90 replies to this topic

[LL]

Not the best player ever but better than our current midfield

We've went Alonso >> Raul >> Adam

[George Chinaglia]

NotSureIfSotirios, on 16 January 2012 - 11:22 AM, said:

Is anyone else starting to feel like Downing was very much a 2nd/3rd choice "oh we might as well have him then" after Ashley Young chose Utd?

Still can't believe we paid so much for him. So painfully average

He may well have been 2nd choice after Young, I'm not sure. Apparently though, according to Sid Lowe on Off the Ball Mata was actually our 3rd choice and a deal was in place to sign him if the deal for Downing fell through.

[NotSureIfSotirios]

George Chinaglia, on 16 January 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

He may well have been 2nd choice after Young, I'm not sure. Apparently though, according to Sid Lowe on Off the Ball Mata was actually our 3rd choice and a deal was in place to sign him if the deal for Downing fell through.

Don't say things like this. They'll make me cry

[DDA]

I always found the mata vs downing thing odd, although theyre the same position they couldnt be more different, to say we were going to sign one or the other seems we didnt really know what style of football we were building towards

youd want mata for playing pass and move last seasons style and downing for crosses into the box style

instead we've got sort of neither

[Yellow Boy]

Carroll is young and the hope is clearly that he will come good in time.

Henderson seems to be growing with each game and seems to be seen as the long term as Gerrard's replacement, with Chadam as the stop gap between the two and he's done OK in that role so far. None of you have mentioned Shelvey either.

Downing however....

Grauniad had a very harsh but fair take on Dirk today too.

[shugdaddy]

NotSureIfSotirios, on 16 January 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

Someone pointed out that the 3-5-whatever formation we played was the same we used against Stoke last season where we won 2-0, difference being we had Meireles and he's >>> Adam plus Suarez came on in the 2nd half.

and we actually attacked properly last year. we had men in the box and everything.

[Yellow Boy]

There's a fine line between 3-5-1 and 5-4-Dirk

[NotSureIfSotirios]

Quote

6 - Raul Meireles - Liverpool
As we all know, Liverpool's big problem this season has been scoring. With Andy Carroll a shambling wreck of a striker (who, by blocking two shots at the weekend graduated from simply being misfiring to actively preventing them from scoring) and Luis Suarez also goal-shy even before his suspension, both Bolton and Blackburn have found the net more often than Liverpool this season. Meireles may not have completely solved Liverpool's issues in that area, but he did provide something that they have been missing this season - namely some dynamism from midfield. And goals too - he bagged five times in a month this time last year, including in that tight but vital win over Chelsea. Steven Gerrard has been missed too, but his current role seems to be in a deeper midfield position, a spot in which they have not been too lacking.

[liverbird]

Aggeraphobic, on 16 January 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

I'd disagree with that, whilst he has some pace to him he's hardly lightning, and i'd also say he's been consistantly mediocre apart from a few runs of form at Villa and Boro.

Steady squad player but if our ambitions are top 4 and higher still, he shouldn't be 1st choice.

Apart from the teams, I could be describing Jermaine Pennant a couple of years ago there...

+99

[LL]

He is pennant but can read

[Yellow Boy]

No way! Firstly Pennant had a step-over and often ran towards the opposition's goal line.