Rafa to Juve link denied

[jexykrodic]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1043870#msg1043870 date=1264584276]
You see that is what I don't get at all, our squad is too thin , we have a decent team but it stops there.

Also everyone is missing the basic problem here.

We only have one striker at the club and he is fragile. The manager has put all his eggs in one basket up front for a whole year now, even when Keane was here we were still a striker short. Everyone , apart from Rafa, knows to take on the rigours of a full season you need three good strikers, we have zero available right now and that is what is hurting us

regards


[/quote]

We also have international midfielders who can't pass, creative players left on the bench and a safety first attitude from the Manager; as well as our best players being unfit.

There's an argument for replacing and/or bolstering all departments.

Perfect storm indeed.

 

[Jürgen4PM]

[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=38644.msg1043724#msg1043724 date=1264546040]

Above were the figures PRIOR to last summer's transfer activity. We all know that Benitez has not been backed sufficiently this season but anyone claiming that he got by on a shoestring in his first five years is completely deluded. He was given ample funds to ensure that this Liverpool side had strength in depth and has categorically failed to achieve that.

Poor, poor Rafa. So hard done by.
[/quote]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?

 

[Delinquent]

You're missing the point. He had FIVE YEARS prior to last summer to put a squad together. A couple of inactive transfer windows should not have left us looking like a mid-table side and yet that is exactly what we look like without Gerrard and Torres in the team. After that kind of investment, it's completely unacceptable.

 

[Jürgen4PM]

[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=38644.msg1043977#msg1043977 date=1264598907]
You're missing the point. He had FIVE YEARS prior to last summer to put a squad together. A couple of inactive transfer windows should not have left us looking like a mid-table side and yet that is exactly what we look like without Gerrard and Torres in the team. After that kind of investment, it's completely unacceptable.
[/quote]

I agree our squad should be better Del.

I think whats really fucked him up though, is the disastrous transfer window that saw us bring in Doss & Co. That coincided with the drastic reduction in the investment in our team.

I'm fully aware that Rafa is not faultless in all of this, but if the owners were happy to give him a new contract, then they should of also been more astute and let him correct his mistakes too.

 

[Pesam]

There is no problem with a large chunk of our squad, the problem lies solely with the manager not realising the full potential of said squad.

During the last days of Houlliers reign we would have been salivating at the thought of having players the like of, Mascherano, Reina, Rodriguez, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Riera, Kuyt, Aquilani and Torres to add to Carra and Gerrard.

When Rafa took over he was given a weak squad to work with and he worked wonders, his successor will be given a much stronger squad and hopefully he will do more with it than Rafa currently is.

Re: Skrtel, I notice he has come in for a bit of a bashing recently on SCM, this is ridiculous, he is a very good international defender who has suffered a dip in form largely due to mitigating circumstances; injuries, Carra's drop in form and playing in an unsettled defence.

He hasn't suddenly become a bad player, he will never be a ball-playing centre back but he has many admirable attributes and is a very good player.

 

[Rosco]

[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?

 

[Judge Jules]

My cousin from Malta who goes to Juve home games tells me they DO want him and he'd get a decent transfer kitty there. If you're right, Ross, that last point may prompt him to walk.

 

[Hansern]

Please leave Rafa. Nothing would make me happier.

 

[Jürgen4PM]

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]


I'd agree with that Rosco, if it hadn't coincided with our worst list of injuries in many a year.

Please don't make silly comparisons with the likes of David O'Leary.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=Pesam link=topic=38644.msg1043992#msg1043992 date=1264600479]
There is no problem with a large chunk of our squad, the problem lies solely with the manager not realising the full potential of said squad.

During the last days of Houlliers reign we would have been salivating at the thought of having players the like of, Mascherano, Reina, Rodriguez, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Riera, Kuyt, Aquilani and Torres to add to Carra and Gerrard.

When Rafa took over he was given a weak squad to work with and he worked wonders, his successor will be given a much stronger squad and hopefully he will do more with it than Rafa currently is.

