A destroyer, a midfield enforcer, whatever you look like to call them, Liverpool’s Christian Poulsen is one of those players every team needs. Whether he will be as good as Javier Mascherano at the job, we will have to wait and see, but Roy Hodgson does know what he is getting by buying this 30 year old Danish international. Roy gave Poulsen his break at club level a decade ago at FC Copenhagen where he helped Hodgson win the Danish league title. Poulsen says he would like to continue where he left off with his former manager:
“I had two good years with him so I hope to carry that on, and hopefully he’ll be satisfied with my qualities.”
No doubt since Hodgson has been tracking the career of the player he picked up on trial from amateur side Holbaek. Since he last played for Roy, Poulsen has played in three of Europe’s top four leagues in Germany with Schalke, Spain with Sevilla as well as his brief two year spell in Italy with Juventus. Now 30, he has the experience of playing top level football in the Champions League with his last three clubs as well as winning the UEFA Cup with Sevilla in 2007. The Premier League will be all together different test though for the Dane, who has 77 caps for his country.
His international team-mate Daniel Agger has already stated that although Poulsen is a top class player, he will have to get used to the tremendous speed that the Premier League is played at. Although referees are far more forgiving in the Premier League than in most European countries, Poulsen will have to keep up with the pace of play or otherwise he could well commit too many fouls; he could be left flat-footed by some of the Premier League’s paciest wingers and midfielders. Unlike Mascherano, Poulsen is not blessed with the same sort of pace which could get him out of trouble. He will have to rely on his nous and positional play to ensure he anticipates opposition attacks and intercepts any incoming danger. Poulsen believes that although he can tackle, he has good technical skills too.
“I like also to play technical football. I see myself as a player who tries to play football but I can also make a tackle. With this move here I have a lot to prove. If you come to a club like Liverpool, you have to deliver. I will hopefully show I can be a good player for Liverpool.”
Poulsen started his football career with Hodgson as an attacking midfielder and he gradually reverted to a holding role during his time at Schalke and Sevilla. It does mean then that he is useful with a pass and is probably superior to Mascherano in this area, which maybe one of the reasons that Hodgson was attracted to buying him. He has been a hot head in the past but now 30, he does have a great deal of experience in the game. At £4.5m, Roy is looking to purchase an experienced player relatively cheaply who can add something to the team in the short term and provide a bit of steel and physicality to the midfield.
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he could well b one of our top players..i hv a gud feeling bout dis….jst need a way to fit him, gerrard, aqua n cole in d midfield..
poulsen WHO?damn the money are thrown away in this transfer in my opinion.huge flop,worse than Lucas i think.
tired of the same boring tripe about signings… why not give the guy a chance stavros – and when it comes to Lucas he had a very consistent season last year and has the potential to go on to be a very good player. Just remember he’s still fairly young.
If you’ve not heard of Poulsen, Stavros, you must have a very narrow knowledge of European football.. however, jury’s out on this one – lets wait and see him play before making a decision
i believe this the new era for LFC, hodgson will bring dimension to the reds, i have been impressed by the signings so far, the midfeild looks very strong, and from the looks of it, we might be getting that dimension we always recquired, WITH Helb on the way, our midfeild might be the best the world has to offer,