Liverpool FC Forum

by **ivor_the_injun** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:35 am

The only part of our squad that has been really troubling me has been up front. Now we've got Fowler, I think we'll see goals coming from the strikers. I hope Crouch and Fowler get a run together, as Moro and Cisse really haven't shown anything lately, and I think the big man/little man act can be utterly devastating - form and fitness permitting. Bit surprised that Pongolle got loaned out, but if he comes back a better player, then where's the harm?

The midfield have been exceptional, and although we're still lacking a tailor-made guy on the right, Gerrard's been as good as anyone in the Prem there, and we've got great options to cover him in the centre. And I think the jury can be discharged on the Kewell case now - he's like a new signing, and at least three times since Christmas he's been my MoM.

Defensively we're sound as a dollar pound. There have been blips, but to be honest Carra and Hyypia had such a long run of games that something had to give at some point. For that reason and more, I'm delighted that Rafa got his man in Agger - it's been needed for a while, and I look forward to seeing more of him in the coming weeks. Promising signs from Kromkamp as well. Riise's got the left covered, and Warnock will probably get games to allow him to progress further. Reina's been reassuring in goal, and Carson's one of the better second-string keepers knocking about at the moment.

Unless Morientes or Cisse suddenly hit previously unseen form for us, I think we're still a striker and a right mid away from being a genuine, sustained Premiership title contender. Let's not f*ck around though - our squad is pretty awesome, and streets ahead of where we were two or three years ago. There's options all over the pitch, and quality options at that. Apart perhaps from the strikers, there's nowhere on the pitch where an injury would knock us for six.

This season, I'd have been happy to break into the top 3. As things stand, I think Man U are going to drop a lot more points, and we should capitalise enough to get second.

Have a feeling our CL campaign still has a lot more legs, and although I can't see us successfully defending the crown, I think - draw permitting - the semis are very attainable.

Hopefully a good FA Cup run too - if we turn Man U over, Chelsea will be the only team left in the comp that you'd back to beat us.

by **drummerphil** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:04 pm

After winning the Champions league it would have been very simple to have gone overboard with this seasons expectations.I for one although very very pleased with our win i was equally shocked.We won the champions league on the back of sheer grit and passion, which i can honestly say was achieved with an average team.The premiership didnt lie and after finishing 37 points behind Chelsea it beggars belief we acheived what we did.Rafa's tactics at times coupled with lack of premiership experience left me scratching my head at times but when we were good we were very good,its just that standard was very far and few between.Inconsistancy was our middle name last season.
Then you look at the injuries we had and it makes the European run even the more remarkable. If you look at the squad Rafa took over and look at the squad today alot of overpriced deadwood has gone,replaced with many signings from La Liga.La Liga had been Rafas home and work place and it was obvious he would bring players in he knew.This is the most continental side i have ever seen at Anfield and at times it has worried me where we were being taken...
So although we won the European cup my expectations for this season were quite low to be honest,the new imports needed time to bed in to premiership life,Rafa still had a lot to learn about our football,so a top four maybe third place was all i could expect,last 8 of CL again,and hopefully a domestic cup.
I am chuffed we are doing well at the moment,but i also think we are looking jaded......Man utd (although we dominated),Portsmouth,and Birmingham ......we havent played that well and any cutting edge in attack has disappeared like it did from August to October.......
So finally we go into a game with Chelsea tomorrow looking for 2nd place its way beyond my expectations but also Manure and Arsenal are looking very average......so 2nd place is there for the taking and although i think Rafa is working wonders and i believe in him 2nd place has never been easier than it is this season.........

by **66-1120597113** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:24 pm

dawson99 wrote:great post (as ever) mate lol

my expectations at the start of the season were like most i think. i wanted top 4 finish, but thought 2 or 3 would not be out of this world, and i wanted to close the gap on the cheatski.

the one thing i did want was more goals. this is just my old fashioned view that ive got. i liek strikers strike, and midfielders to provide.

im more than happy with our midfield tho, and our defence, its just the strikers, and that includes crouch. i appreciate what he can do for the team, but i just wanna see mroe goals. im selfish like that.

all in all tho ive been pleasently happy with our performance. we are making forward steps so all in all im a happy kopper

Great post fella!!!
Credit where its due and all that!!

I cant really argue with anything you stated Stu....so basically on this one my opinions are as yours!

The only thing i dont like about you is that you overate Ferdinand and also that Baton fella!!!

