Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

~Rebel~

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

My point re barca is that he can be very effective on the left wing.

Like copacetic I fail to understand why he had anything to prove after Bellamy mugged him with a golf club.

I definitely rate Arbeloa though, he's hardly put a foot wrong since he joined.

I think the fight was very much both ways in the karaoke bar. Riise snapped when Bellers was winding him up about not singing. At the time, there was loads of reports that neither would travel for the Barca game, so both had to prove they were worth their selection. Which they did.

Mr Alan

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I think the fight was very much both ways in the karaoke bar. Riise snapped when Bellers was winding him up about not singing. At the time, there was loads of reports that neither would travel for the Barca game, so both had to prove they were worth their selection. Which they did.

exactly

RE*AC*TOR

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I think the fight was very much both ways in the karaoke bar. Riise snapped when Bellers was winding him up about not singing. At the time, there was loads of reports that neither would travel for the Barca game, so both had to prove they were worth their selection. Which they did.

I fail to see what that proves. He told Bellamy to bugger off cause he didn't want to sing at karaoke. Hardly unprofessional behaviour. He had **** all to prove.

Mr Alan

it doesnt matter about him and Bellamy anyway, the fact remains, that was his best performance last year, and it came as a result of a backs to wall mentality, his performances last year were poooooor overall. And they have gotten worse over the last few years, get rid

Bounty Hunter

We will happily take him at Villa, you dont wanna let Finnan go too do ya:p

Mr Alan

No Finnan is going nowhere!

(although on a side note; see he is making noises about retiring from internationals after this campaign finishes, cant blame him, he is 31 now and will be 34 if we get to the next world cup. Cant help but think we have wasted one of the best right backs this country has ever had shame, fair play to him though, always got on with the job at hand even in the face of some truely mental decisions!)

zing

Watch out for low flying pigs - more talk of a Kewell 'comeback'..

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N157302071012-0834.htm

raven136

riise has been a good servant to liverpool but is very wasteful; with the ball,does not provide great crosses regularly and doesnt score enough as winger to be played there regularly.He is better than Aurelio defensively but neither is anywhere near Arbeloa who is head and shoulders better than both.

Would be sad to see him go as he provides great squad depth and doesnt seem to complain if he not in every game.Think there is more chance of Crouch leaving

Waster

Mr Alan wrote: »

Riise is not stronger defensively than Aurelio for starters.
He is a selfish lazy liability in my opinion.
True he has provided us with some great moments, namely his dinging goals BUT that is not a reason to keep a player, and Rafa certainly won't see it as a reason (think,Luis Garcia).
I'd imagine that he is one of the highest earners in the team (despite being bankrupt! ), but in reality he is a defensive liability, and even in an attacking sense, he is more a liability than an asset.
he is only ever interested in striking for goal once he gets within 35 yards....this result in countless attacks breaking down,because of his lust for the glory moment. 1 in a 100 may go in top corner, but that is not good enough. Just like him.

Ditto.

Dont be at yourself

Watch out for low flying pigs - more talk of a Kewell 'comeback'..

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drill...71012-0834.htm

That's strange, the CL final isn't for months!

Yeah, Harry Kewell. Undoubted talent, terribly unlucky with injury. Every time he'd near a return from injury, I'd believe that 'this is it! we're gonna see him at his best now!' only for him to crock himself again. As such, I can't be anything better than apathetic to his latest return. I'd love to see him do well, but I'm not counting on it. I doubt Rafa is either.

A shame, because he was showing signs of his best form last season when he played, wasn't he?

jesus_thats_gre

Mr Alan wrote: »

Riise is not stronger defensively than Aurelio for starters

Did you just come up with this nonsense because it suited your argument? Riise is a solid player that has heeps of experience and offers loads to the team. Selling him, unless it suited the club, would be retarded.

As for his shooting. He can be quite wasteful on occassion but he always gonna pull in 4 or 5 goals a season.

mike65

Feck it I wish that Riise story had'nt been posted!

