WhiskeyJar

With all due respect this thread and poll is pointless.

;) Maybe so but with Rise and Finnan going, both of which were loayal servants to the club, bringing good qualities to the club. I just wanted to illustrate that with Finnan and Rise going having Degen and Dossena might be a step backwards.

Something like a farewell to them.......

I dont get why people get hostily when voicing an opinion.

If Gerrard can play and is fit to play, with the physios permission then he SHOULD play. If he says he is unfit and after the medical the physio agrees then he should not play.

From there on its up for debate wherever he can or should play based on his own assumptions. Thats why we have a top notch medical team to advise the manager on injuries.

An unfit Gerrard and Torres should not be risked at any time, especailly against United. If Gerrard cant play and Rafa plays him then you have to question the manager who goes agains the physios recomendation and the players wishes to risk his carrer on one game.

Okay its united and we have not won there in ages, but we have players who are more than willing to make up for the absentees.

Initially City will attract a few of the second tier of of world class players but after that I'm sure they'll get some huge names too. It just depends on how long their spending spree lasts for I guess.

 

I never really expected Abramovic to stay involved with Chelsea so long; merely thinking he'd lose interest after a year or two but he has carried on supporting them financially and if City's new owners adopt the same dedication then I can't see them not becoming a powerhouse.

 

Blackburn went from obscurity to league winnners by spending far less, even in scale to what city are proposing to do. Newcastle went from Div 1 to almost winning the prem without spending anywhere near this amount. The top 4 can defintely be broken into with a big budget and it currently looks like anyone doing so would be at our expense.

I have seen this posted a few times, and I holeheartly disagree. We have enough quality in the team now than we ever had. If we win the title this year more bidders will come in for us forcing the yanks to buckle, or winning the CHL.

Looking at it the other way not qualifing for next CHL will mean that the yanks cannot sustain the club any longer and will be forced to sell the club.

Either way, good news even if we do have to go one year without CHL......

You're assuming Keane won't score or assist this season then?

 

As for the myth of Gerrard on the right, most of his goals that season came when he started centrally. Check for yourself if you don't believe me.

I think this is what Rafa had in mind when he signed Keane, to bring in a natural strike partner for Torres as evidence has it that he link up well with Gerrard.

Otherwise the Keane buy doesnt make sense. He then places SG in his favourite position and where he is at his most dangerous, in midfield.

Sooner or later Keane will come up trumps and link up just the way Gerrard, hopefully then he can justify his 20million price tag.........

There many sides to SG game. He can drive into a box, shoot, make through balls, link up and beakr play, dictate the tempo and crosses well.

This is subject that will never end as when Rafa plays him in one position, critics and fans debate wherever it was the right position to begin with. He could play in any number of positions, but Liverpool was never about accomodating one player to play at his full potential, its about giving balance to the team given a certain formation.

You could argue that with his defensive capabilities that he could play as an RB but then again that does not take full advantage his attacking abilities so scratch that.

Playing as a CM he would be far more effective as he can dictate the play, track back, make drives from the midfield and link up with the fowards whilst scoring the odd long range goal.

Playing him behind the main striker, he cannot dictate the play as much but he gives you +10 goals and assits per season making him a very effective attacking player but deprives him of his defensive capabilities.

So in the end you are left with a decision, where do you play SG where you can take full advantage of his talents??

Personally, this is down to Rafa and how he wants to use him as part of the bigger picture. He knows what he did with Torres last season, and whilst this should not be overlooked, we have Keane now who can play this role.....wherever some of you agree or not.

Which leaves Steve G playing CM, which is his favourite postion. If the player is happy to play there and the managers see him fit to play in that role then I dont see why not. Rafa might get stick because of his decision but thats where he can accomodate him whilst giving balance to the team.

P.S: Whilst writting this it maybe worth mentioning that I had traditional 4-4-2 formation in mind, as that has been our starting formation this season.

I can't answer that one yet. What I do know is that Riise had his best time with us in his first few seasons, and then the past couple of seasons seemed to regress. He was never a bad player though, but I feel he (and we) needed a fresh start. It remains to be seen whether Dossena or Aurelio will prevail as top choice left back. Still, Dossena looks OK, and as the team finds a higher gear we'll see if he does too.

 

As for the RB slot, Finnan was very much an unsung hero in my eyes on the right. He had already fallen out of favour somewhat though, even before the signing of Degen, with Arbeloa starting to get the nod ahead of Finnan. It is possible we sold Finnan too soon, but even his biggest supporters would have to concede that old father time catches up with all players, and Finnan doesn't have that long left in the tank at the highest level.

 

As with our new left back, the right back position is a little unclear as to who will get the nod. It will probably be Arbeloa. He has faded a little in many fans' estimations, but the job he did on Messi should not be overlooked. Few would be able to do that.

 

If Degen proves to be a player, he might get the nod against some of the mid ranking and lower teams, since part of our problem has been opening them up if they come to 'park the bus'. Degen bombing on down the right might well help create space and thus chances and goals.

