He's the best we have to play that position. We missed him when he went off, and we will miss him until he gets back.
A big Sakho shaped hole in our defence.
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Yes, but scoring goals is unpredictable by nature – sometimes the ball just won't go in the net even if you do everything right. It's especially hard against a great goalkeeper like Courtois. That's normal in football – the right way to deal with that is stay patient and keep trying to knocking on the door until it opens, but for that you need to control the game and we lost that sense of control after the 2 substitutions. So I agree with the statement that it was the substitutions more than the missed chances that lost us the game.
The good thing was that we demonstrated that our best 11 is good enough to match and even outplay the best Chelsea 11 at the Bridge. If done right, our kung-fu beats their kung-fu.
Agreed, he obviously needs to cut that out. His decision making when he finds himself under pressure needs to improve.
Rurik's posts are fast becoming essential reading.
Mamadou Sakho likely to miss West Ham visit as Johnson and Lovren stake their claims
French defender played through pain barrier for almost an hour at Stamford Bridge
Liverpool's Mamadou Sakho in action with Chelsea's Willian
Mamadou Sakho is expected to miss Liverpool FC’s game with West Ham United this weekend with a back injury.
The French defender was forced off in the Reds’ Capital One Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday night, having suffered the problem during the warm-up at Stamford Bridge. The 24-year-old played through the pain, lasting 57 minutes before succumbing.
He will be assessed by the club’s medical staff at Melwood over the next 48 hours, but is unlikely to recover in time for the visit of the Hammers on Saturday.
The news will come as a blow to Brendan Rodgers, as his side prepares for another big week of fixtures. After hosting West Ham, Liverpool travel to Bolton Wanderers for their FA Cup fourth round replay, before going to Goodison Park to face Everton in the Merseyside derby.
Rodgers could do without further disruption to his defence, which has improved considerably in recent weeks since the switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation.
Liverpool have conceded just six goals in their last nine games, all of which Sakho has started, but his absence could open the door for either Glen Johnson or Dejan Lovren to stake their claims.
Dejan Lovren of Liverpool competes with Robin van Persie
Johnson replaced Sakho at Chelsea, having returned from a thigh injury against Bolton last weekend.
Rodgers also has Dejan Lovren, the most expensive defender in Liverpool’s history, available, though neither he nor Johnson appear an ideal fit for his three-man defence. Neither have started a league game since the defeat to Manchester United on December 14, though Lovren did start the League Cup win at Bournemouth three days later.
Daniel Sturridge is expected to be named in the Reds squad for the first time since August, and could play some part in the game.
The England striker travelled to Chelsea with his teammates on Tuesday, but was not risked, even on the bench. Rodgers stated last weekend, however, that he was likely to be involved against West Ham, though he has repeatedly stressed that no unnecessary risks will be taken with the 25-year-old, who has been plagued by thigh and calf issues.
French defender played through pain barrier for almost an hour at Stamford Bridge
Liverpool's Mamadou Sakho in action with Chelsea's Willian
Mamadou Sakho is expected to miss Liverpool FC’s game with West Ham United this weekend with a back injury.
The French defender was forced off in the Reds’ Capital One Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday night, having suffered the problem during the warm-up at Stamford Bridge. The 24-year-old played through the pain, lasting 57 minutes before succumbing.
He will be assessed by the club’s medical staff at Melwood over the next 48 hours, but is unlikely to recover in time for the visit of the Hammers on Saturday.
The news will come as a blow to Brendan Rodgers, as his side prepares for another big week of fixtures. After hosting West Ham, Liverpool travel to Bolton Wanderers for their FA Cup fourth round replay, before going to Goodison Park to face Everton in the Merseyside derby.
Rodgers could do without further disruption to his defence, which has improved considerably in recent weeks since the switch to a 3-4-2-1 formation.
Liverpool have conceded just six goals in their last nine games, all of which Sakho has started, but his absence could open the door for either Glen Johnson or Dejan Lovren to stake their claims.
Johnson replaced Sakho at Chelsea, having returned from a thigh injury against Bolton last weekend.
Rodgers also has Dejan Lovren, the most expensive defender in Liverpool’s history, available, though neither he nor Johnson appear an ideal fit for his three-man defence. Neither have started a league game since the defeat to Manchester United on December 14, though Lovren did start the League Cup win at Bournemouth three days later.
Daniel Sturridge is expected to be named in the Reds squad for the first time since August, and could play some part in the game.
The England striker travelled to Chelsea with his teammates on Tuesday, but was not risked, even on the bench. Rodgers stated last weekend, however, that he was likely to be involved against West Ham, though he has repeatedly stressed that no unnecessary risks will be taken with the 25-year-old, who has been plagued by thigh and calf issues.
Mamadou Sakho
Nothing alarming, I will be able to join the group tomorrow ! Rien d'inquietant, je peux... http://goo.gl/5DfGCy
Are you sure?
I'm of the opinion that scoring one or more of the good chances we had would have been more of a help than a disruptive late substitution.
