Liverpool Plan Audacious Swoop for £15m Defensive Duo Ilunga and Upson
by YNWA on November 20th, 2009 367 words | 186 commentsSurely a good defence doesn’t turn bad overnight and therefore a move for new additions at the back is a tad of a knee-jerk reaction?
WEST HAM could have a fight on their hands to keep their star players after reports emerged that Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is planning a £15million double raid for defenders Matthew Upson and Herita Ilunga. (Guardian Series)
Whilst its true that our defence has been shocking at times this season there is a danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this one. For the past four seasons or so we have been rock solid at the back and are regularly one of the more miserly teams with regards to goals conceded and with the exception of Sami Hyypia’s departure, we are pretty much the same as we were last term so we have the personnel we just lack the conviction and consistency this term.
When any two from Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel are firing on all cylinders then I think we are pretty strong at the back and whilst Greek international Sotiris Kyrgiakos is not a spectacular signing he is an experienced head to have around who still needs to get used to the pace of the English game.
I rate both of these West Ham players but at the same time do not see the wisdom of investing in the back four with what little finances we have. We are far more in need of a back up striker and perhaps a left winger of note than we are in need of centre backs.
We also have Daniel Ayala to call upon and he has shown in his thus far feledgling Liverpool career that he has potential to shine when called upon.
Rafa just needs to get the back four believing in themselves again and that can be tough after a run of poor results and stunningly inept performances. For some reason we just turn off when a simple ball is played into the box but with a good bit of man management Rafa can hopefully wake up his charges because I honestly believe that a good defence doesn’t turn bad overnight.
YNWA
Related Posts:
Liverpool Show Passing Interest in £15m Premier League Centre Back
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
First….Upson is too old to be worth that much money!
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
And Martin Kelly, who can play anywhere across the back four, will be a massive player for us.
Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Where are you digging up these stories? Only problem we have at centre back is that dodgy greek taking up kelly and ayala’s chances. Skrtel has been in bad form but he is a quality player. Carragher and agger compliment each other just like jamie and sami did and work better as a partnership the longer they play together the stronger we will get.
Scouse Magic - November 20th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Wot a load of b******s, first of all we don’t need a left back, we’ve got 3 as it is and as for Upson, too old, although i do agree i do think we need a Quality CB, as Kyriagkos i thought was a poor piece of business anyway, as we had cover in the Reserves.
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
illunga is an okay signing, upson no def not, but i like illunga , he played pretty well against us last year
and to scouse magic we do need a world class left back we dont need another good to average one
Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Do think we need a top quality left back but he has to be substantially better than aurelio, insua and dossena to be worth it. Dossena is going and aurelio only manager 18 games a season yet rafa wants to give him a 2 year contract. Let those 2 go and get someone in who actually improves the first team instead of splashing out on a striker who will sit on the bench when everyone is fit when we can recall nemeth as back up to torres.
Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Would have that little pocket rocket hines off them
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
15mill for upson and ilunga sounds good.
could sell skrtel 8-12mill, kyriagkos 1/2mill and dossena 4mill
that would leave us with carragher,upson and agger in defence and with carragher and upson not that young though upson got another 4 seasons i would say and carragher about 1 or 2 so kelly and ayala can take the 4th spot and the replacement for carragher and by the time upson is retiring we would have more youngests coming through.
at left back we would have insua, ilunga and aurelio, with aurelio geting old and injury prone, ilunga would be a good buy.
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Hi Retry, Matt here!!!
Well I agree that we need a world class LB.Rafa gave that contract extension to Aurelio because of his versatality.He is our O’shea.Now we need a genuine
>LWB-like Cissokho,Vargas,Lahm
>LM/SS-like Pandev,Suarez,Mata
I think that Rafa wants in his 4-2-3-1 , 3 strikers playing in the flanks who could overload the box and score goals.
We already have Kuyt doing that in our RM we just need some one in our LM.
And against teams that park the bus play Benny to get more width.
Warren Bloggs - November 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Why spend a large sum of our finances on these two? Don’t get me wrong they are good, but they are not what we need at all! We have Carra and Agger as first choice and Skrtel, Kyrgiakos and Ayala as cover, so why do we need another 30+ year old defender? We also have Aurelio and Insua as our main choice left-backs, and although i rate Illunga i do not think he is neccesary at this point. Instead, i think we should concentrate our funds on attacking options e.g. Elia, Pavlyuchenko and Koman?!
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Kop King
Even though we allready have 3 left backs I would say that none are good enough as Aurelio is allways injured, Dossenajust couldn’t cut it for what ever reason and insua has no pace, no height and can’t cross for toffee. In saying that I don’t personally rate Ilunga too highly.
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
i thnk we need an aerially strong centre back also, hangeland maybe proven at prem level, and we need a better left back for insua to deputise for, i like dossena but fans will never give him a chance
dont think its so fair to have a go at insua , he is kinda like warnock, he isnt the quickest thats a criticism i d have
yeah vargas is a good attacking defender, lahm not so sure about cissohko looked good for lyon esp in the first leg
i d sell reina and buy lloris, he s the best keeper i ve seen in years, for 20 million, he is aged 22 get fifteen years out of him, plus we d get a shitload for reina from barca, not saying pepe isnt good , i just think lloris is special, and if we dont nab him then utd most definately will
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
twice against liverpool and twice against ireland in big matches he was excellent
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
and van nistelrooy for us for four million would be a good piece of business
RaNE - November 20th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Why have these two when we could have
Kelly and Ayala For Nothing
Digger - November 20th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
i would also love to see hines at liverpoool, a very good player.
i don’t think this will happen, upson possibly but i think liverpool would be best off trying to get krajer of palermo. he’s young and resembles hyphia in looks and playing style, apart from being quicker.
we have the reserves and quality in the form of skrtel, agger and carra… the greek was only ever back up so i don’t mind if he stays.
ANY MONEY we get should be in putting in the strike force.. we need a quality striker to either partner torres or can play alone, ngog has done a good enolugh job for someone so young but we need something extra to really get the goals. i only see Adriano as for the price you are getting a beast of a player.
i have said this before but for me i would love to see:
Adriano, vdv, drenthe, baptista, krajer, defour, (manly because the guy is pure class and so young).
these are serious additions to any team, and would love to see as a replacement when gerrard and torres are out, adriano with baptista and vdv behind. bootiful as bernard manning would say, just plain bootifull
Retryboy - November 20th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Wtf?! Sell reina? You have lost the plot kermit! If it wasn’t for him this season we would be in even worse trouble! As for the aerially strong centre back we have: carragher and san jose(6′1) agger, kelly and ayala(6′3) and skrtel(6′4) not including the greek dude who we should let go. Cissokho would be the one i would like us to spend big on and pick up Koman for £4m and bring back nemeth. That was my 3 on the 3 in 3 out story and i still think that LB is the area to strengthen. Good call with Vargas too as another option matt.
