Mamadou "Kirikou" Sakho

Ribery, Evra and Benzema are not leaders.

Benzema is acting a lot like a leader now... he's spending a lot of time handling the press, talking to the new players and taking pressure on himself. A lot of kids on the team, so it's nice to see.

Evra is the leader in the locker room. They may have taken his armband away (for good reason). But he's the most experienced and the one who keeps everyone on edge.

Ribery was more a leader on the pitch. His play spoke for him.

Back to the thread... congrats to Sakho. Held off Koscielny to get the first crack at starting in the WC.

Think if France do somehow end up winning the world cup or making it to the final, it will be because of unbelievable defense, with Varane and Sakho at the heart of it.

Made up for the lad, think as his English gets better, and when he's partnered with a capable CB and some competent fullbacks, he will be a total beast for us.

Ilori is very much like Varane in playing style. Hopefully he lives up to his potential in the next 2-3 years because he would do Sakho a world of good as well.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Petite-elongation-pour-sakho/475876

Suffered a mild pulled hamstring today, but no tearing.  French med team think he may make the next game but would miss 1 game at the most.

Personally, i think it's a 10 day injury min.  So he misses next game for sure and probably comes back from the first elimination round game.

Think even if he was fit he wouldn't start the 3rd group game as France won both of their first games and are already guaranteed progression. 3rd group game is usually for the other squad players that have traveled and probably won't get as much game time otherwise.

It's not guaranteed for France and they must take 1st place.  If France loses to Ecuador and Swiss beat Honduras (likely), it's a 3-way tie.  Now, the GD is hugely in France's favor.  But because they need to make sure that the game doesn't get away from them...  i think you see the regular lineup in the 3rd game other than Cabaye (suspended; replaced by Mavuba) and Sakho (injury caution; replaced by Koscielny).  You might put Sagna in there for Debuchy too since you don't lose anything.  But the rest will be the regulars imo.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Echographie-rassurante-pour-sakho/476051

MRI showed nothing muscular. Just a knock. Sakho is available for the game against Ecuador.

^ Is he gonna be fit for tomorrow's game Sports?

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mamadou-sakho-daniel-sturridge-not-7856090

The France international stormed out of Anfield after learning he hadn't made the 18-man squad for Saturday's Merseyside derby.

Sakho subsequently issued an apology for his conduct but Rodgers has taken the decision to leave him out once again.

It is unclear whether Sakho has been fined by the club.


WOW if that's true, then it's absolutely poor form from the bloke, should be dropped for a whole month, who the hell does he think he is just leaving before the game.

It was a bad choice by him to leave Anfield before the match, but he did apologize for it. I wonder why Rodgers picked Toure ahead of him anyway?

I'm worried about Sakho's situation. I think he's a talented CB with many attributes that could make him even a world-class CB if given the opportunity. Should be played ahead of Lovren, but the latest development is that he could be even behind Kolo in the pecking order?? I don't like this.

mr-r34 wrote:http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mamadou-sakho-daniel-sturridge-not-7856090

The France international stormed out of Anfield after learning he hadn't made the 18-man squad for Saturday's Merseyside derby.

Sakho subsequently issued an apology for his conduct but Rodgers has taken the decision to leave him out once again.

It is unclear whether Sakho has been fined by the club.


WOW if that's true, then it's absolutely poor form from the bloke, should be dropped for a whole month, who the hell does he think he is just leaving before the game.

Really? We're talking about people who didn't talk to vice-captain DANIEL AGGER for 8 months.

Imagine being Sakho. Benching Mangala and Koscielny in NT and being the leader ahead of Varane, and then at your club you're behind Kolo Toure when the other 3 CBs are making mistakes week in and out, and the manager always points the blame at you.

Sakho hasn't been perfect, but he's been awfully handled by us. Feel for him...hope he has an amazing career when he's inevitably sold by us in Jan/Summer.

He deserves to be behind them. Even as shaky as our defence has been he has been the shakiest of the defenders going all the way back to last season. Sakho on this board is living off his NT play because he hasn't played anywhere near that level at any point for Liverpool really.

I don't think Sakho has been shaky. He's sometimes slow to react, but generally speaking I've been satisfied with him. If we had a better option to join Skrtel than him, that'd be fine, but Sakho is better than Lovren or Kolo, imo.

We bought this guy only a year ago, for good money, and he had only 18 PL appearances last season. He deserves more of a chance, because it's obvious he can be a very good player when in form, definitely better than Lovren or Toure.

El Cujo wrote:He deserves to be behind them. Even as shaky as our defence has been he has been the shakiest of the defenders going all the way back to last season. Sakho on this board is living off his NT play because he hasn't played anywhere near that level at any point for Liverpool really.

No one has denied that. But it's not like Skrtel/Lovren/Kolo has played any better.

