Liverpool FC Forum

[red--sangria]

IF IS REALLY TRUE I WOULD BE MEGA SHOCKED.   

“It’s simple,” Mascherano said. “With the time that has passed, it will now be more difficult for me to stay here because I need to do something about my future. It is a really difficult situation because I have been talking a lot about how I want to stay here, but it doesn’t depend on me. I have done everything to stay but the owners have to decide if they want to buy.”

Manchester United boss Ferguson has always been an admirer of Mascherano and considered signing him last summer, and it is being rumoured that he will willing to pay the asking price to land him now.

Mascherano added, "I would be happy to play for any of the other big clubs in England if Liverpool do not sign me permanently, but to play alongside Carlitos as well as people like Rooney, Scholes and Ronaldo would be my biggest dream of all."

[red--sangria]

the link,
http://www.manutdtalk.com/forums....td.html

[HacksawJimDuggin]

Spending £17million on Javier Mascherano is the wrong decision!

That is according to Jaimie Kanwar from liverpool-kop.com.

He raises some very pertinent points in his artcile.

Here it is in full from liverpool-kop.com.

Liverpool are in serious need of top quality creative players. Why then is Rafa Benitez pushing hard for 17m to permanently sign Javier Mascherano, a player who offers absolutely nothing going forward?

The proposed purchase of Mascherano has been one of the key causes of Rafael Benitez’s recent problems with the club’s American owners; Benitez wants £17m to buy the Argentinean stopper, whereas Hicks and Gillette allegedly prefer to wait until the loan deal is over in the summer before splashing the cash.

Liverpool fans need to be honest with themselves and ask this question: Does the club urgently *need* Mascherano? If he was to leave, would the club be left with a gaping, unfillable hole in the team?

The answer is clearly NO.

I don’t dispute that Mascherano is an excellent player, but at this moment in time, Liverpool just do not need him. The focus should be on scouring the globe for creative players, not using a huge chunk of potential transfer cash on a central midfielder when that position is already oversubscribed.

With stadium plans hitting the skids and precious little money for transfers, demanding 17m for Mascherano is not only wrong, it is irresponsible and would amount to a scandalous waste of funds.

I would further argue that Benitez made a huge mistake bringing Mascherano to the club. The Spaniard should have thought a little harder about the signing and the long term negative effects it would have. These include:

1. Stunting the development of Momo Sissoko.

2. Creating unhealthy competition in midfield, with 5 players fighting for 2 positions.

3. Unsettling Xabi Alonso to the extent that Liverpool’s best midfielder is possibly considering his position.

In reality, it is not even 5 players fighting for 2 places; Steven Gerrard will always play, so in effect, Benitez has created a situation where there are 4 midfielders fighting for one place.

This is poor management and has caused frustration and recrimination, culminating in Momo Sissoko’s recent outburst, in which he stated he wanted to leave due to ‘unhealthy competition’.

And it IS unhealthy competition. Most if not all top clubs in Europe have 1 or 2 top class central midfielders and another 2 or 3 slightly lower quality back-ups. No club in Europe has THREE top class center mids vying for two first team places. And by center mid, I don’t mean attacking mids like Deco or Iniesta; I mean proper center mids like Pirlo, Fabregas, Viera, Keane, Hargreaves etc.

Liverpool have Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Steven Gerrard – three top class midfielders - all of whom expect to start every game - all vying for two positions. Add onto that Sissoko and Lucas also pushing for the first team, and you have a recipe for frustration and eventual disaster.

Due to Alonso’s injury and Lucas' inexperience, Benitez has not had to deal with the problem of an oversubscribed midfield; for most of the season, it has been a choice of two from Gerrard, Mascherano and Sissoko. The problems will come when Alonso, Gerrard and Mascherano are all fit, raring to go and desperate to start games.

I don’t blame Sissoko at all for wanting to leave. It is impossible to retain match sharpness and get any kind rhythm going when you are unfairly relegated to the role of bit-part player.

Additionally, how exactly is Sissoko supposed to improve his game when he plays only once a month? Fans and pundits complain about his poor passing ability, but this will not change if he is not given the chance to develop.

