Milan Jovanovic
The 29 year old Serb has certainly more than divided opinion since his arrival on Merseyside, in fact the general consensus is that he’s not good enough to wear the famous red shirt. That may be true in the long term as it’s true his passing and dribbling ability is limited. You could still argue Milan hasn’t had the chance to settle in the Premier League, a total of 5 starts and 5 sub appearances in the league since his arrival is hardly a fair chance to impress.
Liverpool’s recent Europa league games against Braga (games in which the frozen out Jovanovic was not in the squad for) really showed that Liverpool lack width, the problem may have been apparent for a while, but in recent games against Wigan, West Ham, Prague and Braga it has been more than obvious that the problem is costing the team games. A recurring theme has set about Liverpool in these games; Lucas passes to Maxi/Cole who then passes back to Lucas who passes to Carragher who hoofs the ball upfield. Lucas and Meireles badly need a decent outlet outwide, someone who hugs the touchline.
Liverpool realistically need to win 6 or 7 out of their remaining 8 games to have a chance of qualifying for Europe, to do this we will need some decent width in the team as teams have exploited our lack of it, especially with the new number 9 Andy Carroll coming into the side and threatening aerially.
I think the player to give us some width is Jovanovic, whilst it may be a controversial choice, I feel he is a player who is not afraid to get his head down and run at players, add to that his decent pace-another thing hugely lacking in the side and his almost bullish strength-demonstrated by the way he brushed aside Bacary Sagna during a driving run against Arsenal in the opening game of the season. His fairly strong left foot should also be able to unleash some crosses and shots, he has attributes which frighten defenders, something which Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez are failing to do. Milan Jovanovic is also a man who will give everything for the shirt, and I think is dying for a chance, which in my opinion he should be given.
why are u still wasting time on this player.I think is about time we sell him because he does not fit in liverpool squad…………..
Also cole,poulsen,jovanovic,maxi and ngog should be sold for good n fine another players.
Cole, Poulsen, Maxi and Ngog…You can say what you want but in my opinion they all are overrated players. Milan Jovanovic in other hand is probably underrated. He played only in games where almost a second team was sent on the pitch. True, even then, if you are a top class player it would not go unnoticed. Yet in my opinion I still think he should have had at least a chance playing a few games in a row with the best 11. Then we would know for sure if his got something in him that could leave an impact and bring some benefit to L.F.C .We will probably never know because I don’t think he will get that much space now with very few games(all of them very important in run for the 5th place) till end of season. [YNWA]
Jovanovic is here until atleast the summer so no harm in giving him a chance as he may just surprise a few people. One could also argue that he’s not been given a fair chance since he’s been here so i am all for it!
Cole, Maxi, Poulson, N’gog, Aurelio and perhaps even Kuyt are ones that i would want to see leave the club in a few months but for now we have to make do of what we have
Why on earth would you want Kuyt to leave? He is one of the few leaders we have and he is also one of our most clutch performers. He doesn’t do it against the likes of Birmingham or Wolves, perhaps, but he REGULARLY scores against the Evertons, Chelseas, Arsenals, Man Us…. etc. The same can be said about Aurelio, who is absolute quality. And Maxi is a solid defensive player on the wing that absolutely shut down Nani, for example, and can chip in with some good play. He isn’t GREAT, but he is a wonderful squad player to have at our disposal.
I can understand shouts for Cole, Poulsen and Ngog, but the other three? We need depth, and depth should NOT just be young kids who we want to see given a chance!
Regarding Jovanovic, I’ve seen enough to say that he is just nervous and perhaps slightly out of his depth. I’m sure he is used to far more space to perform his magic, and in England he just won’t get that. We’ll sell him for cheap, I would think.
“You could still argue Milan hasn’t had the chance to settle in the Premier League, a total of 5 starts and 5 sub appearances in the league since his arrival is hardly a fair chance to impress.”
Exactly.
Do you think Chelsea are preparing to sell Torres, who incidentally has had years in the Premier League.