Kewell on the left from Feb-to-May last season 'coincided' with Liverpools best period of footie since Rafa joined.

EDIT! I of course meant Feb-May 2006.

Mike.

zing

mike65 wrote: »

Kewell on the left from Feb-to-May last season 'coincided' with Liverpools best period of footie since Rafa joined.

Mike.

Without doubt a fit Kewell is probably our best winger - even after 4 years of Rafa searching for wide players. Such a shame we've never gotten to see him at his best. And probably never will at this stage

Mr Alan

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Did you just come up with this nonsense because it suited your argument? Riise is a solid player that has heeps of experience and offers loads to the team. Selling him, unless it suited the club, would be retarded.

As for his shooting. He can be quite wasteful on occassion but he always gonna pull in 4 or 5 goals a season.

it suits my argument in the same way the above point suits your argument?

Aurelio just before he got injured last year was a better defender than Riise...as well as offering more going forward. Riises 4 or 5 goals a year (which i do not doubt he will get) is not enough to keep a player on who is so so so so wasteful with the ball.

And a fit Kewell would be a MASSIVE boost to us.

~Rebel~

Could be another sign this guy is on his way;

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2007/10/11/Liga-Amorebieta-linked-to-Liverpool/

Liverpool are being linked with a January move for Athletic Bilbao centre back Fernando Amorebieta, according to reports in the Spanish press.

The 22-year-old became a regular at San Mames last season, appearing 27 times for Bilbao.

Despite the club’s struggles, Amorebieta caught the eye and Reds chief Rafa Benitez sent scouts to Spain to watch the defender in action against Almeria and Levante.

The Basque player is under contract until June 2011 as he signed an extension in the summer, but he could appear on Benitez’s list of targets.

The promising player is expected to be called up by Spain in the near future but has never played for the Under-21 team.

The centre back, who can also be played at left back, was born in Venezuela when his father was playing in this country and joined Bilbao at the age of 11 and made his debuts in La Liga in January 2006 under manager Javier Clemente.

Amorebieta has established a reputation as a no-nonsense defender, which is backed up by his record of 20 bookings and three red cards in 48 games.

Riise moving on would make room for him to keep fresh playing the odd game at LB while Agger and Carra stay regulars at CB.

From this, this guy sounds a lot like Heinze, and as a CB+LB could we see another bash at the 3-5-2?

Mr Alan

If 3-5-2 worked, it would be class.... imagine.....

---

Reina

---

---

---

Finnan---Carragher---Amorbeita?

---

---

Mascherano

---

---

Alonso

---

Gerrard

---

-Pennant

---

Babel

---

---

Torres

---

Kuyt

---

Actually, why haven't we really tried this with Agger or Carragher playing as the left sided defender? Surely its worth a punt? I seem to remember us using it a couple of times last season and it was quite effective????

PiE

With Pennant and Babel in that formation, we'd be torn apart by any moderately decent wide-playing team.

I'd take Riise over Babel in that formation any day.

Oh and I'd also drop Finnan from it before I drop Agger!

Kanney

Our best formation is 4-5-2, but damn FIFA and their rules. But seriously, our strongest is not when Gerrard is on the right, Pennant has been one of our best players so far this season, along with Arbeloa. I agree Riise may be losing his place and altho I love him he frustrates me with his free kicks, when Alonso or Gerrard should definitely be taking them. Babel will cement the left wing for me this season, he is still very young, but he just needs to get into the English game, I feel it will suit him, he is a strong lad....
I think we're missing Alonso a lot, good news hes hoping to be fit for Everton. Altho Mascherano's fierce style of play would suit the Merseyside Derby quite well imho.

mike65

Make of this what you like but I thought of ironing....

Clicky

FERNANDO TORRES admits he would never dare to dive for a penalty at Anfield – because of what his skipper Steven Gerrard might say!

Torres has adapted quickly to life in the Premier League, with seven goals already in just nine starts – among them a sparkling Carling Cup hat-trick at Reading.

