Liverpool Fc @ Anfield - Reds Supporters Gatherings

[Regaine]

Originally Posted by KingEros

Today's line-up at Kenilworh Rd ...

GK: Itandje

DF: Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise

MF: Benayoun, Alonso, Leiva, Babel

FW: Crouch, Kuyt

KingEros now we can't even beat Luton. How can we be EPL champions? Latest rumours very strong at Anfield that Rafa's job is not safe.Already some names have started to fly around as possible replacement for Rafa.

[Regaine]

Originally Posted by too_hot

i tink the least rafa could ve done was to put torres on the bench for "contingency". i remember there was a game quite recently he did that and when things was stalemate, he brought torres on and he promptly scored. to totally exclude him was a major mistake.

he did comment before the game that a liverpool without torres should be able to put luton away which, to be fair to rafa, is a valid point. the fact that they couldn't only shows how bad kuyt, crouch and (leser extent) voronin is.

Our midfield was poor too notably alonso seems far from his best. against wigan at least they dominated much of the game but yesterday they were under constant threat from luton.

i dun tink JM is a good manager...his success was very much paid for by RA chequebook. how about guus hiddink?

The game was horrible for Liverpool standard. For Guss Hiddink if I'm not wrong he is the Russian coach and is seen to be very happy there.

[yellowmilk]

Originally Posted by snakehead

Me tinks the Americanos r making another mistake by signing Mourinho..... he is a chequebook manager..... dun give him $$$ to buy players he will cow peh cow bu...... which is exactly the problem between Rafa & the Americanos.

If they cannot give the $$$ to Rafa to buy..... i dun tink they got the $$$ to give Mourinho as well.

I would be sad to see Rafa go....

I think Gillett and gang have lost faith in Rafa and dun wan to give him $ anymore. They are saving it for the new manager to spend.

[Cummon]

Reds in £6.5m Martin Skrtel swoop
Jan 7 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

LIVERPOOL are set to break their transfer record for a defender by paying £6.5m for Slovak international centre back Martin Skrtel.

The Zenit St Petersburg star arrived on Merseyside last night ahead of a medical today and the club are confident the deal will be finalised within the next 48 hours.

Chief executive Rick Parry thrashed out a deal with Zenit officials during talks in Russia at the weekend.

Skrtel is rated as one of the most promising defenders in European football and Liverpool have had to beat off competition from some of the continent's top clubs to set up the deal.

Should the transfer go through as expected it will mark the end of Rafa Benitez's search for a new centre-half that began with the ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Gabriel Heinze and which became increasingly urgent in recent weeks following injuries to both Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia.

Skrtel is a 23-year-old full Slovak international with 15 caps to his name.

He joined Zenit in 2004 and has gone on to make more than 100 appearances in the Russian league.

Standing 6 ft 4 ins tall, Skrtel has a reputation as a no-nonsense defender who does not shy away from the physical side of the game.

With Agger – who was named Denmark's player of the year at the weekend – still not ready to make his return to first team action after suffering a metatarsal injury last September, Benitez has been short of cover at centre back for several months.

That situation worsened recently when Hyypia picked up an ankle injury at Derby County on Boxing Day, leaving Benitez with only Alvaro Arbeloa, a full-back, and teenager Jack Hobbs as his options to partner Jamie Carragher in the centre of defence.

Benitez will be keen to see the deal for Skrtel tied up as quickly as possible so he can be added to the Liverpool squad, possibly even in time for the trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Rick Parry today dismissed suggestions he is flying to the USA for an urgent meeting with Tom Hicks and George Gillett regarding Benitez's future.

The appointment is a diary engagement to discuss new stadium plans and Parry insists no discussions about the manager's position are on the agenda.

He said: "It's been in the diary for a long time, to discuss the stadium."

[wavelet]

It was a very horrible game that the REDS played on Wednesday. We have all the top play and we can even play beat luton and worse of all the REDS looks like the underdog.

One of liveerplool's player paycheck will probably cover for the entire luton team.
If I were the Americans I'll probably put my money with luton than in Liverpool.

[rahl]

Originally Posted by too_hot

i dun tink JM is a good manager...his success was very much paid for by RA chequebook. how about guus hiddink?

Originally Posted by snakehead

Me tinks the Americanos r making another mistake by signing Mourinho..... he is a chequebook manager..... dun give him $$$ to buy players he will cow peh cow bu...... which is exactly the problem between Rafa & the Americanos.

If they cannot give the $$$ to Rafa to buy..... i dun tink they got the $$$ to give Mourinho as well.

I would be sad to see Rafa go....

At least I'm heartened to see a couple of intelligent and positive Pool fans here.

Bro snakehead, I will be sad to see Rafa go too but rest assured, he won't be.

Change players? Change managers? What about changing some of the fans too while we are at it!

