Last week, ex-Liverpool striker Stan Collymore advised Manchester United manager David Moyes to implement a scorched earth policy at Old Trafford, and sell every first-team player over the next year, excluding Rooney and Janusjaz. The chances of that happening are slim-to-none, but United definitely need to make changes, and Reds legend Mark Lawrenson has higlighted five players who need to go ASAP.
In his column for The Mirror this week, Lawro slammed Rafael Da Silva for his horror challenge on Chelsea's Gary Cahill, and urged Moyes to scrap the Brazilian, along with four other first-team stars. He observed:
"Rafael for me is the reason you should never buy angry defenders. [He] is one of several players David Moyes has presumably made up his mind about.
"[£10m-rated] Vidic appears to have lost it, [£10m-rated] Patrice Evra is leaving at the end of the season and is playing as though he already has. Alexander Buttner [cost: £4m] is not good enough and Rio Ferdinand’s legs have gone"
It's nice to see that Liverpool is not the only club having defensive problems (!)
Man United's entire back-line needs to be replaced, and until that happenes - which will hopefully be a long-time in the future - Moyes' team will continue with its glorious freefall. With everything taken into consideration, which of the two teams currently has the best backline? In my view (Bold = best of the two)
* Skrtel vs Vidic
* Ferdinand vs. Agger
* Evra vs. Cissokho
* Buttner vs. Enrique
* Sakho vs. Smalling
* Toure vs. Evans
* Johnson vs. Rafael
Seriously, though - how did Rafael escape a red card for this challenge?
If Rafael had connected with Cahill it could've been a potentially career-threatening injury. The brazilian may have got the ball, but it's recklessly dangerous play, and should've been a straight red.
I should know - three months ago, I was on the end of a carbon-copy 'tackle', and ended up with two broken bones in my lower leg. Clean breaks, too, not fractures. Luckily, I'll be back to football in a couple of months, but for professionals, such injuries can - depending on the severity - end careers.
It's a disgracefully incompetent decision by referee Phil Dowd, and it sends the signal that flying kung-fu specials are still acceptable in football.
As for Man United's faltering backline - long may it continue; and with Moyes' team seemingly heading for the same fate as the early 90s Liverpool team, long may history repeat itself :-)
Author: Jaimie K
In his column for The Mirror this week, Lawro slammed Rafael Da Silva for his horror challenge on Chelsea's Gary Cahill, and urged Moyes to scrap the Brazilian, along with four other first-team stars. He observed:
"Rafael for me is the reason you should never buy angry defenders. [He] is one of several players David Moyes has presumably made up his mind about.
"[£10m-rated] Vidic appears to have lost it, [£10m-rated] Patrice Evra is leaving at the end of the season and is playing as though he already has. Alexander Buttner [cost: £4m] is not good enough and Rio Ferdinand’s legs have gone"
It's nice to see that Liverpool is not the only club having defensive problems (!)
Man United's entire back-line needs to be replaced, and until that happenes - which will hopefully be a long-time in the future - Moyes' team will continue with its glorious freefall. With everything taken into consideration, which of the two teams currently has the best backline? In my view (Bold = best of the two)
* Skrtel vs Vidic
* Ferdinand vs. Agger
* Evra vs. Cissokho
* Buttner vs. Enrique
* Sakho vs. Smalling
* Toure vs. Evans
* Johnson vs. Rafael
Seriously, though - how did Rafael escape a red card for this challenge?
If Rafael had connected with Cahill it could've been a potentially career-threatening injury. The brazilian may have got the ball, but it's recklessly dangerous play, and should've been a straight red.
I should know - three months ago, I was on the end of a carbon-copy 'tackle', and ended up with two broken bones in my lower leg. Clean breaks, too, not fractures. Luckily, I'll be back to football in a couple of months, but for professionals, such injuries can - depending on the severity - end careers.
It's a disgracefully incompetent decision by referee Phil Dowd, and it sends the signal that flying kung-fu specials are still acceptable in football.
As for Man United's faltering backline - long may it continue; and with Moyes' team seemingly heading for the same fate as the early 90s Liverpool team, long may history repeat itself :-)
Author: Jaimie K
sorry, i've gone through the wrong door
ReplyDeleteSaying smalling is better than sakho is madness
ReplyDeleteSorry but smalling is not better than sakho
ReplyDeleteGh we got great minds
ReplyDeleteAnother bitter Scouser
ReplyDeleteAs is saying Toure is better than Evans
ReplyDeleteyep im a red for life
ReplyDeleteI can't have Smalling over Sakho or Toure over Evans but the rest are no brainers. Vidic and Skrtel are on a par at present but Vidic has been the less error prone and seems to be more of a leader / organiser.
ReplyDeleteHint: Januzaj not Janusjaz
ReplyDeleteSkrtel better than Vidic?
ReplyDeleteSmalling better than Sakho?
