Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

daithijjj

Karmafaerie wrote: »

God I'm fed up of Dirk not getting the respect he deserves.

Hate to go back to the facts again here but.....


Wayne Rooney.

Best player in the prem according to some.
Saved UTD's season.
One of the best in the world.
Can do no wrong.

All Competitions

Games__________Goals____________Assists
47______________17___________________12


Premiership Only

Games__________Goals____________Assists
30______________12___________________7



Dirk Kuyt
Barely a squad playeraccording to some.
We need to improve.
Terrible touch.
He runs lots and lots is about the best you hear about him.


All Competitions

Games__________Goals____________Assists
49______________16___________________10


Premiership Only

Games__________Goals____________Assists
38______________12___________________8



But of course Dirk doesn't score important goals.

Like the winner against Citeh, the equaliser against Pompey, or the goal against Chelsea in the CL, Or the goal against Liege in the CL qualifiers.

And more telling, Dirk didn't pick up a single booking all season!
Rooney got 9 yellows and a red!


I'm not trying to say that Dirk is better than Rooney, but he had a very similar campaign, to a player that a lot of UTD fans think was their player of the season, and their best player in general, and still we have Liverpool fans trying to replace him!:rolleyes:

I respect your opinion but we should all respect other fans views. If there is so much 'criticism' or lack respect given do you think that all of this from fans of the same team is unfounded?

I have previously said that kuyt has had a good season but i wouldnt bring out a 'mountain' of statistics in defence of any of the affore mentioned criticisms. Would it be fair to kuyt if i brought out a table of his league stats in the previous 11 months before the city game you mentioned??. No it wouldnt but it would say 0 league goals if i did, despite playing close to every game for 90 mins.

Theres no need to get too defensive over such observations. I have defended both lucas and babel on this forum when the majority have 'booed'/'hissed' at these remarks during the season.

I appreciate your contribution here but i am also entitled to mine and others to theres. I dont want to get into a debate on the intricacies of the whole thing but suggesting that the city goal was anything other than a tap in would be generous and to suggest that any other player wouldnt have scored it would be farcical. Also, suggesting that a player has not received a yellow card and is somehow superior to others who have, is just ridiculous in its implication.

You then compare him to rooney, which is completely fair, however 'utd fans' views on rooneys game have improved due to many things. He is english and therefore a 'sweetheart' in the british press. His attributes have also been magnified this season by the lack of these attributes in other united players, namely berbatov, who does sweet fa in terms of effort off the ball. There are still a few who bemoan his lack of goals though.

Just to clarify, if i wanted determination, passion, work ethic etc i wouldnt want another player on the pitch other than kuyt. However, if the team needed something a bit different in order to unlock a stubborn defence with a bit of pace and trickery on the ball then we would need another option in many fans views. Ive never seen anyone post that said kuyt should be sold or anything like it. If posting that i think there are options we can explore with the addition of a player who has something different to offer than dirk, is seen as a criticism, then so be it.

If we play a bit of fantasy rafa for just a second and for arguments sake, lets say we only signed two players this summer. Lets say these are lavezzi and silva who have both been mentioned on this thread as possibilities. Would neither of these players be able to challenge dirk for his position????????? or offer something a little different???? in attack. If rafa signed a right wing forward or right midfielder of quality, able to challenge the current first team choices, would this hinder or help the chances of us reaching the summit that we are all desperate for????????

If this is seen as a criticism of dirk kuyt, the man or footballer, then i applaud the narrow-mindedness of those who perceive it this way.

whatawaster

joe123 wrote: »

Ah come on now. You can throw stats and figures at me saying how good united were but lets face it, united were far below there best on the pitch.

Fair play to them for grinding the results out in the last half of the season but thats what they did. While we blew teams out of the water ala Villa United were only a few minutes away from loosing to them nevermind beating them 5-0.

United werent good this season face it. Chelsea messed up in the middle and Arsenal were shocking at times.

It doesn't matter how good or bad United played. They got the result they needed 99% of the time. I think i read a stat somewhere that they had maximum points against the bottom 10 or bottom 12 or something like that. Can't remember.
United may well show better form next season, but i guarantee it won't vastly improve their points tally.

missingtime

There is far to much :rolleyes: in this thread.

