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Royal Family

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  1. Royal Family
    Well, it's something that Rafa told journalists in the past, so i suspect there is some truth in it. For three managers to ignore him is pretty revealing, isn't it?
  2. Royal Family
    Agreed: the problem is however that it's very difficult to rebuild a team in one summer and expect instant success, even if the owners do come up with the outlay required. We're in a real dilemma because of the way the squad has been run down since 2007, and also because of the ageing dross and mediocrity we have filled our squad with under Rafa and Roy I imagine too that some of the established players like Pepe will be off - he knows the scale of the rebuilding task, and I'm certain that he'll decide that he doesn't want to wait around to see if it works. We have to 1/ get the signings right 2/ do the business EARLY (which means, for once, bringing in players BEFORE we offload current squad players) and 3/ bring in young, hungry players. Easy then.
  3. Royal Family
    Especially for reasons of personality.
  4. Royal Family
    I think we'll disagree on that - Pepe's better as a sweeper and got better distribution, but he still behaves like a headless chicken at times, whilst van der saar doesn't as regularly. What's also interesting about Pepe is that in each of the last three seasons he's been in the bottom half of premiership goalies for proportion of saves per goal conceded, and indeed this year he's in the bottom three. Of course, there are explanations for this - ie maybe our defence gives away too many clearcut chances - but I do think that this reveals a pattern that as a shotstopper he's not actually top drawer. Certainly this year I think he's - on the whole - been pretty average to be honest (with notable exceptions like the Birmingham away game)
  5. Royal Family
    Not sure about that, Johnny. Van der Saar has been superb for them for the past few years and he has an assurance and sense of calmness that Pepe doesn't have. I think one could say that he wouldn't particularly weaken them, but I don't think he'd make them a better team than they are now.
  6. Royal Family
    Given even "unsuccessful" Liverpool won a major trophy more recently than Arsenal, that would be a very hypocritical career decision by Pepe, wouldn't it? I presume Arsenal would pay him more, mind?
  7. Royal Family
    I presume that James Lawton will be publishing an article that attacks Jonny "Consensual sex, honest" Evans for a "revolting" "sickening" and "dangerous" tackle in his next column? And if he doesn't write about this, can i suggest we all contact him to demand why?
  8. Royal Family
    Jaaskelainen does that every season against Man Utd - it's remarkable given what a consistent goalkeeper he is normally, yet every season he reserves a howler for a United game. I can only hope he doesn't do the same in the Cup Final if the teams meet again.
  9. Royal Family
    Noit true - Pellegrini met Kenny Dalglish last summer and it was Kenny who was unimpressed by him. Given where he has taken big-spending malaga (spent more than anyone bar madrid and braca) this season, I think that was possibly not a daft call.
  10. Royal Family
    Really?! That's rather unfair on Martin kelly, don't you think? If you want to know why Soto isn't anywhere near the levels we require then look at the fact that it two basic mistakes from Soto have led directly to our elimination from two European tournaments in the last 18 months - away at Lyon in 2009 which knocked us out the CL, and away at Braga in 2011. Of course all defenders make errors at times, but such high-profile and needless errors in big games have been very costly to us. You cannot afford liabilities.
  11. Royal Family
    Yes he is, I'm afraid - or at least the same player Chelsea had for the last two years of his time there. He's not been the same player since that last long-term injury. Just as the Robbie Keane we signed was exactly the same player Spurs had "enjoyed"- continually missing chances, and possessing a self-regard that was completely out of touch with the reality of his performances. (Or indeed the Roy Hogdson we got..., although at least the majority fans were alert to his managerial record before he came!) I'm afraid it's the overhyped reporting of football, and the peril of highlights programmes that create reputations that are utterly unfounded. It's just that once we signed Cole and Keane we are then expose as fans to proper scrutiny, and their flaws become obvious.
  12. Royal Family
    He's your quintessential squad player: does everything tolerably well, excels at absolutely nothing. I also disagree that he's improved markedly - some of his best performances came early in his Liverpool career - PSV and Inter away spring to mind. He's improved in the domestic league, sure. But he's a litmus test for Rafa in the way that Poulsen is a litmus test for Roy. To defend Lucas in the past was to defend Rafa, given he was the one player he used to defend to the hilt and protect from critcism and talk up; I'm sure those that dislike him also disliked the Benitez style of play - which is why he polarises opinion, and his weaknesses AND his strengths are wildly exaggerated by both camps. The truth lies between - a decent squad filler, but he'll never be good enough for a team with ambitions to win the top trophies.
