Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread [mod warning #11145, #32140 (see OP)]

Mr Alan

Babel played out wide for Ajax (in 4-3-3, which is easily comparable to where he plays for us).

He doesn't have the brain to play up top on his own, he may at some point in the future, but not yet, he needs to continue to develop out on the wing.

missingtime

Mr Alan wrote: »

Babel played out wide for Ajax (in 4-3-3, which is easily comparable to where he plays for us).

He doesn't have the brain to play up top on his own, he may at some point in the future, but not yet, he needs to continue to develop out on the wing.

But Mr Alan, he is having hardly any success out there.(not just referring to todays match). It must be killing his confidence to see a younger player in N'gog be 2nd choice.

He's not a good winger and as Riera and Benny are better than him he wont get enough game time to improve.

He should be given more time up front in my opinion.

Mr Alan

Ngog has impressed, applies himself well & looks decent when he gets chances, maybe if Babel did the same, he'd get more opportunities.

He'll need to start doing well in his actual position before he starts taking other peoples positions imo.

(btw, i agree & would like to see him get time up front, but he needs to earn it, he started one game up front on his own, i was at it & he stunk the place up. Against a Championship team)

missingtime

Mr Alan wrote: »

Ngog has impressed, applies himself well & looks decent when he gets chances, maybe if Babel did the same, he'd get more opportunities.

He'll need to start doing well in his actual position before he starts taking other peoples positions imo.

(btw, i agree & would like to see him get time up front, but he needs to earn it, he started one game up front on his own, i was at it & he stunk the place up. Against a Championship team)

Yea, I like Ngog as well he's a good prospect.

Babel wont get as many chances out on the wing and I think thats whats affecting him.

A certain Mr. Kyut should be offering words of wisdom to young Babel.

NukaCola

missingtime wrote: »

But Mr Alan, he is having hardly any success out there.(not just referring to todays match). It must be killing his confidence to see a younger player in N'gog be 2nd choice.

He's not a good winger and as Riera and Benny are better than him he wont get enough game time to improve.

He should be given more time up front in my opinion.

When i seen Babel in the starting line up i was thinking "What has Benitez up his sleeve here?" I was a bit excited TBH, wasn't sure what to expect. I was always under the impression that Babel would come good. Yet again Babel failed to impress, there will be very few times IMO that he will get a start again ahead of Yossi and Reira and on todays and previous performances he doesn't deserve to. He just isn't taking his chances. Never looks confident, doesn't look comfortable even doing the basics. Dont know if its confidence with him but he dissapoints yet again. He probably needs a long run of games to hit a bit of form, i dont know if he'll be given that kind of patience from Benitez especially seeing as Yossi has been playing well...

missingtime

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

When i seen Babel in the starting line up i was thinking "What has Benitez up his sleeve here?" I was a bit excited TBH, wasn't sure what to expect. I was always under the impression that Babel would come good. Yet again Babel failed to impress, there will be very few times IMO that he will get a start again ahead of Yossi and Reira and on todays and previous performances he doesn't deserve to. He just isn't taking his chances. Never looks confident, doesn't look comfortable even doing the basics. Dont know if its confidence with him but he dissapoints yet again. He probably needs a long run of games to hit a bit of form, i dont know if he'll be given that kind of patience from Benitez especially seeing as Yossi has been playing well...

Yea, he does have an air of excitement about him. But then there is a crushing disappointment when he does nothing.

We know with Rafa that if a player is not good enough he is shipped out so there must be something....

NukaCola

missingtime wrote: »

We know with Rafa that if a player is not good enough he is shipped out so there must be something....

This could be his last season...
We need him to step up big time, especially if we dont bring in anymore Attacking players. I for one hopes he does....

Stargate

missingtime wrote: »

Yea, he does have an air of excitement about him. But then there is a crushing disappointment when he does nothing.

We know with Rafa that if a player is not good enough he is shipped out so there must be something....

