FOUR to leave Liverpool in £20m exit: Rafa should keep ONE
by Mr Comfort on May 22nd, 2008
| 183 words |
Clearly if Rafa Benitez is going to fund all the transfers he seems to be lining up, he will need to offload some dead wood. With this in mind, we have the latest rumour regarding a quartet on their way out.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez plans to sell at least four of his senior players to raise much-needed transfer cash. John Arne Riise, Steve Finnan, Jermaine Pennant and Peter Crouch are being touted around the Premiership. (Daily Mail)
Of the four mentioned, who could possibly net £20m in total, Peter Crouch is the one I feel should be persuaded to stick with the club. He has shown towards the tail-end of the season just what he can do with an extended run in the first team. The other players are surplus to requirements but Finnan deserves a pat on the back for his services to the club as it does seem likely that the former Fulham man may well have played his last game for the club. What do Liverpool fans think about these potential outgoing stars, are any of them worth holding on to?
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Tagged Under: benitez, crouch, Fulham FC, Liverpool FC, Premier League, riise
steve - May 22nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Crouch has some uses, but when have you EVER seen him run past a defender with the ball or take on a defender week in week out. He is a good forward but misses strength and pace…both of which Torres has in abundance.
ktz1992 - May 22nd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
crouch…whos to say torres dosent break a leg in euro 08?….then hu we got…crouch cood hit 15+ a season last season he was better goal per game ratio(thats the one smart people look at) crouch was higher than ronaldo and drogba i mean this btw in 0607
Damo - May 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Steve, you’re thick! Crouch’s game is not about beating players, even though he has done so against the likes of Arsenal last season, see hat-trick, it’s about his awkwardness to defend against, his ball-control and his ability to bring other players into the game. All of which he can do - when given the chance, which he hasn’t had very much this season!
jonny 5 - May 22nd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
CROUCH SEEMS TO BE BETTER THAN KUYT, CERTAINLY BETTER THAN VORININ. THE GUYS A TARGET MAN.END OF. SUPPLIERS ARE NEEDED.
LEFT AND RIGHT WINGERS AND A PARTNER FOR TORRES.
rick - May 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 pm
hay k(un)tz1992 are you a smart person? crouch doesn’t to want to stay and isn’t going to stay, get over it. i say say sell all the people above along with guthrie and carson, hopefully we can get £30 mill for the lot. a left back, left wing and right wing still required. i like vargas/chielleni, silva/downing, arshavin/bently but we will prob end up with three unknowns oh well
stan howard - May 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm
pennant has done nothing wrong its a daft and unjust decision to sell him unless its off field problems, crouch is poor in the air, pinpoint headed passes is what is wanted and not just getting his head to the ball hence 95% running through to the keeper, finnan is slow getting forward and slower getting back and takes up poor marking positions and wont put in the required effort just like alonso, riise is and has been next to useless since he arrived, look at our rivals full backs and what they contribute, any ten year old can see our weaknesses, its a crime to buy a player who cant kick a ball (sissoko) and a bigger one to let him go still unable to kick a ball what do coaches do ?, babal needs to learn to control the ball before trying to do something with it , coaches take note it a simple solution and if he cant then his teamates must give him the right kind of passes to help him as he is talented.
eddie - May 22nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
i think they shud go apart from riise , yes i know he has blown our champions league but i forgive him and i think he is a quality player and he is just suffering from a bit of a dip in form at the moment. i also think we shudnt buy barry i dont know where hed fit in unless alonso leaves we shud get bullard and antonio valencia.
ste - May 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
if we play one striker, which works well, we don’t need a peter crouch. for me kuyt, voronin and crouch should go, with one striker been bought, someone young like marcelo moreno. that would mean we have two main striekrs as well as babel and nemeth as backups in case of a crisis. if torres was to get injured, it wouldn’t be a crisis as we’d have moreno, babel can play there, and nemeth who is a great prospect. we certainly don’t need an unversatile player like crouch who would only merit a place if torres was injured. he wouldn’t be happy with that whereas moreno is young and can take time to bed in nicely. does anyone agree with me at all. i just don’t think crouch fits in any more. you cant argue with how well we’ve done when we play with just torres as striker.
