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January 22, 2009

Pennant promised much but failed to deliver

Pennant has undoubted talent and proved that with plenty of impressive displays in his first 2 seasons for Liverpool. Yet his talent was let down by a lack of consistency to really make it as a regular Liverpool starter. Despite this he could have made for a useful squad player, although for whatever reasons he fell out of favour with Rafa this season.

So it was hardly surprising that LFC tried to sell him before his contract ran out this summer. Numerous clubs tried to lure him in the January transfer window, but Pennant opted to go on loan for the remainder of the season with Portsmouth instead. It's a shame he never got to fulfill his potential with us, and it sucks that we don't get to recoup some of his transfer fee either.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can remember reading somewhere that his hero was John Barnes. Unfortunately he lacks the same drive and determination. Having watched a lot of players like Pennant with a decent amount of skill, I don't know why they lack drive and determination in which they can create something special that turns them into winners.

J.

Jessica said...

To be honest, I am surprised he lasted so long at Liverpool. I always thought he was just stop gap filler player like Bellamy was. Bags of talent but messed up in the head. Its sad that he never made the most of things for the club he claims to have supported growing up.

Chris said...

I'm very disappointed he's left. I think he is a much better right winger than Kuyt. I reckon he'll get more assists in his loan spell than Kuyt does all season. Everything about Liverpools play at the moment is through the middle, we desperately need some width.

I think Pennant is going on loan to try and prove to Rafa that he is worth a new contract. He has repeatedly said he wants to stay at Liverpool

Scott D said...

I agree with Chris and I think he will link up well with Crouchy. If he does well at Portsmouth then i guess he has a chance of playing for us again. He is a better right winger then Dirk Diggler and i think maybe his off field behaviour has turned Rafa off. It was a similar sitution with Cisse a few years ago,and i was disappointed at the time he was not given a decent chance either. It is still clear we need a proven right winger, and we need him now.

Paul Heron said...

@j - it's sad the way some people waste their talents like that...

@jessica - that was my initial impression also, but he had many promising games and I thought that he might have a chance of making it (if only he could be more consistent).

@chris - to be fair now, he has had 2.5 years to prove Rafa his worth, the moment is probably long gone now.

@scott d - i guess we'll have to wait until the summer to see if we can get ourselves a right winger. Mind you we do have players like Hammill waiting in the wings to get their chance....