Use your words people, use your words...

wcarey1975

whatawaster wrote: »

It doesn't matter how good or bad United played. They got the result they needed 99% of the time. I think i read a stat somewhere that they had maximum points against the bottom 10 or bottom 12 or something like that. Can't remember.
United may well show better form next season, but i guarantee it won't vastly improve their points tally.

While not meaning to nitpick they did drop 2 points at home to newcastle. But other than that I think they got maximum points.

Karmafaerie

daithijjj wrote: »

I respect your opinion but we should all respect other fans views. If there is so much 'criticism' or lack respect given do you think that all of this from fans of the same team is unfounded?

I have previously said that kuyt has had a good season but i wouldnt bring out a 'mountain' of statistics in defence of any of the affore mentioned criticisms. Would it be fair to kuyt if i brought out a table of his league stats in the previous 11 months before the city game you mentioned??. No it wouldnt but it would say 0 league goals if i did, despite playing close to every game for 90 mins.

Kuyt's problems last season have been done to death, so I think we can leave that.

daithijjj wrote:

Theres no need to get too defensive over such observations. I have defended both lucas and babel on this forum when the majority have 'booed'/'hissed' at these remarks during the season.

Yes, but I see no sense in looking for a replacement for Kuyt, when he's got a goals/assist ratio of bettr than 1 in 2.

He either scores or creates a goal in every second game!
To put that in context, Kuyt scores creates a goal every 1.8 games last season.
Torres was 1.7 last season.
The amazing Gerrard was 1.2
The best player in the world Ronaldo is 1.5

Besides Ronaldo and Rooney, you would be very hard pressed to find someone who'll get you more than Dirk.
And players like Stevie and Nando constantly point out that Dirk makes them better with his play.

daithijjj wrote:

I appreciate your contribution here but i am also entitled to mine and others to theres. I dont want to get into a debate on the intricacies of the whole thing but suggesting that the city goal was anything other than a tap in would be generous and to suggest that any other player wouldnt have scored it would be farcical. Also, suggesting that a player has not received a yellow card and is somehow superior to others who have, is just ridiculous in its implication.

And I appreciate yours (group hug:P), but tap ins are still goals.
How many did Rush or Fowler get?

And as for yellow/red cards not mattering?!
Of course they do.
Rooney missed important games for Utd because he was banned.
That is ridiculous on his part.
Simple.

Kuyt would never kick out at a player, stamp on his nuts, or shout at a ref.
Which means he won't get banned for important games.
Which means Liverpool don't loose out.

daithijjj wrote:

You then compare him to rooney, which is completely fair, however 'utd fans' views on rooneys game have improved due to many things. He is english and therefore a 'sweetheart' in the british press. His attributes have also been magnified this season by the lack of these attributes in other united players, namely berbatov, who does sweet fa in terms of effort off the ball. There are still a few who bemoan his lack of goals though.

That's true, but along with Gerrard/Torres/Xabi, Kuyt has been our best player this season.
Even more reason to give him respect.

daithijjj wrote:

Just to clarify, if i wanted determination, passion, work ethic etc i wouldnt want another player on the pitch other than kuyt. However, if the team needed something a bit different in order to unlock a stubborn defence with a bit of pace and trickery on the ball then we would need another option in many fans views. Ive never seen anyone post that said kuyt should be sold or anything like it. If posting that i think there are options we can explore with the addition of a player who has something different to offer than dirk, is seen as a criticism, then so be it.

But that's not the option.
We need an improvement on Babel/El Zhar, not an improvement on Kuyt, as he's top class at what he does.
No winger in the country has a better return, with the exception on Ronaldo/Rooney.

daithijjj wrote:

If we play a bit of fantasy rafa for just a second and for arguments sake, lets say we only signed two players this summer. Lets say these are lavezzi and silva who have both been mentioned on this thread as possibilities. Would neither of these players be able to challenge dirk for his position????????? or offer something a little different???? in attack. If rafa signed a right wing forward or right midfielder of quality, able to challenge the current first team choices, would this hinder or help the chances of us reaching the summit that we are all desperate for????????

But all we here is that we have little money.
Why spend that money on a position that we have the best right winger in the league?!
It makes no sense.

daithijjj wrote:

If this is seen as a criticism of dirk kuyt, the man or footballer, then i applaud the narrow-mindedness of those who perceive it this way.

