Thems the kinda debuts I like to see

[Benitez]

Goal for Bellamy

Goal for Speedy

And one of the better performances from Jermain Pennant on a 'difficult' evening.

[Guest redmilky]

Yup - happy with all 3. Probably Pennant most of all.

[Spike]

If Alves was watching that performance from Pennant he'd have a proper hump on.

[Benitez]

what I liked about Speedy's goal, (apart from the fact it was a goal ) was how he cuts in to the peno area. It's one thing our other wide men need to do a bit of. Its something Gonzalez did pretty well last season, and got a goal doing so for Sociedad as well. He'll get a few doing that!

 

Pleased for him, he's had to wait so long, and had to endure the hype to try and big-up his credentials to get a work permit. So it must be a bit of a weight off to get a goal just 3 mins into his debut! Must be one of the longest awaited debuts ever

[anfieldgaz]

  Benitez said:

Goal for Bellamy

Goal for Speedy

And one of the better performances from Jermain Pennant on a 'difficult' evening.

 

 

Rob Jones against the scum takes some beating.

 

But to be fair the lads done good tonight!

[Fagan]

pennant was a revelation i thought, bellers was v good also

 

certainly a massive improvement to cisse on the wing and the cumbersome morientes up front

[bazz]

Really impressed with Pennant.

 

Hopefully he will be the missing link on the right side that we have been looking for, for the past 3-4 seasons.

[Spike]

loved some of his trickery and turns. He has set some precedent for the rest of his liverpool career after tonight's game

[SkippyjonJones]

I swear that I was told that Pennant wasn;t good enough for us.

 

 

[Guest RedLegend]

Pennant was great. Quick old fashioned winger who unlike most wingers can also whip in some cracking crosses. Hopefully he can work on getting a few more goals himself as well.

 

Bellamy looked sharp and took his goal really well.

 

Speedy only on for a few minutes but he took his chance sharply.

[Benitez]

Pennant's a clever player. Funny innit, how some that are clever on the pitch, seem to be less than clever off it

 

He's gonna do very well with good players around him.

[DonRafa]

  NHE said:

I swear that I was told that Pennant wasn;t good enough for us.

 

Aye, quite a few thought that.

I don't know how anyone could'nt see his quality, even in a cr@p team like the brum.

Love those early, whipped in crosses! Oh for a John Toshack/ Jeff Astle type player to get on the end of 'em!

Oops, showing my age there

[Guest redmilky]

Main ting about Gonzalez to me was composure when his feet started all over the place.

[Guest Sabre]

Pennant has style. Quick feet, great cross, not scared of the ball. If he can keep his confidence at this level he will be brilliant for us.

[Reggie]

  Benitez said:

Pennant's a clever player. Funny innit, how some that are clever on the pitch, seem to be less than clever off it

 

He's gonna do very well with good players around him.

 

Pleat made a good point early on that he will improve as a player playing in this team. He said that he would pass it more in a good team rather than try and take too much out of the ball, which he would have done at Brum.

[Ste M]

  Sabre said:

Pennant has style. Quick feet, great cross, not scared of the ball. If he can keep his confidence at this level he will be brilliant for us.

 

Fantastic performance - might just have forced his way into McClaren's thinking too.

 

I don't see how anyone watching that game tonight can fail to be impreesed by his performance.

[Benitez]

  Reggie said:

Pleat made a good point early on that he will improve as a player playing in this team. He said that he would pass it more in a good team rather than try and take too much out of the ball, which he would have done at Brum.

 

 

yeah, another thing at Brum, was that he was targeted as their biggest threat, so got doubled teamed all the time. Here, if teams want to do that, then fine, but it means leaving a player of quality with a bit more freedom, rather tham leaving Heskey with a bit more freedom (awaiting Kev any minute now )

[fildo]

Good point about Gonzales getting in the box to score - Pennant did hit some fantastic crosses in the second half - but I thought that in the first he could have gambled a bit more and took a chance and head into the box when zenden, riise, bellamy and stevie were all over on the left. In the second whilst throwing in some great crosses when Crouch came on he also drifted in a bit more when the ball was on the other side! - so great debut and hopefully he can keep on growing in confidence with the rest of the lads!

 

I thought there was great movement from Bellamy - good workrate and it will take a while for everyone to know where he shall want the ball and where he will be running to - some glimpses of understanding with Stevie supplying some good through balls!

 

Thought maybe the formation with stevie playing off Bellamy didn't get the best out of Stevie, Pennant or Bellamy - but you have to try it some time and as Rafa says - possibilities!

[Hassony]

  DonRafa said:

Aye, quite a few thought that.

I don't know how anyone could'nt see his quality, even in a cr@p team like the brum.

Love those early, whipped in crosses! Oh for a John Toshack/ Jeff Astle type player to get on the end of 'em!

Oops, showing my age there

if he was any good you would have seen the likes of chelsea, manure and spurs in for him

 

how many crosses did pennant do tonight, if only we have someone like les ferdinand in attack

 

isn't duncan ferguson still available

[nitski]

I was & am a bit sceptical of Pennant. I would be more than happy to see him do well. And hope he does. Think he was expensive at the price mind. But in fairness he did have a good game tonight. Needs to get in the box more but he is still young, at a new club etc. I thought Bellamy's movement was excellent. Not a great performance but we won and that's the main thing.

[eth]

Pennant played well today. Keen to make the right runs, some excellent and intelligent crosses. Good link-up with Alonso, Finnan, Gerrard and Bellamy. Pacy if not lightning.

 

The one problem with Pennant was he didn't once square up to the fullback and go past him. Whether it's a question of something that is likely to change (confidence or strength) or something unlikely (pace/skill) may make the difference over the next couple of years. Even if he never learns that though, he certainly looks to be an excellent cog in Rafa's burgeoning monstrous machinery.

 

  Benitez said:

what I liked about Speedy's goal, (apart from the fact it was a goal ) was how he cuts in to the peno area. It's one thing our other wide men need to do a bit of. Its something Gonzalez did pretty well last season, and got a goal doing so for Sociedad as well. He'll get a few doing that!

Good point there.

Edited August 9, 2006 by eth

[Mike]

thought pennant or sissoko were MOM

[SkippyjonJones]

  DonRafa said:

Aye, quite a few thought that.

I don't know how anyone could'nt see his quality, even in a cr@p team like the brum.

Love those early, whipped in crosses! Oh for a John Toshack/ Jeff Astle type player to get on the end of 'em!

Oops, showing my age there

 

tosh would be perfect.... bit old now though.

 

maybe Kuyt - or we could ask nicely for Suton to join..

 

 

basically an "ugly" striker - one who'll put himself about and make the space with his presence - the kind of striker Heskey was briefly for us..

[smicer07]

Pennant was man of the match for me, f***ing brilliant game.

[Hassony]

  smicer07 said:

Pennant was man of the match for me, f***ing brilliant game.

he deserves a drink after that performance