Ian Rush column - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool Echo, 14 Sept 2004
Garcia could be missing 'link' Reds have craved
By Ian Rush, Liverpool Echo

THERE'S only one name on every Liverpool fan's lips since Saturday - Luis
Garcia.

It's a long time since a signing made such a positive impact on his home
debut. I think the reaction to his display shows how desperate the fans
have been for this kind of creative player.

Finding a 'link' man who connects the midfield and strikeforce is a problem
for a lot of teams. Players such as Dennis Bergkamp or Eric Cantona don't
come around every year.

Liverpool have struggled to find someone like this for ages. Hopefully
Garcia will be the answer.

I was very lucky at Liverpool because for most of my career I had the
perfect creative striker in Kenny Dalglish.

Kenny wanted to create goals as much as score them, and as a goalscorer you
couldn't have dreamed for a better partner.

It's funny how interpretations of the game have developed over the years.
I've heard one or two suggest Liverpool are playing one upfront, with
Garcia 'in behind' Djibril Cisse.

Having played in such a system for many years in a highly successful
Liverpool team, it's not like being a lone striker at all.

Kenny and I were two strikers in a 4-4-2. Garcia and Cisse were the same
against West Brom.

The difference is one of the forwards, in this case Garcia, has the ability
to come off the back four, find gaps and make different types of runs than
his partner.

I'll bet Cisse really enjoyed himself playing alongside the Spaniard
against West Brom and felt he could be on the right end of a
defence-splitting pass during each attack.

Cisse had an excellent match and was really unlucky not to score.

He made some fantastic runs, led the line well and showed a good attitude.
If he continues to work as hard as that the goals are sure to come.

Hopefully playing against Monaco, a team he's sure to know a lot about,
will give him the platform to knock a few in.