With plenty of talk about players Liverpool wanted and couldn’t afford to sign this summer, it seems strange to me that our squad wasn’t bolstered with some proven, experienced players on free transfers. As I will outline, there were quite a few players available who could’ve provided much needed competition in the squad.
After success of several good value ‘free agents’ down the years such as Gary McAllister and Karl Heinz-Riedle, I cannot believe that, in the current climate, more wasn’t done to secure some decent, experienced squad players to enhance the team in the short-term.
Gary McAllister was 35 when he signed for free back in 2000 and he later went on to be our most inspirational player in the famed ‘Treble’ season. I’m not saying that there is somebody around who can provide that sort of magic for Liverpool again, but surely it would make sense to have an experienced top flight veteran on the bench as opposed to some of the young guys that seem just to keep the bench warm and don’t get a game anyway!
I would like to highlight some of the gifted players who could have played a part for Liverpool in some way during the course of this season and possibly beyond.
Dietmar Hamann
Why not? He would love the opportunity to get the odd 10 minutes here and there for his beloved ‘pool. His legs may have gone, but he could provide ample cover for our current central midfield partnership and let’s be honest he would probably do as good a job as Lucas anyway.
Danny Murphy
His contract expired with Fulham only for them to renew it as he has proven his worth and is club captain now. He was fantastic last season and again would really have given Lucas a run for his money in our starting 11.
Robert Pires
I have no doubt that he could have provided us with much needed width and experience in the last third of the field. Could've been a last hurrah for one of French footballs generation of great players.
Pavel Nedved
I am not just excavating dinosaurs here (!) - I said from the beginning that these players would provide good competition for the squad and possibly provide a few crucial passes for Torres or Gerrard. Nedved was one of the finest players in Europe up until a year or so ago. His vision and flair kept him at the top of Italian football for over a decade and the influence he could have on the youngsters and some of the senior squad who idolised him would be worth its weight in gold.
Sol Campbell
So he’s signed for Notts County? Surely he could have filled the Sami Hyypia role perfectly. Sol played 33 games last year for Portsmouth; he has still got the legs and would have provided valuable cover for when our first choice partnership clashed heads!
Michael Owen
I wanted to resist putting this one in for obvious reasons, but I just cannot understand why we didn’t make an approach for him. We could have done with some of his influence in the last third, and even though he hasn’t been the force he was for the last three or four seasons, Owen coming on in the last 15 minutes would have given everybody in Anfield more hope than when Andriy Voronin stripped off his tracksuit the other night.
Most of this select few have now gone and done their own thing, but you can’t help wondering what if we had a couple of these names in our squad. Would we have lost against Spurs and Villa? Possibly, but I think we may have stood a better chance of salvaging something from both games.
After success of several good value ‘free agents’ down the years such as Gary McAllister and Karl Heinz-Riedle, I cannot believe that, in the current climate, more wasn’t done to secure some decent, experienced squad players to enhance the team in the short-term.
Gary McAllister was 35 when he signed for free back in 2000 and he later went on to be our most inspirational player in the famed ‘Treble’ season. I’m not saying that there is somebody around who can provide that sort of magic for Liverpool again, but surely it would make sense to have an experienced top flight veteran on the bench as opposed to some of the young guys that seem just to keep the bench warm and don’t get a game anyway!
I would like to highlight some of the gifted players who could have played a part for Liverpool in some way during the course of this season and possibly beyond.
Dietmar Hamann
Why not? He would love the opportunity to get the odd 10 minutes here and there for his beloved ‘pool. His legs may have gone, but he could provide ample cover for our current central midfield partnership and let’s be honest he would probably do as good a job as Lucas anyway.
Danny Murphy
His contract expired with Fulham only for them to renew it as he has proven his worth and is club captain now. He was fantastic last season and again would really have given Lucas a run for his money in our starting 11.
Robert Pires
I have no doubt that he could have provided us with much needed width and experience in the last third of the field. Could've been a last hurrah for one of French footballs generation of great players.
Pavel Nedved
I am not just excavating dinosaurs here (!) - I said from the beginning that these players would provide good competition for the squad and possibly provide a few crucial passes for Torres or Gerrard. Nedved was one of the finest players in Europe up until a year or so ago. His vision and flair kept him at the top of Italian football for over a decade and the influence he could have on the youngsters and some of the senior squad who idolised him would be worth its weight in gold.
Sol Campbell
So he’s signed for Notts County? Surely he could have filled the Sami Hyypia role perfectly. Sol played 33 games last year for Portsmouth; he has still got the legs and would have provided valuable cover for when our first choice partnership clashed heads!
Michael Owen
I wanted to resist putting this one in for obvious reasons, but I just cannot understand why we didn’t make an approach for him. We could have done with some of his influence in the last third, and even though he hasn’t been the force he was for the last three or four seasons, Owen coming on in the last 15 minutes would have given everybody in Anfield more hope than when Andriy Voronin stripped off his tracksuit the other night.
