Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

Chardee MacDennis

Stekelly wrote: »

As a matter of interest, what did the league look like at this stage the season before last?

we had 16 points after ten games

Middlesbrough 0 0 Liverpool

Liverpool 1 0 Sunderland

Tottenham Hotspur 0 0 Liverpool

Liverpool 0 0 Manchester United	

Birmingham City 2 2 Liverpool

Liverpool 1 4 Chelsea	

Liverpool 1 0 Blackburn Rovers	

Fulham 2 0 Liverpool	

Liverpool 2 0 West Ham United	

Aston Villa 0 2 Liverpool

Very similar teams too, replacing United with Arsenal etc..

shotamoose

Call_me_al wrote: »

will you all please just get a grip

Look, it's not that complicated. The team are playing badly, and have been doing so for an uncomfortably long time now. There are times - whole games, sometimes - when they look clueless. This shouldn't happen, simple as that, and it makes me wonder whether the current setup can make the step up to the next level (not that I'm assuming that's an easy thing to do). It's about having eyes in your head, not 'having faith' as if playing ****e is all part of Rafa's masterplan. If we pull out of this slump and have a brilliant season overall I'll be delighted, but I'll still look back at this patch and shudder.

Chardee MacDennis

shotamoose wrote: »

If we pull out of this slump and have a brilliant season overall I'll be delighted, but I'll still look back at this patch and shudder.

I love how our best start in 4 years is a slump. Playing badly and picking up points, is that not the sign of champions!?!

missingtime

Yea but United played badly and won.

Unearthly

Call_me_al wrote: »

I love how our best start in 4 years is a slump. Playing badly and picking up points, is that not the sign of champions!?!

You should be a journalist with the way you twisted what he said

mike65

The idea of selling on every player before giving Rafa his p45 is madess, if, with that squad he can't develop a system of progressive, effective and prefereably attacking football then the problem is with him not the squad. And lets not forget he bought nearly all of them at this stage. At the end of this season it'll be 4 years of his original 5 year contract gone, the board will reviewing his tenure, lets hope they don't have reason to look elsewhere.

Mike.

prendy

and weve got points off two of our 3 rivals and very unlucky not to have 4 from those games.
playing badly and unbeaten...i think thats cause for optimism.
maybe im just crazy!
badly need agger back tho...sammi is well off the pace after 60 mins!

Chardee MacDennis

Unearthly wrote: »

You should be a journalist with the way you twisted what he said

i dont think i twisted anything? maybe backing that up?

whatawaster

The Blackburn game is so important. Ok fixtures after that, and we MUST put a winning run together.

Blackburn (A) Draw
Fulham (H) Win
Newcastle (A) Win
Bolton (H) Win
Reading (A) Win
United (H) Draw
Portsmouth (H) Win
Derby (A) Win
Man City (A) Draw
Wigan (H) Win
Middlesbrough (A) Draw (we never win there)
Villa (H) Win
West Ham (A) Win
Sunderland (H) Win

14 More Games, 34 points would do very nicely, and I don't think it's unreasonable that we could still be unbeaten come the 9th February when we go to Stamford Bridge. I know it might seem optimistic but honestly the only games that worry me there are Blackburn and United. Inevitably we'll turn some wins into draws (Middlesbrough). But I wouldn't be surprised if, after 24 games, we had 54 points. And I guarantee that will be less than 6 points off the top. And we certainly would be in the title race. Of course we'd have trips to United, Arsenal and Chelsea to come so it would be far from easy. But all most Liverpool fans wanted this season was a title challenge. And I don't think its unreasonable to think we can challenge, though maybe fall short, come April and May.

missingtime

prendy wrote: »

badly need agger back tho...sammi is well off the pace after 60 mins!

That's why he should blood some reserve players for the Cardiff game.

Unearthly

Call_me_al wrote: »

i dont think i twisted anything? maybe backing that up?

He was quite clearly talking about the games after the Derby 6-0 win. Surely you agree that's a slump and the amount of points picked up is not impressive?

Guy:Incognito

prendy wrote: »

and weve got points off two of our 3 rivals and very unlucky not to have 4 from those games.!

Why again with the if's? The league is black and white, points win prizes. We didnt get 4 points from the games, end of.

