Pennant

[Craig_H]

Not at all. At this moment in time he has done no more than Nunez did, try quite hard, run into blind alleys, cross aimlessly and fall over quite a bit, and had no greater impact on either the play, the club, or the fans. That doesn't mean I don't think he has a lot more talent than Nunez (who wasn't dreadful either btw, just not good enough), but at the moment on his current play that's about where I see Pennant's relative position in the squad on form.

I think that's horribly harsh, Pennant has shown signs of putting in good balls from the right and did so on a few occasions on saturday. He's not been brilliant by any means, but in the few games he's played, he's already proved more of a threat than Nunez ever was.

I'm not heralding JP as Pele, but to compare his contributions to Nunez is ridiculous mate.

[Shaggy]

I'm not heralding JP as Pele, but to compare his contributions to Nunez is ridiculous mate.

I don’t think it is at all.

[anfieldanfield]

I think that's horribly harsh, Pennant has shown signs of putting in good balls from the right and did so on a few occasions on saturday. He's not been brilliant by any means, but in the few games he's played, he's already proved more of a threat than Nunez ever was.

I'm not heralding JP as Pele, but to compare his contributions to Nunez is ridiculous mate.

Not it's not Syd, Nunez wasn't that bad.

Pennant might be marginally better, but there's a genuine comparison to be made between the two, in my opinion.

[Craig_H]

Not it's not Syd, Nunez wasn't that bad.

Pennant might be marginally better, but there's a genuine comparison to be made between the two, in my opinion.

Nunez wasnt THAT bad, but he basically didnt DO anything. No threat, nothing at all.

Pennant has put several very good crosses into the box thus far in his LFC career, which is more than i remember Nunez doing.

[red_in_oz]

I really want to see Pennant succeed but he needs to take players on.

He's quick enough and skilful enough to skin anyone. We need him to get past his fullback, get down to the by-line and get decent crosses in.

What I'm also disappointed in is that we never see Gonzalez or anyone else doing the same down the left.

I was hoping for a season of seeing us spread the play wide, bet round the back and get crosses in for the strikers - with Stevie arriving at the edge of the box to smash home the crumbs.

[Redlife]

So much for the " I've nothing to prove" rubbish. Needs a good kick in the nuts.

Every cross he put in was hung up in the air rather than whipped in. He needs to grow some balls. Get yourself hurt seriously mate, you'll feel better for it.

I agree with both of you. He needs to grow some balls, then we need to kick him in them.

[BobTheCharmer]

I agree with both of you. He needs to grow some balls, then we need to kick him in them.

it should be mandatory for all new recruits.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Shocking start to his career with us has to improve cause he's a way better player then he's shown us. We will certainly get another right winger in January or the Summer.

[MrMichael]

Nunez wasnt THAT bad, but he basically didnt DO anything. No threat, nothing at all.

Pennant has put several very good crosses into the box thus far in his LFC career, which is more than i remember Nunez doing.

Nunez also rarely got to start as consistently as Pennant has been, nor had the experience in the Premiership that Pennant has. I'm really not having a big go at Pennant here, I'm just making an observation based on actual end result from attacking situations on play on the pitch so far, and relative ability also. Pennant has seen a lot of the ball and habitually given it away, the lad is struggling to make any sort of positive impact and at the moment my comparisson, qualified as it was, is completely fair.

[Harv]

Pennant's career stats.

158 games, 11 goals.

1 goal every 14 games. Wow.

yes, good thing we bought him in as a striker then isnt it:whatever: Thats always your argument isnt it...."he has only scored this many goals in this many games...therefore he is ****". Absolute crap in my book.

strikers score goals, wingers supply them....its as simple as that. I never thought Pennant would score goals for us, i just want him to put decent balls into the box..which IMO he has on plenty of occasions.

Like DJ has said, we just dont get enough bodies in the box, usually there is only ever one target for our wingers to aim for.

[Joe Le Toff]

I'm a bit disappointed about the reaction Pennant's had. By all means, criticise what he does wrong, but he HAS been getting decent crosses into the box since he came, and did so on a couple of occasions on Saturday.

The problem is, as i've said in the other thread, that we dont get bodies into the box and therefore crosses have to be absolutely pin-point, otherwise they're easily dealt with.

I cant lay the blame for that at Pennant, i really cant.

Would agree in the sense that I think the level of criticism levelled at him has been a tad harsh. I think some of his crosses have been first class (the one for Garcia's header against Galatasaray was superb IMO) but then in fairness to his detractors he hasnt set the world on fire either.
I do wonder if he will ever be good enough for some lads because we didnt get Alves and as such JP will always be viewed as second choice or the 'bridesmaid'
Definitely has room for improvement, and strikes me that he is a bit in awe of the club, its size and the players he is in the same team is.
IMO, time is the key and once he settles down and gets his confidence levels up a bit, he will prove to be a good player for us.

[Rich]

While the stat of 1 goal every 14 games isn't the best, and true he isn't a striker so primarily he isn't there to score the goals, it is better for a team to offer a genuine goal threat, from as many areas as possible. He doesn't offer any goal threat, I'm wondering what it would take for him to aggressively go to beat his man, cut in and have a pop.

[Harv]

While the stat of 1 goal every 14 games isn't the best, and true he isn't a striker so primarily he isn't there to score the goals, it is better for a team to offer a genuine goal threat, from as many areas as possible. He doesn't offer any goal threat, I'm wondering what it would take for him to aggressively go to beat his man, cut in and have a pop.

If you want that then Gerrard or Garcia are the only options. Pennant doesnt look comfortable cutting in, he hugs the line. To be honest we were crying out for a RW that hugs the line, now that we have one we want him to drift inside and shoot at goal....daft

[Slim]

Every time he gets the ball he seems to cut inside and slow the play down. He is amazingly frustrating to watch. I'll freely admit I never rated the lad when he was at Birmingham and was shocked when we went in for him, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong. I just don't think he's good enough.

[Rich]

If you want that then Gerrard or Garcia are the only options. Pennant doesnt look comfortable cutting in, he hugs the line. To be honest we were crying out for a RW that hugs the line, now that we have one we want him to drift inside and shoot at goal....daft

If you can't see the benefit of having a player that can go on the outside OR cut in, and thus placing the fullback under extreme pressure then you are the daft one.

It's much easier defending against a player where you know what he is going to try and do. Pennant falls into that category. If he, on occasion, decided to cut in and have a go, then the next time he had the ball the defender wouldn't know if Pennant was going to cut in or go on the outside, thus making Pennant a much greater threat.

muppet.