Liverpool FC Forum

[Emerald Red]

I have no complaints really about how much he has spent and think on the whole he has made very good signings. My only real complaint is that he has never solved the problems that were apparent when he arrived. Namely the left and right sides of the team.

When he arrived he declared that his first priority was to solve the right side problem, 4 years later we still have problems with the right side, exacerbated by the fact that we have had problems with the left side for almost as long due to Kewells injuries.

Josemi, Kromkamp, Zenden, Gonzales, Pennant, Leto, Voronin even Garcia and Babel never quite managed to fill the positions to the standard we need.

Benitez' signings for the wings...Nunez, Garcia, Zenden, Gonzalez, Pennant, Babel, Anderson, Leto, Benayoun. 9 wingers Benitez has brought in and he still hasn't found a proper world class winger.

Judging on other transfers in other positions, it's obvious he spots talent, so why he can't find and play a decent winger is beyond me. Hopefully next year we'll see Paul Anderson given a run in the side.

These are all capable wingers, but still "Tesco" buys when the likes of Chelsea and United got in first with quality wingers or spent big. With the exception of Babel, who is not a natural winger, these other signings have  been let downs. Not because they aren't good players, but I think because their balls just dropped off playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. The task was probably too daunting for them. Regardless, if either United, Real, Milan etc etc, were faced with a similar problem that Rafa has in finding a suitable target in all wide areas of the team, I doubt they'd have readily solved it in as much time. It's difficult to find a decent left sided/ left footed player never mind a decent winger these days.

[Lando_Griffin]

Stats that matter :-

Money spent : millions
League titles : zero

Only in your World does the strength of the competition not matter...

[Bad Bob]

Stats that matter :-

Money spent : millions
League titles : zero

Only in your World does the strength of the competition not matter...

I also find it curious that Owzat is so quick to dismiss stats when he's not the one posting them. 

[greenbyname_redbynature]

I have no complaints really about how much he has spent and think on the whole he has made very good signings. My only real complaint is that he has never solved the problems that were apparent when he arrived. Namely the left and right sides of the team.

When he arrived he declared that his first priority was to solve the right side problem, 4 years later we still have problems with the right side, exacerbated by the fact that we have had problems with the left side for almost as long due to Kewells injuries.

Josemi, Kromkamp, Zenden, Gonzales, Pennant, Leto, Voronin even Garcia and Babel never quite managed to fill the positions to the standard we need.

Benitez' signings for the wings...Nunez, Garcia, Zenden, Gonzalez, Pennant, Babel, Anderson, Leto, Benayoun. 9 wingers Benitez has brought in and he still hasn't found a proper world class winger.

Judging on other transfers in other positions, it's obvious he spots talent, so why he can't find and play a decent winger is beyond me. Hopefully next year we'll see Paul Anderson given a run in the side.

These are all capable wingers, but still "Tesco" buys when the likes of Chelsea and United got in first with quality wingers or spent big. With the exception of Babel, who is not a natural winger, these other signings have  been let downs. Not because they aren't good players, but I think because their balls just dropped off playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. The task was probably too daunting for them. Regardless, if either United, Real, Milan etc etc, were faced with a similar problem that Rafa has in finding a suitable target in all wide areas of the team, I doubt they'd have readily solved it in as much time. It's difficult to find a decent left sided/ left footed player never mind a decent winger these days.

couldn't agree more that it's difficult to find real quality left footed left wingers, but surely someone is about. one person i think we missed out on at the time was Duff. can't remember if it was Houllier/Benitez who was managing us at that time, but at the time Chelsea got him, he was as good as any left winger in the league.

at the current time ashley young is the best left winger we could sign from england. he's both footed and has the pace to play in this 4-2-3-1 system.

as for that fella who thinks i've contradicted myslef...how? how is claiming Paul Anderson to be good enough a contradiction? Are young 20 year old lads not allowed to be good enough? I suppose he can't be world class because he's been loaned out eh...but then again so was the world's most notable footballer David Beckham to Preston, then again so was the current england captain John Terry to Notts Forest. But neither of them have ever been world class have they?

[Penguins]

I think Rafa has fared quite well quality-wise in his transfer dealings.

What I do get annoyed with is the fact that he spends 80% of the budget on central positions which leaves us with 6 central midfielders and center backs and with garbage on the wings and fullbacks.

And one thing that Rafa can't do much about but still really doesn't help is the fact that we as a club never have the money to buy world class players for 20-30 millions that we can keep for 10 years and are in no need to sell.

Torres and Masch are exceptions and who says we might be able to keep them for 10 years with the state of the clubs finances.

Please Rafa, if necessary sell some central players so we can get Joaquin and other top class wingers. I have been waiting for 4 years now....

[greenbyname_redbynature]

can anybody tell me who were Valencia's wingers and fullbacks under Benitez? Just so I can see if he's always played with a strong centre and pretty poor players outwide.

I know through the centre he had Ayala, Sissoko, Aimar and Carew, but really other than that I don't know what the Valencia side was.

[NANNY RED]

can anybody tell me who were Valencia's wingers and fullbacks under Benitez? Just so I can see if he's always played with a strong centre and pretty poor players outwide.

I know through the centre he had Ayala, Sissoko, Aimar and Carew, but really other than that I don't know what the Valencia side was.

I remember one of them was Vincente on the wing and always thought Raffa would bring him here , crackin player and another one i think he was a right back was a lad called Torres

[greenbyname_redbynature]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

[NANNY RED]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

I could be wrong here but im sure he played on the left for Valencia and Spain. Very very quick and loved to take people on im sure he still plays for Valencia

[greenbyname_redbynature]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

I could be wrong here but im sure he played on the left for Valencia and Spain. Very very quick and loved to take people on im sure he still plays for Valencia

i've seen his name branded about a bit on here and if he worked well in spain with Benitez, maybe he is the most logical choice (if he still has the quality of course) to solve our left wing problems.

