Liverpool Banter Archive February 27 2016

27 Feb 2016 19:22:52
Ok I have used up ally badluck today in the fantasy League.
So only good things can happen tomorrow. Trophy tomorrow plsss.

27 Feb 2016 20:09:11
Everyone should just put aguero toure and Kompany in their fantasy teams, that's normally how it works right?

27 Feb 2016 16:21:50
I am ecstatic we are playing the second leg at Old Toilet. In the last few seasons we have choked many times and grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. This way we know what we have to do and make it happen. i'm supremely confident Kloppo will figure out a game plan to mystify Van Gaal (if he's still the manager when we play them) . There's nothing separating the two teams ability wise and I think it will come down to tactics if so Kloppo is the better tactician. At least his football acumen is from this century. Furthermore I know this is a controversial statement to make but I really don't dislike Manchester Utd since Fergie left. Am I in the minority of one?

27 Feb 2016 16:37:00
Minority of one indeed. We dislike them just as much. It is a 50/ 50 fixture. If it was jsut one fixture I would be more optimistic, how many times can they beat us in a row. But over two legs when they have De Gea at goal it won;t be easy and we know who won the last four. fingers crossed it will be different this time.

27 Feb 2016 17:25:21
Yes but we had a depleted team when we played them at Anfield. I hope this time round we'll have firminho, coutinho and sturidge playing who by that time would have formed a devastating understanding of each other's games. Yes their keeper is a wonderful is world class but we can't let that psychologically hinder us because the rest of their team are very beatable all over the park.

27 Feb 2016 16:44:13
This might put me into the minority list. Klopp is not a better tactician than LVG. Sturridge and Firmino to take us through.

27 Feb 2016 19:44:46
Tactics are important in football. In LVG's case he overuses them to the downfall of Utd. Football is a simple game basically.

27 Feb 2016 20:08:39
Klopp hasn't got the players to display his tactical prowess kovacic. When he assembles his own team you will see that he is a canny tactician.

27 Feb 2016 20:27:49
You don't terrorize Bayern, the whole of Germany and Europe within during a three year span if you're tactically clueless so your post is senseless, Kova. LVG is clueless and even his players, fans and bosses know it hence, he's getting the sack in the summer. We have been very unlucky or naive playing them over the last few games. Hopefully, this will change this time around.

27 Feb 2016 21:07:27
Kova Kova Doubter.

27 Feb 2016 15:00:44
Hi guys, am new to the site so not sure if its been covered before. just wondering if u think benteke will b moved on in the summer or do u think klopp with give him another chance to adapt cheers.

27 Feb 2016 15:48:02
Definitely gone even origi has gone in front of him.

Probably going to take a £12mil hit though.

27 Feb 2016 15:54:43
He's had enough chances imo . I wish him well as I liked him at villa . May as well sell him on get what we can back for him so we have a little bit of cash fur a keeper and a left back.

27 Feb 2016 16:19:57
No one knows but if he preferred to play Firmino as a lone striker and leave Benteke on the bench I think he is unlikely to keep him if and when Sturridge, Origi and Ings are fit.

The question is where will he go. I don't see any team pay us even half of what we paid for him (unless the Chinease maybe? ) and I don;t think we will sell him very cheaply. The likely solution in my view is some kind of a loan deal similar to Balotelli.

27 Feb 2016 20:38:13
This is what you get when you sign a player only because he plays well against you. That is the dumbest strategy I've ever heard of and only incompetency managers like BR can do such thing. If a player plays well often against you, it says more about your manager and his tactical incompetence to contain such a player and less about the players overall ability. Bogdan is another example of such incompetence. Bolasie and Gayle have good games when CP plays us. Should we sign them too? With BR in charge, may be. Now, Benteke is persona non grata according to Klopp and will be shipped out on loan or sold at a significant loss like Carroll was. Hopefully, Klopp will end this useless strategy and actually get the scouting team to do their jobs rather than getting lazy and sign a player only because we can't contain him when we play them.

27 Feb 2016 09:31:08
Ed002, hate to sound uneducated here but how exactly do people who have never shown concrete interest in football suddenly become the politicians who run it?

I've never seen anything suggesting that any of the candidates had any prior footballing experience or input, so how exactly do a load of rich people just suddenly end up on the board of fifa?

