Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

Sunn

beckham to pool. god..i hope not.

el rabitos

he as nothing to offer the club at this point in his carreer. why would a player not good enough to get into the real madrid team be any more likely to get into the liverpool team?

high wages
less playing time for pennant
he loves man utd

3 reasons that are enough to be sure you wont ever see him play for pool

MrJoeSoap

el rabitos wrote:

less playing time for pennant

.. who, by that logic, is a player who wasn't good enough to get into the Arsenal team.

Beckham is only 31 and would be a great signing for any Premier League team, especially if the £5m price tag being quoted is accurate. Still has a lot to offer and remains the best crosser of a ball in the game today.

el rabitos

MrJoeSoap wrote:

.. who, by that logic, is a player who wasn't good enough to get into the Arsenal team.

Beckham is only 31 and would be a great signing for any Premier League team, especially if the £5m price tag being quoted is accurate. Still has a lot to offer and remains the best crosser of a ball in the game today.

5 million saved and having to accomodate beckham and his massive wage are reason enough for liverpool not to want him

PiE

Wasn't Pennant move from Arsenal caused by a number of factors, least of all his footballing abilities?

Personally, I wouldn't want Beckham anywhere near the team.

And I agree Crouch should be starting every game, given his form at the moment. Rotating him doesn't seem to be hurting his form all that much though...

Jivin Turkey

At present Beckham would walk into the Liverpool team, and add a considerable amount of quality that we are currently laking on the right flank.

And I don't know where the notion of him not being good enough for Real Madrid came from seeing as he's played a part in every single game for them so far this year, and this while they have been playing with a 4-3-3 formation.

el rabitos

Jivin Turkey wrote:

At present Beckham would walk into the Liverpool team, and add a considerable amount of quality that we are currently laking on the right flank.

And I don't know where the notion of him not being good enough for Real Madrid came from seeing as he's played a part in every single game for them so far this year, and this while they have been playing with a 4-3-3 formation.

the same beckham that doesnt have the speed to beat a player anymore?

any team that starts with beckham on the right wing are immediately losing 1 channel of attack. he's a sub now, another option of attack for making long balls. he may even be the best in the world at giving a long ball, but jack charlton isnt managing liverpool or real madrid or even england so beckham's use is now limited. his time as a winger is over and liverpool have younger fitter, better options for the right wing

Jivin Turkey

el rabitos wrote:

the same beckham that doesnt have the speed to beat a player anymore?

Anymore? I'd say you could count the players that Beckham ever beat in his career using his speed on one hand.

el rabitos wrote:

any team that starts with beckham on the right wing are immediately losing 1 channel of attack.

Are you trying to claim that a team would lose the right wing? For all Pennant's work on the right, it means nothing if every other ball ends up in the stands. If Beckham was right side of midfield for Liverpool you could guarantee a lot more balls would be ending up on Kuyt and Crouch's heads.

el rabitos wrote:

he's a sub now

A sub that has played a part in every game his team has played this year, despite a change of manager and numerous new signings. Seems to me as if he is definitely considered in Capello's plans.

el rabitos wrote:

another option of attack for making long balls. he may even be the best in the world at giving a long ball, but jack charlton isnt managing liverpool or real madrid or even england so beckham's use is now limited.

So would his inclusion lose the team an option or gain them one? I'm confused.

el rabitos wrote:

his time as a winger is over and liverpool have younger fitter, better options for the right wing

His time as a winger finished when he was about 12. He was never a "winger". Pennany may be fitter but he is definitely not better.

Chucky the tree

If hes considered in cappellos plans, why are they going to sell him? Considering he only has a year left on his contract, i cant see anyone paying 5 million for him.


Well, maybe Newcastle

el rabitos

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Anymore? I'd say you could count the players that Beckham ever beat in his career using his speed on one hand.

i'd say thats a load of bs. beating players was never what he was known for, but you dont win multiple league titles and the champions league without an ability to beat players and whip in a cross. he had that ability, he did those things, he doesnt now.

