Nicolas Anelka...

[Big Ig]

Oops, bollocks. Just read the last few 'let's quit it' posts. Sorry!

[StevieH]

Liverpool will rue letting Anelka go - The National Newspaper

 

Liverpool will rue letting Anelka go

 

Ian Rush

 

 

My former Liverpool teammate Sammy Lee once told me Nicolas Anelka had everything as a striker and could do anything he wanted. He worked with him at Bolton and when you see someone in training every day, that’s when you really know how good they are.

 

I know not everyone will agree, but I am with Sammy on this one. For me, Anelka is a world-class striker, and it’s fair to put him up there with, say, Fernando Torres.

He has proved he can score goals everywhere, in the top leagues and with top teams, with either foot and his head.

 

He is an all-round player, but doesn’t always get the plaudits he deserves because maybe he has not achieved as much as he could have since leaving Arsenal, and gained a bad reputation because of his attitude.

 

Anelka can be a bit sulky and seem disinterested when things are not going his way, but maybe he’s that way because he cares, he wants to play all the time and he wants to succeed. Should players be happy to be left out or taken off in a game?

I believe he’s a special talent. It didn’t work out for him at Liverpool after his loan spell in 2002 and that was a shame because I think he would have done well had he signed permanently. He could have been wearing Liverpool red today instead of Chelsea blue.

 

Before Torres came, what Liverpool lacked was someone with pace and a direct approach up front. Anelka has that raw speed and power as well as experience, but just seems to have lacked consistency, and maybe that support and reassurance from his managers. Phil Scolari seems to have pressed the right buttons at Chelsea and got him playing really well again.

He’s not just scoring goals, but making them too and being a key asset for the team.

 

Anelka will be desperate to do well against Liverpool, given that it is his former club, and I would stick with him at the moment even if Didier Drogba is fit because you want to keep him at this high level.

 

Chelsea will be favourites today, as they are for the title, and rightly so because they have such a strong and talented squad and doing exactly what they have to.

Scolari has made them entertaining, winning 5-0 at Middlesbrough one week, but they can also play ugly, as in the 1-0 victory against Roma in the Champions League.

 

To be a successful team, you have to be able to do that, to peak against any team, to fight or play with flair when you have to.Half of the team who beat Boro are not even the first choice so it shows how strong their squad are and Liverpool’s own fringe players will have to step up too if they are to match them this season.

The Reds will do well to get a point at Stamford Bridge. Despite the results they are still not playing at their best, but if they can stay unbeaten and joint top of the league, it will be great for their confidence.

 

I also think they step up a gear in the big games, like they showed against Manchester United and at City, when they came from behind to win.

 

They can’t afford to let Chelsea have that kind of a start and without Torres it will be even harder for them. Dirk Kuyt can lead the line though and he is very much an unsung hero for the Reds.

I think it will be a tight game, but settled by the strikers. Anelka is the one who could well make the difference.

[RedKnight]

Bollocks, Torres' attitude pisses all over Anelka's.

[StevieH]

Bollocks, Torres' attitude pisses all over Anelka's.

 

 

Agreed. Anelka is a very talented player, but lacks the passion and desire to be a top player. However, he will be a threat if he plays tomorrow but I would rather that we faced Anelka than Drogba.

[S1 LFC]

Sorry to say to you and RK, but the attitude of Anelka at Liverpool was spot on, and not signing him was one of the biggest mistake's I've ever witnessed at Liverpool, especially with who replaced him.

 

I for one will never forgive that french twat Houllier for what he did to Anelka.

 

 

so true...we dropped a real bollock there.i reckon he would still be in red today if houllier had signed him.

[StevieH]

Sorry to say to you and RK, but the attitude of Anelka at Liverpool was spot on, and not signing him was one of the biggest mistake's I've ever witnessed at Liverpool, especially with who replaced him.

 

I for one will never forgive that french twat Houllier for what he did to Anelka.

