Rodgers In

[Code]

Everything.

 

And his influence in Istanbul is not overrated at all. Hamman was an A game player who was a very intelligent footballer who did not require pace.

 

He was the midfield version of Big Sami. Positioning was everything with Didi.

 

You really sicken me sometimes.

 

Haha the midfield version of Sami, not even close, Sami was world class, the best defender in the PL and genarally awesome, I would not swap him for anyone.

 

There are loads of players I would have swapped Didi with.

[spider-neil]

Haha the midfield version of Sami, not even close, Sami was world class, the best defender in the PL and genarally awesome, I would not swap him for anyone.

 

There are loads of players I would have swapped Didi with.

 

Did you at least rate Didi's ability as a holding midfielder?

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Just another one to add to this of outrageous Codeisms. Where's that list you made of fullbacks who are better than Glen Johnson?

[RedinSweden]

Oh RiS you forget this giuy.

 

Lucas - 1 league goal in 6 seasons.

 

Last time he scored in the league was in May 2009.

 

I'm not the one making your point, you are.

[aRdja]

This is going to turn into a Didi arguement but imho he didn't offer enough going forwards considering the other players we had in midfield. You look at Makelele at Real and the Chelsea' date=' the midfields were packed with attacking talent so Makelele acking as a shield and little else makes sense within that setup but in a Liverpool team that was desparate short of attacking intent we needed more going forwards from the entire midfield.

 

When we're talking about about Didi's ability as a holding midfielder, he is one of the best ever but he didn't offer enough going forwards. He either needed Alonso ability to hurt teams from a deep position or Momo's/Mash's ability to destroy opposition play higher up the pitch.

 

So whilst I don't agree with Code that Didi was mearly 'decent', Didi either needed to give more going forwards or we should have brought in better attackers having both (Didi + lack of attacking options) meant a serious lack of goal threat as a team.[/quote']

 

You're taking rubbish Neil as Didi was Gerrards best ever partner at CM. Rafa stupidly tried to partner Alonso with Gerrard and got absolutely humiliated by Milan.

[aRdja]

What do you disagree with Skidders?

 

I liked Hamann' date=' like I said I think he was a decent player, if we had sold him earlier and brought someone else in though I doubt it would have been much of a loss, his influence on Istanbul is also massively overrated.[/quote']

 

The CL final wasn't his best performance, although he was immense. Didi at his best was against Barcelona in the UEFA cup where he singlehandedly saved that tie for us.

 

I do understand how Didi can be underrated by most football fans. His qualities are more 'subtle', where unless you have played the game, they are difficult to ascertain.

 

He had zero pace, but his positioning and anticipation were second to none. He had a very good first touch under pressure to get him out of tight spaces. You hardly ever saw him tackling someone, but that's because he never really needed to.

[Code]

You're taking rubbish Neil as Didi was Gerrards best ever partner at CM. Rafa stupidly tried to partner Alonso with Gerrard and got absolutely humiliated by Milan.

 

How on earth was Hamann Gerrards best partner, how does that one work out?

 

Didi was a decent player, he deserved his place in the team when he was here, but he could easily be improved upon as we did when Mascerano replaced him in the team.

 

I'd say thats about it really.

 

Would you have Hamann, Vieira or Keane in your team?

[The Guest]

You're taking rubbish Neil as Didi was Gerrards best ever partner at CM. Rafa stupidly tried to partner Alonso with Gerrard and got absolutely humiliated by Milan.

 

One game against one of the best sides ever to have graced the competition with the two players in their first season playing together. You do also realise Alonso also stayed on the pitch when Hamann come on?

 

In an orthodox 442 you would struggle to find a more balanced pairing than Gerrard and Alonso. Whilst Gerrard is more attacking, Alonso isn't completely defensive minded and vice versa.

[Whelan]

One game against one of the best sides ever to have graced the competition with the two players in their first season playing together. You do also realise Alonso also stayed on the pitch when Hamann come on?

 

In an orthodox 442 you would struggle to find a more balanced pairing than Gerrard and Alonso. Whilst Gerrard is more attacking, Alonso isn't completely defensive minded and vice versa.

 

That's not how I remember it!

 

Our best season's where 2005-06 and 2008-09, neither of which had those two in the middle!

[spider-neil]

You're taking rubbish Neil as Didi was Gerrards best ever partner at CM. Rafa stupidly tried to partner Alonso with Gerrard and got absolutely humiliated by Milan.

 

An example, Carrick and Busquet. Not a patch on Didi with regards to sheilding the defense but both are able to sheild the defense AND offer something going forwards. You can't point to one game as a marker (the CL final), over the course of a season Didi and Gerrard as a central midfield partnership weren't enough to win the league (the bread and butter).

