Do We Miss Riera?

No this is a I miss Albert Riera

Now in a time like this where we are missing an integral dimension to our squad some will argue Xabi Alonso some will say the leadership of Sami Hyppia, I would like to go out on a ledge and say the player we are missing the most is the one Albert Riera. Not sure we are missing the exquisite passing of Xabi Alonso that much, I’ve seen some splendid one this season.  We are missing that player who is most likely to take on players and enough creating space for Gerrard to exploit. Reira was that player we always needed in our squad, and it showed last season what a massive difference it truly made having someone taking on players with confidence and assurance, constantly making runs to promote the forward play. No doubt this has its clause in a defensive perspective but it was his job to take the play forwards and not backwards. For that he was a brilliant buy and he did prove to be very effective in his first season. We can remember myriads of exciting play coming through the right wing that caused many other deep players to push forward in support. We would all say it would be prudent to have Reira playing with the ever reliable Fabio Aurelio, well at least most.

As for this season Riera has had a torrid time as it regards niggling injuries, not disregarding those from last season as well where we missed him in important matches. That he could have been that player to take on one and two players to be that creative nucleus in pushing on. Reira has yet to have a good run of games due to injury and I say with confidence once he’s back we will see the full flowing football we are capable of run. The extra snappiness about our past and the pace of it all will increase.

So this argument of Xabi Alonso being the big miss is a miss with me, I can’t see how his passing especially would be affecting the team. As we still are being to get the balls to the wingers albeit short or long. We still still have influential players like Pepe, Carragher and Torres who inspire the squad no doubt. And that is leaving out perhaps the most inspiring of players one Steven Gerrard. Xabi was good for us and that’s as far as it goes, gave us a lot but when tempted he gave us very little. People talk about attitude towards the club; I don’t think I will ever see Ryan Babel hand in a transfer request no matter how lazy he is. Which bring me to another point, Reira is highly more effective at the start of a game. He warms up to a game much more than Ryan Babel does. That being said why people have a problem with Babel coming off the bench if he’s an influential player off it?

Seriously Reira is his senior and Babel has loads to give off the bench. Yes he is lazy and that’s why I feel giving him 20mins is what we can ask of him right now until the services of Reira are no longer available, then we could ask more of his insouciant behavioural patterns to get rid and a consistent player arise throughout the 90mins. Unless you play him regularly, so Riera here for me is very significant both for the cultivating of our squad today and the grooming of tomorrow, Ryan Babel is tomorrow. Would you argue not to take his invigorating 15mins? Would you not prefer Riera being injury free and offering much more on the left? Yossi playing where he should which is off the striker? Doesn’t that sound ok going forward?

Where we took off last season, IMO, was when Riera was actually OUT of the side and Yossi came in to fill the left flank.  Masc, Alonso, Kuyt, Yossi, Gerrard. All players were in form and that midfield absolutely murdered every other midfield in the league.

Personally, Riera is a player who is just above average. Could get into the majority of premiership sides, but he will always struggle pushing for a starting place in any team inside the top 6. The top 6 i am refering to are: Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, City and I doubt he would get into the Villa side either. Young/Downing/Milner or Riera? See my point?

I do agree with you that we are certainly missing width though and Aurelio isn't the answer to play left midfield IMO. Although he is one of my favourites, Yossi cannot always give us width either as he likes to cut inside etc.

Is Albi Riera the man for that job? For me, I don't think so.

When he's playing, there is definitely more venom in the team and a greater desire to charge at the goal which is what I like to see, so yes for me this season we are missing him a bit whilst he's injured, I don't think we've seen the best of him yet either.

I actually spent the time to read the first post cos I thought it was a joke.I must be missing something here as Riera for me has to be one of the BIG dissapointments with the odd exception.He rarely gets to the bye line and has the ball taken off him far too often.NO I don't think he's missed.

Who's Miss Reira?  She a new member ?   Don't tell Ross 

Ok man I missed that sorry we all know Riera. But yeah my point is we need a player that takes on players as the passing is not really an issue at the moment and in our squad Riera is the best person to do so.

