Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

herbieflowers

PHB wrote: »

So a risk for the United game? Torres and Keane out would be pretty tough.

what happened to Keane?

mike65

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Riera
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reina

---

Keane



Mike

jesus_thats_gre

PHB wrote: »

So a risk for the United game? Torres and Keane out would be pretty tough.

Missing Gerard and Torres would make this a very tough fixture for us..

Will Ronaldo be back by then?

zing

No mike - he /should/ be playing as a centre forward in two weeks. Big difference

spockety

I'd bet a euro that Gerrard and Torres will both feature against United...

raven136

spockety wrote: »

I'd bet a euro that Gerrard and Torres will both feature against United...

a whole euro!:D

if they are even a slight risk its not worth it

monkey9

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Missing Gerard and Torres would make this a very tough fixture for us..

Will Ronaldo be back by then?

No, Ronaldo is out til late September at least

herbieflowers

mike65 wrote: »

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Riera
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reina

---

Keane



Mike

Riera in goal?! Reina left wing?!

DeadSkin

SofaK wrote: »

Sad to see Finnan go, he's been a great servant for the club. Best of luck to him.

+1
I think this is a mistake by Rafa. I've stated before how i rate Finnan over Arbeloa. I know feck all about Degen, I just hope it doen't bite us on the ass.

mike65 wrote: »

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Reina
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reira

---

Keane



Mike

We should hope so.

ibh

mike65 wrote: »

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Riera
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reina

---

Keane



Mike

I'd rather see Reina in goal and Riera on LW...

spockety

ibh wrote: »

I'd rather see Reina in goal and Riera on LW...

I'd rather see 11 players on the pitch!!

Kimbot

mike65 wrote: »

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Riera
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reina

---

Keane



Mike

Reira in Goal??

Also what on earth are you doing leaving us 1 man down?? Is the secret in Reina being on the left wing and going to destroy all other teams for us that we only need 10 men??

MementoMori

zing wrote: »

1 down - just need to get rid of Pennant and Itandje now. Although I suppose someone would need to find Itandje first as he's been mia for a while now

I think Itandje has been playing hide and seek around Melwood - diving into ditches, ducking behind cars anytime Rafa is around, hoping that Rafa and Parry will forget to sell him. Although I did see some rumour of him heading to Lille on loan.

Pennant is annoying me - according to Tony Barrett a £4m bid was accepted from Hull but he turned down personal terms. Grrrrr

Also some very faint mild rumours that

According to Gazzetta Hernan Crespo is excluded from Inter's squad for the Champions League and he is very close from quiting from Mourinho's team.... Sampdoria are the favourites to sign him according to Gazzetta

Given the rumoured interest earlier in the summer I wonder if there is any chance?

Crespo and Keane up front against Utd?

Probably just madness on my part

herbieflowers

Benitez takes playing players out of position to a whole new level

jesus_thats_gre

monkey9 wrote: »

No, Ronaldo is out til late September at least

All we need now is an injury to Fletcher and United will be just as toothless as ourselves

Jazzy

mike65 wrote: »

Well the good news is that Keane will be playing as a centre forward in two weeks.

---

Riera
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger--Dossena

---

Masch
Kuyt

---

Alonso

---

Reina

---

Keane



Mike

are liverpool so good that they only need to field 11 players??
and everyone else thinks they were smart for noticing the mix up with r and n ^^

Kimbot

Jazzy wrote: »

are liverpool so good that they only need to field 11 players??
and everyone else thinks they were smart for noticing the mix up with r and n ^^

AH but you thought you were smart saying that there is 11 players there when there is only 10!!

Requiem4adream

EDIT -

Steve Finnan ....

Personally i think he's miles better than any of the full backs currently at Liverpool and this is a bad sale.

~Rebel~

I put it to you all that Mike was in fact just messing with his 'errors', hence the


Anyway so far an odd day from an LFC point of view. Riera not signed up yet, Finnan out unceremoniously, voro off for the same price he arrived at (till next season anyway). the young brazilian so far our only real signing (not counting galuksi as he's been here ages anyway).

