Liverpool FC Forum

[god_bless_john_houlding]

Are there any of the current squad who can't get away with a dreadful season?

Obviously everyone but I mean can Crouch continue to get away with missing chances? Can Kuyt get away without being able to control a ball? Can Riise still get away with his lack of pace? Will we allow Sissoko another season without a goal?

On the other hand will Daniel Agger improve even further and prove my point that he is the world's best centre half? Will there be any complaints if Torres scores 30 odd goals? Will we still see Carra playing his heart and soul out?

Is this a make or break season for certain members of the Liverpool squad. Will we acknowledge the good things players do even if they're not a favourite of ours and will we continue to make excuses for the ones we do like it goes wrong?

[Mick-o dywer]

wake up boy agger isnt even in the top ten best defenders in the world.......day dreamer
lahm
...cannaravo
...puyol
....ayala
....milito
....vidic
....terry
.....carra
.....toure
......chivu
....lucio
....nesta
.....maldini
.....ricardo carvalho

just off the top of my head

[LFC2007]

I think whether Agger is considered 10,000 in the world by Stu or number 1 in the world by GBJH is besides the point. He has done a fantastic job given his age, to displace Hyypia and form such a reliable partnership with Carra at the age of just 22 is a sign that we have a top talent who will develop and get better with time.

[Reg]

Make or break for Pennant, Gonzalez and Mascher.

(to explain the obvious, if mascher doesnt work out we wont flash the wedge and buy him).

[Mick-o dywer]

obviously fair enough point but he isnt the best def in the world......... and thats the point im making he is  grand, is doing fine , wouldnt put him out of the team , but wouldnt stop looking for some one better either,

[LFC2007]

obviously fair enough point but he isnt the best def in the world......... and thats the point im making he is  grand, is doing fine , wouldnt put him out of the team , but wouldnt stop looking for some one better either,

Whether he is or not is irrelevant, it's all subjective. You could say Puyol is the number one centre back in Europe, but few would replace him for Carragher. It's about suitability, not individual talent.

[Mick-o dywer]

Obviously everyone but I mean can Crouch continue to get away with missing chances? Can Kuyt get away without being able to control a ball? Can Riise still get away with his lack of pace? Will we allow Sissoko another season without a goal?

Crouch doesnt need to prove anything to me , last season proved if he gets a start or a run in the team he is our best attacker and prob will score,  his stats for goals per game under est him , he comes on in the 72nd min but it still counts as a game......

maybe we watch diff games but i cant get over kuyt's close control he is fairly class, just lacks sheer pace over 60 meters......

riise , ya a bit dodgey at def at times but wouldnt even start to question his condition , seems to me very athletic

[The Manhattan Project]

I see it as another "building season".

Forget the Prem. That's Chelsea or Man Utd's


The priority on the pitch this season is to cut down the gap between us and them and of course have a good run in the cups. We have GOT to start putting together some strong performances away from home, particular against the shinbreaker teams.

Off the pitch, the stadium is the priority.

[JoeTerp]

Palletta -  I would actually  consider  him broken with a slim to none chacne of puting himself back together

Hobbs - getting a little to old to be called a youngster.  got to show he is made of the right stuff.

Anderson - See Hobbs.

Hammill - I think he is closer to being made than broke, might get his chance to prove it at Celtic or Rangers.

Kewell - needs to prove he can go a whole season without getting hurt.

Pennant - tale of two halfs of last season (maybe more like 3/4 to 1/4. Was it a fluke? or was he actually getting better and on the path to improving even more? Computer says no

Alonso - I am not really worried about him, but according to pretty much everyone his form last season wasn't up to what had been expected of him, if he does not rebound this season then I would start to worry a bit.

Kuyt  - no excuses this time around (in theory should have better service, in theory should be playing more in box, no getting used to prem phase, no coming off of world cup hangover, and he will have trained with everbody all summer long). He either bags a bunch of goals like a Liverpool striker should or he doesn't.

Rafa- not saying if he doesn't win the league he should be sacked, but we have to at least look like winning it, in this, his 4th year at the  club.

[destro]

wake up boy agger isnt even in the top ten best defenders in the world.......day dreamer
lahm
...cannaravo
...puyol
....ayala
....milito
....vidic
....terry
.....carra
.....toure
......chivu
....lucio
....nesta
.....maldini
.....ricardo carvalho

just off the top of my head

Off the top of your head or off a Google search, because i didn't see that list of players when i first read your post ?

[Kharhaz]

Isnt it make or break season every year? Since Rafa took us to the heights in Istanbul Liverpool have always been the team to challenge. Is this the make or break season? no, every season is.

[Penguins]

Palletta -  I would actually  consider  him broken with a slim to none chacne of puting himself back together

Hobbs - getting a little to old to be called a youngster.  got to show he is made of the right stuff.

Anderson - See Hobbs.

Hammill - I think he is closer to being made than broke, might get his chance to prove it at Celtic or Rangers.

Kewell - needs to prove he can go a whole season without getting hurt.

Pennant - tale of two halfs of last season (maybe more like 3/4 to 1/4. Was it a fluke? or was he actually getting better and on the path to improving even more? Computer says no

Alonso - I am not really worried about him, but according to pretty much everyone his form last season wasn't up to what had been expected of him, if he does not rebound this season then I would start to worry a bit.

