Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009

Blackhorse Slim

I did get a sense of 'deja vu' reading it. But I'm clutching at straws here...

missingtime

More talk on the bbc gossip pages bout downing and miller.
Depressing stuff really..i could see downing just being another pennant.

IrishMike

Blackhorse Slim wrote: »

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=liverpool-offer-163-9m-for-espanyol-winger-albert-riera%26method=full%26objectid=21049032%26siteid=50061-name_page.htmlhttp://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=liverpool-offer-163-9m-for-espanyol-winger-albert-riera%26method=full%26objectid=21049032%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

He's go to be a better option than Downing or Milner

No he really isnt.
The 3 of them are average players at best.
They are not better than pennant, kuyt or babel.
Have no clue why we are being linked to them
Was watching Pirlo last night for Italy, the guy is amazing.
Why not spend an extra £5m and get Pirlo instead of Barry?
If he was available im sure £20m would turn Milans head, plus the fact that
they are not in the CL might sway him to move.
He is in the top 3 CM in the world, pure class.

Mr Alan

IrishMike wrote: »

No he really isnt.
The 3 of them are average players at best.
They are not better than pennant, kuyt or babel.
Have no clue why we are being linked to them
Was watching Pirlo last night for Italy, the guy is amazing.
Why not spend an extra £5m and get Pirlo instead of Barry?
If he was available im sure £20m would turn Milans head, plus the fact that
they are not in the CL might sway him to move.
He is in the top 3 CM in the world, pure class.

are you smoking crack?

The G Child

Downing really wouldn't be a bad signing. He's quick (unlike Kuyt), can cross a ball (unlike babel) and score goals (unlike Pennant). I think he could be ok.

Riera was rubbish for Man City but has since forced his way into the Spain squad. Wouldn't take the risk on a player who has already struggled in the Prem though.

Milner is a poor mans David Bentley. He can't get into the Newcastle team, so really shouldn't even be on the radar for us. Sepps 6+5 rule must have Rafa rattled if this is the type of player we're after.

We would never get Pirlo. He is a great player but Milan wouldn't sell him. £20m for a 30 year old is a bit steep.

zing

And another journo in the same paper saying we've looked at Riera but not planning to make a move anytime soon

Espanyol winger Albert Riera is also a player Liverpool have looked at, but the Reds are not anticipating any imminent offer for his services.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/06/10/benitez-i-am-here-for-good-100252-21049625/

Tusky

The G Child wrote: »

Downing really wouldn't be a bad signing. He's quick (unlike Kuyt), can cross a ball (unlike babel) and score goals (unlike Pennant). I think he could be ok.

Riera was rubbish for Man City but has since forced his way into the Spain squad. Wouldn't take the risk on a player who has already struggled in the Prem though.

Milner is a poor mans David Bentley. He can't get into the Newcastle team, so really shouldn't even be on the radar for us. Sepps 6+5 rule must have Rafa rattled if this is the type of player we're after.

We would never get Pirlo. He is a great player but Milan wouldn't sell him. £20m for a 30 year old is a bit steep.

Yeah but should we be aiming at players that 'wouldnt be bad signings' or should be aiming for players that would be cracking signings ?

I will lose a hell of a lot of faith in Rafa if he gets it wrong this transfer window.

mike65

I think the headline story is rather more important!

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

The G Child wrote: »

Downing really wouldn't be a bad signing. He's quick (unlike Kuyt), can cross a ball (unlike babel) and score goals (unlike Pennant). I think he could be ok.

Riera was rubbish for Man City but has since forced his way into the Spain squad. Wouldn't take the risk on a player who has already struggled in the Prem though.

Riera hasnt really since he didnt make the EC 23.

Capello talks about Downing in this interview at about 6mins in, he seems quite impressed with his mentality. I would prefer Downing to Bentley, Milner or Riera most definitely.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7444593.stm

Mr Alan

Both Downing and Milner have the ability to be cracking signings imo.

People expecting us to buy only established world beaters is such ****e, its just not going to happen, we dont have the money.

wat we do have is an excellent manager, and an excellent spine to our team with some young exciting players at the club. we dont need to sign Villa/Eto'o/Silva/Ronaldinho etc in order to improve, just carry on the work already going on at the club and make a couple of the right additions.

Mr Alan

mike65 wrote: »

I think the headline story is rather more important!

Mike.

Amen to that Mike

redspider

One interesting thing from last night's game between Holland and Italy, and that was the use of and the performance of Kuyt.