 

 

I agree that it was a huge mistake not to sign him & to sign Diouf instead was absolutely criminal. I've heard that Anelka behaved himself in his time at Liverpool and was a decent lad off the pitch, but I just think that he has not and never will fulfill his true potential. I believe that when he is on form & up for it, he is every bit as talented & explosive as players like Torres and Henry. I just think he lacks real desire to be a top player. Maybe he doesn't realise just how good he is/could have been. He just seems to be going through the motions at Chelsea.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Liverpool will rue letting Anelka go - The National Newspaper

 

It didn’t work out for him at Liverpool after his loan spell in 2002 and that was a shame because I think he would have done well had he signed permanently. He could have been wearing Liverpool red today instead of Chelsea blue.

I'd say it worked out for him very well during his time with us. It was just that the manager at the time cut his nose off to spite his face/sign a bag of shite instead and line his pockets* just as he did with Jari Litamen.

 

*delete as applicable

[StevieH]

I'd say it worked out for him very well during his time with us. It was just that the manager at the time cut his nose off to spite his face just as he did with Jari Litamen.

 

An attacking partnership of a fully fit Litmanen in his prime and Anelka would have been some combination.

[Dougie Do'ins]

An attacking partnership of a fully fit Litmanen in his prime and Anelka would have been some combination.

Wipes away tear in corner of eye and sighs.

[StevieH]

He found his club at Liverpool

 

I think you are right. He always refers to his time at Liverpool fondly and how he had a good rapport with the fans & how he wanted the move to become a permanent one. It was a catastrophe that we bought Diouf instead of Anelka.

[Red-Ed]

Have to say when Anelka was with us I thought he was quality and offered the team so much more than Owen ever did. He was head and shoulders above him as a player.

 

His attitude was also fine and i've always got the feeling that he wished Houllier had signed him...of course we spent the same money on Diouf so that went well...

[RedKnight]

If it was a choice between Torres and Anelka then I'd pick Torres. If it was a choice between Diouf and Anelka in 2002, then the choice then, as now, is Anelka.

[Paul]

Anelka isn't fit to lace El Nino's boots. He's a very good player and on his day he can be lethal. However, Torres is the best centre forward in the world. Anelka would have improved us back then when GH let him go, but he wasn't especially amazing in his time here.

[Anubis]

I was really sorry we didn't buy Anelka, as I was impressed by him during his time here. It's a pity we couldn't afford him when he decided to leave Bolton. I'd have loved to have seen him and Torres up front, with Anelka taking the provider role.

[Xherdan]

Agreed. Anelka is a very talented player, but lacks the passion and desire to be a top player. However, he will be a threat if he plays tomorrow but I would rather that we faced Anelka than Drogba.

 

 

Agreed. That inself shows Anelka is not the the top echelon of Strikers.

[Unrighteous]

Anelka in being a cunt shocker.

[Newport]

I almost forgot he played today.

[dennis tooth]

Anelka was shit for us during his time here, I can't fathom people making out that he was anything special when he came he was rubbish.

[hamstrung]

Never liked him. Got no bollocks.

 

Saying we should have bought him instead of Diouf is no praise at all.

[Captain]

Anelka was shit for us during his time here, I can't fathom people making out that he was anything special when he came he was rubbish.

 

Negged for being totally ignorant.

 

EDIT: If I could. Please, someone do it for me.

[hamstrung]

Don't think its entirely ignorant.

 

His time with us has been mythologised into something it certainly wasn't.

[James Dean]

Weak physically and mentally.

[dennis tooth]

How many goals did he score again?

[Section_31]

I think you are right. He always refers to his time at Liverpool fondly and how he had a good rapport with the fans & how he wanted the move to become a permanent one. It was a catastrophe that we bought Diouf instead of Anelka.

 

He's full of shit though, we've all seen our fair share of badge-kissers in our time to know you can't take players words' at face value.

 

Anelka has never done anything to make me think he gives a flying fuck about the game of football in the slightest.