Barton i mean!!

by **Gen Ming** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:28 pm

I was quite dismayed when Liverpool let Anelka go back then. A lot of ex-Liverpool players miss playing in Anfield once they left the team. The level of noise, the level of passion at Anfield is what footballer plays for. You never appreciate it until you start playing elsewhere. Thats when they hope to hear it once more. Thats when they hope they can return for another roar.

by **66-1120597113** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:35 pm

For me really i dont know what i expected!!

I can say as Phil mentioned above that winning the C/L did in some way for a while make me expect too much!
But in the aftermath,in reality what can any LFC fan expect!!
My only hope and wish for the club is that we keep going in the right direction.In that i mean onwards and upwards!
And yes i feel that this is happening..but slowly!!
There is no overnight fix for building a great team and forget about Chelsea,they are a freak of nature or as i see it a monster that will digest itself soon!

Slowly but surely and with respected patience Raffa is building a team for the future that will last!!

Basically im over the moon with all at our club and i live for the few times i can get to Anfield to see them! The future is bright!!
For those that are negative..take a moment and think??
Imagine if you supported Arsenal or the Scum!!!

I know where id rather be!!!

YNWA

by **7_Kewell** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:54 pm

my expectations have always been top 3 finish and win another cup with a run into the CL semi finals....now i expect us to finish 2nd because i honestly believe we're the 2nd best team inthe country.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:50 pm

At the start of the season many were expecting a title challenge after our fantastic Champions League victory. But I was trying to be a bit more realistic, especially after an awful Premiership season in which we showed no constancy in performances or results. So basically I was after progression in all departments and set out these goals:

-Top 4 Finish
-Exceed the 70 point mark
-Win more games than last season
-Lose fewer games than last season
-Score more goals than last season
-Concede fewer goals than last season

-Reach the knockout stages of the Champions League

-Start shaping the size and shape of the squad, basically get rid of players we don’t need, and getting some balance.

Reina – I also was very cautious about this signing. I saw him play a few times in Spain and doubted whether he really had the physical presence and decision making quality to play at the top level in the Premiership, also £6 Mil is big fee to pay. I think he has done O.K, at times he worries me because he makes too many bad decisions, but overall he has been solid enough, and like Stu mentioned his mistakes don’t effect his future performances which is a key attributes you look for in a keeper. I like to judge my keepers over at least 2 seasons, his communication with the defence will continue to improve. Overall is he worth £6 Mil, probably not, but he has done better than our previous keepers.

Zenden – Was fairly happy with this signing, bought as a squad player who could play in a number of different roles, already plays in the Premiership and we got him on a free. Unlucky with the injury because he was running into some good form, he has basically done what I expected.

Sissoko – Has definitely adds something to our play that we haven’t had in previous years. For 5 Mil he will turn out to be a very good buy, has got plenty to improve on, but he will be a valuable player for some time to come.

Crouch – I was all for this signing for a fee of no more than 4 Mil, and as long as we were going to sign another quality striker. In the end we overpaid and he has been overused. He does fit into the Rafa ethos of play, but he is a player of limited capabilities, he lacks genuine strength, aggression and pace. But he does offer us a good option and is sound squad player. I agree with Stu, if we were going to pay 7 Mil for a striker, than we defiantly would have been better of signing Dean Ashton. I was surprised we didn’t just pay 4 or 5 Mil more and go for someone like Dirk Kuyt, but maybe that will be this summer.

I was disappointed that we didn’t sign a centre back and a right winger in the summer, but I fully supports Rafa policy of only buying the right player at the right price. I think we are defiantly moving in the right direction, if you analyse the squad, you can see quiet clearly that Rafa is building a structure and balance.

At the moment we have 3 keepers with a clear number 1. 4 natural full backs, 3 centre backs, and Troare who I guess is still here because he can be an emergency cover at the centre back.

We have four excellent central midfield players who I don’t think we need to tamper with. We still have no natural right sided midfield players, I would like to see 1 first team right winger coming in and possibly a young apprentice. On the left we have Kewell and Zenden. This may surprise you but I don’t really see Kewell as being the long term answer on the left. Despite his improved performance, he is not physically the same player, he hasn’t the same pace and mobility. Don’t get me wrong, he has done well but is he good enough to be first team player at a title challenging side?

Up front we have good numbers and a good variety. I would keep Crouch and probably Fowler depending on how he does. Time to ditch both Cisse and Morientes. With Pongolle it’s a difficult one, but if I’m honest I don’t think he quiet has it to make it in the long term, but I wouldn’t mind him staying here and providing some cover. All this would still leave us needing a top striker in my opinion, we don’t have someone to lead our attack and that will be a top priority in the summer.

