Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

missingtime

Mr Alan wrote: »

another player coming in if we can get shot of Intandje/Voronin/Pennant?

Shot in the dark...Milner???

Thanx 4 The Fish

oh please no. I just don't think that he is any better than anhybody else we have.

Mr Alan

would be very happy if we signed Milner tbh, but i think Newcastle have said he is not for sale.

Malice

No word on Reira yet from here. I am going to hold off on celebrating his signing until it's up there.

slingerz

really dont wwant riera to be honest

Smegball

Whats the difference between Riera now and when he flopped at City?

mike65

At City under Stuart Pearce is hardly a measure

Mike.

missingtime

Smegball wrote: »

Whats the difference between Riera now and when he flopped at City?

aparently he had a stormer last year in spain

edit: stats for reira: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=11729&cc=5739

Chardee MacDennis

in la liga XI last year apparently...

EDIT: although 4 goals and 6 assists in 30 appearances is really not much to get excited about.

Malice

Does anyone know how Paul Anderson's getting on at Forest?

mike65

Riera left, Babel right - could be either very exciting or very foolhardy.

Mike

Mr Alan

Smegball wrote: »

Whats the difference between Riera now and when he flopped at City?

em, he is now older. he didnt flop at City. They were pants. He was alright. They wanted to buy him. Couldnt afford him. He went back to spain. Where he has been pretty excellent a lot of the time since. Breaking into the Spanish national squad and featuring in LaLigas team of the season last year (afaik).

looking forward to seeing him, gonna give him the benefit of the doubt.

Karmafaerie

Smegball wrote: »

Whats the difference between Riera now and when he flopped at City?

1. Riera was played as a wing-back
2. It was two years ago.
3. City were considerably worse then than now.
4. Riera went back to Spain, had a really good season, followed by a great season.
5. Stewart Pearce.
6. Stewart Pearce.

CHD

Stuart Pearce imo

missingtime

malice_ wrote: »

Does anyone know how Paul Anderson's getting on at Forest?

http://www.nottinghamforest.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10308~35631,00.html

here is his profile page at forest.

looking at the stats he did quite well at swansea last year

Malice

missingtime wrote: »

http://www.nottinghamforest.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10308~35631,00.html

here is his profile page at forest.

looking at the stats he did quite well at swansea last year

I think the Swansea fans voted him their Player of the Year. Looking at that link to Forest, he hasn't featured in the league yet . I suppose it's very early in the season still.

The Rooster

PiE wrote: »

'Spose we can't argue with the signing too much if it's around the £10m mark and payments are spread.

Funny how this is the norm for a regular squad player now - 2 or 3 years back a £10m signing woulda been a huge deal for us.

Wot, those damn yanks spending again....

missingtime

malice_ wrote: »

I think the Swansea fans voted him their Player of the Year. Looking at that link to Forest, he hasn't featured in the league yet . I suppose it's very early in the season still.

I checked on the liverpool site as well and they havn't updated his profile.

They usually have a "reds watch" section for players on loan but they they still have his profile saying he's in swansea.

spockety

The Rooster wrote: »

Wot, those damn yanks spending again....

Eh, no, that'd be the banks spending again.

Y'know.. borrowed money.. has to be paid back somehow..?

(Hint: Benitez will pay it back by selling other players, as well as that the fans will pay it back, see the recent Fan Card "the only card you'll ever need" fiasco for details, but I'm sure you're aware of it. You can be sure 'the yanks' won't be spending a penny)

mike65

Well recoup the costs through sales, he's not a freebie.

Mike

Malice

missingtime wrote: »

I checked on the liverpool site as well and they havn't updated his profile.

His profile is up to date:

From here:

Pacey winger Paul Anderson is currently on a season-long loan at Championship side Nottingham Forest.

But I see what you mean about the Loan Watch page:

The winger marked his first start for Swansea City with a fantastic goal during the midweek 2-0 win over Walsall in the Carling Cup. He made his Swans debut as a substitute during the 2-1 opening day defeat by Oldham, but missed Saturday's goalless draw with Nottingham Forest with a hamstring strain.

Is that the Americans cuttings costs again?

The Rooster

spockety wrote: »

Eh, no, that'd be the banks spending again.

Y'know.. borrowed money.. has to be paid back somehow..?

