Liverpool FC Forum

[Bad Bob]

Right.  Some poor, poor performances of late and, not surprisingly, the whole rotation debate has resurfaced (did it ever go away? ).  Battle lines have been drawn, and passionate barbs have been exchanged with both 'brigades' firmly entrenched on their perspective side of the great divide.  This thread, however, is not about widening that divide but, rather, is about seeing how much agreement there is out there regarding that most contentious of concepts: Our Best Eleven.  So, no matter what side you align with, have a go at playing gaffer.  Give us your Best 11 (assuming complete squad fitness) and let's just see how much consensus we have among the Newkit ranks.  If we all generally agree maybe we can sort out a collective memo to send Rafa.  If not, it might cast further light on the debate that will no doubt continue to rumble on, and on, and on...


So, without further ado, I humbly submit my Best 11:


                          Reina

Finnan         Carragher    Agger    Arbeloa


Pennant         Gerrard    Alonso     Kewell

                    Kuyt        Torres

[LittleHobo]

reina
finnan
agger
carra
riise
pennant
alonso
gerrard
benayoun or babel or kewell (none are particually strong choices)

torres
kuyt

i just think this shows that we lack wingers still

why rafa brought babel when he blatantly isnt a natual winger is beyond me

[dawson99]

Reina

Finnan         Carragher    Agger    Arbeloa


Pennant         Gerrard    Alonso     Kewell

                   Kuyt        Torres

As badbob put it is our best team, dont think anyone would really deny that. The probnlem, as it has been for the past 50 odd years it seems now is the left wing position!!! maybe risse there at this moment is our strongest team.

also, as has been said elsewhere, Babel is not a winger, so why pay out so much for someone purely to play them out of position? Id stilllike to see Babel play a more central attacking role with Torres up fron on his own. Torres needs a lil space we all know and crouch just cant give him it. Kuyt (who everyone seems to hate it seems) is good at making space and he works well with Torres.

[Forever_Red]

Reina

Finnan         Carragher    Agger    Arbeloa


Pennant         Gerrard    Alonso     Kewell

                  Kuyt        Torres

As badbob put it is our best team, dont think anyone would really deny that. The probnlem, as it has been for the past 50 odd years it seems now is the left wing position!!! maybe risse there at this moment is our strongest team.

also, as has been said elsewhere, Babel is not a winger, so why pay out so much for someone purely to play them out of position? Id stilllike to see Babel play a more central attacking role with Torres up fron on his own. Torres needs a lil space we all know and crouch just cant give him it. Kuyt (who everyone seems to hate it seems) is good at making space and he works well with Torres.

I agree with everything said here

[Redbilly1960]

Reina

Finnan           Carra       Agger       Arbeloa


Benayoun*     Gerrard    Alonso        Riise**

             Kuyt           Torres         

* On the right would be close between Benayoun and     Pennant, Benayoun gets the nod better football brain and a little more mature   

** On the left again a close call Riise or Kewell, JAR gets the nod as he is less injury prone and can when needed defend

[Smeg]

Our best 11:

                 *Kuyt      Torres

*Kewell       Alonso     Gerrard      Pennant

  Riise       *Agger     Carragher    Finnan

                       Reina

Our second string:

                  *Crouch     *Voronin

Bennayoun   Mascherano    Sissoko     Babel

  Aurelio        Hyypia        ............    Arbeloa

                           Carson

Pepe Reina: Without question good enough. A top class goalkeeper with immense distribution, a true football brain and is very quick off his line. Communicates very well, has extreme confidence and commands his box. Also very strong with handling, crossing and shot stopping. The answer? Definately.

Scott Carson: A decent backup keeper, nothing more nothing less. Hopefully he'll come back and sit on the bench.

Steve Finnan: Reliable, solid but unspectacular. He's starting to gain years aswell which may hinder him. Still good enough at the moment but I would think over the next couple of sesaons we'll need to look for a long term replacement.

Alvaro Arbeloa: Good squad player who can fill in anywhere across the back four. Under no circumstances though should he be a first choice. He lacks the ability on the ball and lacks the intelligence to overlap. One of my main critisism's of Finnan in comparrison to Babbel was that Babbel used to fly, up and down the wing, Finnan doesn't do it enough, Arbeloa even less so. For more proof, watch the Birmingham game were we actually missed Finnan's overlaps, he overlapped Pennant once because Pennant screamed at him to do so. Still, fine where he is as a backup full back.