Ruskie4Rent

While I agree its too early to rule Liverpool out, and i'm not gonna jump on the "rotation" band wagon, the thing liverpool fans should worry about is the fact that the other 3 in the big 4 are looking like far better teams at this point.

Mr Alan

Which teams, Arsenal who couldnt beat us while playing excellently at the weekend and us in bad form?

Or Chelsea who had to rely on Rob Styles to get anything at Anfield and then proceeded to celebrate as if they'd won a cup final?

The mancs who've already dropped points to City,Reading,Portsmouth?

We'll come good

Unearthly

Mr Alan wrote: »

Which teams, Arsenal who couldnt beat us while playing excellently at the weekend and us in bad form?

Or Chelsea who had to rely on Rob Styles to get anything at Anfield and then proceeded to celebrate as if they'd won a cup final?

The mancs who've already dropped points to City,Reading,Portsmouth?

We'll come good

Arsenal - As you said they looked excellent

Chelsea - Remains to be seen about Grant but recent wins(and lots of goals) shows they look a better side

Man Utd - 8 straight premiership wins and scoring plenty now


Not saying Liverpool won't come good but at this very moment, Liverpool look well off compared to the other 3

~Rebel~

Mr Alan wrote: »

Which teams, Arsenal who couldnt beat us while playing excellently at the weekend and us in bad form?

Or Chelsea who had to rely on Rob Styles to get anything at Anfield and then proceeded to celebrate as if they'd won a cup final?

The mancs who've already dropped points to City,Reading,Portsmouth?

We'll come good

The breaking down, defensive side our game is as grand as ever, with the odd brief lapse which Aggers presence should largely clear up, but the creative attacking side is still sorely lacking. i know we've had injuries with Alonso and Torres missing spells, but Yossi, Babel, Gerrard, Kuyt, Voronin, Lucas, Crouch and Pennant should have been providing more as a unit then they have. They just look awful when they try (and that when is even fairly rare) to create something. They've all provided moments, but we as a top level side with all quality players going forward, we should be doing much better as a team in this respect.

Im sure this will come, but id really prefer sooner rather then later..

Tusky

Considering the fact that we have had injuries to Carragher, Gerrard, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Kewell, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Pennant, Kuyt & Torres (thats 11 players, almost all would be 1st team players) I'm really happy with our points standing in the league. We havent been playing well but we are unbeaten, have improved on last year and have played two of the top 4.

1 Arsenal 10 6 0 0 16 4 2 2 0 6 3 15 26
2 Man Utd 11 5 1 0 12 1 3 1 1 7 3 15 26
3 Man City 11 6 0 0 10 2 1 1 3 5 11 2 22
4 Chelsea 11 3 2 0 10 2 3 1 2 6 6 8 21
5 Blackburn 10 3 1 1 8 5 3 2 0 7 4 6 21
6 Liverpool 10 1 4 0 10 4 4 1 0 7 2 11 20

We are 6 points off the top with a game in hand on everyone bar Arsenal & Blackburn. Arsenal & Utd play next week and we could potentially move up to third place with A QUATER of the season to go. Anything can happen. We will find our form. I wanted us to be challenging for the title and thats exactly what we are doing. We were in 10th place this time last year.

Some of yea need to get a grip.

~Rebel~ wrote: »

The breaking down, defensive side our game is as grand as ever, with the odd brief lapse which Aggers presence should largely clear up, but the creative attacking side is still sorely lacking. i know we've had injuries with Alonso and Torres missing spells, but Yossi, Babel, Gerrard, Kuyt, Voronin, Lucas, Crouch and Pennant should have been providing more as a unit then they have. They just look awful when they try (and that when is even fairly rare) to create something. They've all provided moments, but we as a top level side with all quality players going forward, we should be doing much better as a team in this respect.

Im sure this will come, but id really prefer sooner rather then later..

This is one criticism I will throw at Rafa and I said it during the summer when he signed Babel. Babel may turn out to be a great signing and its always good to invest in young talent BUT, we needed an established attacking winger who also carried a goal threat and could walk into the first 11. i.e not someone like Babel. For this reason we are still playing the likes of Riise on the left...which is painful to watch.

While Kuyt, Voronin & Pennant are good players, they dont offer enough of a goal threat in my opinion and I feel that we should trade up in January or next summer. I havent included Benayoun as I think he is more of a super sub.

mike65

Would'nt you be happier if the team played well though?