It can be seen as a compliment to Rafa and to Liverpool that Van Basten used a 4-2-3-1 system, and used Kuyt in the wide right position of the 3 and also tasked him (or he naturally takes it upon himself) to harry up and down the pitch. As I've said before, he's one of the best defending wide-right attacking midfielders going!

He's still not a brilliant finisher ala Torres, nor will he ever be. For example, he didnt get his one-on-one chance past Buffon, but he did have the never-say-die pig-headedness work attitude to run after it and then get it into an unmarked Van Bronckhorst. Thats something that you wouldnt see Anelka doing for example. Kuyt just runs and runs and harries. He's not the fastest in the world but he keeps going.

Torres will be on later, it will be interesting to see how he and the rest of the spanish team perform.

Redspider

The G Child

Riera didn't make the EC squad, but he did break into theie team last season. Point being that he might not be as bad as his Man City days showed. But would we be willing to risk close to £10m of cash that we're struggling for on him.

"Yeah but should we be aiming at players that 'wouldnt be bad signings' or should be aiming for players that would be cracking signings ?

I will lose a hell of a lot of faith in Rafa if he gets it wrong this transfer window. "

The fact is we don't have the money to buy the top players. What we need is to get good players around our already great players.

spockety

Tusky wrote: »

Yeah but should we be aiming at players that 'wouldnt be bad signings' or should be aiming for players that would be cracking signings ?

I will lose a hell of a lot of faith in Rafa if he gets it wrong this transfer window.

Even if he's not given the money he needs to buy his dream signings?

~Rebel~

Id give Riera a bit of a break. Would prefer better, but judging him by what happened at City is harsh. Its not like he was great before he went there or anything. He did poorly in spain, went on loan to city, but wasn't great still. Then after a while, he picked up and became very good in Spain. Harsh to say he'd still be poor in england. He's moved on and improved as a player, and this should be taken into account.

gucci

IrishMike wrote: »

Was watching Pirlo last night for Italy, the guy is amazing.
Why not spend an extra £5m and get Pirlo instead of Barry?
If he was available im sure £20m would turn Milans head, plus the fact that
they are not in the CL might sway him to move.
He is in the top 3 CM in the world, pure class.

I thought that Pirlo was really disappointing last night. True, he is a great player etc, but last night he took the easy option of chipping the ball up to Toni too often, and too often he left him with way too much to do. I know this was alot to do with the way italy were set up, in that all that was generally ever ahead of him was Toni, but i felt he should have taken his time a bit more often and draw in some of the other players (like the Pirlo of old)
In saying that his free kick at the end nearly caught out Van De Sarr....would have been a beauty!

dardoz

Tusky wrote: »

Yeah but should we be aiming at players that 'wouldnt be bad signings' or should be aiming for players that would be cracking signings ?

I will lose a hell of a lot of faith in Rafa if he gets it wrong this transfer window.

Buy them with what? Monopoly money?

The G Child

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Id give Riera a bit of a break. Would prefer better, but judging him by what happened at City is harsh. Its not like he was great before he went there or anything. He did poorly in spain, went on loan to city, but wasn't great still. Then after a while, he picked up and became very good in Spain. Harsh to say he'd still be poor in england. He's moved on and improved as a player, and this should be taken into account.

I just think, IMHO, that for the money on offer it represents a gamble. He was bad with City but good for Espanyol. Maybe he just doesn't have what it takes to cut it in England and his style suits la Liga. Similar situation to Mark Gonzalez, but for a lot more money.

monkey9

Rafa still happy enough according to the echo, despite funds still being low


"I said at the end of the season I was very happy here and I will say it again," Benitez told the Echo. "The supporters have been absolutely magnificent with me and the staff are working very hard.

"I would not have brought players like Fernando Torres and the young players we have here if I did not have a long term vision for the club. Now is not the time to be saying goodbye!

"Fernando's agent has asked about my Liverpool future and my answer is that I am 100 per cent committed."

Benitez is intent on tinkering with his squad during the close season with Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry understood to be high on his list of targets.

"If we had a lot of money to spend it would obviously be better," he said. "But if we don't it doesn't matter.

"It is not about buying the most expensive players, it is about buying the right ones.

"We have the spine of the team and we can sell some players to get the others we need."

Mr Alan

we are so skint ****ing yanks

monkey9

redspider wrote: »

One interesting thing from last night's game between Holland and Italy, and that was the use of and the performance of Kuyt.

