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Liverpool Thread 2011/12


Rafalution

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Didn't watch the Villa - Liverpool game on the final day of last season, but remember Downing dicking on us at least twice for Boro. Once when we lost 2-0 away 08-09 and the other was possibly at Anfield? Bit foggy on that one. Both games we couldn't deal with his movement and delivery.

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hello - happy with the business so far squad is starting to take shape. nice to see the deadwood go, hopefully a few more will join him.

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I think i'm reasonably happy with the business we've done so far, given that we've got no European competition to attract the better/more famous players with, and that we're clearly thinking about the money we shell out on long-term contracts instead of giving in to massive wage demands. Obviously a new LB is the priority, and apart from maybe a new CB i'd be pretty happy with our squad atm.

--------------------------Reina------------------------------

Johnson ---------Carra-----------Skrtel---------Enrique (please)

-------------------------Lucas-------------------------------

----------------------------------Adam----------------------

--------------------Gerrard----------------------------------

--------Suarez (free role)--------------------Downing-----

-------------------------Carroll-----------------------------

Bench: Kuyt, Maxi, Aquilani, Henderson, Kelly, Agger, Doni

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Didn't watch the Villa - Liverpool game on the final day of last season, but remember Downing dicking on us at least twice for Boro. Once when we lost 2-0 away 08-09 and the other was possibly at Anfield? Bit foggy on that one. Both games we couldn't deal with his movement and delivery.

Well he scored the winner, and pretty much owned the left wing. Flanagan was so dreadful though anyone would have looked amazing against him. :D

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Think you've gotten that wrong. The actual story:

Babel: Downing with my number? #smh

(smh being an acronym for 'shaking my head')

Dalglish's response: @RyanBabel it's Liverpool's number. Not your number. Thanks for your efforts whilst at LFC but focus on your own club now. Thanks.

Hardly going "mental". Babel has no right to say anything about any player getting his number. Just a **** over-hyped player, and mainly by himself.

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btw we dodged a bullet with marveaux. he was a big risk wanting that much money & with his injury record. It appears Newcastle didn't learn there lesson with Owen.

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btw we dodged a bullet with marveaux. he was a big risk wanting that much money & with his injury record. It appears Newcastle didn't learn there lesson with Owen.

totally agree, he played something like 12 games last season and he's hardly an outstanding player to begin with.

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btw we dodged a bullet with marveaux. he was a big risk wanting that much money & with his injury record. It appears Newcastle didn't learn there lesson with Owen.
totally agree, he played something like 12 games last season and he's hardly an outstanding player to begin with.

Why not let him play before back slapping each other?

Tiote was hardly outstanding when newcastle got him, yet had one of the best seasons as a player in the PL last year. That daft image where it mentioned every player you lost out on as being a 'bullet dodged' is very apt it seems.

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Why not let him play before back slapping each other?

Tiote was hardly outstanding when newcastle got him, yet had one of the best seasons as a player in the PL last year. That daft image where it mentioned every player you lost out on as being a 'bullet dodged' is very apt it seems.

Having seen waves of useless free transfers flooding through the doors i can't imagine why i would want to give Marveuax a chance. Obviously he's a different player who might be the one to break the stereotype but it just doesn't seem like it. A number injury problems last season meant he hardly played so unless he's wonderfully talented i don't see the point in taking the risk with him.

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Common consensus was that we took a pass on Marveaux because he was wanting a 5-year deal on some fairly absurd money. Considering his injury record, yes, we've dodged a bullet on that. Whether that's something we can say in three years time, we'll only know then. What can be said now is that it's a massive risk from Newcastle, and one that we justifiably weren't prepared to take once he'd failed his medical here.

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See, you get these totally made up rumours that start when a deal cannot be agreed and things are halted.

Notts Forest fans claiming Giles Barnes uis 3 stone over weight when a deal isnt agreed

Liverpool claiming a player failed a medical when he goes and passes one at newcastle

Where press wise has it mentioned he failed a medical?

