Liverpool FC Forum

by **Reg** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:24 pm

How can Rafa keep up with whats going on:

EURSPORT BREAKING NEWS: Aston Villa confirm that midfielder Gareth Barry is in talks with Manchester City. Oh dear. So having wanted to leave Villa because he was desperate for Champions League football, Barry could now join a club who, for all their riches, finished outside the Europa League places and, realistically, will have to wait at least one more season before the qualify for the Champions League because they are THAT far behind the top four.

Diego Forlan could join Barcelona after picking up the golden shoe award for top scorer in Europe. He has been given a £25m price tag but, with Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry targets for Manchester City and Bojan set to go out on loan, Forlan could step in if Barca fail to get David Villa

by **Greavesie** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:28 pm

Money is destroying the game, its fecking depressing stuff

The targets that have been thrown around after Chelsea got Ancelotti are nothing short of friggin ludacris, all this Man City b0llocks and Portsmouth are the next lot to enter the fray

by **Ciggy** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:31 pm

This is Villa trying to get us into a bidding war with City fuck off O'neill.

by **tubby** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:37 pm

Hopefully Rafa won't go too high.

by **Greavesie** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:40 pm

feck Barry, any respect I may have had for him is well and truly down the sh!tter, hopefully Rafa steers clear of this one, I want Iniesta anyway

by **Fauxy** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:42 pm

All we know is that Barry is 'in talks' with Man City, it doesnt necessarily mean that he wants to go to them, he may be negotiating with them just incase Rafa doesnt sign him for all we know.. so lets not jump to conlusions

But if he were to go to Man City after saying that he wanted to leave Villa for champions league football then lots of people will loose respect for the man .. as if he hasnt lost enough at Villa already.

If he chooses Liverpool and is true to his word that he wants to play CL football then he might gain respect and more than that he will be in a club that is built by history, not money.

Regardless of what City offer for him, I think Rafa should just stick to one bid of around £8 Million and say take it or leave it. Its not like we are desperate.. we will soon have a packed midfield anyways if we bring in Javi Martinez and if Alonso doesnt leave.

by **GYBS** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:42 pm

bavlondon wrote:Hopefully Rafa won't go too high.

hopefully rafa wont bid at all

by **Greavesie** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:44 pm

I'm sure I read somewhere that Martinez doesn't want to come here, anyone confirm that?

Anyone heard of this Kleber guy as well?

by **tonyeh** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:48 pm

He's simply keeping his options open. I'd say these "talks" are a agent engineered move rather than Barry being serious about going to City.

Sure that's a step back from being at Villa.

Could backfire on him though, if Benitez has anyone else in the firing line. But going by the inexplicible hardon Benitez has for Barry, it probably won't do him any harm in the long run.

by **Anfield rapper** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:50 pm

Never liked the bloke. F**k him!

Keep Xabi at all costs!!

by **Fauxy** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:54 pm

Greavesie wrote:I'm sure I read somewhere that Martinez doesn't want to come here, anyone confirm that?

Anyone heard of this Kleber guy as well?

Javi Martinez has issued a "come-and-get-me" plea to Liverpool because he is eager to be part of their illustrious history.

The Athletic Bilbao midfielder has been touted as a possible replacement should Xabi Alonso leave Anfield.

Martinez said: "Liverpool are a great team with a great history and any player would like to go there.

-The Mirror

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport....1403307

Kleber - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nYj6M-MqYA

he seems alright :nod

by **tonyeh** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:56 pm

Agree with keeping Alonso, especially when you sum up each of their seasons. Alonso's been a powerhouse for us this year and (for me at least) barry didn't shine that much.

If Benitez has it in mind to "offload" Alonso and replace him with Barry, as was the plan last year, I think that would be a retrograde step.

by **GYBS** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:13 pm

This time last year Rafa was stating he wanted Barry and was willing to listen to offers for xabi where as now he is stating Xabi isnt for sale and hasnt mentioned barry once .

by **Owzat** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:14 pm

matt1974 wrote:
Redman in wales wrote:Whether or not we sign Gaz Baz - for me the issue is who stays....

