Sakho

[Jairzinho]

Scoring 7 is the best defense.

 

Unfortunately we've only scored eight in six games.

[The Woolster]

We just need to bump the other thread, it's all in there. Something tells me you'd find it even harder to defend Lucas' passing now than you did then.

 

Don't think its his passing thats his problem.

 

But anyway, I was continuing your joke, so lets not go there.

[stringvest]

Unfortunately we've only scored eight in six games.

 

so using only pen and paper I have come to the conclusion that it's not even two per game.  

[Lee909]

Having Clarke back will do nothing imo, its the way we play. Rodgers leaves his defenders isolated and tgis isn't helped but his insistence on thinkibg Gerrard can play in the anchor role.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Don't think its his passing thats his problem.

 

But anyway, I was continuing your joke, so lets not go there.

Heh, it's certainly not his main problem! And on that point of agreement...

[Coro]

The answer, for anybody who actually cares, is Sakho. Last season Sakho was our most accurate passer, with 92%, this season he's 90% and Lucas is 85%. The difference is that Sakho's passes are attacking passes and Lucas' very rarely are. Lucas, as I illustrated in the world's most boring thread, are mainly sideways or virtually sideways*. Sakho is, as is obvious to people with eyes, a quality passer.

 

*FFS, let's not get into that again.

 

Can Sakho play as the pivot?

 

*bites fist*

[Lario]

I can't agree with this, certainly not from what I've seen of him.

 

To be honest he scares the shit out of me and he's always an accident waiting to happen.

 

He may or may not be a good 'defender' but he certainly can't play football and that's something that's always going to make a defender look bad in this team.

 

This is bollox, and is more akin to the the trip you'd hear Alan Smith and co. say in co-commentary. People that watch him, without some sort of agenda, can actually see he looks ungainly but is actually a fine player that can well pass the ball.

 

 

he's the best passer of the ball in our back 5 (including Mignolet)

 

This is correct.

 

This is one thing that's constantly thrown at him, but I think it's a really unfair criticism. It's like saying you're not getting on a plane because of that one that went missing.

 

He has made errors, for sure, but he's hardly on his own on that account this season, especially at cb. Yet you never read that written about Skrtel or Lovren when they are equally as likely to fuck up.

 

As is this.

 

For Everton's goal the other day, Skrtel missed the first ball and Lovren headed the ball down when clearing it. What fucking centreback head the ball downwards when clearing a cross into their box? I actually think he did something similar in the first half.

 

To my mind, Lovren's header at the weekend was far worse than Sakho's against West Ham. Then again, I don't have an agenda with any Liverpool player, and I only call what I see.

 

[Boss]

He's a dud, get rid. The problem with us as a fan base is we like to debate the collective merit's of someone who is obviously just not good enough. Same shit kept Lucas here even though he's been poor since Benitez signed him, Chelsea and Man City wouldn't tolerate it, they'd get shot of Sakho after one year, file under not good enough. 

 

But we keep these dud's, like to write long winded hyperbole about these dud's, even elevate these duds to hero status (Lucas) that have never done a single thing to deserve it. What's so obvious to everyone else, isn't obvious to us, it's like Man Utd fan's that think Smalling, Jones and Evan's is a good central defence, we can see collectively that they are shite, why can't we see it in one of our own?

[Rotpeter]

Sakho seems a decent enough player, the way he's being handled is as baffling as the Agger situation to me.  At least Agger was always injured so you could always use that as an excuse for bombing him out.

 

I can only imagine it's a can't follow / doesn't understand whatever our defensive strategy is.

[DanDanShaw]

But Sakho isn't a dud, at all - not even close.  He's the only genuine world class centre half we have at the club.  City would have loved to had a player like Sakho, they wouldn't have then gone out and paid £32m for Mangala.

[Jairzinho]

For fuck sake, he isn't world class.

[stringvest]

It's fair to say that all of our CBs are being made to look worse than they are due to the poor level of defensive coaching and management going on at Melwood.  I believe it's particularly true in the case of Lovren and Sakho.  Neither are the best in the world at what they do, but the whole defensive and goalkeeping setup is, lets be generous, suboptimal at the moment.  

[stringvest]

Sakho seems a decent enough player, the way he's being handled is as baffling as the Agger situation to me.  At least Agger was always injured so you could always use that as an excuse for bombing him out.

 

I can only imagine it's a can't follow / doesn't understand whatever our defensive strategy is.

 

that makes 2 million of us.  

[Russ Atmosphere]

For fuck sake, he isn't world class.

Nor Liverpool class that we've seen thus far.

[Tony Moanero]

But Sakho isn't a dud, at all - not even close.  He's the only genuine world class centre half we have at the club.  City would have loved to had a player like Sakho, they wouldn't have then gone out and paid £32m for Mangala.

