Topic: The Anfield Wrap

[red_Mark1980]

Find it hard to believe that he was spouting bollocks disguised as insight cause he was Oswestrys assistant manager or whatevrry

And he's back.

[Yiannis]

In Their Shoes was an absolutely great show.

Sean Rogers recommended the following for Spurs:

Telling Pochettino he can go in a year and get Roberto De Zerbi (Sassuolo coach) to replace him next season.
Get Eriksen out the door now.
Sell Alderweireld, and all of their squad players.
Sell off their star striker and top goal scorer for the last four years and spend next year's budget on Callum Wilson and Moussa Marega who remain on loan at Bournemouth and Porto while Kane is "secretly" getting shoved out the door.
Sell their World Cup winning goalkeeper and putting Pablo Gazzaniga in goal for a year because he's just broken into the Argentina squad (1st choice Argentine goalie has been Sergio Romero for most of the last decade).
"Next summer make sure both penalty areas are sorted and limp along in the rest of the pitch, then do centre back and centre-mid and see where I am"

That's literally an absolutely fucking terrible plan.

Enjoyed Neil's Chelsea reboot though. And the immediate sacking of Solskjær

That's....that's the worst advice/plan I have ever heard about a team. Surely a piss-take. That's what an Arsenal fan would suggest to Spurs.

Senior spending about 150 million on a 40 million budget at Arsenal was a laugh. Morgan saying Garcia and Foden should get 60 games between them next season! They'll be lucky to get 10 starts between them in all comps, and rightly so.

 

[NotTooXabi12]

That's....that's the worst advice/plan I have ever heard about a team. Surely a piss-take. That's what an Arsenal fan would suggest to Spurs.

 

Absolutely embarrassing that

[LallanaInPyjamas]

In Their Shoes was an absolutely great show.

Sean Rogers recommended the following for Spurs:

Telling Pochettino he can go in a year and get Roberto De Zerbi (Sassuolo coach) to replace him next season.
Get Eriksen out the door now.
Sell Alderweireld, and all of their squad players.
Sell off their star striker and top goal scorer for the last four years and spend next year's budget on Callum Wilson and Moussa Marega who remain on loan at Bournemouth and Porto while Kane is "secretly" getting shoved out the door.
Sell their World Cup winning goalkeeper and putting Pablo Gazzaniga in goal for a year because he's just broken into the Argentina squad (1st choice Argentine goalie has been Sergio Romero for most of the last decade).
"Next summer make sure both penalty areas are sorted and limp along in the rest of the pitch, then do centre back and centre-mid and see where I am"

That's literally an absolutely fucking terrible plan.

Kane's been done for two years and is reverting to the mean, apparently. Could've sworn he scored 30 league goals in 2017/18.

[thekitkatshuffler]

I'm going to have to listen to this episode.  Sounds epic. 

[Red Viper]

The only part of the Spurs "in their shoes" I agreed with was cashing in on Kane. Could actually see the argument for doing that and using the money to re-invest heavily in the squad, big problem is though I'm not sure who'd actually pay the kind of money they'd want for him.

Senior's Arsenal plan was mental. Sacking Emery after one transitional season in which he still managed to finish fifth and get to a European final was particularly mad.

Was a good listen overall though. Made me realise just how much of a dumpster fire the rest of the top 6 are at the moment (City aside obviously).

[Qston]

And he's back.

Yup. Only pops up to have a go at Sean Rogers. Although on this occasion Sean did go somewhat "off piste" !

[XabiArt]

The only part of the Spurs "in their shoes" I agreed with was cashing in on Kane. Could actually see the argument for doing that and using the money to re-invest heavily in the squad, big problem is though I'm not sure who'd actually pay the kind of money they'd want for him.

Senior's Arsenal plan was mental. Sacking Emery after one transitional season in which he still managed to finish fifth and get to a European final was particularly mad.

Was a good listen overall though. Made me realise just how much of a dumpster fire the rest of the top 6 are at the moment (City aside obviously).

Agree with all of this, it was a good listen even if some of the plans are mad. Made you realise the state of our competition which is heartening.

