Liverpool

conman

here is a decent formation for Liverpool.

Finnan Hyypia Henchoz Biscan

Diouf Gerard Kewell Riise

Owen Baros


That team would shape up a little better than before, key is to put Riise on left mid, as GH doesnt seem to want to play Harry there.

Also, Chelsea are buying buying buying, a good chance for Liverpool to try to snatch one of their wingers!

Oh LaTellec seems really good, he should get a run in the cups, as I've read before!

hoolio

Biscan at left back? Thats a bit dodgy imo.What about Vignal - great player and had a good partnership going with Riise.Apart from that i might drop Baros to the bench,play Kewell in behind Owen and stick Hamann/Murphy/Le Tallec in the midfield.

Big Ears

did duduk or kirkland get sent of or something u didnt name either.

conman

i actually meant to say vignal at left back, not Biscan.

La Tellec is too young, very good player though,let him play a little, but he is a player for next season. Id love to c La Tellec + Pongolle play lots, but not all season regulars. Baros is a really good player, if given a chance! id prefer him to Owen.

Dudek or Kirkland there both good goalies, eiher can play.

Bannor

Here's my expected team for Sunday:

________________Dudek__________
Carragher___Henchoz___Hyypia___Riise
_________________________________
__Kewell____Murphy___Biscan___Diouf
_________________________________
__________Owen______Heskey______

Subs: Baros, Le Tallec, Diao, Traore, Kirkland

Smicer could replace Le Tallec, but I've a sneaky suspicion that Houllier is going to unleash Le Tallec on Chelsea with 15-20 minutes to go because the lad has been involved through out the pre-season and hasn't looked the least bit fazed by any of the opposition he has faced.

ChumpStain

________________Dudek__________
Finnan___Henchoz___Hyypia___Riise
_________________________________
__Diouf____Murphy___Gerrard___Kewell
_________________________________
__________Owen______Heskey______

That will probably be the most played team troughout the season, pretty good although maybe a new winger and striker would get them really challenging.

StickyMcGinty

he wont play kewell out the left or right cause he doesnt like playing there. also biscan will be playing in centre midfield i hear houllier hearing this somewhere!!

johnor

Biscan is muck, he was such a waste of cash..how much was he again 7.5mill? Cant see why he'd be in any first team....think GH has made some horrid buys over the last few years but he sticks out big time....

john

AthAnRi

So much of liverpools development next year depends on Harry Kewell and finnan. Their both excellent players but if I was a Liverpool fan I would be a bit worried cause bot of these players are injury prone. I've also heard that Haman could be out until Christmas. If thats true that will leave Liverpool very bare around the middle of the par, expecially for the first game of the year against Chelsea.

Murphy can be an excellent player but at times he proves a little inconsistent and to be quite honest I think Biscan sucks. I agree that diouf is a better player on the wing than he is up front but he is still nothing spectacular. While he may have played well in the worthington cup final I don't think he is a good enough winger for a team like Liverpool to have in there side.

Baros is a really good player, if given a chance! id prefer him to Owen.

I'm not a liverpool fan but that statement is just ridiculous. Owen is a terrific player. He consistently hits 20 goals a season. Baros is a decent player but he will not give you the same return as Owen.

marct

Biscan gets a fairly raw deal IMHO. For a start he is a defensive midfielder not a defender. The only time he got a real run in this position was when he joined the club first and in his first few games dominated Keane and Vieira. He has had a good pre-season and deserves his chance I reckon

jonno

I suspect the team for the Chelsea game will be:

_____________Dudek_____________

Carragher__Hyypia___Henchoz__Risse

Kewell__Murphy__Biscan__Diouf/Smicer

________Owen_____Heskey________

Subs: Kirkland, Traore, Le Tallac, Baros, Diouf/Smicer

I think Smicer has proved himself enough in pre-season to fight with Diouf for the left midfield spot. Also I think GH might be a bit worried that Chelsea's new look midfield might dominate so he might hold Le Tallac as the secret weapon. Ohterwise Diao will be in the subs in Le Tallac's place.

p.pete

I think jonnos' team looks fairly likely - with Kewell doing a lot of floating about the place.