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
i agree retrtboy need that world class left back fully agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we got an awesome right back tho
RaNE - November 20th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Reina has been brilliant for us and he loves liverpool he’d never leave but i do agree with retryboy our defence is our main problem which needs fixing soon hopefully Dossena out we can bring in a cheap but effective
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
We don’t need defenders, we need a back up striker for Torres
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Please buy Ilunga,van nistlerooy and sell kygriakos,dossena,babel and degen.compliment johnson/kelly, aurelio/ilunga,carra/ayala,agger/skrtel,riera/adam johnson,aquilani/gerro,masch/lucas/benayoun,torres/van nistle/kuyt/nemeth/pacheco/ngog
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
why sign upson? at 30 he’s allready to old to make a lasting impact, ilunga is ok, but far from an exciting target. this story blows
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
yeap i d sell reina, lloris is a better goalkeeper
adriano dunno he drinks too muchh and likes to party too much, he wouldn t be happy being on the bench either, though i agree he isa monster, wonder if you could play them together upfront
vdv quality
defour my man to replace mascherano
maybe to drenthe, hasnt fulfilled his potential
kjaer anyoen who plays like hyppia is welcome
and no to baptista , overrated in my opinion, lacking basic ball control skills
and to retro you could eleven foot tall and not dominant in the air
we concede too many goals from set pieces , hence the need for4 a dominant centre back which neither carra nor skrtel are, agger is actually our best defender in the air, sami hyppia was dominant in the air both in our box and the oppositions box, i think carra suffers without sami around, i think carra suffers without that reassuring presence, they were a perfect combination.
we need a commanding centre back and on current form none of our cb s are commanding,
and to be totally honest i ve always believed reina to be overated, great on the deck great distribution , susceptible under the high ball and crosses, better than average shot stopper.
lloris has it all as a goalkeeper, he is good at literally everything, although admittedly not as good as reina on backpasses, but i dont think anyone in the world is. lloris is 22, for a goalkeeper in his national side that is young and that speaks volumes, he saved france lots against us , and he saved lyon against the other us.i think he is impeccable as a goalie, i still think there are question marks over reina.
and to retroboy again did you see skrtels challenge in the box to win the ball for birminghams first goal, he was weak and lame and not committed, you would not see vidic at man u make such a half arsed attempt, nor terry at chelsea.
plus our cbs dont wiegh in with enough goals
how many times did hyppia nod one in from a corner and save us, that threat has gone from our game. we need a fucking monster at cb, someone who wont be take no shit nor be intimidated by the likes of drogba. this is just an opinion by the way
i d sell masch too and buy defour for a third of the price, better on the ball than masch
a world class lb wouldnt go amiss either by the way but i dont have one in mind that fits, and a top class left winger is needed, not silva, mata maybe.
and actually the more i think of it the more sense adriano makes, he s a fucking savage can hold the ball up really well , something torres is unable to do,
anything else erm nah thats about it for now
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
i dont see any insanity in selling a very good goalkeeper and buying an excellent one
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
if we could get adriano for less than ten million i d do it
Donavan Ried - November 20th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
ROLL ON SATURDAY…….. This story is made up out of boredom
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
yeah its been too long since we played
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
no thanks, i prefer silva and elia
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
silva is weak elia i ve never actually seen so i cant comment.
i think we ll beat city by two goals
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
maybe more actually, 4-1 liverpool
kermit - November 20th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
birmingham 1-1 fulham
burnley 0-1 villa
chelsea 3-0 wolves
hull 2-1 west ham
sunderland 2 -2 arsenal
man utd 1-1 everton
bolton 1-2 blackburn
spurs 1 -2 wigan
stoke 1-1 portsmouht
now rodallega to liverpool ten million , i like this guy
spike - November 21st, 2009 at 12:14 am
personally i think this is a waste of money
i think rafa should invest in an attacking midfielder
eg MATA or VDV
spike - November 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
or maybe a hamsik
spike - November 21st, 2009 at 12:36 am
with dossena in the deal…..
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 12:37 am
Very funny. Why? We need, and APSOLUTELY need a striker who will score… When Torres or Gerrard are injured, there is no available goalscorer. Lst season Xabi scored some very important goals but he’s gone now. Let’s see what Aquillani can do, and let’s buy some lucid striker. I’m delighted with my compatriot Milan Jovanovic… He’s more then good, can play left wing (for serbia) or striker (even better ( for standard)).
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 3:06 am
that kermit guy is funny.
really is a billiant goalkeeper, i dont know wat ur thinking.
if any thing this has been his best season and hes amongst the top goalkeepers in the world
it would be stupid to sell him
we do have defensive issues but buying two average players wont help it!
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 3:17 am
Hola Kermit, Matt here!!!
Why just sell Reina.Let us also sell Torres for 70mp and buy Aguero or Pato.They are young and we will play for a long time.
Kid grow up.This is no FIFA10.
Another classy LWB available would be Taiwo.
Koman really looks classy.Good call retry.
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 6:34 am
sorry mate i am 33, and barca would offer 25 million for reina, lloris would cost under twenty and he is a better keeper
pato and aguero are not better than torres
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 6:36 am
i have always held question marks over reina, i have never rated him the way others do, he is very vulnerable under the high ball and fails to dominate his area adequately, lloris is the full package , he is an excellent shot stopper, excellent in dealing with crosses , commands his box , he s brilliant, the only advanatage reina has over him is his composure with backpasses and quick distribution.
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 10:02 am
kermit – November 20th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
silva is weak elia i ve never actually seen so i cant comment.
i think we ll beat city by two goals…
??
did u ever watched silva playing with spain or valencia? he’s the top 3 play makers around and he can play as a striker he’s got some good shots even tho he’s small
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 10:08 am
once we keep agger fit we don’t need anyone else and i agree that kelly is a class act better than darby ayala and san jose,even degen the donkey.i hope his injury clears up
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am
and elia is too quick and got some nice dribbles. he’s a promising winger and i think he’s way better than babel
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Liverpool should reach for a number of players we could buy k.honda from vvv venlo and play him as a defending midfielder and for fire power either alexis sanchez from riverplate or is it udinese and the french international gignac bcuz i thinks he is quality
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
i dont care who rates silva , m=the spanish league is so slow my granny could play in it and be a decent playmakers, i still think he is way overrated, i ve seen hm play for spain at the european championships and i thought he was overated and gave te ball away and took the wrong option too often
i cant see him doing so well away to bolton in february.
he wouldnt be in my team, its totally personal, i would much prefer mata who looks a lot more solid and balanced
lst year our best ever finis to a league m did you ssee our midfield lineup, riera alonso gerrrard mascherano kuyt, all strong men. our midfield was intimidating kinda like chelsea. There is no way silva would get the space in the premiership that he is afforded in spain. hewould not get so much time on the ball. and i also dont care who think i am nuts to sell reina , i ve always thought he is overated, and i am open to be proven wrong , as i have been with glen johnson.
i do not deny reina has put in some big displays this year.however is still think lloris is the more complete and safer goalkeeper.
and thats what i would want at the back . i m ot saying reina isn t abd goalkeeper , he is a very good goalkeeper, his reading of the game is excellent , he plays it almost like a sweeper, and he is quick to snuff out danger from balls over the top or through the middle. i think we are hoever very fortunate that refs are so lenient on goalkeepers or at times we would be in severe trouble.
lloris on the other hand , twice against us in the champions league and twice now aganst ireland has proven he is the real deal on the big stage, in all four matches he was in my opinion man of the match, ridiculously brave, brillaint at covering his angles and good in one on ones with opposing attackers.he was safe under every high ball that came in, he looked totally reassured for a 22 year old , bearing in mind that a goalkeeper is the position of greatest responsibilty on the pitch., this guy is gonna be immense by the time he is 26/27, as good if not better than iker casillas is, another keeper who rightly in my opinion keeps reina out of the spanish national team.
and we do need a commanding centre half, i agree that agger is class, i think that carra reads the game superbly, and together they area good pairing, but agger being fit is not something i would be relying on. plus we lack goals from our centre backs , when we needed a goal sami hyppia could ioften be relied upon to head one in, we lack this now also
at left back , i feel dossena has had aseriously rough time , and could have been an excellent player for us, am a big fan of his psycho head
glen johnson , i take my hat off too, i didnt think he has the abilty he does, was totally wrong about him, and i do not think his defensive qualities are as bad as people make them out to be, he has saved us a few times at the back this season, massively impressed by him , well done glen
i hope that rafa is being careful with aquilani so as to sort his fitness slowly for the long term that he wont be injured again for a long time. i have been as impatient as anyone over the last few weeks to see him in action
anyways i doubt he will start today.
