26 replies to this topic

[Davey Baby]

Those of us who remember Hansen's playing days remember a superb defender, probably the best centre-half these shores have produced since Bobby Moore, not that I ever saw Bobby Moore.

Hansen hardly ever broke sweat even though he had bags of pace. He didn't need it. He read the game so well. He hardly ever went to ground. He hardly ever tackled. He wasn't even that great in the air, despite the fact he was tall and athletic. He just understood defending and he was unflappable.

I'm not sure about his punditry but I've always found him to be fairly fair and when he talks about defending I listen, because that's one subject he knows about. He won eight league titles, three European Cups plus countless other pots and much of those as skipper. He knows about winning, he knows about pressure, and he knows about organising a defence.

His comments tonight worried me ..

Bossy needs to be put out to grass. I'm sorry but it has gone on too long.

Ashley is not the player he was. No way. Still capable but less frequently and he is now a full-back wingers think they can get change out of. He is vulnerable.

Luiz, well we've all seen Hansen's pops at him before. I'm sorry but they are valid. Watching the highlights tonight there were two moments of schoolboy defending, just like there are every game. It's not good enough. Let's not kid ourselves we were very lucky to win today so don't let the scoreline fool you. We are so vulnerable it's shocking.

Forget our pens they should have had one. Basic error by Cole but look at Luiz during the approach. He lets their man skip past him because he doesn't know when not to commit, just like in the first minutes when he was booked. You do not have to commit. Hansen was the master at that. Knowing when to do it and when not to. Luiz hasn't a clue. And then his effort to stop the cross, half-hearted at best, his back to the ball. Terry must be tearing his hair out. And then there was the moment at the end, with Bendtner. It was textbook Luiz. We've seen the same thing at Old Tarrord and at Newcastle. That little bit of movement and he's off balance.

And then there were Hansen's comments on Cahill .. clearly less than convinced.

His exact words ..

"He's had a torrid 6 months at Bolton."

"Everyone wanted a centre-back last summer. He was available for 18 million. No takers. That says it all."

When Shearer said he would get better playing alongside better players .. Hansen paused and said ..

"Maybe."

I think he's made his feelings known. I haven't followed Cahill closely and I trust AVB's judgement but I also trust Hansen's in this regard.

A clean sheet today, great, but the bottom line is I can't see too many of those coming our way anytime soon. It's been going on all season and it needs to stop. You sort your defence before you sort anything else. You will not win anything with a leaky back four.

Ivanovic can't return soon enough, and I just hope one of Luiz or Cahill becomes the partner Terry deserves. God knows what we'll do if he gets banned. As for left-back, we have to make a decision about Bertrand in my opinion. We need a replacement for Ashley Cole, or at least someone that can step into his shoes. We need that person now, not just next season. Cole needs a rest. He needs a stint on the bench. The fact that he always knows he's playing isn't helping anybody.

Andre, my memo to you, sort out the defence, then we can worry about all the fancy stuff down the other end ..

[BenR55]

Im glad someone else is aware of this, he is a bitter person.

Already this season he's had bigs at Luiz, AVB, Cole, Bossy, Torres and Cahill that I can think of - rarely is ever makes constructive criticism. I hope one day of producer of MOTD realises how far they are behind Sky and ITV in ways of pundits, think the show is getting a little dated.

https://twitter.com/#!/Marcotti - Those with twitter Gab Marcotti often tell MOTD how it is.

[Davey Baby]

By the way, I think Hansen got his figures wrong.

I think Bolton were asking for £14m last summer.

[Myles_91]

I couldn't disagree more.

Hansen is pretty overt in his bias against Chelsea and southern clubs in general. He strikes me as one of those bitter northerners (I know he's Scottish) that has nothing nice to say about anyone or anything South. I am no fan of Spurs by any means and don't believe they are title contenders but I thought his post match comments about them were more than condescending and it is not the first time I have noticed that. As for Arsenal I think his hatred of them is there for all to see, can't remember any or many times he has had anything good to say about them despite the fact they consistently perform better than Liverpool more often than not.

Hansen's views are outdated and  I feel he needs replacing (as does that mong Lawro), I respect the views of Lee Dixon and to a lesser extent Shearer who have more balanced views and conduct themselves a lot better. The fact that Dixon and Shearer have played more recently alone makes them better pundits.

Hansen has been quick to call AVB tactically nieve and quick to single out individual Chelsea players for their mistakes (which some of it is fair). He has been one of the main protagonists in this anti-Luiz movement that seems to have sweeped the press and football fans/Chelsea haters across the land. I think we all know that if Luiz played for Liverpool he would not have received the level of criticism or humiliation that he has.