Mark - May 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
The days of playing 2 strikers are gone. None of the big four play with two up top, REGARDLESS of how Sky spew on about utd holy trinity, the facts are that they play one up - either Shrek or his ugly brother, and the other usually fills in on the right. Ronaldo has licence to play wherever the hell he wants. They can do this because they have 2 sitting midfielders, and two highly mobile fullbacks, and the Shrek family and Ronaldo are greased lightning. Its all about pace and ball control. Arsenals fullbacks? - more greased lightning…Chavski? yup - more of the same. Theyre all able to defend too, regardless of my opinions of some of them as people.
On of the main reasons we are always blabbering on about the workmanlike performances of Kuyt is that he has to do most of the right sided play on his own - now dont get me wrong, hes not a right winger and never will be - he tries, but I’m not alone is wanting our big signing from 2 years ago to do what hes supposed to be doing and score a goal occasionally.
Finnans been a marvelous servant for us for the past few seasons, Arbeloa and our Brazilian friend have had their moments, but neither exactly instill confidence. We need two ball playing fullbacks - preferably ones that are capable of defending.
As for a backup striker - Rafas made NO secret out of the fact that, that will be Babbels slot. He will continue on the wing but will be used as a striker if *heavens forbid* something happens to Torres.
Crouch is going, theres no two ways about it. He isnt capable of playing in the system that Rafa wants to use, hes simply not mobile enough.
Theres reasons we are being linked with full backs and wide men here people - its those we need. Straight up the centre of the team - were a match for anyone, we lack genuine width, or players that can offer it.
c-g - May 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
sell crouch and kuyt..
buy someone like alexandre pato from ac milan, or david villa maybe
put nemeth in 1st team as backup.
play babel upfront instead of left wing
buy a top class winger..
not sell pennant
these things should be done
liverpool should sell,
voronin,benayoun,finnan,crouch,kuyt,riise,itandje,
and buy good young replacements for all of them
dave - May 23rd, 2008 at 12:08 am
I agree with everything c-g said, but for some reason things never tend to work out the way they should. Wanker utd always seem to approach the market in a much more logical fashion. they needed midfielders last year so they bought a couple- one experienced in his prime and a couple very talented for the future. Even so, i trust rafa does as much as he can with the money he has to work with. I doubt the owners will give him more than 30 million even after all the sales because they are tight wankers only concerned with dividends. They’re not passionate about lfc and thats clear when george bush can count the number of matches they’ve been to. Which means of course they are only in it for the money which means of course they’re hardly going to write rafa an open check.
redtodeath - May 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 am
Right on dave. And seriously, Crouch is worth keeping. His assists, ability to be a target man, and goals-per-game ratio are enough to match any of the top premiership strikers - the likes of torres, drogba, ronaldo, rooney included. Nevermind that he doesn’t look like your typical goalscorer, the stats say it all. And if Rafa’s gonna persist with some level of rotation, then he’ll need at least 3 decent frontmen - torres, babel, and ____? I hope that blank sure as hell ain’t gonna be kuyt or voronin. And if we’re talking about snagging the top strikers in the world to fill that spot, I think Rafa and all Reds out there can dream on… the money’s not coming from the yanks - at least not enough to fend off the competition.
koptalker - May 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 am
To keep Crouch??…NO…And i dont regret it at all…Keep talkin about the assist’s and his teamwork and bla bla…I PERSONALLY THINK WE SHOULD KEEP FINNAN COZ HIS ASSIST HAS BEEN SUPERB AT TIMES…we can go on…Its as simple as this ” IF WE WANNA BE WORLD CLASS LIKE THE MANURE BASTARDS THEN WE MUST BE FIRM WITH OUR STANDARDS SET AT ANFIELD ” . Look at TORRES…Fantastic player…He has proved that HE CAN SCORE IN EVERY GAME AND IN EVERY WAY..HEADER , SHOT, SOLO , U NAME IT…We need another stiker close to his ability…I AM SORRY BUT I TOTALLY AGREE CROUCH SHOULD BE OUT THAT DOOR!
devilkiller - May 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 am
Think we should keep Finnan as cover on the right. I would have preferred to keep Crouch but his the only player in the clear out list that can bring us +7 million pounds on the transfer market. So for me players who we should see out are Crouch, Pennant for sure, Voronin, Riise.
