Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

gary the great

Well, what did yous think of that game yesterday?:(

The lack of passion showen in not only that game, but the last few games and the mancs is alarming.

Benitez seems more focused on the games we have coming rather than the one we are playing. Its as though hes already assumed where we can or cannot pick up points and sets his stall out on that prediction.

He is now right at the place where Houllier was with a whole bunch of squad players to rotate but not one is better than another. Thats why the performances remain a similar quality whoever he selects. In truth we have perhaps 3 players at tops that would break into Chelseas, Arsenals or Man Utds first 11. We just do not have enough. That said we should be playing better than we are.

I heard a radio pundit suggest that had it not been for 45 mins in Istanbul then Benitez would find himself in a very different position today. That second half will certainly stretch out his reign at Anfield and rightly so.

Rafa needs to takes a long hard look at his failing plans and have a radical rethink on how we approach the rest of the campaign. If he refuses to change then he will find himself more out of favour by the week and make life very difficult for himself.

Dont get me wrong, im 110% behind Rafa and I think hes a first class manager, but i think he has to change the system.

el rabitos

gary the great wrote:

Well, what did yous think of that game yesterday?:(

The lack of passion showen in not only that game, but the last few games and the mancs is alarming.

Benitez seems more focused on the games we have coming rather than the one we are playing. Its as though hes already assumed where we can or cannot pick up points and sets his stall out on that prediction.

He is now right at the place where Houllier was with a whole bunch of squad players to rotate but not one is better than another. Thats why the performances remain a similar quality whoever he selects. In truth we have perhaps 3 players at tops that would break into Chelseas, Arsenals or Man Utds first 11. We just do not have enough. That said we should be playing better than we are.

I heard a radio pundit suggest that had it not been for 45 mins in Istanbul then Benitez would find himself in a very different position today. That second half will certainly stretch out his reign at Anfield and rightly so.

Rafa needs to takes a long hard look at his failing plans and have a radical rethink on how we approach the rest of the campaign. If he refuses to change then he will find himself more out of favour by the week and make life very difficult for himself.

Dont get me wrong, im 110% behind Rafa and I think hes a first class manager, but i think he has to change the system.

someone needs to tell that radio pundit that you need to be in a champions league final in order to change it, and up until rafa arrived liverpool hadnt been in a champions league final in a long time

liverpool as a club have 1 priority in my opinion, BUILD A NEW STADIUM.

managers will come and go, but liverpool will always have the fan base to fill 60,000 for matches, and right now compared to their rivals they are losing money BIG TIME.

fcuk trophys, if a new stadium isnt built quick smart, u can forget about winning anything for a long time and johny average with be the only player the club will be able to afford.

a bit of reality check is needed for some fans i think

gary the great

el rabitos wrote:

someone needs to tell that radio pundit that you need to be in a champions league final in order to change it, and up until rafa arrived liverpool hadnt been in a champions league final in a long time

liverpool as a club have 1 priority in my opinion, BUILD A NEW STADIUM.

managers will come and go, but liverpool will always have the fan base to fill 60,000 for matches, and right now compared to their rivals they are losing money BIG TIME.

fcuk trophys, if a new stadium isnt built quick smart, u can forget about winning anything for a long time and johny average with be the only player the club will be able to afford.

a bit of reality check is needed for some fans i think

I totally agree, the stadium is number 1 priority, i was just talking about whats happening on the pitch at the moment.

Looking at the Aresnal game yesterday and their new stadium, i couldnt help but feel a bit of jealosuy. A class young side built on very little money, with a bright future and some potential superstars, playing beautiful football in a brand new beautiful stadium. Fair play to them, if anyone other than the pool are gonna win the league, i want it to be Aresnal.

mike65

Shocking to say this but if a certain Northern Irishman made it known he'd be intersted I'd want Rafa paid off pronto.

