Liverpool FC Forum

[iqbalharoon213]

have to wait and see if pennant joins but lets talk about a striker now. What u think any cheap bargains around?

[stmichael]

as for momo, do you think we are nearer to knowing his best position?

from what i've seen i think he should just be allowed to go out and play his natural game. i don't hink he's the kind of player you can tie down with tactics and formations.

[Bad Bob]

If Pennant sorted his attitude out I'd take a gamble on him.

I think there is no point here taking a gamble on anyone.. we are not like those mid table teams, they can afford to gamble on a player. If we strive to be top in europe and in EPL, we must have proven players playing in the first 11. Sure, we can spend just a bit of money and gamble on a player and at the end of the day, when we look back... we have wasted yet another season!

We should go for proven players. Priority will be a right side midfielder and a striker. Off load Cisse and Traore.

I have never like Traore. He simply makes too many mistakes. His defensive awareness is very poor. If you look at the villa match, they have been attacking from the left side of our team. There were so many times, they manage to penetrate. And the villa goal? Where was Traore? Isn't he suppose to be guarding the left flank? He was in the box instead! And this is just one of so many examples of his flaws. Warnock on the other hand is a much better player. His defending is pretty good and he has some good passing skills.

But, it's always going to be a gamble mate!  We can never be certain any player, no matter how class they seem, will bed into the side.

Nando was the very definition of a "proven player" when we signed him and I doubt many of us (well, perhaps Big Mick) felt that he wouldn't bed into the side well and make us a better team. 

Now, here we are 16 months on and the vast majority of people around here would be happy to see the back of him this summer.  Point is, it'll always be a gamble but, as I said earlier, it depends on what type of gambles you think the club should be taking.

For me, Pennant's worth it because he's proven he can play in England.  I think it is important to maintain a balance in the side between home-grown and foreign talent...not out of any xenophobic concern about losing the British feel of the club...but out of a sense that it is important to have a core of players who are well familiar with the pace and aggression of the game here.  As such, I think adding Pennant will be a nice counter-balance to adding Gonzalez, who looks quality by all accounts but who has yet to be tested in the English game.

[Bad Bob]

Figo would have brought more goals, assists and quality overall, and to me that equals points, though it could be said Momo saves points as well with his defensive cover he provides.

Figo would have been a great addition this season, it’s a shame it fell through. And who knows what would have happened with his extra goals and quality.

Ahhh, but this assumes, mate, that he would have adapted to the English game and to the Liverpool set-up...

I don't want to sound like a broken record in this thread but adaptability is a huge part of whether a new signing does the business and this goes double for players from overseas.  Figo might have bedded in nicely and brought great balance to the side, as well as goals and assists.  That might have left Momo as "one for the future," with Stevie and Xabi holding down the central midfield positions most games.

On the other hand, he might have adapted poorly, been off the pace and really done some damage to the team's balance if/when played.  Who knows?  I just don't think we can look at his form for Inter and use that as a direct indication of how he would have performed for us.

For me, Momo's been a revelation this season, has helped win us a fair few games and has many, many good years ahead of him.  I haven't given Figo a second thought till you mentioned him so, personally, I'm glad it worked out the way it did.

[Scottbot]

I'm really hoping Stevie stays out on the right. It might not be his favourite position but notice he hasn't made any comments to the press (as he did at the start of the season) about 'doing a job for the team' or 'Rafa is looking to bring in a winger' for several months. Also i'm sure he's looked at his goals record and the nice shiny trophy he picked up last week. All achieved playing as Right Mid ofcourse. I agree we need to go out and get another quality option for the right-mid spot but the MOST important position is striker where i'd expect Rafa to bring in 2 more players this summer.

He's not quite playing in the basement (at least not getting relegated) but Fullham's Steed Malbranque is the player who makes the most sense to me once you have weighed everything up. The lad isn't an 'out and out' winger but he has played much of his career on the right. He's two-footed, great passer, quick, can beat a man, scores goals and while he's not the greatest tackler he puts in the donkey work. Also a very versatile player who can play right, left or centre, has yet to sign a new contract and has made it known he wants to play at a bigger so perhaps the (clearly blind) French manager might give him a cap or two.

Well worth the 5/6 mill we would have to pay for the guy.

