Despite my genetically-predisposed desire to see England crash and burn at major football tournaments (I am Scottish after all!), I have to concede that it will be interesting to see how the likes of Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, and Jordan Henderson perform at the World Cup. How will those three handle the pressure at the highest level of football? How will they stack up against the World's best players? It's sink or swim time for those three, but Reds defender Glen Johnson is hoping that the comparatively unknown Sterling can have a big impact on the competition.
Speaking to reporters today, Johnson described Henderson and Sterling as 'brilliant', and praised their impact on LFC's 'fantastic' season. He also added:
"Raheem could bring the element of surprise. Not too many players at the World Cup will have played against him so hopefully that can be a positive for us and play into our hands"
Is Sterling - rated at £20m by Reds legend John Aldridge - capable of having a Michael Owen-esque impact for England? He'll have to get in the team first, and given Roy Hodgson's inherent caution, I doubt he'll start many games.
In that regard, it will probably be a similar situation to the 1998 World Cup. As I recall, England fans were baying for Owen to be in the team from the very first game of the tournament, but Glen Hoddle (initially) kept him on the bench.
Like Owen, Sterling needs to grab his chance when it comes, and make such an indelible impact that it's impossible for Hodgson to ignore him for the next game.
Given the chance, Sterling can make a huge difference for England. International football is slower/less frenetic than the Premier League, and attacking players generally get more time on the ball, which will suit Sterling - and Sturridge - down to the ground.
If England want to get anywhere at the World Cup, the spine of the team should be LFC: Gerrard and Hendo in the middle; Sturridge up-front, and Sterling out wide:
------------------ Hart
Johnson --- Cahill --- Jagielka ------ Baines
------------- Gerrard -- Hendo
------ Sterling --- Rooney ------- Lallana
------------------- Sturridge
As much as I hate to admit it, this is a team that is definitely capable of making through to the second round of the competition ;-)
The best thing is that LFC's players will learn a lot from the World Cup experience, which will stand them in good stead for next season's assault on the Premier League.
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to reporters today, Johnson described Henderson and Sterling as 'brilliant', and praised their impact on LFC's 'fantastic' season. He also added:
"Raheem could bring the element of surprise. Not too many players at the World Cup will have played against him so hopefully that can be a positive for us and play into our hands"
Is Sterling - rated at £20m by Reds legend John Aldridge - capable of having a Michael Owen-esque impact for England? He'll have to get in the team first, and given Roy Hodgson's inherent caution, I doubt he'll start many games.
In that regard, it will probably be a similar situation to the 1998 World Cup. As I recall, England fans were baying for Owen to be in the team from the very first game of the tournament, but Glen Hoddle (initially) kept him on the bench.
Like Owen, Sterling needs to grab his chance when it comes, and make such an indelible impact that it's impossible for Hodgson to ignore him for the next game.
Given the chance, Sterling can make a huge difference for England. International football is slower/less frenetic than the Premier League, and attacking players generally get more time on the ball, which will suit Sterling - and Sturridge - down to the ground.
If England want to get anywhere at the World Cup, the spine of the team should be LFC: Gerrard and Hendo in the middle; Sturridge up-front, and Sterling out wide:
------------------ Hart
Johnson --- Cahill --- Jagielka ------ Baines
------------- Gerrard -- Hendo
------ Sterling --- Rooney ------- Lallana
------------------- Sturridge
As much as I hate to admit it, this is a team that is definitely capable of making through to the second round of the competition ;-)
The best thing is that LFC's players will learn a lot from the World Cup experience, which will stand them in good stead for next season's assault on the Premier League.
Author: Jaimie K
Reckon this is just more media speculation. The media in this country has descended into a complete farce. The amount of stories you read that are just utter nonsense probably made up by the writer on the spot means that you can't really believe anything until something's officially announced. I'm pretty sure making stuff up and passing it off as news is illegal yet it seems to be fairly common place amongst the red tops and on the internet. Pisses me off. Sorry, rant over
ReplyDeleteQuestion is, will Rooney actually show up? Although Lallana can easily be moved central with Ox or Milner coming in, but still, that hole position will be crucial. That is of course assuming Roy isn't an idiot (which is a lot to ask) and doesn't play a 442, start cleverly, etc.
