Flipper the dolphin ?
In United's side who is better than Henderson in a box-to-box role? Who is better than Lovren? Not sure anybody in United's side has played as well as Sturridge in the past 18 months so hardly outlandish to put his name forward. Plus, I think Sterling would waltz into that United team.
Lovren would not walk into our defence, and Henderson would get the treatment of cleverley if he were with us. Gerard would be found wanting in this new holding role with the midfield we have.
good god
Lovren failed in france, but did reasonably well at Southampton. he is incredibly overrated.
Depressingly, this would be correct right now. But I'd expect Herrera to be better when he settles. And if Carrick gets back to form, he'd obviously be better.
Which is why he was one of the best CBs in the PL last season ? And Evans / Jones / Smalling were where ? Lovren is a mature CB and the finished article, United's Back 3 are still learning their trade (bar Evans, who is in no way better than Lovren). Although of course we are both bias to a degree I think any knowledgeable neutral will certainly know how good Lovren is. He would walk into United's back 3.
Did the team play average football last season ? With or without Suarez ? Do we have an average manager incapable of making adjustments ? A lot of United supporters say the same as you, I'm not hearing it from the fans of other clubs though. That in itself is telling.
To be quite honest, does this make any sense at all ? Rodgers already knows which formations he can/can't use because he tried them all out last season and before at Swansea, so do the question is do players know the systems and can they adjust ? At least half the team at least certainly do, the others are maybe not quite so familiar (though will no doubt have learnt them to a degree in pre-season and in training) so there will be a short period of adjustment whilst they learn the different formations but it's hardly rocket science and they may even have played similar systems at their previous clubs.
You also have to take into consideration how many matches will be played in Europe and when they start. The new players may already have fully adapted by the time they come around.
This sounds like many of the excuses being made for a potential Liverpool demise that I'm hearing, most based on wishful thinking or wanting to fill column inches / blogs and podcasts, I mean what else is there to discuss in pre-season
Yes, of course it is an advantage, though I think more in terms of physical & mental readiness than adjusting to formations (which may be the same as the one used in mid-week anyway). The high probability is that Rodgers will use one of two formations most of the time now that Suarez has gone, unless we buy someone like Cavani (unlikely but who knows for sure). Those will be 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. The players will all be familiar with those two basic systems. Will the midfield diamond be utilised ? Highly unlikely, unless we need to play two up top. Conclusion ? The systems are not going to be an issue, physical & mental preparedness maybe, but then hopefully the squad will be strong enough to cope.
He was ok when he broke through at a young age but then stagnated and even regressed to a certain extent. Lyon supporters were quite glad to get rid, I remember a funny episode when Mundo Deportivo put out a poll asking which CB Barça should sign (with names such as Kompany and Hummels suggested) and Lovren topped it cos the OL supporters organized themselves to vote in it and posted loads of comments of the ilk "he's brilliant Barça take him" and so on
He was ok when he broke through at a young age but then stagnated and even regressed to a certain extent. Lyon supporters were quite glad to get rid, I remember a funny episode when Mundo Deportivo put out a poll asking which CB Barça should sign (with names such as Kompany and Hummels suggested) and Lovren topped it cos the OL supporters organized themselves to vote in it and posted loads of comments of the ilk "he's brilliant Barça take him" and so on
Which is why a lot of people over here are extremely surprised he's so highly rated after half a good season with Southampton (he was very good first half, not as good second half, for me) and French Liverpool fans are rather worried by the Sakho-Lovren duo rather than excited by it.
