Liverpool FC Forum

[redrover]

as an out and out irish /reds fan i have to admit im a bit worried. we over here always get the impression he doesnt quite put it in for us as much as he did for spurs ,despite the fact that hes our highest goal scorer of all time ,but his defenders always reckond this was because he was playing with better players at spurs. well if thats the case then he should be a huge hit with liverpool so heres hoping. history shows that a successful liverpool team always had an irish international in its midst ,going back to heighway, michael robinson , ronnie whelan etc so let the good times roll down anfield way.

[The Manhattan Project]

In fairness, it must be hard for any British Isles player to be enthusiastic about playing for their national team, because they are all so , especially England, because they come with the most hype.

[redrover]

"Robbie.....Robbie.....They Call You The Belfast Boy....."






Well, actually they don't.

So my whole song is pointless.

oi manhattan hes a dublin boy through and through so dont be getting mixed up with that rabble up north 

[The Manhattan Project]

"Robbie....Robbie they call you the Dublin, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Milan, Paris, Tottenham, Zanzibar, Grampus Eight, Liverpool boy!!!"

[Raj_Xedos]

when i used to watch robbie keane play, i used to think very smart clever player....just like our very own robbie fowler.....cant wait for him to join up with nando....

absolutely delighted!

[redrover]

In fairness, it must be hard for any British Isles player to be enthusiastic about playing for their national team, because they are all so , especially England, because they come with the most hype.

oi manhattan we're not part of the british isles dont be getting us mixed up with that rabble up north 

[7_Kewell]

"Robbie....Robbie they call you the Dublin, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Milan, Paris, Tottenham, Zanzibar, Grampus Eight, Liverpool boy!!!"

writing songs never was your strong point, was it Manhattan   

[kunilson]

welcome keane, good signning this is.....can't wait to see how well he'll link up in our team.

[Red H]

Anyone think he will play in the same position as Kuyt did last season, or as a straight partner for Torres ?

[metalhead]

Anyone think he will play in the same position as Kuyt did last season, or as a straight partner for Torres ?

straight partner for torres, maybe playing as a second striker

[Rafa D]

This from RAWK


Quote:
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance and legitimate excuses

- George Michael, 'Praying for Time' (1990)

I was never a child with high expectations. I'd ask me ma and da to get us a Nintendo for Christmas but would assume the yearly threat of oranges and coals for being a naughty child would come to fruition. The delight when I'd ravenously tear off the wrapping paper and a Nintendo, complete with gun and a copy of Duck Hunt, was unbridled.

What have George Michael and Christmas got to do with Liverpool Football Club, then? Well, we have a jolly, rotund man in charge, for starters; and our team usually enjoy early success before hitting a crisis halfway through and inevitably wind-up being caught with their pants off, sliding down the table. That aside, supporting Liverpool FC the past seventeen years can be likened to the feeling you had throughout the winter months when you were younger. It was different for everyone, though.

Some kids always expected to get their presents on Christmas Day; but, as I've pointed out, I was different. Perhaps it was the footballing climate I grew up in.

I was three years of age when Liverpool last won the league championship. Growing up, the phenomenon of Fowler was sadly littered with mediocrity of Matteo and Dicks; the magic of McManaman hindered by the banality of Phil Babb's defending. Even going to Wembley twice in three years not enough to give me confidence in winning number nineteen. I'd always listen intently to my grandad tell me of how we'd been so dominant in the 70s and 80s and how the league title wouldn't stay away for long. But I was just a wide-eyed child, a victim of Souness' sub-standard buys and 8th place finishes. I never believed him.

Of course, intermingled with my happiness of a Coca-Cola Cup victory over Bolton Wanderers and the subsequent documentary detailing our win on ITV, was the disgruntlement of the older kids. The kids who asked for the Nintendo and expected it; failure to deliver this would result in a swift kick to Santa's testicles; or in footballing terms, a 'mutual termination' for Souness, Evans and Houllier.

It has always been a case of 'one bitten, twice shy' for me. After the fantastic treble of 2001, I finally expected a Nintendo (by now, a PS2) within two years, only to be heartbroken as I unwrapped Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou. Never again, I said.

