Liverpool 2008/09

He got rid of Steve Heighway last year anyway. Rafa wants control of the entire club from my view. You can see the board’s point of view aswell. Why totally change a club on the view of a manager that may not be there in a few years. Rafa doesnt get on with the owners so its a bit high risk strategy. Rafa reckons that the Academy hasnt produced a player since Gerrard but he has been bringing in young players from all over the world for a few years and I’m not sure even one has come through.

Insua.

In fairness he joined when he was 16/17…That is like Arsenal trying to take credit for bringing through Walcott and Ramsey

Reina’s place is pretty safe anyway-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FHfLoQuERw&feature=popw00gb13

The question posed was has any of the young lads Benny brought in come through yet.Insua is the only one i know of… on your bike there Puke!

Absolutely shocking stuff! they wouldnt win league 1 with the kind of football they are playing today let alone the prem…

Some shocking misses from El Zar and Kuyt… Cunts the lot of em.

[quote=“ChocolateMice”]Absolutely shocking stuff! they wouldnt win league 1 with the kind of football they are playing today let alone the prem…

Some shocking misses from El Zar and Kuyt… Cunts the lot of em.[/quote]

And Benitez is been given a four year contract is it?

they will still pobably win the champions league though

massive result for middlesboro

Quality miss from Kuyt today. A comically pathetic effort to connect with the ball.
:rolleyes:

[quote=“Thrawneen”]Quality miss from Kuyt today. A comically pathetic effort to connect with the ball.
:rolleyes:[/quote]

regardless of kuyt’s miss, the most galling thing about Liverpool at the moment is that someone like lucas can get near the team

Reserves here on in from Rafa I take it in the league now.

They might do better

From Skysports.com

Liverpool are keeping close tabs on Spain international Raul Albiol, skysports.com understands.

The Valencia defender is rated amongst the best in La Liga, but money problems at The Mestalla could see them lose a number of their top stars.

And Albiol may be one of the first to depart with a host of clubs checking on his progress.

Real Madrid are long-term admirers of the 24-year-old, who can play in central defence or as a holding midfielder, but Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has now dispatched his scouting network to follow Albiol.

Albiol is currently contracted to Valencia for another two years and has a huge buy-out clause of nearly 50million - although reports in Spain now suggest they could be willing to do a deal at 13million.

Valencia’s sporting director Fernando Gomez has admitted the club would have to consider any reasonable offers, and also confirmed they were aware of scouts from Liverpool tracking Albiol.

“Today it is necessary to study each offer that we receive and after that we would decide,” he told skysports.com.

"The money situation is complicated at the club, but formally nobody has spoken with us about Abiol.

"But we are aware that the Reds have been scouting around here in recent months

Sombre Benitez describes defeat at Middlesbrough as a fatal error

ANDY HUNTER

LIVERPOOL v SUNDERLAND: RAFAEL BENITEZS prognosis on Liverpool was as sombre as his mood yesterday as he described their defeat at Middlesbrough as a fatal error in the title race and revealed that Fernando Torres may not be fit for the Champions League return against Real Madrid.

The Liverpool manager remained downcast after the dispiriting display and result at the Riverside and, although he will not concede the title is beyond Anfield until arithmetic confirms it, he left no doubt as to the ramifications of Saturdays 2-0 defeat on Teesside.

We knew we could not lose any games or draw any more games if we wanted to fight for the title, he admitted.

Benitezs outlook has not been helped by injury to Torres and the defenders Daniel Agger and Alvaro Arbeloa, all of whom miss tonights match against Sunderland at Anfield. They remain doubtful for the Champions League second leg against Real Madrid a week tonight and their absence had such a debilitating effect on Liverpools threat and balance against Middlesbrough.

We will have to wait for Torres, Agger and Arbeloa and see how they progress for Real Madrid, said Benitez, who lost his leading striker to a twisted ankle at the Bernabeu last week. It is not clear [if they can face Real] at the moment.

Now seven points adrift of Manchester United but having played a game more, Benitez admitted he never anticipated that Liverpool would falter so badly and so quickly from a position of strength in the Premier League.

We were in a really good position for such a long time, the best in my five years here, so what has happened has come as a surprise and disappointment, he said. However, he remains adamant that Liverpool can end Uniteds dominance of the Premier League under his stewardship.

The cycle will be broken, he said. We have confidence we can stay closer at the top of the table. We have made some mistakes this season, such as losing at Middlesbrough, a game we would normally have to win. We have to improve on the pitch. Clearly one thing is to do better in front of goal but there is not just one reason why we arent closer to the top.

The Liverpool manager also revealed his protracted contract negotiations are likely to drag on, with no date set for the next round of talks between his advisers and lawyers acting for the clubs co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. There will be communications in the next few days and we will decide then but we dont have a date, Benitez said. It could be in a few days or maybe in a few weeks.

Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia is hoping to have strikers Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse fit for tonights trip to Liverpool.

Jones returned to training at the weekend after a knee problem, while Cisse is recovering well from an ankle injury and is in line to play against his former club.

Steed Malbranque (calf) and Teemu Tainio (knee) are hopeful of being available after picking up knocks in the 0-0 draw at Arsenal on February 21st, while Phil Bardsley is back from suspension.

I don’t know why he is so ‘surprised’ at what has happened. We won so many games in a fortunate fashion in the first half of the season, and our only consistent goal scorer was a midfielder. The problem is Benitez’s complete lack of tactical flexibility, whereby the only goals scored have to be scored under his system. Any striker is going to be hesitant coming to Anfield knowing that they are guranteed to be second to Torres and also that Benitez has no interest in adjusting to accommodate them.

Martin Tyler just mentioned that Martin Skrtel played right back on Saturday after Jamie Carragher asked not to. I had that game on the box while watching Celtic on the laptop and Benitez took Carragher off late on and completely blanked him as he was coming off. Skrtel was horrendous right back so that might explain it.

Mascherano is playing right back tonight…

nice work there by riera and gerrard (maybe a misdirected header) to set up Ngog for the first of the night

2-0, now

the palestinian killer scores

[quote=“artfoley”]2-0, now

the palestinian killer scores[/quote]

no need for the updates Art, most people with an interest in this game may be watching it:rolleyes:

and people with no interest in this thread shouldn’t be clicking on it, and sure weren’t you dong the same on the roma/italian football thread

va fa culo