Re: Skrtel, I notice he has come in for a bit of a bashing recently on SCM, this is ridiculous, he is a very good international defender who has suffered a dip in form largely due to mitigating circumstances; injuries, Carra's drop in form and playing in an unsettled defence.

He hasn't suddenly become a bad player, he will never be a ball-playing centre back but he has many admirable attributes and is a very good player.
[/quote]

Really? Compare this squad to what we have now, and tell me what looks the weakest?
Bear in mind he nudged Owen out of the door, Markus Bable had also succumbed to his problem and we had glass-back Kirkland too. Not to even mention Pongolle and Fowler, oh and Warnock.
What I wouldn't give for a comparable bench now,


Poland Jerzy Dudek
RB 3 Republic of Ireland Steve Finnan
CB 23 England Jamie Carragher
CB 4 Finland Sami Hyypiä
LB 21 Mali Djimi Traore
DM 14 Spain Xabi Alonso
RM 10 Spain Luis García
CM 8 England Steven Gerrard (c)
LM 6 Norway John Arne Riise
SS 7 Australia Harry Kewell
CF 5 Czech Republic Milan Baros
Substitutes:
GK 20 England Scott Carson
DF 17 Spain Josemi
MF 16 Germany Dietmar Hamann
MF 18 Spain Antonio Núñez
MF 25 Croatia Igor Biš?an
FW 9 France Djibril Cissé
FW 11 Czech Republic Vladimír Šmicer


regards

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Benitez gets tax-free offer from Juventus

Italian giants prepare contract worth £2.6m a year net to tempt the Liverpool manager away from Anfield

By Ian Herbert, Deputy Football Correspondent

Thursday, 28 January 2010




The intrigue surrounding Juventus' interest in Rafael Benitez deepened last night with sources in Italy suggesting that the Turin side have seen the Liverpool manager's contract and have drawn up a new one with a €3m (£2.6m) salary, which they believe might be enough to attract him.

Benitez earns £4.6m gross a year at Liverpool but Juventus believe that the nature of the Italian tax system would enable them to pay him €3m and pay his tax themselves. One of the fears at Juventus is that Benitez would want to bring a sizeable and expensive backroom staff with him, if attracted to the Stadio Olimpico. But the Turin side have been led to believe that only two staff would move with him from Anfield – Benitez's assistant Mauricio Pellegrino and his goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero – and that Benitez would accept an Italian assistant coach in any future regime, an issue of deep significance to the club.

Benitez's agent Manuel Garcia Quilon did not dismiss the Benitez-Juventus link on Monday though he insisted on Tuesday that the Spaniard wanted to stay at Liverpool and with Benitez aware that his future will come under review this summer, there are grounds for viewing the speculation being fuelled in Italy as deliberate machinations to bolster his Anfield position. Juventus incumbent Ciro Ferrera is on the brink of dismissal, though as of last night he was still in situ for the club's Coppa Italia tie with Internazionale.

The Liverpool manager was not willing to discuss the issue after the dismal goalless draw at Wolves on Tuesday night and though the reticence was typical of him, it hardly created the spirit of unity which the club need as they attempt to build from a position of "hurt" – as captain Steven Gerrard described their current predicament yesterday in the light of that result.

Gerrard has said ahead of Saturday's home match with Bolton that Liverpool need maximum points from that fixture and the following weekend's game at home to Everton. "We believe we've turned the corner," Gerrard said. "We've got two home games coming up and if we can take maximum points, we'll be closer to where we want to be. There are a lot of people in the dressing room who are hurt at seeing us lying in seventh and eighth position and you learn a lot from these situations when times are hard."

There was little to draw much encouragement from in the game at Molineux though four clean sheets from five is something and Sotorios Kyrgiakos is a player who has defied his critics in the past two games. Failing to keep clean sheets is "where we were going wrong," Gerrard said. "That's why we found ourselves seventh and eighth in the table because we were conceding too many goals. We weren't getting the results, but we know if we defend well as a base and keep clean sheets we'll win more than we lose."