Even when Rafa brought us that fifth European Cup, I still didn't expect, despite all the other kids expecting what now must have been an XBox 360. Despite the hopefulness, I knew the acquisition of Crouch wouldn't bring us the league, nor would Bellamy a year later; Bellamy thrived on space behind the defenders, something he wouldn't get at Anfield when visiting teams park the bus and the bus station in front of the goal. Even a newly-signed Mascherano and Fernando Torres, complimented by an unbeaten record heading into December, didn't lead me to believe we would win the thing we all crave the most.

What? Yes, I'm getting to George Michael soon, just a minute...

That elusive no.19 still hasn't come, thirteen years after my grandad told me it wouldn't be long. Football has changed but the one thing that hasn't is that 'league championship' honour list on Merlin sticker books.

This is the year, though.

This is the year that I'm waking up on Christmas Day and expecting something. I know it isn't a Nintendo any longer, but whatever Blu-Ray I-phone DVD vibrator which hums zipee-de-doo-dah as you shove it up your minge is all the craze these days. I expect it. It is going to be there, hand-delivered by Santa Claus himself.

It's weird, ironic, a sinister twist of fate, that George Michael released his fantastic ballad 'Praying for Time' the same year we last won the league title.

'This is the year of the hungry man' indeed. Liverpool Football Club is hungry for this league title, possibly more than ever. We have those pariahs across the M62 snapping at our heels. When I was told the league title would soon come back to Anfield, there was never an inclination from anybody that fourteen years, and eight league titles later that Manchester United could equal our proud record. Now that there is a distinct possibly it can happen, it will drive our lads harder than ever.

This is all fairytale stuff though, isn't it? Seventeen years without a title, and just when we're being threatened to be equaled and perhaps overtaken, we rise like Lazarus and bring home number nineteen. But even Cinderella had a modicum of reality. You should have seen the loan repayments on that glass carriage.

And here's that reality: we're signing two top, top Premier League players. I was watching highlights of the game from Villa Park last season on LFCTV today. Barry looked heads and shoulders above his team-mates. He controlled the play, he dictated tempo; he basically did everything better than what an £18m Michael Carrick did for Manchester United. He isn't a machine like Essien, granted. But we don't need one. We need somebody who can play in the domestic league calmly and concisely. Mascherano can bulldoze his way through attacking players; Alonso, if he stays, can provide a bit of class. What Barry does better than those two however is break up play and looks for the simple ball. And that's all Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt, Babel, Benayoun and Keane need. Speaking of Keane...

He's basically here, and I don't think there'll be a more astute signing this season by any football manager in any top flight division. The man gives us options across the front four and most importantly (like Barry), he knows this league inside out. This isn't a Bellamy-style signing, or even a Crouch-style, with no disrespect to the big man. Rafa knows exactly what he wants to play next season and has acquired the man he knows will do the job to the highest standard from the start.

The signing of Keane raises questions regarding who'll be dropped to the bench. Whoever that may be, it doesn't really matter, because they'll be in good company. The new seven-sub rule has been brought in beginning this season and we're in the best position to take advantage of it. Can any other team match a bench of, for example...

Cavalieri, Hyypia, Skrtel, Benayoun, Babel, N'Gog, Voronin/Nemeth

We have Babel, United have Eagles. We have Skrtel, Chelsea have Ben Haim. And I know for a fact Benayoun is better than whatever 13 year old dear old Arsene is planning on putting there. Rafa is a man who, out of any manager in the league, utilises his 'possibilities' the most. He will thrive with an extra two options on the bench.

And so we come to the most important component. Rafa.

It's his fifth year and this is finally the squad he wants. He never really wanted Cisse, Bellamy or Pennant. He could have gone for Queresma, Silva, Villa, Moutinho... but he has chosen Barry and Keane. He saw what a lot of us saw last season, particularly in the second half of it. A side that is capable of winning the league with a few missing ingredients. Sack off all this 'last piece of the jigsaw' nonsense, because Rafa would never adhere to such a strict structure. He has identified his targets and, it would appear, he has got them. For anyone who complains that we need to sign 'world class wingers' are missing two vital components of that: one, there aren't any around; and secondly, we don't play with wingers. We have three players who drift in and around Torres, but very rarely do they go massively wide. That's why we've signed two attacking full-backs. If you noted the first few glimpses of them, they don't bomb crosses into the box... they simply get forward and support the front four. This is how we gained the most goals last season and Rafa has acted upon this.

