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Reds set to Fire the Lazar?

Lazar Markovic is being linked with a return to Benfica this summer. Portuguese daily newspaper A Bola claims the Lisbon giants have informed the Reds they’d be interested in taking him back but understand a deal may be difficult.

 

Other well placed sources have suggested that there are concerns within the club that Markovic may not be equipped to thrive in English football and therefore might be one of those offloaded this summer. Should that prove to be the case, it’s unlikely the Reds will get anything like the £19.8m they paid for him a year ago. Benfica certainly won’t pay that amount, although a loan deal has been suggested in some reports.

 

The 21 year old showed flashes of what he could do in a spell around the turn of the year but for much of the season he found himself on the periphery and Markovic suffered more than most from Brendan Rodgers not having a settled formation. Having failed to force his way into the 4-2-3-1 set up early in the season he did enjoy some early success in an unfamiliar wing back role when Rodgers changed tactics, but that didn’t last and he lost his place to Jordon Ibe when the teenager returned from a loan spell in January.

 

As with several of last summer’s signings, Markovic is currently regarded as a flop but he’s hardly been helped by the constant chopping and changing and formation switches, Rodgers rarely played the 4-3-3 system that Markovic had presumably been signed to fit into and unless that changes this year then it’s difficult to see where the Serb will fit in once again, especially as he appears to be behind the likes of Ibe, Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and - for the moment at least - Raheem Sterling.

 

 

 

 

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Think it's a complete fucking joke if we sell or loan him, and I don't believe the story. I don't have a lot of faith that Rodgers will play him properly though either. I hope he proves me wrong.

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It's a tough one because as you say, we are well stocked for attacking midfielders and wingers already, and have also signed a player in Milner who could be used in those roles too. We've not really used Markovic in the role to which he is best suited (the same one as Lallana incidentally) and it seems to me that we unnecessarily went for both those players last summer when we really should have gone for just one of the two and pushed the boat out for a better striker instead of Balotelli. We've not managed to get the best out of either of them whilst also nullifying the effectiveness of the others we have.

 

If you are going to sign a player, sign him only if you are mainly going to use him in the role which suits him best, otherwise don't sign him at all. Apart from us regularly signing players seemingly based on them having had a good game against us the year before, we also sign too many players and end up using them as square pegs in round holes. The player never recovers, is deemed a flop, and either gets sold on the cheap or placed on endless loans elsewhere with us picking up most (if not all) of his wages.

 

That has got to stop.

Is right.

 

The signings of him and Lallana were a criminal waste of money, you could argue we couldn't really fit one of them in but both of them - no chance, I have never understood what we were doing signing them both.

 

It's that kind of short sightedness and incompetence that should see whoever made the decision bin bagged.

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It's a tough one because as you say, we are well stocked for attacking midfielders and wingers already, and have also signed a player in Milner who could be used in those roles too. We've not really used Markovic in the role to which he is best suited (the same one as Lallana incidentally) and it seems to me that we unnecessarily went for both those players last summer when we really should have gone for just one of the two and pushed the boat out for a better striker instead of Balotelli. We've not managed to get the best out of either of them whilst also nullifying the effectiveness of the others we have.

 

If you are going to sign a player, sign him only if you are mainly going to use him in the role which suits him best, otherwise don't sign him at all. Apart from us regularly signing players seemingly based on them having had a good game against us the year before, we also sign too many players and end up using them as square pegs in round holes. The player never recovers, is deemed a flop, and either gets sold on the cheap or placed on endless loans elsewhere with us picking up most (if not all) of his wages.

 

That has got to stop.

Is right.

 

The signings of him and Lallana were a criminal waste of money, you could argue we couldn't really fit one of them in but both of them - no chance, I have never understood what we were doing signing them both.

 

It's that kind of short sightedness and incompetence that should see whoever made the decision bin bagged.

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If we were offered anything even close to what we paid for him then it would definitely make sense to sell but that won' be the case. It will be a loan offer and eventually a few million in a year or two if we're lucky. So might as well keep him and see if he can do better in his second season. There was one little spell last year where he looked like he had something about him so try and get more out of him. Just another baffling signing last summer who was signed for a big fee without us really knowing where to fit him into the team.

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That year Lallana played alot as the second striker w Lambert - he can't do that for us.

 

@ RP - What is the formation that Markovic's preferred position occurs and where is he?

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I don't think being out of position is a reason for someone to have a poor touch or to be so timid with the ball. 