If Mascherano had not been brought to the club, I sincerely believe that Sissoko would have improved and would now be an integral part of the team. Indeed, it is no coincidence that Momo’s drop in form coincided with Mascherano’s arrival at the club. Similarly, the rise of the Argentinean has dovetailed with the continuing decline of Sissoko's status at the club.

I am not suggesting that Sissoko is a better player than Mascherano; at this moment in time he is not, but this is due to desecrated confidence and lack of match sharpness. However, if Sissoko had not been dumped on the scrapheap and left to rot, I would argue that he would be better than Mascherano is now.

Sissoko showed this frightening potential in his pre-Mascherano Liverpool career. Fans were raving about his performances and everything was positive. Such is the fickleness of fans though that everything has inevitably changed, and Sissoko is not the whipping boy du jour.

£17m is a lot of money; if Benitez is going to lavish that on one player, then he should spend it on the most skillful, creative winger/link man he can get for that price. This type of player is far more important to the Liverpool cause. In fact, I would argue that top class creative players are ESSENTIAL to the club’s future progress.

Liverpool have been buying substandard, cut-price 'creative' players for 17 years now and this needs to stop. Teams that win the league almost always have superb creative players. Liverpool have been suffering with the likes of Vladimir Smicer, El Hadji Diouf and Dirk Kuyt for far too long.

It’s time for a positive change – Liverpool’s overly defensive priorities need updating and flair needs to come into the equation. Is Benitez the right man to oversee this change of philosophy for Liverpool?

Sadly, no.

If he was, then three and a half years into Benitez's reign there would be some evidence of an attacking approach to Liverpool's play. There isn't.

Furthermore, if Benitez was the right man then he wouldn’t be demanding 17m for a superfluous defensive midfielder; he wouldn’t persist with the creatively inept Dirk Kuyt at the expense of superior players like Peter Crouch and he wouldn’t continually leave exciting attack-minded talent like Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva on the bench.

It certainly does highlight some points regarding our very congested midfield, and if that £17Mill is put to a more attacking option?

Some excellent food for thought in that post mate. Very well though through and very well put over. The point about Momo's stunted progress is an excellent one. I remember not too long ago we (well I certainly was) were raving about how good Momo could be as he was coming on leaps and bounds having had a run in the team.

I have always thought that £17m for Mascha. If we do sign him up then it will surely signal the end of Momo and, if Rafa is to persist with a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, maybe the end of Alonso at LFC. If however Rafa goes for the 3-5-2 formation that I bang on about all the time we don't have a problem as Mascha, Alonso and Gerrard can all fit into that formation. Sign another CB/LB, get Agger fit and away we go

Something has too give and I think it will in January.

[Bermenstein]

........I remember not too long ago we (well I certainly was) were raving about how good Momo could be as he was coming on leaps and bounds having had a run in the team.......

that's right. The majority of reviewers were touting Sissoko as a Vierra type acquisition. It is unfortunate for him that his form tailed off so badly, and it will take some stringent measures to recover that form as he needs to be given a chance and some games to see if he can redeem his status.

If however Rafa goes for the 3-5-2 formation that I bang on about all the time we don't have a problem as Mascha, Alonso and Gerrard can all fit into that formation. Sign another CB/LB, get Agger fit and away we go

That old Roy Evans chestnut. Certainly would be interesting to see them play with that formation with the strength we posses in the midfield. I'd say Riise would revel in the wing back position, given he would have some defensive security in an extra CB.

The football would probably not be pretty though come to think of it. Lots of 1-0's......for us hopefully

[drevinho]

We want Javier Mascherano to stay in Liverpool! Sign name here to support this: http://users2.smartgb.com/g/g.php?a=s&i=g25-16037-5c PLEASE SIGN AND THEN SEND THIS TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN SO WE CAN SEND THIS TO LIVERPOOL THEN ENOUGH NAMES ARE GATHERED![B]SIGN HERE TO SUPPORT THE 'KEEPING' OF MASCHE!

[JamCar05]

Please stop spamming the forum with that mate. We can't just have a petition everytime we want something to happen regarding the club. How about starting a petition for us to sign Messi stating "50 million quid is nothing (to me, as You guys will have to pay 'em all), so can we please buy him"?