I’m going to give a rough out line of a squad here, and before you vilify me, this is purely hypothetical, I’m not saying Rafa will play this formation or see the players in this way, its just the way I see things for next year:

This is what we currently have

Reina
Dudek
Carson

Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise
Kromkamp Agger Troare Warnock

Garcia Gerrard Alonso Kewell

Sissoko Hamann Zenden

Fowler Crouch
Morientes Cisse

I would like to see something along these lines:

Reina
Dudek
Carson

Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise
Kromkamp Agger

Warnock

Gerrard Alonso Kewell

Sissoko Hamann Gonzalez

Zenden (extra midfielder who can provide cover)

Fowler

Crouch Garcia

Summer targets in order of priorities:

First team right sided midfield player
Top striker for the first team
Young centre back to cover and learn (he may be able to come from the reserves, Hobbs, Rogue and Antwi will all be 18 and are highly rates, but its up to Rafa to decide)
Apprentice for the right wing

So in conclusion, I think we have made a lot of progress, and there is not too much wrong.

Your opinions?

by **A.B.** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:14 pm

stu_the_red wrote:A.B. Kewell's played well since he came back. The change in him has been immense, when we first signed him he looked very lively but was ineffective, i think now he's playing his best games for Liverpool, even when he hasn't played really well recently, the efforts been there, he's defended and chipped in, the other day in a very average performance i thought he was very very good.

I don't like to use the term the old Kewell, players adapt his games reached his maximum level now though and he's regained some of that pace, he looks a threat again and some of his crosses have been excellent.

Hopefully he'll continue this form throughout the rest of his career at the club.

Can't disagree with that. The only person who can honestly say that they knew that Kewell would step up to the plate is Rafael Benitez in my opinion. He's shown faith in the lad since his arrival at the club, and right now Kewell is making sure that he pays back Rafa for believing in him.

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:35 pm

Cool Hand Luke wrote:At the start of the season many were expecting a title challenge after our fantastic Champions League victory. But I was trying to be a bit more realistic, especially after an awful Premiership season in which we showed no constancy in performances or results. So basically I was after progression in all departments and set out these goals:

-Top 4 Finish
-Exceed the 70 point mark
-Win more games than last season
-Lose fewer games than last season
-Score more goals than last season
-Concede fewer goals than last season

-Reach the knockout stages of the Champions League

-Start shaping the size and shape of the squad, basically get rid of players we don’t need, and getting some balance.

Reina – I also was very cautious about this signing. I saw him play a few times in Spain and doubted whether he really had the physical presence and decision making quality to play at the top level in the Premiership, also £6 Mil is big fee to pay. I think he has done O.K, at times he worries me because he makes too many bad decisions, but overall he has been solid enough, and like Stu mentioned his mistakes don’t effect his future performances which is a key attributes you look for in a keeper. I like to judge my keepers over at least 2 seasons, his communication with the defence will continue to improve. Overall is he worth £6 Mil, probably not, but he has done better than our previous keepers.

Zenden – Was fairly happy with this signing, bought as a squad player who could play in a number of different roles, already plays in the Premiership and we got him on a free. Unlucky with the injury because he was running into some good form, he has basically done what I expected.

Sissoko – Has definitely adds something to our play that we haven’t had in previous years. For 5 Mil he will turn out to be a very good buy, has got plenty to improve on, but he will be a valuable player for some time to come.

Crouch – I was all for this signing for a fee of no more than 4 Mil, and as long as we were going to sign another quality striker. In the end we overpaid and he has been overused. He does fit into the Rafa ethos of play, but he is a player of limited capabilities, he lacks genuine strength, aggression and pace. But he does offer us a good option and is sound squad player. I agree with Stu, if we were going to pay 7 Mil for a striker, than we defiantly would have been better of signing Dean Ashton. I was surprised we didn’t just pay 4 or 5 Mil more and go for someone like Dirk Kuyt, but maybe that will be this summer.

I was disappointed that we didn’t sign a centre back and a right winger in the summer, but I fully supports Rafa policy of only buying the right player at the right price. I think we are defiantly moving in the right direction, if you analyse the squad, you can see quiet clearly that Rafa is building a structure and balance.

At the moment we have 3 keepers with a clear number 1. 4 natural full backs, 3 centre backs, and Troare who I guess is still here because he can be an emergency cover at the centre back.