Nice.

If "Dumb and Dumber" arent getting enough abuse for not spending enough money, they can have some more for spending too much!

spockety

The Rooster wrote: »

Nice.

If "Dumb and Dumber" arent getting enough abuse for not spending enough money, they can have some more for spending too much!

Do you honestly believe that the money used to buy any players this summer has actually come out of Tom Hicks or George Gillett's own pockets/savings?

oobydooby

Rafa has clear the air talks with Parry and all of a sudden things seem to be ticking along nicely behind the scenes again. Now hopefully Rafa can get back to the coaching... Pity these things couldn't have been sealed early or before pre-season.

As Malice said, I'll hold off celebrating (a bit strong) until it's official.

Malice

oobydooby wrote: »

Rafa has clear the air talks with Parry and all of a sudden things seem to be ticking along nicely behind the scenes again. Now hopefully Rafa can get back to the coaching... Pity these things couldn't have been sealed early or before pre-season.

As Malice said, I'll hold off celebrating (a bit strong) until it's official.

But all those armchair pundits said we needed a new winger. Now that it looks like we have one, aren't we going to win the title? Just like they said we needed a 20 league goals a season striker, signed Torres and, er, finished fourth.

mike65

We needed two

Mike.

Villain

You'll hardly have enough butter vouchers for Barry now???

Reira would be a good signing but surely Kuyt would be surples to requirements now?

Cyrus

here is a team that should be any team outside the top 6

Reina
Carra agger skrtel dossena
Masch gerrard
Babel keane riera
Torres

maybe not as attack minded when we play better teams / and or away

The Rooster

spockety wrote: »

Do you honestly believe that the money used to buy any players this summer has actually come out of Tom Hicks or George Gillett's own pockets/savings?

What the hell are you on about???

Hicks and Gillett are running a business and it appears they have sanctioned the acqusition of Riera.

There are countless posts on here about "when are dumb and dumber going to get the chequebook out" - people who clearly forgot about Torres, Macherano, Skrtel, Keane etc - and now they sanction another signing and you still want to have a go at them!

Do you expect them to gift Liverpool money? Are you one of these people who think the arabs will come and clear our debt and gift the club their millions! :rolleyes:

Cyrus

Villain wrote: »

You'll hardly have enough butter vouchers for Barry now???

Reira would be a good signing but surely Kuyt would be surples to requirements now?

judging by his form in the opening two games the price will be a lot less in january

raven136

The Rooster wrote: »

What the hell are you on about???

Hicks and Gillett are running a business and it appears they have sanctioned the acqusition of Riera.

There are countless posts on here about "when are dumb and dumber going to get the chequebook out" - people who clearly forgot about Torres, Macherano, Skrtel, Keane etc - and now they sanction another signing and you still want to have a go at them!

Do you expect them to gift Liverpool money? Are you one of these people who think the arabs will come and clear our debt and gift the club their millions! :rolleyes:

i believe i have spent more of my own money on liverpool than our cowboy friends.
We are debted to our gills,these are not good business owners

Dub13

Liverpool FC agree Albert Riera deal

The Echo

LIVERPOOL have agreed a fee with Espanyol to sign Spanish winger Albert Riera.

The two clubs held talks last night and agreed a compromise figure in excess of £8m, after Riera informed the Espanyol hierarchy he was only interested in moving to Anfield.

That dashed Everton's hopes of hijacking the deal, despite the fact that Liverpool's Merseyside rivals had made a higher offer for the 26-year-old.

The Reds' urgent need for a left sided midfield player was again apparent at the weekend as Yossi Benayoun again struggled in that role before being replaced by Ryan Babel.

With the Dutchman preferring to operate in a more central position, Rafa Benitez identified Riera as the player he wanted to give his side some much needed width.

The former Manchester City man will now have to agree terms with Liverpool and undergo a medical before he is confirmed as a Liverpool player.

But his signing could be concluded before the end of the week as long as there are no late hitches.

Benitez would like to further add to his squad but the Reds boss will have to concentrate on moving players on before re-entering the transfer market.

In the meantime, he is focusing on preparing his team for tomorrow night's visit of Standard Liege in a clash which will decide whether Liverpool make it through to this season's Champions League.

