Liverpool F.c.

[Sparkles]

<deleted> Sh!t again........Hey Rafa amigo sort it out or get back to faulty towers.......and take the muppets Tom, George n Coco with ya.....what would we do without Gerrard....it is not worth thinking about.

Pissed off Red.....bah humbug

Rafa is creating a lot of problems for himself and his team. You think he would have learnt from ther Ferguson rant ,which backfired, he has now set this sights on Moyes claiming his tactics were too negative .Thats pretty rich when he himself often plays one up front and continually leaves Keane on the bench.Evertons squad cost but a fraction of clubs around them and low in numbers but they manage to hang in,well done I say.

[mrbojangles]

Nice place Kuwait is, if you are an expat standing in line at a convenience store and a local comes in, you are obliged to let them go ahead of you.

I spent a long time in Kuwait and that is either a myth or a total fabrication.

[delboy]

Micky Greenaway is turning in his grave

You're right about that mate. I was a good friend of Greenaway and had a good few drinking sessions with him at Catford. I bet he's still watching from wherever he is and leading a rousing Zigger Zagger. He even told the visiting Chelsea fans at a match at Anfield in the sixties to be quiet and listen to the Kop to get a feel for how to support a club.

RIP Micky.

[bkkjames]

I see Rafa has been all over the news complaining about Everton's tactics (defensive minded). I find this funny coming from a guy known for his 5 across the middle formation.

[bkkjames]

I see Rafa has been all over the news complaining about Everton's tactics (defensive minded). I find this funny coming from a guy known for his 5 across the middle formation.

[bkkjames]

double post

Edited January 26, 2009 by bkkjames

[bkkjames]

Nice place Kuwait is, if you are an expat standing in line at a convenience store and a local comes in, you are obliged to let them go ahead of you.

I spent a long time in Kuwait and that is either a myth or a total fabrication.

call it what you want, my source lives there now and works for a Sheikah, i don't see why she would make it up?

Edited January 26, 2009 by bkkjames

[StevieH]

james you're starting to sound very strange mate.

[bkkjames]

james you're starting to sound very strange mate.

was it the kuwaiti stuff or the fact that Rafa talks <deleted>?

[StevieH]

james you're starting to sound very strange mate.

was it the kuwaiti stuff or the fact that Rafa talks <deleted>?

no, i meant strange in the someone-who-stalks-people-and-has-recently-run-out-of-medication way. you're obsessed with liverpool but are rubbish at winding up rival fans. try reading some books or something about comedy, see if you can't inject some humour into your banter.

[bkkjames]

well jaded LP fan (aka stevie), what I wrote about Rafa was not meant to be a joke, it's fact. perhaps you are weirded out by drawing Everton 2x in a row at home.

but then again, your replies are like rafa's speaking about his decision to drop keano from the game, yawn..

Robbie Keane was not selected, we have a very good squad," said Benitez. "He was not injured.

"He is working hard and that is the most important thing for me. I have not seen him, but it is normal for every player to want to be in the squad.

"They want to be in the 11 starters so I expect him not to be happy.

"Ngog was in because he scored two goals for the reserves and we had (Dirk) Kuyt and (Ryan) Babel too. That was four strikers in the squad."

[Devil]

Crucial games in mid week for the top teams and massive week for LFC.

Hoping for a good performance against Wigan with a needed win before the Chelsea game.

[Seapok]

I don't believe it, Liverpool have managed a draw to get another chance to go through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.....scored by none other than Steven Gerrard!

your constant gerrard comments are both unfunny and boring you know.

Seems like you need to lighten up mate, I thought scousers were known for their great sense of humour? your obviously an exception! if you don't like it just ignore it.

[mrtoad]

I don't believe it, Liverpool have managed a draw to get another chance to go through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.....scored by none other than Steven Gerrard!

your constant gerrard comments are both unfunny and boring you know.

Seems like you need to lighten up mate, I thought scousers were known for their great sense of humour? your obviously an exception! if you don't like it just ignore it.

Strange, as you don't like it when people take the piss out of your team, or am I mistaken? Dish it, take it. I can certainly post a bit more to back that, if you want me to.

Kopsea, you haven't shown much in that line (humour) in the last 18 months, so maybe you need to look at yourself.

[Seapok]

I don't believe it, Liverpool have managed a draw to get another chance to go through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.....scored by none other than Steven Gerrard!

your constant gerrard comments are both unfunny and boring you know.

Seems like you need to lighten up mate, I thought scousers were known for their great sense of humour? your obviously an exception! if you don't like it just ignore it.

Strange, as you don't like it when people take the piss out of your team, or am I mistaken? Dish it, take it. I can certainly post a bit more to back that, if you want me to.

