What players should never have left Anfield?

I tried to search for a topic like this but couldnt find it so please excuse if there is already a topic similar to this one

Now & then I talks with my fellow reds about different things about Liverpool, and some of the things we are talking about is players that should had stayed at Anfield. Here is 3 players that I think should had stayed.

1. Michael Owen - Could have been a legend at Anfield but decided to go for the money I guess? The way I see it, his career have just been more and more miserable, but he have started quite good this season.

2. Steve McManaman - One of my biggest hero as a kid, I had several shirts with McManaman on the back so I was very dissapointed when he leaved us and think he should have stayed the rest of his career, but he did alright for Real Madrid?

3. Nicolas Anelka - If I`m not wrong we went for that Diof tw*t instead of make Anelkas loan permanent. A big mistake I think, but one the other hand, you could never know.

This is just three players, but I could have mentioned several players like Luis Garcia, Pongolle maybe.

So, what players do you think should have stayed? 

I think the benefit of hindsight will swing alot of decisions (Anelka and Pongolle) but i think maybe:

Luis Garcia - no explanation needed

Stephen Warnock - I always thought he'd be good and only recent times it struck me that we would be more solid should he have stayed.

Finnan - I think a transfer that wasn't thought about a whole deal and a bit of a spur of the moment thing. Never put a foot wrong.

Danielle Padelli - I think he was a kid waiting to flourish.

I could say Guthrie but no chance of him getting game time.

PS: If you thought i was serious about Padelli... :   

I think with Anelka, Houllier had his own ideas when it came to Diouf so that was the end of that. I was gutted myself, but it really just was one of those things. I wouldn't say he's been one of the most prolific goalscorers in recent years, but there's not really any evidence to suggest he will have flopped at Anfield, or shot us to the title!

Michael Owen was surrounded in uncertainty, unsure of how Benitez saw him. At the end of the day, we have progressed admirably since he left so there's nothing to make us feel he could have made a difference, especially considering the finale to Benitez' first season. I still don't agree when fans sing 'Where were you in Istanbul?' at some matches. We didn't see it coming, never mind Owen!

McManaman's departure, I cannot blame. We weren't exactly setting the world alight, and Real Madrid come in for you. His move proved to be the best of his career, lining his personal medal haul nicely.

This season I've been gutted that Steve Finnan left. It can never hurt having enough cover at the back and Finnan rarely put a foot wrong. I was gutted when he left and, as always, wish him the best of luck in Spain.

Luis Garcia could also be seen as one of these players. He always had that magic touch in the big matches, but never showed the consistency we all craved. I'm sort of glad he left in his prime, so to speak, because a lot of people look at Riise a lot different now because of the Chelsea semi./ I'd have hated that to happen to Garcia after his goals in 2005.

Hate to say this but having seen Djibril Cisse's MOTM performance in the Tyne/Wear derby yesterday I think he might have to be on the list. Different player to the one that left us. Could have been injuries or being asked to do a job for the team but he was pretty sh*t for most of his time in a red shirt.

Hate to say this but having seen Djibril Cisse's MOTM performance in the Tyne/Wear derby yesterday I think he might have to be on the list. Different player to the one that left us. Could have been injuries or being asked to do a job for the team but he was pretty sh*t for most of his time in a red shirt.

I was going to add him but the only reason to keep him was that we had no real proven goal scorer and we went through a searching phase for a striker to bang them in, now a days i dont see it as a blow. Morientes, Bellamy, Kuyt etc all tried and failed where we had Cisse who could play and score more so than any other we had. Rafa took a gamble, made a mistake but he's made amends for his misjudgement. How i see it anyway.

I was liked Mark Gonzalez..... just me then

Steve Finnan
John Arne Riise - scored loads of fantastic goals for us and was one of those long serving players.
Michael Owen - Owen + Torres = every defender's nightmare or Torres wouldn't have signed for us at all

How far back are we to go here!

Arbeloa has surely played well in that RB position. So Finnan's exit is not really missed.

I think Crouch made a big mistake. Should have stayed and fought for the starting position.

I liked Louis Garcia, but Torres makes that move a good one.

I guess Crouch should have never left Anfield.

ian rush....but he returned quickly
heskey.....great in the air
the most important one of them all though was Peter Beardsley

Didi Haman............Left far to early in my opinion, great player.

Didi Haman............Left far to early in my opinion, great player.

He was an amazing player, and I feel he could have matched Sissoko for what we needed. When Mascherano turned up though, I don't think there was a contest!

