Liverpool Banter Archive November 13 2014

13 Nov 2014 22:17:08
Given the resurgence of Stewart Downing. Is it due to the fact big Sam has him playing in the same position that he won player of the year at Aston Villa. Behind a front two. It made me think ?

Given that a lot of players have now passed through the coaching and man management of Brendan and his staff and most statistically appear to have got worse.

What kind of percentage do you need to be regarded as a success. Is it one in 5?

U`re entitled to your opinion BUT I don`t know which Downing you were watching while he played here. IMO, Downing is playing in a West Ham team that is overachieving and frankly, a club like WHU is his level. He`s playing in a team w/ little to NO expectations and with a manager who plays to his "strengths" and that`s ok BUT to blame his failure on BR is unfair and dishonest because we all saw him play here and it took him 18 months to score his first goal and assist (Fulham at Anfield in Dec, 2012). He was good at AV and that`s fine. Guess what? Ashley Young was phenomenal, too. Where he now? Utd`s bench. While he was here, it never looked like he tried and severely shrunk under the pressure and great expectations of playing for a big club and being bought for a large fee. It took BR to threaten him to be sold b4 he even started trying to play a little bit. On the contrary, Hendo was bought for a lot of money too BUT you could tell he was trying to improve and he still is. We can blame BR for some of his transfers and for mismanaging certain players but Downing AIN`T one of them.

'He (Rodgers) was the one manager I had problems with, ’ Downing says. ‘I found it very difficult and the way it was handled - to come out in the papers and basically slag off your player by saying you don’t try - that was poor really.'

Add that to what Agger said about not being honest and 'thank God I have left Brendan Rodgers' from Sahin and honestly BR is the one not exactly smelling like roses to me.

Downing wasn't up to playing for Liverpool no matter where he played, he was too timid.

Downing was never good enough for LFC. Mid table player at best. But it does not mean that Brendan gets a pass for treating him so poorly. Sahin, Reina, Agger etc all had problems with Brendan, who was the common denominator. He simply does not know how to deal with high profile players.

Indian Buzzer, I try to ignore most of what you post, but sometimes it's not possible.

To state 'he simply doesn't know how to deal with high profile players' is disingenuous. He's got the best out of Sturridge, Suarez, Henderson, Coutinho etc etc, plus countless others who are far more high profile than the likes of Sahin and Downing.

Stop spouting unfounded drivel. I get it that you want him removed, personally I don't, but don't use flawed reasoning as a means of justifying it, as it taints the rare decent point that you do post.

{Ed001's Note - how can you use Coutinho as an example of a player that he has got the best out of? He is in and out of the team because he is not playing well as often, or more often even, than he is playing well. Hardly a high-profile case either as, like Henderson and Sturridge, he was a young player whose face hadn't been fitting that just got given a chance to perform. I don't think you can use 3 players who were in such little need of man-management to showcase his man-management skills. All they needed was a chance to prove themselves. So they are neither a case for his ability to deal with players nor against.

As for Suarez, well how much is down to Rodgers and how much is down to Suarez's attitude? Did Rodgers have to do something special to get those performances out of him? Performances that he had put in week in, week out at Ajax and for his country. Was it Rodgers or simply learning the league and how to play in it that brought the best from him? Personally I would say that it is very difficult to tell, but the evidence suggests it was not really all about Rodgers at all.

As for high profile, only an ignorant fool thinks that any of those players you listed were more high profile than Sahin when he joined us and was badly mishandled by Rodgers. Just because you know nothing about football outside of England, doesn't mean that Sahin was some kind of no mark. He was a Real Madrid player, the biggest club in the world with the highest profile, and you are trying to suggest a bunch of struggling players were higher profile? Just making your points look idiotic with that stupid comment.

You are trying to suggest a bunch of players struggling to make any kind of mark in the game than a player who, at that point, was a regular England international, in Downing, and a one time massively hyped player who had just had a bad injury. Two players who actually do require man-management, both of whom flopped because none was given. Just like his complete lack of man-management in Kelly's case, Flanagan as well, who has made it because of his refusal to give in, not because Rodgers did anything, as Rodgers wanted him out the door. Oh and that is not to mention Suso, Moses, Sakho etc. I could include Johnson and Enrique, who clearly are not being handled well. I could go on and on. Rodgers is not a good man-manager, or even decent at it. He is failing badly and you have to be badly blinkered to think otherwise.}

Indian Buzzer. Aren't we mid table?

