We talk and talk but we never finish

[rage]

i'm happy for both kewell and pennant to be around next season, but only as squad players.

I'd be exstatic if we bought 2 good wide men who can beat their man and deliver a quality cross as well as having the potential to score 10 goals a season. 2 strikers one as a 2nd striker, unlocker of defenses and one out and out goalscorer.

[TheStig]

I reckon Pennant will be around next year, I think Rafa sees enough in him to keep him - decentish delivery into the box and nippy. Will be used a fair amount in the league next year IMO.

He's improved alot over the season, definately worth keeping.

[Roboklopp]

i'm happy for both kewell and pennant to be around next season, but only as squad players.

I'd be exstatic if we bought 2 good wide men who can beat their man and deliver a quality cross as well as having the potential to score 10 goals a season. 2 strikers one as a 2nd striker, unlocker of defenses and one out and out goalscorer.

Aye, a CB seems to be on the cards too. Sami has been offered to Fulham apparently ...but his wage demands were too high. So says the BBC gossip anyway.

[desertscouser]

Rafa won't be splashing out all his kitty on strikers, it's clear judging from the quotes I posted above.

He'd be mad then. No doubt in my mind that Rafa will sign at least one world class striker. Currently we have the most impotent strike force of any major European side.

We need Alves with Pennant as back up.
We need a top quality left sided midfielder because Zenden, Gonzalez and Riise are not good enough.
And finally we need a top quality centre back to cover for Agger and Carragher.

Let's hope the Yanks back Rafa to the hilt because we need to start properly challenging for the premiership. Domestically this season, we've been rubbish and thats because of the lack of quality we have in our squad.

[Bob]

Rafa's stock is really high at the moment... if he doesn't get his way this summer he's off. No doubt about it - he's not afraid to make these decisions and there is no doubt he'd secure a top club in Spain if he left.

We do need to do something this summer and i'm confident we will. I can undertstand Hicks and Gillett's prudence in doing a full stock take, but time really is of the essence. Man U's haste in securing Owen H is obviously making Rafa edgy and rightly so - we need our 'top' targets and as last summer showed getting second best - makes you second best.

As anyone who works hard will relate to, there's nothing worse than knocking your pan in and not getting results because of sloppy mismanagement - it has a massive influence on morale.

[Guest]

Rafa's stock is really high at the moment... if he doesn't get his way this summer he's off. No doubt about it - he's not afraid to make these decisions and there is no doubt he'd secure a top club in Spain if he left.

We do need to do something this summer and i'm confident we will. I can undertstand Hicks and Gillett's prudence in doing a full stock take, but time really is of the essence. Man U's haste in securing Owen H is obviously making Rafa edgy and rightly so - we need our 'top' targets and as last summer showed getting second best - makes you second best.

As anyone who works hard will relate to, there's nothing worse than knocking your pan in and not getting results because of sloppy mismanagement - it has a massive influence on morale.

[Bob]

He'd be mad then. No doubt in my mind that Rafa will sign at least one world class striker. Currently we have the most impotent strike force of any major European side.

We need Alves with Pennant as back up.
We need a top quality left sided midfielder because Zenden, Gonzalez and Riise are not good enough.
And finally we need a top quality centre back to cover for Agger and Carragher.

Let's hope the Yanks back Rafa to the hilt because we need to start properly challenging for the premiership. Domestically this season, we've been rubbish and thats because of the lack of quality we have in our squad.

E'too (if funds are stretched - Owen) and Tevez
Alves
Ribery (if funds are stretched - Pedersen) and Leto
Milto

Or players of similar quality and we'd be genuine challengers in my book.

[Guest]

E'too (if funds are stretched - Owen) and Tevez
Alves
Ribery (if funds are stretched - Pedersen) and Leto
Milto

Or players of similar quality and we'd be genuine challengers in my book.

Not too sure about Ribery, Leto won't be challenging right away IMO, if at all.

[PLY]

The striker situation is one that has perplexed me all season. I haven't witnessed any of our strikers missing sitters all season. Apart from maybe Crouch at Blackburn away and Kuyt at Charlton away we haven't created many chances for them to miss , the majority of misses have come from half chances at best.

This would seem to suggest that the problems are in midfield and that if we could sign a creative player then we will have more chances and only then can we really judge the strikers. If that creative player also happens to be good at set pieces then all the better because that's another area where we are seriously deficient.

[Red_Polo]

Quality wide players are the most important thing for us IMO

We need players who can create and provide goal threat, this season we've largely had players there who do neither, Pennant's 2nd half of the season was good in the creative sense and other than that our wide players have offered next to nothing. That's pathetic and it must change. Alves and Simao are realistic and fit the bill.