Kopsea, you haven't shown much in that line (humour) in the last 18 months, so maybe you need to look at yourself.

Kopsea? I can take it as well as the next man, I love a bit of rival banter between fans, I could quite possibly be going to BKK soon so we will all have to meet up and wind each other up over a few beers!

[Jimjim]

Perhaps there should be a thread called the "Premiership Thread" where everyone can banter, as you call it. It's just looking a little ridiculous in here. Looking forward to hilarious jokes on that one.

Stevie, end of Robbie Keane? I don't think so, he's no Jermaine Pennant. Keane is known for being a hothead sometimes when he's taken off as he's obviously competitive. Rafa should admire that at the same time as showing him who's boss. I think Pennant was on the outs for his poor work ethic. Carra mentioned in his book or an interview that he'd never seen a player leave Anfield so quickly after a game, as if he had better things to do. I don't think Keane is that way, and they should be able to make amends and get it right. Where's your source on that, anyway? I'd like to see if there was some story. Or do you have an inside source?

Edited January 26, 2009 by Jimjim

[StevieH]

Perhaps there should be a thread called the "Premiership Thread" where everyone can banter, as you call it. It's just looking a little ridiculous in here. Looking forward to hilarious jokes on that one.

Stevie, end of Robbie Keane? I don't think so, he's no Jermaine Pennant. Keane is known for being a hothead sometimes when he's taken off as he's obviously competitive. Rafa should admire that at the same time as showing him who's boss. I think Pennant was on the outs for his poor work ethic. Carra mentioned in his book or an interview that he'd never seen a player leave Anfield so quickly after a game, as if he had better things to do. I don't think Keane is that way, and they should be able to make amends and get it right. Where's your source on that, anyway? I'd like to see if there was some story. Or do you have an inside source?

i don't know jim, andy hunter's piece in today's guardian is quite interesting - he's the guardian's merseyside correspondent and is the first journo to link the keane deal to rafa's ongoing battle with the owners / parry. keane's looked frustrated all season but then at the same time he's been largely crap, subbed off or not subbed off. if he had a go at the manager about being subbed last monday then i want his arse out of the club immediately, he's a senior pro and knows where the line is drawn. source for that is one of the players who is a close mate of a mate by the way.

Keane the victim as Benítez battles for control of transfer policy at Liverpool

Omission from the weekend's FA Cup squad was a humiliating low point for the £20m striker

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ja...-rafael-benitez

Robbie Keane has been substituted 18 times already since joining Liverpool this season. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images "It means a hel_l of a lot to wear that No7 jersey. With the players that are associated with it and to wear that jersey as a Liverpool fan is a dream come true for me," said Robbie Keane on 29 July last year.

It took the Republic of Ireland captain 11 years and five transfers totalling £58.3m to fulfil his childhood ambition of signing for Liverpool. Six months after being unveiled as the £20.3m successor to Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Peter Beardsley, however, that dream has soured amid a startling loss of confidence and Rafael Benítez's tactics on and off the field of play. In a debut season of untold frustration for the 28-year-old, Sunday's omission from the Liverpool squad held by Everton in the FA Cup represented a humiliating nadir. If he is to remain at Liverpool, the road back appears long and fraught.

No one inside Anfield for the fourth-round tie could be surprised at Keane failing to make the Liverpool starting XI. Given his performance against their Merseyside rivals in the Premier League six days previously, Benítez merely responded as any astute tactician with vast resources would; by deploying the hook. However that hook came laced with embarrassment for Keane and strengthened the suspicion that he is the innocent pawn in his manager's argument that he – and he alone – should dictate transfer policy inside Anfield.

Keane was not even selected for bench duty as Liverpool dominated everything on Sunday except the Everton defence, the one department in David Moyes' team not diminished by injury or suspension. Benítez's reasoning for the striker's absolute demotion – that David Ngog's two goals against Middlesbrough reserves five days earlier warranted inclusion for the raw teenager at the expense of the club's major summer recruit, and the source of 174 club goals – antagonised the situation.

The Liverpool manager had every justification for banishing Keane from his starting line-up against Everton. After all, the striker has hardly made himself indispensable to the manager's plans with a series of anonymous displays during his first season at Anfield. Yet Keane has been caught in a Catch 22 of his manager's making. Those pre-season thoughts of Keane and Fernando Torres forming an alliance to compare with Dalglish and Ian Rush evaporated as, first, Benítez incorporated the new signing behind the Spaniard in his favoured 4–2–3–1 and, then, with the record signing injured, deployed the Irishman as the figurehead. Neither role has suited a player who, as 18 substitutions this season testify, knows he is under pressure to convince Benítez of his value.

