A Little Bit Of What We Need On Tuesday

[Red_Al_77]

And for the last time, Rafa has said that Momo and Mascherano are not fighting for places.

Rafa does not use Momo as a holding midfielder and Mascherano is a holding midfielder.

Mascherano was bought to give Xabi competition. Now we just need someone to give Momo competition. Wonder why Rafa has not been down to the local park and found one.

Where did I say that? Read the post before you leap.

[ningnangnong]

Talk about a knee-jerk thread, everyone was praising Momo after the Barca game, know he's to **** to be starting.

[tomasjj]

Momo is a 'specific game' player. His tackling and disruptive abilities are excellent. However the modern player needs more. We cannot afford to give the ball away so much. People slate Garcia who loses the ball regularly, well Momo is no better when it comes to ball retention. Unless Momo improves his ball control and passing then he shouldn't be a regular in the side. IMO Mascherano would have done better in the Manure game. We are more fluid with such a player whereas Momo just destroys.

Good one, Al.

[Joe Le Toff]

Rafa does not use Momo as a holding midfielder and Mascherano is a holding midfielder.

Just out of interest, what do you see as Momo's role if not the holding player?

[tomasjj]

Just out of interest, what do you see as Momo's role if not the holding player?

I think I understand what you are getting at, but do you think Momo could sit in front of the defense by himself, as the anchor?
He isn't a holding player imo, more of a ballwinning enforcer who ravages around and harasses the opposition.

[Abro100]

Momos passing is a weakness true he wins alot of the ball and is great for certain games but look at barca man u chelsea they dont have someone with the engine of Momo they do there damage by retaining possesion, somethign which we arnt great at when momo plays. I like momo and he is one of my fav players because of the ffort he puts in, he just needs to learn to be aware of who is around him, he sems to panic with the ball at his feet.

[Joe Le Toff]

I think I understand what you are getting at, but do you think Momo could sit in front of the defense by himself, as the anchor?
He isn't a holding player imo, more of a ballwinning enforcer who ravages around and harasses the opposition.

I agree but by the same token neither is Alonso, so in essence, we dont play with a holding midfielder anyway.

Although i think Mascherano was bought to play the holding role, i can also see Rafa using him to play the Alonso/Sissoko roles, so i would say that Momos position in the team would be under just as much threat as Xabi's.

Also, you could play Gerrard in the centre with Mascher holding, thus giving Rafa what he loves, options.

I really do believe signing Macherano will prove to be a masterstroke btw.

[Jayesh87]

I say play him at centre back

[tomasjj]

I agree but by the same token neither is Alonso, so in essence, we dont play with a holding midfielder anyway.

Although i think Mascherano was bought to play the holding role, i can also see Rafa using him to play the Alonso/Sissoko roles, so i would say that Momos position in the team would be under just as much threat as Xabi's.

Also, you could play Gerrard in the centre with Mascher holding, thus giving Rafa what he loves, options.

I really do believe signing Macherano will prove to be a masterstroke btw.

Well, I think Xabi is much more suited to that holding role than Momo.
That said, I think we will see that Masher is even better than Xabi in the role, and I agree, the signing is probably a masterstroke.

[lfcruleus]

I think you all miss a point when talking about Mascherano long term, we dont own him long term. If they want silly money at the end of the 18 months then it will be bye bye.
To assess momo on one game is as daft as assessing mascherano on one game, oh wait you are doing both. Great thread.
One half decent game against poor opposition does not make Mascherano a settled premiership player, Momo is proven at this level, one ****e game does not mean he is not up to it. Most of the time it was Paul Scholes causing most of the problems for Momo and he could be described as quite a good player.

[Kopite_Colin]

Momo AND Alonso in CM doesn't give us enough support in the box when they both play behind Gerrard or with SG wide right. We need more bodies in the box, especially if Kuyt or Bellamy get wide as they did yesterday. For me it has to be one or the other (Alonso or Momo) and only use BOTH for very specific games like Barca away when the result (and not the performance is all important). The number of times we play the ball into the box (esp from the right side) and there simply aren't enough on rushing attackers / midfielders getting forward to get on the end of the cross is astounding. Even if they don't get to the ball, their mere presence distracts / occupiers defenders, and can be the difference between a defender clearing comfortably or making a small error / or commiting a foul. That's why we have to find wide midfiekders capable of delivering quality balls into the box, to allow SG to play in CM and do what he does best - burst in late and stick the ball in the net. That's what we lack when Stevie is the one delivering the quality balls from the right.

[Bob]

He wins a lot of challenges but to what use if he gives away the ball a few seconds later?

He gives the ball away so he can win it back again. :whatever:

[badpiggy]

i thought momo's garryowen yesterday that landed exactly where he kicked it from was a "mo"ment of supreme and surreal hilarity in an otherwise very tense game. he also had a shot that did one of those "looks ok but then curls out towards the corner flag, leaving the ball looking like roadkill just over the end line". momo's a legend in is own way but he's not a world class footballer.

[lfc4ever]

Momo is the classic mostly only away games player.

[einar]

Where did I say that? Read the post before you leap.

Xabi is the one sitting in front of the defense, most of the time. And then he is the one receiving the ball from the defense, most of the time.
Momo is further up usually putting pressure on the holding midfielder of the opponent.
Rafa spoke about Xabi and Mascherano as holding midfielders. He did not actually say that Momo and Mascherano would not be competing for places and I am not saying that they will never play in the same team, Xabi and Mascher that is, but as I understand Rafa the general idea is for Mascher to give Xabi competition for a place in the team and Gerrard will play in front of ether of them when Momo is not.

Then I think Rafa is looking for a player to give Momo competition so that Gerrard never has to be part of a two man midfield again. I dont know who that player is but Kallström has been mentioned.