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      Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?

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      dannyboylfc
      • Forum Paul Ince
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      • I Just Can't Get Enough!!!!
      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #46: Jan 15, 2009 02:08:49 pm
      Best Players for me:
      1.Xabi
      2.Stevie
      3.Pepe
      4.Riera
      5.Hyypia
      6.Insua

      Worst:
      1.Dossena
      2.Babel
      3.Keane
      4.Lucas
      5.Degen
      Adryan
      • Forum Legend - Paisley
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      • Cut my veins open and I bleed Liverpool Red.
      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #47: Jan 15, 2009 02:19:02 pm
      I wouldn't say Keane is one of the worst players.

      Yes, he may be disappointing because we know his qualities and experience and he has yet to fulfill his full potential. And he scored goals for us too. It's not like he's a Shevchenko.

      I'll say he's just underperforming, not one of the worst.
      HUYTON RED
      • Forum Legend - Shankly
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #48: Jan 15, 2009 02:24:52 pm
      In the summer almost all Liverpool fans would've welcomed Barry and shipped out Alonso, bet that wouldn't happen now.

      I missed this response, way off target as others have said, no Liverpool fans I know wanted Barry at the expense of Xabi, cos our Basque is qualitee as Rafa might say.

      Chico Banderas
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #49: Jan 15, 2009 02:32:17 pm
      I missed this response, way off target as others have said, no Liverpool fans I know wanted Barry at the expense of Xabi, cos our Basque is qualitee as Rafa might say.



      Very true... Not all fans wanted Barry at Xabi's expense...
      Deller
      • Forum Ian St John
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      • 444 posts |
      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #50: Jan 15, 2009 03:06:33 pm
      Pepe Reina - As steady as ever, which is helped by the fact he has such quality infront of him.  Arguably the best keeper in the prem......if not europe!  ;)

      Alvaro Arbeloa - Consistent player and does a good job, a shame he got injured when he did.  Still think Finnan should be with us though as backup.

      Jamie Carragher - Don't think I need to say much about this chap. ;D

      Daniel Agger - Made a great start to the season before injury took it's toll.  It's great to have such a talented centre back who is able to play the ball out of defence and able to unleash a fearsome shot.  Lets just hope the rumours about him going are not true.

      Martin Skrtel - A no nonsense defender, works hard, plays hard and most importantly tackles hard :action-smiley-060:  was good to have him there to step into Aggers boots when he got injured.

      Sami Hyypia - What a servant this guy has been.  Being the most sought after player in the transfer window says it all.  Suprised he was left out of the Champions league squad though.

      Andrea Dossena - Still not totally convinced he's the right man to be playing at left back, it is his first season with us though so i'll pass judgement at the end of the season.

      Fabio Aurelio - Great at getting forward and getting better when tracking back, does rely too much on others covering the holes he leaves sometimes though.

      Xabi Alonso - The best bit of transfer activity in the summer for us I reckon........KEEPING Xabi.  Has been my star man for the season so far.  :clap:

      Javier Mascherano - Quality midfielder, gets stuck in wherever and whenever needed. Even looks dangerous going forward on occasions.

      Steven Gerrard - Like Carra I don't really need to say a lot about him, we all know exactly what Stevie is about and what we're gonna get out of him week in week out.  No one deserves more than him to be holding that Premiership crown aloft at the end of the season. :champ:

      Dirk Kuyt - Ok, not the most prolific goal scorer but boy does he work hard, the ground he covers is remarkable and has totally warranted his place in the side this season and thoroughly deserved the goals he's scored.

      Albert Riera - A great buy, at last we have someone who can stick to the wing and skip past players. Yes he does drift in a little bit too much sometimes and it's on these occasions he tends to get lost in the game, but for me there's a lot more to come from him.  Good bit of business Rafa.

      Ryan Babel - Was expecting a lot more from Ryan this season, but to be fair you need play games consistently to offer any sort of return, something he's not been doing.  Still, he's young and I expect great things from him in the future.

      Yossi Benayoun - A player I do like, but only in small doses, think he should be used as a sub to change things and only that, think we have far better players than him to warrant giving him 90 mins.

      Robbie Keane - Gotta say I was delighted when we signed Robbie, another top scorer on the books.  He has taken longer to settle though than I thought he would, although the fact he's been in and out of the team prob hasn't helped his confidence.  Would love Raffa to take the plunge though and give Robbie and El Nino a run of games together.

