Liverpool fans: Time for some answers

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1. August 1, 2006Ross Stannage

   1) What formation do you think Benitez will favour, now that he has both Bellamy and Crouch in the team? 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 or 4-4-2?

   I think with the wingers signed over the summer, as well as Bellamy to add some pace up front, Benitez could play any of the above formations depending on who we’re playing, and where we’re playing. They effevtively give him more options to change when needed, and as we know, Rafa is not afraid to change things if results aren’t coming.

   2) Which of Benitez signings looks the best to you, and why (my personal favourite is Craig Bellamy)?

   Bellamy looks a great signing, and on paper he is. Pace, finishing. All the abilities that you would rather have on your team than against. In the friendlies so far I think he has been fantastic, as has Paletta. He hasn’t looked out of place whatsoever and very solid. I expect him to challenge Carra/Hyypia for a place this season.

   3) I think we take it for granted that Liverpool will be in the top four this season. Fair enough. But do you seriously think that Liverpool will be able to challenge United, Arsenal and Chelsea for the title this season? In my view, Benitez and Liverpool were very lucky last year, whereas two of their main rivals (Arsenal and United) were fairly unlucky. How long will that luck last?

   In what games were we lucky? From most of the games last season where we won against “top four” opposition, we outplayed them completely. Chelsea, Man Utd (FA Cup), Arsenal (Premier league) were all outplayed by us and deserved defeat. When Arsenal beat us a couple of weeks after our 1-0 victory against them, they relied on a Steven Gerrard backpass to Henry. Tell me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the other side of good luck? We outplayed Charlton and Birmingham at Anfield, but came away with draws in both games. Whereas a win in either of them would have landed us a second place finish above Man Utd. Now who’s lucky?

   4) Why are you guys so fond of Peter Crouch?

   He brings another dimension to our attack. If you watched any of our games last season Stevie Wonder could have told you that. He compliments the way out main man plays, attacking lay offs for a fierce drive at goal! And it paid off certainly last season as Gerrard ended it with 22 goals in total. Oh, and he put Man Utd out of the cup.

   5) Who is Liverpool signing next?

   Dirk Kuyt. Apparently the deal has been wrapped up and will be announced this week sometime, but we shall see.

2. August 1, 2006Jim

   Nice post mate, nice to see fans having a discussion without it getting personal. I’ll try and answer the Q’s as unbiased and objectively as I can as I see myself to be pretty fair-minded for a scouser LOL.

   1) Benitez systems. No-one know which he favours and which he will play. It depends on the oppo I suppose. The formations not only change by the game but during it also. I’ve no complaints about this as the players seemed to be fairly flexible.

   2) Signings. I like you, like Bellamy as a player. Have always thought he was a little weasel but I don’t let that cloud my judgement as he’s a good player. You don’t have to like them as persons (I don’t like Gerrard as a person but wouldn’t swap him for anyone). But to answer your question Mark Gonzalez is the one for me. Watched him at Sociedad while awaiting a work permit. He alomost singe-handedly got them off the bottom and into safety. A fast tricky winger who took Real Madrid apart in the Bernabao. He looks very good.

   3) I think 2nd or 3rd is the realistic target. Not too sure about lucky last season though. You can have lucky cup runs but not over 38 games. We had a 11 (without conceding), then a 10 gane winning streak so I really think saying that it was lucky is a tad harsh. The bad start (1 win in first 6) was the problem. (If the season started on October 1 we’d have won the league with 1 game to go, even though we lost 2 game sin October itself). 1 other conecern was only winning 1 game in London and only winning one of the 6 games agsint yourselves, Chelsea & Arsenal. I think Chelsea will win it again but I think the other 3 will push them very hard next season. I think next season may be the best since the Prem started.

   4) I’m not that fond of Crouch. I’m lukewarm. Rafa brought him in to do a a specific task which would help put the away form right and to a certain extent that was what happened. He brings Gerrard into the game when holding the ball up. Benitez did a similar thing at Valencia with big John Carew so this tactic is not new to Rafa. Not all fans like Crouch, some do, some really don’t as if you keep your ears peeled in the main tand you will hear a quite a few having a go at him.

   5) Dunno who the next signing will be if any. I really want that Daniel Alves. Top quality player. I know Pennant has signed but this Alves is a right back who plays a like a winger. Probably won’t get him this season but with Finnan nearly 31 Rafa may well go back in for him. I suppose we need another striker. Don’t like the look of Kuyt, he looks well overpriced. I suppose if I had to chose someone I’d bring in Anelka. I know he’a another with temprament probs but you cannot argue with his scoring record especially in the Prem.

