Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

shotamoose

Lovely goal by Alonso! We'd better not sell him.

mayordenis

what happened?

edit: answered

copacetic

mayordenis wrote: »

what happened?

edit: answered

yossi beat two in centre midfield, wide to kuyt, couple of one twos around the box, layed off to keane who flicked it to Alonso for a curling right footed 23 yarder across keeper to far corner.

Karmafaerie

Good finish.
Thought Yossi had fluffed the chance, with the delayed pass to Alvaro.

Karmafaerie

Gerrard off?!

Hope it's only a precaution.


Spearing on.

copacetic

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Gerrard off?!

Hope it's only a precaution.


Spearing on.

he signalled to come off in a hurry and didn't run at all after. looks like a week or two at least imo.

Karmafaerie

copacetic wrote: »

he signalled to come off in a hurry and didn't run at all after. looks like a week or two at least imo.

He did have a slight groin starin at the start of pre-season.
Hopefully it's just that.

jesus_thats_gre

Dossena have been very impressive. Extremely comfortable in possession and no hoofing it.

Chardee MacDennis

dossena seems a very tidy player although he is very hesitant to cross with his right foot...

Karmafaerie

Almost an own goal!

Off the post. Nearly two-nil.

Karmafaerie

1-1

Karmafaerie

1-2

Torres as always!

Great composure.

The Rooster

Sami not to clever for the equaliser. Not sure about the rest of the defence.

Oh nice finish by Torres

Karmafaerie

1-3

Great finish by Yossi.

Daemonic

Classssssssssssy goal

mike65

Good to see Yossi is still crap!

Mike.

Karmafaerie

mike65 wrote: »

Good to see Yossi is still crap!

Mike.

Yeah, we should sell him off for the £4,000,000 or so we bought him for!;)

The Rooster

Didnt realise Yossi had the oul shin-lob in his locker...

rosboy

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Yeah, we should sell him off for the £4,000,000 or so we bought him for!;)

And couldn't be disappointed by it;)

Karmafaerie

"Ngog...n...n...Ngog"

rosboy

Same four scorers as against Rangers?

mike65

Ya mean Keane is still a Duck?????????? Ngog is in fact our new super striker! Sack Rafa! :pac:

Mike

rosboy

mike65 wrote: »

Ya mean Keane is still a Duck?????????? Ngog is in fact our new super striker! Sack Rafa! :pac:

Mike

Or give him a medal....a superstriker for £1.5m:D

Guy:Incognito

As we all know. New strikers that impress in pre season are a shoe in for the golden boot. **cough** Voronin **cough**

mike65

That was going to be my other quip but I thought I'd just sack Rafa!

I did not actually watch the match cos I had a small fortune riding on the result and cannot watch games that I bet serious money on. So were we any good and did the youngsters get much time?

Oh yes Rangers did not get any better since Saturday and are out of Europe. (and I win another bet!)

Mike.

Malice

Another good win although the quality of the opposition is debatable again just like the Rangers match. From what I saw it looked as if Keane's trying to hard to score, unlike N'Gog who seems to have really hit the ground running .

Cracking goals from Alonso and Benayoun.

copacetic

Agreed, Keane is snatching at the chances at the moment to try and get off the mark. It'll come, he could have easily had 3 today and played an amazing pass that Yossi should have scored off but chickened out of challenging keeper. With Yossi, Torres and Keane on the pitch it really looked like you could open up sides much easier than before.

MementoMori

Stekelly wrote: »

As we all know. New strikers that impress in pre season are a shoe in for the golden boot. **cough** Voronin **cough**

Wash your mouth out :eek:

In fairness the boy Ngog contibued to impress me when he came on - good skills, good awareness - great pass to set Nemeth up - lovely finish for the goal - looks the real deal, but early days yet - My concern is the physicality of the PL.

4-1 - happy days - only downside were the knocks to Gerrard, Torres, Dossena - none of them looked serious though. The Doss also impressed as did Alonso - prob give MOTM to Alonso -

I think Keane is waiting to get his first goal plus two others, to get a hat-trick against Sunderland in order to sort out the Keano situation.

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote: »

That was going to be my other quip but I thought I'd just sack Rafa!

I did not actually watch the match cos I had a small fortune riding on the result and cannot watch games that I bet serious money on. So were we any good and did the youngsters get much time?

Oh yes Rangers did not get any better since Saturday and are out of Europe. (and I win another bet!)

Mike.

