31 Aug 2012

'LFC don't need him!' - Lawro accuses Rodgers of transfer error. Agree?

New Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen has played only two league games since arriving at Anfield, and with passing accuracy figures of 93% in both matches, the ex-Swansea man is already justifying his 15m transfer fee. Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson is not convinced though, and feels that money should've been spent elsewhere.

In an interview earlier this week, Lawro labelled Fabio Borini 'very peripheral', and suggested that Brendan Rodgers should've used the Allen transfer funds money more wisely. He argued:

"Joe Allen is a good player, but did they [Liverpool] really need him, or did they need somebody who can play up front with Suarez?

"Anyone watching Liverpool last year knew that they needed somebody who could play with Suarez but and get their fair share of goals.

"Looking at the team now, I just think they are going to have the same problems as last year".


It's true that Liverpool need to sign a goalscorer, and that should be the top priority, but Allen is (IMO) an essential signing for the following reasons:

* Integral to implementing Rodgers' football philosophy on the field.

* Technically and tactically a cut above ALL of LFC's current midfielders.

* The missing link in midfield that allows Rodgers to utilise Gerrard in the most effective (attacking) manner.

* Consistently superior passing accuracy, which sets a good example for other players.

Having said that, if the club's summer transfer business ended now, and it was a straight choice between Allen and a prolific goalscorer (Huntelaar, for example) I would probably choose a striker. As great as Allen is, goalscoring is Liverpool's main issue, and what's the point of dominating possession if there's no consistent end product?

With any luck, though, Liverpool will sign a goalscorer before the end of the transfer window.

If, by some disaster the club doesn't sign a striker, then youngsters like Adam Morgan should be promoted to regular first team duty.



Jaimie Kanwar


60 comments:

  1. liverpool4life5655:42 pm, August 31, 2012

    Yes we did need him, he brilliant at at passing and defending he made yay toure look crap until toure went further forward. We didn't have a player like him. Closest was lucas

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  2. Hi Jamie,

    Agree with your comments regarding Morgan, but weren't you disappointed that he played on the right of the front three last night? Especially given all those chance Suarez missed through the middle! Suarez should be moved from the central position to either the right or the left (as you have argued all summer) and a proper goalscorer signed.

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  3. I agree, Joe Allen, in his short Anfield career, has been immense. Once he's fully settled he'll be pulling the strings in midfield and, hopefully, that will lead to Gerrard getting back to his 'swashbuckling' best!

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  4. lawro looks like a heroin addicted paedophile, so why do people listen to him?

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  5. I'm not in the habit of listening too closely to anything Mark Lawrenson has to say. He is obviously right that a top striker is needed, but he clearly underestimates the importance of midfield in, not just Rodgers's style, but modern football as a whole. As Brendan, and indeed Rafa, have both said, is that it is better and more important to have goals from all over the pitch than having 1 great striker. We did that and look what happened when he left.

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  6. The only Liverpool ex-legend I've heard who understands something in modern football is Hansen, and maybe some younger ones. Lawrenson and the others are just ridiculous sometimes. Questioning if a team needed Allen's quality, when we had the likes of Henderson and Spearing there, is just stupid.

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  7. Agree, Sparky.  Morgan is a goalscorer, so it seemed pointless playing him from the right.  I hope he gets another opportunity in his natural position.

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  8. Looking at Lucas situation, it seems that Allen's buy is most shrewd and he really fits into the team like water

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  9. Did KD spend the transfer money available to him "wisely"? Allen is a quality signing who will only improve further. As far as a striker is concerned I don't think Rodgers would have let Carroll go if he didn't plan on bringing in a replacement.

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  10. Lawro has lost the plot since he was replaced on the BBC couch by the other clown Shearer.

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  11. My friend in Spain says LFC are closing in on Llorente. Clubs have agreed the fees and its only a matter of personal terms now. If this is true, it would be very skillful business must say. 

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  12. Well seems we have made our offer for Dempsey, though i dont  think he is the answer to our goalscoring problems, he will at least give us options if he comes as Spurs have also made an offer, i got a feeling the goalscoring striker the fans are craving isnt going to arrive.

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  13. I do not really believe that we will solve the striker problem this time around. There will always be a "reason" why it can't be solved....