3 maybe 4 -1 to liverpool , i can sense the backlash coming, and someday soon some team is gonna get absolutely thumped at anfield, someday we will take all the chances we create and win 7 or 8 nil, hopefully it is today, though i dont think we lll beat city by ths amount, big battle once again for masch and lucas in the middle
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I personally think there are better ways to spend the limited funds we have. Although some additional experience at the back is always nice, Carra wont last another season, he’s already losing the legs a with strikers getting faster every year its only gonna get harder! also a natural right winger would be handy!
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
watch manchester utd buy lloris
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
carras speed is not the issue, i dontbelieve that maldini played til he was 38 at cb, carra reads the game well enough at cb to compensate for his loss of speed.
at right back he looks a liabilty at times, but not massively so at cb,
babel deserves his chance on the right, its where he shines most he has no left foot so playing wide left him getting tothe byline is pointless, but on the right he can come inside and play one twos or go outside, use his pace and whip crosses in. i liked babels words i readsomewhere this year , he wants to stay , wants to fight and win his place, and i am certain that ryan babel performing with confidence is a definate starter in our first eleven.
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 21st, 2009 at 1:15 pm
benitez bought Chris Mavinga in the summer. He is a left back and has been doing very well in the reserves. In my opinion we do not need any more defenders. 15 million pounds could be put to better use if you ask me.
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
just seen the line out for the city game lucas…masharano…kuyt benitez is a stubern shity manager god help us you can see what i mean we will lose with this line out
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
mavinga does look good hoogle , shame babel went off injured he looked really threatening down the left and had the beating of zablayeta, ngog has started reasonably well, what a save bygiven from skrtel
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:20 pm
is really disappointed babel went off actually he looked lively, but city look dangerous going forward
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:23 pm
good start to the game for insua also, he s taken a bit of stick recently, lucas need to outshine stephen ireland here today , i think thta battle could be critical
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
and masch is playing well again
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:42 pm
benayoun hasnt had a topuch since he came on , not good enough yossi, no one showing for the ball in midfield, ball forced back to skrtel and carra to send long balls to ngog , not good enough from lucas either today, though he did fly from brazil yesterday, i will forgive him feeling off the pace, time to introduce aquaman for lucas
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
wooohooo aquilani is warming up
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
give him forty mins rafa
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
well done martin
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
lucas needs to come off he looks jaded, he flew back frombbrazil last night , not fair to him by benitez
...samlfc.... - November 21st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Kermit hows the game going………i haven’t got sky
lol
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
and reina is doing well under the high ball today
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
1-0 liverpool but its allcity at the moment
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:20 pm
make that 1-1 adebayor equalises
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:20 pm
fucking woeful defending from a corner, city deserved a goal though in fairness
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:22 pm
city will win this if benitez doesnt do something, city are dominating the middle of the field, really poor defending by skrtel for the adebayor goal
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
not happy again benitez needs to do soemthing city have been on top for twenty mins and he is doing nothing, any blind man could have seen a city goal coming, and even now he needs to do something and he isn t
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
gerrard has been missing all second half also, he needs to drop back and give a hand in midfield, maschernao anonymous lucas also and kuyt and benayoun, we havent had the ball for twenty mins, i m not happy
2-1 city
now i am even less than happy
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
BENITEZ OUT
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
2-2 benayoun slightly happier still not wiht benitez
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:29 pm
i still think we are playing like fucktards
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
good save reina from wrgith phillips
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
city are still the better team
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:32 pm
ffs aurelio isnt gonna win you the game, benitez is playing for a draw , this is disgusting
...samlfc.... - November 21st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Thanks for keeping us updated Kermit and any sign of Aquilani coming on?
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
we are inferior all over the field
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
no agger and babel went off injured early inthe game, so he only had one sub left all game, now benayoun looks like he is gonna come off with aurelio coming on, pity babel looked really lively at the start
city deserve to win this game in my opinion
yossi off aurelio on
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:37 pm
free kick liverpool dangerus area, oh ffs what a woeful delivery he balloooned the free kick way over the bar
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:37 pm
tevez has been superb since he came on
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
we are very poor this half, very poor
...samlfc.... - November 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Having read some of the posts about bad midfield and stuff why isn’t he putting on Aquilani?
he would make a big difference
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
2 mins left plus injury time
oh erm samlfc
if you google myp2p you will get to a website that shows aqll premiership matches, you ll need to download sopcast to watch them, but thats how i see the games
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
he has no subs left, we are pressing for a winner now, 4 mins added time, totally agree aquilani would have been useful this half , he looks pissed off onthe bench also, gerrard has been totally anonymous, too many long balls played form the back, this is like watching wimbledon
for future reference sam , if you google myp2p, thats a site that shows the games, you d need to download sopcast to watch them though
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:43 pm
i hate moderation, no subs left
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:44 pm
2 mins left, corner to us come on skrtel kyrgiakos someone head one in, another corner to us
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:45 pm
lucas fluffed a header to win it, a draw final result, not overly happy
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:48 pm
city ought nt be bossing the game against us at home, tevez made a huge difference for city when he came on
needs a breather, this isn t good , defense errors again, now someone try tell me we dont need a commanding centre half, bossed in midfield all second half , lucas i forgive, he has jetlag, mascherano gerrard totally missing in action, benayoun prob not fully fit enough, but also hugely anonymous, aquilani looks a little peeved he didnt get a game , he looks mad to start playing
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
now watch chelsea batter wolves and go too many clear of us
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
kermit you have got way to much tiome on your hands man….but good comments, wish lucus had buried that header, but fair play to the kid thought he had a alrite game compared to the rest… i really don’t know whats happened to the lads this season we would have scored the third last year its like theres no real urgency any more… the defence is awful maybe people need a kick up the back side with some new additions, Krapiarcus needs to be sold, very very bad defender, surprised for someone so big getting out jumped by wright-phillips thats not right. plus he’s very lite wieght…
i am not sure with aqulani, if he was fit he should of started why have him on the bench???? the match needed someone after we equalised the get going man city were rocked.
overall not pleased, really unhappy with def and having two holding midfielders is just to negative.
only good thing was that ngog was good and seems to get better and better….nice skill before he had the deflected shot which fell to benni…
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 3:59 pm
we need to sell masch, is not the same player that we had last year…. SELL, SELL, SELL and get some money in,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
and buy aguero………………………………………..
