Liverpool Banter Archive September 03 2014

03 Sep 2014 19:22:32
I think a lot of people got confused with shappys debate it was our last season first 11 v their current starting 11. Man united squad ability wise is better then ours last season but then again shappy our team play was and is better then Uniteds by a clear mile. We also now have a better squad especially when you consider most of ours are used to the premier league

Chelsea, city, us, arsenal and arguably Everton have a better squad than United THIS year and that's what should concern him.

Obviously he must be concerned mikey otherwise he wouldn't be posting here hoping for us to big up his team :) ha ha

But our players are still young and improving so this year they should hopefully be better again. You've got to take this in to account when comparing.

And Mikey, City, Chelsea, Everton, Arsenal and us also have a set way of playing that won't take three months, no sorry six months, no sorry a year (going by LVG) to implement. Along with our superior, more balanced squads.

I think you should be blaming SIR WHISKEY NOSE FERGY for a lot of your problems. he let the squad get to the stage it was in last season.
HENDERSON!!

I think the post (by Shappy) is like going to your girlfriend to seek re-assurances she still loves you and is right for you when half of your peers have been hanging out the back of her (see MK Dons, Swansea etc. ).

Maybe comparing player by player will make him think that his team can get back to the top of the pile; time will tell; he might as well do it against the current Real Madrid team as well to see if they will win the Champions League. oh I forgot they can't ;o)

Have u seen their page it's funny, they are calling them selves galacticos lol

03 Sep 2014 18:09:26
Alright lads getting a lot of stick from the United fans they signed Falco so now they don't need champions league to get big players bla bla bla so I made a 100 euro bet the sturrdige will out score falco this season is it easy money or should I star saving

03 Sep 2014 18:53:21
I think a lot of them fail to consider that not many clubs were in a financial position to afford him (wages, let alone transfer fee) & that they weren't, by light years, his first choice; it is just a lot better than Monaco.

If they're now happy with having 2 very injury prone players as their only 2 strikers then let them :)

Falcao is a very good striker dezy, then so is Sturridge. I'm sure Falcao will fire them to top half at least with his goals. Danny is more than capable of out scoring him though this season mate.

03 Sep 2014 19:09:47
Easy money mate

That's pretty safe money. Falcao scored a lot of penalties in his prime which will be with Rooney, he's also just coming back from a serious knee injury at 28. Very over priced IMO.

Too early to say mate - I think Sturridge will get 20+ again this season so the real question is where will Falcao play in United's system and will he be able to remain fit (and indeed fitness is a question for danny boy as well). Personally I think you will be fine, Sturridge is top top class and will score bags of goals again this season, Falcao has great pedigree but United are a bad team these days and he is also coming back from a really serious knee injury - I'd go for Sturridge too.

I'm pretty sure the 300 grand a week helps lol.

Maybe they don't, but they do have to pay £340'000+ a week to him. Bearing in mind how bad his knee injury was and players are never the same afterwards, just check the video of training at Monaco just before he left where berbatov was beating him in sprint training. Personally I think Balotelli is a smarter signing all day long.

Yeah I would guess Sturidge will outscore falcao as well actually.

That's okay, we'll see what they're like after 2 seasons without Champions League.

Yeah because he was dying to go there wasn't he!

He was desperate for Madrid, Utd were just desperate, hence them paying an absolute fortune for a player they don't even need.

As for them still attracting players whilst out of the champions league, do me a favour. They've attracted a couple of merecenaries who are on crazy money.

I don't think he's going to be great for them anyway. He's coming back off a real nasty injury, into an immensely physical league, plus he's 29 in February and possibly past his best anyway. Those who watched him last season in a weak French league claim that he wasn't the same player as he had been in Spain. This was before his operation.

I don't think that he'll outscore Sturridge, i'll be surprised if he completes 90mins that often tbh.

If berbatov can out run you then your in trouble lol

Just a thought.
Madrid are just using Manchester United as a fitness test to see if Falcao knee holds up, if it does he will be off end of the year.