Keane's first impressive contribution at Liverpool came in the 2–0 win at Goodison Park in September when, played in Steven Gerrard's customary role behind Torres with the captain anchoring midfield alongside Xabi Alonso, he tormented the Everton defence and created both goals. His next outing brought his first goal for the club, against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League. He was then back on the bench for the 3–2 win at Manchester City, Torres' last appearance before suffering a hamstring strain with Spain.

Three goals in two outings against ­Arsenal and Bolton before Christmas were rewarded with an unused substitutes' role at Newcastle United. Liverpool's finest performance of the campaign so far vindicated Benítez's decision, but at what expense to Keane's mental state? As the former Liverpool striker and now radio pundit John Aldridge said on air on Sunday: "I'm sorry to say this, but Rafa is messing with Robbie's head."

Tottenham are interested in bringing Keane back to White Hart Lane, while Manchester City and Everton have also been linked with the player but Liverpool and his representatives insist no parting of the ways is planned. Benítez says he remains impressed with Keane's work‑rate, although that alone has not brought the dividends that Dirk Kuyt receives from his manager for offering the same. Keane has scored as many goals as Kuyt this ­season, five in the league and seven in total, and been withdrawn twice as many times. Only Gerrard has scored more.

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that Keane's particular treatment from Benítez stems from the manager's attempt to secure control over Liverpool's transfer policy as part of his next contract with the club.

The Liverpool manager wanted Keane in place only after Gareth Barry had been acquired from Aston Villa last summer, with Xabi Alonso sacrificed to raise the additional funds, only to be overruled by the club's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and the chief executive, Rick Parry. Keane, it seems, is the one paying the price.

[mrtoad]

I don't believe it, Liverpool have managed a draw to get another chance to go through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.....scored by none other than Steven Gerrard!

your constant gerrard comments are both unfunny and boring you know.

Seems like you need to lighten up mate, I thought scousers were known for their great sense of humour? your obviously an exception! if you don't like it just ignore it.

Strange, as you don't like it when people take the piss out of your team, or am I mistaken? Dish it, take it. I can certainly post a bit more to back that, if you want me to.

Kopsea, you haven't shown much in that line (humour) in the last 18 months, so maybe you need to look at yourself.

Kopsea? I can take it as well as the next man, I love a bit of rival banter between fans, I could quite possibly be going to BKK soon so we will all have to meet up and wind each other up over a few beers!

Yeah, I am alcoholic dyslexic, so I ended up spelling your name wrong when posting under the influence. Yeah mate, when your in town let us know. At least we can watch Liverpool play and cheer the opposition.

[bkkjames]

I won't comment but it is an interesting article in todays Independent...

James Lawton: Benitez's treatment of Keane has become close to a gruesome joke

Did Keane receive any of the ego massaging that produced superior displays at Spurs?

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Whatever private uncertainties crowd the mind of Steven Gerrard they are clearly not so great that they prevent him from confirming – as thunderously as anyone in the history of the game – the truth of one of the more poignant assertions of the old pros.

It is that a football field can sometimes be not an arena but an island – a place where all the troubles and the confusions of the real world can be set aside, for a glorious interlude of 90 minutes. Diego Maradona, George Best and Paul Gascoigne proclaimed this even as they rummaged in the remnants of their talent.

When the brilliant coach Malcolm Allison, whose life as a player was both complicated and tumultuous, was told that his career was over because of tuberculosis he immediately reflected, "I'll never go out there to play again, knowing that I'm safe between the touchlines, that nothing can touch me as I do the thing I love most."

In Gerrard's case the requirement is to do rather more than hold back a worrying distraction that will not be resolved until his court appearance in March. It is to prop up, with amazing diligence and force, a football club at times so dysfunctional its close proximity to the Premier League champions and leaders Manchester United, and continued presence in the Champions League and the FA Cup, is beginning to stand logic on its head. Or, at least, that would be so if it were not for Gerrard's extraordinary ability to rise so far above both his own crisis and his club's disarray.

Gerrard, with the conspicuous help of the re-emerging Fernando Torres, has become Liverpool these last few weeks, far more, certainly, than the tetchy and eternally self-justifying manager Rafa Benitez and American owners whose attempts to turn a profit on the most successful club in the history of English football are beginning to sound as plaintive as the sales technique of Molly Malone.

A harsh verdict on Liverpool's operating technique? This is only, surely, if you can ignore the £20m scandal at the heart of Anfield – one that at the weekend became something close to a gruesome joke.

