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

messinkiapina wrote: »

With Johnson out for 10 weeks, does that mean Wisdom at RB? Could Ilori play there?

He has the pace and is right footed. Who knows? I think it will be Wisdom that'll be first choice though.

Wisdom will be fine at RB. A few seem to be panicking about having to play him there because he had a couple of bad games when playing CB. Once he got a run of games at RB last season he was very good so I have very few worries about him filling in for Johnson.

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

The only thing about Wisdom playing full back is that he's poison going forward.

Johnson has been hopeless going forward the last few months. Wisdom has very good control with the ball at his feet. Confidence could be a problem with Wisdom going forward, he was probably afraid to make a mistake. I'd prefer Wisdom to either Kelly, Flanagan or Henderson.

If we do go with 3-5-2, then I'd be more than happy with Henderson as the RWB.

If we're staying the same system wise, Wisdom will be fine as the RB.

Martin Kelly has become the forgotten man. Surely he is first in line to replace Johnson.

kevohmsford wrote: »

Martin Kelly has become the forgotten man. Surely he is first in line to replace Johnson.

A year ago I would have agreed with this, but Wisdom has taken to first team footy at RB so well that I would play a fit Wisdom over a fit Kelly at RB.

I still rate Kelly and think he is a good player, one that I saw becoming our full time RB sooner rather than later, but Wisdom I think will become a much better player and I think Kelly's injuries have helped Wisdom to show exactly what he can bring to the first team at RB.

Said this a few times last year, and again during the summer, that Wisdom is the young player (that came through the ranks) that I have the most hopes for and the one that I think has the best chance of being a regular Liverpool first teamer.

Wisdom at RB with Toure or Sakho beside him has the potential to be a roadblock of defensive talent awaiting any attackers that come down our right flank.

Hell, put a back line of

Wisdom--Toure--Sakho--Cissokho/Enrique

out in a few weeks and I would not see too many teams outmuscling or outpacing that back line.


Or a back five consisting of

---

Toure

---

Sakho

---

Agger
Wisdom

---

Cissokho/Enrique




If backlines were boxers, then our lot might turn out to be Marvin Hagler.


Now all we need is to have a Carlos Monzon midfield, a Sugar Ray Robinson attack and world domination shall be ours.

Bill Shankly - The Final Interview.

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/144499-bill-shankly-the-final-interview

Really like Wisdom but Kelly is the better player going forward. Probably a bit quicker as well. I think he is our best crosser from rb since Finnan.
If its rwb then it has to be Kelly.
His injury record would likely indicate that he will be out a bit so Wisdom as cover is a great option. And in a few years he can take over as full time right back or centre back if his development continues at the same pace.

To be a fly on the wall for these chats........


Sir Bobby Charlton has explained how he and Bill Shankly became extremely close friends after the two icons of British football first crossed paths accidentally on a deserted car park in Manchester.

Charlton established himself at Manchester United and lifted the World Cup with England during almost exactly the same period that Shankly was guiding the Reds to unprecedented success.

The link between the pair continued when Charlton represented Preston North End as a player and manager; the club for whom Shankly had dedicated the vast majority of his own professional career.

A relationship grew between the two men off the pitch following two unexpected encounters and, in the week of the 100th anniversary of Shankly's birth, Charlton has eulogised about his old friend.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: "I'd seen Bill Shankly obviously when Liverpool were on the television, but it took quite a while before I actually bumped into him.

"It happened to be on the car park near where the statues are now at Old Trafford. He had parked his car, which you could do then. He parked his car and he got out and said: 'Come in, sit down here'.

"He just regaled me on everything good about Liverpool, he never talked about anything else but Liverpool. I'd never met him before. He said: 'Anyway, thanks very much, Bob' and off he went.

"Later on, when the World Cup was over, the Brazilians had stopped at a hotel just round the corner from where I live. I don't know why, but Bill Shankly must have thought to use the hotel.

"He did and somebody must have told him that Bobby Charlton lived just round the corner from the hotel. One morning, my mother-in-law - who lived with us - knocked on the bedroom door.