It can be seen as a compliment to Rafa and to Liverpool that Van Basten used a 4-2-3-1 system, and used Kuyt in the wide right position of the 3 and also tasked him (or he naturally takes it upon himself) to harry up and down the pitch. As I've said before, he's one of the best defending wide-right attacking midfielders going!

He's still not a brilliant finisher ala Torres, nor will he ever be. For example, he didnt get his one-on-one chance past Buffon, but he did have the never-say-die pig-headedness work attitude to run after it and then get it into an unmarked Van Bronckhorst. Thats something that you wouldnt see Anelka doing for example. Kuyt just runs and runs and harries. He's not the fastest in the world but he keeps going.

Torres will be on later, it will be interesting to see how he and the rest of the spanish team perform.

Redspider

I concur, Thought he played really well last night. Everyone is going on about a need to buy a right sided player, but Kuyt is a brilliant squad player for that position. I've said before, he could be the new Ray Kennedy, striker turned wideman, albeit on the right as opposed to Kennedy's left. I'm not saying that Kuyt is the absolute answer for there, but a really good squad member.
He seems to be really getting into that role now the more he plays and last night just seemed really confident and looked as if he was enjoying playing there

mike65

redspider wrote: »

Thats something that you wouldnt see Anelka doing for example. Kuyt just runs and runs and harries.

Anelka, being French waits for the ball to come to him. I have to say Kuyt was exellent and should have cemented his starting place. Le Sulk on the other hand is a player I'm now glad we missed out on in January.

Mike.

IrishMike

Mr Alan wrote: »

are you smoking crack?

I bloody wish!

gucci wrote: »

I thought that Pirlo was really disappointing last night. True, he is a great player etc, but last night he took the easy option of chipping the ball up to Toni too often, and too often he left him with way too much to do. I know this was alot to do with the way italy were set up, in that all that was generally ever ahead of him was Toni, but i felt he should have taken his time a bit more often and draw in some of the other players (like the Pirlo of old)
In saying that his free kick at the end nearly caught out Van De Sarr....would have been a beauty!

Thought Pirlo was the only Italian to perform last night.
Gattuso was pretty ****e and so it was left to Pirlo to literally run beside the
central defenders, demand the ball off of them and try and start an attack
all by himself as he has literally nothing in front of him, be it strikers or wingers.
Why on earth De Natale is starting ahead of Del Piero ill never know.
Pirlo was very very good in a shocking team last night.
He looked like Alonso at the height of his powers.
And as for £20m being a lot for a 30 year old, we are about to sell Alonso for
£15m and £5m for Riise. We already have Riises replacement and it
doesnt seem we are breaking the bank for any other positions so id imagine
that Crouch and Pennants fees will cover those positions so why not Pirlo?

Mr Alan

cause he is too old, and i thought he was average at best last night!

BolBill

I agree, hes too old.

Good player but would get kicked out of it in England, like Yossi

The G Child

Pirlo is a quality player and I agree, he was doing all the work, from getting the ball from the defence to trying to cut open the Dutch defence. I just think £20m for a player of 30 is a non runner for us. I think the biggest "star" we're gonna get this summer is Barry.

Boggles

Pirlo is just gone 29, has won everything and is one of the top players in the world. Judging him and writing him off on last nights match is farcical, Milan have had a crap season but they have there own problems and certainly wasn't all down to him.

That said Liverpool have as much chance of getting Ronaldo than they do have getting Pirlo, he is a midfielder at his peak. Zidane was 29 when he moved to Madrid busting the world transfer record, so to suggest Pirlo is too old is nonsense.

20 million for Pirlo - Hilarious!!! :D

colly10

I wish we had the money to buy a few players so we could really challange this year
I just can't see it happening without a few top class additions. It's annoying because I think that on paper, last season was the closest we've been for a long time, another big push in the transfer market could be enough

Daemonic

monkey9 wrote: »

"If we had a lot of money to spend it would obviously be better," he said. "But if we don't it doesn't matter."

It could be Rafa's english or the translation if it was originally in Spanish but that sounds to me like he still doesn't know what his budget is

Boggles

Daemonic wrote: »

It could be Rafa's english or the translation if it was originally in Spanish but that sounds to me like he still doesn't know what his budget is

I'm sure Rafa is well aware that if he wants players he has to sell, he has already spent 7 million already alot of money for a club with none. Rafa does sign some dodgy players but he does have a knack of recouping money in the transfer market and is quite good at the wheeling and dealing.

