7 Aug 2012

Boss insists: £15m target is 'a level above' LFC's midfield flops. Agree...?

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has warned Liverpool that Swansea star Joe Allen won't come cheap, and he believes the midfielder is a cut above Liverpool's recent midfield acquisitions.

In a press conference last night, Laudrup revealed his frustration over the constant rumours linking star midfielder Joe Allen with a move to Liverpool:

"We will have to talk about that [transfer to LFC] with the player to see what he wants so we can say something official, otherwise the rumours will go on until August 31, which is not in anyone's interest.

"On Wednesday we will have some talks so it does not go on until the last day of the transfer window".


Laudrup then claimed Allen that Allen could be worth over £20m, and argued that he is a better player than the likes of Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam:

"He is worth a lot of money because he's a good player. We saw they [Liverpool] bought a couple of midfielders in the last few years for a lot of money, but with all due respect Joe is on a level above. "In my opinion, if one [of Liverpool's midfielders] is worth £17m then Joe is worth over £20million"

It;s hard to argue with Laudrup's reasoning. The stats prove that Allen is a more effective passer and tackler player than all of Liverpool's midfielders, including Hendo, Adam, Gerrard, Lucas et al. For example, last season:

* Europe's 6th most accurate passer.
* 2nd most effective tackler in the Premier League.

Like any manager, Laudrup will try and push the price up as high as possible but I can't see Liverpool paying over £13m-£15m for Allen.

In any event, it looks like Swansea could make an official announcement about Allen's future sometime this week, maybe even on Wednesday. It looks like it will be an interesting week.

Jaimie Kanwar


70 comments:

  1.  Laudrup is right when he says Allen is worth more than the midfielders we bought last year. But we way over paid for them. Therefore he is worth less than 20 million - I think about 12 million considering he has only played one year in the Premiership (I think)

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  2. Can't blame Laudrup for trying to get the best price for his player but talk of £20 million is laughable. Especially when we are supposed to have only put a couple of million more as the price for Agger ! have to say that Allen doesn't particularly 'light my fire'. £12 million should be the top line, not a penny more !

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  3. Passing? It is only meaningful if it is in the right direction. Allen tends more to back passing or simply "triangles" around the deeper mid-field.

    What is needed is passing that is forthright and decisive and more attack-minded than defensive ( a la Alonso of old ). I also cannot see a comparison to Lucas at all. 

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  4. Looks certain that LFC will have to trigger the £15 mil clause in Allens contract to land the signing.  Beyond that there is little Laudrup can do or say to get more dough or throw a spanner in the works.  It's down to Rodgers to decide does he want him enough to shell out the full £15 mill, my guess is he will because the initiative in landing G. Ramirez has been lost a bit and Spurs have more leverage in that saga.  Is Allen good enough? well from Olympics performance as well as his previous seasons campain with the Swans you'd have to agree that he's more of a prospect than Hendo, Lucas or Spearing.  Does Allen present LFC with the cutting edge in offence? no- not directly.

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  5. Shut up with your nonsense Laudrup! Trying to get more money out of the lad. If the lad wants to join Liverpool then you can not stop him with your bogus nonsense. Agree last year was a bad business by LFC for players such as Carroll and Adam but noway we are going to repeat the same. Besides, I believe if we happen to retain the service of Carroll he might prove his worth this season.

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  6. lol all im saying if anyone wants to  know the real stats on this guy  then just google allen  compared with  lucas on google. Youll find he is not fit to  lace Lucas boots. As for Henderson well  mmm he can play 4 positions in a team. Some positions  better than others. From right back to right side of mid field. I watched this allen  in team Gb and ill be honest I actually rate  ramsey better and would go one better in even having aquilani the flop.in  team instead of him. I honestly wish im proved wrong but  just get the feeling we are moving  backwards for 15 mil.

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  7. well said / did u know that lucas passes the ball forward twice as much as allen? and people call henderson lol

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  8. Gotta disagree here, the whole point of Rogers style, and to a greater extent Barca, is that passing back is just as important. Its about keeping the ball when there`s no options ahead forcing your opposition to work harder and get more tired while you recover. If you kept the ball for the full 90mins of a game you would never ever lose right! (not going to happen but you get my point). 

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  9. the only player he is better than is spearing mate and no i dont have to agree lol

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  10. Are you suggesting Laudrup should sell Allen as cheap as he can purely because were Liverpool and we want him. Fair play to Laudrup for not buckling to a bigger club. It`s now our job to get the price down, and show are experience as a bigger club with more pulling power to do this. It`s a bit like chess.

