3 Nov 2014

Carra raves: £28m star BR tried to sign for LFC will be the 'best in the Prem'. Rip-off?

£28m for 18-year old Luke Shaw? In my view, it's madness bordering on negligence, but Reds legend Jamie Carragher is a big fan of the youngster, and he's tipped him to become one of the Premier League's brightest stars.

Over the weekend, Carra told Sky Sports:

"I don’t think Gael Clichy or Aleksandar Kolarov are the best left-backs in the world, whereas I think Shaw, given a few more years’ experience, will become the best in that position in the Premier League".

Shaw may well go on to become the best left-back in the league, and for £28m, it's the least that should be expected.

There are no guarantees, though - Shaw will always have the burden of trying to live up to that ridiculous transfer fee, and he may well buckle under that pressure at some point in the future.

Comparatively speaking, £12m Liverpool new-boy Alberto Moreno is a bargain, and it's doubtful that Shaw is better than the Spaniard to the tune of an extra £16m.

Carra clearly has a soft-spot for Shaw, and during the summer, he told the Daily Mail:

"Scouts have been flocking to see Shaw in action and it is no wonder the top clubs want to prise the left back away. Shaw will command a huge fee but it will be warranted as he has consistently impressed".

With respect to Carra, I have to strongly disagree. I just don't see how Shaw is worth £28m. What did he do to command such a 'massive fee'? Absolutely nothing is the answer. His grossly inflated valuation seems to be based on three things:

* He's English.
* He has pace.
* He's English.

If you listen to the press, Shaw - described by Liverpool new boy Adam Lallana as 'outstanding' - is allegedly an amazing attacking left-back, but for all his much-vaunted attacking qualities, he rarely scores or creates goals. In 67 games for Southampton, he has one goal, and one solitary assist. Plus, Van Gaal has already had to censure Shaw for being unfit, and the Dutch boss's ire seemed justified as the 19-year old ended up getting injured very quickly.

Ex-Reds Dietmar Hamann and Jamie Redknapp do not share Carra's glowing view of Shaw. Reacting to the signing in July, Hamann scathed:

"You wonder why young English players don't get a chance in PL? United paying £28m for Shaw is all you need to know. Ridiculous. If Shaw wasn't English he would cost £10m the most."

Soon after, Redknapp echoed Hamann's comments, and made the controversial claim that Shaw was signed without Van Gaal's consent. He noted:

"How can a left back be worth [£28m]. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. Are you telling me Louis van Gaal was tracking Luke Shaw? ‘Course he wasn’t. He was trying to get a World Cup squad together. He probably never saw him last year".

Whilst Redknapp may be right about Van Gaal not tracking Shaw, I sincerely doubt that Man United are stupid enough to sign a player over the Dutch boss's head. Given Van Gaal's strong personality, massive experienced, and readily apparent control freakery, that would clearly be a huge mistake.

Liverpool were heavily linked with Shaw, but it's a relief that the club stopped short of splashing out such an obscene amount of money. Admittedly, Rodgers sanctioned a similarly overpriced £25m for Adam Lallana, but at least he's a fully-developed player, and is heading into the best years of his career.

One thing's for sure: Southampton have benefited (big time) from the football version of daylight robbery, with the depressing irony being that despite being asset-stripped in the summer, the South Coast club is ahead of both Liverpool and Man United in the league table.

Football - it's a funny old game.

Author:


78 comments:

  1. I think mild xenophobia has clouded Carra's judgement! Shaw hasn't been standout since is move anyway!

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  2. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:15 am, November 03, 2014

    I finally have found the formula that will give lfc success in the league:
    The swansea game was a good example


    *play lucas and hendo or can in midfield two gerrard is not modern player and should be put on the bench as an impact player
    * play borini with balotelli up front both balos goals came with borini on field
    *play the 25m man lallana our most creative player
    *no more glen johnson ,manquillo is better
    * maybe this one im not 100% sure but toure over skrtel?


    so:
    ............................................balotelli.
    lallana.........................coutinho/henderson.........................borini
    ,....................................can................lucas
    moreno.......................lovren...............skrtel......................manquillo
    ..............................................mignolet


    with sterling and lallana rotating , and coutinho and hendo rotating depending on opposition
    btw borini in thsi formation would be given a free role

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  3. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:18 am, November 03, 2014

    Rodgers should look at how Ronand Koeman sets up his team


    he is what Rodgers should aspire to be

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  4. please apply for the job and stop wasting your talents here

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  5. He said Coutinho should be sold in January,
    that was only last week.