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Are you trying to claim that a team would lose the right wing? For all Pennant's work on the right, it means nothing if every other ball ends up in the stands. If Beckham was right side of midfield for Liverpool you could guarantee a lot more balls would be ending up on Kuyt and Crouch's heads.

i think your doing a disservice to pennant. didnt he make more assists last season that any other winger or something like that?

and crouch had beckhams service in the world cup, the whole team became 1 dimentional because he was accomodated into the team. england were unconvincing in victory and even worse in defeat.

Jivin Turkey wrote:

A sub that has played a part in every game his team has played this year, despite a change of manager and numerous new signings. Seems to me as if he is definitely considered in Capello's plans.

a sub is a sub is a sub. its reyes' house now. beckhams role is the long ball hoofed up to the strikers, liverpool have players that can kick the ball far, they dont need to pay beckham upwards of 90 grand a week to do it for 15 or 20 minutes a match.

Jivin Turkey wrote:

So would his inclusion lose the team an option or gain them one? I'm confused.

neither, the club has players that can hoof the ball up to crouch if needs be. beckhams services are not required. liverpool are not flush with cash, he would just be a luxury buy, his remaining talents and ability are outweighed by his price tag

Jivin Turkey wrote:

His time as a winger finished when he was about 12. He was never a "winger". Pennany may be fitter but he is definitely not better.

thats your opinion, and i dont agree.

i dont want him at the club, i dont see the need, what he offers does not outweigh his expence anymore. thats my opinion on the matter

Jivin Turkey

el rabitos wrote:

i'd say thats a load of bs. beating players was never what he was known for, but you dont win multiple league titles and the champions league without an ability to beat players and whip in a cross. he had that ability, he did those things, he doesnt now.

Ok I admit I was a bit glib. But in all seriousness his game was never about beating players and whipping balls in, it was about finding himself in space and putting balls in early. There is a huge difference between the two.

Can you ever actually remember Beckham getting to the bye-line and cutting one in? I seriously can't.

el rabitos wrote:

i think your doing a disservice to pennant. didnt he make more assists last season that any other winger or something like that?

I actually think it was "most crosses". And they weren't supported by completion stats. Having seen him numerous times this year I'm sure those would be very low.

el rabitos wrote:

and crouch had beckhams service in the world cup, the whole team became 1 dimentional because he was accomodated into the team. england were unconvincing in victory and even worse in defeat.

They were one-dimensional because of SGE's tactics and team/squad selection.

el rabitos wrote:

a sub is a sub is a sub.

In modern football there are things called squad players, and seeing as Liverpool haven't fielded the same team in 100 odd games, they seem to fit very well in there.

el rabitos wrote:

its reyes' house now.

Reyes is left sided.

el rabitos wrote:

beckhams role is the long ball hoofed up to the strikers

Beckham can provide natural right sided width, something that Liverpool are lacking quality in.

el rabitos wrote:

neither, the club has players that can hoof the ball up to crouch if needs be. beckhams services are not required. liverpool are not flush with cash, he would just be a luxury buy, his remaining talents and ability are outweighed by his price tag

£5M (or free next year) is not a "luxury buy". If Liverpool are not "flush with cash" why are they in the top three spenders every year without fail?

el rabitos wrote:

i dont want him at the club, i dont see the need, what he offers does not outweigh his expence anymore. thats my opinion on the matter

I know it's your opinion, I don't agree, I'm giving reasons as to why I don't agree, that is the function/purpose of a message board.

el rabitos

Jivin Turkey wrote:

I know it's your opinion, I don't agree, I'm giving reasons as to why I don't agree, that is the function/purpose of a message board.

ugh...that was my polite boards way of saying i'm sick and tired of having this lemlin/jiven turkey-esc lets pick appart each others posts marathons...so just accept my opinion on the matter cos i'm done...

in closing...

reyes has been playing on the right for madrid

liverpool havent been paying players that get little playing time 100 grand a week, liverpool dont need beckham in the squad

this is a redundant topic

it wont happen

Jivin Turkey

el rabitos wrote:

ugh...that was my polite boards way of saying i'm sick and tired of having this lemlin/jiven turkey-esc lets pick appart each others posts marathons...so just accept my opinion on the matter cos i'm done...