Most of this select few have now gone and done their own thing, but you can’t help wondering what if we had a couple of these names in our squad. Would we have lost against Spurs and Villa? Possibly, but I think we may have stood a better chance of salvaging something from both games.
Can't argue with Campbell. We should have been in for him to provide that big aerial threat we were looking for.
ReplyDeleteRafa is simply STUBBORN!
ReplyDeleteNedved's retired, but may we can convince him and Zidane to start playing again
ReplyDeleteFor once I can't find anything to argue with here, although MO would have been a marmite call, plenty of fans would have hated it. But all of the other names would have added something extra.
ReplyDeleteHang on, I'm relieved to say I've thought of something to disagree with - our squad is 60+ so can't really be classed as threadbare but the quality of 40 or so of them is definitely suspect, we needed more sales of the fringe players this season and some tougher calls on the 20-22yr olds who aren't making the grade - the reduction in salaries and some minor transfer fees could only have helped our finances and made room for one or two of these senior pro's... personal favourite being Murphy.
And you tnink any of these players would have made a difference?
ReplyDeleteWe need top quality young players or players in their prime! Not has beens!!!
No money and Rafa keeps us around the top.
No Doubt Murphy or Pires could be priceless at this time, I have been thinking the same for some time why can't we get Murphy back, I am not so keen Hamann as he is a bit slow,
ReplyDeleteWe need someone to substitute Alonso and then back up Aqilani or Macherano, it would be perfect, Lucas has to stay on the Bench, he is a bench guy we can never have him in the 1st team I can not see this happening even if he gets a run of 10 games, he can not fill the boots or the gap needed now at this critical time. Murphy/Pires is the answer
ReplyDeleteha jamie, i am another who can't understand why benitez didn't make a move for micheal owen, a legend in his own right at liverpool, with the natural ability to score goals and was on a free transfer. totally right, i would much, much prefer to see owen coming on than vorinin, what a waste of space. i think benitez never liked owen, and though being linked with him has never really wanted him back at liverpool. He is a stubborn man. Sol Campbell would have been quite an addition to our squad, a man who can step in and do a job for us when required, with an ariel threat we truly lack at the minute, espically after your man hyypia left. and just to say i like the thinking of the man above me, get zidane out of retirement and playing for liverpool, legend of the game!!!
ReplyDeleteTo say that this article beggars belief is like saying Kenny Dalglish was a reasonable player.
ReplyDeleteLet's take it player by player shall we....
Hamann: Legs have gone and his off field lifestyle leads a lot to be desired, just because he was capable of being a half decent back up a couple of years ago doesn't mean he is anything like what is required now. Hamann is on the look out for a last big pay day to help with his financial situation and we aren't a charity for former players.
Murphy: Club captain at Fulham and the fulcrum of their midfield, guaranteed a starting place in a team where everything goes through him. Why give that up for bit part opportunities somewhere else?
Pires: 36 years old and managed 18 appearances last year, he would have to move to a different country to play for a team where he wouldn't be first choice and uproot his entire family for what? One season?
Nedved: 37 years old and retired to spend more time with his family despite Juventus trying to change his mind. Now for some reason I suspect he would be unlikely to change his mind to uproot his family from Italy if the team he loves cannot persuade him to keep going.
Campbell: not worth the wages £60k a week for a player that wasn't as good as Hyypia despite being younger.
Owen: The idea of bringing back the player who colluded with real Madrid in order to bring down his price so he could secure a move there despite he is supposedly a lifelong Liverpool fan and then went on to play for Man Utd. should not cross the mind of anyone who cares about Liverpool Football Club.
I'm no 'in Rafa we trust' type but there is a reason he is a football manager and you aren't, and you have just displayed it perfectly.
I agree with David, the writer of the article, to an extent about Michael Owen. he is undoubtedly a better striking option than anyone we have bar Torres. I full expect him to get injured at some point though. Benitez is indeed a stubborn man, and that is and will be his downfall.
ReplyDeleteI'm still sad that Sami Hyypia left; he's been my favourite player for years. As we've seen from the poor defending at set pieces, we've missed him. When it came to winning balls in the air, Hyppia was the best we've ever had, and that includes Hansen and Lawrenson.
I agree totally. Trim down the squad of people not making the grade and if money is still tight then look at players like this. I was only thinking the other day - why did we spend close to £2 million on a 4th choice CB when our 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice are days / weeks away from full fitness? Can't Ayala (who looks good) and Martin cover that? If not, then get someone like Sol in on a free.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree totally with Danny and Owen. Great backup and game influencing players. We could have sold Vorinin and Lucas and £7-10 mill maybe in the bank for when we need to buy big.
Agree with another poster - Rafa is stubborn.