Mike.

PiE

Round and round we go.

PHB

Last ten league games:

Arsenal : W-D-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-D
Man Utd : D-D-L-W-W-W-W-W-W-W
Chelsea : W-W-D-W-L-D-L-D-W-W-W
Liverpool : W-D-W-W-D-D-W-D-W-D

Liverpool had a good start to the season, 3 wins and a draw(which really shoulda been victory). Since then they've had 4 draws and a win. Maybe it's a slump from the start, or maybe the start was a bit of a fluke.
United had a poor start, and have since won 7 games in a row. In the first 4 of those, they were 1-0. Now they United are scoring 4 a game with relative ease.
Arsenal have had a great start, 8 wins and 2 draws(one against a top 4 club)
Chelsea had a decent start, then a bad patch while Mouriho was getting fired, but now have won 3-0 in a row, and are looking ominous.

The thing is, I fully expect United and Chelsea to be able to put together a run because they've shown they can do it from last season. Arsenal haven't done it in a while, but now have shown that they can. Liverpool haven't done it in a while, and still haven't shown that they can. Added to the fact that they got extremely lucky against Everton and rode their luck against Arsenal suggests that they haven't found their fluidity yet. I don't think it's to do with rotation solely, I think it's more to do with style of play and lack of quality depth (or just quality) in certain areas, specifically CB, Wingers, Strikers. There's no denying that once Agger gets back, they can play most games and keep clean sheets. The question is can they score enough goals to put together a run? I just don't see where they are gona come from, and with Torres and Alonso out, it's gona be even tougher. Gerrard can't score magic every game. The wingers aren't chipping in with a huge amount of goals. The strikers are still missing so many chances its unreal.
Can Liverpool still win the league? Of course they can, despite all of the problems they've had, they are still only 3 points behind United and 6 behind Arsenal. However, if you look at their form in the last 5 games, something has to happen and it has to happen very very quickly.
Liverpool have coming up, Blackburn AWAY, Fulham HOME, Newcastle AWAY, Bolton HOME, Reading AWAY. Realistically to stay within touching distance, Liverpool need 10-12 points from those games. If they don't get that, I think they've no chance whatsoever.

There are still lots of questions to be answered though,
Next five games:
Arsenal: Man Utd, Reading, Wigan, Villa, Newcastle
United: Arsenal, Blackburn, Bolton, Fulham, Derby [pretty similar to Liverpools run]
Chelsea: Wigan, Everton, Derby, West Ham, Sunderland

Arsenal's games are including three tough away ties. They've played mostly at home this season, but away games are a different kettle of fish. If they come through these five games still ahead of United, I think they will be favorites. They might also have to deal with a defeat from United. If they lose to United, and then go on to win, I think they'll really show they are real contenders. If they go into a slump, then perhaps they don't yet have the bottle (yet being the key word, wait till another year of development :P)

United still have to show they can maintain this sort of free-scoring form. Have a big test against Arsenal coming up obviously, but with the injury to Scholes, Anderson or Carrick are really gona have to step up.

Chelsea have to show a couple of things. That they can maintain this sort of form with Grant. That Grant has the ability to motivate them to play their best in every game. That they have the ability to defend well despite shifting their balance to attack. That said, I think they look very very ominous, and I wish United were further ahead of them.

Tusky

mike65 wrote: »

Would'nt you be happier if the team played well though?

Mike.

Of course I would, I just get sick of all the doom & gloom. It's not all bad. The injuries have seriously hurt us and taking that into account, I dont think things are going too badly. I never expected us to dominate the premiership. Utd, Arsenal & Chelsea are all top teams. Its was always going to be tough.