You're done but yet

el rabitos wrote:

in closing...

?

el rabitos wrote:

reyes has been playing on the right for madrid

No he hasn't. Real Madrid have been playing 4-3-3 with no recognised wide players. In general Reyes, when he has played, has played on the left hand side of the front three, in the old inside left position.

I'd also like to add that Beckham has made more appearances than Reyes this year for RM, and Reyes only missed a single game of the season before his transfer. But somehow the right side is "Reyes's house now"?

el rabitos wrote:

liverpool havent been paying players that get little playing time 100 grand a week, liverpool dont need beckham in the squad

Not £100k but they've wasted plenty in the past on players that haven't been getting games, Diouf, Diao to name a couple.

Beckham would definitely be a worthwhile addition in a squad with only one recognised wide right player.

el rabitos wrote:

lthis is a redundant topic

it wont happen

Why not? One year left on his contract? Good relationships between the clubs? Liverpool need a right midfielder? I'm not saying it will, but it could.

Well that's my opinion, and I accept yours and you are entitled to that, I just wanted to point out the factual inaccuracies in it.

sweetie

Chucky the tree wrote:

If hes considered in cappellos plans, why are they going to sell him? Considering he only has a year left on his contract, i cant see anyone paying 5 million for him.


Well, maybe Newcastle

Nah, surely Newcastle would pay at least 8 million for him:D

Pepe LeFrits

Reyes has played at least one game on the right of midfield. I saw it Miss!

kinaldo

For what it's worth, I think Beckham would be a great signing for Liverpool or any other English side at present. Let's not forget he's still very highly regarded by the Spanish press and Madrid supporters (never an easy bunch to impress!). I still can't believe McClaren has effectively made him England's scapegoat by dropping him, but at least the blame for their latest shambolic performances can no longer be attributed to Beckham.

mike65

Fuppsake Kuyt is out for tomorrow according to BBC. Bellamy also out so logic suggests Crouch/Fowler but proberly means Garica playing off Crouch. Kuyts dad who has just had cancer surgury has flown over for the game as well.

Mike.

LizardKing

Looks like an ankle injury , he's down as doubtful on fantasy footy site too ... Fowler should hopefully play after midweek heroics ...

redzerdrog

Really hope he plays Fowler, it was a touch of class the other night and he deserves his chance....

Vokes

Permanent Wigan deal for Kirkland

Wigan have signed goalkeeper Chris Kirkland on a permanent deal from Liverpool until 2009.

Kirkland, 25, initially joined the Latics on a six-month loan deal in the summer and has been ever-present for the Premiership outfit this season.

Wigan boss Paul Jewell said: "It was always our intention to make the deal permanent. It's great news that we've got it all sorted so quickly."

Kirkland joined Liverpool for £6m from Coventry in 2001.

But he fell down the pecking order because of injury and spent last season on loan at West Brom.

Kirkland, who made his international debut in England's 4-0 win over Greece in August, said of his move: "I'm really pleased that my future is now sorted.

"It's been great since joining Wigan, we have a tremendous set of lads and the gaffer has been different class.

"This is an ambitious club that is going places and I'm delighted that I'll be part of that."

Jewell is delighted with the quality of goalkeepers he now has at the JJB Stadium.

He said: "I'm blessed with three excellent keepers in Kirky, Mike Pollitt and John Filan, who's currently on loan at Doncaster. The competition is fierce and that's how I like it."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/6091824.stm

How can they do this outside a transfer window?

I reckon the fee is made up of appearance based money.

zing

mike65 wrote:

Fuppsake Kuyt is out for tomorrow according to BBC. Bellamy also out so logic suggests Crouch/Fowler but proberly means Garica playing off Crouch. Kuyts dad who has just had cancer surgury has flown over for the game as well.

Mike.

