Sakho

[Tony Moanero]

Cult hero means you are shit but the fans seem love you anyway. See Kyrgiakos or Traore. This fella is much better than that.

Joey Jones is a Liverpool cult hero and he wasn't shit. Dirk Kuyt, too.

[G Richards]

The definition of cult hero is like the definition of world class. It's too imprecise... so it provides lots of ammo for a good internet debate. 

 

To my mind, Sakho is a good player, but he needs to cut out the jitters. I like his leadership and courage, and I like it when the ball is in front of him and he's coming out from the back, as he usually tries to pick a pass, and a forward pass at that, which is laudable. 

 

The jittery stuff I can do without. Tackling the player instead of kicking the ball. Taking out his own man in the box. Looking like a pinball machine when the ball is played to him and he's trying to get it under control. 

 

But you can't argue with the stats and his partnership with Lovren is a good one. Part of this is due to them getting a bit of a run together, but the bigger part, you feel, is the point Jaizinho made. Klopp just knows how to set up a team. 

[Stu Monty]

While he is inconsistent and makes silly errors he'll never be world class.  Same as every one of our players.  

 

Who do you consider to be world class?

 

I just think it's interesting as, for me, we hold up players we don't see as often as being these metronomes of consistency and I'm not sure they are. 

 

Ramos got his 20th sending off last week. I rate him very highly but the "doing rash shit/crazy errors" gene is very much one he has got.

[Hand Shandy]

Ramos is not world class.

[RobbieOR]

Joey Jones is a Liverpool cult hero and he wasn't shit. Dirk Kuyt, too.

 

Dirk Kuyt was never in a million years a cult hero.

[3 Stacks]

It's very difficult to determine how good defenders are nowadays because how they are perceived also depends on the system their teams play. If you put Sergio Ramos in Atletico would he consistently look brilliant? I think so. In contrast, if you were to put Diego Godin in Barca would he look worse? I think so too.

 

The key is finding defenders who fit your system and I think Sakho and Lovren possess the qualities Klopp is looking for. Sakho and Lovren's rashness can simply improve with better coaching, they are not broken players.

 

Similarly, our team defending has and will hopefully continue to improve as Klopp keeps implementing a solid base in front of our back four.

[Jairzinho]

Ramos is shite.

[Hades]

Ramos is shite.

Are you suggesting that the Fifpro World XI isn't entirely accurate?

[Jairzinho]

Are you suggesting that the Fifpro World XI isn't entirely accurate?

I think it has been picked by his ma for the last decade.

[aRdja]

Who do you consider to be world class?

 

I just think it's interesting as, for me, we hold up players we don't see as often as being these metronomes of consistency and I'm not sure they are.

 

Ramos got his 20th sending off last week. I rate him very highly but the "doing rash shit/crazy errors" gene is very much one he has got.

Boateng, Hummels... Not that many good CBs unfortunately at the moment.

[3 Stacks]

Boateng, Hummels... Not that many good CBs unfortunately at the moment.

 

Hummels isn't world class. He defended like an absolute clown last season and in general is too error prone. His mistakes are often major and they usually lead to goals as well. 

 

He is great on the ball, but as a defender he is flawed.

[setreal]

Mola Ram was a cult hero

[aRdja]

Hummels isn't world class. He defended like an absolute clown last season and in general is too error prone. His mistakes are often major and they usually lead to goals as well.

 

He is great on the ball, but as a defender he is flawed.

One average season doesn't make him a bad defender. He's quite easily world class at the moment. Ferdinand has had more major mistakes than him in his, when he played in front of Barthez especially. As did Terry. He was a rock for Dortmund for a few seasons, his brilliant playmaking ability aside.

[3 Stacks]

One average season doesn't make him a bad defender. He's quite easily world class at the moment. Ferdinand has had more major mistakes than him in his, when he played in front of Barthez especially. As did Terry. He was a rock for Dortmund for a few seasons, his brilliant playmaking ability aside.

 

It wasn't an average season, it was legitimately disastrous. He's rebounded this season because Tuchel's tactics are much better than Klopp's were in 2014 and he has better protection but the point remains that he is far too mistake-prone to be world class. 

