In 7 years at Liverpool, French playmaker Anthony Le Tallec made a only 17 first team appearances for the club, a staggeringly low figure, which shows that he was either not good enough, or scandalously underused. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and to this day, the creative midfielder regrets his exit from Anfield.
In an interview with L'Equipe, Le Tallec - who now plays for Valenciennes in France's Ligue - admitted the he mistakenly talked himself into leaving when he heard that Rafa Benitez planned to sign a number of Spanish players, a decision he still regrets. He explained:
"It hurts when, after Liverpool, you play in smaller clubs.
"I did not realise that I was in a great club. I have regrets.
"When I see Torres, Tevez, who are of the same generation, I say to myself 'shit'.
"My agent tells me: 'Torres stole your career! I'm not jealous but I say to myself that I could have been like him."
Whether Le Tallec could've been as good as Torres is debatable, but the ironic thing is that, at this moment, he probably *is* better than the Spaniard (!)
This is not the first time Le Tallec has expressed his disappointment with his time at Liverpool. In a 201O interview, the 28-year old blamed Rafa Benitez for damaging his career. He argued:
"Everything started well for me at Liverpool but, unfortunately, the arrival of Rafa Benitez broke my entire career strategy. Even though I was able to get experience, I lost about four years.
"I arrived at Liverpool as an 18-year-old, but then had to join clubs [on loan] that were, not weaker, but less rated. It was strange and sometimes it was difficult".
Le Tallec's finest hour for Liverpool arguably came in the 3-0 UEFA Cup victory over Olimpija Llubjana in 2003. The midfielder put in a great overall performance, scored his one and only goal for the club, and had a hand in the team's third goal.
Jaimie Kanwar
In an interview with L'Equipe, Le Tallec - who now plays for Valenciennes in France's Ligue - admitted the he mistakenly talked himself into leaving when he heard that Rafa Benitez planned to sign a number of Spanish players, a decision he still regrets. He explained:
"It hurts when, after Liverpool, you play in smaller clubs.
"I did not realise that I was in a great club. I have regrets.
"When I see Torres, Tevez, who are of the same generation, I say to myself 'shit'.
"My agent tells me: 'Torres stole your career! I'm not jealous but I say to myself that I could have been like him."
Whether Le Tallec could've been as good as Torres is debatable, but the ironic thing is that, at this moment, he probably *is* better than the Spaniard (!)
This is not the first time Le Tallec has expressed his disappointment with his time at Liverpool. In a 201O interview, the 28-year old blamed Rafa Benitez for damaging his career. He argued:
"Everything started well for me at Liverpool but, unfortunately, the arrival of Rafa Benitez broke my entire career strategy. Even though I was able to get experience, I lost about four years.
"I arrived at Liverpool as an 18-year-old, but then had to join clubs [on loan] that were, not weaker, but less rated. It was strange and sometimes it was difficult".
Le Tallec's finest hour for Liverpool arguably came in the 3-0 UEFA Cup victory over Olimpija Llubjana in 2003. The midfielder put in a great overall performance, scored his one and only goal for the club, and had a hand in the team's third goal.
Jaimie Kanwar
He can blame nobody but himself for having missed out on a career at our club. I can recall some of my mates calling him 'the unflushable turd' as we had problems offloading him. He might have become a decent squad player for us, had he shown more of his early promise on a regular basis. Unfortunately for him he thought he was bigger than he actually was at some stage during his stay with us. From then on everything went downhill for him. He obviously wasn't advised properly, but what do you expect from football agents.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't Rafa's fault. The man had/has an ego problem and still feels the world over him. Wasn't it after scoring 2 goals in Rafa's first ever pre-season fixture against Wrexham that he demanded he be made a permanent fixture in the team? If he had been let down by LFC or LFC had undervalued and underrated him and he was indeed a French Torres/Tevez, then he would have rebuilt his career and have been at a top European club.
ReplyDeleteBenitez bashing for the sake of Benitez bashing I feel
It wasn't Rafa's fault at all coz the guy in question [Le Tallec] was not patient enough to wait for his right moment hence making a stupid decision to leave the club.
ReplyDeleteLe Tallec arrived at the club at the same time as his cousin and fellow Frenchman Pongolle. Neither player went on to greatness however Pongolle played far more times for us and scored important goals before going on to have a reasonable career at the top level in Europe's best leagues. So it turns out that Le Tallec's failure was not due to his nationality or Benitez' partiality but rather his poor decision making and lack of application. At least he now seems to have matured and taken some responsibility for his mistakes.
ReplyDeleteAny little dig you can get at Rafa, you will.
ReplyDeleteYou are boring and predictable.
Rafa will now show how good he is and what a prat you are.
If Rafa fails then you will be the prat. Happy for him that he actually has a job after such a long time.
ReplyDeleteThere are no excuses now though. He has taken over a very strong squad and has a team that won the CL and FA Cup last season so it is a squad that can win the EPL.
If Rafa fails in this job then he will struggle to get appointed at another big club again. The British media and Abramovich could finally be the end of Rafa if this job goes pear shaped.
Remove as many as you want you prick, you're still a prat!!!
ReplyDeleteJamie, I think you have a rather childish attitude when it comes to Rafa.
ReplyDeleteAt every opportunity you will have a go at him, using third rate articles by others, as a weapon against him.
I feel a little more maturity in your approach would improve the standing of your site.
Another rarity, an Emile Heskey goal for Liverpool! However, notice the two crosses he puts in for the other two goals. When he was at LFC we had a problem on the right and I said then and I'll say now that had Houllier converted him to a right winger, he would have had a different career and we would have had more success.
ReplyDelete