Liverpool FC Forum

by **account deleted by request** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:32 am

Rafael Benitez has spoken of his admiration for Pepe Reina and said he has nothing to prove to anyone.
Reina recently spoke of his second year at Liverpool being his most important after an excellent debut campaign at Anfield that saw him end it a hero by saving three penalties as the Reds won the FA Cup.

Last season Reina kept 29 clean sheets in 53 games and Benitez firmly believes he will get better and better.

"Pepe has nothing to prove," insists Benitez. "He has already shown his quality. Of course, he can still improve, but he will because he's a player who wants to work hard.

"For Pepe to now come out and say the second year is the most important is a good sign. It tells me he is a winner, with the winners' mentality.

"Maybe some players like to look back at their first year and say they've done so well they don't need to worry about what they'll do in their next season.

"Pepe is different. He wants to keep on improving and show people he is even better than they've seen already.

"It was very difficult for Pepe to achieve what he's already done in one year at Liverpool. If I look at the history of the club and ask the supporters to tell me who is the best goalkeeper they've ever seen here, they will all tell me Ray Clemence. For another goalkeeper to come to a new club, in a new country, and have even better figures than Clemence deserves a lot of credit.

"You may see Pepe make a mistake, but he responds very well. He's always ready for the next shot and doesn't worry about what's happened before, because he realises you can't change it. The FA Cup Final was the best example of this, where he started the game with a mistake but ended it making important saves to win the trophy.

"We've had problems in the past when goalkeepers became too nervous after making one mistake and lost their confidence. Pepe doesn't let things affect him. He will forget about it during a game and then watch it again and learn from it with the goalkeeping coach.

"He is the right keeper for a top side, because the challenge is not to make many saves in one game, but sometimes just one important save. Against Maccabi Haifa Pepe didn't have alot to do, but at the end he made a fantastic save. That's why we need him. He will have more work to do if we continue to play the system we want to."
liverpool tv.

Pepe had a marvelous first season making very few errors and off hand I cant think of any that actually cost us a game (West Ham was close).

I think the main reason for Rafa's confidence in Pepe is his mental strength and his ability to put errors behind him, and just get on with the game.

In my time watching Liverpool I have been lucky enough to have seen some of the best goalkeepers performing at their peak. I believe Pepe Reina can be one of the best, hes young agile and is probably our best keeper since Grobbellar, if not since Clemence.

If you take note of Rafa's last sentence, it sounds like we will be playing attacking football this season!

by **Sabre** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:06 am

Correct Saint, and also that he plans to dominate the games and have most of the possesion. It's a known fact that keepers of big clubs have a more difficult task, as it takes some actions for the keepers to enter completely in the game. I'm sure you have seen many times in Anfield a keeper before a game, dragging his foot from the penalty step to the goal line to make a line and thus make a reference, count steps and all that. That preparation is meant to pick up a reference of the goal, and don't lose the position. Once in the game the more aerial actions he has the more secure he is, but for a big club keeper is sometimes dificult to be 30 mins as a watcher of the game and then be decissive.

Reina is a very good keeper, and I'm glad Rafa confirms him before somebody starts to doubt about his ability just because he had a mistake.

by **azriahmad** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:44 pm

He is probably the best 'keeper we had had for quite a while in recent times, and we did have our fair share of custodians with "calamity" tendencies. Having been a fan for over 21 years now, and watching Liverpool all of the time, I rate him behind Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar. He is more in the Grobbelaar mould being a bit more eccentric but he still can't match Brucie's handling abilities when he would attack crosses with such relish coming out to catch them. While Bruce tend to make more errors than Clemence, he does have more natural abilities and can make blinding saves when needed.

Reina, IMHO, is nowhere near the class of Peter Schmichel, who was surely one of the main reasons why Manure became so dominant in the 90s. Among the EPL 'keepers, Reina is behind Van Der Sar and perhaps Cech. I hope he can still improve. As it is, he is certainly better than Dudek (mostly inconsistent), Kirkland (too injury prone despite obviously having a lot of promise), David James (so prone to awful clangers) and Westerveldt (simply cr@p as he lets in way too many soft goals).

by **Sabre** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 6:19 pm

I agree he's not at the Czech, Smeichel or Buffon level, but I can say firmly that he is worth of being the LFC keeper, the keeper of a big club. I had my doubts before he came here, I always thought he was regular, not many mistakes keeper, I knew he was a very good keeper for Villareal, but wasn't sure if he was able to be the LFC first keeper. He has convinced me and definitely deserves the second best spot in the nowadays Spanish ranking that he has achieved.

He's in the top 3 of the EPL, me thinks.

by **andy prestwich123** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:34 pm

s@int wrote:Rafael Benitez has spoken of his admiration for Pepe Reina and said he has nothing to prove to anyone.
Reina recently spoke of his second year at Liverpool being his most important after an excellent debut campaign at Anfield that saw him end it a hero by saving three penalties as the Reds won the FA Cup.

Last season Reina kept 29 clean sheets in 53 games and Benitez firmly believes he will get better and better.

"Pepe has nothing to prove," insists Benitez. "He has already shown his quality. Of course, he can still improve, but he will because he's a player who wants to work hard.

"For Pepe to now come out and say the second year is the most important is a good sign. It tells me he is a winner, with the winners' mentality.

"Maybe some players like to look back at their first year and say they've done so well they don't need to worry about what they'll do in their next season.

"Pepe is different. He wants to keep on improving and show people he is even better than they've seen already.

"It was very difficult for Pepe to achieve what he's already done in one year at Liverpool. If I look at the history of the club and ask the supporters to tell me who is the best goalkeeper they've ever seen here, they will all tell me Ray Clemence. For another goalkeeper to come to a new club, in a new country, and have even better figures than Clemence deserves a lot of credit.

