Liverpool FC Forum

[dawson99]

ok, so each team should have two players in each position. its late, im still in work, so i'll do a brief bit about each player.

GK - Kikland and Dudek.
What can we say about these two lads? We should have the best 2 i this position in the country but for some reason they seem to keep making clangers recently. Kirkland is looking slow and dudek is looking like someone has put margerine on his gloves. Not sure how to rectify this or who should be in pole position, but im gonna go for teh quicker lad.
Verdict: Dudek

LB - Finnan and Josemi.
Josemi tries hard, and in my opnion plays much beter with garcia ahead of him. Thats why i think there may be some kind of communication problem. Finann lately has staretd to impress and his recent travels on the wing have given us yet another option.
Verdict: Finann

CBs - Carragher, Hypia, Henchoz, Whitberad
I could have incldued Traore here as i think he will be a good CB for us but for now we know who our first 2 CBs are. Henchoz did take a great penalty in the worthington cup tho and whitbread is definately one for the future. We have our back 2 tough deicded with ease:
Verdict: Carragher and Hypia

RB: Risse and Traore.
Traore annoys me. sometimes he plays with his heart on his sleeve and is masterful and commanding. I think he lieks the pressure (worthington cup he took the game by the scruff of the neck) but sometimes he is woeful. his long passing can be dreadful and his vision at tmies leaves alot to be desired. Risse tho sometimes goes forward too much
Verdict: undecided

LM - Garcia and (he keeps changing them)
In my opnion we need garcia back,w e are missnig something on the right. Pongolle has shown that he cant play there and Finann is better at the back, possibly this si somewhere we need to buy in january.

RM - Kewel and Warnock
This is a strange one. Kewell is just starting to get his act together and Warnock is showing that he can play in the 1st team. If possible we should be able to try them both out in different competitions but for now id liek top stick with harry
Verdict: Kewell

CM - Gerrard Alonso Hamman Biscan, Diao
Ok, im taking Diao out of the equation already (i didnt even mention Nunez for RM, hes not ready yet.)
It all really depends on if we stay with this one striker malarkey. Personally i dont like it. It doesnt matter that stevie g gets a free role, we just arent scoring enough goals or making enough chances. So Gerrard and Alonso it is. But what about Hamman? I thinkwe need to decide on this depending on who we are playing. sometimes Hamman is the rock at the back we crave, but at others if we have two strikers you cant leave out alonso or gerrard.
Verdict:for now we can use gerrard alonso and hamman with biscan as cover. when 2 strikers we will chop and change.

Strikers - Baros Pongolle Mellor
o offence, but thsi just isnt good enough. We need 2 recognised striekrs in my opinion. We need a nicholas anelka or fernando morientez. Its just that we need goals. Hopefulyl in january we can sort this out. for now though which two strikers would i prefer? Well baros is a given (not shay, you know what i mean) but as for the other 2... im just not sure. Pongolle brings pace but baros should have that and mellor has sdored some vital goals. I am just lokoing for that new striker, cisse could have been that but the injury has sucked.
Verdict: Baros and someone new


So overall what have we learnt? i dunno. we have got some depth but really we need a rm and striker. everyone keeps going on about CD but i think we are ok there, idliket o see young zak come in a bit more (played well from what ive seen, recently signed extension)
Dunno what anyone thinks, but thought id write this down since it beats working night all

[LFC #1]

you have mixed right.left back and midfield up, but anyway.

looking at that:

- we need another centre-half, cos Whitbread is still young and Henchoz is no longer part of Rafa's plans by the looks of things.

- RM is a bit of a mystery at the moment, Nunez is still adapting to it - and it isn't Pngolle's natural psoition. It was a probelm psoiton while Houllier was here also as he tried Diouf and Heskey out there which failed miserably, hoepfully Nunez can become the player we need out there, but he is very raw and needs to adapt to the english game, give him time though and he could be the answer.

Garcia could play there, but he is a very attacking minded player with little in the way of defensive qualities, so if he Josemi plays with him then that could spell trouble. For me is better just behind the striker.

-Central midfield: if Gerrard leaves then he simply must be repaced with a class player. Alonso is calss and Hamann is very capable but it leaves little backup in the form of Biscan and Diao.

- With Cisse injured we desperatley need another striker, no1 priroity for sure.

-

[ssss]

1. GK

We're fine in this department but the coaching staff have got to sort the recent soft goals we've been letting in. I think in terms of quality in this department, only chelski can boast of being better.

2. LB

Riise and Traore. Traore's improved a lot and I can'st see why he will not improve further. Riise, to be honest can play much better than this. I think he needs to improve especially his passing..too many stray passes for my liking. No reinforcements needed for this area. And remember, we do have vignal on loan to rangers. I do rate him and thought he payed pretty well last season.

3. RB

We're pretty strong here but josemi needs to learn a lot and learn fast. A lot of goals scored against us are due to his errors (partly), though I still think he is a good player. No complaints bout finnan though, good right foot and solid display all year round. No reinforcements needed for this area. Just think that finnan should be ahead of josemi, but well, what do I know?

