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

kida

rossie1977 wrote: »

rafa has never had an opening day game at home, all 6 so far away from home, just found that an interesting tidbit

pool fans would moan at anything - this is deliberate as local police have requested it - some festival on there that weekend every season

whatawaster

kida wrote: »

pool fans would moan at anything - this is deliberate as local police have requested it - some festival on there that weekend every season

But Everton played at home so that makes no sense.

Anyway every team plays 19 home and 19 away games every season, so the order of them shouldn't matter. In fact, United showed last season it's sometimes good to get your difficult away games out of the way early

NabyLadistheman

Bandit12 wrote: »

However our main priority needs to be the purchase of a new striker.

I think that was the main thing to come out of yesterday's game. If Torres get's injured or is as poor as he was yesterday we'll be seriously light-weight up front. The worrying thing was that Spurs actually had alot more options on the bench. Rafa clearly didn't think Voronin was up to it last season so he sent him off on loan & got Keane in. Now he has compromised himself after selling Keane he is of the opinion Voronin is actually up to it. I wouldn't be so sure and it's this indecision which ripples throughout the squad.

I really can't wait to see Aqualani in the team. I know alot of people are saying Alonso was missed yesterday, which he was but if we can keep it together til Aqualani is fit we'll be flying it. Yossi looked really sharp when brought on but one really has to be worried about Babel. I've stuck with him but he really has to start producing. I think he is not a winger though and needs to be played further up the pitch. Great start from Johnston also, electric pace for the peno

whatawaster

Babel has no place in our team until he learns to retain possession. He can't blame lack of playing time or anything either. It's basic technique and it's inexcusable.

kida

whatawaster wrote: »

But Everton played at home so that makes no sense.

Anyway every team plays 19 home and 19 away games every season, so the order of them shouldn't matter. In fact, United showed last season it's sometimes good to get your difficult away games out of the way early

less fans

whatawaster

kida wrote: »

less fans

what's 5,000 fans though when you're dealing with 40,000 plus.

mike65

I don't think Kida has a clue tbh.

Dublin_Gunner

Ugh, what a horrific start to the season.

I'm not too worried, we lost at WHL last season too, and it wasn't that result that I was too bothered about - its the home draws.

We'll see during the week if they get a good kick to the arse!!!!


But everyone played 'ok-ish' (Reina had a blinder, as usual), but the main downfalls were IMO:
Babel - absolutely dreadful. Why oh why was Riera unfit 'nuff said on that.
Torres - looked like he hadn't played for months, despite scoring for Spain during the week. Don't know what was wrong with him.
Lucas - such a lazy game. I don't know how many times I saw him just standing there, beside a Spurs playeer, not making himself available or putting any effort in. Apart from one or two tackles / passes - he was completely anomymous.
Carra - as sad as I am to say it - possibly the worst I've seen him play in a 'pool jersey. He was an absolute disgrace.


I would have prefered to have Benny start in the middle instead of Lucas - not his natural position, but at least he moves, buts effort in, passes well and always looks dangerous.

Why was Ayala brought on when Kelly (who IMO has been outstanding in pre-season) was sitting on the bench?

Thought the vorinator did fairly well when he came on - and should have won a penalty (though we wouldn't have deserved it).

Roll on Stoke, and forget this bloomin horror show.

flanzer

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Carra - as sad as I am to say it - possibly the worst I've seen him play in a 'pool jersey. He was an absolute disgrace.

I've said it before. Carra days are numbered. It's clear to see he struggling to read the game anymore. Letting Hyypia go this summer might have been Rafa's worse piece of business ever. At least he could read the game and cause hassle around set pieces

How long will Skrtel be out for? Some radio reports are saying he broke his jaw? I think priority is the defence tbh. The attack will come good

prendy

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Ugh, what a horrific start to the season.

I'm not too worried, we lost at WHL last season too, and it wasn't that result that I was too bothered about - its the home draws.

We'll see during the week if they get a good kick to the arse!!!!


But everyone played 'ok-ish' (Reina had a blinder, as usual), but the main downfalls were IMO:
Babel - absolutely dreadful. Why oh why was Riera unfit 'nuff said on that.
Torres - looked like he hadn't played for months, despite scoring for Spain during the week. Don't know what was wrong with him.
Lucas - such a lazy game. I don't know how many times I saw him just standing there, beside a Spurs playeer, not making himself available or putting any effort in. Apart from one or two tackles / passes - he was completely anomymous.
Carra - as sad as I am to say it - possibly the worst I've seen him play in a 'pool jersey. He was an absolute disgrace.


