Liverpool FC Forum

[crazyhorse]

Agger showed great promise last night, and has performed well over the course of the season so far.

I do not yet think it is the time for him to take over from Sammi completely though. sammi is still a great defender and worthy of his place.

[Ciggy]

As the saying goes there is no sentiment in football, and gradually Sammi will lose his place in the first team.

Agger was quality the against PSV and Chelsea, he has huge potential and I think we have a gem on our hands.

[66-1112520797]

I agree with the praise Agger is getting, I've only seen him play a couple of times against the Hammers & PSV. He has looked very assured in both games and also he's very comfortable on the ball. I think he'll turn out to be one for the future, I would of thought PSV would of given him a sterner test the other night, in fact I thought they were very poor upfront. West Ham gave him a harder test, but it would be interesting to see how he faired against Chelsea on Sunday.

[ConnO'var]

Time for the phasing in of Agger to replace Sammi this season IMO..... He's shown himself to be good enough and he's gonna need a run of games to click into our back four on a permanent basis....

Sammi's been a great servant and I love him dearly but I believe he's on his last legs.... Will be exposed against all the big clubs this season as the forward line of Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea all have players with pace to burn.... with Sammi in the back four, Carra will be hard pressed to cover up his lack of pace.... Still great in the air but all the above teams don't bombard the back four with high balls (except for Chelsea at times) but play a slick passing game based around pace.... and Sammi's gonna get more and more caught out.

Hell, even the next tier of clubs like Spurs and (hate to say it!!!) Everton, have too much pace upfront... Sammi will still be needed against the likes of Bolton but it's time he puts on his mentor hat and start teaching our 2 young 'uns the art of playing centre back.... Agger's almost there but both him and Paletta would immensely benefit from Sammi's experience...

Sentiment is well and good but the time is now IMO....

[bigmick]

If we are to judge a central defender on pace alone then we should never have signed Hyppia in the first place. He's not getting any quicker but he's probably not getting a lot slower either.

For sure Agger is a young player who is arriving as a footballer at a rate of knots. He showed glimpses of quality in posession last season mixed in with pieces of indecision and seemingly a lack of upper body strength, while my argument always was that the two negatives were actually one  and the same. This season he started with a solid performance against Chelsea in the Charity Shield and his confidence and performance has blossomed. Suddenly as he is more decisive, he appears stronger as he commits fully into situations and uses his full body wieght and momentum to prevail.

As a footballer his talent is obvious. He can pass well with both feet long and short, and as he showed against west Ham can score aswell. He is unusual amongst central defenders in that he warrants the opposition closing him down. Even Rio Ferdinand with his forrays forward doesn't give you the impression that he is about to split the defence or to bury one from 25 yards. No, Agger is going to be a very fine player player indeed if he continues to develop. For now though, if it was me I'd start with Hyppia on Sunday.

[ConnO'var]

If we are to judge a central defender on pace alone then we should never have signed Hyppia in the first place. He's not getting any quicker but he's probably not getting a lot slower either.

For sure Agger is a young player who is arriving as a footballer at a rate of knots. He showed glimpses of quality in posession last season mixed in with pieces of indecision and seemingly a lack of upper body strength, while my argument always was that the two negatives were actually one  and the same. This season he started with a solid performance against Chelsea in the Charity Shield and his confidence and performance has blossomed. Suddenly as he is more decisive, he appears stronger as he commits fully into situations and uses his full body wieght and momentum to prevail.

As a footballer his talent is obvious. He can pass well with both feet long and short, and as he showed against west Ham can score aswell. He is unusual amongst central defenders in that he warrants the opposition closing him down. Even Rio Ferdinand with his forrays forward doesn't give you the impression that he is about to split the defence or to bury one from 25 yards. No, Agger is going to be a very fine player player indeed if he continues to develop. For now though, if it was me I'd start with Hyppia on Sunday.