Fernando Morientes , rem him ?

NukaCola

Stargate wrote: »

Fernando Morientes , rem him ?

Ya, another dissapointment, was only with us for 1 and a half seasons? (could be wrong) so Rafa shipped him on fairly quick...

kingshankly

Mr Alan wrote: »

Babel played out wide for Ajax (in 4-3-3, which is easily comparable to where he plays for us).

He doesn't have the brain to play up top on his own, he may at some point in the future, but not yet, he needs to continue to develop out on the wing.

it must be a confidence thing with him,and unless he gets it sorted he has to go patience is wearing thin.
lucas was our best midfielder today,shocking display from torres,kuyt and babel

ilovelamp2000

That was a really disappointing performance today, there aren't a whole lot of positives to take from it.

In the first half Spurs pressed us high up the pitch and we failed to string any passes together and couldn't get anything going at all, we were a bit better in the second half but never made the breakthrough that I thought we might.

Spurs aren't a great side but they have the one thing we always seem to struggle against - pace.

As for individuals it's hard to pick out many worth praising but I'd like to mention that Keane's performance was the one that kept us in the game for so long.

I'm no Lucas fan but he wasn't the problem today.

daithijjj

I dont see much point in criticising torres today folks. Babel was very poor. Kuyt did absolutely nothing and i mean NOTHING. Gerrard is clearly not fit.

Torres was getting nothing in terms of service and was being marked by a great player in king who had others beside him aswell shackling torres.

Lucas was better than kuyt and babel and thats not a compliment either.

currythis

Everybody looked short of confidence and sharpness and imagination(bar Johnson)

We have no striking options(voronin doesn't count imo and ngog is too lightweight)and we need someone who can feed decent balls into torres and gerrard,hopefully aqualani will be that player when he's fit.

I reckon if Rafa doesn't do the business this season then it will be his last.

Stargate

currythis wrote: »

I reckon if Rafa doesn't do the business this season then it will be his last.

Thats for certain Currythis especially if utd make it 19 :eek:

ilovelamp2000

currythis wrote: »

Everybody looked short of confidence and sharpness and imagination(bar Johnson)

We have no striking options(voronin doesn't count imo and ngog is too lightweight)and we need someone who can feed decent balls into torres and gerrard,hopefully aqualani will be that player when he's fit.

I reckon if Rafa doesn't do the business this season then it will be his last.

It probably should be if we don't do well, but because of that contract he signed last year we can't afford to get rid of him.

Anyway it's far too early to be talking like this.

flahavaj

A "Rafa Out" conversation already? Jesus lads, I'm no fan of the man or indeed the club but ye must be joking surely to God?:eek:

~Rebel~

joe123 wrote: »

Let me put it this way to you. Lucas goes out knowing his job is to link the play to gerrard and keep the team moving forward.

He goes out and passes the ball sideways backwards everyway but forward. He didnt dictate the tempo of the game and didnt get any shots in on goal. He didnt do his job basically.

To be fair to Lucas, whenever anyone made teh fukin effort to make a run for him he tried to find them but 95% of teh time he'd look forward, everyone (especially babel and Torres) would be within 2 feet of their men and he'd have to look elsewhere. He didn't have a fantastic game, but neither did he put a foot wrong, the team as a rule were just poor today, especially any of those stationed in spurs half. I get the feeling maybe this is a last chance for Babel, to give him a few games to try to impress.

One thing for sure though, a lot of the chaps out there today really need to up their games if pool are to challenge.

Most disappointing thing for me was how badly torres and gerrard linked with each other whenever they were in possession. We really need them to get back on the same wavelength again

NukaCola

currythis wrote: »

I reckon if Rafa doesn't do the business this season then it will be his last.

:pac:
He's more likely to walk than be sacked.
Who would we bring in that would be better? Who would work with the Yanks?
We are lucky to have Rafa as a manager.