Also another thing annoying me is there say he was cheap I no for a fact it wasn't so what's the word on the street from figures I no its not Liverpool related persay but I am getting stick nice to have some ammo💪💪💪💣💣💣🔫🔫🔫

Radamel Falcao (in Europe): 139 games, 104 goals.

Daniel Sturridge: 142 games, 58 goals.

Comparing Sturridge to Falcao is like comparing Ronaldo to Nani and saying Sturridge will score more than Falcao completely proves you Pool fans are very, very deluded. Come back down to reality please, it misses you. And so does season in season out mediocrity.

Falcao is by NO means cheap.!2m for a one year loan w/ reported wages in the 300k - 350k range, he is ripping the off big time which just shows how desperate Utd were to bring in players in attacking areas to appease their fans when every man and his dog knows they are severely weak in midfield and defence. Utd just got fleeced and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Next time they brag about attracting big names without the champions league tell them that Falcao is AFRAID to play in the champions league.

His last 3 moves have been away from clubs in the champions league and to clubs not in it.
He last played in it in 2010.
He left Porto when they were in it and joined Athletico Madrid. When they qualified he moved to Monaco. Now that they are looking forward to a european campaign he has moved to Man U.

Meant to say he has not played in it *since* 2010

03 Sep 2014 16:43:18
For such a young squad we have plenty of experienced players who have achieved some great success in top flight football.

Ballotelli at only 24 years of age has won 3 Serie A titles, 1 Premier League title, has a Champions League winners medal and has won the Coppa Italia and the FA Cup.

Sturridge who has just turned 25 has won the Premier League title with Chelsea, he also won the Champions League with them and the FA Cup twice.

Sakho at only 24 years old has won the Ligue 1 title with PSG, as well as both of the french cup trophies.

Emre Can is only 20 and has a Champions League winners medal, he has a Bundesliga winners medal and also won the german league cup with Bayern Munich. He may not have been majorly involved, but still has the experience of winning major trophies at a very young age.

Markovic who is only 21 years old has won the league title with Benfica as well as both of the Portuguese cup competitions. It is also worth mentioning that he has won 3 league titles with Serbian club Partizan Belgrade.

Lovren who is 25 years old has won the french league cup with Lyon as well 2 league titles and a league trophy with Croatian club Partizan Belgrade.

We also have Coutinho who is only 22 and has won the Italian league cup with Inter Milan. Moreno who is 22 and has won the Europa league with Sevilla, Henderson and Flanagan who have won the league cup with Liverpool.

The young players (19-26) in the first team picture yet to achieve any major success are Mignolet, Lallana, Allen, Sterling, Suso, Borini, and Manquillo (who was part of the title winning Athletico Madrid squad last season). The lads that were at Liverpool last season now have the experience of a title race which will do them the world of good for their confidence and will make them even more hungry for success.

Looking now at our older players we have Gerrard who at 34 years old has won pretty much everything but the Premier League title. His success includes a Champions league winners medal, Europa League winners medal, 2 FA Cup trophies and 3 League Cup trophies.

Toure at 33 years old has 2 Premier League titles and has won the FA Cup 3 times during his time at Arsenal and City.

Johnson at 30 years old has won Premier League title and League Cup trophy with Chelsea, he won the FA Cup with Portsmouth and the League Cup once more with Liverpool.

Skrtel at 29 years old has won the Russian league title with Zenit St Petersburg and the League Cup trophy with Liverpool.

Enrique at 28 years old has won the League Cup with Liverpool. Likewise Lucas (27) also won the league cup with Liverpool.

Lambert and Brad Jones both 32 years old are the only "older players" yet to win a major trophy.

So, as you can see Rodgers has assembled a squad with experience of winning silverware. He hasn't brought in any random young players but players that he knows have that mentality and ability to succeed. The players he's brought in that haven't won major silverware he knows they are hungry for it. Lambert, Lallana, Allen etc will give everything in every game.