Seriously cannot claim its a bullet dodged until he has proved it surely?

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Actually, word on the medical was before we discovered he'd signed with Newcastle. And no, there was on release. Funnily enough, the club doesn't generally comment on things like that until they're actually signed/agreed upon.

It is actually possible for one club's medical staff to turn up a potential problem that another club's might not, you realise that?

Regardless, I'm a bit baffled you can't understand that the club taking a pass on offering a 5 year deal to a very injury-prone player in recent times isn't smart, risk-averse business.

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where have i said i dont understand why they didnt pass him up? When you find that i did that let me know.

Pretty sure i said its a little silly back patting each other for a bullet dodged when it might not actually be that, he may actually come good. If he doesnt then surely the back patting is ok and the bullet dodging comments' would be apt.

And as i said the 'failed medical part' could just be another fantastic made up lfcitk rumour that they love to make up (we dont have as many itks at boro fortunatly!)

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where have i said i dont understand why they didnt pass him up? When you find that i did that let me know.

Pretty sure i said its a little silly back patting each other for a bullet dodged when it might not actually be that, he may actually come good. If he doesnt then surely the back patting is ok and the bullet dodging comments' would be apt.

And as i said the 'failed medical part' could just be another fantastic made up lfcitk rumour that they love to make up (we dont have as many itks at boro fortunatly!)

If you can't have a club thread based upon a little conjecture and opinion it's going to be a fairly dull place. Seems odd to be taking a stand over Sylvain Marveaux over a hypothetical "he may be alright" considering every other link this summer.

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See, you get these totally made up rumours that start when a deal cannot be agreed and things are halted.

Notts Forest fans claiming Giles Barnes uis 3 stone over weight when a deal isnt agreed

Liverpool claiming a player failed a medical when he goes and passes one at newcastle

Where press wise has it mentioned he failed a medical?

Seriously cannot claim its a bullet dodged until he has proved it surely?

Reports suggested he failed a medical after it was announced the deal fell through although i'm not sure whether it was the club that said he failed the medical or not. Then Marveuax reacted angrily saying he was perfectly fit and just couldn't agree terms and so then he signed for Newcastle.

I remember Cissokho failing a medical at A.C. Milan just before he signed for Lyon, they claimed he failed it because of his teeth or something so Lyon snapped him up.

As for Marveuax's ability i think he proved himself last season when he could barely get on the pitch. He's said he can put those problems behind him now but injury problems that severe don't just disappear overnight. He's honestly not worth the risk considering he's not really good enough to be a solid solution to our left wing problems and he's not so young that he's likely to make drastic improvements so unless he can stay fit i don't think i'll ever concede that it wasn't a bullet dodged even if he becomes quality.

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Fairly certain Brukner's never given an interview to an Australian paper regarding obscure French players we may or may not have given medicals to. There's just not enough interest in that stuff here.

You're right, wasn't a paper. Was a radio station

http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/liverpool-doc-admits-newcastle-signing-marveaux-passed-medical-1711021

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That Marveaux stuff up top quite amusing. We miss out on a player - we've dodged a bullet. We sign an average winger, who even though he will probably be our best summer buy and add to the team simply because of his position, isnt worth anywhere near what we've paid - he's the best thing since the wheel.

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Well, like I said, he will add to the team simply because of his style of play and position. When we had Riera in the team it was the best balance ive noted in a Liverpool team in a long long time. He's still average though. Hes not quick, hes not tricky, he holds a position well out wide and he can cross a ball.

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Doesn't need to be quick or tricky though, he's a bit vanilla yes, and isn't going to be a Ronaldo/Messi beating half a team and scoring. He's quick enough and has enough awareness to get himself a yard or two of space to cross the ball, and his crossing is excellent, certainly the most accurate and most consistent crosser of a ball I've seen at Villa in years. He's also a good passer of the ball and sees the game pretty well so will pick out through balls and stuff like that. His movement's good too and gets himself into goal scoring positions fairly often. He's far from average, his reputation sufffers from the fact he's performed poorly with England and that he's not going to be a winger who gets on highlight reels with tricks and stuff every week.

