Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

mike65

Of course I'm also a paid up member of the Flo-Po fan club and would have him back in a shot but with Voronin at Anfield and Pongo suggesting he's happy in Spain then I guess its a non-starter.

I suspect Crouch will go if Liverpool get a good offer, ie 8-10 million if that the case then clearly there's a need for a top-level name but don't ask me who, except I'd be weary of signing a Fancy-Dan with a famous name.

I always thought Gudjohnson was quality. Unfussy, quick and usually pretty lethal but he tends to be considered a "deep foward" which can describe Kuyt too.

Kewell should be given one last season he's quality, so I hope he's back before the season ends. Pennant on the other hand...

Mike.

Chucky the tree

We'll finally be ride of Salif Diao this summer aswell.

zing

Tusky wrote:

I'd bet my house that Kuyt wont be sold. Rafa rates him highly, was looking to sign him for a number of years before he eventually did. At the moment he is number one on the teamsheet when it comes to strikers and has played more minutes than any of the rest. I think he was partially bought as a replacement for Crouch because they are quite similiar.

Kuyt is safe imo - he at least deserves another season. He might not be scoring as much as we'd like but his work rate cannot be questioned.

Rafa spoke of the spine of the team around the time of the takeover and I see that as the likes of Reina/Carra/Agger/Finnan/Gerrard/Alonso/Mascherano/Kuyt (add Voronin in there and maybe some of the lads who are on the first year and still adapting like Gonzalez). After that all you've got are players who have something to offer but really are expendable - that includes the likes of Risse, Garcia, Hypia, Sissoko, Crouch, Pennant (although I can see Pennant being kept for another year or two but not as first choice and we don't really have another Garcia type of player - which is maybe a good thing ).

That's my view anyway. Just how ruthless Rafa will be will depend on the budget he's given. Wholesale changes do not necessarily lead to a poor start in August. There's enough experienced players in the squad to allow new blood to be eased in gently. Or that's the theory anyway - didn't work this season though

~Rebel~

Being ruthless, and possibly unfair, i think Bellamy is the most likely to go. Yes he has offered us the greatest cutting edge, but thats his job. He's put out as the real front man, the goal getter as he's always next to a support striker in crouch or Kuyt. I just think that based on most of the attributes the potential new player would have (eg. Eto'o, Villa), pace, an eye for goal, ready on the shoulder of last defender, a little something special to take them around the last man - that job is closest to Bellamy's and though he's done it well in all but the actual end product, thats the bit he's most needed for so basically someone else can do his specific job better.

Kuyt as was mentioned is safe, and its probably safe to say with reinforcements out wide (HOPEFULLY!!) he wont need to come so deep for the ball all the time so could well get a few more goals as he adapts to the premiership.

Crouch, will still be 3rd choice, but i could see him staying unless a great offer came in. I think he's invaluable in that when you need it he can add that extra dimension to get you out of trouble. Even taking the end of the Barca game into account, once he came on we were able to fire balls up that he was winning, completely isolated up there, but at least taking the pressure off us. This gave us a few chances to play in all the open spaces and he really should have scored (same as all the strikers).

A line up of X, Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin adds a lot of dimensions and options which is what rafa loves, once bellamys direct approach was replaced with an upgrade.

P.S Bring Back Pongolle! any chance Rafa see's him as the new number 9 after his exploits? :eek:

Dr. Nick

Chucky the tree wrote:

We'll finally be ride of Salif Diao this summer aswell.

He's already gone.

~Rebel~

Was just thinking of a potentially shrewd move;
Cisse + say 5mill for Berbatov and just sell crouch as his asset would be dealt with then, and Spurs were very interested in Cisse before..

or possibly

Crouch + few mill for Berbatov.

He's a great player who gets goals, creates goals, has adapted remarkably well to the Prem and Rafa was interested in him before as well.

Could then still make a move for another stealthy forward that can put away chances (the usual, eto'o, villa, maybe tevez, Huntelaar etc etc) and sell bellamy, leaving us a healthy step up in quality.


