CONFIRMED - Alex Pearce re-signs

[Terminal Boardom]

To compare the Pearce situation to Sidwell's is laughable. Sidders was immense in his last season for us and gave everything on the pitch. Can the same be said for Pearce? It looks like the work of either a shit agent or BR has been talking illegally to Pearce. For Pearce to shine, he needs the right partner at the back. As Hammond has said, the club are still in discussion with Pearce and his representatives. That shows that the club want to keep him. The ball is now in Pearce's court.

I remember when Kevin Bremner left Reading. He went to Brighton after a tribunal decided on the fee. It went to tribunal as Reading had offered an improved contract to Mad Max. The improvement? 50 pence per week!

[Norfolk Royal]

Pearce again linked with Liverpool in papers this morning. Rodgers said to be 'closing in on him.' Pearce will never get out of that one.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

To compare the Pearce situation to Sidwell's is laughable. Sidders was immense in his last season for us and gave everything on the pitch. Can the same be said for Pearce? It looks like the work of either a shit agent or BR has been talking illegally to Pearce. For Pearce to shine, he needs the right partner at the back. As Hammond has said, the club are still in discussion with Pearce and his representatives. That shows that the club want to keep him. The ball is now in Pearce's court.

I remember when Kevin Bremner left Reading. He went to Brighton after a tribunal decided on the fee. It went to tribunal as Reading had offered an improved contract to Mad Max. The improvement? 50 pence per week!

There was never any pretence that Sidwell would sign for us again, and in fact the PL season he was here he was our worst-paid played as he stayed on his Chairmanship contract - Coppell challenged him to "show teams why he was worth a contract" - and he responded magnificently, so great kudos to player and manager there.

Pearce is different in that we have no idea what he's been offered, and we've also got no idea what other players at the club are on, so there's no way of deciding what is or isn't "fair" - so we can't really make a judgement. But, in any case, not sure that he's been given enough of a chance to prove what he can do this year - it seems the contract situation has hurt is selection chances, which is the polar opposite of the Sidwell situation and only hurts both club or player.

With Kevin Bremner I'm pretty certain that the problem wasn't the money aspect of the contract - it was the length of contract being offered. because he was above a certain age we weren't prepared to offer a 3-year-contract, which is what his sticking point was. He was quite happy with the salary offered, and I think it might even have been more for 1 year than he got at Brighton - just not for as long!

[SCIAG]

To compare the Pearce situation to Sidwell's is laughable. Sidders was immense in his last season for us and gave everything on the pitch. Can the same be said for Pearce?

In short, yes.

[melonhead]

lol.

hes been pretty terrible, in a terrible defence this season.


yeah he shows passion and commitment. but tbf, every player should, and it shouldnt be enough to mask any shortcomings

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Isn't he a bit slow? And doesn't he pass as if his boot were a pitching wedge?

I know he's much loved in these parts, but to me he's ordinary and replaceable.

I don't blame him for jumping at the chance of going to Liverpool. I'd be surprised if he has a successful career there.

[melonhead]

passings not bad imo

if he has space, and the team isnt being over run he has a decent ability to bring the ball own, carry it out of defence and distribute it to attacking areas

[maffff]

His best foot is still his head, mind.

[TBM]

His best foot is still his head, mind.

and for that reason alone he wont fit in at Liverpool

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Rodgers believes that Pearce is a natural ball-playing centre-back....

[SCIAG]

Isn't he a bit slow?

You do know why they want to sign him, yeah? Replacement for Jamie Carragher. The slowest defender around. Martin Skrtel was hardly rapid either. Pearce makes up for his lack of pace with his reading of the game.

lol.

hes been pretty terrible, in a terrible defence this season.

We didn't have a terrible defence when he played with Mariappa in a 4-5-1. We conceded an average of one goal a match over nine league matches they started in a row together. That would have given us the 3rd best defence in the league if it had continued. Alas, we dropped him for Morrison against Wigan, and Pogrebnyak got sent off. Pearce then came straight back in, we played 4-4-2. The average for the Pearce-Mariappa partnership still stayed at 1.46 goals per game, a mid-table defence comparable with West Brom, Swansea, Norwich or West Ham. Factor in the one off game against Sunderland away and they drop to a level comparable with Southampton, Fulham and Norwich.