14 Nov 2014 09:43:57
If not anything, the fact that he sold Downing, who at the time was one of our better players (he had about 5goals and a few assists) and replaced him with Moses, who barely featured, even when we desperately needed fresher legs, shows how poor he has been.

Ed, if you're trying to tell me that Downing was a higher profile player than Suarez, even when we signed him, then I disagree. As for Sturridge and Henderson, you might have a point that they weren't massively high profile when they signed, but they are now, and he's getting the best out of them.

Downing flopped because he couldn't hack it at a big club, many can't, now he's back in calmer waters he's come out of his shell again. To blame this on a lack of Rodger's man-management is non-sense.

The thing that's pissing me off about this site, and those on it at the moment, is that Rodger's isn't even getting credit for the amazing turnaround that happened last season, or for the improvement in players, ie Suarez.

For the record, I think that Rodger's is an excellent man-manager, one of his best attributes, and that was the general consensus on here before we had this run. In fact many on here were saying 'if anyone can get the best out of Balotelli, it's Rodgers'. It hasn't happened yet, but, that's down to numerous things.

I respect your views Ed, but I disagree with most of what you've been saying on here lately regarding Rodgers. Let's give him at least until may before we judge him.

{Ed001's Note - Downing was higher profile than Sturridge, Coutinho. I put Suarez separately for a reason. As I pointed out, there is very little to suggest Rodgers can take any credit for his success, as Suarez would have almost certainly succeeded regardless of the manager. So all he can take credit for is not completely messing it up, which is not really much.

Rodgers is getting too much credit from you, he didn't even come up with the strategy he employed, yet we now are expected to credit him for someone else's ideas? His ideas and system failed miserably, he took advice on how to fix it and it worked brilliantly, but then he reverted back to his own ideas and system and it is failing miserably once again. I don't see how anyone is giving him too little credit?

An excellent man-manager would reduce the pressure on those players who can't take the pressure, like you suggest was Downing's problem. So how is he an excellent man-manager, except to the deluded few who can't take their rosey tinted specs off for long enough to see objectively? He is a poor, at best, man-manager, he has not handled a single player well at any point. Constantly alienated everyone, except Gerrard, who he is building everything around, even when it is clear that is no longer the way forward.

I am glad you disagree with my views, as your views are insane! Anyone that thinks one thing, when every single piece of evidence points to the contrary, without being able to provide any reason for their contrary views, except more evidence against them, I would rather not have agreeing with me.

Rodgers has been given time, he has done nothing but ruin every good thing he has done with a hundred bad things following them. This is his 3rd season, he still has not figured out how to produce a defence, or how to keep defenders happy. He is still persisting with idiotic notions of splitting defenders so the midfield can drop back deeper, even though it has been proven to be ineffective and cost us the title. He won't relinquish his lunacy of continually putting Gerrard in as a defensive midfielder, despite it not working. He alienates players who aren't his favourites. He has no idea how to get the best out of players such as Johnson, Balotelli etc. He talks utter crap in press conferences, consistently embarrassing the club with his stupidity. His desire to buy in young players has meant our youth academy is now a complete and utter waste of time, as the players are only going to end up getting the chop, unless we get absolutely desperate for players ala Flanno. Even then, he will do all kinds of playing players out of position, rather than bring in another youth player to play in their natural position, which is why both Johnson and Flanagan played left back at the end of the season rather than any chances being given to Smith.

The only time Rodgers should be given now is time out of the game to think over why he has been such a failure. Though I am sure he will have plentiful excuses to make sure it is not his fault, as one thing that man is good at is excuses for his own failure.}

Roger That, stats or no stats, if you're suggesting that Downing was one of our better players at any time during his time at Liverpool, then you must have been watching different matches to me.

Some of the s##te being spouted by the anti-Brendan brigade is bordering on ridiculous now. I, like everyone I go the game with, were just happy that we got any sort of fee for him and got him off the wage bill when he went to West-Ham. He hasn't got the balls to play at a big club.

I don't recall many being in uproar when he left.

Walton Red, u honestly think Coutinho, Henderson and Sturridge are more high profile players than Sahin? Do u even know the meaning of high profile? Sahin came to us from the biggest club in the world and was the envy of many top clubs who wanted him. How many clubs competed with us for Hendo, Sturridge and Coutinho? The answer is a big fat zero. I really do not understand what u lot see in Brendan. He ruined Sahin when at LFC who could have been our new Alonso given a proper position and time to settle down. Please do not come up with Flanno, Sterling, Coutinho and Suarez as examples of his so called man management. These 4 players have too much of talent and would have done well at any other club given the chance. Henderson is the only example who Brendan has managed well but what about the other 10-15 players that have floundered and struggled under him?

