Liverpool Fc @ Anfield - Reds Supporters Gatherings

[Luckytime]

Originally Posted by Castrol

so beside nani and anderson, torres will be the player to watch come the new season. i like to think that the purchase price is not just for his goals but also for his super intelligence as a player on the field.

I agree wif you. I think now if we can get 2 more good wingers, the goals will come from Torres and Kuyt.

[Exciter101]

Originally Posted by Luckytime

I agree wif you. I think now if we can get 2 more good wingers, the goals will come from Torres and Kuyt.

Can't wait for the new season to start.

[Luckytime]

Originally Posted by Exciter101

Can't wait for the new season to start.

ya man if we can add these 2 Benayoun & Simao to the wings, we will be fighting for the championshp liao...

[Cock Talker]

Originally Posted by Luckytime

ya man if we can add these 2 Benayoun & Simao to the wings, we will be fighting for the championshp liao...

simao is good but benayoun..... not proven for big match yet leh.

[evilspawnsss]

Originally Posted by Luckytime

ya man if we can add these 2 Benayoun & Simao to the wings, we will be fighting for the championshp liao...

Who next now for The reds?hee hee..waiting for more surprises signing

[wolfclan]

with the investment in Torres, will there be more cash left for good wingers? certainly need more innovative wingers to compliment the new striker rite?

[Alkano]

Originally Posted by Cock Talker

simao is good but benayoun..... not proven for big match yet leh.

He is one hell of a hardworking and committed player

[KingEros]

Just another tribute to GOD ...

FOWLER WEEK: PAUL TOMKINS ON THE SECOND COMING
Paul Tomkins 04 July 2007

In the latest instalment of Robbie Fowler week, football writer Paul Tomkins relives the day of the Second Coming.

At first I didn't believe it. Who did? Robbie Fowler return? Go on, pull the other one.

Anyone who surfs the internet will have heard dozens of such ludicrous stories over the years, as well as all sorts of even crazier left-field rumours. So many people claimed to have seen Thierry Henry at Melwood last month you had to wonder if the club was employing him as the new groundsman. And in years gone by Zinedine Zidane was spotted in almost every restaurant in the city. (Presumably even eating a burger with Elvis Presley.)

Except the Fowler one was true. He really was returning, as unlikely as it seemed.

For a while in 2005/06 it looked like Fowler really was rolling back the years. Five game-winning league goals followed once he broke his duck –– fittingly against Fulham –– in mid-March. His form propelled the Reds to their highest league points tally in two decades –– 82 –– although he could only watch in Cardiff as an ineligible player as another FA Cup was won.

While he couldn't replicate that form in his limited outings last season, his presence at the club was still a beneficial one. He was an important character in the squad, and his finishing in training remained an education to the other forwards, but Benítez openly wished Fowler had the pace and running power of Craig Bellamy, to create his own chances and finish them off.

I felt at the time, in January 2006, that snapping up 'God' was a great gamble to take, particularly as it cost only his wages. He was never going to be the player he was, but perhaps the magical mix of Fowler and Liverpool would give both player and team a boost.

In those first few months, Fowler justified Benítez's decision. While last season was different, and anti-climatic as far as Fowler was concerned, it could still have been so different had the other strikers been injured. He was little more than an insurance policy, but what insurance he provided; had he needed to have been called on, and thus had regular games to get into the swing of things, he wouldn't have let anyone down.

When I first got my season ticket in the mid-90s Fowler was at his pomp; the most natural finisher I'd ever seen. Without the legendary Ian Rush's pace, height or incredible stamina, he relied on finding the corner of the net from nothing more than a half-chance.

There's a difference between goalscorers and natural finishers. Quicker players and taller players will get chances by virtue of those physical attributes. For someone like Fowler, at 5ft 9ins and only ever medium-paced even at his quickest, it had to be in his thinking and in his ability to strike a ball so cleanly.

For me, a natural finisher is someone who makes it look effortless; Alan Shearer, a great goalscorer, may have scored more goals, but so many were based on power, both in his running and in his shooting or heading. With Fowler, it was about timing, stroking a ball with inch-perfect precision.

A lot of being a natural finisher is about positioning, and reacting quickest, but that is true of most goalscorers. Perhaps what separates the two is improvisation: the ability to conjure a piece of magic.

