Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

I'm struggling to think of any decent suggestions to be honest, but we need to do something.

Taye Taiwo of Marseille would be a fantastic signing IMO. Reasonably quick, left footed, good strength, can put a good ball in, gets stuck in, can take freekicks and corners and has an absolute bullet of a shot. Nigerian international and still only 24. Would cost £10mil or more though.

Good shout. This guy is good. Agree.

The next Zidane no less........

[Aussie Style]

I'm struggling to think of any decent suggestions to be honest, but we need to do something.

Taye Taiwo of Marseille would be a fantastic signing IMO. Reasonably quick, left footed, good strength, can put a good ball in, gets stuck in, can take freekicks and corners and has an absolute bullet of a shot. Nigerian international and still only 24. Would cost £10mil or more though.

Good shout. This guy is good. Agree.

The next Zidane no less........

Naturally...

[boodiddy1]

cissoko at lyon is the best left back around for me. Could we afford him?

[kazza]

cissoko at lyon is the best left back around for me. Could we afford him?

Can't trust a man that spells his name wrong

[Penguins]

Since Lyon paid Porto 10-15 million this past summer we have no chance.

But I do agree we really need a new lb.
Insua just is too slow and is not positionally sound.

But where do we find a good one for peanuts?

[metalhead]

The current left back situation is a bit of a worry I think most people will agree.  Insua can be forgiven for inexperience at times, but his performances this season have been consistently poor imo.  He struggles positionally and most of all he is just too slow and gets stripped for pace when isolated against any winger with a bit of speed.  He's young and learning still, he'll get better positionally, but he'll not get quicker.  Compare him to the left backs at our rivals - Evra, Cole, Clichy are light years ahead of Insua and if we want to get back up there challenging then we need a better player in there.

It got me thinking though - when was the last time we had a good left back?  You could argue Aurelio last season when he managed to stay free of injuries for long spells.  But before that there's been a long list of failures.  Traore, Ziege, Dossena, Harkness, Dicks etc etc.

Riise was a good player but always better coming forward.  Carragher was probably our most solid left back when Houllier played him there in our treble season, but offered nothing going forward.  Warnock has come on at Villa and is a decent player, but imo never as good as some make out.  Under Evans we played with wing backs but even then it was McAteer and Jones so we never had a natural left footer unless the distinctly average Bjornebye played.

I think you need to go back to Steve Staunton's first spell at the club for the last time we had a genuinely quality left back (he was too slow to play fullback when we brought him back and was past it to be quite honest).

We were continually linked to Evra before United signed him, shame we didn't get him as he is top class.  So any suggestions for who we could bring in?  We may have missed the boat with Bale, I think we could have got him a season ago when he was out of favour at Spurs.  I think Drenthe could be a good attacking full back although left mid seems to be where he gets played, and he doesn't get much game time at the moment.  I'm struggling to think of any decent suggestions to be honest, but we need to do something.

Top post,

I think its one of main area we need to strengthen and as you said we have been unlucky with left backs in the past decade or so. Riise was good and solid at his best, great dedication and his work rate was fantastic, maybe our best left back in 10 years.

Insua will become a solid player like Riise not more not less. I'm sure he will be a good player for us in the future. He showed his promise last season, but this time he isn't doing as well as he was when he first broke into the scene.


Gareth Bale would be a left back suggestion.

[Penguins]

That train passed long ago.
Currently playing for one of our rivals and not available.
Not at any fee we can afford anyway.

[LFC2007]

Agreed. Insua for me is just decent. By that I mean acceptable backup. There are probably 15 other LBs in the league I'd take over him right now and with Aurelio so often out injured (and contract running out?) it will have to be resolved at some point in the near future. This position used to be cited as a problem area for us a few of seasons ago. Riise was having a bad time and Aurelio was injured. Then we fecked off Riise, signed Dossena (the "solution" ) who was absolutely sh!te, only for Aurelio to return to fitness and form. Now we've basically subbed Riise for Insua, and the Norwegian was definitely better so we're now worse off in this position than we were a few seasons ago. The whole left-sided problem that we thought had been mostly resolved with Aurelio's return to fitness/form and the arrival of Riera has reverted to being a major problem again. And with the changes required elsewhere in the team we have some serious restructing to do.

[Waldo]

We had a chance of getting Bale last summer for £5m but we didn't move for him.

Bring back Steven Warnock! He should never have been allowed to leave the club in the first place.

