windy city red

no need to be so defensive... you mentioned finnan to be "terribly overated" by the people here so I just wanted to know what other fantastic right backs you knew of out there. We were on the subject of Houllier's buys, and for the price we paid for finnan, I find him an excellent signing. Hes no cafu or right-side ashley cole, but he does his job at right back very well and I dont think I will swap him for any right-back in the world at this point. We dont need exceptional world class beaters in every position, we need people who can play well in a team environment - its not a role playing fantasy game where the sum of the players' ability determines who win or lose.

so who would you replace him with?

interesting..no del horno? i know he has been gash for chelsea but would have expected him to be in it.

cheers adam, thanks for the match report. isnt Idrizaj suppose to be highly-rated when he was signed? besides last week's one-off, he seems to be not playing too well...

yes. hope he gets one more season

is correct.

are you talking about ballack? how is that even an argument? if you had said he needs to play more consistently, i would have bought it. don't mid-week matches contribute to our league total whether we are playing lousy opposition or not? if we hadnt beat european minnows, would we have been in the group stages? like i said, i just hope he goes for his sake.

not too sure about that, the majority of the forum is baying for his blood and if thats equivalent to the fan base we have out there now, it might be better he moves on...for his sake. cisse scores through keeper legs = luck fowler/moro scores through keeper legs = skill haha, spot the difference? its ridiculous how much he gets slated and its also unfortunate that people are just not patient anymore. every fan want a henry or RVN type striker right now and are just not willing to wait for improvement. the most ludricrous argument i have heard repeatedly is that hes a waste of 14 million. yes he definitely isnt worth that much, but he also didnt decide the damn price. is it his fault for being so prolific and sensational in the french league, thus making him so sought after at that time? i think not.

is rafa being serious with that team? traore at center half and warnock at left back? great..who plays on the right side for WH? isnt it benayoun(sp)? i am not too convinced with the midfield pairing of didi and momo. still...GO REDS!

yeah right, its probably a ploy. wouldnt be surprised if i see them both on the field or bench tomorrow...

how do you know he wasnt misquoted? and i think he talks to the press as much as any other player in the team does...

My thoughts (not neccessarily my preference ) are: 1) Once that right winger is settled, cisse will be offloaded. Cisse is currently employed on the right more often than not and once that position is taken by a true winger, theres a good chance cisse isnt going to get a sniff in there. stevie g can be used as a backup for the right. 2) Once cisse goes, this would free up another striker spot. I still find it difficult to believe rafa will bring in 2 brand new strikers. morientes will probably stay for one more season, fowler to stay and one of bent/defoe/bellamy will be chosen. I am probably wrong here haha, but it seems silly to have kuyt & moro together, arent they the same kind of striker? 3) unless there are wal-mart prices on the players, i think we will sign max 2 players (not counting potential bosmans, pauletta, gonzales). Rafa just doesnt seem the kind to go on a shopping spree. Again, just my $0.02.

why on earth would we want to get rid of crouch?! yes, his heading and strength on the ball are crap but I think he gives us another option to our football. and he has been with us for ONE season...at least throw that guy a frigging bone for now... theres no way we are going to get 3 new 20-something strikers unless they are crap, injured or out of favor - which would raise eyebrowns to why we are getting them in the first place. getting players in also involves selling players. some of us are assuming that selling out of favor players is the easiest task in the world.

he looks good in the videos.. i for one dont really care how many tricks or juggling acts a player can do on the field but as long as the end product (crossing) is good, i am satisfied. you dont see vincente doing 500 cross-overs in a match but his crossing is accurate as hell... cant wait to see him play in a liverpool shirt.

great, this thread better not digress into that "whats the definition of world-class" argument we had many moons ago.... anyways, i think aimar is a fantastic player - not sure how he would fit in the side though. hes a different player from what we have currently, but I dont think we need another central midfielder. he can play a support striker role too, but so can garcia and kewell.

Cisse Mark II?

what happened to Besian Idrizaj? is he injured or just not been playing?

either that or rafa thinks that garcia, stevie g or cisse can do a job on the right if required. i hope thats not the case though.

Its a difficult question really. Wasnt it mentioned that Moro was carrying a slight injury over the period of time when he was underperforming? Guess it can be argued that theres a chance he would perform better next season the same way Kewell has after finally getting over his injury. Unfortunately, his speed and strength on the ball are still lacking and I am not sure if those attributes can improve much more especially at that age. Why not keep cisse and pongo? Two pacy strikers are not excessive in my mind and I think they bring different things to the team. I would give cisse one more season if its possible.

dont understand what that means...hasnt he been used on the right frequently this season? and i think those goals just happened to be scored off counter attacking moves. we were by no means contended to just sit back behind and hit them on the break everytime (might have been for the second half). i thought he showed great awareness for the 1st goal and a good touch for the 2nd, qualities that were absent or somewhat absent in his previous performances.

everyone, i think we got a real gem here.

that was a joke btw..and i totally agree on the goals being slightly more due to horrible defending than impeccable finishing/moves. i guess i am just glad that the goals are finally coming whatever the circumstances, especially as we are approaching the end of the season. as a result, maybe thats why i look more at the positives than negatives.

what do you expect? you mean you didnt know there are fans who demand full flowing football where goals are created from intricately outpassing the opponent 43215 times before smashing the ball 100mph into the net?

is that even wise? he hasnt completely recovered right?

lol...i cant believe a thread started by a manc WUM spawned 6 pages of response, most of it OOT with a few voices of reason. other than his poor performance after the penalty, he did little wrong in my eyes with his celebrations.