Liverpool Fc @ Anfield - Reds Supporters Gatherings

[_AXL_]

Originally Posted by rahl

Don't agree there at all. Arbeloa has been great for us this season in defence and going forward - his partnership with Kuyt has worked very well. Certainly Arbeloa looks much better in his position than Carra.

agreed. he is not flashy but effective. although i still prefer finnan, age is not on finnan's side. certainly better than carra at rightback.

Originally Posted by rahl

I think the most impt thing abt the fullback is the crossing. Pace is not that impt. So GJ doesn't impress me much. Agree with Xgenre we need cover for the right spot. Arbeloa is quite an intelligent player in going forward although not flashy, and our leftbacks are good crossers. Babel is one of our worst crossers, hope he wises up if he is staying, and that is a big if!

i dont agree with your take on glen johnson. i think GJ would be a good addition to the pool setup. he is strong, runs well and his crossing is quite decent, actually. he will cost though, cos he is in the england team. in my humble opinion, he is one of the best in the BPL in his position.

the only complaint i have of GJ when he is playing for portsmouth is that he tends to cut into the centre a bit too often. but it is portsmouth. i could see that he is given license to do so, or even ordered to do so to make things happen for his team. even then, he has acquitted himself well enough by causing concern for the opposing teams. for liverpool, he might only need to patrol the flanks in support, which i m sure he will be up to it.

rafa actually tried to buy him previously, actually...

Originally Posted by owen10

read tt Glen Johnson is 1 of Pool's targets but askin price is nt cheap. have nt really been paying close attention to this fella when he was at Chelski, then Portsmouth (correct?). Is he that good? d few times i watched him he was like quite ordinary niah. Surely there r better buys elsewh???

i dont know when u watched him play, but the few times i saw him play for portsmouth, i saw him overlapping and the defenders were all at sea due to his unpredictable running, if they caught up with him in the first place. ordinary??? i beg to differ.

but if portsmouth price him too high, then it might not be worth it. unless liverpool gets a very good price for arbeloa.

[sex4LiFe]

I seldom post in this thread but I supposed I should given that I've been a die-hard pool fan for the past 23 years or so.

I personally feel this season exposed a BIG weakness in our team.. we're overly dependent on Torres and Stevie G. Without them, the rest of the team are just AVERAGE at most.

All this boils down to Rafa. I admire the Spaniard for his work but to me it seems he plays things very safe. Benayoun has been one of the most consistent player this season but look at the number of times he starts. No doubt Kuyt is an extremely hardworking player.. but he's just that - HARDWORKING. But anyone can be hardworking on the pitch. Point is - Rafa's a manager who will be happier playing for a draw then go for the kill.

I reckoned Rafa is also not very good at buying players. Look at those he have bought over the years. Babel, Lucas... all "supposedly" wunderkids. I think I represent a lot of fans if I say Lucas is the WORST Brazilian ever! Can't dribble, can't pass, can't anything.

So for Rafa to say he has identified Glen Johnson as a potential signing.. it saddens me to the core. True we need coverage for every position but I don't think GJ will do good for the team. So what if he's in the England squad? That doesn't make him a good player. At most, he's AVERAGE. And we really don't need anymore average squad players in our already very average team.

We need to start from youth. Nurture the youths. Give them confidence. Identify young players with potential. Not waste money on average but consistent players.. like Gareth Barry. He's over-rated. Yes in an even more average team like Villa, he's like the superstar. But Villa is not like our team. We are LIVERPOOL! Not Villa, not Man City or Blackburn!

I really hope Rafa will make some really good buy for next season. I'll like to personally see a megastar to come to Liverpool and challenge Stevie G. If not, we'll be digging our own graves by depending on Torres and Stevie G again next season.

[David_Villa]

Originally Posted by owen10

read tt Glen Johnson is 1 of Pool's targets but askin price is nt cheap.

I thk is better to buy sergio ramos rather than Glen Johnson.