I think we all know BR has his favourites.....and sadly it looks like Sakho is in a pile with likes of Reina/Agger/Aspas/Suso who'll get dumped out of the team for smallest of mistakes while his favourites remain in the team no matter how many mistakes/game they make.

It's something he's taken from Mourinho (Remember his treatment of that Spanish winger he sold to Getafe and didn't even let him park in the training session?). It's cruel and sad, but hey...I guess part of management.

It's becoming more and more obvious by each passing day that Sakho was a committee signing as opposed to Rodgers' one, and looks like it's the same for all signings of summer of 2013.

Well, realistically for future success I think that the team will be better off with Rodgers being able to implement his plan with the players that he wants to use ultimately. If Sakho doesn't fall into that then so be it, but right now he's not fitting in because he's not playing well. If he wants to be a starter game in and game out he has to perform to the level that forces Rodgers' hand. Anyone can do it -- Henderson was not a Rodgers signing, but he put the work in and had the right mentality and now he's likely the second name on the teamsheet after Gerrard.

Sakho cannot play a high line. Some have mentioned that playing a high line is Rogers' preferred tactic... it won't work with Sakho. He relies on his physical attributes the most and that's about getting his body on people... a high line needs CBs who are both strong at anticipating the play, can handle defending open space AND are good with the ball at their feet.

Not that Skrtel or Lovren have any of those attributes either though

Defensive issues, and we isolate our best defender to accommodate Dejan ********* Lovren. I'd be pissed off if I was Sakho too.

Sakho has his own limitations, no need to overreact there

He only has limitations because we're putting him in a role that's uncommon to him.

Let him play his natural game like he does for France, and maybe, just maybe, he might win you guys over.

Who gives a shit, who does he think he is? Is he bigger than the freaking club to walk out like that.

Red Alert wrote:He only has limitations because we're putting him in a role that's uncommon to him.

Let him play his natural game like he does for France, and maybe, just maybe, he might win you guys over.

Putting him in a role that's uncommon to him? He's never played as a central defender before? Hmmm....your agenda against Lovren is beyond transparent. Lovren has looked better for Liverpool this year than Sakho has (not sure what that says given Lovren has been shaky himself), and he was much better than Sakho in the EPL last year.

I don't care how good a player is internationally if he can't replicate that form at club level, and if he's a one dimensional player that can't adapt to more than one system then he doesn't belong anyway. Flexible players make for strong teams. Talented players can play in any system. Sakho is acting entitled to start when he's done nothing to earn the spot.

Actually, he was clearly better than Alex at PSG but Silva and Sakho didn't get along... Sakho was the PSG captain for 3 years before Silva came and Silva was handed the armband without ever playing a game for PSG. Created resentment. Of course, everyone did everything they could to make Silva happy, which included ostracizing Sakho.

Sakho lost the political game at PSG... not the one based on ability.

I'm not sure what that has to do with his tenure at Liverpool.

You mentioned that he hadn't established himself at club level and only on NT...  well that's not true.  He was very established at PSG and fell out of favor to accommodate Silva.  He would never have gotten into NT if his club performances weren't very good, especially at the CB position in France.

At Liverpool, he's never gotten a chance to settle and play regularly.  There is an adaptation period when you change teams, let alone leagues (EPL is vastly different from Ligue 1).  If Liverpool is going to judge him without giving him a true chance to settle in, then i don't understand why he was bought.

mr-r34 wrote:Who gives a shit, who does he think he is? Is he bigger than the freaking club to walk out like that.

Like what?

He wasn't apart of the squad so left. It's not like he HAD to be there. Plus, we have no clue what's happening behind the scenes. Agger wasn't spoken to for half the season ffs.

El Cujo wrote:

Red Alert wrote:He only has limitations because we're putting him in a role that's uncommon to him.

Let him play his natural game like he does for France, and maybe, just maybe, he might win you guys over.

Putting him in a role that's uncommon to him? He's never played as a central defender before? Hmmm....your agenda against Lovren is beyond transparent. Lovren has looked better for Liverpool this year than Sakho has (not sure what that says given Lovren has been shaky himself), and he was much better than Sakho in the EPL last year.

I don't care how good a player is internationally if he can't replicate that form at club level, and if he's a one dimensional player that can't adapt to more than one system then he doesn't belong anyway. Flexible players make for strong teams. Talented players can play in any system. Sakho is acting entitled to start when he's done nothing to earn the spot.

Yes, because ALL defenders all have the same role.

My agenda against Lovren is well known, he's shit.

I have no clue what you see in Lovren, but to say he's shown more than Sakho is laughable.

Sakho SHOULD be entitled to start considering he's the best defender at the club.

"Talented players can play any system" is with all honesty, bullshit.

We have a lot of "flexible" players at the club right now, we don't exactly have a strong team. lmao