This is'nt a silly over-reaction to yesterday its the sad realisation that what I and others have been saying for a while now is true and not it seems going to change - Benitez does'nt understand the Prem and how to be competitive
in a league of its nature. If he was going to learn he'd have done so by now.

The best that Liverpool can achive (with the current approach) in my estimation is 70 points and thats if they don't do something stupid like get beaten by Watford at home for example. In truth the final tally is likely to be no better than early 60s. That could be enough for 4th but proberly won't be.

Maybe Liverpool will win 3 cups, but while we can all cheer that it won't be want we really want.

One can only wonder what senior players like Gerrard and Carra say in the dressing room after such a match as yesterdays, do they just keep quiet and hope the penny has finally dropped for the manager or can they say where they think he is getting it wrong? Does he listen to those who Prem born and bred? Can he admit to not being fully versed in a foreign leagues ways? Is he hoping it'll all 'click' as if by magic?

The decisions he MUST make today are as follows - drop Hyypia and play Carra/Agger in CB for the rest of the league, return Gerrard to midfield with Garcia or Riise on the left (with Warnock at LB) and Pennant or Garcia on the right depending on cirumstances.

When Mono returns then playing 4 in the middle with Garcia at the tip might be worth using trouble is that requires the full backs to act as wingers Riise can do it but Finnan can't I think (How quick is Lucas Neill?).

Play Kuyt every game he can manage, Bellamy and Crouch will have to be happy as the 'junior' party up front. Bellamy needs matches so I'd risk using him quite a bit with the upcoming games against weaker sides - Middlesbro, Man City, Wigan, Fulham, Charlton are all very winnable. Crouch may have to be happy on bench in my team!

This is going to be a dissapointing season but it does'nt have to be a disasterous one.

---

Reina
Finnan--Carra--Agger-Warnock
Gar/Pen

---

Alonso----Gar/Riise

---

Gerrard

---

Kuyt-Bellamy

Post new year - Momo back, Niell in

---

Reina

---

Carra---Agger

---

Sissoko
Niell--Alonso Gerrard---Riise (maybe Kewell at some point!)

---

Garcia

---

Kuyt--Bellamy

Anyway thats enough Fantasy Football Manager.

Mike.

ButcherOfNog

We lost 6 games in the league last season, we've only lost 5 so far this season, not worried yet, never expected us to win the league nor be 1 point behind Chelsea at christmas. If we hadn't played Chelsea, Arsenal and ManU away so far we wouldn't have lost 5 so far either. Lets not start getting all excited and talk about dumping the manager, we've won 5 and lost 1 of our last 6 games, its not all doom and gloom....having said that, next match is away to Middlesboro, but then theres these 8 games plus the carling cup game at home to Arsenal:

Wed, 22nd H PSV (U.C.L.)
Sat, 25th H Man City (PREM.)
Wed, 29th H Portsmouth (PREM.)
December
Sat, 2nd A Wigan (PREM.)
Tue, 5th A Galatasaray (U.C.L.)
Sat, 9th H Fulham (PREM.)
Sat, 16th A Charlton (PREM.)
Sat, 23rd H Watford (PREM.)

I do believe things will look somewhat roser by Christmas.

el rabitos

no offence mike, but i think alot of that post is pretty rubbish

liverpool achieved more than 70 points last season, they got 82.

benitez is working with very very very limited recourses compared to his rivals. 4th place every year for the forseeable future would be an achievement

what liverpool need to do is maintain qualification for the champions league every year until they can build a new stadium, take full advantage of their fan base, maximise the amount of money that the club can bring in and then moores should sell his stake in the club

right now moores is looking for a price for his stake that would price liverpool football club at 10 times the value of everton

the same liverpool football club that have approx. 70 million of dept, a half assed old haggard stadium and a rising bill of approx 200 - 300 million for the new stadium

a new owner for liverpool would need to fork out up to around 500 million as things stand right now, either way u look at it, liverpool are a club teethering at the edge of becoming a relic.