But he says he would never try to supplement his goals tally by diving for cheap penalty kicks.

The Spanish star said: “Here, they’re not going to whistle for anything if you fall over.

“There’s no point feigning anything because referees are fooled less. Moreover, it’s your own team-mates like Steven Gerrard who don’t like you using those tricks.”

Its great that Torres is aware of the issue but, well lets be honest, Gerrard has gone down a little bit cheaply once or twice in his career.

/runs and hides.

Mike.

Mr Alan

More-so for England rather than Liverpool tbh

Zapp Brannigan

First game of the 06/07 season against Sheffield comes to mind...

Jazzy

i like riise. i think all the bashing is far too over the top

event

Mr Alan wrote: »

More-so for England rather than Liverpool tbh

sure what difference does that make, still dives

Mr Alan

yea i know, was just saying maybe he doesnt like doing it for Liverpool, but i suppose he has taken a couple of dives for us too so who knows!!!

~Rebel~

Bollox.

Fernando Torres will miss the Merseyside derby after suffering a leg injury while training with Spain.

The Liverpool striker is facing at least 10 days on the sidelines after damaging a muscle in his right leg during a training session on Friday ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifier against Denmark.

That means the 23-year-old is now out of the eagerly-anticipated Premier League derby against Everton at Goodison Park on 20th October.

News of the injury will be come as a major blow to Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez following Torres' impressive start to the season.

Spain coach Luis Aragones, meanwhile, is now likely to call on Espanyol's Raul Tamudo against Denmark.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11966_2798000,00.html

mike65

Don't ya just love the international break!

Still a knock in Spain may be better than a broken bone in the derby

Mike.

Zapp Brannigan

C'mon the Vorintator! He'll get a hat-trick in the Derby, I can feel it!

KdjaCL

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

C'mon the Vorintator! He'll get a hat-trick in the Derby, I can feel it!

lescott and johnson goal each and a goal for carragher, its the only way my FF team can come good from that game maybe an assist from Reina


kdjac

Guy:Incognito

Kanney wrote: »

Our best formation is 4-5-2, but damn FIFA and their rules. .

Theres no rule against it. Just play last man back





+1 for the keep Riise team btw.

Zapp Brannigan

KdjaCL wrote: »

lescott and johnson goal each and a goal for carragher, its the only way my FF team can come good from that game maybe an assist from Reina


kdjac

Ye can always dream! I need a Gerrard wonder game and a nice clean sheet and my fantasy team will be happy!

GBX

Torres out of Spains 2 games. Probably gonna miss the derby
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_2798000,00.html

mike65

Check the previous page!

Mike.

Zapp Brannigan

Rafa's rotation really pays off now, doesn't it? Mark my words, I bet all the rag journo's will be saying this.

Mr Alan

****e news about fernando, bollox.

hopefully he can recover quicker than expected, really fancied him to score in that game.

i really wish that we could ban the word rotation on this forum

machiavellianme

I thought Voronin was quite good for the Ukraine in the typical Stevie G floating midfielder role (even if they did lose to Scotland).
Admittedly he did miss a few chances but the Scots defence was all over him. He ran more than Kuyt ever would and never gave up. Wonder if Rafa would ever consider him in that role if Gerrard was unavailable? I think a Voronin and Alonso partnership in central midfield could be more than capable against some of the weaker teams.

Davei141

machiavellianme wrote: »

He ran more than Kuyt ever would and never gave up.

Kuyt gives 100% everytime he plays and never ever gives up, dont use that rubbish please as a reason for veronin starting ahead of kuyt.

machiavellianme

Alright, I'll use a different reason.
Kuyt = useless, tries hard but ultimately fails to deliver an end product
Voronin = unproven, tries hard, (very brief) flashes of brilliance and occasionally finishes.
I still reckon it'll be both of them against Everton though so god knows where the goals will come from.

