BBC - Liverpool make bid for Lallana - Part II

Lallana is a bigger one, which is hard to do.

 

This is ****ing superb

 

See if he's saying that this time next year when he's sat watching Raheem Sterling every week.

 

Wow. How can things have got so bad. Does he really despise us that much ?

 

This. Can't believe how much he's changed in a year.

 

It's a shame that a guy with such ability on the pitch acts in this way. I was there when he scored his goal against Hull at St Mary's - it was wonderful to watch and I had respect for what he was able to do and the team he was leading. It sickens me now, though, to think that this guy was our captain, there to act as a leader and role-model to the rest of the team in how to behave. Any hint of difficulty and he should have been there helping pull his team through, not being the first to jump ship. I hope he is able to look back in a few years and realise what a cockwomble he's been. And what a **** beard he had.

 

Speaking out of ignorance here but what has Lallana said to cause this bitterness?

Wouldn't give the LFC twitter quotes any credence... Our first interviews are always really cringeworthy. They apparently tell the players what to say. It's for kids and the foreign fans really.

 

My cat could figure out that that was a stupid thing to say, but apparently, it's beyond Lallana and your media team. Maybe they should go back to stealing cars. You're quite welcome to **** off too.

 

Now we know why the club didn't answer Lallana's calls. He was being a moany ****.

 

Adam, welcome to Liverpool Football Club...

Thank you very much. I'm over the moon for it to be sorted. I still can't quite believe it. I just can't wait to get started in pre-season and work with the team.

Can you describe your emotions right now?

Not really, no, it has not sunk in if I'm being honest. I'd like to thank everyone at Southampton for what they have done for me; I have been there for the best part of 14 years. I'm so excited for the next chapter of my career, coming to a special club like Liverpool. I'm quite humbled and I just can't wait to get started.

After spending so much of your life on the south coast, how big a step is this for you?

It's a huge step. Liverpool have got so much history and after the season they had last season, I can't wait to get started and carry on and build on that. Champions League football is back; everyone is telling me that the atmosphere on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at Anfield are something special. Lambert is up here already and he has been telling me all about it. It's great that I can continue my career with him as well. That's a special moment.

How much of a help is he going to be now you're both here at Liverpool?

A massive help. I've spent the last four or five years with him. We've had great careers at Southampton and achieved something special, but we're both thoroughly looking forward to the new challenge. It's Rickie's boyhood club and a club I can't wait to be a part of.

Tell us what the thought process is when you find out that Liverpool Football Club are interested in you...

To start off with...if it's true! There had been a lot of toing and froing and it had been a little bit longer than I'd anticipated, but it's something I'm not quite used to. I'm grateful that Southampton accepted the offer in the end and granted my wish to play at such a fantastic football club, in Champions League football and competing for Premier League titles. I'll probably get back started in pre-season within three weeks. I'll have time to chill out with my family, go on holiday and take a break from it for a week or so. Then I'll come back fully focused on the job in hand.

Who was the first person you spoke to about this move?

Probably my dad, my family and my wife. A lot of my close friends are Southampton fans, but they understand. They understand this is an opportunity that you just can't turn down. At the age I'm at, 26 now, it's just the right step. I'm sure most people will understand my decision.

You've had quite a rise in quite a short space of time - you're now a Liverpool player, you're an England international. Does it seem surreal? Does it sink in, how far you've come?

It doesn't yet. To think, five or six years ago, I was playing in League One. But it's a reality that we've climbed up the leagues and done so well. I'd like to think I'm here on merit, I think I've earned it. I just can't wait to keep improving, playing with world-class players and a lot of England teammates as well, which I'm also looking forward to so much. It's going to be a great new chapter in my life.

Do your ambitions as a player change now that you're at a club like this?

They have to - it's a huge club that wants to win titles again and compete in the Champions League. There are different targets to what a club like Southampton has, but I'm just going to be pushing to do the best I can.

What has the manager, Brendan Rodgers, said to you about how he sees you fitting into his Liverpool?

I can't say I've had that chat in detail yet. But from what I have spoken to him, he seems like a top manager. Everyone compliments him massively and gives him great references. All of the lads at England said that if I did get the chance to work with him then it would help my career in huge ways. So I can't wait to get started working with him.

How do you think your style and your game will complement what he already has here at Liverpool?

I hope it complements and I can bring something different to the team. People have said to me that there are similarities in the way Southampton and Liverpool play their football, and I hope that enables me to settle that much easier. I just can't wait to start playing with the world-class players that are here - I'm only going to learn and get better.

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Having watched Liverpool from afar and seeing the success Liverpool had last season, how much does that excite you to be part of it going forward?

Watching the run-in towards the end of last season was unbelievable, not just for myself but everyone involved in football. It got the hairs on the back of my neck standing up just watching them, and the style of football they were playing. Deep down, I was thinking to myself: hopefully one day I'll be able to play in that team. That dream has become a reality now, so I can't wait for that to get started.

You were part of one of the few sides to take points from Liverpool at Anfield. What was that experience like?

It was a great afternoon. Southampton weren't expected to get anything from the game. I remember the game quite well; we won 1-0 and a few fans clapped us off the pitch. It shows what respectful fans Liverpool are and how great the fans are. To be playing for Liverpool now, with them behind me, is another reason why I can't wait to get started.

