please log in to view this image 06th Aug 2015 Emre: Reds owe fans a flying start Emre Can believes he and his Liverpool teammates 'owe it to the fans' to atone for last season's slow start by getting off to a flyer this time around - starting at Stoke City on Sunday. The Reds picked up just seven points from their first six games in the Barclays Premier League last term, a haul that undermined their push for a top-four finish later into the campaign. By the time Brendan Rodgers took his team to the Britannia Stadium on the final day, hopes of a return to the Champions League were already extinguished. But that did not make the 6-1 defeat that followed less painful, and Can wants to put that result immediately right this weekend. "I'm always fully-motivated for every game, and the start of the season especially so," he told Liverpoolfc.com. "I hope I can get the goal tally started quickly. We didn't end the last season particularly well, and I think we owe it to the fans to make amends. "This is why the first few matches are especially important. I think we can start to put [the Stoke result] right with a few good results." Can enjoyed a successful introduction to English football following his move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, making 27 league appearances in total in his debut season. The German wants to follow that up by continuing to feature regularly in 2015-16, and adding to his personal goal haul. "I want to stay fit healthy and in form - that's always the most important goal to set oneself," he continued. "I want to play as often as possible, and to have a good consistent season-long run of games. "I'm certainly planning to score a few good goals!" The 21-year-old, who helped his country to the semi-finals of the European U21 Championship this summer, also backed the Reds to mount a challenge at the top end of the table this season. "We've a very very strong team, with a lot of good-quality players, who work together well as a team," he said. "I think if we can start well and get a few good results under our belt, we can then keep our focus on each match as it comes, and hopefully compete for the title. "We'll wait and see just how far we can get in terms of a title race."
I suspect you will improve in the mauling you got last time you played Stoke. Without getting anyone's hopes up, I think you've a good chance of only losing 4-1 this time. Progress.
I'm not so confident for Liverpool, Stoke have done some good business and i expect them to pick up where they left off. I reckon 8-1 to the stoke and Benteke to accidently lose a leg during the game forcing him to retire
Split my sides at that one, UIR. **************************** Seriously, I would expect the whole team to be up for this. Can obviously wants to get in amongst the goals, and although that's obviously a good thing on one level, I'm not sure he has the discipline to stick to the DM role that most are expecting him to. I'm sure he's professional enough to play where he's put, but it seems he wants to play the Yaya role. We need to be well organised so that someone covers him on his inevitable surges forward.
Can isn't a defensive or holding midfielder, he's a old fashioned box-to-box midfielders just like Hendo, Milner and Allen all are. The only defensive midfielder we have is Lucas who is out of favour with most including Brod so people are putting Can there based on him playing in the back line last year. I agree with Jimmy () that if we play a pairing we'll be exposed but play a trio and it will be strong. The latter obviously leaves us a little short attacking wise but with most midfielders being box-to-box players they will hopefully support the attacks too. I'm expecting a lot of our substitutions this years to involve CMs
I agree that none of those you mentioned (apart from Lucas) is a natural DM, but someone has to do it. If they rotate the responsibility during the game then, as I said, that requires organisation. It can be done, but they need to keep their concentration. A versatile, fluid line-up is great if you have the players who can do it. Lucas has done well down the years after an inauspicious start, but is a bit slow and ends up tackling back a lot. A more athletic version of him would be ideal but I don't know of a realistic replacement (ie- someone we could afford and who would want to come to us). I'd probably still play him, but I'm pretty sure we're going to see Milner, Hendo and Can in there and I can't see who we could drop. It'll be interesting to see how we get on, now we no longer have to build around Stevie.
Bear in mind that Lucas isn't a natural DM - he was a box to box until Rafa converted him out of neccessity (Mascherano was injured in Rafa's final season and we had little cover in that role.) Playing Can in such a role would be a waste of his ability - personally, I see him as a better Henderson and if we ever get back to the level we want, then Can will replace Henderson, and Hendo will become the utility squad player (still important). However, besides Lucas, Can has played in that role before which gives me a little more confidence. He's better tactically and defensively but more intelligent to play the role than either Hendo or Milner. Personally, we should have signed a specialist, natural DM in the summer who would have protected the shaky defence but allow either Can, Milner or henderson to attack more freely and support the attack. Single most important position in any team IMO.
Going back to the OP - Can is a leader in the making. Oozes class and authority. I hope this club can keep hold of the talents - we have so much talent and potential here. Keep them all together and it will be interesting to see how they all develop in the next 5 years.
I agree with most of that, though I can't really see Hendo being demoted in the foreseeable. The fact that he's been made captain would suggest he's expected to be in there for a while (always providing BR stays, of course). You're right that Lucas wasn't a natural DM to begin with, but he seems to have the discipline to play it and not go chasing glory-apart from the odd occasion he gets forward and whacks it onto the roof.