Well, you have some kind of point, but you should also take into consideration that all of these players would have demanded a signing on fee plus wages. Part of our transfer kitty was spent on renewing current contracts so how much more could we spend on contracts. BTW why on earth does nobody blame those players for wanting fees for extending an existing contract when they know how little we have to work with.
ReplyDeleteAs someone else has already mentioned, Nedved retired so what exactly is your point there? Homework not done!
Hamann, well, I thought about that, too, as the only cover we have for Mascherano is young Plessis. Surely our younger players would benefit from having such an experienced player at the club, too.
Danny Murphy, yeah, why not, but for the reason we couldn't afford any more wages and/or signing on fees. And, he surely would have known that he won't get as much playing time with us as he gets with Fulham. Everyone who plays football wants to play as much as they can, so why should he want to leave Fulham?
Sol Campbell surely would have made a decent back-up for our centre-halves.
Micky Owen: Many Liverpool supporters haven't forgiven him leaving us on the cheap and neither has Rafa, so why get him back in. All over the web you find people accusing him of only playing for his self first, then for England, and only then for his club. I don't know him personally and I am not a psychologist so I don't know whether that is true, but I would rather having him come on when the going gets tough and we desperately need a goal than Voronin. Rafa had other things in mind and so do quite a few fellow Reds. Plus again, he may have come to us for a handsome signing-on fee and handsome wages.
Pires, I haven't heard of him for ages. Thought he, too, retired already.
I think this piece wasn't written by Jaimie, but by David!
ReplyDeleteI've read an article this morning which claimed that Campbell is on £40k a week, not 60 as you claim. Source:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1209093/The-cap-doesnt-exactly-fit-Notts-County-keeper-Kasper-Schmeichel.html
So, you all would buy quantity in stead of quality. I think people like you were criticising Rafa for buying players for 5-10 Mio £ in stead of "high qualitiy" signings... You change your opinions like your underwear!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat's the point in bringing Hamann in? It is definitely better to give some young players like Plessis/Spearing a chance...
So, stop writing articles when you have absolutely no clue about football! Trust Rafa and you will see the benefits come May!!!
you are talking shit!!!
ReplyDeleteIn response to a few who have written, I only wanted to highlight a few examples. My suggestion was as that as we had no money we could have offered a few older players a last hurrah in a Premiership title race and Champions League run. I didn't think for one minute that they would be the backbone or our team, moreso as squad players or whatever their bodies allow. What about pay-as-you-play? Nedved did indeed retire, but would he have given the top flight one more season? We will never know now!
ReplyDeleteWhere did the author of the article advocate quantity over quality?
ReplyDeleteThe players outlined in the article - if available - woulb be high quality signings, definitely superior to dross like Degen, Dossena and Voronin.
Anyway, you're missing the point - it's not just about the playing side, it's about the experience these players would bring to the team and how that would help other players, young and older.
£40k per week for a 4th choice centre back is £2 million a year, for someone who has had his day in the Premier league and would offer nothing past this season if indeed he offered anything this season.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather give the likes of Ayala and Kelly a go as 4th choice for the amount of games they would play to be honest, it's at least giving a chance to look at the future rather than relying on Campbell.
dont start on the owen one, he doesnt deserve to play for us after the way he left, danny murphy is a good shout he has improved a lot and is a good keeper of possision,
ReplyDeletesadly i think our problem is not the players but the tactics used and the way we use the players we have at the club
dont agree owen is a spoilt child the way he left lfc was sick, besides give him a couple of weeks and he will develope a bad back AGAIN
ReplyDeleteI think a number of these players are non starters in reality but I wouldn't argue with Campbel (surely he will be better in the Prem than the Greek bloke?), Murphy and Owen. The others maybe not. What worries me the most is that Rafa did have money (£30 mill from Alonso wanting out) and blew it on a crock! Aquilani maybe the new Pele for all I know but if he is not on the pitch he may as well be the new Sean Dundee!! We all knew the solution apart from Rafa. Move Stevie G back into his central midfield role (every bit as good as Alonso) and use the cash to buy another striker/second striker!! Imagine Villa, Silva etc now up front to help Nando with Gerrard playing the through balls! Also the sale of trash like Lucas, Babel, Voronin, Deggen and Dossena would have brought in some decent cash to buy another quality player. In Rafa I no longer trust.
ReplyDeletefor wot its worth i agree mate, wot puzzles me though is if we are not making money (only for debt) and have no new stadium why do these pair of munkey turds want our club?
ReplyDeleteif i had a business that was not making good profit and someone wanted to buy it from me for any sort of profit at all i would sell it why wont they? wot is going on does anyone know
Being completely honest david I don't think you thought it through, and you certainly didn't do much research.
ReplyDeleteNedved has lived in Italy for 13 years and spent 8 of them at Juventus. He resisted many attempts to lure him away because Juve were the club of his dreams and he was happy in Italy. He retired to spend more time with his family despite repeated attempts by Juve to talk him out of it. It is highly unlikely he would move his family to another country for 9 months because Liverpool wanted him to play in perhaps 50% max of their games.
