Ian Garro

There's two sides to the debate about Hansen though isnt there ? Hansen the footballer, and Hansen the defender. Hansen was a superb footballer, with the ball at his feet he was brilliant. Hansen as an out and out defender wasnt brilliant. He struggled against a strong target man - Sharp, Hughes even Fashanu. Graeme Sharp in particular used to murder him. If you compare him to Lawrenson for example, Hansen was slow, couldnt tackle and wasnt great in the air. Lawrenson was quick, great in the air and a strong tackler - which is why they were so good together. On sheer footballing ability alone, though, there have been few better players than Hansen

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He's 24 isnt he ? I wish him the best of luck, but I think it was painfully obvious that he wasnt good enough.

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I didnt think he did that bad to be honest. He was better than anyone else in the defence.

Guys, Can we stop this now ? If you want to get back on topic fair enough, if you want to bicker between yourselves, can you swap email addresses or something, so the rest of us dont have to put up with it ? Cheers

Great post.

Good for you.

In your opinion. I dont agree with everything he has said in this thread, but he has only contributed to the debate. If you dont agree with him, fine - but you (and others) cant just dismiss an opinion because it doesnt match yours.

I dont get what the fuss is with Neill. He's a good solid defender in this league, was excellent in the World Cup and, I'm assuming, would be relatively cheap. All this "he broke Carras leg" business - grow up ! They're both professionals for Gods sake. As for him 'not apologising', as far as I remember he went into the dressing room to see Carra to apologise and was promptly told to f*** off by him. This thing about him being a 'dirty b*****d', we've had worse playing for us - have a look at some of Souness', Whelans and McMahons tackles over the years. In fact, Tommy Smith has made himself a legend talking about how "hard" he was.... If he came in, I think he'd do a good job - which is all people should be worried about, not "oooh Carra wouldnt like it" !!!!!!!

Good argument.

I'm not saying he cant do a defensive job - I know he can, it's just that I think his strength these days is driving the team forward - like he did in Istanbul, like he did in Cardiff, were both Didi and Momo looked after things behind him, so he was free of any defensive responsibility. His stamina and strength are not in question, just were he has to channel it. In my opinion the team is better served by using Gerrard as an attacking force free from constraint. Nowhere have I said he's anything like Totti or Riquelme, when the side is under pressure he will put the work in, the point I'm making is Gerrard is an attacking midfielder these days - and the best in the Country, probably Europe at that. Putting him in a conventional midfield 4 without either Momo or Xabi, effectively doubles his workload - so one side of his game is bound to suffer.

Is he better than Gerrard on the right ? If no -> no improvement.

Agreed. The post about why people were getting excited about Alves could be turned round to apply to Pennant, in as much as I'm surprised that so many people who have seen the lad play are excited about him signing. He's bog standard in my opinion, not great, but not s**** either and I just wonder whether he moves us on at all. Hope I'm wrong like.

The whole Gerrard right/centre thing is bogus. The fact is he is better when he plays WITH Momo and Xabi - whether on the right OR in the centre as this frees him up to play his natural, attacking game. He had the season of his life last year - and that was the first season where he didnt have to run around and try and do three or four different jobs. He is still our most important striking weapon and to drop one of Xabi and Momo would mean that he would take on more defensive responsibility, therefore detracting from his attacking. I think we may see him in the middle this season, but it would be with Momo and Xabi behind him as the midfield platform - and only one up front, with two pacey wingers, although I have to say, I think that system would have worked better with Alves rather than Pennant. How anyone can think of dropping either Xabi or Momo is beyond me.

Too much is made of this Basque/Madrid stuff. The fact is that if Real had tied up a deal earlier in the summer we signed Xabi, he would have gone there.

Is right. Good post. No passengers this year, no 'maybe he could do a job' men.

When was the last time Kewell played up front effectively ? His injuries have also taken their toll in the last couple of years. I dont think he'll be used as a striker again for Liverpool.

LOL, agree with all that - this thread has been like some parallel universe in which Djimi Traore was actually a decent player. It is not wrong to say you dont think he is a bad player, whether he's sold or not. It's not going against some childish 'lore of fandom'. In years to come I think he'll be mentioned on the same lines as Kvarme, Babb, Piechnik etc etc. His good fortune was to have won some medals whilst playing alongside good players at the top of their game (Carra, Hyypia and Finnan). Good luck and all that, but dont let the door hit your a*** on the way out.

Who was worse than him then ? Not necessarily disagreeing with you, just curious.

Is right. 100%. If he does go to Bolton, that should tell everyone everything they need to know about 'former England job candidate Sam "I'm a great manager me" Allardyce'. I imagine if he does go to Bolton, Didi will be delighted.

LOL, fair enough... thats me told

Why ?

Its a bit rich him criticising the refereeing as well. The standard hasnt been great, but he and FIFA have made that many 'suggestions' and fiddled with that many rules, that to then come out and slag the referees off is a disgrace. The players in the Portugal-Holland game were more to blame than anyone. But g******* here just wants to look like the good guy to everyone.