Harry Kewell

[Guest RedDwarf]

IS BACK!!!

 

It's like having a new signing. He was absolutely awesome last night. My man of the match

 

That is all

[Ombudsam]

  Knox_Harrington said:

Think the idea of Owen, Johnson or Defoe (as examples) with Kewell just off is so home against s**** it isn't even funny.

 

If we have a quality right mid then Kewell, Gerrard and that right mid can play between the lines anyway with two up, one of which could hold the ball and Xabi sitting against s**** and we'd be more effective. That's a side which can work in any game.

 

Is your first sentence saying it's a good idea or bad idea? Do you think we should just go with your basic 442 on most occassions at home against easier sides then?

 

I keep thinking back to kewell's first half a season here and last season at leeds where he got loads of goals from mainly up front. This gonzalez lad is meant to be extremely quick and i don't think we have that sort of pace on the wings and if we did then it might open up more space for an in the hole player like kewell to run riot.

[Earl Hafler]

Played well but lost possession needlessly several times. And is there any need for all the first time volleys ?

 

1 goal against Spurs and he thinks he's Van Basten.

[yellow jumper]

we don't feed through balls into space or particularily look for the channels. prefering to build-up by playing to feet. even when counter-attacking it's all one touch passing rather than looking to get in behind.

 

might simply be because we don't have an owen or a defoe. but cisse remains an obvious candidate for that role and yet is rarely used in that way.

 

any new striker we bring in will have to be strong in the air and off crosses. that's where we're creating and missing the majority of our chances.

[Guest Joaquin]

  sammya said:

He wasn't awesome last night. He was alright.

 

When gonzales comes in i'd play kewell just off a goalscorer provided speedy is any good

 

 

Gonzalez will need some time to adapt.

[Bootle Buck]

I think people are going a little overboard about Harry. Yes he is playing better than the Kewell of last season. However, in my opionion he still lacks the confidence to go past players when one on one. Also his conversion of chances is still pretty poor. I hope he continues to improve but I certainly don't think he is quite there yet.

[Wardy]

Interestingly Rick Parry said Gonzalez is a 'right sided midfielder' today on the Offal.

 

Does anyone know for certain?

 

  Bootle Buck said:

However, in my opionion he still lacks the confidence to go past players when one on one.

 

Could have sworn I saw him do exactly that last night on more than one occassion.

[Earl Hafler]

Speedy plays on the left.

[David Hodgson]

  Big Stuff said:

Played well but lost possession needlessly several times. And is there any need for all the first time volleys ?

 

1 goal against Spurs and he thinks he's Van Basten.

 

At his best he's one of the best volley-ers in the game. The Spurs goal was no fluke. He hit a couple of sweet volleys last night (inc the overhead) and a couple of crap 'uns.

 

I think HK is proving himself a very important player for us, but for him to complete his rehabilitation I think he has to score more. He needs a couple of quick goals now to give him the belief again that he is a goalscoring midfielder, again.

[Wardy]

  Big Stuff said:

Speedy plays on the left.

 

And you've seen that with your own eyes?

 

I've heard Rafa quoted as saying he's right sided as well but mostly that he's left sided.

[Earl Hafler]

I've seen him score an absolute beauty after cutting in from the left and hitting it with his left foot.

[Wardy]

I presume that was the video clip doing the rounds when we first went after him.

 

Does anyone else know any more?

[Earl Hafler]

  David Hodgson said:

At his best he's one of the best volley-ers in the game. The Spurs goal was no fluke. He hit a couple of sweet volleys last night (inc the overhead) and a couple of crap 'uns.

 

I think HK is proving himself a very important player for us, but for him to complete his rehabilitation I think he has to score more. He needs a couple of quick goals now to give him the belief again that he is a goalscoring midfielder, again.

 

He can volley them but does he have to hit them first time everytime ? A few recent occasions , when the angle has been against him, he's had space and time to control the ball but has gone for the spectacular. It's something Cisse does aswell.

 

The right footed one was a good example of what i'm talking about. Caught it well but there were a few players in the way. He could have controlled it and passed to someone in a better position / created a new opening.

[Kenny_]

Thought he had a decent game last night. Really pleased with his return, done well. Soon the goals will come on a regular basis as well.

 

But the most pleasing thing to see I think, is that he's playing now, week in, week out, improving his fitness all the time and not getting any setbacks.

[Earl Hafler]

  Wardy said:

I presume that was the video clip doing the rounds when we first went after him.

 

Does anyone else know any more?