Without thinking things through articles just come across not as unbiased and rejecting blind faith fandom but as any excuse to have a go at Benitez, and we all know that isn't what this site is about now don't we? O:-)
good point, when we signed zenden on a free it cost us millions, i cant remember the figures but it was a couple of mill to sign and nutty wages, and he was crap
ReplyDeletehamann was never the racehorse type, but alonso wasnt the fastest either remember him?
ReplyDeleteAyala looked good to you in the match against Stoke. Wow, you must have seen another Ayala than I did, because the one I saw was clearly not ready for first team football. He was extremely nervous when he had the ball at his feet and didn't know what to do. I am glad he got this experience playing against Stoke because a top forward line like that of Chelsea or Arsenal would have torn him a new one. He may come good one day, but for the time being he needs a lot more experience until he isn't so insecure anymore.
ReplyDeletePlease read my comment concerning Ayala above and you'll see why I'd rather have an experienced 4th centre-half than him.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and Ian Rush would be handy if Torres got injured.
ReplyDeleteWAGES!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteall these free agents use the name of experience to demand massive wages SOL CAMPBELL NOT WORTH 60K / WEEK, IMAGINE LUAS NEIL ALSO DEMANDIN 60K/WEEK, OWEN WOULD HAVE ALSO BEEN ANOTHER DEGEN....and if they flop our cash is going to be wasted...
WHY DONT WE PRAISE SOME OF OUR FREE AGENTS THAT HAVE VALUE NOW....fabio aurelio is worth at least 5M now...voro now worth 4M now...degen has been a disaster....i think free agents is trial and error......
You can not blame Rafa for not getting rid of the players mentioned (Babel, Voronin, Deggen and Dossena)! He wanted to sell them, but the wage demands from Dossena for example were far to high... The same goes for Voronin and Hertha BSC Berlin!
ReplyDeletePS: I remember the same argument in relation to tactics was going on last season and in the end we were the team with the best offensive record!
Shouldn't we really be questioning where the missing millions are instead of questioning the reasons why we didn't bring in the above 'beyond their best' players? 30-35m is missing from Rafa's kitty this transfer window, money Rafa raised through player sales and money which would allow him to bring in real talent and depth. That's not to mention the standard 20m funds he was promised every transfer window. We wouldn't need bargain basement specials with the funds that should've been available. We are Liverpool, one of the top teams in Europe, competing and beating the best, but we are being run like we are Championship material (no disrespect intended to Championship teams). I'm not saying we want a sugar daddy but surely Rafa should be allowed to spend the money he raises through player sales as well as his 20m annual transfer kitty. That is the least we can expect if we re to compete.
ReplyDeleteNo need to shout! It won't make some of the ill-informed stuff your write any better. According to newspaper reports Campbell is on 40k a week, not 60k. Luas Neil, who is that. I have never heard of him. Any good? "Owen would have also been another Degen" Good we didn't get him then as we have Johnson at right-back now and he's been doing pretty well so far. And why on earth would you want to sell Fabio Aurelio? When fit he probably is our best left-back.
ReplyDeleteIf Hertha would have offered 4m or anything near that in July, Voronin would be gone by now. If we sell him now we will end up even shorter up front.
Who would buy Degen right now? Please, go ahead, name the club who'd pay millions for a player who hasn't played more than two games in a row in the past year or so.
Ok, we can bang on about who we should've got instead of Aquilani, such as Silva or exercised a swap deal option with Sneijder, Van Der Vaart, Huntelaar or even I wish Higuain in the mix. But this has not happened. We got a very good player in Aquaman, but won't get running for 2 mths or so.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, we have to utilise what we have. For me, Lucas is not what we need. He is supposed to be the link between Masch and Stevie, but is not up to the job. He doesn't think forward enough, passes sideways, and rarely gets into the box. He is not taking the responsibilty of owning the MF. This means that Masch has to compensate and drive forward (not his best attributes) or Stevie has to drop back into MF, leaving Nando isolated. Play Yossi behind Nando, Stevie MF, Riera on the left (much needed width) Kuyt on the right. Babel as a sub for Riera, Nando or Kuyt. Instead of Voronin, use Nemeth or Pacheco. Also, if you don't want to braek up the Stevie/Torres partnership, why not give Spearing a chance, Lucas has had plenty.
The players at are disposal are enough to keep us in the hunt until Aquaman is back, but we just got to use them right. But then again Rafa knows best, just frustrating that sometimes he doesn't experiment when things are clearly not working. Against Villa only 2 subs were used. Come on, be more reactive instead of waiting to 60 min al the time. Be braver Rafa and try some youngsters. I love Rafa, but sometimes he doesn't react enough to the circumstances. Still too cautious.
