[quote=“KIB man”]Id say a lot of the money Liverpool were owed from Crouch was never received until Johnson came in. Similarily Liverpool didnt lose as much money on Keane as people realise. Just the first installment and then offered him back to Spurs as they couldnt afford him and Spurs were fighting relegation. In spite of huge financial problems last season Benitez took Liverpool to the verge of the title. Which is why I think Liverpool fans should cut him a bit of slack this season. His CV is as good if not better than any of the supposed managers to be.
Keane was a puzzling signing. At his best playing off a target man he was criminally unsuited to the style of play Benitez was employing at the time. He was hopeless at Liverpool in reality not all his fault but he isnt a title winning striker in any case or either is Crouch. At Spurs Crouch and Defoe is the partnership. The dropped points at home to Hull and Wolves which may prove very costly was when 'arry paired Defoe and Keane together. I could see Keane working well with Crouch actually given time but never with Defoe.[/QUOTE]
As far as I can see the issue Liverpol fans have with Benitez is that there is no real evidence of team building. Buying and selling Bellamy, Crouch, Keane etc show no real plan of where he wants to take Liverpool. They are far too relaint on Torres/Gerrard and for a top team this simply shouldn’t be the case. Maybe it is simply a case of financial restrictions but Benitez has spent alot of money and yet Liverpool still struggle desperately when either Gerrard or Torres is injured.
Yes but how bad are the finances behind the scenes at Anfield. That is what really is the question imo.
He made a major error in judgement thinking Gareth Barry was a better player than Xabi Alonso. Bellamy attacked a team mate with a golf club and was shit anyway. No doubt they are totally reliant on Gerrard/Torres but take the two best attacking playes out of any side and they will struggle. Needing to cash in on decent squad players like Arbeloa and Garcia is no way to build a squad in any case.
For me the writing was on the wall with Carragher towards the end of last season. Benitez should have seen this and rectified it. Maybe he reckoned Skrtyl and Agger were good enough but Agger like the majority of Liverpool’s best players is very injury prone. He pissed off Alonso which was his own fault but the last thing they needed was another crucial injury prone player as replacement. Mascherano now wants out. Gerrard is 29 maybe after the World Cup is the time to cash in. Will Torres ever be fully fit either maybe they should think of moving him on also. Imo Liverpool are too reliant on a core of aging injury prone players. The whole side needs to be rebuilt but with what money and without Champions League football it will be very difficult to bring in quality players. Hangeland, Rodallega, Nzogbia, Gourcuff, Bale, Ireland would all be decent additions.
Defended very well I felt. Kyriakos snuffed Crouch out which shows that Peter is a pretty ordinary player despite some posters on here believing him to be something more. Skrtel played well too I felt.
[quote=“farmerinthecity”]Horrible match tonight but got the result.
Defended very well I felt. Kyriakos snuffed Crouch out which shows that Peter is a pretty ordinary player despite some posters on here believing him to be something more. Skrtel played well too I felt.
Workmanlike is how I would describe it.[/QUOTE]
I think the point about Crouch is that he’s good with his feet. He’s not a fan of having balls plugged up to him. Krygiakos has done well the last couple of games though. A decent tactical move to bring him in against Stoke and against Crouch given his aerial ability. Thought Spurs should’ve played Keane but there you go. Good result but Degen is an embarrassment. He’s far worse than Lucas and that is saying something. The interview with Aquilani before the game was interesting. From what he said, he basically doesn’t fit into the current system. Well done Rafa.
In other news, apparently Babel is gonna go to Birmingham. Fingers crossed the money gets re-invested.
[quote=“myboyblue”]Interesting news. Cant see any manager worth his salt going into the situation that exists in Pool at the moment.
Rafa doesn’t leave clubs on good terms it seems.[/QUOTE]
He left Valencia as champions of Spain(won it with a bit to spare if IIRC) and Uefa Cup winners
A bit of bite to this game. Good battle between Mascherano and Pienaar. Again, commentators over-exaggerating tackles. The sending off, Ok it was two footed but 15 years ago wouldn’t even have been a free kick in a derby…
That red card was coming well before even Pienaar’s “challenge”.
Fellaini should have went for kicking the ball in to Kuyt’s face on the ground.
That was a dirty little dig.
When Fellaini and Kyrgiakos came together I thought it was Fellaini who would be sent off.
Then I saw it again. It was as close to a double red as you will see.
Realistically Pienaar, Kyrgiakos and Fellaini[twice] could and should all be off.
They have a hard on for treating two footed challenges as sternly as possible.
As two footed challenges go it wasn’t that bad. It still wasn’t great though. It was borderline.
