Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

tibor

mike65 wrote: »

Stekelly, it was a bit flukey but that should'nt disguise another piss-poor performance in front of goal.

It wasn'tjust in front of goal.
The whole team bar Carra and Itandje were insipid today.
Same goes for the Wigan match, and many others throughout the season.

They just didn't turn up again.

We shouldn't be seeing this kind of dreadful performance on such a regular basis.

oobydooby

Well at least it wasn't 2 more points dropped in the league. The replay thing is not a big problem as we have too many (mediocre) players already so the 2nd string should get another run out. However I don't want to see us so far off the pace with games in hand. I'd much rather be 3 points behind Arsenal having played two more games than them than be in our current situation (obviously).

Happy for Luton Town too;)

astrofool

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Minor annoyance drawing with Luton. But they're hardly gonna do one on us at Anfield. Just one more fixture that Rafa will have to rotate for.

I don't think Benitez should go. He's had more of a challenge than Wenger (maybe) and Fergie and it's harsh to judge him so early in his tenure (compared to Wenger and Fergie, that is)

Well Wenger won the league his first year, sold a lot of players and won it again a few years later. Fergie joined Utd in a different era (literally), when they hadn't challenged for the league in years and when manager's usually had a lot longer with the team. Winning the carling/FA/CWC probably helped however. Benitez has been blessed in a time when the top 4 get the champion's league money, and has been able to spend not inconsiderable sums. He had a good year when he took over (well had a good competition in winning the CL), which Houllier also did with his minor treble, and has since gone the same way as Houllier, and seems to be reaching a crescendo in recent weeks.

At least if someone new comes in, they may win something big in their first year Just become Real Madrid and get a new manager each year, sorted.

~Rebel~

PHB wrote:

Well that is the comment I was talking about. He was being childish in the press conference because of something him and Hicks disagreed with over. That must have been a transfer issue, and more than likely, the Mascherano issue.

Theres a difference between being childish as a result of an issue as is what happened, and being childish in ones views ON an issue which is what you're suggesting.It seems more that he got in a sulk due to how he was responded to, i.e just worry about training your current team.

sweetie

mike65 wrote: »

Lutons problems won't be fixed with Liverpools cut, anyway the way things are going they'll get a draw and made a shed load from the replay.

Mike.

:D we are generous after all

mada999

spockety wrote: »

What are you talking about.. Liverpool finished 3rd last season and this season isn't over yet.

The FA Cup throws up these kind of things.. it was Luton away and the opposition players were fighting for their club and careers. Did Man Utd, Arsenal, or Chelsea have to face anything like that?

They will get destroyed at Anfield and that will be that. The match today was a mild irritation. There have been a few mild irritations over the last few weeks and added up they are not nice, but jesus I think everyone needs to take a few deep breaths and calm down calm down.

deep breaths and calm down?? do you think Voronin and Kuyt are good enough for liverpool ??

Melion

I think we should try and ship out Kuyt, Voronin, Riise and Sissoko now because another 4 months of performances like these will just scare away any potential buyers(i know Mo didnt play today and im not blaming Riise for the O.G but he has been shocking for 2 years now). Put in a bid for Dean Ashton and secure Masch this month and id be happy.

Fair play to Luton, they battled like we expected and its good to see players play so hard for a team, its been a while since we've seen that from a Liverpool player. Hopefully the money they get from the replay keeps them afloat because ive always had a soft spot for them, ever since seeing them play on that artificial pitch years ago.

zing

imo Momo is unlikely to be sold until after Masch is signed permanently. The current contract for Masch will have a date in it that we must exercise our option on him by and the more I think about it the more sense there is in leaving it until that deadline for varying reasons - a) the financial side - the money is better earning a few pence in interest in our bank account than in Kia's and b) if he suffered a career threatening or particularly nasty injury between now and whenever that deadline is. 'B' isn't exactly a nice thought but in the cold reality of business the club would potentially be glad to cut him loose under such circumstances.

sweetie

Melion wrote: »

I think we should try and ship out Kuyt, Voronin, Riise and Sissoko now because another 4 months of performances like these will just scare away any potential buyers(i know Mo didnt play today and im not blaming Riise for the O.G but he has been shocking for 2 years now). Put in a bid for Dean Ashton and secure Masch this month and id be happy.

Fair play to Luton, they battled like we expected and its good to see players play so hard for a team, its been a while since we've seen that from a Liverpool player. Hopefully the money they get from the replay keeps them afloat because ive always had a soft spot for them, ever since seeing them play on that artificial pitch years ago.

i'd be happy with Ashton. Is he injury free now though?

