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Defectors Watch

adrian lord

By adrian lord,
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The Cat

The Cat

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My 5yo old likes to ask "who would win if" and then picks 2 teams to play each other. This morning he asked what the score would be if Liverpool played England. While explaining the whole club/country thing to him (again) the 9yo piped up with "but which team would Lallana play for and which bench would Lambert sit on "

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SaintTex

SaintTex

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http://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-united-blog/68/post/2144746/adam-lallana-looks-lost-at-liverpool

 

Adam Lallana looks lost at Liverpool in a season of struggle at Anfield

 

Mario Balotelli might be a peripheral on-field presence for Liverpool, but he is providing a decent service for a number of his colleagues. At 16 million pounds, he is the risky signing who looks unlikely to pay off, while also being the lightning rod for criticism as his new club struggles to emulate last season's achievements, when they finished second in the Premier League. Adam Lallana might be thankful that the Italian has not lost his ability to be the headline-maker.

 

Balotelli was actually something of a late-window afterthought. The triple signing from Southampton was the true centrepiece of Liverpool's summer business. Dejan Lovren has suffered a torrid few months. The attempted elegance of his play has looked a poor fit for a defence suffering from an inability to get the basics done. A 20 million-pound price tag fits him uneasily.

 

Rickie Lambert, meanwhile, made an emotional return in the summer to a club that rejected him as a youth but looks lost in those emotions as he continues to await his first Liverpool goal. This week saw Lambert join up with the England squad, which says much about the national team's shortage of striking talent.

 

Lambert is accompanied in the England squad by Lallana, who cost Liverpool nine million pounds more than Balotelli, and has been perhaps even more disappointing, yet something of a footnote to Liverpool's season.

 

At 26, and unlike the 20-year-old Serbian winger Lazar Markovic who arrived from Benfica for around 20 million pounds, Lallana was not signed for his potential. Having captained Southampton for the past two campaigns, he is a not a player arriving on an unfamiliar frontier. He was on the six-man shortlist for the PFA player of the 2013-14 season, which was won by Luis Suarez.

 

The expectation is that Lallana could make an impact imminently, but Brendan Rodgers' selections suggest that he is yet to force himself into his manager's reckoning and he has been an unused substitute in their last two Premier League outings. Though there continues to be considerable speculation about the actions of Liverpool's "transfer committee," all three of the signings from Southampton are believed to be ones that Rodgers pushed through and wanted in his squad.

 

The months since have seen Lambert and Lallana fail to win over their manager. Lambert is damned by not being employed as a Plan B when Plan A's failings are suggested by Liverpool's poor "goals for" column. And having missed the opening weeks of the season with a knee injury sustained during the club's summer tour, Lallana has since failed to break into a midfield unit that has equally struggled. Only in October's drawn Merseyside derby with Everton did Lallana threaten to make anything like a telling impact. The contributions have been fitful at best.

 

Rodgers gave a very public demonstration of his first-choice in that two-tiered selection for the Real Madrid and Chelsea games. Lallana played well in the 1-0 defeat to Madrid yet was an unused substitute in the following Premier League match. The club's biggest summer signing was not used in the game that Rodgers' juggling act had suggested as his priority. Though Lambert was thrown on in the closing minutes against Chelsea for a contribution best recalled for a clumsy theatrical dive, Lallana was not trusted to try and pin back Chelsea's midfield dominance and Liverpool lost 2-1.

 

"The manager has brought players in and he's confident we're good enough to perform," said Lallana in Madrid, where he and his colleagues had been creditable in defeat, before seven of them were swiftly dropped again.

 

Lallana was a classic Rodgers signing in that his skill set allows him to play a number of positions, including from the flanks. Each transfer window sees Rodgers target such players, and Lallana and Markovic joined Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho in offering such capabilities, but neither have supplanted last season's favoured duo in the wide positions.

 

A central role, of the type he regularly excelled in Southampton's midfield, has not been available to him, either. Lallana's long runs from deep were a feature of his hometown club's excellence last season, but such a function is currently fulfilled by Jordan Henderson or Sterling when Rodgers pushes him centrally. Perhaps a vacancy might arise when Steven Gerrard is given one of his scheduled rests but none of the positions in Liverpool's midfield quintet look readily destined for Lallana.

 

"One thing that's great about Liverpool is our core of English players," Lallana told NBC last week. "I think we'll grow together as a group for England."

 

Yet England manager Roy Hodgson cannot have been offered much succour by the performances of a Liverpool contingent that is now key to the national team. England's last matches saw him embroiled in a row over Sterling's energy levels, and now he must try and get performances from players for whom confidence can only be slipping.

 

On the eve of England's World Cup campaign, Lallana was widely expected to be a first-choice selection, yet ended up losing his place to the reshuffle that gave Sterling the No. 10 role. Lallana's star continues to slide after his slow settling-in process.

 

It is beginning to look as if Liverpool have spent 25 million pounds on a player for whom Rodgers does not have a vacancy for, even in a season of such struggle.

 

 

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Danbert

Danbert

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Wanting to maintain some objectivity and not cloud my judgment of Russell Brown (actually I have always had the same thoughts even when he was with us), but the clothes are really chavvy trash at ridiculously high prices. Seriously, his clothing range is embarrassingly shït

 

My thoughts exactly :scared:

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Marsdinho

Marsdinho

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Was listening to talk****e on the way to work this morning when Alan Brazil spoke about rumours he had heard from various Spurs sources. Apparently, Daniel Levy is constantly texting poch about why isnt he playing certain players, and questioning team selection. Also, a few of the players arent happy with poch and want to leave as a result........and that Poch could be gone in Jan.