Fromvert

Poor performance, only players that come out with any positives are Reina, Yossi and Johnson.

Well done to Spurs, they where the better team.

Wednesday can't come soon enough. I expect a reaction.

ilovelamp2000

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

:pac:
He's more likely to walk than be sacked.
Who would we bring in that would be better? Who would work with the Yanks?
We are lucky to have Rafa as a manager.

Nonsense.

I actually hate people that think that one of the most successful clubs in the history of English and European football is lucky to have a good manager.

Cop on.

Stargate

To be honest i am not the biggest fan of Lucas , he just dosent cut it for me ,I could be wrong about him and he could turn out to be a fantastic midfielder, while he wears the liverpool jersey and plays i will support him , he wasnt the worst today , we cant play that bad again this season can we ?

rossie1977

currythis wrote: »

I reckon if Rafa doesn't do the business this season then it will be his last.

his contract keeps him at liverpool till 2014, why would the board give him such a long contract if they were going to get rid because he doesn't win the league this year, especially considering he had to sell one of his better players thus considerably weakening last years team. that sounds daft to me, unless liverpool finish outside the top 4 (which would be financial disaster for them or man utd/arsenal either) then i really cannot see him losing his job

Fromvert

Ardent wrote: »

Whereas you're another of the deluded optimists on here. Told ye we would struggle, it's not easy being right all the time, sigh. Nevermind though, you guys keep on w@nking over Lucas, Kuyt, Voronin & co.

Ah the old rub a defeat in a Liverpool fans face when you are also a Liverpool fan.

monkey9

orourkeda wrote: »

Yes. The spurs goalkeeper looked like a dingbat after that challenge. Stand up and it was out for a goal kick. Glen johnson was going absolutely nowhere

He's a right back who was bought to add a more attacking approach to the team. He attacked Spurs, went by a couple of defenders, and won a peno.

Now, i don't care what the f*ck Gomez was up to, but Johnson forced his hand and yeah, Gomes f*cked up! Penalty won, one all. Well done, Johnson!!

Now seriously, if you really want to argue that, then fair enough. I'm not gonna bother with you.

NukaCola

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Nonsense.

I actually hate people that think that one of the most successful clubs in the history of English and European football is lucky to have a good manager.

Cop on.

Get with the times man, Liverpool havent won the league in 19 years. Rafa has got us closest than any manager has since those years. He won us our first European cup in 21 years. And all on a shoe string budget. He's not just good Rosco. We are very lucky to have Rafa...

ilovelamp2000

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

Get with the times man, Liverpool havent won the league in 19 years. Rafa has got us closest than any manager has since those years. He won us our first European cup in 21 years. And all on a shoe string budget. He's not just good Rosco. We are very lucky to have Rafa...

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Rafa is the one of the reasons we came so close to winning the league last year, but he's also the reason we didn't win it.

He's a good manager but I can think of plenty who would have won the league by now had they been given similar resources.

rossie1977

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

I shudder to think what the scoreline would have been without him.

he made two good saves in the first half and did one for the cameras in the second, in fairness reina is there to make saves, look at ben fosters save today which won the match for utd

noodler

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

Get with the times man, Liverpool havent won the league in 19 years. Rafa has got us closest than any manager has since those years. He won us our first European cup in 21 years. And all on a shoe string budget. He's not just good Rosco. We are very lucky to have Rafa...

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Rafa is the one of the reasons we came so close to winning the league last year, but he's also the reason we didn't win it.

He's a good manager but I can think of plenty who would have won the league by now had they been given similar resources.

The truth is always somewhere in between...

rossie1977

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Rafa is the one of the reasons we came so close to winning the league last year, but he's also the reason we didn't win it.

