[lfc-news] Cisse snatches at his chance

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Cisse snatches at his chance
By Patrick Barclay
(Filed: 16/10/2005)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SAE5QGEANZFZ1QFIQMFCM5WAVCBQYJVC?xml=/sport/2005/10/16/sfnpad216.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/10/16/ixfooty.html

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Sometimes it is nobody's fault. Things just don't work out. Thus it was
with Diego Forlan and Manchester United. Signed for £7.5 million in 2002,
the Uruguayan striker earned Old Trafford's affection with his energetic
style but appeared mainly as a substitute before being sold to the Spanish
club Villarreal at the beginning of last season. What a transformation
since. Forlan finished the campaign La Liga top scorer and continues to
shine: it was his goal that beat Argentina last week to earn Uruguay a
World Cup play-off against Australia. So maybe a change of scene is what
Djibril Cisse needs.

You can almost feel butterflies watching Cisse, even when he wears the
colours of France rather than Liverpool, where his career has been (to put
it mildly) ill-starred. Last Wednesday, when the French qualified by
beating Cyprus 4-0, the goals came from an initially inspirational Zinedine
Zidane, then Sylvain Wiltord, Vikash Dhorasoo and the substitute Ludovic
Giuly. Cisse could have had another four all to himself, with a chance or
two to spare. For 90 minutes his pace and clever movement kept tearing the
Cypriots apart. All they could do was pray he missed the target or thumped
the ball against their goalkeeper. Most of the time their prayers were
answered. When Cisse turned provider, Wiltord and Giuly had reason to thank
him, but strikers like to score and therefore it was a slightly sheepish
smile the big man wore under his beanie hat afterwards.

"The main thing,'' he said, "is we are through. As for my own game, you get
nights like that from time to time. I just want to thank the crowd. They
never whistled me. On the contrary, they supported me to the end. The
players were just as encouraging and for that reason I never became scared
to play. And I'm grateful to the coach [Raymond Domenech] for not
substituting me.'' Asked, nevertheless, if his morale was draining, Cisse
replied: "It can be very difficult. But I try to continue to give the
maximum, to forget the missed chances so they don't get me down. And I'm
reassured by things like the little pass I gave Sylvain for his goal. We've
qualified. Now I'll try to laugh off the rest - that's the way I have to
look at it - and concentrate on my club. My priority is to hold down a
place in the Liverpool team. The World Cup can wait.''

Cisse, like Forlan, was 22 when he came to England. A £14 million deal,
breaking Liverpool's record, had been agreed a year earlier with Auxerre,
for whom he scored 70 goals in 128 league matches, but shortly before
Cisse's arrival in the summer of 2004 the manager who had wanted him,
Gerard Houllier, was sacked.

Under Rafa Benitez, he scored on his first Premiership appearance, and his
sixth, but on the ninth, at Blackburn, he suffered a hideous leg break.
Although it was supposed to have ended his season, Cisse proved an eager
healer and, despite being used as a substitute in all but one of the
concluding six matches, added another couple of goals. But Anfield remains
unconvinced and this season Cisse has exuded an over-anxiety reminiscent of
Forlan when, having sped through a defence, he would snatch at his shot and
screw it wide. It was the same for Cisse in the Stade de France. Except
that, after his third opportunity had been spurned, the chant rose from
amid the 80,000 seeking reassurance that the once-mighty had not completely
fallen: ''Cis-se, Cis-se, Cis-se.''

His admirers, Houllier included - there has been speculation about a switch
to Lyon, or Marseille - believe him capable of succeeding Thierry Henry in
the long term, although they would make a formidable partnership. While
Cisse shows only a fraction of Henry's skill and awareness, he is so quick,
strong and goal-hungry that a splash of confidence might work wonders. In
the meantime, you can only salute his courage in recovering from such a
serious injury and the persistence to which the Paris audience rose. They
are willing Cisse to blossom because fresh talent is thinner on the ground
these days.

The French set the bar high by winning the World Cup in 1998 and European
Championship two years later - and few can even run up to it. Cisse and the
midfielder Alou Diarra are the youngest in the squad at 24. The winger
Florent Malouda, a bright spark from Houllier's Lyon, and defender
Sebastien Squillaci are 25. It was considered necessary to coax Zidane,
Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram out of international retirement in order
that France be spared the play-offs or worse, but an ageing squad are
unlikely to scare the Brazilians in the tournament itself, while England
would no doubt fancy a tilt at the side they nearly beat in the European
Championship. Domenech is looking for a new factor in the equation and
maybe next month, when France play a friendly in Germany, Cisse will be ready.

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