Says a lot about Downing and how good he was last season for us, that when Young went, a lot of Villa fans were saying that we shouldn't miss him too much as long as Downing stays.

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I think Rafa ruined him by trying to make him have variety, cutting inside, looking for sensible passes etc. as well as rotating him too much.

As a winger playing week in, week out and told just to run to the byline and stick a ball in the box I think he's above average. A bit like Downing.

In fact, with big Andy as an attacking option, someone like Pennant wouldn't be a bad option to have.

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Never rated Pennant personally, but then again, I didn't rate Downing until he came to us and I actually got to see him week in week out. Think he'll do a good job for you. Not going to set the world on fire but I think he'll be good for you, especially considering you're not exactly blessed with much natural width.

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'

Really wouldn't believe anything tribalfootball says. Never have, never will. Their standards haven't improved from the days when they used to make up stories (when they first started) in order to have some stories to print. Regardless though, the player's injury record means a 5-year deal on reported wages would have been an idiotic gamble.

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Never rated Pennant personally, but then again, I didn't rate Downing until he came to us and I actually got to see him week in week out. Think he'll do a good job for you. Not going to set the world on fire but I think he'll be good for you, especially considering you're not exactly blessed with much natural width.

Ive just finished writing an article for just-football and said pretty much the same thing, people do not rate him because they dont notice him (he isnt flash) yet those who see him week in week out really appreciate what a player he is.

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He's still average though..
OptaJoe: 421 - Since Aug 2004, only 4 players (Lampard, Fabregas, Gerrard & Giggs) have created more PL chances than Stewart Downing.

OptaJoe: 135 - Stewart Downing has completed more crosses in open play than any other player in the Premier League over the last three seasons.

Average ain't what it used to be I guess.

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Was going to post those stats, but couldn't find them. We scored a fair few goals from Downing's crossing last season and we don't have paticularly good headers of the ball, with someone like Carroll, there should be plenty of goals coming as a result of Downing's crosses.

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A bit like Lucas, who still isn't rated by an awful lot of people.

I said this a while back, Downing is (was) basically Villa's Lucas.

People will have seen his poorer performances a while and now he's forever labelled as an average player. You ask most non-liverpool fans about Lucas and they wont sing his praises like most Liverpool fans do simply cause what he does isnt recognised enough, much like Downing doesnt pull out Messi like dribbles every game so is now tarred with the average left winger brush.

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Average ain't what it used to be I guess.

those stats prove nothing at all. the first one doesnt take into account games played - its figures that downing has done well over a 7 year period given not many players will have been in the premiership for that long. the second one agrees with what i mentioned as one of his strengths, crossing the ball. more to the point however, and im not using this to sleight him, merely pointing out that stats out of context are meaningless, it doesnt comment on whether they were good crosses or simple punts into the box.

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those stats prove nothing at all... its figures that downing has done well over a 7 year period

Baffling.

it doesnt comment on whether they were good crosses or simple punts into the box

Completed crosses are crosses that found a teammate.

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whats baffling?

for the second point thats fine. now i know the criteria, can you supply me with other players who have played a similar number of games to Downing, have been around for three seasons, and is actually a winger thats played in a role that predisposes to crossing?

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whats baffling?

That you say the stats prove nothing, yet you manage to derive from them that Downing has played well over a period of seven years.

for the second point thats fine. now i know the criteria, can you supply me with other players who have played a similar number of games to Downing, have been around for three seasons, and is actually a winger thats played in a few that predisposes to crossing?

Probably not going to do that, but I'm off to Burger King in a bit so I'll bring you back some more straws to clutch at.

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Can't believe anyone gives a monkeys about pointless stats like those.

I guarantee you that 'how many chances does he create?', 'how many crosses does he complete' and 'how many games does he play' would have been questions that were paramount in the minds of Comolli and co during their search for a winger. I'll take that bet though if you can dig up similar for Cole.

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