A goalscorer with pace, when faced with a one-on-one with a keeper, knows he has to just drop his shoulder and he can go past him. Indeed, some don't even bother with such subtleties –– knocking it ten yards and catching it up on the other side. A natural goalscorer will chip the keeper in an instinctive act, or curl it around him, and make it inch-perfect.

Whereas players like Rush and Shearer were obviously deadly finishers, Fowler just had that extra ability to do something out of the ordinary.

While his second spell at the club didn't highlight the prowess of his first eight years, the left-foot finish against Reading in the Carling Cup encapsulated his genius: it's hard to think of another player who'd have taken such a chance with the outside of his left foot and curled it into the left-hand corner as he faced the goal. Most would have used the inside of their left foot and gone for that side of the goal, or, if they did use the outside of their left foot, used it to curl it around the keeper in the more natural arc towards the opposite corner. But not Fowler. It was impossible for any keeper to read, let alone stop.

With someone like Shearer, you always knew what he'd do; he just hit the ball so hard few keepers could do anything about it. Why Fowler transcended Shearer during the mid-90s, in my eyes, was in the sheer artistry and unexpectedness of his finishes.

From a manager's point of view, a goal is a goal: yes, he wants to see good football, but if a goal wins a game, that's what matters most, not the aesthetics. But from a fan's point of view there's the issue of entertainment, of being thrilled. We all differ on how we balance out the need for points with the need to be entertained, but no fan could resist a showman like Fowler.

He was impish, and even appeared impudent at times, but his desire was always to score goals. He never wasted a good chance by trying to be too flash or clever; instead, he turned half-chances into sitters with his vision.

Fowler never lost that gift, but a combination of injuries and the massive speeding-up of the English game – and with it so many quicker defenders – meant that a player who was not a natural athlete, nor a big bruiser, was always going to struggle.

Rafa Benítez is not an overly sentimental man. He proved this by omitting Fowler from the 18 in Athens. However, ten days earlier he had given Fowler 89 minutes on his Anfield farewell, only replace him, in an act of kindness, for a standing ovation. Typical of Fowler's luck in his second spell, it was just seconds before the Reds won a penalty, which he would otherwise have taken.

But while Benítez in some ways broke Fowler's heart twice over –– first in Athens, then by releasing him –– the boss had already repaired the biggest break of all by granting Fowler his wish to pull on the red shirt again, and have a chance to properly close the one chapter in his career that really meant something. And in that heart, broken or otherwise, he would have known this time, at 32, that his Liverpool career was finally over, and been able to accept the decision.

Also, in notching a further 12 goals for the club he edged past Kenny Dalglish in the Reds' all-time goals ranking, and that will be something he can look back on with great pride.

While Fowler's second coming will not be remembered with the fondness of his scintillating first, it gave both fans and player alike the chance to say their proper farewells. And that's something that cannot be measured by statistics or by trophies.

Sometimes being a fan is about something beyond your team winning and losing. It's about identifying with someone in the team, and appreciating the unique memories they provide.

In that sense, we all owe Robbie Fowler a big debt of gratitude. His heyday did not coincide with much silverware, but the memories are priceless.

[ROCKY_MAIVIA]

Well we have signed torres.....

As for the next signing....it is rumoured to be either mancini or simao.

Well i will be happy either.....but if LFC sign both of them .....

[KingEros]

It's finally official now ...

TORRES SIGNS SIX-YEAR DEAL FOR REDS
Jimmy Rice 04 July 2007

Fernando Torres has today completed his move from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool after putting pen to paper on a six-year deal.
The 23-year-old striker will be unveiled to the media in the number nine shirt vacated by Robbie Fowler just after 3pm.

Torres passed a medical at Melwood yesterday before briefly flying back to his homeland to say an emotional goodbye to fans in Madrid.

The Spaniard leaves the La Liga side with a record of 82 goals in 214 league games.

He spent 12 years at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after being snapped up at the age of 11.

Torres made his debut aged 17 before becoming Atletico's youngest ever captain two years later.

The striker was top scorer and best player at both the 2001 European Under-16 Championships and 2002 European Under-19 Championships. He made his full international debut in September 2003, and has so far scored 14 goals in 40 caps.

Nicknamed El Nino (The Kid) because of his youthful appearance, he was selected for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he scored three goals.