Get those two and the knock-on effects alone would be huge. Gerrard plays in the centre more often where he is more of a goal threat and can go back to causing havoc with his driving runs from deep. Garcia plays behind the front man in his best position more often. Suddenly we'd have attacking quality in a number of areas rather than there just being one constantly used attacking route for teams to shut off. We'd be so much more threatening.

The striker situation is one that has perplexed me all season. I haven't witnessed any of our strikers missing sitters all season. Apart from maybe Crouch at Blackburn away and Kuyt at Charlton away we haven't created many chances for them to miss , the majority of misses have come from half chances at best.

This would seem to suggest that the problems are in midfield and that if we could sign a creative player then we will have more chances and only then can we really judge the strikers. If that creative player also happens to be good at set pieces then all the better because that's another area where we are seriously deficient.

I totally agree. For every game this season where we've cursed someone missing a sitter there have been plenty where we've been left frustrated at our inability to break a team down. If Bellamy goes which he surely will, of course we still need to look for a striker with pace and classy finishing, but in my eyes it's our lack of creativity that needs addressing more than anything.

[Roboklopp]

Quality wide players are the most important thing for us IMO

We need players who can create and provide goal threat, this season we've largely had players there who do neither, Pennant's 2nd half of the season was good in the creative sense and other than that our wide players have offered next to nothing. That's pathetic and it must change. Alves and Simao are realistic and fit the bill.

Get those two and the knock-on effects alone would be huge. Gerrard plays in the centre more often where he is more of a goal threat and can go back to causing havoc with his driving runs from deep. Garcia plays behind the front man in his best position more often. Suddenly we'd have attacking quality in a number of areas rather than there just being one constantly used attacking route for teams to shut off. We'd be so much more threatening.



I totally agree. For every game this season where we've cursed someone missing a sitter there have been plenty where we've been left frustrated at our inability to break a team down. If Bellamy goes which he surely will, of course we still need to look for a striker with pace and classy finishing, but in my eyes it's our lack of creativity that needs addressing more than anything.

Very true indeed.

[Lecter]

We'll bankroll spending spree May 25 2007




by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo




LIVERPOOL co-chairman George Gillett today pledged to back manager Rafael Benitez all the way over his summer transfer targets.

The Reds boss is urging Gillett and Tom Hicks to ensure Liverpool can buy players at the top end of the market to launch another determined assault in Europe as well as upon a league title not won for 17 years.

Gillett, who was at the game in Athens on Wednesday, said: “If Rafa said he wanted to buy ‘Snoogy Doogy’, we would back him.”

Gillett says he would also back any attempt to bring Michael Owen back to Anfield but stressed Benitez would have the final say on what strikers the club recruits.

Gillett said: “Owen is a great player but it is down to Rafa’s recommendation, not us.

“Rafa’s feeling is we need more depth because of the rigours of the schedule to be competitive.

“In every sport I participate in, there is a difference between a league season and the play-offs.

“That’s where the genius of the manager is so essential and that’s where Tom and I have to defer to his background and genius.”

Meanwhile, sports minister Richard Caborn wants an “urgent explanation” for the chaotic scenes outside the Olympic Stadium in Athens ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League final.

UEFA have blamed ticketless Liverpool fans or those with forgeries gaining access to the stadium and forcing Greek police to declare the ground full.

Caborn will raise the issue with UEFA president Michel Platini when they meet on June 5 in Brussels.

He said: “I have a lot of sympathy with the Liverpool fans who paid their hard-earned money for genuine tickets but couldn’t get into the ground.

“The reasons for this need an urgent explanation. We have already raised the matter with the Greek authorities through our embassy in Athens and government officials are also talking with UEFA.

“I will also be putting this issue high on the agenda at a meeting I am to have with Michel Platini in Brussels in two weeks’ time.”

[Lecter]

Seeds of a revolution


May 25 2007




by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo



THE key is in the small detail. And in Athens on Wednesday night, Liverpool lost the Champions League final because of small details.

But in the Premiership the gulf is significantly wider.

So it is not key hole surgery Rafael Benitez is planning this summer at Anfield, but open-heart resuscitation.

The Reds boss has given fans a glimpse of former glories.

A European Cup, an FA Cup and Champions League and Carling Cup finals would be seized upon as halcyon days by some clubs.

But Benitez is fiercely ambitious – and in echoes of a more demonstrative predecessor he wants to build a bastion of invincibility.

On his arrival at Anfield, Benitez famously declared he asked the Valencia board for a coffee table and was given a table lamp instead. And he has still not forgotten.

"When I was in Valencia we won the league for the first time in 31 years and people said 'oh that's fantastic, blah, blah. Because we are so good, we don't need to spend money. We can sit where we are. But the next season we finished fifth.