Mr Alan

Agree 100% with Tusky. Never going to be easy, going to be highs and lows right through the season.....especially if we're gonna be up there at the end of the year

Maybe this'll cheer people up and remind em that it is VERY important for the fans to get behind the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrryWFt7SII

(PHB-you'll particularly like this )

Melion

Mr Alan wrote: »

Agree 100% with Tusky. Never going to be easy, going to be highs and lows right through the season.....especially if we're gonna be up there at the end of the year

Maybe this'll cheer people up and remind em that it is VERY important for the fans to get behind the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrryWFt7SII

(PHB-you'll particularly like this )

Great fcukin video, love the Al Pacino bits

emc2

Mr Alan wrote: »

Agree 100% with Tusky. Never going to be easy, going to be highs and lows right through the season.....especially if we're gonna be up there at the end of the year

Maybe this'll cheer people up and remind em that it is VERY important for the fans to get behind the team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrryWFt7SII

(PHB-you'll particularly like this )

CLASS

zing

Was watching a bit of LFC TV earlier and they had an interview with Rafa about the latest injuries and he said something about losing Momo before the game on Sun. Didn't quite catch exactly what he said but I don't recall seeing anything else about an injury to Momo recently ?

Nunu

On the topic of Sissoko...whats the story with him supposedly going to Juve in January?
Any of you hear this?

Tusky

Nunu wrote: »

On the topic of Sissoko...whats the story with him supposedly going to Juve in January?
Any of you hear this?

Juve made an offer of 10m for him during the summer(I thought we should have taken it). The guy they signed instead has been a flop, cant remember his name. There was quotes from him in some rag saying that he wished he had of gone during the summer...but it was the daily mail so I wouldnt read too much into it.

~Rebel~

On Sissoko, it might not actually be a bad idea to loan him out. Since he just signed a new deal, i cant see him being sold, but a loan move might help both parties. When he was bought, it was as a future buy anyway, he just broke in particularly early with his incredible stamina and has almost been a victim of his own raised levels of success. He's shown that he could be great if he could just get his passing right, and the only way that will improve is with games. Come January when/if we're injury free with Gerrard, Masch, Alonso and Lucas, i wouldn't mind lettin him off for a few months.

kryogen

a loan move would be ideal for sissoko imo, i think he needs regular fames in the first team of a good level club to improve the ball control part of his game. then again how is he actually a professional footballer when he cant pass the ball?

shotamoose

zing wrote: »

Was watching a bit of LFC TV earlier and they had an interview with Rafa about the latest injuries and he said something about losing Momo before the game on Sun. Didn't quite catch exactly what he said but I don't recall seeing anything else about an injury to Momo recently ?

Apparently Momo was a bit sick on Sunday, but isn't actually injured ...

gucci

kryogen wrote: »

. then again how is he actually a professional footballer when he cant pass the ball?

i dont think hes that bad at passing the ball, in fairness theres many "professionals" who struggle in that capacity, have you seen spurs play lately?

machiavellianme

Rafa to let God score in front of Kop. From the bbc:

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez says he would be happy to let former striker Robbie Fowler score for Cardiff when the sides meet in the Carling Cup at Anfield on Wednesday.

Benitez said: "Maybe we can leave him to score a fantastic goal in front of the Kop, but at the end of the game, if we have scored three."

PHB

Hmm, maybe if Liverpool are 3-0 up in the last couple of minutes, one of the Liverpool players might accidently give away a penalty? Then it'd be hilarious for the keeper, what does he do, stands still? What if he skied it? Jesus I'm really hoping this happens now

Jesus Wept

machiavellianme wrote: »

Rafa to let God score in front of Kop. From the bbc:

I'm sure Rafa had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

machiavellianme

Reeks of Bruce Grobbelaar tbh. I'm sure there'd be war over match fixing if it happened. Besides, God doesnt need to be LET score. He just wills it so and it happens.

Jesus Wept

machiavellianme wrote: »

Reeks of Bruce Grobbelaar tbh. I'm sure there'd be war over match fixing if it happened. Besides, God doesnt need to be LET score. He just wills it so and it happens.

:rolleyes:

zing

It'll most likely be Itandje in goal tonight - based on his last performance I doubt if Robbie will be worried by him.

Ideal result for tonight is 4-3 with a Fowler hattrick

Sizzler

Allegedly.

http://www.awimb.com/fudforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=922&rid=0&S=0e4f1282ed4fb0d1c4786b24950ac5d7

Ardent

Sizzler wrote: »

Allegedly.

http://www.awimb.com/fudforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=922&rid=0&S=0e4f1282ed4fb0d1c4786b24950ac5d7

What, blank page??

Edit: it doesn't show up in Firefox, fine in IE.