[stmichael]

He's not quite playing in the basement (at least not getting relegated) but Fullham's Steed Malbranque is the player who makes the most sense to me once you have weighed everything up. The lad isn't an 'out and out' winger but he has played much of his career on the right. He's two-footed, great passer, quick, can beat a man, scores goals and while he's not the greatest tackler he puts in the donkey work. Also a very versatile player who can play right, left or centre, has yet to sign a new contract and has made it known he wants to play at a bigger so perhaps the (clearly blind) French manager might give him a cap or two.

Well worth the 5/6 mill we would have to pay for the guy.

good player. watched him against chelsea recently and he was the best player on the pitch by far. now that fulham have signed bullard you have to feel that malbranque could be on his way out.

[ivor_the_injun]

I'd have been more than pleased with Bullard on the right, and for the money paid Fulham have got themselves a cracking deal.

Malbranque is a good player, but lacks a bit of consistency for me. If we were talking peanuts, I'd be interested, but I think Coleman (who's impressed me as a manager, btw) knows he can get a quid or two for him.

[Scottbot]

I'd have been more than pleased with Bullard on the right, and for the money paid Fulham have got themselves a cracking deal.

Malbranque is a good player, but lacks a bit of consistency for me. If we were talking peanuts, I'd be interested, but I think Coleman (who's impressed me as a manager, btw) knows he can get a quid or two for him.

Malbranque did seem to go through a bit of a blip during the first couple of months of the season but he's been flying since the turn of the year and has been comfortably Fullham's best player these last few months.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I haven’t read all the thread. But from the three relegated teams: Birmingham, West Brom and Sunderland, I would like to see us consider maybe Jermaine Pennant but definitely Zoltan Gera.

Gera plays from the right, can come inside and out, is comfortable on both right and left foot, is tall and strong, has aggression, pace, commitment, desire, a great shot with both feet, can score goals, can cross and is a good passer. I think this guy is definitely playing at too low a level, he should be playing in a top 6 side. In my opinion he is a superior player to Pennant, and I would definitely look at him and pay up to £5 MIL for him, my feeling is that if we did sign him we would have something of a bargain on our hands, this guy is a lot better than some people realise and should be playing in the top 6 of the Premier League. If budget and availability is a problem like some people believe, then he is the perfect answer.

But outside of him, I wouldn’t really seriously consider any of the other players from the relegated teams.

[ivor_the_injun]

Down with Sunderland goes a player who may now find himself resigned to lower league mediocrity after an incredibly promising start to his career.

Five years ago I genuinely thought Stephen Wright was going to be another Carragher, but I have a feeling he'll struggle to be noticed now.

[Red @ Heart]

Mikel Forsell??? anyone? when he was playing at chelsea i thought he was rather good, then i think it was Jose who loaned him out to Birmingham and then they eventually bought him. with the right players around Forsell i think he may show better class ie the deliveries from our midfielders i would say it was 100 times better than he would get from his current team, anyone see the point im trying to make.

All in all the players we have at Liverpool would, could and will make Forsell a much better player.

[JC_81]

Mikel Forsell??? anyone? when he was playing at chelsea i thought he was rather good, then i think it was Jose who loaned him out to Birmingham and then they eventually bought him. with the right players around Forsell i think he may show better class ie the deliveries from our midfielders i would say it was 100 times better than he would get from his current team, anyone see the point im trying to make.

All in all the players we have at Liverpool would, could and will make Forsell a much better player.

Last summer I actually suggested that Forssell might be a decent option for us, but to be honest he's had an awful season.  To be fair to him he's had injury problems and his side have been struggling too.  I've definitely gone off the idea of signing him though.  He seems to be one of these strikers that can look unstoppable when he's on a hot streak, but when he gets into a rut he finds it very hard to lift himself out of it.  Besides that I really think we need to get a bit more pace up front for next season and Forssell won't really offer that.

[ALONSO]

We have the cash we need riquelme, lennon a new left back and a top quality goalscorer. Keep Cisse, sell Morientes, I reckon cisse will score lots of goals if played as a striker not a winger, i know people will disagree but how many would like to see cisse playing against us with that amount of pace.

[Kukilon]

We have the cash we need riquelme, lennon a new left back and a top quality goalscorer. Keep Cisse, sell Morientes, I reckon cisse will score lots of goals if played as a striker not a winger, i know people will disagree but how many would like to see cisse playing against us with that amount of pace.

Why do we need Riquelme?

[ALONSO]

fair point we dont NEED riquelme i just think hes a quality player who would probably rather play for liverpool than villareal, although not if hes not in the starting 11 every week.