Robbie Keane's plight is, at the level of professional ambition, nothing less than a personal tragedy. It reached its nadir when he was told he could no longer claim a place on the bench. Here we had a harsh spotlight indeed on Benitez's fight for a contract that would put him in charge of all transfer dealing. Of course the manager's position is correct, in both theory and practice, as long as the best tradition of English football is maintained in the working arrangements of men like Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and Martin O'Neill.

However, Benitez's campaign needs a lot more illumination if it is to gain any credence in the middle of the Keane affair.

One strong theory on Merseyside is that the summer preoccupation of Benitez was Gareth Barry and the push to sign Keane was stronger elsewhere – and not least in the office of the chief executive, Rick Parry. Could this really be so, and if it is, could it possibly condition the appalling treatment of Keane, a player of accomplishment, even overachievement at Tottenham, who came to Anfield wearing his devotion to the Liverpool cause on his much-travelled sleeve? His short Liverpool history is more than anything a study in humiliation. It's true his early performances, his failure to relate to the game of Torres, sent out an almost instant warning that £20m had been misspent. But who was the author of the mistake, and what serious efforts were made to rectify it?

Did Keane receive any of the ego massaging that produced superior performance at Tottenham for Martin Jol and Juande Ramos, neither exactly kid-glove specialists? The evidence is to the contrary. Keane has indeed played poorly at times, but not with a consistency that would make his relentless fate of substitution seem any less a kind of open-ended grinding down of his spirit.

Typically, the Dubliner threw him himself into training yesterday and if sometimes his body language this season has touched, perhaps understandably, a degree of despair – especially on the loneliest trek in football after your number has been called – he is at pains to stress that his non-appearance at Anfield on Sunday for the Cup tie against Everton was at the suggestion of the club.

The inference has to be that the Keane situation has become so embarrassing that Liverpool were in no mood to provide gratuitous picture opportunities.

A huge part of the problem, no doubt, is that just as Keane and Torres failed to establish a natural rapport, the one struck up between the Spaniard and Gerrard is at times nothing less than sublime. We saw that in Gerrard's equaliser against Everton, a move that carried a beauty and a purpose which were scarcely nullified by the fact that the goalkeeper Tim Howard should have got down to smother the shot.

Keane's agony is Gerrard's glory – and perhaps, it needs to be said, Benitez's point of redemption in a season so littered with confusion. The Spaniard has never accepted the myth that Gerrard is a great, controlling midfielder, but rather a superbly equipped attacker, almost a force of nature when his power wells up so inexorably as he goes forward, with, for example, the irresistible timing which inspired the breathtaking service from Torres on Sunday.

This is part of the football landscape Keane is never likely to tread, a point made scornfully by Sir Alex Ferguson when he questioned his £6m move from Wolves to Coventry. Such a judgement, however, was no deterrent to a career which boasts the distinguished landmarks of Elland Road, San Siro, White Hart Lane and Anfield. It is a journey which deserves a more satisfactory climax than his desperate experience.

Of all the victims of Liverpool's bizarre season of politics and corporate doubt and off-field controversy, Keane is surely No 1. Gerrard? For a little while at least, he has created his own world – one he rules absolutely.

[StevieH]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

[bkkjames]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

[StevieH]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

and that's rubbish and irrelevant to this thread.

robbie keane's a senior experienced pro who has shown that he's not actually good enough for the very top level. he's been a huge disappointment and i don't expect him to be at the club next season. that we're joint top having carried him, been without torres and are still run off the pitch like a sunday school jumble sale is nothing short of incredible.

[bkkjames]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

and that's rubbish and irrelevant to this thread.

robbie keane's a senior experienced pro who has shown that he's not actually good enough for the very top level. he's been a huge disappointment and i don't expect him to be at the club next season. that we're joint top having carried him, been without torres and are still run off the pitch like a sunday school jumble sale is nothing short of incredible.

hilarious, a few injuries have ya had? nothing compared to chelsea or us...grasp away.

[StevieH]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

and that's rubbish and irrelevant to this thread.

robbie keane's a senior experienced pro who has shown that he's not actually good enough for the very top level. he's been a huge disappointment and i don't expect him to be at the club next season. that we're joint top having carried him, been without torres and are still run off the pitch like a sunday school jumble sale is nothing short of incredible.

hilarious, a few injuries have ya had? nothing compared to chelsea or us...grasp away.

what are you talking about? i said that berbatov was irrelevant to a liverpool thread. are you trolling or just spamming?