He's a good manager but I can think of plenty who would have won the league by now had they been given similar resources.

city have spent more haven't they?? madrid have spent more in one summer

anyways alex ferguson spent a ton more money than kenny dalglish between 1986 and 1991 and utd never came close to winning the league in that time period, they should have got rid back then :pac:

monkey9

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

:pac:
He's more likely to walk than be sacked.
Who would we bring in that would be better? Who would work with the Yanks?
We are lucky to have Rafa as a manager.

Honestly, you're really p!ssing against the wind with the pro Rafa talk round these parts!

BolBill

**** performance, no bench, no hope, anyone else is kidding themself

rossie1977

BumbleBee123 wrote: »

IMO (and i hope i'm wrong) we have no more money for transfers and we wont see any more signings

then where has a large chunk of the money that has come in on transfers since january gone?? ie keane 16m, alonso 30m, arbeloa 3.5m, leto 3m

Fromvert

rossie1977 wrote: »

then where has a large chunk of the money that has come in on transfers since january gone?? ie keane 16m, alonso 30m, arbeloa 3.5m, leto 3m

It was probably used to pay off the interest. I'm just speculating as nobody knows the real story.

ilovelamp2000

Fromvert wrote: »

It was probably used to pay off the interest. I'm just speculating as nobody knows the real story.

That's fairly likely.

We made a loss last year so it's bound to affect our spending, just like Man United's losses have affected their spending albeit on a more dramatic level.

deadhead13

rossie1977 wrote: »

then where has a large chunk of the money that has come in on transfers since january gone?? ie keane 16m, alonso 30m, arbeloa 3.5m, leto 3m

There was an understanding between the owners and Rafa that contract extensions would also come out of the transfer budget - Gerrard, Torres, Agger, Kuyt, Benayoan and most likely Mascherano.

rossie1977

Rosco1982 wrote: »

That's fairly likely.

We made a loss last year so it's bound to affect our spending, just like Man United's losses have affected their spending albeit on a more dramatic level.

nope liverpool as a club made a profit of £10m+ on turnover of £162m last year, H+G made a loss

missingtime

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Might want to research that statement. Thoroughly.

missingtime

BolBill wrote: »

**** performance, no bench, no hope, anyone else is kidding themself

Mate its only been one game.

Stargate

missingtime wrote: »

Mate its only been one game.

LOL


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055652723

ilovelamp2000

rossie1977 wrote: »

nope liverpool as a club made a profit of £10m+ on turnover of £162m last year, H+G made a loss

And who owns "Liverpool as a club" ?

eZe^

Wouldn't worry about the result today, Barca lost their opening game and drew their second last season, they ended up winning every competition they entered... Keep the faith...

NukaCola

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Rafa is the one of the reasons we came so close to winning the league last year, but he's also the reason we didn't win it.

He's a good manager but I can think of plenty who would have won the league by now had they been given similar resources.

I`m talking about net spend, Rafa sold to buy...
Explain to me why he was the reason why we lost the league please..
Plenty of managers? Please name a few managers who are/were availible?

NukaCola

rossie1977 wrote: »

he made two good saves in the first half and did one for the cameras in the second, in fairness reina is there to make saves, look at ben fosters save today which won the match for utd

I dont get your point? Are you saying Reina didn't have a good game? Because thats all i`m saying. They were very good important saves, without them we would be looking at a worse scoreline?

NukaCola

monkey9 wrote: »

Honestly, you're really p!ssing against the wind with the pro Rafa talk round these parts!

I`m just saying Rafa is a good manager despite yesterdays result, i mean if we won people wouldn't be getting so bad. Its only one game. This happens nearly everytime we dont get a good result, i understand people get annoyed etc but come on it was the First game of the season!!

NukaCola

rossie1977 wrote: »

then where has a large chunk of the money that has come in on transfers since january gone?? ie keane 16m, alonso 30m, arbeloa 3.5m, leto 3m

If he had money to spend he would spend it. From what i hear the transfer kitty was also used to extend contracts. Who knows what he has availible to him. He stated he wanted to do his business early, i just dont think he has much, if any funds availible, just my opinion, i`m not stating that as fact.