Kuyt  - no excuses this time around (in theory should have better service, in theory should be playing more in box, no getting used to prem phase, no coming off of world cup hangover, and he will have trained with everbody all summer long). He either bags a bunch of goals like a Liverpool striker should or he doesn't.

Rafa- not saying if he doesn't win the league he should be sacked, but we have to at least look like winning it, in this, his 4th year at the  club.

I'd agree with those names but for me Risse and Momo has to show something this season cause they were pretty poor/average last season.

Just can't understand the part about Rafa though.
i don't care if he is here 150 years.

If Manure get 200 million to spend, Chelski 250 million to spend and Rafa 70 million to spend I'd be hard pressed to demand the title.
WHEN Rafa is allowed a level or close to level playing field I'd start talking about make or break.
So if Rafa "fails" and only ends up 3rd who will try and come in and make wine out of water instead?


As long as the reality look like this:

How much differents clubs paid for their main 20 players (before this summer transfer window):

1. Chavsky £249.5m (average per player: £12.5)
2. Manure £141.4m (average per player: £7.1)
3. Arsenal £95.8m (average per player: £4.79)
4. LFC £86.5m (average per player: £4.3)

In regard,  Benítez, whose record signing (before Torres) remains Xabi Alonso at £10.5m, has yet to even spend within £2m of the Chelsea average.

Here, this is how many league points each 'big club' got this season for every million pounds spent on its 20 main players.

Liverpool.....................0.78
Spurs.............................0.75
Arsenal ........................0.71
Man United.................0.63
Newcastle....................0.56
Chelsea.........................0.33

Of course, the higher up the table you go the more you have to pay for just a few extra points.

Regarding the 4 main teams (Manu, Chavsky, Gunners), Benítez stands 4th in terms of squad cost, and 4th in terms of time spent at his club. That doesn't make getting to 1st an easy proposition.

The addition of Torres' £20m let us yet far behind ManUre and Chavsky. Without forgetting than ManUre seems to have already spent about £45-50m (Heargreaves 17m+Nani 14m+Anderson 16m) and Tevez  for £? for the next season... /

I'd say it's laughable to put up excessive demands.
And plz no more "even if we only buy for a 3rd of our rivals we should win cause we are Liverpool"

[aCe']

all this is just getting silly now...
i dnt care abt statistics especially wen you twist them all round just to prove your point...
it doesnt matter if you get 40mill or 200 mill improving the results is improving the squad and u cant come again next season and say that we ddnt have enoug funds and thats why our points total this season is even less than last seasons...
that is failure and at a club like liverpool cannot be accepted...
rafa did improve the club since taking over....but it has been at a decreasing rate... last season was not an improvement of 2 seasons ago, and the only good thing i see about last season besides getting to the champs league final was us getting mascherano....
i hope us re-signing alonso and sissoko doesnt prove to be detrimental to the team but from where i stand, it seems like it might...
both are very usuful players, but we need as many quality players at different poistions as we can get our hands on, and so far  we havent done that...

to some extent... i think it might be make or break year for rafa.... he needs to improve the results and above all the performance of the team...
i dont expect us to challenge for the title because in all honesty we are quite a few years or should i say players behind the likes of manutd and chelsea... it all boils down to budget, but improvement is a must even if we cant match their spending power...

talking aboout player..
id say its make or break for

Alonso (if we go for a 4-4-2 and gerrard/mascherano can form a decent partnership then he might be seen as surplus)
Sissoko ( not going to go there again but to me... he currently is surplus)
Kewell (can he stay injury free and how uch of an impact will he have - if we signa new left winger-)
Riise (good player and would prefer to see him in a left midfielder role rather than as a lft back)
Kuyt (another dissapointing season ? plays nowhere like a striker should and dozens of better forward out there imo... lets hope he does a better job next season)
Crouch (does rafa rate him i do )

agger i wouldnt add to that list because i think that even if does end up with a somewwhat dissapointing season he'll still be part of our squad for some time... he has potential and is a very good CB atm bt nowhere near worldclass if you ask me...again, dozens of centre backs out there who are better : Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry, Carvalho, Toure, Gallas, Carragher, Puyol, Thuram, S.Ramos, Cannavaro, Ayala, Maldini, Nesta, Samuel, Milito, Lucio, Chivu.... thats only the ones playing at top clubs...

[Kharhaz]

agger i wouldnt add to that list because i think that even if does end up with a somewwhat dissapointing season he'll still be part of our squad for some time... he has potential and is a very good CB atm bt nowhere near worldclass if you ask me...again, dozens of centre backs out there who are better : Ferdinand, Vidic, Terry, Carvalho, Toure, Gallas, Carragher, Puyol, Thuram, S.Ramos, Cannavaro, Ayala, Maldini, Nesta, Samuel, Milito, Lucio, Chivu.... thats only the ones playing at top clubs...

You left out Carragher, how can you include Rio "err had to go shopping cos me missus insisted" Ferdinand and Carra?

IGNORE ME IM !

[Penguins]

Well, I agree with everything with what you say there Ace except the fact that it does makes some difference if you can have 2-3 world class wingers or 1-2 world class wingers as an example.

And then there is the part what counts as make or break season for Rafa.
Sure, a similar season in pts as last would not be good enough
but 85+ pts might be a push next season.
I do not like the centre midfield constellations one bit as it is way to defensive to succeed in the PL. I stand by that when only Gerrard(if played at centre) offers an attacking threat.

This makes it even more urgent to get 2 world class wingers on each side as kewell can't be counted on for a season and he has lost pace.