It's always a shame to see talented young players leave Anfield, and I'm sure most LFC fans will wish new Swansea signing Jonjo Shelvey all the best for the future. Have Liverpool lost out, though? Did Brendan Rodgers make a rash decision selling the midfielder? Reds legend Robbie Fowler doesn't think so.
Shelvey has talent, but Brendan Rodgers clearly favours quick, skilful, technically gifted players, with excellent game intelligence, and lighting speed of mind.
With the greatest respect to Shelvey, he is more of a classic rough-and-tumble English central midfielder, and such players are a dying breed in the modern game.
Discussing Shelvey's Swansea transfer on the 5-Times Podcast this week, Fowler - who scored 189 goals for Liverpool during his two spells at the club - said:
"I think it’s a good move for Liverpool.
"On his day, he [Shelvey] was not a bad player, but he was top of pile for inconsistency.
"I’ve met him a few times and he’s okay, but I just thought he was bit of a liability. You’re waiting for him to get booked or sent off, and you can’t afford to do that".
Liability? That's a bit harsh. Shelvey is reckless in the tackle occasionally, and the red card against Man United last season is prime example of that. However, Steven Gerrard was similarly reckless exactly the same at the same age, and I don't recall too many people calling him a 'liability' for it.
In fact, with six red cards, Gerrard is the most sent-off player in LFC history (!), and every one of his dismissals came as a result of bad tackles.
Granted, Shelvey is not in Gerrard's league when it comes to talent and quality, but 5 yellows and 1 red since arriving in 2010 doesn't make him a liability, surely?
If Shelvey is a liability, what does that make Paul Scholes, who is one of the most reckless midfield tacklers of the Premier League era?
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Shelvey has talent, but Brendan Rodgers clearly favours quick, skilful, technically gifted players, with excellent game intelligence, and lighting speed of mind.
With the greatest respect to Shelvey, he is more of a classic rough-and-tumble English central midfielder, and such players are a dying breed in the modern game.
Discussing Shelvey's Swansea transfer on the 5-Times Podcast this week, Fowler - who scored 189 goals for Liverpool during his two spells at the club - said:
"I think it’s a good move for Liverpool.
"On his day, he [Shelvey] was not a bad player, but he was top of pile for inconsistency.
"I’ve met him a few times and he’s okay, but I just thought he was bit of a liability. You’re waiting for him to get booked or sent off, and you can’t afford to do that".
Liability? That's a bit harsh. Shelvey is reckless in the tackle occasionally, and the red card against Man United last season is prime example of that. However, Steven Gerrard was similarly reckless exactly the same at the same age, and I don't recall too many people calling him a 'liability' for it.
In fact, with six red cards, Gerrard is the most sent-off player in LFC history (!), and every one of his dismissals came as a result of bad tackles.
Granted, Shelvey is not in Gerrard's league when it comes to talent and quality, but 5 yellows and 1 red since arriving in 2010 doesn't make him a liability, surely?
If Shelvey is a liability, what does that make Paul Scholes, who is one of the most reckless midfield tacklers of the Premier League era?
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
allen is a liability when it comes to tackling howhe did not get booked more often is beyond me ,everytime he attempted a challenge a free kick was awarded,anyway happy days got my tickets sorted for the man ure game lets hope we are top of the league going into it
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Stevie was less of a liability because he had so much talent, it was worth the risk. With Jonjo he didn't offer as much as SG, so then it wasn't worth the risk you might be down to 10 men
ReplyDeleteIf allen is liability what would you call Borini
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame because he seemed to have a lot of potential, unfortunately he's as inconsistent as anything.
ReplyDeleteInjury prone.
ReplyDeleteOf topic but bilbao just signed benat extebarria for 6.5m, how much did we pay for Allen ? Benat is pure class in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteJust shows again what a comfort buy this was by BR ...
Shevely didn't take his chance at liverpool but i'm sure that he will do a great job for the swans.
