Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

Reminds me of Ian Callaghan.

(Now you know why I make my posts short and memorable!)

[GYBS]

worried that he doesnt have that extra something . Decent all round player but think after a while most decent full backs will have figured out quickly .

[Bad Bob]

I like the way he creates space for the overlap by cutting inside now and then in order to invite Dossena or Aurelio to bomb on down the touchline.  I also think he's clever when he takes on a fullback.  If the man's too tight, he looks to skin him quickly and drive into the box.  If not, though, he'll take his time on the ball and try and stand the fullback up with his footwork and change of pace...all the while keeping an eye on the box to see who's making a run.  In that way, he retains possession and gives his teammates an opportunity to join the attack before making his move.  It doesn't always come off--and, yes, top fullbacks will not usually be fooled--but it's good build-up play.  I also applaud his ability to get into the box--not just when the ball's on the opposite flank but also when it's played through the middle.  He provides another goal threat and I back him to score at least a half dozen for us this season.  Someone's mentioned his willingness to go to ground and I do think that's a minor downside to his game but I think that can be coached out of him (as it mostly has been with Torres).  All in all, a pleasant surprise that is looking to be a very shrewd buy.

[Scottbot]

worried that he doesnt have that extra something . Decent all round player but think after a while most decent full backs will have figured out quickly .

To be honest he doesn't have to be extra-special to make the team-extra special. We've already got two attacking players who live up to that billing and they have managed that playing in a team that only uses about 75% of the pitch. Our wide-men have literally been shrinking the pitch the past few years, drifting inside (to get onto their stronger foot usually!), taking markers with them, crowding our midfield and making us predictable. Now we've got a player who will stay wide, offer a genuine (if not extra-special) threat to his full-back, play intelligently, keep the ball, provide crosses, contest headers, offer a threat with his shooting and perhaps most importantly, give the likes of Gerrard, Torres and Alonso a little more space with which to kill teams. Pennant was never consistent enough to do the job, he ran hot and cold, playing a blinder one game and then invisible the next. I get the impression this lad will always be involved even when he isn't flying, I like that he shows for the ball more often than not and isn't always looking for the ball into space (as Pennant often does).   

I like him 

[JoeTerp]

Maybe yesterday he was having La Liga flashbacks and thought that referee would take a Spanish interpretation being Spanish himself, playing with Spaniards, under a Spanish manager against a Spanish team in Spain.

[Bad Bob]

Maybe yesterday he was having La Liga flashbacks and thought that referee would take a Spanish interpretation being Spanish himself, playing with Spaniards, under a Spanish manager against a Spanish team in Spain.

Bugger about the Danish ref, though.

[Reg]

Many, many apologies folks...I went to merge the Leon and Big Mick threads on Riera and they both vanished into the ether.     

Bah, accidents like that happen in any database. In theory the admin could roll back the database and recover both threads, ask him.

As it turns out, Leon and I both tried to merge the thread at the same time from different directions (seriously!).  The result was a blinding light, the acrid smell of ozone and an unaccounted for 6 minute differential between the newkit clock and the atomic clock that determines Coordinated Universal Time.  Scully and Mulder are flying in as we speak!   

Let us know if Scully and Mulder can work out Leon, personally I dont think they have a chance....   

[roberto green]

He has started very brightly with us and i still think there is alot more to come from him, when we first signed him i thought he was just another tempary stop gap player because he was the best we could get with the 10m or so Rafa had left to spend but he has seltted in nicely and looks a "lovely" player.

Still expect alot more from him tho,

[GYBS]

worried that he doesnt have that extra something . Decent all round player but think after a while most decent full backs will have figured out quickly .

To be honest he doesn't have to be extra-special to make the team-extra special. We've already got two attacking players who live up to that billing and they have managed that playing in a team that only uses about 75% of the pitch. Our wide-men have literally been shrinking the pitch the past few years, drifting inside (to get onto their stronger foot usually!), taking markers with them, crowding our midfield and making us predictable. Now we've got a player who will stay wide, offer a genuine (if not extra-special) threat to his full-back, play intelligently, keep the ball, provide crosses, contest headers, offer a threat with his shooting and perhaps most importantly, give the likes of Gerrard, Torres and Alonso a little more space with which to kill teams. Pennant was never consistent enough to do the job, he ran hot and cold, playing a blinder one game and then invisible the next. I get the impression this lad will always be involved even when he isn't flying, I like that he shows for the ball more often than not and isn't always looking for the ball into space (as Pennant often does).   