ReplyDeleteJk what are your taughts on the controversy surrounding the Scotland game? Seen video footage of the Nigeria goalie throwing the ball into his own net wtf.
ReplyDeleteAs it is the world cup coming up, and I can´t hide behind the fact of being Norwegian. Mostly am ignorant or ashamed at best of that fact now, but have some great memories of a long gone national team of quality, achieving a #2 ranking at Fifa rankings at its best. This includes a real bashing of England in 94 qualification, and Taylor had no answer to our compact defence, coupled with a vibrant, create and aggressive transition and counter-attack. Later these players, mostly unknown of, achieved to become the centre-back pairing at ManU (Berg and Johnston), a left back and our beloved Liverpool (Bjornebye - albeit useless when not playing crossing long balls), a midfield consisting of Kjetil Rekdal as an anchor (captain of Hertha Berlin) and Erik Mykland (the most talented player from Norway ever). Mykland (call the Musquito) deserves special notice and I really regret we never saw him in at Anfield, playing for us. However, I still cherish the memory of him, completely outplaying Micheal Laudrup at his best and arrogantly chipping Schmeichel for a goal (bar on rebound) on a 2-0 win against a EU-winning Danish side, days before the 98 championship. Being an bearded introvert and a cigarette smoker, I guess the risk was too high for the bigger clubs. BUT, he always ran twice the meters of any other footballer at the time. Respect, and my all time favorite and a class above Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (to say the least). Would have been cult figure at reds (and yes, he was linked many times). Bohinen at Blackburn was extremely talented, Fjortoft at Swindon (when he finally took off) clinical and we had regulars at Tottenham at the time (and even a regular at AC Milan that didn´t make the squad). Different times and a different national team, but the bottom line is: Put talent and form before experience, playing the likes of Sterling, Henderson , Sturridge and Barkley in the first IX! It may give you the ultimate award. However, can´t see Woy agreeing.
ReplyDeleteRooney needs to be on the bench. Imo he is past it. Should be Barkley behind Sturridge. But Hodgson will surely play him as a striker and boggle the game down
ReplyDeleteSo... A) He is a lier or B) He cant be bothered playing when it dosnt suit him. And you all want this guy at Liverpool?
ReplyDeleteHaven't been around for awhile, but thought I'd pop in to deliver this link - http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brendan-rodgers-liverpool-fc-transfer-7185770
ReplyDeleteBR finally outlines from his own mouth the existence of and methods of the Liverpool transfer committee. He makes clear that what he means when he has the final say is that he has "the first call on whether he's good enough to continue to look at and try to organize a deal and the last call to say yes or no". He then says "There is a big part that goes in between. In modern football you need to trust other people to do the work." Clearly, rather than the scenario I think you've described, which is that BR picks all the players and there is no transfer committee, we have a scenario here where the recruiting people bring BR targets, BR picks which of those targets he thinks are worth further examination and probably throws in a name or two of his own. Then the committee brings back a list of the players, narrowed down from that original list, that they've identified as having the appropriate characteristics for Liverpool etc etc, BR says which of that list he wants, then the owners slap a valuation on the player and don't go above it. BR also says "We will never bring in a player here who the manager doesn't want" which is great credit to the owners, etc. He says this not to assert his power but to draw a distinction between Liverpool and clubs like Chelsea where the owner buys the players and the manager deals with them. He also stresses that everything is a team effort.
So clearly, from BR's own mouth, transfers are done by committee, and thus any praise or blame belongs to that committee and not solely to BR.
It is actually Borini (23) and also Konoplyanka (24). Rakitic recently signed a new contract, so he will cost a lot more than that. Frankly, I believe that this is straight from Fifa 14. And being our attack last year wasn't the problem, then why do we need to sell all of those players to bring in the rest. We will have 60mil to spend. Just going by the low-ball figures you stated, that is 70m for the 4 players, if we sell the players you say we should sell, then that is a net spend of 50m. That leaves 10m to spend on the positions we really need to reinforce, that is LB, a reserve keeper as well as a central mid, which Rakitic is a CM, but for that amount of money, there are better options. Emre Can would be a better option, young, versatile, good defender, good dribbler, I believe he should be priority over Rakitic. I still like Arda Turan from Atletico as well, quality player.
