14 Feb 2012

Graeme Souness admits: I was wrong about midfield star...

As much as it pains me to admit it, Manchester United's Paul Scholes ran the show against Liverpool at Old Trafford last Saturday. The 37-year old (!) kept United's midfield ticking over nicely, and whilst it didn't help that Liverpool gave him all the space in the world to play, Scholes showed that he still has the class to make an impact at the highest level. Graeme Souness initially criticised Scholes' decision to come out of retirement, but now the Liverpool legend admits that he was wrong to doubt the player.

Writing in the Daily Star, Souness admitted that Scholes' performances for United were forcing him to 'eat his words', and added:

"I was amazed he was making a comeback...but it’s been so far, so good for Paul since he returned to ­Manchester United’s midfield.

"He showed he can still be an major influence on the way United play, but the test, of course, is for him to do the business over a period of time – and to sustain his form and fitness.

"I genuinely hope he does that because I am a huge fan of his ability, and if that means he continues to prove me wrong, then so be it".


Leaving aside the fact that it always makes my stomach turn to see Liverpool players praise Man United (!), Souness is clearly right about Scholes; United are unbeaten in six of the seven games in which he has featured since his return, with five of those games being victories.

Former Liverpool striker Robbie Keane is another player who has returned to the Premier League this season and done well. In 6 games for Aston Villa, Keane has got 3 goals and 1 assist, which is a very impressive return for such a short loan period.

Perhaps Liverpool should've got there ahead of Villa and brought him back for a couple of months?

Jaimie Kanwar


18 comments:

  1. Nice to have Keane on the bench at least and be a rotational player but in relation to the first XI, I think the existing players, sooner or later, have to take responsibility and put in the performances as they are the ones that are signed for the long term. The competition and his quality would have been useful to have in the squad at least, that is for sure.

    I hope Charlie Adam was watching Scholes play, as Adam can be very untidy and wasteful in central midfield. His retaining of possession against Bolton was shocking for a top 6 club player. 

    Scholes' game has never been about pace but all about positional awareness in midfield, a football brain for subtle orchestration of possession and technical ability with his passing. So that kind of ability doesn't deteriorate as fast as a player who relies on pace/busy energetic style, as they get old. Hence why Tugay was still very useful in the twilight of his career. 

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  2. I still dont understand why we let keane go the first place.. He is a class finisher..

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  3. but we have done it ....we did bring back Craig Bellamy to liverpool

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  4. As bad as our current squad is. I'd hate to see Keane at Liverpool again. Mid table players = mid table finish.

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  5. Nonsense, Keane is a brilliant footballer

    Check out international stats if you have any doubt

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  6. bit like LFC...so he would fit right in...

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  7. Scholes got away with quite a few loose tackles in first half, so nothing has changed in the tackling department

    He was class but the room we gave him and Giggs was ridiculous

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  8. and  that's why none of top clubs want him now... 

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  9. I would also like to point out that if Benitez was managing Ferguson would never have started Scholes. I honestly don't think Scholes would have performed if Liverpool harassed him with pressure. Dalglish should have took advantage. That was something Benitez brought out of the team when they played and that was constant pressure off- the ball. But I wouldn't blame Dalglish. Players like Downing and Henderson have let him down, mostly Downing because I truly see effort in Henderson but Downing couldn't even care. I also hate to say this but Gerrard doesn't have that energy to chase players down any more. He looks very defeated now off the ball. 

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  10. It's because he was rubbish, and a stroppy moaning little bugger to boot.

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  11. Downing is a failure for 20 mil pounds. Henderson comes close.

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  12. He was slow and he didn't know anything about tactics. It was laughable watching him on the same field as Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard - he looked like someone's fat little brother trying to get attention.
    I personally thought he would be a success at Anfield so I'll admit that I was wrong there. I'm glad we managed to recoup some money for him and I don't think that Keane would have made any difference whatsoever to the run-in for the title that season.
    He was a big disappointment and the seriously depressing thing is that we never learnt from the mistake - we did exactly the same thing in signing Andy Carroll for too much money that we'll never make back.

    But surely the real issue with Liverpool is the handling of the club and the intelligence of the people who make the vital decisions. The Keane signing was fair enough at the time because Keane was a proven player. Granted, we paid too much for him, but it seemed like a decent gamble.

    Since our downfall in 2009, and in certain areas before that, the club has shown such an idiotic lack of savvy across the board - from transfers; to PR; even to the difficulty in buying tickets for games! The only field in which we seem to have shown success is in the international commercial side of things and if you'd said to most Liverpool supporters when FSG took over that our main area of improvement would be the money that the club made - that essentially we would become a business first and a football club 2nd - then I imagine that those supporters would have had a lot of misgivings about where the club was headed.

    I'm not saying it's FSG's fault - they've proven that they're willing to invest in the club. I'm saying that intelligence and common sense seems to be spread very thin at Liverpool FC after the commercial side of things has been addressed. At the moment, John Henry giving the club money for transfers appears to be like giving diamonds to a toddler. Even if we get THAT side of things right, there are myriad other areas in which the club is failing badly. And these are areas that I'm not sure FSG were aware of when they signed up for this 'franchise'.

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  13. If watching Scholes play could make you improve - Hi !! I am Xavi. Will you sign me up ??

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  14. he was still better than carroll.

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  15. I love your musings. Very insightful and thoughtful. You have the ability to change the world, you just don't know it yet.

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  16. If only he could expand a bit on his points.

    Keane did well on his return, could easily have done a job for us, as did Henry for Arsenal. Proper EPL legend ending his time with a fantastic winner away to Sunderland, compare that to the dross we watched on Saturday. Our players made Scholes look better than he currently is. Alongside Giggs and Carrick, we should have been able to take it to their midfield, but we too passive and not ambitious enough and, basically, allowed a slow and old midfield to dominate us. I think Clarke has improved our defence but did we really need another ex West Ham coach? considering that they hardly have a reputation for over achieving.

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  17. You write well for someone sat at home in his pants. That being said Spurgeon Tanner, I doubt you have ever seen a naked lady in the flesh before. 

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  18. The game against united was KK fault plain and simple he took too long to make the changes, this is why Scholes had the room to play, sorry if people get upset but Hendo should not be there, Adam is 10 times the player that he is and good knows we really need some pace why was Bellamy left out and we all agree that Carroll actually started to play some football and he was on the bench as well wtf. It all falls on KK for that game in my opinion.

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