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Gini in a bottle

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manwithnoname said:
I worry when I hear phrases like 'people who don't understand why X plays, don't understand football' because it's used to describe players who split the fan base and don't have universal approval
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I don't think Gini splits the fan base does he? Nearly everyone is a fan and rates him.
 
Gini has been quite unlucky with a few of his shots/headers as well, but yeah he needs to improve infront of goal.
I think its only a matter of time though as he has always been scoring a fair amount of goal each season.

He's been fantastic for us though. Two last games have been very impressive.
 
I hold my hand up. I'm certainly less analytical about the roles/requirements of player positions than many on here, but I also almost certainly "get" football. I think those two concepts are different @Silver Sean

You had a chance to educate me on exactly why Wijnaldum is better than, say, Joe Allen through the use of brief bullet points and relevant statistical illustrations. But like every other cunt on here who raves about him, you couldn't do it either.

So. Either make your case or shove it up your arse. Both are options that I would find entertaining / educational.
 
manwithnoname said:
That's a bit of a glib response, considering Sanchez obviously DOES get football

I worry when I hear phrases like 'people who don't understand why X plays, don't understand football' because it's used to describe players who split the fan base and don't have universal approval

Now sometimes it's valid, when a spaz might question the likes of Alonso (yeah it happened) or even Carragher, but I've also seen it used to defend why players like Joe Allen, Lucas, Crouch, Heskey, Morientes, Sakho and dozens of other shit players get games
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manwithnoname said:
You rest cases. You make points.

You've actually done neither

Heskey was amanzing in his first full season. 20-0dd goals and almost unplayable. Never replicated that form again.

Crouch was and is, shit

And no, I was a huge fan of Whelan, and thoroughly appreciated his role as the holding central midfielder, although I can understand why some fans missed the fleet-footed goal-scoring left midfielder of his earlier days
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I was just fucking with ya 😉 I thought Crouch was pivotal to how we played for a while. Very important player then and if he'd started in the CL final 2007 I think we would have won. But there we go.
Each to his own.
 
Dirty Sanchez said:
I hold my hand up. I'm certainly less analytical about the roles/requirements of player positions than many on here, but I also almost certainly "get" football. I think those two concepts are different @Silver Sean

You had a chance to educate me on exactly why Wijnaldum is better than, say, Joe Allen through the use of brief bullet points and relevant statistical illustrations. But like every other cunt on here who raves about him, you couldn't do it either.

So. Either make your case or shove it up your arse. Both are options that I would find entertaining / educational.
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To paraphrase Radiohead's Paranoid Android 'Your opinion if of no consequence at all'. Ha. Just fucking with you. I've got players wrong so often it's ridiculous and who's to say if he'll be the key player I predict over a long time. Quite possibly he won't, but I love what we've seen so far and I believe he's a Rolls-Royce compared to Allen.
I said from the start he's an important cog in the Klopp team. And firmly believe he is.
I also think most stats mean absolutely fuck all. He's what i think he brings to the team:
  • Stitches play together effectively
  • Keeps us ticking over beautifully
  • Rarely wastes a pass and generally picks the right one
  • Makes good runs off the ball
  • Creates space for others
  • Arrives late in the box
  • Offers a goal threat (will see more of that in the future, I think)
  • Reads the game well
  • Understands game management
  • Fights for the team
  • Is vital to the tempo of the team
In the mean time, happy Christmas ya bastard.
 
I like Sanchez and Sean so I shouldn't enjoy their spats so much

But I do

I still think Crouch was fucking awful though

Sorry Sean. Don't get angry. (Angrier)
 
Really love this kid.
Happy to say ive been an advocate a long time.
I think hes just a fucking BRILLIANT footballer.
 
Dirty Sanchez said:
Look. Not to get weird about it because clearly you lot see something good in him, but even the Footy 365 article pasted in the post Everton match thread had this to say about Wijnaldum:

"Wijnaldum is a drifter – it is very hard to identify exactly what it is he’s bringing to the party. The Dutchman has created only 19 chances in 1,196 league minutes; he is seventh on Liverpool’s list."