''Downing is playing in a West Ham team that is overachieving and frankly, a club like WHU is his level. He`s playing in a team w/ little to NO expectations''

Redohio, this is such a misguided comment, to say they are simply over achieving is doing a massive disservice to a club that finished 10th 13th last 2 seasons, have absolutely battered us and city, have been back financially by gold and sullivan, and have a brand spanking new ground to move into. Never mind the fans giving Big sam so much stick at the beginning of the season and all of last season.

West Ham is not a small club like you seem to make out. I realise Liverpool fans were dismissive of other clubs, but that's pig ignorant

On the point of Downing, he was a regular in the England set up when we bought him and often performed to a good standard, we deployed him at left backon a fair few occasions, for some reason, and at the time I think it was clear for every 1 to see when enrique actually played left back, Downing was completely let down because, JE just had no team ethic, downing often had to sit deep cus jose bombed forward and did what he wanted, or whenever downing made a wide run, jose would ignore him, try going centrally, and end up just doing 540 turns.

14 Nov 2014 12:07:50
Downing is having the best season of his career. And it's only a 3rd of the way through. A reasonably talented player is having a decent burst of form. It really is as simple as that. BR can be pointed at for a lot of things but Downing wasn't good enough when we bought him, wasn't good enough when we played for him, wasn't good enough when we sold him and by the end of the season, most likely won't be good enough. If he is, and has a couple of brilliant years late in his career then fine - he was a proper whinger and a crybaby (and not just at us, it annoyed fans at Middleborough as well) but ultimately hardly a horrible bloke and if he can make a bit of a legacy for himself then good for him

Downing was rank from the moment he signed - £20million was always overpriced given it had taken Downing until that point in his career to have a decent season (the season with Villa). He was not good enough and he was another player we wasted a lot of money on. He might be playing better at West Ham but I think Redohio is right - there is a massive difference between playing there under big sam and playing for Liverpool: if anything Downing proves this point.

Indian Buzzer, yes I do believe that Daniel Sturridge is a higher profile player than Nuri Sahin, get over it.

As for the he played for Real Madrid line, fair enough, he was released in 2013 with other greats such as Hamit Altintop, Royston Drenthe and Esteban Granero.

I'm not denying that he was a good player, but he didn't show it in England, I don't believe that this was solely down to Rodgers.

As for not undertsanding the definition of high profile, you included Daniel Agger and Stewart Downing as examples. I believe that the players he is dealing with now at Anfield are of higher profile than those two. You can't have it both ways.

{Ed001's Note - Sturridge was a Chelsea reserve, hardly high profile. You really have to be the most deluded poster here.}

Downing is NOT the right example to give BR grief for. He is playing at his level and he struggled MIGHTILY here. Simple! If he was as good as the others, he`d still be here. He wasn`t good enuff. Funny enuff while he was here, a lot of people here wanted him gone. Now because he`s playing well at a perrenial midtable club, he`s a beast. Unlike those defending him and giving BR stick, I don`t have a short memory hence, I stand by my comment and to call him a high profile player is just crazy.

Spot on, Seano! BR has his faults BUT Dowining AIN`T one of them.

I assumed he was talking about now Ed, as he used the present tense when asking if Sturridge is higher profile than Sahin. A misunderstanding due to bad grammar.

Is Sturridge higher profile now? yes, was he when we signed? probably not.

{Ed001's Note - that I would agree with. Sahin was massive profile before his injury though, on the continent.}

Not a fan of Rodgers then Ed001?

Why not give the job to the person who Rodgers sought advice from to turn things around last time? or as he already had a go?

14 Nov 2014 14:18:18
Walton Red, I'm not saying that Downing was a world beater, but that the way Rodgers handled the situation was atrocious! He alienated, sold and slandered him, then went on to replace him with Moses. How did that work out for us?

Seano and redohio(especiallygiven your long term memory). you seem to have forgotten his times at Boro where he enjoyed good seasons too.
Imagine if BR had have sold Jordan Henderson, he'd still be a lower end table player by those standards, we were lucky we kept him given the lack of depth in the middle we enjoyed last year.

You seem to be mistaking not performing for 1 club (ours) as a lack of quality rather than how the manager played them etc. There's a whole history of players whoe xcel at club better than ours who go somewhere else and fail, move on, andbecome better again.