This young squad will continue to develop over time to become a very strong challenging group of players that will give everything to achieve success. I am confident they will do so. The future is looking bright.

Red Rum

Not bad good post all counts and adds up

Partizan belgrade is not a croatian club and dejan lovren never played for that club. he played for dinamo zagreb and won everything with them.

Cheers for pointing that out mandzo, of course it was Markovic at Partizan Belgrade don't know how that got into Lovren's Paragraph haha.

Red Rum

03 Sep 2014 16:21:10
sorry ed's forgot the second song. To the Notorious BIG - Hypnotize.

Danny Danny Danny can't you see sometimes your moves just hypnotize us.

We don't care for flashy goals. We'll take the ones that come off your toes.

Danny Danny Danny can't you see sometimes your moves just hypnotize us.

We just love your sturridge dance we want to see it at every chance

03 Sep 2014 15:16:58
Just letting Ian the red know still praying for his mum and keep your chin up Y.N.W.A.

03 Sep 2014 12:54:32
Let's be straight, Skrtel is Premier league quality. That is not up for debate. He his excellent at clearing crosses into the box, fearless when it comes to blocking shots, excellent at attacking the ball from set pieces (offensively) and he is farily decent with the ball at his feet (85-90% pass completion).

Why is Sakho better?

Positioning: Sakho places himself in far better positions when people are running at him in order to prevent himself being beaten or the intercept a pass. Skrtel is rash and see's only the player with the ball, frequenty diving in or just backing off all the way to the centre of our box with no awareness to players running beyond him. Sakho is also far better at holding a straight line which makes it harder to get in behind us. Skrtel drops far too quickly because he knows he lacks the pace to catch people but by doing this he leaves gaps in behind and plays people onside.

Pace: Sakho has far more pace than Skrtel which allows him to defend much higher up the pitch (roughly 20 yards). He also gets across to make recoveries far quicker.

Leadership: Although he is yet to display it at Anfield, Sakho is a leader. The youngest captain in PSG's history and his national team captain as well. When he is settled into the team and fluently speaks English, he will be a leader. Skrtel leads by example to be fair to him, always putting in 100%, but he completely lacks any form of communication.

Passing: Sakho is ambitious. He see's passes into the midfield and drills them in to feet. He almost always looks to play it forward. Whereas Skrtel either passes it sideways to Glen Johnson/Lovren or backwards to Mingolet. On the rare occasion he does attempt a forward pass, they are far less incisive than Sakhos. Sakho usually finishes up with a 90-95% pass completion rate. That might not seem like much difference but an extra 5-10% can be anything up to 8 passes a game. Skrtel loses the ball more often and the stats prove that (check out Squawka).

Reactions: This is kind of linked to the passing. Sakho just see's danger faster than Skrtel. He quickly moves to place himself between the attacker and the goal. This means that even if he gives the ball away, he is composed enough not to charge forward to try and quickly win it back but to drop off and maintain the defensive shape. Skrtel doesn't see danger quick enough and then when he does he rarely has the pace to intercept it.

Marking: Skrtel is useless at marking. Zonal, man to man etc. It doesn't matter. He can't follow people. Whilst he is great at winning standing aerial duels, his duel success stats are misleading because at corners, he never beats his man (defensively). He can only attack the ball, hence why he grapples with his man and is literally all over him. We are not talking about a sly little tug (like Lovren, and every other premier league defender do every week), we are talking about a full on man hug and often he drags them to the ground. A little discrete tug is clever defending (Carragher was brilliant at this). Reaching out an arm or wrapping yourself around your man is not. You have to sty tight to your man. Sakho can do this, Skrtel can't.

Tackling: Skrtel is a useless tackler. He is either too rash or he is scared to make a challenge. He never makes a challenge near our box. He just backs away continuously until he is forced to make a last ditch slide or block a shot. He can't cope with people running at him. He is only good at making covering tackles where he can come across to right back and smash somebody into the advertising boards. Sakho on the other hand stands his man up and is far more precise in the tackle. He can tackle with both feet (unlike the 100% right footed Skrtel) which makes him very hard to beat and he is not afraid to make a challenge anywhere because he is confident in his ability.