[Cummon]

Originally Posted by snakehead

i forsee an exodus of the spanish contingent if Rafa leaves the Reds....... Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Sissoko, Alonso n my favourite Torres.......

Rest assured,they have to honour their contracts signed with LFC

[hawksbay]

i don t understand y would any1 want to change the manager at this time of the season.rafa is still the man for the job,he as alot of faith in the players he have but they let him dwn last nite.wats the point of having a sqd of 23 players when u can t use them.yes we played badly n the players have to take the blame for it.remember there were other premiership teams got ko by teams frm the lower divs.we live to fight another day.

[KingEros]

Originally Posted by rahl

Change players? Change managers? What about changing some of the fans too while we are at it!
At least I'm heartened to see a couple of intelligent and positive Pool fans here.

Same sentiments here ... just a rare handful amongst the dumb majority is still always a good thing, enough to make both our day.

Since I'm in a very good mood ... I'll just run through the whole situation here aloud:

1) Sure, a 1-1 draw against a team languishing at the bottom of League One is nothing to crow about ... but did anybody realise that this is the FA Cup?? It is exactly this romantic side of the cup that led to the following this weekend:
a) Blackburn got trashed 1-4 at home by Coventry (Championship)
b) Bolton got booted 0-1 at home by Sheffield United (Championship)
c) Everton got booted 0-1 at home by Oldham (League One)
d) Birmingham lost 1-2 away to Huddersfield (League One)
e) Derby only managed a 2-2 draw at home against Wednesday (Championship)
f) Fulham also managed a 2-2 draw at home against Bristol Rovers (League One)
g) Newcastle also only managed a 0-0 draw away to Stoke (Championship)

2) So what does anybody know about Luton??
That the players haven't been paid since Nov?? That they received half their Dec pay, thanks to this cup-tie against Liverpool being televised??
That despite languishing at the bottom of League One, their home record reads W8 D2 L1??
That I, a much lesser footballing brain than Kevin Blackwell, already thought of using "go out there & play out of your skin ... the whole world is watching the game live & this is your chance out of this hellhole which is already under administration" to pep up the players before the game.

3) BTW, if there's any of you who crave for conspiracy theory ... Luton actually approached LFC for their share of the ticket collection to be donated to them, but someone in LFC made a decision to decline politely. So, there was even suggestions in the British press that in the best interest of Luton's poor players, they should be playing for a draw ... so that the replay at Anfield could earn them their overdue pay for Nov & rest of Dec.
Hmmm ... who thinks that this conspiracy didn't cross Riise's mind when he dived in to "clear" a ball that was not heading goalwards??

4) Enough of Luton ... we'll dismiss them when they come down to Anfield anyways. Let's go through the other crap being mentioned here ...
a) Sack Rafa ... at this stage?? Can anybody come in to make things any better?? IMHO, it's the players who are not performing ... so how many of them will be any better, following a change of coach?? How many of them would be happy to see Rafa go ... & thus pledge instant allegiance to the new guy??
b) Hire Mourinho?? ... I've said this before & I'm saying it again - he left Chelsea becoz the owner dabbled in what players should be in his team, despite letting him spend the club's wealth with no restraint initially ... so why would he be dumb enough to come to a club owned by a pair of miserly Yanks??
c) Hire O'Neill?? ... although he's doing rather well with Villa (just like Moyes & Sven is with Everton & Man City respectively), does nobody remember the limited summit he had when at the helms of a bigger club like Celtic?? If his credentials were convincing enough, shouldn't he have been the England manager by now??

BTW, assuming the acquisition of the Slovak centre-half is no rumour, would Rafa still be allowed to make signings now ... if his days as the Reds boss is truly numbered?? Should the new guy be coming in now & grab whatever players he want at the club during the Jan transfer window??
Come on ... dun just believe whatever is written, invest a wee bit of grey matter & the logic would help surface the truth.

In conclusion, let it be know that I dun bother too much with rumours ... but if the day come for Rafa to be dismissed (even if it's a mutual arrangement), I'd stop supporting "my religion" until the Yanks get booted out of its ownership.

[wolfclan]

Originally Posted by KingEros

[B]

BTW, assuming the acquisition of the Slovak centre-half is no rumour, would Rafa still be allowed to make signings now ... if his days as the Reds boss is truly numbered?? Should the new guy be coming in now & grab whatever players he want at the club during the Jan transfer window??
Come on ... dun just believe whatever is written, invest a wee bit of grey matter & the logic would help surface the truth.