He played on the left when he scored for Sociedad the other day. Came in on the far post and slooted one home.

[Earl Hafler]

>>>> Gonzalez goal <<<<

>>> Sociedad highlights <<<

 

2 clips of him in action on the left.

 

He might be like Kewell and have the ability to play on the right but he's primarily a left sided player.

[crisps]

Last couple of games, I think Kewells been average and against wigan crossing was very poor

 

He hasnt give full backs nightmares like has been suggested, he seems to get to the full back. Stop. then try to get passed them (which rarely works) instead of just running at them and most of the time it's so predicatable what he's going to do, fair enough we get corners as he doesnt always beat them but i'd like to see him running at them with pace...

Edited February 15, 2006 by mikeyj

[aka Dus]

  Bootle Buck said:

I think people are going a little overboard about Harry. Yes he is playing better than the Kewell of last season. However, in my opionion he still lacks the confidence to go past players when one on one. Also his conversion of chances is still pretty poor. I hope he continues to improve but I certainly don't think he is quite there yet.

 

I absolutely 100% agree

 

Think the canonisation of Kewell recently has been as overboard as the criticism of him was last year.

 

He still needs to improve end product and whats more have defenders scared of challenging him for fear of him leaving them.

[Guest Red Death]

Kewell won't be scoring many goals while he's playing on the left.....he has scored most of his goals for Liverpool, and indeed his entire career, by playing on the right. But he is most effective for us on the left, and has set up numerous scoring opportunities for our strikers from there.

 

Left footers are always most likely to score from the right then the left.

[Guz]

He is no where near his best, he could rip up any team when he was at his best at Leeds - he's not there yet but improving. As said above, the best thing about him is that he's playing on a regular basis.

[Maldini]

Thought he gave Eboue a torrid time last night, he rarely got near him. Strangely John Giles, usually a good pundit, said he had retreated back into his shell

[Earl Hafler]

  Red Death said:

Kewell won't be scoring many goals while he's playing on the left.....he has scored most of his goals for Liverpool, and indeed his entire career, by playing on the right. But he is most effective for us on the left, and has set up numerous scoring opportunities for our strikers from there.

 

Left footers are always most likely to score from the right then the left.

 

Utter crap about Kewell and left footers.

[Maldini]

How many games has he played on the right for us? I'd be surprised if it's more than a dozen.

[Skillz]

As an Aussie who has seen him play a lot (TV, obviously) i agree with most here that there is still much to look forward too.

 

In my opinion

 

Positives

 

- Defensive side of his game is better than ever. Shirked a couple against Wigan but that has been rare this year and his tracking back to help out the LB is far better than i have ever seen form him

- Linking up play is really good, often simple intelligent passes to keep attacking moves flowing. Look forward to games where Gerrard is back in the middle as i expect HK to give him plenty of chances to run through on goal or tee him up

- Heading is as good as ever.

- run of consistency. I never understood what the supposed Leeds supporters used to say he was inconsistent. He was but only when injured or carrying injury. When fully fit he rarely play an average game let alone a bad one. Admittedly i did not every game but i did see a lot . This is why i was always confident Harry would return to form if he could get fit. To me it was obvious last year he was carrying injury and when they discovered his hernia during his groin op that explained a lot IMO. He has not played to many bad games for us this season which should be acknowledged.

 

Negatives

 

- Pace is a yard off, to be expected though and we may not see this again to next year (or ever! )

- Shooting is off but i have no doubt this is only a confidence thing and will return soon enough

- poaching runs, however i suspect he is playing to instructions which means he may not be as prolific in scoring but his assists should make up for that.

- Crossing is well below his leeds form and again is something i have no doubt he will pick up as his run of games continue. Having Fowler making intelligent runs is something Harry will pick up on and i expect Harry to set him up for few before long.

 

I think what Rafa likes most of all is his intelligence (football brains ). Not many talk about that and to me it is his strongest asset and why he played so much last year even though he was nowhere near 100%. Amazed some think he gives the ball away far too much, i must watch a different game some times. The only times i see this is when he is trying too run past a defender and it doesnt come off but that is always going to happen, even Ronaldinho can run past every one every time.

 

Anyway thats where i think he is. An important player for us at the moment, getting better and better and quite possibly back to his best next season (if not before).

[Maldini]

  Guz said:

Probably scored more playing up front really. Him and Viduka basically kept Leeds up in his last season there, 14 goals or something he scored I think and the goal at Arsenal near or on the last day of the season was the best of the lot.

He got 17 in the league that year I think