He has already made 50% back on the original price he payed for Carson.

colly10

Daemonic wrote: »

It could be Rafa's english or the translation if it was originally in Spanish but that sounds to me like he still doesn't know what his budget is

Yes it looks like he doesn't. If you read it assuming he does then the 2 sentences conflict, if you read it assuming he doesn't then the sentences don't.

For me that would be a good thing, id rather he didn't know yet than him already knowing and it be bad

sorry...having a problem getting the thoughts in my head written down today

missingtime

Torres playing out of his skin! Got an assist-could have 2 goals.
Linking up well with villa. Please someone buy him for us!

MementoMori

Torres and Villa linking up beautifully so far

Torres set up Villa for the goal and murdering his marker at the mo.

Just thinking re possible signing Villa - what's the likelihood of Rafa bidding 3 to 4 times what he offered for a player not too long ago.

missingtime

Just thinking re possible signing Villa - what's the likelihood of Rafa bidding 3 to 4 times what he offered for a player not too long ago.

According to some on here there isn't a hope of us signing him. Silva is playing well too-cropping up all over the place.
Also villa has said he would like to play for arsenal so thats a worry and if silva performs well he'l be bought up too.
Another goal for villa...

Melion

I want him please

mike65

A triangle of lust Gerrard-Torres-Villa.

They'll be fights in the dressing room!

Mike.

missingtime

Anyone see the nike torres ad on there.
It had the torres song in spanish. Quality

Melion

mike65 wrote: »

A triangle of lust Gerrard-Torres-Villa.

They'll be fights in the dressing room!

Mike.

.....Torres..Villa......

Babel..Masch..Gerrard..Silva

Please Rafa

Kimbot

mike65 wrote: »

A triangle of lust Gerrard-Torres-Villa.

They'll be fights in the dressing room!

Mike.

There will be fights on boards, Mr. ALan and a few other will be all killing each other for first dibs on them all. As far as I rmember Alan currently has first dibs on Torres' bum!!

Tusky

Benitez on transfers

“If we had a lot of money to spend it would obviously be better. But if we don’t it doesn’t matter.

“It is not about buying the most expensive players, it is about buying the right players and we can sell some players to get the others we need.

“We have the spine of the team and we just need others in other positions.

“Some teams around us are spending £20m and £30m on one or two players. But the important thing is to get the right players and my staff are working hard to do that.”

Definitely no Villa or Silva then.

zing

missingtime wrote: »

Also villa has said he would like to play for arsenal so thats a worry

Not quite - iirc he said he liked the way Arsenal play - not that he wanted to play for them. Either way it doesn't look like we're in for him :mad::(:mad:

Melion

jonny24ie wrote: »

There will be fights on boards, Mr. ALan and a few other will be all killing each other for first dibs on them all. As far as I rmember Alan currently has first dibs on Torres' bum!!

I'll have Villa then. Poor Stevie is getting thrown to the side

Kimbot

Melion wrote: »

I'll have Villa then. Poor Stevie is getting thrown to the side

haha... thats right you and Alan were sharing weren't you?? How did that work out??

Melion

jonny24ie wrote: »

haha... thats right you and Alan were sharing weren't you?? How did that work out??

Not too well for me or Alan but it certainly worked for Nando, just look at all the goals he scored after relations with us. Now Villa will be in line for the same treatment

Kimbot

Melion wrote: »

Not too well for me or Alan but it certainly worked for Nando, just look at all the goals he scored after relations with us. Now Villa will be in line for the same treatment

Well can I ask you 2 to date/r@pe the following for next season please??

Kuyt
Pennant
Riise
Yossi
Babel


If you do and they all score like Torres did then we have won the league!!

kmart6

Torres vid for all you lovers out there:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdy8qtAkrZM

Kimbot

kmart6 wrote: »

Torres vid for all you lovers out there:D

Posted a few times already mate. Also didn't need to create a new thread either did you??

mike65

Outrageous! :mad:

Mike.

kmart6

jonny24ie wrote: »

Posted a few times already mate. Also didn't need to create a new thread either did you??

It had act been posted once in the Euro thread,which as I said in the thread is it was being talked about at the time I went looking for it!

kmart6

mike65 wrote: »

Outrageous! :mad:

Mike.

No need to keep him on anymore Mike!