All fair points and I tend to agree with you regarding Gulacsi. He went out on loan to Hull City last season & according to the Hull fans on here, he didn't do too well and was dropped in place of Vito Mannone who came in from Arsenal. Though, I think I recall Gulacsi signing a new 'long-term' contract before he left for Hull. So he was clearly highly rated within the club but with a new management team coming in, he might not be in the plans of Rodgers. We'll have to see on that one. - And Pacheco is an interesting one. A few years ago, he was very highly rated by us, the fans, but seemed to drop off a bit. Did well at Norwich and helped them gain promotion but then did the rather strange loan deal you mentioned. Went to Atletico Madrid who then, straight away, loaned him to Rayo Vallecano! Played around 14 games if I remember correctly and didn't score. Disappointing as some regular first-team football would have been extremely important to his development. The Europa League is his big chance. I think he'll get some game time in that and if he doesn't impress, I don't think he'll get many more games. Like you said, last chance saloon for Dani.
I think he picked up an injury and that was when Hull brought Mannone in, I could be wrong? My understanding from the Hull fans was that they rated Mannone higher but then, he is more experienced having played in the Arsenal first team I keep reminder people of Dani when talking about Suso. Pacheco dominated the under 19s (I think?) tournament too, he wasn't just rated by Liverpool fans, he was rated by a lot of people in the game too, in fact we was fighting to keep hold of him the last two summers (last year we let him go on loan but wasn't prepared to sell). People will say Suso looks better but people often have sort memories. Pacheco was just as much a stand out player as Suso is at the minute, unfortunately Dani seemed to become stagnated for a while and he is yet to kick start his career Edit: I don't think a loan move to a then Championship team was the best move either, he needed (and still does) first team football at Premier League level. The problem is finding someone willing to offer him (and Suso/Sterling if were not able to offer much playing time) that match time
I seem to remember the Hull fans saying that he had an absolute 'mare in a game against Leeds and the back-up keeper at the time (It wasn't Mannone but someone more experienced) came in a few games later. He then got the injury you mentioned and never got back into the team. On the goalkeeping situation, we've got Reina who is the number one. Doni is the number two but isn't on the tour and I haven't heard anything regarding an injury. Brad Jones is number three but is now 30 and may want first-team football in the final years of his career. So, with him being the youngest senior goalkeeper, he could move up the pecking order in the coming months/years. - And yeah, good point on the Pacheco/Suso comparsion. I think, we as fans, are always guilty of overhyping some of the younger prospects. It's important that we don't push them and expect instant results when/if they get a run in the first-team.
Yes, he is the youngest but if Doni and Jones move on then we are guaranteed to bring someone else in since we would only have two recognised keepers with Gulacsi being unproven too. Don't know about Doni, I asked the same question earlier this week on a couple of threads and no one seems to know why he isn't there. He is still down on the squad list on the LFC website
I think next season is important for him. He'll probably get sent out on loan and needs to impress if he is to start pushing higher up the goalkeeping order. If he does well and Doni & Jones get moved on next summer, he could have the number two spot and get games in the early stages of both domestic cups. Depends how he does in the pre-season games and if he can impress Rodgers. Nobody knows anything about Doni's situation... Though he didn't really help himself by getting sent off in his second game for the club. Wouldn't mind a comment from Rodgers on it but because he's second-choice and not on the tour, it won't get asked by the journos!
[video=youtube;noc34QauWsw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noc34QauWsw&feature=g-user-u[/video] [video=youtube;DitWVO_52Uc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DitWVO_52Uc&feature=g-user-u[/video]
Good to see Lucas in action although someone needs to tell Spearing to calm down when he gets near him Don't know who was in net but even Carragher score in that second clip...
Looking forward to watching the game tonight and see how much influence Rodger has had on the team in this short space of time. Also be good to see a few of the younger players (Suso, Sterling, Wisdom) playing with the more established players to see how they stack up.
Some pictures from our training session at the Rogers centre. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
And some more pictures from our pre-season training session! please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
As SJD has already pointed out, this will be the match thread for all of our pre-season games. When I set this thread up, I thought it would be easier than creating match threads for each of our pre-season games. Keeps the pre-season chat in one thread!
