool are severely lacking in the attacking department. I'd go so far as to say that the situation is at crisis point and is by far the area of the team in most need of strengthening. Apart from Carroll, Liverpool only have Craig Bellamy who isn't really a striker, and Dirk Kuyt as back up. The latter's missed header from 5 yards against Swansea and near 32 years shows he's not the player he once was.

It's now mid-January and there's been prescious little in terms of transfer action, not just from Liverpool but the Premiership in general and I'm just hoping that this points to a quality over quantity strategy being employed by Dalglish. For the sake of Liverpool's season, I would say that buying a striker in this window is an absolute must.

By Ben Green

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Comments

[Ben]

Thanks James, input is appreciated. However either way Defoe is a player Liverpool NEED. Even if you look at Van der Vaart's stats for the season they're not as good as Defoe's (seven goals from 19 appearances). Liverpool play pass and move football, granted. However, Dalglish has changed this style to suit Carroll which has bore no fruit whatsoever. In this case your arguement does not stand. It doesn't matter what type of player we have so long as they score goals. Liverpool have hit the post, what, 18 times(?) this season? A better finisher would have buried half of those chances, no question. Dalglish is prepared to change the teams style of play to suit the players that he has. This so-called "other dimension". Thus in Defoe, we have another dimension. A player who can finish chances instinctively, play with the ball at his feet and do so in the box, which is something only Suarez and Maxi seem able to do for Liverpool. That automatically suits pass and move football. You don't need killer passes with someone like defoe. All you need is for the likes of Downing, Maxi, Kuyt, Henderson, Enrique, Johnson whoever to put decent balls into the box. Job done.