my point is, maintaining european qualification, and winning cups until the club gets its ass into gear is the best that we can hope for and we should be happy that on a good day the team can still beat the likes of chelsea and the rest.

as a club we can only get so close to chelsea and man u before they put the foot on the pedal and fork out 20 million for a new player or 4 in

Guy:Incognito

El rabitos, do you really think an extra 15000 ticket sales (about £480000 with todays ticket prices) every 2nd week is suddenly going to turn us into title contenders?

el rabitos

Stekelly wrote:

El rabitos, do you really think an extra 15000 ticket sales (about £480000 with todays ticket prices) every 2nd week is suddenly going to turn us into title contenders?

its not just the seats that generate the cash

have u ever been to old trafford? ffs is like a complex filled with restaurants, a huge megastore and more.

anfield as a stadium is a hinderence. a new stadium is needed

the club cant be sold unless moores builds a new stadium unless someone who's super dumb comes in.

would u buy a football team in need of huge money for transfers, a massive bill for a stadium then pay the clown selling the club 150 million or whatever he's after?

so to answer ur question, liverpool need more asses in seats, the more people buying food and everthing else sold on match days the more cash thats generated, the club needs a bigger shop too attatched to the stadium too. (imo)

RE*AC*TOR

bit of a non-commital response from Pepe Reina:

Teamtalk wrote:

But Reina told AS: "The interest of Valencia is flattering to me.

"Though at this moment I want to be focused at helping Liverpool return to our best form, which is most important.

"We'll see what happens in the future."

Could be on his way in January maybe??

Nalz

mike65 wrote:

Post new year - Momo back, Niell in

---

Reina

---

Carra---Agger

---

Sissoko
Niell--Alonso Gerrard---Riise (maybe Kewell at some point!)

---

Garcia

---

Kuyt--Bellamy

Anyway thats enough Fantasy Football Manager.

Mike.

improvement? :rolleyes:

emc2

Does anyone else thing that we should play one up front on our travels with 5 across midfield?

~Rebel~

I dunno..not a fan of that. Would only consider it for a must-not-lose away game, such as away in champs league knockouts or something.

We have more then enough of a good team to take on anyone outside the big 3 with a 4-4-2 and take the game to them, rather then stifle a game with a 5 man midfield hoping to grab a draw. If bellamy can get firing, himself and Kuyt would be the perfect front pairing and if he cant, Crouch is good enough to play up too. Kuyt is bettre having someone to pass to as he has a fantastic gift of being able to find a man, before bellamy got injured and lost form himself and Kuyt were linking very very well, hopefully we'll see it again.


Not even an issue till Momo is back anyway as we dont have the players for it. Im purposly not even going to mention Zenden. Except there.

PiE

Gah, don't even mention 4-5-1. Hard enough for us to score away goals as it is.

As mentioned, when playing teams outside the big 3 we should stop worrying about what those teams can do to us and focus on what we can do them. Nobody wants to go back to the latter days of Houllier when we were all bored senseless.

The Rooster

The most positive thing about the Arsenal game was Xabi Alonso's performance. I thought he was excellent.

Stevie G is still nowhere near his levels of last year. And its feck all to do with his position, he played a lot of last year on the right. He just seems to be constantly in bad humour.

Craig Bellamy has to be picked for the Boro game, alongside Kuyt. I know it was only Liechtenstein, but he is supposed to have played very well, scoring 1 and setting up 2 goals. So now would be the ideal time to give him the confidence boost of a starting place.

Stephen Warnock had a cameo appearance on the left side of midfield in a game about 3 weeks ago and did really well (a fraction away from scoring a cracking individual goal). He'd be ideal in that position for away games, in that he's well capable of going forward but also gives a lot more support to our defence when we dont have the ball.

