Liverpool FC Forum

[weringo]

Of the players mentioned by Billy, it is only Kewell who, despite his massive improements last season, had let us down IMHO in big matches. He i on such huge wages that he should be delivering consistently this season or we should ship him out if a decent offer comes.

I think you are being harsh on Kewell. The two finals he failed to perform in ie. the Champions League final and the FA Cup final he was clearly injured in and probably shouldn't have been playing in at the start.

In the Tottenham game this season at Anfield he won the game for us with his wonder volley and in the Chelsea FA cup semi final he ran the show. Next season I think we will see an even bigger improvement from Kewell with the competition from Gonzales and he will hopefully regained a bit of pace that he lacked last season.

I am one of these people who likes to give a player a go.

Now when I hear people praising Kewell, I think were these the same people slaughtering him a few years back. I didn't slaughter him straight away, but now I have lost patiance with him now, sorry to say it but I think he should go. We all know he has the ability. He showed us that in the first half of his 1st season but now his chances have run out.

I think he is a good player but no consistant enough. The game against Chelsea he was brilliant, looked as good as he did for Leeds, but then in the cup final he was useless again. And he wasn't injured at the start. He picked up an injury running out the tunnel at the start of the second half. So Harry has to go.

I'm sorry but I don't understand your logic. This season he was one of our best performers, top 5 in my opinion but now you want to get rid of him? He had a year in the 04/05 season but Rafa showed faith in him and he came good. By all means I would understand why you would have wanted to get rid at the end of last season but he has really turned it around.

[Liverpool_In_My_Blood]

Kewell played well in some games. Didn't have a great season. That's not good enough for Liverpool. a
And top 5 performers. Thats a bit to far.

[ivor_the_injun]

Kewell was easily one of most consistent performers last season. His level of performance over his previous seasons at the club was vastly improved, and he made the left wing his own once more. Watch the FA Cup semi against Chelsea and tell me he's not good enough for LFC. And don't come back saying that it was a one-off performance - he was doing similar damage to defences all over the country all season long.

Garcia is more of a contentious one to me. I love the guy to bits, but he simply has to start making simple passes that he all too often misplaces. On the right of midfield, he gets us into all sorts of trouble when he turns possession over, generally allowing an opposing winger to have just our full back between them and getting a ball into the box.

If - as I and many others suspect - Luis's future at the club is as a second striker, his poor distribution will be less of a problem. If he's turning the ball over on the edge of the opposition's box, there's an entire midfield there to stop any further damage occurring.

Zenden was incredibly unfortunate last term, and while I don't see him starting too often, he offers quality cover in two positions, which is exactly what we need on the bench and in the squad. I don't see him as the kind of impact left winger that Kewell and Gonzalez are, or the influence in the centre of midfield that Gerrard and Alonso are, but he's solid and capable, and when injuries hit that's what you want at your disposal.

[Lando_Griffin]

OK. He is decent in and around the box. His awareness and footballing brain give him advantage over some players but when he plays on the right he puts us in danger more often than not. And when he is in our half he is the oppositions best player. All his fancy tricks are no good in our half. So I would still like to see the back of him because I think we can buy a player who can score the goals Luis does but also gives us something extra.

But he isn't a winger, you gimp.
Play Gerrard in goal, and see how HE fairs out of position.

Luis Garcia is a striker-midfielder hybrid. Put him in the hole, and he's as good as anyone.

[Lando_Griffin]

Kewell was easily one of most consistent performers last season. His level of performance over his previous seasons at the club was vastly improved, and he made the left wing his own once more. Watch the FA Cup semi against Chelsea and tell me he's not good enough for LFC. And don't come back saying that it was a one-off performance - he was doing similar damage to defences all over the country all season long.

Garcia is more of a contentious one to me. I love the guy to bits, but he simply has to start making simple passes that he all too often misplaces. On the right of midfield, he gets us into all sorts of trouble when he turns possession over, generally allowing an opposing winger to have just our full back between them and getting a ball into the box.

If - as I and many others suspect - Luis's future at the club is as a second striker, his poor distribution will be less of a problem. If he's turning the ball over on the edge of the opposition's box, there's an entire midfield there to stop any further damage occurring.

Zenden was incredibly unfortunate last term, and while I don't see him starting too often, he offers quality cover in two positions, which is exactly what we need on the bench and in the squad. I don't see him as the kind of impact left winger that Kewell and Gonzalez are, or the influence in the centre of midfield that Gerrard and Alonso are, but he's solid and capable, and when injuries hit that's what you want at your disposal.

How can you expect him to know that when he probably only watched the FA CUp Final!?!

I can do with new posters, but some of them REALLY need to stop talking utter sh*te. 

[redsince2001]

we hav a good young talented team........but i only fear that rafa has bought one bad apple too many by investing in pennant.

[Kopite-Jud]

i think kewell was consistant because he knew that gonzalez was coming and zenden was there aswell to take his place , ggod that players have 2 work for their place

[48-1119859832]

If you read my post you would see what I said about Luis. He scores but that's all and as a right winger, which is what we use him as mostly, we need more off him.

Granted Zenden got injured but before that he didn't look that good. Maybe playing in the middle we may see the best of him, but he isn't going to dislodge Gerrard, Alonso or Sissoko, so he is going to spend most of this season on the bench or not involved at all.

