Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

mike65

Right Torres off with what appears to be hamstring, he did walk under his own steam so it could have been worse and the international break is upon us (Spain can cope!), however he's bound to miss the Man United game. Maybe Keane as the senoir partner with Ngog will be enough or - shock horror play Kuyt as a striker.

Mike.

Guy:Incognito

spockety wrote: »

I presume we're ignoring Rafa giving Liverpool their highest premier league points haul?"

Does it matter if we get 100 points and still finsih 3rd? I'd rather win the league with the lowest points ever than come 3rd with our highest.

flanzer

I see SWP scores 2 on his 2nd debut for Citeh. How much? £9m? Can't believe Rafa let that one get away. He'd have been a super addition. I'm beginning to believe Rafa is clueless when it comes recognising the need for width.

He should have been a lawyer cuz he puts up a mean defence!

Melion

flanzer wrote: »

I see SWP scores 2 on his 2nd debut for Citeh. How much? £9m? Can't believe Rafa let that one get away. He'd have been a super addition. I'm beginning to believe Rafa is clueless when it comes recognising the need for width.

He should have been a lawyer cuz he puts up a mean defence!

Citeh signed him for 9m, if we were interested we would have had to pay 15m+

spockety

flanzer wrote: »

I see SWP scores 2 on his 2nd debut for Citeh. How much? £9m? Can't believe Rafa let that one get away. He'd have been a super addition. I'm beginning to believe Rafa is clueless when it comes recognising the need for width.

He should have been a lawyer cuz he puts up a mean defence!

So you think Chelsea would have sold him to Liverpool instead of Man City?

astrofool

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Liverpool have inproved as a team.
Remember How we used to dread Chelsea in the league?
For the first year or so under Benitez, we were firmly in their pocket!
Then we switched things around, so that last season, we were desperatly unlucky to only get two points.
I'm sure it'll be a while before any of us forget that infamous "penalty"!!!


And anyone who thinks that Liverpool play ugly football is being ridiculous IMO.

When we play badly, we look horrible, but so does every other team!
Except Arsenal of course, who have the amazing ability to dominate a game while looking amazing, and still loosing!

If we're so boring a team to watch, how come we scored more goals than any other English team last year?
How many boring teams score 8-0 victories?
Or 6-0 in the league?
Or 7-1 against Birmingham a few years back?
Or what about tearing Arsenal apart when Crouch got his perfect hatrick?
And do you think we're boring in Europe?
Juventus/Barca/Inter/Chelsea (even when we lost)/Arsenal/Galataseray/Marsailles/and two amazing finals against Milan.
All wonderfull, amazing, entertaining games.

When Liverpool play well, they're a joy to watch.
When we play badly, we can be like the visualisation of a tooth ache!

People have amazingly short memories, and seem to think that cause we've played badly in the last four games, that that's how Liverpool play.

And then today, Liverpool go and play an insanely dull nil nil borefest just to back up your point

flanzer

spockety wrote: »

So you think Chelsea would have sold him to Liverpool instead of Man City?

I think we could have be seen to compete for him, with him making the decision. The fact that there was no publicised interest, disappoints me

monkey9

Is it Rafa's fault that Utd are in a Ferguson dynasty or that Chelsea have been bought by a multi billionaire who can buy his club titles?? What we've achieved under Rafa is incredible and clubs below us have money as well you know. Villa have outspent us this summer. Did West Ham and Man City outspend us last summer?? If not, they were fairly close.

Devilman

But you're saying that we're aiming for the same things that Villa are aiming for.

No not what I'm saying, my point is are we going to settle for what Villa are aiming for, when we should aim higher. 4th should be a platform to move on from, we shouldnt be a target for other clubs.

O' Neill spent more this summer than any other premier league manager, yet if he gets a 5th spot and a bit of a league cup run, then that's ok.

Does that make 4th OK for Liverpool? I'm not saying we must win the league, but we must at least challenge for it, the spine of a very good side is there for us to do just that. This is Rafas 5th season and we should be ready to make a step up

But Rafa, who knows who he wants,

I'm not completely convinced about that. Keane is a great addition, but he answers a question that hasnt been asked and creates new problems like where to play him/Gerrard

but some American cowboys decide they know more about football than Rafa does and decline Rafa's advances for success, gets grief. Rafa is doing an unbelievable job considering the circumstances.

Fair point, but I think its been made obvious in the last few games that another centre mid isn't needed, a winger however is.

