Liverpool FC Forum

s@int wrote:Originally Posted by George Costanza  TLW
I've read what you've said elsewhere Coop. I just disagree with it.

Villa is an exceptional player but I don't believe he would fit in to our current system. Or at least you will be limiting his impact.



I agree completely about his movement across the back line but thats because he's given to do so from a central starting point. Drifting outwide is natural instint for a striker, drifing inside from out wide is not. He may adapt brilliantly and you could be spot on but its a big gamble to make given the amount of money we are talking about. Its not a great comparison but look at Henry. At Arsneal he was a central striker but often drifted out left, it worked as it was a natural movement. He had the freedom to make that movement. At Barca he's played immediately on the left, it is a forced move and not a natural one. He's not used to drifting inside from out. He's not looked comfortable at all.

If we were to sign Villa he'd have to play upfront alongside Torres and we'd have to adjust the team accordingly. IMO of course.

Sabre wrote:For the record, I just tried to tell my countrymate not to spam the thread with Spanish messages and to use the proper thread, and he has answered me in *this* thread that he got the message. 

As for S@int's comment, I don't find it funny. Not any more.

I know that St Michael knows to post his own stuff because he has answered quickly to some posts which make clear he didn't got it from somewhere else.

That's why precisely I'm píssed off when he does that, because he knows perfectly well to post his own stuff.

For the record, I find interesting when members like S@int bring RELEVANT posts from other red sites with the proper credit, at the end of the day we want to be well informed and just as we read articles, posts like Spirit of Shankly's are interesting.

St Michael, please, stop doing that.

He aint gona stop doing it now Sabre he has done it since I joined

Bamaga man wrote:

How is that angle?

I guess I need a protractor now. 

Sabre wrote:As for Bad Bob's post, only a little comment, despite the goal, De la Red is defensive, in fact, he has played not few games as a CB, which is his secondary position. As for direct comparisons between his game in Liverpool and Spain we cannot use a game as a barometer, both because the opposition and the context of his own team --Guiza was much more isolated than Torres is and  Spain played with no proper wingers.

Ahh, okay, that's interesting, mate.  I didn't realize that De La Red has defensive duties as well--although I didn't see much of that against Greece.

To address a couple of posters' points: yes, it was only Greece and they did give him all the time in the world, fair enough.  But, what intrigued me was that he was willingly getting forward despite being the sole holding midfielder (at least so I thought until Sabre explained about De La Red).  Now, as Sabre's also suggested, maybe this is because there were no wingers to support the attack and Guiza needed all the help he could get from central midfield.  It doesn't change the fact that Xabi was right in there alongside Fabregas, Iniesta and De La Red.  Since he rarely seems to venture forward for us, it led me to wonder whether this was due to Rafa's instructions.  I think Big Mick's point about trusting our players more has something to it.  Alonso's as an intelligent a footballer as you'll find.  He'll know when it's best to get forward and best to sit so just give him that freedom maybe?

Bamaga man wrote:

How is that angle?

I guess I need a protractor now. 

Would that make it a protracted discussion...........? 

Sabre wrote:Athletic Bilbao, an archenemy of mine, is quite big in terms of support and economy. They're only behind Sevilla, Valencia, Atletico, maybe Villarreal in terms of economy (not size of support) and the obvious top two.

Despite their size, they struggle because they only play with basque, or almost basque (parents etc) players. Basque players have always been important in the Spanish squad, but right now our representation there is under minimums: Xabi Alonso.

Well, their sports director have said "You and I know which player we want" (that is, Alonso) but we've made a query to his club and it's impossible, the market is too expensive".

Senna's agent is trying to make money with a  player that is already 32 and might have his last transfer (with it's corresponding % fee to the agent). The agent is has leaked "stories" of Juventus interest due to the lack of agreement with Liverpool.

All this considered, it might seem that the possibility of Xabi staying is bigger than 3 weeks ago. IMHO though, there are still a lot of chances of Xabi going. As soon as the Euro finnishes, that is next week, we'll know the end of this saga.

Do we still want a player that "only plays well in Europe", "hasn't played well" for anything up to three years, "is too slow"  "plays too deep" etc etc etc Sabre? 

Seriously, I hope if he does stay, there hasn't been any perminent damage to his relationship with both Rafa and Liverpool.