‘Can FSG be trusted not to either Coutinho, Lallana or Mane?’

Mark Scott

Man United fans discuss Jesse Lingard’s wage boost as Liverpool discuss their progress and Sunday’s showdown. Plus Payet, Taylor, and more.

Lingard’s wage hike

Can here the gnashing of teeth from where I am!

But these fans have to remember that in a football first team squad of 25/30 players not all would be good enough to be considered as ‘first on the team sheet’.

Most of them would ‘bench warmers’ or alternatives should the regular players be out injured/suspended/loss of form. Lingard is one of these. He’s more than good enough to step in when needed – with an occasional goal and a performance that doesn’t let the team down.

He must realise his limitations at UTD but he must also realise that he could walk into all but the top 6 in the PL. So as long as he’s getting well paid, with an occasional medal thrown in he must be contented. I don’t suspect JM has any trouble with him.

If JM had a bunch of players who all thought they were good enough for regular first team starts, JM would have players knocking on his door all day long wanting to know when they’ll be playing. A nightmare by any means.

concernedfan

So as long as he’s getting well paid, with an occasional medal thrown in he must be contented

I see this as a problem. We moan about lack of passion & commitment then pack the squad with players who want little more than money for nothing.

In my view squad players should be either aging veterans on the way out or prospects on their way up. Other than a couple of utility players there is no place for the player who makes a career out of being second rate.

If JM had a bunch of players who all thought they were good enough for regular first team starts, JM would have players knocking on his door all day long wanting to know when they’ll be playing.

Is this true? There are many competitions and games. Add to that injuries, suspensions, leave, fatigue and players off form. Its a squad game today.

The top players can play the top teams and the lesser players the lesser teams.

MacGuffin

I agree with MacGuffin – we shouldn’t be keeping players of the caliber of Lingard just because he’s content to sit on the bench.

I’m content to sit on United’s bench and not make a sound about starting, does that mean I should be on the bench?

I’d like to remind the posters on here that, during our glory years, we had players like Solskjaer, Park and Chicharito who seemed fine with not starting every game – THAT is the level of squad player we should be aiming for.

Like MacGuffin also said, signing a contract extension doesn’t necessarily meaning that the player will stay, only means he won’t go for free.

Sympathy for the Devils

Move along

I think triggering the extension is a pure business decision. Why risk him walking for free? We paid a lot of money for Fellaini and a lot of football clubs would love to have him so we must strengthen our position for negotiation.

Even at his age, Fellaini’s style means he can play far into his 30’s.

One thing for sure is he is definitely not in Mourinho’s plans as a key player in his system. Mourinho will be focussed on shipping Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin (already done) to bring in a top class replacement for Carrick in the mould of Veratti.

Nothing to see here really.

Hatters

Should Arsenal move for Payet?

So Payet has downed tools and refused to play for West Ham after they refused a bid from France.

I know this isn’t classy but the player sure is, he’s been linked to us in the past and although 29 he would be a good addition especially considering we could lose Sanchez and Ozil and that PSG have signed Draxler who had been on our radar.

As I said his attitude is a little alarming but he has expressed his admiration for us on the past and I like his attitude and passion when he’s on the field similar to Sanchez and although he had a stellar first season he seems to gone off the boil but don’t know how much of that is him personally and how much is the team underperforming.

I know West Ham won’t be keen on selling to a city rival but we have players who could be involved in a swap or loaned to sweeten the deal. I known signing Payet could impede the progress of Iwobi but I’m sure he would be willing to learn off him and settle for a place on the bench.

Momo

Payet is a good addition to the team considering that it gives us the opportunity to rest Sanchez for some matches. The latter is already tired.

Phemlabush02

West Ham will move on

Make no bones about it, Payet has shafted us big time. Almost half way through the January transfer window and he says he doesn’t want to play for us anymore. Who can we replace him with in less than 3 weeks? It would be difficult enough to replace him at any point.

Not sure it would make sense sending him to the stiffs Harry, although I can see where you are coming from, but it would be dead money.

Might as well get as much as we can for him, as long as the money is ploughed back into the team. We were United before him, we’ll be United after him.

Bigger & better players have left in the past, life goes on starting on Saturday when it’s imperative the crowd, as one, gets behind Slav, as I’m sure it will.

Devon Hammer

Devo, I have just transferred Payet out of my dream team. That will teach him! The ungrateful git. I would like to see the owners hold their nerve until the end of the window. Then he either has to eat humble pie or mess up his career by rotting until the summer.

The fact that he has refused to play for the club means we probably don’t have to pay his wages either. He will have been tapped up and advised by his Agent. Kone at Sunderland has the same Agent and is doing the same to force a move. Sully can be horrible and might just teach him a lesson. If it was Daniel Levy at Spurs he would be slaughtered.

I don’t give a monkey’s about any player who does not want to play for this club. He’s history as far as I am concerned and hopefully lives to regret his actions.

Shame young Cullen is out on loan until the summer. He would be useful now. The time is now perfect for Lanzini to step up and take his crown. We all need to get behind Bilko now. He’s feeling it big time.

HarryHammer

Have Liverpool made progress?

Lots of negativity around our owners so thought about it a bit and decided to let some facts get in the way of emotion – something I know fans arent meant to do

When FSG took over from Tom and Jerry, as we teetered on the edge of administration, we had Hodgson as manager (enough said) and this was the last team sent out by the worse manager in LFC history to lose 2 1 at home to Blackpool before they arrived – Reina, Johnson, Kyriakos, Carra, Skrtel, Gerrard, Meireles, Cole, Poulson, Torres, Kuyt.