      Fernando Torres - We know exactly what we've got with Torres, the goals he scored last season say it all. The fact we're still top of the Prem with Torres missing all those games must have the likes of Man U and Chelsea worried.  Lets hope he stays fit now for the rest of the season and weighs in with a flurry of goals. :aaliverpool2xt1:

      Overall, the fact we're top of the league I don't think anyone can moan.  Lets be fair, we're usually 10 or 11 points adrift by now and yet the second half of the season is always our strongest half IMO, lets hope it's the same this year.
      I'm still very confident this will be our year, Robbie's gotta hit some good form in a min, and El Nino is bound to score a handful of goals between now and May (so long as he stays fit), we have never had a better opportunity than the one we have this season, so lets keep everything crossed guys and get behind the boys.  What a celebration it could be come May. :ernaehrung004: :kop5cf8koxp6: :ernaehrung004:

      Reslivo
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #51: Jan 15, 2009 03:11:23 pm

      What?!

      Degen was decent in pre-season - just because he was injured doesn't make him a bad player.
      Joey B
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #52: Jan 15, 2009 04:51:47 pm
      Read all the posts,but really rated Magillionare's post.However had to disagree with view on Robbie Keane. He (RK)is world class and you mark my words he WILL come good in the second half of this season.
      Shay
      • Forum Legend - Benitez
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #53: Jan 15, 2009 05:09:59 pm
      Daniel Agger - Made a great start to the season before injury took it's toll.  It's great to have such a talented centre back who is able to play the ball out of defence and able to unleash a fearsome shot.  Lets just hope the rumours about him going are not true.

      Martin Skrtel - A no nonsense defender, works hard, plays hard and most importantly tackles hard :action-smiley-060:  was good to have him there to step into Aggers boots when he got injured.

      I think you've got your wires crossed there - DAgger stepped into Skittles' shoes when he (Skrtel) got injured.  Not the other way round.
      Deller
      • Forum Ian St John
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #54: Jan 16, 2009 09:51:56 am
      I think you've got your wires crossed there - DAgger stepped into Skittles' shoes when he (Skrtel) got injured.  Not the other way round.

      Ooops!  Think you're right.   Thats what I get for trying to write posts and do work at the same time! :f_doh:
      JD
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #55: Jan 16, 2009 09:55:23 am
      Ooops!  Think you're right.   Thats what I get for trying to write posts and do work at the same time! :f_doh:

      Yeah. Bin work off. Gets in the way.
      CRK
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      • JFT96 YNWA
      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #56: Jan 16, 2009 01:33:28 pm
      In the summer almost all Liverpool fans would've welcomed Barry and shipped out Alonso, bet that wouldn't happen now.

      Certainly not. Liverpool fans on the whole didn't want Alonso to go. It certainly seemed inevitable at one point but I'm sure there isn't a single Liverpool fan out there who would look back in retrospect and think it hadn't turned out for the best.

      Our top performers have got to be Alonso, Riera and Reina. Alonso has shown how important he is to the team. Me missed him badly against Stoke and the sooner he's back the better. Riera has offered us the width we've so badly needed and he can definitely take a man on. Reina is his usual self and is more than likely going to bag a fourth Golden Gloves. I'm pretty certain that achievment hasn't happened that often and Reina is definitely one of the most overlooked goalkeepers in the world.

      The dissapointments have to be the likes of Dossena, Keane and perhaps even Babel. Dossena can go forward and he can whip a cross in but a LB does require a certain amount of defensive nous and it seems that he may have left his in Italian customs on the way over here. Keane came with a huge price tag and expectation to match, so I'm sure we can point the blame at that and not Keane himself. He has started netting a few goals and I've got a feeling the Derby's are games that are made for him. Babel is heading in the wrong direction. His form is shocking, he seems out of place and he can't keep possession. I'm desperate for it to work for him but I remember feeling that for Mark Gonzalez and it weren't to be.

      solodee
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #57: Jan 17, 2009 03:29:39 am
      Our top performers have got to be Alonso, Riera and Reina. Alonso has shown how important he is to the team. Me missed him badly against Stoke and the sooner he's back the better.

