10 Feb 2020 19:06:56
Hi Ed001,

Not sure if you saw Can's screamer for Dortmund over the weekend (its a beauty! ) .

What did you make of Can during his time as a Liverpool player? Do you think he could still be of use to us this season if he were still here?

Red Sandman.

{Ed001's Note - he was ok, but he wasn't good enough to hold down a place when everyone was fit then and he is miles away from being good enough now we have moved on.}

11 Feb 2020 01:16:28
I honestly could never work out what Can’s skill set was while he was with us. No passing range, didn’t control the tempo particularly well, didn’t score many goals, wasn’t defensively switched on, wasn’t particularly skillful, never really knew how to utilise his size and strength well. He was average in all of these departments and would occasionally make a bursting run before running the ball into a blind alley. Was very slow and cumbersome as well. Not a terrible player by any means but when people used to hype up his performances i could never really understand what they were talking about.

11 Feb 2020 02:10:00
He was hard to figure out, at such a young age he looked like he had the perfect attributes to play his position, strong, aggressive, could stride with purpose and cover ground quickly and even though he looked a bit raw as you expect from a 20 year old his issue has been that he's never improved much on his technical ability and his reading of the game.

He had the perfect chance because the years he was with us were when we were crying out for a midfield destroyer as Henderson, Allen, Milner, Lucas, lallana, wijnaldum didn't seem right for that role in klopps early years. Being a young German too it seemed klopp couldn't have been a better manager for him to develop under but he never once seemed to sustain a decent period of time performing to high levels. I always liked him but as the time passed I was losing more and more belief in him and it got unclear exactly what type of midfield role he is strongest in. I was frustrated he left for free as I felt he could have earned 30-40mill for us if transferred but he's not one bit of a loss to our team now as he wouldn't be any more than 5th or 6th choice at the best in our midfield selection.

11 Feb 2020 07:31:49
Can had a good run in the team in the 16/ 17 season, after starting the season injured, which resulted in the team getting a CL spot at the end of the season. He scored 5 goals which I would guess is more than any other midfielder that season. Maybe he wouldn't have kicked on who knows, but Klopp and Liverpool wanted him to sign a new contract so I can only guess that Klopp was happy to work with him and see how he could progress.

11 Feb 2020 08:31:33
In a few games he dominated the midfield and at times could look like a 'Rolls-Royce' of a player, but far too inconsistent and no he wouldn't give us anything extra that we don't already have. I'd say he's on a par with Grujic, who is a few years younger and only really starting his career finally.

11 Feb 2020 16:40:13
I think he was incredibly skillful. He was seen as Gerrard replacement, so he was never going to reach those heights. Someone said he didn't score many goals. Well you should have a re think. He was always our highest scoring midfielder (maybe bar milly on penalties)

He was a box to box CM imo. But being very knowledge about tactics etc and being very skillful he was used in many positions because he could adapt. His overhead goal vs Watford was not only an amazing goal of the season, it got us into the champions league.

I liked him, big personality that I don't think has been able to flourish at juve, in Ronaldo kiera shadow. I liked his smug celebration too. Good looking geezer. I think he will be amazing for dortmund and I reckon he'll be good at the eurors.

11 Feb 2020 23:54:05
Can was one of my fav. LFC players during his time here. I thought he had the right skill set to make it as ac CM at LFC. He was also very brave and played thru injury for half the 16/ 17 season (calf injury) cos we lacked depth and Klopp had no choice but to play him. The City game (4-3) was where all his qualities of pace, power, physicality and skill came alive to me the most. He was a beast in midfield along with Ox and Gini and he played that game completely ill.

But for all that, I just felt that he was too slow and positionally unaware to play the DM role the way Fab and Hendo play it. And he lacked the quality to play the "8" the way Gini and Ox play it and with him demanding game time/ position guarantees before signing a new deal, Klopp was always going to let him go esp. since Klopp already had Fab in his sights. Love the guy but was never going to be good enough to flourish in this team the same way Gini, Ox, Hendo and Fab have.