Cause for optimism for Liverpool fans?
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- Posted by pst at 12:23 AM IST
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- Filed under Players and Season Review
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- Tagged with Emiliano Insua, Fabio Aure, Fernando, Joe Cole, Kenny Haung, notlucasleiva21, Statler and bastard Waldorf, Statler and bastard Waldort, takeover, Torres, Twitter, Woy Hodgson, Yossi Benayon
What a difference a few weeks make - at the end of the World Cup we were managerless, facing the prospect of losing three of our ‘world-class’ players, no-one wanted to join us, the Yanks still hadn’t fucked off….and so on.
Skip to the start of August – we’ve gained a sensible manager coming off the back of a successful season, two of the three world-classers have publicly declared they are staying at the club (and Masch must be having a re-think?), we’ve signed an England international on a free and apparently there’s a queue of buyers stretching round the ground like the first day the European tickets go on-sale. Laughing! 
It’s enough to make you start getting carried away but I retain the right to keep my healthy cynicism, especially regards the takeover – we’ve been on the brink before and nothing has ever come of it. Kenny Huang seems to have a very good PR machine – every single paper and website has been screaming his intent over the past couple of days – and his supposed willingness to get the take over completed before the transfer window bodes well. We shall see – apparently there are six (count em, six) offers for the club so we’ve got to have faith that the board (not Statler and Waldorf) act with the club’s best interest at heart. We shall see!
Todays interview with Fernando Torres on the main site can do nothing but warm the heart of any Liverpool fan – to be fair, Fernando owes the club at least another season, especially given the club’s sympathetic attitude towards his injuries during the run-up to the World Cup. It’s still great to see him smiling and that “My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed.” - fingers crossed for a injury run free for him.
With regards to the Joe Cole transfer – personally I’m chuffed to bits, if only to stop him scoring against us – I remember him ruining a perfectly good weekend away in Newcastle in 2004
I’ve seen a lot of comments in mailboxes, forums etc that seem to suggest that we’re welcome to him, he’s past his best etc. Plenty of those dishing out these comments would have been happy to have signed him at the start of the summer – Arsenal fans, Spurs fan, even some United fans but now we’ve signed him apparently he’s not worth it? I’d struggle to find a Chelsea fan who’d say they were happier with Yossi than with Cole (not with a straight face, anyway.) Effectively, we’ve got a experienced international for Yossi and £5-6m to us. I can live with that. Like I said, I’m chuffed to bits – Roy Hodgson has got form for transforming players seemingly past it in Duff and Zamora and I’ve every confidence he can work his magic with Joe.
We’ve even managed to go from having no left-backs to having two….hmm. Odd situation this one, as I was pretty ambivalent about both left-backs going – both have their strong points (Insua came on leaps and bounds last year and is only young, Aurelio is undoubtedly a highly technical and imaginative player and more than handy from a set-piece) and their weak (Insua is prone to concentration loss and ball watching and Aurelio is unfortunately mostly made of balsa) so it’s a mixed bag. Anything that keeps Paul Konchesky from pulling on a red shirt can’t be a bad though!
If you’re a Liverpool fan and you’re on Twitter, you really need to start following @notlucasleiva21 – genuinely hilarious stuff from Liverpool’s most under-rated midfielder. If you are on Twitter, please also follow us – @poorscousetommy. Like the blog, it’s been a tad neglected but we’ll be adding and interacting more on there. Look forward to hearing from you!
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6 Comments
Comment by Lord Luis
Well re-newed optomisum there may well be. We got Joe Cole (Great Signing), Kept Gerrard and Torres (Even better signings), and everyone seems a lot happier at the club Since Mr Hodgson took over. Fair play to the man he’s got the lads playing with smiles on their faces I even saw a picture of Stevie G smiling the other day….. no seriously I did. But it still doesn’t change the fact that we face a massive task before us. With City’s Endless pot of money, Aresenal actually signing players with experience in positions they need. Man United’s next crop of kids looking very decent indeed Not to mention the reigning champs, there are a serious bunch of contenders for the top spots. That is even without mentioning Spurs, Villa and Everton all challenging for top 4.
Put it this way, and I am not being negative, I just try and look at things from an honest perspective then a red tinted one. I will re-itterate my earlier sentiments, If we finis 7th, it will be a good season. YES I am more optomistic now than I was a month ago, and YES I have been impressed with Mr. Hodgson so far, but I still think we are a bit off the pace to challenge for the title.
Comment by pst
I refuse to believe the Stevie G smiling rumour until I see actual evidential proof!
With regards to our main competition this year, I think City will still not be as good as they should be – if they’re qualified for the CL this year I think they would have been genuiene title contenders as they’d have attracted A list stars to the club, rather than the slightly B grade ones they’ve attracted. Yaya is a good signing but hardly one at the top of his game, having been displaced from his position by Busquets and while David Silva is supposedly a very good player, he didn’t get much pitch time at the World Cup and has been available at cash-stretched Valencia for long enough to make me wonder why no-one in the know has taken a punt on him so far? Mancini will spend the entire season waiting for the chop and if he’s not in the top 3 at Christmas I reckon he won’t be there come January. He’ll also have to deal with the massive squad he’s got unless there’s some dramatic pruning some time soon – he’s not going to be able to keep everyone happy.
Arsenal will struggle until two things have been resolved – the exceedingly tedious Fabregas situation and their lack of a top-drawer keeper. Even if Fabregas does stay, it’s obvious it’ll be under duress and his heart and head are elsewhere. It’s looking increasingly likely that Arsene is going to put his faith in Fabianski this season – a gamble if ever I saw one and one that could back fire spectacularly. Wenger is famous for his stubborn streak and I can see this one coming back and biting him on the arse (pardon the pun.)