City might be in a bit of bother in 12/24 months time. A long time away to upgrade the squad slowly but if they are under scrutiny about where this money is coming from they might have to calm themselves down. In my opinion they still need proper full backs on both sides, Walker isnt the level they want and Mendy cant stay fit, Fernandinho and Silva are about done, as will Aguero by then and I'm not sure they fancy Jesus enough to step into that role. Interesting to see how De Bruyne comes back from all his problems as well. So they have these potential issues coming up, probably at the same time as Pep leaving and a european ban which may prevent them signing first choice targets.


Honestly think we're in the healthiest position of every club in the country at the minute, on and off the pitch.

[lamonti]

I find it baffling how such a large contingent of RAWK thinks that Harry Kane is anything other than a brilliant player based largely on the way he talks and breathes and the fact that he's England captain.

164 in 253 games for Spurs, aged 25. It's akin to suggesting Liverpool would have been better off selling Gerrard in 2005 after Istanbul to reinvest in the squad.

[PaulSenior]

Senior's Arsenal plan was mental. Sacking Emery after one transitional season in which he still managed to finish fifth and get to a European final was particularly mad.

I really don’t think it was mental

Two keepers. 10m sell the other one. Their midfield is shite, sign Rabiot may be difficult, Ake & Lovren improve them. Gomes would do well, as would Fekir. Both attainable.

Arsenal also have big cash reserves, so spending 100m wouldn’t hurt them one bit.

[Sinos]

I really don’t think it was mental

Two keepers. 10m sell the other one. Their midfield is shite, sign Rabiot may be difficult, Ake & Lovren improve them. Gomes would do well, as would Fekir. Both attainable.

Arsenal also have big cash reserves, so spending 100m wouldn’t hurt them one bit.

They spunked a significant mount of their cash reserves on Aubameyang, Lacazette and resigning Ozil to that contract

[Sinos]

I really don’t think it was mental

Two keepers. 10m sell the other one. Their midfield is shite, sign Rabiot may be difficult, Ake & Lovren improve them. Gomes would do well, as would Fekir. Both attainable.

Arsenal also have big cash reserves, so spending 100m wouldn’t hurt them one bit.

Here is Swiss Rambles breakdown of their finances https://twitter.com/swissramble/status/1088795525472755717?lang=en

[Kashinoda]

I find it baffling how such a large contingent of RAWK thinks that Harry Kane is anything other than a brilliant player based largely on the way he talks and breathes and the fact that he's England captain.

164 in 253 games for Spurs, aged 25. It's akin to suggesting Liverpool would have been better off selling Gerrard in 2005 after Istanbul to reinvest in the squad.

Yeah but have you seen the way he talks?

[KillieRed]

I find it baffling how such a large contingent of RAWK thinks that Harry Kane is anything other than a brilliant player based largely on the way he talks and breathes and the fact that he's England captain.

164 in 253 games for Spurs, aged 25. It's akin to suggesting Liverpool would have been better off selling Gerrard in 2005 after Istanbul to reinvest in the squad.

I get your point, they should probably keep him.

Personally, i dont like him because he has carte blanche to dive in the EPL & free ride with the media. I also don`t think he`d be able to play with us.

[Alisson Wonderland]

Only just listened to In Their Shoes and thought Neil's take on Chelsea was absolutely brilliant! I'm sure he made up a few of those loan players though 

[lamonti]

I get your point, they should probably keep him.

Personally, i dont like him because he has carte blanche to dive in the EPL & free ride with the media. I also don`t think he`d be able to play with us.

There's a difference between not liking him and convincing yourself that he's not a top class goal-plunderer. I think he's really quite adept at dropping deep and playing in fast lads running beyond him – it's how he set up the goal they scored against us at Anfield this year, and how he set up the best chance that Spurs had in Madrid. Quick thinking and a brilliant ball to the full back/Heung-min Son and to create something out of nothing.

He could definitely do with a rest and not having someone destroy his ankle ligaments sure for 12 months in a row, but he's absolutely goal mad. He's on 202 career goals, scoring left, right and head, pens, free kicks.

