Your Says of the Day: Make Sakho skipper; Jese or Morata?

Ian Watson

Mamadou Sakho: Captaincy material, says one fan

Mamadou Sakho should be made Liverpool captain, while Jese Rodriguez is suggested to Arsenal as a cheaper alternative to Alvaro Morata.

Have Your Say on any of these issues, or anything else you want to get off your chest.

Strip Henderson, hand captaincy to Sakho

This just came to me and as strange as it sounds he is the right man for the job. Ok, he has been late three times. Take that to one side. He is 100% committed on the pitch. He is liked by all and I am never talking about him for the wrong reasons i.e. not doing enough on the pitch. The added responsibility will make him a better person on and off the pitch.

Henderson should concentrate on his fitness and football. Please tell me what Henderson has won at domestic or national level? He needs to focus on his fitness without the pressures of being a captain. There are bigger personalities than Henderson in the team. The way he walks around on the training pitch makes me sick as he has done absoutely nothing in the game to warrant such a title. Stripe him now Klopp. You need to make this decision before the season starts.

red_lion

 

Howe to replace Wenger?

Been hearing rumours that we’re looking at Eddie Howe as a potential replacement for Wenger.

Well, I always had an idea he would figure on that list. You just knew we would not go for big names, but for managers who show a bit of adventure with their style of football but, as per Gazidis’s quotes yesterday, the most important qualification will be whether they would be able (and willing) to manage in line with the club’s core values – basically, play aesthetic football that flatters to deceive (aka “winning football”), and do it on a pittance! If we win, great, but there will be no pressure as long as the cash keeps coming in!

Always figured Sampaoli, Le Favre, Tuchel, Clement (before his spell at Derby, which has probably raised a few question marks about him as a manager) and Howe would make the shortlist. Never Klopp, Guardiola or any of those wishful thoughts! Is Sampaoli too big a name, perhaps? He’s at Sevilla now, regardless, and is clamouring for the Argie job even though he only started in June!

Anyway, on the one hand, it’s good that we’re not waiting for Wenger to pull a Fergie before we start the process. On the other hand, I expect more of the same regardless of who we get. The best we can hope for is that it’s a manager with a bit more all-round competence and less ego to actually make a lot more of the resources made available than Wenger has!

barber_

Eddie Howe: Reluctant to criticise Bournemouth

Chance for Chelsea’s youth

Pre-season always see a lot of youth involved for obvious reasons, however Conte looks and sounds to be very open minded to giving our youth prospects first team game time. Ola Aina, who we almost lost on a free a few weeks ago, has played the most minutes bar Begovic pre season and has largely impressed on either flank.

I remember watching him last year pre season and thinking him and Moses were our best players.

With Baba failing to fully convince and Brana out injured, it is a huge chance for the kid. I wonder whether he will be given the chance to take it or we will dip back into the market? My preference would be the former but it would take a very brave/reckless manager indeed to head into the season with our current defensive options. Full back & wing backs are thin.

CB’s – I expect to see Papy, Hector, and possibly Miazga depart. Could this also mean another chance for Chalobah? I hope he still has a future. Hard to believe he is still only 21.

super frankie

 

Jese a cheaper alternative to Morata?

What do you guys think? He’s versatile too, although I would prefer us to sign a specialist striker – you know how Wenger is, I bet he tells a lot of players that potentially come to Arsenal that you may have to play out wide and that’s what puts them off joining us. Anyway, the one I wanted was Moratta but that’s not happening now. Personally, in all the times I’ve seen Jese play, I’ve been impressed with his cameos. Rather direct and nippy, I think he could do well. Still very, very young too.

the bsm walk

 

Lazar Markovic: Set to leave Liverpool this summer

Can Markovic still succeed?

I came in late to one of our pre-season games and the first thing I saw was Markovic slaloming around three or four players with the ball at pace. That is the Markovic we all know and love. Unfortunately he hasn’t shown enough and hasn’t been given the opportunity to express it either by managers and because of injuries.

This boy has real talent, I love the way he dribbles with pace with his head up (unlike Sterling).

I think a lot of it looks like confidence issues. He doesn’t seem to gel into the team, but then what do you expect? I remeber when people were calling Firmino a complete waste of money in the first few games, after he became acclimatised to the premiership he got into his stride and became confident. And thats Firmino getting stick, a regular best player contender from the strong German league!

Markovic came from Portuguese league where they play at a slower pace and I think like some foreign players he has struggled to adapt. Also Rogers used him initially in some weird positions that probably wasn’t suited to his natural game.

I personally think we should keep him but if we ge get a serious 15 million plus offer it might be difficult to justify keeping him especially as the likes of even Ojo are probably ahead of him, which I disagree with. Also, I actually prefer Markovic to Lallana, Markovic dribbles with purpose and intent and you can tell it is instinctive dribbling rather than the contrived shenanigans that Lallana entertains us with. Liverpool is known for loving players with great technical ability, we all love skill and dribbling and Markovic is that type of player, however I agree he definitely needs more game time and maybe a stint in the gym to improve his strength and aggression. I think having a fellow countryman in Grujic will also help him to settle and the assistant liverpool manager is also from Serbia I think?

Ultimately I say keep him for this season at least and if he doesn’t show signs of improvement then obviously we’d have to let him go but definitely there is a brilliant player in there waiting to be opened up. Sometimes you sell a young player and youre not too bothered but I really do think if we sell him we will regret it years down the line. I think he has that much potential…What do others think, sell or keep?

mwake

 

EFL Trophy farce

Terrible idea and it’s not wanted by fans across L1 and L2. Crowds will be incredibly low and clubs already strapped for cash will end up losing even more money. The idea if this trophy is supposed to give the lower league clubs the chance of silverware and a trip to Wembley but the bookies already have the Premiership clubs as all the favorites to win the competition.

It initially went to a club vote, but clubs were lied to during the planning stage. First they were assured all Premiership clubs will be involved, then they said it will be U21 players only.

Now we have seen the bigger clubs pulling out and 3 over 21 players allowed to compete. Peterboro chairman is now on record saying had he had known this he would never have voted yes.

Word is westham are now looking to break the rules already (no surprise there) and are refusing to have any games played at the taxpayers stadium as is it will cost them money !! Instead they want the 3 teams they are facing to carry the losses at their own grounds.

Even the draw was a farce, in the southern section Millwall were kept apart from Chelsea and westham by being put into different pots so instead ended up drawing WBA 140 miles away. How is that right? No one from either club will have any interest in that fixture. Competition is a joke, it will be boycotted by supporters across the country and scrapped completely next season.

NOLU