Liverpool FC Forum

by **Madmax** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:43 pm

we all dream... wrote:
Madmax wrote:
Alex G. wrote:Riera is very good player, maybe not a top class or world class player like Robben or Ashley Young, but he´s better than young Riise and Babel.

yeah i would agree. His a good squad player.

But in terms of LFC he's the best out and out winger weve had since.....well i duno really. best for a very long time down the left.

I rate him highly and think he has done realy well for us so far this season. He obviously brings much needed width but I like the fact he has the confidence and ability to run with the ball and try to turn full backs inside out.

Very good buy from my point of view.

yeah for real very good buy the best rafa bought i think for this season. He adds a different dimension to our system. We were desperate for width and after rieras arrival thats what we got.

by **Raj_Xedos** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:57 pm

squad player?? i cant believe what people are writing.......i realise i am a newbie but gents, Riera is class.....look what he has done for us.

Everytime babel has played, he has been awful.....

by **devaney** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:31 pm

Raj_Xedos wrote:squad player?? i cant believe what people are writing.......i realise i am a newbie but gents, Riera is class.....look what he has done for us.

Everytime babel has played, he has been awful.....

I absolutely agree. He reminds me of a bigger and stronger Steve Heighway and Heighway scored 50 goals in 329 appearances. Only time will tell if Rierra will be that good and let's face it not many have been.

by **Madmax** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:38 pm

Raj_Xedos wrote:squad player?? i cant believe what people are writing.......i realise i am a newbie but gents, Riera is class.....look what he has done for us.

Everytime babel has played, he has been awful.....

He is a good player so i would say yes a good squad player. I wouldnt put him on the ranks of torrer,gerrrad,riena,carragher they are brill. Riera has just arrived his played well but time will only tell.

by **stmichael** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:29 pm

Alex G. wrote:Riera is very good player, maybe not a top class or world class player like Robben or Ashley Young, but he´s better than young Riise and Babel.

Ashley Young world class? He aint proved anything yet.

by **johnymarcu** » Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:31 pm

Squad player? But he barely helps

by **Espionage** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:08 am

AnfieldsGreatest wrote:
GYBS wrote:Well there is a number of people around me when watching the game who think the same and think his impact while very good and decent has been well over blown at certain stages - yes he has given us width and balance to the team but the guy has seriously faded many times in games , has been seriously missing in a various amount of games , has been easily marked out of the game in others . He is a decent left mid who is doing a decent to very good job for us just like others are and is in that list of very good/decent squad players . For instance i would still take a fully fit and firing kewell over him . And if you think we miss Kuyt when he isnt playing then re watch the Preston game - we missed his work rate and closing down and energy in the second half when we lost Xabi.

Sorry mate, but I have to disagree with you that Riera is no better than Kuyt or Lucas or Yossi. Riera is clearly better than Yossi or Lucas, there should be no debate there, if you can't see that, then I would be having my glasses checked if I were you.

Kuyt is more debateable. Kuyt is not a natural winger to begin with unlike Riera. Kuyt is a natural striker and will always will be. Thus you could argue he has a better ability at scoring goals. However, I think that Rafa's decision to make him versatile really shows you that Kuyt isn't the best of strikers. For if he was, he would be pairing Torres or even Keane regulary, because IMO Yossi is capable of playing as a right winger, so you cannot argue that Kuyt plays on the right wing because we have no one esle to play there.

I think that Riera is technically better than Kuyt and always will be. He consistently shows us that his dribbling is better than any of wingers have shown in a long time, natural or not. But I think the underlining question is who contributes more to the team?? And does their contribution mean that they are better player??

I'll start with Riera. Riera as previously mentioned has added that much needed balance and more importantly width. When Riera debuted against Man Utd, I was so surprised after hearing all this negative press about his spell at Man City. I don't think we have seen the best of Riera yet either, I think that once Torres starts playing regulary in the team, we are going to see Riera's hard work play off. I think that Riera's contribution at times has been overlooked. This is mainly down to Keane's misses. I think that Torres sublime finishing skills will really showcase Riera's skills. And in saying that, it is harder to judge his contribution. However, I think without Riera, and Babel in his place, our team looks alot worse both on paper and on the pitch.

