14 Sept 2012

'Drop him!' - Aldo urges Brendan Rodgers to bench 'poor' LFC star. Agree?

Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is starting to make his mark at Anfield, and many fans see the youngster as a viable long-term successor to Steven Gerrard. After his impressive performance for the England U21s last week, Liverpool legend John Aldridge has called for Brendan Rodgers to drop Fabio Borini and give his starting spot to Shelvey.

In his column for the Liverpool Echo earlier this week, Aldo praised Shelvey's performance against Arsenal two weeks ago, and hailed his 'impressive' performance in the England U21 victory against Azerbaijan. He added:

"I’d like to see Shelvey given a starting role, maybe on the right of the front three with Sterling on the left, Suarez down the middle and Borini offering cover on the bench. This could be a big season for Jonjo".

It's an interesting idea, but it seems harsh to drop Borini after only three league games. It's not his fault that Brendan Rodgers keeps playing him out wide; Borini is a striker, and he should be played centrally, and until that happens, he'll struggle to score goals.

Additionally, if Shelvey plays on the right of a front three, where does that leave Steven Gerrard? Gerrard's best position for LFC at present is (arguably) on the right of a front three, and after several poor performances playing deeper in midfield, this is a change that is arguably vital for the team.

Having said that, is it possible that Liverpool's strongest TEAM does not contain Gerrard? I would go with the following forward line for the Sunderland game, especially after Gerrard's exertions for England:

------------------ Borini

----- Sterling ---------------- Suarez

------------------ Sahin

--------- Shelvey ------- Allen

It's not only Aldo - the Italian striker is not endearing himself to some of Liverpool's other ex players. Alan Hansen doesn't seem to rate him:

"They have Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini and Suarez is no target man. Borini, on the other hand, has not shown anything in his three league games so far since arriving from Swansea, so Liverpool are now really short of attacking options".

Steve McManaman accused Borini of pulling out of tackles in the recent Arsenal game (a point that was reiterated by Roy Evans on LFC TV this week):

"Borini had two chances to make his mark in the tackle and he just didn't do it. Sometimes, that just changes the flow of the game. He was just all round poor".

Clearly, the Italian has a lot of work to do, but one thing that always shuts people up is scoring goals, and hopefully he'll start doing that soon.

Jaimie Kanwar


52 comments:

  1. its a bit early to be overly critical of any player

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  2. True. BR's first bad signing. (so far)

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  3. lol when did also say to drop gerrard?? he clearly says to play shelvey on the right and drop borini on the bench. its you who syaing to drop gerrard! make it clear

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  4. What does Steve Nichol say about all this Jaimie?

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  5. there is one thing I have realized after following your articles for few months now...you are overly critical of stevie g.....somehow you seem to find a way to criticize him every time.....even united fans won't criticize him this much....its your opinion though..fair enough! Actually I have reached to a point where I just laugh off your comments for Gerrard.... lol

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  6. Shelvey is a decent Championship player at best.

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  7. What does the 2002 MLS coach of the year have to say about this? I'm sure he has a relevant opinion...

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  8. jamie just ignore the haters! your posts are always very nice and professionaly, i enjoy reading them every day since i found your blog about half a year ago, and most of the times i totally agree with you.
    youre so right - i dont think borini should play on the wing, hes a striker , probably with a better eye for an goal than suarez, whos an assist-stiker (in my vision)
    shelvey could be a really good second pick for the stevie job (offensive midfield) but i dont think he would do well on the wing! whats up with assaidi btw ? a 3m sign just playing in the reserves ? i think he could be a first team player, especially because of tha fact sterling cant play the whole season in the first team!
    lets just hope rodgers will let borini play up in the front and suarez wide out on the wing
    I think if we give joe cole another chance he could be pretty good too this season - tiki taka fits perfectly in the style of cole !! :) thanks again jamie

    YNWA from austria !

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  9. Another pop at Stevie !

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  10. Pretty sure Borini came from Roma, not Swansea.

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  11. Condemned40...are you Jamie's spokesperson now? I was talking to him, not you.... Twit!

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  12. he DID NOT say to drop sg.

