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Liverpool FC Forum / Re: New Kit thread
« Last post by skidz73 on Today at 08:00:48 am »All of them look pretty uninspiring. The home one just harks back to the past and has nothing new to it. Nike kids have been shite to date.
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Former LFC Players / Re: Graeme Souness
« Last post by John C on Today at 07:59:59 am »Souness was Majestic. In crowded midfields, on muddy pitches he created all the time in the world, he had an arrogance, that only the truly great have, he'd take a half glance at opponents with utter disdain as they attempted to tackle him, as if to say what the fuck are you doing, you're not in my league, lad, and the thing was they knew it, you'd see the best crumble under that sideways look of dominance, because deep down they knew he was right, they weren't fit to lace his boots, they knew no matter how good they were, they were imposters in his company.
He's known for poleaxing players, probably the hardest I've seen on a football pitch but the word I'd associate him with is beauty, his movement, his anticipation, he did things you didn't think possible, he could stroke forty yard passes with the flair of an artist, or play simple passes no one else could see, because he read the game so well, he'd see the runs, he created time and space in the middle of mayhem and delivered time after time, a genius with a football, he was also unselfish, it could have been all about him, he was that good but he was always a team player, he made everyone around him look good. Never have I seen a footballer more like a manager on the pitch, he slowed it down, speeded it up, instinctively he dictated the tempo, knew what to do and when to do it., he should have had a baton he was in that much control. I'd argue a more complete football player than Gerrard. Remember him putting Jimmy Case on the floor when he was playing for Borough, he shocked Anfield, there was a collective intake of breathe around the ground, we were shocked and taken aback, you didn't do that to Case he was a hard man, hardest we had and souness had him on the floor, begging him to get up for a bit more on his home turf. Borough beat us two nil and I couldn't take my eyes of Souness he ran the game, two seasons later Paisley signed him. You always had the feeling Gerrard no matter how good, never quite knew his role in the team, he was the best player and led by example, where as Souness , never doubted his role and and lead the team.
Don't be fooled by the pundit or his managerial failure, he was the nearest I've seen to the complete footballer, a true leader who was wouldn't let standards slip but was generous of spirit, sense if someone was struggling and would pull them out the shit, move over cover their position as well, play two positions if needed, he invented cheating on positions, it's a real pity loads of our games weren't televised and most of the YouTube clips emphasise how hard he was because he was poetic at times and yes the same fella would have laughed at the likes of Keane and what went for a hardman later, before snapping him in two without a thought, but what is often missed is the beauty, his football genius. Souness the player I'd argue was the greatest I've seen in a Liverpool shirt, although for a season I did hear the siren call of Suarez, but that's is like comparing a firework to a bombfire one catches the eye for a while but one is so much more substantial in everyway
What was the view at the time when we signed Souness? Was he seen as the next big thing and did people expect him to be as good as he was? Grown up hearing all about how incredible he was but how was he at Middlesbrough? And did he not make it at Spurs because he was homesick rather than footballing reasons?
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Cant’t answer that without the context, I could write a book on it but the simple answer was football was different then, you didn’t expect to hoover up the rising talent because of who you were. Notts Forrest and Ipswich could build fantastic teams, you could be the fantastic player in a team and the team was built around you. There wasn’t the same financial pressures, we were just about coming out the age of local factory owners and prestige projects. Souness was great at Borough but unproven, there wasn’t 24/7 foootball, European teams were exotic, you only knew any players from the World Cup, if you didn’t go the game your football knowledge was limited to Match of the day or sportsnight Wasn’t a great fuss when we signed him rarely was but when he played with a team on his level it was immediately obvious. Dalglishs runs Hansens intelligence at the back a team built to be a machine had a new leader. Not good writing this feel like me Dad
Interesting thing about Souness was that he was 25 when he joined Liverpool. He wasn't some 21 year old kid who blossomed over time.
He'd played over 200 games for Middlesborough before joining Liverpool though some of that in the 2nd Division.
I've spoken to my old man about this previously. He was a home and away following the Reds everywhere, and his genuine assessment was that you didn't really know how good Souness was at Boro. You'd maybe seen him 4 or 5 times when playing against Liverpool and very brief highlights on MOTD. There wasn't much detail to go on despite the transfer fee being a record between English clubs at the time.
That feels a bit odd nowadays because we all have some awareness of virtually every PL player and quite likely players in the top leagues outside of England. I think even in the late 80's the knowledge of players outside of your immediate club wasn't amazing. For example, John Barnes. I choose Barnes because he was similar age (24) when he joined Liverpool and had played nearly 300 games previously for Watford. I was also alive when Barnes joined Liverpool and can remember it! It's 10 years later than Souness but I'm not sure everyone knew how good Barnes was when we signed him. There was probably some more evidence due to Watford's FA Cup run, his goal against Brazil and football being on TV a bit more. Even still a player of that magnitude, who'd been playing top level football in the same country for years, was still a relative unknown in the mid to late 80's.
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General Football and Sport / Re: Bundesliga Thread
« Last post by OsirisMVZ on Today at 07:53:44 am »
I did find this an utterly stupid comment. He's fucking 35 years old, the goalkeeper is older than him. They've got all these parasitic ex-players in Exec and Director roles who should be "father figures" to the squad if they miss their daddies so much.
They've made up reasons to sack him.
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General Football and Sport / Re: The People's Club (I was saying Boo-urns)
« Last post by Original on Today at 07:43:06 am »5
General Football and Sport / Re: The People's Club (I was saying Boo-urns)
« Last post by 12C on Today at 07:41:33 am »The losses, even allowing for covid creativity, are enough evidence to show they broke the regulations
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General Football and Sport / Re: The People's Club (I was saying Boo-urns)
« Last post by harleydanger on Today at 07:41:12 am »I'll only be happy if they finish 17th on goal difference and then cop a 1pt deduction for FFP, sending them down
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General Football and Sport / Re: The People's Club (I was saying Boo-urns)
« Last post by LovelyCushionedHeader on Today at 07:37:44 am »So a club getting punished for being in financial disarray has the resources to stick a spanner in the works of the whole league. Ok lads.
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General Football and Sport / Re: The People's Club (I was saying Boo-urns)
« Last post by Statto Red on Today at 07:31:31 am »I know they've been referred to the independent commission, but what is the timescale going to be on coming to a final decision & on any punishment that's handed down?
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General Football and Sport / Re: Man City - cheating bastards rumbled
« Last post by Egyptian36 on Today at 07:29:29 am »Hopefully Tuchel does it again.
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Liverpool FC Forum / Re: Why we’ve been so mediocre and occasionally shit - but are deffo on the way back
« Last post by killer-heels on Today at 07:23:11 am »I absolutely believe by not winning the league it allowed us to get Klopp. I don’t think FSG would have sacked a title winning manager after one poor season.
Yep. Although the caveat I would put on that was that Klopp was on a sabbatical the season we got him and for all you believe, we were one of the few if any clubs that he broke that for, so he may have been still available near the latter part of 15/16.
Also important to note that we were what, 1/4 through the 15/16 season and hadn’t started well. Therefore whilst we wouldn’t have sacked Rodgers after one bad season and an average start, by the time we get to around Feb/March we could have been on for two bad seasons and then he would definitely be sacked.