The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[BerfArmagh]

Pure Rubbish. Liverpool should at least be 2 nil down. They play the poorest and most unpleasing to watch football of any of the top 6 english teams. Wimbledon FC would'nt have a look in. I am wetting myself alughing everyday the fact that Liverpool fans think robbie keane is the missing link to provide them the premiership. Wake up, hes an ok player, whom you have paid far too much for. At the EOTD only Torres & Gerard would make it into a united 11. Roll on september

[supersarsfields]

Reina, Carragher, Macsh, Gerrard and Torres.

[laceer]

Reina, Carragher, Macsh, Gerrard and Torres.

minus carragher

[supersarsfields]

Well he's debatable. I'll agree on that. And I'm not expecting as much of him this year to be honest as I think he's lost a bit of pace.
Alonso on current form could contest with Carrick Hargreaves etc aswell.

But it's a bit early for these kinds of comparisons.

On the game last nite it was actually painful to watch. No fluency in the pass and players just looked like they wanted rid of the ball rather than trying to stamp their authority on the game. Fair play to Leige as they harried and harrassed Liverpool well. But we should be good enough to pass the ball around their men.
There will have to be a big improvement for the start of the league.

[Hound]

Christonabike, what a performance! Blessed to get away with it. And this tie is certainly not going to be a formality in Anfield. Standard Liege played really well, tactically very good (let our defenders have as much of the ball as they wanted but that meant they had our midfield totally covered and so the lads at the back just lumped it up to "Crouchie"   ) and while they didnt find the net, I think its pretty clear there are goals in them.

Dossena's first half was the worst competitive debut I can remember from an LFC player. Well certainly in the Benitez era - I'm sure there were a few in the Houllier days (Nunez,Cheyrou etc) that I've chosen to forget! In fairness Dossena did improve a bit in the 2nd half.

Keane played exactly as he has done in the friendlies. He just can't seem to get into games. Hasn't been bad particulalrly, just hasn't been an influence.

Most worrying was how "all over the shop" we were defending crosses. Not sure who was to blame, but certainly none of Carra, Agger or Reina were dominant.

You'd think Gerrard for Plessis would be the obvious change for Sunderland, but I dunno if Rafa is prepared to play without a destroyer. I think Keane could be in danger of being dropped. If he was insistent on keeping Plessis, I'd like to see what Keane would be like in Kuyt's role. When he was bought Rafa did say he could play that role - though he didnt get a run in that position in any of the friendlies so perhaps its unlikely.

[Minus15]

Ok last night wasn't good but it was a tricky away tie and we got a 0-0. I fancy us to beat them convinvingly at Anfield. We just seemed to lack in creativity last night and Standard didn't allow our midfield and forwards any time on the ball. I think you can sure that in two weeks time Rafa will have done his homework and worked out how to exploit them. The Liverpool team last night was missing a few key players but the worry is that we can expect more or less the same for saturday. I would have liked to have seen Benayoun and Kuyt switched as Kuyt gives you the same on either wing and Benayoun on the left is just intent on cutting inside. Maybe he could have given Dante a bit of trouble out there. But as someone else said that was a massive game for Liege and was our first competitive outing with players making their debuts for the club.

Hound it was indeed an inauspicious debut for Dossena. When the pass through midfield wasn't on his immediate reaction was to thump it down the wing for Keane or Torres. However, it is early days and it is too early to judge him. From what I have seen so far he can be effective going forward but he lacks the neccessary aerial ability to compete in the Premier League and I feel that he could be targeted with diagonal balls by many teams in the division. But even when he was signed I expected Aurelio to be first choice for the big games and Dossena used against teams at home who come to defend. But he has time and could prove to be a good signing once he settles. But the 7million he cost will probably put him under more pressure to perform. Oh and Nunez was a Benitez signing!

The fact that El Zhar came on before Pennant I think just shows that he could be on his way. Any games Pennant played in pre season he looked disinterested anyway so maybe it is for the best. I would actually start El Zhar against Sunderland. You need to have one winger on the field or else everything will become too narrow. 

                                         Reina

                      Arbeloa Carragher Agger Dossena

                                  Alonso Gerrard
                        El Zhar                     Benayoun

                                Keane
                                         Torres

[The GAA]

                                         Reina

                      Arbeloa Carragher Agger Aurelio

                                  Alonso Gerrard
                        El Zhar                     Benayoun

                                Keane
                                         Torres

Much as it pain me to say it, that is not good side

[FermGael]

According to Sky sports news there now, Barry is in the Villa starting line for tonight.
Is that the end of that then??

[Minus15]

Villa winning 1-0. yes its Gareth Barry after 4 mins.

Dont think Liverpool's pursuit of Barry is over just because hes playing tonight. I expect it to go on right up until the end of the window!

[Minus15]

100% of the shots you don't take don't go in.
Wayne Gretzky

So FermGael what percentage of shots that Fermanagh do take actually go in?

[under the bar]

Dont think Liverpool's pursuit of Barry is over just because hes playing tonight.

Looks like Barry has opted to stay with a team that's sure to be in Europe in 2 weeks time..

[FermGael]

100% of the shots you don't take don't go in.
Wayne Gretzky

So FermGael what percentage of shots that Fermanagh do take actually go in?

If only we playing the Down defence every week , we could really improve that percentage.  I would say we might even hit 50% 

[gawa316]

100% of the shots you don't take don't go in.
Wayne Gretzky

So FermGael what percentage of shots that Fermanagh do take actually go in?

If only we playing the Down defence every week , we could really improve that percentage.  I would say we might even hit 50% 

Heard this one the other day

Why do all the fermanagh players have girls bikes?


Cause they can't get their balls over the bar...boom boom!