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  14. Sorry but Lawro always makes bizzare comments and predictions, guess old age does affect your senses. Who were we supposed to play ahead of Allen...Adam...spearing...I don't think so. Allen was a good acquisition so was sahin, now was have one of the best midfields in the EPL. I'm just worried about rogers judgement about Enrique and downing. Enrique is our first team left back bar none. If he lets Enrique go for downing or Robinson it would be a huge mistake. Last season defencive stats speaks for itself.

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  15. cant see it happening and would rather we spend £12million less on someone 2 years older who has scored goals for more then 1 club and has a far better record.

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  16. I did not know Allen before he came. But after seeing him in action, I was really impressed with him. He is definitely a very good signing. He stabilizes the midfield area somewhat. Unlike Charlie Adam, he does not lose the ball easily with stray passes. He is very efficient with the ball. At 15m, he was well worth it.

    We still need a goal poacher. IF no one comes in from transfer, we should promote youngsters like Morgan. We should trust Brendan with the squad and back him solidly as a supporter.

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  17. LFC undeniably need goals and a striker, but based on last season I'd say they needed Joe Allen as well.
    Consistent, accurate passing allows domination of the midfield, control of games, service to forwards and shield for the defence. Adam didn't hack it.

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  18. He is right on the one hand, but also not right on the other, because we desperately need a proven striker of the ability of llorente/huntelaar for example. Now that Carroll has left, we really are lacking up front. However, joe Allen is an integral signing because he knows exactly what is expected of a Brendan Rodgers' team and therefore having him in the midfield will help the manager get his philosophy across to the squad. I really hope we get on it with the striker situation as there isn't long left and it's all gone quiet at lfc........ Come on fsg. We have off loaded Adam, Carroll and spearing from the wage bill. Surely there is enough wage budget to accommodate a top striker. Sturridge and Dempsey are good players, but we need one marquee signing to boost morale in the squad.

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  19. Lawro should shut the mouth. Look how quickly our team folded when Alonso left us. He was never replaced. Allen seems like he can fill this role. I do agree that a poacher is required but a porous midfield has been the biggest problem since Xabi left.

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  20. These are the band wagon of Dalglish - still trying to justify KD's transfer howlers. What I have seen from a group of X Dalglish mates is to criticize & undermine Rogers at every scope. They can't criticize the justified sacking of KD, trying to put pressure on anyone who would have replaced KD as Manager (Be it BR or someone like Fabio Cappello or Pep Guardiola).

    As much as striker is required, we needed quality MFs. Under outdated & ugly sky-hoof strategy of KD, LFC might not required ball playing CMs & AMs, but unless the MF generates enough pressure, we 'll always be depending on Hollywood pass into the D box. I think, under KD we had CMs & AMs in quantity (with Adam, Henderson, Spearing & Downing making the numbers) but hardly any quality.

    Most importantly, BR has spent money on players who 'll improve the squad, better than existing players, KD bought inferior players at higher price & salary (Anyone justify selling Mirales & buying Adam?). KDs transfer howlers has left so much for BR to fix that, he had hardly any space. He would have bought a pair of top forwards surely, had his predecessor not wasted 75mn on 3 ordinary English garbage @ premium salary, who we are even struggling to sale, loan or accommodate at revised position; BR definitely would have gone for 2/3 marque signings.

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  21. Great post, dalglish should have got a prolific goal scorer when he had the chance, in general the spine of the team is very good. Let's see what happens after the window and judge it then. We must realise we are in a stage of transition and I'm fully behind the manager.

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  22. I was not wildly excited at the signing of Joe Allen and have to admit that I thought he was being over-hyped in the same way that Charlie Adam was before we rashly bought him. I now offer a sincere and unqualified apology to Joe. He is everything good that was said about him and more. He has more than impressed on his last two outings and it makes such a pleasant change to see a Liverpool player consistently finding his owm team mates with passes instead of the woefully wasted endeavours of last season.

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  23. Rodgers has a particular brand of football, based on what I saw from his Swansea side, and no one else in our squad distributes the ball around and keeps possession ticking over from central midfield as well as Allen (apart from Sahin, but because he is new and temporary, I decided to put him aside for now), which is key for Rodger's style (the likes of Adam, Shelvey and Stevie G are too hollywood, unsubtle and direct for such a deep central midfield role like that). Who better than a player the manager already knows. So for that reason, I can see why Rodgers has brought him in.