[XabiArt]

The Mino Raiola theme music was absolute genius on today’s show. I was expecting him to walk in like on the wrestling. Had me in stitches.

[gwalk]

Was listening to one of the Alphabet Soup shows earlier and for 'O' one of the topics was Origi (bear in mind this came out in November)

Guttman said that Origi would still have a massive contribution to make for liverpool, some shout that considering most had forgotten him until he appeared against Everton

[TepidT2O]

I loved in their shoes.

It’s impossible to do that for  another club completely impassionatley, we’ve got too much skin in the game supporting the reds.

Still, it brought home what a strong position we currently are in, the 3rd-6th placed times have got 99 problems. 

[Alan_X]

I find it baffling how such a large contingent of RAWK thinks that Harry Kane is anything other than a brilliant player based largely on the way he talks and breathes and the fact that he's England captain.

164 in 253 games for Spurs, aged 25. It's akin to suggesting Liverpool would have been better off selling Gerrard in 2005 after Istanbul to reinvest in the squad.

Gerrard:
    FA Cup: 2000–01, 2005–06
    Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2011–12
    FA Community Shield: 2006
    UEFA Champions League: 2004–05
    UEFA Cup: 2000–01
    UEFA Super Cup: 2001

Kane:
    Football League Cup runner-up: 2014–15
    UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2018–19

He's an excellent striker but you can't compare him to Gerrard. There's a good argument that Spurs would be as good if not better as a team if Kane was replaced by a player that brought more people into the game and wasn't so obsessed with his personal records.

[lamonti]

Gerrard:
    FA Cup: 2000–01, 2005–06
    Football League Cup: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2011–12
    FA Community Shield: 2006
    UEFA Champions League: 2004–05
    UEFA Cup: 2000–01
    UEFA Super Cup: 2001

Kane:
    Football League Cup runner-up: 2014–15
    UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2018–19

He's an excellent striker but you can't compare him to Gerrard. There's a good argument that Spurs would be as good if not better as a team if Kane was replaced by a player that brought more people into the game and wasn't so obsessed with his personal records.

His stature at Spurs is definitely comparable to Gerrard's at Liverpool mid-00s.

And someone who brings more people into play (which Kane also does) isn't going to replace the gigantic hole in their goals-for column every season.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

The only part of the Spurs "in their shoes" I agreed with was cashing in on Kane. Could actually see the argument for doing that and using the money to re-invest heavily in the squad, big problem is though I'm not sure who'd actually pay the kind of money they'd want for him.

Cashing in on England's number one striker for England's number three striker - who is just as injury prone and 18 months older - would be an absolutely terrible plan.

I find it baffling how such a large contingent of RAWK thinks that Harry Kane is anything other than a brilliant player based largely on the way he talks and breathes and the fact that he's England captain.

164 in 253 games for Spurs, aged 25. It's akin to suggesting Liverpool would have been better off selling Gerrard in 2005 after Istanbul to reinvest in the squad.

It's absolutely crazy. People who don't rate him should be made to go look at his Wikipedia stats section. 21, 25, 29, 30, 17 league goals in his five seasons. It's van Nistelrooy-like and he's a much more rounded player than horseface ever was during his time in England.

[stewy17]

Harry Kane isn't a world class footballer and will never be the talisman of an elite football team.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Harry Kane isn't a world class footballer and will never be the talisman of an elite football team.

Depends how you define world-class and elite. He's been top scorer every season for a side which has finished 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in one of the best two leagues in the world the past five years. So he's probably already achieved that to be honest.

[1964allezallezallez]

Cashing in on England's number one striker for England's number three striker - who is just as injury prone and 18 months older - would be an absolutely terrible plan.

It's absolutely crazy. People who don't rate him should be made to go look at his Wikipedia stats section. 21, 25, 29, 30, 17 league goals in his five seasons. It's van Nistelrooy-like and he's a much more rounded player than horseface ever was during his time in England.

Yes, but he’s their main penalty taker

4 in 18/19
2 in 17/18
5 in 16/17
5 in 15/16

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Yes, but he’s their main penalty taker

4 in 18/19
2 in 17/18
5 in 16/17
5 in 15/16

Wow. Gigantic proportion. I take it back, he's shite.