In a 4-5-1, Pearce and Mariappa were excellent, in a 4-4-2, they were merely good. The problem with our defence was principally Gorkss, with the mistakes made by the likes of Morrison, Gunter and Cummings also playing a part, as well as the ultra-attacking 4-4-2 we used at times under McDermott. Pearce hasn't been at fault for more than two or three goals (Stoke away and Sunderland away are the only ones I can think to pin on him).

[Tommy Youlden's Ears]

Isn't he a bit slow?

You do know why they want to sign him, yeah? Replacement for Jamie Carragher. The slowest defender around. Martin Skrtel was hardly rapid either. Pearce makes up for his lack of pace with his reading of the game.

Lovely use of the patronising 'yeah' there. I enjoyed the virtual pat on the head, thanks.

So Liverpool, one of the richest and most famous football clubs in the world with the opportunity to shop from a planet of talent can't expect to get both pace and a functional brain when they buy a centre back? And because the bloke who's retiring is a bit slow they should clone his flaws when they send the scouts out?

Yeah? Yeah?

[St. Brynjar]

lol.

hes been pretty terrible, in a terrible defence this season.

We didn't have a terrible defence when he played with Mariappa in a 4-5-1. We conceded an average of one goal a match over nine league matches they started in a row together. That would have given us the 3rd best defence in the league if it had continued. Alas, we dropped him for Morrison against Wigan, and Pogrebnyak got sent off. Pearce then came straight back in, we played 4-4-2. The average for the Pearce-Mariappa partnership still stayed at 1.46 goals per game, a mid-table defence comparable with West Brom, Swansea, Norwich or West Ham. Factor in the one off game against Sunderland away and they drop to a level comparable with Southampton, Fulham and Norwich.

In a 4-5-1, Pearce and Mariappa were excellent, in a 4-4-2, they were merely good. The problem with our defence was principally Gorkss, with the mistakes made by the likes of Morrison, Gunter and Cummings also playing a part, as well as the ultra-attacking 4-4-2 we used at times under McDermott. Pearce hasn't been at fault for more than two or three goals (Stoke away and Sunderland away are the only ones I can think to pin on him).

What has Pog being sent off got to do with Pearce?

Also how is Gorkss the principal failure when he only played 14 games out of 38? Why was Sunderland a one-off?

None of our defenders other than Mariappa at times have covered themselves in any sort of glory. I saw nothing of Alex Pearce this season that marked him out as any better than average.

[melonhead]

Isn't he a bit slow?

You do know why they want to sign him, yeah? Replacement for Jamie Carragher. The slowest defender around. Martin Skrtel was hardly rapid either. Pearce makes up for his lack of pace with his reading of the game.

lol.

hes been pretty terrible, in a terrible defence this season.

We didn't have a terrible defence when he played with Mariappa in a 4-5-1. We conceded an average of one goal a match over nine league matches they started in a row together. That would have given us the 3rd best defence in the league if it had continued. Alas, we dropped him for Morrison against Wigan, and Pogrebnyak got sent off. Pearce then came straight back in, we played 4-4-2. The average for the Pearce-Mariappa partnership still stayed at 1.46 goals per game, a mid-table defence comparable with West Brom, Swansea, Norwich or West Ham. Factor in the one off game against Sunderland away and they drop to a level comparable with Southampton, Fulham and Norwich.

In a 4-5-1, Pearce and Mariappa were excellent, in a 4-4-2, they were merely good. The problem with our defence was principally Gorkss, with the mistakes made by the likes of Morrison, Gunter and Cummings also playing a part, as well as the ultra-attacking 4-4-2 we used at times under McDermott. Pearce hasn't been at fault for more than two or three goals (Stoke away and Sunderland away are the only ones I can think to pin on him).

lol at all the points per game nonsense snowball.



lol at any of our defenders being Excellent this year

[SCIAG]

Isn't he a bit slow?

You do know why they want to sign him, yeah? Replacement for Jamie Carragher. The slowest defender around. Martin Skrtel was hardly rapid either. Pearce makes up for his lack of pace with his reading of the game.

Lovely use of the patronising 'yeah' there. I enjoyed the virtual pat on the head, thanks.