    The fee might be bit of a premium but that aside, I think it is a promising signing and a signing that makes sense, in terms of how they fit into the manager's plans. Too right Rodgers brought in central midfielders that he feels will help to portray his ideal style of play. Yes, we need a striker but we also needed a central midfield that Rodgers' felt comfortable in that could be the hub of the style of play he has in mind for us. If Rodgers was going to deploy the exact same style as KK did, than Lawro may have had more of a case for stating the problems from last season need to be fixed, etc but he obviously has changed the style, so no use putting too much weight into the problems from last season, as its a different playing field now, so the problems are now based on a different style, i.e., the need for a particular type of central midfielder for his new style, i.e., Allen.


    I rated him from his days at Swansea, Allen and has looked good so far but it is early days and one player can only do so much anyway. But he is a promising step in the right direction, under a manager who is taking the club in a different direction of playing style from the previous season.

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  24. lawro needs to pull his head out of his arse. what a muppit.
    watching allen reminds me dare i say of a very talented spaniard we used to have. just excellent to watch reads the game very well, doesnt waste a pass. so far verry very good. the anfield crowd love him already. lawro nicol etc are getting worse!!

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  25. yeah we need a proven goal scorer more than we need Joe Allen. I like the player but i feel that he was a luxury and not a need. I don't know how man Joe actually scored last season but i bet you it wasn't that much. We have a lot of people who can play Joe's position. Every new manager likes to bring in his one central midfield guy regardless of the fact that there are already people who can play in the middle. We have been thin up front in the striker position for as long as i can remember.

    I hate say it i don't think that Liverpool will have a top 4 finish this season. I believe that we will still struggle to finish moves off in front of goal. You can have tiki-taka till the cows come home but if you don't convert a lot of your chances then all your possession really don't mean anything. We need a proven prolific striker and so replacing Andy Carroll should have been job one. He said no to Hunterlaar so i don't know that we will see a lot of goals this new season.

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  26. are we arsenal in disguise?

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  27. just laughing stock, fsg wont allow 5-6 for dempsey, just a joke for owners. we are f'#$£" , look what affect it had loseing suarez for 8 games last season, lets all prey we dont get an injury to our (2) yes (2) only strikers, dont know whether to laugh or cry!!
    just watch carroll get double figures by january il even stick a bet ondown the bookies.
    clueless yanks once again, but i feel these ones will properly bury liverpool in the end.

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  28. Carroll in double figures by January - how ironic would that be :-) It's a possibility though as West Ham will be set up to serve him, something that doesn't happen at LFC.

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  29. i am extremely dissapointed that we have allowed a 35 million dollar striker go on loan and havent replaced him , let alone the fact we have released 8 players and only managed to get 4 in of similiar quality , its pathetic , it clear as day our club lacks depth specially in forward positions and we sighn no one ,well done liverpool once again you show the rest of the league weakness at our club and once again failed miserably , had high hopes with a couple more additions we can push for that 4th spot but know i fear it looks like its going to be another year of struggle

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  30. West Ham will unashamedly play to his strengths and he will score bucketloads.

    We are pretty thin on the ground now. Financial reality bites :(

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  31. Give Brendan some credit.After under two months at the helm, Brendan's philosophy starting to settle in.Kennys rotten cargo has almost been shipped out.He has already bought players ready to fit into his master plan, something Kenny wasn't capable to do.To buy some players under panic doesn't help the team in the long run.I am absolutely sure Brendan has a master plan.He avoid to buy to many players because it will make it more complex to settle the team.Carroll wasn't meant to be for Liverpool.Kenny bought players because they were british and not in benefit of a system.Give Brendan some time and I'm sure the master plan will make us happy again.

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  32. Why do Liverpool supporters even view this site. its BS!

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  33. Come on Liverpool. We have Gerrard !!! I'm getting a gut feeling that he's going to lead us. We have Sahin, Allen and Sterling. Pressure is off for Gerrard. You can see the captain leading from the front. It also opens up thge opportunity for young bllod like Morgan. Give the team some time to settle down. We are the LIVERPOOL. Greatest club ever in Football histiry. Stand by the team. YNWA...........