John Arne Riise: People bang on about his long balls and say he can't defend. Rubbish, he can defend. Ok he's no Maldini or even Finnan, but he's solid enough, can win a header, put a tackle in and generally does a decent job. He's also capable of scoring a goal and overlapping should the player infront of him actually have any quality. He clearly players ALOT better when Harry Kewell is infront of him. He's a useful squad player at worst due to his versatility.

Fabio Aurelio: Gets caught out of position far to often for my liking. I like him, but he doesn't concentrate and I doubt he'll stay fit all season either. He's again a good option for the squad if not a great one.

Jamie Carragher: Heart and soul, defends like a man possessed. Awful on the ball, always has been... will never be the quickest but he gives Liverpool what they need and wouldn't swap him for anyone.

Daniel Agger: Good player who's strengths aren't defending. Yes he's very competetant at the back but he's not a great centre back for me. He isn't the quickest, is weak in the in air and really struggles against strikers with physical presence. Alot of teams tend to play one upfront these days which allows him to get away with it, I think once they cotton onto that he'll be on borrowed time in Liverpool's first team, unless of course the rest of the team becomes that good it doesn't really matter.

Sami Hyypia: Still for me a better player than Agger and by quite a distance. People often accuse Sami of aimless hoofs, from what I've seen of him over the years I disagree, he tends to hoof when the midfield don't show for the ball. Alonso, takes the ball of Hyypia alot from the defence and I firmly believe that not having a natural left winger and Alonso not in the side often leaves Sami short of options other than to hoof the ball. At the end of the day, he's still the strongest and most arially dominant centre half we have, by some distance.

Jermaine Pennant: His form's been good. His crossings excellent and he's causing the opposition problems when he plays. He links up well with Finnan and he basically gives us width and more or less exactly what I thought he would. People may say he doesn't score enough, they're correct. He doesn't, not something that will ever change, I'd be suprised if he scores more than 5 in a season, but he gives us things that alot of other players don't. For me definately worth his place in the starting line up despite his lack of ability to put the ball in the net.

Yossi Bennayoun: Good player. Can play left or right, has the ability to play left or right and I'd like to see him off the striker. Can score and make a goal, can beat a man aswell. Not a great player, but definately a good acquisition as a squad player. He also works harder than I thought he would which is a bonus. I like his vision and ability to spot the pass.

Harry Kewell: What can you say that hasn't been said? I rate him, alot. Thought he was excellent the season before last, just lacked the goals to top off a good year. Will he ever be fit? Not worth taking a chance on now for me. Got to go. I don't blame the lad, I just pitty him and I really have lost patience with him. His talents not an issue, I personally don't question his attitude either, its his fitness, plain and simple.

Babel: I'm sorry but not an £11,500,000 player. Pacey, fairly strong... thats about it. Awful signing.

Steven Gerrard: Sometimes I just feel sorry for him. I sit there thinking to myself, if only we had one more player with the same quality. Can do everything, should be allowed to do everything and shouldn't have to worry about who he's playing with each week.  Mascherano or Alonso should play next to him. He's the best alround midfielder in the world. No-one mentions his tackling, but he's a box to box player, nothing more, nothing less.

Xabi Alonso: Great vision, passing and a good reader of the game. Sometimes I question his concentration. He's a great player though and one that is definately amoungst our better players. Can dictate a game and when he plays we always seem to control a game. Can also throw in a tackle and has an aggressive side which is good to see. He often plays better though when Gerrard isn't in the team, I think he's a player that thrives on responsibility, something I think we'll see more of as he becomes a bit older.

Javier Mascherano: Excellent ball winning midfielder. Not the sort of player who'll control a game, but the sort of player who can stop an opposition controlling a game. Quick, good in the tackle, reads it well, competant passer, good vision. Hasn't really played well sofar this season, but that will come.