P.S Does anyone know anything about Afonso Alves at Heerenveen? Amazing scoring record this season! 23 goals in 24 league appearances!! And 3 from 6 in Uefa cup.

Apparently was interested in a move to Man City in January so cant be too expensive!

zing

Gillet/Hicks have "received valid acceptances in respect of 28,089 Liverpool shares, representing approximately 80.7% of Liverpool's issued share capital to which the offer relates" - so the club is as good as theirs now. A bit disappointed they didn't hit the 90% mark so they could take it private and not have to worry about other shareholders - maybe that'll happen yet or maybe a bit of transparency going forward won't be a bad thing.

They've extended the deadline for acceptance until March 26th.

Official statement here:
http://www.londonstockexchange.com//LSECWS/IFSPages/MarketNewsPopup.aspx?id=1431792&source=RNS

copacetic

milan v bayern
psv v liverpool!!!!!

then chelsea or valencia

Space Coyote

Brilliant! Thought we'd get Roma or Valencia in the quarters.

Chelsea/Valencia v PSV/Liverpool
Roma/Manchester United v Milan/Bayern Munich

Come on Team Anfield!

copacetic

couldn't have really asked for a better draw and looking forward to stopping utd
getting the treble in the fina!

flanzer

daveym wrote:

couldn't have really asked for a better draw and looking forward to stopping utd
getting the treble in the fina!

Yep, can see a Utd - Liverpool final. Can't see Chelsea beating Valencia and Rafa will have the edge over his former team in the semi.

Milan looked sheeite the other night so Bayern should go through. And with Bayern having an indifferent season, I can see Utd beating them in the semi having most of their injured players back.

So will Athens be hosting Liverpool's revenge mission against Utd? (having them doing the double over us this season!.................)

We'll wait and see!!

~Rebel~

Happy with that draw. Would prefer to face Valencia in the semi's if just for a change! Also would be like a right of passage for Rafa to make it past them into the final.

Great draw for Utd on the otherside of it, could see them reaching the final as well, so is this gonna be pool's chance to get one over on the old enemy after conceding the double in the league?

Interestingly Rafa's prediction from a good while ago that it would be a Pool Milan final still has every chance of coming true - wonder if he's a betting man?

zing

Bets on Harry Kewell declaring himself fit enough for the quarter finals ?

Zapp Brannigan

Flo Po says he wants to stay in Spain, Article up on SSN.

mickith

Flo Po says he wants to stay in Spain, Article up on SSN.

bastid. he must be liking the weather over there me thinks

good draw for teh pool. it was good to hear miland and munich come out at the start of it. the only thing i would be worried about is that we are expected to beat these lads fairly easily, and we prob should. its good that we have the second leg in anfield also. can see us being matched up with chelski in the semis and can see the special one crying into the carling cup that they have after it!
come on you reds!
anybody goin over to holland for the game by the way

event

jaysus, they should just give yiz the trophy now and be done with it

~Rebel~

Era its fair enough what he (pongolle) said, didnt say a bad word about Pool or anything, just that he settled in really well there (9 league goals in 14 starts) and was enjoying his time in Spain and didn't fancy coming back to "sweat blood and tears again in England." Only way he'll be back is if is given a proper chance in a main strikers role. Since we have this newfound wealth, it would be ideal to extend the loan for a year or say 2 and see how he developes with first team football constantly, or even a Barragan styled 2 year buy back clause.

mike65

As I suspected on Flo-Po. Good draw - Rafa would like to knock his old charges out I'm sure.

Mike.

Raskolnikov

zing wrote:

Rafa spoke of the spine of the team around the time of the takeover and I see that as the likes of Reina/Carra/Agger/Finnan/Gerrard/Alonso/Mascherano/Kuyt

How the dickens could a player like Mascherano be considered the "spine" of the Liverpool team when he's played one game. I mean; it's not even clear if he's at the club permanently or not. Also, I don't think he's any better than what Liverpool already have in defensive midfielders. The closest player to Mascherano at Liverpool is Alonso and he's everything to prove that he's a more capable player than him. Sissoko is fantastic occupying a Makelele-type role breaking up play, Mascherano simply doesn't have the ability to play in that role.

