Liverpool Banter Archive August 25 2016

25 Aug 2016 19:23:45
A bit of chat about Ings, does anyone think it might be better to sell Sturridge and keep Ings as back up. Origi as one and firmino and Ings otherwise. Works harder, younger and hungrier.
Don't get me wrong I think Sturridge is our best striker on his day, but is he good and consistent enough to force ings out?

25 Aug 2016 20:21:53
Daniel Sturridge is a game changer and a match winner and you hardly have those kind of players in the league. He will piss you off jogging and dong hardly anything through out, But it's just a moment and his wicked left foot.

25 Aug 2016 20:33:00
How have you come to the conclusion that he is hungrier than sturridge? He is most definitely good enough to keep ings out of the team. There's a reason Ings isn't even been picked for match day squads. When fit Sturridge is a world class striker, stop comparing them. It's not even close.

25 Aug 2016 20:57:54
I like Ings but I won't force Sturridge out so that he can play.

If Ings works hard, takes his chances wherever they may come and earns it; then he plays.

Right now he's coming back from a major injury.

25 Aug 2016 21:51:14
I said we shouldve sold sturridge at the start of the season. Not that he isn't a good player, but he's impossible to build a team around. And we have 2 young upcoming strikers who i think have higher ceilings than he does. We can get a good price for him and he will likely be injured for 1/ 3 of the games we play anyways. It sucks but he reminds me of Torres. The injuries have really hampered him; when he was alongside Suarez he was arguably faster/ quicker than Sterling, and his left foot was a rocket. Idk, there is no real clear answer. I'll support him if (and it's looking very likely) he stays for sure.

25 Aug 2016 22:22:32
It's impossible to build a team around him.? Please explain? I think you'll find building a team around any one player is something only an idiot would do. Sturridge was, is and will always be a great goalscorer.

25 Aug 2016 22:32:20
sturridge needs to be played down the middle when fit. and he will score 20 league goals a season you cannot say that about to many forwards in the league. Ings will not do that for you. sturridge had a little injury a the start of the season but has been ok most of the last 8 months get of his back.

{Ed002's Note - Finally you know why he left Chelsea.}

25 Aug 2016 22:33:39
After seeing how Firmino came back this pre-season, I'd say he's the hungriest of all our strikers.

25 Aug 2016 22:34:22
You could argue that both Barcelona and Real Madrid have built their teams around one player.

25 Aug 2016 23:05:18
Did we open the competition of the most ludicrous post of the season already? Sturridge will score in a third of a season more than what Ings will score in two. Since mid of last season when he came back Stirrudge missed 1 game I think due to fitness. Ings is just starting to come back from one of the worse injuries a footballer can have and many don't return to their old self after it. Absolute joke.

25 Aug 2016 23:19:29
Special cases Phil, Ronaldo is almost never injured and a freak athlete, Messi is Messi, a supremely talented dribbler turned playmaker. Both are once in a generation players who you can afford to do that with. You could argue both teams actually don't build a team around 1 player, Madrid had a counter attacking system under Ancelotti (haven't watched them much since), Barcelona have their tiki taka system which started with the legendary Cruyff (RIP) . But both players do take up central roles in the team due to ability and have enough clout at their respective clubs to influence where they are played and how often.

26 Aug 2016 09:41:00
I understand the opening post and does have its merits but my personal opinion is that even when coming back Sturridge comes on the pitch as a sub and always looks like he could score. He is a natural goal scorer, his goals to games ratio is good, if you look at goals to minutes played it is better. Unless the prognosis is that he will never play a full season again then I'd keep him but maybe he is going to become more of an issue if this season doesn't work.

25 Aug 2016 17:30:28
How on earth are we favourites to sign joe hart? It's like the bookies have said "who's the worst keeper playing in the top half of the prem" decided it was mignolet and automatically stuck us in as favourites. I don't see us or Everton signing him and I would imagine he's panicking now because if he dosnt get a move in the next week he will lose his England place to Forster or Butland as well.

25 Aug 2016 19:10:08
Not as good as cech Courtois de gea lloris and i'd rather Karius, Leicester won't replace schmichael, so unless he wants to play out of Europe, he will have to move countries.

25 Aug 2016 19:35:01
I think he is panicking more because if he doesn't find a team he will spend this season on the bench in City, I don;t think he care too much about the qualifications in the national team. I don't think we will buy him but I think we should have. He is not De Gea and he is in the form of his life but he is still a big improvement on Mings.

25 Aug 2016 21:38:26
Well he's probably ruled out of a champions league side after pep played him last night.

{Ed002's Note - No.}

25 Aug 2016 22:42:08
Why buy someone worse than mignolet, makes no sense.

25 Aug 2016 23:22:45
It's just a case of the bookies adding 2+2 and getting 10 due to the fact that we have a poor goalie in Migs, Karius is injured and Hart is surplus to requirements.

25 Aug 2016 23:32:16
He's not great but he's not worse than mignolet. I struggle to see a buyer for him on his wages though and I read that city want 30 mil for him, laughable if true.

