Sami = Legend

[keniget]

Sami isn't better than Neill anymore. You can't compere how good Sami has been to how good Neill is now.

Right now Neill is better than Hyypia.

Oh dear.

[brikkis]

Well can I just say that before anybody even contemplates having a downer on Sami that I think he's been sensational since he's been here. He's probably played more matches than anybody since Ged introduced him to the team alongside Henchoz all those years back. The couple of million quid Ged spent on him has turned out to be an absolute steal and in my eyes was the best signing Ged ever made.

Totally agree

[breffniboy]

It's easy as fans to be seduced by the talents of players like Gerrard, the eye-catching goals of Fowler, the pace of Owen, with the more workmanlike talents of players like Sami and Didi overlooked slightly.

I just want to say now that for me, in their totally understated way, these two are up among the very best ever to pull on a red shirt.

When we got Sami for 2.5m or whatever from Willem II (think that's right) we were a club in collective and defensive disarray. Phil Babb was still getting his game FFS. Let us not forget in these times, where we generally worry most about goals at the other end of the pitch, just how major and totally urgent a priority it was for us at this time to bolster the back four. Sami and to a lesser extent Henchoz were the key signings of the Houllier era, which did, whatever way you look at it, bring a fair few trophies to the club and was a qualified success.

In his first season at the club, Sami was so immense at the back and - I'm open to correction here - managed it all without even being booked once in the league, perhaps even all competitions. Of course, he was afforded a fair deal of protection by GH's cautious tactics or with a deep-lying gamebreaker in front of him like Didi, when we had to chase games and push up he often looked vulnerable but for sorting out our abject mess of a back four and turning in some peerless performances at the back, I'll always love big Sami Hyypia.

It's sad to see him struggling more for pace this year than ever before but I hope he hangs in there for another while because, with his in-depth knowledge of positioning to compensate for that same said lack of pace, he's a massive asset at the club for educating the likes of Palletta and Agger.

But if he does go I hope the Kop shout the bloody roof off and give him the heroes send off he deserves and I mean that.

[Red Chilli]

It looks like DesertScouser has a gun to Sami's back and a fake arm on Sami's shoulder or something telling him to "smile for the camera". Sami looks petrified.

[Growler]

I agree, whilst we can't have a team of carraghers, we can have a CB pairing of Carra-Aggers, so we should use it.

Personally, I would keep the Hype until the summer.

[ARIMAN]

Who was better Hyypia or Henchoz

I know most people will say Hyypia (rightly so, in terms of the CL 2005) but what about Henchoz

They made a class combination for 2 years or so, and when Henchoz was out we use to really miss him (until the emergence of JC)

I see Henchoz like Keown for Arsenal, a fierce defender, who`d do anything (Henry in the Cup) to win

[AFII]

I don't like to say that a defender in a back four is better than the other ones because they work as a unit.

If one of the defenders isn't good enough then it will affect the other three defenders.