Liverpool FC Forum

[Sabre]

I believe in Mark Gonzalez.

Who are you anyway? might ask somebody. Well I'm just a supporter and I think he can provide us good things in the future. But I do believe that both Rafa, and Atletico de Madrid and Sevilla yesteryear when they made an offer to LFC after his loan spell, are right about putting confidence in the lad.

Perhaps there was much hype about him I admit. But just as Agger played a few games yesteryear, I think Gonzalez will have a bigger share of minutes the next season. I'd be surprised if a young player didn't have more than one season to prove himself.

I've read to Stu somewhere that he can't dribble, he can't finnish, he can't head, he can't spot a pass, and he can't do a lot of things.

It's true some of this, some other things are not true.

Granted, his start of the season was very dissapointing. He had not a regular spell in the team and was suddenly given a Manchester United away, which was lost, and like every time we lose against an archenemy the criticism against the lad was multiplied 5 times.

Then he dissapeared again, and in the last month and a half is reappearing again. Despite being far of what he can provide, he has improved IMHO, and I guess that due to the infortunate injury of Aurelio he'll have the chance to show his stuff in this latter stage of the season.

Stu says he doesn't know to dribble. Which is true. He beats man just by pace.

Stu says he doesn't know to head the ball. WHich is not true, because he finished 3 headers last season, with a service that is not as good as the one he'll have in LFC. He's pacy and he likes to enter the box, he can finnish a lot of counter attacks like he did last year.

He also has a powerful range shot, and is an option for set pieces, both cornes and range shots. At the very least, all this make him an interesting squad player IMHO for the next season. He's young and he'll have the time to have more stripes in his uniform.

We haven't seen much of this stuff but we will, IMHO.

Now I'd be grateful to read your views, some sort of a balance of this first year. Are you too dissapointed? Should the lad need another season to prove himself? And all that.

Thank you.

[Stu.Murph]

He's , end of, thread locked.

[Sabre]

It's great you preach to others about their football posts, but's that's a bloody one liner. You can do better than that. Tell me why I need to get a clue.

[Stu.Murph]

I'll let some others have a go first.

[Elchris]

well he was certainly over hyped when he first came here...we expected alot of things from him and i imagined him being the spark of the team like ronaldo and robben but those things really did not happen..but he is improving

He is still young , has pace and great shot all the tools to becoming a decent winger, he really need to work on his game and i do belive in Mark Gonzales. I hope he belives in himself too.

Nex season will be the deciding one for him .

[woof woof !]

It's great you preach to others about their football posts, but's that's a bloody one liner. You can do better than that. Tell me why I need to get a clue.

You've already listed Stu's thoughts on Gonzalez in you're intial post , what else do you expect the lad to say ?   


Gonzo has been a huge disappointment , perhaps he was overhyped , hopefully ,if he's still here next season he'll show us something . So far all we've seen from the fella is that he can run !

[kunilson]

well.....i have no idea about this guy. He's got the right ingredients but whether he can make it work here is another story.

I was kind of caught up in the hype about him on here, but i knew from past experiences not to let myself get too carried away..i've seen every liverpool game this year, and from what i've seen of him he's got the pace, he's got that knack of turning up in the box at right times(or i can see him doing that) , and he has a pretty good shot on him.

I don't think rafa wanted to throw him into the team so early in the season, but injuries and whatnot made it necessary. He doesn't take on defenders enough, and sometimes his decision making is poor. But i have seen him banging in good crosses, the problem is he can't string the positives together for long enough so he ends up having on-off games, mostly off.....this could be due to lack of confidence, or getting to grips with the premiership...but i see similarities between him and c.ronaldo a couple of years ago, except the difference in skill and confidence actually...

so this one could go either way, so im happy to see him play next season. but if he doesn't come up with the goods i think maybe parting ways would be best...

[Cool Hand Luke]

Mark Gonzalez arrived with an unfair air of expectation. People had watched him do well for Real Sociedad in the defensively poor Spanish league and hailed him as some sort of messiah, this was never going to happen as he was never as good as some made out and he was coming to the Premiership as a very inexperienced player.

My analysis of Gonzalez before he arrived was that he was not a particularly good dribbler, he is a hit and run player who relies heavily on his pace, this worked well in Spain where there is acers of space to exploit, but the Premiership is far more tight.

Nethertheless, I saw enough in his game to be encouraged that he could do well but never thought he would become a top grade player for us. Since he has been here he has struggled to make any significant impact, partly down to injury and not being able to play a run of games, but also partly down to not really taken any steps forward as a player, you would expect through watching the team regularly and training regularly he would have found ways to improve, but it hasn’t happened YET.

So far I have seen glimpses of talent but no real product. I like the fact that he uses both feet, he has a good leap and header, his short passing has shown signs of intelligence but is too hit and miss, he does have very good acceleration even if he doesn’t know how to use it properly YET, he has a nice shooting technique and he clearly has an eye for goal. All these qualities have been shown in small glimpses, that is the problem.