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  11. Liverpool did pay over the odds for Henderson downing etc but i feel the Adam situation was different? he wasn't a staggering price and to be fair at blackpool the season before Liverpool signed him he had a fantastic season as did Carroll at Newcastle, Things just never worked out as planned. I like Joe Allen he's a top young player but just because Liverpool have paid over the odds in the past doesnt mean they should keep doing it? i think 12 million is more than enough. If Swansea want to play hard ball they end up with a unhappy player who is unintrested and ends up costing even less next year. with losing Maxi kuyt etc i do hope Liverpool bring in a few signings. Still would like to see Gaston ramirez pulling on the red jersey.

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  12. Tell Laudrup to stick him, not paying over 12mil. We can have him free next season.

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  13. I agree with Kanwar, Allen is a step above Henderson, Spearing and even Gerrard in many departments (other than attacking). Detailed stats don't lie and epl index shows comparison's of detailed stats between Allen and all other centre mids. Allen is a gem and essential to Rodgers vision. Lets just hope he can perform at his true level with a red shirt on but I think he will as Rodgers is his manager.

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  14. 20 million is getting a bit cheeky though isnt it? having said that though with the daft money Liverpool have spent in the past it's no wonder Swansea are pushing the amount. If Allen actually submitted a transfer request though And Liverpool wont pay 20 million Swansea rather drop the price or have a player who doesnt want to be there! id sooner lose him for newt than have him there when he doesnt want to be? ha knowing Liverpools luck Spurs will sign him! or City will offer 30 million a 250k a week

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  15. Sorry also miles ahead of adam in general ability technique speed accuracy and class.

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  16. Better than Lucas???? Where have you been watching your football from, outer space??

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  17. facts of one season, weve all seen good one year stats over the years eh.
    but cant really argue, our centre mid even with gerrard in is weak, minus lucas. no creativity and no real ball winner, is allen the answer??
    man utd need a centre mid, how come there not going in for him??
    lets forget allen and buy abroad, didnt charlie adam have great stats at blackpool??
    hope im wrong, we sign him, and hes one the missing links, we need wingers more than anything

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  18. I believe that Laudrup could shoot himself in the foot with this sort of talk. Is Allen a decent player yes he is but young Shevley stood out for me during pre season and i think with Lucas and Gerrard both fit then young Sheevley could slot well into midfield also i dont think any of us should overlook Suso either so to me Allen isnt the most important signing we need. What we should be breaking the bank for is a world class striker. We have an abundance of defenders and midfielders but i dont think any fan on here can argue with the fact that we are in dire need of a striker.

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  19. Allen better than Lucas? Are you sick? Starting mid for Brazil vs someone that has played one season in the prem.....At this time Allen may be better than Hendo, Adam, shelvey, and spearing. But no a chance better than Lucas or Stevie! Judging a player on stats alone is outright mental! If that were the case why do teams have scouts? Please make an intelligent assessment of players or prepare to look foolish.

    Forget Allen and get gaston! Ynwa. #calikopite

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  20. Yep 20mil is over the top, and considering he has a clause rumoured to be 15mil, I think its just his way of trying to make us pay the full 15mil. I can`t personally see Allen putting in a transfer request. He has been there since a young lad, and seems happy to stay if it comes to that, I just can`t see him screwing over his own fans with a transfer request. I`m sure they will talk and he will show his desire to play for Liverpool and we will bid the 15mil needed to get him.

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  21. I really want this lad at Liverpool. I think a mid three of Lucas then Allen and either Stevie or a new signing like Gaston would be a awesome mid three.

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  22. Agree completely we lacked goals last season and so far bring in Borini! no offence to borini but i just dont see that signing alone bringing Liverpool further up the table! Carroll is hit and Miss and is Suarez a natural striker? he's a great player there is no doubting that but Liverpool need a striker. Adam Morgan looks a good young player and Suso is also very talented.

    Also agree with Calikopite i think Gaston ramirez would be a top signing! With Suarez and Coates there as well all could sway him towards Anfield. Deffo got to strenghten before deadline day as at the moment the team has lost Maxi and Kuyt so id say its weaker than last season!

