Agree with that. He wasn't a winger. He was best as a LF. With him and Torres with Gerrard just behind we'd have been full of pace and power. Kuyt would have offered plenty of grit, energy and desire at RF too. Shame.
Babel cost less than Borini but there was what, eight years between the deals? Babel was the bigger signing when considering football inflation.
Out of those pairings, I'd choose Suso (much cheaper), Spearing (better than Allen or Coady), Ince (best of a bad bunch), Paletta (gutted he didn't work out). Reality is, apart from Markovic who has time on his side, none of the players you listed were good enough. Only one I would have truly kept is Spearing but not because he is a quality player. I'd keep him for the same reason I love Carra and Flanno; knew his limits and how to maximise what he had, always gave 100% and loves the club meaning he offered plenty of heart, passion and desire.
one had huge potential, borini not sure, i have not seen anything to get excited about, plus we had a better manager back then to atract better players i dont care any way lol, on a side point might be up your street, that one who done man v food is doing a barbecue champion type programme on it starting soon. just need a decent summer to put it to good use
cole was a ego trip by mr purslow. its actually quite hard to do much more but you can take my word on it. fill up with kids who've done nothing much to sepak of at champ level and you end up in 16th never mind 6th ok so rafa bought kygiakos not try a kid... foolish? maybe hodgson bout poulsen... maybe a kid could have done far more temporarally. but there was not a 5 lads like scheoles, giggs, beckham there we worked very hard to get sterling through. we cleared the decks for him and ibe followed him up as well... but in reality in 2011 he was not ready... and it they are not ready you need a player now.
Given the choice between Babel and Borini, I'd put for the Dutch man every time. Yeah, seen the bbq thing advertised. Think I've already set up a serious link on the TiVo too lol
spearing is not nor never will be better than allen. he's done nohting and isn't even meriting a slot at bolton. suso got hauled off in first halves for us then decided it was too hard and wanted to go to spain on loan. reality check.. journeymen all!
both cost 10 mil+ its a moot point as its not about kids at that point. borini has utterly ruined his career.. babel was lazy as sin. if i had my choice both get a bullet
Probably shows more about how much I rate the other guys than me 'liking' the ones I named. Spearing would be able to offer us something that nobody bar Lucas can; a defensive screen. As a back up squad player, he'd be alright and cheap. Imo, that is better than the Welsh Xavi
I know what you mena about Spearing, but right now he's playing for a team who fight relegation at the bottom of the Championship
Allen is a really good footballer. He can't win games on his own but he's really intelligent and effective. The only real negatives I can think of when it comes to Allen is he can't score goals (see awful miss Vs Everton) and he does get injured quite frequently and takes time to get into his stride after injury. But once he gets going he's really effective, he was one of the main reasons the diamond formation was so successful in 13/14. As for Babel, look at the clubs he's gone to after Liverpool. Evidence enough that his talent was severely overestimated when we bought him and by our fans OR that his mentality/attitude are still holding him back as they did at Liverpool. He had an issue playing on the wing which was mind boggling considering he was never going to displace Torres and there was no evidence that he was any good as a striker to begin with.
Also the circus surrounding Tom Ince with his father acting as his agent makes it look as if we've dodged a bullet. I don't think a player of his ability is worth the hassle him and his father would bring with them.
Totally agree with this. Sterling and Ibe were/are both better players too so letting Ince go was right imo Pacheco and Suso were both looking better too.
Players like Allen don't tend to hit their peak until late 20s where can use their experience more. His games not about defending brilliantly or attacking brilliantly but look how important Carrick was last year for United. Allen is a very similar type of player and in a few years could be very inportant
You don't need to be able to defend or tackle to a world class level but he does need to learn how to cut out the spaces and cut off the passes. Basically, be a nuisance to the isotonic. I do think he is quality at pressuring the position though but that requires all players to work as a team and react together and/or a DM to cover the space you're leaving behind you.
Agreed. He's decent in the tackle but not the best but if he can learn to be an 'interceptor' someone that cuts out those passes as you say then he will become very important. He needs to play in a 3 man midfield in my opinion as in a 2 he doesn't balance it enough but he can be that link between defence and midfield that Gerrard was last year. He actually played well when pushed further up at times as well, his passing and movement is good, only issue is he's not much of a goal threat so does lose something when you move him forward
I'd say he's in the B2B category with Hendo and Milner, maybe Can too. That leaves just Lucas who I think Brod as used as a B2B player before too but he's definitely more a DM. IMO he won't play further forward with Coutinho, Firmino, Markovic, etc around
IMO Joe Allen can be great (for Wales against Belgium), but if he is not great he is usually dog ****. I tend to find he doesn't have a middle ground. As for the original question for Tex and how other players have failed to step up. I think Tex could certainly play further back in MF and do just as well as most of he CM's we have right now.
I disagree completely about Allen. I think he's a 7 out of 10 most weeks and occasionally will have a 5 and a 9. Very rarely is he outstanding or awful but most of the time just does a solid job.