Guy:Incognito

The Rooster wrote:

Stephen Warnock had a cameo appearance on the left side of midfield in a game about 3 weeks ago and did really well (a fraction away from scoring a cracking individual goal). He'd be ideal in that position for away games, in that he's well capable of going forward but also gives a lot more support to our defence when we dont have the ball.

I'd rather see Warnock at left full, with Riise left wing. Riise can be a bit weak defensively but can be a really good attacking option. With Warnock behind he, he could forget about defending and concentrate on getting forward, where, tbh, he's been better than anything else on the left this season. Gonzalez needs a kick in the arse.

mike65

Would echo Stekelly left-sided assesment. I bet he picks Garcia just to be bloody minded.

Liverpool have not beaten Boro at Riverside since 2001!

Mike.

el rabitos

i dont agree, i think warnock should be sold. he's not good on the ball, i'd go as far as to say he's pretty terrible

liverpool need a left back thats comfortable with the ball, a good defender and can go forward

so far we have riise and aurelio who are pretty much clones in what they offer.

warnock is the best defender of the 3 but that alone is not good enough in a team with premiership and champions league winning asperations.

he's good back up i suppose

TheMonster

el rabitos wrote:

warnock is the best defender of the 3 but that alone is not good enough in a team with premiership and champions league winning asperations.

thanks for cheering up my morning

jesus_thats_gre

?

el rabitos

TheMonster wrote:

thanks for cheering up my morning

ugh....were liverpool not a team considered potential title challengers at the start of the season?

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

i dont agree, i think warnock should be sold. he's not good on the ball, i'd go as far as to say he's pretty terrible

liverpool need a left back thats comfortable with the ball, a good defender and can go forward

so far we have riise and aurelio who are pretty much clones in what they offer.

warnock is the best defender of the 3 but that alone is not good enough in a team with premiership and champions league winning asperations.

he's good back up i suppose

Have you ever anything positive to say about the club/team? I'm by no means a Liverpool supporter but I do take a casual interest in the thread. Recently you have complained about how poor a club Liverpool are, how rundown their stadium is, and how poor the players are. And as I said, that's only recently.

I don't think I've ever heard someone so downbeat about their team (a team which is one of the biggest and best in not just the UK, but Europe as well!). I'm a Man City fan and have to laugh when you bitch and moan about a problem such as having 3 quality left backs. We have Ben Thatcher FFS!! We also don't even own our stadium, are millions in debt and are forced to sell our best young players (SWP) with none of the money being made available to replace them. I wish I were in the position to be annoyed over fickle things such as three left backs.

mike65

Good news re:Gerrard

Xavi6 you are right but its a question of levels of expectation. Liverpool fans expect a top flight team and everything else to be "the best of the best".

Mike.

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

Have you ever anything positive to say about the club/team? I'm by no means a Liverpool supporter but I do take a casual interest in the thread. Recently you have complained about how poor a club Liverpool are, how rundown their stadium is, and how poor the players are. And as I said, that's only recently.

I don't think I've ever heard someone so downbeat about their team (a team which is one of the biggest and best in not just the UK, but Europe as well!). I'm a Man City fan and have to laugh when you bitch and moan about a problem such as having 3 quality left backs. We have Ben Thatcher FFS!! We also don't even own our stadium, are millions in debt and are forced to sell our best young players (SWP) with none of the money being made available to replace them. I wish I were in the position to be annoyed over fickle things such as three left backs.

theres different standards and expectations at liverpool than man city, simple as that. btw you can have warnock if u like

Xavi6

mike65 wrote:

Good news re:Gerrard

Xavi6 you are right but its a question of levels of expectation. Liverpool fans expect a top flight team and everything else to be "the best of the best".

Mike.

There's a huge difference between wanting the best and being on a constant downer.

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

theres different standards and expectations at liverpool than man city, simple as that. btw you can have warnock if u like

Well you owe us for Fowler......