26 Aug 2016 03:35:33
Migs is a very low bar that can be used to measure GK's right now so Hart being better than Him is no news.

26 Aug 2016 05:02:22
Watch a rerun of the euros and explain to me in detail how he is any better than mignolet. Not what we require despite the bleatings of lawrenson who's opinion is suspect at the best of time.

26 Aug 2016 07:29:14
I find the Hart thing a little odd TBH - City have paid £15m (allegedly) for a player who is 4 years older and has never played in the premier league. I'm not entirely convinced by Hart myself but surely his PL experience gives him the edge over Bravo? But what do I know.

26 Aug 2016 09:44:48
Johnny, it's to do with playing style. Pep prefers sweeper-keepers, which Bravo is and Hart is not. Age is almost irrelevant as a) keepers play a lot longer and b) Man City are unconcerned about residual value and sell on, and more concerned about success now.

26 Aug 2016 09:48:26
His lack of footballing skills puts him down according to the manager and he clearly is getting the final say. Latest reports say Hart would take a pay cut to go to Liverpool - suspect that could well be his agent fishing. Realistically he is local enough, knows a fair number of the players quite well, seem to remember a comment one time he used to travel with Stevie G to England meets (if that is right would be funny to know who was trying to convince who to move on those drives), it would make sense for him. Makes no sense for us unless Karius is crocked for major time and even then only as a short term until Karius back up and running. Don't buy someone aged 21 who is already playing at the higher levels and then block him with someone aged 29 because they're very experienced and available. (And I'm one of the few who rates Hart as a decent top level keeper) . He will struggle to find a club either top of EPL (all have good keepers currently) or relatively local in EPL that would buy him. The price tag, considering what City have just paid for someone they rate as being better, is laughable as well. Based on their own treatment of him City shouldn't seriously expect more than about £12-15m for Hart.

25 Aug 2016 12:15:00
October 22nd. United at home!

defenders numbers are dwindling, Lovren is injured. Klavan suspended. whilst Sakho running riot on loan at Roma,

The only option is Gomez to partner Matip, a boy still considered a minor in some cultures, a man labelled “one for the future” coming up against one of the most formidable strikers in the world.

Fast forward. its 84 minutes liverpool 2-1 united! the roar of Anfield echoes through the city, so loud that Manchester fear an invasion is upon them!

Pogba, a man costing the equivalent of 890 million freddo's, plays a sumptuous ball through to Ibrahimovic. he's one on one with Karius. Dummy's to the left and he's through, open goal!

he taps home and goes to run to the celebrating united fans, they've done it! 2-2. but wait something doesn’t feel right the whistle hasn't blown.

ITS GOMEZ, the boy from Charlton has run the full length of the pitch from an attacking corner and has somehow managed to kick the ball away from the goal line…. NO GOAL!

Karius gets up and grabs Gomez face in celebration screaming with determination…. The bond that once started has become a brotherhood.

93rd minute. the final whistle goes, Gomez is MOTM. and a legend is born!

25 Aug 2016 12:33:01
Magic!

25 Aug 2016 12:34:22
I would wonder why he's so far up the pitch at such a crucial time of the match myself ;)

25 Aug 2016 12:51:08
and then u woke, only to remember that u just got beaten by burnley 2-0.

25 Aug 2016 13:01:06
I don't think you should be sending up your whole team on a corner on the 84th minute if you are playing against Man united or any other team for that matter.

Keep the ball near the corner flag.

25 Aug 2016 13:19:03
Zlatans nose was clearly offside.

25 Aug 2016 15:11:21
I can't see Man Utd scoring 2 goals against us 😎.

25 Aug 2016 15:49:12
I agree ron zlatan, mhki, martial must be running scared at the thought of facing clyne, klavan, lovren and milner. 😉.

25 Aug 2016 16:12:58
I don't know about Zlatan, he'd be more "walking scared" but Martial and mhki can run 😀.

25 Aug 2016 16:53:44
lol ron, looking at how u guys defended against burnley i think walking should be enough. especially if u have the great mig in goal.

25 Aug 2016 17:30:11
😄 leave our Mig alone, we're the only ones allowed to abuse LFC players, ask Ed002. I will agree Klavan is not the most mobile of defenders and turns like an aircraft carrier.

25 Aug 2016 18:15:21
hopefully we will watch him sink against utd.

25 Aug 2016 18:45:01
Common sense. . get back to the United page hey.

25 Aug 2016 18:46:25
Some good banter there with our Manchester (or is that Sunderland? ) friend. Good to see, keep it up.

26 Aug 2016 07:52:03
you are a lucky man kloppite that i am busy with work right now, or i would have seriously gone all "liam neeson" on you for comparing me with that thing. The first 2 words in my name clearly denote the big difference between 2 of us.