NukaCola

eZe^ wrote: »

Wouldn't worry about the result today, Barca lost their opening game and drew their second last season, they ended up winning every competition they entered... Keep the faith...

So what your saying is dont judge the season on the first or second game?
Thats crazy talk!
Rafa OUT!!
We wont be in the top four!!
FFS :pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Bandit12

Rosco1982 wrote: »

Are you trying to wind me up ?


"Shoestring budget" - that's a complete and utter lie. We've spent more than everyone bar Chelsea in the last five years.

Rafa is the one of the reasons we came so close to winning the league last year, but he's also the reason we didn't win it.

He's a good manager but I can think of plenty who would have won the league by now had they been given similar resources.

6m net spend per season over the last 5 seasons is a shoestring budget. Rafa is the reason we are'nt swooning around in mid table with the Spurs of this World. But hey let's get rid and get Alan Curbisley in instead.:rolleyes:

gucci

eZe^ wrote: »

Wouldn't worry about the result today, Barca lost their opening game and drew their second last season, they ended up winning every competition they entered... Keep the faith...

Best post by a mile!

Liverpool only lost two games league games last season, one of those to Spurs away (same as yesterday) and the other to Middlesborough away, and we all know its impossible to repeat that this year. So there it is, statistical proof that Liverpool will be undefeated this season! :pac::pac::pac:

The Rooster

Disappointing start, only 3 points lost but more pressure now not to fall further behind.


Rafa showed a lot of faith in Babel to pick him despite him doing nothing iin pre-season to justify selection ahead of Yossi. A gamble that unfortunately did not pay off.

I thought Carra had a mare, typified by his stupididy in taking out Skrtel. If that had been an opponent, you'd swear he did him on purpose!! Gawd knows what he was thinking given he looked and saw Skrtel was attacking the ball. I'd blame him for the winner as well - getting totally done by Defoe and fouling him despite Skrtel covering - and not making the cross his. I'd love to see Skrtel and Agger have a run of games together with Carra in the Sami position, which he'd be very good and reliable at. Pity about the injuries...

Mascho and Lucas were a disasterous combination in midfield. Neither did anything particularly badly, but that's just not good enough. No accurate positive passes from them, no positive runs into the box, and most of the time they were in each other's space. Benitez's post match comment 'we need to improve the middle' was clearly aimed at them. I'd only play one of them at a time, and if that means moving Gerrard back until Aquaman is fit, then so be it.

Bandit12

The Rooster wrote: »

Disappointing start, only 3 points lost but more pressure now not to fall further behind.


Rafa showed a lot of faith in Babel to pick him despite him doing nothing iin pre-season to justify selection ahead of Yossi. A gamble that unfortunately did not pay off.

I thought Carra had a mare, typified by his stupididy in taking out Skrtel. If that had been an opponent, you'd swear he did him on purpose!! Gawd knows what he was thinking given he looked and saw Skrtel was attacking the ball. I'd blame him for the winner as well - getting totally done by Defoe and fouling him despite Skrtel covering - and not making the cross his. I'd love to see Skrtel and Agger have a run of games together with Carra in the Sami position, which he'd be very good and reliable at. Pity about the injuries...

Mascho and Lucas were a disasterous combination in midfield. Neither did anything particularly badly, but that's just not good enough. No accurate positive passes from them, no positive runs into the box, and most of the time they were in each other's space. Benitez's post match comment 'we need to improve the middle' was clearly aimed at them. I'd only play one of them at a time, and if that means moving Gerrard back until Aquaman is fit, then so be it.

I agree an Carra. He needs to be dropped when (if) Agger ever returns to full fitness. However our main priority needs to be the purchase of a new striker. Someone,anyone please Rafa. We need the yanks to stump up the cash or we are headed for another scrap for 4th place this season.