The Mickey Owen (bench) was Jones, Kelly, Maxi, Spearing, Jovanavoic,Ngog and Lucas.

Now within there is the dying embers of Rafas 2008/9 title challenging team so not all donkeys but still pretty poor.

Now compare this now to the team managed by one of the worlds top, top managers, playing in front 55,000 people and an amazing new stand, financially strong and profitable and tell me our owners are all bad??

True after Tom and Jerry anything would be an improvement, true the broadcasting deals have brought major new monies into football but I still think we need to keep some perspective on what they have achieved which is an awful lot.

shliverpool

This is quite a divisive discussion but of course it will be as it’s such a wide ranging topic. For me FSG have generally been good owners even if you take them just as they are and not in comparison to the previous owners and the fact that they saved us from them.

It’s almost a sin to talk about certain off the field improvements but I have absolutely no issue with anyone who wants to hail FSG for increasing the clubs revenue as it directly affects our abilities on the pitch. This is an area where FSG have excelled and I can’t stress it’s importance enough given how rich the other top clubs have become over the years.

If H&G had managed to keep hold of the club all these years then I fear we’d have lost touch with the likes of Utd, City, Arsenal and Chelsea. Even if they could convince Klopp to come here, which I doubt they would have had the acumen to do so, we just wouldn’t have the structure in place to compete with the clubs named and we can add Spurs to that list also. The big 6 would be a big 5.

Not all is perfect with FSG, there have been times where I’ve been pretty mad at them if I’m honest but their responsibilities are so wide-spanning that there will of course be times when everyone will disagree with their methods but for a group of guys who knew very little about football when they purchased us, they’ve done fantastically to get Klopp on board.

We can talk about how they’ve improved our financial competitiveness or how they’ve built a top notch expansion on at Anfield til the cows come home but Klopp and Liverpool are a match made in heaven.

Not only is he probably the best manager that we could hope to get in terms of his reputation or profile, he’s such a perfect match for the club, a kindred spirit to the fans. Klopp is very much aligned with the heart and soul of the club, philosophically.

Whenever I have a problem with something that FSG do in the future I’ll think of this appointment and hopefully decide to give them a little slack.

I don’t have much of a problem with FSG regards their ambition except when it comes to the selling of players. They’ve never been afraid to splash the cash but their philosophy of selling players at the peak of their worth is not good for your successes on the pitch.

They maybe didn’t have much of a say in Suarez eventually leaving and the sale of Sterlign was actually one I was very much in favour of, however I am worried that they may take the same approach to the likes of Coutinho, Lallana or even someone like Mane come summer and that would be massively counter-productive cfor us on the field.

I hope that in their time here they will have learned that that system doesn’t work in this sport and are willing to adapt and continue to take us forward. The value of the club has surely sky-rocketted in their time here and as things stand, I can only see that continuing.

Mr Makaveli

Utd are such massive favourites for this game, you’d swear they were 15 points ahead of us or something.

I know that our performances have been far from great lately but the total lack of confidence in us is a bit shocking.

Recently Klopp had a little laugh at Chelsea’s form stating that they have won 13 in a row, so it must be so annoying to still see us only 6 (at the time) behind.

Well that type of observation applies here too. If Man utd beat us that’ll be 10 wins in a row and they will still be behind us in the league. That’s how good we are.

The fitness of 3 players is crucial going into this match. I can see Coutinho and Henderson starting and who knows about Matip but fingers crossed. if we get lucky with those 3 players fitness then I will be pretty confident in our chances.

We don’t have Mane but we’ll be close to being full strength and a nearly full strength Liverpool is a terrifying thing these days.

FA, don’t get cocky, you’ve had a really lucky run of matches regards form-results and injuries when we have had the worst luck with injuries. All this and you’re still behind us, so what will happen if that changes? You’ll stay behind us, that’s what ????

Heads up lads!
YNWA

Mr Makaveli

Taylor tributes

Unfortunately he will always be remembered for two things, one the documentary where he didn’t come across too well (though not as badly as Phil Neal, the nodding dog) and secondly, taking Gary Lineker off against Sweden (?) when we needed a goal, and bringing Alan Smith on. A strange decision, any way you look at it.

But as people have said above, he seemed a really nice guy…I always enjoyed his insight on BBC radio commentaries. A sad day.

Hightown Hope

He seemed to come across in good health and to be fair, 72 isn’t incredibly old; he died of a heart attack.

A proper Football Manager who loved the game and spoke his mind.

He’ll genuinely be missed in the game. Rest In Peace Graham Taylor.

SensibleS7

Toon ticking along nicely

I agree, don’t think we need a massive change in our squad now, the team has done OK/well to be second in the table. However, if you had to guess a player being injured for 5 months this season, everyone would probably pick Aarons, and a player being suspended for 5 games, you would pick Shelvey.

We clearly lacking a replacement for Shelvey, so one player as a back up for him would be important. Pearson reminds me of a Joe Allen type player, playing wise, and funny enough looks wise as well, good passing ability. Interesting to see if Rafa carries on with the 352, we have the better squad in the league, Rafa just has to get the best out of them, if that’s changing the formation, well done to him.

I do think Sammy will be our best player for the rest of the season, he just needs a chance to show it, I believe in him.

Vodkamagpie