Still not sure what more he adds than someone else who might chip in with goals or even assists.
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People used to say similar stuff about Hamann. He came here having played attacking and defensive midfield and many were expecting him to be a bit of everything. Truth be told he ended up being crucial to the system while only fleetingly showing some attacking brilliance (and when he did, he usually did it with style).

The goals will come, he's scored fairly regularly throughout his career. I don't think he'll score loads, but he'll chip in with a few.

He's not a drifter or a passenger, that would describe someone who struggles to get involved. He always wants the ball and always shows for the ball, he works tirelessly, holds off opposition players well, is a great first time passer and keeps things linked well in midfield.

The creativity thing is neither here nor there because of the role he plays. Someone used that stick to beat Xabi with once, because he wasn't directly involved in many goals, despite the fact he was often crucial to the build up play.
 
manwithnoname said:
Ok that was a bit hyperbolic

But there's a few who are uncertain
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Me being one - He seems solid enough I suppose. I guess players like him and their role are not exactley supposed to be bombastic free scoring midfielders. I would very much like him to chip in with the goals more though.
 
dmishra said:
Starting to really really like him in this role.
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I do wonder if he was bought with this role in mind or if it's something they noticed he could do once he signed, because if they bought him for this role, it's some fantastic scouting and intuition of our behalf, as he's never played this role before (I believe), however he's seemingly a perfect fit. Love him.
 
Mystic said:
I do wonder if he was bought with this role in mind or if it's something they noticed he could do once he signed, because if they bought him for this role, it's some fantastic scouting and intuition of our behalf, as he's never played this role before (I believe), however he's seemingly a perfect fit. Love him.
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This is an interview from October. I think Klopp had this role in mind from the beginning. As I recall, the first choice target was Zielinski - who also plays in a similar midfield playmaker role.

Georginio Wijnaldum says it took him just one meeting with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to decide to move to Anfield last summer.
Wijnaldum joined Liverpool from Newcastle United in a £25m deal following the Magpies' relegation from the Premier League.
And the Netherlands international, who expects to line up in midfield for the Reds when they take on Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday lunch time in a match you can see live on Sky Sports 2 HD, has revealed how Klopp convinced him to join the club.

"We had one meeting, which was already convincing, and after that I was with my agent and I said: 'Let's see how serious they are,'" said Wijnaldum in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.

"But we had a meeting on the Sunday and on the Monday they called my agent to make me an offer and they went to Newcastle to make the deal.

"So that already gave me a feeling that he [Klopp] really wants me in his team, and that was a great feeling."

However, key to persuading Wijnaldum to swap St James' Park for Anfield was Klopp's belief he could make him better as a player.
"Before we even had a conversation, he asked me: 'Why were you sitting on the bench last season?' because I had two games I was on the bench last season," he said.

"I explained to him and said: 'OK we can now have a conversation.' We talked about football and how he wants to play, how he sees me in his team.
"And also that he can make me a much better player because he said: 'You can develop much more than you have now.'
"I also had it in my head that I can be much better than right now and I had a feeling that he was the right man to help me with that."
Despite seamlessly settling into life on Merseyside, Wijnaldum - who has started every Premier League matches so far for Liverpool, providing two assists along the way - still thinks he can improve certain aspects of his game.
"To be fair, I settled in quite quick, but I am not really happy with my own performances, because I know I can do better," said the Dutchman who captained PSV Eindhoven at the age of just 22 while leading them to their first Eredivisie title for seven years.
"I will strive to do better. I am happy with our results and how I played, but not really happy as I know I can do better.

"It is also a new position. You play with new players, so those things take time and I think when I know everything good that I have to do, and when I know the players better than I do know, I can achieve more than I have right now."
One big difference between playing for Liverpool this campaign and Newcastle last season is the 23-year-old's position.
"He [Klopp] does not give you a lot of jobs in the field to do," Wijnaldum says. "He says you have to be free and do the things you can do.

