Fire Power

With Fernando Torres in the side, Liverpool's strike force is like a rocket propelled grenade; surging into the heart of defences and exploding in a shower of power. Take him away, though, and it holds more resemblance to a child's fun sparkler; fizzling out just when it's getting exciting.

As I watched our fringe players fighting for a place in the first team against Arsenal yesterday, I was suitably impressed on the whole. Arsenal's slick style of play seemed to rub off on us and we played some smart football of our own. However, time and time again we ran out of ideas in the final third.

We may posses the best striker on the planet, but when he's not on the pitch the backup is barely the best in Liverpool, let alone the world.

In this article I aim to take a look at our options up top and analzye exactly what it is they have to offer, starting with the man himself.

Fernando Torres
Just World class in every sense. Our number 9 is probably the best striker in the world at present and there is really no analysis needed. A prolific goalscoring record and the ability to make Nemanja Vidic fall to pieces speaks for itself.

So while Torres is undoubtedly invaluable, we can't always rely on him to be an everpresent. Let's take a look at the backup, then.

David Ngog
Our second choice striker is 20 year old French hotshot David Ngog. He arrived at Liverpool in July 2008 as a complete unknown from Paris St Germain. Despite his age he was put into the first team set-up right away.

During the 2007/08 season at PSG, Ngog scored just one goal in 18 league appearances. Many people put this down to the French club's poor form. He was more prolific for his country at youth level, but few will feel that is a fair stage to judge a player.

For Liverpool he has notched 6 goals in 23 first team games. Playing second fiddle to Torres has limited the time he has spent on the pitch which should of course be taken into account when considering his scoring record.

Aside from goals, then, Ngog has pace in abundance and an impressive arsenal of skills. However, when he is drafted in to replace Torres as the lone striker, he looks lost and is unable to dominate the top end of the pitch in the way that Torres does so well. He does hold the ball up well and his movement is good, however, he really needs quality around him to bring out the best in him.

Andriy Voronin
Next in line behind Torres and Ngog is 30 year old Ukrainian international Andriy Voronin. Signed on a free from Bayer Leverkusen in July 2007, Voronin was expected to act as backup to the first choice strikers.

It was made clear that he did not feature in Rafa Benitez's plans when he was shipped out to Hertha Berlin for the 2008/09 season. He looked more at home in the Bundesliga, scoring 11 goals in 26 appearances. He helped the club mount a serious title challenge, but returned to Merseyside empy handed after Wolfsburg took the title.

Most people expected Voronin to return to Germany either permanently or on another loan period. Liverpool were being linked with the likes of David Villa, Carlos Tevez and Ezequiel Lavezzi last summer, so the Ukranians prospects of first team football looked very bleak. However, none of these high-profile signings materialised and Liverpool were left somewhat short-staffed in the attacking department.

Despite pitching in with the (very) odd goal here and there, Andriy Voronin just does not posses the quality that we've come to expect at Liverpool.

Ryan Babel
Ah, the enigma that is Ryan Babel. Enough raw talent to give even the best of defenders a wet leg, yet somehow he seems inexplicably reluctant to utilise it.

I was absolutely delighted when Liverpool signed Ryan Babel from Ajax in 2007. Along with Royston Drenthe, Babel was the star of the show as Holland won the U21 European Championships in 2007. I couldn't stop talking about the both of them.

"They are exactly the kind of players this team is crying out for" I crowed.

"They'll probably go to Arsenal or something and become world beaters!"

Then the unthinkable happened; Benitez snapped up Ryan Babel for a reported £12m.

Finally, Benitez had taken a chance on an exciting big money signing. I couldn't wait to see him dominating the top end of the pitch in a few years time like he had at Ajax and for Holland. He looked most effective just behind the striker, where he would make surging runs into the box and cause defences all sorts of problems - just what we needed.

He showed glimpses of potential right away at Liverpool, with blistering pace and a fierce right foot. However, up to this day he has never really lived up to expectations and my incessant expectation quickly became perpetual disappointment.

Upon arriving at Anfield, Babel was quick to express how signing for Liverpool was a dream come true. He was pleased that all his hard work had finally come to fruition as he put pen to paper at one of the world's biggest clubs. However, the hard work seemed to stop there.

It seems that Babel is yet to realise that signing for Liverpool does not mean his job is done, but rather that it has just begun. Now he is part of such a prestigious club, he should be busting a gut to prove why we signed him in the first place.

It is clear to see that he has potential; he can bypass a player as if they aren't even there and has the trickery and ability to trouble any defence in the world on his day. However, he just doesn't seem to have enough of these days. Granted, when he does get a game it is usually on the left wing where in my opinion he is not nearly as effective as on the right or through the middle. However, out of position or not, his work rate and decision making often leaves a lot to be desired and many feel that this season will be his last in Red if he doesn't start to prove his worth.

Dirk Kuyt
During his time in Holland, Dirk Kuyt was very much known as a prolific striker. However, for whatever reason he has since been converted to a winger at Liverpool. He can play up top if needs must, however, I don't view him as backup to Torres as unless circumstances dictate otherwise, he will always play on the right side. The reason being that we have no real backup for his position either.

So on the face of it Liverpool have four players who can step in for Torres in his absence. However, out of those four it seems that Benitez only favours two as out and out strikers to cover the position on their own.

Ngog and Voronin, then, have such big boots to fill that they'd have trouble doing so even if they put their feet together to form one giant foot.

Yes, Ngog has some pace about him but at 20 years old he is just not ready for the responsibilty of filling in for the world's best striker. At the other end of the scale, Voronin is very much in the twilight of his career. In my opinion, Liverpool is not a club for players to wind down and Voronin just doesn't offer enough to the cause.

This Season
On many occasions this season I have been left wondering if our strikeforce is actually any stronger than the opposition's.

Against Spurs on the opening day of the season, their bench looked to have considerably more quality than our own. Up top alone they boast the ability to interchance between Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Even just recently at Sunderland, Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones looked a more daunting prospect up top than Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt did for us. To even contemplate comparing our strikeforce to the likes of Spurs' and Sunderland's is just surreal.

Regression
One can't help but wonder how we've managed to land ourselves in such a situation. In the last few years quality strikers like Nicolas Anelka, Fernando Morientes, Craig Bellamy, Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane have, for whatever reason, come and gone at Anfield. With the obvious exception of Morientes, all of the others have gone on to prove to be top quality premier league and international strikers. Players of this calibre would look particularly useful in the current squad.

Most will feel that they have been moved on to fund other signings, in a sort of sell to upgrade system. Fernando Torres is certainly proof that upgrading was worth it, however, he is only one player and the rest of the squad has suffered for letting certain players go.

Come January, then, I will be praying for a signing or two to bolster our squad. Our shortcomings this season have come as no surprise to realists who have seen that while other teams around us have strengthened, we seem to have regressed. The likes of Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Spurs all boast squads capable of mixing it at the top end, and if we don't take positive action, it could be us who loses out.

The signing of Fernando Torres should be a message to the owners that when Rafa is handed big money he can be trusted with it. This club, then, could be just one more show of trust away from having the fire power that is required to gun down our title rivals and end the arduous wait for number 19.