"In this situation we have won the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Super Cup, the Community Shield, and reached the final of the Champions League. But if we do not spend money we will finish 20 points behind Chelsea or United or Arsenal and we will be fighting for a position in the top four.

"We need to do the right thing if you want to win trophies and we want to win trophies.

"We want to see the team with the cup in their hands."

Key to the revolution Rafa Benitez is trying to spark at Anfield are the two new American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

The pair famously completed their due diligence procedure to take over the club inside days.

Now Benitez wants to see similar speed in the transfer market.

"We knew before Wednesday’s game it was important to analyse the situation of the club," he said.

"Okay we won two years ago and we have progressed a little bit. But the other top sides have continued their progression. If we want to become contenders we need to progress a lot.

"We need to do things right now, because if you spend £20m on a midfield player and you have won the league, then the other teams, they need to improve a lot more.

"You cannot reduce the gap if you spend almost the same money or do almost the same things.

"You need to change the whole structure of the club.

"We have some targets and we need to make the moves quickly.

"Everyone can see our team was working really hard and working really well, but we need more quality.

"Our supporters are very clever and they know we need more quality.

"We need to improve and with the new owners, they say they will back me. They know my idea and we need to move quickly because sometimes, when you are in another country or another continent, you can lose one of your targets and you have to go for the second option or the third option and then you cannot be competitive. You are fighting to stay in the top four again.

"You can say we need a number of players, but it depends on the market sometimes. If we receive offers for some players, okay we will analyse the offers for the players but then we wil need a new player to replace that one, no?

"Then we need two or three players it is very clear. What positions? You can ask the supporters. They know!

"It is not a question of spending £30m or £40m on one year. The other top sides are spending £40m or £50m or more on top players every year - and that's been for the past five years, the past 10 years.

"We need to go to or three steps forward now if we are going to be competitive."

Clearly Benitez is setting his sights on the very cream of world football.

With Bolo Zenden, Mark Gonzalez and - possibly - Craig Bellamy among those on their way out, the decks are being cleared for a huge influx of new players.

The number of potential signings is wide-ranging. The defence and midfield will be tinkered with, while at least two new strikers can be expected given Liverpool's season-long difficulties in front of goal, which proved so costly in the Olympic Stadium.

David Villa, Samuel Eto'o, Darren Bent and Carlos Tevez could all appear on Benitez's radar.

Clearly though, business needs to be done swiftly if the Spaniard's demands are to be satisfied and Gillett and Hicks are to ensure Liverpool's magnificent new stadium in Stanley Park is not to become a huge white elephant by the time it opens in 2010.

"I can't say exactly how many players I want, it depends on the market," said Benitez.

"Also, there might be someone we don't really want to sell who we get a fantastic bid for which makes us look at the situation again. But we need to look at two or three things, that is very obvious to everyone.

"You cannot play two finals in three seasons and say next year will be the same and we will be in another final. We finished 21 points behind United this year, nine points behind Chelsea the last season. 82 points is the club record and if you want to be contenders you need to do more things and you cannot go one step at a time.

"Man United have spent £20m and that's for a midfielder, We were paying maybe eight or nine million for our strikers and it's a big difference.

"Okay, if the people think that is enough then the next season we will be talking about top four no more.

"We won the Champions League two years ago, but maybe since then we have not had enough money. Maybe now the situation will be different. The new owners say that they will be back me and if we want to buy some players we must go out and buy our first choices.

"When you spend £400m on a new stadium, you need to keep your team in the top four and be in contention every season. They are good people, decent people and they say they want to see their new stadium full of people, full of supporters every week. That is not difficult because our supporters are always magnificent, but we still need to progress and go forward.

"We were really excited about the future, but now we need to do the right things and do them now.

"If we do not change things then we will continue in the same situation, working hours and hours every day, but losing some games because we do not have enough quality or we are not well organised in different things.

"I was talking with the new owners about the structure of the club and changing things and I will continue talking with them.

“They know I don't want to change everything, but it's clear that some things have to improve a lot."

[saj]

Personally I think Pennant is a squad player

He lacks the composure to play at the highest level, Wednesday night proved that, he got in some half decent positions but his delivery was abysmal

Kewell can be great but injuries and inconsistency have blighted his career with us

Personally I wouldnt count on Kewell being much more than a squad player based on those factors

Yeah but, who the **** was in the box? No one - he had one person to aim at everytime he got the ball. He is an accurate crosser of the ball.

[Bari]

Yeah but, who the **** was in the box? No one - he had one person to aim at everytime he got the ball. He is an accurate crosser of the ball.

If he was that accurate, he would have crossed it to that one person in the box.