This being Rafa, i wouldn't be surprised to see 2 new additions though. Riera +1. Another young winger perhaps on the right, with the deal not ready to go through till Pennant leaves.


On finnan, i do think he has been mistreated. I know theres no place for sentiment in football, but all the same it seems he's been in the dark for a while, being flogged to whatever club has a player we want. Finnan imo deserves better after his years of service. Offload if he's not in the plans by all means, but he at least deserved to be in the loop. As it turns out, Espanyol i think will be a fantastic move for him. His weakness's will be less evident in Spain and his strengths will keep him as first choice for another year or 2. Could see him having a thoroughly enjoyable end to his career.

mike65

I thought something looked wrong with that formation

Mike

PHB

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Missing Gerard and Torres would make this a very tough fixture for us..

Will Ronaldo be back by then?

Amazingly unlikely, but its a tiny bit possible, he's recovering at an abnormally fast rate. However Fergie won't risk him so theres no real chance of it. Everyone else will be fit though (unless internationals hit us), just Ronaldo missing.

MementoMori

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N161096080901-1740.htm

RAFA THRILLED WITH RIERA SWOOP
Paul Eaton 01 September 2008
Liverpool have confirmed the deadline day signing of Spanish winger Albert Riera from Espanyol.
The Reds have beaten off competition from Premiership opposition to secure the 26-year old on a four year contract.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is thrilled to have landed the former Espanyol man and is confident his new recruit will have no problems in adapting to life in Premiership football.

"Riera has the qualities we were looking for," said Benitez. "He's a left footer who normally plays on the left wing, he's good in the air, strong, powerful and a good crosser of the ball.

"He's the kind of player we have been talking about. He can beat players and get good deliveries into the area for our strikers.

"We've known about him for a long time, since he was at Mallorca and then through his career with Bordeaux, Manchester City and Espanyol.

"He can talk English and of course he knows the Premier League, which is a big bonus. Usually foreign players need time when they go to a new country, but Riera already knows the league and the style of football

"He also had offers from other English clubs but he said no to them because he wanted to come and play for us. That means a lot to me because it shows the commitment he has to play for Liverpool."

Riera will wear squad number 11 at Anfield.

He's signed.

Sadly no mention of friends in the squad:(

mike65

Riera reminds me a bit of Bruce Campbell, he and Škrtel shall repel all the undead.

Mike.

jesus_thats_gre

Glad that it is finally done and dusted..

LuckyLloyd

spockety wrote: »

I'd bet a euro that Gerrard and Torres will both feature against United...

lolz

Anyway, I'm sad to see Finnan go and I hope he enjoys the next two seasons in Spain. I can confidently say that if every player who came through the club provided his level of performance within their respective positions we would win a premiership every year. He was just brilliant for us - and I am disappointed in the treatment he received from Benitez while he was here.

mike65

Revised formation for Utd game

---

Reina
Arbeloa--Carra--Agger-Dossena

---

Masch
Babel

---

Alonso

---

Riera

---

Kuyt-Keane

Cavalieri, Skrtel, Aurelio, El Zhar, Lucas, Yossi, Ngog,

That looks half decent. It'll never work.

Mike

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote: »

Riera reminds me a bit of Bruce Campbell, he and Škrtel shall repel all the undead.

Mike.

thats funny, Scott Carson really reminds me of bruce Cambell







But anyway, I'd be very surprised if Gerrard didn't start against ManU.

Torres out for 2-3 weeks. May miss the United game.

noodler

Yeah just had our best full back for the last 8 years forced out and now we are stuck with a youngster who can't cross and has poor positional sense. Getting rid of Finnan to ensure this crap Riera deal.

My god. I am finally starting to lose faith with Rafa-its taken 4 years.

~Rebel~

noodler wrote: »

Yeah just had our best full back for the last 8 years forced out and now we are stuck with a youngster who can't cross and has poor positional sense. Getting rid of Finnan to ensure this crap Riera deal.

