Lallana's Left Peg Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 At £8m I'm assuming we didn't sign Lovren to watch Premier League football from the bench. It is probably fair to say that all things being equal he will start for us. But who do you think will partner him? Yoshida - probably our best centre-back over the course of the season but fell out of favour towards the end of the season (perhaps he got tired?). Reads the game well, competes well, but not the biggest and distribution not great. Hooiveld - bad start, fell out of the team, but came back very strongly under Pochettino towards the end of the season where it seemed like it would be a choice of who would partner him rather than whether he would even play. Distribution not great and prone to getting a bit nervous at times. Fonte - bad start, but appeared to play much better when Yoshida came in. Suffered a bad injury in January but came back into the team well when asked and put in some assuring performances towards the back end of the season. But a theme developing here - bad distribution as well. Forren - who knows how good he is but was signed with a report card that suggested he was a 'modern' centre half who can pass the ball very well and start attacks. Appears to be incredibly slow as well. Oh, and to further complicate matters Lovren is right footed but in the stuff I've seen of him he appeared to play as the left-sided centre-half for Lyon. So for those of you who like balance in the back four that is another conundrum. I've no idea who I would make favourite to partner Lovren, but assuming Lovren is good enough in the air and can also pass it well, for some reason I think Yoshida may well start as his partner. What does the forum think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 I think it will be Yoshida who parners Lovren with Fonte fighting Forren for a place on the bench - and Hooiveld will be moved on before the summers end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
110_Persaint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Yoshida 1st choice no question about it. A different class to all the rest. Fonte to partner him in the first few games. Depending on performances may rotate him with Hooiveld later on in the season. Honestly from what I've seen so far from both Forren and Lovren I can't believe a total of £12m was shelled out for that dross. What a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMikey Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Think Lovren is more comparable to Hooiveld than any of the others in terms of playing style and build, so I would be tempted to partner him with Yoshida for his reading of the game and being quite comfortable on the ball than the others. Fonte/Forren/Hooiveld are good options to have to rotate, I would have Fonte on the bench purely because he knows the team and is a good leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr X Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Yoshida 1st choice no question about it. A different class to all the rest. Fonte to partner him in the first few games. Depending on performances may rotate him with Hooiveld later on in the season. Honestly from what I've seen so far from both Forren and Lovren I can't believe a total of £12m was shelled out for that dross. What a joke. what exactly have you seen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Lovren hasn't played yet mate? Only joined the club today?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
110_Persaint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 what exactly have you seen? Plenty of archived videos of Lovren in the champions league and Ligue 1. Watched highlights and snippets (including an entire game vs Madrid). Soooooooo error prone! Does not fill me with confidence at all. The U21's Liverpool game for Forren and while decent on the ball, his positioning and general defending off the ball is absolutely appalling and he will get raped by top quality prem strikers IMO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Christ. It's beyond belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katalinic Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Plenty of archived videos of Lovren in the champions league and Ligue 1. Watched highlights and snippets (including an entire game vs Madrid). Soooooooo error prone! Does not fill me with confidence at all. The U21's Liverpool game for Forren and while decent on the ball, his positioning and general defending off the ball is absolutely appalling and he will get raped by top quality prem strikers IMO! Wow extensive analysis - we may as well sell him now he is clearly terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katalinic Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Christ. It's beyond belief. It's just (not very good) trolling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr X Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Plenty of archived videos of Lovren in the champions league and Ligue 1. Watched highlights and snippets (including an entire game vs Madrid). Soooooooo error prone! Does not fill me with confidence at all. The U21's Liverpool game for Forren and while decent on the ball, his positioning and general defending off the ball is absolutely appalling and he will get raped by top quality prem strikers IMO! So you've made up your mind already then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patred44 Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Have you all forgotten that Wanyama can also play at centre back ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 I think it will be Stephens and Martin in the middle Seriously hope its Yoshi, by far our best CB from last season. Just don't ask him to play RB or LB. Whoever gets to play has to hope they don't have to play alongside Fox otherwise they will look useless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raging Bull Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Have you all forgotten that Wanyama can also play at centre back ?? No, but he hasn't signed yet and I'm not convinced he will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasgow_Saint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 I wondered when you'd show up..... Sent you a friend request so you can always see when im online. In answer to the OP, think Lovren and Yoshi will start the season. Hoping im wrong about Forren, but so far what ive seen he looks very average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katalinic Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Sent you a friend request so you can always see when im online. In answer to the OP, think Lovren and Yoshi will start the season. Hoping im wrong about Forren, but so far what ive seen he looks very average. Come on Glasgow you know I've already turned you down once x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuncanRG Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 I think it's fairly obvious to everyone that it will be either Yoshida or Forren, but since Forren hasn't played yet nobody really knows who would suit or who Pochettino has in mind. It's strange, because they're all new signings so you'd imagine there's plans for all three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smirking_Saint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Plenty of archived videos of Lovren in the champions league and Ligue 1. Watched highlights and snippets (including an entire game vs Madrid). Soooooooo error prone! Does not fill me with confidence at all. The U21's Liverpool game for Forren and while decent on the ball, his positioning and general defending off the ball is absolutely appalling and he will get raped by top quality prem strikers IMO! You really are a complete spanner arent you ?! FWIW I think it'll be Yoshi, reads game v well, average pace and started to distribute a lot better. Hopefully a pre season will fill him out a little bit. Still dont know much about forren, which is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smirking_Saint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 So you've made up your mind already then? Beautiful irony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simo Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 Isnt Maya rubbish and not good enough for us ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadhall Saint Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 MP may well play 3 CBs then who would line up with Lovren? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor Posted 8 July, 2013 Share Posted 8 July, 2013 What I can't understand is why the club pays good money in wages to coaches and scouts when we have far better assessors of football talent sitting in the stadium or following the club on their computers, who could do the job for nothing. And to think that some of these people employed by the club to check on players hold coaching badges and spend hours watching live games, whereas people with no badges at all can do a better job watching video clips on You Tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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