"The only thing that is different from my previous club is that I do not play that high up the pitch any more. I play, not a lot deeper, but deeper than before.

"At my previous clubs I was the attacking midfielder who went all the time. Now you have Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson, who can also go all the time, and [James] Milner on the left side, who can also attack.

"I have to look at all the players so that when they go, I stay, and that is the big difference that I have."

The versatile Dutchman, though, feels his best role is as a No 10.

"I can play in a lot of different positions, I can do a lot of things," says Wijnaldum. "At Newcastle, I was playing in the No 10 position, but also in midfield as a left winger.

"Whereas this season I play a little bit deeper, and you see other qualities like box to box. I am an all-round player, but I still think my best position is as a No 10, although we do not play like that here.
"But I feel comfortable with the way we play right now as he gives me the freedom to go."

Wijnaldum may have been criticised in some quarters for his lacklustre displays away from home for Newcastle last season, although the midfielder still managed 11 goals for a struggling team.

And that included scoring four times in Newcastle's 6-2 demolition of Norwich City at St James' last October, a feat the player thinks he can repeat for Liverpool.

"To be fair, I think and believe I can do it again, because I did it at Feyenoord, unfortunately not at PSV - I got three goals in a game there - and I am a player that can do that," he says.

"Of course I need help from my team-mates, which is why I would never say I can do it by myself, and yet I have to score the goals.

"I think I had two or three assists for Moussa Sissoko, so you need your team-mates to create chances and at the end you have to do it yourself, scoring goals.

"If a team helps me to get in the positions, I can deliver, that is the confidence I have that I can do it. And every time I believe I can do it again."

Looking ahead to this season, however, the always-smiling Dutchman is confident his new side can achieve great things after their impressive start to the campaign.

"If I do not score goals and we win a lot of games and I help the team to win a lot of games, then that is also good," Wijnaldum says.
"We go hard now, we win a lot of games, also against big opponents, but it is difficult to say [what would represent a good season].

"We must go game by game and at the end, we will see where we stand. If we carry on the way we are doing right now, we can achieve beautiful and big things.

"And I have faith in the team, the club and the manager and I think we can have a great season, but it is difficult to say what is going to be a good season as anything can happen.

"Last season they had 63 games with a small squad, then it is difficult to achieve great things, because at the end of the season you will be tired if you always play with the same players.

"We have to look at how the season will go, we have to end high in the ranking, that is for sure."
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Mystic said:
I do wonder if he was bought with this role in mind or if it's something they noticed he could do once he signed, because if they bought him for this role, it's some fantastic scouting and intuition of our behalf, as he's never played this role before (I believe), however he's seemingly a perfect fit. Love him.
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Didnt he play in that role for Holland?
 
I think for all he offers to the side currently, it's still fair to expect more goals from him, because we know he's capable of doing just that. He seems to snatch at them when presented with goal-scoring chances atm.
 
Mystic said:
I do wonder if he was bought with this role in mind or if it's something they noticed he could do once he signed, because if they bought him for this role, it's some fantastic scouting and intuition of our behalf, as he's never played this role before (I believe), however he's seemingly a perfect fit. Love him.
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This. IMO it's also a real credit to the player himself that he's changed roles so successfully. The goals will follow as he gets more accustomed to the job he's now doing.
 
I couldnt give a fuck how many goals he scores, as long as we are winning games.

He arrived as a Goalscoring Midfielder, but as we can see, he's not playing that role. He is very much the link man and his main job appears to be get it, give it, and try and make something happen from the CM area.

As long as the others are weighing in (as they currently are) then I would think 3-5 a season is a very acceptable total for Gini.

I wasnt too sure at the start of the season, but after the first couple of games, hes been a key man, and I'm made up we got him.
 
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