Djibril Cissé - Le grande enigma

Djibril Cissé is turning into one of Liverpool's greatest. Of course, I mean greatest enigmas.
I'm a big fan of Cissé, but if he's stretching my patience, it's easy to conclude how his manager feels. His inconsistency doesn't stretch match to match, but minute to minute. It’s enough to leave you pulling out your Mohican.

Cissé does some brilliant things: a great backheel, a stunning cross, a thumping shot, a burst of electric pace. But they are nearly always followed with a wayward pass, a simple error, a basic miscontrol.

His instincts seem at odds with his instructions. He's a frustrating player, but also seems constantly frustrated with himself and with the world (on the pitch at least). At times he looks like he doesn't even know what he's doing, confused as to where he should run.

It's like he's so desperate to please and to fit in with what the manager wants, he's lost sight of his natural game, and is neither doing what Rafa requests nor what is best for him. When he runs at defenders he seems hesitant half the time, and too eager the other half, and the anxiety sees him overrun the ball.

Cissé is different to the frustrating Emile Heskey, who I felt could be a much more effective player, and use his bull-like strength to greater effect; Cissé, unlike Heskey, is a natural striker: it's about the positions you take up, your preparedness to get into the six-yard box (even if you sky the ball over the bar), or to take a shot when only half a chance presents itself. Cissé has all those latter attributes; he's just not been very good at executing them.

Every time he plays, he feels on trial. It's his 'big chance'. He has to score, or he's out on the wing, or out of the side; and sometimes, even if he has scored, that happens, if Rafa, who likes to rotate his strikers, feels another more suited for the next fixture. Cissé looks anxious, lacking in confidence. Watch his goals for Auxerre, and there's a supreme confidence about him. But at Auxerre he felt at home, in his element.

His technique for most of those goals in France was sublime, his reactions first-rate. He produced all manner of finishes, from the powerful to the subtle and cheeky. His record, in a top league, was phenomenal. But he was the main man, le cock of the roost.

Cissé is a natural finisher, but one lacking confidence and I just don't see him ever getting it at Anfield. Without confidence, a striker will always look unnatural. If you only watched Michael Owen on his bad days, you'd conclude the same; but Owen has a more robust mentality.

I just don't see an ideal marriage between what Benítez wants and what Cissé offers; but Cissé's pace, along with the promise of what he might just come up with, tempts the manager. My view is that Gérard Houllier would have got far more out of Cissé for Liverpool; but that Benítez can shape a far better Liverpool than Houllier, and that's all that counts.

This is about getting the best out of the team, not one player. But of all the players at Liverpool, Cissé is one of those I've been desperate to see succeed, especially after his injury last season and the way he worked so hard to get fit so soon. I would love to see him scoring week-in, week-out. But I'd prefer to see the team winning, and it's up to the manager to field the best team to do that.

If Benítez went out of his way to placate Cissé, to offer him the arm around the shoulder as well as weekly reassurances (in the way I feel Houllier, who paid all that money, would have), it would go against his successful methods and perhaps diminish the aura the manager wants to create.

The point is that Rafa doesn't single out individuals for special attention. There's no favouritism, with the possible exception of his attempts to keep Steven Gerrard last summer, after he too failed to feel loved by the manager. The fact is that you can make an exception to your rule for a player as proven and as crucial as Gerrard; his performances for the club have earned a little leeway. Cissé's haven't.

Cissé's season actually mirrors Ian Rush's year in Turin: a few cup goals against weak opposition (Rushie scored five in one cup game for Juventus) but not enough in the league. Liverpool's record goalscorer only managed 14 goals in Italy, just seven in the league. His teammates were never quite on the same wavelength. How can the deadliest striker in English football in the '80s fail so miserably in Turin? After all, he was a natural, right?

As with examples like Diego Forlan, who went on to be the top scorer in Spain, it shows that finishers need stability, security.

I'm guessing Benítez sees Cissé’s ability in training, as in training a player is relaxed. Training is when you see the true player, in terms of pure ability, but it's on the pitch where you need to see how pressure affects that ability. If you can't translate it into performances on matchday, it's of no use.

It's about fitting into your environment, feeling loved (or trusted), understanding what's required. It's a number of factors that conspire so that when you step over that white line, you are focussed, relaxed and full of self-belief. Strikers who are not relaxed snatch at chances, try too hard. Instead of clarity in the moment, your head is a mix of conflicting messages, and you end up doing something that is neither one thing nor the other.

Despite his difficulties at Liverpool, I believe Cissé will go on to be a big success somewhere else. There is a hugely talented player in there, just dying to get out. But he will need another Guy Roux – a manager prepared to make him feel special.

But it does look like Liverpool need a new quick striker, to play off Crouch when Rafa is looking for pace on the break, given Morientes will never offer that. Sinama-Pongolle has a lot of potential, but it's not yet clear whether he quite has what it takes to be a regular, although still has plenty to offer to the squad. While far from quick, it will also be interesting to see if Neil Mellor's loan is to prove his fitness and get some experience, or a precursor to a sale.

The revelation by Sven that Michael Owen is unhappy at Newcastle was no surprise. In the summer I felt Rafa was correct to go for Crouch, because of the style of play and 4-5-1 system, and because Crouch is the kind of player we needed to hold the attack together. But now we play two strikers on at least some occasions (although when it's Morientes, he drops deeper), bringing Owen back has to be considered. I'd love to know what's in Mickey's contract.

With only a week left to the transfer window, it looks like Cissé will have four more months to prove himself at Liverpool, or for everyone to call it quits. I haven't given up hope, but I'm also no longer holding my breath.

© Paul Tomkins 2006