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

Well you owe us for Fowler......

in fairness he's not worth much to anyone other than pool

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

in fairness he's not worth much to anyone other than pool

So now you're saying a player who is worth nothing to everyone else is good enough for Liverpool?

Nalz

Xavi6 wrote:

So now you're saying a player who is worth nothing to everyone else is good enough for Liverpool?

ah you know what he means....even though it sounds odd it kinda makes sense

el rabitos

no, i'm saying he does his best work in red and will be happier on the bench at anfield than he would be at some other random club, he was behind cole and vassel at city was he not?

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

no, i'm saying he does his best work in red and will be happier on the bench at anfield than he would be at some other random club, he was behind cole and vassel at city was he not?

Only because he was injured. When he first came to the club he was first choice with Anelka before Cole and Vassell were even signed. A fully fit Fowler would have walked into the team but he's past it. Yet Liverpool signed him back.

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

Only because he was injured. When he first came to the club he was first choice with Anelka before Cole and Vassell were even signed. A fully fit Fowler would have walked into the team but he's past it. Yet Liverpool signed him back.

well pool are likely to get a bit more out of him than city at this stage of his career, his signing was for more of a boost in spirits around the place at the time and to have another scouser in the team that anything else really

plus i dont really see how he's "past it", if he's used right he can be more effective than alot of strikers, he's one of the best finishers in the world, he just doesnt have the pace he once had, the brain is still there and thats why he's still at the club

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

plus i dont really see how he's "past it", if he's used right he can be more effective than alot of strikers, he's one of the best finishers in the world, he just doesnt have the pace he once had, the brain is still there and thats why he's still at the club

No he is at the club due to his cult hero status and nothing else. If Fowler hadn't played for Liverpool before do you honestly think they would have been interested in signing him? If he's still that good we would have a queue of clubs wanting to take him (and his wages) off our hands.

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

No he is at the club due to his cult hero status and nothing else. If Fowler hadn't played for Liverpool before do you honestly think they would have been interested in signing him? If he's still that good we would have a queue of clubs wanting to take him (and his wages) off our hands.

do you read what i post? i just said liverpool are likely to get more out of him than city, or any club for that matter. thats why he's at liverpool.

and fcuk cult hero, he's still one of the smartest strikers around and one of the best finishers, i'd rather have him for 15 or 20 minutes at the end of a game than cisse for 90 minutes running into the corner flag and blasting the ball into the stand.

fowler, used right and at liverpool still has value, he's not there just to appease the fans or to be the local icon

why are teams still buying andy cole? its not because of his blistering pace, its because he and fowler know where the goal is.

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

do you read what i post? i just said liverpool are likely to get more out of him than city, or any club for that matter. thats why he's at liverpool.

and fcuk cult hero, he's still one of the smartest strikers around and one of the best finishers, i'd rather have him for 15 or 20 minutes at the end of a game than cisse for 90 minutes running into the corner flag and blasting the ball into the stand.

fowler, used right and at liverpool still has value, he's not there just to appease the fans or to be the local icon

why are teams still buying andy cole? its not because of his blistering pace, its because he and fowler know where the goal is.

Well I thought you of all people would be up in arms at Liverpool signing an overweight, injury prone, thirty something year old for big wages. Is this not the lack of ambition you usually point out?

LuckyLloyd

Xavi, I think Fowler's scoring record over the last 12 games of last season is an indication that he is not completely finished yet. He was again unlucky to not get a full pre - season under his belt this year due to injury. IMO, he has plenty to offer. At the moment he has qualities that none of our other strikers possess and I am sure that keeping him around will have paid off by the end of the season.

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

Well I thought you of all people would be up in arms at Liverpool signing an overweight, injury prone, thirty something year old for big wages. Is this not the lack of ambition you usually point out?

what do you mean me of all people, theres page after page of critisism on this thread and you picking out my issue with the stadium and warnock?