"She said: 'Bob, you have to get up - there's an intruder. He keeps looking in the window.' When I looked out, it was Bill Shankly.

"It was a Saturday; they were going to play at City, we were going to play at Everton. I said to Norma: 'You better get up, Bill Shankly is at the door'.

"She got up, went down and we had a cup of tea. We listened - because you always had to listen to Bill Shankly - and it was just such an event.

"He must have enjoyed it as well because Norma isn't what you would call a football sage - she likes the game - but she listened carefully to him.

"He then started to come to our house on a regular basis. If I was away, he would have somebody to talk to. Norma would have thought the world of him, and I thought the world of him as well."

Having taken the reins at Anfield in 1959 with the club languishing in the Second Division, Shankly oversaw the Reds' rise to dominance before announcing his retirement 15 years later.

Charlton insisted that he has yet to meet a man more in love with the game of football, although played down suggestions that the legendary Scot tried to bring the midfielder to Liverpool.

The 75-year-old said: "He was a magical player and a better coach and manager of men.

"To get into a fiery situation like you got at Anfield, he was unique. He used it all, he used the opportunity to engage the crowd and all the things that away teams didn't like.

"He just loved the game; I don't know anybody, in my whole life, that I thought loved the game better than Bill Shankly. He was just sensational.

"Of course, he got the players to play well, they got into Europe, then they won the European Cup - they probably wouldn't have done it without him.

"You daren't fall foul of him. If you had a chance at goal, you had to pay the price if you wasted it. He was just magic.

"If you were on the opposing side, he would congratulate you if you played well, absolutely. He was a very fair man. If you played well, he always used to tell you.

"I played in a couple of testimonial matches - Celtic came down for a match and they asked me to play. I played for Celtic in a testimonial for one of their players at Anfield.

"Bill Shankly had a long chat with me afterwards. He didn't ask me to sign for them but he congratulated me. By then I was about 34 or 35, I considered I was nearing the end. He just wanted to talk about the game.

"I don't know whether he did all this to every player at Liverpool, but he certainly dropped them all when he started talking to me and my wife. He was a fantastic man.

"We used to have quite a few chats; when there was just the two of us he would call round and say hello. He was a wonderful football man, that's all I can say."

May aswell throw this in here since its all quiet.

Have a lot of time for Bellamy. Think he could make a good manager.......

Cardiff City star Craig Bellamy admits this season could be his last as a player, but he has his sights firmly on staying in the game as a manager or coach.

Bellamy, 34, won his 75th cap in Wales' 2-1 defeat to Macedonia and he has stated he would not walk away from the national side.

But he admits that he is highly unlikely to make Euro 2016 - so he sees little point in taking part in the qualifiers, which will begin next year.

"I know I said I would not retire from international football and I really want this group to succeed, but it's a two-year period to qualify and if I start (the campaign) then step aside, it is robbing someone else of two or four matches, of vital experience, and they would miss out as well," Bellamy said.

"That's the way I'm looking at it. I honestly think Wales have a great chance of doing something but I've thought about it really hard.

"It's difficult. I'm a single parent now and I'm having such a battle to see my kids on a daily basis. It's so hard.

"Then, being away for 10 days, I'm not the only dad who has to go through it, but if you have experienced it, then you would understand."

Mood change

He added: "My mood does change...I know I could change what I'm thinking.

"But the way I'm feeling now, it could be my last season in football.

"I have so much to look forward to after football. Life isn't just about football. The adventure starts when you finish and I'm looking forward to that.

"I've been playing at a professional level for 17, 18 years now and there's more to life. I love the game, don't get me wrong, I've cherished every moment of it."

However, even after he has hung his boots up - Bellamy confirmed that he would look to make the move into management, but he would be taking his time and taking in a number of different experiences first.

"I've got my A licence already, then I'm doing my pro-licence," he revealed.

"After that, I'm going to travel around the world - Spain, Argentina - and learn my craft. I don't just want to go in and mess about. When I go in, I'm going to be prepared and I'm going to stay in."

K-9 wrote: »

At least the news on Sturridge seems more hopeful on the injury front.

???