1
Rafa says he doesn't intend to freeze him out and may also look to extend his contract. It sounds
like a ruse to avoid losing money which is fair enough, as he is in the last year of his contract.
We signed him for £6.7 million and it would be nice to try and recoup some of that.
I like Pennant when he's on form, but it's clear that he's fallen down the pecking order.
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3
When Luis Garcia left LFC with a touching open letter to all fans, I remarked how it was so
refreshing in this day and age of millionaire footballers to see one showing how much he cared
about the club. Riise too has decided to follow suit and write one of his own (link).
Riise had been a fantastic servant for us over 7 years, scoring some phenomenal goals.
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0
The writing had been on the wall for quite a while now, as Finnan had clearly been out of favour
with Rafa. I'd hoped beyond hope that he would stay with us, but alas that's not to be. The really
surprising thing though, is that he is signing for Espanyol. I'd figured another Premiership club
would win his signature instead.
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0
Watching Liverpool set up stall for a draw against Aston Villa was very disappointing. With the
quality we've got in the squad (should be enough to cover the loss of Torres & Gerrard), I had
hoped for a lot more ambition from Rafa and the lads.
Playing a 4-1-4-1 formation with Keane as a left winger didn't seem like a smart move, and the
problem was compounded by bringing on Ngog to play the lone striker role.
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0
Things like this aren't supposed to happen for Liverpool. Are we deserving these stolen points
we're getting ? Probably not, but our streak of playing crap football and winning continues
unabated. And who are the unlikely heroes in all this ? Surely not most of the players who put in
an inept performance against Middlesbrough.
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0
The stalwart that is Sami Hyypia has been an amazing player for Liverpool over the years, his
attitude, commitment and consistency have been phenomenal in that in spans what is soon to be a
decade at LFC.
Despite his 'old age' and that he's possibly in his last season as a player, it emerged recently
that Stoke City had offered £2.
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0
I can't wait for the return of Babel, Mascherano, Lucas and ideally another signing [winger] to
help liven things up. Against Sunderland, we had yet another poor performance. Fortunately Torres
treated us to a moment of brilliance to rescue us a vital 3 points away from home.
With Plessis starting in place of Alonso, it looked like recent reports of Alonso requesting to
leave LFC were true.
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2
Granted it was a truly awful performance from the lads but there's no need to lose any sleep over
it. Standard Liege, despite fielding a few kids were clearly up for what was likely their biggest
match of the season. No doubt in a couple of weeks we should beat them at home though.
With Alonso now cup tied it's unlikely we'll sell him this year so hopefully Rafa will invest in a
much needed (and desired) winger now instead of Gareth Barry.
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2
There was some real stand out moments in the match against Lazio. It's all good and well for fans
to make their feelings known and with Alonso there can be no doubt they want him to stay. His name
was chanted loudly and often, his every touch, pass, free kick and corner was applauded. Which is
fair enough.
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2
I'm glad the whole Gareth Barry debacle is seemingly over now. Like everyone else, I've spent weeks
watching events unfold, secretly sick at the sheer ransom which Aston Villa were trying to hold us
to.
If he is meant to be at Liverpool, then I really hope he holds out on signing another contract as
next summer he will be far more reasonably priced and O'Neill can shove his £18 million where
the sun don't shine.
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0
Robbie Keane and Fernando Torres are likely to form the most potent strike partnership we've had
since Dalglish and Rush. Torres has his awesome 'bounce song', Robbie is deserving of his own
too.
I think it's fair to say that Scousers can be counted on to come up with a cool new song rather
than sing a Manchester United 'song' (the mere thought of the Kop singing there's only one Keano
makes me cringe).
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0
There's no question about it, in central defence we're blessed with truly world class players.
Agger & Skrtel, could potentially go on to produce the greatest partnership LFC has ever had in
central defence (I remember Hansen & Lawrenson well). Also with Carragher & Hyypia providing some
excellent cover it doesn't leave any room for any aspiring young players (at least not this year).