There were people crying and moaning about Ryan Babel not having been given enough chances and he played around 150 games.
The way Cole and Rodriguez contributed to us getting knocked out against Braga, there have been far worse shouts than giving someone else a chance.
Thanks everyone for the feedback
Martin, I don’t think Milan ‘mouthed of to the press’ I believe what he said was he would fight for his place, this is something I like in a player. I agree about Johnson being played on the wing but I don’t think we’re going to see it now, if Kenny was going to do it he would have done it already in my opinion.
CLT, I agree.
Greame, Sorry you think that, this is just my opinion and constructive crictism and debate is welcome however calling the article a joke is neither of those things.
Hero nemisis, As Yoda says he’s not ready yet.
EJS, agian this is just my opinion, every player needs time to settle in the premier league, just look at Silva at Man City, he was poor at the start of the season but is now playing very well. So I’m willing to give Jovanovic more chances to impress because during the games he went missing he was settling in. I would also have no qualms about selling him in the summer, but I still think he can help us in our push for 4th/5th
Andy and LFC cheif, Pacheco would be like Cole and Maxi if he played on the wing, infact we have seen this in the Europa league, he is simply not a winger. He drifts inside as much as Cole and Maxi do when played on the wing. As stated before I think Sterling is to young.
Farhanhunk88,
I like Ince, but for these last 8 games we need experience
Pritam,
Gerrard will miss the next game, and he’s not a winger anyway, he will drift aswell.
He has not been good enough, his first touch has let him down in the matches he has played. The same can be said of Joe Cole. He had an offer to go to Bundesliga but he chose not to. I think should the opportunity arise again, he should move on where he can get mor minutes on the pitch.
As far as width for Liverpool this season is concerned, I think we will have to do without it on the left hand side. We should go for Steven Gerrard on the right hand side and who can zip in crosses from the right wing.Maxi or Kuyt can track back on the left hand side.
Should be a workable solution till we get two good wingers in the summer.
Tom Ince should be given the chance instead of jova
pacheco, sterling or suso before Jovanovic. he should have gone in Jan when he had the chance
Seriously? Jovanovic? Yeah we saw in the early stages of the europa league that he had the instinct to chase the ball when he lost it but that’s it, he lost it. His passing is poor and he is frequently caught in possession. Let’s be honest, he’s getting on, his best days are behind him. This is a poor shout.
I opened this article expecting to see Pacheco’s name across the top. He’s young, fast, skilful and eager. He just lacks the match experience. He is the guy to give more game time to.
In a minority of two…I bet you simply say things to be contrary and you’ve been like that ever since childhood! The only “frightening attributes” Milan has is his ability to disappear for long spells in every game he’s played in. It’s one thing scoring goals and looking a good player in a terrible Belgian league, it’s another proposition entirely to replicate that form at Premiership or Champions League level. Jova nether has the ability or the attitude, and the “step up” in class has found him out. He will be gone come the summer.
I don’t think anyone is denying he will be gone in the summer. I’d imagine the same can be said about Cole, who has been given the chance under Dalglish and failed time, after time, after time again.
Short sighted. Why not Sterling?
because as good as he is..he isn’t ready for the first team yet.. He’s only just turned 16, and is quite small for his age.. He isn’t ready physically yet..it would be irresponsible to chuck him in now.. Even though it might be tempting given his talent
Haha joke of an article to provoke a response surely. He’s been frozen out because he is dump.
I think you have a point. The way the team is currently being set-out may well benefit Jovanovic which will, in turn, benefit the team.
Give him a chance. If he fails, that’s that, but he might surprise people.
I disagree, i don’t think he’s shown any of his ‘frightening’ attributes whenever he’s played. Besides, his attitude stinks, he doesn’t play for a few games and he goes mouthing off to the press. If we wanna talk about real width, we’d be better off doing an everton and playing an attacking full back on the wing, i.e glen johnson. At least that way we’d benefit from his tireless running and taking on of players without worrying about his defensive frailties. Look how well it’s worked for everton and Coleman..