17 Feb 2013

Joe Allen raves over 'fantastic' £10m LFC target Ashley Williams

Swansea defender Ashley Williams continues to be linked with a summer move to Anfield, and his former team-mate, Joe Allen, is confident that the 28-year is capable of playing at a 'higher level'.

Over the last few months, Williams has been repeatedly linked with a move to Anfield, and according to a recent report in The Mirror, the Reds are in pole position to sign him:

"Liverpool have emerged as favourites to land the defender. Williams has already indicated a preference for Anfield if he is allowed to leave in the summer".

With Brendan Rodgers seemingly losing confidence in the increasingly error-prone Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel, new central defenders are on the agenda, and a summer bid for the £10m-rated Swansea and Wales captain seems inevitable.

When asked yesterday about the possibility of Williams moving to Anfield, Joe Allen made it clear that he's a fan of the idea. He told the Daily Mail:

"Ashley [Williams] is someone I know really, really well. He has grown enormously as a player and he is captain of the national team as well. He has done fantastic job for Swansea in that regard and he has been first class for Wales.

"He has got a lot of experience over the last few seasons at a high level, and I’m sure he would be pretty comfortable if he was to play at an even higher level"


Reds fans will get the chance to assess Williams' defensive capabilities at Anfield later today, and the defender is anticipating a tough defensive challenge. He told ThisIsWales:

"It's still a massive game any time you get to play at a stadium like that. We're going to be up for it because it's a massive occasion. Suarez is going to start, he's a good player and they've got Sturridge as well so it's going to be tough defensively"

From what I've seen, Williams is a top class defender, and, importantly, a real leader, something - bar Carra - that's severely lacking in Liverpool's defence at the moment.



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27 comments:

  1. £10m? *snigger*

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  2. Agger, Skrtel good defenders but against brawn they are spice boys. The same think we lacked prior to signing Sturridge is what we lack in the middle & at the back. Pace & physical presence & vocal leadership. Ash Williams fits the bill but why can't our scouts show more imagination? I feel we need someone like Hypia as a defensive coach/scout.

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  3. I do agree with you on most of this, Allen is an easy target because if he didnt hit the ground running it was always going to be "Rogers boy is useless".
    But the reality is in this system when you do turn the ball over you put everyone in a horrible position, Now early on in the season the only times Allen looked under par was when the ball was turned over in dangerous positions (mostly by gerrard).
    Now he suddenly dropped in form and i hope Rogers doesnt do what KD did last season with Henderson by continually playing a player on a slope in form in hopes he will pick up with game time and end up hurting the players confidence.
    I have faith in Rogers and Allen and hope that they will lead us to success.

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  4. Harry 

    Finally some sense has been spoken on this site its just unfortunate it is not from a liverpool fan. I think if most fans were honest with themselves glimpses of some fantastic football are being shown at liverpool and as time goes by it will become more regular.
    The squad is extremely young which will bare fruit for many years to come, once the football style is set through the liverpool ranks and everyone understands this philosophy I think we will have some exciting times ahead

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  5. Haha Swansea fans thinking their small club will win something, form is temporary, class is permanent.

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  6. Allen was superb in his first few games for Liverpool however as the overall creative output of the team was poor he was put under pressure to do more than recycle the ball and his deficiencies were exposed. Now that in Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho and Downing we have four front players who can beat a man the pressure on the midfield will change and players such as Allen, Gerard and Lucas who receive, win and pass the ball will excel. Harry makes an excellent point, Rodgers has not had the time or support to deliver his style of football as yet.

    The thumping we just handed out to Swansea underlines my belief that with a full preseason and a couple of additions and departures you will see the real benefit of Rodgers' methods. I would add a note of caution however, the signings of this summer must be mature, 'premiership ready' professionals who will maintain focus and determination in pressure situations. That is what the squad is lacking and Ashley Williams fits that bill. Swansea have never won the league or the cup ergo they are a lesser club than Liverpool. Their best ever side consisted primarily of ex Liverpool veterans managed by an ex Liverpool player. Not arrogance just the reality of over 100 years of football history.

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  7. Higher level ...Ashley is already playing for the team at the higher level, so why would he drop down to Liverpool level,

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  8. If Brendan Rogers wants more of the very average Swansea players, he should go back to Swansea!.

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  9. he is capable, but not class. one question? where are our scouts working at the moment!? i know our network isn't a great one, but could we look alittle bit further afield than just the premiership????

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  10. Means you'll have to come up with a lot more than that.

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  11. Where are our scouts? and what do they do?  I would like a full break down of our scouts activities if it at all possible.  It would probably read like this

    monday: went to wales
    Tuesday:  went to London
    wednesday:  Back down to wales.

    and so on.....

    If this lad wanted to sign for us so badly no1 why slate Suarez the way he did and no2 why sign a new contract when he could have signed a pre-contract with us in January? The pressure on the guy will be immense if he signs and the anti BR pro Kenny brigade will be homing in like heat seekers as soon as he slips up.

    Time for a little imagination from the chief me thinks.

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  12. He doesnt get bullied and can play againts most premier league forwards but if we are looking for new defenders i think we should invest a bit more of the budget on someone a bit better.
    Besides if i have to take a side between him and suarez i would rather suarez at liverpool

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  13. I would sign him because he doesn't get bullied off the ball like our defenders! Plus he has experienced and it vocal unlike our centres back.

