Liverpool FC Forum

[Tim LFC]

What about the money from our new sponsorship deal? I thought they said we'd get a bigger transfer kitty?

[NANNY RED]

What about the money from our new sponsorship deal? I thought they said we'd get a bigger transfer kitty?

They said . An the THEY speaks for itself.

[Richj]

I used to love him but after the summer of him not saying he want's to stay at the club I wouldn't mind him going at all, He has not been as good as he was for quite some time now imo.

[redhayesy]

I used to love him but after the summer of him not saying he want's to stay at the club I wouldn't mind him going at all, He has not been as good as he was for quite some time now imo.

i couldn't disagree more, masha has stayed with the club that for me is a massive boost for all conerned, it's also a massive step in going foward in his desire an commitment of staying with the club.

let's face facts if he really wanted away,it would of happened especially with alonso going aswell. he would of demanded a move which would of happened, reguadless of contract to forfill etc.

i still have upmost of respect for masha an still mantain that to loose him aswell who have been a real detrament to the side in the inportance of the role he plays an the quality he gives to us.

his positional role is so valuable to the likes of stevie that it should never be in question for me.

the way he gets stuck in an helps our alround play is so vitsl that if he has a poor game (which is very rare for me) that it may impact on the rest of our play throughout a game.

i strongly believe that he is still the best player at our disposal in his role,he's the best in the EPL in what he does,let alone in our European games that he says it all for me - the LFC motto-form is temporary, class is permanent! masha for me is brilliant an should be one of the first names on the team sheet week in week out.

[Nando26]

I think once Mascherano hears the crowd getting behind him ,it will inspire him to raise his level of application  ,I also think Mascherano's football is predominantly built on his passion for the game ,and I will reserve judgement until he can be paired with a more inventive partner .

So its Lucas' fault Mascherano isnt very technically gifted?

[redhayesy]

no, Lucas just isn't technically gifted.

[Nando26]

I just think its unfair to bring up Lucas when were discussing mascheranos form

its like me saying well we would see a better lucas if he had messi & ronaldo on the either wing to help him out

its a givin players look better with better players around them but mascherano needs to pull his socks up & start preforming to the high standards we know he can not have others pull up his socks for him

[redhayesy]

I just think its unfair to bring up Lucas when were discussing mascheranos form

its like me saying well we would see a better lucas if he had messi & ronaldo on the either wing to help him out

its a givin players look better with better players around them but mascherano needs to pull his socks up & start preforming to the high standards we know he can not have others pull up his socks for him

ok then, let's talk about masha! feck me you really need to look at the bigger picture mate, Masha has is an will continue to be the best player we have had in his positition for many a year!

the quality,passion an alround contribution to the side is un-questionable for me.

if you think he needs other players around him to pull his socks up for him, then that alone you are embarassing yourself with such talk!  FFS please think about what you are thinking before posting,this forum is all about opinion's quite rightly so.  but it also is about knowledge,history an about players who are worthy of wearing the famous red shirt. for me mashsa is one of them an will continue to do so for along time to come. why? cause he has shown in the past an will continue to do so in the future- that he- through pasion,skill an desire will carry an help others with less qualities than himself drive the team foward to futher success.


also please never mention a fecking ex manc again in the same breath,sentence etc as mash... that is a fecking insult to the man!

[stmichael]

Been nowhere near his best for some time now but to have sold Mascherano and Alonso in the same summer would have been complete maadness.

Rafael Benitez demands the best of Javier Mascherano


Not so long ago, Javier Mascherano, the Liverpool holding midfield player, regarded Upton Park as the place he needed to escape from if he was to rediscover the form which marked him out as one of the finest exponents of his art in world football. Today, Mascherano returns to West Ham having been gently reminded by Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, that he owes it to the club that rescued him from the point of despair to start living up to his reputation once again.

Mascherano became unsettled in the summer following interest in Barcelona which was rebuffed by Benitez, with the European champions realising there was little point in following up their initial tentative inquiries with an official offer. Since then, the 25-year-old has looked a shadow of his former self with worries about the Argentina team he captains struggling to qualify for the World Cup an added unwanted distraction.

