Is Sissoko really a must to have in our team?

[Nicey]

Well, I am not saying sell him here. I say he has limitations and should not play in games we are likely to control in terms of possesion. He is too limited when it comes to passing for that. He will probably improve that part of his game though.

Opinions that differs from yours aren't always ridiculous, mate.

In my world they are ! you are alright though

[Fiddy]

To put it bluntly, Momo is a destroyer not a creator - his passing and technique is average at best and lately has been shocking. As has been done to death already his best work is done WITHOUT the ball, at his peak he was winning the ball all over the place and just dumping it off nice and simple, but when other teams actually harry him like he does to them it's a different story. And Villa were definitely putting him under pressure as soon as he got the ball.

PS Anyone else think LF Clove's assertion that Xabi 'does the same work' as Momo is laughable...

[alunevans]

No its not, I have seen every single game he has played in and unless I am missing something he has only had a couple maybe 3 off par performance. Since he has come back from this latest injury he is struggling to find the same kind of form. He seems tentative going into the tackle and who can blame him with the amount of injuries he has had lately all for the cause.

Was not that long ago its was all Legend this Legend that, Monster Momo, Momo is Boss !

And true to ****ing form, a couple off performances its his distribution is poor, how much do you think we can get for him, we have a better player anyways in Macceromo ( cant get my head around his name whats his nickname?) a player who has just arrived and found it difficult to adapt to the English game.

Momo is a very young player which a Huge amount of experience and unlimited potential. If Rafa rates him higher than Paddy V I am going with Rafa.

If he developed for another 3 years he would still be only 25 !! ffs 7 Million my arse !

It’s the whole Jammie C is just not good enough syndrome all over again and Its pure bollox.

Shocking fair weather ****e

You have a point there. Momo is a flawed but useful player. I certainly wouldn't want us to sell him. He could be great, but he'd really need to sort his distribution out to be so.

If he can't he'll be an effective destroyer - but if he can sort his technique out and be more comfortable with the ball then he genuinely has the potential to be something special.

[alunevans]

I would say that most people on here have played football at some level and I include playing on the beach with mates on holiday in that category.

Because of this we have all experienced the feeling when everything we do goes right, even surprising ourselves with a great strike or pass that we didn’t intend.

There are also times when we just can’t do anything right and look like a complete Muppet.

It can happen to anybody.

But whatever your level, and no matter how bad a day you are having I cannot explain (I am trying not to laugh as a remember this) a Liverpool player in a Liverpool Vs United game collecting the ball in about 15 yards of space, under no pressure, aimlessly punting the ball 40feet vertically into the air to himself, then falling over as he tries to control it.

That isn’t a bad day, it isn’t bad form…. I don’t know what that is.


PS Momo is Boss

My feeling is that I'd loathe to play against him if I wanted to influence the game. But at the same time, I'd be happy enough for him to have the ball if I was playing against him too.

[Abro100]

Precisely - a game in which we didn't see too much of the ball. That's when he's a monster. In games like today's he should be on the bench.

Your exactly right there, but the problem is we should be one of the big teams, true enough its easier said than done because we are a mile off at the moment. You look at the so called big teams, i cant think of one of there centre midfielders who is a bad passer.

Chelsea
Makalele
Lampard
Ballack

Man U
Scholes
Carrick

Barca
Xavi
Iniesta
Deco

etc etc

They key for us is to not give the ball away and in Alonso and Gerrard we have that, and i think that they should be the only 2 in the centre of midfield next season. We need to get alot of versaitility in our team and to some extent we have that, Kuyt and Bellamy can both drop off to the wings if needed but they dont have that class like some of the other teams have (messi,rooney.robben,van persie,) We need strikers who can drop deep and win, bugger someone wants laptop back, ahwell am stopped...

[mattydalton]

I would agree with the comments on here about Momo being perfect for games against the better clubs - he's like a pitbull on speed!! However, I would also agree that he is pretty useless with the ball, hence I would agree he is little use when we dominate.