[Jookie]

Harry Kane isn't a world class footballer and will never be the talisman of an elite football team.

Kane is a world class goal scorer. He also plays for a team that could be considered within the Top 10 in the last 3 years or so. He's also got a good record at international level (22 in 39) though the standard of teams can be poorer. European football is a better indicator of his goal scoring ability (24 in 50 throughout his career).

Is Kane a World class player? That's so broad a description that he'll fall into that bracket for some people and not others.

If you don't view Kane as a World Class player where do you rank him? How would you relate him to someone like Robbie Fowler or Fernando Torres? Fowler is someone with a similar goal scoring record at his peak but didn't have the international or European record to match Kane. Torres was definitely a more elegant player but scoring wise Kane is his equal in terms of goal scoring when both at their peak.

[Alisson Wonderland]

Cashing in on England's number one striker for England's number three striker - who is just as injury prone and 18 months older - would be an absolutely terrible plan.

Yep that was pretty ridiculous, unless Wilson is another Jessie Lingard where people think he is still a promising young player.  What makes it worse is that he was signing him for 2020/21 and not even the upcoming season 

The show was supposed to be in their shoes, not in our shoes how would you destroy a rival

[stewy17]

I think he's a very good footballer and yes his goalscoring record is exceptional. My point about him is that, in my opinion, a modern team which plays in the way that Liverpool, City, Barcelona etc (and probably how Pochettino would like to play) cannot really accommodate Kane and get the best out of the team.

Kane requires a team to be built around him and catered to his strengths but he is not a player who is worthy of building a team around if said team has ambitions of winning titles.

I don't think that he's a player who Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus or Bayern Munich (in addition to the clubs above) would be particularly interested in and whilst I can see him going to United at some point in the next couple of seasons it would not particularly concern me.

Scored loads, won zip.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

I think he's a very good footballer and yes his goalscoring record is exceptional. My point about him is that, in my opinion, a modern team which plays in the way that Liverpool, City, Barcelona etc (and probably how Pochettino would like to play) cannot really accommodate Kane and get the best out of the team.

Kane requires a team to be built around him and catered to his strengths but he is not a player who is worthy of building a team around if said team has ambitions of winning titles.

I don't think that he's a player who Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus or Bayern Munich (in addition to the clubs above) would be particularly interested in and whilst I can see him going to United at some point in the next couple of seasons it would not particularly concern me.

Scored loads, won zip.

Tottenham play a high-press, modern style for the most part (albeit, to my naked eye at least, to a lesser extent this season as their legs and numbers dwindled in midfield) and it works absolutely fine with Kane as the furthest forward player on the pitch.

What makes him so different to Benzema, Cavani, Ronaldo/Mandzukic and Lewandowski who have spearheaded those four sides you've mentioned in the same five year period? They obviously all have different characteristics, but they're all 6ft+ centre forwards who specialise in scoring goals as well as creating space and chances for faster team-mates around them.

As for the bold, so did Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez for us, but I don't recall anyone denying that they were top-class centre-forwards.

[stewy17]

Tottenham play a high-press, modern style for the most part (albeit, to my naked eye at least, to a lesser extent this season as their legs and numbers dwindled in midfield) and it works absolutely fine with Kane as the furthest forward player on the pitch.

What makes him so different to Benzema, Cavani, Ronaldo/Mandzukic and Lewandowski who have spearheaded those four sides you've mentioned in the same five year period? They obviously all have different characteristics, but they're all 6ft+ centre forwards who specialise in scoring goals as well as creating space and chances for faster team-mates around them.

As for the bold, so did Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez for us, but I don't recall anyone denying that they were top-class centre-forwards.

Going around the houses a little and off on tangents to be honest. I never compared him to Torres or Suarez whilst at Liverpool so loathe to get dragged into that one but my statement is that he'd never be a talisman of an elite team and I stand by that.

In answer to your first paragraph, yeah it works well for Tottenham but they are not an elite team (and my argument is that they won't progress to that, with Kane).