Quote from Rafa from today:
"With Bellamy injured we have Fowler, Kuyt and Crouch and it's a good problem for me when I decide who will start."

No mention of an injury to Kuyt and he defo puts him in the picture for tomorrow.

Stky10

Good article putting the whinging of the board member into perspective...

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/article.php?id=2388505

~Rebel~

I really dont understand where this whole thing of ridiculous Rotation is coming from. I think at this stage all the critics on the phone ins etc are just jumping on the bandwagon instead of coming up with their own opinions. its really annoying me now to hear some pundit banding on how chelsea have their spine of terry, carvalho, cole, lampard, essien, drogba. In fairness, barring injuries, liverpool have a constant back 4 of finnan, carra, riise and agger till he broke his hand and had hypia come back in. (hypia and agger do swap from time to time but thats fully natural with agger being integrated into the side). The midfield almost always has sissoko and alonso with gerrard on the right. (occasionally one of the 3 is dropped for width but thats still a 2 from 3 central pairing and so is obviously quite stable). then occasionally pennant starts on the right and the left is between garcia and gonzalez, depending on the opposition. these changes are outside the spine and are the ones people would expect to be rotated based on the game. Finally theres up front. Kuyt is a virtual constant while fit, Bellemy and Kuyt were becoming a consistent pairing untill injuries, and with 2 top class players vying for chances too in Crouch and Fowler it makes sense that the players picked are based on opponants weakness.

So the only positions really being rotated are wings and 1 striker (with kuyt fit). SAF makes exactly those changes on a regular basis, why isnt he lambasted? because he's winning. Its not the rotation thats an issue its the performances, thats a totally different issue, so why isnt the underachievement of key players (alonso, gerrard, carra, reina) being spoken about instead of this rotation farce. I just dont get it! Arg!

mike65

I'll have to disagree in that the changes seem to be arbitary - I mean Garcia last Sunday rather than 4-4-2 with Crouch/Kuyt. Thats the sort of thing thats doing some of our heads in.

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

team today:

Reina
Finnan
Hyypia
Carragher
Riise
Gerrard
Alonso
Sissoko
Garcia
Crouch
Kuyt

Subs:
Martin
Agger
Fowler
Pennant
Zenden

i reckon:

Reina
Finnan-Hyppia-carra-Risse
Gerrard-Sissoko-Alonso-Garcia
Crouch-Kuyt

seems pretty self explanatory but it is rafa so you never know!

mike65

---

Reina
Finnan-Hyypia-Carra-Riise
Gerrard-Alonso-Sissoko-Garcia

---

Crouch---Kuyt

I presume. Garcia on left is hopeless! Needed to see either Aurelio or Warnock on the bench for when it goes wrong!

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

1505: Dirk Kuyt wastes a golden chance for Liverpool, blazing widly over left-footed from eight yards after great work from the industrious Luis Garcia down the left.

well he seems to have started well....

gary the great

were can you get then update things?

Vokes

mike65 wrote:

Garcia on left is hopeless!

He must've had a quick glance at these boards before he stepped on to the pitch

Good team goal too.

Chardee MacDennis

gary the great wrote:

were can you get then update things?

bit late now but bbc.co.uk/football

zAbbo

Watched it live, good game, played really well in the first half.

el rabitos

the performance in that match should have set a standard for the rest of the season in terms of commitment.

villa werent given any time on the ball and were closed down constantly, that alone will win games. it was hard to pick a man of the match, but kuyt would have to get it because he just didnt stop working. the whole team were on top form

mike65

I'll look forwards to the MOTD coverage (RTE Prem is just 60 mins tonight due to Compromise Bog-Ball).

Mike.

BlackWizard

I dunno what to watch, MOTD or The premiership. I hate watching both.

Only an hour for the premiership...uuugghhh! UUUGHH! :mad:

Jaysus, the ref has missed about 90 handballs in the football game on RTE Two...