We have four excellent central midfield players who I don’t think we need to tamper with. We still have no natural right sided midfield players, I would like to see 1 first team right winger coming in and possibly a young apprentice. On the left we have Kewell and Zenden. This may surprise you but I don’t really see Kewell as being the long term answer on the left. Despite his improved performance, he is not physically the same player, he hasn’t the same pace and mobility. Don’t get me wrong, he has done well but is he good enough to be first team player at a title challenging side?

Up front we have good numbers and a good variety. I would keep Crouch and probably Fowler depending on how he does. Time to ditch both Cisse and Morientes. With Pongolle it’s a difficult one, but if I’m honest I don’t think he quiet has it to make it in the long term, but I wouldn’t mind him staying here and providing some cover. All this would still leave us needing a top striker in my opinion, we don’t have someone to lead our attack and that will be a top priority in the summer.

I’m going to give a rough out line of a squad here, and before you vilify me, this is purely hypothetical, I’m not saying Rafa will play this formation or see the players in this way, its just the way I see things for next year:

This is what we currently have

Reina
Dudek
Carson

Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise
Kromkamp Agger Troare Warnock

Garcia Gerrard Alonso Kewell
Sissoko Hamann Zenden

Fowler Crouch
Morientes Cisse

I would like to see something along these lines:

Reina
Dudek
Carson

Finnan Carragher Hyypia Riise
Kromkamp Agger Warnock

Gerrard Alonso Kewell
Sissoko Hamann Gonzalez

Zenden (extra midfielder who can provide cover)

Fowler
Crouch Garcia

Summer targets in order of priorities:

First team right sided midfield player
Top striker for the first team
Young centre back to cover and learn (he may be able to come from the reserves, Hobbs, Rogue and Antwi will all be 18 and are highly rates, but its up to Rafa to decide)
Apprentice for the right wing

So in conclusion, I think we have made a lot of progress, and there is not too much wrong.

Your opinions?

Anderson looks a prospect on the right side from the video clips and reports, need to see the lad live and i'm not at all convinced that Gonzalez will be anything other than another Nunez.

by **A.B.** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:38 pm

Gonzalez is quite younger than Nunez, and has played more games in the La Liga than Nunez has in his entire career. Nunez mainly played for Madrid's B squad. He is in his mid 20's where as Gonzalez has just turned 20 I think. So he has a better chance of learning and improving than Nunez does.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:47 pm

stu_the_red wrote:Anderson looks a prospect on the right side from the video clips and reports, need to see the lad live and i'm not at all convinced that Gonzalez will be anything other than another Nunez.

Thats a bit of a strange thing to say, you say Anderson looks a good prospect but you need too see more before making a judgement, and then you label Gonzalez another Nunez.

Unless you've seen Gonzaez live then that is a very strange thing to say.

Im guessing Gonzalez is going to come straight into the first team squad.

By the way, what is the fee for him, I've heard everything mentioned from 1-5 Mil?

by **A.B.** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:50 pm

Well Gonzalez is a left winger and if Kewell continues to play like he has then he won't break into the squad very easily.

As Luke said, Stu your post is contradictin.

Gonzales is another Nunez but you haven't seen him play.
Anderson is a prospect but you haven't seen him play.

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:00 pm

Cool Hand Luke wrote:
stu_the_red wrote:Anderson looks a prospect on the right side from the video clips and reports, need to see the lad live and i'm not at all convinced that Gonzalez will be anything other than another Nunez.

Thats a bit of a strange thing to say, you say Anderson looks a good prospect but you need too see more before making a judgement, and then you label Gonzalez another Nunez.

Unless you've seen Gonzaez live then that is a very strange thing to say.

Im guessing Gonzalez is going to come straight into the first team squad.

By the way, what is the fee for him, I've heard everything mentioned from 1-5 Mil?

Its a strange thing to say, not really, latin players generally fail over here. (Not all).

There are spanish players over here who are good players but came over with big reputations who have failed to set the league alight even though they have the talent. Morientes and Reyes to name two.

I'm always sceptical of players coming in from abroad unless i've seen the regularly.

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 7:09 pm

Isnt he from South America?

But I get what your saying. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

by **115-1073096938** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 8:24 pm

A.B. wrote:Well Gonzalez is a left winger and if Kewell continues to play like he has then he won't break into the squad very easily.

As Luke said, Stu your post is contradictin.

Gonzales is another Nunez but you haven't seen him play.
Anderson is a prospect but you haven't seen him play.

I've seen video clips of both and liked what i saw of Anderson and not Gonzalez.

I attend matches though A.B. thats how i judge players. From what i've seen of them both on T.V. clips i prefere Anderson but its impossible to judge a players true ability without seeing them live.

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