  13. Royal Family
    We'll remain in the cycle we have been stuck in for a long time unless we a/sort out the Academy and start to produce some home-grown players and b/sort out the scouting network which has been little short of a disgrace for two decades, at least.
  14. Royal Family
    Otherwise known as a contradiction in terms...
  15. Royal Family
    I opened this thread naively thinking it would say "Fulham to unveil a statue of .... Roy Hodgson". Alas.
  16. Royal Family
    If the two games against United are an indication of how Deschamps (who still seems the most likely alternative) would approach english football, then I hope the owners are signing the deal with Kenny tonight... United were absolutely there for the taking, but his uninspiring 'safety first' approach undermined Marseille.
  17. Royal Family
    Utterly obsessed. It's also another fabricated comment, which you sadly seem to perfect in these days (the irony is that you are so swift to accuse others of 'lies' as you did to someone the other day over Boateng, as i noted wryly). The question marks have always been over Eduardo Macia and his agents - i don't think Rafa has ever been brought into it. So stop being a silly boy again. Just look at the QPR charges if you want to understand why using unlicensed agents is such a problem for a club.
  18. Royal Family
    i know - AND the physio had to perform an emergency amputation on the pitch in order to save Nani's leg after the "worst challenge ever" (TM- Dion Fanning?:whistle:). Extraordinary.
  19. Royal Family
    I think it's obvious with hindsight (and to many at the time, although I freely admit to having been unsure) that Kenny should have got the job over the summer. That said, I think it would have been much harder for him to have followed on from the previous manager with feelings so raw: Hodgson was the recipient of a lot of abuse and bitterness that I think would have been thrown at any manager coming in. I also fear that Kenny would have been accused by some of being part of the 'old regime'. The Hodgson regime was cathartic in the sense of allowing a bit of space and perspective which has undeniably made it easier for Kenny now.
  20. Royal Family
    You asked a rhetorical question, I'm afraid, and supplied your own answer. So don't play the ingenue. A question would be "why was Baccombe banned from press conferences?" And I'm afraid your definition of 'making things up' is simply pointing out what you blindly refuse to accept. Like Rafa talking to other clubs for 6 months before leaving. I'll leave the gratuitous abuse to you, as that's all you seem capable of coming back with.
  21. Royal Family
    Nothing like twisting the facts to make a gratuitous point, is there (although we've sadly rather got used to that over the last few years from the Rafalutionary Guard)? I think you'll find that was Rick Parry and Bascombe's offence was to suggest that Hicks and Gillett might not be the best owners for Liverpool, and to suggest the Board rushed into it after the collapse of DIC negotiations. I'm sure you'll just keep spewing out the misinformation though in the hope that Rafa will one day come back...
  22. Royal Family
    I imagine his daddy will - he is the paper's editor after all! Piscinin is being deliberately provocative (rather than dense, which he plainly isn't) when he says he "can't see what the fuss is" - it's the bit where Fanning claims to know carra's private thoughts. Of course Carra is going to complain about that because you simply can't let that go unchallenged. It's one thing sniping poisonously, as Fanning regularly does, but it's quite another to claim you know and can report on what the private thoughts of an individual are. And why no credit on here to Carra for whom he asked the donation to be given?
  23. Royal Family
    I thought it was only SOS who called in the lawyers when a journalist prints something they don't like?
  24. Royal Family
    The bit about NESV "repeating their transfer largesse" is also worryingly misleading - unless by that the journalist means that they have pledged to give Kenny whatever money he brings in through sales, which of course was all that happened over the winter window. If there is any truth in this (and I doubt it greatly), it's a story planted by the club I would guess.
  25. Royal Family
    There are a lot of assumptions about NESV throwing the money around this summer. That very much remains to be seen, and i suspect there will be a lot of disappointed people on here - as ever - come the 1st of September if they think we're going to be buying half a team.
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