Lazar Markovic

[RedReet]

I made the point about his pace against Everton, how I couldn't understand why he looked so slow as form shouldn't affect his pace at all. When he played a few days later against Basel though, he looked much faster.

Far too early to be questioning him anyway, let's judge in a year or 2. Not his fault he cost £20m.

[Rich]

Meek, timid, afraid to try something which doesn't come off.

At the moment he's overpriced by about £17m. Hey-ho, hopefully he gains confidence and starts to believe in himself.

[McDermotX]

Meek, timid, afraid to try something which doesn't come off.

At the moment he's overpriced by about £17m. Hey-ho, hopefully he gains confidence and starts to believe in himself.

Not qualities you'll find in any of the top young players.

New club, new country etc etc could all be factor, but there's absolutely no question he should be given time


..........conversely, there's absolutely no guarantee he'll ever push past those defencies enough to justify his purchase, so we'll wait and see.
If we fail to quality for CL though, expect him to be included in a list of Rodgers' mistakes in the media.

[Yozza]

Liverpool FC midfielder Lazar Markovic will prove he's worth £20m price tag - Pascoe

(Duplicated - story in News folder; sorry Mrs B!)

Oct 27, 2014 22:30 By James Pearce

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc-midfielder-lazar-markovic-8007285

Liverpool assistant backs Serbian winger to shine ahead of Capital One Cup tie

Liverpool FC assistant manager Colin Pascoe is convinced that Lazar Markovic will soon start to justify his £20million price tag.

The Serbian winger has failed to shine since his summer move from Benfica and has been an unused substitute in three of the Reds’ past four games.

However, 20-year-old Markovic is likely to be recalled for tomorrow night’s Capital One Cup fourth round tie with Swansea City at Anfield and Pascoe is backing him to prove his worth.

“Lazar will definitely come good, he’s a quality player,” Pascoe said.

“That’s why we brought him in here. He’s working hard. He stays behind after training to do extra shooting.

“That’s the kind of guy he is. He wants to do well and he’s a winner.

“We’ve had a lot of new players coming in and it takes time for them to all gel together. But they are all quality players and will fit in fine.

“It is just that time where they have to bed in. They are training and working hard. Just give them time and then you’ll see the best of them.”

Brendan Rodgers is expected to ring the changes tonight as the Reds embark on their fourth game in the space of just nine days.

As well as Markovic, Rickie Lambert, Glen Johnson, Kolo Toure, Lucas Leiva and Fabio Borini are all in contention for a recall, while youngsters Jordan Rossiter and Jordan Williams could also be involved.

Both Rossiter and Williams, who were left out of the under-21s’ clash with Fulham on Sunday, impressed on their first-team debuts in their previous round against Middlesbrough.

Academy skipper Rossiter fired home the opening goal and Wales youth international Williams held his nerve to score in the marathon 14-13 shootout triumph after coming off the bench.

Swansea promise to provide a step up in class tonight but Pascoe believes the teenagers could handle it.

“They’ve been around the first-team squad for a couple of months and have been training with us,” he said.

“There’s always an opportunity to give youngsters a chance in the Capital One Cup. We’d have no qualms about playing them.

“You saw young Jordan Rossiter last time, the coolness he showed in that role and Jordan Williams did well when he came on.

“They were both very calm in what they did. For a young lad to take a penalty in front of the Kop and score shows you the calmness he has.”

Captain Steven Gerrard is among those expected to be rested, while Mamadou Sakho, Jon Flanagan and Daniel Sturridge remain sidelined and Jose Enrique is doubtful.

Sakho did return to training last week after recovering from a thigh problem but the French centre-back has since aggravated the injury and isn’t expected to be back playing until after next month’s international break.

Pascoe said: “Mamadou was unfortunate in that he came back in and picked up a similar injury again.

“He’ll be another couple of weeks and hopefully he’ll be available then.

“Jose has got a little sort of injury at the moment, and we’re waiting to find out what the extent of that is.

“As for Daniel, he has just been unlucky in that he came back and pulled his calf. He is a great pro, he looks after himself well and he has just been unfortunate. Hopefully we’ll get him back soon.”

Sakho hasn’t featured since storming out of Anfield before the Merseyside derby when he discovered he wasn’t even on the bench but Pascoe says that issue has been dealt with.

“As soon as he’s fit and raring to go he will be considered for selection,” he added.

Lambert, who skippered the Reds against Middlesbrough, is expected to lead the line tonight and the question is whether Rodgers keeps faith with Mario Balotelli or opts for fellow Italian Borini.

Balotelli has failed to score in his past eight appearances but Pascoe delivered a staunch defence of the £16million signing.