~Rebel~

Melion wrote:

I think we should try and ship out Kuyt, Voronin, Riise and Sissoko now because another 4 months of performances like these will just scare away any potential buyers(i know Mo didnt play today and im not blaming Riise for the O.G but he has been shocking for 2 years now). Put in a bid for Dean Ashton and secure Masch this month and id be happy.

Fair play to Luton, they battled like we expected and its good to see players play so hard for a team, its been a while since we've seen that from a Liverpool player. Hopefully the money they get from the replay keeps them afloat because ive always had a soft spot for them, ever since seeing them play on that artificial pitch years ago.

In relation to Kuyt, as much as I like the guy, it might be worth taking advantage of his success rate in Holland and trying for a swap + money deal for either Huntelaar at Ajax or Afonso Alves (back to his last season form, 11 goals in 8 games) at Herenveen.

Also things seem to have gone very quiet on Podolski. Is he gone totally out of favour at Bayern? Always looked a decent player, might be worth a cheeky bid. Can play in the champions league as well.

An Citeog

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Also things seem to have gone very quiet on Podolski. Is he gone totally out of favour at Bayern? Always looked a decent player, might be worth a cheeky bid. Can play in the champions league as well.

Podolski hasn't gotten much game time since his move to Bayern. He's a talented player but I think he's better suited to being a big fish in a small pond (like he was with FC Koeln). A move to someone like Bremen would be perfect for him.

Skittlebrau

Terrible performance. Really really terrible. Can't believe I stayed up til 5am watching it.

Thought Alonso was shockingly bad tonight. Some of his passing was Momo-esque.

Babel looked great for the first 15 mins but then disappeared completely. Has he ever played well for a full game? He's been consistently great as a sub but it's a bit worrying that he can't do it for much longer than 20 mins.

Finnan had a poor game too. Our whole defence looked shakey to be honest although it was only half our first choice back four so that's a (partial) excuse.

Kuyt again was dire. I'm at the stage where I'm not even sure he brings anything to the team at this stage. I know, I know "work rate" etc but when it comes to winning the ball back, when we have a first 11 playing Masch does all the ball winning we need.

Crouchy had some decent touches tonight I thought, but overall didn't do a whole lot (although he did score).

Was disappointed with Lucas too. Thought he might have been able to boss the midfield better. Although the fact that Alonso was having a mare wouldn't have helped him.

The commentators on ESPN (worst commentators ever btw), were saying that Luton are losing 400,000 a month. If that's the case then I'm glad we didn't give them our share of the gate. 100,000 would have done f*ck all for them. Even assuming it didn't disappear to debts they already owed it would have only meant they lost 300,000 for the month. Liverpool might as well have burnt the money for all the good it would have done them.

So another terrible performance but at least like someone said above it's not 2 more league points dropped. I think Alonso playing poorly was the catalyst for the rest of the team being crap. We really need a senior player (playing well) in the middle of the pitch when Lucas is playing.

Anyway.......rant over.

Aquos76

spockety wrote: »

They will get destroyed at Anfield and that will be that.The match today was a mild irritation. There have been a few mild irritations over the last few weeks and added up they are not nice, but jesus I think everyone needs to take a few deep breaths and calm down calm down.

I hope this does not come back to haunt you!

spockety

mada999 wrote: »

deep breaths and calm down?? do you think Voronin and Kuyt are good enough for liverpool ??

No, but Voronin was free and rarely plays, and nobody could have foreseen that Kuyt would go the way he has. He had a great record before he came to Liverpool, had a decent first season, and had plenty of people saying he was a great buy (Martin Jol saying he was a "20/20 striker", etc).

Remember also that Kuyt and Voronin were bought pre-takeover, Kuyt being paid for out of the Chairman's own pocket at the time as the club couldn't afford his 10 million price tag.

After the takeover and the money came in, who did Benitez buy for the strike force?

Fernando Torres.

Do you not think that if Benitez was handed a blank cheque book he would be buying big? I do.

I think given his resources and the squad he had available, he hasn't done too bad. Liverpool have a very strong spine now to build on. Reina, Agger, Arbeloa, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres. All Benitez buys, coupled with Finnan, Carra, and Gerrard, that is a good base to build on post takeover with extra revenue on the cards once the stadium is up and running.

I saw on other forums people saying as a result of tonight's match that it is time to ship out Sissoko. THings have reached such a fever pitch that people are blaming players who weren't even playing!

mike65

Sissoko is wanted by Juve so sell!

Mike.

Stky10

~Rebel~ wrote: »

In relation to Kuyt, as much as I like the guy, it might be worth taking advantage of his success rate in Holland and trying for a swap + money deal for either Huntelaar at Ajax or Afonso Alves (back to his last season form, 11 goals in 8 games) at Herenveen.