Plessis was pretty good, passing a little off at times when under pressure, and can see he gets a bit frustrated and 'pushy' in his tackles as well.

Nemeth, you could see he was dying to get his goal, towards the end was only trying to do one thing. Had a great chance, when found in the box, but the ball got a little caught under his feet and then bounced away for the keeper to grab. Still looked alert and sharp though, once he gets his goal i think he'll be a bit more composed.

N'gog, didn't actualy have a lot to do, was playing in a wide right position, still did well though, didn't do anything wrong and took his goal very well. Both goals have been lefties so i assume thats his stronger foot, but from his general play you wouldn't know it.

Spearing, got about 70mins since Gerrard went off early, was quite good, a little bit overexcited at times, but otherwise good. Runs like a terrier. Put in a great free kick, right onto Nemeths head, keeper saved well though.

Pacheco. Hero. Absolutely fantastic again, very creative running from deep, great eye for a pass, and the ability to skin defenders. I think he looks the closest to being able to be a top class 1st choice player. I have absolutely no doubt he'll have a long liverpool career. His reverse pass for Ngog's goal was just sublime, especially as he was under a bit of pressure.

Team performance before the youths came on was very good, nice passing, dossena growing more with each game. Yoss looked very good, as did Alonso again. Torres hasn't lost anything over his break either, fantastic goal, placed with his left. Keane looked good, but too eager to break his duck. Keane and Nemeth reminded me of each other today, both just dying to get on the scoresheet, and both coming very very close at times.

A good run out, all in all.

Mr Magnolia

Don't know if this was linked here yet, had it sent to me by a friend earlier. Apologies in advance if it was.

Liverpool fans wait to exit Old Trafford.

Beaten 3-0 on the day iirc

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

Can't wait for 08/09!!

mike65

Sounds good, last seasons pre-season was very wonky as I recall but the Prem season started well enough. I guess the biggest concern will be the formation and starting 11 rather than the readiness of the players.

Mike.

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote: »

Sounds good, last seasons pre-season was very wonky as I recall but the Prem season started well enough. I guess the biggest concern will be the formation and starting 11 rather than the readiness of the players.

Mike.

to me anyway, it looked a definate 4-2-3-1 both before and after the subs.

Obvious space between Torres/Nemeth up front and Keane/Pacheco supporting, with Ngog/Kuyt and Yossi/El Zhar always up supporting the strikers. Also Spearing played a more all action game next to alonso rather then just AMC.

Mr Alan

Pacheco is gonna be a ****ing superstar.

rosboy

Mr Alan wrote: »

Pacheco is gonna be a ****ing superstar.

Wait till ye see Bruna play! He's only 16, but is apparantly a massive talent. Will probably see him next preseason. He already trains with the first team (part of the contract when we signed stole him from Mardid).

eZe^

Mr Alan wrote: »

Pacheco is gonna be a ****ing superstar.

I know, and it hurts me everytime... =(

If Alonso can regain his past form, Barry would be a step backwards.

Mr Alan

Alonso is looking better and better in preseason.

I'm getting cold feet about this whole Barry thing.

The way to resolve it for me would be to put Lucas out on loan for the year to another PL club. Then we'd have a midfield of Alonso-Gerrard-Mascherano-Barry with Plessis as more than capable back up if needed. Thats 3 out of 4 players playing week in week out with Gerrard and Barry both being able to operate in a variety of positions.

whatawaster

rosboy wrote: »

Wait till ye see Bruna play! He's only 16, but is apparantly a massive talent. Will probably see him next preseason. He already trains with the first team (part of the contract when we signed stole him from Mardid).

Bruna has talent, but Pacheco is in a different league.

whatawaster

What was very interesting was the absence of Voronin. It seems that the fans are going to get their wish and Nemeth will be our 4th striker this season.
Torres/N'Gog and Keane/Nemeth looks good to me, but it's early days.

Pennant and Finnan also didn't feature, i presume their days are numbered.

Haven't seen much of Aurelio either. Is he still injured?

N'Gog really impressed me when he came on, as he did against Rangers. It was his pass to Nemeth more so than his finish. He looks to have "game intelligence."
Pacheco, who looked overawed at Villareal, resumed normal service tonight. He was superb. Nemeth was trying far too hard, but looked good and i remain convinced of his brilliance. Plessis was good as always. I for one would have no fear of him starting the first few prem matches in Mascherano's absence, and filling in for him throughout the season.