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:03 pm
skrtel was worse thna kyrgiakos in my opinion, lucas is totally jetlagged, and didnt play very well in my opinion, aquilani looks really fit and in good shape on the bench, he looked like he was mad to get on, ngog was good first half totally isolated second half, gerrard didnt look interested or even like getting involved, something is wrong there not like him at all,
benayoun couldnt have been fitter than aquaman, insua did reasonably well at left back , masch was greta first half , not sure he was even playing second half
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
or at least a portion of him, maybe we can have some joint ownership with chelsea were we have him for one game then they have him for one game then we have him etc etc, or have a word with him pay for plastic surgery and say that we brought him from the 3rd division polish league and name im Agueroinski….ok i’m getting desperate…..i just want that little argentinian at anfield
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
i d still buy steven defour, for midfield, i reckon aquilani will play against everton,
and yeha i got too much time on my hands , but i got the game here live on computer so i have both windows open, and was providing commentary for sam
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
i d rather have tevez than aguero on the evidence of this match, i thought he was superb when he came on totally turned the game
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:07 pm
really disappointed that babel got injured, he really looked up for this game and when a half fit yossi came on we lost a threat down the left side, no pace right side either with kuyt there and johnson injured , our whole attack lacked any real pace after babel went off
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 4:09 pm
How can anyone defend Lucas, he doesn’t offer any creativity and is amature defensively. Just passes the ball 5 yards left, right or back, gives away unnecessary free kicks and misses great chances. He’s about as useful as a Subbuteo player
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
the quality of arsenals younfsters compared to ours is worrying, totally off topic, but ramsey and wilshire will be top top players, and made replacements for fabregas, where is our next gerrard,
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:14 pm
i defedn lucas because, he is just doing the job his manager tells him to do dont get forward stay back and hold the midfield with mascherano, i blame benitez not lucas, though i dont think it was lucas s best game for us, plus he flew back from brazil late last night, not good playing after 12 hours on a plane and lucas is a much better footballer than we are seeing
instead of accusing lucas of a lack of creativity i think the finger ought to be pointed more firmly at stevie g, lucas isnt in there to create stevie is
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
i also defend lucas because he is former brazilian player of the year, isnt a defe3nsive midfielder yet manages to do as well as mascherano in the role, he has been abused for two years by supposed fans, his confidence isnt great and he fucking needs the support.
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:18 pm
i do think we need to bring someone in for carra, i have noticed in many games that even though he reads the game better than anyone around the strikers are just getting to fast for him, someone commented that Maldini lasted so long without real speed, thats a great comment but the italian league has never really been that quick its more of a technical league, and one in which i’m sure carra could still be at the top of his game.
this league is just too fast for him, he seems to have last that extra yard he had last year. you can tell how good carra is because since Rio has lost his speed everyone can now see how much the guy relied on his speed to cover up for bad positioning and a inability to read the game.
i love carra but this season we should buy another quality defender as replacement. agger and skrtel should be first choices as cb next season. and krajer if we had the money should be brought in, or play ayala more
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:20 pm
chelsea 2-0 after fifteen mins , league over, now rafa you may aswell make your big changes now, if masch is going get rid of him use this as a transition year, buy in defour , give babel a run of games to prove himself if not then sell him, send torres for surgery to fix himself properly.
sign a cb, because ours are costing us points
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
we shoud sign hangeland, kjaer preferably , but right now i d like hangeland he is in his prime as adefender, bed him so we can challenge for the league next year
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
3-0 chelsea ffs, this could end up ten nil
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:26 pm
kermit spot on lucus is not there for creativity, he is there to break up play and pass to some one like gerrard to do something with. and he’s doing that. he had a better game then masch did.
i again state we should not be playing 2 def midfielders.
Babel was playing well, i really want rafa to just start playing him upfront, we’ve lost the league and prob out of champs league, whats he got to lose now.
and kermit mate enjoyed your match commentary your wasted here you shouuld be working for the match of the day.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:28 pm
lol yeah thinking about football journalism as a career
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:29 pm
though i think my genuine commentary contains too many expletives for match of the day
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
at home i agree we ought nt play two def midfielders, one def and two attacking, and away from home against shit teams, but with two dm against top sides away from home
Liverpool FC Danny - November 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Benitez isn’t good enough, he told them to sit back after they get 1-0 up and end up going behind. ZONAL DOESN’T WORK FOR LIVERPOOL!!! We need a manager like O’Neill, Zola or Mourinho (Glen Johnson wouldn’t be happy to work for Mourinho again though).
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:34 pm
mate you got a gift why not…
but seriously mate tell me you views, i really think when johnson comes back shift him up to right wing. we need someone who can whip in some quality balls and even though i love the kuyt man he should not be playing there any more… i still want kuyt playing and would try and see how he does at def midfield. thius may sound crazy but think he can tackle very well, and is like a powerhorse i would love to see the guyin the middle, think he would do a excellent job..
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:34 pm
it was just poor marking by skrtel, he gave adebayor way too much space and in fairness i ve seen adebayor score headers from corners too many times before for himto be allowed that much room, idiocy
we need to keep benitez til summer then sign capello
johnson would be happy to play for capello
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:43 pm
kuyt for me is a goal poacher, i d have him playing alongside torres ,
riera left gerrard and masch central and babel right side in a four four two
actually last year i thought about kuyt as a right back for the same reasons, but i dont think as a dm kuyt can hold the ball enough.
and at the moment i would drop gerrard
and play aquiani and masch in there because gerrard has been shit poor all season, he is no doubted class but i d drop him anyway. i d even let lucas play in a 442 alongside masch and give him more freedom to play his natural box to box game.
i m totally convinced babel is totally gifted and could and should be destroying defenses
riera is very good on the ball but isnt quick enough to be an out and out winger, so 442 would suit him better also
and babel for the right side, on the left babel has no left foot so getting to the byline is a waste of tme, but on the right side he could cause a lot of damage there.
my team sheet with everyone fit its debatable whether to play 442 or 4141
depending on how aqulani fits in
if he fits in well then 4141 with him and gerrard behind torres babel wide right riera left. subs benayoun and kuyt
masch holding in behind with lucas as his understudy
i think a 4 1 41 is how you get the best out of mascherano, hes not so good on the ball, so let him spend all his time doing what he does best, tackling winning the ball and giving to to players like aquilani and gerrard
i actually think masscherano would prefer to be the sole holding nidfielder tha way he gets to own his own ar4ea of the pitch and thats when he excels
Digger - November 21st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
i would never like to see mourinho at liverpool, as soon as he see’s it slike with gillet and hicks and not getting any money he’ll leave.
same with o’neil amd zola. its very easy to say we need a new manager but you also need to look at the set up…O’neil, (who i really would like to see run liverpool one day), has such a great relationship with randy learner.. would he give that up to work with pinky and perky??? all the extra hassle?? no don’t think so…..