Momo Sissoko: A good fourth choice midfielder. The Momo machine hasn't always been at his best the last two seasons, some rediculous statements like he'll become world class, he's the new Vieira and all haven't really helped as the expectation on him was to high. However, he's still good at what he does (even though he had a mare against Marseille) and will be a useful player over the coming seasons.

Lucas: Erm... £7,000,000 for what? No-body actually knows.

Fernando Torres: Looked a bit lazy the other the night and frustrated. But all in all a good player who I think has the ability alround to win games single handedly for us. Can score goals and make goals and I think he's an excellent player. I was very suprised by him and am made up with his quality.

Dirk Kuyt: The workhorse. Good player, good alround, links play quite well and finds space well and never stops running. Not the best player in the world but can do a job and a player I'd be happy to see as a third choice striker.

Andriy Voronin: Distinctly average player with little ability. Scored a couple of goals and everyone thinks he's the . I can assure you he isn't. Strange signing.

Crouch: Not good enough, never has been, misses to many chances, doesn't win the headers he should, lacks strength and mobility. Crouch is nothing more than a decent player who came in to replace four players and give us the style of player we needed at the time. Thanks for the contribution, time to move on.

So in summary, I think we desperately need a centre forward. We need a new centre back. The left side of midfield is covered, but we need a quality replacement for Kewell simpley down to his fitness and we could do with a left back if truth be told even though we have options there.

I actually got slated last season for saying we needed two forwards, a centre half and a left winger, it now seems alot agree about the second forward. We aren't far away, as I again said last season, we just need a couple of players who can come into the first team. The positions with a asterix by them are the ones I think could do with improvement.

[LittleHobo]

i think babel will be a good player

but liverpool isnt the best place to nurture his talent

you just know that if arsenal signed him he would look like a great player already

[LittleHobo]

also lucas was a very odd signing

i could understand it if one of the centre mids left in the summer

to be honest i would like to see him given a chance ahead of sissoko, i would have momo as 5th choice

lucas looks a more inteligent player

[destro]

Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Arbeloa
Benayoun
Gerrard
Alonso
Riise
Torres
Voronin.

Unless injuries come into it thats the team we should play all the time, I went for Voronin up front with Torres because basically I am sick of hearing how Kuyt works hard for the team, chases down etc,etc. Voronin offers more of a goal threat than Crouch and Kuyt put together and we need another option up there to take some of the weight off Torres.

[Lando_Griffin]

Isn't it amazing how everyone to a man now has Alonso in their first-choice line-up...

[dawson99]

yeah because most of the anti-alonsos wont post in here. a lot of people always rated alonso if you remember.

[LittleHobo]

mascherano is probaly best in a midfield 3 as he is best winning the ball and passing it 5 yards

in a midfield 2 he has responsability to create and do something other than pass 5 yards

actually i would like to see 4-5-1 system again, playing gerrard in the aimar role, valencia style

................................Reina......................................

finnan.........carra.......................agger...............riise


....................alonso........................Mascherano


..................................Gerrard............................


Pennant..........................................................Benayoun



................................Torres..................................


wingers pushing quite far up field and gerrard as high up the pitch attacking mid

[Smeg]

mascherano is probaly best in a midfield 3 as he is best winning the ball and passing it 5 yards

in a midfield 2 he has responsability to create and do something other than pass 5 yards

actually i would like to see 4-5-1 system again, playing gerrard in the aimar role, valencia style

reina
finnan
agger
carra
riise
pennant
mascherano
alonso
gerrard
benayoun

torres

wingers pushing quite far up field and gerrard as the 2nd striker

So you want to play our best player in probably the worst position for him?



Love it. The one position on the pitch he completely fails to influence a game and thats where you want to play him...

Basically, you want to take away 50% of his game by playing him in an attacking role...



Some of the things the people on here come out with at times are rediculous.

[LittleHobo]

i want him to have a free role from centre mid, gerrard is an attacking midfielder you idiot.

when you play 3 in centre mid he could do this

rafa knows this system and valencia had huge success with it

we actually played this in our champions league winning season

for some reason he has been bullied into 4-4-2

i could understand 4-4-2 if we had the players but i dont think we do

[LittleHobo]

i will try this system on the new footie manager demo 

have played half a season with 4-4-2 and we are 3rd, struggling in champs league and not dominating games