ReplyDeleteEvery manager/team in world football has more misses than he has hits in the transfer market. Ol' Whiskey Nose has his fair share, Wenger has had his share, Moronho (yes I know that's not how you spell his name, it is a play on words) has had his fair share. Joe Allen is not a bad player, Glen Johnson can not be considered a failure either, nor can Sakho and Ryan Babel had his moments of class.
ReplyDeleteYeap, usual dillusional Liverpool fans. So glad the league was lost.
ReplyDeleteRyan Babel also said that he is a striker, yet he was a winger, Theo Walcott stated he is a striker, yet he is a winger. Just because a player states they are one position, doesn't mean they necessarily are. One thing Borini has proved is that he is a versatile player, he is a team player, he is top class professional and he scores goals in big games, proven by his winner in the Tyne-Wear derby, his goals against Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and his goals to keep Sunderland up.
ReplyDeleteA lot depends on the manager. I don't think any LFC fan underestimates the impact that Rodgers has had on these players, he's a large reason why they are performing at the level they currently are. Without Rodgers to guide them they might get a bit lost in new tactics, a new approach to the game and different kinds of opposition. I hope Roy can get the best out of them - that's a really odd thing for me to see about an England team - but I wouldn't be totally confident. We've seen that Sturridge is not quite the same player for England, but maybe that's just due to not playing so many game. Plenty of this will just be about luck. If they have some good form in the warm up games then confidence will build and they might have a good tournament. If those combinations struggle early on then the whole team might just kind of stagnate and only the manager can work them out of that. A single tournament is a very short period of time. Rodgers took a whole season (and one before that) to get Liverpool playing as well as they did during that 11 game streak.
ReplyDeleteBoring might feel he is more effective through the centre but he couldn't even hold down this position at Sunderland! no offence, but he had no chance of displacing suarez or sturridge through the centre in one of our attacking variations this season.
ReplyDeleteI know it is probably not worth it before I even ask but here goes. Could you expand on your comment. Assuming you support Liverpool if not don't bother as that would be explanation enough.
ReplyDeleteThe pressure is on to see whether he goes with that team or plays Milner
ReplyDeleteOk I can honestly say I have seen borini play more than 5 non lfc games. I'm a big fan and always have been as anyone who has seen me on this site before knows.
ReplyDeleteHe came from wide and central in the limited games at Chelsea, played as a rolling forward at Swansea(drifting Central and going wide) predominantly out wide at Roma and was pretty effective all that time.
Unfortunately it didn't click at the beginning of his lfc career but buying him to play as a wide forward wasn't a mistake as that's what he has played and been good at his career prior to lfc.
IMO a winger no way but a wide forward definitely.
I Rakitic(26) has not signed no New contract yet at all, D Suker recently came out and said he may be on move after all.And that he would be alot cheaper than the 40m euros buyout clause Seville want. This is not out of Fifa 14, our attack was good in premiership.
ReplyDeleteNot great in FA Cup Or Carling cup, Sturridge was out injured last season for a bit . And with Champions league football, you think Sturridge, Suarez, Sterling and Coutinho our best attackers can stay fully fit and injury free all season next year?
I Doubt it very much so and what we have in reserve to replace our 4 main attackers at club is abyzmal to say the least? Where the 4 above guaranteed club 60 goals a season
F Borini, I Aspas, L Alberto and O Assaidi wouldn't guarantee club even 25 goals a season.
I Rakitic(27) should be the priority player this summer for 20-27M
Please get him:)
ReplyDeleteAt 0-0 who can come on a make a difference. Assaidi or Alberto. By the way I am talking about the depth of the squad and not about he starting 11. As you said Alberto is an excellent passer and has better composure but with 10 minutes to go can he make the difference. We will have Coutinho on to make the killer pass so what is the point of putting Alberto on. I really like Alberto - The new Alonso but Brendan has complained about the depth and Assaidi would add more of that.
