Liverpool are back?

jesus_thats_gre

Bannor wrote:

I think you're confusing him with Diouf - Valencia were trying to sign him before the World Cup. The Spanish clubs that were in for Cisse were Real Madrid and Barcelona.

No. Benitez said publicly that Cisse was a player that the director of football in Valencia said "this player will win La Liga" for you if we can get him and Benitez agreed categorically.

p.pete

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote:

You obviously did not see too many of the pre season games. Biscan has featured in the last four of them in midfield and has had good games in most of them.

Actually - no I didn't see too many of them but I've heard all the positive reports. I'll hold off on being convinced but I am very positive about his chances

jesus_thats_gre

p.pete wrote:

Actually - no I didn't see too many of them but I've heard all the positive reports. I'll hold off on being convinced but I am very positive about his chances

I watched all the pre-season matches and there was alot of positive things to take from each game. There is quite a few young players coming through, Stevie seems to have upped it a level, the like of Biscan and Diao seem to be able to kick a ball now and the way the team plays has been tweaked nicely.

mike65

On Diouf it looks like Sam the man is at it again! Talk of a season loan with Bolton, not sure I fancy that. He'll almost certainly score in one of the Pool games!

Mike.

jesus_thats_gre

mike65 wrote:

On Diouf it looks like Sam the man is at it again! Talk of a season loan with Bolton, not sure I fancy that. He'll almost certainly score in one of the Pool games!

Mike.

At least we would know he could score still.

smemon

not that im a fan of owen or anything but is benitiez not taking a bit of a gamble selling a 20+ goals a season striker?
this is cisse and baros' 1st season together (maybe alone). baros has never got a run really in the liverpool side so will be unpredictable over a season in terms of goals and cisse will under pressure to score as the main hit man.

its the same side as last year bar owen more or less so we all know what their capable of. with benitez and a manager that knows his stuff i doubt they'll finish below last year.

its also important they aim to challenge arsenal and chelsea and not to just focus on 3rd/4th spot although realistically thats probably all they'll get, houllier has probably knocked the confidence a little.

jesus_thats_gre

smemon wrote:

not that im a fan of owen or anything but is benitiez not taking a bit of a gamble selling a 20+ goals a season striker?
this is cisse and baros' 1st season together (maybe alone). baros has never got a run really in the liverpool side so will be unpredictable over a season in terms of goals and cisse will under pressure to score as the main hit man.

its the same side as last year bar owen more or less so we all know what their capable of. with benitez and a manager that knows his stuff i doubt they'll finish below last year.

its also important they aim to challenge arsenal and chelsea and not to just focus on 3rd/4th spot although realistically thats probably all they'll get, houllier has probably knocked the confidence a little.

All fair points really.. The players didnt play to the best of their ability for the past 24 months. The season they finished 2nd they played the way they could, probably a little better.. Benitez is dumping the dead weight and making a dramatic case change in dumping Owen so hopefully that will buck the players a bit. Combined with the fact that he seems to know his stuff, they will do better this season.

jesus_thats_gre

smemon wrote:

its also important they aim to challenge arsenal and chelsea and not to just focus on 3rd/4th spot although realistically thats probably all they'll get, houllier has probably knocked the confidence a little.

Does this statement mean the Arsenal and Chelsea are the best two and United not worth mentioning or do you mean that Arsenal and Chelsea are the only two they could concievably catch because United will be too far ahead to catch..

Anyone else and I would assume number 1, but with you it could be number two.

p.pete

smemon wrote:

not that im a fan of owen or anything but is benitiez not taking a bit of a gamble selling a 20+ goals a season striker?

I'm happy to point out he never actually scored 20 for us in a season

jesus_thats_gre

p.pete wrote:

I'm happy to point out he never actually scored 20 for us in a season

He has never played a full season either

p.pete

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

He has never played a full season either

Yeah, that's the downside to the whole thing - I'm pretty sure if he gets an injury free season he'd be amazing.

