Momo and Pennant

[Cisse]

I really like what I see from them both. Momo really seem to have improved overall control and his surging runs into the box will soon start paying off. Jermaine really seem to enjoy himself out there. Tons of confidence and take people on and delivering quality crosses into the box. Happy days

[Montse]

Our 2 best player out there today, Momo regained his boss status on tonights performance he was awsome!

[Mike]

we still can't f***ing score though

[Clay Davis]

Paul Merson is a c***

[Raj]

Paul Merson is a c***

 

Its a pre-season friendly you gobs***e. (Paul Merson that is!)

He sounds like he's been on the ale again.

Edited July 27, 2007 by roegahnn

[McBain]

He sounds like he's been on the ale again.

 

It could only improve his punditry

[Raj]

It could only improve his punditry

 

But not his speech

[don1980]

momo will always work his socks off we know that but there was a big improvement today compared to his performance against south china where imo he was shocking

[Clay Davis]

Its a pre-season friendly you gobs***e. (Paul Merson that is!)

He sounds like he's been on the ale again.

'the difference between liverpool and the top teams is if jamie carraghers out they look very exposed at the back'

erm.. john terry? kolo toure? ferdinand?

 

'the difference between liverpool and the top teams is they just dont have that striker capable of converting the chances at the moment'

and that hasn't been addressed with torres and voronin now has it paul? and obviously the two international strikers with good goalscoring records despite it being first season/not playing much aren't any good either.

[mooro]

'the difference between liverpool and the top teams is they just dont have that striker capable of converting the chances at the moment'

and obviously the two international strikers with good goalscoring records despite it being first season/not playing much aren't any good either.

 

Agree with your jist.

 

However, marketh my words. Kuyt will never be a goal scorer in the prem. He's a crap Mark Hughes, in essence....

[windy city red]

Today was the first pre-season game I watched and I almost couldnt believe what I was seeing from Momo. Surging runs, good touch, I really hope he keeps it up for this season.

[CaptainXabi]

Today was the first pre-season game I watched and I almost couldnt believe what I was seeing from Momo. Surging runs, good touch, I really hope he keeps it up for this season.

His touch was better than Xabi's today - and I'm not joking. By far his best attacking performance in a Liverpool shirt as far as I'm concerned.

[abc]

His touch was better than Xabi's today - and I'm not joking. By far his best attacking performance in a Liverpool shirt as far as I'm concerned.

 

Gotta say that outing against Boro at home last season was probably one of the worst performances from a midfielder in ages. And I'm including Salif in there as well...glad to hear he's picked it up though! Thought he did alright against South China in some patches.

[_00_deathscar]

Strange how opinions differ - I thought he wasn't up to much really; he had a few good runs but also blundered far too many times.

[Guest Cyador]

Momo was absolutely awsome yesterday, i thought he gave a stunning performance. His surges into the box were the highlight of the game imo.

[Sinos]

Momo was absolutely awsome yesterday, i thought he gave a stunning performance. His surges into the box were the highlight of the game imo.

Momo lacks the ability to turn those surging runs into something productive e.g. quality pass for player or accurate shot that troubles the keeper

Edited July 28, 2007 by Sinos

[CaptainXabi]

Momo lacks the ability to turn those surging runs into something productive e.g. quality pass for player or accurate shot that troubles the keeper

As I see it Step 1 is to start making those surging runs on a regular basis and keep the ball every game as well as he kept it yesterday. Step 2 is to turn those into assists and goals. I'm just happy that he's making progress on Step 1. Maybe towards the end of this year he'll embark on Step 2.

[Hightown Phil]

His touch was better than Xabi's today - and I'm not joking. By far his best attacking performance in a Liverpool shirt as far as I'm concerned.

 

If that was his best performance in an attacking way, then we may as well give up.

[CaptainXabi]

If that was his best performance in an attacking way, then we may as well give up.

Momo will never be an attacking force. But I don't think his attacking performance yesterday was far off an average game for Gattuso, for instance. He kept the ball and generally did a good job feeding the players on the team that can actually do something with it in the final third. That's perfectly acceptable for a player of his type.

That's not to say he's not clearly 4th choice, but there's absolutely no reason to "give up".

