Javier Mascherano Interview

[Aidan O' Neill]

Barca acted like complete dicks (unsurprisingly) in the whole thing so they wouldn't have to pay what he was worth. As far as I remember it was coming from Liverpool that we'll sell if they stump up properly. We paid about 17 million for him and he became probably the most admired DM in the world and captain of Argentina in that time and Barca thought they could rock into town and pick him up for about the same amount. I think they did too. They employed similar tactics trying to get Fabregas saying he was ours first etc. Cunts

 

[keniget]

"I felt the project was falling apart"

His time with us was a "project". His words.

Fucking ringpiece.

That's a bit of a stretch.

Usage of the word "project" is pretty commonplace. I'm pretty sure Rafa used it regularly along with the fans at the time.

 

[davud graham]

In the case of Torres, he had gone well off the boil by the time he was sold to Chelsea, so it was a fantastic deal which was rather spoilt by the decision to use a big chunk of the proceeds to pay over the odds for Andy Carroll. Likewise with Raheem Sterling, he is a young player who is still some way from being the real deal, so that sale was a good bit of business too. I don't see either transaction as evidence that the club has fallen a long way.

Before them two transfers when was the last time we sold one of out top players to a direct rival? The last time i can remember was Beardsley to Everton and that was a complete fuck up.
It turned out that the Torres deal was good business for us as his performance level dropped quite a bit but at the time no Liverpool supporter was happy about the deal. Hindsight apart no one could have predicted how poor he would be at Chelsea.

The Sterling one remains to be seen whether he comes good for them or not but we have certainly missed him this season.
Us wasting the Torres money was quite ridiculous as you say and it's a trend that we may have repeated with Benteke.

Neither of these deals are definitive proof that we have fallen a long way but it's certainly indicates that we are unable to prevent our best players from joining our rivals as we cannot turn down the money or convince the players that we are the best option for them. That never used to be the case.

 

[davud graham]

Barca acted like complete dicks (unsurprisingly) in the whole thing so they wouldn't have to pay what he was worth. As far as I remember it was coming from Liverpool that we'll sell if they stump up properly. We paid about 17 million for him and he became probably the most admired DM in the world and captain of Argentina in that time and Barca thought they could rock into town and pick him up for about the same amount. I think they did too. They employed similar tactics trying to get Fabregas saying he was ours first etc. Cunts

Hodgson didn't pick him for a Europa League game because he didn't want to prejudice any potential transfer to Barcelona so the club were prepared to let him go but we obviously caved in on the transfer fee and accepted far less than he was worth.
Barcelona were pricks regarding that deal but i think half the problem was that Hodgson thought he could replace Mascherano with Poulsen so was prepared to let him go.
I bet that there are plenty of smaller premier league clubs that think we are pricks for trying to buy their players on the cheap, though the only difference there is that we end up paying over the odds anyway. Our negotiators are shit.

 

[manwithnoname]

Before them two transfers when was the last time we sold one of out top players to a direct rival? The last time i can remember was Beardsley to Everton and that was a complete fuck up.
It turned out that the Torres deal was good business for us as his performance level dropped quite a bit but at the time no Liverpool supporter was happy about the deal. Hindsight apart no one could have predicted how poor he would be at Chelsea.

The Sterling one remains to be seen whether he comes good for them or not but we have certainly missed him this season.
Us wasting the Torres money was quite ridiculous as you say and it's a trend that we may have repeated with Benteke.

Neither of these deals are definitive proof that we have fallen a long way but it's certainly indicates that we are unable to prevent our best players from joining our rivals as we cannot turn down the money or convince the players that we are the best option for them. That never used to be the case.

We let Beardsley go, it was nothing to do with the player. And was a terrible, terrible mistake.

The very real and obvious issue is that we are no longer rich enough, or successful enough (the two being intrinsically linked) to keep our very best players happy. It does ebb and flow a bit, but one would have to concede that under Hodgson and following that awful period under Hicks and Gillette, culminating in a dreadful last season under Benitez, you couldn't blame any player with genuine quality who wanted to leave the club. I would have.

 

[davud graham]

We let Beardsley go, it was nothing to do with the player. And was a terrible, terrible mistake.

The very real and obvious issue is that we are no longer rich enough, or successful enough (the two being intrinsically linked) to keep our very best players happy. It does ebb and flow a bit, but one would have to concede that under Hodgson and following that awful period under Hicks and Gillette, culminating in a dreadful last season under Benitez, you couldn't blame any player with genuine quality who wanted to leave the club. I would have.

