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  Michael Owen: Red Devils gain not Liverpool's loss

  redeaux 1:18 am on July 6, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  One report today indicates Michael Owen would have taken a severe pay cut to return to Anfield, and goes on to further imply that Owen’s agent has attempted negotiations with Liverpool every season since his return to the EPL.

  Rafa Benitez has never been particularly subtle in his distaste for Owen, who left Anfield a month after Rafa’s arrival and refused an invitation to return a year later.

  Owen’s shock transfer to Man U was apparently negotiated in the midst of ongoing pleas from Owen’s agent for a discount return to Liverpool, pleas which were wisely ignored by Rafa and crew.

  Because while Owen represents a zero-risk investment by Sir Alex, his presence at Anfield would have been nothing but a distraction.

  At Man U, Owen’s incentive-based contract ensures that, if he maintains his injury-prone recent history, he costs the club relatively little. However, if he is able to enjoy a couple more seasons with a dozen+ appearances, six-ten goals a season, presumably against the likes of lower tier teams and Carling Cup sides, he provides welcome depth to a Man U side that has recently lost both Ronaldo and Tevez.  With the sort of protection and service he can expect with the Red Devils, he’s poised to succeed, and if he doesn’t – who cares?

  Ferguson is unmatched in his ability to protect and extend the careers of world-class players, as Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, etc. can attest. In Owen’s case, I’m reminded a bit of Dennis Bergkamp’s last couple of seasons at Arsenal, where even though he was well past his prime, he maintained a pay-as-you-play contract and was still able to occasionally make an appearance and show off a bit of his old flair, without the expectations that follow a first team striker.

  Owen has a unique (and some would argue, undeserved) opportunity to continue playing at the top tier, including a presumably unexpected chance for European action, however if he expects the sort of playtime that would lead to a return to England first team play, I suspect he’ll be disappointed.

  At Liverpool, however, it would have been the Robbie Keane saga x3. Rafa would have been under constant pressure to play Owen, and the team would have been immersed in relentless speculation regarding Owen’s fitness and performance.  And, as compared to Man U where Owen can expect a lot of bench time and an occasional relaxing late-game jaunt about the park, at Liverpool he would have been under far greater expectations, the sort of expectations that Newcastle fans will be the first to tell you he’s no longer able to meet.

   

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  Villa in, Alonso out?

  redeaux 2:21 pm on June 25, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  Reports this morning indicate that Liverpool are stepping up their bid for Spanish striker David Villa. With Real Madid claiming that their bid for Villa is 100% dead, the door would appear to be open for the two remaining suitors, Liverpool and Barcelona, to battle it out.

  If Liverpool have the finances, a David Villa addition to the team would be immense. Villa and Torres combining up front would be a deadly combination, and would give their 2009-2010 season championship hopes a significant boost. Rafa’s preference for Spanish players aside, Villa’s personality and style of play would seem to make him a perfect fit at Anfield.

  This may also explain why Real Madrid are intensifying their bid for Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso. Presumably the £30+ million Liverpool can expect to get for Alonso would go a long way towards securing Villa, and its not difficult to imagine Liverpool whispering to Real management that if they were to discontinue their pursuit of Villa, an offer for Alonso would be welcome.

  This would be a great trade from all perspectives. Alonso has had a haphazard career Anfield, marked with moments of genius, but the firepower that Villa brings to the offense more than offsets Alonso’s creativity in the midfield.

   
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  Liverpool 2008/2009 Post-Mortem

  redeaux 5:10 pm on June 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  The best EPL season in recent Liverpool history also, frustratingly, saw them go without silverware of any sort. It seemed that the normally-Euro-minded Rafa had his eyes on the Premiership this season, perhaps hoping to take advantage of slow starts by the rest of the Big Four, but in the end was unable to overcome the resilient Red Devils. What went right, and where did it all go wrong? Read on.

  Where the Reds Went Right 08/09
  

  • lineup consistency. Rafa’s notorious rotation policy died in the off-season, thank God, and for the first time in a couple of years a more or less consistent line-up emerged. This allowed the team to build some inertia & cohesiveness, especially on the attack, and led the way towards (see next bullet):
  • scoring more goals. Liverpool scored 9 more goals than the next best team in the EPL this season, and held the best goal differential to boot. Especially in one mad flurry in March which saw Liverpool score 15 goals in 4 games, including a 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in Champs League and a 4-1 defeat of Man U at Old Trafford, Liverpool showed a previously unseen ability to score lots of goals, and it was damn fun to watch. The last couple seasons have been full of cautious 1-0 showings by the Liverpool squad, and there were thankfully fewer of them this year.
  • Defense. I was disappointed to see a couple of changes in the defense this year, particularly the loss of John Arne Risse (who while admittedly past his prime, only occasionally coming off the bench the previous season and responsible for a nasty own goal against Chelsea which certainly didn’t help his cause, did bring a dogged determination and killer left foot to the game). But the Liverpool defense really solidified this year under the watchful eyes of Jamie Carragher and the maturing Pepe Reina. Remember how Reina used to occasionally lose his head once every 10 games or so and come flying out of his goal, often to miss the ball entirely or drag down a forward and get a red card? No longer – he was solid all season, as was the rest of the defense, Skrtl appearing to be a great purchase and Agger slowly proving his worth over displaced Hyypia. Agger should look to further solidify his post next season, if he can go injury free.
  • Gerrard. What can you say about this guy? He stayed mostly healthy, except for a brief period unfortunately late in the season, and (along with Carragher) embodies the living spirit of this team. Second-half revivals, late goals, unwillingness to accept a draw or defeat, these are all qualities imbued into Liverpool by Gerrard, and when he’s not on the pitch, the team looks flat. With Torres unhealthy for large chunks of the season, it was up to Gerrard (and the tireless workhouse Dirk Kuyt) to provide the firepower for the team, and as ever Gerrard delivered.
  • Yossi Benayoun. This wildly creative – and thus wildly inconsistent – player brought a real spark to the team this season, scoring some important goals late in the season including a crucial equalizer in the 4-4 draw against Arsenal. When Benayoun is on, he’s a pleasure to behold, and when he’s off, its still quite a spectacle. I look for him to be a very big part of Liverpool’s plans for next season.

