Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

el rabitos

mayordenis wrote:

any chance of kewell appearing tomorrow those anybody know?

he's out for a few more days because of a slight tear in some muscle. must look like freddy krugars gone to work on his muscles and ligaments at this stage.

zAbbo

A big one today, hopefully the pre-match entertainment ends in a Citeh win as well.

mike65

Good story in the Sunday Times about Fergie trying to sell Heinze for less than 6.8 million to one of the big Spanish clubs.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article2285281.ece

Mike.

machiavellianme

The BBC claim Shorey has fallen out with Reading. I wonder if he'd be worth a shot at Liverpool? He offers a lot more at left back than someone like Riise and he's free kicks dont end in Row Z quite as often. I'd much rather someone like him than Heinze as he's got a good few years of playing in him still and could only improve in a partnership with Finnan, Agger and Carra.

evil_seed

the team
Reina, Finnan, Agger, Riise, Gerrard, Torres, Alonso, Pennant, Arbeloa, Kuyt, Carragher. Subs - Itandje, Hyypia, Crouch, Babel, Mascherano.

Davei141

No benayoun in the squad again?...

Brando_ie

Anyone see the Rafa interview on SS1 between the two matches. It opened with the reporter asking him what he thought of the United result and Rafa's smile spoke volumes, it was almost and out and out laugh and i PMSL.... classic

mike65

Feck it! I was having lunch and ManCity/Man Utd round my sisters so forgot to Fantasy rafa!

Still looks like a solid 4-4-2 with exellent bench options.

Mike.

Brando_ie

What a peach from Torres!!!

RE*AC*TOR

Pennant needs his head checked, getting booked like that for mouthing off.

dardoz

machiavellianme wrote:

The BBC claim Shorey has fallen out with Reading. I wonder if he'd be worth a shot at Liverpool? He offers a lot more at left back than someone like Riise and he's free kicks dont end in Row Z quite as often. I'd much rather someone like him than Heinze as he's got a good few years of playing in him still and could only improve in a partnership with Finnan, Agger and Carra.

you got a link for that? ...I have him in my fantasy team

mike65

Masch coming on soon.

Mike.

Daemonic

I hope so, we're not dealing with their midfield very well.

Davei141

shocking decision..............

mike65

Feck peno for Chelsea. The fivelive team are sighing loudly....

Oh well.

Mike.

Mitch Connor

initially thought is was a peno, regardless of not being near the ball, but a shocking decision when i saw the replay.

RE*AC*TOR

Well that's one of the silliest penalty decisions i've ever seen, and the ref was mere yards away.

Back to square one, undeservedly.

Erin Go Brath

In no way was that a penalty. Shocker by Rob Styles.

swalsh

cannot believe that peno decision, poor

swalsh

here comes babel

Daemonic

Babel getting final instructions before coming on. Pennant off.

p.pete

ref seems to be losing control - hopefully he gives an arbitrary penalty to liverpool soon. Or maybe we get ahead off our own back again...

evil_seed

how in the name of jesus h christ was that a peno? even andy fcukin gray agrees it's not and he hates the pool

AdrianII

joke of a decision


maludo the cheat jumped into finnan

absolute joke

the difference between 1 and 3 points could mean alot in may

im fuming

p.pete

need to bring on crouch n/r masch soon..

AdrianII

well done rob styles

englands finest referee - what a joke

Chucky the tree

thats it lads, pass the ball around in the dying seconds.


Well done, good thinking.

Daemonic

A decent draw, although it feels like a loss thanks to that penalty decision. Biggest plus was Torres getting the goal.

AdrianII

it wasnt a decent draw

were at home, we need to win all our home games
we were the better team and because of a cheat we lost 2 points,

ill say this malouda is suited at chelsea, himself drogra and robben can compare notes on how to shaft other teams

Mr Alan

wat the ****? Styles shouldn't be allowed ref

Dub13

I hope there are some ramifications for Styles after this performance.I hope these two points dropped don't come back to haunt us.

~Rebel~

After watching it a few times, im not even sure Malouda was being a diving prick, as it would have been the worst dive ever with the ball nowhere near, I think he was actually genuinely trying to jump out of the path of the ball to let it run for Drogba on the far side of the box, and in the meantime stop Finnan (i think) getting a touch on it. Noone seemed to be looking for the pen or anything. I actually wouldnt really blame Malouda for this one, it wasn't stiles falling for a dive, it was just Stiles being an idiot and making a decision where none existed to be made.

