Gonzalez, the new Smicer but with no heart?

[Morph]

I never said Smicer was 'good', I simply said he was better than Gonzalez.

pointless comparrison though

[carheex]

I never said Smicer was 'good', I simply said he was better than Gonzalez.

Let's put it into context - Smicer had 4 years to achieve the lofty status of "not good". Gonzalez has had less than 4 months. On top of that, Smicer arrived as a seasoned pro with an excellent international pedigree but went rapidly downhill. Personally, I think Gonzalez has done "ok" so far but can't imagine him getting worse. If he does, we'll put our dispute aside and just agree that our scouts need to be fired immediately! Agreed?

[alunevans]

I didn't think his display was heartless. He was very involved. It was his quality that was in doubt rather than his commitment for me.

[carheex]

I didn't think his display was heartless. He was very involved. It was his quality that was in doubt rather than his commitment for me.

I don't mean to cut you down, but you OBVIOUSLY never studied his play. This should be one area which isn't even open to debate. Smicer didn't deserve to wear the red of Liverpool - not even if he bought the kit himself! A more cowardly player has never, and WILL never, play for LFC again. Only Houllier could make such a mistake and not learn from it.

[Red Chilli]

What do you mean "cowardly"?

[carheex]

What do you mean "cowardly"?

He would "ALWAYS" pull out of challenges and go missing when it mattered most. It really was embarrasing. In fact, from this point forward, I won't even acknowledge that Smicer ever played for LFC. Yes, he made a contribution about 3-4% of the time, but so did Sean Dundee! It hurts too much to cast my mind back to watching him play, and then hearing delusional/blind/ignorant people defend him!!

[Red Chilli]

He would "ALWAYS" pull out of challenges and go missing when it mattered most.

Except when it REALLY mattered most.

I take your point about being easily knocked off the ball but look at Heskey. Smicer is a runt compared to Heskey who is built like a middleweight. Heskey was always getting knocked about.

[carheex]

Except when it REALLY mattered most.

I take your point about being easily knocked off the ball but look at Heskey. Smicer is a runt compared to Heskey who is built like a middleweight. Heskey was always getting knocked about.

No. I'm talking about regularly slowing up to avoid challenges. I'm talking about jumping out the way on 50/50 tackles. I'm also talking about missing chances that are easier to score - freqeuntly. And i'm talking about, above all else, being a complete embarassment to the club bar a small fraction of appearances, which in no way excludes him from the heaviest available criticism. Forget his 1 or 2 important goals, his overall contribution wouldn't have been adequate for a League 1 club, let alone Liverpool Football Club. Our foundations and history haven't been built around and achieved by teams full of his "ilk"! If we'd more of his sort we wouldn't even be in the Premiership right now. And as for Heskey, let's talk about him on another night. as fans, we've had enough doom and gloom for now!

[Red Chilli]

Maybe you should concentrate on the current crop of players instead then. There's nothing to be gained from having a go at Smicer now.

[kurtangle01]

Smicer was a much, much better footballer than Gonzalez.

That said, I thought Gonzalez did ok tonight, at least he was trying to make something happen, even if he generally overhit his crosses and misplaced his passes.

Some of his crosses never even made it off the ground which was really bad.

[carheex]

Maybe you should concentrate on the current crop of players instead then. There's nothing to be gained from having a go at Smicer now.

Maybe YOU should look back over the thread. The only reason I've mentioned Smicer is because it was brought up by someone else at the start as a comparison with Gonzalez (who hasn't yet had chance to prove anyone right or wrong).

[Marky]

I thought he was one of our better players actually and his work rate was good imo, tracked back well and looked to get on the ball at all times.

[carheex]

I thought he was one of our better players actually and his work rate was good imo, tracked back well and looked to get on the ball at all times.

You couldn't be more wrong if you were dead.

[alunevans]

I don't mean to cut you down, but you OBVIOUSLY never studied his play. This should be one area which isn't even open to debate. Smicer didn't deserve to wear the red of Liverpool - not even if he bought the kit himself! A more cowardly player has never, and WILL never, play for LFC again. Only Houllier could make such a mistake and not learn from it.

I was talking about Gonzo

[carheex]

My apologies.