"Twin Towers" for Liverpool

Since Michael Owen's departure to Real Madrid in 2004, Liverpool has been struggling to find a capable replacement.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Djibril Cisse, Luis Garcia, Fernando Morientes, Peter Crouch and Robbie Fowler have all been called upon (or re-called, as in the case of Fowler) to spearhead its attack. However, when you have your midfield general Steven Gerrard leading the team in scoring in the last two seasons, it's only fair to say that their performance has not been satisfactory.

And now with both Cisse and Morientes gone, manager Rafael Benitez is sure having a close eye on the striker market. And with Italian Serie A giants Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio having all been relegated to Serie B, and Milan facing points deduction this season, as a result of the match-fixing scandal, a mass exodus of players can be expected.

In fact, Benitez himself has admitted that he is interested in a couple of them, either buying them or having them play for Liverpool this coming season on loan. Among the strikers he has mentioned are David Trezeguet and Alberto Gilardino.

Both are all good players, but I hope Benitez would go for the radical.

Sign Luca Toni.

And partner him with Peter Crouch to form the first "Twin Towers" in English Premier League history.

You may not believe it, but Toni, a giant among the boys in the Italian squad, is in fact two inches SHORTER than Crouch. They both play in a similar style with excellent headers, as well as outstanding footwork and close control considering their height.

The gangly Crouch will likely never win any style points on the pitch, but he is very effective in Benitez's scheme: A long ball would be aimed for him, and he would either set up an on-coming striker or midfielder for goal, or go for goal himself. Given his height advantage, other teams often have to pay extra attention to him, which creates more room and scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Now imagine he has help in the aerial attack from Toni. Defenders would have a hard time picking their poison. And with the arrival of speedy wingers Craig Bellamy and Mark Gonzalez, Benitez knows which side of the bread is buttered on and we can expect more quality crosses to be played in from both sides of the pitch.

The pairing of "Twin Towers" worked wonders for former Houston Rockets Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, as well as San Antonio Spurs David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Hopefully it will work for Liverpool too.