I won't go through the list of players you've asked how he compares to because I think they're all very different circumstances and teams. He does not compare to Ronaldo or Lewandowski (who are actual main men/talisman) at all. The main difference then between him and the others are trophies and success (tho again, I'd argue that Mandzukic, Cavani and Benzema have not been the main man at one of the big boys).

I guess time will tell but basically I didn't find Sean's theory on Kane to be too wild.

[Sinos]

All this League Cup chat is nice until we all get to Feb and realise that they want £75  for a ticket to the dog biscuits cup final in Feb. We have bigger fish to fry because the final league game is the 17/05, the FA cup is the 23/05 and the European Cup is 30/05, so we will have a full 3 game a week schedule from Feb onwards to make full use of our squad

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Going around the houses a little and off on tangents to be honest. I never compared him to Torres or Suarez whilst at Liverpool so loathe to get dragged into that one but my statement is that he'd never be a talisman of an elite team and I stand by that.

In answer to your first paragraph, yeah it works well for Tottenham but they are not an elite team (and my argument is that they won't progress to that, with Kane).

I won't go through the list of players you've asked how he compares to because I think they're all very different circumstances and teams. He does not compare to Ronaldo or Lewandowski (who are actual main men/talisman) at all. The main difference then between him and the others are trophies and success (tho again, I'd argue that Mandzukic, Cavani and Benzema have not been the main man at one of the big boys).

I guess time will tell but basically I didn't find Sean's theory on Kane to be too wild.

Are we? I felt I was replying reasonably directly to your points, to be honest. I find trophy arguments when discussing individual players to be pretty reductive, personally. Nicky Butt was an industrious, tidy enough central midfielder but he wasn't fit to lace Steven Gerrard's boots. Yet he won considerably more major honours than Gerrard, unfortunately. I think we can surely both agree this didn't make Butt a better player. Of course individual players can do their part to influence the collective, but a lot of success boils down to right time, right place, like all walks of life, but especially in football when 'success' at the elite level is so limited, often to the richest side or two, which clearly Spurs aren't, and indeed we weren't in Gerrard's era.

Back to Kane specifically, I just find the bold type of attitude which yourself, Sean and so many observers put across on him a little baffling; as if the 'one season wonder' thing lives on with him four years later, despite all the statistical and empirical evidence available to us suggesting otherwise. The same thing occurred last summer with Salah from rival fans and we rightly laughed at it.   

[TepidT2O]

Right, enough of this nonsense.

Down to the really important stuff.

Transfers

I need to know when Rob is going on holiday.  This is usually a guarantee that we sign someone. So let us know his dates please folks at TAW towers, then we can pencil in the press conferences.

Cheers

[Iska]

basically I didn't find Sean's theory on Kane to be too wild.

It was a bit wild but a great listen.  And in fairness I think the other half of his argument is that Kane’s now-recurring ankle injuries are starting to look chronic in a very bad way for a top striker.

Not as good as Neil’s Chelsea though; if they hear it they should poach him and give it a go.  Robbo can fill in for him here ‘til he gets the sack.

[DangerScouse]

Just logged into the app for the first time but unable to access the premium content despite being a subscriber. Works fine through the website. Any ideas?

[Slick_Beef]

Just logged into the app for the first time but unable to access the premium content despite being a subscriber. Works fine through the website. Any ideas?

On the menu at the bottom, press the button on the right (profile). By going to this page it seems to refresh your subscription info and that fixed it for me

[gerrardsarmy]

Just logged into the app for the first time but unable to access the premium content despite being a subscriber. Works fine through the website. Any ideas?

On the menu at the bottom, press the button on the right (profile). By going to this page it seems to refresh your subscription info and that fixed it for me

This worked for me too.

[DangerScouse]

Nice one lads.

Slick Beef, as an aside, every time I see your username it reminds me of the greatest post in rawk history following Yossi's late winner against Fulham.

[Slick_Beef]

Nice one lads.

Slick Beef, as an aside, every time I see your username it reminds me of the greatest post in rawk history following Yossi's late winner against Fulham.

  Haha well remembered mate, that was 10 years ago!