Liam Lawrence

[Charlie Darwin]

Salpingidis should have evened it up with an equally dubious goal but he missed the ball.

edit: Goal PAOK! No disputing that one.

[DannyInvincible]

Great goal. PAOK have started the second half very well.

[geysir]

Only the boring monotonous sound of drunken boisterous uncultured germans coming from inside Paok's stadium. What did PAOK do to deserve that? the ultimate crime - not pay their bills to a german bank?

[Charlie Darwin]

Crowd violence apparently. Although all the violence so far has been meted out by Schalke defender Jermaine Jones (classic German name there) who's been sent off for two yellows.

edit: Drexler scores. Game over, I think. Awful defending.

[DannyInvincible]

What did PAOK do to deserve that?

The punishment was dished out due to crowd trouble between PAOK and Rapid Vienna fans when the clubs met in last season's Europa League:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVyer-9tguU

[geysir]

Crowd violence apparently. Although all the violence so far has been meted out by Schalke defender Jermaine Jones (classic German name there) who's been sent off for two yellows.Jermaine is indeed a good name, I think the father must have had a sense of humour.

[Charlie Darwin]

2-2 now, Schalke have been defending awfully. Cue 12 minutes of PAOK pressure before Schalke scrape through on away goals.

[geysir]

If it ends up like this (3-3), it still goes to extra time, doesn't it?
from Clueless in Reykjavik.

[Charlie Darwin]

No, away goals is applied after 180 minutes. Referee doing his bit by refusing to award Stoch what looked like a penalty.

[Charlie Darwin]

That's that so. PAOK didn't commit any defenders even when they needed a goal and yet somehow they still got caught for pace in behind.

[DannyInvincible]

Bah, it doesn't matter anyway; 3-2 to Schalke on the night now.

[Charlie Darwin]

PAOK drawn alongside AZ Alkmaar, Maccabi Haifa and Neil Lennon's favourite club Shakhter Karagandy.

[Yard of Pace]

Did Lawrence play tonight in PAOK's win? I saw him against Schalke on the telly in a restaurant in Portugal a few weeks ago....he looked as good as, or better, than Cox out on the right wing.....

Wouldn't mind to see him back involved at all. I like his per-so-nal-it-y.

[Charlie Darwin]

No, he's still out with a calf problem.

PAOK report he's returned to training this week: http://www.paokfc.gr/en/news/everybody-back-training/

[BonnieShels]

Did Lawrence play tonight in PAOK's win? I saw him against Schalke on the telly in a restaurant in Portugal a few weeks ago....he looked as good as, or better, than Cox out on the right wing.....

Wouldn't mind to see him back involved at all. I like his per-so-nal-it-y.

Yip.

His dropping from squads and teh inclusion of others never really made sense to me.

Especially considering how good he was both on the pitch and attitude-wise when he first joined the squad.

His free kick to Whelan for the first goal against Italy in Croker and his perfomance in Paris will always stand out for me.

[Junior]

Yep, I'll add my name to the list of those with a soft spot for Lawrence. New manager should certainly look at him again and if his form warrants inclusion in the squad then I'd be happy enough to have him in there. Served us well in the time he was involved.

[Grafter]

Yep, I'll add my name to the list of those with a soft spot for Lawrence. New manager should certainly look at him again and if his form warrants inclusion in the squad then I'd be happy enough to have him in there. Served us well in the time he was involved.

Liam was magnificent against Armenia in Yerevan in Sept 2010. If it wasn't for him (and Fahey's goal) we would have lost or drawn that game. It was a barnstorming performance that was all the more remarkable considering he was frozen out at Stoke at the time... sadly is lack of gametime at Stoke caught up with him by the time the Russia match came around the following month.

[Charlie Darwin]

In talks with Barnsley according to SSN: We are hearing that Barnsley are in talks with Liam Lawrence about bringing the former Stoke and Portsmouth midfielder back to England from PAOK. The 32-year-old has been in Greece since August 2012.

[tetsujin1979]

looks set to complete the move today: https://twitter.com/SkySportsPeteO/status/423749337747705856

Barnsley are poised to sign Liam Lawrence on a free transfer after he secured his release from Greek side PAOK. #barnsleyfc (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23barnsleyfc&src=hash)

confirmed, signed until the end of the season: http://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/news/article/lawrence-joins-reds-1297445.aspx

[DannyInvincible]

Lawrence criticises Trap for having blamed him for Kerzkakov's goal against us during the 3-2 loss at home to Russia: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/i-dont-care-who-he-is-trapattoni-got-it-wrong-lawrence-29949016.html


Liam Lawrence has strongly criticised Giovanni Trapattoni for hastily ending his international career.

Whereas most Irish players are locked to a default setting where any mention of Trapattoni's name must be accompanied by a reference to his decorative CV, Lawrence, whose brief Irish career reached its conclusion in June 2011, refused to doff his cap.