[bkkjames]

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

and that's rubbish and irrelevant to this thread.

robbie keane's a senior experienced pro who has shown that he's not actually good enough for the very top level. he's been a huge disappointment and i don't expect him to be at the club next season. that we're joint top having carried him, been without torres and are still run off the pitch like a sunday school jumble sale is nothing short of incredible.

hilarious, a few injuries have ya had? nothing compared to chelsea or us...grasp away.

what are you talking about? i said that berbatov was irrelevant to a liverpool thread. are you trolling or just spamming?

actually it was in reference to keane as that was / is what is being discussed. The one thing you need to get your head around is the fact that if you are gonna hope for your team to play with the big boys, a little banter will naturally follow your team stevie. But I know that you are not used to it. Lighten up.

[StevieH]

actually it was in reference to keane as that was / is what is being discussed. The one thing you need to get your head around is the fact that if you are gonna hope for your team to play with the big boys, a little banter will naturally follow your team stevie. But I know that you are not used to it. Lighten up.

i'm more used to playing with the big boys than you could possibly imagine jimbo. and i'm always light-hearted. practically jovial in fact.

[Devil]

Redknapp offers Keane Anfield escape route!

Liverpool's out of favour striker Robbie Keane has been offered an escape route by Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp."As a player and a person I have a lot of time for Robbie Keane," Redknapp said. "I think he's fantastic."

"I wouldn't sit here and say I wouldn't like to have Robbie Keane at my football club, I'd be a liar, but he belongs to Liverpool so it is not an option unfortunately," Redknapp added.

While the Tottenham manager's comments may also appear to rule out an imminent approach for the Republic of Ireland international, he made similar statements whilst testing Portsmouth's resolve over the sale of Defoe.

Espn

Where did it all go wrong? I still cant work out what the fuss is all about? is it because we paid 20 M Quid for him and we expected to much for his first season? He was never going to be another Torres...

I think up until his last game, Keane has given us some really good performances but yes we clearly have not seen the best from him.

To be honest I personally have been more disappointed with Ryan Babel this season, I really thought we had a Star player here from his first season displays.

I am sure Keane will get more games as we have to many games coming up. Will he get sold in the Summer that is another question. I just hope he and Babel can put in some great performances this half of the seaon.

[StevieH]

Where did it all go wrong? I still cant work out what the fuss is all about? is it because we paid 20 M Quid for him and we expected to much for his first season? He was never going to be another Torres...

I think up until his last game, Keane has given us some really good performances but yes we clearly have not seen the best from him.

To be honest I personally have been more disappointed with Ryan Babel this season, I really thought we had a Star player here from his first season displays.

I am sure Keane will get more games as we have to many games coming up. Will he get sold in the Summer that is another question. I just hope he and Babel can put in some great performances this half of the seaon.

think it's a number of things, dev. i disagree that he's given us some really good performances, i think more than a handful is being generous. he's just managed the transition to a real top club really badly, he's always stroppy on the pitch, complains every time he's subbed off however poorly he's playing and just looks completely frustrated that it's not turned out to be the dream move he assumed it would be. what he should be doing is putting in 100% effort every game like he did against manyoo when he played well and didn't let their players have any time on the ball. putting away the ten sitters he'd missed wouldn't go amiss either. i think he thought that when he got the move he'd 'arrived' and didn't need to really work at it, which smacks of a poor attitude and a lack of professionalism, something i'd never have accused him of at spurs.

this skirts the larger issue that we just shouldn't have signed him. i think rafa maybe thought keane was better than he actually is and that he could adapt to a different formation and different responsibilities, something he's proved so far that he just can't. it's maddening that we could have spent the 20m on a really top class right sided attacker, a position we really need to strengthen. keane can't cover for torres as a lone front man, he's not as good as gerrard in the hole and he can't play wide in a 4-2-3-1. he just looks like a white elephant right now.

as for babel, he's a bewilderment. got all the ability and pace and strength to be as good as cristiano ronaldo but has zero per cent of the attitude and arrogance. i don't think he'll ever make it as a top player.

[Devil]

i think rafa maybe thought keane was better than he actually is and that he could adapt to a different formation and different responsibilities, something he's proved so far that he just can't.

Yes god point, Raffa often does that with players and you would expect most quality players to adapt. Lets just hope Keane still comes good and we get some important goals out of him.

[StevieH]

Yes god point, Raffa often does that with players and you would expect most quality players to adapt. Lets just hope Keane still comes good and we get some important goals out of him.

yeah rafa does do that with players but what puzzled me about the manager this summer was that he tried to change our successful 4-2-3-1 formation which had gerrard playing off torres. riera's been an ok signing for the left but we need better than kuyt on the right to win the league - trouble is i don't know of a single top class right-sided attacked who we could have signed to fill that role. we're shopping at waitrose now and the choice is smaller.