25 Aug 2016 09:22:01
I've always felt that football has "trends", and that most, if not all, managers follow these trends.
When I was growing up, the trend was 4-4-2, with 2 strikers that clicked together, hunted in pairs. And 2 pacy wingers. It was attack down the flanks, then whip in a cross, and the strkers were there to finish.
Then it was the time of the attacking wingers/ strikers. They had pace and skill, but wanted the glory, so they had to score the goals. And eventually we didn't know if they played on the wings, or if they were strikers.
Formations changed a lot during this time.
Then, these strikers wanted to move central, and the new term of attacking mids came aboard. And they played just behind the striker.
Now, between these changes, we went from 2 strikers, to just 1 out and out striker.
And some teams didn't even play with a striker, they just went with midfielders that could score.
Now, we seem to be in the era of attacking mids running the sport, and fullbacks offering the width, and defensive midfielders now slotting in to defense. Its all gone to hell, in my opinion.
At school, we were bluntly told by our coaches, that the difference between profesional teams (the ones we watched on tv) to the way school kids play, is that profesionals play in positions, and that the whole team doesn't all run behind the ball, like we kids at school did.

25 Aug 2016 09:38:24
I'm a footballing traditionalist and believe that the 4-4-2 formation was handed down to us by our footballing forefathers.

I've got a theory that formations are cultural.

25 Aug 2016 09:43:08
I'm a 4-4-2 fan I'll be honest. Fullbacks that defend first and attack 1 at a time. Old fashion wingers that get to the byline and whip it in. Box to box midfielders. And a big man, small man combination up front. Nothing wrong with lumping the ball into the mixer if you ask me. Balls into the box terrify defenders.

25 Aug 2016 09:46:10
@Andy, Professionals DO play in positions haha.

25 Aug 2016 09:56:51
Atletico Madrid still plays a decent 4-4-2 as well Leicester city. It's all about personal. If you have two brilliant wingers with pace and crossing abilities and CM's who could defend a lot lot better than what we have atm, you could always play this system. Kenny wanted to implement this system with Downing and Carroll which never took off while we never had a half decent winger on the right hand side ( Often Kuyt occupied that position ) . I don't even remember a positionally sound CM before or after Xabi Alonso. There lies the issue.
It's not the System, It's the players.

25 Aug 2016 12:30:42
Don't quote me on it but Positions mean nothing, if you score more goals than the other team, normally you win the match?

25 Aug 2016 16:13:59
I did quite you DBol and the missus disagreed 😉.

25 Aug 2016 18:27:53
I understand that some players are more attacking, and some more defensive but it seems we are loosing balanced CM's they wither have to be CAM and CDMs the old 442 your CM had to do both jobs.

26 Aug 2016 09:58:41
The bit I don't get is how many people want to play wing backs as part of a back 4, using wing backs who can't really defend; when that only really seems to work when you have 3 at the back and the wing backs playing slightly further forward with defensive responsibilities higher up the pitch. Surely the part of scoring more than the opposition is an equation with 2 sides, you score more, they score less, rather than the simplistic Keegan ball view of just slugging it out and trying to have 1 more goal at the end.

26 Aug 2016 10:06:10
I'd find it interesting to know how many managers ever succeed when they come in with that "I play football this way, my teams play this way" mentality and how many more or less succeed who look at what they have available to them first and build their team around playing that way. For me (as an impartial obvserver on both counts) it was interesting to watch that Leicester knew exactly how to use a man with pace and finishing ability and England, with the same man, couldn't get anything even decent out of him and looking at the opposition I don't buy that it was the level of opposition that changed. Just my opinion but the must find space for big name player caused England to fail whereas must gel as a team is why Leicester worked.

26 Aug 2016 10:36:02
Formations don't matter as nothing is ever set in stone.

25 Aug 2016 05:44:22
Why Liverpool playing PL away games continuously (spurs this week) without any home game?
Stadium upgradation? or fixtures are like that?

{Ed001's Note - stadium. We asked Burnley to switch the game and they obliged.}

25 Aug 2016 07:05:53
Think it's us who obliged given the abject performance.

25 Aug 2016 07:11:59
We should be thankful they were cool enough to oblige with the current Danny ings saga that is still dragging on

Hats off to them.

25 Aug 2016 07:23:06
Oh that explains it then. We agreed to not score to reverse the fixture. Ok, got it now thanks.

25 Aug 2016 09:28:25
I'm not sure Kemlyn, as the had the advantage of another home game.

25 Aug 2016 10:26:31
It's not that they have 'another home game', like an extra one. The two Liv v Burn fixtures just got reversed. They won't have 20 home and 18 away and is the opposite. Later in the season, when it was set to be at Turf Moor, it will now be at Anfield. Thus balancing it out.

{Ed023's Note - The fact that this has to be explained has me worried}

25 Aug 2016 10:51:52
I know Ed023! Scary stuff! 😱.

25 Aug 2016 19:38:05
Davey, we play everybody twice, home and away

We will have 3 home games on the bounce after Christmas

There is no advantage or disadvantage

We lost because of poor defending, not because all the seats in the upper main stand were not bolted in on time.