My god. I am finally starting to lose faith with Rafa-its taken 4 years.

i dont think Finnan is going to facilitate this deal, more that Finnan was going to be sold to anyone, and getting him included in another deal suits everyone (except maybe finnan himself as i said on the previous page)

noodler

Don't get me wrong. It obviously suits him now-he needs games.
I just think his weakness as you put it pale in comparison to Arbeloa's. I wanted them both, and I want Arbeloa eased in for another season.

LuckyLloyd

noodler wrote: »

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.

Grow up? I have listed above a number of worse performances against lessor opposition than what we faced yesterday - and you still dare to claim that yesterday was the WORST moment of his reign in charge? Are you kidding me?

You are overreacting at the start of a long season and already calling for the man's head. It's laughable.

Who do you want to bring in who is available; interested; and more capable? That's a tough one huh?

Devilman

I want Arbeloa eased in for another season.

How much more time does Arbeloa need to convince us that he is dreadful?
I would have preferred to keep Finnan and get rid of Arbeloa.

One deal that has me stumped though is Quaresma to Inter Milan for €15mil.. surely Rafa could have signed him considering there was money available when he was after Barry

~Rebel~

noodler wrote: »

Don't get me wrong. It obviously suits him now-he needs games.
I just think his weakness as you put it pale in comparison to Arbeloa's. I wanted them both, and I want Arbeloa eased in for another season.

Personally i would much prefer our choices on the right were Finnan and Arbeloa, I think its more a matter of timing. Someone Rafa was looking at became available on a free so he moved for him, while this is also a time when Finnan is rapidly decreasing in value.

DeadSkin

Devilman wrote: »

One deal that has me stumped though is Quaresma to Inter Milan for €15mil.. surely Rafa could have signed him considering there was money available when he was after Barry

I think there was some sh!t about Queresma had issues with Rafa on how he'd fit in Liverpool's formation or something to that degree. Was posted a few times in here...........somehwere!

PiE

DeadSkin wrote: »

I think there was some sh!t about Queresma had issues with Rafa on how he'd fit in Liverpool's formation or something to that degree. Was posted a few times in here...........somehwere!

Ah yea but why would he wanna let 10 seconds of research stop a good old fashioned stumping.

DeadSkin

PiE wrote: »

Ah yea but why would he wanna let 10 seconds of research stop a good old fashioned stumping.

Ah c'mon now, we're all gents in here . Aren't we?

~Rebel~

Aye in an interview Quaresma said he was interested in a move to pool, spoke to Rafa, but wanted to be free to play his own game and not have to adapt his play to the team. Was a very memorable interview, the interviewer was the harshest i've ever seen.

gixerfixer

spockety wrote: »

I'd bet a euro that Gerrard and Torres will both feature against United...

I have a sneaky feeling that both are'nt that badly injured at all.Strange that our two best players miss the International break . Rafa is learning to play the game with the international managers ala fergie style.

mike65

It would be nice to think so, Spain don't lack options up front.

Mike

~Rebel~

gixerfixer wrote: »

I have a sneaky feeling that both are'nt that badly injured at all.Strange that our two best players miss the International break . Rafa is learning to play the game with the international managers ala fergie style.

Gerrard to a point, but he was injured for weeks and they just arranged the operation at a time that would suit the club rather then country, which is fair enough. Torres though, i very much doubt was faked, would be absolutely stupid to lose our best player on the pitch that early on, on purpose. 3 points against Villa are more important then Torres playing internationally. I think Gerrard will start against ManU, and torres won't.

noodler

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Grow up? I have listed above a number of worse performances against lessor opposition than what we faced yesterday - and you still dare to claim that yesterday was the WORST moment of his reign in charge? Are you kidding me?

You are overreacting at the start of a long season and already calling for the man's head. It's laughable.

Who do you want to bring in who is available; interested; and more capable? That's a tough one huh?

There you go again imagining words. Where did I say I want him gone? Go ahead-show me. Given the opposition (not a top 4 team), given our start to the season, given the money spent, given the fact Chelsea dropped points it was the worst performance by Rafa since he took over for my money. All three substitutions were crazy.