Most of us want Mascher to stay (I definitely do), but this won't help one bit (add to that the fact, that it's annoying to look at in each and every thread you post in).

[Ciggy]

5 days into the window and still not signed 

[Foximus]

LONDON (Reuters) - Javier Mascherano will quit English football if he fails to agree a permanent move to Liverpool, the Argentina midfielder said on Sunday.

"I only want to play for Liverpool," Mascherano told newspapers. "I hope the situation will be sorted in the next month.

"If I cannot play for Liverpool I will not play for another club in England. Not even Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester United."

Mascherano signed an 18-month loan deal with the Anfield club when he left Premier League rivals West Ham United in January.



Time to get him signed up Rafa

omg, sign him up right now he will be worth every penny

[Bad Bob]

Please stop spamming the forum with that mate. We can't just have a petition everytime we want something to happen regarding the club. How about starting a petition for us to sign Messi stating "50 million quid is nothing (to me, as You guys will have to pay 'em all), so can we please buy him"?

Most of us want Mascher to stay (I definitely do), but this won't help one bit (add to that the fact, that it's annoying to look at in each and every thread you post in).

Agreed.  If we petition the club every time we want something to happen, the whole value of petitions (if they were ever taken seriously) will diminish.  Petitions, if they are to have any impact, need to be virtual one-offs--a spontaneous display of grass-roots support borne of extraordinary circumstances (like the recent clash between Rafa and the owners).  No matter how good a player is--and Mascherano is very good--petitioning the club on transfer matters is simply a non-starter.

[JamCar05]

Please stop spamming the forum with that mate. We can't just have a petition everytime we want something to happen regarding the club. How about starting a petition for us to sign Messi stating "50 million quid is nothing (to me, as You guys will have to pay 'em all), so can we please buy him"?

Most of us want Mascher to stay (I definitely do), but this won't help one bit (add to that the fact, that it's annoying to look at in each and every thread you post in).

Agreed.  If we petition the club every time we want something to happen, the whole value of petitions (if they were ever taken seriously) will diminish.  Petitions, if they are to have any impact, need to be virtual one-offs--a spontaneous display of grass-roots support borne of extraordinary circumstances (like the recent clash between Rafa and the owners).  No matter how good a player is--and Mascherano is very good--petitioning the club on transfer matters is simply a non-starter.

Exactly. Can you imagine people petitioning every time they wanted someone bought or sold! Hell, there would be petitions to sell loads of players each time we didn't win a game (even then there would probably still be some petitioning for Kuyt to be sold ). And the other way around: there would be numerous petitions for all kinds of different players to be bought, all depending on which position/what player people wanted to strengthen in/with. Surely our dear owners would have more urgent matters than to read through tons of ridiculous petitions to sign or sell this or that player (cue financing a new stadium etc.).

[roberto green]

Can i start a petition for all nonesense petitions to be axed? lol:D

[Lando_Griffin]

We really should be signing him up right now - he's far too good to leave.

That said, £17m is daylight f*cking robbery, until you consider that that shower of sh*te payed £18m for a buck-toothed inbred, and £20m for a triple-nationality gimp.

[account deleted by request]

We really should be signing him up right now - he's far too good to leave.

That said, £17m is daylight f*cking robbery, until you consider that that shower of sh*te payed £18m for a buck-toothed inbred, and £20m for a triple-nationality gimp.

But the £15/20million we have invested in Alonso's new contract is money well spent eh Lando 

[Sabre]

I've been looking for the official Mascherano thread but couldn't find any.

Mascherano's been summoned for the Olympic squad, alongside other 3 senior players. Not good for the club.

But since he has to go, at least I hope he gets a medal.

[Lando_Griffin]

We really should be signing him up right now - he's far too good to leave.

That said, £17m is daylight f*cking robbery, until you consider that that shower of sh*te payed £18m for a buck-toothed inbred, and £20m for a triple-nationality gimp.

But the £15/20million we have invested in Alonso's new contract is money well spent eh Lando 

Naturally.