John Arne Riise was a fantastic player for Liverpool during his 7-year spell at the club, and fans will always remember the brilliant goals he scored, especially that unstoppable free-kick against Man United in 2001. Tonight, Riise faces his old club for the first time since he left Anfield, and it's clear he still holds Liverpool in very high regard.
Speaking ahead of tonight's game at Craven Cottage, Riise told LFC TV:
"I miss the boys, and I miss Melwood; it was a great place to be.
"Those 7 years were great for me, and when you play that long for a club like Liverpool, it's always going to stay in your heart, and I felt that when I left".
The Norwegian still follows the club as often as he can:
"I watch every game if I can. I text Stevie a few times, and we have the same agent so it's quite easy to follow the team".
Riise has kept a close eye on the club since he left, and he's glad to see things moving in the right direction again:
"I think the start of last season was very bad, but after King Kenny took over, it changed a lot. I can see the joy in the players' faces when they play now.
"A lot of things have happened in the last few years, with new owners, and managers coming and going, but I hope the club is in a good state now"
I am a huge fan of Riise, and in my view, Rafa Benitez was wrong to get rid of him.
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking ahead of tonight's game at Craven Cottage, Riise told LFC TV:
"I miss the boys, and I miss Melwood; it was a great place to be.
"Those 7 years were great for me, and when you play that long for a club like Liverpool, it's always going to stay in your heart, and I felt that when I left".
The Norwegian still follows the club as often as he can:
"I watch every game if I can. I text Stevie a few times, and we have the same agent so it's quite easy to follow the team".
Riise has kept a close eye on the club since he left, and he's glad to see things moving in the right direction again:
"I think the start of last season was very bad, but after King Kenny took over, it changed a lot. I can see the joy in the players' faces when they play now.
"A lot of things have happened in the last few years, with new owners, and managers coming and going, but I hope the club is in a good state now"
I am a huge fan of Riise, and in my view, Rafa Benitez was wrong to get rid of him.
Jaimie Kanwar
Yeah, Rafa's a right shit, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteThe guy's time was clearly up and Benitez definitely made the right decision to move him on. The only problem was the timing - he should've replaced him a year or two earlier!
ReplyDeletehow rafa thought that overweight and no paced dossena was a better player wil remain a mystery
ReplyDeleteIMHO Riise was one of our most over rated players ever. Yes, he scored a few crackers over the years and had a good long throw-in (which never brought many goals), but his general play and crossing in particular left much to be desired. He was also not the most solid defender and i will never forget his own goal against Chelski in the Champions Leage semi-final which cost us a place in another CL final. (And how sweet it would have been to have beaten those Mancs in a CL Final). I would rather have Enrique over him any day of the week!
ReplyDeleteDid I say that? No. Until Enrique signed, had any left-back truly replaced Riise? Would he have done any worse if he's stayed? I would argue no, which is why it was the wrong decision to move him on (IMO)
ReplyDeleteI agree. Riise was sold because I think Rafa begrudged him for that own goal. But we sold him for peanuts,he could of stayed easily.
ReplyDeleteRafa loves YOU Jaimie.... Why can't you just love him back? He's like Jesus. He's everywhere - above us, beneath us, within us, without us. Push out the hate and pull in the love Jaimie.
ReplyDeleteRiise was a good lad when he played for us. Bit of a head-the-ball maybe and apparently a little overly-sensitive, but any man who scores against The Toffees and The C**ts deserves respect.
As you say, we never really properly replaced him until now, but I'd suggest that he was seriously on the wane at the time Rafa let him go, so we managed to cash in on a mentally fragile player at a time when his talents were taking a nosedive after the traumatic experience of scoring a last minute own goal 'for' Chelsea in a Champions League semi-final at the Kop end at Anfield.
So fair play to Rafa in that respect, no? And fair play to Riise too? Everyone's a winner!
Agree - I think It's clear that Benitez got rid of Riise principally because of that CL own goal.
ReplyDelete8m completely down the pan.
ReplyDelete(1) I don't think Benitez sold him because of that own goal, Riise had been underperforming for at least two seasons prior to that (2) I admire the loyalty shown by Scandinavian players - Hyypia, Riise and Agger have all shown this at various times
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you agree ;-)
ReplyDeleteThink it was more likely the golf club incident. IMHO Riise had something like 2 good games for us after the Chelsea Charity Shield game. He was by and large he was really rubbish after 2005. Mistakes were he was not sold earlier as we would have got more cash and that he wasn't replaced with a player of adequate skill.
ReplyDeleteThe man scored 2 goals in a week against both of Satan's teams. How can we not respect that?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, he deserves respect for those goals. Bring back Dossena I say!