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  6. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:46 am, November 03, 2014

    at the moment there is no vacancy


    but when there is me ,rafa,klopp and simeone will all apply

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  7. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:47 am, November 03, 2014

    why would i say that ?
    coutinho is awesome the big Brazilian

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  8. When I saw him play last season I thought that he is going to be one on of the best LB's in the world. If that turns out to be the truth than price is irrelevant. I hope I was wrong, but don't think so...

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  9. Yes that is what is wasted...

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  10. Rodgers says it is not rocket science that we are struggling after losing Suarez and Sturridge - No Brendon it was not rocket science to see it coming and buy top class replacements, after the Alberto / Aspas debacle I thought that mistake would never happen again but it has we have bought nine players 5 are very average one is Aqillaini's even more useless double. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE THE FANS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW.

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  11. its all depends on tactics ! Jose can be best if we playing sit deep ! Glen can be best if tactics ignore defends and just push fwd ! Bottom of oppinion is how well our MID to covering to allow them to shine

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  12. Aqillaini's even more useless double?

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  13. While we're talking about paying over the odds, and Liverpool's spending over the summer, it seems appropriate to mention the Suarez-like impact Sanchez is having at Arsenal, and the relative snip of a transfer fee to secure his services at 30 odd million. I'm not suggesting that Sanchez is at Suarez's level, but his work-rate, acceleration and movement with and without the ball appears to be having a similar effect on the attacking prowess of a team that, like Liverpool, has generally underperformed since the start of the season. Of course there's no point crying over spilt milk, and Liverpool needed more than any other Premier League team to invest in squad depth, but watching Sanchez in recent games I can't help but feel that if there was one player for which we should have massively overpaid, then it should have been this guy.

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  14. Soon will be if things don't improve soon and delusion is a main qualification for the job .... !

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  15. It was more about him wanting a London club than the money

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  16. BUT....... I totally agree this is the sort of player we need and miss badly

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  17. Few Liverpool fans plans #RodgersOut plane banner during the match against Chelsea. I think this is ridiculous, I hope it doesn't materialize. Show some class people.

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  18. So you have finally cracked the code.

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  19. Yes, but he hasn't looked out of sorts. Steady start I would say.

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  20. http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/liverpool-fan-plans-rodgersout-plane-banner-for-chelsea-match/?

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  21. FSG better sack that girlfriend then and get Rodgers to focus on football

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  22. For Christ sake he WAS that! Manager of the stable EPL team that did very well under him, playing some very good football, but without aspiration for the big trophy. You do remember Swansea?
    But Liverpool and our aspirations are a different beast you know, for the manager and PLAYERS also. Ask another Dutchman, Dick Advocat, who does he want more in his team- Markovic or Tadic and he will say Markovic. I watch a lot of Serbia games, I know. I am even sure Koeman would choose Lazar, but that is the beauty of a 'small' club- you see your players are good enough not to get relegated and you teach them how to play the best football possible, and if you are a good manager with good team you will finish 6th to 8th with nobody asking for your head if you lose 3 in a row.
    Here we have CL, cups and league games and in all those games we MUST get a good result or at least a good performance. That is why if you want to be where we want to be you must have a lot of money, brilliant manger, couple of outstanding players at least, couple of leaders, group of very good consistent players, bit of luck and TIME to make it work(plus many other things).
    Luck turned its' back on us with injuries (badly- Lallana, Can, Markovic- newcomers with no time to gel in, Allen as an 'old' one that should be performing at least solid on regular basis, Flanno as a back up with the flare, and Sturridge as.. Well..) The money was there but sometimes we just couldn't buy(for various reasons) what we needed(AND wanted)- Sanchez, Iguain, Benzema, Shaquiri etc..
    Is Brendan the brilliant manager remains to be seen, but he has time on his side- remember his 5 years plan when he came- we are still on track so far, and a bit ahead(maybe that is the biggest problem). But when he laid down his plan, WE ALL said- good plan, let's wait for that.