Well, hopefully Camacho doesn't like him - oh how I'd laugh

jesus_thats_gre

p.pete wrote:

Yeah, that's the downside to the whole thing - I'm pretty sure if he gets an injury free season he'd be amazing.

Well, hopefully Camacho doesn't like him - oh how I'd laugh

He doesn't like him...

kida

Expect to see Owen at Chelsea within 2 years - hes not good enough for La Liga nd if he ever gets a game will be found out.

ButcherOfNog

Why I like the look of Liverpool this season:
1) Josemi looks like a good player, good ball control and defensively kicks everything that moves, no prisoners taken, I instantly liked the cut of his jib
2) Carragher playing at center back, never understood why GH didn't play him there.
3) Gerrard is still in the team, looks like he has a more forward roll too.
4) Heskey aka the Donkeyman, is gone.
5) Owen, who since his injuries has not looked anything like as good as he was, has been off loaded.
6) Baros plays more, much much more.
7) Dudek looked like he'd got his confidence back, first time I've seen him commanding his area since nov 02/03 season (when he singlehandly lost us a run at the title, and no help from GH for not dropping him).

I don't think we lost anyone vital, we've gained at least 2 good players (Cisse & Josemi), ain't seen the others yet so will reserve judgement. We've lost no good players, Owen has not been a good player for the past season and a half. Murphy wasn't good enough, too inconsistant.

I'm confident we'll be in the hunt for the championship till late in the season, don't think we'll win it tho, but should be not too far away when the dust settles.

smemon

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Does this statement mean the Arsenal and Chelsea are the best two and United not worth mentioning or do you mean that Arsenal and Chelsea are the only two they could concievably catch because United will be too far ahead to catch..

Anyone else and I would assume number 1, but with you it could be number two.

number 1, although in my mind im thinking utd are there too. on paper they are the best 2 so seen as we're not underway yet paper wins over reality.

owen although he may not be a 20+goals striker (19 as pete points out :rolleyes: ) is still better than most and i cant see baros scoring that many, cisse maybe.

eirebhoy

p.pete wrote:

As for being proven I think you're wrong - Partridge was never given the chance to prove himself so we can't say he's proven (unfortunately...)

Nunez didn't start a game for Real while Partridge had a full season at Coventry (and was there best player by far). So while Richie isn't proven in the premiership, he's more proven than Nunez.

bannor wrote:

It's been said before that Partridge was only given a contract extension to keep Owen sweet. Now that the Owen clique has been smashed, Partridge could find himself plying his trade elsewhere.

As soon as Benitez see's Partridge with the ball at his feet I have no doubt he'll give him a chance. I've seen him in the flesh and I rate him as highly as someone like Andy Reid (who would certainly be good enough for the Liverpool team if he was a right winger rather than a leftie).

mike65

eirebhoy wrote:

As soon as Benitez see's Partridge with the ball at his feet I have no doubt he'll give him a chance.

Partridge has been released....true!

Mike.

eirebhoy

mike65 wrote:

Partridge has been released....true!

Mike.

Where did you hear that?

Last paragraph:

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_objectid%3D14515520&method%3Dfull&siteid%3D50061&headline%3Dliverpool-res-0--man-city-res-1-name_page.html

mike65

I read it earlier today it was'nt a story just a detail mentioned in passing, I'll see if its in my browser page history...

Mike.

PiE

http://www.4thegame.com/playerprofile.d?personid=1610 wrote:

Since then Partridge has spent periods on loan at different clubs in a bid to gain more first team experience. Impressive performances for the reserves over the last couple of seasons have seen him included in Champions League squads, and earned him a two-year contract that was signed in April 2002.

However, he made few inroads into the first team in that time, and he was released in June 2004 when his contract ended.

Odd.

If the talk of Aimar coming to Anfield has any weight, I'd imagine Liverpool are definitely back. Other than that... top 3 and I'd be happy for this season.

eirebhoy

I don't know where 4ththegame got that info from but its certainly not true.

