Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread Summer 2014 - Mod Warning post #6893

gimli2112 wrote: »

Hoddle thinks playing Sterling is a risk and can't be trusted after his sending off.
Glen Hoddle
I really have to stop reading stuff that makes me angry!

He put up his England starting XI for Italy on ITV the other night and had Gerrard and Lampard in it as the central midfielders :rolleyes:

M!Ck^ wrote: »

He didn't react because he knew it was an awful tackle. If the tackle had have landed another way Valencia would have been out of the WC.

That was not a red card challenge. Valencia explaining that his anger stemmed from the fear of being injured counted for little, his reaction in a competitive game would see him getting a 4 game ban...

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Having Gerrard and Lampard starting against Italy isn't such a bad idea.

It will be a slow paced match in the heat which will suit Italy if England can keep it scoreless for 70 mintues then would be the time to put on Sterling ,Ox and Barkely to add pace to the game.

And who is going to track the Italian runners from midfield, Lampard?

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Welbeck and Henderson and Lallana.

I think the suggestion was that Lampard stars instead of Hendo, so I was thinking of the middle...

gimli2112 wrote: »

Hoddle thinks playing Sterling is a risk and can't be trusted after his sending off.
Glen Hoddle
I really have to stop reading stuff that makes me angry!

Hoddle also thinks handicaped people are paying for their sins from past lives.

People who said that Suso didn't show a lot last season at Almeria never watched him. I hate to keep beating the drum on this, but Almeria were really poor. They created very few chances, didn't link up well, they never attacked with cohesion, they cannot pass very well, etc. Considering the circumstance, his age and experience, I think he did quite well and will only improve next season. If you dropped him into a team like Porto, were his team mates are at a similar level to him in terms of ability and style, I suspect you'll see even more improvement. Like someone else said, I can easily see him going to Porto for 2 years, impressing and then securing a move to an even better team. At that point, we might really be kicking ourselves.

With all that being said though, we can't simply keep the player and not play him. If you're going to be signing another attacker, then he simply won't be guaranteed in getting games, regardless of us now having CL football.

rarnes1 wrote: »

Hope England get destroyed.

That game with Italy has a low scoring draw written all over it

Hope they win.

Always want Pool players to do well at these tournaments and if Sterling, Gerrard, Sturridge, Johnson, Henderson, Lambert and maybe Lallana come back to Liverpool with confidence after a good world cup then all the better.

And people keep going on about having more games with the CL - it could conceivably be 6 more games! I don't think we need double the squad for that!

But we do need a better bench and players that can replace our stars for prolonged periods. That is where Allen, Lambert, Borini, Enrique, Lucas and Wisdom can come in. All good enough to start on occasions and off the bench without a big drop in quality, which cannot have been said for Alberto, Aspas, Moses or Cissokho.

Kirby wrote: »

He really, really didn't overreact. The only people I've heard saying this are Liverpool fans who feel the need to say so in order to defend Sterling. Anybody without an agenda could perfectly understand Valencia's reaction.

Its a week before the World Cup and somebody tackles you like that, you are going to be upset. It's a friendly a week before such a massive occasion and it should be treated as such.

Now......... Sterling is playing for his place and wants to prove he deserves to start. It's understandable why he put in a strong tackle like that......but for the vast majority out there, their places are assured and they just don't want to end up like Montolivo and break their legs.

I agree with you about the nature of the tackle and the consideration that it is pre-World Cup and no player will want to get injured

However, Valencia is a professional player so must be able to control his emotions and reactions to events such as these. It wasnt a red card challenge but Valencia's reaction was red card at worst.

It wasnt the brightest move by Sterling to throw himself into such a challenge in a friendly prior to the World Cup but it wasnt a red card either

Dickerty wrote: »

And people keep going on about having more games with the CL - it could conceivably be 6 more games! I don't think we need double the squad for that!

+1

We've already brought Lambert in, and it seems clear that one more attacker will be joining, whether it's Lallana, Konoplyanka or Shaqiri. That gives us Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Lambert, Borini and Lallana/Kono/Shaqiri. Before we even consider Ibe or Teixeira and even after discounting Aspas/Alberto, that give us 7 very good options for 3 positions.

To ensure that Suso gets games, the only way that happens is by not spending that £20M and I don't think you'll get anyone on here who supports that.

Dickerty wrote: »

Being upset about a poor challenge does not allow grabbing your opponant by the neck, twice! It WAS an over-reaction, whatever you think of the challenge, which DIDN'T hurt him...

It didn't hurt him because he hurdled it.

And you are missing the point. He could have performed a text book sliding tackle, worthy of some of the greatest defenders of all time........and Valencia's reaction would still have been understandable.

Win the ball or not, take the man or not, players a week before the world cup shouldn't be flying into challenges like that. Most of the players who play in these games are professionals and have an understanding.

If Ecuador had been playing some minnow I could understand that tackle from some nobody looking to make a name for himself or a story to tell his kids. But it wasn't. Sterling is an England international who plays in the premier league just like Valencia. He knows the score.

And mike, what are those pictures designed to illustrate? Some accompanying comment would be nice. If somebody went into a tackle like that on me a week before a world cup I wouldn't be grabbing him....in be decking him.