Fair points. We even played extremely poor at the beginning of last season, Standard Liege nearly kicked us out of the CL and we couldn't have complained about it. We played shite against Spurs this season and weren't as lucky as last season to get and equaliser/winner in the last minute of stoppage time. The performance against Stoke was all right and we actually weren't as bad against Villa as people try to make it. Difference to last seasons start is that we don't seem to get the right results.
ReplyDeleteWhy imagine Silva or Villa at Anfield? Both have stated publically that they want to stay at Valencia. May I kindly remind you that this is not fantasy football or FM2009.
ReplyDelete30-35m missing plus 20m standard kitty? I don't know where you get these figures from. There is something missing, but not 50-55m as you suggest.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you consider that some money has been taken away by our useless owners to pay of some of the debt AND that many contracts have been renewed which will have swallowed a few million, too, as players and agents nowadays demand significant fees for a single signature, then you probably wouldn't ask where the money is gone. BTW we've also brought in a few players worth almost 40m. Don't give me this "we will pay that in instalments" stuff now, because Real will probably also pay in instalments.
I think we've discussed this on here for days now. No need to bring up the same points again.
ReplyDeleteCarrard, we all know you believe Rafa is ALWAYS correct and is the ONLY ONE @ LFC who has a clue about what's going on. It's ONLY the owners / players / referees that are at fault, but it will NEVER be him. And whatever the alternative signings suggested above are either (1) not good enough, (2) impossible to sign or (3) demanded too many wages which the owners do not sanction. The real reason, however, is JUST because Rafa did not sign them so you believe there must be somrthing wrong with them. May I remind you that 60K / week wage for a Owen / Murphy caliber player will be equilvalent to 3M / year, an amount which could easily recouped by dumping one of those Voronin / Degan + the wages saved. So Rafa and you might be better in math and have "better" clue, but the sad FACT is LFC has lost 2 out of 3 games, matching their total tally last season, and players out there were completely clueless. Glad to see that you still trust Rafa and see the benefits come May, and keep it that way. LFC need fans like you who are always content with whatever Rafa does. For me, I tend to think one step forward of what could be done better.
ReplyDelete40k is comparatively nothing - I would've glad taken Sol Campbell.
ReplyDeleteIt is widely documented that Real paid 30m up front for Alonso, not instalments. 3.5m for Arbeloa and 3m for Leto as well as the 12m from the keane sale which at the time the Yanks allowed Rafa to keep. Add the sales of a couple of the younger fringe players and that tallies to over 50m. That's without the annual 20m standard transfer funds promised. We have brought in Johnson (10m net) Aquilani for 5m per season over 4 seasons and Kyrgiakos for 1.5m. Add a few youngsters and the total is around 20m spent. Contrary to popular belief salaries are paid out from the revenue that comes into a club like TV rights and Champion's league run. If you are selling players (assets) and using these sales to fund the salaries of their replacements then then the team is in dire troubles. It would be a masterstroke of destructive genious if the Yanks have persuaded Rafa to agree to such a deal.
ReplyDeleteReal are paying up front for Alonso
ReplyDeleteThe writer wants to bring in a retired footballer in Nedved and yet you arrogantly dismiss Kopite's suggestion of Silva or Vila at Anfield???
ReplyDeleteHey anteater. The guy is making an opinion which is quite valid as the article is suggesting how to improve the team/squad. Who made you god to dictate and moderate the course of the discussion?
ReplyDeleteJoob, be careful coz if anteater turns out to be Kanwar then you could be censored :)
ReplyDeleteOwen was an Everton fan.
ReplyDeleteI post under my own name - I don't have aliases. What would be the point?! Plus, I only delete posts that contravene the comment policy.
ReplyDeleteReally, Madrid paid the 30m upfront. I didn't know that to be honest. Would you please post me the source so I can see it myself.
ReplyDeleteYou suggest that we received the money for the other transfers you have mentioned up front, too. Can you prove that? I rather thought that we wanted to pay the fee for Keane in instalments so when we sold him back to Spurs we simply didn't have to pay any more of them. Are you sure they gave us 12m?
If we bought Johnson for 10m net, then we have sold Crouch for 3m net. How stupid is that? Selling and England international striker for 3m.
Even if we have to pay any transfer fee in instalments the money has to come from somewhere. I guess that we made similar agreements for past transfers so we may well pay for them, too, right?
All you write here is very nice in theory (wages paid from revenue), but at the end of a fiscal year there surely is something like a profit and loss statement. I read something about that recently, but I forgot the figure. I guess that in such a statement you sum up all the expenditure (players bought, wages paid etc.) versus the income (revenue, players sold). As far as I can remember that statement read something like a few million, but far from 20m. Where would those 20m come from if the club doesn't generate it? Do you think that it is a good idea to put even more debt on the club for the sake of buying this or that player? Do you want some rich and bored Russian or Arab to bank-roll a fantasy football like squad? I don't, even if it would buy us success.
