Riera

[rage]

I'm on your case to make you eat your words and I'll be relentless till you really do it. How can your 'opinions' be taken with any serious hint of credibility when you dismissed his signing as being a poor one!

Riera has proven that he's a top top class player. I don't reckon having seen a player as skilful as him patrolling our left wing since err ... Johnnie Barnes!! He's always been very skilful even at Man.City, but he was probably a little bit lightweight there. He did impress me when City beat United at the time as he tormented Gary Neville.

didn't you want to swap alonso plus 5 or 6 million for barry?

didn't you describe pennant as world class?

didn't you once say you would never question anything rafa ever did - how do you expect to be taken with any credibility if you never have a ****in opinion you daft sod!?

i based my opinion on riera off his crap stint in the premiership with city. in interviews with riera himself i'm sure he talks about having learned from last time. i also think that based upon the quality of his performances to date we bagged a bargain - this means that the team who sold him to us didn't expect his to be the success he has been.

as i said riera has been a pleasant surprise so far, if you know anything about him you'll know that on his day he has been described as being the best there is BUT also that he has a tendency to have a huge dip in form over the course of a season. I hope the challenge of playing for a big club knocks that out of him but only after a full season will we know this.

[lfc1394]

as i said riera has been a pleasant surprise so far, if you know anything about him you'll know that on his day he has been described as being the best there is BUT also that he has a tendency to have a huge dip in form over the course of a season. I hope the challenge of playing for a big club knocks that out of him but only after a full season will we know this.

Lets hope the fact that he is now playing with the likes of Gerrard, Torres and Alonso means that he doesn't experience that.

The more class players in a team with the right attitude (which he clearly has shown he has) means they feed off each other. Under GH at the end (and Rafa's first season) where Gerrard was our best player by a country mile, he often looked pissed off, couldn't be bothered. The rest of the team looked at him in this mood and felt deflated. I guess we could have said he had major dips in form.

As the squad has improved so has his consistency.

[rage]

Lets hope the fact that he is now playing with the likes of Gerrard, Torres and Alonso means that he doesn't experience that.

The more class players in a team with the right attitude (which he clearly has shown he has) means they feed off each other. Under GH at the end (and Rafa's first season) where Gerrard was our best player by a country mile, he often looked pissed off, couldn't be bothered. The rest of the team looked at him in this mood and felt deflated. I guess we could have said he had major dips in form.

As the squad has improved so has his consistency.

pressure off his shoulders as far as gerrard is concerned imo. he's still a big player for us but he can have a quiet game or even a poor one and we can still win because of others around him, in particular torres.

[Parm]

Having been totally unimpressed with him at City, I was extremely sceptical about his signing, but he has completely proved me wrong so far and I am absolutely delighted about it.

didnt even remember him at citeh tbh, but he is quickly proving himself to be a quality player. Another Rafa bargain in the making?

[Mike]

didnt even remember him at citeh tbh, but he is quickly proving himself to be a quality player. Another Rafa bargain in the making?

Quite possibly.

[Shaggy]

I would never have bought West Ham's Mascherano either.

I would and was thrilled when we did - he had demonstrated his enormous quality time and time again both with other clubs and his country. Different case entirely, especially when you factor in the political rubbish that went with Mascherano's omission from the team.

[barnes10]

haydn fookin mullins.

gotta laugh havent you.

[Pablo]

On the pace issue, to be honest I dont think he lacks pace. Pace isnt his strong point, but he's no Beckham. Ive seen him in a straight race with a full back a few times now and more often than not he's come away with the ball. He's obviously not the quickest, but he's quick enough. He's also very good at using strength to hold off a player.

I agree on the pace issue. He is not as slow as some on here made him out to be. He has plenty enough pace to knock it a couple of yards in front of him and whip in a good cross. Like you said I have seen him outpace the full back quite a few times too

[DannyMan2006]

I agree on the pace issue. He is not as slow as some on here made him out to be. He has plenty enough pace to knock it a couple of yards in front of him and whip in a good cross. Like you said I have seen him outpace the full back quite a few times too

He's got a good acceleration, a quick burst of speed if you like. Not ideal for counter attacks, but ideal for when you are playing teams defending in numbers.

A little trick to get the defender of balance and then a quick little burst of pace. He then whips the cross in.

[Pablo]

He seems to be getting better game by game. Some of his control is truley worthy.

I remember one where he controlled a long ball that dropped over his shoulder at full stretch. It was incredible. I would go as far as to say no other player in our squad could have pullled it off.

How much did we pay for him again? It already seems like a bargain.

[Guest]

didn't you want to swap alonso plus 5 or 6 million for barry?

didn't you describe pennant as world class?

didn't you once say you would never question anything rafa ever did - how do you expect to be taken with any credibility if you never have a ****in opinion you daft sod!?

i based my opinion on riera off his crap stint in the premiership with city. in interviews with riera himself i'm sure he talks about having learned from last time. i also think that based upon the quality of his performances to date we bagged a bargain - this means that the team who sold him to us didn't expect his to be the success he has been.

as i said riera has been a pleasant surprise so far, if you know anything about him you'll know that on his day he has been described as being the best there is BUT also that he has a tendency to have a huge dip in form over the course of a season. I hope the challenge of playing for a big club knocks that out of him but only after a full season will we know this.

I never described Pennant as world class you clown. I said that he had the potential to be because he was one of the best in his age group when he came on. Go get your research straight.

Rafa's idea was to gamble on Pennant's ability and try to improve him but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough but it's not been wasted money, as paying £7m for him was a good deal judging by the amount of games he played for us.

You were obviously wrong about Riera ... amongst other things also.

[rage]

I never described Pennant as world class you clown. I said that he had the potential to be because he was one of the best in his age group when he came on. Go get your research straight.

Rafa's idea was to gamble on Pennant's ability and try to improve him but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough but it's not been wasted money, as paying £7m for him was a good deal judging by the amount of games he played for us.

You were obviously wrong about Riera ... amongst other things also.

so far yes and long may it continue.

oh and 7 million for pennant is a waste of money regardless of how many games he's played. i like to judge success by what a player does when he's on the pitch and not by how often he's played.

u worked out your maths yet regarding alonso and barry?

[Guest]

so far yes and long may it continue.

oh and 7 million for pennant is a waste of money regardless of how many games he's played. i like to judge success by what a player does when he's on the pitch and not by how often he's played.

u worked out your maths yet regarding alonso and barry?

What the **** are you on about figures regarding Xabi and Barry??? Both players were classed in the same bracket ability wise so what's your point?

As I said numerous times, Xabi last year was a total flop. He's in the team on merit now and that's great for us. Rafa was prepared to gamble and bring on a more solid (defensively) player than Xabi.

[Reece]

Here we go again.

Come on you two. You both agree that Xabi and Riera are both playing well so just agree to disagree on the rest of it now yeah?

[Guest]

Here we go again.

Come on you two. You both agree that Xabi and Riera are both playing well so just agree to disagree on the rest of it now yeah?

Can't we have disagreements ? Is life plain sailing all the time? I would be really pissed off if I had a mod on my back each time I uttered a word in real life.