Fowler, the 1st time he left - madness!

McManaman

Owen

Anelka

Luis Garcia

Anelka and Luis Garcia.

John Arne Riise. Poor Chelsea were out of ideas.

Harry Kewell and Djibril Cisse too.

Harry Kewell

You have to be joking !!!

Harry kewell was good on his early days or was it only me that loved Kewell

Harry kewell was good on his early days or was it only me that loved Kewell

Looks like you are on your own there Glasgow Celtic  :

Welcome to the forum by the way 

Fowler! Deserved to see his career out at Anfield. Could you imagine Torres and Fowler? John Terry would sh*t himself! I love 'GOD'! He's being treated like a side show at Blackburn!

To me everyone else is replacable but Fowler was one-of-a-kind!

Fowler! Deserved to see his career out at Anfield. Could you imagine Torres and Fowler? John Terry would sh*t himself! I love 'GOD'! He's being treated like a side show at Blackburn!

To me everyone else is replacable but Fowler was one-of-a-kind!

Fowler was fairly sh*te in his last season here. Still GOD forever in my book though. Love the lad to bits.

Fowler was fairly sh*te in his last season here. Still GOD forever in my book though. Love the lad to bits.

I think Leeds and Man City wasted him. He was never used well at Man City. I think had he stayed he would have kept a reasonably consistent form.

steve mcmahon left way too early

what about players that should leave?? lets start with mr jermane (i fall over when i get the ball) penent!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anelka - Finally looked to have settled and found somewhere he was appreciated when he joined us.

Peter Beardsley - Class player who should have never have been let go.

John Aldridge - The man cried when we let him go, LFC through and through and a Kopite born and bred. His goalscoring record was superb for us also.

Anelka - Finally looked to have settled and found somewhere he was appreciated when he joined us.

Peter Beardsley - Class player who should have never have been let go.

John Aldridge - The man cried when we let him go, LFC through and through and a Kopite born and bred. His goalscoring record was superb for us also.

Agreed. Especially about Beardsley and Aldo.

Jari Litmanen for me also - had amazing vision.

Agreed. Especially about Beardsley and Aldo.

Jari Litmanen for me also - had amazing vision.

Jari Litmanen was the nearest player in ability we had since king kenny in my opinion. He was 3 or 4 moves ahead of the players around him and as you said his vision of picking out other players was unreal. I remember the first time we played in the Amsterdam tournament speaking with a couple of Ajax fans to this day he is a god to them.

How bout Gary McAllister ? He was awesome for a dude over 30 years old

Harry kewell was good on his early days or was it only me that loved Kewell

Only you mate. When you cost over 150 thousand pounds a week during your long stay at a club and manage to play 3 games all up he is very rarely missed.

2. Steve McManaman - One of my biggest hero as a kid, I had several shirts with McManaman on the back so I was very dissapointed when he leaved us and think he should have stayed the rest of his career, but he did alright for Real Madrid?

Mcmanaman was also one of my boyhood heros I was also gutted when he left really wish he had stayed but as CRK said he left us at a good time for him and we were not exactly pushing for anything and it proved to be good for him he won a champs league and the Spanish league and he did really well there.

Fowler I wish had stayed with us the whole time instead of going and coming back.

Owen in a way im glad he left cos after he left us he just had injury after injury so maybe he did us a favor

Finnan should have stayed pity he left

Jari Litmanen

Fowler, Mcmanaman, Owen and John Arne Riise

fowler, garcia & dudek

fowler, garcia & dudek

I think we'll all be eternally grateful to Dudek for what he done in Istanbul but Reina is just a better keeper. I never felt we really missed Dudek at any point!!! Garcia i was never really fussed about. Fowler i said above should still wear a Liverbird upon his chest!!!

Danny Murphy anyone??? I think he was let go too early!!! He would always give the same commitment you would see in Gerrard and Carragher!!!!

steve mcmahon left way too early

Forgive me if im wrong.... but didnt he sell out as far as im concerned i think it was good ridance if he did

friedel.
I kinda liked neil mellor (or at least his performance against arsenal)
danny murphy could have stayed a year or two more in my opinion.

and pretty much all the ones previously mentioned    minus kewell.  even thought he was good he was a non-contributer

Forgive me if im wrong.... but didnt he sell out as far as im concerned i think it was good ridance if he did

i think you are confusing mcmahon with mcmanaman ??

I think you are confusing mcmahon with mcmanaman ??