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  14. Williams and Suarez in the same dressing room no thank you.

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  15. The fact that our players are young and should develop in coming seasons is a great point. The problem is that i think theres too high a proportion of young players, and not much experience that can pull the team through and take the pressure off the youngsters.


    The kids have too much pressure at the moment. They should be enjoying their football and simply learning with experience, but instead they are getting castigated by their own fans. This pressure will harm their development and prevent them from reaching their potential

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  16. HA HA Nice one joe, Ashley can play at a higher level? Well as we are above you in the league he wouldn't be moving to Liverpool then. perhaps he could sign for Liverpool and sit on thr bench with you fabio lol

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  17. "And according to report" means evidently that rumor control is active. Ashley Williams is very happy at Swansea and is playing at a hight level at this moment. If the Swans win the Capital Cup Final then we will be playing at a higher levels in Europe next season. Liverpool will not be!
     

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  18. Unfortunately for us, Ash is a boyhood Liverpool fan, and now in his prime, so would be looking to maximise his career opportunities.

    However, he is not motivated by money, and he loves living in the Swansea area.

    But I understand he has a sell-on clause, which Rogers will be fully aware of, as he was with Allen, though I expect other clubs to be interested if, and when, Liverpool come calling in the summer.

    Laudrup also wants to keep him, so it will be interesting to see what Ash does. If he goes, he will with most Swansea fans' blessing.

    However, if he does, I hope you treat him with a bit more class than you have Joe Allen. 

    An easy scapegoat for Liverpool fans when things go wrong of late. He's a young kid who got over-used, and not playing in his natural position as Lucas was out. What you don't realise, that Swansea fans do, is that Rogers style of play does mean if you make an error, if all around aren't switched on (and sometimes even when they are), you will risk losing a goal.

    The questions you should be asking is where have the more senior players been for most of the season. Gerrard is one. Aggar, Skertel and Reina are others.

    As good a player as Gerrard has been, how much does his influence, like Terry at Chelsea, harm your transition to a lesser-known manager. AVB springs to mind.

    We've been playing this style of football since 2007 - 6 years. You haven't had 6 months playing it, so you need to learn some patience!

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  19. Agree Harry, some fantastic points there...Ash is a fine defender, We have to allow new signings time, agreed, some players hit the ground running ie Suarez, Torres etc...but Allen, getting slated like he does absolutely pathetic, Lucas springs to mind and dare i say it Hendo is looking good, time gentlemen please, that's all we ask, the majority of fans are expecting a quick passage back to the champs lge, well that probably wont happen, I did say on another post that LFC fan were suppose to be the intelligent ones, maybe i was a bit out of order saying that and apologize for it but there are a few comments which do astound me, Defensively there are problems, but some are mental, not being switch on when faced with an attack, making the right decision on that split second moment, do i put the tackle in now or should I force him wide, should the problem have been sorted further up the field??? all vital split second decisions, I'm sure that comes with experience, or we could buy experience, it  this comes at a price and also depending where we are in the table or champs lge.
    We have to admit that LFC is not what it was back in 80's, football has changed dramatically, the football proteges that were kids when Man Ure, Chelski n Arsenal were winning the major trophies have all grown up seeing them as the main title winning sides not Lpool, oK we won the champs lge 2005, FA cup, Super Cup, another champs lge final but apart from that the Mancs etc... have been winning the major cups so they have been attracting the top players, if we give BR time I'm sure we could hit the top 4 soon, then and only then can we attract the so called top players unless FSG are going to spend 30ml each on players...no I cant see that happening either...we can all dream, but if were lucky in the market, we  might get a few unknown gems, you all know as soon as an unknown player is creating interest then the price goes up especially for LFC, I do think we are heading in the right direction, just pull the rains in you people please....

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  20. All you lot have got to offer ash is history, at the Swans he has a future.

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  21. Ashley William is too older from Agger or Skrtel.The replacement players should be the youngest players not too older players.What kind policy of this.They are players and option can get in market,please do not not sign too older players.Mamadou Sakho.Matts Hummells,Nicolas Ismat Mirin, Obgbinna,Diakite and others choice players LFC can go fishing.Important!! The owner of LFC please not too stingy about fishing the great talent for LFC team.ALL OUT TO GET BEST PLAYERS PLEASE....YNWA

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  22. Williams will not be able to handle the pressures of playing in the red of Liverpool. He will finish his contract with Swansea.
    We need dynamic, fast and robust defenders. 
    But Buck always wants technicians as players. Engineers are skilled technicians too. Defenders can't be technicians. Their primary role is to defend. 

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  23. We need leadership in defend.

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  24. No better than Skrtel. Why spend money then?

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  25. Micheal???? should it not be Michael?  How can you spell your own name wrong?

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  26. Swansea will be around for about 5mins.....within 3 seasons they'll be back in a Championship. Watch this space! Michu and co aren't gonna stick around forever and Laudrup is naturally using his current position as a platform to get the next job...which could be Arsenal. Don't kid yourselves Swansea fans, history invariably repeats itself. Sorry!

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