Liverpool FC Forum

[peterc1992]

what do you think on liverpools "young"defence tonight

i think they looked very impressive and a good team for the future

[red37]

the 2 lads in the centre were superb all night (shoulder charge aside) and peltier didnt do himself no harm. but lets not get carried away, birmingham were poor.

[Hebz]

impressive, incredible, potential.... I could go on forever.

Paletta has to watch out though, that shove in the area could have prooved to be fatal if that ref had decided to make something from it. but overall I can see them becoming stars of the future

[Woollyback]

they looked pretty solid tonight albeit without much testing. first time i've seen peltier tbh but he looked pretty good, never got flustered which is a good sign for a 19 year old. paletta was very good, apart from the 2 blatant obstructions but that doesn't bother me, that's stuff for melwood to sort out but the basic talent is clearly there. agger is an absolute gem, you can just sense it. never mind the goal he was class tonight - he will be a worthy successor to sami which isn't something i don't say lightly. the lad will be immense for us in years to come.

as for warnock he's just the kind of lad we need in the side - local (ish  ) dependable and no-nonsense, a bit like carra if you like

[EddieC]

Looked pretty good, but as others have said, it wasn't against 1st class opposition.

The only thing I'd be concerned about is a lack of height in the FB's. Warnock's only 5'8", and Peltier 5'10". We've already had problems with teams knocking a high ball down our right side & getting the better of Finnan in the air, this is the only negative I could find though.

[Ace Ventura]

impressive, incredible, potential.... I could go on forever.

Paletta has to watch out though, that shove in the area could have prooved to be fatal if that ref had decided to make something from it. but overall I can see them becoming stars of the future

It wasnt in the area, it was about 2 yards outside.

They were blatant off the ball barges that Paletta done though, he will have to be a little less obvious in the future.
Birmingham were poor but the 4 at the back played well.
I think both centre halves have big futures for LFC, Agger's obviously alot closer to staking a regular first team spot.
It was doing my head in when the commentators were talking about Agger...saying if he keeps performing like that he'll be knocking on the door of the first team....he was in the first team before his injury and is considered as a regular now imo.

[Rafa D]

I think Warnock is a bit too old to be considered as a future option now. He is 25 in December and I think this is the season where he needs to push on and make a grab for that first team slot. He is a Liverpool lad through and through and you can always expect a committed performance from him. But he needs to be a bit more adventorous in going forward and the type of passes he makes. I like him and hope he does push on this year. If he has not made a break through this year, it may be time for him to move on as, he needs first team football at his age.

  Agger is a 1st team player now, he is pushing for a starting slot but Hypia has been in good form and with the defence I am very much in favour of if it aint broke, don't fix it. He is calm and composed on the ball and is very much a footballer first, and then a defender. First team week in week out next year for our new Great Dane.

Paletta is impressive to be and I think him and Agger could be the future, not certain as nothing is in football, but I like the look of him so far.

Peltier done well considering he is 19 but I'll reserve judgement until I have seen a bit more of him.

[JC_81]

Impressed by our 2 young centre backs last night, but there's work still to be done with them, especially Paletta, who has a tendency to lunge at the ball (or the man) rather than standing his ground.  The talent is there though and I like his aggressive streak - he just has to be more subtle.  But he'll be picking up things from experienced pros like Sami and Carra every day.

The problem as I see it is although Agger is the closest to the first team, and Sami is likely to be phased out next season, Carra and Agger lack aerial dominance as a partnership.  Palletta may provide this in time, but he looks a season or two off being a first team regular imo.  It will be interesting to see what happens next season.

[LFC #1]

The problem as I see it is although Agger is the closest to the first team, and Sami is likely to be phased out next season, Carra and Agger lack aerial dominance as a partnership. 

It's a fair point, it depends on the opposition I guess.

Arsenal for example don't really have much aerial presence, nor do they put in a lot of crosses from out wide, preferring to play little intricate triangles and through balls around the 18-yd box, Rosicky and Hleb are hardly wingers. I think Agger would do a better job with his pace and ability on the ball, he may even get a look in on Sunday (probably not but with the pace of Van Persie and Henry up front Rafa may contemplate it)

That being said, Hyypia will still be useful next season IMO especially against long-ball merchants like Bolton, or against a physically tough opponent like Drogba.

Hyppia and Carra are still out best partnership IMO, but Agger isn't far away (by next season he'll more than likely be first choice). I am a believer in not rotating the centre-half pairing so much as their understanding with themselves, the fullbacks and the goalkeeper are crucial and too much rotation would be a hindrance IMO. By all means bring Sami in for the odd game away from home like Bolton where his aerial presence is needed.