I am actually i thought thats what he said :

in that case you are

Forgive me if im wrong.... but didnt he sell out as far as im concerned i think it was good ridance if he did

in that case you are forgiven 

I think you are confusing mcmahon with mcmanaman ??

thanks for pointing tht out to him

I am actually I thought thats what he said :

no probs we all make mistakes

Agreed. Especially about Beardsley and Aldo.

Jari Litmanen for me also - had amazing vision.

I couldn't believe it when Aldo wanted to return from Real Sociodad and we could have had him for £300k, he was top scorer in La Liga that season (from memory). He'd have been a cheap date at the time?
I spoke to Jari in Tesco's in Allerton just before he left and asked him what the problem was, he wasn't very forthcoming, but the upshot was his face didn't seem to fit with Houlier?
Top top player though and a nice fella, and to Ajax fans he was their Fowler (God)

Forgive me if im wrong.... but didnt he sell out as far as im concerned I think it was good ridance if he did

He led us a merry dance, assuring Parry that he would be signing a new contract and ended up going on a free to Real, seeing out his contract
That's why his personal terms at Real were so high at the time £75k.
He was a lying b***ard and nothing better than a footballing prostitute.
I for one was over the moon to see the back of him!

Danny Murphy was awesome. He would have saved us the midfield troubles.

Michael Owen - would have been the 3 scousers in Liverpool if it wasnt for him leaving. Stevie and Carra make Liverpool lads proud. Could have been a different story had he stayed

Steve Finnan and John Arne Risse
-i actually like these 2. I guess Steve could see that his chances are limited as he was 32+ and Arbeloa was playing well. could have retired there.
-Riise was our player for 7 years and scored many wonderful goals.

If i'm not wrong, Stevie, Carra and Hyypia are the only players till now from the time before Rafa came

Litmanen went too soon - never really got the best out of that fella.

Anelka also I agree with - he left at a time when we didn't have a decent striker.  I'm not saying he was perfect for us but he was a capable goalscorer.

Under Benitez I'd say Garcia went too soon.  He was never a first teamer but he would still be an effective squad player for us.

Fowler - a conundrum - to be fair I think Houllier probably sold him when he was just coming off his peak.  It was horrible at the time, and took a lot of balls on Gerard's part, but I can see reasons why he did it.

Michael Owen - would have been the 3 scousers in Liverpool if it wasnt for him leaving. Stevie and Carra make Liverpool lads proud. Could have been a different story had he stayed

Michael Owen is not a scouser.

Michael Owen is not a scouser.

Hear hear.

Gary mac...........one of the finest players to put on the red shirt(if only for a short while!). wish he would have stayed in some capacity,be it coaching or just for the craic!

the man deserves to be on the payroll for life after 'that' derby goal.........

If I said Salif Diao, would everyone realise i was joking?

traore, nuff said

traore, nuff said

If he wasnt on the field in Istanbul we may not have won.... even still that goal against burnley

I miss Kenny Dalgliesh...

I miss Kenny Dalgliesh...

Kenny Who? 

I miss Kenny Dalgliesh...

Kenny Dalglish

Great player, great manager!!! Hopefully Rafa will continue where he left off!!

Cisse definitely, I don't what it is with Liverpool, but we do have a habit of buying fast centre forwards, bought because they caught the eye doing what they do, and then putting them wide out on the wing???

Remember when we bought in Emile Heskey from Leicester? big strong front runner, frightened the life of defenders when he ran straight at them, we put him out on the wing, then got shut when wasn't scoring? Same with Cisse, he could have been great for us, shame about the 2 broken legs but, you can't deny the ability of the man, played great last week. I hope we don't do the same with Ryan Babel.

For me Cisse.  I liked the guy and Rafa didn't give him a chance.

He was out top goal scorer from playing on the wing or coming of the bench.  He single handedly won the european super cup and Rafa just turned his back.

 

-Riise was our player for 7 years and scored many wonderful goals.

If you ever seen Riise play for Roma? He really has continue his poor form from last season and brought it to Italy

Guess Riise lost his form. Remember the goals he scored against United? The smash against PSV? The run from his own half against Chelsea in the Charity Shield? Those were his good days. He probably wasn't a great defender but he had that 'OMG it's John Arne Risse'.