Kuyt is a fantastic squad player, he contribution is always 110%. He is not a natural winger, but boy his contribution makes up for what he lacks in finesse and skill. I would have to say that Arbeloa has become better this season because of Kuyt's tireless efforts to track back and overlap with Arbeloa. Last season Arbeloa was nervous on the ball going forward and this season he has more confident and thus his performances have improved, because IMO he has alot more trust in Kuyt. Also, as you have mentioned Kuyt has contributed a lot in terms of goals and assists, it is good to see him scoring in the PL this season as well. And when you said that Kuyt was missed in the Preston game, you only mentioned that he was missed after Xabi was injured. This is me suggests that it was Xabi who was really missed not Kuyt. I think that it was more the lack of control in the midfield that let us down in the second half, not Kuyt. This is not to say however, that we don't miss Kuyt, all I'm saying is that our backup to RW position is much better than the backup to the LW position.

Well glad that is off my chest, didn't know my second post was going to be so long!!

Good post, keep it up

by **Liverpool442** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:40 pm

Reira is only halfway through his first season and in my opinion doing ok. Holds a decent goal threat and gives balance to the side.
Not world class but a shrewd buy for the money we had avaialable.

by **Zidane** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:24 pm

Played like sh!t against Stoke, just thought I'd throw that in to be unbiased.

by ***_Ruthless_*** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:15 pm

I really like Reira, We have needed a left winger for a long time to give us balance and he does that job well!
He is very casual on the ball but always keeps the passing flowing . . . My only worry is does he have the ability to change games?
He always looks for a pass Square and backwards rather then trying to find a killer ball.

by **Madmax** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:21 am

RIERA: STOKE REACTION SPEAKS VOLUMES

Albert Riera today revealed how his teammates' dejection after Saturday's goalless draw with Stoke has got him believing it could be Liverpool's year.
Riera and co failed to break down the Potters during a physical encounter which ended in despair after Steven Gerrard hit the post in the dying moments.

Time will tell if the result was a point gained or two dropped as Liverpool bid for their first league title since 1990, but our Spanish winger is concentrating on the positives.

"Saturday showed me the character of this team," said the 26-year-old.

"When I walked into the dressing room after the game everyone was devastated that we had only drawn a difficult away game.

"Stoke have a very good record at home and lots of teams have struggled to beat them at the Britannia Stadium but we are top of the league and we had hoped to go there and win.

"But we will remember this feeling and we will give everything for it not to happen again."

Riera believes the old adage about there being no easy games is ringing truer than ever.

He points to this weekend's fixtures in his native Spain, where runaway leaders Barcelona were given a mighty fright by La Liga's bottom club.

"Last night I watched Barcelona, who are top of La Liga, play against Osasuna, who are bottom," added Riera.

"Everyone expected Barcelona to win comfortably but with 10 minutes remaining they were losing by two goals to one.

"They ended up scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes to win the game but it was a much tougher match for them than expected.

"This is the way football is – you can never take victories for granted because every team can be a danger.

"You have to work for every point.

"I can tell our fans that we will compete for every single point in every game that we play."

by **Madmax** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:24 am

"They ended up scoring two goals in the last 10 minutes to win the game but it was a much tougher match for them than expected.

Well because they had an ace attacking dimension in the match especially towards the end. Something which we lacked throughout the match.

by **GYBS** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:06 pm

Zidane wrote:Played like sh!t against Stoke, just thought I'd throw that in to be unbiased.

played like :censored:

again against everton - still stick with my view that he isnt as good as is being made out to be - been ineffective for a while now .

by **shakey** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:50 pm

I like him as a player & what he brings to our play,my only gripe is that he tends to fade away after about 60 mins??

by **Thingy** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:53 pm

Yeah well he cant do much from on the bench mate, thats normally when Rafa drags him off

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