Saturday 30th January 2010
We’ve been working hard this morning on our final preparations for the game with Manchester United. I’ve told the team I want to play an attacking 4-3-3 formation after I read the scout report on Manchester United which said, as usual, “just play your usual game”. I think that is a wise move as doing what we have done in the last 200 games is precisely the thing …
The rules of this little game are very simple. You imagine you are a Premier League manager, in this instance Arsene Wenger. Now imagine the financial situation at your club, how much money do you think you have to spend? Now imagine you can only buy ONE player to add to the current squad at the managers current club. Furthermore, the player you buy must be ‘likely’ to come to you. For example, …
If Liverpool fans are looking for a transfer that can act as an effective comparison for this dreadful season, then the signing of Fernando Morientes could well be the perfect example. Before he played a game much was expected and great fanfare was given for what could be achieved and in the end, despite the occasional moment of class, it ended in bitter disappointment all around.
To be fair to Rafa Benitez, in January 2005, there were not many better strikers around available for £6.3m. This was a player who averaged nearly a goal a game for Spanish giants Real Madrid, despite being forced to play as a substitute in many games due to Real signing Brazilian striker Ronaldo. On loan at Monaco the previous season, the Spaniard had netted 10 goals in 28 games and had terrorised Chelsea’s defence in the semi final, scoring home and away to send Monaco through to the final (where they would eventually lose to Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto side). Very few people at the time thought that this deal could be anything less than a success and certainly everyone had high hopes of the transfer being one of the best of Benitez new reign at Anfield.
Sadly for Morientes and Benitez it never worked out that way. Although Liverpool fans were given glimpses of the quality that Morientes possessed, such as his brace against Middlesbrough at Anfield in a 2-0 victory, Morientes form at Anfield was never consistent. Too often he was on the fringes of game and seldom involved. His confidence seemed to be at a low ebb and he struggled to convince the Anfield crowd, so desperate for him to be a success, that he could take on the goalscoring mantle at the club. More worryingly, he was not convincing his manager either, despite being given plenty of playing time. 18 months after signign, Morientes had played a grand total of 61 games for Liverpool, but only scored 12 goals and his form was so poor that Rafa Benitez deemed him surplus to requirements, letting the striker leave the club for an undisclosed fee (believed to be less than half what the club paid for him) to go back to Spain and join up with Benitez’s former charges Valencia.
It is difficult to ascertain why Morientes wasn’t a success at Anfield. He certainly had all the attributes to be as much of a success at the club as any striker Liverpool have had in recent times, including Fernando Torres. His lack of pace is sometimes cited as a reason for his failure in England, but that is perhaps an unfair judgement as his lack of pace never influence his performances for Real Madrid or Monaco. Morientes seems to have been the victim of a clash of cultures more than anything else. His languid, loose, fluid style of play is perhaps more typical of someone like Dimitar Berbatov, another player who has had his struggles, and a player like that needs a team to play a certain way to bring the best out of them. Like United and Berbatov, Liverpool and Morientes didn’t quite suit each other and as the Spaniard’s confidence deserted him, the problem just compounded itself.
So don’t believe the hype, Morientes transfer wasn’t the worst in the world by any means. It made perfect sense at the time and he was a fantastic player. It just didn’t work out for a variety of reasons and factors which is a great shame as he could well have been the perfect predecessor before Liverpool signed Fernando Torres.
Chelsea and Manchester United are keeping tabs on David Villa after the Valencia and Spain striker expressed that he would like to play in the Premier League in an interview with Guillem Balague in The Times. Villa has previously stated that he would prefer to stay in Spain but it seems the Spanish striker has changed his mind over a move to England. Villa stated:
“Quite simply, I rejected the possibility of …
One of these men is having some of the best footballing years of his life whilst the other is struggling to make a single appearance for his club, but that doesn’t mean this decision’s as straightforward as it sounds; we’re looking at two completely different players in Valencia’s Nikola Zigic and Monterrey’s Humberto Suazo, two strikers heavily linked with Spurs over the last week or so. With Roman Pavlyuchenko …
As if having 6′7″ Peter Crouch wasn’t enough Tottenham are being linked with a move for Valencia striker Nikola Zigic by the Daily Mirror who, at 6′8″, is the tallest man in professional football. The 29-year-old Serbian striker, who made his name in his homeland with a particularly impressive spell at Red Star Belgrade, proved a success in Spain at Racing Santander but has failed to make an impact at Valencia despite …
Rubin Kazan striker Alejandro Dominguez, who has scored Champions League goals against Inter Milan and Dynamo Kiev this season whilst also proving a thorn in the side of Barcelona with the assists for a match winning goal against them, is going to join Spanish club Valencia at the beginning of the January transfer window according to Spanish daily Marca.
The 28 year old, who has spent the last five years playing in Russia, …
Venezuela striker Miku is perhaps not Valencia’s most sought after striker but the hitman, who excelled on loan at second division Salamanca last season, is interesting La Liga strugglers Malaga and the 24 year old is happy with the link.
Miku, who’s come through the ranks at Valencia, is yet to make a league appearance for the club although he scored a hat-trick in a Europa League clash against Stabaek this season. He’s …
Fresh from their 2-0 win over Barnsley after resting their weary heads overnight, Manchester United fans can wake up to the news this morning that, according to several ‘reliable’ sources, they are set to make a £50m double move for Valencia’s pair of David’s. Messrs Villa and Silva.
It isn’t the first time United have been linked with either player. Indeed only a few short weeks ago Ferguson’s name …
So rife has the speculation been surrounding one of Valencia and Spanish footballs most coveted stars, David Silva, that you could name almost any of the big clubs that dominate European football and discover that at some point over the past six months, they have been strongly linked with a move for the classy playmaking winger.
Silva’s effervescent midfield promptings and dazzling …
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