El hadj djiouf, harry kewell, salif diao, bruno cheyrou............ haha as if

To be serious,
Luis garcia
michael owen
danny murpher the manc beater
I always thought stephen warnock would have a career at anfield too

Oh yeah, i always liked cisse (doing well at sunderland by the way) and baros too but they could't play together

without a doubt Peter Beardsley, Souness was way to quick to get shot

without a doubt Peter Beardsley, Souness was way to quick to get shot

I agree with you 100%,you must have read my mind because that`s who i was going to put.Never forget his hat - trick against the Mancs,standing on the Kop.Beardsley was a great playmaker and goalscorer. 

Steve Finnan. Ok, he wasent the best going forward but his positioning, his passing and reading of the game made up for that. Just great at keeping it simple which our current full backs dont tend to do, especially on the left. Stephen Warnock would have a place in our current team. Didi Hamman. Awesome defensively and unlike Masch could get you the odd goal

Finnan , to me was consistent. He rarely did mistakes. But he's like 32 years old and probably knew his chances were limited.

i agree Steve Fianna is now missed.i also feel Danny Guthrie was released to early.especially when we have Lucas given so many chances.i wonder if he'd have been given  better chance if he was south American ore Spanish!!

Owens career has gone down the pan since leaving us! I agree, he could have been a legend, and unfortunately now hes stuck at newcastle with the best of his career behind him.

I agree Steve Fianna is now missed.I also feel Danny Guthrie was released to early.especially when we have Lucas given so many chances.I wonder if he'd have been given  better chance if he was south American ore Spanish!!

Ah a good and interesting point. Guthrie proved he was very good at Bolton and did a hell of a lot more than Lucas.

And looking back now, i would have liked Stephen Warnock as our left back

Dont know about should never have left but these lot went too soon for me

Aldo
Beardsley
Danny Murphy
Friedel
Fowler the first time around actually second time as well fu**in love Robbie
Litmanen. Quality player sold without getting a real chance 

Hmm, don't think I can add to the list, I agree with most of you
personally the players i felt left too soon

defo Fowler first time round, yea he wasn't great when he came back but if he had of satyed I think he would have been much better
Hamann as well, ok he was getting on but he was still good, I miss him!
could never understand danny murphy being sold or michael owen (carra did kinda explain that one tho )
was sad to see Riise & Garcia go but understood it

I'm still  at Finnan and Warnock

traore, smicer, biscan     

traore, smicer, biscan     

Although Rafa managed to get some decent performances out of Biscan.  The man's a genius!!

Finnan !

All the usual suspects have been mentioned, I think Dominic Matteo should have been kept especially as we sold him for such a small fee and was an instant success at Leeds.

Ya man. Forgot about him to be honest. Always liked him.

Litmanen, Owen , Murphey, Finnan, Garcia.  Oh just sit back and think what this season could be if they were still at Anfield. We wouldn`t have lost 4-2 to Spurs if we had that kind of depth. Perhaps we should ask which players should go next... Dossena, Plessis, El Zhar, Ngog.  for starters

Why pick on El Zhar, the lad needs more chances too prove himself , i for one think that he is a excellent player for the future. so think again., Kdz. And there are probably many more out there that agree with me?

DEF Anelka, Crouch and Finnan.  Anelka was and is a class act, Imagine had we kept him (Anelka) I really believe he would have scored goals for fun with the service our midfielders would have given him, and to think we let him go for Diouf. it still makes me cross the more I think about it.  Also Big Crouchie, I liked the Big man and was gutted he went in the summer, and I still ask myself the Question, Is Robbie Keane better than Crouchie, I dont think so, but that's just my opinion.  I would say had crouch played in the spurs game when they somehow beat us 2-1 we have buried them.  I am trying not to be too hard on Keane, he is a proven Premier league goal scorer but he frustrates the life out of me, I have always favoured a big man small man front line and right now I would love to see Big Crouch in the red shirt or even a comeback for Heskey.  It was paper talk a few weeks ago, but I would welcome it, prob a lot of people wouldn't, but then again these forums are all based on opinions and in my opinion, Anelka was the our biggest mistake in letting him go. 

Anelka and Heskey are the main players that I would love to still be at Anfield but in fairness we didnt know Anelka was going to perform like he did at Arsenal and Real again did we?

Wish Warnock was still here becuase left back would be his position week in week out, also keeping Murphy would of been ideal. Michael Owen should never of left.

Why pick on El Zhar, the lad needs more chances too prove himself , I for one think that he is a excellent player for the future. so think again., Kdz. And there are probably many more out there that agree with me?

I'm backing you for for el zhar. When he plays I see a flash of light in the end of the tunnel, with the help of our coachs the time to reach the light will be reduced. On topic finnan, warnock & guthrie should be on the lfc sheets!