Fabio Borini’s broken foot means that someone else is going to have to step up at Liverpool and fill the void left in the attack of the side. Could it be Daniel Pacheco?
Liverpool were always taking a gamble at the start of the season when they decided to let Andy Carroll go on loan to West Ham United. It meant that Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini were the only recognised strikers at the club and subsequently the gamble has backfired on them with the news that Borini has broken his foot while away on international duty with Italy.
This is good news for Daniel Pacheco, a youth striker at the club who made his first domestic start for the side recently in the League Cup game against West Brom. Pacheco is a Spanish striker who was on the books at Barcelona before he made the move over to England to play football, ultimately, in the Premier League. He recently revealed his frustration at being dropped back down into the reserves and should be smiling now that this opportunity has presented itself.
Pacheco is a player who appears to have many different strengths which will be useful to Liverpool for the rest of the season. He has lightning pace which means he’s the ideal sort of player to play on the shoulder of the opposition defence. This will allow him to race in behind and allows Suarez to drop off and get the ball if he is being well marked or just to allow him to be more creative.
One of the other assets that Pacheco has which can only be created by youth is enthusiasm and hunger. He has said in the recent past that it’s his ambition to hold down a regular place in the Liverpool first team. He now has to make that second striker spot his own and provide Brendan Rodgers with an alternative because for the time being Liverpool are going to be playing plenty of 4-5-1 formations with Steven Gerrard tucked in behind Suarez.
Rodgers has said he is impressed by Pacheco’s movement along the back line which makes him difficult to mark and pick up. He can play out and out as a central striker but he can also play as a left sided attacking player and a right sided attacking player. He has similar qualities to Borini in this respect with the only exception that he is an out and out attacker and seems to resist the temptation to dip into the midfield to try and find possession.
Pacheco will more than likely be placed on the bench for one or two games if Rodgers decides to bring him into first team action. He has to concentrate and focus extra hard to make sure that he can have an impact coming off of the bench because this is the only way that he is going to get a regular place in the side. It would be very surprising to see him thrown into a start unless Suarez also picks up an injury.
Daniel Pacheco is a name that football fans should start hearing more of if Rodgers sticks to his guns and his claims that the Liverpool youth players in the side are good enough to play at any level.
image: © faisalzaman
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