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  13. You guys all are bias towards Gerrard he played terrible this week and deserves to be dropped.

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  14. I would drop Gerrard. His sloppy passing has cost us dearly so far this year.

    And he no longer bales himself out with wonder goals :(

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  15. According to this stupid logic so many great players would have never made it ,if after 3 games we made up our mind about him - give him a break and support - stop being plastic fans and the genius that Aldo is ,should just shut up for a change ,after all ,he was a footballer not a tactician hence the fact that he would have never been trusted to coach even a conference team. Remember what he used to say about Lucas ?

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  16. Gerrarad's clearly aging, and we have to live by that,
    Meanwhile our club is great enough to sacrifice his strating place for a more versatile and younger player that could serve this club for years.
    I see two options : either play Stivie G further up the field ( I mean as a second striker like the 08/09 season in which he scored 24. )
    With the trio midfield of ALLEN , SAHIN , LUCAS ( when fit ) and strike force of ASSAIDI/STERLING , GERRARD, SUAREZ with Gerard filling for a second striker or even false number 9 role ( the same role totti played for awhile for AS Roma ) or drop him in favor of SHEVEY, ALLEN , LUCAS with ASSAID/ STERLING, SUAREZ , BORINI leading the frontline.
    Otherwise we struggle

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  17. Agree 100 % ,the legend that he is ,has to perform much better and not play every game anymore - does not have the discipline and can't hit the target even when he tries ,which by the way almost never happens anymore

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  18. Fascinating how the English fans of Liverpool FC, including the so called legends, say after just three games, that a foreign player just isn't good enough? What about Carroll? These so called fans and legends said that Carroll should be giving another chance because he had one good game at the end of the season. LOL

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  19. How is it over critical about SG? He has not been playing well of recent & that inevitably invites criticism no matter who you are. So if a player is not doing it he should be dropped. It might actually have a positive effect!!

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  20. It is a phenomenon known as Racism

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  21. i think borini will be an OK player in 2-3 yrs time..don't think he will be world class though..but i do agree with the fact that shelvey deserves to take over from gerrard..he reminds me of the young dynamic gerrard.

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  22. Borini has not been good enough so far, but to drop him so early, just might set him back, Rodgers knows Borini as a player, and as an individual, I would leave him to make the right decision on Borini. One thing I fear is he might play Borini just to justify his signing, but I hope that is not the case. Right now lets let Rodgers do it his way, a short time will tell if he made the right decision, or not.

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  23. Ultimately winning is everything. The best players should be on the team sheet. If a player is struggling and not up to mark, he should be dropped. No place for sentiments. SG included. Even Pepe.
    Rodgers should be ruthless with team selection.
    Look at ole AF. he shows no mercy on players who do not perform.

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  24. Gerard will be too old for the next World Cup but he wont accept that - he is past it now at international level and England are no hopers in Brazil.

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  25. Shelvey is a fantastic player and will be the answer to Gerrard nearing the end of his career. Having said that, I believe we should play with a three man midfield with the central midfielder falling back shielding defence. Allen is perfect for that. The two, playmaker, positions in front of him can be filled with Gerrard, Shelvey, Sahin and Lucas rotating. Gerrard and Lucas can also play the holding role so there is enough cover for all three positions. Especially considering the fact we also have Suso and Coady. As far as our front three go, we've lucked out with Sterling but the kid can not be expected to play sixty matches this season. Neither can Suarez considering it's a WC qualifying season and he'll be on a plane to South America quite a lot. So Borini or no Borini, we're stuck incredibely short of manpower as well as quality up front. Sterling, Suarez, Borini isn't what should worry us. It's that fact that we have Downing, Henderson and two kids in Morgan and Yesil as backup solutions. I'm the first person to advocate the latter two being given a chance but the success of our season shouldn't depend on them hitting the ground running.

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  26. Suarez shines best on the left and Borini in the centre. Until that becomes established we will struggle for goals.

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  27. i would agree to play borini up front!!! but how can any one expect to drop GERRARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  28. Adorjan is one quality player and if he carries on playing like he is at the moment - he will be getting a first team call up very soon.

