Caporegime
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Spot on.
He's crap with 1v1s.
He's a much better striker when he goes on instinct rather than having time to think what he's doing.
January Transfer Window Thread - rumours and signings here
- Thread starter Gilly
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Spot on.
He's crap with 1v1s.
He's a much better striker when he goes on instinct rather than having time to think what he's doing.
Right so he got a good chance at the beginning of the season when your 3 best players were not in the team. Not exactly a great start is it, playing in a team missing key players? I'm not disagreeing with you about some of the clear chances he's missed, it's just Rafa's whole man management sucks in this regard. And believe it or not, Rafa should be the one telling him directly he's not in the squad, that's what managers do. A player low on confidence being completely dropped from the squad without being directly told by the manager is disgusting imo.
He effectively is a £20m bench warmer now Torres is back. He's certainly no longer a starter, and your very definition 'cover for either Gerrard or Torres' would point to bench warmer too.
Rafa has a habit of subbing your strikers no matter what their fitness is to bring on a midfielder, it's never like for like. He did it with Torres constantly last season and Torres had no fitness issues. It's just one of those things Benitez does and will continue to do.
Caporegime
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Keane's ideal position would be just behind Torres but he's competing with Gerrard and there's only ever going to be one winner in that contest. Don't think Keane will ever work as the lone striker so unless Gerrard gets injured and Keane replaces him we might never see the best of him.
There's no doubting he's a fantastic player but he doesn't suit our formation. Would love to believe the rumours that he only signed for us were because Parry wanted him, would mean Benitez wouldn't be responsible for another expensive flop.
There's no doubting he's a fantastic player but he doesn't suit our formation. Would love to believe the rumours that he only signed for us were because Parry wanted him, would mean Benitez wouldn't be responsible for another expensive flop.
Yeah but the only way of finding out if someone suits your team is to buy them. Nobody can blame Benitez for that. If anything, it just reinforces the opinion that Gerrard behind Torres is the only option for Liverpool up top. They've an understanding. Why upset it. I hope Keane goes back to Spurs, I just seen Redknapp on SSN and he's talking about how much he likes Keane. That move could be on the cards. It would be less soul destroying if he moved now in January than leaving in the summer.
They weren't all missing but one or the other were. Had they all been fit then he wouldn't have started. He's played plenty of games with both Torres and Gerrard (and Masch too) in the same side but he's not played well enough.
At the start of the season i would have said that Keane's competing with Alonso for his place in the side as Torres, Gerrard and Masch's form over the last season had secured their places. Keane would have been foolish to think he'd be a certain starter and he's even more foolish if he thinks that the way he's been playing will secure his place.
With Alonso being arguably our best player this season and Torres, Masch and Gerrard all back then Keane's just going to have to work hard and take his chances, just like every other player.
You're right Rafa's man management is poor. He takes a hands off approach with the players and leaves that stuff to his coaches. No doubt Sammy Lee would have been the man to tell Keane just like he'd have been the one who told Benayoun or Babel when they've been left out of the squad too.
He effectively is a £20m bench warmer now Torres is back. He's certainly no longer a starter, and your very definition 'cover for either Gerrard or Torres' would point to bench warmer too.
Rafa has a habit of subbing your strikers no matter what their fitness is to bring on a midfielder, it's never like for like. He did it with Torres constantly last season and Torres had no fitness issues. It's just one of those things Benitez does and will continue to do.
No he's a squad player not a bench warmer. A bench warmer wouldn't have played 27 games, starting 23 of those.
You're right about Rafa often taking strikers off for midfielders though, he didn't 'constantly' sub Torres though
Rafa's idea is (whether you agree or not) that if the team's not creating chances then the system needs to change rather than the strikers. The fact that we're far more effective playing a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-4-2 would be another reason that Keane (or Kuyt/Crouch last season) will be taken off for a midfielder.
I seriously doubt that but there's another rumour (and possibly true) that Rafa told Parry who he wanted and then Parry made the decision on how much to spend on them.
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Caporegime
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He's always been a player I've wanted at Liverpool and I'm gutted he's not performed for us. It's pretty obvious he's on his way out but I can't see it happening in January, wouldn't leave us enough time to buy a replacement.
Not really a surprise Rafa wants full control of transfers before signing his new contract given Parry doesn't know is left from his right.
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They weren't all missing but one or the other were. Had they all been fit then he wouldn't have started. He's played plenty of games with both Torres and Gerrard (and Masch too) in the same side but he's not played well enough.
At the start of the season i would have said that Keane's competing with Alonso for his place in the side as Torres, Gerrard and Masch's form over the last season had secured their places. Keane would have been foolish to think he'd be a certain starter and he's even more foolish if he thinks that the way he's been playing will secure his place.
With Alonso being arguably our best player this season and Torres, Masch and Gerrard all back then Keane's just going to have to work hard and take his chances, just like every other player.
You're right Rafa's man management is poor. He takes a hands off approach with the players and leaves that stuff to his coaches. No doubt Sammy Lee would have been the man to tell Keane just like he'd have been the one who told Benayoun or Babel when they've been left out of the squad too.