When good players want to leave our club I think they're cunts and when we can't get rid of crap players then they're selfish bastards for not wanting to go (yes you Enrique!).
It's the nature of being a fan that you see through rose tinted glasses at times because you're so desparate for the team to do well that logic seems stupid. Time tempers that somewhat but I tend to hold grudges where football is concerned.
There are very few teams that I don't hate for some flimsy reason or other.
Lately though we haven't been able to say 'You would have been better off staying with us' to many players that have left (even Torres won the European cup, FA Cup and the Europa League at Chelsea despite being shit for them). The last one we could do that to was Michael Owen and there was a perverse sense of satisfaction seeing his face drop as the Kop sang 'where were you in Istanbul' to him.

 

[FMSPWR]

I never believe a word he says.

He specifically says in the interview that LFC spun his departure negatively, just as they did with Torres.

Why would you believe Purslow, Hicks and Gillett over the likes of Mascherano and Torres - who have both said similar things, that the real reasons were not known or understood by LFC fans

The first reply to this thread was literally "cunt", mind boggling

 

[cloggypop]

It was Skully and he may well be referring to Arn. It's hard to tell sometimes.

 

[Mamma Mia]

He was very good, but ultimately proved that he wasn't good enough to win the premier league.

 

[manwithnoname]

He specifically says in the interview that LFC spun his departure negatively, just as they did with Torres.

Why would you believe Purslow, Hicks and Gillett over the likes of Mascherano and Torres - who have both said similar things, that the real reasons were not known or understood by LFC fans

The first reply to this thread was literally "cunt", mind boggling

And how would you have suggested they spun it positively?

 

[davud graham]

When there's an acrimonious departure from a club everyone stretches the truth to a degree.
The club doesn't want to look like they let the player go without a fight and they also want to look like they got the best deal possible.
The player always tries to blame the club whilst telling the fans he had no choice but to go and the club failed to deliver on promises etc.
You rarely get the whole truth from anyone as everyone's looking to save face.

 

[manwithnoname]

When good players want to leave our club I think they're cunts and when we can't get rid of crap players then they're selfish bastards for not wanting to go (yes you Enrique!).
It's the nature of being a fan that you see through rose tinted glasses at times because you're so desparate for the team to do well that logic seems stupid. Time tempers that somewhat but I tend to hold grudges where football is concerned.

Great players leaving is hard to take as a fan, which is why there is often all kinds of negativity and ill-feeling that lingers, because it's easier to hate them and call them a back-stabbing liar, than admit they were right to leave and were hugely successful.

Nobody builds up these little hate diatribes against rubbish players because they either stay - because nobody really wants them - or leave and disappear into mediocrity because great teams don't buy shit players very often.

In the last 15-20 years we haven't really lost many great players, because we haven't really had many, but almost every one we did have, left and were entirely justified in doing so, based on the trophies they won afterwards: McManaman, Torres, Mascherano, Suarez, Alonso.

 

[peekay]

Barca acted like complete dicks (unsurprisingly) in the whole thing so they wouldn't have to pay what he was worth. As far as I remember it was coming from Liverpool that we'll sell if they stump up properly. We paid about 17 million for him and he became probably the most admired DM in the world and captain of Argentina in that time and Barca thought they could rock into town and pick him up for about the same amount. I think they did too. They employed similar tactics trying to get Fabregas saying he was ours first etc. Cunts

We adopt the same strategy too. I remember Stevie G commenting on how good Barry will be in our midfield. Except we target shit players and we are not really good at getting players to instigate trouble at their clubs for us.

 

[Aidan O' Neill]

We adopt the same strategy too. I remember Stevie G commenting on how good Barry will be in our midfield. Except we target shit players and we are not really good at getting players to instigate trouble at their clubs for us.

Gerrard never implied that Aston Villa were treating Gareth Barry like a slave. He wasn't imploring Aston Villa to "do the right thing" and let him go for a pittance. I'm not saying we're clean on these type of things, but the way Barca seem to conduct themselves in these situations is far worse.

 

[Portly]

The result of the Gareth Barry episode was that Alonso made up his mind to leave the club, which is to me another example of Benitez' poor man-management.

 

[ILD]

The result of the Gareth Barry episode was that Alonso made up his mind to leave the club, which is to me another example of Benitez' poor man-management.

Christ Portly, don't drop Rafa Bombs like that. 😉

 

[darkstarexodus]

The result of the Gareth Barry episode was that Alonso made up his mind to leave the club, which is to me another example of Benitez' poor man-management.

Uh-Oh. Here we go!

(Agree BTW but still....)

 

[localny]

Great players leaving is hard to take as a fan, which is why there is often all kinds of negativity and ill-feeling that lingers, because it's easier to hate them and call them a back-stabbing liar, than admit they were right to leave and were hugely successful.

Nobody builds up these little hate diatribes against rubbish players because they either stay - because nobody really wants them - or leave and disappear into mediocrity because great teams don't buy shit players very often.

In the last 15-20 years we haven't really lost many great players, because we haven't really had many, but almost every one we did have, left and were entirely justified in doing so, based on the trophies they won afterwards: McManaman, Torres, Mascherano, Suarez, Alonso.

And Michael Owen.