ReplyDeleteO lord everyone knows Scholes was a dirty ba$tard but to use your words Shelvey is not in Scholes's league when it comes to talent and quality. It's quite simple I'll trust someone who knows the game inside out like Robbie Fowler rather than someone trying to come up with sensationalised headlines.
ReplyDeleteA waste of space and wages
ReplyDeleteHe was unlucky with his injuries, we don't know what happened in the u21 training camp where he broke his leg, and the shoulder was unfortunate, shit happens, if you watched the u21s in Israel you may know on which level he's able to perform..
ReplyDeleteMy comment on Shelvey is the same I have for JH. He's good enough for a mid-table Liverpool. Anybody want to be a mid-table Liverpool? Didn't think so...there is better talent out there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was... or a panic buy... he was in the job a couple of weeks .. start of the season looming.. no scouting system in place .. There are mitigating circumstances.
ReplyDeleteRodgers isn't the first and certainly wont be the last manager to go back to their former clubs for a comfort blanket.. it happens all the time.. and was always likely to happen in Rodgers case give the circumstances.
The jury is still out on Allen.. big season ahead for him... but if he fails as a LFC player he fails.. so what get over it... At least Rodgers had the balls to drop his under performing big money signing.. unlike a lot of managers ..cough KD cough cough..
Seems to me Rodgers could sign a hundred Coutinhos and people will still bang on bout Joe Allen.. who as I say still could have a big future at Liverpool..
chris maybe if rodgers stopped going on about allen being world class we ,i would expect less of him ,but if some people bang on about hin being poor{myself included)it could be because we are watching and waiting for something to happen with him,imo hes been poor probably the biggest let down of last season ,hope he improves this season if not his chances will and should be limited,he has to earn the right for a starting place ,but i bet he starts against stoke
ReplyDeleteI think he was not good enough for a team who's aspiring to get back in the top 4 and that does make him a liability making clumsy challenges and yes he's not of Gerrard's league so no point in comparing them with each other.
ReplyDeletepotential ;-)
ReplyDeletehes a walking accident lol
ReplyDeleteI do believe we paid over the odds for him but when you splash 15m on a midfielder.. your gonna talk him up.
ReplyDeleteHe started well enough in 1st few games and then struggled big time for form.. don't think anybody is denying that.. even Rodgers .. who as I said benched him..
It'll be interesting to see how a fresh and fit Allen goes this season... If he turns out to be a bad signing then we sell and move on. Not every signing.. big or small money works out.. EVERY manager fcuks up.
Baring his first two 'panic /comfort buys' Allen and Borini.. I think Rodgers is doing reasonably well in the market... and even those two signings have had an injury plagued 1st season so all is not lost with them either.
Just not prepared to write Allen or Borini off just yet... A fit Lucas got 3 years FFS !! :-)
Hi chris.
ReplyDeleteYou Made a good point here.
Im Not against allen And unlike jason i can ,truly see potential in him. I'm sure he will perform pretty good this year and will have a solid season. But looking at other transfers last and this year you can see the amount of money we spent on Allen was simply to much. Swansea overpriced him and we just ignored the price because he is "so essential" for Rodgers system... IMO benat is the youngest signing that proves we made a huge misstake in buying an overpriced Allen and feeding swansea with money.
Whatever I'm still happy to have Allen at the club, as I think he's a good footballer, but he still needs to up his game and versatility...
You're right it was probably a panic buy by BR.
being at such a huge club without knowing anybody having no scouts and nearly nobody to help out. It surely were hard times for rodgers. With the transfer-committee now working I hope we will bring in a few more players and some of them may work out to be coutinhos ;)
100% agreed ;)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree we paid over the odds for him...
ReplyDeleteHave to factor in the British thing as well, which totally inflates a players transfer fee. Crazy stuff..
I mean 6m for Shelvey.. cha ching .. If he was Ukrainian .. we'd be lucky to get 2m .. thanks Swansea.. lol.. makes up small bit for being over charged for Allen !