"You may see Pepe make a mistake, but he responds very well. He's always ready for the next shot and doesn't worry about what's happened before, because he realises you can't change it. The FA Cup Final was the best example of this, where he started the game with a mistake but ended it making important saves to win the trophy.

"We've had problems in the past when goalkeepers became too nervous after making one mistake and lost their confidence. Pepe doesn't let things affect him. He will forget about it during a game and then watch it again and learn from it with the goalkeeping coach.

"He is the right keeper for a top side, because the challenge is not to make many saves in one game, but sometimes just one important save. Against Maccabi Haifa Pepe didn't have alot to do, but at the end he made a fantastic save. That's why we need him. He will have more work to do if we continue to play the system we want to."
liverpool tv.

Pepe had a marvelous first season making very few errors and off hand I cant think of any that actually cost us a game (West Ham was close).

I think the main reason for Rafa's confidence in Pepe is his mental strength and his ability to put errors behind him, and just get on with the game.

In my time watching Liverpool I have been lucky enough to have seen some of the best goalkeepers performing at their peak. I believe Pepe Reina can be one of the best, hes young agile and is probably our best keeper since Grobbellar, if not since Clemence.

If you take note of Rafa's last sentence, it sounds like we will be playing attacking football this season!

the thing wiv raffa and pepe iz that they are both frm spain and pepe will always be above dudek

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 5:53 pm

I think Rafa proved with Morientes and Josemi that nationality has no bearing on who he picks. Form and ability will decide who plays not racial loyalties.

by **Lando_Griffin** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:13 am

andy prestwich123 wrote:
s@int wrote:Rafael Benitez has spoken of his admiration for Pepe Reina and said he has nothing to prove to anyone.
Reina recently spoke of his second year at Liverpool being his most important after an excellent debut campaign at Anfield that saw him end it a hero by saving three penalties as the Reds won the FA Cup.

Last season Reina kept 29 clean sheets in 53 games and Benitez firmly believes he will get better and better.

"Pepe has nothing to prove," insists Benitez. "He has already shown his quality. Of course, he can still improve, but he will because he's a player who wants to work hard.

"For Pepe to now come out and say the second year is the most important is a good sign. It tells me he is a winner, with the winners' mentality.

"Maybe some players like to look back at their first year and say they've done so well they don't need to worry about what they'll do in their next season.

"Pepe is different. He wants to keep on improving and show people he is even better than they've seen already.

"It was very difficult for Pepe to achieve what he's already done in one year at Liverpool. If I look at the history of the club and ask the supporters to tell me who is the best goalkeeper they've ever seen here, they will all tell me Ray Clemence. For another goalkeeper to come to a new club, in a new country, and have even better figures than Clemence deserves a lot of credit.

"You may see Pepe make a mistake, but he responds very well. He's always ready for the next shot and doesn't worry about what's happened before, because he realises you can't change it. The FA Cup Final was the best example of this, where he started the game with a mistake but ended it making important saves to win the trophy.

"We've had problems in the past when goalkeepers became too nervous after making one mistake and lost their confidence. Pepe doesn't let things affect him. He will forget about it during a game and then watch it again and learn from it with the goalkeeping coach.

"He is the right keeper for a top side, because the challenge is not to make many saves in one game, but sometimes just one important save. Against Maccabi Haifa Pepe didn't have alot to do, but at the end he made a fantastic save. That's why we need him. He will have more work to do if we continue to play the system we want to."
liverpool tv.

Pepe had a marvelous first season making very few errors and off hand I cant think of any that actually cost us a game (West Ham was close).

I think the main reason for Rafa's confidence in Pepe is his mental strength and his ability to put errors behind him, and just get on with the game.

In my time watching Liverpool I have been lucky enough to have seen some of the best goalkeepers performing at their peak. I believe Pepe Reina can be one of the best, hes young agile and is probably our best keeper since Grobbellar, if not since Clemence.

If you take note of Rafa's last sentence, it sounds like we will be playing attacking football this season!

the thing wiv raffa and pepe iz that they are both frm spain and pepe will always be above dudek

The fact that he's better than Jerzy has nothing to do with it, then?

Think, THEN post. :;):

by **112-1077774096** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:19 am

s@int wrote:I think Rafa proved with Morientes and Josemi that nationality has no bearing on who he picks. Form and ability will decide who plays not racial loyalties.

come on saint, that wasnt the case this nando, he played every week even though he was failing us

by **account deleted by request** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:57 am

peewee wrote:
s@int wrote:I think Rafa proved with Morientes and Josemi that nationality has no bearing on who he picks. Form and ability will decide who plays not racial loyalties.

come on saint, that wasnt the case this nando, he played every week even though he was failing us

I think Rafa had a lot of faith in Morientes(like me

)and expected him to come good. Rafa didnt hesitate to sell him when he didnt come good. When the alternative is Cisse, its a reasonable decision anyway.

by **JBG** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:27 pm

Rafa is now saying that Morientes suffered because he couldn't speak English.

I thought it had something to do with the fact that he wasn't fit and as slow as Judge dropping a porn mag.

by **azriahmad** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:35 pm

Rafa's insistence that Morrientes can deliver is understandable despite his obvious shortcomings in competitive matches simply because of his known abilities, which was evident in his pedigree - past achievements and exploits at Real Madrid and Monaco. He seem to be back at his best now with Valencia.

It is bewildering why he can't quite deliver for us, even in Europe.

by **Hebz** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:51 pm

Morrientes delivers for Valencia now, I think he nearly got a hat trick in one of his first games there. I honestly don't understand how he can deliver for Valencia, but he couldn't for us...

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