P/S: Do you think rafa is 'favoring' his own countrymen here? I do get that vibe sometimes..

4. CB

I think Zak is still too raw. Hyppia and Carragher have been solid so far ..other than the odd Hyppia slid up..they're forming a pretty good partnership. Josemi can step into CB and so can Traore, therefore we've got good cover. And remember Diarra on loan to Lens. He's recently been called into the French squad and has apparently been playing well,..perhaps time to get him back?

Again, dont think we need to make any new signings here.

5. CM

On paper with xabi and stevie, we have the best CM in the EPL and I dare say in the world. We've got the ever reliable hamann and of cos back up in diao and biscan. But I think we should look for a young CM to understudy hamann and in case stevie leaves.

My pick would be either someone in the mould of aimar as we dont really have someone with that sort of trickery and vision or someone experienced and seasoned in the EPL (remember gary mac?) We could use a cool head in the middle of the park and in Europe...

6. LM

Kewell and Riise. Kewell is improving lots and Riise as mentioned earlier has to improve. This is one area which we can improve. Again someone to understudy Kewell would be great..someone young, quick and can take players on. At least this would keep Kewell on his toes.

Warnock has put in some good and some mediocre display this season. My initial conclusion is he wont make it in the first team..but some are late bloomers..so who knows..the lad just might make it..

7. RM

Garcia, we all know what he can do. What a player!! Nunez, too early to judge, so far looks solid and reliable but nothing out of spectacular. Dont think we need any reinforcements here as finnan can step in as backup.

But if nunez turns out to be ******, then we'd better start looking for someone. My gut feeling tells me that he's gonna turn out well...only time will tell...

8. STRK

We've actually got 6 strikers/forwards in our books at the moment: -

a. Cisse (injured)
b. baros
c. sinama
d. le tellec (loan)
e. mellor
f. diouf (loan)

And if we include harry and garcia who can play upfront, we've got 8!! Out problem is , we need someone who can step in rightaway.

So far mellor and sinama have done ok, but to be frank, they are simply not ready for first team action yet, which leaves us with just baros (who btw still fancies barcelona).

I think that whoever we go for must has experience in the premiership because we cannot afford settling time etc. Hence, I am not in favour of morientes.

Anelka comes with baggages..heavy ones!!If we're prepared to take that risk, well I think he suits our play. I do rate him highly and he'll definitely strive in our system

If I were rafa, I'd go for someone seasoned and tie'em down with a short term contract (mayb till end of season)..I think we look lost and inexperience at times upfront and a cool head would help. Think shearer, ferdinand and if we have to go foreign, why not koller? we can surely use the extra height upfront..lots of tasty crosses gone to waste in previous matches...

I think le tellec can turn out to be a very good player, though some say rafa doesnt really rate him cos of his attitude..i think we should bring him back for next season..he's got a great first touch and an intelligent player..Id like to see him play for us..let him show us what he can do..

As for diouf,..I know he's said certain things in the past ...and is a dirty spitter and all...but on the purely footballing aspect,I think rafa can do wonders with him..(remember traore and biscan?)..however I think his career with liverpool is over..what a waste of talent and money. Unless something drastic happens he seems to be on his way out of anfield. Let's hope we can get something decent for him...8 mil would be nice..

[LFC #1]

Let's hope we can get something decent for him...8 mil would be nice..

8million for Diouf?

- turkish lira maybe. 

[ssss]

Let's hope we can get something decent for him...8 mil would be nice..

8million for Diouf?

- turkish lira maybe. 

  no harm wishing mate....if some smart ****** managed to persuade us to buy him for 10m...i'm sure we can persuade some other fool to pay 8m for him...

[murphy0151]

Let's hope we can get something decent for him...8 mil would be nice..

8million for Diouf?

- turkish lira maybe. 

I tell ya what ill dp, add manager, rich club and bid all there money for him.  lol oh fuknhell am stoned here laaaaaaa 

[LFC #1]

u sure are, that post was incomprehendable.

[dawson99]

so where do we really need to buy from in january?

[woof woof !]

so where do we really need to buy from in january?

Apart from central mid , every area of our team could do with improvement . Dudek and Kirkland should be an outstanding GK pool but are playing below their ability ,however I don't think we need to panic over that position.

Finnan has improved his game whilst Josemi after a bright start has looked distinctly average and always on the verge of conceding free kicks in dangerous areas . Could do with a classy right back but not 1st priority.

Sami and Jamie have done exceptionally well , but Sami is not getting any quicker ( ) ,would like to see some pace and class added to our Cental Defence.

Left back ? how long is it since we had a player who made this position their own on a permanent basis ?

Right mid , still needs sorting .despite the number of players who have been tried on the right.

Central Mid , as long as Stevie,Xabi and Didi are fit we have this position well covered .(although Didi isn't getting any younger)

Left mid , happy to see Riise or Kewell filling that spot.

Front two , despite his heroics Mellor is not the long term partner for Baros , more class/quality required .

I've obviously based my opinion on us playing 442, Anyone got a couple of squillion quid to spare ?