Still vomiting I see...
ReplyDeleteagree m8 the only thing is i always saw something in lucas ,i just never have in allen,but hope he comes good or we sell him because they is no doubt in my mind he was a weak link last season
ReplyDeleteSee: David Moyes and Leighton Baines
ReplyDeleteI think with us already having a so-called long term project in Hendo, there wasn't much room for Shelvey to develop too, especially with no European football this upcoming season. I'm not hopeful of either ever being top 4 material and I don't see much in their game but considering his improvement last season and him being that little bit mature in his game, I'd rather keep Hendo out of the two.
ReplyDeleteHey get off Allen's back and talk about the person the article is actually talking about.
ReplyDeleteThis is coming from a guy who said we should sign a player from the championship.
ReplyDeleteWho you going to slate tomorrow? Rodgers, FSG? or you added another one to your hit list?:)
ReplyDeletepretty much sums up my take on it all
ReplyDeleteCould you imagine souness in today's game? He'd have enough red cards to build a house.
ReplyDeleteyou can call yourself who you like ,your point is what superfan
ReplyDeleteand allen had how much experience
ReplyDeleteno i am not because i do not get into a chat with you ,are they no girls on for you to bully today
ReplyDeletelol get a life i do not want to post you y,ou drain me to death ,only replying t you because i have had a drink and out of manners go post max you suit each other both always right and know everything about the club ,and love fsg ,have a love in together and stop draining me
ReplyDeleteHalf of that doesn't even make sense but okay, guess my question was too hard for you to understand. Next time il make it more easier for you. Haha :)
ReplyDeleteMuch experience that a championship player. Either you have a solution to the problem or you are part of the problem. By the way thanks calling me StevenG just remember a lot of people on here say the same thing about you. Blame FSG, BR and Allen for all LFC problems, past and present.
ReplyDeletejoe allen wil come good this year see more potential in him that shelvey , i remember a certain xabi alonzo didint have the greatest of starts to his liverpool career and there has been quite a few in our history , at the end of the day all these players have way more talent than any one that has commented on this post so instead of bagging them why dont we support them because no one here would have an inclining of an idea how to be, at that age and walk out on a pitch and play for such a massive insitution like liverpool ,and i pray borini can put his injuries aside and show every one the potential he has ynwa
ReplyDeletehe had one season in the prem lol
ReplyDeleteShelvey is good but not good enough at the moment. He is missing a cutting edge somewhere but I don't think he really is a liability. He had his chances last season and it is better for his career to move on to another club like Swansea where the expectations are lower. At a time when we want to get back into the top 4, we need better talent.
ReplyDeleteThis kid will make it. Absolute rubbish he's a liability. He just didn't fit into the formation used.
ReplyDeleteI think it's hard to compare how Gerrard played when he was younger with Shelvey, the game has moved on since then and the game rules on tackling have evolved with ref's taking a much more critical view in todays game. Also Gerrards game time has to be taken into consideration, Gerrard has played well over 600 games and shelvey only around 69, if you average the discipline records out over their appearances things look slightly different, Gerrard's stats would read one 2x yellow to = red every 210 games, 1 yellow card every 13 games, and 1 straight red card every 315 games. Shelvey's averaged stats would read a yellow card every 11.5 games and 1 straight red every 69 games. Based on these stats Shelvey is clearly more of a liability than Gerrard, but just as I have done here, stats can be manipulated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robbie Fowler, Shelvey always made me nervous when he went in for a challenge, always seemed reckless, it's a shame really as his style of play belongs in the 70's 80's or early 90's when wreckless tackling was just part of the game and ref's let more go without showing cards.
I really liked the kid, but somehow he seemed to get worse at playing football the longer he was with us. He surely is full of energy, but beyond that, there wasn't too much to get excited about. And, yes, he collected quite a few needless cards and probably would have got sent-off more often, had he be given more playing time.
ReplyDelete