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree. JH is a good player, bur he isn't even the player SG was when SG was his age. I seriously disagree with your assessment of JH's vision and his passing ability. Nobody trusts JH with corner kicks or free kicks. JH is a good player, but he will never be captain fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a lot of huff and puff about players who clearly are not fit to play for Liverpool . Trying to justify Borini, Aspas, Alberto, Assaidi, Moses , Sissokho, Allen, Toure, and before that Sahin as good enough for Liverpool and of any value is a bit like the banks trying to convince us that the economy is buoyant !! All bad buys /loans and mistakes by the management team responsible for transfers. Sakho, Illori, jury is out . We have not competed in the Cups or Europe for two seasons at all and so our challenge will be to recruit quality to add to the young players I think could add value , Texiera, Wisdom, possibly others to add to what we have . Lambert could be another Gary mac type signing.We all want the same thing but sometimes you just have to say not good enough !!
ReplyDeleteWe keep making massive losses in the transfer market. We'd be lucky to get £5 million for both the players in question.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you know pandle pindle. You buy boring borini if you feel like that about him u idiot!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBreaking news!! LFC have made an offer for Ricky lambert. I'm scratching my head in confusion?
ReplyDeleteMost clubs we are buying from are quoting 25% more than what their players are worth. I guess LFC is doing that. The difference is the clubs we are buying from don't want to lose their players while we want to lose ours. I think it's just a usual thing of setting a higher price and then start negotiating. I see Assaidi leaving at 4m plus add-ons, Borini around 8m plus add-ons. So Assaidi gets us a good sub in Lambert and Borini's sales gets us the Lallana deal. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteJH is a born leader, he has already been a captain at u21 level for England, you can see during the games, he is constantly communicating, this is something a captain does. He has already scored this season from a free kick where his delivery was so good it mislead everyone and went straight in. Ok, so he doesn't take the majority of free kicks, but when you have Stevie and Suarez taking them, then he wouldn't be, that doesn't mean he is bad at taking them though and that doesn't mean that nobody trusts him with taking them. As far as his passing and vision goes, he constantly sprays the ball out wide from the middle of the park and more times than not, it finds the player he is aiming for and he also has close quarters vision, marked by the patch of games when Sturridge was injured and he was playing neat one-two's and flicks to Suarez. I honestly believe, he is potentially the future replacement for Stevie, providing his progression continues, which I see no reason why it shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteAt 0-0, it all depends on the opposition, Alberto has the passing ability to cut open a defence, whereas Assaidi has the dribbling ability to run at defences, like I said, they are different styles of player and would because of this, their abilities would be effective against different oppositions. And at 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go against one of the big clubs, because of his composure and his ability to recycle possession, I would rather have Alberto come on in those instances. The key to being a successful manager is being able to adapt to the different circumstances and different styles of play, therefore, if I was the manager, I would keep both.
ReplyDeleteOur attack wasn't good in premiership, our attack was extraordinary in premiership. Aspas should be sold, I agree, however, Alberto is a midfielder and midfielders generally get around the 10 goal a season mark, something which given a couple of seasons, I believe he can achieve, Borini can get 10-15 goals a season, Assaidi can get another 5-10 goals a season, we don't need everyone getting 25 goals a season each, that is unrealistic, no team ever has achieved that and that there IS straight out of Fifa 14. Alberto and Assaidi would also provide assists and open up spaces for others to score and create. This is perhaps more important than scoring all those goals as it allows the players who are employed to score goals, that is the strikers, the chance to do just that. Emre Can would be the better option, cheaper, younger, has the potential to be a great, he is a whole 7 years younger than Rakitic and can be bought for 10 million. Rakitic, although he is a very good player, he would simply cost too much and would not be value for money. As far as Coutinho, he is not an attacker, but an attacking midfielder, emphasis on the word midfielder. We will also have Suso back, who can make an impact as well.
ReplyDeleteFor 4 million, which is the reported offer, that's not a bad deal, adds depth to the squad, which is certainly what we need.
