Leon and Marvin to miss start of season. https://twitter.com/Gareth_Vincent With Fulton also out leaves us short in the DM area.
Leon sounds like he's taken a knock but I hope this isn't going to be an ongoing injury with Emnes. Cartilage problems are seldom simple. Jonjo and Amat both played alongside Leon towards the end of these season but neither did particularly well! Maybe time to change the formation 442 3 5 2 Might get an idea later. Wouldn't mind seeing how Jazz performs in that role as it's nearer to his preferred position. Or, we could just do the sensible thing and play Tate.
Maybe we can use the guy that played in the position and held his own there with no problem, his name is Jose Canas and he is already at the club ! Problem solved
Many of us have been saying for some time we need a defensive midfielder and now this shows how right we were. I am afraid Canas wasn't up to the job anyway.
We already have one, forget personal issues the club need to operate professionally at times, it doesnt pay to sit a player like Canas in the stands which ever way you slice it. He had a cracking game against Utd in the cup and has never let us down in any game, always giving maximum effort . If the manager dont like him one of the best ways to get him out of the club is to play him and show other teams that he can do a job . We arnt a club that afford to freeze out decent players, which as we can now see is nothing but harmful to our chances of doing well .
Emnes is not so much of a problem as we have plenty of cover, a fit Leon you always want to start the season off with, but I'm sure Ki will step in at defensive midfield!...............
It's made for Canas, he's the closest we have to Leon get him back in the squad. Now that Poz has gone it could be an ideal time to reintroduce Canas back into the team.
Has Besic actually signed for Everton? Now that Payet doesn't want to come here why not use that money and sign Besic?
Two comments. Echo NJ's comment on Canas - always gave a solid effort in every game he played - and I think he's up to the job. Second .... three training sessions a day ... unless you've got players with titanium joints and spring steel for ligaments who is going to tolerate that sort of load for a prolonged period of time and not be at risk of suffering some sort of injury.
I think he's part of the Spanish exodus? You do have a point though, but I think we will utilise Ki there as Laudrup did, though Ki doesn't like the DM role as much as the AM, I do think that Shelvey and Ki would work well, regarding Canas he's been told he will not feature in Garry Monk’s plans, so it will be Ki in my view.................
From the grapevine a few weeks ago, Canas and Poz were told to look for other clubs. Poz has gone already, so I can't see Canas playing for us again - it seems bridges have been burnt.
All players should be part of our plans though!! Especially ones who have proven themselves at this level and earn around 25k a week ! We arnt the type of club that leave players like that sitting in the stands, yet again personal differences getting in the way of what is best for the club. If he doesnt like or rate canas thats fine, but at least be smarter about it and put him in the shop window where other teams can see his quality, from the outside looking in you would think Canas is the Devil ! when in actually fact on the field he has always put a shift in and given 100% know its looking like it going to bite us on the arse , if Canas thought Monk was a mug before,he will certainly think it now !!
Depending on what Canas has done to get fit, probably working by himself or perhaps under Curtis(?), he may be behind on conditioning not ready to step up anyway.
How much did we pay for Canas? was he a free transfer? whichever I'm sure we can do better than Canas. He didn't win me over, and his games were average compared to Leon, and how on earth Laudrup put him in front of Leon on times was baffling, I hope he goes and we get a serious midfielder in!..............
I'd argue he favoured Canas over Leon when everyone could see that Leon is in a different league to him, but I agree, we do need a quality like for like player who will not only push leon but will produce performances of the same standard so that we can rotate Leon this season as he isn't getting any younger. We need to find Leon's long term replacement. That said, I can't see Joe being at Liverpool for more than another season or two, just isn't good enough for top 4, title chasing football, yet.
So you think somebody can come in and play like leon straight away ? Not even Leon could play like leon when he started playing that role Dragon, it takes time to master that position,canas was getting there and while learning wasnt letting us down either . The fact we had Canas for free means fook all too. In fact it probably means he is on a fair whack of money, it was reported he turned down 50k a week from WBA to play for the Swans and Laudrup . He is a decent player and should be used, if monk doesnt want him then monk should have made sure he got an adequate replacement , so far it looks like monk has done nothing .
