Liverpool FC Forum

[woof woof !]

We haven't kept a clean sheet since our win over Man U at the beginning of September but I wouldn't lay the blame for yesterday's defeat solely on our defence, they're certainly having to cover for the deficiencies in other area's of the team.

[Benny The Noon]

Would like see Agger back into the back line alongside Skrtel. Not impressed with Sahko at all - expected a lot more for the money we spent on him.

[Basil]

Would like see Agger back into the back line alongside Skrtel. Not impressed with Sahko at all - expected a lot more for the money we spent on him.

Completely agree, think we could have spent the money better elsewhere.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

we are a lot better at the back than we were last season, the center of our defence was our achilles heel now it`s the center of our midfield

[Benny The Noon]

The marking was shocking yesterday - their players were finding space with ease. Possibly a lack of communication which starts from the keeper.

[7_Kewell]

Don't agree with the grief Sakho is getting, he's a good sold defender in my book who was let down by Cissokho going AWOL half the time.

[eds]

Don't agree with the grief Sakho is getting, he's a good sold defender in my book who was let down by Cissokho going AWOL half the time.

Spot on.

You can't ignore the fact that the we haven't kept a clean sheet with ANY game Cissokho has started.

Sakho is a good defender but he isn't as good as Sami who was able to even cover up Riise's defending faults for years out on the left!

[Stu the Red]

Don't agree with the grief Sakho is getting, he's a good sold defender in my book who was let down by Cissokho going AWOL half the time.

Spot on.

You can't ignore the fact that the we haven't kept a clean sheet with ANY game Cissokho has started.

Sakho is a good defender but he isn't as good as Sami who was able to even cover up Riise's defending faults for years out on the left!

Even Sami looked exposed when playing next to Traore though.

All the idiots were saying he was past it and we should have binned him off.

Sahko is an ok player. Nothing more. £17,000,000? Daylight robbery. Agger is a far better player and Agger isn't even THAT good.

[metalhead]

I'm not sure I will agree on this one stu, I thought some of his decision making against Arsenal was spot on and looked a lot better from the previous ones. What did you not like about him?

I do agree, I don't think he is anywhere near the top bracket for me and not for the 17m we paid for him, he is a good defender and I think as good as Agger once he adjust himself

[Stu the Red]

I'm not sure I will agree on this one stu, I thought some of his decision making against Arsenal was spot on and looked a lot better from the previous ones. What did you not like about him?

I do agree, I don't think he is anywhere near the top bracket for me and not for the 17m we paid for him, he is a good defender and I think as good as Agger once he adjust himself

I don't like his decision making. I think its poor. He leaves the back line far to often and he goes that far out he can't get back. He also goes to ground far to often. There have been a few examples very early on of ball watching.... which is a major issue for defenders. Skrtel is a prime example of this. I also don't believe him to be as good in the air as people are making out. He's won a few headers against weaker strikers but I think if he comes up against the likes of Stoke he'll be found wanting in that area although on saying this I haven't actually seen the lad play live so I could be a tad harsh.

I think he's fairly average pace wise aswell. I was expecting him to be quicker.

In terms of strength and use of the ball, I think he's sound. He seems to want to get it on the deck and play it into midfielders on the turn which is always a positive, I don't think he's a bad player to be fair. He's not a Borini by any stretch... but for £17,000,000 I'd expect ALOT better. If we'd signed him for £7,000,000 or £8,000,000 I'd have been fairly content and could see the reasoning, but to spend £17,000,000 on a player who's coming into the squad as the fourth best centre half... for me at least... is absolutely CRAZY!

[Stu the Red]

I'm not sure I will agree on this one stu, I thought some of his decision making against Arsenal was spot on and looked a lot better from the previous ones. What did you not like about him?

I do agree, I don't think he is anywhere near the top bracket for me and not for the 17m we paid for him, he is a good defender and I think as good as Agger once he adjust himself

I don't like his decision making. I think its poor. He leaves the back line far to often and he goes that far out he can't get back. He also goes to ground far to often. There have been a few examples very early on of ball watching.... which is a major issue for defenders. Skrtel is a prime example of this. I also don't believe him to be as good in the air as people are making out. He's won a few headers against weaker strikers but I think if he comes up against the likes of Stoke he'll be found wanting in that area although on saying this I haven't actually seen the lad play live so I could be a tad harsh.

I think he's fairly average pace wise aswell. I was expecting him to be quicker.