Or Luis Suarez

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Suárez_(Uruguayan_footballer)

I saw a description of Kuyt during the week that it looks like he's running through treacle, and its true. I can't believe he started out as a winger.

Todays performance showed that without Gerrard or Torres (and possibly Kewell), we have nobody that can beat a player and take a defense out of their comfort zone. I can't see the purpose of sticking with either Voronin or Kuyt for the rest of the season and prolonging the agony. If we can't ship them out, we might as well give some of the reserves a go and see what they can do. Surely the likes of Lindfield, Nemeth, Putterill etc can't be as bad?

PHB

Apparently Inter are also interested in Sissoko, but at the price of 5 million.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jan6h.html

tibor

All the recent talk on this thread about transfers and what not seems to me to be blatantly ignoring the massive underperformance of the current batch of players. We just drew with Luton FFS. Does it really take a World Class striker to break them down?? Let's get real.

Apart from 5/6 isolated occasions, Liverpool have been painful to watch this season.

aidan24326

Tonight showed again that without Torres and Gerrard Liverpool are no more than an ordinary team with too many mediocre players in the squad.

jesus_thats_gre

dc69 wrote: »

im also very concerned as we are playing really bad at the moment,seems like things are falling apart and if rafa cant pull it together we may not finish top 4.

Jesus......

jank

Jesus......

Yes, thats my name!

Thanx 4 The Fish

jank wrote: »

Yes, thats my name!

no, that's his name

jank

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

no, that's his name

He borrowed it!

iregk

Great quote I heard over the weekend is the question nobody is asking.

How long before the United fans start protesting outside Anfield, for Liverpool to keep Rafa Benitez!!!

Sizzler

^^ Extend Rafa's contract!

The romance of the FA Cup eh As a previous poster said Luton will probably get hockied in the replay but they should have won yesterday so they missed their chance but hats off to them (no pun intended ) The only 50-50 ball I can remember Liverpool winning all game was in the lead up to their goal :eek:

zing

Another one that got away - Berbatov.

Looks like we are actively chasing him back in summer '04 / Jan '05.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/01/05/dimitar-berbatov-so-near-to-signing-in-100252-20314793/

Got Nando instead - oh well.

zing

The first signing of '08 ?
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/01/07/defender-flies-in-for-transfer-talks-with-liverpool-fc-64375-20319478/

Martin Skrtel of Zenit St Petersburg - know absolutely nothing about him so can't really comment on him. But if he turns out to anywhere near Aggers standard then yes please.

prendy

shocking yesterday.it emphasises the fact that we are a team completely reliant on our big 2 and god help us if one of them of carra gets injured.
we dont have the creative flair to break teams down.

spockety

Yeah cos there was no creative flair required to get our 8-0, 6-0, three 4-0's, two 4-1's , etc. this season.

:rolleyes:

lordgoat

spockety wrote: »

Yeah cos there was no creative flair required to get our 8-0, 6-0, three 4-0's, two 4-1's , etc. this season.

:rolleyes:

Spot on. The creative flair was also highly visible yesterday too, like onf of those yellow bibs cyclists wear.

mike65

I move that we vote to relocate Liverpool to a continental league, I'm sure Liverpool would win Le Championship most years.

Mike.

zing

mike65 wrote: »

I move that we vote to relocate Liverpool to a continental league, I'm sure Liverpool would win Le Championship most years.

Mike.

May as well - sure they already talk their own language there

Tusky

Torres and Gerrard are hugely important players for Liverpool & the team played really badly yesterday but lets no over react. Comments like 'without Torres & Gerrard Liverpool are an ordinary team' are a little harsh. We obviously need to boost our attacking talent in the summer but yesterdays game was not a fair representation of the team. Not a single player had a good game apart from maybe Carragher. We're not playing well lately, 2 losses, 2 wins & 3 draws from out last 7 games. Its a bad run of form that has cost us in the league more than anything but the team & squad is the same one that many Liverpool fans were gushing about at the start of the season. Many were saying 'This is out year'. I merely wanted us to challenge and while me may not be able to do that, we can still make up some ground on those above us and possibly finish above Chelsea.

spockety

We got a central defender...

Liverpool in £6.5m swoop for Zenit St Petersburg defender Martin Skrtel

Jan 7 2008

by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo


Zenit St Petersburg defender Martin Skrtel

LIVERPOOL are set to break their transfer record for a defender by paying £6.5m for Slovak international centre back Martin Skrtel.

