Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:18 pm

This might not be the right place for this but if the mods could leave it for a bit then maybe one or two could stick their views up. If I posted it on the general thread Liverpool/Birmingham it would get lost.
I can't claim any credit for the original spot (it was probably Stu I think) but watching him tonight I've got to say I thought he mightily impressive. He has been their best player for a while now, but his attitude tonight when being absolutely trounced was very interesting. He got tetchy in the extreme, angry, frustrated and worked up. Exactly what you wnan t to see from a player and the kid absolutely tried his heart out.
Some of us in the past have questioned his attitude but I'll tell you what, if that was indicative of his usual comittment to the cause then he has no worries at all. I guess it must be quite difficult to be impressive while playing in a team which lost 7-0, but I was certainly impressed. On this evidence, if we cam find a better option for the right-hand side of midfield then he will be some player indeed.

by **RAFABENITEZ** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:23 pm

He was really good when he played atAnfield for Leeds a few years back, been wanting him ever since.

by **7_Kewell** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:27 pm

their best player on the pitch and I think he would be an ideal squad player.....so long as he can sort out his off the pitch problems...

by **bigmick** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:32 pm

I actually think he may be better than a squad player mate. He was quality tonight playing in a a desperate team. Clearly if we had him today he would be our first-choice right midfielder as we don't have another one, and I think he measures up favourably to some of the other possibilities which have been discussed, particularly Simao who i think would cost at least twice as much and would be by no means certain to adapt to English football.

by **66-1120597113** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:33 pm

I've always rated Pennant...but not as highly as Stu! We had a discussion the other day on MSN,i said i would prefer SWP,Stu said he'd prefer Pennant!
Yes the lad played well tonight and worked his balls off!
My big reservation about pennant is that he has not proved it at a high level team.its easier to stand out in a team which if being honest have only 2 other quality players(Melchiot and Forssell) in my opinion!I just feel Pennant would be a gamble!
As for his attitude..his attitude on the pitch has never been questioned.Its more to do with his behaviour off the pitch!No big deal being honest hes a young lad and has done silly things,big deal! Being a footballer does not make someone perfect!Its his ability that i would question
and maybe his commitment !

But in fairness he did play well tonight and shone brightly in a Birmingham team that looked dire!
LFC material???
I dunno..but i doubt he'll be at Brum much longer!
I guess its up to Raffa and whether he wants to take a gamble or not!

by **Ciggy** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:33 pm

He is a target Mick but he has just been in trouble again, at some concert in a punch up.
A club like Brum will stick by him because they have little talent as there is, the same as Bolton with Diouf.
Whether Rafa wants to take that gamble or not is a big question indeed.
And apart from our fans singing you should be in jail maybe didnt help his frustration?
Im 40-60 on this one TBH there is better out there for a reasonable price that wont come with bagage.
One thing that was made clear tonight is that Steven Gerrard is turning out to be what David Beckham is for Real Madrid.
Whether he will be happy on a permanent basis out wide is another story but he has played his best football there this season.
Since he has come back into midfield and we have missed sissoko the goals seemed to dry up.
Well they where in full flow tonight and so was the team f*ckin superb :buttrock

by **Paul C** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:36 pm

Yeah he was in trouble after a Kanye West concert, he got thrown out of an after party do for being bladered, I like the lad though, he had good feet and is very possitive on the ball, if B'ham go down then £4.5m should get him

by **Cool Hand Luke** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:39 pm

I’ve always rated him since I first saw him for the England 21s and Arsenal, and then later at Leeds. I thought at the time he would have been worth taking a chance at £3MIL, especially since we didn’t have a player in that position.

I don’t think anyone has ever questioned his attitude on the pitch, its more a question of his off the field lifestyle, with heavy drinking and late nights.

I like him a lot, but I think there are 2 things apart from his off the field problems that are stopping him from playing at a top club:

- His lack of left foot means that he doesn’t go inside much and when he does he doesn’t look comfortable, and this is one of the requirements for top wide midfield players now a days in order to make them more dynamic and less predictable.

- He doesn’t offer enough goal threat, top wide midfield players must be looking at double figures in term of league goals in order to play for top clubs.

All in all I think he is a very good player, but the lack of opportunities at a young age has harmed his development and probably contributed to him losing focus and having these consistent off the field problems.

by **65-1140560321** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:43 pm

RAFABENITEZ wrote:He was really good when he played atAnfield for Leeds a few years back, been wanting him ever since.

i think it was under houllier. Pennant was class that day, i was sat in the centenery stand , and I mentioned pennant in this very forum two years ago as a poss signing.

obviously it just got laughed off!

wearing an LFC shirt would raise anyones' determination to do well, and he could do well for us.

Finally, and the key issue should be.......Nobody really knows how good he really is! unproven.