1. if anfield was the stadium we need it to be the club wouldnt be moving

2. if warnock is good enough he'd be playing a hell of a lot more than he is.

my 2 issues arent exactly ludicrous and out of left field.

fowler has spent his time since he arrived getting in shape, and for the most part i'd say he has, he was offered an extension to his original deal which would indicate he's impressed someone. he's injury prone, but he's not exactly woodgate or something, and he's not relied upon to be included in every match so its not critical that he doesnt get injured.

and he's not on big wages, the figure thats done the rounds is between 20 and 25k a week.

liverpool have a player that loves the club, is happy to play the bench role, is on low wages and when used towards the end of the match can crop up with a goal, its pretty simple really, i'm not seeing your issue

Xavi6

el rabitos wrote:

i'm not seeing your issue

I don't have an issue with Liverpool. As I said I'm only a casual observer giving an opinion. I just don't see how there can so much criticism of a club then almost in the same breath the signing of Robbie Fowler is praised.

And as for singling you out, it's not a vendetta, I just don't recall having seen you post something positive on the club. I'm sure I'm wrong.

Guy:Incognito

Xavi6 wrote:

Well I thought you of all people would be up in arms at Liverpool signing an overweight, injury prone, thirty something year old for big wages. Is this not the lack of ambition you usually point out?

have you watched him at all since he signed back? He's as fit as he has been in a long time and is doing a lot more running than Bellamy.

(not directed at you)As for not having pace? He never really had pace. His game was never built around it. If you watch the limited time he's had this season, anytime somethign happens around the box he's free. Whenever someone shoots he always seens to be hanging around on the edge of the 6 yard box, unmarked, in the hope of a rebound. Thats not by accident.

Re Warnock. Surely considering we are leaking goals we need a left full thats a defender, ratehr than a wing back, more than ever? Riise offers plenty going forward so theres no need to have warnock acting like a winger. If he concentrates on stopping goal chances, thats enough for me.

el rabitos wrote:

2. if warnock is good enough he'd be playing a hell of a lot more than he is.

I wouldnt agree with that. Rafa seems to have his ideas about things and seems unwilling to change his mind a lot of the time. Xavi Alsonso playing crap yet seems to be undroppable, same with Gerrard plus his positional issues. You said yourself about Fowler playing the last 20 mins and i agree, yet he cant even get on the bench, not even when we were a striker down for a week or so and even though Bellamey has been usless.

If john o'shea was as bad as everyone makes out, he wouldnt be in the Utd team, so it works both ways. As I said, I think Warnock is a decent player. He's a good left full and I'd much prefer to have a left full thats a defender than a winger.

el rabitos

Xavi6 wrote:

I don't have an issue with Liverpool. As I said I'm only a casual observer giving an opinion. I just don't see how there can so much criticism of a club then almost in the same breath the signing of Robbie Fowler is praised.

so much critisism of a club? i dont think pointing out anfields limitations and my opinion that warnock is sub-par for a team looking to win what liverpool have ambitions for counts as some barage of critisism.

praise for the fowler signing comes because he was free and he offers alot.

as a fan, we praise what we think is good, bitch and moan about what we think is bad, then support the team anyway

Xavi6

Stekelly wrote:

have you watched him at all since he signed back? He's as fit as he has been in a long time and is doing a lot more running than Bellamy.

Sure being as fit as he has been in a long time doesn't say too much. He hasn't been fit for years, probably since he left the first time.

Guy:Incognito

Xavi6 wrote:

Sure being as fit as he has been in a long time doesn't say too much. He hasn't been fit for years, probably since he left the first time.

That may be so, but he's doing the running and is very sharp this season. If he was overweight and/or unfit, he wouldnt be able for it. He 's far from being a shadow of his former self and standing on the edge of the opposition box waiting on the ball thats for sure.

Zapp Brannigan

Crappy nil all draw... boo-urns!

gary the great

Another crap performance, Gonzalez was shi.te put in about ten crosses that hit the first defender or went over. A load of crap.

