Liverpool FC Forum

[Benny The Noon]

It's annoying that the Henry will stay quiet for so long only to come out with some snarky comment to Wenger. Ironically I would like to know what Henry is smoking that makes him think we are on the right path.

Would like them to sell up - take a tidy profit with them and then allow some new owners to actually show the ambition to want to get the club back to the top instead of acting like a mid table team.

[red till i die!!]

rodgers is saying in todays echo that because of toure`s form in pre season and schalke wanting £18m for papadopolous we are re-thinking our defensive strategy for next season. he is saying he is more than happy to go into next season with agger, toure, skrtel and wisdom as his 4 frontline CB`s.
he says toure was initially brought in as cover but he has shown in training and pre season that he is good enough to be a first team starter.
dont know if this is a bluff to force schalke`s hand or what (like when we said we werent interested in him anymore) but the center of our defence was probably our biggest achilles heel last season, is toure good enough to sort out that problem? i`m not so sure.
i suppose if skrtel can recapture his form of 18 months ago we`ll be okay.
i suppose thats the difference between us and the likes of city and chelsea, they`d just go out and pay the £18m if they really wanted papadopolous where as we have to make do and mend.

cant say im surprised at all with that. toure was always going to be a starter for us as no way would he have left city to revive his career from someone's bench.
rodgers rates him and wanted him for his experience and leadership so he was always a starter imo. skrtel wont be happy about that and he will look to go if he's second fiddle, so maybe they will land papa.

[Benny The Noon]

He had no choice but to leave City - they didnt offer him a new contract when his finished.

[aCe']

Start Kole Toure ahead of Skrtel ? I've never rated Toure and since his big money move from Arsenal to ManCity he has done nothing to prove he's anywhere near a top defender in this league. His biggest attribute defensively was his recovery ability. Never been the best aerially, never been the best at reading plays and I dont even see him as someone who would organize a defensive line well despite his experience (Carra, Rio, Carvalho..etc) .. He has lost his pace, and more often than not he'll struggles against forwards with pace or ones who are good in the air.

We should have made signing a CB a priority imo. However, if it turns out to be the case that we go into the season with what we have, then I'd much rather see Skrtel lineup alongside Agger than Kolo Toure or Wisdom.

[Fowler_E7]

I wanna see Kelly at centre back, he has all the physical attributes and a good mentality

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

kelly will end up at CB eventually but atm i think he needs a good few months to try and recover from his injury.
he suffered one of the worst injuries a footballer can have and as we have seen with lucas you dont get back to your best in a couple of weeks with those cruciate type injuries.
years ago in the 60`s, 70`s etc if a player got a ACL injury his career was over.

[Fowler_E7]

kelly will end up at CB eventually but atm i think he needs a good few months to try and recover from his injury.
he suffered one of the worst injuries a footballer can have and as we have seen with lucas you dont get back to your best in a couple of weeks with those cruciate type injuries.
years ago in the 60`s, 70`s etc if a player got a ACL injury his career was over.

Yea fair enough, but i would like to see him get some game time at centre back in the Carling Cup and pre season, see how he copes

[bunglemark2]

I too want to see Kelly groomed for a  CB role.

[JC_81]

I would loan Kelly out this season.

He looks extremely rusty and is in need of a good run of games.  He won't get enough here this season imo.

On Toure, it's hard to judge as the teams we have played against so far haven't tested us at the back this pre-season.  He looks in good shape for 32 though and doesn't look to have lost his recovery pace which was one of his best attributes at his peak.  I would play him ahead of Skrtel, but admittedly I'm biased as I have never really rated Skrtel.

[red till i die!!]

id still expect coates and skrtel to leave before the window is out so id hope rodgers will start to blood kelly in. only problem is that i think rodgers will play him at R.B instead of centre. id prefer to see wisdom at R.B mainly because he is faster and i think a better reader of the game from that position. kelly is a big lad and a powerful header of the ball but has to push his body to the limits in playing a wide role in that set up.

[kazza]

He looked like he was organising the back line to me. He looked vocal and confident. I don't think Agger or Skrtel are that vocal.

[mart]

Imo Skrtel is a better player, but Toure is a decent backup. Cant really judge him based on a few training matches against amateur players though.

[Benny The Noon]

Skrtel is a decent CB when a deep line is played - because Rodgers plays a high line Skrtel suffers because he can't turn quickly and recover from the high line

[Kenny Kan]

Skertel's defensive woes have little to do with how deep or not the line is playing.

[redno7]

Clueless Benny strikes again. Laughable.