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  34. Do we really need hendo and adam when we have merilas?? Do we really need carroll and downing?? Try justified that spending lawro, you and kenny craps.

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  35. Maybe the goalscoring striker that the fans are craving are already with us, Adam Morgan

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  36. Enrique isn't out of favour, he has been injured, Downing could be another option at that position, nothing wrong with having different options.

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  37. I'm sorry, but saying Llorente is a proven goalscorer to me isn't quite accurate. He has only played for the one club, and although has a fair goalscoring record, 81 goals in 236 games is far from prolific. And again with Huntelaar, the one time he was given a chance at a big club, being AC Milan, he was considered a flop, that would have been a gamble as well.

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  38. To be fair, Meireles leaving was really out of our hands, AVB got the Chelsea job and Meireles wanted to join AVB after playing under him at Porto

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  39. There is a huge difference between players who can play in the middle and players who are excellent midfield players. Charlie Adam, now he is no longer a Liverpool player, as a Liverpool fan I can now say that he wasn't Liverpool quality. His tackling was atrocious, his passing was inefficient, and his strongest quality, his set pieces, sucked last year. Now we have adopted a new style of play, he was going further back. Allen was the right man for the position and an absolutely essential signing. We know Gerrard is capable of 15-20 goals a season, he has done it on more than one occasion before. Borini will get 10-15, Suarez will get around the same, Sahin will get around 10, that is 45 goals right there, add in Sterling who could get 5-10, Assaidi could get around the same, give Morgan a go and he could get around the same, being a young lad and his first season. That makes it 60 on the low side, on the high side on this estimate, then it gives us anywhere up to 90 and that's not counting in the set pieces where our big men like Skrtel, Agger and Coates will get some goals, Johnson will add a few more goals. On the low side of the estimate, we could be looking at around 70 goals for the season, which last season, we only managed 47 goals for the season and considering the top 5 sides last season scored 93, 89, 74, 66 and 56 respectively, then if we score a minimum of 70 and more around the 80 mark, then that would give us a good chance for to make the top 4 and I may be being a little on the optimistic side, but this figure is more than realistic.

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  40. Two only strikers? You do realise we signed two, yes two strikers this window. Plus we have a youngster who is in the first team squad by the name of Adam Morgan, that is four, yes four strikers right there.

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  41. Again, we signed two striker and a winger this transfer period, so your logic goes out the window saying we signed no one. Oh wait, we signed none of the high profile players the media put out, as they do each and every season and who we wouldn't be looking at anyway. Realistically we weren't going to get fourth this year anyway, yes it would be nice and yes it is a possibility, but we need time with steady progress.

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  42. Exactly, at the start of the transfer window, Brendan said that he was looking to bring in 3-4 players, he actually brought in 5, he has stuck to his word on that, and just because the majority of the fans, especially on here, haven't heard of them, doesn't mean they won't be top class. Can anybody say that they had heard of Ian Rush when we signed him, or John Aldridge, or Bruce Grobbelaar, or a good many of our legends, including may I add, these legends that constantly make comment, Steve Nicol, Lawro, Hansen, they all came from lower leagues and two of them, Nicol and Hansen, came from foreign leagues, albeit the Scottish league.

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  43. Sign Owen as a backup

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  44. Borini was a crap signing by Rodgers, we were desperate for a goal scorer and out goes:- Kuyt, Maxi, Aquilani, Carroll, Adam, Spearing and he signed Allen, Borini, Sahin & Assaidi ... a motley crew of nobodies, do those signings make our side/squad stronger than last season ?? Of course not, it has weakened us significantly ... I'm a Liverpool fan but think we are in deep trouble with only Suarez and Borini as our "strikeforce" and no back up .. sorry Rodgers and FSG but you are dragging us down ... we needed Dempsey, Walcott, Sturridge, Huntelaar, people like that but you have chosen to get shot of high earners to save a few quid by bringing in cheap wage players. We will struggle for a top 8 finishe this year.

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  45. what two strikers have we signed ?? Borini ?? A forward at best, striker ? no way. who's the other one ???