Attacking is as much of an art as defending and vice-versa and I just wonder if he would be as quick to label "King Kenny" as tactically nieve having lined up 3-5-2 at home to Stoke who have scored fewer away goals than any other team and away from home are a poor outfit.

Torres may not be firing on all cylinders but unlike Carroll he is contributing to the team, another factor overlooked by Hansen and these bitter LFC mongs that can't get over the fact Torres left them for bigger and better things.

The day people listen to Hansen, will be the day the world is truly mad. The same Hansen that infamously said "You won't win anything with kids" to a United team that later went on to dominate the Prem in the 90s. The same Hansen that in 09/10 predicted Liverpool would win the league on the basis United had "weakened" after selling Ronaldo and Tevez and they finished 7th, if I am not mistaken he also predicted Arsenal to finish outside the top 4 in 5th/6th and they came 3rd.

The man is utterly clueless.

Edited by Myles_91, 15 January 2012 - 01:14 AM.

[charierre]

Hansen was a good defender, and is calling our defence right at present. Today we got away with it , Bos would struggle to get in most sides in the prem, Luiz though good on the ball, positionally he is very poor , Ash is well past his best and has retired from tackling these days. It actually shows how good JT is given the rest he has had to work alongside this year, with his own problems too.As for Cahill we will see , I work with a Bolton season ticket holder who has told me he is nowhere near the level he was last year , a new club may bring him back to form or maybe not time will tell. Good defences win trophies ours has to improve if we want to be still serious contenders.

[The Moos]

Bosingwa usually gets crap from me, but today I will say that he wasn't all that bad and I think he prevented them from scoring a goal early on.

[Zola]

Agree for the most part Davey! Think you are pretty much spot on. Let's hope we are moving in the right direction

[Spiller86]

I think there is some merit in the comments of both Davey and Myles. There is no doubt he doesn't particularly like us, but at the same time he knows his stuff about defending and nothing he has said about Luiz has been proven wrong with any consistency. I think he was also probably right about our naivety early on in the year, but I put that down to AVB needing to adapt.

I among others have been calling for sometime for a genuinely defence focused assistant who can have an influence (I know AVB does take most sessions himself) on that side of the game. Something certainly needs to be done before we hit the really big games that will in the long run determine our spot this season.

Edited by Spiller86, 15 January 2012 - 05:44 AM.

[G4 Squared]

Strange how no one reckons Cahill has come to replace Terry. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see DL and Cahill together

[loz]

Davey Baby, on 15 January 2012 - 12:41 AM, said:

Those of us who remember Hansen's playing days remember a superb defender, probably the best centre-half these shores have produced since Bobby Moore, not that I ever saw Bobby Moore.

..

Just a comment on that part of the post. No he wasn't. There was a reason he only got 26 caps for Scotland and that was because there were two players better than him at the time. Willie Miller and Alex McLeish were Scotland's central half partnership with Hansen in reserve.  There was an element of picking a centre half partnership which played together at club level about it however I would still say Miller was head and shoulders above Hansen (and for me the only British centre half to come near Moore) and McLeish was probably as good as him.

I would also put Terry Butcher, Jack Charlton and Paul McGrath ahead of Hansen.

[Ben]

Hanson was the king of the back pass. But he was spot on about Bosingwa & although I think someday Luiz will grow up to be a good centre back, he's not there yet.

With Ivan fit a back four of him, Cahill, Terry & Cole is as good as any in the prem. Hopefully the manager won't make life hard for them with bizarre tactics.

[dkw]

Tim W, on 15 January 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

Strange how no one reckons Cahill has come to replace Terry. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see DL and Cahill together

Thats how I see it to be honest, I think Cahill will be partnering either Luiz or ANO next season as a straight replacement for JT.

[Samdwich]

Myles_91, on 15 January 2012 - 01:09 AM, said:

I couldn't disagree more.

Hansen is pretty overt in his bias against Chelsea and southern clubs in general. He strikes me as one of those bitter northerners (I know he's Scottish) that has nothing nice to say about anyone or anything South. I am no fan of Spurs by any means and don't believe they are title contenders but I thought his post match comments about them were more than condescending and it is not the first time I have noticed that. As for Arsenal I think his hatred of them is there for all to see, can't remember any or many times he has had anything good to say about them despite the fact they consistently perform better than Liverpool more often than not.