If a suitable left sided midfielder can be pulled from somewhere I would rather see Riise at left back. He will still get the runs forward and eventually with Finnan doing the same on the other side we may eventually have some kind of an attacking format.

JohnnyBravo

What chelsea winger would you buy zenden please do cos he is rubbish or gronkjaer (cany cross a ball)

AthAnRi

Kewell is a terrific player. He is certainly one of my favourites but I was sickened when I heard he went to Liverpool. I think he really has to play either up front or on the left. I don't think a central midfield position suits him or his style of play.

As for Biscan, I don't think he is getting a raw deal. If 7.5 million is spent on a player then he needs to perfom consistently. He may have played well in his first few games against Arsenal and ManU but so did the rest of the Liverpool team.

AthAnRi

I think Zenden is an excellent player. He would definately get into the Liverpool team. He has been treated pretty badly by chelsea. He is always a threat when he comes on.

Gronkjaer is also a terrific player and apart from Zola and Gallas was one of Chelsea's better players last season. He too would be knocking on the door for a place in the liverpool starting 11.

marct

Originally posted by AthAnRi
Kewell is a terrific player. He is certainly one of my favourites but I was sickened when I heard he went to Liverpool. I think he really has to play either up front or on the left. I don't think a central midfield position suits him or his style of play.

As for Biscan, I don't think he is getting a raw deal. If 7.5 million is spent on a player then he needs to perfom consistently. He may have played well in his first few games against Arsenal and ManU but so did the rest of the Liverpool team.

Biscan cost £5.5mill

JohnnyBravo

Having just signed one of football's best left wingers in the form of Damien Duff, is one of our existing wingers, Boudewijn Zenden, on his way out? Zenden's term at Chelsea has been disappointing, and Inter are said to be interested.


Let's face up to facts: Damien Duff is likely to be one of the first names on any team-sheet, particularly to occupy his favourite spot on the field, on the left wing. The Irishman worked miracles from this position (or so it seemed - or was he merely overflowing with talent?) and scored an astonishing 9 goals for Blackburn in the League, making him the Lancashire club's top scorer in their Premiership campaign.

The wings were specifically identified as a weak area of Chelsea's game. Graeme Le Saux did a great job in that role, but he has now left. Another of the previous tenants of the left-winger position, Boudewijn Zenden, has disappointed. Which is why Damien Duff was brought in.

It would not be insulting to the cultured Dutchman to say that he didn't live up to his billing. And so, there is speculation about his future, and sources in Italy suggest that Inter Milan could make a move for him.

Zenden made only 15 starts last season, but also came on 14 times as a substitute. He scored only one goal in the process, admittedly a great one against Manchester United last August. Indeed, it seems to be a characteristic of the player that he starts the season well (he scored our first goal of the season in 2001 against Newcastle), even explosively, and then fizzles out. By the end of the season, he seems hopeless and directionless, the frustration etched all over his face and crystal clear from his body language.

Zenden himself is not happy, and has frequently voiced his dis-satisfaction in the media. Here's what he has to say about Ranieri's tactics:
"Ranieri sets out with a defensive formation. He likes us to play on the counter-attack and hit opponents on the break. He's also capable of changing his tactics during a game. Last season, we sometimes used four different systems in the same match. He has an Italian mentality while I have a Dutch one. He plays games not to lose while I play them to win."
"In my games for Holland, PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona, I have spent 20 percent of my time defending and 80 percent in attack. But, with Chelsea, I have to defend 60 percent of the time." Diddums.

Or how about this outburst about his lack of playing time:
"As a player, you always get your form and your rhythm if you play five or six games in a row. At the beginning of the season, I got a run of games and that's when you get the best out of the player. If you just play once or just come in for 20 minutes, it's difficult to show what's in your body. It's the hardest thing to just come on as a substitute. The best thing is to play from the start and keep it up. But the manager wants to play everyone and for me and the rest of the players, we just have to adapt to the situation."