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1
He may lack the eccentricities & charisma of Bruce Grobbelaar, or have quite the reputation which
is attributed to Ray Clemence. But Pepe Reina has a much better shut out rate than both of them,
and is after winning the Golden Glove award for the 3rd season running.
Sure enough at times he has been a little suspect at crosses or fluffed the odd ball.
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1
With nothing left to play for at this stage of the season, I'd hoped that Rafa would take the
opportunity against Manchester City to blood some more youth players (e.g. Plessis & Nemeth). Sadly
it didn't quite work out that way but at least Insua & Lucas got their game.
Insua showed some nice touches, got forward often and played the full game.
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0
I'm actually not too bothered that we lost to Chelsea. The harsh reality is that we just weren't
good enough and didn't deserve to win.
I was surprised Benayoun & Torres weren't subbed earlier. Sure Torres scored a cool goal but he was
largely anonymous throughout, and Benayoun who created the goal beautifully also had a terrible
game.
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1
I only saw highlights of todays game and despite Fulham not being top class opposition I was still
thrilled with the progress of Lucas Leiva. He continues to impress and develop well. As for
Mascherano, a true midfield general if ever I saw one, not since Souness have I seen one so good
for LFC.
Todays win against Fulham has pretty much wrapped up fourth spot for us.
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0
At 2-2, my heart sank briefly as I reminisced about '89 and contemplated the prospect of us getting
knocked out by Arsenal. But any doubts I had were short lived. In the first half I thought we were
very poor (we passed to their players more than our own) and the crowd was very subdued. It took a
bullet header from Hyypia to liven things up for everyone.
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0
I knew Rafa would field a weakened team against Arsenal, but I didn't think for a second that he
would give a starting berth to Plessi for his debut. I'd only seen him play for the reserves prior
to today and alongside Insua, he looked most likely to make a first team breakthrough.
He's been likened to a young Patrick Vieri, but then again wasn't the same said for Momo Sissoko.
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1
Despite being clearly out of favour this season, that hasn't stopped Crouchie from turning in some
excellent performances for us. He's scored 8 goals and provided 4 assists in just 16 starts this
season.
If his post match interview is anything to go by, then I think Crouchie wants to leave Liverpool,
he just doesn't sound happy and was non-committal.
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2
Not only did some of the players have a great game but so did the referee. If ever there was a game
of 2 halves, this was it. We looked to be in control for most of the first half, but Arsenal
dominated the second half.
Fortunately all of our defenders had excellent games (can Skrtel get any better) as did Reina and
particularly Kuyt (for both his defensive and offensive contributions).
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0
Hyypia has been an amazing player for Liverpool over the years, his commitment and consistency have
been phenomenal in that in spans what is soon to be a decade at the club (a feat which is extremely
rare these days). He has earned the contract extension which is being offered to him.
What impresses me most about him is his attitude, he doesn't make demands about being guaranteed
how many games he plays, instead he looks on it as he has to earn the right to play and the only
way to do that is by playing well.
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0
Mascherano & Aurelio (who would have thought!) were our best players, but the rest of the team
didn't bother their arses to perform, all that recent confidence we supposedly acquired went flying
out the window.
Reina despite some excellent saves was clearly at fault for 2 of their goals, I'm not saying it was
his fault we lost the game, nor was it Mascheranos fault we lost.
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1
It's all good and well for Rafa to try and defend Mascheranos actions by saying he was only asking
the referree what happened when he booked Torres for dissent. But let's cut through the crap,
Alonso tried pulling back Mascherano before he even asked the first question, yet Mascherano
ignored Alonso and still went for the referree which is pretty bloody stupid.
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0
Mascherano has had a tendancy to dominate many of my posts lately, so much so that I'm almost (no
not really) tired off talking about the guy. But hey, let's be fair to the lad, he's just scored
his first goal for Liverpool (and it was an absolutely stunning goal too).
