10 Apr 2019 07:29:33
Hi Eds and posters, hope all is well.

Just recently been watching some football highlights/ goals from the mid 2000’s, with a couple players in particular, Danny Murphy and Sissoko interesting me, as they were both slightly before my time. I’d be interested to know what the general consensus of their time at Liverpool is. Especially Sissoko as I’ve rarely seen him mentioned on here at all. Know it’s random one, but curiosity got the better of me, and there’s nowhere better to gauge fan opinion than this site.
Cheers in advance.

{Ed001's Note - Sissoko was excellent, a growing force in the side until his eye injury pretty much ended his career. A proper box-to-box all-round midfielder. Could pass, tackle and shoot. Such a shame he never got to have the career he deserved.

As for Murphy, he was a nice lad back then, though not the brightest, but he was odd on the pitch. If you watched him in the opposing half, you would see some lovely stuff, good passing etc, but in his own half and he was a liability. Even a 5 yard pass would miss the target and usually turned over to the opposition. Never good in a team that sat deep under Houllier. However, his free kicks around the edge of the box were deadly. It was odd how he was very noticeably two different players though, depending on which half of the pitch he was in. I think he must have suffered from nerves in his own half, because he played with no freedom and everything went wrong. In the opposition half he must have relaxed and just played. I am not sure if that continued once he left, as he was a huge Liverpool fan (I remember his excitement when he found out we were interested when he was at Crewe and he nearly wet his keks!), it might just have been pressure he felt of playing for the club he supported.}

1.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 08:57:46
Thanks for the insight Ed, heard Sissoko turned down moving to Barcelona to stay with us so he must have been a player.

{Ed001's Note - he really was developing into a top class player. It was a huge loss for us when he got injured. By all accounts he was a really nice lad as well.}

2.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 10:34:34
Totally agree on Sissoko. Sometimes he didn't look the most elegant, but if you watch his feet, they were always in the right place, his body just had a mind of its own (! ) .

Really rated him and such a shame for him with his eye injury.

Interesting on Murphy. I never noticed that switch, but I was normally p*ssed when watching us in those days, so many things will have passed me by :D He sounds a little like Matip, who seems to get an extra surge of talent and speed when accelerating into the oppos half!

3.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 11:23:50
Gutted when Sissoko got injured against Benfica I think it was. Even my manc mate loved him. How blessed were we in midfield back then?!

4.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 11:56:00
That tendency to surge from Matip undoubtedly comes from his days playing defensive midfield, Zed.

5.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 12:15:22
I loved sissoko zed. Was getting better and better. Under the tutelage of gerrard he had the potential to be rhe next viera imo.

6.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 15:08:11
I agree with Ed01 about Mo Sissoko - he was on the way to being a superstar with Liverpool until his eye injury. But it puzzles me that he left us for Juventus were he played more than 70 games before further injuries (not related to his eyesight) saw him move down a level or two. If he was good enough and fit enough for Juventus why didn’t we keep him? Or did he want to move? He is still playing in the French 2nd tier league.
As for Danny Murphy, I always thought he was fractional short in every department and this stopped him being a great player - just a fraction too slow, a fraction too weak, confidence a fraction too brittle, etc. A dreadful pundit now though.

7.) 10 Apr 2019
10 Apr 2019 20:25:24
I still miss Sissoko till this day, Ed01. He was a phenomenal player.