 

This is true - regardless of how the season ended Can looked a fuckin boss from near his first touch in the back three. He was our best player in the back for a couple months. Only a few games where it seemed like Markovic was feeling it. 

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@ RP - What is the formation that Markovic's preferred position occurs and where is he?

 

I'm not sure, and I don't know if anyone really knows that yet. I think it's pretty accepted that he's not a wing back though, and needs to be played as an attacker.

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Didn't we pay £20m for him? I thought the 'model' was to buy young and let them blossom. Not buy young, play out of position, destroy confidence then sell back.

 

He's played well in a few games he played centrally. One that springs to mind was against Madrid away.

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Hardly bails Rodgers out if HE doesn't know why he was bought.

Unless you're trying to say he had no say in the matter?

 

I think he was bought cuz he was a good player. He is not good enough to play instead of Coutinho.

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How can anyone slate Rodgers if this is the case?

 

I meant in an attacking position. It seems pretty clear that he's not a wing back, and with our attacking and scoring problems last season, playing Markovic like Rodgers did can probably justify why he's been getting some stick.

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Is right.

 

The signings of him and Lallana were a criminal waste of money, you could argue we couldn't really fit one of them in but both of them - no chance, I have never understood what we were doing signing them both.

 

It's that kind of short sightedness and incompetence that should see whoever made the decision bin bagged.

It smacked of the committee gets to pick one and Rodgers gets to pick one. Committee went for Markovic and Rodgers wanted Lallana and we ended up getting both. Same thing happened with the defence were Rodgers picked Lovren (as Rodgers was still sulking from Sakho getting the nod over Ashley Williams so Lovren was bought to replace Sakho) and committee picked Moreno instead of Rodgers' Premier League proven preference of Bertrand or Ben Davies.

 

Great way to run a business.

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It smacked of the committee gets to pick one and Rodgers gets to pick one. Committee went for Markovic and Rodgers wanted Lallana and we ended up getting both. Same thing happened with the defence were Rodgers picked Lovren (as Rodgers was still sulking from Sakho getting the nod over Ashley Williams so Lovren was bought to replace Sakho) and committee picked Moreno instead of Rodgers' Premier League proven preference of Bertrand or Ben Davies.

 

Great way to run a business.

They are fucking clueless

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It smacked of the committee gets to pick one and Rodgers gets to pick one. Committee went for Markovic and Rodgers wanted Lallana and we ended up getting both. Same thing happened with the defence were Rodgers picked Lovren (as Rodgers was still sulking from Sakho getting the nod over Ashley Williams so Lovren was bought to replace Sakho) and committee picked Moreno instead of Rodgers' Premier League proven preference of Bertrand or Ben Davies.

 

Great way to run a business.

FACT

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The club is run by a bunch of Boy scouts stuck in a forest with only 3 matches to keep heat and cook food but decide to play shadow faces with the light from the match flames. Thick as cow shite. Deep Guernsey cow shite.

 

We're imperial storm troopers who fire like fuck at all targets but hit fuck all.

 

More direction in a cul de sac

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He played wing back in a game last year and did quite well. In the 2nd half he was moved into his 'proper position' and was shite.

 

That's worrying. I suspect he may be not that good.

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To be honest, I've not seen much to suggest he's ever going to be a 20 m player, regardless of position. I think the whole season I never saw him dribble past an opposition player, for example, and there doesn't seem to be anything amazing about his game intelligence or passing.

 

For purely footballing reasons, I wouldn't give a shit if he left.

 

But our fucking joke of a committee (which includes the manager, by the way) paid 20 m for him and then had no fucking idea what to do with the kid. So they either give him a chance to bed in and become a good player (unlikely), or they gracefully disband this fucking committee, issuing the following press release:

 

"It turns out we were pretty shit at this."

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But our fucking joke of a committee (which includes the manager, by the way) paid 20 m for him and then had no fucking idea what to do with the kid. So they either give him a chance to bed in and become a good player (unlikely), or they gracefully disband this fucking committee, issuing the following press release:

 

"It turns out we were pretty shit at this."

 

Amen..

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I rate Markovic and wouldn't be against him staying but also would not have a problem if we could recoup what we paid or loaned him to a team where he will play regularly.He struggled to get games last season and even if Sterling goes I would expect us to get another wide player.

In a team confident and performing he may do better but I would accept the managers decision, everyone saying it would be a disgrace etc are obviously forgetting that BR will have seen him everyday in training.Was it a disgrace to get rid of Degen and Voronin who didn't get a proper run or was the manager entitled to think they were not good enough.

Obviously the same as a £20 million money ball signing..

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