Liverpool Banter Archive March 11 2017

11 Mar 2017 19:04:01
Seeing a lot recently about Christian pulisic and just wanted to know what ed 001's opinion of his ability is? he's getting great reviews and I doubt we could get him but if we could would he walk into our starting 11?

{Ed001's Note - no idea, not seen him play much sorry. Only seen highlights of him.}

11 Mar 2017 19:26:05
Ok no worries, Where do you rate our best starting 11 on paper by individual ability compared to others in the league? City look so strong I think on paper and will only get better in the summer which is worrying.

{Ed001's Note - City look strong because they have spent a lot of money but they still can't defend. They can be got at, if the opposition is brave enough. Their is not one player in the back four, nor a quality keeper, in that squad. They also are weak in midfield, Yaya only bothers when he feels like it, De Bruyne, Sterling and Sane are very hit and miss.
As for us, we are up there, in terms of ability, the front three are among the best in the league and Lallana has plentiful ability too. It is not ability that matters over a long term basis as much as the desire, drive and hunger to perform. At the top end, there is very little to choose between any players in terms of ability, often there are players with just as much ability in the lower leagues too. The difference is how hard they work off the pitch, the will to win, no matter what is a huge factor in success.}

12 Mar 2017 07:57:39
Exactly.

How many times did you say united are rubbish now under fergie they won't win the league.

Erm.

Oshea. Brown. Fletcher. Valencia. Young. Park ji.

Not being disrespecful to them but they weren't as talented as alonso, gerrard, torres, carra, agger where they but they all have the winners medals.

You need good players but great spirit.

Leicester?

12 Mar 2017 09:43:57
Hey ed01, how would you evaluate the strength of weaknesses of the other teams in the top 6?

{Ed001's Note - Top 6 strengths and weaknesses:

Chelsea -
Strengths: Pace breaking forward, Diego Costa's finishing, Eden Hazard's skill. Kante! Keep their shape well. Title winning experience. Conte never lets players think it is won already.
Weaknesses: Wingbacks defending. No cover for Costa. Cahill struggles under pressure.

Spurs -
Strengths: Kane and Alli are always a goal threat. Defensively solid. Well drilled and have had time to work and develop with the same manager. Youthful enthusiasm.
Weaknesses: Discipline goes when the pressure is on. Lack cover for injuries other than at centre back, but particularly up front. Can be too slow to get the ball forward, giving opponents time to get set.

Man City -
Strengths: Pace, lots of pace throughout midfield and attack. Goalscorers throughout the team. Aguero, Silva and De Bruyne always find space to get in a shot. Really getting to grips with the press Guardiola demands.
Weaknesses: Defence, particularly Stones, can't defend. Hopeless goalkeepers. Midfield lacks defensive discipline. Too many players blow hot and cold.

Liverpool -
Strengths: Attacking trio can overwhelm any team, whichever of the forwards play. Workrate and movement creates plenty of chances.
Weaknesses: Intensity drops whenever they face teams outside of the top six. Defensively frail, with only one decent defender in the squad in Matip. Goalkeeper. Tendency to overplay.

Arsenal -
Strengths: Pace all over the pitch. Sanchez. Good football that tends to overwhelm weak teams.
Weaknesses: Discipline is lacking throughout, with players constantly missing and failing to work back defensively. Midfield lacks any kind of cohesion and understanding. Iwobi and Xhaka offer little, other than stupidity in Xhaka's case. Inconsistency. Wenger, great as he was is now at the heart of all the problems, particularly with the will he, won't he stay saga. Injuries.

Man Utd -
Strengths: Zlatan and Mourinho are born winners. De Gea. Have plenty of pace to run off Zlatan in Rashford, Mkhitaryan and Martial. Pogba is capable of moments of sheer genius which can change a game.
Weaknesses: Lack of quality in the defence ahead of de Gea. Too many injuries. Have yet to figure out how to get the best from Pogba.

11 Mar 2017 12:58:34
In relation to Grujic's work permit does the fact he was injured for such a long time matter? As in he couldn't play the amount of games required for it to become a problem ?

{Ed002's Note - They are aware that Klipperty lied to the panel and the player has not been given chances when fit but I doubt they will come after his work permit. It was a mistake and the boy should have been loaned back for 18 months and not 6 months.}

11 Mar 2017 07:25:37
If not in ours, I hope that there's an alternative universe in which Sakho is forgiven, behaves and strikes up a mean partnership with Matip for many seasons to come, ably supported on the flanks by TAA and Juanma.

11 Mar 2017 11:33:34
We need Stewie's multiverse drive to check out that universe. Ideally that is also a universe where Rafa patched up his differences with Xabi.

11 Mar 2017 13:58:10
I'm sure there's an alternative universe where we signed Messi as a teenager. And one where Souness made better choices on the transfer market and Moores wasn't a numpty and as a result we were never knocked off our perch.

Too bad we can't access them, eh?

We need to, as fans, mentally deal with the fact that Sahko's not part of the clubs plans going forward. He fell afoul of the club's disciplinary system and was frozen out for 6 months. Whilst we don't know exactly what he did or didn't do, I don't think that happens to players over minor misdemeanours. He's not coming back and there's no point in dwelling on it.

11 Mar 2017 18:35:06
Nope.

As always: player vs manager = back the manager.

12 Mar 2017 13:14:54
I agree if our squad was big enough to deal with his absence.

When we were short on centre halves lately Klopp could have called Sahko back already chastened by half a season in the reserves and told him he was playing for his future thus showing all who was boss but also seeing sense from a purely football point of view.

Surely this would have got the best result for the CLUB if only to put him in the shop window.

It's worrying that Klopp can't see this point of view.

And also his comments that the goalkeeping situation is as good as it could be.

Strange to say the least but again the club have handed complete power by giving him A huge 5 year deal too early.
It's around this time that results dipped.

13 Mar 2017 00:28:14
Disagree Dermot. Sahko has been a right bell and we all know that. Klopp is trying to instill discipline in the team and allowing the lunatics to run the asylum, is senseless and in no way helpful towards achieving that goal. If he had recalled Sahko and we still had issues defensively, Klopp has lost his credibility and other players won't respect him.

Clearly, you don't have a problem with that but many of us and Klopp, do and in that situation, the manager will always win. Klopp was right to stick to his guns and has the support of majority of the fans and the owners on this issue. By the way, this is coming from a Sahko fan.

13 Mar 2017 09:46:35
I understand totally what your saying Noah. Red and agree with you on a lot of it but I still think as I said before from a purely football point of view the team would be stronger with Sakho in it rather than playing Lucas at centre half. Carra said something similar as well after the Leicester game.

Klopp has never said publicly that Sakho has absolutely no future with the club. After 6 months in reserve football Klopp could said Sakho had served his sentence and be rehabilitated into the first team when results were at risk.

Sakho could have been getting man of the match performance, so for us instead of helping fat sam at Crystal palace. God only knows what Klopp would have done with The Suarez biting and Evra instances; Siberia most probably.

13 Mar 2017 16:54:12
I agree with your opinon, Dermot. Now as for the Suarez thing, I think Siberia would be a good shout, LOL.

10 Mar 2017 19:43:20
Evening all,

Quick quw=estion for Ed1 if you're about. Why do you think Harry Wilson has nt been given a chance from the bench this season, inspite of his electric form at u23's?

{Ed001's Note - because others moved ahead of him early on and putting him in the first team squad means, usually, having to pull him out of the U23s squad. It is felt he would benefit more from a full game than the odd cameo.}

11 Mar 2017 13:43:41
He also had a bad injury last season so Klopp would not seen anything onto this season.