~Rebel~

If Torres is out, i think id like to see Kuyt and Babel up front against Everton. Give the young fella a chance to become an instant hero!

I have a lot of respect for Kuyt and think you're being very hard on him. He was our top scorer in the league last season and one of our best performers in Europe, and showed that he can certainly finish. Never looked afraid of the big games either. He's had a poor start to this season, by his own standards, but i still definately rate him highly and as our number 2 striker.

Kanney

A knock that Torres has, he wont play. Not even late fitness, you need to be hard as nails in the Derby, and Rafa won't play him if he is carrying something going into his first derby.
I gotta say I'm against the Riise bashing, I always liked him, and he's given some amazing goals, plus he gets a lot of assists.

Nunu

Netherlands coach Marco van Basten has revealed that he dropped Ryan Babel from the starting eleven for turning up late for two team meetings.

Babel missed two team-meetings, apparently because he overslept, and while the first was laughed away, the second has cost him dear.

Marco van Basten revealed as much when asked why he had dropped the Liverpool man for the 1-0 defeat to Romania.

"It was the second time that Babel overslept on a match day," he said. "That should never happen.

"That's why I left him out of the team. Robben trained hard and he is fit, so he played instead.

"It is very well possible that Babel feels disappointed," continued the former striking legend.

"It is also not my style to handle these kinds of things this way. But we also expect that players obey rules during a match.

"The first time that he arrived too late, he settled the matter with a joke.

"The second time he joined us too late for the meal and that was a bit too much. He has to appear on time, just like all the others."

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=446183

Daemonic

At least he'll be well rested when he goes back to Liverpool

Aquos76

Liverpool are in the hunt for a new assistant manager

Liverpool have revealed Pako Ayestaran has stepped down from his position as assistant manager to Rafael Benitez.

Ayestaran, who has been linked with a return to Spain, remains contracted to the Reds until 30 June 2008, meaning he cannot take up another job until then.

Chief executive Rick Parry told the club website: "After talks between Pako and Rafael, it would be in everyone's best interests if Pako leaves his post.

"Pako, however, will remain under contract to us until next summer."

Parry added: "The club want to thank Pako for his hard work and contribution to our success over the past three years."

Ayestaran worked together with Benitez at Tenerife and Valencia and they moved to Liverpool together in June 2004.

link
and its also on the clubs own website

~Rebel~

Aquos76 wrote:

Liverpool are in the hunt for a new assistant manager

They said they're not planning to replace him. Rafa had already made Pako redundant by bringing in people to do each of Pako's jobs. Its a shame, I think its always a good idea to have 1 guy as a conduit between the players and the boss, a role which Pako seemed perfect for, being well liked by everyone.

Nunu

Aquos76 wrote: »

Liverpool are in the hunt for a new assistant manager



link
and its also on the clubs own website

I thought that happened weeks ago, why is it in the news today? I presume it's because it wasn't actually official until now?

GBX

yeah, I remember hearing about it. Something to do with him getting too pally with Mourinho. and that pee'd Rafa off no end.

~Rebel~

I think its a lot of stuff really, being too comfortable and friendly with the players was another reported reason.

It would take a number of things, including disagreements on the direction of team training/strategy i'd imagine to break up a partnership of 2 friends who have worked side by side for 11 years. I dont think it was a decision made lightly over one or two issues.

Its a pity.

zing

A little more fuel for the Riise to Villa rumours
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_2801665,00.html

As for Riise V Aurelio - sell 'em both if you ask me

spockety

Nunu wrote: »

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=446183

This isn't really funny if his attitude carries across both national and club teams..

zing

spockety wrote: »

This isn't really funny if his attitude carries across both national and club teams..

Well if he has an attitude problem then hopefully this kick up the arse will knock some sense into him

Mr Alan

I wouldnt read too much into the Babel thing, he is young and young players do stupid things like this, if it were to continue or become his common practice it may be an issue, but the lad is on a learning curve, so hopefully he can get his **** together and turn into the player we all hope he does.