In May 2007 Torres hit the headlines when he revealed the words 'You'll Never Walk Alone' on the inside of his captain's armband during a match against Real Sociedad. Two months later he is a Liverpool player.

[Cummon]

Nice one !

[Cummon]

The intense pressure that comes with being Liverpool’s record signing may have claimed plenty of victims, but Fernando Torres seemed only too happy to raise expectations yesterday, the Spain striker boldly announcing that he could be the man finally to end the club’s long wait for the league title.

Having signed a six-year contract worth £90,000 a week hours after flying in from Madrid, Torres was presented amid much fanfare at Anfield and spoke of his desire to follow in the footsteps of such legendary figures as Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler.

The Times can reveal the full story behind the £20.2 million transfer that eclipses Liverpool’s previous record outlay of £14.2 million for Djibril Cissé, whose No 9 shirt Torres inherits, although the deal is only likely to be the first of several eye-catching signings by Rafael Benítez as the manager seeks to end the club’s 17-year wait for the championship.

Benítez is also in the hunt for a new winger, possibly two, and the indications from Portugal last night were that Ricardo Quaresma, of FC Porto, could fit the bill. Liverpool are said to have had a £13.5 million bid for the 23-year-old Portugal winger turned playmaker rejected, although a slightly improved offer could be enough to persuade the Portuguese club to sell.

Alessandro Mancini, of AS Roma, and Yossi Benayoun, the West Ham United midfield player, are also thought to be targets, while the manager is also hoping to force through a deal for Gabriel Heinze, the Argentina defender, even though Manchester United appear reluctant to sell him to their fiercest rivals

[Xgenre]

Originally Posted by Cummon

Benítez is also in the hunt for a new winger, possibly two, and the indications from Portugal last night were that Ricardo Quaresma, of FC Porto, could fit the bill. Liverpool are said to have had a £13.5 million bid for the 23-year-old Portugal winger turned playmaker rejected, although a slightly improved offer could be enough to persuade the Portuguese club to sell.

Alessandro Mancini, of AS Roma, and Yossi Benayoun, the West Ham United midfield player, are also thought to be targets, while the manager is also hoping to force through a deal for Gabriel Heinze, the Argentina defender, even though Manchester United appear reluctant to sell him to their fiercest rivals

Dun forget Simao too. I think he will be our next signing. He's desperate to play for Rafa, according to the stories, he even sms Rafa to sign him last season. Simao will be quite an addition in pace and trickery.

[WAKE-UP-U-FOOLS]

HEY FOOLS READ THIS FROM FOOTBALL365!

Ten Million Quid Too Much For Torres

Make no mistake, Fernando Torres is no Sean Dundee. The Madridileño is a very accomplished, hard working, consistent striker. But he is not a great striker. And he certainly isn't a 27 million pound striker.

The former Atletico captain misses more penalties than he scores and - contrary to what keeps being repeated by various English pundits - only uses his left foot for kicking himself, when missing with his right. His passing can be awful and his former manager, Javier Aguirre, recently admitted that his striker had the erratic decision making skills of a starving Mark Viduka at an all you can eat buffet.

However, it must be taken into account that Torres has been plying his trade at a genuinely rubbish club. The reason that so few Youtube-trawling Liverpool fans have seen him play club football is that Atletico Madrid have the astonishing ability to blow every chance they have of moving onto a higher European plain

Torres will offer a great deal to Liverpool over the reported six years of his contract - his fierce will to win and his hunger for success, for starters. But the striker is at least ten million pounds too expensive, based on his form over the past two seasons.

The 27 million pound fee puts an immediate pressure on a striker who could have benefited from a playing in a side that he did not have to carry on his back, as with Atletico.

Liverpool fans will be wanting an immediate return, on their extravagant investment. Unfortunately, Torres will not be able to deliver it - but it won't be for lack of trying.


To me he is another Fernando in the FOOLS team taking on the footsteps of the departed Fernando KEKE! FLOP!

[Cummon]

Originally Posted by Xgenre

Dun forget Simao too. I think he will be our next signing. He's desperate to play for Rafa, according to the stories, he even sms Rafa to sign him last season. Simao will be quite an addition in pace and trickery.

Mancini & Simao do provide more possibilities for Rafa as they can play on both flanks. Franck Ribery is class too but too bad he just signed for Bayern Munich.Left back is another position Rafa intends to strengthen,but how many of us will welcome Heinze with open arms ?