But it is narrowmindedness on your part, as Kuyt has been by far the best right winger in the league.
And ll your post highlighted is that he can't do stepovers.

I understand what you're saying man, but Kuyt has earned his spot as a starter.
If someone comes in, they'll have to be amazing to get it off him IMO.

joe123

whatawaster wrote: »

It doesn't matter how good or bad United played. They got the result they needed 99% of the time. I think i read a stat somewhere that they had maximum points against the bottom 10 or bottom 12 or something like that. Can't remember.
United may well show better form next season, but i guarantee it won't vastly improve their points tally.

Yes but With top 4 games v Top 4 games things could change. Liverpool had an amazing record this year against Chelsea/United and the two draws with Arsenal.

And you cant expect a repeat of that without improvement. Just look at Chelsea already going after Kaka.

EDIT: Scratch the chelsea thing they have just denied it. There are so many lies anymore tut tut

daithijjj

1. Karmaferie, do you expect relatively new members to this forum like myself to know or appreciate that a subject has been "done to death", like kuyts previous season???

Are fairly new members only allowed to speak about whats in todays newspapers?. I would like to think that new members who join can discuss what they like if its within the rules, your previous personal verbal battles with whoever are of little consequence to my right, or anyone elses, to discuss it dont you think?

2. You keep comparing kuyt to rooney and ronaldo (i dont know where to start on the inclusion of fowler and rush in there ). I dont disagree with the comparisons you make but if your going to bring in stats would you please just use the stats over a more fair period. You are just using kuyts best season against arguably the other twos 'worst' season. I mean if i brought out the stats for djimi traores best season and compared it to evras worst season what would it prove?.......that they are somehow comparable?? (if you can bring rush and fowler into it i can bring that up) .

3. The point your making about kuyt not stamping on anyones nuts etc is a bit lame (sorry ). Yes kuyt is a total pro in this regard but to suggest he doesnt have a wild lunge in him is a bit naive, do you remember his lunge at phil neville in the derby game??? He didnt connect but if he did it was 3 games.

4. Why do you keep referring to the word 'respect'??? Most of the fans respect kuyt, tis a different thing altogether suggesting that another option can be used in the squad. Using your analysis of kuyt, if your a right wing forward, you might aswell forget about joining liverpool, that position is nailed on for dirk until he is 35 as nobody on the planet could even come close to him. Is it a huge criticism, in your eyes, if i suggested that a player in the mould of, for example, valencia at wigan wouldnt offer something different and could never challenge dirk for the spot if he was signed????

5. How is providing improvement on the likes of babel/ el zhar, disimilar from providing competition for kuyt/riera???????.........By analysing your posts i can see that you dont think we can improve much in any area, would you not bother with signing anybody??? and the league is allready in the bag with the current squad??? (i hope you are right ). Its just my opinion that the day you cant improve is the day you begin to get left behind.

6. Im not even going to bother with the, kuyt cant do stepovers remark. Seriously, you've got to be having a little poke of fun at me with that????? You can do better im sure;).

rossie1977

wcarey1975 wrote: »

While not meaning to nitpick they did drop 2 points at home to newcastle. But other than that I think they got maximum points.

yeah man utd picked up 58 out of a possible 60 points against the teams finishing 11-20 in the league, incredible achievement, only dropping points against newcastle on the first day of the season

tok9

Is anyone else kinda surprised that there hasn't been much word on a definite interest in a player?

I honestly thought once parry had left that rafa get a few signings in straight away but there hasn't been anything really concrete ... i think the tevez rumours are just that, lavezzi sounds interesting but doubtful and silva seems to have gone off the radar.


maybe i'm just a bit impatient....

Completely agree about kuyt too.. he's been fantastic this season and i hope it continues.

missingtime

tok9 wrote: »

Is anyone else kinda surprised that there hasn't been much word on a definite interest in a player?

I honestly thought once parry had left that rafa get a few signings in straight away but there hasn't been anything really concrete ... i think the tevez rumours are just that, lavezzi sounds interesting but doubtful and silva seems to have gone off the radar.


maybe i'm just a bit impatient....

Have faith young Padawan. Rafa's just ****ing with peoples heads!

busted flush

Don't agree with the kuyt comments, i think he is to slow and does not have the imagination to be a great player, surely as Liverpool fans ye want forward players that can be great not average!

wcarey1975

busted flush wrote: »

Don't agree with the kuyt comments, i think he is to slow and does not have the imagination to be a great player, surely as Liverpool fans ye want forward players that can be great not average!