  Where Did it All Go Wrong 08/09

  • Timing. If you look at a team like Man U, you see a team that for the last couple of seasons running has started slowly then built up steam over the season. Liverpool by comparison has started both of the last two seasons well, this past season especially so, only to see their lead whittled down as they fight in multiple competitions and see their comparative lack of depth on the bench exploited. I’m not sure how to improve this – you certainly don’t want to start off slowly if you can start with a bang – but presumably continuing to build depth into the squad, particularly the sort of depth that can accomodate injuries by key players like Torres, Gerrard, Mascherano, etc., the sort of depth that Man U has, will be a big key to success next year.
  • Winning the key games. Even when Man U were playing poorly towards the end of the season, they managed to win the games they really needed to, however ugly (and they had some nasty ones). A couple of times, this mean injury-time winners from unlikely sources, regardless, a champion learns how to win, however unattractively. Liverpool in comparison had a series of 0-0 or 1-1 draws in January which gave Man U a window, and reminded Liverpool fans of the many unspectacular draws of the previous season. Liverpool did a far better job this season of closing games out, though often in the last dying minutes of the game, but those four draws plus the later-season consecutive draws against Chelsea and Arsenal were the death knell for their title chances.
  • Zonal marking on corner kicks. It’s been two seasons and Liverpool still hasn’t figured out how to mark on a corner kick. Rafa has repeatedly proclaimed that its not a failure of the system, but the players, that has led to the crucial mistakes. He’s also pointed out, fairly enough, that they haven’t had any more goals scored on them from set plays than any other team. Perhaps its just the timing of the plays, in crucial Champs League games or EPL late-season matches, or the fact that it always seems to happen against Chelsea that is especially aggravating, regardless the zonal marking system seems to be about as well received as Rafa’s rotation policy was.
  • The whole Keane thing. I’m a big fan of Robbie Keane, and immediately bought a Keane Liverpool jersey when he joined the team. However, he didn’t fit into the Liverpool scheme, he brought a lot of media distraction (not his fault) and some poor performances (probably his fault) to the squad, and in the end it was probably the right thing to ship him back to the Hotspur in the January transfer window. Add to this the fact that Liverpool missed out on Garreth Barry as a result, a player who almost certainly would have made a big difference to the Liverpool midfield, and it was just a lose-lose all the way around.

  What do they need to do next season? I’ll wait until we get a better picture of the summer transfers – an additional attacker and more depth in the midfield seem to be the highest priorities in my mind – but one hopes that a competitive landscape that features a Ronaldo-less Man U, a wild-card Chelsea with a new coach, and an Arsenal team that nobody really considers a threat, might prove to be a big opportunity for the team. Let’s hope they practice some corner kicks in the off-season.

   
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  can Rafa keep both Alonso and Mascherano?

  admin 8:11 pm on June 14, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: alonso, mascherano, rafa

  Liverpool are again warning Real Madrid and Barcelona to stay away from star midfielders Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano amid repeated speculation that the clubs are preparing offers.

  Alonso has reportedly been targeted by Madrid, which would give him a dream chance to play with newly signed Christiano Ronaldo and Kaka. Mascherano has been linked with Champs League trophy holders Barcelona.

  Can Rafa keep both players? It seems unlikely – my bet is that he’ll lose one but not both of the players.

  Alonso looked to be on his way out a year ago, following a less than spectacular 2007-2008 season, however he rebounded well this season with regular first team play and some important goals along the way. Alonso was one of Rafa’s first signings, and Rafa has proclaimed him to be an integral part of what should again be a title-challenging Liverpool side next year.

  Mascherano in comparison has brought a new level of stability and control to the Liverpool game. The lack of a true holding midfielder was an obvious hole in the Liverpool line-up for the seasons prior to Mascherano’s arrival, and his effect on the team was immediate. Mascherano’s ability to control the tempo from both ends has given the defense a welcome relief and allowed Gerrard to play more aggressively forward. 

  If I had to pick, I wouldn’t let go of Mascherano at any cost. He’s crucial to Liverpool, and not  easily replaceable for any sum. Alonso is a great player, and especially when coming off the bench often adds a spark of creativity to the team, but in the end Liverpool can live without him.

  However, with Gareth Barry having slipped thru Rafa’s grip, one wonders if any of the Anfield mildfielders are expendable…

   
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    Mark Chai 8:02 am on June 18, 2009 Permalink
    

    Masch is definitely the one we must keep. It’s pretty tough to replace an Argentian captain in your midfield. He’s a real “personality” player who can really take a game by the scruff of the neck, can really drive a game from deep. He’s dribbling a bit more now and can really grow into a box-to-box sort of player.

    Alonso’s definitely got the range of passes and is an under-rated defender, but Masch wins hands down.