Mick, It's true that pace alone is not the only criteria for a centre back but a total lack of it is a definite liability.... I disagree that he's not slowed down... IMO he's noticeably slowed down.... This is affecting his game as he's trying to compensate in other ways like blocking-off players and jokeying them out of position..... this is affecting his normal game and is causing confusion with Carra as he's not used to the difference in Sammi's game which has occurred due to his decreasing physical abilities.

And that, I honestly believe, is the root cause of our current defensive frailities.... we've shipped 5 goals in the last 3 league games.. something needs to be done and the change Rafa did for the PSV game has resulted in our 1st clean sheet this season..... Of course 1 game is too little to conclude conclusively but the promotion of Agger into our 1st team to partner Carra in the heart of our defence resulting in  the clean sheet cannot be a mere a coincidence to my way of thinking.

As you say, we'll see how he does against the stronger teams but a trial by fire against Chelsea when it matters is no better test.... With Both Dogface and Shevchenko in the Chelsea attack, we're gonna need more in defence than what Sammi can give right now... and Carrra can't stop them on his own.....

I hope Sammi proves me wrong but "I know it's early but" ( ) I'm sticking my neck out here and say that It's time for Agger to take over the CB role on a regular basis for us....

[66-1112520797]

If we are to judge a central defender on pace alone then we should never have signed Hyppia in the first place. He's not getting any quicker but he's probably not getting a lot slower either.

For sure Agger is a young player who is arriving as a footballer at a rate of knots. He showed glimpses of quality in posession last season mixed in with pieces of indecision and seemingly a lack of upper body strength, while my argument always was that the two negatives were actually one  and the same. This season he started with a solid performance against Chelsea in the Charity Shield and his confidence and performance has blossomed. Suddenly as he is more decisive, he appears stronger as he commits fully into situations and uses his full body wieght and momentum to prevail.

As a footballer his talent is obvious. He can pass well with both feet long and short, and as he showed against west Ham can score aswell. He is unusual amongst central defenders in that he warrants the opposition closing him down. Even Rio Ferdinand with his forrays forward doesn't give you the impression that he is about to split the defence or to bury one from 25 yards. No, Agger is going to be a very fine player player indeed if he continues to develop. For now though, if it was me I'd start with Hyppia on Sunday.

Mick, It's true that pace alone is not the only criteria for a centre back but a total lack of it is a definite liability.... I disagree that he's not slowed down... IMO he's noticeably slowed down.... This is affecting his game as he's trying to compensate in other ways like blocking-off players and jokeying them out of position..... this is affecting his normal game and is causing confusion with Carra as he's not used to the difference in Sammi's game which has occurred due to his decreasing physical abilities.

And that, I honestly believe, is the root cause of our current defensive frailities.... we've shipped 5 goals in the last 3 league games.. something needs to be done and the change Rafa did for the PSV game has resulted in our 1st clean sheet this season..... Of course 1 game is too little to conclude conclusively but the promotion of Agger into our 1st team to partner Carra in the heart of our defence resulting in  the clean sheet is not a mere a coincidence.

As you say, we'll see how he does against the stronger teams but a trial by fire against Chelsea when it matters is no better test.... With Both Dogface and Shevchenko in the Chelsea attack, we're gonna need more in defence than what Sammi can give right now... and Carrra can't stop them on his own.....

I hope Sammi proves me wrong but "I know it's early but" ( ) I'm sticking my neck out here and say that It's time for Agger to take over the CB role on a regular basis for us....

Sami has looked pedestrian at times already this season, but to be fair Caragher hasnt been at his usual reliable standard, neither Finnan. In fact the keeper and back four have looked ropey on occasions, and taking that all into consideration Agger's coped well with it all.
But its definately the begining of the end for Sami, with the young Dane featuring more and more IMO. Because of age Hyypia will be rested more and more this season and rather than a pairing of Ch's to play we have a quartet to pick from. Ahhh rotation 

[Lando_Griffin]

How about this for a beefy lineup? I've re-thought my original, and believe THIS would be the best set-up to play the chavs:

                                        Reina

                      JC               Sami             Agger

                            Alonso            Sissoko
Gerrard                                                                    Aurelio
                                       Garcia

                        Kuyt                          Crouch.


