Transfer news

[mickeydocs]

the informer... funny name... one of dunk's aliases no doubt.
Koptalk has been insistent that Kuyt will sign for the past week. No one else seems to share this view.

[Rich]

You cant judge a player solely on their WC performances, no doubt about it.

I've never seen him play, but from what I'm led to believe he's worth trying for, however it does worry me somewhat that he has all this publicity & hype, yet very few people have seen him play on a regular basis.

In case it comes up, I think his nationality/league has nothing to do with it, for every Kezman you can name a RVN, so it's no judge of a player IMO.

If we were to judge players solely on their World Cup performances then we'd have purchased Diouf 4 years ago for

[Resu]

[QUOTE=Cacodemon]If we were to judge players solely on their World Cup performances then we'd have purchased Diouf 4 years ago for

[G_Man]

[QUOTE=Cacodemon]If we were to judge players solely on their World Cup performances then we'd have purchased Diouf 4 years ago for

[Rich]

Sorry G-Man, but I think it's a fair point.

Diouf DID have an impressive World Cup, he did look like a very impressive player - and taken in isolation, you'd have said he was a great player. However, we all know different.

I think we are pertaining to the same point, in that, a good (or bad) World Cup doesn't provide a true reflection of a players ability.

And if I remember rightly, Diouf had only been named African Player of the year once, before he signed, he was named African Player of the year for second time soon after joining. Sorry to be pedantic

[G_Man]

Sorry G-Man, but I think it's a fair point.

Diouf DID have an impressive World Cup, he did look like a very impressive player - and taken in isolation, you'd have said he was a great player. However, we all know different.

I think we are pertaining to the same point, in that, a good (or bad) World Cup doesn't provide a true reflection of a players ability.

And if I remember rightly, Diouf had only been named African Player of the year once, before he signed, he was named African Player of the year for second time soon after joining. Sorry to be pedantic

The thing is though, people have rejected Trezeguet as a signing based on his World Cup performances. I wasn't having a pop at you Rich it's just annoying that if you have a good world cup you MUST be a Diouf in waiting
according to a few people.

[Rich]

That is a fair point! Rejecting Trezeguet based on his World Cup performance is madness, his goal-scoring record is outstanding for Juve.

However, I think he's probably not worth the sky-high wages that he would no doubt demand.

I place my total trust in the scouting network, set-up by Rafa and Pako. They will have seen a player 20-30 times before deciding whether to make a bid or not. I think they are a pretty good judge of character....

[TheStig]

Anyone who is rejecting Trezeguet on his WC performances is a prat because I think he only played about 90 mins.

60 odd against Togo and 30 mins against Italy.

I am rejecting Trezeguet (well we won't sign him anyway!) because I've never seen him play well over a period of about 6 years! He has a great goal record but I've just never seen him play well!

[LFCman]

The thing about Diouf is, he never had a good goal scoring record. So why Houllier thought he'd solve our problems is beyond me.

[Rich]

I think I only ever saw Diouf strike the ball cleanly once, and that was a goal he scored for us in the Carling Cup, I can't even remember the opposition. He hit a ball from 12 yards out and it fizzed low and hard into the goal....

[dww]

Really our problems were more in terms of creativity than the actual goal scoring though. I can see exactly what GH saw in Diouf, creativity, ability to dribble and good strength, but I think he should have had a better idea of his character before he signed.

We never saw the best of Diouf for a avriety of reasosns. GH should have played him more centrally and brought in a player for the right, rather than adding Diao to a squad already pretty strong in terms of combatative central midfielders.

While undoubtedly a fool who did a lot of damage to our clubs reputation I think people are too harsh on his actual performances. He was a willing and just about passable right sided option for us. It was never his best position and wasn't worth anywhere near the money we paid for him but that is not his fault and he did at least put in the work.

[brendan]

I think I only ever saw Diouf strike the ball cleanly once, and that was a goal he scored for us in the Carling Cup, I can't even remember the opposition. He hit a ball from 12 yards out and it fizzed low and hard into the goal....

It was Crystal Palace, and you're right, it was one of the few times he had a shot and managed to strike it properly.

Diouf's horrible persona aside, he had so many problems as a player. He always worked hard, and had brilliant close control, but he played as a winger with his back to goal, and so slowed-up play horribly. He also rarely released a ball quickly and with it, ran like he was wearing wellies.

When you add that to his dreadful shotting and erratic crossing, well, GH has never wasted so much money.

He was an umitigated disaster, really.

[JRG]

It was Crystal Palace, and you're right, it was one of the few times he had a shot and managed to strike it properly.

Diouf's horrible persona aside, he had so many problems as a player. He always worked hard, and had brilliant close control, but he played as a winger with his back to goal, and so slowed-up play horribly. He also rarely released a ball quickly and with it, ran like he was wearing wellies.

When you add that to his dreadful shotting and erratic crossing, well, GH has never wasted so much money.

He was an umitigated disaster, really.

How true, I was doubly disappointed as before the WC, where he played well, I really thought he would set Anfield alight and redeem GH in my eyes.

Sadly wasn't to be.

[Rich]

I wonder how Diouf performed in training when it was 'one touch' football, he must have been crap at that.

He has a classic case of "why have one touch of the ball, when 10 will do"

Other Classic examples,

C. Ronaldo
Denilson
Adriano
Ruel Fox (remember him!)
Tino Asprilla

[LFCman]

I remember a few times he'd beat his man then take a step back to try and beat him again. He rarely put in an early ball to give the strikers a chance.