No he's a squad player not a bench warmer. A bench warmer wouldn't have played 27 games, starting 23 of those.
You're right about Rafa often taking strikers off for midfielders though, he didn't 'constantly' sub Torres though
Rafa's idea is (whether you agree or not) that if the team's not creating chances then the system needs to change rather than the strikers. The fact that we're far more effective playing a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-4-2 would be another reason that Keane (or Kuyt/Crouch last season) will be taken off for a midfielder.
The only reason Keane started that number of games was because Torres was injured and now he is back, and Gerrard is firing on all cylinders, he'll be warming the bench with the rest of the squad players. They warm the bench too.
I can understand Benitez changing the system during games but I'll not understand why recently you've been ending games with no strikers, which to me would invite the opposition team to come out and attack you as there is no one sitting in their half of the pitch keeping their defenders back.
6 months is too early to judge to be honest but it does seem Benitez doesn't really fancy him for some reason. There is a very marked difference in how Keane has been managed by Benitez to how Berbatov has been managed by Ferguson.
I read an interesting article the other day about how asking for full control of transfers in writing is pretty unworkable and goes beyond what people like Ferguson or Wenger have but what they do have is trust with and from their Chief Executive and the knowledge that if they can strike a deal they absolutely will take the managers word on it.
The only reason Keane started that number of games was because Torres was injured and now he is back, and Gerrard is firing on all cylinders, he'll be warming the bench with the rest of the squad players. They warm the bench too.
I can understand Benitez changing the system during games but I'll not understand why recently you've been ending games with no strikers, which to me would invite the opposition team to come out and attack you as there is no one sitting in their half of the pitch keeping their defenders back.
Call him what you like. There's no taking away from the fact that he's had more than enough chances to perform and it's only his own fault if he's not in the team from now on
Not sure about us ending games without strikers though
What does full control really mean? Or does he just want a chief executive who knows their job better than Parry? To my knowledge Liverpool haven't signed anyone that Benitez hasn't wanted, and that includes the millions of youngsters he buys on a weekly basis.
Caporegime
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Would be my guess.
What does full control really mean? Or does he just want a chief executive who knows their job better than Parry? To my knowledge Liverpool haven't signed anyone that Benitez hasn't wanted, and that includes the millions of youngsters he buys on a weekly basis.
He wants to be able to decide on how the money is spent. At the moment he decides on the player and then Parry will decide on what they're worth. We've missed out on too many players because either Parry didn't think they were worth the asking price or because Parry's an incompetent clown.
Read it too and it wasn't a bad article. The root of the problem with us is our owners not talking and Rafa having to get permission from 3 people before he can do a deal. As much as i thought i would never say this, at the moment it wouldn't be a bad idea if Gillett does sell up and Hicks takes full control
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Caporegime
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Fixed
I don't know what to think with Keane to be honest. On one hand he's had a million chances to prove himself and has disappointed, but on the other you could argue that he needs time to find his best position in the team and to be given that chance.
To be honest, I don't expect Hutton to ever play professional football again. From what I've heard, his injuries are very serious.
Poor bloke, although I gather his absence(s) aren't all related to injuries (as such).....
His best position is alongside/just behind Torres and he has played there quite a few times, although not for a sustained period because of Torres' injuries. That's meaningless though because as Pigeon said, he's fighting Gerrard for that spot and he's not in the same league as Gerrard.
If he's to have a future with us then he's got to be content with not being a regular player because he's not going to be that and i don't think he was ever signed with that in mind either. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be able to handle that.
Like others I'm surprised we kept hold of Cuducini for so long as he had the potential to start in most other sides but maybe he just liked it at Chelsea and now he realises that his career is coming to an end so fancied a bit of a last big pay day, assuming he's going to get a signing on fee of course.
He'll need a good run in the side if he's ever going to get back to his best and he does look very iffy on crosses and corners now, not quite sure why Spurs wanted another one of those
He'll need a good run in the side if he's ever going to get back to his best and he does look very iffy on crosses and corners now, not quite sure why Spurs wanted another one of those
Keane: 80 goals in 197 games for Tottenham. Also, 35 goals in 85 internationals.
Defoe: 43 goals in 139 games for them. Err, 6 goals in 30 England appearances.
Just because your manager can't work out how to play a deep-lying forward and an attacking central midfielder in the same team, that doesn't make Robbie Keane a bad player. He's miles better than Defoe.
I prefer the player. More dynamic, faster and younger IIRC than Keane. Keane has had chance after chance after chance this season. Defoe since Portsmouth has impressed me, think he'll do a fantastic job at Spurs, again.
Signing Defoe wouldn't make sense though. Keane, in theory, should have been perfect for us. He could play off Torres when either Gerrard, Alonso or Masch are out or in games when both Alonso and Masch aren't needed. And he can do a job playing up front on his own when Torres is out.
With the system we play Defoe would only be useful when Torres was out.