Did anyone see Benitez, didint look to well at all. Hes obviously under severe pressure and stress and its really showing.

Guy:Incognito

gary the great wrote:

Another crap performance, Gonzalez was shi.te put in about ten crosses that hit the first defender or went over. A load of crap.

Did anyone see Benitez, didint look to well at all. Hes obviously under severe pressure and stress and its really showing.

Seriously, does rafa watch the matches or is he burying his head in his note taking. Gonzalez is playing crap and so is pennant. Riise has to play on the left. If needs be gve anderson a couple of games on the right. At the end of the day, he's a hungry young kid who will want to prove himself and we cant get any worse at the minute so theres nothing to lose really. Might give the others a kick in the arse and theres an off chance he could do well. He's 18 so he's plenty old enough.

~Rebel~

Heard very little about Anderson this year, not even in any of the reserve reports ive read (which admittedly isnt a lot). Just wondering if he was fit and everything. If so, id love to see him get his chance, was fantastic last year in reserve and youth cup games. (If anyone havent seen him, video's might still be up from the youth cup matches on www.TheFa.com)

Maybe a run of games in the Reserves would do Gonzalez some good. Im dying to see him back to the form he had last year, its not like crossing the ball and shooting are different in different leagues. Was happier with him then pennant, at least he tried to impose himself, realy annoyed at Pennant.

Guy:Incognito

Dont know why it's just popped into my head but was there ever an update on the cl pennants that were stolen? Dont suppose they've been recovered?

Chardee MacDennis

so does anyone know what exactly the story is with george gillett? sounds like a solid investor.

Jazzy

i think right now wat liverpool need is a bit of faith in themselves. i say start the next match with that exact same lineup we used against boro and let them play. they need a bit of fire in their belly and u wont get that by being in fear of ur place

The Rooster

Tend to agree with Jazzy.

I also thought Gonzalez was better than Pennant. Gonzo is trying hard, getting into positions, asking for the ball, trying to get involved. End product isnt quite there, but its not far away.

Last week against Arsenal if Crouch had been a bit sharper and got himself onside for our disallowed goal, or been a bit cleverer and realised he was offside and left it for Gonzalez to tap-in - we would have been 1-0 up and would not have lost.

This week if Kuyt's shot after the chest down by Bellamy had been a foot to the right and sneaked into the corner, we would have beaten Boro comfortably.

The difference between playing crap and playing well is often very small. We're in a bit of a rut away from home and we're all frustrated, but just need a bit of luck and a bit of belief to get out of it.

~Rebel~

GONZALEZ: GIVE ME TIME

Mark Gonzalez today admitted he needs more time to adapt to the physical demands of life in the Premiership.
The Chilean winger, who made only his seventh league appearances for the Reds on Saturday, believes the Liverpool fans are yet to see the best of him following his eagerly anticipated summer arrival.

"I need to settle more to English football. I knew it would be difficult and it's going to take me more time to get used to it," he said.

"I know I must do more, but I'm confident I will. I know sometimes people don't understand that you can make mistakes in a game and things don't always look perfect immediately, but I'll keep on working.

"I know in football it's not normal for people to be patient, but we all understand that will be the case until we do our best on the pitch and win more games.

"I just have to keep working hard to get myself fitter. It's a demanding league and it's not the same working on physical training as playing in games.

"The best way to adjust is always to play as much as possible, and at the moment I'm doing that."

Gonzalez was as frustrated as anyone following the frustrating goalless draw at Middlesbrough but he's optimistic that we'll soon see an upturn in the team's fortunes.

"There are a lot of new players to the squad, and it's normal for it to take time," he added.

"We're working every day to learn each other's game and then show it on the pitch.

"At the moment it's not happening, but hopefully it's not going to take long to gel using a system with the two wingers."

Link; http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N154142061120-1344.htm

Hopefully he can get back to his form in Spain pretty soon, god knows the team needs it..