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  46. Have you been drinking ??????????? Where are you getting all these goal scoring figures for our players from 10-15 for him, him, him and him ... get real mate.

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  47. Oh wait, Please don't tell me you are including Samed Yasil as one of the two strikers bought in this transfer window?!? A player so good that he himself states that he will look to get into the first team in TWO YEARS time !!!! We NEED another striker NOW. ... It kills me to say it but I think i'd be happier if we got that over-the-hill, injury prone, judas Michael Owen back !

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  48. Agree on some of your points but on Transfer Deadline Day Brendan said we were looking at bringing in two more players and that we were in dire need of a striker to score badly needed goals for us and he failed to deliver one single player and sent off Spearing, Adam and Ecclestone which makes our already small squad thinner still.

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  49. Well we did not get anyone else in.Will have to wait until Jan now....& probably pay over the odds again.
    At least we got Gerrard to throw up front....still the best finisher we got.

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  50. can you name the other 2 ?? i like yor confidence but not your sarky smarmness. we will see, like i said letshope no injurys ie suarez. then send in and say sorry lol

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  51. owen can rot for eternity for all the loyalty he's shown us

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  52. I am confident Henderson can be a great player for Liverpool in the long run if Rodgers plays him in the right position and develops him in the right way. However, Allen fills an Alonso-size gap in the Liverpool team that has perhaps been the single most important cause of Liverpool's decline since the departure of our Basque midfield hero. As such, I can only applaud Rodgers for being brave enough to follow his instincts and spend the bulk of his budget on Allen.

    The same cannot however be said of FSG, who disappointed me to no end in this transfer window. After their folly in paying exorbitant sums of money for Carroll (whom I rate and wish Rodgers had kept at LFC) and Downing (who hopefully has a future as an attacking left-back, it is a sad joke that they were unwilling to sanction the amounts required to bring a quality forward to the club. As I suggested in a recent blog (http://live4liverpool.com/2012/08/view-from-the-kop/transfers-summer-2012-are-fsg-giving-up-on-lfc-2), I fear that their flip-flopping from big spenders to Mike Ashley-lookalikes (at least he was coherent from the start, although the short-term cost to Newcastle was enormous) is going to come to haunt them come the end-of-the-season.

    One can only hope that Brendan Rodgers can find a solution to the striker dilemma by either developing one or more of Borini, Yesil or Morgan into 20-goal strikers or perhaps redeploying Gerrard in the free-scoring role he had during the reign of Rafa Benitez.

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  53. We NEED to get behind this team and support the manager, we've finally got someone with a plan, someone who buys players to fit into specific roles at the right price rather than the square pegs and round holes players at an inflated LFC premium that we've been doing for years. We've been far too soft a touch in the transfer market for years now. This year is about trimming the fat, the owners have been quite brave to accept the players they got last year haven't worked out and are prepared to take a loss, better to get them off the books, playing regularly for other teams whose style of play suits them and not poisoning our team morale with sulks and strops because they aren't playing when they clearly don't fit. There's another window in January and perhaps we can do some better deals that are more in our favour then? I'm glad to see the millions that has been invested in the youth setup over the past years has started to feed the club with backup to the first team. The kids need games and I reckon this guy they just bought from Germany will be a very shrewd signing. I'd rather watch players who are hungry too play for us rather than guys who are content to tell us how they deserve this and that, how we should be doing this, pick up a fat pay cheque and deliver f all. I'm glad we didn't get Dempsey, the guy didn't have to go to Spurs but he did so good luck to him.

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  54. like the last 3-4 years?? wake up smell the roses. injurys injurys!!! yu really have not been listening have you, rodgers (our current manager) did say he needs epth ie injurys form fatigue etc etc. and lady just aint with liverpool nowa days. ps3 or xbox?

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  55. and we could be below mid table by then

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  56. should take a hard look at the current goalkeeper. seriously he is a pile of dung. he is a mahor weak link and i'm serious as cancer about this!

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  57. Why didn't LFC get Dempsey? You think he wasn't wortht the transfer fee?

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  58. Henderson is (and will be) average at best. If Henderson continues to fail it won't be because Rodgers didn't "develop him in the right way", it will be because he couldn't cut it. Allen was a great buy and he is someone you can build around. Tornike was right. Lawro...well, he isn't right.

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