Utd - Liverpool post match

[Neil Young]

Poulsen helped Sevilla win the European Super Cup trophy, with a 3–0 victory against FC Barcelona on August 25. Following his first month at the club, he was named the best new signing in Spain by Spanish sports daily Marca

How many mediocre players do you know who get the best new signing after 1 month award by Marca?

OK, you're right, he's a f*cking worldbeater.

[little dave hedgehog]

question is did marca take it back once the shine had gone?

[SimonNo7]

I dont see the reasoning of why to do that. Plus Kuyt is as good a wide option that we have, Cole/Gerrard aside, and he obviously plays on the right.

As someone else mentioned, Gerrard is proven to get goals from playing off Torres - Cole hasnt. Gerrard will largely get 20 goals a season, i dont think Cole would. Plus, Gerrard is better at linking up with Torres and finding the killer ball through to him, whilst Cole is a better dribbler - and you get more dribbling space out wide, than you do through the middle.

He's also proven to get goals from the right and he is far more of a threat than Kuyt plus I like the idea of him and Cole swapping to confuse the opposition. I do agree with you what you are saying about Cole being the better dribbler but he probably isn't as good as Gerrard when it comes getting the crosses in. I also agree with you that Gerrard is better at linking up with Torres but then he has had a few more seasons than Cole at it.

[Norbs]

Meireles is not playing in Lucas's role, so why compare the two?

Simply because one is replacing the other. Last season was Lucas/Mascherano, this season is Gerrard/Meireles. This season sees a marked improvement, imo.

[Craig_H]

He's also proven to get goals from the right and he is far more of a threat than Kuyt plus I like the idea of him and Cole swapping to confuse the opposition. I do agree with you what you are saying about Cole being the better dribbler but he probably isn't as good as Gerrard when it comes getting the crosses in. I also agree with you that Gerrard is better at linking up with Torres but then he has had a few more seasons than Cole at it.

He got goals from the right what, 3 years ago? And that was before we had Torres to partner him with. There's no reason that i can see why we would break up the Torrard partnership. If it aint broke, etc.

[DannyMan2006]

Konchesky looked like he had lead in his arse on Sunday but can you imagine Insua trying to mark Nani too? Insua always looked like he'd taken a **** in his pants. What i would give for pace the likes of Cole,Evra,Clichy etc

Yue see, you mention Clichy yet he too got took to the cleaners by Nani. Cost Arsenal the game last year as Nani killed him.

Konchesky is an average player and he will do okay for us. But that is all. It came down to taking a gamble on an unknown or getting someone in who will do okay. I'm sure Konchesky will be fine once he settles. If we get some money in though it's definitely a position that needs improving.

[SimonNo7]

He got goals from the right what, 3 years ago? And that was before we had Torres to partner him with. There's no reason that i can see why we would break up the Torrard partnership. If it aint broke, etc.

I know what you are saying Craig and their partnership is excellent, sometimes almost telepathic at times, but just because his 20+ goals from the right was 3 years ago doesn't mean that it is a bad idea.

Let's just say Cole scored more from playing just behind Torres than say Kuyt scores from the right and Gerrard scored his usual 20+ from the right then you couldn't class it as a bad idea. All hypothetical like any idea from any one of us but I don't think it should be dismissed out of hand and you never know it could end up balancing the team more as Gerrard is better defensively than Cole.

[DannyMan2006]

The big difference between Mascherano and Poulsen is that Poulsen can't act like a defensive pacemaker.

Masch almost always passed the ball after one or two touches. That meant a quicker game. Poulsen need more touches and because of that slows down our game.

Masch could have delivered more 60 yard passes but that wasn't his job. His job was to protect the back four and speed up our game.

Masch was just as slow at releasing the ball. The only thing he had on Poulsen was his pace and ability to kill attacks so well. Don't get me wrong though, that's a massive attribute. He will be missed.

[ronanm]

Masch was just as slow at releasing the ball. The only thing he had on Poulsen was his pace and ability to kill attacks so well. Don't get me wrong though, that's a massive attribute. He will be missed.

He will be. But all he could really do was defend. Think he was a bit overrated.

[Craig_H]

I know what you are saying Craig and their partnership is excellent, sometimes almost telepathic at times, but just because his 20+ goals from the right was 3 years ago doesn't mean that it is a bad idea.

Let's just say Cole scored more from playing just behind Torres than say Kuyt scores from the right and Gerrard scored his usual 20+ from the right then you couldn't class it as a bad idea. All hypothetical like any idea from any one of us but I don't think it should be dismissed out of hand and you never know it could end up balancing the team more as Gerrard is better defensively than Cole.

It's all speculative though. As i said, i dont see the need to change something that works or any reason to take a risk with it.

[Neil Young]

Masch was just as slow at releasing the ball. The only thing he had on Poulsen was his pace and ability to kill attacks so well. Don't get me wrong though, that's a massive attribute. He will be missed.

I never noticed that. In fact, since I never got frustrated watching Mascherano on the ball like I did on Sunday with Poulsen, I disagree with your claim.

We just have to hope Poulsen picks up the pace although I suppose at the moment he's pretty useful if you don't have a timer and you want to boil an egg.

[DannyMan2006]

I never noticed that. In fact, since I never got frustrated watching Mascherano on the ball like I did on Sunday with Poulsen, I disagree with your claim.

We just have to hope Poulsen picks up the pace although I suppose at the moment he's pretty useful if you don't have a timer and you want to boil an egg.

And I disagree with your counter claim

I don't doubt at this stage that Poulsen would be getting caught out more than Masch as he is new to the league and you have to get used to players being on top of you straight away.

But having seen both on the International stage both players are similar when it comes to being in possession, though Poulsen has a better range of passing.

Takes most foreign players 2-3 months to adapt, some longer. I think Poulsen was excellent against Man Utd 2nd half, especially considering he's only had a few games.

[badpiggy]

Masher v Poulsen? We finished 7th last year with Masher. If your best player is someone like Mascherano, you're going nowhere.

[DannyMan2006]

Masher v Poulsen? We finished 7th last year with Masher. If your best player is someone like Mascherano, you're going nowhere.

Mascherano is a far better player than Poulsen. But we'll do better in midfield this year as instead of an injured Aquilani we have Meireles who looks like a top, top player.

[Neil Young]

Masher v Poulsen? We finished 7th last year with Masher. If your best player is someone like Mascherano, you're going nowhere.

I'm not quite sure what your point is unless you're saying you can't rely on a world class defensive midfielder to win you games when your best two attackers are injured or out of form in which case I agree.

Anyway our best player last season was Reina IMO. The same applies really.