Owen Hargreaves

Excellent on Satdee. Loads of energy, good pace and kept the ball well. Seemed to form a good partnership with Anderson straight away too.

good player. i don't like his accent, though. it's all over the place.

Yep. Cracking player IMO.

To say that next weekend he should do a job on Fabregas is a valid notion however I think it's doing him a discredit to some extent as he should be able to impose himself on the game too. He's certainly good enough to do so.

Originally Posted by Jack Duckworth

good player. i don't like his accent, though. it's all over the place.

Like a male Joss Stone.

Just what we need. Hope he keeps fit. Fabulous all round player. Confident but modest. Future Captain?

Originally Posted by Gog Coch

Future Captain?

Rooney

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

Excellent on Satdee. Loads of energy, good pace and kept the ball well. Seemed to form a good partnership with Anderson straight away too.

agree entirely, though i don't think you need the words 'on satdee' there. it's not so much that he hasn't had a bad game - he hasn't had anything other than good ones. fantastic player. i think you could also probably put any name you like in there instead of anderson - he seems able to play with anyone. he's also very disciplined and aware tactically, so he'll give us a lot of tactical options during games.

i remember getting a ton of abuse for suggesting that hargreaves was twice the player mascherano was. some opinions have changed, i'd guess.

Originally Posted by borsuk

agree entirely, though i don't think you need the words 'on satdee' there. it's not so much that he hasn't had a bad game - he hasn't had anything other than good ones. fantastic player. i think you could also probably put any name you like in there instead of anderson - he seems able to play with anyone. he's also very disciplined and aware tactically, so he'll give us a lot of tactical options during games.

i remember getting a ton of abuse for suggesting that hargreaves was twice the player mascherano was. some opinions have changed, i'd guess.

I thought Mascherano was garbage yesterday. A horribly limited and surprisingly unathletic player. Not in OH's class tbh.

Originally Posted by borsuk

i remember getting a ton of abuse for suggesting that hargreaves was twice the player mascherano was. some opinions have changed, i'd guess.

Hargreaves is a far better footballer and far more in our mould of play.

Mascheranos probably as good as any at 'doing a job on someone' though Fabregas still ran the 2nd half yesterday.

Mascherano isn't as much of an all-rounder as Hargreaves, you wouldn't play him at right-back for example, but he's excellent at what he does. And if you put him in a proper footballing team you'd see a bit more of his constructive qualities.

Can't see how anyone could doubt his ability, to be honest. One of the best players at the World Cup, superb at the last two Copa Americas and probably the best performer in the last European Cup final. And, much as it pains me to admit it, he was a monster at River Plate as well.

Thought he played very well yesterday too. According to the OPTA stats he won the ball 11 times and made more passes than other Liverpool player, with by far the highest completion rate to boot. At one point in the first-half he managed to break down something like 5 or 6 Arsenal attacks in a row on his own.

And I thought he showed great heart when he went chasing back at the end despite his left foot being £#%&!ed.

Although on the negative (positive?) side, he does seem to have developed a tendency to play dangerous square passes since his move to murkeydive.

Mascherano was very good yesterday, not sure what game some of you were watching. The only time Fabregas started 'running the game' was when Alonso went off and Mascherano had Arbeloa next to him. What with Gerrard showing his usual tactical discipline, it's no surprise he started to struggle when trying to do the work of 3 players.

I thought Mascherano had a cracking game yesterday. As did Alonso.

Originally Posted by Barca '91

As did Alonso.

Now he is a quality player, £#%&!ed his metatarsel again apparantly, brought back too son.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

Now he is a quality player, £#%&!ed his metatarsel again apparantly, brought back too son.

I would have jumped at the chance of signing him before the start of this season. Not arsed anymore with the options we have.

He's the only player the dippers have got who offers a bit of guile IMO.

Originally Posted by slickwillywizeIII

hes quality you dont play for bayern for that long a time and be a mug!!

Carsten.

Jancker.

i rate mascherano. he's a good player.

i do think he's quite limited, however, and needs a side to suit him. he's an excellent player for a three-man m/f (five if we count the wide players, of course) but i didn't think and don't think that he would suit united. the only time united have played with a very defensively-minded midfielder was during keane's last couple of years and it had a big effect on the way we played. liverpool played five across the middle yesterday, with voronin and kuyt out wide and gerrard tucking in to support alonso and mascherano. that's the kind of system mascherano needs, imho - i don't think he suits the kind of high tempo game we play at our best.

that's not to say he doesn't have the ability to be creative - he does, plainly. but he tends to play to a slower rhythm, more conservatively, and to hold a deeper position than, say, hargreaves.

so, a good player, but not nearly as well suited to us as hargreaves.

Originally Posted by Gazw649

True. How anyone can truelly judge a player who has been injured the majority of the time at his club and has yet to play a full season and who is yet to play against decent opposition is beyond me.

For £#%&!s sake, I was just saying he played well on Satdee. I know BRL is allergic to any positivilty about Hargreaves , now you too.

what drugs were you on bedders yesterday while watching the match? Mascherano was class.

The only truly world class potential that dippers have apart from torres ( debatable ).

He was superb yesterday. Stevie "indiscipline" G was his usual self apart from the goal. It hurts mascherano that dippers have really shite wingers. You have to look at mascherano in argentina matches to see how effective he is.

Originally Posted by sharath

what drugs were you on bedders yesterday while watching the match? Mascherano was class.

The only truly world class potential that dippers have apart from torres ( debatable ).

He was superb yesterday. Stevie "indiscipline" G was his usual self apart from the goal. It hurts mascherano that dippers have really shite wingers. You have to look at mascherano in argentina matches to see how effective he is.

I was surprised at how limited he was though, not impressed at all, which surprised me as I thought he was good last time I saw him for the Argies.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

I was surprised at how limited he was though, not impressed at all, which surprised me as I thought he was good last time I saw him for the Argies.

If he was limited, then what was hargreaves on sunday? handicap?