EPL Talk » Jermaine Pennant

Liverpool Have Blown Their Title Chance

Paul Bestall — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:58:33 +0000

Alex Ferguson will be singing the praises of Manchester City today after Liverpool stuttered, spluttered and failed to find the winning goal they needed to have any chance of winning the title. From a fantastic position before Christmas, Liverpool have thrown point after point away to allow Manchester United to catch them up, draw level and now pull too far away to catch.

7 points with 12 games to go may not seem too far a distance for Liverpool, but honestly, can you see United losing 3 games whilst Liverpool keep winning. It’s never going to happen and Ferguson has been proved right when he questioned if Liverpool had the experience and stomach for a consistent title challenge in January. Benitez has seen his side falter and his stubborn insistence on playing two defensive midfielders, even in home games, has cost them any hope of the title. Why is he obsessed with playing Lucas? I cannot understand his inclusion in the Liverpool starting line up, especially with the attack minded Babel on the bench.

It’s a decision that confuses me when they need to win games. Lucas is never going to offer anything, his passing was its usual dreadful range of over hit passes, under hit balls, awful first touches and safe sideways passing. Why is he in there rather than a more attacking midfielder? For some reason, Benitez doesn’t seem to come under anywhere near the level of criticism for his transfer dealings that he should. How much money has he wasted in his 5 years, £100 million? £150 million? Liverpool’s two most consistent players, Gerrard and Carragher, in his tenure were already there, Torres has simply been injured too many times this season and the cover he has for him simply cannot cope with the pressure of a title challenge. Selling Robbie Keane after treating him like a diseased leper, becomes a worse decision every time Liverpool drop points or fetch on David N’gog to try and salvage something.Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant, Scott Carson, Craig Bellamy, Mark Rodriquez, Fernando Morientes, Gabriel Paletta, Jan Krompkamp and Mo Sissiko have all been bought and sold under Benitez. The side cry out for a decent left back, but he sold their best one to Blackburn Rovers, there is no quality cover for Gerrard and Torres. The reserve side is full of cheap South American imports that won’t push themselves in to the first team. Lucas cost £6 million. That alone is a travesty.

After 3 years of not winning anything after 2 of the luckiest cup final wins in the history of football ( The 2005 Champions League and the 2006 F.A. Cup) you have to question his future as manager of Liverpool. Why should he be offered a new contract? How many points will Liverpool finish behind Manchester United, if they even manage to hold on to second, which is no guarentee with Chelsea and Aston Villa still breathing down their necks. What excuses will we be given next? It’s always someone else’s fault that Liverpool don’t win games and his childish outbursts are frankly absurd. He picks the team, chooses the tactics, plays midfielders up front, centre halves at right back and strikers on the wing. Is Alex Ferguson brainwashing him to pick such unbalanced sides?

Does he honestly believe that his defensive strangulation of football can deliver another Champions League? Will he try to suffocate Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, a side transformed under Juande Ramos since he was parachuted in to save their season in January. 8 wins on the trot have seen Madrid eat in to Barcelona’s lead, cutting it from 12 points to 7 and perhaps the Champions League is more realistic proposition for Madrid than it is for Liverpool. A bad result on Wednesday night will be the end of Liverpools season that promised so much 6 weeks ago to be over before the end of February. They will be fortunate to finish 10 points behind Manchester United and lucky if they get anywhere near the Champions League final. Benitez has thrown the Premiership title away and if Liverpool want to win it, they need a new manager.

Football Transfer Twaddle: Defoe, Arteta, Toure and Pennant

tyduffy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:42:16 +0000

After accepting a sordid envelope with £20m for “Lass” Diarra, Portsmouth rejected shrewd dealer Harry Redknapp’s £30m overture for Jermain Defoe, Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch. Pompey then lessened Defoe’s value markedly, by announcing they would sell him for a fair price.

“It looks like Jermain wants to go,” Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie said. “If Jermain goes it will be at our price and if there is an offer which appeals.”

Spurs remain favorites to sign the striker.

West Ham, contrary to previous statements, confirmed the club’s inevitable fire sale this winter. Icelandic chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson was severely crunched by the collapse of an Icelandic bank. Manager Gianfranco Zola will “not be compelled” to sell anyone, but the club will listen to any offer for any player, probably ones he’d want to keep such as Craig Bellamy and Matthew Upson.

Arsenal may flout tradition by making a £12m bid for ready-made Everton man Mikel Arteta. The Spanish midfielder would be Arsenal’s ideal signing. He’s an experienced 26, plying his trade in the Premier League the past few seasons. Arteta can provide a credible Fabregas facsimile in the middle for the next few months. He can also fill in on the wings when Fabregas returns.

Arteta would be a perfect fit for Arsenal, so expect Arsene to balk at an extra £2m for him and sign a 19-year-old raw French African.

The Gunners may also sell defender Kolo Toure in January, after he handed in a subsequently rejected transfer request. The defender, not surprisingly, has struggled to regain fitness after a bout of malaria in the summer. He and William Gallas also hate each other, though why you would choose Toure over Gallas is unclear. Out of the squad for much of the season, Toure’s potential £10m fee from Manchester City could give Arsenal funds to strengthen the midfield.

Manchester City have a £60m transfer budget for six players to help them avoid relegation. Hughes has made a £10m offer to Chelsea for left-back Wayne Bridge. They may bid over £20m for Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker from West Ham and throw in £17m to Blackburn for Roque Santa Cruz, just for shits and giggles.

Finally, Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant may join Hull City after rejecting an overture from Real Madrid, in what would undoubtedly the first time that statement could be made. The Tigers would like Pennant “at the right price,” but will face off with Wigan, who view Pennant as a replacement for Luis Antonio Valencia, possibly on his way to Real Madrid.

How Chelsea Ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips

The Gaffer — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:03:37 +0000

The way Chelsea Football Club ruined Shaun Wright-Phillips is a travesty.

Go back in time to 2005 and the dimunitive winger was tearing down the right wing at the City Of Manchester Stadium. The player was such a joy to watch as he took on players and went on mazy runs often beating two or three opponents. His form at the time was simply spectacular and I was recommending that he be selected for the 2006 World Cup team and to start instead of David Beckham.

Three years later, Wright-Phillips has returned to Manchester City after mostly sitting on the bench at Chelsea for three years. The player got few starts. After not playing for so long, it was obvious that the confidence he had at City and the speed down the right wings had disappeared.

Reportedly one of the main reasons Chelsea bought Wright-Phillips in the first place was to prevent the winger from joining Liverpool, who would have obviously benefitted immensely from a player of his calibre. Instead, one year later, Liverpool signed Jermaine Pennant, a poor man’s version of Wright-Phillips.

Now that the winger is back at Manchester City, I really hope the player can regain his form and get a consistent amount of appearances under his belt as well as getting back into the England squad. Wright-Phillips has a lot to prove and hopefully, under Mark Hughes’s tutelage, the winger can improve the one part of the game he continually is weak in: putting in that killer cross.