[Hightown Phil]

He was playing as an attacking midfielder yesterday, he doesn't have the ability to do it. How many times did he have the ball in the final third, where someone else would have slid a ball through to one of the strikers who did something with it, and either lose it or go backwards? Too many.

 

For all the chances yesterday, none of them were what you could call gilt edged.

[CaptainXabi]

Ok, that's a fair point. Gattuso has Kaka/Seedorf ahead of him to play that final ball whereas Momo doesn't have anyone. So from that perspective, the burden would be on Momo to create more than Gattuso.

 

However, my point is that Momo is improving and last season the performance he gave yesterday wasn't even fathomable. He kept the ball under pressure and while he didn't do a good job of moving the ball directly forward, he distributed it well out wide and in the middle third, including the nice cross field ball to Pennant. I think he has it in him to add that decent forward pass and the odd goal to his game over the next year or two to the point where he is a useful box to box midfielder, especially with a playmaker type ahead of him.

[Guest Cyador]

Ok, that's a fair point. Gattuso has Kaka/Seedorf ahead of him to play that final ball whereas Momo doesn't have anyone. So from that perspective, the burden would be on Momo to create more than Gattuso.

 

However, my point is that Momo is improving and last season the performance he gave yesterday wasn't even fathomable. He kept the ball under pressure and while he didn't do a good job of moving the ball directly forward, he distributed it well out wide and in the middle third, including the nice cross field ball to Pennant. I think he has it in him to add that decent forward pass and the odd goal to his game over the next year or two to the point where he is a useful box to box midfielder, especially with a playmaker type ahead of him.

 

I agree with that, don't understand some of the negativity towards momo, so his attacking game isn't up to much, yeah and so what? if you thought Rafa bought him and plays him for his impact on the attacking side of our game, your sadly mistaken.

You don't even see those attacking runs from Gattuso, so what if not much comes from them, at least he's trying. Momo gets picked in the team for his destructive and ball winning abilities, anything else is a bonus. And i don't think Rafa would have given him a new contract if he wasn't happy with his contribution. You just have to take a look at the clubs hes played for and been linked with before he signed the new contract to realise how highly the football family rate him. Valencia, Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus....

[Sinos]

Ok, that's a fair point. Gattuso has Kaka/Seedorf ahead of him to play that final ball whereas Momo doesn't have anyone. So from that perspective, the burden would be on Momo to create more than Gattuso.

 

However, my point is that Momo is improving and last season the performance he gave yesterday wasn't even fathomable. He kept the ball under pressure and while he didn't do a good job of moving the ball directly forward, he distributed it well out wide and in the middle third, including the nice cross field ball to Pennant. I think he has it in him to add that decent forward pass and the odd goal to his game over the next year or two to the point where he is a useful box to box midfielder, especially with a playmaker type ahead of him.

 

That's one of the basic requirements of being able to play in that position.

[Sinos]

I agree with that, don't understand some of the negativity towards momo, so his attacking game isn't up to much, yeah and so what? if you thought Rafa bought him and plays him for his impact on the attacking side of our game, your sadly mistaken.

You don't even see those attacking runs from Gattuso, so what if not much comes from them, at least he's trying. Momo gets picked in the team for his destructive and ball winning abilities, anything else is a bonus. And i don't think Rafa would have given him a new contract if he wasn't happy with his contribution. You just have to take a look at the clubs hes played for and been linked with before he signed the new contract to realise how highly the football family rate him. Valencia, Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus....

 

He's not good enough to displace Alonso or Mascherano as the 1st choice defensive midfielders and he's not good enough in an attacking sense to displace Gerrard.

 

So where does he fit into the midfield?

Edited July 28, 2007 by Sinos

[Guest Cyador]

He's not good enough to displace Alonso or Mascherano as the 1st choice defensive midfielders and he's not good enough in an attacking sense to displace Gerrard.

 

So where does he fit into the midfield?

 

Out of interest did you watch the game yesterday? he was bloody amazing. Easily our best player. None of our other midfielders, and i include gerrard in this, can dominate another team like momo can. But if after two years you still don't rate the guy or see what he brings, nothing i say is gonna change that.

 

And to anwser your question, he plays a different role in the team to Alonso, Mascherano and to an extent gerrard. Alonso and Mascherano tend to sit in front of the defense as the anchor or deep lying playmaker, whilst momo roams all over the pitch, breaking play up and winning the ball.