      Rafa Benitez' need for Barry was justified; but mainly because Alonso had under-performed the last two seasons. He's stepped up his game most definitely and its all well and good. LFC had better keep him.

      However, any listing of the top players so far, that does not start with Gerrard as the top man, is erroneous. Gerrard is the primary reason we're on top of the table; He is joint 2nd highest goal scorer so far this season.

      It can only get better for the LFC this season.
      The Kopite91
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #58: Jan 17, 2009 03:21:50 pm
      Positives:

      Gerrard: Showed he still has plenty left in the tank. Scored his 100th goal against PSV with a typical free kick. He has shown performances worthy of a hatrick so many times and to be honest I can see his first Liverpool hatrick coming this season. Captain fantastic indeed.

      Riera: After his terrible time at Man City no one had high hopes, but my god were we wrong! Amazing performances and looks as if he's always been in the team. He has scored some great goals. He has given us width that we haven't seen in a long time, I remain adamant that if he had signed before we had played Aston Villa we would have won that game, our attack was just too narrow then.

      Alonso: Gareth who? Never wanted him to leave, he showed true class with how he handled to whole situation in the summer. Great professional, his performances have been awe inspiring. He's grabbed a few goals as well including a crucial goal against Chelsea.

      Keane: Now bare with me here. I know the vast majority of you don't agree. When he signed everyone was just looking for him to partner Torres and grab between 10 and 15 goals a season. With Torres' injuries he has had to play in the lone striker role, a role he has never played in and at 28 I don't expect him to learn a new role. Yet he has still got 7 goals, half of what his season total is in the first half of the season. Granted he has missed a number of sitters. If he was bought to partner Torres and score 10-15 goals and in the first half of the season he has no strike partner yet is still on course to getting his goal tally then that is positive. He is also a player who is known to score more goals in the second half of the season. Yes 20 million was too much but alot of that money was a sort of bribe. If you remember Spurs where going to report us to the FA and the Premier League for touting their player yet when the deal was done some of the price tag was going to Spurs charity!

      Reina: He has to be the best and most consistent goal keeper in the premier league! Already the 3 time winner of the golden glove and well on his way to number 4! Pulled off some great saves and I hope there is many more years left in him.

      Insua: I spent most of the first half of the season campaigning to get Insua into the squad, and well he didn't disappoint! He was thrown in at the deep end with a start against arsenal after making just a handful of starts. Really he was the man of the match. He has made some great tackles and crosses. Looks comfortable in the team and is really the final nail in Dossena's Liverpool coffin!

      Kuyt: He had a really tough season last year but my god he has turned that around. Has already scored 7 goals and that was from right wing. His work rate is as high as ever. He will do anything for the team and well what more do you want from a player.

      Carragher: The heart of the defence once again. Sure he has scored a few own goals but for the ammount he keeps out its no problem. He is still making crucial tackles and even when he was moved to right back he kept up his great work.

      Negatives:

      Dossena: Poor performances all round. We sold Riise for 5 million and got him for 7 million??? Madness! He is never comfortable on the ball and when he eventually loses the ball he will make a crazy challenge! Not showing if he has what it takes. I would give him until the summer then if there is no improvement get rid of him!

      Benayoun: He has had a few good performances but he has had more poor performances than good! He doesn't have the vision he needs in our mid field, especially when we play 4-5-1, he needs to look for the wingers but he just looks at the lone striker who is heavily marked and loses possesion. He can improve but he needs to do it sooner rather than later.

      Babel: I had high hopes for him. I was disappointed that he wasn't getting more starts but when he did play you could see why! He was very selfish against PSV andsquandered alot of chances.
      Eem
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #59: Jan 18, 2009 08:06:53 am
      Babel was good against PSV, I thought. He was skipping past players as if they weren't there, he was making good passes and playing like we say he could last season.
      The Kopite91
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      Re: Over Half A Season Completed... Time To Assess The Squads Individual Form?
      Reply #60: Jan 18, 2009 01:32:08 pm
      Babel was good against PSV, I thought. He was skipping past players as if they weren't there, he was making good passes and playing like we say he could last season.

      Individually he was good yes I can't argue with that. But as a team player he was poor, he was just tearing through the defence then with Keane or Ngog open in the box he would just smash a ridiculous shot? You could say he was trying to impress Rafa but he needs to be professional enough to give the ball to the man in a better position!

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