i would like rafa to stay and see how he would get on with a change in owners
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:44 pm
erm johnson for right wing, erm i dunno, i think he likes attacking from deep and he is a very good defender despite what some people say, hehas put ina lot of last dotch headers tackles and blocks this season
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:48 pm
my main gripe with benitez is his inabilty to react during the game
today anyone could see city were getting on top and something needed to be done, but he didnt, now in his defense he did only have one sub left , though i am certain even if he had three he would have been to slow to make the changes neccesary, this for me is the mark of a bad reader of the game
i mean if i can sit and see city goals coming, then i dont see why he can not, and if he can what on earth is he waiting for , city to score before he makes the change, no he doesw this way too often for me,
actually at this moment in time i am very impressed with trappatoni, he made really swift decisions when we went behind against france in the first leg, i like that in my manager, mourn=inho does it also, these guys have balls
nanaghlfc - November 21st, 2009 at 4:50 pm
when will our defenders start marking the post during set-pieces? if we had aman at the far post, he could easily have headed adebayor’s ball out. this is not abt man/zonal marking it’s just common sense. clearing the ball off the line is as good as scoring a goal.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:51 pm
i dunno mourinho doesnt have that much cash at inter , andhe pulled off the best dela of all time getting et o o and forty million for ibrahimovic, thats a good transfer deal , we could use someone that smart in the transfer market, he also picked up drogba as a nobody, no i think mourinho has a good eye for players, just dont like that he used to manage chelsea, would take me some time to get over that, but i am in no doubt he is an excellent manager.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
eeryone knows how good adebayor is in the air , fuck he has scored from corners against us for arsenal, bad defending, i m all for splashing 12 million on hangeland
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 4:56 pm
and another point to ponder lucas always plays better when gerrard isnt playing, i have an idea why this is , but i think it would seem so far fetched to some that i rarelty say it,
i dont think gerrard would be happy with lucas playing as he did for gremio banging in goals from everywhere and being the new golden boy, so i think lucas is intimidated by him, and lucas is happier scoring goals than playing defesnive midfield, but i have another theory on that too , but if i keep going i could be here all day
Scouse Magic - November 21st, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Kermit on your first point if we need a World Class Left back, then we need a world class right back, world class centre back, world class left winger, world class right winger. It’s a position that we have covered, Insua i think is a great prospect and given time, will prove so, needs to work more on his positioning but he’s not far away and Ilunga is no better than what we have.
Also if we were to MAN MARK instead of Zonal, the centre backs we have now would have more confidence, thus not having lapses in concentration due to pressure from free moving attackers.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:06 pm
we have a world class right back, and i would agree we need a world class left winger and i think babel could be a world class right winger, insua is a good prospect yes and i actually think dossena is a lot better than people give him credit for, shame he will never get a chance, still think we need an aerially dominant centre half
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
compare our left back to chelseas man utd and arsenals
our left back is the worst of the four, now compare all the positions on the field,
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:09 pm
we have possibly the best right back,
we have torres who s easily drogbas equal gerrard who will match anyone, mascherano who defensively will match anyone except essien
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:12 pm
arsenal lack a goalkeeper, chelsea seem to lack nothing, man utd lack quite a bit, we lack a left back, an aerially dominant centre back (terry vidic), still unsure about riera s worth sometimes he is great sometimes woeful, i will be amazed if chelsea dont win the league and champions league this year
nanaghlfc - November 21st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
we do need a left back who provide us with the attacking options we get from johnson on the right. but we need a right winger at all cost. kuyt is just not good enough.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:14 pm
essien is more adaptable than mascherano , he is better footballer, song is vastly improved at arsenal, man utds midfield is fucking terrible, i thnk man utd are a myth at the moment that will shatter at some point when people stop playign the reputation and actually start playing the opposing eleven players, if rooney gets injured, utd look in trouble to me.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:17 pm
babel has played his best games for us as a right winger, if he plays right wing then he can cross with his right foot or come inside and look for one twos with gerrard torres
and seeing as this season looks fucked i think rafa ought to give him a long run in the team and if he doesnt cut it then sell him, babel is a threat wherever he plays, city were scared of his pace today , you could see it , we were slower and less threatening after benayoun came on.
Scouse Magic - November 21st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
As much as i like Johnson he is too easily beaten for my liking as first and foremost a Right Back, yes he is quality going forward and a good crosser of the ball.
Unfortunately we only have 4 world class players (Reina, Masch, Gerrard, Torres), where as alot of the other teams have more and we also do not have the funds to match any of the top 6.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:25 pm
i think we have only gerrard and torres as truly world class players, then we have reina mascherano agger carragher johnson as very very good players, then yossi kuyt riera babel lucas skrtel as pretty good players , then aurelio insua dossena ngog as reasonalbe players, then kyrgiakos degen voronin as players who are never gonna make it with us
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:27 pm
world class meaning they would get into aq world squad of the top twenty five players in the world, mascherano wouldnt make my midfield of the worlds best eight midfelders ) johnson would have a better chance of making the ssquad
Scouse Magic - November 21st, 2009 at 5:31 pm
There’s only 1 better keeper than Reina and that’s Casillas.
Masch is in the top 3 def midfield players.
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:32 pm
gk casillas , cech, lloris
rb dani alves maicon johnson
cb vidic terry ferdinand(not on current form) carvalho alex ( vastly underrated)
lb cole clichy evra
midfielder gerrard kaka ronaldo fabregas essien xavi and his barca team mate cant think of his name
strikers torres drogba messi eto o rooney
thats 26 or so
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
i think lloris is better than reina, i also think cech is better than reina, top three holding midfielders essien, senna maybe mascherano
still wouldnt make my twenty five squad
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
and to be totally honest for the second half today he was very coca cola championship class
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:37 pm
iniesta the other guy form barca
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:37 pm
and i definately think both aquilani and babel have world class potential
kermit - November 21st, 2009 at 5:38 pm
and with time lucas can be one of the strongest midfielders in the premiership
nanaghlfc - November 21st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
kermit the barce player is iniesta. how much is barce willing to pay for masch?
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
benitez out terrible terrible tactics makes me mad terrible performance yet again no real attacking threat ridiculous actually keep 2 defensive mids on and we ll lose the league yet again and one striker upfront stubborn and keep on saying next year next year getting embarissing really guys we dnt look such a world class outfit…….
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 5:52 pm
sell masherano get that 30 mill quickly as he isnt worth that much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 6:30 pm
yes first step forward for us is to sack benitez this is the only solusion.HE is verry verry stuburn stuburn shity manager . we need better players than kuyt and masharano and lucas for god sake.WE have a big big problem and benitez cant see it time to sack him now or if you want to stand by him be ready for the worse.sorry lfc fance we need to shout benitez out in the nex game and yes be prepared for tuesday we will be out this is all down to benitez team selection.I have had enough of this yanks the right thing tomorrow sack him that is the only way forward.
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
first posision to strengthen is right wing kuyt simply not good enough for liverpool fc drop lucas sell masharano 40 mill this is why we keep on getting bad and bad but benitez cant see so sack him now before it is to late
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Benitez is an embarssement to LFC and needs to be sacked now!
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:18 pm
buy steven defour and joveticwth the forty million from mascherano
an embarasment is a bit harsh , he was unlucky today , he could n t really make any subs because tow were enforced on him earlyin thegame
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:19 pm
the mancs are winning again
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:20 pm
gonna be a long hard fight for fourth spot this season methinks
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Defend again????liverpool should buy one tough striker….
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
2 defensive playing like we trying to stay in the premier rather than challenging for the title ridiculous next year again lfc fans!!!!benitez lucas macherano out
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 21st, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Listen to yourselves. It’s like a kindergarten on this site. Stop the pathetic whining. It’s embarrassing.
Hoogleboogybugleboy - November 21st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I bet all the other teams fans are wetting themselves reading this drivel. The fans on this site are in no way an accurate crossection of the Liverpool fans that I know. Get behind the team ffs. This is disloyalty of the highest order.
RaNE - November 21st, 2009 at 8:41 pm
When liverpool is doing bad – SACK RAFA
When Liverpool is doing good – BUY PLAYERS
I dont get it
Warren Bloggs - November 21st, 2009 at 8:56 pm
SPOT ON RaNE!