In terms of strength and use of the ball, I think he's sound. He seems to want to get it on the deck and play it into midfielders on the turn which is always a positive, I don't think he's a bad player to be fair. He's not a Borini by any stretch... but for £17,000,000 I'd expect ALOT better. If we'd signed him for £7,000,000 or £8,000,000 I'd have been fairly content and could see the reasoning, but to spend £17,000,000 on a player who's coming into the squad as the fourth best centre half... for me at least... is absolutely CRAZY!

Just to add to that...

Coutinho was signed for £8,000,000
Sturridge was signed for £12,000,000

Both of which represent good value and are good signings.

Lovren, the Southampton centre half, who is a quality player and only a year older than Sahko, and for me, is slightly better than Agger and Skrtel was signed for about £8,500,000.

For that £17,000,000 we spent on Sahko we could have had Sessignon and Lovren which would have unquestionably improved two weaker areas of the team by a fair bit.

[damjan193]

I don't get you Stu. You're so harsh on our own players that you'll go as far as saying that some average players are better than ours. Sure, we overpaid for Sakho, but he's a good defender and a good addition to our squad.

To say that Lovren is better than Agger is laughable. Lovren is also a solid defender who I wanted us to sign once, but he's a limited defender who was way out of form and was warming Lyon's bench for a whole season before he was signed by Southampton. Considering the money that was payed, it might have been better if we went for Lovren, but Sakho was exactly the kind of player that we needed; physically strong and good in the air, so at the time he seemed like the better option for us. The fact that we got robbed is another subject.

You say that you understand so much about football but sometimes you talk like you're playing footy manager yourself. I bet you haven't even seen neither Sakho nor Lovren play before they arrived in the prem.

[metalhead]

I'm not sure I will agree on this one stu, I thought some of his decision making against Arsenal was spot on and looked a lot better from the previous ones. What did you not like about him?

I do agree, I don't think he is anywhere near the top bracket for me and not for the 17m we paid for him, he is a good defender and I think as good as Agger once he adjust himself

I don't like his decision making. I think its poor. He leaves the back line far to often and he goes that far out he can't get back. He also goes to ground far to often. There have been a few examples very early on of ball watching.... which is a major issue for defenders. Skrtel is a prime example of this. I also don't believe him to be as good in the air as people are making out. He's won a few headers against weaker strikers but I think if he comes up against the likes of Stoke he'll be found wanting in that area although on saying this I haven't actually seen the lad play live so I could be a tad harsh.

I think he's fairly average pace wise aswell. I was expecting him to be quicker.

In terms of strength and use of the ball, I think he's sound. He seems to want to get it on the deck and play it into midfielders on the turn which is always a positive, I don't think he's a bad player to be fair. He's not a Borini by any stretch... but for £17,000,000 I'd expect ALOT better. If we'd signed him for £7,000,000 or £8,000,000 I'd have been fairly content and could see the reasoning, but to spend £17,000,000 on a player who's coming into the squad as the fourth best centre half... for me at least... is absolutely CRAZY!

I disagree, I think he is decent at it, and I'll give you Arsenal for example when he did a couple of good decisions, but it won't help when he has Cissokho playing with him too. Yes I agree about the ball watching and I do agree that 17m for him is a lot of money

[metalhead]

I don't get you Stu. You're so harsh on our own players that you'll go as far as saying that some average players are better than ours. Sure, we overpaid for Sakho, but he's a good defender and a good addition to our squad.

To say that Lovren is better than Agger is laughable. Lovren is also a solid defender who I wanted us to sign once, but he's a limited defender who was way out of form and was warming Lyon's bench for a whole season before he was signed by Southampton. Considering the money that was payed, it might have been better if we went for Lovren, but Sakho was exactly the kind of player that we needed; physically strong and good in the air, so at the time he seemed like the better option for us. The fact that we got robbed is another subject.

You say that you understand so much about football but sometimes you talk like you're playing footy manager yourself. I bet you haven't even seen neither Sakho nor Lovren play before they arrived in the prem.

He said it before he never seen Sakho play before we signed him

[damjan193]

Well then he can't say that we "should have went for Lovren" if he has seen neither of the two players before. Lovren was a good prospect but for his last season or two he was way out of depth and nobody wanted him. Both Sakho and Lovren were in a similar situation and we just went for the one that we needed more. We did overpay though and Ayre is probably at fault for that. We would have been robbed regardless of who we went for.