 

Still, it's all too early to form a proper judgement.

Thats a fully fledge answer. I was one of those that question Finnans sale but after reading the above I could not agree more.

Still, I would of liked Finnan to have stayed but maybe fresh blood was needed, wherever Degen can come in now and fill the postion remains to be seen. I wonder if Rafa was just trying to make up the numbers in the squad with the Degen buy though....

Maybe a bit unfair here with Degen not even playing regulary yet, but in some ways I think Dossena and Degen maybe a step backwards in the fullback department.

I might be wrong here but Rise gave more than his fair share of goals in his FKs and long throws whilst Finnan never gave less than his 100%.

Dossena seems to be okay in the back and makes good crosses but will he contribute as much as Rise did?

Finnan on the other hand was a servant and was always commited to the cause, to think that Degen was a free transfer makes me think that his club just wanted to offload him.

To ask, did we take a step foward or a step back?

WE've beaten them a few times since then.

True but that game is the one that will always be with me, well that and the Rise FK against them.

While that is true, it's somewhat harder and more time-consuming to do that than it is to whip out your monster chequebook.

 

How many world-class players have we developed in the last 10 years? (Bar Gerrard and Owen, and, arguably, Carra. Even the likes of Jack Hobbs, one of our top 'developed' players, is out on loan at Leicester.) How many have Chelsea bought?

Not to sound like a broken record here but I think the only way that Rafa can combat Red Roms millions is to at least ensure the future of LFC by buying young exciting talent and then developing them into superstars.

But to be honest we have spent quite a bit ourselves and yet we do have a team of world class players that could walk into any first team set up.

The problem however is not our first team, its the bench where we seem to lack the same quality as we do in the first team. We can call up (basing on value) quality worth 8-12 million whilst Chelsea call on 20 million worth of quality.

If we develop our youngster to their full potential then our bench will practically have the same worth.

Probably the last time LFC had a good performance against them & won.

Best performance in my memory was a 3-3 draw with Ruddock scoring the last equalizing goal. Cant remember the year though......

They won't get Gerrard but they will certainly attract the Worlds best players, how will they not? they are far and away the richest club in the world and clearly are adopting a money no object policy. I think they are absolutely nailed on for a top four finish next season, something i believe will leave us fighting it out with Arsenal for the final place.

You will need someone to manage them too. All of them superstar egos need an even better ego to manager them. I dont think Mark Huges is that man.

Even so, I would like to think that our young army have enough class and talent to ensure that Liverpool will not have to spend huge in the future to win the title.

Of course man sity getting richer over night is a setback granted, but Liverpool have feared no one in the past, even mega rich clubs. What happened to Leeds will not happen to Liverpool for the sheer fact that we are in different league in regards to football culture.

We barerly got past Standard but we still favourites to get past our hard CHL league group. Such popularity and respect must be earn based on history and accomplishments something that Man City just doesnt have.

This is Liverpool FC and with that I state that we have no one to fear. Get the yanks out and DIC in and we will see who will be the new force wo reckon with.

Is that a 4-1-2-2-1 or a 4-3-3 formation?

As complicated as it might sound, Riera and Babel can go into the wide areas supporting Keane whilst Alonso and Lucas spray the ball around with back up from Dossena and Arboloa.

I am assuming that with Reira and Babel being supporting and Masch hodling in front of the back four then its 4-1-2-2-1.

Some Liverpool fans want a win over United no matter what the cost. But using an unfit Torres and Gerrard is too much of a risk for me.

My line up against United would be

-----------Keane-----------

----Riera------------Babbel-----

-------Alonso-------Lucas

-------------Masch-------

--Dossena---Cara----Skerel----Arbeloa

and hope for the best with Kuy and Yossi coming off the bench.

 

Good old patience I suppose....

We are just going to have to wait and see what happens. I dont like the situation more than any other Liverpool fan but amongst the talks of boycot and mass demonstration, the fans need to think about the influence this will have on the players.

We have Man U next week and the last thing we want to do is disrupt the perperations for this huge game. I quite agree that something needs to be done, but without disrupting the team.

However I just dont know what we can do that would have a great impact on the yanks and not the squad......

They'll get players as Chelsea did. The financial incentives will be too tempting to turn down; tho like Chelsea, class young players at big clubs will knock them back.

Agreed. In some ways developing a young player with huge talent reaps more benefits then buying a world class player at the peak of his carrear.

Even with Man City having millions upon millions, it still wont change the fact that they still have to wait until January to buy more players. Hopefully by then we will have bought back stability at our club by getting rid of the yanks.

I dont think Gerrard will leave Liverpool FC. His heart, his people are set in Liverpool. If he was going to leave I think he would left already to go to Chealse, but he hasnt.

Apart from Gerrard there are only other few players that I can think of that can turn down wages of £500,000 a week.