21 Mar 2016 07:34:39
As much as anything else, the player wer really missed yesterday was Stewart - someone who could come into the midfield without trying to be fancy, win the ball with assurance and pass with economy of movement. 2-0 up and that is the type of player that can seal off games - Allen can do it when he's not the one being relied on as the backbone, and Lucas can do it when the defence can withstand the occasional free kick. But Stewart was a big loss today and I can't wait to have him back in contention.
21 Mar 2016 07:53:32
Absolutely spot on. Kevin Stewart is the turning point since Gerrard. I did claim this some weeks ago how much we miss him.
21 Mar 2016 08:58:19
How can a player who has played about a couple of games, the majority against much lesser opposition be such a great loss? Some people really do come off with some weird stuff.
21 Mar 2016 09:08:22
Stewart is a real talent and has had a few good games but if we're at the point Liverpool live or dies by his fitness, were either deluding ourselves or seriously weaker than we should be. Reality is absence of Hendo, Firmino, Milner and Lucas far more problematic IMO. we could have brought on any of Hendo, Milner or Lucas for a three man midfield and closed that game out.
21 Mar 2016 09:10:27
Was about to say the same, IR!
If anything, the players who we missed yesterday were a fully fit Hendo or Lucas.
21 Mar 2016 09:25:30
We don't live or die by his fitness because on a normal day we have Hendo in there doing that job and if he's out then we have Milner more often then not, and it's the sort of job that Serbian lad will be doing next season. But this year, in our current situation, he's been the perfect player in that situation to make sure teams can't press the attack freely and that we maintain our advantage and it was a real shame that yesterday we didn't have that to call on.
21 Mar 2016 09:26:42
Hendo Firmino and Lucas are really important to our team. Hendo for his energy I bet you Flanno wished he was there to chase back for him. Firmino positioning and skill and Lucas sniffing out danger would have been a much better option to replace Lovren.
21 Mar 2016 11:17:58
I have to admit I'm a bit confused about this love for Stewart. Is it based off his performances in the FA Cup this season or is there something else to it? Before those games he'd never played higher than league 1.
Is this just fans getting over excited by a youth player who's signed a new contract or is there good reason to think this lad's a real prospect?
21 Mar 2016 15:03:23
To be fair to Stewart he's played really well when he's had a shot but there is a tendency for many on this site (talking generally here, not at you Hijkle) to proclaim youngster --------- (fill in the blanks) to be so much better than --------- (fill in an established PL player) and demand we drop them for said youngster after a single tough game.
Same happening/ happened with Ibe, Illori, Gomez, Ojo, Kent, Teixera, Rossiter, Stewart, Chirivella. all talented and deserving of a shot, but all with some way to go to being established and proven PL winners and as such need to be integrated in a sensible way to avoid disrupting the cohesiveness of an established first team IMO.
I don't think its rocket science we've started playing well since we've had a settled and experienced first team setup (once klopp had taken a good look at everyone), nor that we lost the first time we departed meaningfully from that setup.