I think he does need a run of regular games playing 90 minutes, and this stage of the season is the perfect time to give to him. Too me he plays like a talented 18 year old who doesn’t know how to get the best out of his qualities and doesn’t know how to work with the rest of the team, his game is very immature at this stage.

The onus is on Rafa to take him from a talent to a player, this means a run of games, work on the training ground and personal attention for the player. Loaning him out in Spain would be a waste of time, I would be happy for him to go out on loan in the Premiership next year were he would play all 38 games.

I wasn’t expecting miracles from the boy, but I was expected better than this. But that’s not to say I have no faith in him, I have seen enough from him to keep me interested and believe he can play for us if he learns how to use his qualities to better effect.

[66-1120597113]

Too early to judge in my opinion!Yes hes been here a season but he has'nt played enough to establish form.I also feel a foreign player should be given a seasons grace before he is judged at the very least.
We cant expect them all to hit the ground running like Mascherano has!

Theres no doubt he has pace of course!But he has only showed tiny bits of what else he has too offer and will hopefully get more chances from now to season and and next year.Hes a decent player of course but whether or not hes good enough for LFC remains to be seen.

[66-1112520797]

He hasnt impressed me yet not at all, but TBH with people he needs another season to become comfortable and confident in his surroundings. You can look at a player after a few performances a see that he has got something, a bit like what we've seen with Mascha. With Gonzalez it isnt as apparent which is the worst thing, he hasnt really shown glimpse's which is worrying. But as I said if his position is reasured in the squad for next year he'll naturally grow in confidence and can look forward to the season ahead. It didnt help him starting for us when at the begining of the season we were f.ucking poor. But never the less he actually looks a slightly quicker version of JAR going forward, a thunderous left foot, and the ability to knock the ball past a defender by 10 yards and try and beat him for pace. Even then he doesnt look that quick and in my mind he certainly looks a one trick pony (like JAR). I'd be happy for him to play second fiddle to a fit Harry Kewell next season and have him coming in every now and again just to see any signs of improvement. We wont win the league IMO with Gonzalez on the left wing all season if he's going to offer us no more than he has this season, same can be said about Pennant on the right also.

The hype that surrounded him looks way OTT now, Rafa certainly talked the lad up so I'm inclined to think Rafa will stick with him. Also our very own Sabre talked him up during the summer and I'm also inclined to think Sabre will stick with him too.

[EddieC]

Well, with Aurelio, Kewell & Garcia out, he's gonna be left fighting it out with Zenden for his place for the rest of the season. If he can't even keep Bolo on the bench, then it's time to go for me.

[Sabre]

The hype that surrounded him looks way OTT now, Rafa certainly talked the lad up so I'm inclined to think Rafa will stick with him. Also our very own Sabre talked him up during the summer and I'm also inclined to think Sabre will stick with him too.

Yes I will.

My local club never had much money and as a supporter I had to develop a patience with youngsters and players. That's why I'm perhaps a bit softy with many LFC players. I supported Crouch in his lack of goals yesteryear and I support Gonzalez now he's criticised. If I like a player it takes more than 7 bad games to change my mind about him

Good post yours anyway, same as the CHS Kunilson and Barry's. That's what I wanted, views, we've been talking about him here and there but I thought it would be nice to compile them in a new thread, it's been a while from the last gonzalez thread.

[Ace Ventura]

I dont see anything in him thats gives me confidence that he is anywhere near good enough for our club.
I'll try not to be over critical but cant not mention glaring weaknesses in his game.
The major one being that he cant receive a ball under pressure control it and either lay it off, or go forward. Nine times out of ten his control is so poor it either gets away from him totally, or allows the defender the chance to take it off him.
I think his heading looks ok, he gets up quite well and appears to be decent in that area, and to be fair to the lad he is a goal threat and looks for goal in every game, something Pennant should try and adopt more.
He doesnt appear to have any skill in his locker, more just knock it past and try and run, which will only work sometimes.
His crossing is not the best but not poor either, i wouldnt say it was a weakness or a strength, a bit hit and miss really.
He will probably get a run of games now Fabio is out so lets just hope he can steer clear of the niggly injuries that havent helped him settle in, but most of all lets hope he starts proving Rafa and Sabre right and the majority of LFC supporters wrong.

[tubby]

I might get slated for this but I dont think hes Premiership material. (not for us anyway)

Im yet to see him produce a good display for the duration of his stay on the pitch in a big game. He always onyl seems to look good when were playing the lower teams and already in a good position in terms of the score.

I was hoping that he would be one of our brightest players this year and maybe he still can be but the majority of the time i get worried when i see his name on the team sheet or see him warming up.

The only good thing i can see is that he is proven in Spain in his little stint at Sociedad before he came to us so if we did have to offload him we should be able to get at least 5mil or so.

[RedBlood]

i beleive speedy has talent a rough diamond if you like and i would give him another season before unfair judgement

he is a young south american who was hyped up (not his fault) and has had alot of frustrating niggling injuries that have interrupted his progress

give him chance because he has a great attitude and the ability is there because if the supporters get behind him and show him hes wanted it could make all the difference between us seeing a star or a flop