Here we go again:rolleyes:

mike65

I have BF on ignore but you quote so I see his words

That its quiet is maybe good, I suspect the signings will happen suddenly - within 48 hours of a rustle in the undergrowth.

DeadSkin

Came across the attendance figures today and it's some difference between Man United & Liverpool.

Attendance figures

May 24, 2009
Rank Team Total Average
1 Manchester United 1,430,776 75,304
2 Arsenal 1,140,755 60,039
3 Newcastle United 926,244 48,749
4 Liverpool 828,610 43,611
5 Manchester City 815,105 42,900
6 Chelsea 790,172 41,588
7 Sunderland 763,198 40,168
8 Aston Villa 756,422 39,811
9 Tottenham Hotspur 682,646 35,928
10 Everton 677,679 35,667
11 West Ham United 650,307 34,226
12 Middlesbrough 540,144 28,428
13 Stoke City 485,888 26,993
14 West Bromwich Albion 490,726 25,827
15 Hull City 471,507 24,816
16 Fulham 462,462 24,340
17 Blackburn Rovers 446,102 23,479
18 Bolton Wanderers 427,228 22,485
19 Portsmouth 376,762 19,829
20 Wigan Athletic 348,656 18,350

copacetic

busted flush wrote: »

Don't agree with the kuyt comments, i think he is to slow and does not have the imagination to be a great player, surely as Liverpool fans ye want forward players that can be great not average!

I want forward players that create and score goals. Not ones that some nobody thinks are great.

Highsider

busted flush wrote: »

Don't agree with the kuyt comments, i think he is to slow and does not have the imagination to be a great player, surely as Liverpool fans ye want forward players that can be great not average!

Kuyt is a great player.

Morzadec

missingtime wrote: »

There is far to much :rolleyes: in this thread.

Use your words people, use your words...

:rolleyes:

Ardent

Highsider wrote: »

Kuyt is a great player.

No he's not. He's an adequate player.

Mr Alan

busted flush wrote: »

Don't agree with the kuyt comments, i think he is to slow and does not have the imagination to be a great player, surely as Liverpool fans ye want forward players that can be great not average!

Ardent wrote: »

No he's not. He's an adequate player.

His stats would seem to point out that both of you are totally wrong. Add in his incredible work rate & i think its fair to say we are lucky to have Dirk.

Mr Alan

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/04/liverpool-interested-in-middlesbrough-flop-tuncay-115875-21413150/

Maddock in The Mirror reckons we're for Tuncay-be a very good signing for little money i reckon.

also says Rafa met with Silva to discuss a move to Anfield.

Ardent

Mr Alan wrote: »

His stats would seem to point out that both of you are totally wrong. Add in his incredible work rate & i think its fair to say we are lucky to have Dirk.

F*ck stats.

Ask yourself why he's playing on the wing instead of up front? Because he's not good enough to play up front, that's why. And on the wing, his appalling first touch lets him down there too.

He's merely adequte, a squad player, nothing more. Liverpool won't win the league anytime soon if he continues to start every game, regardless of position.

wcarey1975

Ardent wrote: »

F*ck stats.

Ask yourself why he's playing on the wing instead of up front? Because he's not good enough to play up front, that's why. And on the wing, his appalling first touch lets him down there too.

He's merely adequte, a squad player, nothing more. Liverpool won't win the league anytime soon if he continues to start every game, regardless of position.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. DK is a good player and most importantly a big game player. To see him in reality you'd wonder how anyone could cover that much ground every game and play as often as he does.

SlickRic

Ardent wrote: »

F*ck stats.

Ask yourself why he's playing on the wing instead of up front? Because he's not good enough to play up front, that's why. And on the wing, his appalling first touch lets him down there too.

He's merely adequte, a squad player, nothing more. Liverpool won't win the league anytime soon if he continues to start every game, regardless of position.

:rolleyes:

officially our 3rd best player this season behind stevie and xabi if i'm not mistaken?

he's frustrating at times, granted, but his plus points outweigh the frustration by a long, long way. he was possibly our best player if you take our run-in alone. seriously.

to say we won't win the league with him in the team is so funny and misguided it hurts.