Focus: whilst Skrtel made 9 errors that directly led to a goal and scored 5 own goals last season, Sakho made just 2 errors. Don't get me wrong 2 errors is 2 too much for about 20 appearances. However it is a mile better than being responsible for 14 goals!

So to conclude, I don't think Skrtel is a bad player, I just think Sakho is better in key areas. He is also 5/6 years younger and has less experience in the league so sticking with him will result in him improving. Skrtel is showing no signs of improvement and is maybe even going backwards. The same goes with Lovren, he is also very young at 24/25 and therefore still improving.

When you have younger players it is easier to overlook their weaknesses temporarily because they are still improving. Skrtel is not. He is supposedly at his peak and quite frankly, Sakho and Lovren are still better than him.

Skrtel is either an adequate back up defender for a top 6 team, or a mid table premier league centre back. I'm happy for him to stay and provide cover. I just worry for our back four every time he starts against fast/attacking teams because his mistakes are so frequent. This is just my take on the Sakho/Skrtel debate. Skrtel isn't bad, Sakho is just better. You're of course free to disagree, but try and be constructive rather than offensive. I'd love to hear why people think Skrtel is the better player, and I don't mean that sarcastically. I just want to know what people see in him that perhaps I am missing.

EMS has done it again. Bravo!

Great post mate. . .

I'm looking forward to the Sakho/Lovren partnership. Skrtel is good backup, I agree.

In a game of cudda, woulda, shoulda:

I'd have liked to have sold both Skrtel and Agger myself personally. Keep Ilori and also keep Kelly. We'd have 5 centre backs instead of 4 like we do now, wages would not be higher as the 2 higher earners would have been moved on and transfer fees received would have been higher.

The downside would be Ilori getting less games than he will at Bordeaux but it's a long season so I think he could get enough. Also part of my preferred scenario (i.e. keeping Kelly) would have involved selling Johnson.

I agree. Skrtel is a good defender who gives everything he's got in every game, which is admirable. However, the future is Lovren and Sakho, and they should be played as often as possible to improve as a partnership.

I still think Skrtel is a good option to have on the bench. If Lovren or Sakho was injured for the CL clash with Real Madrid, I'd still feel confident with Skrtel filling in.

Red Rum

03 Sep 2014 13:55:43
I love Skrtel for his commitment and will always wish him well but at his age I think he's peaked. Had a great couple of seasons despite all the criticism but he ain't getting any quicker or better. A good offer for him next year and good luck to him. I was relieved to see Lovren & Sakho line-up against Spurs after Eds assertion that they wouldn't be played together. Despite a few errors due to poor communication I think they're our CB pair for the coming years and have the potential to be great once they develop an understanding. I wonder how Lovren's French is after his time in Lyon. :)

03 Sep 2014 14:07:59
you're clearly biased to sakho though for whatever reason, sakho does not have 'far more pace' than skrtel, or even just noticeably more pace, also sakho's 'ambitious' passing could also be called dodgy, he gave the ball away 5or6 times vs tottenham, I do prefer sakho though for his leadership and he's positionally better, and younger, and we payed loads for him

Cheers EMS, a far more detailed explanation of the point I made earlier. Well said, although I think you are over-harsh on some of Skrtl's deficiencies.

LfcSupporter

You got to be kidding me?Sakho is way quicker than Skrtel
If Skrtel was a 40 year old lady in high heels then sakho is a 26 year old msn barefoot
If Skrtel is a bull then sakho is s cheetah
I hope you get the comparison

I disagree regarding pace lfcsupporter. Sakho is deceptively quick. The rest; fair enough you are entitled to your opinion. I'm not biased towards Sakho by the way though. Skrtel is just not as good in my opinion. I have no reason to be bias to Sakho. In fact, I have a Slovakian girlfriend who only watches the games with me because of Skrtel so if I was to be biased towards either player it would be him haha ;)

03 Sep 2014 14:32:53
Really good post EMS, and I agree with all of your points to be honest.

The key with Sakho, imo, is to give him a good run of games to build confidence and allow the partnership with Lovren to build.

