Liverpool FC Forum

[roberto green]

i dont know the dury is very much out in my eyes, this season will make or break him, he undoubtly has talent, but i feel this could be out weighed by his consistency and decision making in particulor and he can be lazy sometimes, having said that he was the most improved player towards the back end of last year so he still has it all to prove!

[Emerald Red]

I rate Pennant very high and think he has looked the sharpest in pre season

Agreed. I've noticed a change in his play. He now seems to want to cut inside more often and thread a ball behind the back line. He did this a lot in the game against Portsmouth and supplied Kuyt with most of his chances. I do think he needs to get beyond that last man and get in the box for a strike a bit more. Certainly not a bit part player for next season. He will start most games for us.

[god_bless_john_houlding]

I rate Pennant very high and think he has looked the sharpest in pre season

Agreed. I've noticed a change in his play. He now seems to want to cut inside more often and thread a ball behind the back line. He did this a lot in the game against Portsmouth and supplied Kuyt with most of his chances. I do think he needs to get beyond that last man and get in the box for a strike a bit more. Certainly not a bit part player for next season. He will start most games for us.

If Pennant starts, that obviously moves Gerrard into the middle, along side who?

[hello_red]

Mascherano would be my prefered choice! Alonso and Gerrard lacks balance in my opinion.

[Emerald Red]

I rate Pennant very high and think he has looked the sharpest in pre season

Agreed. I've noticed a change in his play. He now seems to want to cut inside more often and thread a ball behind the back line. He did this a lot in the game against Portsmouth and supplied Kuyt with most of his chances. I do think he needs to get beyond that last man and get in the box for a strike a bit more. Certainly not a bit part player for next season. He will start most games for us.

If Pennant starts, that obviously moves Gerrard into the middle, along side who?

Does it matter who? Fact is he will be playing in the middle for most games. Pennant wasn't bought for nothing, and Rafa's emphasis on wide players reflects this. Gerrard should not be playing on the right.

[RedBlood]

dddddddddduuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh:p

[Big Niall]

Why not just buy Damien Duff instead?

injured last season but a class right winger, proven in premiership, good age, great attitude and much better than pennant. Duff has proved to be good enough to star in 2 league winning teams and Chelsea missed him last season.

[ivor_the_injun]

The problem with Pennant for the bulk of last season is that he was actually pretty predictable, but with Crouch or Kuyt so often all he had to aim at, it's hard to be excessively harsh on the guy.

I think the signing of Torres could be the best thing that ever happened to him, as he'll give him a chance to look beyond just trying to beat his man and whipping in a cross, and actually come inside, get involved in a short passing game, and maybe even carve out some gilt edge chances for himself.

Kewell, Crouch, Torres and Pennant, with Alonso and Gerrard coming from behind, - these are all players that can pass the ball and make space for one another, and with the possibility of Riise and Agger advancing from deep to find space to fire from distance, I see goals from all angles this term.

The absolute key though is to get the team much higher up the pitch, and give our wingers options. If there's one man in the box, we'll struggle to score again. If there's a swarm of red shirts in and around the box, I can see us tearing teams to bits.

[Wilhelmsson]

Why not just buy Damien Duff instead?

injured last season but a class right winger, proven in premiership, good age, great attitude and much better than pennant. Duff has proved to be good enough to star in 2 league winning teams and Chelsea missed him last season.

I think not, and didn’t Duff snub us for Chelsea and then Newcastle?

Duff is a good player, but how would he be a replacement for Pennant? I have always been under the impression that Duff is LW and not a RW.

If Kewell fails to impress on the left, then I’d give Duff more of a consideration, but I am not sure playing Duff on the right would see Liverpool get the best out of him.

As for a Pennant replacement, if Pennant can add to his game this season, if Pennant can display intelligence and a higher level of confidence and display a higher level of performance then I’d happily keep him.

If he has a season like last season then I will be first in line to advocate his sale.

[god_bless_john_houlding]

I wouldn't of minded Duff, when he was Blackburn, but not now and certainly not as a right winger.

[Wilhelmsson]

I wouldn't of minded Duff, when he was Blackburn, but not now and certainly not as a right winger.

IIRC Blackburn wanted £17m for Damien in Houllier’s last season. This is no disrespect to Duff, but he wasn’t worth £12m, let alone £17m.

I always thought Duff had made the wrong choice in moving to Chelsea, he was always going to play second fiddle to Arjen Robben, who is clearly the better player.

This aside, if Kewell fails to impress or avoids injury and Duff became an option at a good price, then I’d probably (hypocritically) advocate his signing as LW’s are hard to come by these days.

I’m pretty confident that this option won’t arise anytime soon seeing as Big Sam will no doubt IMO mould Newcastle into a gifted side.

[mighty mo]

Why not just buy Damien Duff instead?

injured last season but a class right winger, proven in premiership, good age, great attitude and much better than pennant. Duff has proved to be good enough to star in 2 league winning teams and Chelsea missed him last season.

damian duff is left footed and played left wing for balckburn and chelsea

[Big Niall]

I messed up re Duff as he is left wing not right.

We could have got him for £12m a few years ago but that fool GH went for those f**king African players instead. What a chump

I think Duff is top class - he wasn't a regular in a fantastic Chelsea team that walked two leagues and then lost when he left for nothing. Did nothing at Newcastle as injured.

I'd love it if we got him - MUCH better than anything we have on the left.

[66-1112520797]

Why not just buy Damien Duff instead?

injured last season but a class right winger, proven in premiership, good age, great attitude and much better than pennant. Duff has proved to be good enough to star in 2 league winning teams and Chelsea missed him last season.

Well seen as its YOU asking.

I'd say nahhhhhhhh because he's Irish. 

[Scottbot]

I'm a little surprised at the negatives levelled at Pennant in this thread and it seems to me he has the hardest job of all the players at the club (regardless of price tag) in convincing the fans he can stick it. I've said a few times before that pennant was our biggest attacking threat over the 2nd half of the season (January onwards) and it seems to me he has carried that form over to this pre-season. Like all wingers, Pennant is very much a confidence player. clearly he struggled with expectation and his own form early doors last season and it wasn't untill after Christmas when a MOM performance at home to Bolton (i think) and then the goal against Chelsea that we started to see an improvement in his form. His confidence and willingness to run at players (instead of taking the safe option) picked up gradually and his performance against Chelsea in the Semi-final at Anfield should be what he aims for on a week to week basis. I still think he will conitinue to improve, he looks on fire and full of confidence this pre-season so there's a good chance he'll go into the season firing on all cylinders.

As for the criticisms levelled at him. I agree he needs to provide more of a goal threat and i think he is capable of scoring a few more. He does lack composure when he gets into shooting positions and often passes when better placed himself so this is obviously something for Rafa to work on. It's also worth pointing out that Kewelll only scored 3 goals after playing the whole season on the left a couple of years back but very few of us were berating his lack of goal threat at the time. As for Pennant crossing into the box when no-one is there i'd say the problem lies with our strikers and it's nit-picking a little to have a pop at the winger when the far bigger problem lies with the frontmen. I'm not sure how many assists Pennant provided last season (anyone?) but i'm sure it would have been far higher had our strikers been up to it. Remember the Newcastle game at St.James last season? Bellamy scored one but missed two absolute sitters. All three were laid on by Pennant. Also worth noting that Pennant and Crouch link up very well but do/did not play in the same side often enough (Rafa take note).