Dynamo Moscow want to attract Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool and there has been contact with Anfield from the Russians, though the club are not willing to sell one of their most creative players. Benayoun is current out of the side with a rib injury.

 

[Whaddapie]

[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1044162#msg1044162 date=1264620458]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]


I'd agree with that Rosco, if it hadn't coincided with our worst list of injuries in many a year.

Please don't make silly comparisons with the likes of David O'Leary.
[/quote]

What's silly about it?

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=38644.msg1043977#msg1043977 date=1264598907]
You're missing the point. He had FIVE YEARS prior to last summer to put a squad together. A couple of inactive transfer windows should not have left us looking like a mid-table side and yet that is exactly what we look like without Gerrard and Torres in the team. After that kind of investment, it's completely unacceptable.
[/quote]

But we're not "a mid-table side" are we?

We're 5th, and finished 2nd last year.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]

Well given he won a CL with a shit-side surely that's evidence of "management skills", no?

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1043870#msg1043870 date=1264584276]
You see that is what I don't get at all, our squad is too thin , we have a decent team but it stops there.

Also everyone is missing the basic problem here.

We only have one striker at the club and he is fragile. The manager has put all his eggs in one basket up front for a whole year now, even when Keane was here we were still a striker short. Everyone , apart from Rafa, knows to take on the rigours of a full season you need three good strikers, we have zero available right now and that is what is hurting us

regards


[/quote]

You know I agree with you on this, but it's not often as simple as "Rafa not resolving the striker situation" is it?

Two years ago Chelsea were in a similar situation with Drogba being their sole stirke option, so they spent 15M on Anelka that January. Man City spent howevere many fucking billions on strikers last Summer, and can afford the 18M Jo to be farmed out on loan to two seperate clubs.

I'm sure if Rafa had 12M to spend this January, he'd buy a striker, hence the Jones & Jovanovic links.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=38644.msg1044439#msg1044439 date=1264640855]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1044162#msg1044162 date=1264620458]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]


I'd agree with that Rosco, if it hadn't coincided with our worst list of injuries in many a year.

Please don't make silly comparisons with the likes of David O'Leary.
[/quote]

What's silly about it?
[/quote]

Trophies won by David O'Leary in 8 years of management - 0

 

[Whaddapie]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=38644.msg1044449#msg1044449 date=1264642377]
[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=38644.msg1044439#msg1044439 date=1264640855]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1044162#msg1044162 date=1264620458]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]


I'd agree with that Rosco, if it hadn't coincided with our worst list of injuries in many a year.

Please don't make silly comparisons with the likes of David O'Leary.
[/quote]

What's silly about it?
[/quote]

Trophies won by David O'Leary in 8 years of management - 0

[/quote]

Had loads of money to spend on constructing a squad that should have done better than they did in the end, only to be found wanting when the money dried up = Both of them.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=38644.msg1044451#msg1044451 date=1264642613]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=38644.msg1044449#msg1044449 date=1264642377]
[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=38644.msg1044439#msg1044439 date=1264640855]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1044162#msg1044162 date=1264620458]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=38644.msg1044133#msg1044133 date=1264618038]
[quote author=Rafa4PM link=topic=38644.msg1043970#msg1043970 date=1264598068]

Prior to this season we had been getting closer to where we all wanted to be.

When you take into account the figures from last seasons departures onwards, then we're around the net spend of what Villa are now.

Does it really come as a surprise that when you drastically reduce the investment in the squad that your performances on the field will drop?


[/quote]

Well it does a bit. You'd expect the players there to continue as they were.

The excuse you make was the criticism of David O'Leary at Leeds. He was fine when he could keep bringing in new players regularly but once they dried up his management skills were laid bare.

Is the same happening to Rafa ?
[/quote]


I'd agree with that Rosco, if it hadn't coincided with our worst list of injuries in many a year.