I would have prefered to have Benny start in the middle instead of Lucas - not his natural position, but at least he moves, buts effort in, passes well and always looks dangerous.

Why was Ayala brought on when Kelly (who IMO has been outstanding in pre-season) was sitting on the bench?

Thought the vorinator did fairly well when he came on - and should have won a penalty (though we wouldn't have deserved it).

Roll on Stoke, and forget this bloomin horror show.

i agree with most of what you said. I actually thought lucas was decent, broke up alot of spurs moves and didnt put a pass wrong. Problem is that him and masc are in the same mould and will not place the killer ball. It says it all when masc was the attacking of the 2.
bring on aqua man!

kida

mike65 wrote: »

I don't think Kida has a clue tbh.

from a pool forum - wasn't too hard to find :cool:

I think it's 8 out of the last 10 and 5 out the 8 have been either spurs or villa, go figure that out.
though I did hear from someone in the know that merseyside police ask for everton to be playing at home for the mathew st festival due to more police being required in the city that weekend and then they work backwards to the start of the season so invariably it's us who play away first and strangely enough to mainly spurs or villa.
how true this info is, is debatable but it does ring pretty much true when you look at the amount of times we play away from home first game of the season.

noodler

flanzer wrote: »

I've said it before. Carra days are numbered. It's clear to see he struggling to read the game anymore. Letting Hyypia go this summer might have been Rafa's worse piece of business ever. At least he could read the game and cause hassle around set pieces

Is it not the same Carra who was playing with Srktel last season when we had our best Prem finish for years? I don't understand that logic at all, it also seems harsh to bash him given he was playing on (well he had to really) after the knock.

Theres no doubt Agger and Srktel should be the future but saying stuff like Carra was a disgrace...you'd swear he'd had his way with your missus or something.

whatawaster

kida wrote: »

from a pool forum - wasn't too hard to find :cool:

so someone, from some forum, heard this from someone?

Kess73

noodler wrote: »

Is it not the same Carra who was playing with Srktel last season when we had our best Prem finish for years? I don't understand that logic at all, it also seems harsh to bash him given he was playing on (well he had to really) after the knock.

Theres no doubt Agger and Srktel should be the future but saying stuff like Carra was a disgrace...you'd swear he'd had his way with your missus or something.

Carragher was terrible yesterday and there is no ifs or buts about that. If for example Lucas had played as badly he would have been slated by internet warriors.

Carragher has been slowing for the last few seasons and personally I think he should play less games as I do not think he is up to playing two games a week anymore. I would prefer him to have less games and be able to give top performances in those games than playing more than he can take and having lesser performances.

I think that this year he will have as many clangers on the pitch as he will have top performances, and I do not want to remember Carragher for mistakes.


The Agger/Skrtel combo needs to be played when possible, and if Rafa does not have confidence in them, a pair of proven international defenders, then he needs to sell the one he does not trust and buy another.

Dublin_Gunner

noodler wrote: »

Theres no doubt Agger and Srktel should be the future but saying stuff like Carra was a disgrace...you'd swear he'd had his way with your missus or something.

Well it was me who said he was a disgrace - and I was stating this for the one game yesterday - and he was a disgrace. From the start, he looked in limbo. But colliding with your own player, when that player clearly has the ball that you're going for, when you're not even facing the ball - doesn't even qualify as a schoolboy error. It was just pure stupidity. For crying out loud it looked like he wanted to lift Skrtel out of it.

After the knock, he was even worse. Should have been taken off straight away TBH.

Dcully

What a disasterous start to the campaign.
Reina and Yossi were the only ones at the races.
Babel looks like hes going to be the same old useless Babel again this season,Lucas not much better.
I hope im terrribly wrong but neither look anywhere near what a lfc player should be.
I said it last season and i say it again Carra is close to the end.
He has no pace, his distribution is just appaling,when he has a chance and space to play football all he does is hoof the ball up the field 9 times out of ten giving the ball back to the opposition.
Atleast Skyrtel and Agger try to play the ball out of defence when they have time.
As always Carra is at his best with last ditch tackles,sadly in the modern game that is not enough i feel, a true legend but if we are to have a serious shout this season there is no room for sentiments.

Yossi has got to be worthy of a starting role at this stage.
He done more when he came on than the whole team had done beforehand.

Yesterday was either a terrible performance or it showed just how good Xavi really was for us, i suspect a combination of both proved our downfall.

I expect a big performance Wednesday however, anyone ruling pool out already are foolish,this could the be the kick up the backside the needed.