ReplyDeleteGaz, You know nothing about football.
ReplyDeleteMidfielders you claim generally score 10 goals a season? You claim and L Alberto(21) will do that next season you think?
Well how comes none of these Midfielders last season couldn't score 10 goals a season each:
L Leiva(27) DM
J Allen(24) CM
J Henderson(23) CM
P Coutinho(21) AM
Between the 4 of those Midfielders last season in all competitions between them all only 11 goals were scored.
L Alberto(21) and O Assaidi(25) will not score 10 goals a season each, they are not good enough to its that simple.
I Rakitic(26) is in the calibre, class, mould of C Fabregas(27), A Herrera(24), Koke(21), T Kroos(24), L Modric(28) and S Schweinsteiger(29).
So for you to claim we can get him for £10M shows you have no clue about football, I Rakitic(26) is worth £20-£30M.
B Rodgers crucial signings this summer should be:
P1: I Rakitic(26) Of Seville for £20-£27M CM
P2: Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £8-£10M DM
Dominant Centre Midfield Engine Room sorted for Europe and League
P3: D Lovren(24) Of Southampton for £12-£15M CB
P4: S Caulker(22) Of Cardiff for £5-£7M CB
P5: B Davies(20) Of Swansea, J Obita(20) Of Reading or A Moreno(21) Of Seville for £4-£17M LB
P6: M Vorm(30) Of Swansea for £3-£6M
Strong competition for places in goal and Defence less goals will be conceded with these 4 defensive Recruits brought to club.
Those 6 players above should be B Rodgers first 6 signings, along with R Lambert(32) and A Lallana(26)
And now you are nitpicking,if you actually read what I said, I didn't talk about individual players when I said around 10 goals a season, I specifically stated generally. Nor did I exactly say 10, I said around 10, some midfielders will score more than 10, some will score less than 10, and individual seasons don't make for good analysis, over a 5 or 10 season period would be better for analysis. If you had read my posts on here, and I do make a lot of posts, you will realise that I do in fact know a lot about football. I'm not unrealistic like some people I'm replying to. Alberto has the potential to score 10+ goals a season, does that mean he will? No, but it certainly means he has the potential to be good enough to. Yann M'Vila will cost more than 8-10m, closer around the 15m mark and I believe Emre Can to be a better option. And if we bought Rakitic, as far a LB goes, why would be buy a player from a championship side, hardly the next level of player we need. We don't need 2 CB's, one 1 at most. Do you forget we have Tiago Ilori? Honestly, we don't need an overhaul of the squad, what we need is 3 or 4 top signings, not 8 signings including mediocre players. Oh and by the way, Schweinsteiger's first name is Bastian, therefore, not an S initial. You claim I know nothing about football and then you go and do that. If you are going to insult someone on their lack of knowledge in a select subject, make sure you know everything there is to know in that subject.
ReplyDeleteGaz, you said midfielders generally get 10 goals a season?
ReplyDeleteHow many years has L Leiva(27) been at club? How many times as he got 10 goals a season?
How many times has J Allen(24) or J Henderson(23) Or P Coutinho(21) got 10 goals a season within there Careers?
You claim Midfielders generally get 10 goals a season, when the 4 midfielders above are all individually better than L Alberto(21). Yet over the season between them all they only scored 11 goals.
So just proving that generally midfielders score 10 goals point, class quality consistant performing midfielders will regularly score 10 goals a season. Average midfielders won't and don't score 10 goals a season.
Y M'Vila(23) would cost the £8-£11M and would be a much better addition to E Can(21). We need a young player in the Mascherano, Momo Sissoko and Makele mould of Old playing for club
E Can(21) looks like another N Sahin(24) , N Sahin(24) was Dortmunds player of year, went to R Madrid struggled. Came to Anfield and struggled.
E Can(21) is not even in N Sahin's(24) calibre or class, so i do not know why we are even after him.
