true, Johnson is a 1 and Clyne is a 6 so a huge gap.. And clyne is a 6 and Flanno is an 11 so again another huge gap
Lol true. As I've said before, Clyne is a very good player and we got him for a very good price, and he will improve the first XI. Both he and Firmino will make a big difference IMO but it;s not enough - we need more starting quality. Links to Carvalho starting to warm up also.
I've no doubt he'll improve and a couple of Saints fans have come and said he's a very good player that will be a good signing so I'm warming to him.. He does just remind me a bit of a young Johnson and a Walker in that he's young, English, decent going forward and quick... but by all accounts he's half decent defender it seems (although in a saints team that were very good defensively infront of him as we found out with Lovren). I'm happy enough with getting him in and getting Johnson out though so can't complain
He'll have to be good to do a skipper's job from the treatment room. I'm afraid that his career is going to be blighted by injury, like Sturridge's. Hope I'm wrong.
Far more to his game than Johnson and Walker - the lad can actually defend. Same with Sterling - a lot of comparisons with Wright Phillips etc but has far much more to his game. We do have some really talented youngsters that this club.
Slightly off topic but I was surprised that Ilori didn't get into the U21's team of the tournament. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I think he should be starting before Lovren. I know many of you will say that he is unknown quantity in this league but Lovren was poor last season and the fact that he has played against teams like Madrid and Barcelona, and looked very assured suggests to me he is ready to make the step up and should be given an opportunity.
Quality youngster IMO - didn't look out of place when he was out on loan and was up against the likes of Messi and Ibra. I hope we give him more game time this season and i would partner him with Sakho.
Stylistically, he looks dodgy but he's incredibly effective and begins many of our attacks - both he and Can played big parts of our one good run during last season. As soon as Sakho was injured, we went back to being ****. Lovren is far more panicky in possession and often hoofs but as per usual, media won;t mention it because he looks more like your conventional footballer.
I saw he wasn't on the one on Sky Sports (not sure if you read the same one?) But that was done on a statistical viewpoint rather than watching the games and a human making a decision. I didn't see any of the games but heard he played very well. DEf should be given a chance this year with the view of replacing Skrtel long term.
Tobes is another that says similar but he's a very good player. He looks panicky etc, but if you take away how it looks and look at the effectiveness he's very good. His passing is very good, very accurate, very quick and forward. Starts plenty of attacks being on the ball as he unlike Skrtel tries forward passes into midfield and cuts out their attackers. Skrtel will pass the ball sidewards, or to the midfielder 5 yards in front which is easy to defend against, Sakho will pass the ball forwards 15/20 yards and help get the team further up the pitch. He needs to stay fit and if he does he'll be a star in my opinion
Lovren has had a total loss of confidence. I must say I can't really see anything special in Can but I obviously haven't seen as much of him as you lot.
I agree 100% with this. He's out best defender and when he is paired with a CB who has pace (Varane(sp) for France) his qualities match perfectly with players like Varane(sp). This is why I think Ilori should be his partner as he has similar attributes.
Yeah it was the sky sports app. I would be very disappointed if we let him go before giving him a chance.
Better than anything else we have. He's better in the air than any of them, he's quicker, he's left footed so slots in at LCB better than Lovren. He's also more attacking so rather than dropping off to the 18 yard box like Skrtel (which pisses me off as it gives teams a free shot at goal from 20 yards out) he trie to make tackles and stand his ground... now and then he'll get beat but i'd rather have an attacking defender there to try and win the ball early.
Brilliant defensively. Was arguably the best defender in the league during that run we had - shame he couldn't stay fit.