Says it all that he refused the interview after the match. Didn't have the balls to come on, face the music, and admit he'd made a clanger.

RE*AC*TOR

Positives from the game:

Good performances from Riise and Pennant (that were needed from them)
Great goal and overall play from Torres
Outplayed Chelsea consistently over 90 mins
Arbeloa growing in stature as left-back
Babel looked dangerous when he came on - absolute rocket of a shot

Roll on Sunderland.

mike65

I agree, Malouda left the ball for Drogba and was avoiding Finnan as much as Finnan was avoiding him.

Styles has a history....

The next two games are against Sunderland and Derby they have to be treated and seek and destroy missions.

Mike.

el rabitos

there was everthing on display in the match today to show that pool could win the title this year. but that was one display, and we already knew on any 1 day pool could beat any of the other top 4.

i think sunderland will be a big test for pool because of their style, they'll make it very physical and difficult to score and they'll keep on fighting till the end. the kinda team pool have dropped points to consistantly for years.

if pool can show their class and give them a thumping, then i think it will say alot more about how the team is progressing than a victory against chelsea.

today we were robbed

The Rooster

I thought Riise should have done a whole lot better with the amount of ball he got. Created nothing, and thats why Rafa took him off.

But overall our eleven was far better than Chelsea's so disappointing that again we only managed 3 shots on target. Positive is our back 4 were very comfortable.

Never seen Rafa so upset. Hopefully the sense of injustice will bind the team together and make sure there'll be no slip-ups in the upcoming "easy on paper" games. We really should go and win 6 in a row now.

Hopefully it'll be Torres and Voronin up front v Sunderland, then Kuyt and Crouch v Toulouse.

I really really hate it when I see Gerrard charging over and demanding to take corners. Inexplicable that Rafa hasnt copped the stupidity of it. One of our best headers of the ball and the best man to lash home a loose ball. And pretty much every player we have is capable of hitting a decent corner.

mike65

Babal has to start games if Kewell is'nt ready, Riise is increasingly looking surplus unless there's an injury crisis.

Mike.

Jazzy

Alonso should take the corners imo.

I think we played very well. I havent seen a more commanding performance against one of the top 4 in a while (maybe since we beat chelski 2-0 last season). We look like a very solid operation. tough at the back, creative in the midfield and alot of pace up front.
I think Babel needs to get more games in. I want to see him start against sunderland and toulose.
arbeloa is looking quite good. Im really liking him. Chelski dont look as good as they were last season imo, same with utd and arsenal so far. this means that pool, who seem to be in good form (would have beaten chelski but rob styles was playing his own match) and we have been solid in our other 2 matches.
We need to crank up the gears already imo. sign a defender, maybe look for a right sided player too and really go out and express ourselves against Sunderland and the likes.

Raskolnikov

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Good performances from Riise and Pennant (that were needed from them)

I thought Riise was poor.

Mr Alan

Pennant was a real plus today, think he has proven a lot of people wrong (myself included) he has been impressive for at least the last 6 months
As was said before, we outplayed a pretty much full strenght Chelsea for the guts of 90 minutes today. Gerrard was great. Alonso looks a little too casual on the ball at times. Riise was Riise. Babel looked good the short time he was on, seems to have a wicked shot on him. Carra and Agger are as good as any back two in the League. Arbeloa is turning into a much better player than he thought he would, looking excellent. Reina looks supremely confident. Finnan is always excellent. Torres took his goal like the world class player we all want him to be. Kuyts touch was a little rough i thought, but it usually is! his work rate was incredible as usual. Think anyone who writes us off as title contenders is a fool.

Players who didnt start today: Crouch, voronin, Benayoun, Babel, Mascherano, Aurelio, Hypia, Lucas, Leto.

Feel good about this season.

did anyone else think that Rafa sounded like Al Pacino in Carlitos Way in his after match interview? or was that just me?!?!

Kanney

First of all, peno obivously a joke. But thats all I'll say.

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Positives from the game:

Good performances from Riise and Pennant (that were needed from them)
Great goal and overall play from Torres
Outplayed Chelsea consistently over 90 mins
Arbeloa growing in stature as left-back
Babel looked dangerous when he came on - absolute rocket of a shot

Roll on Sunderland.