I will admit I was quite nervous watching him against Spurs, but only really in the first half. He then seemed to settle and was rock-like in the second half. I do also think he is the better passer of the ball out of him and Lovren (much better than Skrtel), as evidenced by the passing especially in the 2nd half.

Not sure where LFC supporter is coming from saying Sakho is not noticeably quicker - when you see a burly player, don't be fooled into thinking he is slow just because of his size - Heskey had a fair turn of pace, remember, and he was built like a brick privvy!

Hope to see him settle more and more, and for the players around him (not just Lovren) to get used to him too - he does drill a pass in (a la Gerrard) which I'm sure will take some getting used to, but should lead to more direct, incisive building from the back.

Adam, you need to lay off the stats when trying to back up an argument. They only tell part of the story and don't give a true reflection of a situation.

There are far too many variables that can influence statistics for them just to be stated as evidence for or against an argument. The manager may set up slightly different to compensate for the weaknesses of one player, this could positively alter a players statistics, the manager may make one defender the lead centre half, thus increasing responsibility and exposure to danger, this could negatively alter a players statistics. The varaibles are far too numerous to list.

The rest is your opinion (or an echo of ed001's) which your perfectly entitled to.

Personally, I don't think that there's much between them, both have their flaws. Sakho, to me, doesn't look comfortable with the ball at his feet or when distributing it.

BTW, i'm not interested in his pass stats, I can see with my own eyes.

For what it's worth Rodgers has always preferred Skrtel when fit.

I don't even think skrtel is a starter for a mid table club.
I would take dann and hangeland and kelly ahead of him at palace.

I would take bardsley and shawcross muniesa at stoke ahead of him.

taylor and collocini, ill give you that's up for grabs. Tylor is more of a leader though.

There's not even a question alderweireld and fonte are better than skrtel, and gardos i've not seen much of.

I think pretty much every LFC supporter knows that right hand side of defense is a weak link

Because of course the eyes NEVER deceive anyone?

Bobarton
your first reply is really funny:-D

EMS
Nice

So EMS does that logic also follow true for playing Can as DM instead of Gerrard? Faster, stronger, better defender, younger and can pass a ball.

Why do people keep saying I copy Ed001? I've had countless disagreements with him about Moreno, Rodgers etc. Just because I happen to rate Sakho (which if you go back to the blog I wrote on him, Ilori and Alderweireld before we'd signed any of them; I always have) and so does Ed001, it doesn't mean I copied him. I'm sure you'd love Lahm at the club right? Jesus, stop copying me!

So much bias in your post ems.when you are ready to discuss sakho's flaws rather than continue your regular bashing of skrtel, then we can have a real discussion

I will stick with Brendan Rodgers opinion.

Yes reet it's funny how so many on here, changed their minds about how good agger was once it looked like he was going. A fair few on here were quoting stats about the win % with him in the team, yet when he went for that nominal fee they sang to the tune of, he's old, he's lost his strength and aerial ability and speed. blah blah.I don't mind an opinion, but don't turn turncoat, once you realise the player you've been defending is being sold because he's no longer wanted.

I would honestly start all those player ahead of skrtel in their teams, I think each of them is a better footballer than skrtel. It wasn't that long ago BR was desperately wanting to offload him, and replaced him with a 34 year old retiring carragher, skrtel as a player has not changed since that player 1.5 years ago.

03 Sep 2014 12:27:01
Players 'brendan' themselves. If you play well enough you can't be dropped even when you do very bad things off the pitch and fall out with your manager. Think of Beckham at Madrid, Henderson with us to a lesser extent) Baggio at Milan.l, collymore at Liverpool, Cantona at united etc

Simple truth is of you aim to be better than everyone else on the pitch you can't dropped for anyone.