Hansen's views are outdated and  I feel he needs replacing (as does that mong Lawro), I respect the views of Lee Dixon and to a lesser extent Shearer who have more balanced views and conduct themselves a lot better. The fact that Dixon and Shearer have played more recently alone makes them better pundits.

Hansen has been quick to call AVB tactically nieve and quick to single out individual Chelsea players for their mistakes (which some of it is fair). He has been one of the main protagonists in this anti-Luiz movement that seems to have sweeped the press and football fans/Chelsea haters across the land. I think we all know that if Luiz played for Liverpool he would not have received the level of criticism or humiliation that he has.

Attacking is as much of an art as defending and vice-versa and I just wonder if he would be as quick to label "King Kenny" as tactically nieve having lined up 3-5-2 at home to Stoke who have scored fewer away goals than any other team and away from home are a poor outfit.

Torres may not be firing on all cylinders but unlike Carroll he is contributing to the team, another factor overlooked by Hansen and these bitter LFC mongs that can't get over the fact Torres left them for bigger and better things.

The day people listen to Hansen, will be the day the world is truly mad. The same Hansen that infamously said "You won't win anything with kids" to a United team that later went on to dominate the Prem in the 90s. The same Hansen that in 09/10 predicted Liverpool would win the league on the basis United had "weakened" after selling Ronaldo and Tevez and they finished 7th, if I am not mistaken he also predicted Arsenal to finish outside the top 4 in 5th/6th and they came 3rd.

The man is utterly clueless.

No matter how biased he is generally, his analysis of defensive play is pretty accurate and our defenders were very poor with their positioning. I have no clue how we allowed Sunderland so many f**king chances.

As for Torres, I seem to remember him being complimentary about him last night??

[dkw]

The one thing Hansen missed was Luiz being given a very soft yellow early on which meant he was having to be extra careful for the majority of the game and had to pull out of a couple of challenges. Doesn`t excuse his poor defending for Bendners chance at the death though.

[CFCCAN]

Tim W, on 15 January 2012 - 09:42 AM, said:

Strange how no one reckons Cahill has come to replace Terry. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see DL and Cahill together

f**k I hope not...you think we have enough problems now, Terry is about the only one who can read anything defensively and I don't know how many times he's baled us out in recent weeks. I agree you might need a replacement sooner than later but not with Cahill and Luiz .....just yet at least.

[Davey Baby]

loz, on 15 January 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

Just a comment on that part of the post. No he wasn't. There was a reason he only got 26 caps for Scotland and that was because there were two players better than him at the time. Willie Miller and Alex McLeish were Scotland's central half partnership with Hansen in reserve.  There was an element of picking a centre half partnership which played together at club level about it however I would still say Miller was head and shoulders above Hansen (and for me the only British centre half to come near Moore) and McLeish was probably as good as him.

I would also put Terry Butcher, Jack Charlton and Paul McGrath ahead of Hansen.

We'll have to agree to differ. Hansen head and shoulders above those you've mentioned, bar perhaps McGrath, but McGrath's career is one of underachievement for so many reasons. Sure, Hansen only got 26 caps, and Scotland had a lot of good players at the time, I am not saying they were not good players, but Ferguson took Scotland to the WC as I recall, and he went with his Aberdeen boys, causing a rift with Dalglish as I seem to recall. I'm with Dalglish on this one. The fact that Hansen never even made the squad shows there was something strange going on. Anyway off-topic I know.

[goose]

Hanson was a very good reader of the game, probably his biggest assest, however in todays game he would be getting booked every match and sent off many times
each season. Not because he was a dirty player but he was the most cynical bar steward ever to play football. Always going for those little blocks off the ball stopping players runs
and obstructions when players were going to get away from him. He was a master at it but today those get yellows.

[Shatner's Bassoon]

Hansen's on a very cushy number at the BBC. £million + salary, taxi's from Southport to London and back at our expense and has very little knowledge of any football outside of the top Premier League sides.
I don't pay much attention to what he says

[Phillip]

The Moos, on 15 January 2012 - 02:25 AM, said:

Bosingwa usually gets crap from me, but today I will say that he wasn't all that bad and I think he prevented them from scoring a goal early on.

I agree, and thought he played well.   I guess I saw a different game from most of the others on this forum.

[Mike 93]

He did keep McLean onside yesterday thankfully he didn't keep the ball under control, but bossy didn't keep line. I personally find Hansen hilarious when he is t asking about bossy because it is actually true. One clip yesterday on motd was hilarious, he was running awaybfrom goal when defending was needed. Hansen was justbsaying where are you goingnno more analysis was needed, he is a liability.