Someone made the point of judging Rafa without taking into account the quality he has bought. That can't be done, Rafa has improved the squad immensely since the Houllier days, but I fear he is becomming blind to the obvious things the fans can see, the lack of width being the most important thing. And we cant continue season after season saying we need 2/3 more players to challenge for the title ,that mantra is starting to wear thin now.

DeadSkin

Right, hoping that Reira signs, is that the end of the comings & goings for this transfer window.

Itandje/Finnan/Pennant/Voronin all staying??

gixerfixer

monkey9 wrote: »

Is it Rafa's fault that Utd are in a Ferguson dynasty or that Chelsea have been bought by a multi billionaire who can buy his club titles?? What we've achieved under Rafa is incredible and clubs below us have money as well you know. Villa have outspent us this summer. Did West Ham and Man City outspend us last summer?? If not, they were fairly close.

How dare you come out with a sensible post like that on a day when we have drawn a game.:mad:
No no...dont you know Rafa has spent 600 million quid on the team in the last 4 years and recouped 25 quid on player sales :rolleyes:............... Considering the state he recieved the team in when he took over it's a minor miracle that he has won the European and FA cup as well as year on year improving the squad in that time.

mike65

Dont forget

http://www.fantasyrafa.com/

8 correct guesses today!

Mike.

Ruskie4Rent

Devilman wrote: »

That can't be done, Rafa has improved the squad immensely since the Houllier days, but I fear he is becomming blind to the obvious things the fans can see, the lack of width being the most important thing.

Paul Doyle at the Guardian has a great solution to Liverpool's problems out wide.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/31/anfields_wasted_space_could_be.html

The Anfield pitch is 101 metres long and 68 metres wide. What a waste! The minimum permitted dimensions are 90mx45m. That means Liverpool could narrow their pitch by over 11 metres on each side, ie remove the flanks that they've long left fallow anyway. They could also shorten the pitch by 11 metres, thereby giving an even greater role to one of their most creative players, Pepe Reina.

mike65

I added my own tuppence worth to that blog, its a great idea, no width = no wingers. Perfect solution.

Mike

Helix

this isnt trolling, or a dig or anything like it, but the liverpool supporters were very very very quiet today. id been hearing for ages how theyre the loudest travelling support and all that, but my god they were poor

was it just that it was a sunday and that it was on the telly, or was it just an offday (for scousers who go to away games, i have no point of reference here)

oh and if anyone is even going to attempt to reply to that with rolly eyes, or mentioning the word bitter, or calling me a troll, dont bother, its an honest question based on my first ever experience with liverpool fans

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote: »

Dont forget

http://www.fantasyrafa.com/

8 correct guesses today!

Mike.

just got a 10 again today. Still never gotten the full 11!

wcarey1975

mike65 wrote: »

Dont forget

http://www.fantasyrafa.com/

8 correct guesses today!

Mike.

Holy Cr$p forgot about this today!:mad:

mike65

The selection of Lucas over Babel blew my chance of glory.

Luis Garcia and Flo-po combined to score as Atletico thumped Malaga 4-0.

Mike

jesus_thats_gre

Helix wrote: »

this isnt trolling, or a dig or anything like it, but the liverpool supporters were very very very quiet today. id been hearing for ages how theyre the loudest travelling support and all that, but my god they were poor

was it just that it was a sunday and that it was on the telly, or was it just an offday (for scousers who go to away games, i have no point of reference here)

oh and if anyone is even going to attempt to reply to that with rolly eyes, or mentioning the word bitter, or calling me a troll, dont bother, its an honest question based on my first ever experience with liverpool fans

Speaking for myself, I was quite worried about this match today. Missing someone like Gerrard is a massive deal but not having a clue what system or players he was going to employ was a concern. Starting the match with the system he did no doubt had literally every pool fan mistified. The final nail in the coffin was loosing Torres extremely early on in the match. All that was left was a bunch of nervous fans.

The sooner that we can get the Olympics and this transfer window behind us (hopefully sign a wide player) and settle on a starting 11, the better!! Really really really really hope he doesn't keep going with a 4-4-2 and reverts to the 4-2-3-1 of:

---

Reina

---

RB

---

Carra

---

CB

---

LB

---

Masch

---

Alonso

---

---

Gerard

---

Keane

---

LF/LW

---

---

Torres

---

As for the Villa supporters today. Tis by far the loudest I have ever heard them.

Helix

ive heard us as loud and louder before, but never as consistently loud

there were very few times we werent roaring and shouting, normally theres lulls all over the gaff. id like to see us continue in that form for the rest of the season tbh, itd make villa park a pretty terrifying place to go

noodler

Ive never been more disappointed with Rafa than today. Keane on the left was unforgivable. He should also have been moved up front STRAIGHT AWAY after Fernando's injury.

