Liverpool FC Forum

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:14 pm

Gerrard will leave either this season or next.

We'll finish 5th. This season.

Alonso will be made our future captain and lead us to a 3rd place finish next season.

We will sign a striker who won't be able to dislodge Cisse and Baros from our team long term.

Josemi will improve and become the player he looked in the first few games and get a bit better.

Carragher will be a permanent fixture at centre half.

Nunez will be a similar level of player of Freddie Lljunberg.

Biscan will be Gerrards replacement in central midfield (least likely).

by **A.B.** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:16 pm

stu_the_red wrote:Gerrard will leave either this season or next.

We'll finish 5th. This season.

Alonso will be made our future captain and lead us to a 3rd place finish next season.

We will sign a striker who won't be able to dislodge Cisse and Baros from our team long term.

Josemi will improve and become the player he looked in the first few games and get a bit better.

Carragher will be a permanent fixture at centre half.

Nunez will be a similar level of player of Freddie Lljunberg.

Biscan will be Gerrards replacement in central midfield (least likely).

Hello fortune teller.

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:18 pm

Two good posts in a day... you ok there?

Must say though, you where the one who had the obbsession with crystal balls a while back.

by **A.B.** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:21 pm

stu_the_red wrote:Two good posts in a day... you ok there?

Must say though, you where the one who had the obbsession with crystal balls a while back.

Must I say you had an obsession with Houllier and Murphy a while back, wait you still do.

Crystal balls I mentioned twice and I'm obsessed with it, strange as you were the one predicting our future which I replied with "Do you have a crystal ball".

by **JBG** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:22 pm

I think you might be correct Stu, but as dark as things are after today, I'm not ruling out 4th place yet.

Talk of catching Man UTD is totally unrealisitic, but I'd be hugely surprised if Boro, Bolton and Everton maintain the pace. I don't think Villa will really threaten as although they have a decent first 11, they do not have the resources for a proper challenge.

Once again, the real duel is between us and Newcastle, although it may not look that way right now. Newcastle will look sensational at times, but I'll bet my bottom dollar they'll suffer a good few more sloppy defeats between now and the end.

There's a long way to go yet, and a lot of time to put things right.

However, your scenario of Gerrard and Alonso could be correct.

I'm not sure of Biscan replacing Gerrard because if Stevie goes, he would bring in huge money and a lot of this will be spent on a big money replacement.

I think Josemi will be ok. He was by no means the worst Liverpool player tofday.

I think we will definitely see a new striker in January, and obviously that new guy will feature a lot from then till May, although whether this new guy will keep Cisse out next year remains to be seen.

by **A.B.** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:26 pm

If I remember correctly we did not come in fourth place until early March or so, still a long way to go.

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:28 pm

I'm not ruling 4th place out on todays result.

I believe we have the right man for the job aswell.

Just i'm not so sure about the consistency this season. Its been pretty poor.

by **mrcool2003** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:29 pm

its easy to think after 2days result, its all dire, but january will be key for the rest of the season, im hoping we'll be in the knock out stage of the champions league, pocket more money then in january we might be able to get rid of the ****** and bring a new striker and possibly a defender too

by **JBG** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:34 pm

We shouldn't pin too much hopes on January.

Benitez has some money, but it is limited. He needs to be 100% correct in his choice of players in the transfer market, and it could also be the case that his top target (and despite the rumours of Moirentes and Mista, no one knows who Benitez really has his eye on) is unavailable.

Harry Kewell cannot keep going the way he is. He'll either regain his full fitness and get better, or he is dumped altogether from the first 11. Its as simple as that, injuries or no injuries, because based on his play this season, Warnock is a better bet than Kewell out left at the moment and even Neil Mellor is a better bet up front.

by **adayinthelife** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:49 am

stu_the_red wrote:Gerrard will leave either this season or next.

We'll finish 5th. This season.

Alonso will be made our future captain and lead us to a 3rd place finish next season.

We will sign a striker who won't be able to dislodge Cisse and Baros from our team long term.

Josemi will improve and become the player he looked in the first few games and get a bit better.

Carragher will be a permanent fixture at centre half.

Nunez will be a similar level of player of Freddie Lljunberg.

Biscan will be Gerrards replacement in central midfield (least likely).

Shaman stu. :laugh:

by **A.B.** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:20 am

John Barnes' Granny wrote:We shouldn't pin too much hopes on January.

Benitez has some money, but it is limited. He needs to be 100% correct in his choice of players in the transfer market, and it could also be the case that his top target (and despite the rumours of Moirentes and Mista, no one knows who Benitez really has his eye on) is unavailable.

Harry Kewell cannot keep going the way he is. He'll either regain his full fitness and get better, or he is dumped altogether from the first 11. Its as simple as that, injuries or no injuries, because based on his play this season, Warnock is a better bet than Kewell out left at the moment and even Neil Mellor is a better bet up front.

