AsiaticSkinsFan

Di Canio http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19426397

well first and foremost Gibbs Hog Heaven is the one who mentioned my name in regards to Gerrard so you can save your capn Save-a-Poster for someone else. secondly, Gerrard missed on 19% of his passes today, including the one that lead to the first goal. Thats a fact I never said Gerrard wasnt a world class player in the past. I just said he isnt a good central midfielder. Rodgers realized that later on and moved him off Suarez. If Liverpool want to do anything worthwhile except finish in midtable this season, Gerrard needs to play higher up the pitch where he can still be an effective player instead of looking like the shocking CM he is right now.

and im the delusional one he misplaced 24 passes today.

114 years old and Paul Scholes can still run a premiership midfield. What a player.

he is going to have a lot of problems in the premiership because of how bad he is on crosses. Liverpool should have signed a striker. Wont score many goals until January when they buy one. And no, Carroll was not the answer no matter how much those idiots in the media say it.

Brad Guzan starting today Shay Given has been dropped.

athleticism leaving, and now he has to think under Rodgers' system and is being shown up... You can keep propping him up, its not my team so I dont really care. Scholes is starting today, 97 years old and cant run yet is still a better CM than Gerrard is and has ever been.

Gerrard... not a central midfielder. Allen was pretty good for you guys tho. Suarez was pretty shocking, awful player. And Reina sucks as well. Diaby, wow when he is healthy what a player. What a player, lets hope he doesnt get injured. I usually bash Vermaelen, but he was awesome today. Jenks and Mert too.

blame Cesc. Changed everything for a guy that ended up not winning anything for us and then fooking off back to be a complimentary piece for Barcelona.

he is rubbish. He cant dribble, cannot beat a player 1v1, cannot pass the ball, has a very inconsistent touch and an inconsistent finisher when he has time. Its not Wenger, the kid just isnt a good footballer. But he is amazing in that he can look like he has never played football for 89 minutes and then do something incredible whether it be a cross, a run, something and creates magic. The problem is patience. where do you play THeo then? Striker? He cant play with his back to the goal as he still gets pushed around and cant hold the ball. Then when teams give no space, he is useless. I would rather give them time to gel before just writing them off. I say that because they moved the ball quicker in the Stoke match than versus Sunderland. Cazorla will make a world of difference, but we will not be as good as City or United at it.

damn, Liverpool got merkd this window. Really wish Wenger signed a midfielder to replace Song and a striker, but its is what it is. This club just wants 4th place and they probably got it. ---------- Post added August-31st-2012 at 07:54 PM ---------- thats not true tho. Walcott gets more goals and assists than Lennon. I think he gets as many as Bale too (most overrated player in the premiership) but Theo is a rubbish player. He is amazing because of that. Rubbish player but some how gets goals and assists. I dont say that with sarcasm either, I just dont get Theo.

That is because tactics are king, and they have some of hte best in Europe. I prefer that then watching Tony Pulis, Big Sam, Marin O'[redacted] and the others of their ilk just go long ball all game and then throwing 11 behind the ball. I hate to sound arrogant, but Serie A is more of a thinking man's league. Its not pleasing on the eye because of that, but if you like teams who have great game plans and good technique then its a great league still. Also, if Juve can get a big time striker I think they can do damage in CL. Also Inter won the CL in 2010.

its not just match fixing, I mean that has been in Italian football since it went professional. Whats killing that league is that teams do not own their stadiums. ---------- Post added August-28th-2012 at 07:42 PM ---------- and because of how disorganized the ticketing process is fans would rather stay home and watch on TV. Italian footballers are still the ballz tho. And Serie A is still the strongest league in the world on technical ability.

Those Al-Jazeera cats know what they are doing. They made a deal with Comcast last week so its coming soon, but the fact that they gobbled all of these packages so quick shows they arent playing games. They are doing online streaming as well. Its in HD. ---------- Post added August-27th-2012 at 11:52 PM ---------- its not garbage, its just not the same style of football for premiership fans. Its a completely different league but its been as exciting as the premiership the last couple of years, imo. Just lacks the star power. and Bradley did try the premiership, McLeish told him to kick rocks and signed Jermaine Jenas.