ReplyDeleteRafa was right to sell Riise at the time, his game had fallen away badly for a couple of seasons prior to being sold, the only problem was Rafa's replacements weren't any better.
ReplyDeleteSteady on - careful what you wish for. I was just suggesting that maybe we could chip in and buy him some flowers or something. Maybe a plaque....
ReplyDeleteYou know very well, there's no club like Liverpool in this world. What Riise did wrong is an own goal against Chelsea at Stanford Bridege in the quarter final of the Champions league of 2007/08. Rafa sold him after that.
ReplyDeleteRafa sold at the right time. He was a great servant to us, and will always be fondly remembered, however his form tailed of big time in the last couple of seasons. had an absolute shocker in the 2007 European Cup final, and of course there was that own goal against Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteWish him well though
benitez is stupid to sell him.... stupid manager
ReplyDeleteHe was not a great player but what on earth is the point of getting rid of someone unless you can bring in someone better? That is the tragedy of Liverpool. They always get rid of mediocrities and then being in even bigger ones. A classic case is Carroll for N'gog. N'gog was no good at all, like most of Benitez's players, but at least he was cheap. Carroll is pure rubbish and cost 35 million. Dalglish will NEVER live that down.
ReplyDeleteWe also let go of Torres...has he been properly replaced. I hope Dalglish will look for another striker this transfer window coming. He can even bring back Pacheco. He has far more potential and ability than Carroll can ever dream to have.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say that the best cross I have ever seen was the cross he put in for Steven Gerrard in the 2005 Champs League final.
ReplyDeleteYep...Like todays game for instance. Liverpool could have won it if they had a player suited to counter attacking because Fulham were throwing men forward in the second half. Carroll isn't suited to that counter attacking fast break football. There were times when Suarez played him a ball but he didn't even make runs, too static or stupid, I can't figure it out. And that shot straight at the goal keeper where he "had" to "throw himeself" for the shot. There was no need to stretch like that if he made a burst inside the box like so many strikers do, that kind of thing shows the hunger for goals and he isn't showing that. He has lost speed, he was faster in Newcastle. He can't hold the ball up on most occasions. His strength isn't heading the ball even though hes tall, especially if he is contesting against a defender. Don't have any hope in him. Any striker in the league right now is playing better than him or showing more effort.
ReplyDeletewell for me riise was a wonderful player, strong and powerful. everyone makes mistake, like even carra scores an own goal in the final of fA and if we didnt have stevie we would have lost.. also we struggle a lot to find his replacement. enrique now is good but he can shoot to goal. liverpool are very poor at maintaining the squad very very poor. if they want to compete they need to keep some loyal and experience player. look at our lfc team lucas is out who can effectively replaced him, if enrique is out we will still struggle shuld we keep riise he could be use as sub atleast also if suarez is out we will be down with a stupid striker carroll upfront, we dnt have experience back up player. we sold benayoun, mireless, and torress to chelsea but they could have been very good back up.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with a lot of what has already been said. Rafa may not have replaced him properly (Aurelio was good enough and back then he was marginally better at staying fit. Marginally. We also had Insua who was very promising at the time) but we definitely sold him at the right time.
ReplyDeleteEven Riise himself has admitted by that time he had become too comfortable and gone stale. He was bad the season before his Chelsea and the season just before we sold him he was downright diabolical at times.
I always had a lot of time for Riise and he was one of my favourite players during that era (always at least second to Hamann) but even I couldn't defend him the way he defended in his last two years.
Gary, you obviously havent seen that many crosses if that is the "best cross you have ever seen". Yes, it was a "good" cross, but Stevie made it look much better than it was with his unbelievable header
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was probably about the right time to let him go but in retrospect we should have kept him until we found a good enough replacment rather than just hoping for the best with Dossena and Insua etc.
ReplyDeleteUntil Enrique I don't think any left back we have had has given the fans as much excitement in attack as Riise did.
guys come on,,, Riise is gone, alot of things have changed, lets thisnk ahead,,, not the past,,, right now we need a lucas and stevie replacement,,, one CM who could be this,maybe shelvy should be given a chance,,,but Stevie looks injury attached these days,,, hope he stays fit, when he comes back,,,, and a winger,,, for sure,,, Hope this transfer window,, we get tht,,, Suarez should start lone up front,, and caroll on the bench,,, am sorry but caroll sometimes is good with touch up plays,,, but, needs alot of improvement, i wish we could have signed matta,,,, really,,, anyway,,, lets see what the window makes KK to do,,, YNWA.PEACE all
ReplyDelete