HELL why not use sturridge as an example, does he only shine at our club cus we're a 4th-7th place club, where as premier chasing champions such as Chelsea sold him cus he was no the required class?

Ed01, who was it that advised brendan on the system we played last year? And why has he reverted to this current system while all the evidence suggests it just does not work.

{Ed001's Note - Bielsa. Because he is stubborn and arrogant in his belief in that style of play.}

Thanks ed that's good to know, so he can't even take credit for that! It gets worse.

{Ed001's Note - it was well reported at the time that he received advice from Bielsa, it is just that people don't care where the idea comes from, we just care if it makes Liverpool successful. I would happily give him credit for having the intelligence to take advice from a great coach, but he has since decided that he knew better than Bielsa all along. Madness to get great advice that makes a difference and then throw it out the window and go back to what failed miserably.}

If Bielsa was the one who suggested the diamond formation for last season, can anyone please tell me what exactly has Brendan done since he came to the club? All i can think of is wasting loads and loads of money and imposing a system that the players are clearly not comfortable playing. The man is nothing more than a con artist who happened to write a load of rubbish in his so called thesis that he gave to the owners who failed to see through his ineptness. His whole blueprint has been a miserable failure, in spite of all the money he had. The likes of Hodgson never got this sort of money to spend yet people call him a joke and Brendan gets a free pass for a 2nd place finish which could have well been a title winning season if he had not tried to act the hero.

Boba if you`re talking about his days at Boro, then you are losing me completely. Try to stay on topic, if you can. I was and am ONLY talking about his days at LFC. KK bought him, not BR. His first year and a half w/ us, he scored no goals and no assists in the BPL. Also, he was average at best and couldn`t even give his barest of efforts in a game hence, many on here said he wasn`t good enuff. Face it bro, he can`t hack it at an institution like LFC where yu are under the microscope and expected to perform in every game. He`s at at a perrenial midtable team where expectations aren`t so high and he`s allowed to have 3 bad games in a row w/o the media on your back everytime. Don`t know if u noticed BUT that`s not going to fly at LFC. On the other hand, Hendo could have folded under the pressure and left BUT he didn`t. He embraced it and got going to the point of being vice-captain while your boy got sold and the only reason he`s running his mouth now is because BR`s struggling and we`re in a rut. Didn`t hear him slating BR last year when we waxed his club 6-2 on agg, did we? We can have diff opinions not diff facts. Face it, bro. Your boy couldn`t/still can`t hack it at a big club because he lacked the balls, personality, character and courage to make it here. Saying the contrary and blaming BR for his abject failure here, is bordering on the disingenuous.

Buzzer it `s funny people shamelessly give Bielsa all the credit for last season for advising him to play a 4-4-2 diamond YET he (Bielsa) doesn`t even play that formation at Marseilles. I`m a Marseilles fan and I`ve watched them a lot this year.

{Ed001's Note - you clearly know nothing about Bielsa, his tactics are nothing to do with formations, the formation is suited to the players available. Which, in Liverpool's case, was a 4-4-2 diamond.}

Redohio it seems u started watching football only recently. Just because a manager believes in a particular system does not mean he should persist with it if he does not have the players for that system. Bielsa varies his system and tactics which will bring out the best in the players at his disposal, that is the mark of a great manager. Look at Mourinho, he knows the abundant attacking talent he has a his disposal at Chelsea and has ditched his defensive pragmatic style for a more expansive one. Brendan on the other hand is just a clueless fool who thinks he owns the world for letting a title opportunity slip from his grasp. The man has robbed the club of 200 million GBP and we are no better than when he first came to the club.

ED and Buzzer, I`ve known Bielsa for over a decade and have followed him on and off and don`t claim to know him very well or any more than that. All I did was state a fact about his current tactics at Marseilles, that`s all. Buzzer, you know nothing about me nor my footie history (both playing and following the game) so the plast part of your comment whiich I agree with overall, is pointless.

Redohio you based your entire opinion of him in a mid table liverpool side 7th and 8th we finished? If you think villa, and westham fans didn't won't put him under the microscope you're once again belittling other football clubs. Fans like you are why lots of people can't stand LFC fans, cus you have such a low opinion of other teams.