Only to prevent me from receiving any unjustified abuse, I have mentioned before that I think that some of the money available was used to pay of the Yanks leverage buy-out of our club and that I strongly subject to such kind of transactions.
Proof, please. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWho made you God to dictate that I can not have the opionion that this has been discussed here no end recently? You clearly can read, so you surely have noticed that I wrote "I think...". This could indicate to you that it is an opinion. Do I have to ask you first to have one?
ReplyDeleteNo, I am not Jaimie.
ReplyDeleteWell, Joob, can't really see what's arrogant about that. You can read countless comments on all sorts of websites every day of how great it would be to have this or that player in our squad. Silva and Villa get mentioned there most of the time and I too would like to have them in our team, but, as I have said before, both players have publically anounced their desire to stay at their club. Why should we continue to imagine how good we were if only they would want to come here. Wouldn't we be cheating ourselves if we spent all of our time to imagine them two players running rings around our opponents.
ReplyDeleteI know that Nedved has retired and have mentioned on here as did quite a few others. Thanks for reminding me.
Kanwar gets a lot of stick on here for his views and I get a feeling that it may be people like you who dismiss him as you obviously want to hear the same stuff over and over again. I'll do you a favour, I'll repeat it: Silva and Villa would be great in our team and we should sell Voronin, Babel, Degen and Lucas imediately. Hope that made you happy.
Well, Joob, can't really see what's arrogant about that. You can read countless comments on all sorts of websites every day of how great it would be to have this or that player in our squad. Silva and Villa get mentioned there most of the time and I too would like to have them in our team, but, as I have said before, both players have publically anounced their desire to stay at their club. Why should we continue to imagine how good we were if only they would want to come here. Wouldn't we be cheating ourselves if we spent all of our time to imagine them two players running rings around our opponents.
ReplyDeleteI know that Nedved has retired and have mentioned on here as did quite a few others. Thanks for reminding me.
Kanwar gets a lot of stick on here for his views and I get a feeling that it may be people like you who dismiss him as you obviously want to hear the same stuff over and over again. I'll do you a favour, I'll repeat it: Silva and Villa would be great in our team and we should sell Voronin, Babel, Degen and Lucas imediately. Hope that made you happy.
I think we should have got owen, but the gaff was like sail to stubborn. now we have voronin coming on from the bench. I would rather see nemeth come on to gain experience, as in my view he could be the only one we have that could make a little difference up top. I would also train ryan to play up top or right side. Not on left! I would play riera or dossena on left, keep them wide, beneyoun or babel on right, dirk up top running and creating trouble as back up forward! monster mach and captain marvel in middle! and usual back 4! but will tell stevie G to start running the whole game not parts of! Now until we get rid of yanks there is nothing else that can be done! we have the backing that a bottom half side has! defo not a top 4 side! hope a rafa knows magic!
ReplyDeletefans if you watched pre season or any time babel goes on the right side he does his best work! he has No left foot and has 1 trick on the left! when you watch him play on right he has pace a right foot and gets to byline every time! now I ain't no manager but i watch like us all! and it beats me that fans are talkin about him continuing on the left makes no sence. this to is why fans a loosing faith on him!!
ReplyDeleteSpot on. I've been saying this for ages. Sometimes I think that Rafa tries to break a players own will by doing things like this. Babel must hate playing on the left and from a non-professional players point of view I can understand it. Problem is that Rafa persists with playing Kuyt on the right so there is hardly any chance of Babel getting a fair shot there.
ReplyDeleteAnd so was Carra!
ReplyDeletehyypia was excellent and thats why he deserves his chance to stake a first choice place at a club which does not impact ours! and hopfully this greek guy has simular attributes!! and with m owen I can understand why raffa did not buy him! I think cause the fans would turn manager, believein that owen plays every time! when he is comin in to be back up striker! still think we should have taken the opportunity! when we have no funds!!
ReplyDeleteThere are no such thing Gary as "FREE TRANSFERS" as these players command massive salaries, work out the salary package over five years for some of these players. Take Campells 5year deal at Notts County at 45,000 per week. This works out at almost 12m over his contract. So do you think signing a player of his age for 12 million is good business. We cant off load Degem and Vornin too easily because of their salaries.
ReplyDeleteThere are no free transfers.
BTW, while you are right that Rafa cannot be blamed for not getting rid of the players you have mentioned, I think it is only fair to mention that it was he himself who brought them to the club, so he can hardly complain about not getting rid of them either.
ReplyDeleteWell, they are free transfers because there is no transfer fee to be paid. All professional footballers demand salaries and the higher their reputation, the more they demand, irrespective of the transfer fee they command. So, if a player costs 12m over his contract in wages plus say 18m transfer fee the club pays 30m, if he is a free transfer then it will stay the 12m in wages.