   Intrigued to know your views on the above Q’s from a Man Utd perspective.

   Again, nice post

   Jim

   Again nice post

3. August 1, 2006Talevski Goran

   1) Good old 4-4-2 : GK:Reina DL:Riise DR:Finnan DC:Agger DC:Caragher DM:Sissoko CM:Alonso AMR:Gerrard AML:Pennant FC:Fowler FC:Bellamy

   2)This summer best signing F.Aurelio

   3)This year Liverpool will win League Cup and i think we will be second or first .

   4)Peter Crouch is fairly good player. He is best in 4-5-1 at away games .

   5)Next , i think rafa shouldnt buy Kuyt and waste money. Rafa must bring back Cisse .

4. August 1, 2006Tommy

   finally, a serious non abuse blog. just because of that, you deserve a comment from me, Ahmed

   1. i can see rafa switching from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 this season. i hope not 4-5-1 because their is too much risk with ending up scoreless.
   favorite team then 3-5-2:
   reina
   paletta hyypia carra
   pennant momo xabi gonzales/kewell
   gerrard
   bellamy (kuyt)/fowler/crouch

   4-4-2
   reina
   finnan paletta carra aurelio/riise
   pennant gerrard xabi gonzales/kewell
   crouch fowler/bellamy/kuyt
   2. benitez all time best signing is xabi alonso of course (closely followed by momo sissoko and reina)
   benitez’ best signing this summer quality-money must be paletta

   3. liverpool haven’t caught chelski yet, but surely they can compete for 2nd. we may not have a better team, but we sure as hell have the better manager

   4. crouch can be useful but only in combination with a owen-like striker. i dont like to see him up front alone and btw, his heading in awful, but he’s ok

   5. rafa has to sign another striker. kuyt would do it for me although it may prove to be difficult to get him now man u seem to have entered the race. and i dont really have an affordable alternative but rafa can sort it out. in rafa we trust

5. August 1, 2006tom Z

   1. i think benitez will stick to what he did last season, because bellamy plays a lot like cisse, so he will stick with 4-4-2 on home games and games against poor opposition, but when away at teams like you an spurs etc
   he’ll revert to 4-5-1

   2. well if you mean best benitez signings ever then pepe reina. conceded least goals and only 22. man united could do with a keeper like him at the moment seeing vds is 35 now. maybe you should try to get buffon off juve seeing as they just got relegated. this season you cant complain with getting brazils left back(now that carlos has retired) for free.

   3.i still think chelsea are too good at the moment for all of us, but i think we have as good a chance as arsenal and you. btw carrick for 20m seems a bit expensive but then again we wish we could spend that amount of cash on 1 player. we do though have the best manager in the league so if chelski do slip up we have a very good chance. also every other team hates chelski for buying the title so they will be trying even harder to beat them so you never know.

   4.we dont really like crouch as a player so much, its just hes a bit legendary and comical. its like we loved igor biscan when he was awful. we know crouch isnt good enough so when he scores we love it that bit more. that class dance he did also helped.

   5.i would like another 27-32 year old centre back to cover hyypia and carra cos palleta and agger are too young and you dont win anything with kids :p. cesar from deportivo is on a free atm an hes 28 so hed do for cover. also i wouldnt mind some more cover on the right hand side. trabelsi is on a bosman and impressed at the world cup so that would do for a season untill we have some funds. also ive heard that you are outbidding us for kuyt and to be honest you can have him, doesnt have the attributes to be prolific in the prem. hes kinda like a dutch heskey.up front id like us to sign trezuguet on a year long loan till juve get back to the premiership. he got 20 odd goals last season for them and has the style to suit the premiership.