This is a great moment for you, signing for this football club, but we know it has been a difficult few weeks with England in the World Cup. How do you overcome a disappointment like that to ensure you start your Liverpool career well?

Just keep working even harder. We did suffer disappointment; not just myself, all of the lads are disappointed, the whole country is disappointed. We need to rest now for a couple of weeks, recharge the batteries and then get back to doing what we love, that's playing football. Hopefully we'll have learned a lot from the experience and take what positives we can into the European Championship campaign.

Do you become stronger mentally from experiencing something like that?

Without a shadow of a doubt. I think you can only become stronger mentally. It's a long way from home, in different conditions and a lot of people's first major tournament. So it is good experience. We just have to learn quickly and hopefully improve and get better results next time.

You mentioned spending plenty of time with your new Liverpool teammates while you were over in Brazil. Did you ask them questions about this football club and what it's like to be here?

I did and they were on to me about when it was getting sorted. I was running out of answers in the end because I thought the more I say 'soon' the longer it would take. During the World Cup I was fully focused on just playing for England, but I was eager for it to get sorted once I knew I was coming home. Just so I can switch off and rest and recover for a couple of weeks before we start pre-season.

How much can you still learn from someone like Steven Gerrard? You've had opportunities to spend time with him at international level, but here with your football club now, how much can you still learn from someone like him?

There's no limit to what I can learn playing with him. I grew up watching him. My best mates, he's their legend. For me to be playing alongside him, not just at England but at club level, is quite surreal really. They're always asking me what he's like. He's got that aura around him. But I need to quickly get used to it because I'll be playing with him week in, week out.

You'll make him feel old saying you grew up watching him...

Well, I did, it's just the fact and reality. He's still such a good player and he can go on to play for numerous more years with the quality he possesses.

Your first official game for Liverpool could be against your former club Southampton. What do you anticipate that feeling will be like?

It would have been worse if it was at St Mary's, I'm glad it's at Anfield. But to be lining up against my teammates from last year just had to happen. It's fate. Rickie and I spoke about it, and he said he could have bet his mortgage on it, he knew it was going to happen.

You've experienced Anfield as an opposition player. What will that feeling be like to run out with the home support behind you?

I can't wait to experience it. Everyone says it has got a unique atmosphere; it's a unique ground with a lot of history. I just can't wait to get on the pitch with the fans behind me, rather than just the away fans.

Finally, what is your message to those Liverpool supporters?

Hopefully I can settle in quickly, and I will give it my best throughout the whole time I'm here. I hope I can add something to the team and hopefully we can win trophies while I'm here, because that's why I'm here - for success.

 

It's that this time last year, he was giving it the big one about how he'd "bite your hand off" if you offered him staying at Southampton for his whole career, playing the big guy loyalty act etc. Easy to do after the disappointing season he'd had, now after he was so good last year he clearly went straight into "right, **** this, I'm bigger than the club" mode, forced a move (which as more information is coming out seems to have been done in a more and more twatty fashion) while showing complete disrespect for everyone at the club who he steps on to get to the top - not the kind of behaviour you'd expect from your captain and a guy who everyone sees as "Mr. Southampton". Imagine how you'd have felt if Gerrard followed through with forcing his move to Chelsea a few years ago. Doesn't matter if the interview is "cringeworthy" or not, the stuff he's said is about as disrespectful as you get.

 

just stole this of the liverpool page

 

If it's true that they've been ignoring others, like Cork and Fonte, they've still got some explaining to do.

 

Looks to me like the only thanks he gives is a token throwaway line, and "also thanks for accepting the offer"

 

Makes a change when we have to agree with a ref.

 

Any one else not believe Lallana on thanking Southampton?

 

I don't believe it tbh, I think it was a way of a certain person to have a go at the club.

 

Absolutely.

It is such a shame that Mr Lallana couldn't see beyond his scraggly beard to realize that he has played an important part in so many people's lives and that those people, whether he realized it or not have played an equally important part in his. His behavior has shown such little grace and elegance that it really is a sorry state of affairs. I hope one day Mr Lallana sits down and looks back at a career that showed so much promise as he developed at one of the best acadamies in the country, wondering what on earth he was thinking of doing. I hope he sits in his big mansion in the NW of England holding his 6 England caps, wondering why he didn't even surpass the number achieved by a Saints legend that he really regrets not having copied by staying and showing some loyalty. I'll even look forward to buying his autobiography when he writes it in 4 years time; here is a title suggestion for you Mr Lallana: "Wasted" ... because that's what I really hope happens to you now.

Such little grace and humility. I'll have to now steer my polite young son in another direction for his idol.

One sentence Mr Lallana, just one small, humbling set of words to the thousands of fans who believed in you and supported you. Even if you had an issue with people at the top of the club, you couldn't manage one sentence towards those fans and even if many words were too much for you, how about two words? Just two words to the fans of the club where you plied your trade and kissed your badge and patted your chest. Just two words Mr Lallana, just two words:

THANK YOU

 

Have heard something, possibly interesting, about Lallana and a 'goodbye' - which we should see soon enough.

If you want to hear, feel free to PM - I just can't let it get into the public domain. It's nothing massive but some may find it interesting.

 

Not for a second. Lambert, yes. Shaw, no. Lallana, no.