Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14 Mod request post#5808

Turtyturd wrote: »

I think a couple of the people answering post here too.

Grayditch wrote: »

It's been a while since Toure was a DM, right? Read something about Sakho being alright in the position, anyone know about that?

SlickRic wrote: »

truth be told, a lack of a proper DM to challenge Lucas is the big mistake of the transfer window.

if Rodgers thinks Henderson, Allen or Gerrard can do the job he does if he does get injured, he's going to get a very rude awakening.

Grayditch wrote: »

I feel bad for Allen. I'm sure he didn't want to have the weight of being the defensive midfielder on him, but I admire him for doing his best.

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Couldn't Henderson possibly do the DM role? Its basically what he does now albeit higher up the pitch.

Oranage2 wrote: »

Just out of interest, why is Allen admired for doing his best but downing was abhorred for trying his best but both not being great.

Dickerty wrote: »

Henderson has shown that he is a quick learner though, so it's not inconceivable that he could be developed.

Lucas was not that type of midfielder when he first arrived, he has been made into that player by years of training and match practice...

hefferboi wrote: »

I really liked Garcia as I said, but I think comparing him to Coutinho is a bit silly imo. From what I've seen so far, Coutinho can be a world beater. He's still young and needs to add consistency to his game and if he can do that he'll be world class imo. Garcia had the odd flashes of brilliance and could score goals that I think Coutinho can't. However he'll only ever be a cult hero.

Alan Hansen to leave Match of the Day next summer after 22 years as leading BBC pundit
Alan Hansen will end his 22-year association with Match of the Day next summer after revealing his intention to retire as the BBC’s leading pundit following the 2014 World Cup.

Having been a central figure in the BBC’s football coverage since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, the former Liverpool captain will not pursue a new contract to remain on the programme when his deal expires next July.
After rejecting alternative offers from Sky, ITV and even the chance to become manager of Manchester City during his two decades on Match of the Day, Hansen insists he will be leaving a programme that remains at the heart of football in this country.
But having shelved plans to quit three years ago, the 58-year-old has confirmed to Telegraph Sport that this season will be his last.
“I’m retiring from Match of the Day at the end of the season,” Hansen said. “I will have been there for 22 years and will be 59, so it’s the right time for me.
“The guys at the BBC know me and I said, ‘Look, this is categorical. I’m leaving and nothing will make me change my mind’. I am contracted to do the World Cup and I will do that as it will be a good way to go out, but I have had a great run.

“I’ve been in football for 41 years and I’m going out right at the top, just as I did at Liverpool. The plan was always that I would retire at 55. I kept going, but I finally decided to retire during Euro 2012.
“I had just signed a two-year contract and felt that, by the end of it, I would have had enough. But I have worked for a great organisation with wonderful people on the most fantastic programme.”
With regular viewing figures in excess of four million, and sometimes over five million, Match of the Day remains the most watched football programme in the country.
It has borne the brunt of criticism in recent years, however, with the show’s format dismissed as stale and tired in comparison to the coverage offered by Sky Sports, particularly since the introduction of former Manchester United defender Gary Neville as its star pundit.
But while Hansen acknowledges the quality and depth of Sky’s coverage, and the contribution of Neville and fellow pundits Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp, the Scot insists that Match of the Day, and presenter Gary Lineker, are unfairly criticised.
“The viewing figures over the last five years have been absolutely sensational but nobody seems to want to know about that,” Hansen said.
“In terms of audience appreciation figures, they are through the roof as well.
“There has definitely been a sea-change, though, because five or six years ago, it was dead. We were still doing the job, but the viewing figures were plummeting.
"I’m not saying they would not have kept it going, but there was certainly concern over the viewing figures.
“But because there was so much live football on television, it suddenly changed as people started going back to highlights and we started to see the kind of viewing figures we hadn’t seen for ten years.
“Nobody knew that, though. The thing with the BBC is that there are not a lot of people out there willing to defend it, but the viewing figures speak for themselves.
“Match of the Day is a totally different programme to the live football broadcasts and the real strength of it – and also its biggest weakness – is that every second is accounted for before you start.
“The first game, you get 3½ minutes to analyse it, the second game you may get two minutes, but afterwards you get 30 seconds down to 10, so after that it is all sound bites. If you are asking for insight in 10 seconds, then you have to be a better man than me!
“You could have the Manchester derby, Liverpool versus Manchester United or whatever, but 3½ minutes is 3½ minutes. You are not going to get eight minutes. It just isn’t going to happen.
“But I’ve worked with arguably two of the best in Gary [Lineker] and Desmond Lynam. Des was the best, and is the best, because he was just an unbelievable presenter.
“In the early days of Match of the Day, I don’t think I would have been working for 22 years had I gone on with another presenter because he was that good.
“I could say virtually anything to him and he would come back with a line. And his knowledge of football was far greater than anything I thought it would be. He really did know the game.
“When it comes to Gary, you will be three or four questions in, but he already knows question five, six or seven, because he is that good.
“If you are at a World Cup and you have a bit of time, during half-time or at the end of the game, he is there in the debate.
“But if you are doing Match of the Day and you have 3½ minutes, he will only be able to ask maybe two questions.
“The analysis takes one minute 50, so he gets a supplementary question and that is it, but Gary comes into his own when he is given the time to do that.”
When Hansen left the dressing room at Anfield for the broadcasting studio at the BBC in the early 1990s, his strong opinions and tactical insight marked the beginning of a new era of punditry following the more sedate approach of the likes of Jimmy Hill, Jimmy Greaves and Ian St John.
And Hansen credits Neville with bringing a similarly refreshing approach to the industry since joining Sky at the start of last season.
“Gary has done a great job at Sky,” Hansen said. “In this industry, when you are young, fresh and just out of the game, you are able to offer something different.
“I always felt Andy Gray was great on Sky, he was a fantastic pundit, but Gary has come in and done incredibly well.
“He has all the credentials to be right at the top because he was a top-class player, he won everything in sight, he has an opinion and he can talk.
“But Sky are really good. I like Jamie Redknapp, I think he is very good, and Jamie Carragher has just started, so they have a great line-up.”
Despite Sky’s resources, Hansen insists he has never been tempted to leave the BBC when offers have been on the table – even those from within the game.
“Sky came in for me when Andy Gray nearly left to take the Everton job, almost 20 years ago,” Hansen said.
“I was under contract at the BBC, so turned it down, but there were four occasions after that when I had big offers from ITV.
“They came to me in 2006, just before I signed the biggest contract of my life at the BBC, and offered me fortunes. I was absolutely amazed by what they offered me, but I just felt I had been looked after by the BBC.
“I also turned down Manchester City in 1995 after Brian Horton was sacked, simply because I never wanted to be a manager.
“Francis Lee, who was chairman at the time, phoned me up and said he thought I would have fancied it, but while I told him I was flattered, I just said I wasn’t interested in managing a football club.
“When I left Liverpool in 1991, I was in the frame for the job at Anfield, but if I wasn’t going to take the Liverpool job, I wasn’t going to take any job. It was as simple as that.
“I stayed at Liverpool for 14 years because I was happy there and never made any noises about leaving and in all honesty, I have never wanted to leave the BBC. I have always wanted to stay there.
“But everything comes to an end at some stage and this is definitely the right time for me.”