Spot on mate. We all seem to assume that just because a player isn't getting games he's not getting a chance to impress, yet said players are still training with the first team. If show show world class ability in training, you'll get your chances. Flanno and Sterling are proof of that. If you're not showing the ability, the best place to be is on loan as first team football can elevate your game. If them players come back though and still haven't improved enough, that is their fault or simply a lack of natural ability.

I'm all for people being given a chance, but if they're not showing it in training, we can't complain.

A certain Mr Suarez?

This .................

{Ed002's Note - This is not about Chelsea. Try the Chelsea page for that.}

Hey Ed, out of the three, one and a half of the phrases were also about United ;).

Fair enough though, thought I was pushing it a bit anyway.

{Ed002's Note - It is not about Manchester United either.}

I think the fact that so many of the people are clamouring for Gerrard so be cut, need to surely realise this too then.he must be showing something int raining that separates him ahead of the others. You can't have it both ways. Gerrard deserves starts if he's outplaying the youth in the centre of the pitch in training by that logic.

managers will have favourites and they'll stick with the tried and tested.

how did that indispensability work out for mutu and suarez?

You may have a point bobatron but then I'm not calling for Gerrard to be dropped. Other people may but they are not making the point I am.

As for Suarez it worked out great, he got the move he wanted, won plenty of acclaim and scored lots of goals. Mutu is different as he didn't show the talent or the hard work required and so he had his contract cancelled and was banned from football.

Not necessarily Bobatron, Gerrard might be starting because the manager might not have the bottle to drop him.
Can looks like a great buy and with so May people agreeing with EMS's post re our centre halves then that logic should follow through with Gerrard and Can.

To further simplify the point EMS and myself are saying:

Two things get you noticed; 1. Hard work & 2. Talent.

show either of these two and you'll be noticed. If you're being ignored then it's because you don't fit one the above criteria.

I agree with the main points of this chat! There is more to the selection process for any particular game than just a previous performance(s).
A manager gets to see the players everyday in training and has access to all sorts of info that we don't including levels of fitness. We don't.
The manager also has an idea of who will be playing in the forthcoming games and what is tactics will be. We don't.
So let's bare this in mind when we don't agree with which players BR selects when he starts juggling his team for the champs league.
The clamour to drop SG for young Emre Can I find puzzling? We are 3 games into the Can's 1st season in this league, he has played only a handful of games in his short career and people want him to replace our captain and legend SG? No pressure then!!
Let's give the lad a bit of time to develop without such high expectations!
It was only a year or 2 ago that our manc friends were hailing Tom Cleverley as the answer to their midfield problems. at least that was AFTER he'd played some game for them. Can is yet to start a game!

If hard work and talent gets you starts, johnson wouldn't have started last year at all. Kelly would have. Infact Johnon wouldn't have even played 2 games this year. If you truly think that managers always pick the best sides you are wrong. It's why you hear of players frozen out of teams, being sold etc. Why the hell would Ledley king have ever gotten into the tottenham team. He didn't train EVER, yet when he said ''im ok gaffer'' he walked into the team ahead of any 1 else

So mcgoveb what you are saying then is being picked for a team doesn't necessarily mean that you're performing best in training, if he's afraid to drop stevie, hence affirming my point?

03 Sep 2014 11:25:16
Hi reds and eds, been a while since I posted. Was just wondering since der is no club football dis week, I wanted to see if everyone can remember the time they started following this forum. I clearly remember one colourful day, in the winter of 2010 when this great club was in turmoil (thank God its the opposite now), I was trolling for news of our take over when I discovered this wonderful site. I'l be happy if other reds can share theirs. CHEERS!

I stumbled upon and started following this site 8 years ago back in 2006. Back then we were rumored to be after Simao, Dani Alves, Raul and a certain Fernando Torres.
There were barely any editors posts and all the teams rumors were clumped together with a certain Arsenal fan, Goatman Garry the loudest of the bunch.