The Zenit St Petersburg star arrived on Merseyside last night ahead of a medical today and the club are confident the deal will be finalised within the next 48 hours.

Chief executive Rick Parry thrashed out a deal with Zenit officials during talks in Russia at the weekend.

Skrtel is rated as one of the most promising defenders in European football and Liverpool have had to beat off competition from some of the continent's top clubs to set up the deal.

Should the transfer go through as expected it will mark the end of Rafa Benitez's search for a new centre-half that began with the ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Gabriel Heinze and which became increasingly urgent in recent weeks following injuries to both Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia.

Skrtel is a 23-year-old full Slovak international with 15 caps to his name.

He joined Zenit in 2004 and has gone on to make more than 100 appearances in the Russian league.

Standing 6 ft 4 ins tall, Skrtel has a reputation as a no-nonsense defender who does not shy away from the physical side of the game.

With Agger – who was named Denmark's player of the year at the weekend – still not ready to make his return to first team action after suffering a metatarsal injury last September, Benitez has been short of cover at centre back for several months.

That situation worsened recently when Hyypia picked up an ankle injury at Derby County on Boxing Day, leaving Benitez with only Alvaro Arbeloa, a full-back, and teenager Jack Hobbs as his options to partner Jamie Carragher in the centre of defence.

Benitez will be keen to see the deal for Skrtel tied up as quickly as possible so he can be added to the Liverpool squad, possibly even in time for the trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Rick Parry today dismissed suggestions he is flying to the USA for an urgent meeting with Tom Hicks and George Gillett regarding Benitez's future.

The appointment is a diary engagement to discuss new stadium plans and Parry insists no discussions about the manager's position are on the agenda.

He said: "It's been in the diary for a long time, to discuss the stadium."

mike65

Martin Skrtel how do we say that? He'll be known as Skittle

Mike.

astrofool

Why aren't Liverpool being included in the Berbatov rumours? Him and Torres would be a very good strike force. Would also show they can play with the big boys in the transfer market, rather than going for the left overs.

mike65

Sadly Liverpool no longer sign talented sulks!

Mike.

Tusky

astrofool wrote: »

Why aren't Liverpool being included in the Berbatov rumours? Him and Torres would be a very good strike force. Would also show they can play with the big boys in the transfer market, rather than going for the left overs.

Because he would be very very expensive and I don't think we can afford him. He would be an unbelievable partner for Torres though. Maybe he only sulks because he plays for Spurs and they are likely to be relegated ?

Does anyone know anything about this Skittle chap ? Is he as highly rated as the article makes out ?

Heres a picture - http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20071128/19.jpg

mike65

No chance of relegation. UEFA Spot is'nt many points off actualy.

Picture of new defender http://i11.tinypic.com/6oyy6nc.jpg

Mike.

~Rebel~

did a bit of looking around on Skrtel (i choose to pronounce it Skertle, kinda like the pokemon, no idea what its meant to sound like tho), sounds promising, but also seems like he had a mare against Everton earlier this year in the Uefa cup. Was being described as the "ever-vulnerable skrtel". Thats just one game though, and if we were to base our team on last nights performance we'd be absolutely rubbish..(United fans - Say Nothing!)


Id still love us to get Garay instead though.

Tusky

mike65 wrote: »

No chance of relegation. UEFA Spot is'nt many points off actualy.

Picture of new defender http://i11.tinypic.com/6oyy6nc.jpg

Mike.

Errrr. Thats weird, I edited my post and posted exactly the same picture as you but hadn't seen your post.

spockety

He looks like one of the mercenary special forces dudes from "Behind Enemy Lines"

Unearthly

About time ye finally signed a CB. Never heard of him before though

RustySpoon

Home tie Vs swansea/havant & waterlooville....if we get through

Unearthly

5th round it is then

prendy

hopefully!:D

citytillidie

Tusky wrote: »

Because he would be very very expensive and I don't think we can afford him. He would be an unbelievable partner for Torres though. Maybe he only sulks because he plays for Spurs and they are likely to be relegated ?

Does anyone know anything about this Skittle chap ? Is he as highly rated as the article makes out ?

Heres a picture - http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20071128/19.jpg

Dont forget it Berbatov and Voronin played well together in the past.

Chardee MacDennis

Agger has been named Denmarks Player of the Year.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N158305080107-1055.htm

lpool2k05

Liverpool Vs Luton chosen by SKY for live coverage Next Tuesday at 8pm

This guarantees Luton Town another £150,000!!Im delighted for them!

herbieflowers

yeah the irony of the whole situation, Luton profiting more (perhaps) from the replay and yesterday's game than they would have if Liverpool had handed over their gate receipts from yesterday's game!