The situation has been complicated still further by the admission of Txiki Begiristain, the Barcelona director of football, earlier this week that the Catalan giants will again seek Mascherano’s signature next year.

With two and a half years still remaining on the Liverpool contract he signed in February 2008 though, Mascherano has been told by Benitez that he has no plans to sell him and, furthermore, that the Anfield club deserve to see the best of him in the weeks and months to come.

“The top sides are always interested in top players, this is normal,” Benitez said. “But he has a contract and we want to keep him. I told Txiki Begiristain before that we wanted to keep him and he knows my opinion.

"It was a difficult time for Javier (when Liverpool signed him from West Ham) – I can remember having a meeting with him and he was a little bit low but as soon as he could see the possibility of coming to a big club like Liverpool he was really pleased and since the first day his commitment has been really good.

“I had a conversation with him recently about how important it was for him to come here. Now he is the captain of Argentina thanks to Liverpool, that is very important and for us to have the best from Mascherano is really important if we want to win more games. He has two more years (of contract) and we would like to keep him. If we need to talk to him we will do it but he has enough time and he has to play at the level that he was before and we will be pleased with him.”

Mascherano’s wife, Fernanda, was known to have become unhappy in Liverpool and has since been spending more time in her native Buenos Aires. Asked if his £18m signing was now more settled than he had been, Benitez responded: “I hope so but the main thing for me is that he is a professional. He has been in London and he has been in Liverpool and I think he was very happy in Liverpool so if we can win some games then I think it will be easier for a professional to be happy.”

Having missed Liverpool’s resounding home win over Burnley last week through an injury picked up on international duty, Mascherano had to settle for a late substitute’s appearance against Debrecen in midweek and his manager has warned him that he will have to earn his place back in Liverpool’s starting line up while acknowledging that the sterling work he is currently putting in on the training ground is worthy of reward.

"All the players know what they have to do on the pitch, so to change one or two of them is not a big difference,” Benitez added. “If Mascherano is fit he can play but Lucas and Gerrard are doing well as midfielders. He is a key player for us and he will be a key player for us during the season but he was away and Lucas and Gerrard were playing well so I have to manage this situation. But it is better for me to have these problems.

“I think he is working very hard and in one or two games he was playing well but the team was not doing really well in the other two.

"It’s more the team than just one player. I am watching him in training sessions and he is doing well and working really hard. Yesterday and today he was very good. I was watching him specifically because we were doing some exercises that needed hard work and he was very good in both and today was the same. The atmosphere in our training sessions is very good now and he is one of the players who is always working so hard that as a manager you have to be pleased.”
.............

Personally I think we need to cut him some slack. It can't be easy for him when his wife's unsettled and his agent has been shouting his mouth off every five minutes over the summer. I think he's been a model professional and I'm sure he'll get back to his best very soon.

[Owzat]

As you often get with some players, fans will rate them highly and say "it would be stupid to sell" regardless of form or actual worth. So is it worth even suggesting things like "perhaps we should sell Mascherano" because a lot of people will go into the "discussion" with a closed mind and it's not so much discussed as dismissed by some

[stmichael]

As you often get with some players, fans will rate them highly and say "it would be stupid to sell" regardless of form or actual worth. So is it worth even suggesting things like "perhaps we should sell Mascherano" because a lot of people will go into the "discussion" with a closed mind and it's not so much discussed as dismissed by some

If we were going to sell him then we should have done it last summer to maximise his full value. Unless we get him to sign a new contract now his value is dropping by the day. As it stands we should only get rid of him if he wants to go.

[bigmick]

As you often get with some players, fans will rate them highly and say "it would be stupid to sell" regardless of form or actual worth. So is it worth even suggesting things like "perhaps we should sell Mascherano" because a lot of people will go into the "discussion" with a closed mind and it's not so much discussed as dismissed by some

If we were going to sell him then we should have done it last summer to maximise his full value. Unless we get him to sign a new contract now his value is dropping by the day. As it stands we should only get rid of him if he wants to go.