[rahl]

Originally Posted by _AXL_

i dont agree with your take on glen johnson. i think GJ would be a good addition to the pool setup. he is strong, runs well and his crossing is quite decent, actually. he will cost though, cos he is in the england team. in my humble opinion, he is one of the best in the BPL in his position.

He got good cross meh? I don't remember honestly. Of course he has pace and an attacking mentality.

On the plus side, Degen is fit now. After a season LOL

[hotsoup16]

anyone manages to get the ticket?

[talismanicme]

Originally Posted by David_Villa

I thk is better to buy sergio ramos rather than Glen Johnson.

well of course it's better but we definitely do not have the funds to do that. in such i think rafa would rather spend a larger amount of funds on either a striker, or a winger/ attacking midfielder.

[Dirk Kuyt]

BREAKING NEWS !

Xabi Alonso's agent rejects offer of 2-year extension to top up his contract to 5 years.

Does this mean he wants out? btw his best buddy in merseyside is Arbeloa

[owen10]

Originally Posted by _AXL_

...

i dont know when u watched him play, but the few times i saw him play for portsmouth, i saw him overlapping and the defenders were all at sea due to his unpredictable running, if they caught up with him in the first place. ordinary??? i beg to differ.

but if portsmouth price him too high, then it might not be worth it. unless liverpool gets a very good price for arbeloa.

hmmm .. since i dun really observe GJ play i shan't argue with u bro. mayb he's really gd as wat u described. anyways, long long overdue Pool gets a quality winger.

[rahl]

Originally Posted by Dirk Kuyt

Xabi Alonso's agent rejects offer of 2-year extension to top up his contract to 5 years.

Does this mean he wants out? btw his best buddy in merseyside is Arbeloa

Bro I don't mind if you liven up the thread with speculation but pls be kind enough to say that it is rumours and nothing more instead of so called breaking news. Don't play into the hands of the gutter press. Thank you.

[asspanker]

Originally Posted by sex4LiFe

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]I seldom post in this thread but I supposed I should given that I've been a die-hard pool fan for the past 23 years or so.

I personally feel this season exposed a BIG weakness in our team.. we're overly dependent on Torres and Stevie G. Without them, the rest of the team are just AVERAGE at most.

bro, your pts hit the spot. We really rely alot on no. 8 & 9 thats what most of the people around the world see our team. Like most of the diehards liverpool, we supported them probably since the 60s, 70s onwards.. Me not so old so only start in 89/90 season. But that year, a certain michael thomas goal at the death stole the title from us on goal difference!!

SInce then its been year after year of seeing the team in constant ribbing by the mancs ... this year IS the ONLY year we managed to last till may... its many steps forward but i feel heartache to see the team beat the top3 teams in the league but draw with the ikan bilis...

the issue is we dont have a certain plan B or C.. maybe rafa has the tactics but he does not have the personnel. Crouch left so there was no Route 1 to goal if they needed a late winner. We dont have the budget to buy 2 or 3 30MIL pounds players like manu. So the next best way is to nuture our own youth team players...

Which brings us to another topic of should we jus get 1 very good player rather than a few not so bad ones? Rafa should know this well since he has gotten both scenerios before. BUt i strongly believe in the next 2, 3 yrs we can do IT!!!

Lift the BPL... Always belive them to win every match no matter the opponent..

[hawksbay]

Originally Posted by asspanker

bro, your pts hit the spot. We really rely alot on no. 8 & 9 thats what most of the people around the world see our team. Like most of the diehards liverpool, we supported them probably since the 60s, 70s onwards.. Me not so old so only start in 89/90 season. But that year, a certain michael thomas goal at the death stole the title from us on goal difference!!