Mud - May 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 am
Marek Hamsik is a better replacement..
Jamma - May 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 am
This is simple people crouch is gonna go, he wants to play regular first team football and we cant offer him that with system we play. We defo also need to sell Riise, his best days are well past him and is just living off those thunderbolts he USED to score! As for a replacement for Riise id love to get Lahm but cant ever see that happening.
As a few people have already said we need decent quality from the wing especially the right, Pennant is not the answer, he may get alot of crosses in but they lack quality, he has had his chance and now its time to move him on. David Bentley would be my first choice as he is proven in the Premiership and has a great delivery.
This link with Riera keeps on popping up aswell, ive not seen him play since then so cant comment on him now but can only go from what I saw when he was at City and he wasnt very convincing then. Has anyone seen him play this season????
MADRED - May 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
KEEP CROUCH!!!!
Get rid of pennant not because he has been crap just the quality needs to be better for league title!
Voronin can go hes been ok but isnt a day in day out player!
Finnan is a great servant of the club. He’s been perfect on the right theres no compaints but the time has come to get some young blood in!
We would be stupid to sell Kuyt he has the highest work rates in the premiership and yes i know hes a striker and hasnt been scoring but has been in a strikers position at any point this season?? He works hard for the team all over the pitch and is one i can relate to gerrard where passion is concerned because he works his arse off!
get rid of charles itandje! why we bought him is still a mystery to me!
As much as i love riise like alot of liverpool fans the truth is he needs a fresh challenge and i dont think it will be at anfield this season. His time is up and i think he knows that to! i think he will end up at newcastle!
And on the final note of leavers than god harry kewell has gone! He was nothing but an injury to the wage bill!
Let the mediocre talent go and bring in the not so necessary star studded but quality filled talent in!
Cynic - May 23rd, 2008 at 10:16 am
We’re all fans of the Mighty Reds here so can we save the abuse for the BS, Manure and Chelski?
It’s only opinion after all - none of us is categorically right or wrong, and the stats don’t take into acount the quality of opposition, bad refereeing, the weather
If we’re going to hurl vitriol at somebody can we not agree that the targets for the next season have yet to reveal themsleves?
In my view they won’t include Drogba or Ronaldo unless we encounter their new clubs in the Champion League, Avram Grant never registered on the radar, and the Nevilles are surely destined for the scrapheap?
No, we need new targets for 2008/09. Any suggestions, me aside? How about Joe Cole for starters?
gilman - May 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Rafa has treated Peter Crouch like a dog. Crouch has pulled the team out of the shit on numerous occasions. For example against Inter. when he came on he caused panic in their defence and dragged them all over the place.
He scored a hat trick against Arsenal and gets dropped the next match. Against Charlton last season (2007) he scored 2 and looked certain to get his hat trick and Rafa pulls him off. In 2007 (before Torres) he was getting 5 mins. off the bench. This year he was brought on twice for 2 mins.
Peter Crouch is a match winner he has proved it at every level , he is no Torres, but who is? The semi against Chelsea was crying out for Peter Crouch to come on, the final last year was the same he brought him on too late. This must be a personal thing with Rafa. it can’t be a football thing, just check his form. If I was Peter Crouch I would run my contract down and walk. Not because of the fans, they love him. Incidentally Ryan Bable is not all that people are making him out to be he is a very week link stuck out there on the left wing his first touch is atrocious he could not trap the proverbial bag of cement.
I am a great supporter of Rafa and Peter Crouch apart I think he is doing a great job.
Pat - May 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Gilman…. giving the choice of who would you have up front for Liverpool at the start of every match… crouch or torres???????
Look at the system Liverpool play…. room for only one striker
All four to go, if i was given the choice of keeping one…. it would be Riise any day.
If Liverpool played 4 4 2 then keep Crouch but if you can get 12 to 15 million for him…. take the hand aswell…. and get in wingers!!!