Liverpool managed to secure a 0-0 draw in the away leg a fortnight ago, despite playing poorly on the night, and Benitez knows a much improved performance will be needed at Anfield if the Reds are to make it into the lucrative group stages.

But he believes the fact that Liverpool are playing in front of their own fans will make a big difference, even though Standard continued their promising early season form with a 3-0 win over Westerlo at the weekend – a victory which took them to the top of the Belgian league.

"We knew before the first leg and we know now that they are a better side than some people expected," said Benitez.

"We did not play as well as we would have liked in the first leg but now it is up to us to improve and to get the result we need.

"The team is working really hard and even though we have not been at our best we have still been able to get results because our mentality is good.

"We know we have to improve and hopefully that will happen soon because the squad is starting to settle down again after Mascherano, Babel and Lucas came back from the Olympics.”

Neither Mascherano nor Lucas will be involved, though, having been omitted from Liverpool's squad list for the qualifying stages because of their involvement at the Olympics in Beijing.

zing

oobydooby wrote: »

Rafa has clear the air talks with Parry and all of a sudden things seem to be ticking along nicely behind the scenes again.

Somehow I'd say the xfer window closing in a few days had more of an affect on Parry than him having a chat with Rafa.

The Rooster

Cyrus wrote: »

here is a team that should be any team outside the top 6

Reina
Carra agger skrtel dossena
Masch gerrard
Babel keane riera
Torres

maybe not as attack minded when we play better teams / and or away

I don't see Mascherano and Gerrard forming a midfield partnership too often. Gerrard will be part of the attacking midfield 3. Alonso or Lucas will be there instead. Also I reckon Kuyt will start as often as Babel and Riera, but it'd be very nice if Babel and Riera played well enough that he couldnt pick Kuyt too often.

spockety

The Rooster wrote: »

What the hell are you on about???

Hicks and Gillett are running a business and it appears they have sanctioned the acqusition of Riera.

There are countless posts on here about "when are dumb and dumber going to get the chequebook out" - people who clearly forgot about Torres, Macherano, Skrtel, Keane etc - and now they sanction another signing and you still want to have a go at them!

Do you expect them to gift Liverpool money? Are you one of these people who think the arabs will come and clear our debt and gift the club their millions! :rolleyes:

Ah, attack of the rolleyes!

I never called them Dumb and Dumber.

Torres, Mascherano, Skrtel, Keane, etc., were all bought by Liverpool Football Club. Yes, the purchases were sanctioned by the board, which is the Hicks and Gillette clan. But it is all on borrowed money, or money generated by the club. They have bought the club on money borrowed against the club itself! I have not seen any evidence to suggest that they have invested a single cent of their own money in LFC.

I have no idea what 'the arabs' will do compared to 'the yanks'. That's a different debate altogether. I'm taking you up on the fact that you are making out like George Gillett took out his personal cheque book so we could sign Riera. That is cuckoo land stuff.

Liverpool needs investment to compete. It needs an investor with considerable wealth to take over, and invest their own money (along with bank loans, yes I live in the real world), to in the short term improve the quality of the squad with player acquisitions, and in the long term improve the club by building a new stadium and investing in the "Liverpool Brand" worldwide.

Hicks and Gillett from the looks of it are hoping that they can do all of this completely leveraged with bank loans, without putting in a single red cent from their own pockets. Yes it would be a risk for them, but that is what high stakes investments are about. Speculate to accumulate. They have shown no interest in speculating with their own money, but are hoping to do some serious accumulation (1 billion dollar club). Not only that but from the sounds of it they are having difficulty even securing the financial packages they need from the banks going forward.

So yes, they have sanctioned the signings, but it is Liverpool FC's cheque book that has been whipped out using money that has

a) been borrowed
b) come from player sales
c) come from the fans (increased ticket prices, increased ancillary charges such as the new fan card crap, increased match day costs for food/drink etc.).

It was NOT Tom Hicks cheque book, nor was it George Gillette's cheque book. I can assure you that if it was, you would see a huge press release going out, "George and I are delighted to be able to invest some of our own money into LFC. We believe in this club and this extra investment we have put in shows our commitment to LFC going forward, etc., etc., etc.".

monkey9

Villain wrote: »

You'll hardly have enough butter vouchers for Barry now???

Reira would be a good signing but surely Kuyt would be surples to requirements now?