Dublin_Gunner

Dcully wrote: »

Yossi has got to be worthy of a starting role at this stage.
He done more when he came on than the whole team had done beforehand.

+1 said it above myself. A true workhorse - with class & quality.

Dcully wrote: »

Yesterday was either a terrible performance or it showed just how good Xavi really was for us, i suspect a combination of both proved our downfall.

I expect a big performance Wednesday however, anyone ruling pool out already are foolish,this could the be the kick up the backside the needed.

TBH very little of the dreadfulness yesterday had to do with Alonso leaving - though the pundits on MotD would like to think otherwise. Too many players had a shocker to simply put it down to one player leaving.

But I hope, as you stated, this is the kick in the arse they need. Because they haven't even showed what they can do in pre-season.

~Rebel~

just a quicky on carra, the free pool gave away for the second was a ridiculous one by him with skrtel really looking well positioned to clean up. what's the point in having 2top quality cbs if one of them keeps getting in the others way and playing like he's the last line of defence even when he's not. just really looked like carra didn't trust martin or something...

Handsome Bob

Playing Spurs away on the opening day of the season was always going to be a tall order. Anyone who was expecting us to get the 3 points yesterday without a hitch I'm afraid to say is misguided.

I feel slightly justified in the concerns I showed last week (which I got some stick for) about the signing of Xabi's replacement being out for potentially two months. Damage control is needed which would mean Gerrard slotting back into CM with Yossi playing behind Fernando.

I'm not too discouraged about the result, but we have to get moving fast and that starts with Stoke.

gucci

Dcully wrote: »

He has no pace, his distribution is just appaling,when he has a chance and space to play football all he does is hoof the ball up the field 9 times out of ten giving the ball back to the opposition.
Atleast Skyrtel and Agger try to play the ball out of defence when they have time.

Its kind of clear that most teams know to give him this space, and just drop back to close the other options and he will go long.

Dcully

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

TBH very little of the dreadfulness yesterday had to do with Alonso leaving - though the pundits on MotD would like to think otherwise. Too many players had a shocker to simply put it down to one player leaving.

In fairness you are probably correct.

Dub13

Anybody going to the Bohs V Liverpool game tonight I got this email the other day.

Hi Guys,

Greg Molloy Business Manager of Bohemians here, I would be grateful if you could publicise that Hedigans The Brian Boru at Cross Guns Bridge (5 minute walk from Dalymount) will be the Official Pre Match venue for Liverpool and Bohemians fans.

There will be Carlsberg promotions and prizes to won and Liverpool Legend John Aldridge will be there to meet fans for autographs and pics.

Official Match Magazines including John Aldridge interview will be available in Hedigans and Official Match Tee Shirts will also on Sale in the Lounge.

Family's most welcome From 5pm on Monday Evening.

Many Thanks

Greg 086 8119674 if you need any further information.

mike65

Carra and Skrtel were both poleaxed, I do think Carras time is almost up as a first choice CB but anything that happened after the clash of heads is difficult to read in a hard and fast fasshion cos I doubt he was really at the races.

Now I can only hope that we get a CB in this window whatever about strikers with no CB cover Liverpool are deffo in trouble.

mike65

edit

Fupping hell (I really should check the dates)

Dub13

mike65 wrote: »

A-ha, Babel to leave?

click

Thats a story from May.

mike65

I was so eager to see the back of him....:p

Dub13

mike65 wrote: »

I was so eager to see the back of him....:p

Same here but in fairness there are a few more I would like to see leave ahead of him.

Mr Alan

none ahead of Babel in my book.

he drives me mental.

Spiritoftheseventies

prendy wrote: »

i agree with most of what you said. I actually thought lucas was decent, broke up alot of spurs moves and didnt put a pass wrong. Problem is that him and masc are in the same mould and will not place the killer ball. It says it all when masc was the attacking of the 2.
bring on aqua man!

yes from what i saw Lucas held it together well. And I think in Johnson we have a full back who gets forward which is something we haven't seen enough since the days of Finnan.
I think we shouldn't panic too much. Torres is obviously a bit tired due his Confederations cup stint and a game at home will be the g up they need.
As for the two penalties, first one was blatant. Second one it was a probably case of ball to hand (or in this case ball to hand to other hand) but as Hansen said he has seen them given.

kida

bayviewclose wrote: »

yes from what i saw Lucas held it together well. And I think in Johnson we have a full back who gets forward which is something we haven't seen enough since the days of Finnan.
I think we shouldn't panic too much. Torres is obviously a bit tired due his Confederations cup stint and a game at home will be the g up they need.
As for the two penalties, first one was blatant. Second one it was a probably case of ball to hand (or in this case ball to hand to other hand) but as Hansen said he has seen them given.