Rumors were all about sightings, word of mouth and general whispers (which made the signing of Torres even more fascinating because everything you thought was rubbish actually could have been true)


The rest as they say, is history

03 Sep 2014 13:40:51
i discovered the site from caught offside beleive it or not (i know a shocking site). someone posted on there saying how great this site was and was much more reliable for rumours. the rest is history

I have been following this since the original football-rumours site but I can't remember what year that was, all I know it was a long time before we were taken over by John Henry and even possibly before H&G took us over.

03 Sep 2014 10:32:58
Skrtl v Sakho

Just to add to the debate.

It also needs to be recognised that as Skrtl defends deeper, when he makes a mistake or is out of position, it will often lead to a shot on goal. More shots = more conceded. As Sakho will generally allow us to defend higher up the pitch, a mistake can sometimes be recovered. As an example, see Lovren's miscontrol and his recovery tackle. If he's done that 20 yards deeper, a shot would have resulted.

Not always as simple as that, but I would stick with this pairing right now. Let's not forget two other things. Firstly, Lovren will take time to get the right-sided CB correct. He usually plays left, so this will take some adjusting. Secondly, Skrtl has been suffering from GJ's attacking intent (or is it positional naivety?), which Lovren didn't on Sunday, as Manquillo was disciplined, getting forward less than GJ would have. This was somewhat overlooked due to Moreno's sensational performance (he was my MOM before the goal).

Defensively Manquillo has been excellent IMO.

I still don't understand the hard time skrtel gets. No, he's not the best cb in the league, but he was certainly our best last year, no argument surely? He has been at his best next to carra, so hopefully lovren will become a similar organiser. I'd love to know how many points his blocks and last ditch tackles over the past few seasons have saved us.

You're spot on Burkeyboy. He gets far too much stick on here, not much credit for what he does well either. Personally, I think he's a very good premier league defender.

Especially given the lack of cover he gets from those in front on occasions.

03 Sep 2014 13:01:39
Skrtel is a CB version of Enrique. He is talented but in a team like Liverpool his positional ineptitude and lack of attention creates more issues than his defensive ability solves

Skrtl is a decent defender, a kind of defender that cannot play in a system that requires awareness, positioning, anticipation, pace and so on. These are the things he lacks. All some fans see are the last ditch tackles, clearances and headed goals. Ask urselves this. Why does he ake so many clearances and tackles? because he`s ALWAYS out of position. Defenders like Kompany, Distin, Lovren, Ramos and co don`t make such rash clearances BECAUSE they have great positioning and sense of awareness of danger w/ the ability to see danger and snuff it out. Him scoring 9 goals and causing 7 goals thru og`s and individual errors is a nightmare for any coach and like the Ed said, If Skrtl was that good, why has BR been trying to sell him for 18 months?

03 Sep 2014 10:19:44
Big thank you to Ed002 ed001 and Macca for all your hard work this summer. Most reliable site I no.

03 Sep 2014 05:46:20
Question for Ed002 if he/she is in
Now that the transfer window is over and things are back to normal, I would like to ask you something. I noticed you commented something like don't take notice of what Mourinho says in Pressers, he wants to rule the world.

I get that it was tongue in cheek but really what keeps a guy like Mourinho motivated.
For Brendan I'm sure the motivation is to win trophies and eventually work for Barca or Madrid.

But a guy like Mourinho, who's won everything there is, in multiple countries with the best clubs in the world, how does he motivate himself in a job like Football Management, where there is almost no thanks. You could win the treble one season and be reviled in the media the next if you lose 2 or 3 games on the trot.

Say he wins the Champions League with Chelsea this season, what is there left for him to achieve? How does a football manager keep himself up for the job?

{Ed002's Note - I would not have said anything about ruling the world, but in terms of transfers and other matters I would take what he says with a pinch of salt.

Motivation for JM is much the same as other managers, success. He is further motivated at Chelsea regarding the Champions League which he has not won with them. As to the future, eventually a job beckons at international level - offers are always there, he turned down the Brazil job only a few weeks ago.}

03 Sep 2014 13:10:00
The only thing greedy people want is more, and every successful person has a greedy element to it - no rich person is likely to be content with having a billion in their bank account any more than anyone who brings peace to a country is likely to stop there and ignore the rest of the world.