I like him 

very true mate - but then look at the other top 3 and the players they got that have that something extra - Rooney,Berbatov,Tevez,Ronaldo ,Deco,Lampard,Ballack,Drogbe etc - I was hop ing for someone with that something extra special from a wide area to compete with those sort of players but off course hard with the money they can spend etc and am hopefully for reira to give us a little edge - as you say he gives us great width now and hope he can provide a little cutting edge . Good start from him but going to wait till at least xmas to see how he is doing then - same with dossena and degen .

[andy_g]

i thought the penalty shout was pretty much stonewall actually. you could see the defender deliberately stick his leg out behind him and riera went over it. it would have been pretty difficult to stay on his feet and if slightly exaggerating the fall is a bookable offence then there are going to be a lot more yellow cards to come.

anyway, he's been a great buy and seems even better because about 90% of us were completely underwhelmed about the signing. as well as giving us width out on the left he also gives us time. by that i mean that he isn't a blood and thunder, 100 mph type player. he's not a natural athlete in the style of torres, gerrard or even (dare i mention it) kuyt, but a lot of the time he will use quick thinking to make sure that he creates time and space to build an attack. he's always looking for options and if that means holding up the ball for a while he'll do that without feeling the need to pass it back to midfield to start over. he's got plenty of tricks and quick feet to get out of tight spaces and more often than not they actually work.

my only two concerns are that he still fades as games go on and that we can sometimes be too predictable in spreading attacking play down the left. whether the fading is down to fitness or not liking getting kicked is unclear. by now his fitness should be spot on as he's played at least an hour, usually more, of a good dozen games now. if its because he's getting tired of being kicked then its a harder problem to resolve as that will be down to his character. the predictability seems to be improving though. in the first 2 or 3 games he played almost everything went out left, which gave us a chance to have a good look at him but also made us easier to defend against.

he looks like a cartoon character as well.

[desmdlow]

I think he is well suited to our style of play rather than an extraordinary player. He provides us the width, trickery, and hold up ability for overlapping LB. However, i think he still need some time to get used to his defensive duties with the ever changing LB.. somtimes i feel they are mixed up and let opponent run around them.

I particularly like his attitude when he is with the ball. He seems to like to take on players when 1on1 and hold and wait for support when cornered. He seems very comfortable on the ball..great asset.

[lakes10]

oh no, my post saying how much of a bad buy he was going to be has gone .....lol

yep it looks like Rafa got him spot on, he needs to pick his pace up a bit (thats why le left man city) but he looks a good player and a good buy.

[stmichael]

He's actually a much bigger guy than I remember at Man City. He still goes down rather too easily for me but physically I certainly think he's far better suited to the Premiership than any other winger we've signed in recent years.

Excellent touch, technique and can cross a ball aswell. If he can get 6-8 goals this season I'll be made up. I also hope he plays on Sunday because as good as Bosingwa is going forawrd, he isn't great defensively and in a one on one I'd fancy Riera over him anyday.

What was the fee we paid for him again? Don't tell it was another bloody undisclosed fee.  

[lakes10]

He's actually a much bigger guy than I remember at Man City. He still goes down rather too easily for me but physically I certainly think he's far better suited to the Premiership than any other winger we've signed in recent years.

Excellent touch, technique and can cross a ball aswell. If he can get 6-8 goals this season I'll be made up. I also hope he plays on Sunday because as good as Bosingwa is going forawrd, he isn't great defensively and in a one on one I'd fancy Riera over him anyday.

What was the fee we paid for him again? Don't tell it was another bloody undisclosed fee.  

reported to be between £5.5 and £8.0 million.

[Scottbot]

anyway, he's been a great buy and seems even better because about 90% of us were completely underwhelmed about the signing. as well as giving us width out on the left he also gives us time. by that i mean that he isn't a blood and thunder, 100 mph type player. he's not a natural athlete in the style of torres, gerrard or even (dare i mention it) kuyt, but a lot of the time he will use quick thinking to make sure that he creates time and space to build an attack. he's always looking for options and if that means holding up the ball for a while he'll do that without feeling the need to pass it back to midfield to start over. he's got plenty of tricks and quick feet to get out of tight spaces and more often than not they actually work.

He's doing a good job. He always shows feet from the touchline when his full-back has the ball which is what you want from your wide-players and unlike Babel (who often takes an age to decide what to do) he gets his head up sees a pass and plays it or (as Andy said) he holds things up until there is something on.