[NANNY RED]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

I could be wrong here but im sure he played on the left for Valencia and Spain. Very very quick and loved to take people on im sure he still plays for Valencia

i've seen his name branded about a bit on here and if he worked well in spain with Benitez, maybe he is the most logical choice (if he still has the quality of course) to solve our left wing problems.

I like him a lot but i think hes suffered a lot of problems with injuries and i dont know how old he is now, Sabre is the best one to fill you in on how hes doin now

[greenbyname_redbynature]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

I could be wrong here but im sure he played on the left for Valencia and Spain. Very very quick and loved to take people on im sure he still plays for Valencia

i've seen his name branded about a bit on here and if he worked well in spain with Benitez, maybe he is the most logical choice (if he still has the quality of course) to solve our left wing problems.

I like him a lot but i think hes suffered a lot of problems with injuries and i dont know how old he is now, Sabre is the best one to fill you in on how hes doin now

well pretty much anyone could give me a better opinion of the lad than I already have on him. I can't remember him from any international tournaments, so either he wasn't there or he just didn't impress me which is possible. Also I can't remember being amazed by him when I saw Valencia in the past. Those who follow La Liga week in week out though could probably give a better insight into him. What his strenghts and weaknesses are.

Aimar did amaze me, very clever player and had a proper scouse haircut. Proper perm. He's knocking on now, so probably wouldn't be that good an option.

[bigmick]

Well they always used to say that you needed to get the spine of the team right first, and then move on from there and I guess that's what the manager has done really. It's been a fairly painstaking process in that it's taken four years to get it all right, but I would have thought that in Reina in goal, Carragher/Agger/Skyrtel in defence, Gerrard/Masherano/Alonso in the middle and Torres up top we are as well off as we have been in years. You could if you were being a bit picky argue we lack cover for the goalie and striker slots should perish the thought Reina or Torres get injured, but by and large I think the spine is sorted barring disasters.

The downside is that it has taken us four seasons to get to this point (and not to mention a fair few quid along the way as well) and at this rate, by about 2011/12 we'll have a couple of decent full-backs and a couple of top-class wide midfielders, as well as a partner for Torres. Unfortunately I guess by then a couple of the aforementioned "spine" will have either given up on the project and fecked offf elsewhere, or retired or got injured or whatever.

Quite an important thing to consider as well is it's not even as if we have a couple of "almost theres" in the wide positions. If you were a Man Utd fan for instance, you could probably be excused for getting all worked up about the possibility of Nani becoming a player fairly soon. Similarly Walcott at Arsenal is on the improve as is Solomon Kalou at Chelsea, although if it comes down to it they'll just buy anyway. We've got Kuyt abnd Babel who are never ever going to be the long term answer, Babel as a left midfielder and Kuyt as a first team player if we're being brutally honest. At full back I suppose you could say that Aurelio could possibly become a player if he can stay fit for more than a month at a time, but other than that? I know some like Anderson, others Insua but although I haven't seen either play other than the odd youtube clip it's hard to imagine them beccoming first team regulars in the next twelve months or so.

So unless we have some other kids kicking about who are about to shoot to the fore, we are very much still in midst of the rebuilding process. We are left to hope that players such as Deggen can come in from the fringes of the first team in a mid table Bundesligia outfit and leave all his previous career form behind him. Perhaps the aquisition of Barry can plug the gaping hole on the left side of midfield, but if as seems more likely he is being brought in to take the place of Alonso we are back to square one again.

Given the rumblings about Barry being our "big" signing of the summer, I can't recall ever feeling as downbeat about the season to come as I feel now (and that's not in any way a comment on the Villa man who is a good player). Less rotation will certainly help and I'm sure we'll get that, but to make the final leap into the upper echelons we'll need a bit more quality next time up I think.

[66-1112520797]

The downside is that it has taken us four seasons to get to this point (and not to mention a fair few quid along the way as well) and at this rate, by about 2011/12 we'll have a couple of decent full-backs and a couple of top-class wide midfielders, as well as a partner for Torres.

Talking of Barry, if Rafa did bring him in, you dont think he'd play him wide left where Babel plays if Alonso doesnt leave.

Does anybody think Barry could play wide left (advanced) ?

[NANNY RED]

was vicente left/right wing nanny?

I could be wrong here but im sure he played on the left for Valencia and Spain. Very very quick and loved to take people on im sure he still plays for Valencia

i've seen his name branded about a bit on here and if he worked well in spain with Benitez, maybe he is the most logical choice (if he still has the quality of course) to solve our left wing problems.

I like him a lot but i think hes suffered a lot of problems with injuries and i dont know how old he is now, Sabre is the best one to fill you in on how hes doin now

well pretty much anyone could give me a better opinion of the lad than I already have on him. I can't remember him from any international tournaments, so either he wasn't there or he just didn't impress me which is possible. Also I can't remember being amazed by him when I saw Valencia in the past. Those who follow La Liga week in week out though could probably give a better insight into him. What his strenghts and weaknesses are.

Aimar did amaze me, very clever player and had a proper scouse haircut. Proper perm. He's knocking on now, so probably wouldn't be that good an option.

Well ive just had a nosy on google and hes only 26 , was young spanish player of the year 2003 and is still the fans favorite at Valencia. Played this year but suffered a bad injury and from then Valencia went down hill.

Little clip of the lad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPQxBDiCuzU


Put it this way i wouldnt be to unhappy if he became a left winger for us