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  23. mmm wasn`t people complaining alot about hendersons sideways passing  last season/ In my opinion the PL is more dynamic and  faster pace than other countrys.
    Rogers has not thought this through. No plan b, no counter attack and we will play a less offensive formation than last season yet expected to score more goals . mmm well lets wait and see. we are not barcelona if we were wed have messi/

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  24. stats never lie  just google stats mate .

    search allen and lucas compare stats

    i rest my case 

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  25. a lot of people were, I wasn`t. I`m guessing the idea is to make better chances. We had loads last season but so many werent scoring ones, more punts, and yes hitting bar lol

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  26. Sorry Ray, won't be free next year, he is 3 years in to a 4 year contract...

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  27. Explain how he is free next season when he has 3 years left on his contract?

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  28. All clubs are trying to extort money from us whenever we show interest in their players. We are in this situation thanks to our idiotic previous manager who thought it was a good idea to overspent on average players last season. Now every manager is using this as reference for fixing a price tag on their players when we enquire about them. Thank you very much Kenny Dalglish! 
    Anyway Laudrup is being ridiculous. He even went as far as asking that we exchange our star player suarez for allen! That guy must have smoked some really strong weeds imo...He cannot have compared a player like suarez with hundreds of goals and assists both at club and international level to a one season wonder championship player like allen.
    What pissed me off even more was when he also said that he does not see any player not in our starting eleven playing for him. He is really getting a little too cocky here! How can he compare his team full of championship players with liverpool who had the most number of international players than any other team in the league in the last world cup...He should accept the 12 million we are giving him plus jonjo shelvey or we should forget about allen and let him keep him while we go buy some far better players with more creativity like ramirez who cost only 15 million.

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  29. our pronlem wasn`t the chances but the finishing mate and spending 15 mil on another midfielder doesnt solve the problem as well as getting rid of carol. all diference of 4 mil between  carol and allen. hilarious.

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  30. allen played twice as many minuites than lucas so you cant really compare

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  31. lol have you ever  heard of percentages or you not into use basic  mathmatics? lol  if  not i can help. number of tackles divided by number of minutes on  pitch and then times by 100 . oh and the bad news for you is it does work out as i said twice as much. gets a bit complicated depending on what you want to work out but ill help if your stuggling.

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  32. lol simply divide by 2 lol
    u see u can compare lol

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  33. Deluded Liverpool fans shocker!

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  34. The Suarez comment was a joke! Irony clearly lost on you. 

    Secondly. Laudrup doesn't need to accept the £12M as the player is under contract, he won't be unhappy if he stays at Swansea as he has been at the club since the age of 9 and is fully aware that the club will not stand in his way if a serious offer is made. In fact, he may be even better placed to move on to a team with serious title aspirations after a year or two learning from one of the best creative midfielders of his era!

    Perhaps Laudrup is making a stand against clubs who try to bully smaller teams by unsettling players with constant drip feeding to the media and then making derisory offers to get players on the cheap! I fully accept that there is a football pecking order and that players move on but trying to financially screw the smalle teams makes my blood boil.

    Finally, Allen may have only played one season in the Prem but he is no "one-season wonder", I have watched his development since his debut as a 16 year old and he was always going to be a top player, i'm just happy that he has achieved that playing for my team - trust me, i pray that he stays where he is, but if Liverpool miss out on him through refusing to pay the asking price they will regret it sorely!

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  35. the tiki taka philosophy encourages lots of small passes in a triangle across the pitch. So passing accuracy should be higher amongst team like swansea barca etc. Please watch Gaston rameriz, he is not as good as you think. Nurhi Sahin is the player we should target [even on loan]. He is the xabi alonso and  more that we did not replace.

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  36. those championship players with young joe took 4 points off us last year! Joe Allen is the real deal and very consistent watch him work in tight areas...he rarely loses it just makes space and passes it on!

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  37. Comolli and Kenny earned Liverpool a reputation of mug. Everything thinks they can take Liverpool for ride when it comes to transfer. All our good players are going for free and we can't buy anything decent at reasonable price. Its a bloody joke! 
    Some of these people like Ladrup needs to be told where to go if they want over the odds. Doesn't matter if we have to buy someone else. Allen is not only midfielder in whole Europe who can pass the ball.

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  38. Scholes is renowned for his passing and a higher percentage of his passes were side/backwards in comparison to Allen last season so I wouldn't read much into that.its all about keeping the ball...and allen does that superbly.