Exactly Reactor. Riise seemed eager in the first half and had chances, poor first touch in first attack, otherwise a goal. Pennant did well to set him up for the volley in second half, adding to my belief that Pennant is going to be a great asset this summer.
Torres, scoring a typical Henry type goal, pace, stop then beat the defender and a clinical finish, has my excitment through the roof at us finally with a striker of great promise.
Outplayed cheski? No doubt, we had them the whole game. Some chances we should've finished, but again luck wasn't on our side with the terrible officiating.
Arbeloa i was wary off first time after a average game at Villa but didnt play very well, defensively as well as getting forward.
Babel is going to one of the signings of the decade for Liverpool I feel, he can shoot from anywhere, and any time he gets the ball he runs at the defence.
I'm thinking that Benitez ,might play babel behind Torres and Kuyt for the SundIreland game, because isn't Stevie rested? It would put Babel in great positions for his first goal.
Thank you, good night

Mr Alan

Essien was definately booked twice.

Styles shouldn't ref in the premiership again, simple as

RE*AC*TOR

Some people saying Riise was poor. I thought he had a good game for the type of player he is. On another day, one of his chances would have gone in.

Players I didn't think were as good as I would have liked:
Alonso, composed most of the time, but caught in possession once or twice and passing wasn't as good as his reputation would suggest.
Kuyt, sure he works hard, but at some stage there needs to be end product.

We shouldn't focus on Styles. Instead, Liverpool actually look like potential challengers for the title.

DSB

Genuinely don't mean to rile people up, but do people not feel a bit hypocritical in complaining about refereeing decisions costing you games when last week you got your winner from a freekick that was more than a bit questionable. Anyway my point isn't to criticise, just to point out that people need to take things as they come. Especially after last week.

~Rebel~

Theres a very very large obvious difference.

Last weeks was a close call foul outfield. It was tough for a ref to make, there was a slight touch on the ball meaning the contact shouldnt have been a foul. Those types of decisions need to be made, and will be gotten wrong all over the park every single week. Noone could really blame the ref for it.

Today however was totally different. There was no challenge from anyone, and the ball wasn't even involved. Noone was looking for a penalty, noone tackled, noone dived, there was no difficult to see contact or anything. The ref somehow gave a penalty where noone else in the stadium/on the planet thought one was due. Noone tried to fool the ref, he just fooled himself. Situations this would remind me of are the phantom hand ball for reina against chelsea in the past from a normal kickout, or the incident where the ball was a meter behind the goal for spurs against utd. Just insane decisions that change games and should never ever be gotten wrong as they're so glaringly obvious.

A ref couldnt get into trouble for last weeks, whereas this weeks is such a glaring error as to possibly deserve a suspension or a league demotion or something. especially when coupled with him raising the yellow for Terry and then a min later raising it, apparantly for terry again, when terry isn't in sight and essien appears to be the recipient. Just a crazy crazy reffing performance.

Kimbot

The ref was wrong and should be punished for it, at the end of the day lets say LFC got 2nd by a margin of 1 point in the difference then those 2 points would have won the league!!
When I saw the incident I cringed when I found out a peno was given, it was a shocker to give!!

DSB

jonny24ie wrote:

at the end of the day lets say LFC got 2nd by a margin of 1 point in the difference then those 2 points would have won the league!!

The same could be said for the dodgy free kick last week though.

Kimbot

DSB wrote:

The same could be said for the dodgy free kick last week though.

Yes but as stated above last week it was not a straight forward cockup it was something that anyone of us could have gotten wrong!!
The ref has to be 100% positive to give a penalty yet looking at that if I was the ref I would have just left it be cos there was nothing wrong with it!!

DSB

jonny24ie wrote:

Yes but as stated above last week it was not a straight forward cockup it was something that anyone of us could have gotten wrong!!
The ref has to be 100% positive to give a penalty yet looking at that if I was the ref I would have just left it be cos there was nothing wrong with it!!

I understand the refereeing was worse this week than last. Just pointing out that its a little bit hypocritical going on about how the points could come back to haunt Liverpool when they got away with one last week. Take the good with the bad like.

Mr Alan

its not hypocritical at all.

it'd be hypocritical to complain about the awarding of a free kick from 30 yards out or something similar. Not for having an imaginary penalty given against us and a player not sent off who should have been.

If Styles worked in any other job, he get sacked. But because he is a ref, there'll be nothing done.