I like Serie A period so I will see what I can do. I am waiting for BeIN Sports to come to Comcast so I can ditch these p2p streams.

yeah, im looking forward to playing you guys tbh. I just hope Wenger can get a signing in beforehand he wasnt playing good today too, but that assist was great at the end. Madrid lost today so SPLiga is now over. Also PSG havent won either.

still wondering when Arsenal will score a goal

oh snap, I didnt realize you were a liverpool fan. It all makes sense with your views on Gerrard. (he was their worst midfielder on Saturday btw). AS long you dont think Suarez is a world class player, then im ok with the Gerrard stuff.

because he does have too many deficiencies to be a world class central midfielder. Rafa realized this and told him to get out of the way, and Liverpool had their best premiership season with Gerrard out of the way centrally. He was a great athlete so it made up for a lot of his issues, but he was never a world class central midfielder. He cant control the tempo of a match, doesnt understand that you do not have to play Hollywood balls all the time, and do not need to be everywhere to make a play. He never developed the tactical nous and mentality to really shine there. He looked "great" centrally even tho Liverpool were never that good of a side because that club indulged their Scouse hero. Only Rafa had the balls to say, "You cant play this position," and Liverpool actually looked like a really good side. I dont get how this is hard to understand, there have been many articles in the reputable newspapers in England that have talked about this. with the way Rodgers is setting things up, it looks like Allen and Lucas will be holding things down centrally and Gerrard will be playing off Suarez. Which. Is. Where. Rafa. Was. Playing. Him. Gerrard cant sit in central midfield because he is tactically not a good fit there. Give him the freedom to go forward and you see a really good player, altho he is older now. where Gerrard is playing off Suarez. Rodgers looks smart to realize that he is not a central midfielder. except Rafa told Gerrard that he is not playing central midfield on his watch I remember Gerrard was crying about being moved too. It was hilarious. I do agree that Rafa was defensive, but having Gerrard play off Torres is why they exploded as an attack that year. and Liverpool's problem has been indulging their heroes (Gerrard, Dalglish, etc) and listening to their fans.

yup, and Liverpool were not good. And they went uber cautious in 2008-9, and ended up leading the league in goals scored. They were probably the best team in the premiership that year, tbh. And where was Gerrard? not playing CM. He was never a world class CM, he was never a better CM than Lampard, Cesc, Scholes, Xavi, Xabi, Pirlo, Seedorf, and a bunch of others. What Gerrard has always been is a great athlete, which helped to clean up his mental deficiencies at CM. his best season was 2008-9 when he was recognized as POY and was rightfully given that award. He is just not intelligent enough to play centrally. I am interested how this new system with Rodgers works because Rodgers is all about discipline possession football which Gerrard has struggled with. ---------- Post added August-11th-2012 at 11:39 PM ---------- edit, he won writers footballer of the year in 2009

I didnt say he couldnt play standard CM? I said he was never close to world class/influential there. The best midfielders gave him the run around because of how stupid he is there. But he is better than Dickson Etuhu, so I guess thats fair. and Gerrard was playing OFF Torres and out wide right. Those were his best two seasons at Liverpool. Rafa asked Xabi to control the matches and Mascherano to be the destroyer. Gerrard wasnt allowed to drift back into the midfield once he was played further up because he could not be trusted. And I said he doesnt have a footballing brain because he doesnt. What Gerrard does have is good technique, great ball striking ability, and was an outstanding athlete. Once his athleticism fell off, he wasnt anywhere near the player he was in his prime. Contrast that to Paul Scholes who, altho he doesnt have the legs to play 90 minutes, is still an effective midfielder. Even Frank Lampard is still a very good central midfielder when told to be discipline even with his athleticism declining. Pirlo is older than Gerrard, but is sitll an excellent central midfielder.

idk why its ridiculous, did Rafa not remove him from the CM spot? Did Gerrard subsequently score 20 goals from the right? Did Liverpool go down 3-0 against Milan, and then tie it up after Gerrard was moved out right? did Rafa move him off Torres and Gerrard won English football POY? you are acting like I made this up Gerrard never developed the footballing brain to play central midfield at a high enough level. He did those long range shots and is a "clutch" player, but a lot of that is down to him being a limited CM in his prime because he felt the need to do everything which resulted in him being out of position. Its a big problem with British midfielders in general, many get to the high level but lack discipline. Roy of the Rovers.

absolutely not. his best performances have come playing off striker (also when Liverpool had their best season with him) or on the right. Rafa couldnt trust him in the midfield and used Mascherano and Xabi behind him because of that. He was a great athlete, and great footballer, but never a great central midfielder. He was a real life Roy of the Rovers, which is great on TV but not in premiership matches. the performance everyone points to, the 2005 CL fluke, Gerrard's poor performance in the first half was why they went down 3-0 in the first place. Rafa moved Gerrard out wide and brought in Dieter Haman and Liverpool finally stopped the Pirlo-Kaka axis from dominating for just a little bit of a time, and Liverpool capitalized. but Gerrard hooked up Arsenal, so im cool with that from him

I think Argentina actually passed Brazil a few years ago in terms of exporting players. Brazil's problems are actually in the midfield. They dont create anything anymore. They had hoped it would be Ganso, but his knees stink. In saying that, I think all of Brazil's attacking talent is overrated. They havent produced a world class attacker since Kaka. ---------- Post added August-11th-2012 at 10:15 PM ---------- its his own fault. he parties too much and is always out of shape. and he got married to some soap actress at a stupid young age only for her to divorce him. Pato was actually what Neymar is now in 2007 he is still pretty young, but I fear he will never get it.