As George Michael sang: 'Whose place is in the past // Hand in hand with ignorance and legitimate excuses'. For the past seventeen years, we've seen ignorance (Evans' lack of a back-three; Houllier's persistence with his mediocrity) and also some legitimate excuses (Houllier's illness possibly the ultimate one). Rafa is not perfect. He has shown signs of ignorance at times which has hindered us, although it isn't the media-driven claims of rotation or zonal marking; it is more the inability to beat the other top three. He's also had legitimate excuses; boardroom squabbles, lack of funds, inability to get the players he wants for this football team. Next season though, it will stop. I've never been more confident of anything in my life.

The man knows what he's doing and as a result, this team knows what it's doing. We've got a brilliant Torres/Gerrard partnership, an excellent back five, a rejuvenated Kuyt and most importantly: the team and squad he has been striving for, for the past five years. George and Tom need to keep their noses out and we need to keep our noses in front of those horrible across the motorway.

It's apt to finish with another George-ism. You've gotta have faith. Believe that come Christmas morning, that no.19 will be sitting under our stockings. And it will. We're gonna win the league.

COME ON REDMEN!

[Paul C]

Just been checking out his wikipedia profile, didnt know he turned us down to join Wolves.

His record isnt exactly prolific 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Keane

£20m is way too expensive imo but good luck to the lad cos it's not his fault how much he goes for, as long as he's a red he'll get my full backing 

[Kharhaz]

Good signing but I thought the initial reports of £20 million were daft, to find we have paid a little over that is just ridiculous. I welcome the player, without a doubt he will improve the team but worth 20 million? 10 million too much for me.

[LFC2007]

I seem to remember a big "unproven" discussion about Keane LFC, which of course at the level he's now at, he is. Obviously we're all hoping he will now prove himself now he's here in spades, and I just wonder whether people consider we've actually had to pay a "proven" price as opposed to a "prospect" one. It's hard for instance to imagine him having a good eighteen months and someone offering us a profit on what we've paid, although in the present market you can never be certain of course.

Certainly when you look at the sort of fee Fulham are looking to pay for Andy Johnson, who while being IMHO a good player is not to be mentioned in the same breath as Keane, it puts the fee into sharper focus. Compared to that one we've got a bargain IMHO. Similary if we're doing comparisons, we've paid around twice as much as we got for Crouch. Given the fact that Crouch didn't play over much, it might also be considerd value in that context I suppose.

Anyway, I'm happy. I think he will be well and truly proven this time next year and he'll look cheap. He might just be that guy as well that when you're playing sh!t and drawing 1-1 away at Boltoin with five minutes left who can just find something. Very often that something is not a 25 yarder necessarily, it could be a corner won from harrying the full-back, or a free kick gained through persistance which results in a goal. He's a footballer who appears to love the game, who has that dynamic enthusiasm for it, that infectious up and at em spirit. I'm happy, and as we all know it's not often I say that these days   

Yes, he's proven to a certain extent, but until he's played - and given a fair enough crack at it - with us, I can't say he's proven at the top level. Just being there isn't enough. I don't think players like David Villa or Sergio Aguero would've been any more a gamble, or indeed 'prospects', although Aguero is fairly young he's already top class. Perhaps you could say they would've needed to get used to England and playing in England, but there's no reason why that should take a long time - as Torres has proven. Quality and a burning desire to succeed usually equal success. That is why - If we had the money, I've no doubt we'd have been going for Villa. I don't think Keane is on the same level as the aforementioned two, but he's about as good as you can get outside the top four. Suffice to say I think there is some value in the fact that; i) he's very experienced in the Premier League, ii) he's mates with a few of the team, and iii) he's known for having a great enthusiasm for the game. That definitely counts in my book.

[RedBlood]

keane is now officially a red
good luck lad

Why was there need of new thread i am sure bob or other mod would have renamed the first one. 

why does it matter?