It's always been his sheer workrate and destructive qualities which I've admired but watching his
celebration was endearing in that it was akin to how you would imagine a regular fan would
celebrate upon scoring a goal for Liverpool :-)
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0
Ok not THE Pele, instead I'm playing a bit on Inter Milans poor sub who is his namesake. Coming in
to the match they were missing their central defenders and the replacements were never really going
to stop us on the counter attack given our [Torres] current form.
The media will probably focus on Torres [excellent] goal but I'd be more inclined to focus on
Mascherano and Skrtel as being the best players (even though the whole team played very well).
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0
In recent weeks Rafas usage of 4-2-3-1 has been looking quite impressive, more so because of the
freedom Gerrard has and also his link play with Torres. While it's no great secret that Gerrard
lacks a certain amount of tactical awareness, the supporting role for Torres suits his style of
play better than being an out and out central midfielder.
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1
How many superlatives can be found to describe Fernando Torres, he's already acquired legend status
amongst Reds fans the world over. His hat trick [again] was just the tonic to help take peoples
minds off the turmoil our club is experiencing at the moment, with fans venting their anger
again.
Our very own Teenage Mutant Ninja Skrtel also had an excellent game [again] and I can't help but
look at the quality we've got in the squad and think that we're only a few players shy of mounting
a realistic title challenge.
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1
Sami Hyypia, one of LFCs all time greats has announced his desire to take his career with us into
his 10th season. Despite the fact that he'll be competing with Carragher, Agger & Skrtel for a
playing spot he is prepared to fight for his position. He's a true pro and we can count on him to
not moan about playing every week and also to put in the effort when required.
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0
Watching us play against Inter Milan, I can't remember the last time the whole team looked so
hungry. It's quite sad comparing our performances in the big European games with our Premiership
efforts. If only Rafa could motivate the lads to play like that on a consistent basis we could be
genuine title contenders.
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0
Skrtel put in a very impressive performance (shame about his wrist though) and the experience will
do him the world of good. I can only assume Hyypia is injured as Mikel San Jose was our only
central defender on the bench.
Mascherano was a monster breaking up the play all over the pitch, thankfully we're almost certain
to be retaining his services permanently.
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0
With Gerrard & Carragher out of action for a number of weeks due to this court case (LINK) Skrtel
should find himself getting plenty more experience in the premiership. Like Agger I reckon it'll
take him a few months to adjust to premiership life, but we could very well have something cool to
look forward to next year.
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0
I know we didn't play too well against Sunderland but I'm hoping it'll give the lads a much needed
confidence boost ahead of our clash with Chelsea on Sunday. Hopefully Crouchie will have earned
himself a run in the team after scoring one and setting up another goal but sadly I doubt it. It's
hardly a motivational aide for Rafa to not reward the players who do perform.
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0
I was pleasantly surprised to see Momo Sissoko following in the footsteps of Luis Garcia and
writing an open letter to fans which has been published on the official Liverpool FC website
(LINK).
The similarities between the 2 extend even further. Sissoko like Garcia proved to be well worth his
transfer fee and his positives definitely outweighed any negatives.
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0
What can be said other than the players don't have much to play for in the Premiership and put in
another lacklustre performance against West Ham. Fighting for fourth spot is hardly going to
motivate them and since Paco left Liverpool, I've doubted Rafas ability to motivate the players
also.
I almost don't want us to win the Champions League again this year because that might mean Rafa
stays.
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0
If there's one thing which was completely obvious last summer, it's that Momo Sissoko was living on
borrowed time. With the sheer quality we already had in midfield and the arrival of Lucas Leiva
(who is surely destined for world class status), there was little room left for Sissoko.
I know Sissoko has taken a fair amount of stick over the years for his wayward passing, but to be
fair he has been a tremendous signing for us, a true destroyer with so much energy and passion and
I loved watching him play when he was on form.
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