I Rakitic(26) is a CM, not a LB. He does not play in the Championship, he played in La Liga for Seville. He was the player in the Europa Cup Final who was dominating and dictating the play from the Centre of park and spraying ball over the field. His range and precision of passing was something else. And i think he was the one who won Man of the Match in the final also
He Is an awesome football player, his passing, movement, distribution is world class.He has descent shot and is box to box midfielder, he is simply world class.And he would be S Gerrard's natural successor.
We need an understudy to J Enrique(27), J Enrique should be fully fit and injury free by time season kicks in, so he needs competition and cover his place as he is the best full back at club. Defensively and attacking wise he is better than all our full backs.
So J Obita(20) Of Reading, England U20 LB who Arsenal are also chasing would be great addition to club, he would learn and compete with J Enrique and play in the Carling cup and Fa Cup Games. And if J Enrique is out injured or suspended , I am sure he would make them step up.
We need two centre backs in this summer, not just one.
We need to ship out two: S Coates(23) and K Toure(33) who are both average, one is injury prone and soft giant. The other is 6 years past his best and a walking accident who makes
ridiculous mistakes , yet he was brought to club for his experience and leadership.
I Think T Llori(20) will be loaned out again this season as he is not big enough for Premiership, he is ability and a lot of potential but doubt B Rodgers will use him this season also. So i am surprised as any why B Rodgers spent £7M on him last season, knowing full well he was not going to use him that season.
OK, Gaz. for someone who claims you know about football, to think I Rakitic(26) was LB and plays for a Championship side is comical.
When at this moment in time all the best sides in Europe are now after I Rakitic(26) CM of Seville, And he currently makes B Schweinsteiger look like L Cattermole(26) Of Sunderland.
Im not sure how you guys think Borini is not good enough. He played for Sunderland who were battling against relegation all season and was by far there best player and showed a lot of character to fight the way he did for them every game. He has NEVER been given the chance to play at Liverpool and Injuries have set him back. This is a player that excelled at Roma in Seria A where it is known to be very difficult to score and yet again he got in to double figures and exactly like Sunderland, with very limited service. Liverpool/Rodgers would be making a MASSIVE mistake to get rid of him. Also maybe some of you fans should get behind these players and want to see them do well rather than trying to sell them off for half their value.
ReplyDeleteMidfielders, as in world football, you are focusing on midfielders at our club to prove your point, let me ask you, how many goals did Yaya Toure score this season? What about Eden Hazard? How many goals has Frank Lampard scored when he was in his prime? How many goals did David Silva score? And by the way, the 3 midfielders have had time to settle and are older than Alberto, other than Coutinho, they are better than Alberto currently, that does not mean they are always going to be. And you mention Lucas Leiva, who is a defensive midfielder, his role isn't to score goals, it is to break up the attacks and start a counter attack, which he does very well. Not all midfielders score 10 goals a season, but when you analyse it and average them out, which as a scientist, I work with means and variations from the mean rather than raw data, you will see that it is close to the 10 goals a season mark, aka around 10 goals a season.
ReplyDeleteGaz, your comical. we are talking about our team, you claim generally midfielders are supposed to score 10 goals a season, so obviously i will use the midfielders at our club.
ReplyDeleteAlberto is not in the same calibre, class, quality as Coutinho(21) or D Silva(27).
My points are our centre midfield is average at best, Gerrard(34) passing is world class, he no longer is mobile, has legs for it and when we play teams young fit, who can press well also ( Aston Villa, Chelsea, Southampton and Swansea) Gerrard has struggled.
Henderson is class and quality at winning ball back, breaking up play, starting attacks, he is good passer of ball and full of energy but he is not world class.
Coutinho(21) is not consistant, otherwise he would be in Brazil now. When he becomes a player who plays 8/10 every game and brings more goals to his game he will become regular brazilian international.
J Allen(24) and L Leiva(27) are both average players, both of them are descent at passing ball sideways and backways. Both are descent squad players but will never ever be world beaters.
L Alberto(21) is not even better than Suso(20), Suso(20) is a better player than L Alberto(21_ and so was J Shelvey(21) . That is why i do not know why B Rodgers sold J Shelvey for just 6M
And he brought in L Alberto(21) for 6.7m
J Shelvey(21) may lack mobility and pace, but he has more creativity, Quality in attack and goals in his locker than L Alberto(21), J Allen(24) , J Henderson(23) and L Leiva(27).