ReplyDeleteI don't know exactly what point you tried to make, but you are clearly right that we should not have paid 12m for a five-year-contract with Sol Campbell, but I thought that the author rather suggested that we'd give him a one-year contract.
Spot on, Anteater. People seem to gloss over this point. The fact is, Rafa has brought in lots of dross and if he can't get rid of them that he is to blame for that.
ReplyDeleteguest is showing himself to be a penis .. who yer gonna replace Rafa with? and if yer not shut your mouth! You know eff all if you cant see where he has taken us , but of course youll be of the quick fix convenience generation ..
ReplyDeleteI agree Abbey - I've thought about the possiblity of getting Murphy nack for a while. i just don't think he'd come, he's top dog at Fulham these days.
ReplyDeleteAnteater- no one is asking for a rich arab or russian just like no one wants the debt on the club. It appears that the yanks have been dipping into the pot to repay their debts and no one really knows to what extent. I agree that there would have been more disposable funds available for strengthening had the yanks not done so. And instead of looking at strengthening with the above mentioned players we could've been signing up players higher up on our wish list. It is not too much to ask of G&H to dip into their own pockets for 20m a year- I mean, thats what Moores was providing. People are asking for a more realistic budget to work with as modern football is money-driven.
ReplyDeleteFan of LFC, anteater- I agree that Babel is not happy playing in LM, if I recall he even hinted as much last season. Over the last 12 months or so Kuyt has done quite well in the RM position so as yousay it would be hard to dislodge him. When he's been rotated Benayoun has played from the right. I sympathise with Babel because he has talent but appears stuck at LM where his limitations are exacerbated. I don't think Rafa is trying to enforce his own will over Babel's coz everyone including the players know the manager would win every time. Although I am a fan of his I'm beginning to believe that our system and style of play doesn't suit Babel.
ReplyDeleteBabel has such great potential but he has been completely wasted by Benitez, who has not developed him or allowed him to flourish in any way. As you guys have mentioned, he's always played in the wrong position, which will do his confidence no good. What bugs me is that we don't even need to spend big bucks on a new striker - we have two in the team already who cost a combined 20m+, i.e. Kuyt and Babel! Both could do the job as back-up strikers if necessary but neither is ever given the chance. Babel seems more interested in his rap career than Liverpool at the moment anyway. I imagine that if Babel was playing under Wenger at Arsenal he'd be a superstar by now.
ReplyDelete"Benitez is a stbborn man and that is and will be his downfall". On the other hand he might just succeed. Hope it's the latter.
ReplyDeleteSami was a great footballer, a professional and a gentleman. Sad to see him go. We are definitely worse off without him. Hope to see him back soon at LFC as a coach as the youngsters and dare I say some of the more senior players can learn a lot from him.
I agree about Babel being a star under Wenger. Their style is more suited to his game. It's becoming apparent that his best position would be as a striker but he hasn't really shone when he's played there either. I remember under Houlier that we employed Rush as a striker coach. Do we have one now? Isn't there someone who can work with the lad in a striking position? Also, someone needs to work with his head and instill some fight in him if he's to realise even part of his potential.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately football is fast becoming a rich man's game. We sold out coz Moores couldn't afford to take the club forwarsd both on and off the field. The new owners are not even on par with the days of Moore so as a club we've gone backwards financially. It's a wonder how we are competing on the pitch.Like you I fear for this season with the yanks taking transfer money to pay off their debts. I don't know of which other manager who would be willing to work under the financial constraints and broken promises which Rafa has had to endure. Ferguson? No way. Mourinho? No way.
ReplyDeleteLook in Liverpool Echo for a start
ReplyDeleteBack the manager with serious cash instead of taking it from him and we can sign the players we need to improve our squad instead of having to make do with second best
ReplyDeleteTo cut a very long story short and to clear up some confusion, I wrote this article to offer debate on why Liverpool/Rafa (knowing that we wouldn't have a lot of cash to spend) bring in some free transfers to bolster the squad, add competition for places and have a few match winners/savers on the bench for the demands of 60+ games a year. The 'free transfers' I selected were merely an example of who was available in the close season.
ReplyDeletePoint taken, but if it weren't for the Yanks pilfering transfer funds we wouldn't need to shop for bargain basements is the point some posters are making.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is simple. Rafa was promised money to strengthen so did not see the need in these free transfers. But the Yanks have now withdrew the money they promised leaving websites like this to critcise Rafa. If you were all true Liverpool fans it would be the Americans you criticise but its quite possible Mr Clarke is one of the stooges the Yanks use to write crap like this.
ReplyDeleteAgree with your point on Rafa and transfer fees.
ReplyDeleteThe thought has also crossed my mind that perhaps some of the writers on this site are pro the yanks.
That's absolute nonsense Mark - David has nothing to do with Hicks and Gillett. Like the rest of us, he's a fan with an opinion.