Villa are going backwards – the Milner situation is in danger of rivalling the Fabregas one in terms of longevity and boredom and needs sorting sharpish to avoid the sort of situation Everton found themselves with Lescott. If they do get £30m to spend, they’re going to struggle to find a player to replace Milner in terms of his all-round game – he carried Villa at points last year and will be missed (whether he’ll have the same impact at City, small fish/big pond etc etc is another question.)
Spurs – could go either which way. If they qualify for the CL and do well, I can see them pushing for the title, given a bit of luck. If they fail to qualify or qualify and get battered in the group stages I can see it knocking onto to their league form. They’ve still yet to sign a centre half that can play more than 10 games a season either, which won’t help them.
As much as it pains me to say it, Everton are looking good for this season – they’ve kept their main players (so far at least), their injuries are clearing up and they’ve quiely added to the squad. The Dan Gosling fiasco aside, they’re building up to the new season quite nicely.
United and Chelsea will obviously be the main two contenders again – no getting away from that – I agree with you, I don’t think we’ve got a shot for the title but I think that the top four is well within reach. The addition of Cole, retention of Stevie and Torres, the possible addition of Poulsen and who knows else if the takeover goes through and the improved team spirit are all positives that will hopefully stand us in good stead for the season ahead. The additional positive of the past few weeks for me has been the use of the youth at the squad in the friendlies and UEFA League – hopefully Hodgson will continue this through the season and we can see the likes of Ecclestone and Amoo featuring in the first team (and Pacheco – almost went through an entire comment without mentioning Pacheco!!!)
Comment by Lord Luis
I think it’s wrong to discount Villa, and definitely not going backwards. Milner might be leaving but O’Neill will pull them through, basis of a very strong squad, British Core, and with some great kids coming through. O’neill also has a very Hodgsonesque ability of signing players and turning their careers around (Milner for one, Dunne, James Collins)
Spurs haven’t improved their squad really, not yet, but Herry likes to leave things till last minute doesn’t he. If he signs a decent centre half they also shouldn’t be discounted.
Wenger is a stubborn git, but Fabianski will be an very good keeper, he has already signed a decent experienced holding midfielder, and looks like they are signing a monster of a centre half (One is 6ft 4 one is 6ft 6)
Citeh, yeah ok they are just signing players for signings sake, but no doubt they have signed some quality. Boetang is a quality defender, Silva only couldn’t get a game for spain because he was competeing with (Legend) Xabi Alonso, Xavi and Iniesta… No other reason. YaYA only played about 15 games for Barca last season and I think he’ll do a job….. But not worth that money. If they click early doors, they’ll challenge for top 4.
I’m just saying it is going to be very very VERY Difficult for us to break back in, more so because teams like Birmingham improving and Fulham now having Mark Hughes as Manager will be as tough to beat as last season, but with more attacking flair!
Comment by Self Pity City
Agree with Lord Louis, you mention City are signing slightly B-grade signings in Toure & Silva, & yet you’ve signed Joe Cole & a free Serb (?), and muse of signing a by far past his best Christian Poulsen!? Yes, Joe Cole is a cracking signing, but are you seriously telling me that you wouldn’t have been creaming your knickers if your lot signed David Silva? Regardless of how much pitch-time he saw at the World Cup (See Joe Cole). I agree that City might still not be the finished article, but not based on their signings this Summer.
Also, while i’ve got a spare few minutes, i’ll take the opportunity to vent my utter bewilderment when i first read this post a couple of days ago… “Fernando owes the club at least another season, especially given the club’s sympathetic attitude towards his injuries during the run-up to the World Cup…”. Shocking. Liverpool Football Club and the previous management regime are completely at fault and should hang their head in shame for burning the player out due to their lack of any alternatives and sheer desperation to qualify for the Champions League.
That is all.
Comment by pst
Hello SPC – long time no argue!
The point I was trying to make was that City, despite having all the money in the world, aren’t attracting the class of player they’d really like and even when they are they’re having to bend over & pay ridiculous money – £200k a week for a Barca reserve? If Silva is that good, why haven’t Madrid or Barca had him? Or United, facing down the retirements of Scholes & Giggs? Given that they’ve got massive amounts of cash to play with, how far down the list do you think Silva was after Messi, Kaka, Robben et al?
Cole, we both agree, is a great signing – Jovanovic was a Benitez signing who has been lumped on Hodgson (Rafa returning the favour that Ged did him landing him with Lord “Hit & Hope” Frodsham) and it remains to be seen how good he is – I’ve not seen him play enough to judge either which way. If he’s terrible, he’ll get moved on at the next appropriate juncture and as he’s signed on a free any money we get for him is profit. No big deal.
I agree that Poulsen may not be the best in the world at what he does but we’ve got one who is (not just my opinion, the press also laud him as one of our ‘world-classers’) and he wants to leave so we have to look around and see who’s available and target them. Personally, I’d rather see Masch go to Inter for a couple of million less what they’re offering and get Cambiasso back in return – he’s older and slower but he never had any pace to start with and is the type of player who’d do well in the Prem.
There’s not many good defensive midfielders around – observe the England team at the WC, having to call back a clearly unfit Barry (although if the English/Canadian/German mid currently in residence in the Old Trafford treatment room had been fit I don’t think Barry Garry would have gotten a sniff) as a enforcer so we’re cutting our cloth accordingly.
Comment by pst
And to address the point you made about Torres – the hernia injury that dogged him all season was sustained in a game playing for Spain and the national side were just as guilty of dragging him back to play before he was ready as Liverpool were – we did overplay him, I’ll happily admit that but apparently the Keane money Rafa had earmarked for a new striker was taken away from him/spent on Aquilani/given to the cat home depending on who you ask.
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