Ryan Giggs = Cheating cooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnntttttttttttttttttttt
Got to vote for Liverpool. I actually think that we have the best set of players in years but Benetiz is going to ruin our chances if he continues with this rotation bullshit. Kuyt looks quality after being intially skeptical about his ability. Bellamy is the snip of the summer for me if only he plays him.
This is my best Liverpool 11:
Reina
Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Auerlio
Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Gonzales
Kuyt, Bellamy
Cant believe the amount of abuse that Reina is getting. He kept 29 clean sheets last year. I think that Agger is able to fill in for Hyppia now. Major problem at left back. Auerlio poor for me, Riise shocking and Warnock is a bad Charlton player.
Anyone see Gileseyās comment re Celtic on Tuesday night? Bill dismissed Celticās chances due to the inferior quality of the Scottish league. Dunphy and Brady agreed but Gilesy said āwe thought that a few years ago but then they came down and hammered Liverpoolā.
Think youāre a bit hasty firing Gonzalez in there straight away. Heās done little to impress me yet - Pennant has been far better. Iād consider putting Gerrard on the left and Pennant on the right. Riise is a cracking full back - rock solid defensively and not bad going forward. Aurelio doesnāt look a good player and Warnock has disappointed after his initial promise. Other than that your team is alright. Agger looks capable.
If Pennant was a left winger I would have him in there straight away. It is folly in the exteme to suggest that we take our biggest threat in Gerrard and play him out of position. Also a left sided Gonzales is far superior to a left sided Pennant.
As for your comment re Riise, I must say that anyone who calls him a ācracking left back, rock solid in defence and good going forwardā clearly hasnt a clue about football. Heās a big useless imposter. Why canāt everyone else see it? The worst news of the week was finding out that he was only out for a few weeks. I definitely thought we were looking at a few months after he went down on his ankleā¦
who the fook are you? and what are you doing on our forum? piss off!
- I didnāt suggest playing Pennant on the left.
- Many would say that playing Gerrard wide right is out of position.
- Gerrard is more likely to score goals cutting in from the left than the right.
- You hate Riise cos heās Norwegian. Your hatred of Norwegians is irrational and stupid.
- Youāre a big, fat stupidhead.
to quote a great liverpudlian, āitās good to have the both of you backā
Itās good to be back. Pity about having to work though.
I liken the return of myself and Clarkey to the impact made by one Tommy Beirne when introduced as a sub for Eslin against Kiltubrid three years ago. He shook Eslin out of their lethargy and from five points down we ended up winning by a point.
He remains to this day the greatest substitution ever
Didi Hamann
Think youāre in the wrong thread there sam. I was referring to Didi Hamann as the greatest substitute ever not a truly awful player.
Homosexuals are always putting things in the wrong place, eh steamer?
I know it?s not the champions league but the ?British? link holds true all the same.
Was watching the sport on Sky News last night at half 11 and the guy Chris Skudder was giving a run down on how the ?British? clubs performed in the UEFA Cup. He gets to Derry City and talks over some clips of the game including one of the Derry lads hitting the bar with a rasper and goes, ?a fantastic result, they?ll be ecstatic in Londonderry tonight.?
It was weird.
Fair play to Derry. Great result. Themselves, Drogs, Shels and Cork have done the EL proud in recent times. Looking forward to the new elite division (think it comes in next year). Hopefully Galway Utd will get in, get stronger and improve their setup which is already reasonable enough. No reason why the āeliteā teams canāt kick on from there and improve further in Europe. Need a bit of investment (no Russians need apply) and hopefully can then become professional. Would love to see a really strong domestic league where players wouldnāt need to go cross-channel and we could compete with SPL/EPL teams. Weāre a long way off but the āeliteā is a stepping stone imo. Weed out the shit like Monaghan and Kilkenny I say. And indeed Galway United if they donāt make the grade.
Was doing some scouting of Benfica on the net there ahead of the upcoming double header with Celtic as frankly I canāt be arsed going to bed as itāll bring me closer to work tomorrow. It appears Rui Costa is out for them and is likely to miss both games. Theyāll play a 4-2-3-1 with Simao on the left of the 3 and Nuno Gomes up front on his own probably their best known players. I expect them to come to Glasgow and play for a point with the expectation that theyāll turn Celtic over at home. I didnāt see any of their game against ManU but I heard they were relatively poor, theyāre also stuggling in their domestic league so Iād be confident that Celtic can take them in Glasgow. This would put all the pressure on them in Lisbon too.
I see Shaun Maloney scored for the reserves today and he looked pretty sharp coming off the bench on Sunday, itāll be good to have him back but Iām fooked if I have a clue who heāll come in for, or if heāll even get back in at all, because Aiden simply canāt be dropped at the moment and Naka is key to our ability to pass and hold the ball in order to wear down the opposition. Iām going to admit to a slight concern about Gravesen, he was taken off after an hour the other day and still looked somewhat off the pace. Obviously Iām willing to give him more time as heās not had a proper pre-season and barely played last year either so heās likely to take a few games to get up to speed. It goes without saying that we need big Jan back asap, hopefully the international break will have cleared up his injury and it might be the best option to have Shaun playing off him away from home with King Kennyās pace being utilised off the bench. Also in 2 minds about whether Bobo should come back in or not. Another clean sheet the other day but there was a few occasions when Caldwell was really caught napping. Then again McManus and himself were rock solid against Kobenhavn. Itās very important that Wilson gets back for the second Benfica game too, wouldnāt fancy Telfer up against Simao. Some great selection headaches for Strachan though and very confident that the bhoys will go through. As group winners.
I see Diarmuid O Carroll played centre half for the reserves in the last 2 games - weāre very short on cover at the back obviously. He did very well against Aberdeen I think it was the other day, havenāt seen yesterdayās game yet.
At the moment I canāt see Maloney getting a role other than impact sub which is harsh on him but thereās nobody to drop. Even in the absence of Big Jan he canāt play up top ahead of Magic because heās too similar to Miller and we need an 18 yard box presence. McGeady is in sensational form, Naka is also playing very well and is key to the way we set ourselves up. At the moment Maloney is coming on for one of them when they tire but thereās always the option of withdrawing Tommy G, pushing Naka inside and bringing on Maloney if weāre really chasing it.
Tommy hasnāt really played well for Celtic yet but he is doing it in spurts when he makes short impacts on the game. I think at the weekend he was effectively man-marking Latapy which would explain some of his anonymity but other than that he is finding it difficult to impose himself. Lennon is always available for the short ball from the back 4 so Gravesen is having to take up more difficult positions in traffic in the middle where heās getting less passes. I have faith heāll come good though, but it does suggest Jarosik isnāt as bad as you feared if Tommy G has had the same sort of performances thus far.
With regard to Bobo the same applies as with Shaun. Only Man U have scored against us in the last 7 games I think and there is an understanding there between Mick and Caldwell that I wouldnāt break-up for the sake of it. Bide his time and there will be an opportunity though.