Johnny_the_fox

Richie Partridge on Liverpool fc Official Site

A graduate of the Academy Richie Partridge is set to sign a new one-year deal to stay at Liverpool for the 2004/05 season.

<edit>he still has a squad number.. unlike another player</edit>

mayordenis

liverpool are gonna have to be taken very seriously by all teams this time round (yes including arsenal) they were one of the only teams who went at the gunners last year so id say there wont be any worries this season. Some stability and pool will get flying.

PHB

Soem defeensive cover and they can chalange imo!
Benitez still has time

redspider

Hold on a second. From what I saw of the Liverpool - Spurs match yesterday there is no way that Liverpool would be able to challenge the performance that Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea had last season. I was not overly impressed with Cisse. His goal was good, but his pace in the game was not great, and I'm not talking about overal fitness here but just sprinting speed. We may have sold a slowing Michael Owen but Cisse is no Jess Owens!

The midfield set-up played well, and Gerrard benefitted from Hamman playing the deeper role. This was as last season after Hamann came back from injury. However, Kewell seems to have more inspiration, perhaps with the new manager coming in. He played much better positionally and did more creatively with the ball. All we needed was a Heskey to get on the end of it ! It will take a while for Cisse and Baros and Kewell to establish a striking relationship.

The defence is still poor. I would have blamed Carragher for the goal as he let Defoe get the better of him. Hyppia is not as sharp as he was and doesn't have a brilliant partner as Henchoz was a few seasons ago. Risse is not a quality defender, although is good going forward. Josemi is ok but looks weakish in the air. Not a good quality for a defender in England. Finnan I think is a quality player and is good at the back, a reasonable crosser and can also play right midfield. Dudek will still have his bad moments I think.

So, overall, not much improvement with last season. The only thing that can make Lierpool challenge will be the relative effectiveness of the other teams. Man U have quite a few changes and could have a bad patch if things start ging wrong. Arsenal after a perfect season last year have the Viera saga to contend with which must be unsettling for the likes of Henry. Bergkamp who is a year older may not be so prominent. Wiltord is gone. Reyes though is on form, but an early season defeat or string of draws may seem them with more challenges. An Henry and/or a Pires injury could see their capability reduced.

Chelsea are an unknown, but look very strong on paper. It could be their year, alas. I would not be happy with that as money is running the game. Abramovic (the thief and criminal) is effectively buying the premeirship title, and his British citizenship and freedom from Russian jails! They have a good squad but it will be interesting to see if they have backbone if things start going wrong.

I rate Liverpool as being a top-4 team again.

A good run for Liverpool in the CL will the litmus test this year, although the 2nd group stage is probably the best to be expected and a run maybe to the semi in Uefa.

I wont expect any tropies from Liverpool this year ....

mayordenis

smemon wrote:

owen although he may not be a 20+goals striker (19 as pete points out :rolleyes: ) is still better than most and i cant see baros scoring that many, cisse maybe.

how can you day that, just look at euro 2004. and watch this season he those infinitly more for the team than owen ever did.

eyerer

another forward leaves
source

smemon

mayordenis wrote:

how can you day that, just look at euro 2004. and watch this season he those infinitly more for the team than owen ever did.

czech republic aren't liverpool. look at last season and baros WITH liverpool. didnt impress, has never impressed at liverpool even though injuries may have crippled him.

owens a better player than baros however thats not to say cisse and baros wont be a better combination than cisse and owen (although i think they would have been.)

i dont think liverpool have the luxury of saying they can cope without owen and dont need him.

eirebhoy

smemon wrote:

didnt impress, has never impressed at liverpool even though injuries may have crippled him.

Has never impressed at Liverpool? He scored 9 goals in 1621 minutes (equiv. of 18 matches) in the premiership in 02/03. He also works twice as hard as Owen.

mayordenis

he actually always played well for liverpool

mike65

Gerrard says he deffo staying for the time being and it looks like the Alonso
transfere is all but in the bag as no-one else is interested in him!

Mike.

eyerer

apparently alonso should be over to liverpool on thursday