Who's Miss Reira?  She a new member ?  Don't tell Ross  

Who?! What?! Where?! How?!



On topic. I think we do. At the end of the day it's another option isn't it.

Who's Miss Reira?  She a new member ?   Don't tell Ross 

Would have to be Mr for Ross

Would have to be Mr for Ross

 

Blasphemy.

Only this:- We are in some serious, deep, deep sh*t if we're missing Riera.  

Only this:- We are in some serious deep sh*t if we're missing Riera.  

Bet you weren't saying this when he done this.

Riera Fantastic goal Riera

At this moment in time we miss Kewell!

At this moment in time we miss Kewell!

That's going a bit too far.

Bet you weren't saying this when he done this.

Riera Fantastic goal Riera

What?!

No seriously....what?!

Are you (honestly) suggesting that

the player we are missing the most is the one Albert Riera."

? Aww, for F**k's sake 7KK7.......What?!  

What?!

No seriously....what?!

Are you (honestly) suggesting that ? Aww, for f**k's sake 7KK7.......What?!  

What? This makes no sense.

What? This makes no sense.

You got that right. 

You got that right. 

What am i not getting here or are you just having trouble with the english language tonight?

Think we're missing the natural width a true lefty gives the team,he has a good work rate too.

However would only consider it one of the reasons why we've been poor for me and not the most important one.

What am i not getting here or are you just having trouble with the english language tonight?

Yeah you're right. I guess the subtle nuances of sarcasm can be lost when written. Well either that or i've a very limited grasp of the English language. Most likely the latter.  

Oh and, back on topic: If we're missing Riera more than any other player then things must be bad because goal or no goal; he's a very ordinary player. 

Yeah you're right. I guess the subtle nuances of sarcasm can be lost when written. Well either that or I've a very limited grasp of the English language. Most likely the latter. 

Yeah i'd go for the latter too

We don't miss Riera but we do miss the width he creates, we are badly lacking width on both flanks

We don't miss Riera. Because when he goes on the pitch, he usually goes missing. So how can we miss him, when he's not playing?

Hmmm. Is that right?

We don't miss Riera. Because when he goes on the pitch, he usually goes missing. So how can we miss him, when he's not playing?

Hmmm. Is that right?

Yeah you'll normally find him in the middle so don't look out left. 

Who's Riera?

I think he's deeply missed, he's one of my favourite players actually and I think despite Dirk's ability, Reira and Yossi are a much more possitive attacking pair of wingers

Who's Riera?

The guy who used to play for us about a 1000 years back. And has been absent ever since. Remember him?

While i think Riera is just a decent player i would rather have him playing than Aurelio and Dossena on the left mid. He does add decent balance and when he plays well he makes a big differance. Unfort that doesnt happen as often as it should.

No doubt we will buy another striker or full back and covert him into another sh*te wide man

riera is good player, and one of the best on left winger.......

Without a doubt we DO miss Riera.

He provides us with natural width and is a decent player.

I see many posters saying he doesn't beat his man or get to the byline enough and again I would argue that is down more to our style of play than Riera's ability to do so.

How many matches have we seen over the past years when we get into decent areas both sides and the man out there cuts back inside. They all do it Riera, Babel, Yossi, Kuyt. I have been in the crowd many times and heard the collective groans of fellow supporters because we have no-one other than perhaps Torres as a target in the box. Sometimes we don't have anyone in there as Torres drops deep to get the ball.

LFC has always been about looking after the ball and not giving it away cheaply so ask yourself if you are the wide man and you look up and see no-one ahead of you in a decent position other than perhaps 1 man making a run what do you do..? Run blindly at your man and bang a cross into the box that misses your only target or keep possession and move again waiting for the next opportunity when there is more than the safe option available.

Personally i would like to see Babel & Riera running all day long at the full backs providing we have players busting a gut to get into the box and give them something to aim at.

He's average and he's very lazy and he doesn't have that Liverpool fight in him IMO.

I certainly don't miss him.

I don't miss the inbred, lazy tw*t.

No.

Don't quite understand where all this anti-Riera stuff has come from, he is a decent enough player, has natural width. Bit of a scapegoat for me.