first one - he was eased off the ball - given sometimes but not blatant - more likely to given when a team is well behind or well infront
What about the blatant push by Carragher on Crouch?

whatawaster

Yeah I supported Babel for long enough. He’s also one of the few peripheral squad members who probably have resale value. If we could get 7/8 million for him and spend that money on someone like Tuncay I’d be happy. He’s shown no improvement in 2 years.

whatawaster

kida wrote: »

first one - he was eased off the ball - given sometimes but not blatant - more likely to given when a team is well behind or well infront
What about the blatant push by Carragher on Crouch?

On the Voronin penalty claim – The defender shoved him out of the way and didn’t make an attempt to win the ball. That is not allowed and should have been a penalty.
I didn’t see a replay of the Crouch incident, though I did let out an audible “phew” when I saw it in real time.

Spiritoftheseventies

kida wrote: »

first one - he was eased off the ball - given sometimes but not blatant - more likely to given when a team is well behind or well infront
What about the blatant push by Carragher on Crouch?

"Eased off the ball I think is being very kind to the defender. Not complaining about the result spurs were the better team but I think if those two penalty decisions had been turned down in a champions league semi final there would have been a lot more written about it.

~Rebel~

Babel plus all the money pool can raise plus a whip round plus all the kitchen sinks at Anfield to Ajax for suarez?

Dublin_Gunner

bayviewclose wrote: »

yes from what i saw Lucas held it together well. And I think in Johnson we have a full back who gets forward which is something we haven't seen enough since the days of Finnan.
I think we shouldn't panic too much. Torres is obviously a bit tired due his Confederations cup stint and a game at home will be the g up they need.
As for the two penalties, first one was blatant. Second one it was a probably case of ball to hand (or in this case ball to hand to other hand) but as Hansen said he has seen them given.

I presume by 'first one' you meant the push on Voronin? I've definitely seen them given. The hand ball would have been very harsh indeed, I don't personally think it was a penalty - if the ref was to give anything, it would have to be indirect fk.

Lucas held it together well?? I really don't think so. I though he looked lost and lazy for large parts of the game. He made one or two decent tackles (one in the second half on the edge of our penalty area) and one or two passes. But in general, his passing was overly safe, and he didn't seem to look up enough. I saw him literally standing a few times when we were pushing forward, completely ball watching. Different player to the one I saw in pre-season.

kida

whatawaster wrote: »

On the Voronin penalty claim – The defender shoved him out of the way and didn’t make an attempt to win the ball. That is not allowed and should have been a penalty.
I didn’t see a replay of the Crouch incident, though I did let out an audible “phew” when I saw it in real time.

as i said seen them given but it was not blatant - especially from the refs angle

Has anyone seen a replay of the push? wouldn't mind seeing it again - my thoughts at the time were deffo penalty

Spiritoftheseventies

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I presume by 'first one' you meant the push on Voronin? I've definitely seen them given. The hand ball would have been very harsh indeed, I don't personally think it was a penalty - if the ref was to give anything, it would have to be indirect fk.

Lucas held it together well?? I really don't think so. I though he looked lost and lazy for large parts of the game. He made one or two decent tackles (one in the second half on the edge of our penalty area) and one or two passes. But in general, his passing was overly safe, and he didn't seem to look up enough. I saw him literally standing a few times when we were pushing forward, completely ball watching. Different player to the one I saw in pre-season.

Yes was referring to the push on Voronin. Anyone know what the pool ratings were from the papers this morning?

kingshankly

Didn't think carra was that bad yesterday tbh made vital blocks and challenges even with 12 staples in his head.
Skirtel didn't want to know afterthe collision .
Very worrying about the lack of chances we created. Hope aquilani is available soon. Midfield was very poor with Lucas probably the pick of the 4. Torres had probably his worst game in a red shirt.Disapointing in how easy it was for spurs yesterday.
Mind you if we beat stoke we will be two points better of than last years corresponding results.

yom 1

The Voronin penalty shout was a case of if it happened outside the box a free would have been given, but in the box, after having already giving one peno, there was no chance of giving a second one. Therefore, imo it should have been given. But we see it far too often where in the case of a penalty shout, refs prefer to wave play on rather than make the call, a call they would have no problem making if its outside the box

Dublin_Gunner

kingshankly wrote: »

Didn't think carra was that bad yesterday tbh made vital blocks and challenges even with 12 staples in his head.
Skirtel didn't want to know afterthe collision .