No, you are talking about midfielders in our team to prove your point, I am talking about midfielders in general. Why am I comical when I am bringing a scientific outlook on it? Put it this way, if football was a science and you went to the scientific community with your views without any analyses to back you up, frankly, you would be laughed off. And by the way, I claim midfielders in world football, generally score around 10 goals a season, key word around, which means not necessarily 10 goals a season, maybe 5 goals, maybe 15 goals. You say our midfield is average at best. When is it that a midfielder's sole job is to score goals? Scoring goals from midfield is a bonus. The job that midfielders have, ours do very well. To say our midfielders are average at best because they don't score 10+ goals a season shows your lack of footballing knowledge and is comical itself. We scored 101 goals last season, with only half of those goals coming from Suarez and Sturridge, which means those other 50 goals had to come from somewhere. You say Coutinho is not consistent. The top 3 players in world football, Ronaldo, Messi and Suarez don't even play 8/10 games every game, once again, this is not Fifa 14. You say Lucas and Allen aren't world beaters? They aren't meant to be. Have you ever heard a saying "a star team is better than a team of stars"? Lucas and Allen do the job they are supposed to do and when they have come into the side, they haven't looked out of place. As far as Alberto goes, have you actually seen him play? He has an excellent passing range, he has versatility, he has an eye for goal and has an eye and the ability to make a defense splitting pass. This season was never going to be the season for him to break into the team, he was bought for the future. And Shelvey looks good at an average team, being Swansea, but when he was at Liverpool, he was out of his depth. If his season was so good, why isn't he in the England squad? Henderson is in the England squad. Henderson is very creative and has goals in him too. Yes his shooting needs to improve, but to say he doesn't have goals in him is ludicrous. Leiva is a defensive midfielder and his job isn't to get up and score goals, otherwise the balance of the team would be out. Again, not Fifa 14. Maybe I can see the value in our midfielders other than the goals you claim they lack, and just about every other intelligent Liverpool fan can. Skrtel scored 7 goals this season, does that mean because the other defenders didn't, they are average at best?
ReplyDeleteGaz, this forum is about our team we support so i will use our team to get the points out. In world football today, the three men in midfield have a role to play: The first is the defensive anchorman, who protects back 4, breaks up oppositions attacks, keeps things simple and starts attacks. The 2nd midfielder in system is the box to box midfielder, who should create and score goals and keep things ticking over. And he 3rd midfielder should be the link between midfield and attack the one who unlocks teams and scores 10 goals a season.
ReplyDeleteOur centre midfield is average at best, The best centre midfield Liverpool have had in last 5-10 years was the Alonso and Mascherano Partnership. They scored 2 goals between them all season, but whether we were at Home or Away in League or in Europe we bossed/dominated midfield.
J Allen(24) and L Leiva(27) are average at best.
P Coutinho(21) is too inconsistant, for that reason he is watching the world cup and not playing in it. The best players in world are a 8/10 most games, for you to say L Suarez(27), Messi(28) and C Ronaldo(29) are not a 8/10 in most games is comical.
As they wouldn't have been nominated the best two players in world for last three years if they were not consistantly performing to a high level/standard.
Messi(28) had a huge injury this season and struggled, Ronaldo has still had a fantastic season, but now he has more players around him with star class quality status so the limelight is shared out( Bale and Di Maria)
J Allen(24), J Henderson(23) and L Leiva(27) are all average players, Henderson(23) stands out due to his mobility, pace, work rate, pressing game and what he brings to team.
But they all do similar job, on average midfielders score 10 goals a season you claim?
No , Good class quality consistant performing midfielders score 10 goals a season.
Average midfielders will not score 10 goals a season and players who do nott consistantly perform to 7/8 out of 10 in most games will not score 10 goals a season.
you Comparing Yaya Toure to J Henderson, J Allen, L Alberto is quite comical to be honest.
As the class, power, physical strength, goals and quality Yaya brings to Man City all the three players together above do not those qualities to us.