I had a nice chat with Liverpool legend John Barnes last Friday who a Papa John’s ‘Score Twice, Half Price’ event.
I asked John what were the highs and lows of last season and he was adamant that there were no lows and said that It was a fantastic season considering we didn’t sign any players in January and we played very well with a small squad. John believes that this wasn’t a freak season but Liverpool will keep building on this and next season will be just as good.
When asked about Brendan Rodgers, he described him as a “Breathe of Fresh Air” and thanks to Brendan’s philosophy “Liverpool are in a very good position because we don’t have to rely on individual players but rather on the team.” Thanks to Brendan’s system we don’t need to go out and buy expensive superstars. Manchester City, United and Chelsea all have to go out and buy however Liverpool have good players that play very well as a team.
I followed up with a question about our defence and if they would have been able to stop him if he was playing. He laughed and joked that anyone could stop him. He did admit that we needed to strengthen at the back and he insisted that “We will”.
Asking him about what he thinks of the current signings he did say that they are both attack minded players and he insisted “I know we will sign defenders”. I did bring to his attention the photo below of a young Rickie Lambert showing a poster of him (John) on the wall. I asked him how he felt about that, “It makes me feel old” he joked.
My next question was about which player he would like to see at Liverpool, he said “of course everyone wants to see the superstars however Brendan’s philosophy is very good and we don’t need superstars”
I asked John which is the easiest job Player, Manager or Pundit. Pundit definitely, player next and manager the toughest.
The lads in Boston wanted to know if John was coming over to the US this summer with the club. At this point he has no plans but you will never know maybe he will get invited.
My final question was about the World Cup, he believes that Brazil will win. The European teams might not have that hunger that the South American teams do as he figures that Chile, Columbia and Uruguay might have a shot as well.
Get involved in the Papa John’s ‘Score Twice, Half Price’ predict and win football promotion this summer. With the world’s finest about to serve up a South American feast of Samba delights, all you have to do is register your twitter handle at papaJohns.co.uk/football and tweet @PapaJohnsUK with your prediction of who will score TWICE each day using #STHP and the team name