:laugh:

by **bigmick** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:49 pm

I've said for a while Lynds that the Gerrard question is not quite as abvious as most make out. The argument that he is "wasted" out right is a silly one in my opinion, as he is the best right-midfielder in the Premiership by a country mile when he plays there. He scores goals, makes goals, defends, attacks, wins headers and tackles back. You name it, he does it and there wouldn't be any player in the Premiership who could play wide-left against him and not spend more time going backwards than forwards.
He is far better and more dynamic than Pennant, Wright Phillips, Ronaldo, Cole etc etc IMHO and obviously better than Beckham aswell. Clearly therefore he is not "wasted" out there, the question is merely does he have more impact on games from wide ares than he does centrally and more to the point, can he be persuaded to play there permanently.
My take is that he is more effective, not less from a wide area as long as he is granted a) the freedom to roam and b) the cover to do so by a central midfielder who is prepared and able to track accross (this is where the superhuman engine of Sissoko comes in handy). Alas though, I suspect that he can't be persuaded to play there permanently which is no real hardship as he is obviously a World-class central midfielder also. My suspicion is that he may have the capability to be World-class right back aswell but I digress, if Gerrard does play centrally then we need a right-midfielder. When you say Lynds that there are better out there at a reasonable price I'm not so sure. I certainly can't think of one off the top of my head. Incidently as I've said before i would take Wright-Phillips ahead of Pennant but Chelsea wouldn't sell him to us and we couldn't afford him anyhow so Pennant seems like the best option to me.

by **101-1133031608** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:55 pm

Pennant - No fight!! link below.......
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birming....ge.html

Am i not right in saying he is a long life Liverpool fan?

If he were to come that may possibly have a good effect, playing for your boyhood heroes and all. I mean look at a certain Mr. Fowler, he has been fat overweight and not up for it for the past 4 years, back somewhere he loves and all change.

Is that Possible for Pennant though?

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:00 am

Alfonso Alonso 2006 wrote:
RAFABENITEZ wrote:He was really good when he played atAnfield for Leeds a few years back, been wanting him ever since.

i think it was under houllier. Pennant was class that day, i was sat in the centenery stand , and I mentioned pennant in this very forum two years ago as a poss signing.

obviously it just got laughed off!

wearing an LFC shirt would raise anyones' determination to do well, and he could do well for us.

Finally, and the key issue should be.......Nobody really knows how good he really is! unproven.

You also said Berger was world class.

Matteo was better than Hyypia.

Ballack was only as good as Murphy.

And you were a better player than Ballack and Murphy.

by **bigmick** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:03 am

Cool Hand Luke wrote:I like him a lot, but I think there are 2 things apart from his off the field problems that are stopping him from playing at a top club:

- His lack of left foot means that he doesn’t go inside much and when he does he doesn’t look comfortable, and this is one of the requirements for top wide midfield players now a days in order to make them more dynamic and less predictable.

- He doesn’t offer enough goal threat, top wide midfield players must be looking at double figures in term of league goals in order to play for top clubs.

It's an intersting and logical view mate and I wouldn't expect any less from your good self. I wouldn't claim to be an expert on the player as I've never seen him play live I don't think, and have only watched him on the box a few times.
I would say though that it certainly appeared to me that it was Birminghams intention to start him wide-left this evening until their calamitous start led to Bruce abandoning the idea fairly sharpish. Now I'm sure the idea was to get him running accross the pitch with the ball and possibly having a shot, (though why they chose to attack Finnan and not Traore is probably known by Bruce and Bruce alone. He's always been a numpty IMHO but there you go). However if he can play wide-left (and he did switch a couple of times late on) then maybe he is not quite so peggy as you make out. As I say, I don't know the player that well but when Bruce buys Heskey and plays him uptop with the "I want him to be an old fashioned English centre-forward" endorsement ringing in his ears, it's probably not that surprising that Pennant basically hugs the right touchline and pings crosses in.
The goalscoring one is a fair one, though double figures in the league would be an exceptional return for most wide midfielders. I'm no stat man but I know Pires and Ljundberg have probably done it for Arsenal before, maybe Ronaldo for Man U while Cole has probably come close for Chelsea but not many do. I would have thought that the likes of Duff don't get anywhere near while still remaining good players. He would however need to improve in all areas for sure but my suspicion is that he could.

by **madred** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:03 am

You have to feel for him as he was the only player in there team who looked anything like he might cause a few problems. Even if they stay up i cant see Pennant staying because quite clearly Birmingham will never match his ambitions. Personally i would like to see SWP signed but i dont think Chelsea would consider selling him to us so maybe Pennant is an option? The lad has the ability to succeed at a club like Liverpool.

by **TheoRacle** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 12:10 am

Might just of been the overall Brum performance tonight but I wasn't particularly impressed by Pennant tbh. He got a couple of decent crosses in but I dont remember him beating his man at all during the game just took advantage of the space that was there. Cisse does that when he gets the chance and gets slated for similar performances. I do believe Pennant is much better right winger than Cisse before anyone jumps on that statement above, I just dont think he did anything overly impressive today. Looked good compared to the rest of the Brums maybe - but that wasn't hard. Probably the reason he so many goals for Brum too - the rest of the team arent up to it...

Still a huge question mark over his temperament as well in my view. The link Liverpoolanytime posted has him denying any involvement but also admits he can't explain photos of him having to be restrained by friends. Definatley not worth the hassle IMO. Keep looking Rafa...

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Jermaine pennant. - Just a few observations.

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