For me, if Mascherano wants to be considered a key Liverpool player, it's Alonso he'll have to fight with.

herbieflowers

I would have thought Mascherano more similar to Sissoko: sitting midfielder, breaking up play, doing the dirty work, tackling etc. Isn't Alonso more of a passer, wimpy (!) type?

Raskolnikov

herbieflowers wrote:

I would have thought Mascherano more similar to Sissoko: sitting midfielder, breaking up play, doing the dirty work, tackling etc. Isn't Alonso more of a passer, wimpy (!) type?

He can do that job like Alonso can, it's not his strength and not something he does as well as Sissoko. Like Alonso, he's a good passer, great vision, doesn't give the ball away, capable of breaking, etc. Hence, it's why I think Alonso is more of a rival to him than Sissoko. Sissoko on the other hand is a ball-winner and breaker up of opposition attacks. It's a role he's excelled in this season (see Barca match) and it's a role I think he's capable of becoming world class at.

If you ask me Liverpool would do well to play with Sissoko in the strictly holding role with either Alonso/Mascherano alongside him, with Gerrard given a free reign in going forward.

~Rebel~

herbieflowers wrote:

Isn't Alonso more of a passer, wimpy (!) type?

Alonso is a great tackler/interecepter as well, its not as noticeable as Sissoko's gung ho approach, but Alonso can rack up as many challanges as anyone in the middle of the park.

mike65

Crouch under the knife, will be out for 4-5 weeks.

Mike.

Stky10

A lot of our problems are down to the lack of effective wing play though. Teams know we're not going to kill them down the wings, so a lot of play has to go through the middle where we can be more easily defended against. Just think how much more effective the likes of Crouch could be if he had wingers who could go past their man and knock crosses in from the by-line, rather than just punting them forward hopefully from 40 yards out.

Gonzalez has been a huge failure so far. Maybe like Pires he needs another season to re-adjust. Pennant has improved as the season has gone on, but he's only ever going to be so good. We have a lot of underage wing talent in Hammill, Anderson and El Zhar, but they need match experience, and not another season stuck in the reserves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vQbokyzjX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCtFiQLJtS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Fn-OKuwVU

Imagine though the addition of Quaresma and Gamst Pederson to that team. It would make a huge improvement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFmYhZW63qI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTI82p6SFYk

Throw in a decent prolific striker, and a central defender to replace Hyppia, and we'd have quite a team.

copacetic

mike65 wrote:

Crouch under the knife, will be out for 4-5 weeks.

Mike.

can they not just stick him in one of those masks?




(and no jokes 'what about for games' etc)

Space Coyote

Ah jazes, 4-5 weeks coz of a broken nose !!! Gazza might have his old mask lying around somewhere. Bert Troutmann played with a broken neck back in the 56 Cup final. Don't make them like they used to.

mike65

Boing! From The Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: BENITEZ WILL ACCEPT VILLA'S SUMMER BID FOR BELLAMY
By John Cross 10/03/2007


ASTON VILLA boss Martin O'Neill has been told he can sign Liverpool's bad boy striker Craig Bellamy this summer.

O'Neill made an enquiry for Bellamy during the January transfer window and Liverpool insisted he was not for sale - but Villa were told to come back at the end of the season.

It shows that Bellamy could be on his way out of Anfield in the summer after just one roller-coaster season following his £6million move to Liverpool from Blackburn.

Bellamy is playing for his Anfield future after his golf club bust-up with teammate John Arne Riise and boss Rafa Benitez may be ready to offload him at the end of the season

copacetic

who is this john cross guy? reliable?

jesus_thats_gre

It could be Rafa trying to keep him on his toes too. Time will tell though..


To Skty10's post, I wonder how Quaresma would suit the PL though. Out of curiosity, how did he fair against Chelsea over the two legs?