To many fans change there minds far too quickly, i mean its fair enough to not like Rafa if you have solid reasons like Retryboy and Donovan Reid. However, it seems to me that too many fans come on here and slate Rafa after a poor performance and then fall in love with him again after one miserly win?! Make a choice people and stick to it, and if you do happen to change your mind then at least give a valid argument as appose to using Lucas Leiva as soem pathetic exuse for a scapegoat! Lucas is a good player, and he is steadily improving i voice Kermit’ beleif (if not a bit exagerated) that he will be a key member of our young squad for years to come…have faith.
Yes, Mascherano is not happy, and yes we will not win the Premier League this season, so maybe Kermit is right in that we should use this season to re-build after the frolic of last summer, bring in new blood and push for that 4th, 3rd place.
...samlfc.... - November 21st, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Warren Bloggs
well said!!!
i’m upset that we can’t win the league this year but we can still fight for 4th spot maybe even 3rd or 2nd as i believe its Chelseas to lose..
and also there is the FA cup and C.L/europa cup so its not all doom and gloom
As for Rafa all i can say is i want the team to do well and if that means keeping him then keep him if not then not. i’m not a Rafa fan nor am i a hater.
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 9:34 pm
paul here ive been telling people for awhile rafa has to go, with out a doubt after todays 2-2 draw with man city it looks like he’s lost the trust of his player’s and once more hes blaming injuries again and it’s starting to wear thin at this stage , sure look at west ham utd they have loads of injuries but they haven’t lost as many games and i hate that word character rafa always uses it, character doesn’t win bloody games guts and gile does and from my point of veiw he should have bought better signings to cover the injured instead of lame excusses, its time to go rafa 7th in the table and 13 points behind chelsea we coceaded 20 goals in 13 games it just not good enough, im sure the yanks don’t mind putting an extra 20m on to the debt already just to get rid of rafa surely if we draw or loose this week in the champions league which is a dead cert he has to go, he has brought us this far and i can’t see him doing anything else, fresh approach is needed big time, i was right about man city i see in the independent hughes is going after torres in january and i bet the bid would be 125m. i won’t blame if he leaves we haven’t won a trophy in 3 years no make it 4 after this brutal season.
Donavan Ried - November 21st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
First off, good evening to …samlfc…. RaNE, Kermit, that old Scouse Magic and and lastly Mr Warren Bloggs Good evening all …..
I typed and saved this post earlier ……
A largely disappointing game for supporters and neutrals a like …… the game failed to get started first half and yet more enforced changes although the one with Agger for Kyrgiakos did not turn out to bad as he kept Adebayor quite in their encounters for most of the match …..
Yet an again Rafa’s insistence on “Zonal Marking” proves to be Liverpool’s undoing ……
In fairness to Rafa I can’t blame him for this lose. Although I can again question his choice of players….
When ever I see N’gog up front I question our ability to score. His first touch is often poor and he seems to want an eternity on the ball. Can’t really turn players. Does he even know how to strike the ball first time? …. And yet another example why we need a quality striker
Alberto Aquilani…. I am beginning to think that this guy is a long way from being fit, and that the only reason that Rafa puts him on the bench is to Justify the boss spending so much money on him … If not why not play him?…. He risks having Benayoun, Aurelio, and Riera on the bench and plays Gerrard all players carrying injuries so why hold back Alberto Aquilani? ….….
There is no longer any heart or fire in the team, the Supporters can sense this. Even through some of the worse times Anfield has never been so subdued …..
At the end of the day a point was more than we deserted, so I count us lucky to get that …….
Donavan Ried - November 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Maybe it is right for Rafa to go, but not for this game
Reds Lewis - November 21st, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Evening all,
Donovan I agree with you here….im starting to thik Aquilani is a loooong way off starting…..i was think that before this game tbh…why isnt he playing. There must be something that has gone drastically wrong or unplanned somewhere that is holding it up….cos hes been training for like what 4 weeks? seriously in 4 weeks worth of training he could at least start to play the first half couldnt he?
Shame about babel coming off with an injury…he looked up for this one and I thought he would have had a decent game…
If he was fit id rather have seen yossi on the right rather than kuyt….especially considering Johnson wasnt playing so there was DEFINATELY no need for a right sided defensive winger…
Not too sure on Ngog yet…
He is surprisingly strong for a player of his stature however he seems to still be a bit naive in what to do….lacks a sort of killer instinct that strikers like drogba and torres have…..
we had a fair few missed chances today and im pretty sure that it proved today that we dont need to change the defence at all…its the striking power that we lack.
Ngog will be good in a few years after working on his skill…but he isnt good enough at the moment…he played well against Bham but doesnt quite have the experience to better the likes of citys defence yet…
On the subject of Lucas….he played some good balls …but he needs to stop passing sideways…and im also not too sure that he and Gerrard get along…at one point he set up for a 1-2 with gerrard and lucas could have broken into their box easily but gerrard instead passed to i think it was Mascherano….
basically we need to spend around 20m on a decent striker who can score against big teams in january….or we can kiss goodbye to a top 4 finish if torres gets injuired again…
anonymous - November 21st, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Kop King
I firmly dissagree and believe that trafa is whole heartedly to blame for this defeat as once again he put out a negative side with poor tactics to match,
How carragher can be played at right back is insulting to him and to the natural right backs available and also the continued inclusion of the shoddy kuyt even over the likes of el zhar is shocking.
Rafa is slowly destroying our beloved team and I thought city deserved the victory seeing as they where the only team playing football and not just hoofing the ball up field at any oportunity.
Rafa is at the wrong club he should be at Wimbledon.
Retryboy - November 21st, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Evening all have to agree with Kop king on this. What is rafa’s problem with stephen darby? He is a top quality right back but again he prefers to break up our best centre back pairing and play carragher at right back where his lack of pace is obviously going to be exposed.
He persists with his 2 defensive midfielders rather than play aquilani how many weeks ago was he declared fit? Only reason he isn’t playing him is because he won’t leave out golden boy lucas and goes for workhorses over creativity every time. We have had bad injuries for the last month, we have been terrible all season and every game we have played we have had enough quality available to win. Its rafa’s tactics, selections and substitutions that are the main factor in our league position. A third of the season gone and we are closer to the relegation zone than to the top of the table.
Digger - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:31 am
it is getting harder and harder to defend rafa, i want him to stay but todays performance was bad… city were awful i think if torres was playing he would have got a hatrick.
i don’t understand why aurelio didn’t start off as insua was having alot of problems with wright-phillips. i would have gone with aurelio, also aqua man is obviously far from fit, why you would not start him or stick him on when our midfield was cryin out for some creativity i don’t know. carra at right back against bellamy… why?? he has darby. why not play him there?, we need something else upfront, ngog i really like and i think he will be a cracking player in the future but the guy is 20 he needs help. why not stick on pacheco?, play babel upfront?, we need a traditional right winger, even though i love the guy he is the best defensive right winger in the game but when playing two defensive midfielders and 4 at the back, thats 7 defenders!!!!!
skrtel needs some time off to reflect the guy is making stupid mistakes, thje greek guy is trully awful he makes pelligrino look good when he played for us…. i understand he brought him in for cover and also to be a experienced head round the kids but i don’t think he can teach ayala anything he’s so light wieght for a big guy and seems to go down a lot… why not try and pick up sol campbell for january??? won’t cost much, (well won’t cost anything), and he wouldn’t be bad as cover…
January needs to be a time for a rebuild here:
look sell masch, degen, el zhar, kuyt, voronin, skrlet, dossena, plessis, riera that must come to about 80million…
now buy Adriano, (extra striker play buy himself or with torres), baptista, (play just behind strikers), campbell, drenthe, (play at left wing), vdv, (can play at right wing or behind strikers), defour, (beautiful young player who can play def mid and att mid), and krajer … no one here is over 20mill we can get these players.