It would have been helpful, no question. But you cannot "plan" to score. You can, however, plan to control the game. In fact, a manager like Rafa would probably tell you that for him "controlling the game" is actually more important than scoring.
And that's why he was never going to win the league for us.
I was thinking back on the spine he put together at Liverpool last night and it's a crying shame it just went to waste.
Nothing personal but this makes no sense to me, especially about not being able to 'plan to score'. That makes it chaos theory and goals seem accidental.
We accidentally scored more than a hundred goals last season which suggests we did plan to score and control the game that way.
Maybe it's just a matter of language and I'm misunderstanding you, anyway...
I think what Rurik's getting at is that designing a strategy to control the game is a less uncertain process than actually scoring. If you make the right choices (the argument runs) the former lies more fully within your own control than the latter, where success or failure is down (a) to a single moment (b) which may arise unexpectedly anyway, so plan for control in the first place and (in theory) you maximise your chances of scoring.
Article on Sakho...
[article]
Rodgers Doesn’t Rate Sakho. Or Does He?
By Andrew Beasley (Beez).
Data taken from Transfermarkt.
Poor old Mamadou Sakho. Many a Liverpool fan will tell you that Rodgers doesn’t rate him, and that the manager has rarely if ever given him an opportunity to display his talents.
Except that I don’t think that this is true. So I’ve taken a closer look at Sakho’s appearance record to see what the accurate picture is.
SAKHO
I think the first thing we have to acknowledge is that outfield players rarely play in every single game anymore. Only three times in the last 10 full seasons has a defender featured in every single league game for Liverpool, and it’s only happened once in the last five years (and the answer to who they are will be revealed at the end of the article!). Sakho may have sat out some games whilst fit, but in fairness it seems that so has everybody else.
Liverpool confirmed the signing of Mamadou Sakho on September 2nd 2013, and after a two week international break, he made his debut in the Reds’ next fixture away at Swansea City and started the following seven games too (which included trips to Arsenal in the league and Old Trafford in the League Cup). It’s worth noting that Daniel Agger, Sakho’s rival for the left centre-back slot in 2013/14, was on the bench for five of these games, so Rodgers had a choice as to who played.
The French international then spent four games on the bench, but returned to the starting line up (and scored his first Liverpool goal) as West Ham were defeated 4-1 at Anfield. Sakho started the next four matches after this too, until the hectic December schedule caught up with him, and he sustained a thigh strain late on against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Once again, Agger was in the squad for four of the five games, so it seems clear to me that Rodgers had Sakho in the starting XI by choice.
The thigh injury meant that Sakho missed twelve consecutive games in league and cup. He only played one minute of the next four games after returning to the squad, but then that doesn’t seem unreasonable to me considering that a) he had been injured for a full two months, and b) the team had won seven of the nine league games he missed (drawing the other two), so why disrupt a team that is performing very well when there is only one game a week to play?
Sakho then returned to the team for five league games in a row (with Agger on the bench for four of them) before spending the final game of the season on the bench as Newcastle came to Anfield. Perhaps Rodgers was doing him a favour ahead of the World Cup, or maybe the manager knew that Agger was leaving so wanted to give him the send-off his service deserved? Either way, it was only one game missed for the former PSG man.
As we all know, there was a big change in the summer, as Daniel Agger left on a free and Dejan Lovren was brought in at great expense. This inevitably lead to reduced chances for Sakho, and he spent the first two games of the season on the Liverpool bench, but he then appeared in the next five games in all competitions, starting four of them.
It is here where Transfermarkt and reality differ. For the Merseyside derby, and the subsequent fifteen games, Sakho is listed as having had a thigh strain, but he was actually left out of the eighteen man squad for the Everton game, left the stadium, and only got injured afterwards. I’m sure the cynical amongst you will say that the injury was very conveniently timed, and it’s hard not to wonder about that, but all we can say from what we know is that Sakho was only dropped for one game and then missed the rest due to injury.
After making a substitute appearance at Bournemouth in the League Cup, Sakho has played every minute of Liverpool’s last nine games. Again, you may think that the poor form of Dejan Lovren left Rodgers with no choice but to select Sakho, but whatever the actual reason, Sakho has been in the team.
To summarise, here are the stats. Liverpool have played 67 games from Sakho’s debut onwards, and the Frenchman has started 30 (45%) of them. He has been injured for 23 (34%), on the bench for 13 (19%) and left out of the squad entirely just the once. If you omit the games when he has been injured, then he has started 68% of the games, and played some part in 75% of them. As I mentioned above, some of the ‘bench’ games have been when Sakho has returned from injury too so you would not expect him to return to the side immediately, but either way it seems clear to me that Sakho has played far more often when fit than many people think.
In my opinion, if Brendan Rodgers really doesn’t rate Mamadou Sakho, then he’s got a very funny way of showing it.
The players to play all 38 league games in a season in the last ten years are Jamie Carragher in 2004/05 and 2008/09, and Martin Skrtel in 2010/11.[/article]
[article]
Rodgers Doesn’t Rate Sakho. Or Does He?