As for Pedersen, I really like him as a player. Also, the prospect of him and Riise on the left wing is quite tasty. I would'nt like to be a keeper facing up to both of those in a match.

PHB

Quaresma is very like Ronaldo as a player, he'd take a bit of adjusting, but he's a quality player

Vokes

Indeed. Was well impressed with Quaresma's wing play when i went to see him for Portugal against Brazil. Granted it was only a friendly against a poor Brazilian team but i liked the way he looked equally adept on both the right and left wing.

~Rebel~

He's always looked a handful whenever i've seen him in the champions league, did quite well against chelsea. Very two footed which would be perfect, as Rafa loves his wingers to randomly swap over it seems.

On Bellamy, i wonder if this is like when he had Fowler playing for his contract extension last season. Give someone a goal and something to prove and they'll up the performance level, which we need now that we're in the latter stages of champions league football.

Have populated my champions league fantasy football team with pool players, Reina, Finnan, Gerrard and Kuyt - wondering if i should go with Bellers instead of Kuyt though..tough choice as Kuyt gets a lot of assists, and its PSV so he should be right up for it. Had a good scoring record away against the big teams in Holland. But at the same time, Bellers is the one who looks more like scoring of late..though will he even be on the field for the last 30minutes?

~Rebel~

As if drawing the worst team left in the Champions League wasn't enough for us, it now seems they may well be missing their 2 best players!

Alex, defender who played brilliantly against Arsenal, looks to be out for the season..
http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=453568&CPID=9&clid=14&lid=&title=Alex+blow+for+PSV

"At the moment that he wanted to kick the ball, he felt something tear," said Koeman.

"We have to wait, but we think that there is a crack.

"If that's the case, then we may be happy if he plays another game this season."

Kone also faces a race against time to be fit from ligament damage.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/mediawatch/drilldown/MW11290070310-1945.htm

The Ivory Coast striker had to be substituted five minutes before half-time during PSV’s UEFA Champions League last-16 second leg draw against Arsenal FC last week after a challenge with midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

An MRI scan has since confirmed that Koné will be sidelined for between three and four weeks, putting him in doubt for the home leg against Liverpool on 3 April.

PHB

Alex was massive in their last game, this tie just got even easier for Liverpool

mickith

saw the hightlights to the chelsea and porta game and thought queresmo was very good. he hit the bar with one of those outside of the boot curlers.thought he only had a left boot and couldnt use his right but after seeing some of those goals he scored i was totally wrong
seems to be exactly like ronaldo, nearly carbon copy of him.

good news on the two alex and the other lad being out. hopefully there will be a few goals in the frist leg

zing

Raskolnikov wrote:

How the dickens could a player like Mascherano be considered the "spine" of the Liverpool team when he's played one game. I mean; it's not even clear if he's at the club permanently or not.

What I meant by spine of the team is the players rafa considers to be key to the team going forward and yes Mascherano has only played one game so it prob is just a tad on the premature side to put him into that group. However given the lengths the club went to to get him in Jan I do think Rafa rates him highly and assuming he get's match fit, etc.. I expect him to become a key member of the team/squad (which doesn't mean he has to play every single game). However opportunities for him will probably be limited this season given that there isn't a huge amount of games left.

Also, I don't think he's any better than what Liverpool already have in defensive midfielders. The closest player to Mascherano at Liverpool is Alonso and he's everything to prove that he's a more capable player than him. Sissoko is fantastic occupying a Makelele-type role breaking up play, Mascherano simply doesn't have the ability to play in that role.

For me, if Mascherano wants to be considered a key Liverpool player, it's Alonso he'll have to fight with.

