FC Showster

You're missing the point that in the modern game, with the rules as it stands, it is a bad thing for youth development programmes at large clubs to be producing young players who list tackling as one of their top two skills. A kid can be proud of their tackling and shooting but I'd prefer the culture of the youth team to be one where the players are more proud of skills which utilize the ball and make it more likely that they will be a first team footballer for this club. Tired inverted snobbery? Perhaps it was a fresh inverted snobbery years ago when our management talked about not sliding in because winning the ball when lying on your a*** left you unable to then use it properly. Or are you suggesting that the possession based style of Barca and Bayern is tired and snobbish and is about to be swept away by a refreshing 21st century Wimbledon? It's these skillful players that we need to develop, not only because they are the ones who are most likely to make us win stuff, but also because they're the most expensive on the open market. Tacklers are ten a penny. The worlds most expensive player is exactly that because he wouldn't list tackling as one of his two best attributes. It's his ability to run with the ball, technique with the ball to pass/cross/shoot that Madrid paid all that money for, not because they wanted to add more tackles to their front line. Let's look at other players who have went for huge money CRonaldo Neymar Kaka Zidane Figo throw in Messi because if became available he'd be up there Tackling gods, each and every one of them

It's not the fact that he rates himself good at tackling it's that he rates himself better at that than thing's involving the ball. And even within that it's a general symptom of the British culture of players being overly physical to cover for the fact that they are s***. Go in hard to show how much you want it because actually spending hour after hour honing your technique with the ball is a bit too much like hard work. Xabi has a valid point so ner

And maybe the youth player was a winger? Or a goalkeeper? You also spend half the game with the ball where your movement, passing, first touch, awareness will all be needed. Tackling? Not needed so much when you have the ball. Plus, when you don't have the ball you can use those same awareness skills you have to track runs, block easy passes, know when to press people and if the opposition's main skill is tackling, well, they'll quickly give you the ball back!

You've listed the crux of the issue but seem to have missed the point. Referees are clamping down on physical contact and hard tackling such that the era of Souness will never be seen again. But within the frame of reference that we have now, a lad from the youth team should be talking about his technique, first touch, finishing, reading of the game, passing etc as their strong qualities because as Jay Spearing has found out, running around a bit and liking a tackle isn't sufficient to play at the top level. "A desire to tackle shows a competitive spirit" - this reads so close to the failed British mantra of needing 'grit' and 'passion' that I'm not sure it isn't a joke I'd have said Rush was great at pressing and closing down rather than tackling with it being the pressure that got us the ball back via wayward passes or touches more so than him actually tackling the defender

"At Liverpool I used to read the matchday programme and you'd read an interview with a lad from the youth team. They'd ask: age, heroes, strong points, etc. He'd reply: 'Shooting and tackling'. I can't get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play" he was f***ing spot on

Toure had a big effect on Benteke imo - last season with Carra there instead he'd have had time to pick his spot but Kolo forced him to rush and stopped him going across goal

I said to friends when we bought him that he'd either be a world beater or horse s*** - nothing in between. He undoubtably has the talent but there were questions over his work rate and selfishness. Really looks to have bought into what Brendan is trying to do and I think the manager has to take great credit for this as well. Really put a shift in today on top of that great finish and hopefully he can stay fit and healthy all season

Marcotti wrote an article recently proposing a total revamp of live football in England and trying to use some sort of American model to show more games but only if an attendance requirement is met http://www.fsf.org.uk/blog/view/scrap-the-tv-ban-on-3pm-kick-offs

His shot stopping is obviously very good and the penalty rebound for me was a more impressive save than the penalty itself (he's up very quickly). I'd temper that with a jury's out for me on crosses until I see him more - I think he's looked a bit susceptible under the high ball but I'm only going on what I've seen for us which is only a limited sample. Good with the ball at his feet apart from once instance in the first half

Rapidly becoming my favourite player at the club. Lad's got the balls to take the kicks he'll get in England, get up, and hurt them with his skill

I don't think we did. Hate the little s*** and thought he was a terrible pundit on the bbc with an awful voice

I'm finding him more annoying than I expected

True, we dont know but I think there was a good few weeks between the two. I'd be surprised if we had reached agreements with them both and then took a few weeks to get the rest completed, esp. with the Valdes rumours and the lack of progress on the Reina front. Tito leaving Barca throws another spanner in the works now, will the new manager want Reina next year?

Sold to who? Valdes made his decision to stay at Barca well before we completed the signing and if there were other interested parties for Reina then where did they go? It looks like they thought he was going, lined up a replacement, and decided to buy the replacement after Barca's interest waned. I think we need to be adaptable than that

Even if you take Giroud out of the equation there was another Arsenal player goal side of Carragher who was waiting to finish it as well

Surely all those factors increase the reasons why you want to pick based on performance and not on reputation. If a player's legs have gone/are going then does it matter if that is at 31 or 35?

Yet the hallmark of the truly great Liverpool sides was that this was not the case

I'd say yes but other people have already answered. Not much he can do there. Has to position himself at the near post and was never getting back across goal to make the save. Looks bad that he's dived for it and not got it but dont think he's at fault at all this time

If Agger doesn't step out then he clears that cross easily before it gets to Fletcher. GJ's tackle was hardly worthy of the name

The only issue I have is the sound levels. Most of the time I cant listen to this on the way to/from work because any passing car drowns out the sound. I listen via an iPod and always boost the sound level in iTunes (ctrl + i) but it doesnt make a difference

I'd guess that the top coaches could watch 15-20 seconds of footage for a goal and identify who made the mistake. From the obvious blunders to the more subtle issues where a player gets themselves in the wrong position and is unable to recover properly. It just depends on their style as to how much time and effort they want to spent eradicating that. A Hodgson will spend hours drilling the team in 4-4-2 to get the shape right while other managers will spread that time around other areas to get a more rounded benefit.

Conceding possession in the other half comes in different types though and the nature of it affects the risk/reward. Luis Garcia was often accused of that because he was trying that final killer ball but to me it wasn't that big an issue as the midfield behind him wasn't massively exposed. Gerrard versus Arsenal was an unforunate situation where we were quite open with everyone expecting us to keep the ball and not ready to move back to a defensive shape and that was exploited. The Soviet one is just horrific as there's such a huge gap between defence and midfield and the mistake is by the most defensively positioned midfielder.

Mistake? Yes Losing the ball in the opposition half? Yes - his miscontrol took the entire Soviet midfield out of the game for that counter attack. Are you having a laugh? No, are you? Because If it's not a mistake then what is it - intentional? Good play by the Soviet midfielder? Great addition to the debate - keep up the good work

I think there's a happy medium between man marking Gerrard and leaving him with an acre of football pitch to himself. Perhaps I'm crazy and those are the only two possibilities Do I expect Hamann to be there? Not him necessarily but you'd want players to be more aware of someone arriving at the edge of the box and it's a mistake to allow that person too much time. Here's Van Basten's goal from 88 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4LX74PKUI He scores after 12 seconds of that clip. The mistake is in the first 5 seconds

Why is Gerrard allowed to be free in such a ridiculous amount of space? Why is Didi completely unchallenged as he strikes the ball on the edge of the area after a cross? Haven't looked at the Torres one in ages so don't remember the buildup or the positioning of the defence Regarding the Gerrard one, and this is a genuine question so apologies if this comes across the wrong way, do you not see that letting a player of Gerrard's quality have that much space in your half is a mistake?