SInce then its been year after year of seeing the team in constant ribbing by the mancs ... this year IS the ONLY year we managed to last till may... its many steps forward but i feel heartache to see the team beat the top3 teams in the league but draw with the ikan bilis...

the issue is we dont have a certain plan B or C.. maybe rafa has the tactics but he does not have the personnel. Crouch left so there was no Route 1 to goal if they needed a late winner. We dont have the budget to buy 2 or 3 30MIL pounds players like manu. So the next best way is to nuture our own youth team players...

Which brings us to another topic of should we jus get 1 very good player rather than a few not so bad ones? Rafa should know this well since he has gotten both scenerios before. BUt i strongly believe in the next 2, 3 yrs we can do IT!!!

Lift the BPL... Always belive them to win every match no matter the opponent..

its not all abt gd players but players who do thier job well when called a upon,rafa has got us organised,i 4 1 min don t believe we r a 2 men team but i c a a bunch of commited lads out the park doing thier job 4 liverpool its jus to bad that we drew those games at home,we have players together who be ard for at least 5 or 6 yrs.we r to good not to win it in the next 2 yrs,when rafa took over we were 36 pts behind the winners,we have closed that gap now we got to push on n win it.

[hawksbay]

Originally Posted by Dirk Kuyt

BREAKING NEWS !

Xabi Alonso's agent rejects offer of 2-year extension to top up his contract to 5 years.

Does this mean he wants out? btw his best buddy in merseyside is Arbeloa

y don t u come up with sumtin like dirk kuyt is 4 sale

[rahl]

Originally Posted by hawksbay

its not all abt gd players but players who do thier job well when called a upon,rafa has got us organised,i 4 1 min don t believe we r a 2 men team but i c a a bunch of commited lads out the park doing thier job 4 liverpool its jus to bad that we drew those games at home,we have players together who be ard for at least 5 or 6 yrs.we r to good not to win it in the next 2 yrs,when rafa took over we were 36 pts behind the winners,we have closed that gap now we got to push on n win it.

Brilliant bro, as usual. Those who still see us as too reliant on Torres and Stevie are not giving sufficient credit to the rest of the lads. The two of them scored 30 goals in the league, out of 77, from which Kuyt had 12, Yossi had 8 (and even Keane had 5), some of those other goals were in very important matches which Stevie and/or Torres didn't play.

[Xgenre]

Quiz time: Who are the 3rd and 4th leading scorers in the BPL this season? Anyone knows?

Answer: Gerrard and Torres. Considering the number of games they sat out due to their injuries, I find this piece of statistic amazing. There's nothing wrong with a coach hoping his best 2 players will help him win the league. To suggest that we change our style of play will be to try to nullify our biggest strength: their formidable partnership. I think we should continue to add quality players around these 2 stars and hope the quality players themselves can be as good as Torres or Gerrard.

Will 1 world class player be better than 3 normal players? That depends. When Rafa took over the squad, the team was weak with players like Henchoz, Dudek, Diao etc. He had to replace these players with normal but better players like Aurelio, Reina, Arbeloa. Buying 1 world class player then will not solve our many weaknesses in many of the starting 11 positions. 5 years on, a lot of these positions have at 2 decent players fighting for a spot. There are less holes to fill now. Of course Rafa can splash the bulk of his budget on 1 world class player now, like how he bought Torres. I really can't wait to see who he buys. I think Reira is a great buy at a great price.

On the other hand, I just think that it's going to be a big challenge this year to recruit world class players. England is going to tax their top-earners about 40-50% to finance their stimulus package. The pound has also depreciated a lot versus the euro. Will a world class player come to BPL where he can earn more in the other Euro-zone leagues? That's a really interesting question. Good thing is it will affect all the teams in the BPL.

Seems like still got news of Barry joining us. I don't agree with the $10 million pound valuation. Given that he is in his last year of contract, can't Barry buy out his own contract and join us? I really don't think he will earn $10 million pounds a year at Villa.

Soccernet reported that Babel has been told he can leave. I think we should let him leave and buy another left winger.

[pirambi]

Which team all the liverpoolians will support tonight.
I guess it would be barcelona becos of the huge spanish contingent,