Dean - May 23rd, 2008 at 11:27 am
All i belive tht liverpool need are a right winger and a right back. Someone like ashley young/bentley or even Joaquin. My preference being young, hes got pace, hes a good crosser an great at set pieces an also PACE which is a thing liverpool lack. With the players that rafa supposed to be gettin rid of i think he shud keep alonso an crouch. Crouch has definately proved hes good enough fer liverpool with his goal scorin an tbh hes fuckin better than voronin. If any1 who shud go its voronin, hes shite an badly needs a haircut!
Bill Vector - May 23rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Get Kenwynne Jones and put him on steroids. Beat the cheats by cheating!!!
Pat - May 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Kenwynne Jones needs more than steroids… he needs to get rid of one of those left feet… and get himself a right foot and then straighten it
chris - May 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
torres and gerrard carried liverpool to fourth, without them it would of been embarrassing!
must go:
Riise
Kewell
Kuyt (he’s work rate doesn’t put 3pts on the table week in week out, goals do he only had 3 in the league… not good enough if your want titles)
Pennant
alonso - rather have Barry scores more
voronin - im sure we all agree
finnan
must keep
The obvious group
benoyun - creative
crouch - unless he is replace by villa or milito etc..
hyypia - step in when Agger got injured
aberloa - hasnt put a foot wrong for me
babel - he will shine next season back up for torres
Warmarq - May 23rd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Rafa is offloading the wrong players. “Dead Wood” to me is Alonso, Voronin and Kuyt. These are players who, in my opinion, bring absolutely nothing to the game. A title challenge needs more players like Torres, Gerrard and Babel.
Pat - May 23rd, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I agree with you Chris with the list that must go…
but if you really look at the Liverpool squad it isn’t the greatest. Rafa had to play Kuyt on right wing and Babel on the left last season because he hadn’t any good wingers
We all know he has to sell to be able to buy and the only players from the present squad you would put into the line up at the moment would be…
Reina, Carragher, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres… perhaps Aurelio and Arbeloa
But going on all the rumours… Rafa is looking to strengten the wing backs and wingers….
The question is …. Is the players he is looking to bring in … Barry, Degen, Dossena, Garcia, Riera…
better than the players he is releasing… Finnan, Riise, Crouch, Pennant, Alonso?
reikirebel - May 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
We must remember, its not about keeping crouch, he has turned down a new contract … its not difficult to understand that some players want regular play, at LFC he will always be a rotation striker and he has said that doesn’t suit him … so if we keep him for his last year, he will walk next summer and we get nothing, he has to be sold, agree he is a good player and gives us options but he wants to be the main striker in a team and with torres thats not going to happen …. so lets just accept he will go and lets get as much as we can for him!!!!
I guess the others are now more squad players, I guess its important the players he brings in are better then those going out, or it wouldn’t make sense selling them in the first place. This is our big season, this will be rafas 5th season and the biggest as he needs to show improvement beyond the usual 3rd or 4th …. i expect he knows this better then us, so lets leave rafa to do his business and we keep the faith … this could be our season
Pat - May 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Rafa knows what he needs to do…. offload to buy….
But it seems that he must do this if he wants to try and improve the squad. It is not strengthening a squad if you have to sell good players to raise money to buy others…
He is forced into this situation by the lack of funds… having to build a new stadium and the yank business.
The summer transfer market is an interesting one for LFC… and lets hope that Rafa has the same success he had with the likes of Torres…
If he buys 4 to 5… and perhaps 2 to 3 work out as great….. I won’t complain with those odds.
He was thinkering with the formation towards the end of last season and obviously has great ideas for the new season and will buy to fit into that formation and back it up.
paisley better than ferguson - May 23rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Rafa should keep crouch but only if he gonna play him! pennant can go, he done nowt all season, riise and finnan aint been good solid players for the last 2 years! fresh blood needed and hopefully more trophies will follow!!!
paisley better than ferguson - May 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Warmarq - Alonso and kuyt dead wood?? nah, voronin i agree, pennant and finnan can go and thank god kewell gone! Rafa may your good work continue, a bloody league title wouldn’t go a miss tho!
hunterlar - May 23rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
why does rafa sells crouch and pennant while keeping kuyt!!!! this is both funny and ridiculous!!! This season Rafa has even substituded players like gerrard, benayoun, Torres while keeping kuyt on the field!! (I have never seen kuyt controlling properly a ball coming from the air!!)