Why does he have to fight with anyone for a place ? Why does he have to prove that he's a more capable player than Alonso ? - a player who he's only close to in style. He's got his own style and surely there's room for it in the squad. Remember Rafa likes to use his entire squad where and when possible and he always picks a starting XI from the squad which he feels is capable of beating the other team rather than picking the same team everytime (Rafa pick the same team twice in a row ? Oh yeah .. he did it once didn't he). Similarly he changes his formation every so often depending on what he thinks will work best against the opposing team.
It's not about fighting for a place - it's about having a strong squad with players who provide different options. From the one game Mascherano has player for us so far I saw him display some of the attributes of both Alonso & Sissoko but was different to both - at times he also reminded me of the kaiser.

One thing is certain though - Rafa wanted Mascherano and odds are he wanted him for a reason and I doubt if it's to play for the reserves

Lex Luthor

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

As for Pedersen, I really like him as a player. Also, the prospect of him and Riise on the left wing is quite tasty. I would'nt like to be a keeper facing up to both of those in a match.

Pedersen? Which one? Gamst Pedersen?

jesus_thats_gre

Lex Luthor wrote:

Pedersen? Which one? Gamst Pedersen?

Yep.. Not the crocked Bolton player

herbieflowers

Hehe, I was wondering...burly Henrik Pedersen on the wing for Liverpool...teehee

eirebhoy

~Rebel~ wrote:

As if drawing the worst team left in the Champions League wasn't enough for us, it now seems they may well be missing their 2 best players!

Farfan is their best player and they coped without him against Arsenal.

~Rebel~

eirebhoy wrote:

Farfan is their best player and they coped without him against Arsenal.

Sorry should have said "2 of their best players out", rather then 2 best players out. Point was its a massive boast for liverpool that they're missing.

Stky10

herbieflowers wrote:

Hehe, I was wondering...burly Henrik Pedersen on the wing for Liverpool...teehee

Its a few years ago now, but if you remember Alonso's and Garcia's first match for us away against Bolton, we had Josemi playing right back, and Pedersen beat him for pace, crossed from the by-line, Traore made a meal of it as always, and they scored the only goal of the game. I hadn't seen much of Josemi up till then, but I remember thinking if he couldn't handle the pace of Pedersen, then god help him against the likes of Giggs, Pires etc.

Garcia had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside the same game.

mike65

Just a thought.

Would Klose be a good bye with Crouch sold to Spurs/Magpies?

The 28-year-old striker has scored roughly a goal every other game for Germany, and is so highly regarded that it comes as some surprise that Werder Bremen have hung on to him until now.

But Klose has made it clear he wants to move abroad. He said: "I'm 28 years old now, and I want to get other experience by playing outside Bundesliga."

Mike.

~Rebel~

Thats a good call. id be very happy with either him or berbatov coming in for crouch. It would be a real upgrade on the big man of our partnership, adding a regular scoring touch to the job of taking the pressure off the team and holding up play for supporting players. If we did that and replaced the bellamy main goalscorer role with someone more prolific we'd be very very dangerous and hav plenty of different options.

Wonder how much he'd cost, any idea how much is left on his contract?

The Rooster

Berbatov is the man. But I think we missed the boat, we were linked with him for a number of years but didnt follow through.

Zapp Brannigan

Just watching Malouda and he is a class act. Doubt Lyon would sell him but he could be a good buy, a winger that scores and tears defences up.

Stky10

Virtual reality tour of the new stadium

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icliverpool/New_Anfield.wmv

Looks a bit bland from the outside, and the "end" areas seem a lot smaller than the midsections, so I'm not sure how they're going to preserve the kop end as promised, without it being in name only. Hopefully as well they can up the capacity in general by a couple of thousand as well.

PS What would you reckon are the chances of getting a ticket to the game in Eindhoven without having to donate a kidney?

Guy:Incognito

Dont see why there has to be pillars in the corners instead of having the upper tier going the whole way round.

copacetic

Stekelly wrote:

Dont see why there has to be pillars in the corners instead of having the upper tier going the whole way round.

looks like they are going to have big screens on 2 of them and maybe TV studios/corporate in the other 2?

Tusky

The corners will be expanded at some point and each one will sear 7,500 apparently. So thats an extra 30,000 ? Doesnt sound right to me though.