Mr Alan

Thats absolute bollox.

We came within a gee hair of winning the league this year, and Dirk Kuyt banging in goals & getting assists consistantly throughout the year is NOT the reason we fell short.

I actually feel sorry for you if you genuinely believe that.

The whole "**** stats" thing is bollox too....the league table is a statistical table made up of points accumulated for wins/losses/draws ffs. Kuyts contribution to our excellent performances this year cannot be understated.

The reason Kuyt doesn't play up top for us week in week out is simple, there is no need, we have the best striker in the world playing there & we only play with one up top. Players changing position throughout their career is not a new thing, Carragher,Gerrard,Whelan,Kennedy etc etc

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/06/04/liverpool-interested-in-middlesbrough-flop-tuncay-115875-21413150/

Maddock in The Mirror reckons we're for Tuncay-be a very good signing for little money i reckon.

also says Rafa met with Silva to discuss a move to Anfield.

i think Tuncay would be a brilliant signing.

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

Thats absolute bollox.

We came within a gee hair of winning the league this year, and Dirk Kuyt banging in goals & getting assists consistantly throughout the year is NOT the reason we fell short.

I actually feel sorry for you if you genuinely believe that.

The whole "**** stats" thing is bollox too....the league table is a statistical table made up of points accumulated for wins/losses/draws ffs. Kuyts contribution to our excellent performances this year cannot be understated.

The reason Kuyt doesn't play up top for us week in week out is simple, there is no need, we have the best striker in the world playing there & we only play with one up top. Players changing position throughout their career is not a new thing, Carragher,Gerrard,Whelan,Kennedy etc etc

stop talking sense

SlickRic

tuncay would be ideal.

cheap, proven, premiership quality.

PHB

Whatever about the debate about Kuyt and Rooney, the idea that because he plays on the wing he's not good enough is pretty funny, considering that Rooney is often shunted to the left wing

Ardent

SlickRic wrote: »

:rolleyes

to say we won't win the league with him in the team is so funny and misguided it hurts.

It's not. This missed opportunities as a direct result of his ever-presence in the team far outweigh the number of goals he has scored this season. If we had had more guile and craft down the right wing, it's fair to say we might not have drawn so many games to lesser opposition. It's also possible another quality player in his position would have scored more of the chances that came his way.

You may think that's harsh but I guarantee you, next season, Chelsea and Arsenal will not have campaigns as bad as they had in the season just gone. And United will surely strenghten again. If we don't improve on our problem positions this summer, will face the real possibility of going backwards maybe finishing 4th...or worse. Mark my words.

Ardent

Mr Alan wrote: »

Thats absolute bollox.

We came within a gee hair of winning the league this year, and Dirk Kuyt banging in goals & getting assists consistantly throughout the year is NOT the reason we fell short.

I actually feel sorry for you if you genuinely believe that.

The whole "**** stats" thing is bollox too....the league table is a statistical table made up of points accumulated for wins/losses/draws ffs. Kuyts contribution to our excellent performances this year cannot be understated.

The reason Kuyt doesn't play up top for us week in week out is simple, there is no need, we have the best striker in the world playing there & we only play with one up top. Players changing position throughout their career is not a new thing, Carragher,Gerrard,Whelan,Kennedy etc etc

Whatever about understating Kuyt's contribution this season, you're defo overstating it. He's a decent player but ultimately not good enough to be a first team regular - for the reasons I stated above.

Ardent

PHB wrote: »

Whatever about the debate about Kuyt and Rooney, the idea that because he plays on the wing he's not good enough is pretty funny, considering that Rooney is often shunted to the left wing

At least Rooney can play up front. Have you ever seen Kuyt play up front? It's like kicking a ball against a wall.

Ardent

SlickRic wrote: »

tuncay would be ideal.

cheap, proven, premiership quality.

Squad player. Not what's really required.

SlickRic

Ardent wrote: »

It's not. This missed opportunities as a direct result of his ever-presence in the team far outweigh the number of goals he has scored this season. If we had had more guile and craft down the right wing, it's fair to say we might not have drawn so many games to lesser opposition. It's also possible another quality player in his position would have scored more of the chances that came his way.

and if we didn't have his other qualities that very few people have, would we have won other games we did win. all ifs and buts. and you saying he's not quality just because he's not silky smooth or whatever is pretty disrespectful to what he's done this season.