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  29. Its ok to criticize him as he was really poor in last few games. But Jaimie is becoming overly critical about him almost to a point that it looks like he has some personal hatred towards Stevie G. Or maybe I just have a different opinion!

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  30. mate it seems that you have been reading his articles since very recently. there has been many more other negative articles on gerrard since years ago.. even when gerrard was on his top. and they were worse than these recent articles, beleive me. would be glad if we could get access to these articles so that you guys could read them. but unfortunately he has blocked all of them

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  31. Chirag - stop talking nonsense. Nothing I have written about Gerrard is remotely personal, and if you misrepresent my views in that manner again you will be banned. If you can't hack fair criticism of Gerrard, go elsewhere.



    Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note

    -------- Original message --------
    Subject: [liverpoolkop] Re: 'Drop him!' - Aldo urges Brendan Rodgers to bench 'poor' LFC star. Agree? | Liverpool-Kop.com

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  32. what sort of name is pointy? daft comment really pointy or are you just trying to be funny? I will call you cupcake from now.

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  33. shelvey dw etre titulaire il a plus d envie k les autres

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  34. I would seriously like to see Assaidi, Suso and Yesil, given some minutes against Sunderland, my starting 11 would be, Reina, Johnson, Skyrtel, Agger, Enrique, mid3 Sahin, Allen, Gerrard, top3 Sterling on left, Borini centre, Suarez right, Subs, Jones, Kelly, Coates, Johnjo Shelvey, Assaidi, Suso, Yesil. Keep this squad going and watch us grow, and dont forget Lucas, when he comes back from Injury, we will get stronger as the season goes on Imo.

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  35. Ah, yes - I forgot about Yesil! Hope he's in the squad. Just throw him in there and see what happens.

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  36. Stevie G has been poor so far this season, its not being over critical, its just stating fact. If it was anyone but stevie g they would get a lot more criticism, He has done so much for us over the years but we can still say if he hasnt been playin well for us

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  37. Hardly a bad signing and if you look to his season last season at Roma, he took a bit of time to score his first goal, then started banging them in, so much so he forced his way into an elderly Italian squad. Give the lad a chance.

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  38. Wow, banned for stating an opinion, you sure this site isn't communist? Oops, that'll probably get me banned too.

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  39. Borini played for Swansea during their promotion season, but we bought him from Roma, so kinda both.

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  40. Unfortunately we had the luxury of Torres hitting the ground running, this however is the exception, not the rule.

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  41. You believe we should play with a three man midfield? As opposed to what? Playing as we are with a three man midfield?

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  42. No. It's people deliberately twisting my words in order to make out that I have a personal issue with a player, when the reality is the complete opposite. People can have whatever opinion they like, but if it's a false designed purely to denigrate, then it will not stay on the site. And if you also don't like it, then you can join Chirag in posting on another site too.

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  43. Because he has been underperforming and his mistakes have cost us this season. No player is bigger than Liverpool.

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  44. No. It's people deliberately twisting my words in order to make out that I have a personal issue with a player, when the reality is the complete opposite. People can have whatever opinion they like, but if it's a false, ignorant 'opinion' designed purely to denigrate, then it will not stay on the site.

    Your simplistic retort is just as bad. Banned for stating an opinon? Nonsense. It depends on the view, and deliberately misrepresenting my views (or anyone other poster's) is a form of sniping.

    Oh, and if you also don't like it, then you can join Chirag Vyas in posting on another site too. Ya dig? Good :-)

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  45. Enam10, you don't have a clue. It's not racism (that could only be the case if Borini wasn't Caucasian), it would be, if you are right that it has something to do with Borini not being English, xenophobia.

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  46. I thought I was done with it. No point in mentioning my name and guessing what I should do or not.

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  47. If we are not suppose to criticize UNPROVEN Rodgers in just 3-4 games then why should we criticize PROVEN world class player like Stevie G in 3-4 games? Hypocrisy at its best!

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  48. get over yourself , your site small time sensational headlines

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  49. get over ya self !

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  50. headlines for hits

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