The yanks won't sanction the deal for Barry (they know more about football than Rafa, you see), so we're going for Riera instead!

Karmafaerie

The Rooster wrote: »

What the hell are you on about???

Hicks and Gillett are running a business and it appears they have sanctioned the acqusition of Riera.

There are countless posts on here about "when are dumb and dumber going to get the chequebook out" - people who clearly forgot about Torres, Macherano, Skrtel, Keane etc - and now they sanction another signing and you still want to have a go at them!

Do you expect them to gift Liverpool money? Are you one of these people who think the arabs will come and clear our debt and gift the club their millions! :rolleyes:

You mean the hundreds of millions of debt that they loaded ontop of us, by "buying" the club!

spockety

raven136 wrote: »

i believe i have spent more of my own money on liverpool than our cowboy friends.
We are debted to our gills,these are not good business owners

Good point, anyone who has been to a match at Anfield has probably already invested more of their own money in LFC than H+G. Did you know that when they go to matches at Anfield, they charge Liverpool Football Club for associated travel expenses? They don't even pay for the flights out of their own pockets. And these guys don't fly economy, last year alone they charged Liverpool 1.5 million quid so they could attend matches and meetings.

The Rooster

raven136 wrote: »

i believe i have spent more of my own money on liverpool than our cowboy friends.
We are debted to our gills,these are not good business owners

Jeez Louise. Okay, I realise now I'm wasting my time banging my head against a brick wall with people who have no clue. I'll stick to the fairy tale world too and dream of gifts from arabs.

Bacchus

Whatever about the back 4, our attack has a lot of options now.

---

Alonso/Lucas -- Masch/Plessis
Gerrard/Kuyt-- Keane/Yossi -- Riera/Babel

---

Torres

That's a very strong first choice attack with a lot of potential in Babel, Lucas and Plessis and proven premiership players in Kuyt and Yossi (they may not be world class but they're not weak links either).

Ngog and El Zhar are two potential young options that can fill in too.

monkey9

spockety wrote: »

Ah, attack of the rolleyes!

I never called them Dumb and Dumber.

Torres, Mascherano, Skrtel, Keane, etc., were all bought by Liverpool Football Club. Yes, the purchases were sanctioned by the board, which is the Hicks and Gillette clan. But it is all on borrowed money, or money generated by the club. They have bought the club on money borrowed against the club itself! I have not seen any evidence to suggest that they have invested a single cent of their own money in LFC.

I have no idea what 'the arabs' will do compared to 'the yanks'. That's a different debate altogether. I'm taking you up on the fact that you are making out like George Gillett took out his personal cheque book so we could sign Riera. That is cuckoo land stuff.

Liverpool needs investment to compete. It needs an investor with considerable wealth to take over, and invest their own money (along with bank loans, yes I live in the real world), to in the short term improve the quality of the squad with player acquisitions, and in the long term improve the club by building a new stadium and investing in the "Liverpool Brand" worldwide.

Hicks and Gillett from the looks of it are hoping that they can do all of this completely leveraged with bank loans, without putting in a single red cent from their own pockets. Yes it would be a risk for them, but that is what high stakes investments are about. Speculate to accumulate. They have shown no interest in speculating with their own money, but are hoping to do some serious accumulation (1 billion dollar club). Not only that but from the sounds of it they are having difficulty even securing the financial packages they need from the banks going forward.

So yes, they have sanctioned the signings, but it is Liverpool FC's cheque book that has been whipped out using money that has

a) been borrowed
b) come from player sales
c) come from the fans (increased ticket prices, increased ancillary charges such as the new fan card crap, increased match day costs for food/drink etc.).

It was NOT Tom Hicks cheque book, nor was it George Gillette's cheque book. I can assure you that if it was, you would see a huge press release going out, "George and I are delighted to be able to invest some of our own money into LFC. We believe in this club and this extra investment we have put in shows our commitment to LFC going forward, etc., etc., etc.".

Agreed! And all that they have done, David Moores could probably have done himself. But we needed new investors to come in and bring the club onto the next level which is what the two cowboys were brought in for, yet they've just landed us in debt.