One thing that I think we should all remember though is that, when Rafa signed him for Valencia, Momo was a striker. Rafa converted him to a midfielder and I think he has done a pretty good job. Admittedly he isn't the greatest passer of the ball but then what striker is? I think that, given time, Momo will turn into a class act for us. I don't think he will ever have the guile and the creativity of Alonso, Mascherano, etc... but then Alonso will never be as good in the tackle or as mobile. It's all about the balance of the team and in some games he is excatly what we need.

[redblood]

2 ****ing games ... shocking

If you really look at all his games you will see that his distribution and passing has been poor consistently. I don't think you can argue with that.
However I don't think we should sell him but he needs to develop other dimensions to his game which I believe he will do.
He's had 2 fairly serious and lenghty injuries which has obviously disrupted his progress.
Having said all that I don't think it's coincidence either that our best run of results has come with Xabi and Stevie in the centre.

[rage]

momo is not pure quality. He has a role in playing against teams where we need to break up opposition attacks where we won't have much of the ball. Apart from that he is very limited. As for Stevie G making way to play momo in the middle against mid table crap like villa, not momo's fault but rafa's!

[Nicey]

Was that a gust of wind.....

[bazza76]

Ok have been thinking about Sissoko and I am after drawing this conclusion.
Right we all know Sissoko is good at breaking up play, but lacks alot in the playing department.
How do we fix this?.
I am of the opinion we play him against really good attacking teams whos play we need to break up ala Barcelona and drop him against the poorer sides where we dont need to break up the opposition play so much.
I think it makes sense. Anyone?.

[red g]

Ok have been thinking about Sissoko and I am after drawing this conclusion.
Right we all know Sissoko is good at breaking up play, but lacks alot in the playing department.
How do we fix this?.
I am of the opinion we play him against really good attacking teams whos play we need to break up ala Barcelona and drop him against the poorer sides where we dont need to break up the opposition play so much.
I think it makes sense. Anyone?.

makes to much sense

[AFII]

Ok have been thinking about Sissoko and I am after drawing this conclusion.
Right we all know Sissoko is good at breaking up play, but lacks alot in the playing department.
How do we fix this?.
I am of the opinion we play him against really good attacking teams whos play we need to break up ala Barcelona and drop him against the poorer sides where we dont need to break up the opposition play so much.
I think it makes sense. Anyone?.

But that again only would mean that he plays one or two games out of ten. Is it really worth to keep a player that we only need 10%-20% of the games if we can sell him for a very good price?

He will never be match fit enough if he only played a game every month. He would have to play in a lot more games than that to be match fit and that means that another player that we need more in that games would have to be benched just to keep Sissoko match fit.

[simey85]

PS Anyone else think LF Clove's assertion that Xabi 'does the same work' as Momo is laughable...

alonso does alot of defensive work, he is our top tackler!

[bazza76]

But that again only would mean that he plays one or two games out of ten. Is it really worth to keep a player that we only need 10%-20% of the games if we can sell him for a very good price?

He will never be match fit enough if he only played a game every month. He would have to play in a lot more games than that to be match fit and that means that another player that we need more in that games would have to be benched just to keep Sissoko match fit.

About as much as crouch would play then, if you consider domestic cup and European games.
Personally, I like my players to be able to play football.
I know Rafa is a different school of thought, he will use players for what they can do, not what they can't.
but based on that statistic, its just backs up what I suggested, we have good enough players to out play most teams especially in central midfield, Do we really need someone running around like a headless chicken against the mediocre teams?. Personally I don't believe so.

[FatTony]

I would agree with the comments on here about Momo being perfect for games against the better clubs - he's like a pitbull on speed!!

I think its a sad state of affairs when a team of the calibre of LFC needs to adopt tactics like this against so called top clubs. Not only that, we also employ a player specifically to do this job who has such blatant limitations.

I've said it before, but Momo is our Savage, and thats not a good thing.