There's no way he's getting paid £82k a week after tax, that's just crazy for for a player of his limited ability! No wonder we needed investment...

Guy:Incognito

It's already been posted a couple of pages back anyway.

Jesus Wept

Mocking up a payslip is no difficult thing.

~Rebel~

i was wondering if its a monthly payslip maybe? either that or fake as he obviously doesn't make that per week.

either way, who cares? footballers are rich, we already knew this. dont need some fella stealing riise's post to tell us..

machiavellianme

Look at the filthy hands on the guy in the second picture! Did he root through Riise's bin for that?

zing

FYI - tonights game is being broadcast at midnight on lfc.tv - shame it's not live anywhere.

Surprised those clubs with their own tv stations haven't started to retain rights for themselves to those games that are not otherwise being televised - i.e. Have the FA/whoever sold the rights to the game ? No ? Then we'll be showing it ourselves..

zing

Looks like that payslip could be genuine
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=club-calls-foul-over-john-arne-riise-wage-slip-email%26method=full%26objectid=20039041%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

redspider

raven136 wrote: »

can i just ask the pessimists out there(redspider in partuicular)if we had held out on sunday what would you have said?is the league table going to be reviewed and our title cahnces talked about after game.

Sometimes i understand why other fans hate us and our attitude.getting a bit disillusioned with the rafa hasnt a clue brigade.

I am not a pessimist, I am trying to be a realist. From the games such as Marseille, Besiktas and the Arsenal game, Liverpool have problems. There are good players in the team/squad (first-20?), but many are new and they haven't all gelled together. I wouldnt have expected them to either. But in terms of Rafa amd the Owners, if every year is a rebuilding year, then it is nigh on impossible to win the league. Its not the right type of system. Getting Zenden, getting rid of Zenden, getting Bellamy, gettiong rid of Bellamy, getting Gonzalez, getting rid of Gonzalez, getting Kormkamp, getting rid of Kromkamp. Getting Garcia, Morientes, getting rid of them, etc, etc, etc. Never mind about the weekly rotation/selection process, the squad is rotating in terms of who is in it as well.

IF Liverpool would have beaten Arsenal, and held out as it were, I dont think it would have been a fantastic win to savour. And for me at any rate, the league prognosis would be the same, and that is, in my view, if we continue playing like we have done so far, that we wont win the league. Things may change, who knows, but it would surprise me, and I think it would surprise the vast majority of the fans.

As players, and manager and staff, and the owners, of course the club continues to give its all and try and win it. But I would think that in the quieter moments in Carra's mind, Gerrard's mind, and Rafa's mind, when they are staring into a book over a coffee, that their inner thoughts are that they wont win the league this year. Of course they wont give up, and perhaps some of them havent had that quiet moment to reflect. They've also been here before and know that they most keep going if the others do slip up. Its far too soon to give up the chase. But, the reality is that we are behind and are more likely to stay behind than catch-up. That's the reality.

Redspider

zing

A little more on the new stadium...

Pitch to be sunk 26 ft into the ground to accomodate the new kop

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=liverpool-fc-s-blueprint-for-the-future-the-60-000-seat-new-anfield-stadium-plan%26method=full%26objectid=20039219%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

spockety

redspider wrote: »

I am not a pessimist, I am trying to be a realist.

I'm sorry, but you absolutely ARE being a pessimist. If you were a realist, you would look at the REALITY of the situation. That reality is that Liverpool are still in the top pack looking for league glory, despite playing bad, and missing key players through injury.

What the hell does that mean for our chances when form turns good and a full squad is available for selection??

Tusky

spockety wrote: »

I'm sorry, but you absolutely ARE being a pessimist. If you were a realist, you would look at the REALITY of the situation. That reality is that Liverpool are still in the top pack looking for league glory, despite playing bad, and missing key players through injury.

What the hell does that mean for our chances when form turns good and a full squad is available for selection??

Exactly, the fact that we are 6 points off the top and potentially 3 points off Utd having played badly for well over a month with key players missing is a cause for optimism in my opinion.

missingtime

Tusky wrote: »

Exactly, the fact that we are 6 points off the top and potentially 3 points off Utd having played badly for well over a month with key players missing is a cause for optimism in my opinion.

But you can understand why some of us are disappointed at our performances especially when we have the players that should beat these sides.