13 Nov 2014 18:51:44
I think some of the commentors on here need to get their head in order. Players - even world class players, play in an individual style and for them to do well require to be playing in a team that uses the style and tactics that suit them. Taking Balotelli as an example, he is never in a month of sundays going to be a goal-scorer playing as a lone striker and that is all there is to it. The fault doesn't lie with him, it lies with the management for persisting in flogging a dead horse. Likewise Gerrard is never in a month of sundays going to make a Defensive Midfielder and again, persisting with that is yet another 'flogging a dead horse' exercise in futility. Squarepegs go in square holes, round pegs in round ones.

So what is he (Balotelli) good at then, Red Lenin? Okay, so he has to play with another striker to 'get the best out of him'. Fair enough, I suppose, but what 'best' do we get? He's still not good at hold up play, he still doesn't run behind, he still isn't going to create much for others, etc. Basically it's not much different to sticking a training cone in the box and letting the other striker do all the work to bounce goals in off of.

My point is that he simply doesn't offer enough to the team, whether played alone or with a partner, to be on the pitch or, more precisely, I can't figure out what it is that he does offer that isn't distinctly average at best.

That said, I don't blame Mario for being who he is or doing what he does and I agree the failure is more on the committee for plunking down £16M on a striker with a poor goal scoring record in recent history who doesn't offer enough when he isn't scoring.

If I'm just absolutely missing what he offers, then please tell me what it is specifically. I've watched every goal he's scored at City and Milan numerous times (most of which were tap ins due to either excellent passing or defensive mistakes or penalties), looked at the stats, went back and watched old City games, etc. and I just can't figure out what it is that others see in him that I'm completely overlooking.

Got to agree with you RDL, mario just does not fit into, what was a winning style that we had last season, I am sure that I could pick three of my good Lfc mates to form a transfer team, and we would have spent that 117 million so much better, the Sturridge injury was always going to happen, and will happen again this season, our top priority should have been a top top striker to replace the only world class player that we had, now we have a huge problem scoring more than one goal per game, tactics should have been changed when Sturridge got injured, its not rocket science, I can only hope that the return of Sturridge will be the turning point, because nothing else is working, in fact we seem to be going backward, and BR does not seem to see it .

Red Lenin is right for me

13 Nov 2014 21:05:23
He isn't going to offer anything as a lone striker in a team set up the way we are at the moment - that's the point. It's not his fault - it's the people picking the team and deciding the tactics that are at fault.

13 Nov 2014 21:19:04
Mario is not a finisher. Not a goal scorer.
He's in the mould of Bergkamp but absolutely nowhere near that ability.
If he trained really hard and went super saiyan and ate spinach, he might one day be able to walk around lazy and still be awesome like Zlatan. No probably not.
In all honesty he should forget about this cocky attitude stuff and just put himself about abit,, he's got the tools to be technically brilliant,, but he'll never score goals or win the fans over if he doesn't run. Judge him when Sturridge is back

I agree Red Lenin. I would just extend that and say I don't see what he would offer regardless of how you set up the team. He will look better no doubt next to Sturridge, but so would near every striker I can think of so I just don't think that says much.

RDL, the only evidence we have of Balo`s ability was when he had Studge next to him and w/ a bit of belief, luck and fitness could have potentially scored a hatrick v Spurs (I agree, not really saying much too because Spurs are woeful like we are). You say any striker would look good next to Studge. None of us really know that because the only two guys that have looked good w/ Studge are Suarez (who`s a beast, already) and. Balotelli. Also, Balo looked good for Italy at the Euros, playing next to Antonio Cassano (IMO, the most skillfull attacking talent to coe out of Italy since Baggio) and had a great tournament. He is being played wrong and being used as a scapegoat for BR`s failed system. I haven`t given up on him yet because I have seen what he can do w/ a great player next to him BUT I fear BR will continue to play one up just to show he`s in charge. I await your usually well-thought of response to my view.

Redohio- unfortunately I don't have the Spurs game on my DVR anymore so I can't really remember exactly how Mario played that game. The only thing I recall is he went off early, his passing was awful, and I think that might have been one of the games he missed a sitter?

It'll be interesting to see how the pair get on if BR decides to play them together (which I agree he may well not), but for me I guess I just don't see what Mario adds to the partnership. Sturridge can make bad decisions occasionally and not pass when he should, but he's still pretty creative for a striker and, for me, a much better passer of the ball. So it just seems destined to be a bit of a one-way partnership, so to speak, with Daniel and others occasionally creating opportunities for Mario and him really not doing much other than shooting and occasionally scoring.