Please don't make silly comparisons with the likes of David O'Leary.
[/quote]

What's silly about it?
[/quote]

Trophies won by David O'Leary in 8 years of management - 0

[/quote]

Had loads of money to spend on constructing a squad that should have done better than they did in the end, only to be found wanting when the money dried up = Both of them.
[/quote]

Extremely tenuous links between DOL and RB contrusted by Whaddapie in order to make *some* form of correlation between the two - One.

:wink:

 

[Y1]

Now that Juve has an interim manager, will Rafa go after the season ends?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1246626/Juventus-Claudio-Gentile-interim-boss-Rafa-Benitez-rumours-fail-away.html

Juventus to name Claudio Gentile as interim boss as Rafa Benitez rumours fail to go away

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1246626/Juventus-Claudio-Gentile-interim-boss-Rafa-Benitez-rumours-fail-away.html#ixzz0dsQk3AYu

And Rafa's beloved Kuyt to follow?

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/222/transfer-zone/2010/01/27/1764647/liverpool-forward-dirk-kuyts-agent-refutes-link-with

However, with the player enjoying a close working relationship with his manager, Jansen did not rule out a possible move in the future.

"The relationship with Benitez is excellent," he explained.

"If Dirk could follow Rafa when he becomes the next coach of Juventus? I don't know. I cannot answer these questions now."

Woohoo?

 

[Delinquent]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=38644.msg1044443#msg1044443 date=1264641648]
[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=38644.msg1043977#msg1043977 date=1264598907]
You're missing the point. He had FIVE YEARS prior to last summer to put a squad together. A couple of inactive transfer windows should not have left us looking like a mid-table side and yet that is exactly what we look like without Gerrard and Torres in the team. After that kind of investment, it's completely unacceptable.
[/quote]

But we're not "a mid-table side" are we?

We're 5th, and finished 2nd last year.
[/quote]

I didn't say we are a mid-table side, simply that we look like one without Gerrard and Torres (and sometimes even with them at times this season). You're being awfully pedantic of late.

 

[themn]

Claudio Gentile: King of the ironic name.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=38644.msg1044445#msg1044445 date=1264641995]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1043870#msg1043870 date=1264584276]
You see that is what I don't get at all, our squad is too thin , we have a decent team but it stops there.

Also everyone is missing the basic problem here.

We only have one striker at the club and he is fragile. The manager has put all his eggs in one basket up front for a whole year now, even when Keane was here we were still a striker short. Everyone , apart from Rafa, knows to take on the rigours of a full season you need three good strikers, we have zero available right now and that is what is hurting us

regards


[/quote]

You know I agree with you on this, but it's not often as simple as "Rafa not resolving the striker situation" is it?

Two years ago Chelsea were in a similar situation with Drogba being their sole stirke option, so they spent 15M on Anelka that January. Man City spent howevere many fucking billions on strikers last Summer, and can afford the 18M Jo to be farmed out on loan to two seperate clubs.

I'm sure if Rafa had 12M to spend this January, he'd buy a striker, hence the Jones & Jovanovic links.
[/quote]

But it's been three windows since we sold Keane back to Spurs. The purse strings were open during much of that time. Even when we had Keane, we were still short of a decent back-up striker.
His first priority regardless of Alonso and Arbeloa moving on should have been a forward. We spent £36m on a full back and a crocked midfielder this summer.
We have shown we can just about cope in those areas without a replacement for Alonso, and when Johnson has been out. Without a decent support striker we really struggle to score goals, and if we don't score goals we don't win matches.

regards

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1044522#msg1044522 date=1264670196]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=38644.msg1044445#msg1044445 date=1264641995]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1043870#msg1043870 date=1264584276]
You see that is what I don't get at all, our squad is too thin , we have a decent team but it stops there.

Also everyone is missing the basic problem here.