 

Don't quite understand where all this anti-Riera stuff has come from, he is a decent enough player, has natural width. Bit of a scapegoat for me.

Bottles gone,panicks on recieving a pass,NOT good enough.Was'nt even good enough for citeh,not scapegoating!he's crap.

Well.....we miss a proper winger, which Reira is and when he plays our midfield has a lot more width.

The main problems for me are he never seems 100% fit and because of that he drifts out of games far too often. Saying that if we can get him 100% and he can stay injury free for any length of time, I think he could be like a new signing for us.

He had a big impact when he first joined, remember him having decent debut vs the mancs if memory serves me right?

I reckon off the bench we might be missing him, but as a starting left winger i don't think so.

He usually rises to the challenge in periods throughout the game and the rest he's either; a) sh*t, or b) lazy.

I think he's deeply missed, he's one of my favourite players actually and I think despite Dirk's ability, Reira and Yossi are a much more positive attacking pair of wingers

Agreed, Riera is a positive, attacking player who troubles defences. He hugs the touch line and gives full backs lots of problems. He can also score goals. IMO we are a better side when he plays. He provides the space by going wide for Torres and Gerrard to run in to because he stretches the game. He is really important when we are in the lead too because he is positive and always looking to put the opposition under pressure. The Villa game last season was a great example of his ability and importance. He can score goals too let's not forget. Personally I think his return could be really important and hopefully he will get better and better C mon Albi lad.

We missive a winger with a natural left foot and ability to beat people and cross. At the moment that is Riera for us. Moving forward it may not be.

Thought his first 6 months were very impresive since then....... not so good, but we do miss width

Thought this deserved a bump considering his contribution against Tottenham, Perhaps we have missed Riera's natural width, although I'd put down the players attitude and determination as the biggest factor in the result, but it was good to see a natural winger staying wide and not drifting inside all the time and making us look narrow.

Glad to see a bit of width out against Spurs. With himself and Maxi there is a different dynamic available now along with Yossi and Kuyt who like to move infield

In general i don't see a point having 2 players going wide since the full backs going up so much but it is a good change.
I would probably say we need more players that can scoop the ball in the net and we usually get that when we have players in the middle and all the back guys holding the midfield feeding them balls.

A little bit harsh on him, are you, lads? I still think Riera is a good option but Rafa preferrs Benny for his defensive skills.

Great to see Albi back in action and he contributed a great deal to our win over Spurs. Great footballer and is always positive. Keep it going Albi. YNWA

In general I don't see a point having 2 players going wide since the full backs going up so much but it is a good change.

Well now that Riera is back Insua can just concentrate on defending rather than going forward. He makes defendng look hard enough without having to worry about joining the attack as well!

Riera can be hot and cold but he plays as a natural winger which we don't have and he has skill, pace, a decent strike and good in the air. We haven't had that since.......well since Stevie played on the right!

He had a decent game against spurs considering the lack of football lately.

Put in some great balls and is a goalscoring threat, get him 100% fit and he could be crucial for us the rest of the season.

Well in Albert lad

I think we miss Riera, he made a big difference aganist spurs. He provided us with width which is wot we need and he has a lovely left foot on him. Now he is back i hope rafa will play him on a regular basis as he can score and assist goals

We can see what a massive difference it makes having him bring that natural width to the squad. Without a doubt it opens up the space and makes it a easier job for the central guys to play. Good performance at first go from Riera, showing his validity to the squad.

anyone who has  seen LFC's season 08-09 review will agree with me that he was very pivotal...

The guy who used to play for us about a 1000 years back. And has been absent ever since. Remember him?

Degen ?

I thought Riera was going to be a great player for us after his first few games but he seem to die down and never really get back to form. And one thing i noticed about him was he seemed to go missing in the big games

RIERA - He can F**k off

Quagmire looking c**t

RIERA - He can f**k off

Quagmire looking c**t

Giggity!

We miss a left winger all the same! He might not have been that good but that was his position!

What a silly question!

Bad player...not Liverpool standard.

What a silly question!

What a silly thread to bump!

Why has this been bumped?

Locked.