 

Brazil made a point of the fact that this has come from various sources.

 

Funny as, if true!

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doddisalegend

doddisalegend

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Was listening to talk****e on the way to work this morning when Alan Brazil spoke about rumours he had heard from various Spurs sources. Apparently, Daniel Levy is constantly texting poch about why isnt he playing certain players, and questioning team selection. Also, a few of the players arent happy with poch and want to leave as a result........and that Poch could be gone in Jan.

 

Brazil made a point of the fact that this has come from various sources.

 

Funny as, if true!

 

According the BBC poch had this to say in his pre match press conference

 

On his job security and relationship with the chairman: "I chat to Daniel (Levy) everyday. I always feel the support from him and the club. I am happy here."

 

To me that sounds like a manager who is ****ed...........

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doddisalegend

doddisalegend

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01/07/14: "I've been granted my wish to play at such a fantastic club, playing in the Champions League and competing for Premier League titles." - Adam Lallana

 

21/11/14: - "I think we still feel we can finish in the top four, and that would be a remarkable achievement." - Adam Lallana

 

 

143 days...

 

:lol:

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david in sweden

david in sweden

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According the BBC poch had this to say in his pre match press conference

 

On his job security and relationship with the chairman: "I chat to Daniel (Levy) everyday. I always feel the support from him and the club. I am happy here."

 

To me that sounds like a manager who is ****ed...........

 

 

......now just waiting for the death knell of that infamous quote from the Spuds Board ...giving him their.. full and total confidence.....then he's got two weeks left and ...:rolleyes: it's adios Mauricio.

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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

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01/07/14: "I've been granted my wish to play at such a fantastic club, playing in the Champions League and competing for Premier League titles." - Adam Lallana

 

21/11/14: - "I think we still feel we can finish in the top four, and that would be a remarkable achievement." - Adam Lallana

 

 

143 days...

 

21/04/15: - "We are staying up, say we are staying up!!" - Adam Lallana

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sotonist

sotonist

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According the BBC poch had this to say in his pre match press conference

 

On his job security and relationship with the chairman: "I chat to Daniel (Levy) everyday. I always feel the support from him and the club. I am happy here."

 

To me that sounds like a manager who is ****ed...........

tranquilo.

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pap

pap

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Posted (edited)

 

Well, there's an interesting rumour. I wonder if my Twitter campaign was the final straw :)

 

I know we've had the "would you have Rickie back thread". We've always been told several times that journalists do not make stuff up.

 

He'd have something to prove, and definitely something to give. I'd have him back on the understanding he fights for his place.

Edited by pap
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david in sweden

david in sweden

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Well, there's an interesting rumour. I wonder if my Twitter campaign was the final straw :)

 

I know we've had the "would you have Rickie back thread". We've always been told several times that journalists do not make stuff up.

 

He'd have something to prove, and definitely something to give. I'd have him back on the understanding he fights for his place.

 

 

 

Koeman was asked the question in his Friday press conference, and he said NO.... it hadn't been discussed.

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colehillsaint

colehillsaint

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Well, there's an interesting rumour. I wonder if my Twitter campaign was the final straw :)

 

I know we've had the "would you have Rickie back thread". We've always been told several times that journalists do not make stuff up.

 

He'd have something to prove, and definitely something to give. I'd have him back on the understanding he fights for his place.

 

We are second in the league. Liverpool will not be lending us anything.

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Saint_clark

Saint_clark

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Probably harsh but i chuckled at Shaw going off injured. Our defectors are really having a sh*t time of it, Chambers aside.

Speaking of which i notice he's playing at RB for Arsenal now, have they given up with him at centreback or just no other options there?

Edit- just remembered Monreal played at centreback, he's a right back isn't he? Or a fullback at least. Strange from Wenger.

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beatlesaint

beatlesaint

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Probably harsh but i chuckled at Shaw going off injured. Our defectors are really having a sh*t time of it, Chambers aside.

Speaking of which i notice he's playing at RB for Arsenal now, have they given up with him at centreback or just no other options there?

Edit- just remembered Monreal played at centreback, he's a right back isn't he? Or a fullback at least. Strange from Wenger.

 

I saw the irony of Alex being the one to nobble him but not sure if that was the injury he went off with eventually.

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VectisSaint

VectisSaint

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Comical that absolutely no substance to it and yet will still get coverage. Complete denial by the manager still not enough to carry on reporting it as have a daily rumour mill to fill.

You have to remember that journos are used to getting complete denials from managers from the likes of Redkrapp, and so when a proper manager denies something they just think "Arry" and assume he is lying like their fav media whore.

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pap

pap

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Arsenal is a weird club these days. I'm not sure it's the best destination for our youngsters. Wenger's English rep was built on attacking football and introducing bright talents from overseas. I've seen the argument advanced that he also benefited from the old guard of defensively disciplined players he inherited upon assuming the post. Wouldn't really disagree with that.

 

If Tottenham was Bale's finishing school, Arsenal would seem to be a ruining school for our alumni. Frequently crocked and there are the nagging suspicions that none of them have reached their full potential and that some may never get there at all.

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Batman

Batman

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Arsenal is a weird club these days. I'm not sure it's the best destination for our youngsters. Wenger's English rep was built on attacking football and introducing bright talents from overseas. I've seen the argument advanced that he also benefited from the old guard of defensively disciplined players he inherited upon assuming the post. Wouldn't really disagree with that.

 

If Tottenham was Bale's finishing school, Arsenal would seem to be a ruining school for our alumni. Frequently crocked and there are the nagging suspicions that none of them have reached their full potential and that some may never get there at all.

 

I agree. Chamberlain is always in and out of the side. And he seems to be very content with that

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