Bellamy - we're almost as good as we used to be

[etho]

Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy has brushed off talk of a crisis at Anfield, insisting everyone is 'very relaxed' and focused on the top four.

 

Three successive home draws, including being held by new-boys Norwich and Swansea, have seen Kenny Dalglish's side drop off the pace at the top of the Premier League table.

 

But the Wales striker insists there are no real issues at the club and nothing to worry about.

 

"We have slipped up a little bit in recent weeks, and this is no disrespect to Swansea, but if we have an ambition to finish in the top four, we have to win those types of games," he told the Daily Mirror.

 

"But we do have the players here to reach the top four and get in the Champions League again. I feel this team will get stronger and stronger as the year goes on.

 

"Despite the results at home, there is a great atmosphere around the place, it's very relaxed, but always with the view to getting into the Champions League next season.

 

"I've really enjoyed being back at Liverpool, I've enjoyed working with a quality group of players.

 

"Training is very intense, but very enjoyable, and there is a feeling we will improve.

 

"Rafa Benitez's team was very good too and very efficient.

 

"But I do feel this team - with Kenny's stamp on it - isn't too far off Rafa's."

 

Bearing in mind the team Bellamy played in was the one with him, Pennant, Crouch (at his peak) and Kuyt, who were sold to bring in Torres, which created in my opinion the only side we've had in 20 years which was as good as if not better than anyone else in the league (bar arguably with the right manager the Roy Evans team of the mid 90's if they'd not been managed by Roy Evans) that's a pretty damning indictment of where we are currently

[The Economist]

You mean the team that got to the Final of the Champions League that also had Alonso, Mascherano, Agger and Reina?

[23_Carra_Gold]

And a Steven Gerrard who had legs that worked?

[zigackly]

Neither that team nor the one with Torres in it won anything, so I'm not sure what the point of any comparison is.

[rondeco]

Fucking hell zig. Can you not see that team was a decent team?

[JohnnyH]

This thread is guaranteed to be a roaring success. Yes sir.

[rondeco]

This thread is guaranteed to be a roaring success. Yes sir.

 

[JohnnyH]

Sammy Lee can't even look at him........

[neopulian]

Neither that team nor the one with Torres in it won anything, so I'm not sure what the point of any comparison is.

 

Silverware and pissing pots are the only point of comparison? Is Gary Neville the best right back ever? Is Ryan Giggs the best British footballer ever? Are Manure 1999 the best English football side ever?

[Delmar]

Neither that team nor the one with Torres in it won anything, so I'm not sure what the point of any comparison is.

 

I assume he is saying that the team that he played in was a very good one, which it was, and that this team has a chance to be a very good one, which it has.

 

Trophies won, well, Birmingham won a trophy. I think Bellamy would prefer us to Birmingham, regardless.

[Il Fenomeno]

I can't say I agree with that myself, because if you look at that Rafa team, then most of the players were better in their respective positions than the ones that play there today, apart from Enrique, Agger and possibly Johnson depending on your opinion of him. Reina, Kuyt and Gerrard aren't as good as they were that season either due to form or age, and Suarez isn't as good as Gerrard was off the striker under Rafa in that particular season in my opinion.

[ngogswilly]

That was a very good team, the current team is a little bit of a way off that just yet, but given a year or two and a 1 or 2 more quality additions I think its very possible.

[Section_31]

What talk of a crisis at Anfield? I'm pretty damn fucking happy!

[Lario]

 

Every time I see that overweight Spaniard I miss him, even with Kenny in charge.

 

Possibilities no?!

Edited November 11, 2011 by Lario

[05 Milan]

Fair play to him for trying to raise the spirits, but I don't think he actually believes that. Anyway, he's wrong.

[zigackly]

My work here is done.

 

[Delmar]

My work here is done.

 

 

For a smart young man your goatee seems a bit grey. Goatees are good, as we have seen for years, but I prefer a van Dyck myself.

[DaveT]

What's the source of this report and who is the wanker who used the word 'crisis'? Compare the state of the club with where we were 12 months ago to put things in some perspective.

[zigackly]

Graeme Bailey of Sky. Don't they teach the kids to use google these days?

[stringvest]

I think Rafa's best team was the one that won the European Cup. Stats, hmmmm, isn't it?

[zigackly]

I think Rafa's best team was the one that won the European Cup. Stats, hmmmm, isn't it?

 

Don't be silly, that was Houllier's team.

[stringvest]

 

Don't be silly, that was Houllier's team.

 

No. Credit where it's due. Houllier wouldn't have won the champions league with that team. Sometimes managers are better at managing what they are given than what they assemble themselves.

[zigackly]

Can't believe I made two successful fishing trips in one thread! You are slipping stringy.

[piscinin]

Can't believe I made two successful fishing trips in one thread! You are slipping stringy.

 

Au contraire. He was just using your tiddler to bait his own hook.

[stringvest]

Au contraire. He was just using your tiddler to bait his own hook.

 

Thanks Pisky. Your motorboat has just ruined any chances of a bite.