By Andrew Beasley (Beez).
Data taken from Transfermarkt.
Poor old Mamadou Sakho. Many a Liverpool fan will tell you that Rodgers doesn’t rate him, and that the manager has rarely if ever given him an opportunity to display his talents.
Except that I don’t think that this is true. So I’ve taken a closer look at Sakho’s appearance record to see what the accurate picture is.
SAKHO
I think the first thing we have to acknowledge is that outfield players rarely play in every single game anymore. Only three times in the last 10 full seasons has a defender featured in every single league game for Liverpool, and it’s only happened once in the last five years (and the answer to who they are will be revealed at the end of the article!). Sakho may have sat out some games whilst fit, but in fairness it seems that so has everybody else.
Liverpool confirmed the signing of Mamadou Sakho on September 2nd 2013, and after a two week international break, he made his debut in the Reds’ next fixture away at Swansea City and started the following seven games too (which included trips to Arsenal in the league and Old Trafford in the League Cup). It’s worth noting that Daniel Agger, Sakho’s rival for the left centre-back slot in 2013/14, was on the bench for five of these games, so Rodgers had a choice as to who played.
The French international then spent four games on the bench, but returned to the starting line up (and scored his first Liverpool goal) as West Ham were defeated 4-1 at Anfield. Sakho started the next four matches after this too, until the hectic December schedule caught up with him, and he sustained a thigh strain late on against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Once again, Agger was in the squad for four of the five games, so it seems clear to me that Rodgers had Sakho in the starting XI by choice.
The thigh injury meant that Sakho missed twelve consecutive games in league and cup. He only played one minute of the next four games after returning to the squad, but then that doesn’t seem unreasonable to me considering that a) he had been injured for a full two months, and b) the team had won seven of the nine league games he missed (drawing the other two), so why disrupt a team that is performing very well when there is only one game a week to play?
Sakho then returned to the team for five league games in a row (with Agger on the bench for four of them) before spending the final game of the season on the bench as Newcastle came to Anfield. Perhaps Rodgers was doing him a favour ahead of the World Cup, or maybe the manager knew that Agger was leaving so wanted to give him the send-off his service deserved? Either way, it was only one game missed for the former PSG man.
As we all know, there was a big change in the summer, as Daniel Agger left on a free and Dejan Lovren was brought in at great expense. This inevitably lead to reduced chances for Sakho, and he spent the first two games of the season on the Liverpool bench, but he then appeared in the next five games in all competitions, starting four of them.
It is here where Transfermarkt and reality differ. For the Merseyside derby, and the subsequent fifteen games, Sakho is listed as having had a thigh strain, but he was actually left out of the eighteen man squad for the Everton game, left the stadium, and only got injured afterwards. I’m sure the cynical amongst you will say that the injury was very conveniently timed, and it’s hard not to wonder about that, but all we can say from what we know is that Sakho was only dropped for one game and then missed the rest due to injury.
After making a substitute appearance at Bournemouth in the League Cup, Sakho has played every minute of Liverpool’s last nine games. Again, you may think that the poor form of Dejan Lovren left Rodgers with no choice but to select Sakho, but whatever the actual reason, Sakho has been in the team.
To summarise, here are the stats. Liverpool have played 67 games from Sakho’s debut onwards, and the Frenchman has started 30 (45%) of them. He has been injured for 23 (34%), on the bench for 13 (19%) and left out of the squad entirely just the once. If you omit the games when he has been injured, then he has started 68% of the games, and played some part in 75% of them. As I mentioned above, some of the ‘bench’ games have been when Sakho has returned from injury too so you would not expect him to return to the side immediately, but either way it seems clear to me that Sakho has played far more often when fit than many people think.
In my opinion, if Brendan Rodgers really doesn’t rate Mamadou Sakho, then he’s got a very funny way of showing it.
The players to play all 38 league games in a season in the last ten years are Jamie Carragher in 2004/05 and 2008/09, and Martin Skrtel in 2010/11.[/article]
Thanks for that but using your own words if you are planning to control the game with a strategy but either team can have a 'single moment' then your plan is subject to chaos theory. Goals decide games and not theory (reading your post I get the feeling you're not convinced by theory). Control is illusory.
"Becoming"? Okay, just messin' with you.
English is my 3rd language, I'm Ukrainian.
Hot damn, you srs? I would have never guessed English was not your first language.
Well now that makes me feel quite stupid. Other than English i know a bit of Spanish from high school and college classes but that's it.
Not to mention I've forgotten most of it [emoji23]
It's ok, dreamy's forgotten most of the English language too.
I'm amazed he didn't end the game with a concussion given the number of headed clearances he made. He still has a habit of overplaying in possession a couple of times each game that causes my pulse to race a bit, but that aside, he's been really solid in this stretch of games for us. Hope he can stay fit and keep this run of solid performances going.
Hey thats a coincidence. Ukrainian is my 3rd Language.
Well joint third actually, along with every other language in the world excluding English and Latin.
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