Do Liverpool miss Luis Garcia?

I was surprised he was sold but do Liverpool miss his sometimes unpredictable magic?

He was a match winner for Liverpool at times & could unlock a defense with his vision. This season I feel he could have been the missing link between the midfield & forwards, playing behind the front 2...what do you think? 

Stats for Garcia:
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/garcia/index.htm
1st team appearances: 121
1st team goals: 30

Yes, I think we do miss little Luis, if only for his vision for doing the unthinkable, I wish we'd have kept him. :'(

miss him lot......
he can change liverpool games when his playing

Yes we do miss him, but we also miss Dalglish and Toshack... let's get over it eh.

Players move on (particularly if they are foreign).

YB is a player that is full of tricks and has a decent shot on him.

For me, the dissapointment has been RB (when given the chance to play) - I am also sure he will come good... I bet he will plays on Wednesday and puts a top-class performance in. Will do wonders for his confidence.

LG a LFC Legend... will be going to the Calderon to see him one day soon and will (no doubt) sing the sangria song for all to hear!!

Yes i miss him he was frustrating at times but he always poped up with the important goals.

i think benayoun will start 2 fit in more with the injuries and could be a good replacemnt 4 little luis
still a legend tho

I still miss little luis heaps (personally), and on a greater scale, the team misses him too....
As fustrating as he could be at times, he was an absolute gem for us...stunning goals, and could be relied upon to change a game off the bench...
To this date, i stiil believe that if he had played in this years champions league final, we would have taken the trophy that day- convincingley aswell may i add!!!
At the end of the day, he has made a smart move in moving to Atletico Madrid, as he's playing very regularly, and they are going quite well in la liga....

I still miss little luis heaps (personally), and on a greater scale, the team misses him too....
As fustrating as he could be at times, he was an absolute gem for us...stunning goals, and could be relied upon to change a game off the bench...
To this date, I stiil believe that if he had played in this years champions league final, we would have taken the trophy that day- convincingley aswell may I add!!!
At the end of the day, he has made a smart move in moving to Atletico Madrid, as he's playing very regularly, and they are going quite well in la liga....

Yep Atletico Madrid doing well... maybe too well for our interests.

I few weeks ago I mentioned something that worries me about Atletico ...Marca reported a few weeks ago that if Atletico make it to a Champs League spot - they would put in an transfer-record-breaking offer for Pepe Reina (who's dad is a historic idol of Atletico). That really worries me... as I don't see a significant keeping back-up at the club - unless Carlson is again re-called post-Villa.

I was surprised he was sold but do Liverpool miss his sometimes unpredictable magic?

He was a match winner for Liverpool at times & could unlock a defense with his vision. This season I feel he could have been the missing link between the midfield & forwards, playing behind the front 2...what do you think? 

Stats for Garcia:
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/garcia/index.htm
1st team appearances: 121
1st team goals: 30

(Could a mod' make this a poll please )

He could be great one week, and very frustrating the next, but i'm gutted that we sold him.  There was no doubting his ability.  However, Yossi Benayoun has the ability to make a similar impact.

He could be great one week, and very frustrating the next, but I'm gutted that we sold him.  There was no doubting his ability.  However, Yossi Benayoun has the ability to make a similar impact.

Indeed. Sometimes he would frustrate the living daylight out of you but could easily pop up with an important goal or a moment of great vision to compensate.
Personally, I don't miss the frustration. But I think we miss his ability to pop up with the goods when we most need them.

I don't think we miss him, his favourate position was off the the striker, we are not playing that system this season.  If we want to play a 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 then there are players that can play that role better, none better than Gerrard.  Also Babel and maybe benayoun can play that role, its just we haven't tried them.   For me Garcia was very frustrating, blowing hot and cold, i thought it was a good time to sell and bring in other options.

Bit of a loaded question and not surprised to see the number of Yes votes outweighing the No's.

We miss him in Europe where he offered something different.

However, if our team were playing to their potential he wouldn't be getting a look in, in the league or Europe.

I was cheering him on at the Vicente Calderon last week against Zaragoza and he was playing centre mid and did a decent job (albeit against a weak Zaragoza side).   However, he didn't really cut the mustard in the Premiership.

When we're playing poorly we miss him.

Yep Atletico Madrid doing well... maybe too well for our interests.

Marca reported a few weeks ago that if Atletico make it to a Champs League spot - they would put in an transfer-record-breaking offer for Pepe Reina (who's dad is a historic idol of Atletico). That really worries me... as I don't see a significant keeping back-up at the club - unless Carlson is again re-called post-Villa.