I have yet to see the point of Aurelio as a player and I can't for the life of me see why Rafa wants Finnan sold based upon Arbeloa's recent displays.


No shots on target is an amazing statistic.

Vokes

Didn't Xabi have a shot on target? Tried to lob Friedel iirc?

Devilman

No shots on target is an amazing statistic

Not as amazing a statistic as having £30million worth of forwards playing on the wings while playing an inexperienced 19yo on his own upfront, against a team which could break into the top 4 :mad:

noodler

Hmm, I remember that alright yet the Sky stats etc said 0 shots at the end.

I think the shot might have fallen a bit short of the goal to be counted? I don't know how you define these things but lets not argue over the semantics-it wasn't a chance.

copacetic

SofaK wrote: »

Didn't Xabi have a shot on target? Tried to lob Friedel iirc?

yep, the sky runner keeping them missed it. opta stats:

Aston VillaTeam StatisticsLiverpool
0 Goals 0
0 1st Half Goals 0
2 Shots on Target 1
5 Shots off Target 7
1 Blocked Shots 2
5 Corners 8
9 Fouls 12
0 Offsides 2
0 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 0
76.2 Passing Success 79.2
19 Tackles 29
78.9 Tackles Success 79.3
43.7 Possession 56.3
51.2 Territorial Advantage 48.8

Dub13

Folks there is a Villa V Liverpool thread going lets try and keep all the posts about the game in there as there is no point in having the game talked about on two threads.

LuckyLloyd

noodler wrote: »

Ive never been more disappointed with Rafa than today.

I dunno, Reading or West Ham last year? The draws at home to Birmingham and Wigan? When he wouldn't give God a contract extension? Crystal Palace away in 2004 / 5? Benfica in the champions league second round in 2006? Marseille at home last year?

Or are you just hopping on the bandwagon with a laughable over - reaction like a typical football fan would?

noodler

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I dunno, Reading or West Ham last year? The draws at home to Birmingham and Wigan? When he wouldn't give God a contract extension? Crystal Palace away in 2004 / 5? Benfica in the champions league second round in 2006? Marseille at home last year?

Or are you just hopping on the bandwagon with a laughable over - reaction like a typical football fan would?

I don't see the point of fans like this, on a message board or otherwise. First listing all the awful things that happened under Rafa's reign and then suggesting someone else's disappointment over a game is somehow fabricated.

Im sorry you 'dunno', but I am quite sure. Performance-wise, ambition-wise and tactically that was worse than anything I have seen under his reign. Do everyone a favour and grow up. Blind faith in someone and fear of criticism helps no one.

DeadSkin

Edit: Wrong thread!!!

zing

So we've to get rid of Voronin, Pennant & Itandje today by the looks of it. Not much time left. Reira deal should be tied up - wonder will Rafa pull another last minute deal out of nowhere like he did with Arbeloa a couple of years ago where no one heard anything about it until the following day.

redspider

So, where does this leave Liverpool, Rafa's personel and formations? Up in the air if you ask me. Rafa selects a formation at times based on the opposition, and if his aim was to draw with Villa he got that. But surely our ambitions should be more than that? Granted, on paper, an away draw at Villa is okay, but we need to at least be some danger to the opposition rather than being a damp squib. Points gained in such matches is what can propel you further up the table.

I fear that Rafa will be happy with a 4th in the league this year and a good run in the CL. If the league was a priority, the team selection and ambition would have been much higher yesterday. Much more attacking minded.

Granted the team was without Gerrard, but we need to have a squad that can carry injuries even to the best players. If both Torres and Gerrard are out for an appreciable amount of time, that is going to affect us badly. I still dont think that Robbie fits the 4-2-3-1 that worked so well last season, and if we switch to a 4-4-2 to accomodate Robbie playing in behind/close-to and moving with Torres, that compromises Gerrard.

Those that thought we would revert to a 4-2-3-1, well, nope, it didnt happen. Alonso was at times a holding defender in front of the back 4 and was circling from left to right all across the backline. At times the formation was more like 4-1-2-2-1. But basically, it didnt work and nowhere in yesterday's match were the players completely comfortable in their positions nor did the formation leverage the attributes of the players concerned.

So, definitely some worrying times. Yes, we could say that we are winning ugly and now drawing ugly, a win yesterday perhaps would have been more of an insult to football than anything. A loss may have woken the team and management up a bit.

There will be harder tasks ahead, and I am far from being confident that the team being used will be able to compete with it. If Riera is signed today, I hope that he turns out much better than I fear he will. We need a bit of luck ......