In fact, it's Rafa who seems to be doing more for the club financially than those two. He's selling to bring in new players to improve the squad, making a profit on most players. Since he's come to the club, we've pocketed about £100 million in prize money from UEFA for reaching two European Cup Finals, a semi final and 2nd round placing!

The Rooster

monkey9 wrote: »

The yanks won't sanction the deal for Barry (they know more about football than Rafa, you see), so we're going for Riera instead!

It was the Liverpool fans at the Lazio friendly singing "you can shove Gareth Barry up yer hole" who effectively vetoed the Barry deal. Or do you think it was a coincidence that Parry called the yanks after the game and then issued the statement saying Barry is too dear?

spockety

The Rooster wrote: »

Jeez Louise. Okay, I realise now I'm wasting my time banging my head against a brick wall with people who have no clue. I'll stick to the fairy tale world too and dream of gifts from arabs.

If you can convince me with facts that I indeed have 'no clue', I will gladly accept that.

You haven't answered a single point in my post.

zAbbo

Riera, gives us options, no?

monkey9

The Rooster wrote: »

It was the Liverpool fans at the Lazio friendly singing "you can shove Gareth Barry up yer hole" who effectively vetoed the Barry deal. Or do you think it was a coincidence that Parry called the yanks after the game and then issued the statement saying Barry is too dear?

The footballing decision should be Rafa's. I remember hearing a story about how in the seventies, Liverpool were linked with a player called Stuart Barnes (i think) who played for Man City. We played City and all through the match, The Kop jeered and booed him cos they didn't want him at Liverpool. Soon after, Shankly dropped interest.
It's the managers decision. For Parry and the yanks to get together to decide that Rafa can't have him just as a PR exercise for the fans benefit, but let him buy Riera instead is a joke.

PiE

To be clear... I was actually commenting on the inflated prices in general rather than who was paying them.

It was the Liverpool fans at the Lazio friendly singing "you can shove Gareth Barry up yer hole" who effectively vetoed the Barry deal. Or do you think it was a coincidence that Parry called the yanks after the game and then issued the statement saying Barry is too dear?

I really don't think the fans not wanting Barry had anything to do with us not signing Barry.

Mr Alan

Barry and Riera are totally different players?!

Pretty sure (unfortunately) that if Barry was coming, it was going to be at the expense of Alonso. the Kop simply sang alonsos name and the barry chant as Alonso was running amock in that match. the deal looked dead in the water at that stage already i think. pretty sure Rafa/the board/owners just feel the 18m for Barry is too much. Rafa himself has said its not about a lack of funds (which is backed up by the purchasing of Riera and Keane for about 30odd million)

for the record i think the kop was bad out in singing that chant as it could be percieved as disrespectful to Rafa which was not even nearly its intention.

but Barry and O'Neill can expect a couple of chants i'm sure come the 31st, you'll never play for a big club, and you'll never manage a big club being two already mooted on various forums

herbieflowers

I think it's partly to do with the money, I read somewhere that they're still trying to get rid of Pennant, possibly to fund a deal for Riera?

The Rooster

monkey9 wrote: »

The footballing decision should be Rafa's.

Of course it should. But everyone knows that "swapping" Barry for Alonso was receving mixed response from Liverpool fans.

The reaction to Xabi and the chanting that went on v Lazio was extraordinary, and in my opinion Rick Parry saw the opportunity to become more popular with the Liverpool fans. Not only did he convince the yanks to veto the deal, but he was brazen enough to issue the statement of it in his own name on the LFC website. In my opinion that was his message to the fans - We're keeping Xabi, we're not wasting money on Barry, and you can thank me for it - aren't you all delighted with me...

raven136

The Rooster wrote: »

Of course it should. But everyone knows that "swapping" Barry for Alonso was receving mixed response from Liverpool fans.

The reaction to Xabi and the chanting that went on v Lazio was extraordinary, and in my opinion Rick Parry saw the opportunity to become more popular with the Liverpool fans. Not only did he convince the yanks to veto the deal, but he was brazen enough to issue the statement of it in his own name on the LFC website. In my opinion that was his message to the fans - We're keeping Xabi, we're not wasting money on Barry, and you can thank me for it - aren't you all delighted with me...

looked good so far hasnt he eh?at least he hasnt been inconsistent like the past two seasons:rolleyes:


Parry would have to use his own money to buy messi to ever be popular with the fans again