{Ed002's Note - The potential candidates have in many cases come from the 209 associations that are able to vote and over the years a number of ex-players (with or without the support of their associations) have put themselves forward over the years. As an example Ginola and Figo were early presidential candidate entrants this time around - and Platini was another who was very keen on the job; but the senior roles are very political and they soon discover that it is not for them. There have also been a number of ex players who have turned to politics after they have retired (as Englishman Seb Coe did) and it would not be a surprise to see one of those take an active interest in standing in the future. Without being offensive, senior roles at UEFA and FIFA do require a reasonable level of intelligence and candidates need to be switched on to dealing with spin and various politically motivated shenanigans that are rife at that level of the game. And to be honest, very large numbers of footballers are as dumb as a box of rocks.

If you look close to home at a lower tier of the political pyramid you will see a number of former players (such as Simon Barker, Gordon Taylor, Richard Jobson and Martin Buchan) who are getting involved in the non-footballing aspects of the game.

There are also players out there right now destined for some future involvement at politics whether locally, nationally or perhaps eventually within an organisation such as FIFA. Roman Pavlyuchenko is certainly one. Clarke Carlisle could well have been another destined to do good for the game within the management, regulation and more political structure. Sadly there has been a hiccup there.

Off the top of my head there are three retired footballers who would be very viable federation/FIFA candidates for the future - Romario, George Weah and, probably the stand out, Andriy Shevchenko.

Or would you want David Icke running the game?}

27 Feb 2016 12:07:23
Shevchenko looks like a genuine bond villain with his shades on though.

27 Feb 2016 11:20:44
Couldn't be any worse than Sepp Blatter surely?

27 Feb 2016 11:40:37
I think ed002 puts it brilliantly there.
I was going to say footballers are not just unbelievably thick in most cases but have also spent a good 20 years doing nothing but train and play football, in order to run organisations you need a career in that kind of business.
You can't just pick out the best players or even the most switched on ones and put them at that level of the game, same goes for managers as well I suppose. These are people who have dedicated their lives to the game rather than business and politics.
Suppose platini and a few others are exceptions but when you can forget to collect a million quid for several years you have to question if your really cut out for the top job.

27 Feb 2016 13:41:15
Demetria Albertini, ex Milan maestro would be a good shout too. He took on the status quo during his run for president in the FedeCalcio elections as a reformer who had wide rage support from the players union and grassroots but got torpedoed by the dinosaurs in the federation in 2013.

27 Feb 2016 15:57:04
Thanks for that reply ed, top knowledge as always.

No i just found it a bit bizarre how someone such as that prince ali from jordan end up wanting to run fifa?

I completely understand that the reason such obscure people end up in these positions is that they are politically very talented.

But what on earth would motivate them to run fifa? While the majority of footballers would likely not be able to fulfil role of president, you would have thought that the more intelligent ones would want to reach those heights.

After all, people who have had involvement in the game should be motivated to change football for the better, even without the political nouse - there's loads we all moan about with football and how its run, surely ex pro's and so forth would relate to the key issues that concern supporters and clubs, rather than just the motivations of politicians?

Clark carlisle interestingly did seem like a very intellectual man, i'm sure the hiccup you are talking about is with regards to his unfortunate mental health? Any ideas on how he is doing? Remember watching a documentary on him and his recovery from depression, it was great because back then he said he had recovered but then a year later he tried to kill himself if i remember correctly, haven't seen him in the public eye since, a real tragedy.

{Ed002's Note - I rather suspect that Prince Ali would not agree with you that he is an "obscure" person as he is head of the Jordanian FA and a key player in making the West Asian Association happen - and he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult emotionally and politically charged part of the world. I can also give you an assurance that his wife is very, very much on the "good guy" list.

His motivation will be to get to the head of the pyramid in his chosen career and make a difference. It is a good thing. Often folks will hit the comfort zone and settle with no desire to push on.

Players are not typically suited to any such roles - Platini and Villar are notable exceptions. Clarke Carlisle is, I understand, doing OK and is going to continue to raise awareness of issues surrounding mental health and depression in sport and fight for clubs to recognise the signs as early as possible. The subsequent Kilbride issue cannot have been easy for him to deal with.}

27 Feb 2016 04:09:46
Wow can't believe how big city is here in Hong Hong looks bigger than Liverpool and united combined based on shirts I've seen people wear.

27 Feb 2016 06:58:27
Flavour of the month. Wait and see the global explosion of Dagenham and Redbridge shirts when some billionaire sheik buys their passage from non-league obscurity to PL champions.