Waster

Watched the match in town. We played very well today. Garcia was superb on the left and it was between him and Kuyt for MOM in my opinion. All three goals were good and we could have had way more. Gerrard was unlucky to hit the post and Robbie missed a great chance in the last few minutes. Villa were fairly poor. They looked like they came looking for a draw, which wouldn't be that surprising given how many games that they've drawn this season. Mistake by Carra to let Agbonlahor in for the goal. Other than that our defence looked much better. Pepe was much improved and made one great save. hope that we can build on this result over the next three matches. That'll set us up nicely for Arsenal away in two weeks time.

mike65

I just saw the (limited) highlights and Hyypia was more to blame as he let the ball get past him and Agbonlahor was away, Carra could'nt do much about it.

Now will Rafa pick Crouch and Kuyt for the CL game?

Mike.

el rabitos

he might rock the footballing world and pick the same eleven :eek:

rondeco

mike65 wrote:

I just saw the (limited) highlights and Hyypia was more to blame as he let the ball get past him and Agbonlahor was away, Carra could'nt do much about it.

Now will Rafa pick Crouch and Kuyt for the CL game?

Mike.

Mistake was carra's. Beaten for the header and then didn't track back. Hyypia was covering another player. Waster is right.

mike65

Gerrard not leaving - shock!

Silly season never ends these days.

Just read this Hmmmm, the plot thickens.

Mike.

Waster

Ray Houghton is brain dead. On the premiership last night he said that Garcia didn't play particularly well. Rubbish. Garcia was fantastic. As good yesterday as he was bad against Utd last week. Reckon Luis should only start in home league games and european games. He tends not to play as well away in the premiership.

el rabitos

yeah i saw that last night myself, joke of a comment. he probably didnt even see the game and just took a quote from the eamon dunphy book of random criticism.

mike65

Noel White a member of the Liverpool board spoke out against Rafas policies a few days back and having come clean he's quit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6103882.stm

Liverpool director Noel White has resigned from the club's board after confirming he criticised manager Rafael Benitez in a newspaper article.

An unnamed director was quoted questioning Benitez's transfer dealings and selection policy in the wake of the defeat at Manchester United.

White, who has been a director for 21 years and had a spell as chairman, has now admitted he was responsible.

White added: "For the 21 years I have had the privilege of being a director of this great institution my guiding principle has been to act in the best interests of the club.

"In view of the controversy caused by comments in a national newspaper, attributed to an anonymous director, and the effect this has had on the chairman, my fellow directors, the manager and many supporters, I feel the honourable course is to resign."

He insisted: "It was never my intention to cause such controversy, nor did I envisage that my remarks would receive such widespread coverage.

"I recognise, however, that I must take responsibility for my actions even though the outcome was not what I intended."

Even if one agreed with his views it was'nt something he should have blabbed 'off the record' about to a paper.

Mike.

zing

mike65 wrote:

Noel White white a member of the Liverpool board spoke out against Rafas policies a few days back and having come clean he's quit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6103882.stm



Even if one agreed with his views it was'nt something he should have blabbed 'off the record' about to a paper.

Mike.

And that leaves an opening on the board which a certain Steve Morgan will be pushing to get..

mike65

Ha! Let the conspiracy theories begin!

Mike.

el rabitos

just came across it there myself, at least he owned up and resigned. i dont see morgan getting a spot on the board, not while moores is the majority shareholder anyway.

zing

wtf - we have the first unchanged XI from Rafa ...
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N153943061031-1852.htm

swalsh

zing wrote:

wtf - we have the first unchanged XI from Rafa ...
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N153943061031-1852.htm

just bet me to it, first time in 100 games or would this have been the 100th, no difference as its about time he put his trust in the squad especially after the performance this weekend

Zapp Brannigan

And they produced a result! 3-0 with Garcia grabbing a well deserved brace.
Let's all hope this is the beginning of a long winning streak!!

mike65

More importantly Gerrard scored so thats a weight off his mind.

Mike.

swalsh

mike65 wrote:

More importantly Gerrard scored so thats a weight off his mind.

Mike.

Very true and he could have scored more, lucky with the one he got keeper should have done better