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  39. lol firstly scholes  scores many goals. scholes does assist and he played 6 months. if you put   both these playes in the same bracket then i give up.

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  40. Thats excatly what I wrote lol

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  41. even as an old age pentioner scholes number of  goals in his best season  may be more than allen will score in whole career considering if you get 4 goals per season he has tried.

    your point are not valid. lets move on

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  42. As someone pointed out Swansea took 4 points off Liverpool last season and if you look at the stats for those games you will see that your STAR players couldn't even get hold of the ball to do their MAGIC. Joe Allen is a star player, Swansea are one of the very few clubs that operate at a profit and they do not need to sell anyone. The biggest advantage any player has when he moves to a 'Bigger Club' is a hike in salary and who can blame them. Joe would spend his whole carear at Swansea if he chose to.
    I like Liverpool but the reality is that if you want to buy a player then pay the asking price or shop somewhere else. Stop trying to rape the smaller clubs of talent on the cheap, pay up or go away and buy a cheap 3rd division player. You know the irony here? Brendon Rodgers always complained about buying ready made stars and he bought Non leaque Irish players, conference players and lower leaque British players, now he has money to spend he is acting like all the other PL managers. Try running your club at a profit then maybe you will be more realistic about the market.

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  43. Thank God it will be down to "our" experience and not about "our" English.

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  44. If he is 3 years into a four year contract - then surely he has only one year left on his contract?  Therefore Ray12858 is correct in that he would be out of contract next year - and therefore free?

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  45. Look son reign in your enthusiasm and slow your horses down.  Lucas doesn't tackle and hhe only plays sideways passes not exactly the sharpest tool was he's dropped way down the pecking order in the Brazil set up.  The only reason youre so turned on by him is cuz of an aura of brilliance associated with brazil.  As for stats are you kidding me Lucas hardly played last season through injury and when he did we hardly set the world on fire.  i wonder wher you got your stats from a historymuseam perhaps.  Allen on the other hand represented his nation and was the passing hub in midfield something that could give Liverpool an untold advantage. So when you wake up from your slumber and get your head out of ancient stats accept facts and realise Allen is actually ahead of Lucas on recent form.

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  46. Obviously not where you've been watching.  The Olympics was on recently here on Earth. NEWS FLASH:  Allen played represented team GBR.  As opposed to Lucas: WHAT EXACTLY HAS HE DONE RECENTLY EXCEPT GET SPLINTERS ON HIS A**E SAT ON THE BENCH.

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  47. Opta Stats Lucas 6.5 versus Allen...........6.6. so shove you bogus stats you MUUUUPeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

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  48. Course Lucas dropped down the pecking order, he was injured! If Allen had the same injury he wouldn't have represented his country, so your points are pointless!

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  49. This guy must be dreaming. Just because we made a mistake last season we are forced to keep making the same mistake again? Greedy.

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  50. And what of the written agreement not to come in for Swansea players for 12 months?  Unsettling Sigurdsson was unfortunate but fair: what is happening with Allen and one or two of the others is little short of tapping up.  Trying to asset strip a smaller club that took 4 points off you last season and then complaining about the price makes you look cheap.
    You Scousers lack class and you now have a manager to suit. 

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  51. lol very funny . so the goalkeeper in team gb is as good or if not better than all brazilian goal keepers that don`t make the  brazilian squad.
    Son I just laugh and stop debating here.

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  52. those written agreement are done by humans and are bound to be revoked when circumstances call for that,look at the case of Konchesky who followed Roy to Anfield just weeks after such agreement had been reached between Roy and Fulham..... 

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  53. Are you actually classing team GB as a proper international team??

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  54. Opta stat Lucas 6.5 Allen 6.6 so where are your stats? goal keepers? what are you on about?  this thread is about who LFC might buy.  youre defo some nutjob. yeah stop debating. until youve got something posiive to add.

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  55. A season ago we were so happy to have Henderson and Adam, who passed a million times more balls than anyone in the universe the season before that, and Downing who had the most crosses an assists in the entire history of the universe also in the previous season. So I m not going to get excited about someone who is a £10 to £15 mil "better than average" player, who also happens to be British. We have plenty thank you. 

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  56. I'll counter that by pointing out that over an entire season, our "star players" accumulated more points and scored more goals than Joe Allen and the rest of the superstars at Swansea, while also reaching two cup finals. So the magic at Swansea must be open to accusations of being "overrated", no?