Redspider

gixerfixer

zing wrote: »

So we've to get rid of Voronin, Pennant & Itandje today by the looks of it. Not much time left. Reira deal should be tied up - wonder will Rafa pull another last minute deal out of nowhere like he did with Arbeloa a couple of years ago where no one heard anything about it until the following day.

Dont hold much hope of us getting rid of the three of them in one day.Hope if Rafa does pull a surprise out of the hat today it's a quality surprise.

mike65

So then Man City have gone from the ownership of a very dodgy guy who had no assets to plaything of a Sheikh Maybe this will prompt Sameer al-Ansari to make another move.

Mike.

prendy

i was disgusted with Rafa yesterday, putting keane out wide was as bad a tactical decision as any manager will make this season.
Keane needs confidence and with torres off Rafa should have said go on get us a goal we trust you, but what does he do? stick him on the left
doesnt bode well.

I think Kuyt is looking worse then he did last term, shockingly negative, every pass goes backwards and never takes on his man.

Why was Babel not starting let alone not even get a run??

And playing a left back at CM????starting with 3 DM's??

What the fcuk is Rafa playing at? Villa were there to be taken yesterday and its a very bad 2 pts dropped IMO.

Karmafaerie

Do people here get there positioning off of Football Manager or something?!
Cause that's the only reason I can think of that Lucas is constantly reffered to as a DM.

He's a central midfield player.
A box to box runner, who was asked to play a little deeper last season.
Nearly all central midfielders start off defensively before been given the liscence to go forward.
Like Stevie G for instance!
Is he a "defensive midfielder"?!!

Dont be at yourself

Indeed. By all accounts, Lucas resembled a young Steven Gerrard during his time in Brazil.

Karmafaerie

Finnan to Espanyol is a strange one!
Part of the Riera deal probably.

Smacks of Harte a few years back though.

zing

Stevie played in Brazil ?:p

Finnan could be off to Espanyol today. Pennant has turned down Stoke but two other clubs are after him. No word on Voronin or Itandje.
http://www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk/2008/09/liverpool-fc-dday-over-albert.html

mike65

Where's that from?

edit, seen link.

Mike

monkey9

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Indeed. By all accounts, Lucas resembled a young Steven Gerrard during his time in Brazil.

Yeah, there were a few times last season that Lucas looked impressive going forward. Fulham away springs to mind.

monkey9

zing wrote: »

Stevie played in Brazil ?:p

Finnan could be off to Espanyol today. Pennant has turned down Stoke but two other clubs are after him. No word on Voronin or Itandje.
http://www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk/2008/09/liverpool-fc-dday-over-albert.html

Espanyol??!!! Didn't see that coming! Good move for him though. Experience of La Liga while living in Barcelone....nice!

zing

We've signed a Brazilian striker

So he's only 18 and it was a free

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Brazilian youngster Vitor Flora on a free transfer.
The 18-year-old striker holds an Italian passport and spent the last campaign with Brazilian outfit Botafogo Futebol Club.

Depending on the necessary international clearance being received, Flora could make his debut for Gary Ablett's side in Tuesday night's opening FA Premier Reserve League North fixture away to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium - a match you can watch live on LFC TV.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161127080901-1145.htm

gixerfixer

zing wrote: »

We've signed a Brazilian striker

So he's only 18 and it was a free



http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161127080901-1145.htm

Good luck to him. Welcome to Anfield

Chardee MacDennis

bbc says he has received his clearance

bbc.co.uk wrote:

1155: LIVERPOOL SIGNING
The Premier League club have signed Brazilian Vito Flora on a free transfer from Botafogo. The 18-year-old holds an Italian holds an Italian passport and the necessary international clearance has been received

mike65

Fupps sake another kid. Rafa we need big guns.

Mike

monkey9

mike65 wrote: »

Fupps sake another kid. Rafa we need big guns.

Mike

Ah c'mon Mike. We're gonna be brilliant in twelve years!!

gixerfixer

Holy smoke. Only two videos of him on You Tube. Must be a nobody. Rafa out..:D

BolBill

Rafa out.

Awful purchases again this season.

Except Wobbie.... maybe.....

redspider

@PHB:

> Last edited by PHB; Today at 11:23. Reason: Half the post should be in the match thread

Its called context. How the hell can someone post their thoughts on the ramification of what happened in a match without posting their thoughts of what went right or wrong in that match?

I expect a lot from other posters but I dont expect them to be mind-readers ....

Dub13

gixerfixer wrote: »

Holy smoke. Only two videos of him on You Tube. Must be a nobody. Rafa out..:D

I cant find any.