I agree with some of the things you say about Garcia. He's fustrasting, but at the sametime he is highly entertaining. If you need someone to pull a rabbit out of the hat, Luis Garcia is your man. He has scored a hell of a lot of goals for Liverpool in his two seasons here. His goals were vital to our Champions League final placement and eventual success against AC Milan. It's worth taking note that Luis Garcia isn't and never has been a right winger (He was played right wing because we had no one suitable in that position). He's naturally left footed, so naturally he's a left winger. However his strongest position seems to be behind the main striker.

Zenden didn't start of greatly but to judge him on a handful of games with us is ridiculous to be honest. That's like judging a player on a handful of WC games. He was played left wing, not his stronest position and if you saw how good he was at Boro you'd know his best position is left side of central midfield. Gerrard is more than likely going to continue to play on the right whilst Alonso and Sissoko will continue to play in the centre, so Zenden may well feature more than you expect this season.

[48-1119859832]

i hate the word deadwood being used for harry kewell as well the lad had some great spells last year and actully looked like the player we all thought we had sighed

That's my problem with Kewell. He has spells of brilliance but he's not consistant enough. If he was consistant I'd love him, but its the inconsistancy which is the problem.

Incase you haven't noticed Kewell has been injured a fair bit the last few seasons. If he wasn inconsistent & a poor player why did Chelsea play Ferreira and Geremi down the right hand side to try and stop Kewell?

[Liverpool_In_My_Blood]

His level of performance over his previous seasons at the club was vastly improved, and he made the left wing his own once more.

Made the postion his own. If Zenden didn't get injured Kewell wouldn't of played last year. Last year Zenden was first choice on the left and now it's Gonzalez, so Kewell again has to be hoping for an injury to Speedy or has to really perform when he does get his chances.

[redmikey]

I was one of the biggest slaters of kewell but the lad impressed last term, i think gonzales and him give us great width on the LEFT and remember kewell know the prem inside out.

the problem is that harry carried injuries and wasn't at 100% , and he looked half hearted as well, the difference when fit really showed last year for me, only mongs looking for easy targets for pre season abuse would single him out as not good enough,

suggestion to said mongs WATCH SOME FECKIN GAMES AND STOP TALKIN B@LLOCKS

[ConnO'var]

I think we have a good starting 11 and one of the best benches in the League, but there is still the deadwood there.

On the wings is the real problem. Kewell and Zenden down the left, God help us and Garcia on the right is useless.

Garcia scores fair enough, but surely we can sign someone or have someone at the squad who can score but do more as well. He can't pass, tackle, has no pace, can't control and when he does control it he has to do a flick, and they hardly come off.

Kewell is one good game in 5 and Zenden didn't impress last year what I did see of him.

As well as other players they are the 3 I want out first.

What about you? Who do you want out? Real fans only please.

Que?

[skipper]

I like Garcia.  Yes, he can be a ball waster sometimes and his passing can be dreadful.  Nevertheless, he always seems to be in the right place at the right time and hustles for rebound opportunities.  He beats defenders to rebounds and puts the ball in.

-Merseyside derby in 2005
-CL semis vs Chelsea
-twice vs Arsenal this season

Garcia can be frustrating because he can lose the ball easily and his finishing isn't always conventional.  He'll miss from just 10 yards out but can hit a 25-30 yard volley dead on.  But, whatever he does, he does seem to put the ball in the net in big moments.

And he's not a winger.  Putting him in that hybrid role like Lando said is the best option.  Garcia is an intergral part of this team.  He's scored some wonder goals and I look for him to come up with more big goals in the upcoming campaign.

[aCe']

Gerrard and Garcia are the two most talented players at liverpool..hands down !
I cant understand how you would want garcia out of the squad after all he has done in the last couple of seasons...out of position and scored more than our strikers did ! if played as a second striker (I dont see any reason why he shouldnt....for all i know all the striker we have arent 20+ goals/season strikers) he can be huge not only netting them, but also providing assists and helping the midfield !
As for Kewell, he played well last season and was one of our better performers ! I personally didnt see much of gonzales...only watched a few games of his in the spanish league....and i dont think most of you have either...so...im not sure why everyone seems to think that he would command that first team spot ahead of kewell or even pennant if we play one out and out winger (provided we stick to gerrard/sissoko/alonso)!

[Bad Bob]

As for Kewell, he played well last season and was one of our better performers ! I personally didnt see much of gonzales...only watched a few games of his in the spanish league....and i dont think most of you have either...so...im not sure why everyone seems to think that he would command that first team spot ahead of kewell or even pennant if we play one out and out winger (provided we stick to gerrard/sissoko/alonso)!

I think a lot of people are putting Gonzales ahead of Kewell based on Harry's injury record.  We already know he'll start the season injured and may end up on the treatment table again as the season goes.  If Gonzales is half the player he's hyped as being, he'll have a great opportunity to shine when Harry's out (assuming Aurelio will be competing for LB not LM).  Harry might not get a look in for sometime if the kid impresses over the first few weeks of the season.

As for the Pennant vs Gonzales issue, I think it would be very unusual to play a midfield four of (from L to R):

Gerrard       Sissoko       Alonso       Pennant

Gerrard's awesome but I don't think he's going to cut it at LM the way he does at RM (especially being right-footed).  So, I think if all are healthy and Sissoko's in the line up, Pennant drops to the bench with Stevie moving right.  The left will be occupied by one of Kewell, Gonzales, Aurelio, Riise or, in a pinch, Zenden.