Still bring the pace of Bellamy, Gonzalez and Pennant on when their defence is tired. There's a lot of goals in that side, and plenty of balance. Defence is immense, attack is equally impressive.

I thoroughly believe that side would take Sh*tski's pants down and spank their botties.

[Lando_Griffin]

The real advantage of playing 3 at the back is it gives us the best of both worlds - Sami's aerial dominance, Agger's ball-playing ability, and Carragher's grit.

Agger and JC can cover for Sami's lack of pace, without leaving us exposed.

I seriously think that the line-up above is our strongest atm.

Obviously when Riise's back, he'll relish a wing-back role which plays to his strengths.

IF we play that formation regularly this season, don't be too suprised if Riise is our player of the year.

[account deleted by request]

How about this for a beefy lineup? I've re-thought my original, and believe THIS would be the best set-up to play the chavs:

                                        Reina

                      JC               Sami             Agger

                            Alonso            Sissoko
Gerrard                                                                    Aurelio
                                       Garcia

                        Kuyt                          Crouch.


Still bring the pace of Bellamy, Gonzalez and Pennant on when their defence is tired. There's a lot of goals in that side, and plenty of balance. Defence is immense, attack is equally impressive.

I thoroughly believe that side would take Sh*tski's pants down and spank their botties.

Much better than your original line up with wingers Lando. I didnt like that one much. I think this would be a much stronger team.

[ConnO'var]

How about this for a beefy lineup? I've re-thought my original, and believe THIS would be the best set-up to play the chavs:

                                        Reina

                      JC               Sami             Agger

                            Alonso            Sissoko
Gerrard                                                                    Aurelio
                                       Garcia

                        Kuyt                          Crouch.


Still bring the pace of Bellamy, Gonzalez and Pennant on when their defence is tired. There's a lot of goals in that side, and plenty of balance. Defence is immense, attack is equally impressive.

I thoroughly believe that side would take Sh*tski's pants down and spank their botties.

I like that line up 5-3-2 rather than your intial 3-5-2.... we'd be too exposed in the 3-5-2 I think.

Would make some changes though... mostly in getting gerrard into the centre and robbie into the mix... something like this


                      Reina

         Carra     Sammi     Agger

Finnan                                  Riise/Aurelio
         Momo    Gerrard     Xabi
                     

                  Kuyt     Fowler

Would've been nice if we'd gotten Alves..... he'd fit that right wing back role to a T..... but that's another thread and water under the bridge now.....     

[EddieC]

How about this for a beefy lineup? I've re-thought my original, and believe THIS would be the best set-up to play the chavs:

                                        Reina

                      JC               Sami             Agger

                            Alonso            Sissoko
Gerrard                                                                    Aurelio
                                       Garcia

                        Kuyt                          Crouch.


Still bring the pace of Bellamy, Gonzalez and Pennant on when their defence is tired. There's a lot of goals in that side, and plenty of balance. Defence is immense, attack is equally impressive.

I thoroughly believe that side would take Sh*tski's pants down and spank their botties.

I'd have to agree with you Lando.

Any other game I'd leave Luis out, but he always seems to produce something special against Sh!tski.

[Ciggy]

Poor Hyypia will be feeling a bit gutted now I expect, even though the rest will have done him no harm, he will probably get his place back against teams that play the long ball and dont have pacy forwards.

[JimBOB123]

Will agger be starting against tottenham you rekon?

[bigxchris]

I would expect Agger to start more often than not now, with Hyppia being drafted in as cover.

I dont think that Hyypia has lost it, he never had to rely on pace before and still does not, his experience is second to none and will still be very important in the development of Warnock, Agger, Paletta etc.