    The reality is that Allen's market value is way below what Swansea are trying to milk out of LFC, and whatever we've spent on other players previously is irrelevant (especially when it comes to buying players with buy-out clauses written into their contract)

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  57. Stats always lie, mate. You can find any stat to prove any argument. What doesn't lie is value. Sure, Allen made more passes than everyone in the league last year: including Barry, Milner, Nasri, Scholes, Bale, Van der Vaart, even Gerrard. Tell you what, I'd take any of these players over Allen. Even Scholes at his age. 

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  58. Are you seriously convinced by stats alone? Mate, we bought Henderson, Downing and Adam on that basis. So many factors that make stats conditional. If stats were all that counted, Carroll would have scored 20 goals last season.

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  59. Why don't you take off your rose coloured specs regarding Lucas. He has no pace, he hardly scores any goals (one in 123 league games), he hardly provides any assists, he gives the ball away endlessly, he fouls constantly and he hasn't got a creative cell in his body. He was utterly dire for three seasons and then not too bad for a season and a bit - and then got seriously injured. The only reason that he looked half reasonable was that he had previously been so poor. Other than the famous 4 - 1 against Man U away, I can't ever remember being massively impressed with him. He's O.K. as a defensive midfielder, but he's no Makalele, Mascherano or even Momo Sissoko.

    Allen is not the best midfielder in the world, and he's not worth anywhere close to £15M, never mind £20M. But he is a better player than Lucas albeit playing in a slightly different position.

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  60. Why don't you wake up in the real world. LFC are not trying to asset strip Swansea. Allen has played one season in the Prem, in which he played pretty well. £12.5 or £15M would be a generous price for him. To be honest there are better players of a similar age with far longer and more robust track records of playing at a top level available for the same or less money. As for the "others" you refer to - it's the players agents trying to engineer moves, not L.F.C. showing any interest whatever.

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  61. The 'real world' for you guys is one in which integrity is an unknown concept.  But in Allen's case Huw is going to stick to the release clause price and if you don't like that then walk away.  The bit about agents is largely fantasy: Rogers has mentioned names, albeit in a guarded way which attempts to stop short of 'tapping up'. Bottom line is that Brendon signed an agreement that he now disregards and that will be noticed by neutrals.

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  62. Yes I get your point, we draw every game Nil all.

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  63. In what parallel universe is that reality?! Hilarious

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  64. You might add Jay, Swansea had the worst pass completion EPL stats in final third of the pitch last season, you can pass all you like in your own half and around the halfway line, and draw every game 0-0.
    If AVB or Martinez had taken over, would we be screaming to sign Allen, I doubt it very very much.

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  65. We bought downing cuz A. Young chose United. We bought Adam cuz he scored in double figures often playing in defence. We bought Hendo cuz he was the brightest talent in English youth at the time. Had we used stats then this mess could have been avoided. Besides wake up mucker it's the other guy whose banging on about bogus stats. I simply forwarded sky player ratings check it out for yourself. Doesn't mean I agree or disagree. So think before you stick your Orr in.

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  66. eh? I'm not sure what world you're operating in, but the way that I'm in, Liverpool DID reach two cup finals, and finish above Swansea.

    Or are you so amused by the opinion that Liverpool should only bid the amount of a player's buy out clause, rather than bidding against valuations the club has spent on other players in the past?? Perplexing.

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  67. how can you claim that ramsey impressed more in the olympic tournament, allen was by far the best CM on the pitch for team GB. You constantly claim about jordan henderson about how he can play multiple positions everytime he was forced out onto the right of midfield he was lost, his lack of pace, vision, trickery and end product was laughable just look at his game against cardiff, he may aswell been playing the invisible man role or a game of hide and seek.

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  68. We did use stats moron. Adam, Downing and Hendo were the chief assist creators in the league the season before, and Kenny bought them to provide assists for Carroll. Also, when did Adam play in defence?! Is your TV upside down? Check, if the logo is at the top and the letters are upside down then you might wanna flip it over and join the rest of us in the real World.

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  69. A 'gentlemans agreement' suggests two things. 1, BR hasn't signed anything (or it would be a legal document) and 2, Swansea were prepared for him to come in for one or more of their players so they could cash in (or they would have insisted he sign a legal document).

    Both Huw and Rodgers knew that Rodgers would come in for Allen, this way it just makes Huw look like he's done his due diligence, when really he's just cashing in like all chairmen.

    Use your brain before you comment please.

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