Liverpool manager confident his front two will rip defences apart next season
by stresster on July 30th, 2008
| 230 words |
Peter Crouch hardly got a sniff of first-team action at Anfield last season, although it appears that Rafael Benitez is going to change things round formation-wise next term to try and accomodate a certain 28-year-old Irishman.
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While Robbie Keane will certainly be sitting on the bench for his fair share of games, the Spaniard has clearly not bought the former Tottenham and Leeds man as a squad player, with The Guardian reporting that Rafa is excited about the front pairing of Liverpool’s new number seven and Fernando Torres.
“I am sure defenders in the Premier League will be worried about facing them [Keane and Torres] next season,” he said.
Even the pragmatic Benítez has, it seems, allowed his imagination to savour the potential of a partnership that scored 56 goals between them for their clubs last term. “Managers will try to do different things to stop them,” he elaborated. “But that’s where [Steven] Gerrard, [Ryan] Babel and [Dirk] Kuyt will be so important for us because they cannot cope with them all.”
Liverpool fans, are you as excited as Rafa ahead of the new season? Or are you slightly concerned that with all these great players piling forward, the Reds might be caught short at the back? It certainly promises to be an interesting season at Anfield, but will it be a successful one?
Joe Bananas - July 30th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Chelsea to sign Peter Ndlovu in swap deal for a bottle of slug pellets
magnumopus - July 30th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I agree with Rafa’s opinion, indeed! Here come the REDS!
Soccerly.com - July 30th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Second place would be their lowest position this coming season.
To Soccerly.com - July 30th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Only if we sell kuyt and bring in two top wingers!
Crouch - 11
Riise - 4
Carson - 3.5
Guthrie - 1
Pennant - 6
Benayoun - 6
Alonso - 15
Kuyt - 7.5
Total - 54. + an extra say 25m from the board we have a total of 79m.
Dossena - 7m (done)
Keane - 20m (done)
With that remaining 52m I’d like to see:
Silva - 20m
Johnson - 10m
and then a cheeky 22m bid for Diego from bremen (highly unlikely however could be tempted away from them as theyre not considered a ‘top’ club).
That way we could play 4-4-2:
Reina
Carragher Skrtel Agger Dossena
Mascherano
Diego Gerrard Silva
Keane
Torres
With on the bench:
Johnson
Babel
Aurelio
Nemeth (?)
Lucas
That way we could change up regularly, babel up front or on the wings, keane or torres lone striker with diego more central or gerrard wide, we would have so many more options! I wish…
Ryan - July 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
This should be a great season for us. And im not too worried about the defending because Mascherano hangs back and is a tremendous player and our wingbacks can cover the space left by Babel & Kuyt
To Soccerly.com - July 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
* lol that formation isn’t a 4-4-2! whoops! i mean 4-1-3-1-1! but could do 4-4-2 by pushing keano and mascherano up the field.
Kyley - July 30th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Not particularly keen on kuyt as I think he is quite one dimensional in his play and doesn’t offer enough creativity to be playing down the right hand side. We still need a quality right winger but it is a big NEED.
Ben - July 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Too right! well i hope so! we will see
xavi010789 - July 31st, 2008 at 1:27 am
please rafa buy Johnson, silva and Menez