[B]

agreed with your point here bro king, anyway we do need a good center half, with hyppia aging, and agger still to bve back from his injuries, we need cover, riise is not made to play center, nor abeloa.

saw the second half of luton game, i thought luton was in BPL and liverpool was in the league below, saw luton basically controlling the game, passing ard, sad to see that actually, just dunno wats the problem with the pool players, have not being playing well at all for the past 3-4 games.

as for JM, well i do respect him for the way he bring chelsea to the league title, though with the aid of the chq book, but he did get his team to play well consistently, but him as liverpool manager, guess he would like it initially, but if the owner/s hold on to the chq book and expect him to perform miracle, against the riches of scrums, and chelsea.....can he do it? maybe yes, but will he be happy after lets say 1-2 season?

hopefully can see the construction of the new liverpool stadium soon, we really need tat match income, especially now we know the owner are not someone who is so loaded, though they are in theory richer then majority of us here.....

[Cum_Luver]

Bro KingEros and the rest of Kop,

glad that you are in a good mood else we will miss your so details write-up and analysis of the present situation.
good work, thanks

[ANDYSIAO14]

Martin Skrtel.

Birthday 15.12.1984
Age 23 years
Country Slovakia
Height 191 cm
Weight 81 kg
Position Defender
Number 3

•Martin Skrtel
http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20070520/08.jpg
http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20071022/21.jpg
http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20070331/09.jpg
http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20070331/17.jpg
http://www.fc-zenit.ru/images/gallery/20070404/08.jpg

Martin Skrtel was born in Handlova, Slovakia on 15 December 1984.

•Career

He is FC Previdza school graduate. Played for Slovakian teams FC Previdza and FC Trencin.

From 2004 Martin’ been playing for FC Zenit. He made his debut in the Russian Cup match on 31 July, 2004 against FC Irtysh.

Capped for the Slovak youth national team and then Slovak A-team. As well as Kamil Contofalsky, Martin faced his teammates from FC Zenit during the World Cup 2006 preliminary fixture Russia vs Slovakia , which ended with the victory of the latter.

Track record

2001 - youth champion of Slovakia

• Martin could have become a hockey player but he has chosen football, inspired by his father’s football career

• Martin claims that the presence of Slovak and Czech players was very important for him to accustom himself to the new team

• Martin has tried several positions on the pitch: midfielder, attacker and chose defense aged 16

Played in official matches for Zenit - 113, goals scored - 5. Played for Zenit in Russian Championship - 74, goals scored - 3. Played for second team - 4.

FC Zenit Martin Skrtel ranks second in the list of the best football players named by Slovak Football Union and newspaper “Pravda”, top ten also includes FC Zenit keeper Kamil Contofalsky.

-www.fc-zenit.ru

[rahl]

Originally Posted by hawksbay

i don t understand y would any1 want to change the manager at this time of the season.rafa is still the man for the job,he as alot of faith in the players he have but they let him dwn last nite.wats the point of having a sqd of 23 players when u can t use them.yes we played badly n the players have to take the blame for it.remember there were other premiership teams got ko by teams frm the lower divs.we live to fight another day.

Another top post

Originally Posted by KingEros

Same sentiments here ... just a rare handful amongst the dumb majority is still always a good thing, enough to make both our day.

BTW, assuming the acquisition of the Slovak centre-half is no rumour, would Rafa still be allowed to make signings now ... if his days as the Reds boss is truly numbered?? Should the new guy be coming in now & grab whatever players he want at the club during the Jan transfer window??
Come on ... dun just believe whatever is written, invest a wee bit of grey matter & the logic would help surface the truth.

I find it interesting King that we are breaking the club record for a defender (thankfully Babb will no longer be mentioned) when Rafa was talking about frees a month back. Whether he has managed to convince the Yanks or he wasn't honest to the press in the first place (why be? most of them are rumour mongers anyway), it indicates clearly the commitment of manager and owners to the club.

[KingEros]

Originally Posted by rahl

I find it interesting King that we are breaking the club record for a defender (thankfully Babb will no longer be mentioned) when Rafa was talking about frees a month back. Whether he has managed to convince the Yanks or he wasn't honest to the press in the first place (why be? most of them are rumour mongers anyway), it indicates clearly the commitment of manager and owners to the club.

Personally, I believe he was totally professional (to the club) by not being honest (to the press) ... Kaladze was merely a decoy.
Just see how he nicked a player of Leiva's stature from under every other big club's nose ...

As for the Mascherano deal, I also believe the Yanks are playng hard ball haggling around that 17m-pound price-tag ... by making it look like LFC is uninterested in paying for that price, a hungry-ghost-festival-style bidding war could just be avoided with the likes of Barcelona & Juventus.
I just hope this stunt doesn't back-fire ... despite Mascherano announcing his preference for staying on at LFC, his owners will treat & trade him like nothing more than just a piece of meat!!

[Cummon]

MARTIN SKRTEL has moved a step closer to becoming the most expensive defender in Liverpool history after passing his medical.

A club record £6.5m fee has been agreed with Skrtel’s club, Zenit St Petersburg, and personal terms have been agreed with the player.

Skrtel is now waiting for the deal to be rubber stamped by Liverpool’s owners.

If it's done,another record breaking signing under the Americans,interesting.
But what happened to Agger ? He has been out for 4 months