Would you with a suspected broken jaw?? And Carra was awful. He made a half assed attempt for Spurs second goal too. And it was his fault for giving away the free on the edge of the area, when Skrtel was about 5 yards behind him. He had a horror show TBH.

Very worrying about the lack of chances we created. Hope aquilani is available soon. Midfield was very poor with Lucas probably the pick of the 4.

Come on, even Benny's cameo was better than Lucas' performance for the rest of the game. Kuyt worked hard, and Masch was, well Masch at 80% - still better than Lucas' performance. As I've said, imo this was a different Lucas to pre-season.

Torres had probably his best game in a red shirt.

I'm assuming this was a bizarre form of typo????? - I see you've edited!!! lol

Disapointing in how easy it was for spurs yesterday.
Mind you if we beat stoke we will be two points better of than last years corresponding results.

Agree on both points.

Spiritoftheseventies

yom 1 wrote: »

The Voronin penalty shout was a case of if it happened outside the box a free would have been given, but in the box, after having already giving one peno, there was no chance of giving a second one. Therefore, imo it should have been given. But we see it far too often where in the case of a penalty shout, refs prefer to wave play on rather than make the call, a call they would have no problem making if its outside the box

I dont see why if one penalty is given, another cant be given too. Think Linekar scored two in a world cup game for England against Nigeria once.

DeadSkin

Babel seems to offer more coming on as a sub.

If Riera was available yesterday, I don't think it would have made much a difference to the result.
Too many players below average yesterday for Liverpool.

kingshankly

Disagree with regards to Mach thought he was terrible running around like a headless chicken , thought Lucas was better even though he wasn't great. We lost the midfield battle yesterday big time , might have to put Stevie there until aqua is fit and throw benni upfront.
Where the he'll was the Ryan babel that terrorized Johnson last Wednesday night he was awful yesterday was like playing with 10 men

whatawaster

Mascherano was indeed very poor yesterday. At one point he was unusually lax with his tracking back. I really hope it's a fitness thing rather than a commitment issue. I'm sure it is.

yom 1

bayviewclose wrote: »

I dont see why if one penalty is given, another cant be given too. Think Linekar scored two in a world cup game for England against Nigeria once.

There is nothing stopping another penalty from being given. Its just rare enough that you would see it because as I said Refs dont like having to make penalty calls. If they get the decision right they get little praise, if they get it wrong its the talking point for the next week on MOTD and SSN.

If they give one, they will always feel the need to be 200% certain of the call before they'll give another, especially to the away team imo.

Thats just football though!

Bandit12

Dub13 wrote: »

Same here but in fairness there are a few more I would like to see leave ahead of him.

Can't agree. Voronin offers more than Babel in my book. He's a Wigan/Bolton player at best.

Dublin_Gunner

kingshankly wrote: »

Disagree with regards to Mach thought he was terrible running around like a headless chicken , thought Lucas was better even though he wasn't great. We lost the midfield battle yesterday big time , might have to put Stevie there until aqua is fit and throw benni upfront.
Where the he'll was the Ryan babel that terrorized Johnson last Wednesday night he was awful yesterday was like playing with 10 men

In fairness, I didn't think Masch had that bad a game - well below what you'd expect, but not as bad as you make out.

I personally think that Riera may have made a difference - by maybe showing a bit of urgency and potency going forward - which Babel completely failed to provide.

I also agree that maybe Gerrard dropping back with Benny supporting Torres might be a decent stop-gap measure until we have Aquilani fit.

Spiritoftheseventies

yom 1 wrote: »

There is nothing stopping another penalty from being given. Its just rare enough that you would see it because as I said Refs dont like having to make penalty calls. If they get the decision right they get little praise, if they get it wrong its the talking point for the next week on MOTD and SSN.

If they give one, they will always feel the need to be 200% certain of the call before they'll give another, especially to the away team imo.

Thats just football though!

Well guess thats why we have referees assessors. Ref got it wrong.

kida

bayviewclose wrote: »

Well guess thats why we have referees assessors. Ref got it wrong.

not the first time nor the last time - also got in wrong IMO regarding the push on Crouch (convenient thats not been mentioned much)

IMO Benitez is doing a Fergie - deflecting the attention of a bad performance

NukaCola

kida wrote: »

not the first time nor the last time - also got in wrong IMO regarding the push on Crouch (convenient thats not been mentioned much)

IMO Benitez is doing a Fergie - deflecting the attention of a bad performance

Liverpool didn't deserve anything from the game anyway...