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  23. finally somebody talking sense

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  24. For Christ sake he WAS that! Manager of the stable EPL team that did very well under him, playing some very good football, but without aspiration for the big trophy. You do remember Swansea?

    But Liverpool and our aspirations are a different beast you know, for the manager and PLAYERS also. Ask another Dutchman, Advocat, who does he want more in his team- Markovic or Tadic and he will say Markovic. I watch a lot of Serbia games, I know. I am even sure Koeman would choose Lazar, but that is the beauty of a 'small' club- you see your players are good enough not to get relegated and you teach them how to play the best football possible, and if you are a good manager with good team you will finish 6th to 8th with nobody asking for your head if you lose 3 in a row.

    Here we have CL, cups and league games and in all those games we MUST get a good result or at least a good performance. That is why if you want to be where we want to be you must have a lot of money, brilliant manger, couple of outstanding players at least, couple of leaders, group of very good consistent players, bit of luck and TIME to make it work(plus many other things).

    Luck turned its' back on us with injuries (badly- Lallana, Can, Markovic- newcomers with no time to gel in, Allen as an 'old' one that should be performing at least solid on regular basis, Flanno as a back up with the flare, and Sturridge as.. Well..) The money was there but sometimes we just couldn't buy(for various reasons) what we needed(AND wanted)- Sanchez, Iguain, Benzema, Shaquiri etc..

    Is Brendan the brilliant manager remains to be seen, but he has time on his side- remember his 5 years plan when he came- we are still on track so far, and a bit ahead(maybe that is the biggest problem). But when he laid down his plan, WE ALL said- good plan, let's wait for that.

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  25. My replay is up there, here it is waitting for approval

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  26. I think he is just being stubborn this season in terms of tactics. Transfer-wise he is worse than KD.

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  27. show him the money he wouldve come and why didn't go for falcao is beyond me!!

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  28. Stubborn-agree. Awful in transfers- I disagree, though he ain't superb...

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  29. i am certainly not in the business of defending a player from 'that lot', however, 28m has nothing to do with the player. we know that at his age it is all about potential. if those upstairs want to pay a stupid amount to secure a possible future star (we have done it along with a lot of others), then don't slate the player if he doesn't turn up trumps.

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  30. unfunny manc sympathisers in disguise. if it did happen nobody should fuel them with a reaction, thats all they want. everyone should go on as if it never happened.

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  31. he needs to stop switching the side around so much. the uncertainty this is causing is a major contribution to the problems

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  32. We have gone from braves to cowards and someone is to blame ?.

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  33. "Big Brazilian" Do you know who Coutinho is ?

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  34. i would like brendan to explain why we have abandoned our high pressing, high tempo, passing game, in favour not being capable of passing a ball to a team mate 10yds away then smashing it up field , in the hope something may materialise. suarez may have given the ball away time and time again but at least he fought to get it back. is it because sas are absent, that he has discarded last seasons tactics, as the others may not be up to it? i want him to tell us why we have gone back 3-4 years in terms of hard to watch, frustrating, infuriating brand of football.

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  35. I hate to say it but those guys are not true 'fans' of Liverpool if they actually intend on doing this. Absolutely disgraceful and not what made all of us fans of this club. We are no better than a United or a City if we do this. The funny part is that contrary to popular belief that we are the joke of the league, fans of other clubs still respect us and realise the problems we are going through. I hope these guys are discouraged from doing this.