 

We don't have any world class players (Sterling should go on to become one but he isn't there just yet), let alone a world class centre back.

[stringvest]

There aren't even that many of us world class supporters left.  Sad times.

[Gnasher]

For fuck sake, he isn't world class.

For fuck sake, he isn't world class.

For fuck sake, he isn't world class.

May not be world class but he looked good for France in the World Cup. He's made a few mistakes but they all have. Having a keeper who dos'nt command his area and a lack of a midfield shield can't help.

[Section_31]

Don't know how many defenders are world class these days though to be fair, look at some of the shite at the back for England. We had loads of good centre backs in the Prem a few years back, can't think of any I'd have for our side now.

[Jairzinho]

May not be world class but he looked good for France in the World Cup. He's made a few mistakes but they all have. Having a keeper who dos'nt command his area and a lack of a midfield shield can't help.

 

I've said much the same.

 

Swap all of our centre backs with all of Chelsea's and we'd still concede about 50 goals in the league and, despite an uncharacteristically poor start defensively for a Mourinho team, they'd still concede 30/35.

[Section_31]

I've said much the same.

 

Swap all of our centre backs with all of Chelsea's and we'd still concede about 50 goals in the league and, despite an uncharacteristically poor start defensively for a Mourinho team, they'd still concede 30/35.

Yep, I'm not a fan but questions have to be asked about the system. I view the Real Madrid games the way a paraplegic would view sharing a lift with Purple Aki.

[Jay86]

A lot of his mistakes comes from being nervous for me, he's never been given a run in the team no matter what happens. Looks like Rodgers has never nailed his colours to the mast and said to Sakho and/or Lovren you are first choice pairing not matter what happens over the next 5/6 games you are playing. He knows every little mistake gets put under the microscope by the commentators and that's bound to play on his mind, he's only human. I know thick skin is part of the job but we have to remember he's still relatively young.

 

Also playing for France he looks 10 times as good, I don't know if it's the fact he's made to feel wanted and is therefore confident in a France shirt or that they have better defensive midfielders than us. It doesn't help that Gerrard is not a "destructor" in the holding role. When defending Gerrard drops between the centre backs, maybe that causes slight confusion. Other dms when defending either go winning the ball back or if it's out wide they immediately go out to help the full back.

 

I'm not quite sure what it is with Sakho because for me he looks like he could be world class given the right environment . He'll end up going somewhere else and we'll be looking at him thinking why couldn't we get this out of him. For France you can see in him what we saw in him in the first place.

[Jairzinho]

Yep, I'm not a fan but questions have to be asked about the system. I view the Real Madrid games the way a paraplegic would view sharing a lift with Purple Aki.

 

"Show me on the doll where you weren't touched"

[Denny Crane]

Don't know how many defenders are world class these days though to be fair, look at some of the shite at the back for England. We had loads of good centre backs in the Prem a few years back, can't think of any I'd have for our side now.

I was speaking to a friend about this. The conclusion we came to was three things. Firstly the obvious one, defending is seen as boring and does not seem to be appreciated as much as it was. It was never sexy, but it was respected and appreciated.

 

As much Mourinho is a cunt, he was right when he said the majority who follow English football, don't recogonise the difference between being defensive and what is good defending. Secondly as ticket prices go higher and higher and footie gets sold as a global brand. People want what they perceive as entertainment and like all this 7-4 nonsense. But I just go all Hansen and think, mistakes, mistakes. Thirdly the Reffing, this is a deliberate effort by Uefa in favour of attacking teams. The less physical contact and tweaking to the rules favor attacking teams and make it tougher for defenders.

 

It will be interesting to see if the trend/demand for goals/goals continues over the next few years. I think it is here to stay. Especially as clubs move to new shiny expensive stadiums and try and entice new customers to spend an absolute fortune on tickets.

[Boss]

The best defender in the world right now is Diego Godin, great defenders do what they have to do, not whats necessarily pretty on the eye.

 

Take Senderos for example against Balotelli the other week, he marked him out of the game, roughed him up and was a threat on set pieces, he was the man of the match. That's what you want in a performance from a centre back. Sakho although he's big and intimidating is actually a big softie, he's not a master of the arcane dark art's of defending, That's why i like Skrtel, he's not a leader but he knows how to defend.

 

i think Brendan wants a group of David Luiz midgets running forward from central defence rather than two hard nut's that can mark opposition attackers out of games.

[KevieG]

Good post Boss. Paul McGrath had more skill than most midfielders but he stuck more balls in row z than I can remember.

 

Its was always safety first. Block the cross. Block the run. The rest can come later.