Our fullbacks

[Jan-Erik]

There is no way Rafa will play two attacking fullbacks. He will never let our central defenders be isolated in that manner against counter attacks. So one of the full backs should be a pretty good defender, who is comfortable on the ball, bit conservative going forward, can cross if need be and make constructive contributions whenever he ventures forwards. Finnan fits that profile perfectly.

I like Riisse as a squad player and his versatility. But for the first team, I would like him replaced with a left sided Dani Alves.

To attack is the the best way to defend... Sometimes I wish Rafa would be a bit more attack minded...

[AFII]

If Finnan is our best choise as right winger then we are ****ed...

Name a better choice?

[Jan-Erik]

Name a better choice?

Gerrard

[carheex]

Riise is a quality player who offers a goal threat - someone who our strikers could learn a thing or two from. He's getting a hard time from some people on here and I think, like many, his form is suffering from a mixture of rotation and being played in different positions.

For the anti-Riise brigade, who do you think we could get who is better both in attack AND defense?

[JonnytheCrook]

I cant wait for aurellio to get back in the team...he can actually pick out a pass whether it be a short or a long one...we just need a bit of luck with him!
(also can't wait for agger to recover he can also pick out a pass...unlike the two in the team at the mo!)

Finnan is a class full back...good defensively...gets forward...puts in a decent ball with both feet. Maybe we need to think about getting someone young in to replace him in a year or two...but if you've got someone who isn't going to let you down why waste some money in that area where there are others that need to be addressed 1st?!

[carheex]

The problem is, Aurelio was getting slagged off left, right and centre before his injuries for being diabolical in defense. The problem with many people on here is that when a player is absent, they tend to forget how poor he was before hand just because his stand in hasn't done so well. A classic example is those looking forward to the return of Harry "you can count my good games on one injured hand" Kewell!

[El Jefecito]

Finnan is probably our best crosser. Sometimes I think that Rafa should play Arbeloa as right back with Finnan as our right midfielder but that would mean that we must have a few players in the box and that isn't likely to happen sometime soon.

Rafa tried that in his first season and it didn't work. Finnan can't really beat a man so he relies on the right winger to drag the full back out of the way so that he can get the cross in.

[JonnytheCrook]

aurelio isn't any worse at defending than the other left backs we have...plus he is more technically gifted

[El Jefecito]

There is no way Rafa will play two attacking fullbacks. He will never let our central defenders be isolated in that manner against counter attacks. So one of the full backs should be a pretty good defender, who is comfortable on the ball, bit conservative going forward, can cross if need be and make constructive contributions whenever he ventures forwards. Finnan fits that profile perfectly.

I like Riisse as a squad player and his versatility. But for the first team, I would like him replaced with a left sided Dani Alves.

When we play with El Jefecito screening the back 4, we can afford to be more adventurous.

[El Jefecito]

Name a better choice?

Gerrard, Pennant, Babel, Ben Onion, ...

[Darth Marty]

Riise wasn't that bad. The Riise bias on this site is absolutely ridiculous. He generally looked for a short pass out of defence yesterday and has done for the past few games. He certainly doesn't hoof it as much as Carra and Sami.

The main criticism you can level against him regarding yesterdays game was that he got into a number of great attacking positions and wasted them all with **** balls.

What does he offer?

- He's a decent defender.
- He's versatile.
- He has great stamina and is up and down for 90mins (Finnan rarely overlaps as Riise does).
- He is capable of playing great crosses / balls into the box as we've seen a number of times.
- He is a goal threat. Not many fullbacks are.

I have to agree, I have seen pretty much every match this season and I think Riise has been ok. I think there is 4 positions in need of replacements before the left back is sorted. I do agree that we could now do better, we are Liverpool after all, but he certainly is not the liability some (seemingly most) are making him out to be.
That said the guy is ridiculously highly paid (prick should take better care of his payslips) and for a decent sum id sell him.

[El Jefecito]

Riise is a quality player who offers a goal threat - someone who our strikers could learn a thing or two from. He's getting a hard time from some people on here and I think, like many, his form is suffering from a mixture of rotation and being played in different positions.

For the anti-Riise brigade, who do you think we could get who is better both in attack AND defense?

He used to offer a goal threat. He's been terrible this season and last.

Better option let me see,

Lahm, Bale, Evra, Heinze. Shall I go on?

[El Jefecito]

I have to agree, I have seen pretty much every match this season and I think Riise has been ok. I think there is 4 positions in need of replacements before the left back is sorted. I do agree that we could now do better, we are Liverpool after all, but he certainly is not the liability some (seemingly most) are making him out to be.
That said the guy is ridiculously highly paid (prick should take better care of his payslips) and for a decent sum id sell him.

Riise has three problems that he displays continuously.

1/ He dives in. We are definitely most vulnerable down the left.
2/ He gives the ball away too much.
3/ When he does overlap his end product is typically poor. He rarely beats the first man.

That's not to say he's crap, just that he would probably be the easiest player to improve on.

[El Jefecito]

The problem is, Aurelio was getting slagged off left, right and centre before his injuries for being diabolical in defense. The problem with many people on here is that when a player is absent, they tend to forget how poor he was before hand just because his stand in hasn't done so well. A classic example is those looking forward to the return of Harry "you can count my good games on one injured hand" Kewell!

Towards the tail end of last season he had settled in and was by far our best option at LB. I seem to remember him getting a fair few assists. TBH since that period I haven't heard too many people moaning about him.

[carheex]

He used to offer a goal threat. He's been terrible this season and last.

Better option let me see,

Lahm, Bale, Evra, Heinze. Shall I go on?

Lahm, yes possibly but like the majority of people on here (despite their wild claims), I don;t see enough of him playing his club football. Stick Riise's best bits on Youtube and he'd worth 40m aswell!
The others may be better defensively OR offensively but not both.

And if you're going to criticise his goal threat based on recent form then maybe we should sell the whole squad!