bigmick wrote:Throw new personalities into a group of people, be they photocopier manufacturers, town planners or footballers and you alter the dynamic. Different leaders emerge, different factions and sub groups are formed and different people will feel marginalised.
Bellamy and Pennant are no different in this regard from Palletta, Aurelio and Gonzalez. The team ethic will change, it's as simple as that. It is the job of the management and senior players to ensure the transition bares a positive fruit.
My own feeling is that a little well channelled feistiness on a football pitch is no bad thing. The Manchester United team of the late nineties in it's pomp was a snarling and powerfully motivated bunch of footballers, willing to engage in either a football match or trench warfare whichever you preferred. Similarly the best Liverpool teams weren't short of men who were willing to grasp the moment, to take the game by the scruff of the neck to coin an old chestnut. This can take the form of a 35 yard blockbuster Steven Gerrard style, or it can take the form of a hotly disputed decision, a crunching tackle or a clenched fist appeal to the fans to up the noise.
Sheer force of will can change football matches. Players such as Roy Keane and Graham Souness made a career out of not saying "it's not our day today" and simply refusing to be beaten. Witness Pennants full-blooded booting of the water bottle in frustration when in a team being beaten 7-0 in the FA Cup or Bellamy's one man crusade against the World when on the losing team. Disruptive? Irresponsible on occasions? Probably but such players can be invaluable if the aggression is pointed in the right direction.
FWIW I think Bellamy will prove to be a brilliant signing. He had the look last season of a player who had finally got it. He now understands the game and his role within it and crucially how he can positively effect the outcome. Pennant has more to prove in my view, but with good players and strong characters around him he may also prove to be a bargain.
I have this image of when when we played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last season. I felt we were much the better team for the first twenty minutes or so, then conceded a really poor goal to william Gallas from a set-piece. From then on, save for a few sporadic moments we seemed to almost accept defeat as inevitable to me. Even when Crespo scored the second there was still 25 minutes to go but the game was over at that point. My hope and belief is that we are bringing in players who fight to the death, using every ounce of their ability and knowhow to change the tide of the match.
Such players, winners as they are commonly known are born not made. Sometimes they need nurturing by quality managers to bring out the best in them. We have the quality manager, and we may just have found a couple of players.
Great observation Mick . I've not been a fan of Bellamy or Pennant but can only agree with your summary. Football skill aside their "fire" can only benefit LFC . I think you've converted me
in that post. Kewell was one of our best performers last year and to be able to say you have Harry Kewell on the bench as backup for Gonzales is what you need to have to be contending for the Premiership. 
