San Jose and Others

[-V-]

I have seen a fair bit of San Jose this season as Bilbao's games have been on Sky. He's doing very well and played 90 minutes again on saturday, kept a clean sheet against Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Raul etc etc. Bilbao have been fairly strong at home this season and lately he's been at the heart of the defence.

[Exiled_red]

I have seen a fair bit of San Jose this season as Bilbao's games have been on Sky. He's doing very well and played 90 minutes again on saturday, kept a clean sheet against Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Raul etc etc. Bilbao have been fairly strong at home this season and lately he's been at the heart of the defence.

Do you think he's got a chance of coming back here and challenging for a first team spot?

[-V-]

Do you think he's got a chance of coming back here and challenging for a first team spot?

Personally I think he is improving and getting experience week by week and as he is becoming a regular at Bilbao we should let him carry on with them till the end of the season. If he keeps his form up and continues to do well then its def possible that he could be in our first team next season

[lickedlollipop]

anyone remember Ayala? what's with him?

[Exiled_red]

Personally I think he is improving and getting experience week by week and as he is becoming a regular at Bilbao we should let him carry on with them till the end of the season. If he keeps his form up and continues to do well then its def possible that he could be in our first team next season

Thanks, good to hear.

I meant challenge for first team next season, I was assuming he was at Bilbao for this season, but should have made that clear.

[Rich]

I caught the second half of the Bilbao Madrid game and as part of the defensive unit he performed well. You couldn't say he had a stand out game, because frankly he didn't, but you can't be a crap player and keep quiet the whole of the Madrid forward line.

[-V-]

I caught the second half of the Bilbao Madrid game and as part of the defensive unit he performed well. You couldn't say he had a stand out game, because frankly he didn't, but you can't be a crap player and keep quiet the whole of the Madrid forward line.

Bingo. They defended fairly deep but fact is Kaka was barely noticeable, Benzema was given no space and Ronaldo was forced to shoot from range. San Jose has to get some credit for that and they are now fairly consistent

[Shaggy]

San Jose possibly off to Bilbao permanently for around €4m....

http://www.joinfutbol.com/es/el_athletic_de_bilbao_abordara_ya_el_fichaje_de_san_jose_22284.php

Athletic will immediately launch the operation of the signing of Mikel San Jose. If you already weeks ago there was a kind of survey of the dome of the Anfield club, the security offered by the defense in recent games Navarro has already decided to conduct Ibaigane engagement, which will be crumbs. Although, as exclusively revealed AS, Athletic have a preferential option for the center which is closer to four million that the three identified by some sources, there is another leg of the bench, the player, with which they should have. You must agree their new conditions in Bilbao. San Jose is like crazy to stay, but also require some emoluments commensurate with their projection. The logic is that the offer was around four seasons.

First, Ibaigane, who preferred not to wait any longer, will negotiate the transfer with Liverpool, with which the Navarrese is contracted until June 2012. In fact, extended it two years before returning to Lezama, because he understood that the English club could be an important player. Perhaps not expected to explode with such thoroughness. The logic is that the issue as head of his agent, Txus Medina, who was the person responsible for the Atletico to agree the sale, which was not as simple as it seems. In fact, Fernando Garcia Macua publicly thanked the intermediary in the presentation of the footballer as a lion.

The directive was a big eye with his play-off and ignoring the pleas for Joaquin Caparros Miguel Flano chips. And is that the advent of central consolidated pinko would have put things more complicated to San Jose, who already has had to wait for injuries and Aitor Ocio Ustaritz to put a dent in the alignments. And there has not emerged from Vienna despite the Abadiño also offered an interesting level.

In ten games. Have sufficed just ten games (including two pivot only going to waste time) to Joaquin Caparros has been able to confirm the excellent reports from San Jose Lezama that existed in its earlier stage. He has also taught that the scoring touch he displayed in the lower grades, which unfolded as the hub of the rear as in the midfield. He has scored two goals, both at home compared with Austria and Zaragoza. He lacks premiered at the Cathedral, which has started only four times.

[Lee]

I do like dodgy Spanish to English translations

€4m...?!

[BrianF80]

Personally I think he is improving and getting experience week by week and as he is becoming a regular at Bilbao we should let him carry on with them till the end of the season. If he keeps his form up and continues to do well then its def possible that he could be in our first team next season

He was really really good in the reserves last season, apart from one game, against Bolton, where he was brutalized by some 6'4" 300 lb striker. He was then pretty non-descript in pre-season, so I was hoping this loan was about toughening him up, but it seems it's more about try before you buy.

That being said our center halves in the reserves this year, as a pairing, are performing way above the level of the two last year.

[The Birdman]

Hard one to call because if he was a young spanish player playing regularly in La Liga we would have to pay more than £4m to buy him and the experience can have only improved him but on the flipside is he good enough to break past Skrtel as 3rd choice and can we afford to turn down decent money for a young player which Rafa could use to buy an established player to improve the first team.

[Rich]

With the season Skrtel's having I'd be tempted to flog the scary Eastern European and have San Jose has 3rd choice.

[frank the tank]

i agree - skrtel has looked a bit dodgy this season to say the least. Prior to this season, I was half-expecting the Agger and Skrtel partnership to start being a bit more prominent with Carragher being played at right back occasionally and centre-back in maybe 60% of the games. However, it is obvious to me that we need carragher for another 18months at least as first choice defender.

To be honest, Agger has gone a bit backwards as well. I genuinely thought that he was going to be a superstar but he has started to look a bit dodgy as well. Hopefully he needs a good few months injury-free, a good pre-season under his belt and then hopefully he can kick on then.......

with regards to san jose though, to be honest, i think we should bring him back and give him a proper go. If he has impressed that much in La Liga, then if he doesn't work out back at LFC next season, we'd probably get the same transfer fee for him a year later......

[Shaggy]

Skrtel was so good when he first came, I even had majorly anti-Scouse Mancs commenting to me on how good he looked. Some of these people had never been complimentary about an LFC player in the whole time I've known them.

He's been so poor this year it's hard to fathom what's gone wrong, but I don't believe he's as bad as he's looked this season. There was a marked improvement at Stoke; let's hope it continues.

[The Birdman]

Skrtel was so good when he first came, I even had majorly anti-Scouse Mancs commenting to me on how good he looked. Some of these people had never been complimentary about an LFC player in the whole time I've known them.

He's been so poor this year it's hard to fathom what's gone wrong, but I don't believe he's as bad as he's looked this season. There was a marked improvement at Stoke; let's hope it continues.

Because he's not technically great when Skrtel is poor I think he looks terrible whereas Agger can have a poor game but still look elegant and composed if that makes sense.