ReplyDeleteSo in your view, I guess Rafa is entirely blameless for the current predicament? it's so easy to blame H+G for everything; in fact, it's becoming a cliche.
Did H+G decide to sign Keane, Dossena, Voronin, Babel, Lucas, Degen, Josemi, Krompkamp and many other underwhelming players? NO.
Did H+G decide to sign an injured player when Alonso needed replacing from day one? NO.
The fact is benitez has had LOTS of money to spend:
2008: 55m (Mascherano, Dossena, Riera, Keane, Ngog)
2009: 40m (Aquilani, Johnson, Kyrgiakos) + millions for Gerrard, Kuyt, Agger et in wage rises.
Benitez has simply spent the money unwisely.
The notion that Benitez hasn't had money is a myth. yes, he hasn't had ALL the money from transfers out BUT he's still had almost 100m over the last 2 years allocated for transfers.
First time visitor to this site. Read some of the articles and I too wonder about the anti-Rafa pro H&G slant.
ReplyDeletePlease provide examples of this alleged pro-Hicks/Gillett slant. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYes, in hindsight we were better of with Moores and he knows it too. Before anyone starts blaming him again I would like to mention that I think that he wouldn't have done that deal with the Yanks if he had know what kind of mess would unfold.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have lost count of comments I've read and people I've heard asking for DIC to come in and literally buy us success, so I think that it is wide of the mark if you say that no-one is asking for rich Arabs to finance us.
Kuyt plays on the right for quite a while now so why did Rafa even bring in Babel. He must have known that Ryan is right-footed, too, so I don't really get it. Rafa has played football himself so he should know that in say 9 out of 10 cases you can't convert a right-sided/right-footed player into a left-sided/left-footed one. Beyond this Babel may still have big problems when it comes to his mentality, but if Rafa's initial plan was to bring this lad here and play him on the left wing, well, then we should really start questioning his mental health.
ReplyDeleteNo, sorry, all I've read there stated that we accepted cash only, which doesn't mean 30m upfront, but that we wouldn't accept any swap deals. Hardly any club makes the kind of deal you suggest here anyway. Most transfers are in instalments.
ReplyDeleteHere we are again. The only accepted opinion among Liverpool supporters is that it's all the Yanks fault. That now truly is black-and-white-thinking. Rafa good, Yanks bad. I never took into this kind of thinking during the cold war and I still persist on multiperspectivity.
ReplyDeleteWell, do you also wonder about the strikt pro-Rafa/anti-Yank thing on most other sites? Don't you think that persisting on one perspective is a bit narrow minded? Could it be that mistakes are made by all people involved, which includes players, staff etc. Blaming the Yanks for everything that's going wrong at our club is making it easy for oneself, at least that is my opinion. I haven't actually come across one single Liverpool supporter, neither in the web nor in real life, who wouldn't want to have other owners.
ReplyDelete20m for a midfielder and 17m for a right-back! That is what you call the bargain basement?
ReplyDeleteYeah, why not double admission fees and shirt prices to acquire more money for transfers?
ReplyDeleteliverpool are in big trouble with the yanks in charge and raffa to save this season we neen 2 get david villa and silva lets face it raffa beno wont sign stubborn as usaul ..iverpool fans prepper 4 this season w r in big trouble makes me wana cry im so hurt after villa game and spurs game ,city and spurs already replaced us top 4 and top mersyside team will b everton fm now on .
ReplyDelete, ther ways things are heading at the moment....helphelp arabs can only save us please help
I think as owen left us....... Torres also will do z same, (maybe z like of masc, n our other gr8 palyers too) ---- Just becauze if liverpool continue z same way he'll probably never get z chance of grapping up great cups as he might have got with z like of man u , real , barcelona, chelsea ect....... RAFA DO SOMETHING......!!!!!
ReplyDeletei SAID zat cause torres goals reminds me of owen a lot!!!! Just watch da clip
RAFA IS A WANKER
ReplyDeleteThe very thought of me being employed or related to either of the vile liars that have 'bought' our great club repulses me. I have already prepared another article regarding the current state of the club that will hopefully be put online shortly. Please let me underline my concerns for the club;
ReplyDelete1. Hicks and Gillet are a cancer that is slowly killing Liverpool from the inside out, however after many, many protests and calls for them to go, they haven't and don't look like going anytime soon.
2. With the fact that the Americans are not going, Liverpool/Rafa needs to act a little more prudent with the limited funds available. I'm not so sure that spending £37 million on a defender and an injured midfielder is wise CONSIDERING some of the available free transfers or experienced 'cheaper' veterans.
i only agree about D.Murphy and Owen
ReplyDeleteWot can be done about this situation at lpool???we need to act and do
ReplyDeletesomthing
Should have held onto big sami, he had the full menu-Such a rare footballer you could have played him anywhere, pure class!
ReplyDelete