It's an interesting point. If he continues to be so far off his game that even Lucas can appear to be comparable, how much are we going to get for him this Summer particularly given he has made no secret of his desire to leave?

If Lucas really is comparable, how much is the Brazillian worth, and therefore how much will someone pay for Mash If we end up selling him for 12 million or so in the Summer (and yes I know Lucas is worth nowhere near that, but I'm assuming people will remember what a good player Mash is) will it then look like a good or bad decision to keep him in the close season just gone?

It very rarely pays in football to keep players who are very unhappy.

[Richj]

I used to love him but after the summer of him not saying he want's to stay at the club I wouldn't mind him going at all, He has not been as good as he was for quite some time now imo.

i couldn't disagree more, masha has stayed with the club that for me is a massive boost for all conerned, it's also a massive step in going foward in his desire an commitment of staying with the club.

let's face facts if he really wanted away,it would of happened especially with alonso going aswell. he would of demanded a move which would of happened, reguadless of contract to forfill etc.

i still have upmost of respect for masha an still mantain that to loose him aswell who have been a real detrament to the side in the inportance of the role he plays an the quality he gives to us.

his positional role is so valuable to the likes of stevie that it should never be in question for me.

the way he gets stuck in an helps our alround play is so vitsl that if he has a poor game (which is very rare for me) that it may impact on the rest of our play throughout a game.

i strongly believe that he is still the best player at our disposal in his role,he's the best in the EPL in what he does,let alone in our European games that he says it all for me - the LFC motto-form is temporary, class is permanent! masha for me is brilliant an should be one of the first names on the team sheet week in week out.

I just think I would of been good of him to come out and say he is happy at the club and he is going to try and win us things.

[Penguins]

As you often get with some players, fans will rate them highly and say "it would be stupid to sell" regardless of form or actual worth. So is it worth even suggesting things like "perhaps we should sell Mascherano" because a lot of people will go into the "discussion" with a closed mind and it's not so much discussed as dismissed by some

If we were going to sell him then we should have done it last summer to maximise his full value. Unless we get him to sign a new contract now his value is dropping by the day. As it stands we should only get rid of him if he wants to go.

It's an interesting point. If he continues to be so far off his game that even Lucas can appear to be comparable, how much are we going to get for him this Summer particularly given he has made no secret of his desire to leave?

If Lucas really is comparable, how much is the Brazillian worth, and therefore how much will someone pay for Mash If we end up selling him for 12 million or so in the Summer (and yes I know Lucas is worth nowhere near that, but I'm assuming people will remember what a good player Mash is) will it then look like a good or bad decision to keep him in the close season just gone?

It very rarely pays in football to keep players who are very unhappy.

No, maybe not but it would have been hard to swallow for both the club and supporters to loose both players, that formed one of the best midfield partnerships last season, at the same time.

And since Barca bought Ibrahimovic I very much doubt they would fork out 30 million. More like 20-25 million.

One thing is for certain though, Masch and Lucas are way too similar to form a good partnership. Both play too deep, too many sideway passes, not going forward enough etc.

[aCe']

Its a WorldCup year and i still think Argentina will make it to the Worldcup and given the squad they have its not out of the question that theyd have a good tournament..

Would have sold him last summer.. Regardless of the Alonso thing... With Alonso gone i thought going back to a 4-4-2 would have been the way forward... Probably should have gone for a David Villa or Etoo or so.. With Gerrard back in the middle and with Alonso  AND Mascherano gone we still would have needed 1 CM to make a 4-4-2 work... Probably would have been easier and cheaper finding Gerrard a partner for a 4-4-2... but anyways... Never been a big fan of Mascherano, dont think he offers as much as say a Makelele in the defensive end and definitely nowhere near enough in an attacking sense.. Hes more a luxury sort of player whos nice to have against the stronger sides... Doesnt have much influence in most of the other games and i think the 30mill or so we could have gotten for him last summer could have gone a long way in improving other areas in our squad...

Anyways... Dont think we'll sell him anytime soon.. Rafa likes him and he'll stick with him... Not a bad player but massively overrated by our fans..