Football: Season 2004/5 Discussion Thread.

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:29 pm 0

Zoot wrote:Once they've gone from the hallowed halls of Old Trafford, they are soon forgotten.

Unless they're David May, where they're forgotten while they're still there.

Liverpool got enough points to avoid releagation yet?

Not technically. And neither have you.

(seriously, great result, even if I do agree that West Brom are dire. Five goals away from home is a top result).

Yeah. Plenty of positives, too - Riise finding his scoring boots, Garcia looking sharper, some really nice passing and link-up play...

I was appalled to see West Brom fans leaving on about 50-odd minutes, though. Support your fuckin' team! Tsch. Fairweather fans...

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:02 pm 0

Morientes appears to be a done deal for Liverpool

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 127559.stm

Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes has declared he will join Liverpool in January's transfer window.

Sickboy · Post by **Sickboy** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:32 pm 0

Zen-Chan wrote:Morientes appears to be a done deal for Liverpool

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 127559.stm

Real Madrid striker Fernando Morientes has declared he will join Liverpool in January's transfer window.

I've been watching this one nervously, but yeah - looks done. I think he'll be an ace buy - particularly if Benitez answers Aimar's come-get-me call.

For some reason, I really, really fancy us to stick it to Chelsea on New Year's Day.

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 4:50 pm 0

Sickboy wrote: For some reason, I really, really fancy us to stick it to Chelsea on New Year's Day.

NEVER!

KevG · Post by **KevG** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:13 pm 0

Cant see us turning Chelsea over at all. I think SG can handle Lampard but we don't have the full backs to snuff out Duff and Robben. Rafa will possibly play 5 across the middle to try and stifle Chelsea but we're struggling with more injuries (Kewll, Josemi and Finnan) so a reshuffle may be required (SG at right-back?) which may ultimately weaken the midfield.

IMHO of course

Still it'd be ACE, like, if we did.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:56 pm 0

Lucky bugger SB. Morientes is class, and should perk up your lot considerably.

We've got Babayaro. Hmmm. And it appears we might be getting shot of Bernard. I quite liked him, although he hasn't been so good this season. It's the ones in the centre of defence we need to be getting rid of, or at least relegating to the reserves after the purchase of two quality central defenders. I wait with bated (but not too expectant) breath....

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:25 pm 0

PaulEMoz wrote:Lucky bugger SB. Morientes is class, and should perk up your lot considerably.

We've got Babayaro. Hmmm. And it appears we might be getting shot of Bernard. I quite liked him, although he hasn't been so good this season. It's the ones in the centre of defence we need to be getting rid of, or at least relegating to the reserves after the purchase of two quality central defenders. I wait with bated (but not too expectant) breath....

Well, the Boumsong saga continues, here's todays edition:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 119197.stm

The general expectation up here is that he'll be gone after we play Celtic in the cup.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:29 pm 0

Zen-Chan wrote:Well, the Boumsong saga continues, here's todays edition:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 119197.stm

The general expectation up here is that he'll be gone after we play Celtic in the cup.

Part exchange?

Titus Bramble!

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:41 pm 0

PaulEMoz wrote:
Zen-Chan wrote:Well, the Boumsong saga continues, here's todays edition:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 119197.stm

The general expectation up here is that he'll be gone after we play Celtic in the cup.
Part exchange? Titus Bramble!

I'd rather we just take the lesser money!

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:18 pm 0

Last night we played really, really well. It's good to be disappointed with the result rather than the team. Ameobi was great for a whole game and even Robert and Dyer looked like they cared.

PaulEMoz wrote:And it appears we might be getting shot of Bernard. I quite liked him, although he hasn't been so good this season.

I can't imagine we can possibly find a better left back. I still think he's the best in the country, and this season he's one of the few who's actually made an effort for 90 minutes of every game rather than just the first hour.

I wouldn't get shot of Bramble either, I still think he's got great potential. One top quality central defender will do us, and I'm not sure Boumsong is it.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:24 pm 0

Dio wrote:
PaulEMoz wrote:And it appears we might be getting shot of Bernard. I quite liked him, although he hasn't been so good this season.
I can't imagine we can possibly find a better left back. I still think he's the best in the country, and this season he's one of the few who's actually made an effort for 90 minutes of every game rather than just the first hour.

I wouldn't get shot of Bramble either, I still think he's got great potential. One top quality central defender will do us, and I'm not sure Boumsong is it.

Well, if we've got Babayaro, it seems that Bernard's days are numbered. I don't think Babayaro is better, either, but Bernard was going to be away no matter what, from the way he was talking.

Personally, I think Bramble's had enough chances, and just hasn't developed as he should have. He still can't concentrate for the entire game, which is a shame, because he does have moments where he's class. Maybe working with a better coach would help him, but it's not going to happen with us. I don't know if Boumsong is the answer, but then, I'm not sure who is. But I do believe we need two central defenders that are better than what we've got. Having the second worst defence in the league kind of confirms that.

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:28 pm 0

Bramble looked good alongside Woodgate, and the clean sheets show it. I hope he will continue to look good alongside another top quality D(C) in the near future.

As to Babayaro/Bernard, Souness did play Bernard as a left-winger a couple of weeks back and he did a reasonable job, plus it's outside-possible that Babayaro may be destined to play central... so I live in hope, but dwindling hope. I just don't understand why we're selling a player of that quality (and what's been said in the press just confuses me, as it's a totally different story every day).

Zen-Chan · Post by **Zen-Chan** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 1:30 pm 0

Ah nuts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 119197.stm

Still, we got him for free on a Bosman only six months ago, so that's about Â£1.3 million a month profit.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 5:13 pm 0

So.

Deal agreed for Babayaro. Deal agreed for Boumsong. Slightly bizarre enquiry about Distin.

I don't know for sure if they're better, but at least changes are being made to our defence, and there's no doubt changes are needed. I just hope these are changes for the better.

I said "changes" and "better" too much, didn't I?

Dio · Post by **Dio** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 5:18 pm 0

Just heard Souness on the radio saying basically "Boumsong looks great but he's never played in the Premiership so that'll be a big step up and now we'll see how good he really is".

At least he's saying the same thing I'm thinking, now I just need to understand why we paid quite that much for him. I hope the deal's got a "He turns out to be crap" clause in it but somehow I doubt it. Oh well. Here's hoping.