Ardent wrote: »

You may think that's harsh but I guarantee you, next season, Chelsea and Arsenal will not have campaigns as bad as they had in the season just gone. And United will surely strenghten again. If we don't improve on our problem positions this summer, will face the real possibility of going backwards maybe finishing 4th...or worse. Mark my words.

we'll improve. we always have under rafa. and replacing kuyt would not be on my agenda, and i guarantee you it's not on rafa's.

Fromvert

IMO, to all those Kuyt doubters you havnt a clue and you need to find a new sport. End of.

SlickRic

Ardent wrote: »

Squad player. Not what's really required.

he is part of what's required in the close season; someone else who can play across the front line in case, like this season, stevie and/or nando miss a few games.

Mr Alan

Ardent wrote: »

Squad player. Not what's really required.

actually, improving our squad is exactly what is required.

our first team has shown how good it is, what we need now is more quality that is able to fill in/come off the bench when games aren't going our way.

Ardent

Mr Alan wrote: »

actually, improving our squad is exactly what is required.

our first team has shown how good it is, what we need now is more quality that is able to fill in/come off the bench when games aren't going our way.

What about when Torres and/or Gerrard get injured and the team always seem to struggle for creativity? That's our biggest problem - I want to know how we are going to address that? Tuncay?

mayordenis

Ardent wrote: »

What about when Torres and/or Gerrard get injured and the team always seem to struggle for creativity? That's our biggest problem - I want to know how we are going to address that? Tuncay?

Have you ever seen him play? I really can't believe you have if you're this dismissive out of the hand.
And nobody is saying he should be our only signing this year, nodody is saying **** silva get in Tuncay he's way better.
Everyone knows football is a squad game these days.

Mr Alan

Ardent wrote: »

What about when Torres and/or Gerrard get injured and the team always seem to struggle for creativity? That's our biggest problem - I want to know how we are going to address that? Tuncay?

Tuncay can play in both players roles very well, so yes he would partly help ease the burden on the two of team when the 2 lads are injured. But i'd expect another player to come in who can provide a another option, Silva hopefully.

Who would you like? maybe Eto'o who can sit on the bench until torres is injured then come on so our performance levels don't drop?

what about Kaka, he could definately do a job when Gerrard is injured. probably love to sit on the bench chatting to Jay Spearing until the moment arrives when Gerrards groin starts to niggle at him.

NEWSFLASH:we will never get replacements for Torres & Gerrard who are anywhere NEAR the same level, for the simple reason-they are 2 of the best players in the world.

whatawaster

Ardent wrote: »

It's not. This missed opportunities as a direct result of his ever-presence in the team far outweigh the number of goals he has scored this season. If we had had more guile and craft down the right wing, it's fair to say we might not have drawn so many games to lesser opposition. It's also possible another quality player in his position would have scored more of the chances that came his way.

You may think that's harsh but I guarantee you, next season, Chelsea and Arsenal will not have campaigns as bad as they had in the season just gone. And United will surely strenghten again. If we don't improve on our problem positions this summer, will face the real possibility of going backwards maybe finishing 4th...or worse. Mark my words.

Listen man, we finished on 86 points this season, with our star duo only playing a dozen times together. Even if we don't change our squad at all we'd probably get around the same again, especially if we can continue our confident form into next season.

4th or worse? unlikely if we get close to that points tally

I really missed your presence in this thread during our winning run by the way. What kept you away?

PHB

Alonso and Mascherano are close to the top of the world in their position.
Torres and Gerrard may well be the top of the world in their position.

There is nobody sensible in this thread who would honestly argue that Babel, Yossi, Kuyt, whoever are near the top of the world in their position. Yossi and Kuyt are very good players, no doubt, but nowhere near Torres or Gerrard's league.

Liverpool's main priority should be fixing that position.

wcarey1975

I think our main priority should be to fix the RB position. While I rate AA as a good RB he's got no competition. The Ghost was signed last season but has been dogged by injuries and I personally would like Johnson, which now seems unlikely. Cant think of another off the top of my head that I'd like instead. And along with that a player in the 15-20 million bracket that offers something different upfront and can play across the front three. Silva would be nice but maybe Rafa will get another Alonso/Agger/Skrtel style signing.

