14 Oct 2013

Ilori admits: I 'respect' Carra, but I'd 'love to play like' World Cup winning legend....

New Liverpool signing Tiago Ilori has revealed that one of his biggest footballing influences is German world-cup winning legend Franz Beckenbauer.

With Sakho, Skrtel, Agger and Toure ahead of him in the pecking order, Ilori faces a tough road to the Reds' first team, and in an interview with LFC.com today, Ilori - who cost the Reds £7m over the summer - shed some more light on what Reds fans can expect once he gets there. He explained:

"I can be aggressive when I need to be but that's not the main part of my game.

"I think I'm relatively quick. I like to come out with the ball and try to build play from the back. I also like to go forward for set-plays".


Ilori bases his game on Beckenbauer, who was renowned for building the play from the back. He noted:

"You tend to look at your own position and I was always told about Franz Beckenbauer and saw lots of videos of him while I was growing up, and I would love to play like Beckenbauer."

The Portuguese also revealed his admiration for LFC legend Jamie Carragher, but made it clear that his defensive style is nothing like Carra's:

"I admired him [Carragher] as a player, but we're different. He's done everything in the game and I've done nothing yet, but also in terms of the way I play and the way he played. We're different but I respect him enormously for what he's done for Liverpool Football Club".

Speaking to 5-Times this week, Reds legend Gary Gillespie heaped praise on Ilori:

"I watched young Tiago Ilori in an U21 game recently and he looks close to the finished article, but he needs to strengthen up a little. We have signed a good prospect".

'Close to the finished article'? That's some major praise for a 20-year old player with practically zero experience in top-flight football, but it's great news for LFC's squad depth, and hopefully means we'll actually get to see Ilori play sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, with no Capital One Cup games available, and no FA Cup action until January, it's hard to see how where Ilori will get the chance to impress over the next few months.

Still, looking forward, Daniel Agger is arguably the club's only Beckenbauer-esque ball-playing defender at the moment, and when he leaves/retires (if he stays that long), it seems like Ilori may be a ready-made replacement.



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18 comments:

  1. dumb, Sakho uses the ball better than Agger at the moment. WHen last did Agger really play the ball?

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  2. I think Greg has it right.... January priority is a first team-ready attacking mid and defensive mid. Will Hughes if he is that good would be a nice signing but won't help at all this year. We have little chance at top 4 without more talent, pace and durability at midfield, period, end of story......

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  3. I am very encouraged by our basket full of young players. When I look at Alberto and Ilori though they are built like they live in Biafra! These guys need to hit the gym ASAP before someone hangs a coat on their head! While they are at it, bring Aspas, Lucas, Skrtel and Agger along. They look pole thin as well.........

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  4. Matic can be the game changer IMO, he has got everything that we need. Matic can be our Busquets.
    Matic-Allen-Hendo with Coutinho-Suarez-Sturridge is absolutely mouth watering!

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  5. Will Hughes will be more of a competition to Allen and henderson than Suso. Suso will fight it out with Alberto and Phil.

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  6. Sakho is surprisingly good with the ball, but Agger looks really smooth on the ball. Even Toure can play the ball from the back.

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  7. Is he really that good? If he's Rooney-esque in ability then it's the kind of money you probably have to spend. If Rodgers believes he has the skills to be an England regular then I'd say you spend sooner rather than later. Lock him up in a 5 year contract and, if he's still too raw, leave him in the Championship on loan. Better to get him now rather than have to pay even more in the summer, his price is just going to keep going up.


    As for other more pressing needs - I don't think it will have an impact if we sign the kid or not. I think people have the impression that we missed out on quality players because we instead spent our budget on Aspas, Ilori, and Alberto. I don't think that's true. I think we still had a good 20 million to spend and we simply didn't manage to sign the players we wanted. My guess is that the money is still there so we'll sign the attacking player we need in January if the right player is available.


    I don't agree that we need a defensive midfielder. Our last match proved that we can do well without Lucas and Allen filled that role for a good part of last season. Playing 3 at the back with a high line also helps. We have enough players in there, they just have to show their best form and I think another expensive DM would be a waste. Obviously I have more faith in Allen than other people.

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  8. i cant believe the prices these days

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  9. Well he looked better against Sunderland U21 than against Porto but there is that slight difference in level of quality he was up against. He is fast though, there is no denying that. As for his strength and how beefed up he is, Ricardo Carvalho was never a Schwarzenegger either yet he was a far, far better defender than Terry and among the top defenders in the world in his day.

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  10. I agree with all this, and I've been enjoying your posts generally. Looking around I think the specialist destroyer in midfield is no longer flavour of the month among top clubs. Only Man City, with Barry, of last year's top four, use one; Arteta at Arsenal, Ramires at Chelsea, those kind of more adaptable and mobile players seem more important. Lucas is a bit of a dinosaur, though I am fond of him.



    It's especially unnecessary if we are going to persist with 3-4-3, unless we use the 4 as a diamond -- which is not optimal, in my view; too easy to disrupt by pressing the holding player. Better to have 2 central midfielders who can support the attack, cover or press as required, in concert with the sweeper and the No. 10. Numbers, communication, and shape in midfield are the way forward. So a player like Hughes becomes very attractive.

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  11. Lets not jinx our young lads and let them work it up to an extent that we can call them a "Class of 20** " and get back to the winning ways.

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  12. Or get him for 10m and loan him back for the rest of the season. So his fee won't seem too high in 4 years time if he doesn't work out. I'm sure derby wouldn't mind keeping him for the rest of the season. Then we would have real competition for places when get returns.

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  13. That's the part of the deal if it takes place i.e, sending him back till the end of the season just like Zaha.

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  14. Finished article? A little too soon for that. He certainly has potential but not sure how much of a chance we will get.

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  15. We need him but 18m is too steep. If he's worth 18m without anything to really show for it, then Mitroglou is a steal and we should get him. He's been a consistent goal scorer for 6 straight years. If we're serious about 18m for Hughes then we'd better offset the cost by selling the other skinny little guys with 'promise' that haven't panned out to date.

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  16. Whenever I see that we're linked with him, my immediate reaction is 'meh.. Not for that money'. As much as he's a hugely exciting prospect, I think I'd have to hide away from my friends for a few weeks if we paid that amount for an unproven Championship player. There are plenty of proven CMs that would offer an immediate impact on the club, as well as give us many years service, for the money being spoken of to bring him in.
    We had our fingers burnt on transfers when FSG first came in, I doubt they'll be too willing to dive in and make such a mistake again.

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  17. I love how you don't even bother mentioning Skrtel!

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  18. May be because he is the complete opposite of a ball playing defender. I don't like him, never have.
    Kolo,Agger,Sakho would be better , Ilori in place of Kolo when he goes , sell Skrtel and Agger to buy Papadopolus and a DM like Matic. All we need after that would be a back up RB, back up GK, back up AM and one quality winger/striker who can play on both sides of Sturridge if we sell Suarez. If we remain in top 4 till Jan and buy a DM and AM, we can get top 4 this season. Plus if we address the above needs we can target PL next season.

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