i would also promote nemeth, pacheco, mavinga, darby, spearing, simon to the first team.
that would leave a team to start of
———-reina———
johnson—–krajer–agger—aurelio
vdv—–gerrard—defour—drenthe
——–adriano—-torres——-
with subs being
nemeth
carra
mavinga
baptista
lucus
benni
Digger - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 am
although we could just sell masch and dossena and buy aguero………
Reds Lewis - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 am
lol…if masch has to go i agree…bring in aguero..however thats just moving the problem now
Digger - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 am
look the problem we have is no money
Digger - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 am
we are in trouble, there was so many rumours about how were we going to buy and all these people we were linked with, and who came in johnson, greek guy and aqua, but alonso and arboloa left… so effectively our team got weaker…. johnson is pure quality and aqua may be great but the fact of the matter is its nearing dec and we are out of the titile chase and possibly europe, now this may cost us 20mill. so in the jan transfer window what we going to do?? well even sellin masch we may not get all the money to use on transfers, (as alonso sale proved).
well to me the problem is quite clear WE NEED NEW OWNERS AND INVESTMENTS….
how else can rafa build for the future?? sell torres??? no matter what manager comes in they will want to buy players and not be told if they sell the top players they can buy others…
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 am
id say we really need two more class players, and we need to really sort out the left mid and right mid.
for right mid i really really want to see milner play there and for left mid id like to see ashley young but i think abit over priced so mata would be a good buy or ben arfa as he as fallen out with his manager.
…………………….reina…………………….
johnson..carragher..agger..insua
………………mascherano………………
………gerrard……….aquilani………….
milner…………………………………mata
……………………torres……………………..
other positions we need to look at are cb and left back, i think ayala and kelly are good enough to replace carragher next season. and for left back we should just sell dossena and aurelio(to injury prone) and sign a class left back taiwo or cissokho.
Donavan Ried - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:26 am
Good Evening Reds Lewis, Digger, Kop King,Retryboy……
While i did say the i could not blame Rafa, That was based on the players he picked. ….
I also when on to say that…. “Although I can again question his choice of players….”
It also amazes me why he does not pick Darby as he looks solid a right back and also looks like a younger version of Carra’ in the way he plays …….
Just how long while Aquilani be warming the bench? Real feel there is something a miss here and not just Rafa wanting to play Lucas ….. By hey, I could be wrong …
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:46 am
In January, selling Riera (9m), Voronin(1.5-2m), Itandje(1m), Dossena(4m), Gulacsi(0.5m) would be advisable. That’d come to about 17m, then we can buy Baptista for 11m, and Elano? for 10m. (Hoping for a few million from the Yanks.)
Bring in the youngsters to cover (Pacheco etc.) and we’re sorted.
Starting line up looking something like:
GK: Reina
LB: Aurelio
CB: Agger
CB: Carragher
RB: Johnson
LM: Elano
CM: Aquilani
CM: Mascherano
RM: Gerrard
SS: Baptista
CF: Torres
Subs: Cavalieri, Skrtel, Darby, Lucas, Benayoun, Pacheco, Babel
Donavan Ried - November 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 am
Digger – November 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 am….. “How else can Rafa build for the future??”….
This is why I say Rafa has to be smart in his buys…..
(1) Take a player on loan first where he can…… So we can see if they fit and what medical problems they have…. Plus if a player wants to really come to Liverpool they won’t mind come here on loan first
(2) When taking a player on a “Free” sign then for a year instead of giving them a four year contract straight off….. So we don’t get any more Voronin type plays that are just here for the money
(3) Both of the above also gives the player a chance to see if they will settle, while not committing the club, and paying a play for the four years while they decide to just stay and draw wages (Voronin)
(4) Instead of running out and buying a player when one is injured as we did with Kyrgiakos (costing us the transfer fee plus the sign fee plus wages for the 4 years I guest) play one of the reserves instead…..
(5) Cutting the size of the squad….. This will allow us to save money long term
Be smarter as a manager, look after the clubs money, and that way we will get Stanley Park built quicker and the teams quality will improve because we will not be wasting as much money which means we will have more to spend on quality players
Retryboy - November 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
If aquilani wasn’t fit he would be missing training sessions and it would be all over the press. Rafa has said himself all he needs is match sharpness that was weeks ago. A good manager coming in would be able to offload the bad players to generate cash and buy 2 quality players with it. Rafa will probably sell 5 and buy 5 poor instead of trusting the young talent. A good manager would have this squad as it is at the top. Throwing money at him won’t change his selections, tactics, negativity, man-management. Have said before missing top four would have the same effect as relegation for a team like stoke rafa doesn’t learn from his mistakes and i don’t think the squad believe in him, he has to go before we lose any more quality players, young prospects and our status as a top club.
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 2:31 am
i hear the big man “Guss” is looking for a new job? grab this guy now! and he will turn Liverpools’ fortunes around and thats guaranteed!! oh yeah, benetiz…. umm, didn’t real (loosers) want him? bye bye meester.
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 2:45 am
they should buy huntelaar and get ya ya toure made for the english game
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 2:50 am
baptiste foe 11 mill you having a laugh id rather get beckford for 3 million at least he would give everything he has not like that bull hes not worth two mill
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 5:01 am
Liverpool Football Team
Goal Keeper Pepe Reina, Gulacsi
Defence D. Agger, M. Skrtel, G. Johnson, Kygriakos, Aurelio, Insua, S. Krajer, Kelly, Ayala
Midfielder S. Gerrad, Aquilani, Benayoun, Riera,D. Silver, Lennon, Defour, Van Der Vart, Elza
Striker F. Torres, Suarez, Ngog, Nemeth, Kuyt, Donovan
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 8:54 am
If we had scored that early goal yesterday when shay given pulled off that save it would have change the game completely.
As soon as Agger and Ryan went off you could see the balance of the side change. There was no flow to the play.
If we had gone two up the aqua man would have come on i’m sure, but rafa took the cautious appraoch.
As much as ngog tried we miss that ruthless cutting edge up front we need another stricker.
For the amount of money City have spent they did not look a good side we made them look good in the secong half.
Kygriakos and Mash had great games yesterday the rest was ordinary. Insua looked dodgy again
Kuyt had a bad game
You could also sense that Rafa didnt want to lose that game yesterday.
As for bringing players on loan great idea in theory but in practise difficult. No team is really going to want to loan any player to Liverpool.
I think if we are totally out of it after christmas play the kids all the time and bring back nemeth.
We also all know that Mash will go in the summer so put him on the bench and give some others the game time.
Do you all feel hat we can only go for the europa cup or FA cup this season ?
And if Voronin pulls on another shirt again for liverpool Rafa should go ?
Regards
Pete
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Kop King
Dirk Kuyt hasn’t had a good game all season and five seasons later we are still playing with two defensive midfielders along with defensive tactics, even at Anfield. I mean just how bad do things have to get before Rafa is sacked.
I longed for the day we get a new manager in and to those who wonder who would like to manage liverpool well I would say that there would be very few who would turn the job down.
