While Luis Suarez has dominated this summer’s football headlines with his twice daily interviews in his time back in South America and the subsequent transfer bids from Arsenal, another Liverpool front man has been quietly going about his business in what is, potentially, an equally pivotal pre-season for him.
Fabio Borini was Brendan Rodgers’ first signing as Liverpool manager and, as one of just two major arrivals at Anfield last summer, much was expected of the former Roma forward. However, despite a goal on his home debut, Borini endured a miserable campaign as two significant injuries ruled him out for large periods of the season.
The 22-year-old returned before the end of the season to ensure that the Premier League did, belatedly, get a chance to see his ‘knife between the teeth’ celebration. His goal came in April’s 6-0 demolition of Newcastle and was his first in England’s top flight. Another encouraging performance followed, as a substitute, at Fulham with only the post and a superb point blank save denying Borini.
However, questions still remained over the former Swansea loanee heading into the summer – unsurprising given a return of two goals from 20 appearances for the forward.
An impressive U21 European Championships for Italy saw Borini return to Melwood with renewed confidence and the determination to prove his worth on Merseyside. He has featured in each of the Reds’ four pre-season fixtures to date but, as yet, has failed to find the net. The confidence that seemed to surge through him whilst wearing the blue of the Azzurri this summer appears to vanish once he pulls on Liverpool’s famous red.
For many, it is already clear that the no. 29 simply isn’t going to make the grade at Anfield. His modest goal return, even when his injury woes are taken into account, is used as evidence Borini lacks the quality to be a regular striker while it is argued that he lacks the pace to be effective coming in from the flanks.
Certainly, Borini needs to improve in some key aspects of his game if he wants to be a success at Liverpool, but to focus solely on his perceived weaknesses is to ignore some particularly valuable strengths.
Most notable is his movement. Anyone looking to stand up for Borini or list the skills he possesses will invariably start off by mentioning it – and with good reason. His ability to make a clever run in behind or across the opposition defence is exceptional. Borini knows exactly when and where to make his move when his side are attacking and, provided Liverpool have the players to pick the passes to find him, he will have chances.
The issue has been that until very recently, despite having the likes of Steven Gerrard, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez, the Reds have struggled to find someone on Borini’s wavelength to pick him out and make the most of his intelligent off the ball movement. However, there were signs at Fulham, in last season’s penultimate match, that Liverpool had found a player capable of reading the runs made by the ex-Chelsea youngster. Daniel Sturridge has been much praised for his own goalscoring feats since joining the club in January, but, at Craven Cottage he showed enough to suggest that he could also be the man to coax more goals out of his struggling teammate. The England striker found the runs of Borini a number of times, setting up a couple of good chances, in the brief spell the pair were on the pitch together.
With Sturridge injured though, there has been no real opportunity for Brendan Rodgers and his staff to work on turning those glimpses into a truly effective combination. Instead, Borini has had to persevere, work on his all round game and hope that in time his teammates can begin to pick up on his clever darts in and around the box – undoubtedly, the likes of Gerrard and Coutinho have the quality to make the passes if they can spot the striker’s runs.
There have been some encouraging signs on this front in the last two pre-season games, particularly in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Thailand. After a disappointing first half display in Melbourne, Borini looked lively in the second half at the MCG before being substituted, and he continued in the same vein in Bangkok. A number of times in the opening 20 minutes the front man was picked out well following some smart movement to get free. Ultimately, the moves failed to bring a goal but the fact his teammates are starting to anticipate his runs will give Borini and his manager optimism for the coming season.
Without question, Borini also needs a goal to bring back some of the self-belief that was so evident at the U21 championship but provided he can get one, and soon, then there is no reason to believe that he can’t rediscover the knack of being in the right place at the right time in front of goal. It was something Liverpool fans were told about the 5’11” striker upon his arrival but, so far, any such proof of it in a red shirt has been sadly lacking.
He has been rather unlucky on occasions: a deflection taking the ball just centimetres beyond his reach, a despairing defender diverting the ball into his own net as Borini stood a yard behind awaiting the tap in, a teammate going alone with Borini free and a gaping goal ahead of him. Such incidents haven’t helped him but, of course, all strikers must deal with similar misfortune occasionally.
Borini must simply be clinical when the next chance does fall his way and, if the goals start to arrive on a more regular basis, then that knack of his may soon return.
He may never become a regular starter for Liverpool but if Borini can rediscover his confidence and develop a decent understanding with his attacking teammates then he can become a more than useful player for the Reds to have in the squad. The Premier League definitely has not seen the best of him yet. [divider style=”tiny”][/divider]