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  36. i accept some players from distant shores will take time to adapt to, not just the football, but life in general. i went to play (quite a few years ago) in a strange country, where the culture was nothing like anything i'd ever witnessed before, it was alien. once I had got used to scotland, i was fine!!! seriously i did go abroad to play and it took me over a year to feel comfortable on and off the park.

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  37. Maybe because Falcao wanted an obscene amount of money, was just coming back from a serious ACL injury, has never played one game in the CL and even at Utd he has been injured.

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  38. Markovic is a good player, the problem is he needs time and more importantly, games to settle in and adapt.


    You can not expect a player, especially a 20 yr to walk straight into a under performing team and play great football from day 1

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  39. Shaw is a another victim of the great British media.


    He is a good young promising player and has the potential to be one of the best left backs in the England.


    Is he worth 30mil.. no, but because he is English and shows a lot of promise he has got hyped up to be the next Maldini.


    On top of that he is playing in a struggling Utd team where he gets zero help.


    Shaw actually didn't play that bad against City yesterday, but it doesn't matter who you are, if you get no help from the player ahead of you, and the other defenders are terrible (Chris Smalling) you are always going to struggle

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  40. He has..
    Number two striker who he planned as the main force for the season out.
    He has his 5th choice(at least) as a number two striker. He can't cope with that, and that will be a big minus in his CV for this season, regardless of us finishing top 4- which we will.

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  41. No legs were broken. I think there is obviously still some scope in the game for those kinds of tackles to not be straight reds. It's obvious because refs don't always give them. These seem to be judgement calls so referees are indeed exercising some degree of discretion. I don't think you can argue with that. Unless this referee is about to be dropped or reprimanded then he's simply made a decision that is within the laws.

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  42. Absolutely shameful. Complete arsehol@s.

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  43. It makes no difference if any legs were not broken, the fact is these type of challenges are very dangerous and deserve a straight red.

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  44. You did no not cost £20 million.

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  45. blatantly rival fans trying to get under our skin

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  46. My view on the state of our current season and the major problems

    http://kopchants.blogspot.in/2014/11/newcastle-1-liverpool-0-same-problems.html

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  47. Shaw is a a very good talent we got the better deal with Moreno. Problem is that he has to play in a back four consisting of Johnson, Skrtel and Lovren. Need I say more.

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  48. I find it shocking that everybody is criticizing Moreno for the goal yesterday when he was trying to clear up the mess of the famous three who let Sissoko in as if at a party. Moreno and Manquillo have been our most consistent defenders and yet they are the ones dropped when Glen Johnson and others get a free ride. If you cannot even play you best defenders in an already weak defence, you are asking for trouble.

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  49. Rodgers has stuck with Skrtel and Lovren and dropped Manquillo for Johnson. Our defence is in a mess yet Rodgers carries on blindly.


    It is the same with persisting with Balotelli up on his own.


    His ignorance will cost him his job and he will deserve it.

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  50. I fully know that we are going to get pummeled like an orange tomorrow but for some reason, there is always that hope that today will be the day the team wakes up. Has not happened till now and might never happen but hey, you can always hope.

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  51. You mean Rodgers wakes up...


    Madrid are ready to seek and destroy. We stand no bloody chance with our clueless tactics, one up top, two holding midfielders and inept defenders.


    Game over.

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  52. the one on mario was terrorism! Can you imagine suarez had done any of these? Or imagine suarez spitting in a players face - he'd have been on the next plane to guantanamo!

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  53. Yes play Balotelli up on his own when it is clear that this is not working and CB pair which belong in a non league side.


    Same mindset as Rodgers.

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  54. What Rodgers should do is focus on his own team and players. Stuff like this: "I didn’t think we deserved to lose but didn’t do enough to win it. We had enough of the ball but just lacked that bit of creativity and invention in the final third.