6. August 1, 2006RayKopiteNo1

   1)4-4-2 and 4-5-1 vs arsenal chelsea man utd and bolton away trust me. (4-4-2), (gk) Reina (lb) Riise (rb) Finnan (Cb) Paletta (Cb) Carragher (Lw) Gonzalez (Rw) Pennant (Dmc) Alonso (Cm) Stevie G (Fw) Bellamy (Fw) Crouch
   (4-5-1) Benitez drops crouch puts sissoko in, gerrard moves in behind the attack, sissoko covers the defence as a holding midfielder and alonso spreads the balls around the middle.
   2)All the signings have there different functions. the question to be asked is who will excel at there jobs and i would say the majority of them will but i believe pennant(if he focuses) will have the biggest effect, maybe not scoring goals but definately with assists.
   3)Chelski will be strong again theres no doubt, however I dont believe they will have it all there own way. This season I believe they will have to work a lot harder for it, The three chasing teams have a lot of pride and heritage and will never compete for 2nd place. Undoubtedly this will be the most entertaining premiership so far. Chelski can be rocked if the other three get off to fliers. As for Liverpool anythings possible we have improved every season and benitez has a squad he wants, the matches between the top four will be crucial. Its too hard to say but who knows.
   4)Liverpool supporters are a very special breed in my opinon, we are very defensive about our players and get agitated when they get a hard time in the media. Crouch has had his fair share due to his size and his goal drought at the beginning of his lfc career. To show encouragement for our shunned players is our natural way. If they have a liverbird upon there chest then thats all they need. We see him week in week out and can see hes not just a lank up front but a very good footballer and works hard for us. Thats why he went to the world cup.
   5)Liverpools next signing hopefully is dirk kuyt, however utd and chelski have shown interest, we shall see. If not It will be another striker but for the love of me I cant see who.

7. August 1, 2006Ahmed Bilal
   Please, anything but Kuyt

   Bullshit rumour, no truth in it. You can have Kuyt.

   And we can give you Silvestre as backup for your centerbacks if you want him

8. August 1, 2006Ross Stannage

   With a defensive record as such last season, we wouldn’t want a liability like Silvestre in the team

9. August 1, 2006Hugo Steckelmacher

   I am very surprised that so many of you are keen to ditch Riise. I am a Spurs fan but have been impressed with him ever since he joined. Aside from a few lapses, he is both solid and exciting. If you’re going to go for Aurelio, Gonzalez and Paletta then feel free to send Riise to White Hart Lane!

10. August 2, 2006Jonny

    Formation - I would always say stick to 4-4-2 but with the players raffa has brought in i dont think that is going to happem as for sisocco, gerrard and alonso to be happy he will have to play 5 in the middle due to the new sining of pennent. But against the lesser teams 3-5-2 might be an option

    His best sining since he has joind definetly has to be alonso especially compared to the monet teams are paying for players now who are in a much lesser class eg carrik the sinin of the summer has to be belemy

    I think liverpool will definitely finish above man utd an arsnel as whilst raffa has been strengthenin his squad this summer both man utd and arsnel have wekened theres loosing vannistlroy has cost untited any chance of anyfin. So i think liverpool could cause an upset to chelski.

    To be honoust in my opinion i hate crouch he is a waste of space he gives the ball away and misses vital chances.

    I would like to say there next sining would be david villa but that looks unlikly i think it will be kuyt or possibly simoe

11. September 1, 2006Rahul

    Formation-I think he will go for the 4-3-3.
    GK-Reina
    LWB-Riise
    CB-Carra
    CB-Sami Hyypia
    RWB-Steve Finnan
    CM-Steven Gerrard
    CM-Xabi Alonso
    CM-Pennant
    CF-Kuyt
    CF-Bellamy
    ST-Crouch
    2-To me Dirk Kuyt is the best.Liverpool finished 3rd last year with Steven scoring more than crouch,morientes or cisse.Normaly a striker scores more goals than a midfielder.Kuyt has always scored more than 20 every season for the last 4 years.He will unlike morientes be a great succes.Last season Liverpool would have won The league if they had managed to sign Micheal Owen.He I belive is in the league as Henry and Ruud Van Nistelrooy in scoring goals.He would have surely scored more than 25 a season.If Liverpool had a 20 goals a season striker rafa would complete the final puzzle in the Liverpool Team.If owen was playing for Liverpool last season The stress on Gerrard to score would have been less.This is why Kuyt is my favourite signing this season as he will give Liverpool 20+ goals this season.
    3-The quesion is very stupid.Liverpool will surely finsih in the top 4.I think they will be competing with Arsenal for the 2nd position.
    4-Well The reason most of the Kop like Crouch because he always scores vital goals for us.Last season he coudn’t score for the first 20 matches and then in the next 27 he scores 13 which is the highest for a liverpool forward last season which is like almost half a goal every game for the 2nd half of the season.Also while playing away teams during crouche’s bad form they were singing insults to the club and Rafa.The moment he started scoring the shut up which gave the kop a reason to smile.Also he put Man Utd out of the FA Cup.
    5-Liverpool’ next signing should be either Rual,Ronaldo,cassano or Robinho.So many world class striker competing for a place in the starting lineup is foolish.I thinhk Rafa will Rual to Liverpool