Then there was this about his team-mates:
"When we went to the final against Arsenal last season, some of the players took their cameras. They gave the impression it was just a day's outing."

And, we couldn't not mention this about the Chelsea canteen:
"We also notice Chelsea have financial concerns. We used to get four different kinds of fruit to eat at meal-times but one day they started to give us just two."

It is clear that Boudewijn is not a happy bunny in Blue. These quotes indicate a pattern: he is convinced that he is right, and the rest of the team (particularly Mr Ranieri) are wrong and it is everybody else's responsibility to owe him a living and a star billing. But, Boudwijn,it is also the case that this team that apparently had such a defensive and constantly adapting formation and choice of squad rose to 4th in the table, without very much of your 'help', in the process taking the 3rd best goal difference in the Premiership. I, for one, would be inclined to side with Claudio Ranieri as being the one in the right rather than Boudewijn.

If a player is unhappy, he has every right to leave. Particularly if, as can be expected, he will be playing only when Damien is unavailable. Few people at Stamford Bridge would cry at this. It is not surprising that he has been touted around, and his father, Pierre, has revealed interests in the past from Lazio and Inter, not to mention Fenerbahce and Bordeaux.

Lazio is a long-standing courtship: they wanted to sign him already from Barcelona in 1999. For reasons pertaining to Barcelona's internal stupidity, this did not happen, and he spent a further 2 years on the bench. As for Fenerbahce and Bordeaux, apparently "Boudewijn does not want to go to them." An extraordinary level of arrogance for somebody who has spent the best part of 5 seasons as a bit-player, particularly as these might be the best opportunities he has for regular first-team football.

Pierre Boudewijn revealed in a Dutch newspaper earlier this month that "If Lazio and Internazionale come for you, then you have to think about it". He added that "We have received some faxes from Inter and Lazio. This seems to mean that negotiations are possible and there is a chance to buy him, maybe loan him."

These last few days, the possibility of an interest from Inter has increased as the Milan giants have cancelled the transfer of Senegalese winger Khalilou Fadiga from Auxerre. Inter cite a heart problem revealed in the medical exam. The matter is hotly contested, but Inter's interest appears to be terminated now. So they are looking for a left winger. Could Zenden be their candidate? The Italian media certainly think so.

What is extraordinary is the assumption that Zenden will obtain at Inter the regular first-team football that he obviously feels he deserves. Or will he have yet another stint on the bench there? Of course, Chelsea supporters won't have to bother about it, and won't have to read his constant harping about lack of starts. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Boudewijn, Inter play the 'Italian football' about which you complained so bitterly. Not only that, but their coach, Hector Cuper, is one of the most defensive in the Serie A.

If Zenden is kept on at Chelsea, he will be used as a squad player and will have to get used to warming the bench as more talented players than himself are running around on the newly-laid turf at Stamford Bridge. If he goes, there will be few who complain. How about including him in a deal to bring Christian Vieri to Chelsea?

Bannor

Originally posted by AthAnRi
I think Zenden is an excellent player. He would definately get into the Liverpool team. He has been treated pretty badly by chelsea. He is always a threat when he comes on.

Gronkjaer is also a terrific player and apart from Zola and Gallas was one of Chelsea's better players last season. He too would be knocking on the door for a place in the liverpool starting 11.

Liverpool don't use orthodox wingers, so neither Zenden or Grokjaer would get anywhere near the first team.

p.pete

Well done JohnnyBravo, all that typing and you didn't mention Liverpool once. I can't say that I read it all (just did a search for the word).

You could start a thread entitled "Chelsea" maybe?

JohnnyBravo

Maybe i will Maybe i will

p.pete

Originally posted by JohnnyBravo
Maybe i will Maybe i will

Also consider punctuation, you might get the punters in with all the sparkle of Chelsea but when it starts to look ordinary you will need something to keep them interest:D