I have never been convinced by Spearing. He gives the ball away too often and is too lightweight. Always gives 100% but in his case i doubt that will be enough. He is a million miles away from the likes of Lucas

PHB

Then we'd have a midfield of Alonso-Gerrard-Mascherano-Barry with Plessis as more than capable back up if needed.

Buying Barry and not selling Alonso would be a stupid waste of funds for a marginal improvement in a position that is your strongest when your wingers are still desperatly low in quality compared to the rest of the squad.

herbieflowers

Liverpool just paid 19m for a winger!

DeadSkin

Latest on Gerrard is a thigh strain.

Steven Gerrard faces a race against time to be ready for next week's Champions League qualifier against Standard Liege after limping out of the 4-1 friendly win over Valerenga with a thigh strain.
Boss Rafa Benitez is hopeful his skipper will be fit for the trip to Belgium next midweek, though an early diagnosis of seven days on the sidelines means it will be a close call.

"It is a thigh strain. We need to wait but it could be one week," the Spaniard told Liverpoolfc.tv.

zAbbo

We don't need wingers

Dont be at yourself

We dont need an out and out winger. In Torres, Babel, Keane, Gerrard, Kuyt and Benayoun, I dont think our attack is particularly short on quality.

Rafa considers Gerrard as an attacking player - he's more of a support striker than a central midfielder. Most Liverpool fans will agree he's better in an advanced role than as an orthodox central midfielder.

That leaves Lucas, Macherano, Alonso and Plessis competing for two central midfield berths. It's fair to say that neither Plessis or Lucas are yet the finished article. I have doubts if Plessis ever will be. With the amount of games played this season, I think another central midfielder is required. Barry offers things our current line-up don't: he's left-footed, he's vastly experienced, he's capable of playing in both a wider and a more advanced role. Indeed, with Rafa's like of playing 'destructive' players off the striker (a la Kuyt), I wouldn't be surprised to see Barry-Gerrard-Kuyt playing as the 3 in a 4-2-3-1 in some games.

The bottom line is that Barry offers versatility. Increasingly, a manager needs to be able to swap out a quality player for a quality alternative. Man Utd are in this position now - they have Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Scholes and Fletcher all competing for position. That's the benchmark, and we need to strive to match that.

Macherano-Lucas-Alonso-Plessis or Macherano-Lucas-Barry-Plessis is not a good enough pool of players for a squad that should be challenging across four competitions.

mike65

What about Babel?

Mike

Dont be at yourself

STOP! BABEL TIME!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQS38fjqSXI

rosboy

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

We dont need an out and out winger. In Torres, Babel, Keane, Gerrard, Kuyt and Benayoun, I dont think our attack is particularly short on quality.

Rafa considers Gerrard as an attacking player - he's more of a support striker than a central midfielder. Most Liverpool fans will agree he's better in an advanced role than as an orthodox central midfielder.

That leaves Lucas, Macherano, Alonso and Plessis competing for two central midfield berths. It's fair to say that neither Plessis or Lucas are yet the finished article. I have doubts if Plessis ever will be. With the amount of games played this season, I think another central midfielder is required. Barry offers things our current line-up don't: he's left-footed, he's vastly experienced, he's capable of playing in both a wider and a more advanced role. Indeed, with Rafa's like of playing 'destructive' players off the striker (a la Kuyt), I wouldn't be surprised to see Barry-Gerrard-Kuyt playing as the 3 in a 4-2-3-1 in some games.

The bottom line is that Barry offers versatility. Increasingly, a manager needs to be able to swap out a quality player for a quality alternative. Man Utd are in this position now - they have Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Scholes and Fletcher all competing for position. That's the benchmark, and we need to strive to match that.

Macherano-Lucas-Alonso-Plessis or Macherano-Lucas-Barry-Plessis is not a good enough pool of players for a squad that should be challenging across four competitions.

Good post NBM. I tried to allude to the same point yesterday, but your point is better articulated.

We need options. Barry and Alonso are two different types of player. They will suit playing against different teams. If in a game you have the option of taking off Alonso and putting on Barry (or visa versa), you the ability to change the tactic of our game, and get at teams in a different way.

Here's hoping we can keep the all the CM's listed above in our team for at least one more year.

GBX

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

]

paddybar

GBX wrote: »

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

]

you are a gentleman sir.truly this interweb is a wonderful thing

~Marky~

Lovely goal by Alonso Thought Keane played very well today and I am sure when he does score many more will follow.

paddybar

I hav'nt been able to catch any of the pre season games so,for those of you who have ,what does the best starting 11 look like?