We didn't buy Itandje and Nikahalyov (i know ive spelt that wrong if someone could give me a hand with tht) for nothing 2 brilliant young goalkeeping talents plus Carson on top we're set in the goalkeeping fron for many years to come at the moment

Good point curse.   Scott Carson could more than do a good job for us.

We didn't buy Itandje and Nikahalyov (I know ive spelt that wrong if someone could give me a hand with tht) for nothing 2 brilliant young goalkeeping talents plus Carson on top we're set in the goalkeeping fron for many years to come at the moment

Good point curse.   Scott Carson could more than do a good job for us.
 

I'm sure Carson would do a very decent job for us but could Itandjie though ? butterfingers comes to mind when I think of his performance against Reading though he did make one v good save.
On another note Nikolay Mihaylov got a decent review in world soccer's 50 most exciting teenagers on the planet article. LINK anyone
OH and personally I do miss lil Luis, though I believe Benayoun has it in him to be a good replacement.

Sums up what has been said in this thread nicely...

Liverpool FC: Who Can Replace Luis Garcia?

http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/3217-Liverpool-European_Football-Filling_the_gap_-_How_much_are_Liverpool_missing_
Luis_Garcia_-301007/

As Liverpool prepared to sign Fernando Torres, the club sold Luis Garcia—with little fanfare and few complaints.

One wonders whether the Reds timed the sale during the Torres circus to bury bad news.

It's this writer's opinion that Rafael Benitez may have made a mistake. Although Liverpool deny it, I can't see how they would have let Garcia go without his being a "sweetener" in the Torres deal.

And I'm not sure the exchange worked to the Reds' advantage.

Yes, Garcia was inconsistent—and even soft at times—but he was a player who could produce a piece of magic every time he stepped on the pitch.

It's that ability that the Reds miss.

Without Garcia, Liverpool have lacked a spark this season—especially when opposing defences camp in numbers around the area. Garcia was the one Red who was always most likely to pull a rabbit out of his hat against such long odd.

Manchester United have Paul Scholes. Chelsea have Joe Cole. Liverpool HAD Garcia—and they're hurting for creativity without him.

Garcia also regularly added his name to the goal tallies—in key situations, no less. The quarterfinals and finals of the Champions League, the FA Cup semifinals, the Merseyside derby—Garcia had a knack for finding the net when it mattered.

Without him, the goal-starved Liverpool strikers find themselves under even more pressure.

Can anyone fill the void left by Garcia? The most likely candidate appears to be Yossi Benayoun, who has the ability to unlock defences and contributed his fair share of goals at West Ham.

Hopefully Benayoun's clever nutmeg and subsequent finish against Reading in the League Cup will be a teaser of what's to come.

In any event, any successor will have his work cut out for him. Although a mere 5'7", Luis Garcia left some very large boots to fill.

He was a good player. Love the moments when the game had the combination of Gerrard, Garcia, Alonso & Kewell.

 
All I'd say is Luis Garcia lost possesion far too often, sure he came up with important goals in big games but away to the likes of Wigan isn't necessarily a 'big' game and he'd struggle to contribute in such a game.
The replacement Rafa has brought in Yossi helps to both retain possesion in away games but also provide a touch of guile when required. He'll always be remembered for the Chelsea game but I'd say what has been added since his departure will go further to bring back the league title to Anfield Road. 

COME ON YOU REDMEN!!!!!

"Yes", when not too many of our players can unlock the opposition defence and "no" when he often losed possesion of the ball while his defending is not there at all. But he had contributed much to our recent successes and will always be remembered for that.

Liverpool FC: Who Can Replace Luis Garcia?

Simple answer is no one, Garcia has pace, great ball control, vision, passion, endless magic with his ability to beat defenders and most of all his goals are usually very good.  I don't think Benayoun can produce anything near the sort of quality that Garcia provided us with but maybe a new blend of midfield wizardry that was never quite appreciated at West Ham.

IMO he was great in European comps but at times seem to go missing during the league games,could be something to do with styles of play(faster and not much time on the ball in league),but as others have said came up with Great goals.

This question is like:
'Does a Child miss his mother'
I don't think that you could say (atm) that it was a good deal (torres for garcia) We need Garcia back he has scored alot of great goals in the years at Liverpool

No!!!

Lost the ball to often.  We do need someone who will do the unusal, but someone who can keep the ball better than Garcia.