[aRdja]

Klopp's tactics in 2014 weren't different than they were the previous years, when Dortmund and Hummels were brilliant. 2014 was a bad year overall for the club due to a cocktail of reasons; too many new players needing to adjust, injuries to their key players, Klopp lacking a plan B. If you look at the run-rate from the last 5 years, his form last season was an outlier, as he performed brilliantly under Klopp's tactics for several seasons i.e. To say that his improvement this season is due to Tuchel's tactics is incorrect. He's just a world class player playing true to his form. The only CB I'd take before him is Boateng.

 

 

[Sugar Ape]

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000661/match=2017221/prematch/focus/index.html
 

How Liverpool's Sakho won over the critics

 

Inspired as Liverpool drew in Dortmund, defender Mamadou Sakho is winning over fans; UEFA.com profiles the defender who "contradicts the laws of motion with every touch".
 


• "I grew up in an area of Paris that isn't all sweetness and light," said Mamadou Sakho of his upbringing in Paris's 18th and 21st arrondissements, admitting to being a combative teenager. His father died when Sakho was 14, by which time he was changing his ways. "I took a step back and decided to concentrate on becoming a professional footballer," he said. "Life was pretty tough at that time but I took it as an obligation to become a pro and provide for my family."

• Paris Saint-Germain made Sakho team captain, aged 17, on his debut for the club – a measure of their belief in the defender. "It was too much," he said later. "I felt uncomfortable and embarrassed but what should I have done – not take the armband?" He went on to sparkle over six seasons with PSG, before joining Liverpool in a reported €19m move in 2013.

• First capped in 2010, 'Mama' endeared himself to France fans when Les Bleus overturned a 2-0 play-off first-leg defeat by Ukraine to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 home win. Sakho scored the first and last of those goals, celebrating the second in an unforgettably delirious manner.

• Local schoolchildren helped him learn English while Sakho was assisting with French lessons at All Saints Primary School near Anfield. "For the kids it's nice, because they can learn French and I can improve my English." He has since told the press back home that mastering the language has made a huge difference: "When I can't express myself I am always frustrated, and if I cannot make myself understood it is even worse."

• Sakho's gangly style has divided opinion in England. "He can't pass," said television pundit Paul Merson, expressing a view shared by many. "He doesn't look right." If Liverpool fans refute this, so do others outside the club. Midfielder Joey Barton wrote that Sakho "contradicts the laws of motion with every touch – the man is genius". Ex-England striker Gary Lineker agreed: "First thoughts were that he was hopeless, but actually he might just be brilliant."

• Steven Gerrard never doubted his ability. The erstwhile Reds captain texted former team-mate Jamie Carragher with an assessment of Sakho's first week: "He's a beast." Gerrard has continued to track his progress, texting Sakho after he was named Liverpool captain for September's UEFA Europa League game at Bordeaux. "He said: 'Continue to fight like that, I'm proud of you,'" Sakho revealed. "It's always nice to receive such a message from a great player."

• Ex-Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers blew hot and cold over Sakho, who drifted in and out of his lineup. The centre-back caused a scene when, omitted for a derby against Everton in September 2014, he left Anfield before kick-off. He came back stronger, though, saying: "During the short period I was not playing, I was like a caged lion who had not been fed for a while. And when you open the door, he charges."

• Jürgen Klopp has no such doubts about Sakho, placing the 26-year-old alongside Dejan Lovren in his preferred defensive unit, and while there have been flashpoints – Sakho was not too happy to be ordered off as a precaution after clashing heads in February's League Cup final – he is enjoying working under the German. "He's very human, super close to his players and all the members of the club," Sakho said. "He is very expressive, but this is not being mean but to encourage us."

[KMD7]

Reading that makes me feel all Lister like when he sees Ace Rimmer. What a guy

[stringvest]

Agreed.

 

 

crikey.  When you get a chance, Kev, google 'self-awareness'

[Sugar Ape]

Thank you to all of you

[Lario]

Mama's the Dada.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Sturridge's touch for Sakho's goal was just lovely.

[Section_31]

Fair play to the lad for the goal, but he cost us two, he's got the positional sense of an inverted Tony Adams.

[aRdja]

Fair play to the lad for the goal, but he cost us two, he's got the positional sense of an inverted Tony Adams.

Three.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Hahaha. Some absolute beauts follow us,

[Paulie Dangerously]

Had an absolute stinker of a first half.  Ball watching the first, no idea what he was doing for second but somehow ends up a hero. Fair play lad.