Mascherano is...

[Chewbacca]

Rubbish... discuss

[little dave hedgehog]

i'm sure this is unpopular, but if we're going to keep playing 4-2-3-1, i would only play him against teams that are really good going forward and when trying to play out a lead.

i would always play him if we were going to switch to a 4-1-4-1 though.

[-V-]

Bollocks. Mascherano is a very very good player and in the last few games has been one of our better players. He was our only real battler against Debrecen and again against Everton he was superb.

He is the enforcer, his job is to protect the defence and mop up around the midfield.

The problem however is that Lucas does the same job as him. Mascher does not have a box to box creative force alongside him and thats what he needs. Thats what we need

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Mascherano is one of the best at what he does, but he struggles when asked to be more creative. You wouldn't expect a plumber to fix your roof but that doesn't make him bad at his job.

[little dave hedgehog]

i don't think we need a spoiler against lots of teams. it's not because i don't think he's a great player, i just think we should concentrate on outplaying other teams instead of killing games. i think he has a place in the team, i just wish we'd go forward more.

if we replaced mascher, lucas with gerrard in front with aquilani and gerrard with mascher behind, i would be ok with that.

[red g]

Mascherano is rubbish........ at shooting,

Mascherano is an awesome player, Lucas just makes him look bad

[el matador]

****ing stupid waste of a thread. mascherano is the best defensive midfielderin the world bar none. its not his job to create openings from the middle of the pitch. he is there to stop other teams from scoring.

lucas is the weak link because mascheranois better than him offensively and defensively.

if rafa can't see the imbalance in the middlemaybe you should substitute mascheranofor benitez in the thread title.

[Chewbacca]

****ing stupid waste of a thread. mascherano is the best defensive midfielderin the world bar none. its not his job to create openings from the middle of the pitch. he is there to stop other teams from scoring.

lucas is the weak link because mascheranois better than him offensively and defensively.

if rafa can't see the imbalance in the middlemaybe you should substitute mascheranofor benitez in the thread title.

I don't see it with Masch, yes he breaks play up brilliantly but he offers nothing else. His passing is dreadful, his vision/creativity non-existent and his offensive play terrible. He also gives away petty fouls in dangerous areas forcing unnecessary pressure on the defence.

I just don't see enough from him to warrant this label of "great".

Not sure why people immediately bring Lucas into this. This is nothing to do with Lucas.

I also think Arbeloa is better than GJ and offers a far more complete package.

Riera was a bloody disgrace today, Insua is simply average at best and I've had enough of Rafa and his tactical "compacsht" bull****.

[DannyMan2006]

Javier Mascherano is the best in the world at DM. The problem Liverpool FC have at present is that they are playing a similar type of player next to him in Lucas.

I'm not going to slag off Lucas because he has improved this year and looks like he has the potential to be a very good DM in his own right.

But Lucas and Masch as a partnership in 90% of premier league games just do not work. Against the better teams it's fine because Liverpool need to battle hard to win the midfiled and fight for every blade of grass.

But against the weaker teams the territory is conceded by the opposition and as such we do not need two battlers to scrap for the ball, we need someone who can unlock a team with at least ten players behind the ball. We need someone to get the ball moving quickly, someone who can spot an opening quickly and then make the pass.

I've seen both Lucas and Masch have the odd moment of joy in finding this pass, but it does not happen often enough for either of them to have any serious impact against the weaker teams.

[el matador]

I don't see it with Masch, yes he breaks play up brilliantly but he offers nothing else. His passing is dreadful, his vision/creativity non-existent and his offensive play terrible. He also gives away petty fouls in dangerous areas forcing unnecessary pressure on the defence.

I just don't see enough from him to warrant this label of "great".

Not sure why people immediately bring Lucas into this. This is nothing to do with Lucas.

I also think Arbeloa is better than GJ and offers a far more complete package.

Riera was a bloody disgrace today, Insua is simply average at best and I've had enough of Rafa and his tactical "compacsht" bull****.

give the blame where its due.

mascherano was outstanding last year and is a truly world class player. His job should be really simple - when he get the ball he should give it someone who knows what to do with it. Last year that was alonso, this year its lucas.

Someone said that lucas makes him look like a bad player and he's right. Lucas' inadequacies have taken mascherano out of his 'comfort zone' of get back and give, meaning he has to contribute much more going forward.

he isnt good at this and has never pretended to be. Once he is teamed up with aquilani you will see a totally different masher.

Whether rafa ever gets his finger out and decides to ditch the 2 defensive midfielders has yet to be seen. I hope the aquilani thing doesnt turn into another robbie keane saga and then we hear some bull**** story about the blueprint having been torn up because he didnt buy barry.

Some of the blame for this has to go to rafa. We will never win the league while he is in charge because he doesnt have the right mentality to win the EPL.

Its ****ing stupid of the owners to give him the keys to the kingdom because he has them by the balls. The administration completely ****ed up giving him so much power because he is abusing it by continuously playing substandard players and using rubbish tactics.

This week has been all about Shankly. What we'd all do to have him back.

[Chris]

Yeah he's at Liverpool and wanted by Barca because he's rubbish.

He's in a rubbish partnership, though its neither fault of their own they are just way to similar.

[el matador]

Yeah he's at Liverpool and wanted by Barca because he's rubbish.

He's in a rubbish partnership, though its neither fault of their own they are just way to similar.

i dont think you can compare lucas to mascherano. Its like saying a skoda is like a ****ing ferrari.

[Chris]

i dont think you can compare lucas to mascherano. Its like saying a skoda is like a ****ing ferrari.

You can when they play right next to eachother filling exactly the same roles. Obviously Mascherano is a better player but this current formation isnt helping either of them.

[Tee]

I think right now Liverpool are rubbish - no pointing fingers at individuals we are collectively ****e.

[Baracus]

Bollocks. Mascherano is a very very good player and in the last few games has been one of our better players. He was our only real battler against Debrecen and again against Everton he was superb.

He is the enforcer, his job is to protect the defence and mop up around the midfield.

The problem however is that Lucas does the same job as him. Mascher does not have a box to box creative force alongside him and thats what he needs. Thats what we need

I will also add to that and say against Man city he was our only driving force, the only player wanting to move forward with the ball, the only one looking to score.