Barry and Bentley should be the priorities of liverpool instead of Riera!!! Good English players are scarce on the transfer market and if Rafa misses the chance this time it will be impossible to buy these palyers again. If Fifa puts the regulations about the number of english players per team then rafa will regret it.
Bentley is much better than Reira in every way!!!!!!!!!He has proven it while playing against manure (1-1) with a lucky last minute goal of tevez. He is the heart of Blackburn. Plays on the wings or any other positions, come all the way down to defend, counterattack, make decisive passes and crosses and has an incredible spectacular long distance shot that even gerrard doesn’t have!!!!!9 Hitting the post against manure from a 30 meter shot while passing through the defense of manure at the same time!!!!)
Barry is much better than alonso and is captain of his team and can shoulder much of the responsiblity and will be perfect playing-along side mascherano. He scores goal and can play on the wings he is also an excellent player when playing for England. (Alonso sleeps too much which cannot be tolerated in the position that he is playing)
Arbeloa is also a poor player and should be offloaded. What about Rafinha who is definitely better than deggen???!!!!
Daniel The King :) - May 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I would keep PENNANT…after his long injury it’s been hard 4 him to play regularly…..but he’s bound to bounce back now into a good form….sell the rest they’re waste….plus we earn about 14m for thos three….
pinezes69 - May 23rd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I WOULD PREFER RIISE,AND VORONIN!!! CROUCH AND PENNANT IN CASE RAFA FINDS A BETTER SOLUTION….
kalungi - May 23rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I TO THINK THAT CROUCH SHOULD GO,WE JUST WISH HIM WELL FOR WHAT EVERY WORK HE HIS DONE OTHER WISE ,JOHN RIISE HAS ALSO DONE SO FAR SO GOOD BUT EVERY THING HAS TO COME TO AN END.
marky - May 23rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
agree with everything c-g also except maybe keep benayoun think is good impact player defo need get someone like villa, i was saying pato last year when he was an unknown milan will never sell now the boy is gonna be shit hot
anthony - May 23rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
voronin riise kuyt itanje shouid leave anfield but not crouch and alonso[no 1 passer in the world] or else RAFA also shoud depart cause it is his tinkerihg that has made them look useless.GOD BLESS LIVERPOOL
Vasanth - May 23rd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Why Rafa decide to sell off Pennant. I thought Kuyt will be shown exit door this season together with rest of failed players such Kewell, Voronin ( better loan him back to Schale or give them free ) Riise ( enough with him ) Finnan ( times up ).
We seriously need energetic fullback who able to coup up the pressure in EPL.
We cant end up with useless players who will sold back next season. First of need to kick out that problamatic owners frm Anfield. But one thing i would agree
with Hicks… Rick Parry is useless and lazy. Look at other clubs.. even Spurs got better sponsorship then us… we stick with same Carlsberg for decade. Stadium planning is crap.. last 5 years same story. Whole things need to be changed …
Now or Never… still 1 more title for Man U to level our record.. its too long enough
for us to wait this long. Go and get better players or else stop gettin players who not deserved to wear Liverpool shirt. YNWA
mika hx - May 24th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
i do agree we need new fullbacks and 2 pacey wingers bt i dont think crouch and riise should go, they got plenty more t offer the club,.yea riisa not had the best ov seasons but evry1 has a bad dip in form thats no reason t sell the man, we should b keeping gud quality players nt selling them..we avnt the strength in depth as it is t compete wi united or chelsea..
RHYLES - May 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
i think we should sell voronin,riise,benayoum,finnan and crouch if we need more funding for transfers but i still believe he is very good at coming on as a sub. we need at leats two well known wingers and the same for defenders we are weak on the wings and we could also probably do with a replacment for caragher as he is getting old now. players like daniel alves, gael clichy(nippy defenders)david villa, aloexandre pato(young class attackers) ashley young, vicente, jesus navas and florent malouda ,wingers with a bit of spark and maybe even dean ashton or dimitar berbatov as i think they could work well with torres pace. I’m not saying buy all these players but i think its got to the point where liverpool fc needs to start buying some well known class players and not just inaffective unknown players.