It won't matter to someone like Mourinho that they have won everything there is to win. They'll want to be the undeniably greatest manager of their generation. Then greatest living one, then greatest ever. Then maybe retire as the most successful ever with a record that will outlast their life. There is always more to do

{Ed002's Note - You seem to somehow be confusing "greed" with a "desire for success". You need to separate any thougts of money.}

03 Sep 2014 08:27:37
We have a very strong 25 man squad (+ Valdes) now.
So next summer any incomings will depend on sales (not loans) with the possible exception of Gerrard's eventual replacement, unless Can is ready for the role.

I just want to congratulate everyone at the club who helped make this window one that should set up our foundations for years to come. I am very much looking forward to watching this squad gel, develop and kick some ass on 4 fronts.

YNWA

03 Sep 2014 08:13:25
Song for Sturridge, simple:

'Lets all show some courage,
Like good old Danny Sturridge la, la, la
La, la, la'

Repeat as necessary

If another verse needed -

'He'll score and pass and move
And he'll show you he can groove
When he does the Studge,
he does the Studge'

Or some combination thereof.

03 Sep 2014 02:05:02
How many songs written on here have made it to being sung on the Kop? can anyone tell me?

03 Sep 2014 09:21:33
The top 10 isn't released until Friday.

Try the LFC download chart.

02 Sep 2014 23:42:35
A wee bit of topic and non-Liverpool related but I wouldn't mind worldwide opinion from my fellow reds.

My local team(St Johnstone FC) have just been fined 18k because someone in the crowd had a Palestine flag.
What is the crack with that? imo it's shocking behavior from fifa.
I know there is conflict in the rea but they're basically taking sides.
At the end of the day it is still the national flag of a country.
Since when was it against the rules to fly the flag of another country?
You see it every week. Especially here in Scotland with the 'Old Firm' tw*ts.

In terms of football these days, i've been over the moon but this got to me.
Bare in mind 18k is more than most of the players annual income.

{Ed002's Note - Two points (1) It is nothing to do with FIFA, it is a simple breach of UEFA rules. (2) It is not a matter of being a Palestinian that was shown but a matter of the club allowing a flag to be flown for reasons of politics, which football should transcend.

I appreciate it seems harsh, but look out for an article which tries to put this into the context that if you allow these statements to be made it may well do more damage than good where countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan have been using sport as a means of bringing people together and building relationships across borders.}

I think that it is dodgy ground. If flags have become political statements then, like you mentioned, the Tri-colour and Union Jack should be banned at Celtic/ Rangers matches. Even at Goodison and Anfield Tri-colours can be seen, that doesn't show any political agenda towards Irish Nationalism.
The same thing happened to Dundalk FC in Ireland at a Europa League qualifying match. The club and fans were warned prior that the Palestine Flag should not be flown and should be taken down, they didn't and it resulted in a heavy fine for the club. We can argue for hours whether or not Fifa/Uefa are correct in preventing the crossover of sport and politics, but I doubt this is the forum to do so on.
It is unfair to say they are taking sides unless it can be proven that they have not punished clubs for flying the Israeli flag, which is appalling if true. I have seen it flown at the Camp Nou but not since the recent tensions have escalated. Personally I think that it is wrong to punish a club for the flying of the Palestine flag, however I can see Uefa's reasoning behind it.
What is strange is that the fine of 18k eclipses that of the fine for Racist/Sectarian chanting.

The Israeli flag is routinely displayed at White Hart Lane

I think the ed hits the nail on the head. A Palestine flag one week, an Israeli flag by the opposition next week! Trust me, I come from a country where flahs are common place, including Isreali and Palastine flags. It is not a good look. Sport and football can do without getting dragged into politics. Leave it for the politicians! They do a bad enough job as it is.

Fair enough Irish Rover, but then the rules should apply across the board, not just to certain flags.