Liverpool FC Forum

[mkingdom]

I'd rather we bought whoever Laudrup will buy for a tenth of the fee we will no doubt spend on Williams.

I just can't see FSG punting north of £10m on a 29 year old....I hope not anyway.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

when the echo plasters `reds interest in williams` all over the back page in giant letters next to a big picture of him you can bet your bottom dollar that we as a club will be pulling out all the stops over the summer to try and sign him.
the only way i cant see this happening is if swansea ask a ridiculous price for him but i doubt that will happen. laudrup seems the type of manager that wants to bring his own men in anyway.

[damjan193]

I'm not sure I even want to see Williams bossing around. Leaders can't be bought, they can only be raised.

[SouthCoastShankly]

I'm not sure I even want to see Williams bossing around. Leaders can't be bought, they can only be raised.

So if we sold Gerrard he'd lose his leadership skills for his new club?

Inversely if we sign a proven leader he no longer has the ability to lead?

Stop the nonsense.

[damjan193]

I'm not sure I even want to see Williams bossing around. Leaders can't be bought, they can only be raised.

So if we sold Gerrard he'd lose his leadership skills for his new club?

Inversely if we sign a proven leader he no longer has the ability to lead?

Stop the nonsense.

I just don't believe a new face can be a leader in the team. I don't remember a team that has actually signed leadership. And if you think that Gerrard being here his whole life doesn't contribute to his leadership skills in the team, then you're very wrong.

[Penguins]

Can BR plz stop looking only at his former club... 
We already now we'll be taken to the cleaners paying something ridiculous fee like Allen.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

on the back of tonights echo ian rush is imploring the club to do whatever it takes to sign williams 
the club are probably wheeling rush out to put a bit of positive PR on the move.
i havent met anyone yet that thinks he is the right man to shore up our defence, infact i think the fans had higher expectations than a 29 year old who`s resume reads hednesford town, stockport county and swansea.
imagine if agger leaves for barca, skrtel and coates go and we bring in williams...f##king hell, talk about going backwards and being a mid table side.

[Kenny Kan]

on the back of tonights echo ian rush is imploring the club to do whatever it takes to sign williams 
the club are probably wheeling rush out to put a bit of positive PR on the move.
i havent met anyone yet that thinks he is the right man to shore up our defence, infact i think the fans had higher expectations than a 29 year old who`s resume reads hednesford town, stockport county and swansea.
imagine if agger leaves for barca, skrtel and coates go and we bring in williams...f##king hell, talk about going backwards and being a mid table side.

What can we say ysdycdsycduycyc, he's a working class man. 

[stmichael]

For me, Lucas and Gerrard together are currently contributing to our defensive deficiencies. Lucas clearly isn't half the player he was before his injury and will take a time to get back to the level he was at before. That in itself wouldn't be such an issue, but Gerrard clearly hasn't the legs for any sort of box to box play anymore. When you add in the fact that Allen isn't a naturally defensive midfielder and it leaves a big gap.

We desperately need a proper top class defensive midfielder in the summer as we can't simply rely on Lucas getting back to his 2011 levels.

[SouthCoastShankly]

For me, Lucas and Gerrard together are currently contributing to our defensive deficiencies. Lucas clearly isn't half the player he was before his injury and will take a time to get back to the level he was at before. That in itself wouldn't be such an issue, but Gerrard clearly hasn't the legs for any sort of box to box play anymore. When you add in the fact that Allen isn't a naturally defensive midfielder and it leaves a big gap.

We desperately need a proper top class defensive midfielder in the summer as we can't simply rely on Lucas getting back to his 2011 levels.

I agree in part however the stats are clear that since Lucas returned from injury our scored goal tally has rocketed. This partly due to neutralising some of the attacking threat coming from the midfield.

[Fowler_E7]

For me, Lucas and Gerrard together are currently contributing to our defensive deficiencies. Lucas clearly isn't half the player he was before his injury and will take a time to get back to the level he was at before. That in itself wouldn't be such an issue, but Gerrard clearly hasn't the legs for any sort of box to box play anymore. When you add in the fact that Allen isn't a naturally defensive midfielder and it leaves a big gap.

We desperately need a proper top class defensive midfielder in the summer as we can't simply rely on Lucas getting back to his 2011 levels.

I agree in part however the stats are clear that since Lucas returned from injury our scored goal tally has rocketed. This partly due to neutralising some of the attacking threat coming from the midfield.

Neutralizing the attacking threat? hes been poor, he gives away a ridiculous amount of free kicks aswell, he looks well off the pace to me. As for the rumours of us signing Ashley Williams, this is really disappointing news, is this really the best we can do? the guy is nothing special at all, Swansea aren't even known for being particularly good in defense and they will probably rip off us on the transfer fee, but whats new there 

[SouthCoastShankly]

Like I said before, the stats speak for themselves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21805915

The presence of fit-again Lucas Leiva has been a key factor. Liverpool's scoring rate has doubled since he returned from injury to the side in December, his presence helping to free the likes of Steven Gerrard - who has scored seven goals in those 14 games

So he was poor against Villa, rare occurrence in my book. Liverpool are better with Lucas and the stats don't lie.

[Kenny Kan]

I don't believe the misleading stats that posters use to say, 'since Lucas' return we've doubled our tally'.

Because you could probably say that about us, since the signings of Sturridge & Countinho.

You could also say, the reason we've scored many goals is because we nion play with 4 attackers and 2 midfielders.

Back on topic.

When Steve Clarke was pretty much in charge of the defense, it showed on the pitch. There's not just a gaping hole in the center of midfield and defense, there is a bigger defensive hole in management somewhere.

[SouthCoastShankly]

I don't believe the misleading stats that posters use to say, 'since Lucas' return we've doubled our tally'.

Because you could probably say that about us, since the signings of Sturridge & Countinho.

You could also say, the reason we've scored many goals is because we nion play with 4 attackers and 2 midfielders.

Back on topic.

When Steve Clarke was pretty much in charge of the defense, it showed on the pitch. There's not just a gaping hole in the center of midfield and defense, there is a bigger defensive hole in management somewhere.

I agree, however most would agree, we all yearned for Lucas' return whilst he was out because the midfield defensive duties weren't being filled by the other midfielders in the squad (Gerrard included). Since he returned the balance looked far better.

Also he doesn't look like he has returned to the form we saw the last two seasons. More improvement in the offing?

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

i agree with what some posters have said about our formation contributing to our defensive frailty.
because we often employ a `full court press` high up the pitch there are going to be times when teams catch us on the break but rather than change our formation to a more negative one i`d rather keep the formation and change our defenders.
we need players at the back that have the ability to `scramble` and that as a rule of thumb usually means players with pace.
the best defenders i`ve seen in terms of dealing with fast breaks have been players like mark lawrenson, kevin ratcliffe and des walker (in his early days), they were all very quick and not only did they have the pace to catch even the quickest forwards from behind, if they were bypassed by a through ball they had the pace to turn around and quickly get goal side again, players often had to beat mark lawrenson 2 or 3 times in the same move because he was so quick at getting back goal side. his recovery tackles were legendary.
when someone goes past one of our players at the moment (carragher, lucas, gerrard etc) unless they run into traffic they are gone, it`s adios amigo. the only defender we have that can get back goal side again after being beaten is enrique.
another thing having quick CB`s does is allow you to hold a high line, that way you arent dropping off and inviting high balls into you area.
i think the key to next season isnt our attack but our defence, in this system our defenders are looking more and more like square pegs in round holes, it will be interesting to see who we bring in during the summer.