Why hasn't Warnock played lately? He'd give more effort on the pitch than Kewell. If Nunez is as good as Rafa has said then Kewell won't be playing much.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:09 am

Kewell keeps showing the odd glimpse, but - to be honest - for £65k a week glimpses just don't cut it. Warnock is young, hungry and raring to go. I don't even think it's a case of him playing himself into the first 11 any more. Kewell's been such a waste of space that I think he's actually not far from playing himself out of the team.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 3:35 am

actually gerrard going for 40 million is not as bad as it sounds a few months ago. He is our only world-class player, but it looks like thats is the only way we are gonna get the funds to improve the squad unless steve morgan is reading this now, and is writing a check to moores

by **The_Rock** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 4:27 am

Well guess more & more think that gerrard will leave.

http://sport.scotsman.com/football.cfm?id=1339382004

Quality of Mersey strained as Benitez and Gerrard weigh options

JON HOTTEN

DAVID Beckham might have drawn many hundreds of lovesick Japanese girls to an airport for just a glimpse of his gorgeousness, but Steven Gerrard offered a different measure of football stardom last Monday. His return from injury to Liverpool’s reserve XI at Telford’s Bucks Head ground brought 6,280 people out on a late autumn night.

The crowd was a stadium record, and if the young men of Wolves’ second team were in any doubt that the evening was a little out of the ordinary, Gerrard’s performance, when he took the field at half time, quickly dispelled them. Short of breath he may have been, short of class he was not. From his prescribed role just in front of the back four, some destructive passes and one graceful goalward surge essayed forth, and when he was substituted with a minute still to play, not many in the crowd or on the pitch felt short-changed.

Gerrard offered the expected platitudes to the press afterwards - Beckham beats him on sound bites as well as looks - but then he would not choose to expand on the complexity of his situation even if he were capable. It’s a signal of the accelerated speed at which the Premiership moves that both Gerrard and his manager Raphael Benitez might now be ambivalent about his future. A few brief weeks ago Liverpool without Gerrard was as unthinkable as an issue of Heat magazine without Beckham in it. He was a man hauling around his winded team like a spare tyre.

An emotional, gut decision had played its part in keeping him at Liverpool, yet there have been subtle shifts at Anfield since the summer. Gerrard has told the ubiquitous ‘pals’ that he is unsure if Benitez sees him as the team’s fulcrum. Equally ubiquitous ‘insiders’ have it that Benitez wants to buy two, perhaps three players, and the fee that Gerrard would command is the fastest way to realise that ambition.

These kind of rumours surround every big player of course, but the smoke signals often fuel some fire. A move would require both Gerrard and Benitez to position themselves with some subtlety within the media. These could be early skirmishes.

What is beyond doubt is that Benitez has bought Xabi Alonso as the motor of his midfield, and in the few games that they have played together, it has been Gerrard who has accommodated the Spaniard by moderating his game. Alonso was acquired when Gerrard appeared almost certain to be joining Chelsea; it is the England man’s u-turn that has caused the problem.

Between them, and in Gerrard’s absence, Benitez and Alonso have got Liverpool playing. Whilst no-one is under any illusion of a title thrust, they have been effective in the Champions League.

Suddenly the form of Real Madrid impacts upon Anfield. That Real covet Gerrard is no secret. Not even Abramovich is as greedy for players as Perez and Madrid; and their need for an aggressive midfielder is very real. That Michael Owen spoke publicly of a Gerrard phone call to him after he’d broken his Bernabeu duck, allied to the fact that Gerrard’s agents, SFX, helped to take Owen, Beckham and Woodgate to Spain, might be more significant.

It’s all smoke and mirrors, but Real have rarely needed more encouragement, and Patrick Vieira is now off their agenda.

Gerrard finds himself in much the same position as Owen.

Unlike Beckham, their talent has not yet been translated into major honours, and it is less likely to be at Liverpool than at England’s big three, or at Real. All of those four clubs would have Gerrard if they could, and the player would not be human if he had not dreamt, however idly, of how it might feel to partner Lampard or Vieira, or Zidane every week.

His heart lies on Merseyside though, no-one doubts that. Having exited a moribund side when he broke his metatarsal (a rare concession to fashion), Gerrard can return to one in which Milan Baros is scoring goals, Alonso and Luis Garcia occasionally touch the sublime and tough guys like John Arne Riise and Jamie Carragher are working genuinely hard. If Benitez could unscramble Harry Kewell’s circuits as capably as he has the mercurial Baros, Gerrard might relish his comeback even more. As it is, he must feel a little like a man returning to the office after six weeks off. The surroundings are utterly familiar, the dynamics almost imperceptibly altered.

In Benitez’s mind might be a need to free himself from a history that Houllier often felt was pulling him down. There is no shortage of ex-Liverpool men in the media letting everyone know exactly what is wrong with the club. Losing Owen and Gerrard, two totemic figures on Merseyside, might seem careless but it would allow the Rafa-lution to begin for real. It’s an exit strategy that could suit Gerrard too, clearing his conscience and allowing his glorious talent free reign, unencumbered by the expectations of a home where six thousand turn up for a reserve game.

by **mynameisred** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 9:42 am

Eloquent, thoughtful article but never trust a Scotsman!!!

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