Pennant

[red g]

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.

exactly Ronaldo, Park, Giggs all goal threats, cole, robben,Hleb, Duff

they may not score that much .....has pennant had a shot on/off target yet.

Pennant has looked way out of his league so far,

[Resu]

Actually it`s not the crossing (or lack of ) that annoys me about him. It`s the way he gives the ball away, either with a poor (or lack of) first touch, or when he`s gone past one or two player the tries another one and fails.
He`s capable of going past player, and does so every match, but very little seem to come from it. The way see it it`s down to lack of vision, just don`t see the space he`s created after going past someone.

[alunevans]

I don't think people are unconvinced by JP because he's not Alves. I've never personally seen Alves play.

Given the hype JP had as a youngster I've watched his progress in England U18's, Eng U21s and disappointingly he failed to shine among his peers in his own age group, which I always think is a worrying sign.

Then because of my betting habits I watched him on loan at Bradford when they were in the Championship (as they stupidly call it now), and thought even amongst that company he was poor.

I've got no beef with the lad but over several years have formed the judgement that he's a very average footballer. This was made long before he joined us and has nothing to do with anything other than watching him play many times.

Maybe he will prove me wrong (I hope so!), but so far he's played as he's always played through his career, so it seems a big ask to expect different.

The straw I'm grabbing is that he's still fairly young and so its possible that with some good coaching he can improve.

I just don't like to expect a player to do something they've never shown themselves capable of doing before, and I certainly think the fee we paid was ridiculous given how much of a gamble he is. After all, being blunt about it, he's not even got a history of being a good professional.

He came with huge question marks over him and we paid over the odds given that.

I certainly agree with the comparisons being made regarding him and Nunez, although I think Pennant has more technical ability than Nunez, but bear in mind too that Nunez was free.

Personally I'd have invested the Pennant money towards a more proven goalscorer than Bellamy is. There are plenty in my view with Pennant's ability who are available for far less.

[anfieldanfield]

yes, good thing we bought him in as a striker then isnt it:whatever:

strikers score goals, wingers supply them....its as simple as that.

What a hopelessly naive and simplistic offering, Harvey.

Pennant is a (seven million pound) attacking midfielder, he's primarily expected to offer some type of direct goal threat, whether this be a constant stream of assists, the odd goal or two, or (brace yourself), both. *Gasps*.

A couple of wayward crosses and 2 assists in 11 games isn't good enough.

I'm not asking for 10-12 goals a season like Ronaldo, Joe Cole or Ljunberg, that's clearly not within Pennant's capabilities, but I am asking for more. I genuinely cant see Pennant scoring a single goal this entire season. Not one.

We need our side to be scoring regularly from a variety of positions.

Apart from Garcia and Stevie, I dont know where on earth our next midfield goal is coming from.

Jamo.

[Rich]

What a hopelessly naive and simplistic offering, Harvey.

Pennant is a (seven million pound) attacking midfielder, he's primarily expected to offer some type of direct goal threat, whether this be a constant stream of assists, the odd goal or two, or (brace yourself), both. *Gasps*.

A couple of wayward crosses and 2 assists in 11 games isn't good enough.

I'm not asking for 10-12 goals a season like Ronaldo, Joe Cole or Ljunberg, that's clearly not within Pennant's capabilities, but I am asking for more. I genuinely cant see Pennant scoring a single goal this entire season. Not one.

We need our side to be scoring regularly from a variety of positions.

Apart from Garcia and Stevie, I dont know where on earth our next midfield goal is coming from.

Jamo.

There will be another 60 yarder from Xabi to look forward to next season.

[Los Rojos]

I dont think they particularly have been. I saw several fly across and then roll away safely - because we dont have enough in the box to actually meet the cross.

Crouchy would have to grow another couple of feet to reach some of the crosses Pennant put across on Saturday. He had a terrible game for the 50 or so minutes he was on. He has played better.

[Los Rojos]

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.

I agree Slim about the cutting inside and slowing the play down, but I still think he can be a success at Anfield. He has this season to prove it - if he doesn't deliver, we'll get someone else in during the summer.

[Morph]

I too think he's been pretty woeful, too many of his crosses go behind the goal line or far too wide, but I think it's a bit early to be calling curtains on his career. Playing on the wing is a pretty difficult position, as there's more pressure to beat the man get the cross in, cut inside cut outside etc. It will take a while for him to get used to his new surroundings, and i'm sure he has to play slightly different depending on which strikers he's linking up with.

Also, hardly any of the play on Saturday was down the left so it was all going through him, which didn't give him much of a rest between plays. If the play had been spread across the pitch a bit more, he would have been able to make more of the few occasions he had the ball in my opinion.

I'll be waiting till at least crimbo before giving my verdict on any of the new signings, as it takes time to settle into a club.

[Slim]

I agree Slim about the cutting inside and slowing the play down, but I still think he can be a success at Anfield. He has this season to prove it - if he doesn't deliver, we'll get someone else in during the summer.

Agreed. I think it was the Chelsea match where he kept on cutting in every time and it allowed their defenders to get back and regroup when we were on the break. Very annoying.
But yes, we really should give him until Xmas to settle in.

[Red_Polo]

Pennant has had time and space to deliver in a number of games this season and just hasn't done the biz. When he manages to get his cross past the fullback they've been mediocre to say the least, he floats in these innocuous balls that are either too high and soft, or too long. Of course he's put in a few decent balls, but the lad should be doing that in each game, not as the sum total of his contribution. He slips up more often than anyone I've ever seen, he is just far too easily knocked about. His decision making has been very poor.

I know all that sounds incredibly harsh but that's my honest assessment of his contribution in general so far, and this comes from someone that was happy to see Pennant come in - I really rated him as a reasonably well-rounded midfielder and a good crosser of the ball if nothing else. I thought to myself: he's not Alves, but he's a sound player that'll be a good squad member in the long-term. If we see him meet that level soon then I will be incredibly relieved, but like with Nando last season, as each game passes it becomes less and less likely that the player will recapture his old form for his new club.

[Sunny]

He certainly didnt have his best game. Thought his crossing was awful and he keeps getting dragged inside the defender. We need him going past defenders on the outside and whipping in useful crosses. I've not seem that of him yet but it's still early days. Mind you with the way Crouch played Saturday even if his crossing was mustard would wouldn't have scored.

[wildman]

I think you are being a little unfair on him, he put over a couple of decent crosses in the 1st half and crouch should of scored. I think he will be ok in the future.

[dww]

He certainly didnt have his best game. Thought his crossing was awful and he keeps getting dragged inside the defender. We need him going past defenders on the outside and whipping in useful crosses. I've not seem that of him yet but it's still early days. Mind you with the way Crouch played Saturday even if his crossing was mustard would wouldn't have scored.

Pennant has never been a player to really take on players and get to the by line, he will take them on but usually to cut inside. Not sure why this is but he has always taken the Beckham approach to crossing, doing it early and using bend. So far this season he has crossed from far too deep, but he definitely has the potential to evolve as a player and possibly if we were doing better as a team his performances would improve.

At the minute though it is too easy for him to fall back into a safety first method of play and that is what he has done, negating his crossing ability by his poor decision making of when to play the ball. I think he needs to be dropped until we are playing with more confidence as a team.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

too small, too weak. 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.

Still won't change the fact that he's too ****e to play for us.

[paulcooper4]

From where I was on the Lower Annie Road on Saturday he looked awful. Yes he was full of running but he seemed to loose the ball too easily, either from tackles or simply slipping on the grass. His crossing wasn't good either.


Do you agree or disagree?

He was **** looking at him from the kop also