[FermGael]

heard that one all ready.
I have heard worse this last 2 weeks

[el_cuervo_fc]

Days of destiny on Anfield horizon
Aug 15 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

AS the Reds travel to Sunderland for tomorrow's season opener, Liverpool writer Tony Barrett takes a close look at their chances of mounting a title challenge, and examines the key issues off the pitch as well as on it which must yet be overcome.

AT the start of every season, football fans up and down the country check their fixture lists for the most important dates of the coming season.

For Liverpool supporters this has usually meant looking out for games against Everton and Man United and whichever club has assumed rival status over the previous 12 months.

But as important as meetings with David Moyes' and Alex Ferguson's men undoubtedly are, it is arguable the most important dates for Liverpool in the 2008/09 season have nothing at all to do with what is happening on the pitch.

The most significant of all is January 31, the deadline by which Tom Hicks and George Gillett must refinance the loans taken out in the £350m refinancing package they secured earlier this year. That's in the highly unlikely event of the pair having put their massive differences behind them for the good of the club and come to a working arrangement by then.

The second comes in "late October/early November, the time by which Hicks vowed to see work begin on the construction of Liverpool's new ground in Stanley Park, after the initial commitment to see "a spade in the ground" within 60 days of takeover was consigned to the dustbin of history.

Throw in the opening of the new transfer window on January 1 – a time when Rafa Benitez must attempt to prove to the board that the players he is pursuing provide the kind of value they are looking for – and Liverpool's season is already set up to have the same level of political intrigue as the last.

In the campaign which finished in May, Liverpool's propensity for self harm was enough to make Max Mosley flinch, with endemic in-fighting threatening to rip the club apart and causing untold damage.

Sadly and unforgivably, the potential remains for similar to happen this season. The cracks which have emerged since Hicks and Gillett took control are still to be sealed and, if anything, they are actually worsening.

The two Americans only resumed communications recently and that was only to refuse Benitez permission to sign Gareth Barry for £18m.

The relationship between Hicks and chief executive Rick Parry remains fraught. Parry himself has had few dealings with recently appointed commercial director Ian Ayre.

While all this is going on in the background, Benitez has to somehow manage a football team – and do so without any sort of coherent strategy or lucid communications being established by those in the boardroom.

That is why the deal to sign Barry broke down so spectacularly last week, although at least then there was some consensus between those who hold the purse strings and those who do the paperwork.

Benitez saw the Aston Villa man as a vital signing, believing £18m was not too high a price to pay given Barry is ahead of Man United duo Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick in the England pecking order and they were both bought for a similar fee.

Unfortunately, Hicks, Gillett and Parry felt £18m was too much for a player who will be 31 when the four year contract he was to be offered would have expired and the plug was duly pulled.

What Hicks and Gillett's expertise is on the vagaries of the English transfer market is difficult to establish given the fact that they have seen hardly any Premiership football, let alone seen Barry play.

But, rightly or wrongly, the decision was taken and Benitez now has to ensure he is not deflected from the path towards building a title challenging squad by any disappointment, however understandable it would be, or any lingering resentment.

The man who famously walked out on Valencia for being offered a lampshade when he'd asked for a table has a responsibility to the squad he has put together not to be distracted by the kind of politicking which made last season such a sorry affair.

Should the Reds boss manage to steer clear of boardroom bickering then Liverpool's chances of entering the title race will be boosted immeasurably.

There is no doubt the current squad is the strongest Anfield has seen for quite some time, even if there are still shortcomings in certain areas.

The spine of the team is good enough to hold its own against any other in the Premiership and the addition of £20m man Robbie Keane will make it the best around should the Irishman prove a hit.

The likes of Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Martin Sktrel, Sami Hyypia, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Keane and Fenrnado Torres inspire great confidence and, in the eyes of more positive fans, maybe even a belief that this could finally be Liverpool's year after a wait dating back to 1990.

The questions about the flanks that have existed throughout Benitez's reign are still to be answered however and it remains to be seen whether or not summer signings Andrea Dossena and Philipp Degen will provide the kind of kind of quality needed at full back if a title challenge is to be anything more than a forlorn hope.

Ryan Babel must also show that he can fulfil the potential he showed last season and Dirk Kuyt must prove his shift from central striker to wide midfield can be as successful in the Premiership as it has been in the Champions League.

Significantly, Reina at last seems to have some decent back-up and if Diego Cavalieri's pre-season performances are anything to go by Charles Itandje will be forgotten..

Equally importantly, much of the deadwood has been cleared out with John Arne Riise taking his unused right boot to Rome and Harry Kewell now on Galatasaray's treatment table.

So a couple of problems have been solved but there are others which still need fixing, particularly the defending at set pieces which cost Liverpool far too many goals last term.

But such tactical issues are rendered almost trivial in comparison to the boardroom goings on which could totally undermine Liverpool's season once again unless resolutions – or, better still a revolution – are put into action.

Depending on which camp you listen to, Hicks is about to buy Gillett out, Gillett is about to buy Hicks out, or Dubai are about to buy out both.

Money and profits are the bottom line for all concerned and that means progress will be slow and painstaking and there will be plenty of ups and downs, not to mention rumour and speculation, before a deal is finally done which will put the ongoing ownership battle to bed.

It is somewhat optimistically hoped that all involved will put the club first because a return to last season's open warfare would be too much to endure.

Winning the title may prove just beyond Liverpool but they do have a chance of going close and their hopes will not be helped if the fissures in the boardroom open up again.

Benitez makes no secret of his belief that Liverpool need to be "perfect" to compete with United and Chelsea at the top of the league. That philosophy must be embraced by everyone at the club or another season of shadow chasing awaits.

Should it be, then the dates on the fixture list will assume the level of importance they deserve.

tonybarrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk