24 Mar 2015

Revealed: 'Amazing' £10m powerhouse explains his 'decision' to reject Bayern for Liverpool

'Amazing' Liverpool utility man Emre Can is receiving (grossly exaggerated) rave-reviews this for basically doing what he's paid to do, and based on his latest interview, it seems as if he's starting to believe his own hype.

In an interview over the weekend, Can predicted:

"If I keep doing what I have been for two or three months, they [Bayern] might regret letting me leave one day."

The German then made it clear that he rejected Bayern and not the other way round:

"I have nothing against Bayern. They gave me lot of good things [but] it was my decision to leave. I wanted more game time, so there was no bad blood with Bayern and I thank them for all they did for me".

Can is doing a good job in defence this season, but I'm still not as hopelessly enamoured as everyone else. If Javier Manquillo had been given a run of 20 games in a row on the right side of central defence, I'm sure he would've done a similarly effective job.

Additionally, the idea of Can replacing Gerrard in midfield next season is, quite frankly, worrying. Despite the fact it's his favoured position, the German has looked distinctly average when played there this season, and in my view, Can/Henderson is not a viable midfield partnership:

* Having two box-to-box midfielders in the same team is a bad idea. Both have the same instincts (get forward, attack etc), and both will want to make similar runs.

* Tactical discipline will be an issue; for Henderson, this is already a minor problem, and Rodgers conceded this a few weeks ago.

* A dedicated defensive-midfielder is essential to the success of Liverpool's preferred style of play, and neither Can nor Henderson are specialist DMs.

* Imagine having two Gerrards in midfield. It's a nice idea, but it wouldn't work. Ditto Can and Henderson.

There's one other thing to consider: throughout his brief career, Can has been played in various different positions (including central defence and right back), and he's rarely played consistently as a central midfielder.

The question is, why?

If Can is so amazing in central midfield then why did Bayern and Leverkusen rarely trust him there? Could it be that he's just not that effective in the role?

Brendan Rodgers should just convert Can into a full-time central defender. With Toure sure to leave at some point in the next year, and Lovren failing to hold down a place, keeping Can in defence could save the Reds big money on signing a new centre-half.

Author:


10 comments:

  1. Not so sure about Can 's heading ability cause otherwise I think he has the making of an xcellemt central defender.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Saw highlights of PSG-Bordeaux, which Bordeaux won, Illori started alongside Sane (also linked to us, though as a DM). He might turn out to be the 3rd/4th CB needed, haven't written off Lovren yet. Doubt Wisdom or Coates will return as the finished article.


    Disagree that every team must have a Makelele / dedicated DM, someone who gets a nosebleed past the halfway. It's down to discipline and understanding between the central midfield players, when one drives the other drops. However, would agree that neither Can or Hendo look like having the discipline yet, though Hendo is getting there. But that's down to BR to coach and teach. The reason Rafa put Gerrard out on the wing was to teach him not to hare up and down the pitch - turned out to be a masterstroke for his goals/assists that season, but he came back into the middle and was far more disciplined. BR needs to find what works. (Interestingly, Herrera said that was the reason LvG wasn't picking him as well, he kept wanting to go to where the ball was, he learnt to be more disciplined in a few months.)


    Especially if we continue to play 3 at the back, and one of the wing backs keeps dropping as the other goes forward, as has been largely the case, can't really afford for a total sitting DM, would need both CM's to be up or on the cusp of play, else we'll simply have too few in attack.



    Why wasn't Can playing there for Bayern? The quality and experience there speaks for itself, wouldn't expect too many 18/19yr olds to get many opportunities. At Leverkeusen they have Bender and Rolfes, not sure who else plays middle there, but I suspect the same reasons, more experienced and senior players.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well Can has done a marvellous job especially being at a new club and bedding in so well if you had bothered to watch JK Can had played some handy games in the midfield.
    I would suggest at the moment we concentrate on the Lovrens and Lallanas who are mature aged and whom we spent a fortune on.
    This picking at the younger players should stop and lets get get onto the Lovrens who definitely deserve criticism.
    Who i also remember you applauded the arrival of.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Iloris gone i reckon i dont see them taking him back its going to be sale time at Liverpool this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. the idea is this :
    .................................. Mignolet .................................
    ...........Lovren...............Skertel................Shako
    Lazar...............Can....................Hendo.................Sterling
    ...................Lallana.........................Cautinho..............
    ................................Strurridge............................

    ReplyDelete
  6. The formation itself does not work anymore. Our past few fixtures proved that with a little tactical strategy our formation can easily be broken down. Swansea, Southampton, Man. U and even Blackburn have proved this.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So what if I was happy with Lovren's arrival. What does that have to do with the issue at hand? Absolutely nothing' so why bring it up? Why don't you just stick to the issue at hand and drop the transparent diversion tactics.

    And Can has played no 'handy games' in midfield for Liverpool.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ONLY WITH A STRIKER WHO FOCUSES SOLELY ON GOALS IT DOESNT WORK(STURRIDGE). WITH STERLING COMING DEEP IT DEFINATELY WORKS AS HE ASSISTS TEAM-MATES AND SCORE GOALS AND COMES DEEP TO DEFEND. FLEXIBLE. THE FORMATION IS ABOUT FLEXIBILITY AND IF YOUR NOT FLEXIBLE IT CANT WORK. FOR THE REST OF SEASON MY FORMATION WILL BE

    -----------------------------MINGOLET

    IBE---------------SKRTEL---------------SAKHO------FLANO

    ------------------LUCAS---------------CAN

    HENDERSON------------COUTINHO------------MARKOVIC

    ------------------------------STERLING

    AND WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK OF COUTINHO UPFRONT? HES BECOME THE FOCAL POINT AND PERSONALLY I BELIEVE HE BECOME LIKE LIONEL MESSI IN THAT ROLE

    -----------------------------MINGOLET

    JONSON---------SKRTEL---------------SAKHO------FLANO

    ------------------LUCAS------------------CAN

    HENDERSON------------MARKOVIC--------------IBE

    -------------------------------COUTINHO

    ReplyDelete
  9. Don't think you can write off any formation/system, or expect that any single system is going to devastate the league through the entire season.

    As against Swansea, a little tweaking can make the difference. BR said he went to a diamond in the middle and pushed the sides up a bit, essentially the 3-4-2-1 became a 3-5-1-1 (or 3-5-2) and suddenly all looked well again.

    What is working defensively is the 3 at the back, at least for now. But Mata showed what a pacey wide man can do if your fullbacks switch off mentally in that system and your wingback goes missing. Palace is 2nd last game of the season, wouldn't fancy giving Bolasie and Zaha an opportunity to run in behind. Maybe for that game we fo flat back 4 and have 2 holding, one assigned to pick up whichever wing the run comes down.

    But I don't think the 3-4-2-1 is dead, probably 25 games a season it'll win the match - as long as the pressing required happens - but for some games you'll need to cater to the opposition.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't watch French footy often, so not qualified to say if he has weaknesses, but I'd be surprised if he wasn't brought back in and assessed. He was sent out on loan to get more experience, exactly what he's doing. A ball playing CB, only just turned 22, starting against some of the top teams in France.

    ReplyDelete