[Owzat]

It has been a longstanding problem, I think Carra is not happy playing anywhere other than CB so I don't think that is an option.

I would say the problem isn't confined just to left back, I think Rafa has made a right mess of right back too! Last season Rafa signed Dossena and Degen with some kind of attacking intent in mind, that flopped miserably, Dossena made 16 appearances in the league before he was exposed and Degen didn't make any, making just six this season and Dossena just two. So Rafa sold Dossena and who knows where Degen is, leaving us with a weak LB and an injured LB, a RB who isn't strong defensively and a reluctant Carra covering for injury.

Solution? (to LB) I think we should try to get Warnock back, must be someone we can p/ex for him. That will also go towards another English bod in the squad. RB is also a problem if Johnson is out and not necessarily fixed when Johnson is not out

[Scottbot]

Now we've basically subbed Riise for Insua, and the Norwegian was definitely better so we're now worse off in this position than we were a few seasons ago.

That, unfortunately is the sum of it + the money we got for Riise was pretty much swallowed up by the loss that was made on the deal for the hapless Dossena.

Agree with pretty much everything everyone has written in this thread. I really liked Insua when he first came through but he is back-up at best, a decent mid-table player but at a top four club, not good enough.

As for who we get? I've not got many ideas, I don't think it has to be an attacking player like Johnson, in fact with Jonno on the right I'd be happy enough with a left-sided Arbeloa/Finnan type of player, someone who is solid in defence but comfortable enough to get involved going forward. If it's an attacking fullback we're looking for I like Bellhadji at Portsmouth.

The big problem with Insua is I suspect Rafa is happy with his performances this season and that is a worry for me. There were several games in mid-season where Aurelio was fit but was kept out of the team by the young Argentine.

The Agger shout is a good one, I've campaigned for him to have a run there on a few occasions yet it is always Carra who drops in to the emergency fullback role. I don't think Rafa has ever thought of playing Agger at LB but I suspect he would be comfortably our best Left Back given the other options.

[JC_81]

The big problem with Insua is I suspect Rafa is happy with his performances this season and that is a worry for me. There were several games in mid-season where Aurelio was fit but was kept out of the team by the young Argentine.

That's my worry too Scott.  Insua seems to be in the same boat as Kuyt and Lucas - they do a mediocre job but keep getting picked.  My gripe is not with these players, they are all committed and give 110% for the shirt.  My gripe is that none of them are good enough to be regular fixtures in the side yet they've been 3 of the first names on the team sheet this season.

[Scottbot]

We had a chance of getting Bale last summer for £5m but we didn't move for him.

Bring back Steven Warnock! He should never have been allowed to leave the club in the first place.

Bale looks a cracking player now that he seems to be getting over his injury problems. Missed the boat on him unfortunately.

Warnock would deffo be an upgrade on Insua. My cousin is a Blackburn season ticket holder and they loved him up there. However, Warnock is one of those players who seems to get better in everyone's eyes the longer he has been away. He's decent but I think he is over-rated by our own fans somewhat. I can remember him making Insuesque errors in games for Villa/Rovers against us.

[Scottbot]

The big problem with Insua is I suspect Rafa is happy with his performances this season and that is a worry for me. There were several games in mid-season where Aurelio was fit but was kept out of the team by the young Argentine.

That's my worry too Scott.  Insua seems to be in the same boat as Kuyt and Lucas - they do a mediocre job but keep getting picked.  My gripe is not with these players, they are all committed and give 110% for the shirt.  My gripe is that none of them are good enough to be regular fixtures in the side yet they've been 3 of the first names on the team sheet this season.

Same here, really useful squad players all three them but week in week out and you've got big problems

[parchpea]

Insua seems to struggle against most players he faces and never looks like he has the measure of any opponent. Unfortunately this means we have to play a more defensive left sided midfielder to double up and help him out.If he could do the job on his own then we would have the luxury of being able to select a more attack minded player that side.Its a problem there is no question about it.Ive a feeling Johnson may play there in his absence as Benitez tried him at left back in the pre season and hes quick and mobile enough to do the job.Garragher will slot in at right back.Its a shame that Riise was allowed to leave because I thought he was a good player for us and clearly had plenty left to offer given hes still doing a job at Roma.Releasing him to bring in Dossena was a mistake that as still not been fixed.I wouldnt not have thought fiding a left back to replace Insua would be that difficult because hes no world beater and surely theres plenty out there superior and ready to move to Anfield.