GAZZA BAZZA
We've faxed through a £10m bid for Gareth Barry.
It's good to see that Rafa is deciding to get into the transfer market early, as we always leave our summertime wheeling and dealing far too late.
But I'm not convinced that, as good as Barry is, he is what we need.
Two years ago, I would have welcomed Barry with open arms.
He is a top player, with a lot of skill, a great left foot, capable of weighing in with a decent number of goals and has a good professional attitude.
I presume Rafa wants him as a midfield player, but I can't see how we want or need any more players in that area.
Unless, the plan is to offload Alonso. But even then, it seems a waste to spend £10m on someone who will play second fiddle to Gerrard and Mascherano.
And he's 27, so maybe only three more years at his peak level.
So, maybe the plan is to play him left midfield, but he's not exactly the dashing wind wizard we all want in that position.
Perhaps Benitez plans to play him at left-back, although it's been a while since he's occupied that position.
I wouldn't mind Barry at left back, he would give us some genuine attacking threat down that side, and he can defend.
I thought it was interesting how Riise made a definite point of walking up to our fans at Stamford Bridge and chucking his top into the crowd.
It certainly struck me as a sort of goodbye to the supporters. None of his teamates did it. But maybe he just wanted to show off that superman-style red vest top.
A few other things that have come to mind in the wake of the Chelsea game...one is the unbelievable passion of Javier Mascherano.
The bloke just cares so much.
At the final whistle, he was flat out on the turf, head in hands. It seems the little Argie is an honourary Scouser in the short time he's been here. It's fantastic how he loves Liverpool FC. A future Reds captain.
You just can't buy that passion and he seems more hurt by defeats than some Reds who have been at the club for seasons.
Think we'd ever see Kewell do the same thing? Not a chance.
The manufactured Chelsea support beggared belief on Wednesday. We've already mentioned the desperate attempt to generate some semblance of an atmosphere by putting 30,000 flags on seats.
And how about their inspired chant of 'You are sh**. you are sh**' or even 'You're support is ******* sh**'
These words craftsmen must sit there for hours trying to weave those very complex ditties together.
As for Crouchy, I don't think many Reds would blame him if he rejected our contract offer and decided to head for pastures new in the summer.
We played for 120 minutes on Wednesday and he still remained on the bench. Ok, so if Skrtel hasn't have been injured, he would have probably have been our third change.
But Liverpool needed goals all the way through the match, and for him not see a second of action must be galling for a bloke who is England's third or fourth choice striker.
- Spirit of Shankly End of Season Do
The SOS lads are having a benefit night on Sunday at the Olympia.
Lined up are John Head of Shack, James Walsh of Starsailor, The Great Northwestern Hoboes, The Troubadours and a couple of others.
There's a Shankly-based play and some karaoke from professionals "Elite Kabaroke" to round the right off.
All good Reds are welcome.
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I'd have prefered Crouch on instead of Pennant the other night.
We don't know how much there will be in the kitty for signings or who will be the (new) owners (the sooner that is sorted out the better), but we need to sign quality if we are to move to the next level.
No more 2nd option alternatives like Pennant please Mr. Benitez.
If its a toss up between Gary and Barry, I'd buy Gary. Barry's on the Garys every saturday night from what I hear.
The Barry move is a nice statement of intent, if nothing else, from Benitiz. I'm a little worries that its being reported as a 'mishmash of players' type deal rather than cash. Confirmation that the coffers are bare? I hope not. And if Pennant is one of the players on offer I'll pay his taxi fare myself.
Agree with you Luke, and would like to add a few comments to your thoughts.
1) Yes why bring in Barry as a CM unless Alonso is off, especially with him being 27, although if he comes in helps us to glory than i'm sure we won't mind in the long run! However, if Alonso is off then Barry's presence may well help develop the young Plessis.
2) As for playing LM, well I guess he would balance things up, i.e. assuming Kewell is off then we would have Barry & Babel on left and Kuyt & Pennant on right, with Yossi being able to fill in anywhere across the midfield. However, I believe Babel may well step up to an out and out forward, although maybe one more year on the wing is needed.
3) Now having Barry as a LB would be gem, but can you really see him playing there and jeopardising his England career? I mean surely he wants to play in midfield for England? And with Cole & Bridge at LB he is at least 3rd choice in that position. And anyway, what side does this Bosingwa bloke play on? If it's left then this idea seems unlikely.
Well the end to another season is almost upon us, never mind league positions, never mind trophies, never mind the transfer market, what about the misserible millionaires taking a lap of honour at anfield yesterday.
Most of the crowd stayed behind to applaud their beloved reds and provide the loudest singing of the day, the players and Rafa paraded well away from the edges of the pitch and accepted the heroes applaus from the best supporters in the world. The attitude of LFC to its supporters is a disgrace.
Why cant the club think a little about the adoring supporters who spend thousands of pounds following the team around the world, is it so difficuilt to kick some cheap signed balls into the crowd for the kids or give away a few shirts or even bend down to pick up one of the many scarves thrown onto the pitch. The thrill a young lad would get from the sight of one of the players picking up his scarf and putting it on would be with him forever, but no, they were ignored like they were litter. Rafa to his credit picked up a few and his kids done the same but I cant remember seeing a player pick one up, very sad, they are just not tuned in to the supporters which is very sad when you think were some of them come from.
We were well away from the side of the of the pitch, some of the lads I have seen home and away up and down the length of the country were not impressed and were calling for the scarves to be picked up, to no avail. Shanks would be turning in his grave at the sight of this. So for a club that freely admits its supporters are their twelfe man come on LFC lets start treating them with a bit of respect and give a little bit back.
The whole set up has been wrong for some time, advertising, merchandice etc the list is endless, but that will all take time to sort with proper commercial management, showing a bit of solidarity with the supporters can be sorted in seconds it just takes a little thought from a few people who can just be bothered to do so. Roll on August, YNWA.
please help me here i just dont see the point in buying barry;loosing 10 million, what does he add to the team that we dont already have ; the answer is nothing : i say spend another 20 million on another proven matchwinner villa perhaps then we have three matchwinners in the team:
Reckon I'd agree with you Splinter.
While Barry is a quality player, he's a player we don't need, even if Alonso does go.
Like you say, we must, must buy a top class striker to pair with Torres. If anything will hold us back next year it will be overly relying on the Spaniard and not having another striker who can bag around 15 goals and provide another genuine threat.
And a striker with pace with an ability to score goals and a full back with a proper attacking threat would suit me.
Whether we get those three essentials I don't know, but I think Reds fans are fed up with stop gap signings.
The very last thing Liverpool need is another midfielder. Really like Gareth Barry and think he plays well with Gerrard for England, but you're already stuffed to the gills with midfielders.
He's just not a left back any more in the modern game. Really think Rafa needs to look at what Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal are doing that he isn't. And with at least two out of those three sides, some of it is pace down the flanks from fullback. The fullback has got to be a key weapon in these days of constrained space. Just look how many goals were created by Evra, Sagna and Cliche this season. Ashley Cole may not be the player he was a few years ago, but he's still more of a threat than Gareth Barry would be in that position.