 

You're basically saying to Gerrard, 'go and hurt teams and leave the defensive duties to Didi' but (imho) we'd have been better served with either a more mobile CM or a CM who could hurt teams form a deep position AND provide a shield for the defenders. I wanted this for a while and we got it in the form of Alonso and later Mash and we came a lot closer to the league than GH did.

[TheHowieLama]

Didi had a pretty good stint under Kenny at Newcastle going forward.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

It's almost as if football is a team sport and different players fulfil different roles in the team.

[spider-neil]

Didi had a pretty good stint under Kenny at Newcastle going forward.

 

Didi definately had that (attacking) aspect in his game as observed by the goals he scored. The Man City home game springs to mind.

[spider-neil]

It's almost as if football is a team sport and different players fulfil different roles in the team.

 

Yes, but you are going to be a more effective team if you fill your team with players that are just as comfortable attacking as they are defending. Obviously placing more emphasis on attacking the further forward you play. Rush defended from the front and Hyppia has massive goal threat from set pieces.

[zigackly]

Anyone who didn't appreciate Didi doesn't understand football.

[spider-neil]

Anyone who didn't appreciate Didi doesn't understand football.

 

I just think Alonso was better.

[zigackly]

That's up for debate, sure. Alonso was better on the ball, but Didi's positional sense was amongst the best you will ever see in midfield.

[The Guest]

That's not how I remember it!

 

Our best season's where 2005-06 and 2008-09, neither of which had those two in the middle!

 

You really think that they didn't play in the middle together in either of those seasons?

 

It was Rafa though to be fair and we had a different team and formation every single game for most seasons he was in charge so it's easy to get confused.

 

The 08-09 season in particular generally involved us battering mostly the crap sides with whatever formation we played but struggling a lot more than people seem to remember down to Rafa not playing Gerrard and Alonso together enough and being too negative. We would invite teams on, we would concede, sometimes even 2 goals. This would be followed by some changes by Rafa on the 65, 75 and somewhere in the 80th minute usually involving getting another forward on and Gerrard coming deeper. We would then pull it back. Due to a lot of luck we pulled it back to a win 10 times in that season. Something which is obviously not sustainable. That's why 09-10 was an accident waiting to happen.

 

People got far too carried away when Gerrard was pushed forward. Not all his goals came because he was in that position and not all of them came with him even playing there. Considering it is praised how great an asset it was to have Gerrard behind Torres do you actually know how many assists he created for Torres in the league that season according to Opta?

 

I will tell you. 1.

 

We had such a great year that season because Rafa had signed some of the best players in the world. The reason we didn't win anything is because he turned into that fucking bad of a tactician he fucked it up. Not playing Gerrard and Alonso more regularly is what cost us.

[Code]

That's up for debate, sure. Alonso was better on the ball, but Didi's positional sense was amongst the best you will ever see in midfield.

 

This kind of debate I guess.

 

A: Alonso was a far better player than Hamann.

 

B: I agree.

 

C: I agree as well.

 

The end.

[mattyq]

The 08-09 season is the one were we got 86 points, is it not?

[zigackly]

It's not very interesting though to take two completely different players and dismiss one of them because the other was "better", without discussing any of their attributes. I'm sure you could find a lot of stats to tell you Alonso passed the ball better, but a five year old could tell you that. All the statistics in the world can never describe how Didi was always in the right place without ever having to move around though, how he used to draw the foul when he needed to, or for that matter how Sturridge had any involvement in Suarez goal against Norwich. Didi was a fine player, and your belittlement of him in this thread does you no service whatsoever.

 

Just because ham is nice, doesn't mean you can't like cheese too.

[corro]

I remember a Monday night game against West Ham. Gerrard and Alonso in the centre. Everyone was happy with that. Drew 0-0 without troubling their back four.

They spent the whole game passing to each other, slowly

Hamann was a great central midfielder, better all round player than Mascherano.

[Code]

It's not very interesting though to take two completely different players and dismiss one of them because the other was "better", without discussing any of their attributes. I'm sure you could find a lot of stats to tell you Alonso passed the ball better, but a five year old could tell you that. All the statistics in the world can never describe how Didi was always in the right place without ever having to move around though, how he used to draw the foul when he needed to, or for that matter how Sturridge had any involvement in Suarez goal against Norwich. Didi was a fine player, and your belittlement of him in this thread does you no service whatsoever.

 

Just because ham is nice, doesn't mean you can't like cheese too.

 

How have I belittled him though, I've said he was a decent player who deserved his place in the team.

 

Not many get such praise.

[Delmar]

How have I belittled him though, I've said he was a decent player who deserved his place in the team.

 

Not many get such praise.

 

He probably bows on his knees to the general direction of Norway every morning and evening after receiving "such praise". Possibly during the lunch, as well.

[Code]

He probably bows on his knees to the general direction of Norway every morning and evening after receiving "such praise". Possibly during the lunch, as well.

 

Would you have Hamann in your Liverpool team of the decade 00-09?

 

I know I would not.