So Liverpool, one of the richest and most famous football clubs in the world with the opportunity to shop from a planet of talent can't expect to get both pace and a functional brain when they buy a centre back? And because the bloke who's retiring is a bit slow they should clone his flaws when they send the scouts out?

Yeah? Yeah?

My point is that pace isn't that important for a centre back who can read the game well. Liverpool will know this as they have had a slow centre back at the heart of their defence for the past decade. Apologies for being patronising.

lol.

hes been pretty terrible, in a terrible defence this season.

We didn't have a terrible defence when he played with Mariappa in a 4-5-1. We conceded an average of one goal a match over nine league matches they started in a row together. That would have given us the 3rd best defence in the league if it had continued. Alas, we dropped him for Morrison against Wigan, and Pogrebnyak got sent off. Pearce then came straight back in, we played 4-4-2. The average for the Pearce-Mariappa partnership still stayed at 1.46 goals per game, a mid-table defence comparable with West Brom, Swansea, Norwich or West Ham. Factor in the one off game against Sunderland away and they drop to a level comparable with Southampton, Fulham and Norwich.

In a 4-5-1, Pearce and Mariappa were excellent, in a 4-4-2, they were merely good. The problem with our defence was principally Gorkss, with the mistakes made by the likes of Morrison, Gunter and Cummings also playing a part, as well as the ultra-attacking 4-4-2 we used at times under McDermott. Pearce hasn't been at fault for more than two or three goals (Stoke away and Sunderland away are the only ones I can think to pin on him).

What has Pog being sent off got to do with Pearce?

Also how is Gorkss the principal failure when he only played 14 games out of 38? Why was Sunderland a one-off?

None of our defenders other than Mariappa at times have covered themselves in any sort of glory. I saw nothing of Alex Pearce this season that marked him out as any better than average.

Pogrebnyak's sending off is relevant because it "forced" us to change to 4-4-2 for the next three matches. We also couldn't hold the ball up as well. Our defence suffered as a result.

Gorkss is the principle failure because in those 14 matches, we conceded 33 goals. 2.35 per match, 90 (!) a season. He was also at fault for a lot of goals.

The Sunderland match was a "one off" partnership between Mariappa and Pearce rather than a string of back to back matches where they played together.

lol at all the points per game nonsense snowball.



lol at any of our defenders being Excellent this year

Points (or goals or whatever) per game is a good measure of how well a team or player was doing over a spell. It is not necessarily a good measure to extrapolate on (what Snowball was doing to "prove" we'd go up even without Roberts). Fact remains, when Pearce and Mariappa played together, our defence was good. When they played together in a 4-5-1, our defence was excellent.

[P!ssed Off]

Liverpool have just confirmed that they're getting Kolo Toure on a free.
They've currently got Agger, Skrtel and Coates.
Today Laudrup also commented that Ashley Williams might be allowed to move, apparently to Liverpool.

And apparently they want Pearce as well!!!

If they get all their signings and didn't sell then Pearce would likely be 6th in the cb pecking order, or are they planning on selling a couple of their current cbs? I can't imagine they'd sell both of Skrtel and Agger.

[RockheadRumple]

Liverpool have just confirmed that they're getting Kolo Toure on a free.
They've currently got Agger, Skrtel and Coates.
Today Laudrup also commented that Ashley Williams might be allowed to move, apparently to Liverpool.

And apparently they want Pearce as well!!!

If they get all their signings and didn't sell then Pearce would likely be 6th in the cb pecking order, or are they planning on selling a couple of their current cbs? I can't imagine they'd sell both of Skrtel and Agger.

Skrtel and Coatés look like they're gonna go, most likely.

[melonhead]

Fact remains, when Pearce and Mariappa played together, our defence was good. When they played together in a 4-5-1, our defence was excellent.

lol @ FACT


our defence was never better than just passable.
none of our defenders were excellent

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Fact remains, when Pearce and Mariappa played together, our defence was good. When they played together in a 4-5-1, our defence wasn't quite as bas as when others played there.

lol @ FACT


our defence was never better than just passable.
none of our defenders were excellent

Quote corrected.

[melonhead]

ill accept your amendment. lets move on