It is plain to see Liverpool have a fantastic team with a superb squad it is just Rafa doing terribly.
It reminds me of tottenham last season before Rednapp took over, they were doing badly but it was plain to see what a talented squad he was taking control of. Rafa is killing us, he must go.
Liverpool FC Danny - November 22nd, 2009 at 10:06 am
anonymous – November 22nd, 2009 at 2:31 am
i hear the big man “Guss” is looking for a new job? grab this guy now! and he will turn Liverpools’ fortunes around and thats guaranteed!! oh yeah, benetiz…. umm, didn’t real (loosers) want him? bye bye meester.
————————————————————————————
I completely agree we should definately get Hiddink as manager. He is good in Europe(won the CL) and is also proven in the Premier league. There was talk of him going back to Chelsea as techinal Directer but that would be an accident waiting to happen!!! HE WAS AT CHELSEA FOR 4 MONTHS AND WON THE FA CUP!!!
Scouse Magic - November 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 am
Still think we need to revert to 4-4-2 this is when we look at our best.
Reina, Johnson, Insua, Carra, Agger, Masch, Gerrard, Benni, Babel, Torres, Kuyt.
We then have Lucas to cover for Masch, Aquaman to cover Gerrard.
Babel can cover up front, benni can cover either wing, Aurelio can cover down the left, Darby to cover right back, Skrtel to cover CB.
Sell the other so called first team players to raise cash and go out and get some creative players on the wings and up front.
The problem is that all of us fans can see why it’s not working yet Rafa (Who i think is a very good tactically during a game) cannot see it??????????
Rafa needs to take advice from Sammy Lee who’s seen it all at Anfield
...samlfc.... - November 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
Morning everyone
We were lucky to get a point yesterday but i guess 2 very early subs didn’t help.
I’m worried for Aquilani as Rafa isn’t playing him when he looks like he WANTS! to play…….maybe he was going to play him but becuase of the 2 subs early on, he couldn’t.
1 win in 10 games is awful for a team like Liverpool and now i’m starting to lean towards wanting Rafa to go as this is the best time for him to leave as its near the January transfer windows so the new manager can buy players.
Great Christmas present for Rafa wouldn’t it LOL Happy christmas Rafa your sacked!! lol
Scouse Magic - November 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
As much as everyone wants to sack Rafa it’s not going to happen, you have to remember he’s just signed a new deal, to sack him would be plainly stupid as it would cost us approx £15M, money we don’t have as it is and would severely hinder a new manager anyway, what we need is a Technical Director (King Kenny) to take the pressure of transfers and tactics off Rafa, (Even though he wants to do it all) He obviously can’t!!!!!
...samlfc.... - November 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
Scouse magic thats a fair point as King kenny knows how to makea winning team as he has done it with Blackburn aswell as Liverpool and he knows potenial superstars when he sees them but like you said very unlikely that will happen!
Retryboy - November 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
It is a myth that it will cost £20m to sack rafa you only have to pay a contract up until the manager finds a job, he is on £4m a year. He would be out of work for a maximum of 6 months only costing £2m. Its the ‘in rafa we trust’ brigade still stuck in istanbul that is making it impossible for the owners to sack him. Hiddink has undoubted pedigree but i don’t think the man for the long term project ideally martin o’neill don’t think he would leave villa though. Would like Mancini, available now, young and plays attacking quality football.
Scouse Magic - November 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 am
I’m not sure on that Retryboy, if we sack Rafa we are in breach of contract therefore we would have to pay up the full value of the contract (Depending on clauses in the contract), if it was mutual then obviously it would be lower.
On Mancini he would be the manager i’d go for, He’s Italian so obviously knows how to defend, plus as he was a class player himself knows the sort of players required to play at a class level.
Donavan Ried - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Morning People and Reytryboy ……
Retryboy – November 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 am ……..”If aquilani wasn’t fit he would be missing training sessions and it would be all over the press. Rafa has said himself all he needs is match sharpness that was weeks ago” ………. Yes i see what you are saying, but it feels to me that Rafa is trying to hide something, from the Supporters and the press, i can think of no other reason not to play him ….. I can’t be as simple as Rafa preferring Lucas can it?…..
Pete(Good Morning) …….. “As for bringing players on loan great idea in theory but in practise difficult. No team is really going to want to loan any player to Liverpool.” ……… Maybe not from a EPL team, but teams like Real,Bayern,Ac, teams from Europe may have player that they want to put out on loan or even want rid of, much like us with Voronin and Nemeth …… Didn’t say it would be easy,Just that we need to start doing it …..
“I think if we are totally out of it after christmas play the kids all the time and bring back nemeth.” …….
By this I presume you mean no chance of 4th place if so I totally agree with you. Rest and sort out the Injuried and play the Young Reds ….. Top shout
Hoogleboogybugleboy – November 21st, 2009 at 8:14 pm……… Read your post and the one underneath again…..
You remind me of someone who spends all day polishing and shinning up the bodywork of his car yet the engine is falling out and saying to everyone that pasts “she a beauty, I wouldn’t swap her for the world”…..
Retryboy - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Was going off Mancini himself that he had to tear up his contract with inter to make himself available to take another job again. Looking into it more though he did receive a pay off of between £7-10m he was on £5.5m a year and had 3 years left-£16.5m rafa is on £4m a year with about 4.25 years left would work out about the same so probably we could expect a similar pay off? Cheap by comparison to champions league failure or not qualifying for next year. Now would be the best time to act with Mancini available and the transfer window approaching.
Retryboy - November 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Morning donovan. Do really think it is that simple the aquilani thing. Rafa has no faith in the abilities of the players we have in an open game and remember at lyon. Everyone else thought they were there for the taking and rafa’s excuse for not introducing aquilani? That we were controlling the midfield. He loves controlling the possession, poking and prodding with his massively defensive team. Against city he was again more scared of losing than trying to win the game that to me is the only reason along with his love affair with lucas and kuyt. Would like to see the young, quality players coming into things while we can still save our season and if as probable we end up in the europa league definitely would like to see the young lads used along with the fa cup and when we have injuries. Hoogleboy we support the team not the manager you should try it. We look objectively at what is actually best for liverpool.
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
i think we all need to realise that martin skrtel is crap, as is krygiakos and carragher altho is stil awesome, is guna be wavering after this season. Agger is are only good center back and with kelly not having much experience matt upson would be an excellent addition into the ranks. switch agger to left back and we have johsnon, carra, upson and agger, now thats a defence!
Warren Bloggs - November 22nd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Evening, Donovan, Retryboy and all.
Firstly, Donovan your post at ‘November 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 am’ was completely spot on mate, i agree indefinetly and think this is the best approach come January. We will have some money possibly to fund a move for Kjaer or Elia who we have been rumoured quite alot recently. Yet, Rafa would be more wise to look at any possible loan moves as you say, there is quality out there. Only read this morning in the Sunday Mirror that we are apperantly looking to get Van Nistelrooy on loan, what do you think? (my opinion is split on the matter).
I am as you well know still (relatively) a Rafa supporter, and i have my reasons for such, but i agree with Retryboy in that if he were to be sacked then i would like to see someone like Mancini in. My only fear in such an accuisition would be his european form?
As for the Aquilani situation, i do beleive if it wasn’t for the early injuries to Agger and Babel, which obviously changed the game somewhat then we would have seen Aquilani make a cameo in the second half. I think it was a case of Rafa not willing to take a risk, really is that simple guys.