“Mario works hard and he is a great talent,” he said. “Every day on the training pitch you can see he wants to do more. At the end he is always asking to do more things. Everything will be alright with Mario because you know his hunger is there and he wants to win.

“After every training session he wants to do more shooting, passing, it’s the same with Lazar. Mario wants to do everything to work on his game and us as coaches will help him that way.

“With Mario and Rickie working together and linking up, it worked well on Saturday.

“We’ve got strikers and midfielders who can all step in and we can rotate it. It’s not all about Mario.

“We’ve got Rickie to step in, we’ve Fabio Borini to step in. It maybe one for Mario, but we’ll just wait and assess who is fit and decide then. The squad is there and we’ll utilise it and rotate a few players.”

Swansea sit above Liverpool in the Premier League on goal difference and arrive on a high after Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Leicester City.

Tonight will be the sixth occasion Rodgers and Pascoe have faced their former club since they left South Wales and made the move to Anfield in the summer of 2012. The Reds have won two and drawn two of those meetings with the solitary defeat coming against the Swans in the League Cup two years ago.

Pascoe was full of praise for the work of Swans boss Garry Monk.

“It’s special against your home club and it’s good to see them doing so well,” he added.

“Garry is a fantastic manager and doing a great job there. He is a great bloke.

“He was a leader on the pitch as a captain, and he is a leader now. You can see that – the way the players are playing for Garry.

“Hopefully it won’t go as far as the last round with all the penalties. But Swansea are no mugs, and they will be hard opposition. They had a great result against Leicester and I’m sure they will come here strong and wanting to win it.

“This competition is very important for us. It will be a tough game but we want to get through.”

[Kenneth]

No he won't.

[kubrickscube]

Coach in boosting confidence of young hyped confidence lacking player shocker! I'd imagine Colin has a long list at the moment

[Pablo]

Liverpool FC midfielder Lazar Markovic will prove he's worth £20m price tag - Pascoe

(Duplicated - story in News folder; sorry Mrs B!)

Oct 27, 2014 22:30 By James Pearce

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc-midfielder-lazar-markovic-8007285

“Lazar will definitely come good, he’s a quality player,” Pascoe said.

“That’s why we brought him in here. He’s working hard. He stays behind after training to do extra shooting.

Sounds like a perfectionist. Explains his reluctance to shoot. He won't unleash his shooting until it's absolutely ready. Once he does expect every shot to be a top corner net buster come April/May

[Kenneth]

Problem with that approach is that he'll only ever be able to score in extra time.

[Pablo]

Whatever, he scores loads in training

Mario is ****ing brilliant at free kicks in training too

Actual goals in matches are a bit attention seeking when you think about it. A bit obvious. Try hard. I think goals in training are really where it's at these days.

[Slinky Skills]

Needs more time but he looks awful so far.

[RedRum]

Whatever, he scores loads in training

Mario is ****ing brilliant at free kicks in training too

Actual goals in matches are a bit attention seeking when you think about it. A bit obvious. Try hard. I think goals in training are really where it's at these days.

I wish you were our manager. Get that message across.

[Tribute]

I wish you were our manager. Get that message across.

..be great if Brendan told the players 'Training is where it's at lads,... play well in those, forget about the PL and CL games...' Wonder if we'd see reverse psychology kick in and the lads become bloody woeful in training and absolutely amazing in games...

[BigChief]

Either way its good to hear Marko wants the extra training. Ronaldo and Bale couldn't shoot for sh*t either before they put in the extra shift.

I wouldn't be surprised if Coutinho hasn't done the same, his shooting suddenly looks like its worth moving to the edge of your seat for.

[Tribute]

Either way its good to hear Marko wants the extra training. Ronaldo and Bale couldn't shoot for sh*t either before they put in the extra shift.

I wouldn't be surprised if Coutinho hasn't done the same, his shooting suddenly looks like its worth moving to the edge of your seat for.

...Opta should report on 'Shots:Scuffs' ratio... ours will be almost 1:1...

[Mike]

Either way its good to hear Marko wants the extra training. Ronaldo and Bale couldn't shoot for sh*t either before they put in the extra shift.

I wouldn't be surprised if Coutinho hasn't done the same, his shooting suddenly looks like its worth moving to the edge of your seat for.

Agree on both points

Pleasantly surprised to hear that Mario is doing extra work - shows that he does want to put the work in, albeit on the training ground but it's a good sign.

Coutinho needed the extra practice based on last season, I used to scream at him not to shoot if it was outside the box but of late he seems a lot better. Still needs to keep it up for a bit longer before I'm convinced his shooting has improved, mind you.