Despite Rafa's favouring for rotation, he has never rotated centre-halves, and I don't think he ever will. It's interesting though when you relate that to a striking partnership, surely you could argue the same thing. We really haven't had a stable striking partnership under Rafa, if you look back at Ged's days despite Heskey's shortcomings he did provide a stable partnership with Owen.

Kuyt is definitely the business, but who's his best partner? Bellamy ideally but i'm not sure if he’s gong to quite live up to expectations. Personally I'd like to see Crouch and Kuyt get a long run together, that partnership has looked pretty encouraging many times this season. Maybe Rafa should apply his policy of non-rotation a little more stringently in the striker department?

Maybe an argument for another thread, but I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on it.

[JC_81]

The problem as I see it is although Agger is the closest to the first team, and Sami is likely to be phased out next season, Carra and Agger lack aerial dominance as a partnership. 

It's a fair point, it depends on the opposition I guess.

Arsenal for example don't really have much aerial presence, nor do they put in a lot of crosses from out wide, preferring to play little intricate triangles and through balls around the 18-yd box, Rosicky and Hleb are hardly wingers. I think Agger would do a better job with his pace and ability on the ball, he may even get a look in on Sunday (probably not but with the pace of Van Persie and Henry up front Rafa may contemplate it)

That being said, Hyypia will still be useful next season IMO especially against long-ball merchants like Bolton, or against a physically tough opponent like Drogba.

Hyppia and Carra are still out best partnership IMO, but Agger isn't far away (by next season he'll more than likely be first choice). I am a believer in not rotating the centre-half pairing so much as their understanding with themselves, the fullbacks and the goalkeeper are crucial and too much rotation would be a hindrance IMO. By all means bring Sami in for the odd game away from home like Bolton where his aerial presence is needed.

Despite Rafa's favouring for rotation, he has never rotated centre-halves, and I don't think he ever will. It's interesting though when you relate that to a striking partnership, surely you could argue the same thing. We really haven't had a stable striking partnership under Rafa, if you look back at Ged's days despite Heskey's shortcomings he did provide a stable partnership with Owen.

Kuyt is definitely the business, but who's his best partner? Bellamy ideally but i'm not sure if he’s gong to quite live up to expectations. Personally I'd like to see Crouch and Kuyt get a long run together, that partnership has looked pretty encouraging many times this season. Maybe Rafa should apply his policy of non-rotation a little more stringently in the striker department?

Maybe an argument for another thread, but I'd like to hear some of your thoughts on it.

I agree Agger should play against Arsenal for a bit of pace in the back line, given Arsenal also won't be playing many high balls into the box.  To be completely honest though I'd be tempted to play him with Hyypia rather than Carra.  Carra never seems to have a good game against Arsenal imo, Henry always seems to take him apart.  I guess there's no shame in being embarrassed by someone like Henry from time to time, but he always looks to be struggling against him to me.

Given however that Hyypia was rested last night, I'm assuming he and Carra will start on Sunday.  And I also agree that overall they're still our best partnership for the majority of games.

[account deleted by request]

To be completely honest though I'd be tempted to play him with Hyypia rather than Carra.  Carra never seems to have a good game against Arsenal imo, Henry always seems to take him apart

I agree John, I dont think Carra likes players who come at him with pace(what defender does)and he always seems to struggle against Henry.  Hyypia and Agger may be the way to go for this match.

[Lando_Griffin]

Warnock isn't and never will be good enough to be our first choice leftback.
Comparisons to JC are fine until you realise that Carragher has been a regular since he was 20 I think, whereas Warnock is nearly 25 and is as far removed from the regular starting lineup as he was 3 years ago.

Just to highlight his lack of playing time, in the same period as Warnock at the club ('04-'06), Djimi Traore had played more games than him. (65, compared to Warnock's 60.)

Injuries played a part, but at the end of the day, Traore was gash and yet was chosen ahead of Stephen consistantly. (Also remember that Warnock can play left wing aswell, further highlighting his lack of playing time.)

Not the mark of a top footballer.

I get the feeling that if he wasn't a "local" lad (actually from Lancashire) and Rafa or Houllier had signed him, he'd have much less support.

Don't get me wrong - I like th elad, and he always gives 110%.

But by the same token, he'll never be anything more than a squad player for us.

[jkop]

Agger And Paletta are both cracking defenders. We all know about Warnock he would go through you for a shortcut, and young Peltier is one for the future.

[peterc1992]

i think that liverpool sould go with agger an carra on sunday because arsenal play quick football trough the centre,and then wont be laying high balls in the the centre for hyypia to head out so i think they sould use the quick choise of carra and agger

[luvliverpool]

I would go with Ager and Carra as well.

Also with Momo out we should see Gerrard back to the CM role on Sun. I would also play Pennant on the right instead of Zenden but you never know what Benitez is going to pull out!!!