    ‘Over the last 18 months we have been a team with a real threat going forward but we have lost 80 per cent of our goals from the team, with Luis going and Dan (injured). We can’t keep going on about it but it is an item as to why we’re not getting so many goals" makes my skin crawl. We just lack that bit of this and we lacked that bit of that. Every week it's a bit of an excuse. We lost 80 percent of the goals from the team yes but we got more than enough money to replace Suarez yet didn't and Sturridge was out for a long time last season as well. But then we had Suarez. Now we have 75 million quid worth of either rubbish or players who can't make it off the bench for some reason. For 25 million Lallana should be a starter. End of. Rodgers is full of excuses. Just like Houllier was before het got sacked. Just like Benitez was just before he got sacked. No matter how he twists and turns and tries to make things seem less dire than they are, we invested 200 million into our team on his watch and we can't score to save our lives nor defend to save our lives. Time to bring in De Boer.

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  55. Luis Suarez's greatness is on display by not being here.


    He and Sturridge carried this team last year.


    And it's exposing Rodgers as a result.

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  56. I disagree. We did not play this badly even when Suarez was banned.

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  57. We shouldn't rely on people getting send off or scoring own goals to beat the likes of Newcastle, West Brom or whoever else

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  58. Shaw's fee was absolutely scandalous and United were crazy to pay it, even if he does go on to be the best left back in the league. Personally I wouldn't swap him for Moreno who was far more reasonably priced

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  59. Agreed but Jaimie Suggested it wouldn't have made a difference but that is just a guess and a stretch at that.

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  60. Nevergonnacrackthecode5:27 pm, November 03, 2014

    balotelli is playing with borini in my formation
    i said borini will be given free role

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  61. Sorry how many goals has Falcao scored so far for Man U?

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  62. This is the formation 4-2-3-1 which you have picked and Rodgers has gone with for most of the season and where exactly are we and what sh!te football has been served up this season?


    Madrid will absolutely flatten your team. It will be like a training session for Madrid like in the match at Anfield. Rodgers mentality.

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  63. Nevergonnacrackthecode5:42 pm, November 03, 2014

    so what is a 433?
    the one so popular for last 7 years
    the first time i saw diamond in the pl
    was when rodgesr used it vs southampton


    rocdgers created diamond in pl




    but how will a 433 look like just curious?

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  64. Nevergonnacrackthecode5:43 pm, November 03, 2014

    Falcao not answer


    Jackson martinez should ahve been bought

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  65. The diamond formation was not created by Rodgers. It just shows how little you know.


    Ancelotti won the EPl with the diamond formation.


    What have you to say about that?

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  66. Fuck it. Why not!?!?

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  67. It says something about our performance that most people agree Newcastle should have had 2 red cards and no one really feels aggrieved with the refereeing. We were dire. I'm not sure Newcastle being depleted would have helped us much.

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  68. I'd generally agree, but we also have to remember, for all times, that he couldn't handle the dribbling skills of Tony Hibbert and brought him down for a pen.

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  69. Whilst Shaw was undoubtedly over-priced, his appeal goes beyond his nationality and pace. You've also got to remember that he was a part of one of the best defences in the league last season.

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  70. Yeah, he is the big Brazilian.

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  71. And people want Carra to manage LFC or assist BR?

    He has zero managerial experience. Playing and managing are vastly different things. Legendary player, but LFC is far too big to take a chance on somebody with literally zero managing or even coaching experience.

    King Kenny's first reign was a once-off and in an era where "tactics" was "something that Arsenal dabbled with", according to John Barnes. I can't post the link but it's on the web.


    Hint: check the Telegraph's website for an extract from Red Machine.

    Maybe one day Carra will be a suitable manager for LFC. That time is not now. Unless we want to be paying 28 million for Dele Alli.

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  72. He goes for wax before every match :-)

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  73. Nevergonnacrackthecode6:39 pm, November 03, 2014

    I became an lfc fan in 06/07
    so after the 08/09 season when we struggled i stopped watching football
    until the world cup 2010


    so i would have missed it


    but ancelotti used to play drogba ,anelka,malouda, lampard and kalou


    so how did he fit it?

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  74. I am not even going to bother.


    Do you know how long I have been watching the English game before it became the English premier League?

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  75. Gotta be aerodynamic. Slippery smooth.

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