Sometimes I just think your baiting me Jaimie.>;-C.
ReplyDeleteEither you class Smalling much better than Evans or you see things that I certainly don't. Sakho over Toure for me every day.
Says the lad coming on to red site. Did you hear the City fans last night?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how Chris Smalling ended up on top there. Sakho has hardly been a rock either, I suppose, so it is a bit of a poor choice between the two but even still, I'd have to put Sakho ahead of Smalling.
ReplyDeleteSkrtel over Vidic? On current form, yes, but I think that Vidic is probably still the better player. It is hard to tell how much his struggles this season have been as part of a faltering defensive unit (faltering all-round unit, I suppose) and how much he is past it. I'm not willing to write him off completely, yet.
Also, I think Rafael on form is better than Johnson. He seems to have a shite mentality though, Rafael. Too rash. Also struggles for fitness and therefore consistent form.
Johnny Evans as part of a more solid defense is better than Kolo, I'd say. He just isn't commanding. Had some very good games alongside Vidic/Ferdinand over the last 2 seasons.
Salah set for medical tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteanusjizz?
ReplyDeleteThat just does not sound right :-o
ReplyDeletesorry jaimie but i think evans is a better defender than toure atm!
ReplyDeletei wouldnt be too sure about this :)
ReplyDeleteWord has it that the mancs will need to fork out £40m for Mata and quite honestly that is way too much and cannot see how he is actually going to fit in with Moyes' style of play?
ReplyDeleteJamie news on Joao Texeira and about what's happening with him is close. - a loan ?.
ReplyDeleteI don't think its fair to say Smalling is better than Sakho, he hasn't been in the PL long enough to be judged at all
ReplyDeleteHe's not really the player they need, but he is undoubtedly a classy player. They could put him on the right-wing and have the extremely formidable front four of:
ReplyDelete----------- RVP ------------------
--------------------Rooney------
Januzaj ------------------ Mata
Mata on the wing? Not sure he is very effective there.
ReplyDeleteWhy are our ex players always talking about United? As for this article. Who really cares?
ReplyDeleteIs this a manc site? Discussing their problems! Who the F* cares?!
ReplyDeleteIt would be really great if Borini can make it to a final tonight :-)
ReplyDeleteCan hardly find a critical realism about lfc in this article!
ReplyDeleteThis is your last warning: one more sniping comment and you are permanently banned.
ReplyDeleteJesus, first time I'd seen that Rafael tackle, how is that not a red, that was mental!!! Is there mo retrospective punishment for that regardless of his booking
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love watching the critisism them and Moyes are getting on a daily basis I think we really need to be careful as LFC fans. Remember that they are only 6pts behind us and are arguable about to come out of their dip in form when you look at the "easy" run of matches they have in front of them. Even though Moyes hasnt figured it out as he continues to bench kagawa, he seems to have started plugging some of the holes in the sinking ship which started by realizing how useless cleverly is. They are team that's starting to play better and with purpose which a return of RVP, Rooney and the signing of Mata will only add to (although I personally don't think Mata'a the answer for them...but that's another topic)
ReplyDeleteJamie highlighted how bad both our defenses are and he's spot on. The big fear I have is that while they have enough experience to probably figure it out; with Lucas out and no sign of a replacement from what I've read, we could be in for a reality check come March. BR needs to figure out these defensive problems ASAP because, IMO, the only difference in those 6pts is Luis Suarez and our ability to outscore our opponents. SAS has a bad day and we can't rely on our defense to keep a clean sheet and those wins turn into draws and before we know it we're chasing them.
I'm not being pessemistic about our chances of a top 4 finish, I'm trying to keep our new-found egos in check because we always seem to jump to pre-mature grandure as a fanbase only to be brought back to earth. The promised land is a ways off lads and I don't need to remind any LFC fans how good these buggers are in the second half of the season.
Has played there before, for Spain, for Valencia, for Chelsea too. I don't think it'd be his best position but I think he'd still improve the team out there. You'd have Rooney dropping deep and interchanging with Januzaj and Mata whilst RVP pushes on.
ReplyDeleteThe issue would be that they've tried the same sort of thing with Kagawa and he has failed.
Anyone else happy that the United game is going on long? They look terrible and this is going to be sapping some energy here.
ReplyDeleteYeah right, I forgot I have to agree on everything with you, you just dont accept the opposite thinking, and this is dictatorship. I never insulted anyone here just when im against you my comments are getting deleted. Go ahead if you wanna do it, you dont win anything with it, neither do I lose anything. Im just expressing my thoughts without hurting anyone.
ReplyDeleteare they playing tonight? let me re-phrase that...........
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahahah
ReplyDeleteDon't you know this is the internet!?
ReplyDeleteGet the fuck out of here and take your measured, thought-out opinions with you!
People like you make me sick.
I would bet Rooney goes the end of this season
ReplyDelete