We only have one striker at the club and he is fragile. The manager has put all his eggs in one basket up front for a whole year now, even when Keane was here we were still a striker short. Everyone , apart from Rafa, knows to take on the rigours of a full season you need three good strikers, we have zero available right now and that is what is hurting us

regards


[/quote]

You know I agree with you on this, but it's not often as simple as "Rafa not resolving the striker situation" is it?

Two years ago Chelsea were in a similar situation with Drogba being their sole stirke option, so they spent 15M on Anelka that January. Man City spent howevere many fucking billions on strikers last Summer, and can afford the 18M Jo to be farmed out on loan to two seperate clubs.

I'm sure if Rafa had 12M to spend this January, he'd buy a striker, hence the Jones & Jovanovic links.
[/quote]

But it's been three windows since we sold Keane back to Spurs. The purse strings were open during much of that time. Even when we had Keane, we were still short of a decent back-up striker.
His first priority regardless of Alonso and Arbeloa moving on should have been a forward. We spent £36m on a full back and a crocked midfielder this summer.
We have shown we can just about cope in those areas without a replacement for Alonso, and when Johnson has been out. Without a decent support striker we really struggle to score goals, and if we don't score goals we don't win matches.

regards
[/quote]Its a shame Rafa is always chasing Rainbows really. Finnan, Riise, Alonso, Bellamy, Crouch, Cisse, Keane, Pongolle, Kewell and probably one or two more could and should still be here.
I've been pro Rafa about a great many things, but never his revolving door transfer policy.
I really hate it. It's cost us time and again our top targets, it's weakened the squad, it's ruined the team dynamic, it's affected morale and now finally and innevitably it's weakened our team and our chances of success. We won't know for a while if it's damaged the club long term.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1044408#msg1044408 date=1264637606]
[quote author=Pesam link=topic=38644.msg1043992#msg1043992 date=1264600479]
There is no problem with a large chunk of our squad, the problem lies solely with the manager not realising the full potential of said squad.

During the last days of Houlliers reign we would have been salivating at the thought of having players the like of, Mascherano, Reina, Rodriguez, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Riera, Kuyt, Aquilani and Torres to add to Carra and Gerrard.

When Rafa took over he was given a weak squad to work with and he worked wonders, his successor will be given a much stronger squad and hopefully he will do more with it than Rafa currently is.

Re: Skrtel, I notice he has come in for a bit of a bashing recently on SCM, this is ridiculous, he is a very good international defender who has suffered a dip in form largely due to mitigating circumstances; injuries, Carra's drop in form and playing in an unsettled defence.

He hasn't suddenly become a bad player, he will never be a ball-playing centre back but he has many admirable attributes and is a very good player.
[/quote]

Really? Compare this squad to what we have now, and tell me what looks the weakest?
Bear in mind he nudged Owen out of the door, Markus Bable had also succumbed to his problem and we had glass-back Kirkland too. Not to even mention Pongolle and Fowler, oh and Warnock.
What I wouldn't give for a comparable bench now,


Poland Jerzy Dudek
RB 3 Republic of Ireland Steve Finnan
CB 23 England Jamie Carragher
CB 4 Finland Sami Hyypiä
LB 21 Mali Djimi Traore
DM 14 Spain Xabi Alonso
RM 10 Spain Luis García
CM 8 England Steven Gerrard (c)
LM 6 Norway John Arne Riise
SS 7 Australia Harry Kewell
CF 5 Czech Republic Milan Baros
Substitutes:
GK 20 England Scott Carson
DF 17 Spain Josemi
MF 16 Germany Dietmar Hamann
MF 18 Spain Antonio Núñez
MF 25 Croatia Igor Biš?an
FW 9 France Djibril Cissé
FW 11 Czech Republic Vladimír Šmicer


regards



[/quote]

Sorry to bump this, but I thought there was a decent point here as regards the depth of our squad then and now

regards

 

[Farkmaster]

What?! Kewell should still be here? That's insane!