As I said before, Mario's hold up play is not great (albeit neither is Daniel's, but I do think him stronger than Mario in this as at least his passes are generally good), he doesn't really take on defenders with the ball at his feet (Danny is good at this), he doesn't really run behind defenses (again, something Sturridge is good at), and they're both pretty poor with their heads given they're both pretty big lads. The only thing I might concede in Mario's favor is he has a decent shot on him when he's in the mood, unfortunately he's also not got great accuracy on it (again, 7 open goals last season from 140+ shots is not a record to be proud of for a striker- usually you want to see a very good striker have a non-penalty conversion rate in the 18-20% range, not 4%).

Apologies for the long winded answer. I hope I'm way off base and the pair click to create magic for the club, but I just can't see it happening unfortunately. Mario's record just doesn't indicate that he has it in him to be anything other than a pretty average goalscorer (considering the number of shots he takes) and not really great at anything else either.

I'd say BR would be happy reading so much of this site, to see the fans blaming the players for our poor form must make him smile.
Keeps the attention away from his poor coaching, lack of tactics and poor transfers.

{Ed001's Note - but the players are playing badly and have to accept their share of the blame. Having said that, the manager is responsible for putting poor performers into the team every week and so he must carry the can for the players not performing.}

I said it before and I'll say it again. All the stats quoted by the mario brigade, for AC milan were based on him playing the lone striker role.

So you boys have a massive contradiction here. You claimed he was good playing a lone striker for AC getting goals playing up front by himself, showing he was a true world class striker.now you have him playing in the EPL, where he's once again a lone striker, but now he need a partner to get the best out of him. .

14 Nov 2014 12:11:13
Bobatron, he was never a lone striker in AC Milan how he is for us. AC Milan have two wingers making runs past, getting into the box and acting as strikers or wide forwards. With us, he is alone up front.

However, this discussion has decended into two separate points which are:

1. In the system we currently play and our current tactics, we will get nothing out of Balotelli and that's not his fault.

2. It is fully possible that in a system ideal to Balotelli, he still won't be good enough and we won't get enough out of him

He was a lone central player. Winger play deeper and out wide.

This is like saying drogba wasn't a lone striker at chelsea cus he had Robben and Duff crossing in wide positions, He was still centrally by himself in most games. This is all getting a little tactical and is probably for another page. But he was the only listed striker in most of their matches.

13 Nov 2014 12:50:32
Hi,
Is it true Martin Odegaard is coming to Liverpool for a trial before Xmas? If so have any other clubs made any offers for him yet?
Thanks

{Ed002's Note - He is just a child and years away from playing for the Liverpool first team. Lots of other clubs are interested in the kid.}

13 Nov 2014 08:59:07
What is the issue with Kirikou?
Do you rate him as a player, why is he not picked (I know he's injured now), is it because he is not rated by BR, or just doesn't like him as a person? Another blunder by BR and the committee?

{Ed002's Note - Injury.}

Slow your roll, bro. He`s had an injury setback and is in France recovering.

13 Nov 2014 15:11:15
I already mentioned in my post that I know he is injured and according to Ed002 1st choice are skertl and lovren, so my question again is, why is he 3rd choice? why doesn't br rate him? Is he too slow, not good at positioning, attitude problems etc?

{Ed002's Note - He is second choice behind Lovren. I explained this and then all the fans had their usual whine and bleat. Try the search function.}

Last season for us, Sakho was available for 26 league games and started 17, 16 times at CB, once at LB. He played nearly identical numbers of minutes to Agger and looking back at it they basically swapped back and forth every 4 games or so the starting LCB position. I'd say BR simply doesn't rate him, thus the Lovren acquisition.

Irony for me being that so far we've tried Agger, Sakho, and now Lovren next to Skrtel and I don't think any have looked great and at some point I would ask whether we're swapping around the wrong side of the equation.

13 Nov 2014 17:10:20
RDL - I'd definitely say we're mis-identifying the issue. Which one of them didn't look more solid playing next to Kolo?

Skrtl is error-prone and always out of position to a fault YET it`s the other Cb`s who get the blame and/or get benched. How can we honestly explain that BS. For me, play Kolo Toure w/ Sakho or Lovren. Can`t be that bad because if Skrtl makes mistakes and never gets benched then why should Kolo or Lovren or Kirikou?

Does anyone remember if we played Toure/Sakho last season? I want to say we did but for the life of me I can't recall for sure or if we did how they played together.

We never did. We mostly played Sakho/Skrtl, Skrtl/Agger, Toure/Skrtl. The better partnership we had last year where we didn`t concede for three straight games were Toure/Agger. We did play Toure/Sakho v Boro in the League Cup.