If we sign Barry and lose Alonso - thats a step backwards imo

If we sign Barry, keep alonso and lose Lucas - thats a step forwards imo.

I'd go along with that. I'd see Barry as someone to cover Mascarano for when injury or suspension kicks in.

I'm not so sure bringing in a 28.5 year old and losing a 22.5 year old is that big a step forward. If we keep Alonso, Gerrard and Mascherano where the feck is Barry going to play? The bench, same as Lucas. I bet Barry will be ten times less happy sitting on the bench as Lucas has been, and I wouldn't want to lose out on filling positions that need improving (LWF and RB) just so we can improve a midfielder on the bench because we had to fork out say £6m+ to add to the sale of Lucas and be able to afford Barry.

I think all the evidence was there this season that we don't need Barry, once Benayoun started playing a fuller part we won 11 of our last 14 matches. Benayoun scored 6 goals in those 14 games, 5 goals in his last 10 (consecutive) games. We won 10 of our last 11 Premiership games, two lots of five in a row with the 4-4 vs Arsenal dividing them, scored 34 goals and conceded just seven. Was anyone thinking "we need gazbaz" ? I doubt it.

PREMIERSHIP 08/09

Games 01-13 : P13 W10 D2 L1 F21 A8 PTS 32
Games 14-25 : P12 W5 D7 L0 F21 A9 PTS 22
Games 26-38 : P13 W10 D2 L1 F35 A10 PTS 32

A certain uniformity to the season, picking up 32 points in the first and last 13 league games. It was the 12 in the middle that cost us, ironically the only unbeaten spell of the three, but the most dropped points via draws.

During that spell of games in the middle we were missing Torres for six consecutive games of which we drew three. For some reason Keane played in only six of those games, although five of the six he did play in we drew despite him scoring three goals. In that 12 game spell we won more games without him (4) than with him (1). Alonso and Gerrard played some part in all but two of those 12 games.

Six of those seven draws were 0-0 or 1-1. We played the teams that finished 3rd, 4th and 5th in those 12 games but also eight of the 10 sides between 9th and 18th, drawing half of those eight games. While we did score 21 goals, 2/3 of those were in four wins and we scored just seven in the other eight games.

Would "Gazbaz" have made any difference in those middle 12 games? He's not a particularly prolific scorer from midfield, he's no Ronaldo or Messi and so I'm not sure exactly what he would add to our team that Gerrard doesn't. In fact I think England look poorer when they try and include combinations of Gerrard, fat frank and "Gazbaz", they tend to want to play the same areas with none particularly keen to play the holding role and it can clutter the midfield against remotely organised defences.

I am puzzled as to why Rafa has only taken interest in "Gazbaz" in the past two years when he's been here five. Perhaps it is only the media speculation intensifying, perhaps it was just the combinations of players already on our squad at the time that left no vacancies. But have we ever had a situation much different to the one we have now? Gerrard was here before Rafa, Alonso signed in 04/05, and then we had Hamann, Sissoko and Mascherano making up the central midfield options. I could see how "Gazbaz" could be seen as a replacement for Gerrard (poor man's Gerrard) or Alonso (different type of player), but if we're not selling Alonso then this must surely be dead in the water?!?

Lucas still gets a lot of stick, he's not a great player but he's not that bad either. He's only a few months past 22, I wish some of those on his case with a "get rid" attitude towards him would follow his lead and take the summer off.

by **tubby** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:56 pm

GYBS wrote:This time last year Rafa was stating he wanted Barry and was willing to listen to offers for xabi where as now he is stating Xabi isnt for sale and hasnt mentioned barry once .

Although he could findhimself in a situation where we dont get Barry but he is still considering a big bid for Alonso from Real to fund someone else.

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Gazbaz - Looks like hes on his way...to City!!!

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