Thank fuck I haven't had occasion to know about him recently, but a quick google shows "Injury-hit Socceroos star Harry Kewell will fly into Sydney to consult with a specialist, as he seeks to keep his World Cup quest on track."

I'd have never fucking guessed.

I actually think most of your list were sensible sales at the time, the main issue is that while none of the strikers that left covered themselves with glory, we didn't replace them, and you could look with envy at any of them now, not because they are brilliant, or we were wrong to sell them, but because we are that thin and shit up front.

 

[Whitey85]

GK Reina
RB Johnson
CB Carragher
CB Agger
LB Aurelio
DM Mascherano
RM Maxi
CM Gerrard
LM Riera
SS Torres
CF Kuyt
Substitutes:
GK Cavalieri
DF Skrtel
MF Lucas
MF Aquilani
AM Pacheco
FW Babel
FW N'Gog


GK 20 England Scott Carson SHIT
DF 17 Spain Josemi SHIT
MF 16 Germany Dietmar Hamann LEGEND
MF 18 Spain Antonio Núñez WANK
MF 25 Croatia Igor Biš?an SHIT
FW 9 France Djibril Cissé SHIT
FW 11 Czech Republic Vladimír Šmicer SHIT

Theres not alot in it Vlad

 

[keniget]

[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1044537#msg1044537 date=1264672767]
Sorry to bump this, but I thought there was a decent point here as regards the depth of our squad then and now

regards
[/quote]

I'm surprised you did.

That bench isn't that good at all and after we had a few injuries (which we did in that season), we were looking at the likes of Neil fatboy Mellor who has since gone on to do great things for Preston Northend, Le Tallec who is really making a name for himself in Ligue 1, Darren Potter who is another Championship star and David Raven - fuck knows what he is doing now.

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Farkmaster link=topic=38644.msg1044539#msg1044539 date=1264673103]
What?! Kewell should still be here? That's insane!

Thank fuck I haven't had occasion to know about him recently, but a quick google shows "Injury-hit Socceroos star Harry Kewell will fly into Sydney to consult with a specialist, as he seeks to keep his World Cup quest on track."

I'd have never fucking guessed.

I actually think most of your list were sensible sales at the time, the main issue is that while none of the strikers that left covered themselves with glory, we didn't replace them, and you could look with envy at any of them now, not because they are brilliant, or we were wrong to sell them, but because we are that thin and shit up front.
[/quote]Kewell is comfortably better than Babel his 10m replacement.

 

[Jack D Rips]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=38644.msg1044541#msg1044541 date=1264673291]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1044537#msg1044537 date=1264672767]
Sorry to bump this, but I thought there was a decent point here as regards the depth of our squad then and now

regards
[/quote]

I'm surprised you did.

That bench isn't that good at all and after we had a few injuries (which we did in that season), we were looking at the likes of Neil fatboy Mellor who has since gone on to do great things for Preston Northend, Le Tallec who is really making a name for himself in Ligue 1, Darren Potter who is another Championship star and David Raven - fuck knows what he is doing now.
[/quote]

Carlisle apparently

 

[mark1975]

[quote author=keniget link=topic=38644.msg1044541#msg1044541 date=1264673291]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=38644.msg1044537#msg1044537 date=1264672767]
Sorry to bump this, but I thought there was a decent point here as regards the depth of our squad then and now

regards
[/quote]

I'm surprised you did.

That bench isn't that good at all and after we had a few injuries (which we did in that season), we were looking at the likes of Neil fatboy Mellor who has since gone on to do great things for Preston Northend, Le Tallec who is really making a name for himself in Ligue 1, Darren Potter who is another Championship star and David Raven - fuck knows what he is doing now.
[/quote]

That might be so, but at least we drained something from the dregs of those players, more than we get from the likes of Babel anyway. And to be fair, I think Vlad was referring to the likes of Smicer, Cisse and Pongolle. I'd take any of them the way they were that year over any of the shite sitting on our bench now.