K-9

Ardent wrote: »

Whatever about understating Kuyt's contribution this season, you're defo overstating it. He's a decent player but ultimately not good enough to be a first team regular - for the reasons I stated above.

Ardent wrote: »

What about when Torres and/or Gerrard get injured and the team always seem to struggle for creativity? That's our biggest problem - I want to know how we are going to address that? Tuncay?

Maybe we need a player like Kuyt when they are fit?

Our record against the Top 4 has been great this year, we only struggled against Arsenal, so Rafa doesn't necessarily need players to break the top 4 down.

PHB wrote: »

Alonso and Mascherano are close to the top of the world in their position.
Torres and Gerrard may well be the top of the world in their position.

There is nobody sensible in this thread who would honestly argue that Babel, Yossi, Kuyt, whoever are near the top of the world in their position. Yossi and Kuyt are very good players, no doubt, but nowhere near Torres or Gerrard's league.

Liverpool's main priority should be fixing that position.

So we'd need somebody with Kuyts work ethic but more creative?

Mr Alan

PHB, without meaning to state the obiovus.

there is not a team with world class players in every position

Utd for example.

Vidic-Ferdinand=yes
Ronaldo=yes
carrick-anderson-scholes=not a chance

are you advocating Utd should be aiming to replace its entire midfield cause they arent near top in the world in their position?

Ardent

whatawaster wrote: »

Listen man, we finished on 86 points this season, with our star duo only playing a dozen times together. Even if we don't change our squad at all we'd probably get around the same again, especially if we can continue our confident form into next season.

4th or worse? unlikely if we get close to that points tally

I agree that Liverpool's form was good for most of the latter half of the season. But we can't get complacent and assume we'll do the same again next season without adding top quality to the personnel. Our rivals certainly won't be resting on their laurels, I can already see Chelsea overtaking us next season.

I really missed your presence in this thread during our winning run by the way. What kept you away?

Contrary to what you may think, the world doesn't revolve around your insightful posts on this website re Liverpool!

Mr Alan

Ardent wrote: »

I can already see Chelsea overtaking us next season.

So, lets get this straight....

Chelsea have signed.....no one.
Liverpool have signed.....no one.
Chelseas already old team, will be a year older.
Liverpools team is coming into their peak with all its top players in mid-late twenties.
Liverpool have lost.....Sami Hypia,an outstanding servant to the club who is no longer required as 4th choice CB.
Chelsea are about to lose......Ricardo Carvalho, one of the best CBs in the world.

how are you possibly seeing them overtaking us so far this window?


for crying out loud.

missingtime

Mr Alan wrote: »

what about Kaka, he could definately do a job when Gerrard is injured. probably love to sit on the bench chatting to Jay Spearing until the moment arrives when Gerrards groin starts to niggle at him.

Bit of a steep learning curve for poor Jay though.

Dirk Kuyt is a strange breed.

Example: The spurs game (i think). Dirk Kuyt picks up a great position on the wing and starts to attack. Unfortunately dirk got a little ahead of himself, didn't know what to do and ran the ball out of play. Awwww. Its like a puppy pissing the floor.

Next time Dirk got the ball he took a shot on goal and it deflected in.

Dirk Kuyt is a strange breed.

Chardee MacDennis

dammit people we just saw a page back Kuyt had a better season then Rooney (in terms of goals and assists) so why argue with fools who only want an argument?

Chardee MacDennis

wcarey1975 wrote: »

I think our main priority should be to fix the RB position. While I rate AA as a good RB he's got no competition. The Ghost was signed last season but has been dogged by injuries and I personally would like Johnson, which now seems unlikely. Cant think of another off the top of my head that I'd like instead. And along with that a player in the 15-20 million bracket that offers something different upfront and can play across the front three. Silva would be nice but maybe Rafa will get another Alonso/Agger/Skrtel style signing.

while i agree with you, i just felt it should be pointed out Alonso wasnt an Agger/Skrtel signing. he was recognised as having a lot of potential in spain and we did pay nearly 11m for him...

missingtime

BastardPrince wrote: »

dammit people we just saw a page back Kuyt had a better season then Rooney (in terms of goals and assists) so why argue with fools who only want an argument?

I dont think they want an argument, a discussion perhaps. People are entitled to their opinion though.

Some people think Dirk is great; some dont. No Biggie.