Overreacting at the start of a season? Im sorry, is this his first season in charge? Some people would argue he has been shown serious leniency given what he has achieved in terms of the league.

gixerfixer

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Gerrard to a point, but he was injured for weeks and they just arranged the operation at a time that would suit the club rather then country, which is fair enough. Torres though, i very much doubt was faked, would be absolutely stupid to lose our best player on the pitch that early on, on purpose. 3 points against Villa are more important then Torres playing internationally. I think Gerrard will start against ManU, and torres won't.

True enough but put it this way. Rafa is known for rotation right,but got hammered by the fans and press last year for rotating Torres a couple of times (cant remember the games off hand) but what if he needed Torres to rest up for a couple of weeks and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that....drag him off after 20 minutes in a game we would be happy to draw anyways. Okay it's a long shot but imo IF Torres needed the rest it would be a way to go about it. As for Gerrard it's as plain as day to me that the operation was planned for the international break and to have him back for the United game. Dont be surprised in the least if we are told they wont make the game the day before the United match and they run out unto the pitch for kick off.

noodler

Wow look. One-Torres decided he couldn't play on right away, it had nothing to do with Rafa

Two-As crazy as Rafa's decisions can be, I doubt he would purposely sacrifice prem points at this stage of the season.

gixerfixer

noodler wrote: »

Wow look. One-Torres decided he couldn't play on right away, it had nothing to do with Rafa

Two-As crazy as Rafa's decisions can be, I doubt he would purposely sacrifice prem points at this stage of the season.

Your proberly right but like i said it's possible.

Devilman

As crazy as Rafa's decisions can be, I doubt he would purposely sacrifice prem points at this stage of the season.

After yesterdays debacle I wouldn't be so sure of that.

noodler

Well I fully agree its possible that maybe he could be fit for next Sat but Rafa can claim otherwise and so says 2-3 weeks. Spain's games are not the toughest, Armenia and who?

darkskol

Well so long Finnan sad to see you go, best of luck with Espanyol you have been a fine servant for the club over the last few years.

Voronin going on loan to Hertha..hopefully he adds some value to himself while playing there!
So will Riera feature against Utd?

gixerfixer

noodler wrote: »

Well I fully agree its possible that maybe he could be fit for next Sat but Rafa can claim otherwise and so says 2-3 weeks. Spain's games are not the toughest, Armenia and who?

That's the thing. What if he isnt injured at all. Spain have easy games next week and with the kind of firepower they have up front they wouldnt miss Torres that much. Only throwing it out there. Thing for me is if he had a tear in his hamstring he wouldnt have walked of the pitch himself. Torres has had a very tough year games wise and had feck all break during the summer. If he wanted and needed the rest wouldnt it be to his advantage to take it now?

colly10

noodler wrote: »

All three substitutions were crazy.
Overreacting at the start of a season? Im sorry, is this his first season in charge? Some people would argue he has been shown serious leniency given what he has achieved in terms of the league.

+1 - Yesterday we were incredebly negitive. Rafa was happy with a nil all draw from very early on. The man is just far too negitive, it's not a terrible result (it is a bad one though) but setting out with that intention is bizarre. Villa were poor yesterday, very poor, they were there for the taking if we set up with a positive formation with the right players.
Taking off an experienced player you just paid 20m for to play a poor 19 year old when the game was level is inexplicable.
Rafa plays the wrong players in the wrong positions and is far too negetive.

gixerfixer wrote: »

... drag him off after 20 minutes in a game we would be happy to draw anyways.

Thats the problem, you should not set out in Villa park happy with a draw, United wouldn't, Chelsea wouldn't. Neither side would mind a draw but they set out for a win, for us a win is a bonus. This is why we will not mount a serious challange for the premiership, it is why we will never win the premiership under Rafa.
We draw far too many games because we set out in far too many games happy with a draw.

As for who we'd replace him with, there are many managers in the premiership alone that would have done a better job yesterday

gixerfixer wrote: »

That's the thing. What if he isnt injured at all.

This is highly unlikely, it would be rediculous anyway. Frank Lampard played over 160 games in a row iirc and managed without these breaks that Rafa seems to believe players need. Torres does not need a rest