Liverpool FC Forum

by **JC_81** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:31 am

I watched a re-run of the 1st 4-3 epic V Newcastle last night and it just occurred to me how many LFC players in that team ended up either retiring early or not fulfilling their true potential.

Rob Jones - retired with a back injury before he was 30

Collymore - playing lower league football and 'dogging' when he should still have been a top flight player

Fowler - Past it by the age of about 27 due to several injuries

McManaman - Finished by 30 when he moved back to the Prem

McAteer - Been bollox since he did those vidal sassoon adverts

Redknapp - Retired recently at 30/31

Harkness - What the fu.ck happened to him??

James - em... actually he's probably better now than he was for us - scrap that!!

Most of these guys should still be good premiership players, so what happened?? Just coincidence or did they just not look after themselves enough when they were younger? Or did too much first team football when they were too young wreck them?

by **mikopool** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:35 am

I remember that match, I figured Liverpool would own Europe, or the players would join teams that would joint-own Europe.. Wasnt Neil Rudduck playing then as well?

by **7_Kewell** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:30 am

shame really, Macmanaman should have never come back to the Prem.....i still can't believe Fowler is so rubbish now! :oh:

by **A.B.** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:07 am

Perhaps a mix of bad luck[as far as injuries go] and not good enough management of the players.

by **LFC #1** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:52 am

Attitude is also a major issue with some of those lads. Stan Collymore I am talking to you.

by **A.B.** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:56 pm

Attitude is also a major issue with some of those lads

It seems that Newcastle have those problems with their players, and Souness is keeping them and wants to buy more of them[Anelka for instance,mercenary]

by **Dalglish** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:11 am

I know Houllier had his critics but he cleaned up the act at LFC befrre it self imploded and for that he deserves credit.

All of the Spice Boys were given the opportunity to reform and thankfully players like Carragher did but whatever you think about GH he did the RIGHT thing by letting many of the above players move on........Evans was simply too nice a guy to take the Ego's and when I look at Newcastle and the mes their in it's not the har line approach that always works as Souness has discovered

by **laza** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:25 am

Agree with attitude and i guess you could argue that wouldnt help with injuries or recovery from them. Though felt really sorry for Rob Jones, man must have run over a leprauchaun or something

by **Rafas Amigo** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 2:11 am

7_Kewell wrote:shame really, Macmanaman should have never come back to the Prem.....i still can't believe Fowler is so rubbish now!

Fowler-Rubbish??? I wouldnt call him rubbish he can still finish in front of goal when he gets through and it wasnt so long ago people on this forum were calling for him to come back !!

by **BristolRed** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 8:56 am

I felt so sorry for Rob Jones when he had to retire he was looking like owning the England full back slot for a long time..Was a very good player

Stan Collymore should've been a class player but had so many issues and not just a chip but a whole bag of potatoes on his shoulder..The guy wouldn't move from Cannock no matter what club he was at..Waster

Robbie-was a god when he broke into the team but was always gonna be over shadowed by Owen as they were always compared and also injuries robbed him of some vital years..I would love to see him comeback scoring a bag full next season..At least he has all the rent coming in from his 3 million houses in manc

Mcmanaman--Did well when he managed to get into the Real Madrid side and was loved by the supporters over there..Again bad injuries robbed him of large chunks of seasons..I think he should've tried to stay in spain for a couple more seasons at a different club as his style of football isn't exactly ideal for the fast pace of the prem league.Has been playing first team football since he was 17 and is now 32..15 years at top level in football isn't that bad these days.Has he retired now cos Man City have realeased him?

Mcateer and Harkness--were never gonna set the world alight both in my opinion were journeymen players

Redknapp-One of the best passers of the ball I've ever seen..Sadly too many injuries and the fact of far too many pain killer injections have ruined his knees..Bless him at least he has a cracking missus at home..

by **looprevil** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 5:45 am

It would be interesting to see how productive fowler would be if not hampered by all the injuries. He was class, and still is if given the ball anywhere in front of the net.
Mcmanaman should have stayed in spain or maybe should try the MLS. He could school most of the players in that league.

by **andy_g** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:55 am

i watched that game again recently too but the DVD i have also has the 'rematch', the game v newcastle at anfield the following season whhich we also won 4-3. though not such a classic game it features an amaziing display of sustained attacking football from liverpool. mcmanaman, fowler and redknapp at the heart of everything, basically taking newcastle apart.

its almost unconceivable now to think that these three aren't at the absolute height of their careers now. such a shame what happened to them all though i think questions have to be asked about the physical side to their development as very young players at liverpool.

by **JC_81** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 5:23 pm

andy_g wrote:i watched that game again recently too but the DVD i have also has the 'rematch', the game v newcastle at anfield the following season whhich we also won 4-3. though not such a classic game it features an amaziing display of sustained attacking football from liverpool. mcmanaman, fowler and redknapp at the heart of everything, basically taking newcastle apart.

its almost unconceivable now to think that these three aren't at the absolute height of their careers now. such a shame what happened to them all though i think questions have to be asked about the physical side to their development as very young players at liverpool.

I think you're exactly right.

You could say it's just a coincidence, but these 3 were playing first team football from they were teenagers. They were so good though that they hardly ever got rested at such an early age and I can't help but think that this contributed to their eventual injury problems and deterioration as players.

I think a sim ilar thing has happened at Utd, but not on such a large scale. Butt, Scholes and Giggs all played their best football in their early to mid 20's and couldn't seem to regularly produce this form once they hit 28/29 when they theoretically should be at their peaks.

I wonder if the supposed age that a player peaks at is beginning to drop with talented youngsters being played in the first team at an earlier age and with the growing number of fixtures for the top clubs in English football.

Will Owen or Rooney have played their best football by the time they hit 28?? Depends on injuries, but I'd say there's a good chance this could happen due to the sheer amount of football they've played already. Owen especially, his hamstrings could be knackered in a couple of years with the amount of times he's torn/strained them.

by **drummerphil** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:46 pm

i would love to see fowler back now as a squad player......even now he could do a job

by **venpk09** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 5:33 pm

redknapp was really wasted. who knows what he could had become.
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