Instead, the bitterness of his fall-out with the Italian became clear as he offered a different spin to the incident which led to Russia's first goal in their 3-2 Euro 2012 qualifier win in Dublin, and which effectively led to the end of his time as an Irish international.

"I don't care who he is or how good a manager he is, the point he was making was ridiculous," said Lawrence in reference to Trapattoni's criticism of him for failing to block Andrei Arshavin's free-kick.

"There was me and another fella in the wall when they were taking a free. I jumped – and the ball sneaked through the wall. It then went to the back post, should have been cleared, on at least two occasions, before (Alexander Kerzkakov) scored. And he blamed me. At the time, I just let him have his say."

But yesterday, after three silent years, Lawrence hit back. "I never wanted to disrespect the Irish public or the Irish coaches at a time when we were fighting to qualify. I didn't want to put a cloud over the squad. Keeping my mouth shut was the best option."

[BonnieShels]

I seem to remember him being inexplicably subbed in that game. Am I remembering that correctly?
Though given the article above it's not as inexplicable as it was to me as I stared down from the East Stand.

Given the state of the midfield in that game and Whelan being all at sea, I couldn't get my head around it.

[geysir]

He picked up an injury in the game against Russia didn't he? He was challenging for the ball and strained his leg when raising it high. He had to pull out of the Slovakia game. He played in the Carling cup friendlies later on.

[Paddy Garcia]

Wins a penalty tonight - welcome back Liam

[BonnieShels]

He picked up an injury in the game against Russia didn't he? He was challenging for the ball and strained his leg when raising it high. He had to pull out of the Slovakia game. He played in the Carling cup friendlies later on.

That's ringing a bell. Near the East Stand I think?

[SkStu]

Scored for the tykes this avo. Put them 2-0 up.

Goal!
Goal! Yeovil Town 0, Barnsley 2. Liam Lawrence (Barnsley) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Chris O'Grady.

[SwanVsDalton]

Gone to Shrewsbury Town. (http://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/shrewsbury-town-fc/2014/07/04/liam-lawrence-completes-move-to-shrewsbury-town/)

[BonnieShels]

That's a super signing for them.

[IsMiseSean]

Thought he might aim a bit higher than League 2.

[BonnieShels]

Maybe he has no choice.

[Eminence Grise]

Sad to see at 32. Seems like the money may not be flowing around the English league.

[Stuttgart88]

The Football League has introduced its own variant of Financial Fair Play and Leagues 1 and 2 have even stronger salary caps. They appear to be taking hold.

The Premier League has also introduced rules which I haven't studied in detail.

Anyway, you can see why the MLS is becoming more attractive. There are only a limited number of high earners like Keane and Dempsey but even the journeyman can earn decent coin and sample something different.

[DeLorean]

Story from his time in Greece (http://balls.ie/football/liam-lawrence-tells-frightening-story-time-playing-greece/)

Remember Liam Lawrence? The former Irish international, now Shrewsbury Town captain, was reflecting this week and his time with PAOK and told a pretty unnerving story about the intensity of club rivalries over there.

Lawrence regaled the Shrophire Star with a tale about one specific match, when they were leaving Athens after playing Panathinaikos:


"One time we were coming back from a game in Athens – we hadn’t been playing them – but as we travelled along the motorway the police stopped us and said we had to head back because their fans were waiting for us.


We ended up heading into a village and hiding in the mountains. We just sat there in the dark for two-and-a-half-hours until they got bored. It was absolutely crazy."



A little more harrowing than Arsenal fans shouting out a car window at you because you went to Man City. Lawrence has no regrets about playing in Greece however, saying ‘I’m still glad I went out there. I was a great experience for me, especially as I got to play in the Europa League.’

[Charlie Darwin]

Could have sworn I read that a couple of years ago.

[OwlsFan]

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Liam Lawrence has signed for Bristol Rovers on a free transfer from Shrewsbury.

The 34-year-old has agreed a deal to the end of the season and Rovers boss Darrell Clarke described the signing as a "fantastic coup".

[BonnieShels]

I think I say this everytime but, loved him.

[Fixer82]

Really liked him as a player for us. Thought Trap was very harsh to just drop him unceremoniously

[seanfhear]

A good player. If he had a bit more pace he would have been one hell of a player. Thems the breaks I suppose.

[OwlsFan]

Really liked him as a player for us. Thought Trap was very harsh to just drop him unceremoniously

Trap gave him his only international caps though, having been pretty much forgotten up to the age of 28, so he also has a lot to be thankful for as well.

[Fixer82]

Trap gave him his only international caps though, having been pretty much forgotten up to the age of 28, so he also has a lot to be thankful for as well.

True but any manager worth their salt would have had a proper look at him. Staunton never capped him but seemed to cap everyone else that was eligible.
I think Staunton's overriding criteria was 'are they under 22? I'll cap them so hi' in that beautiful County Louth draawl of his

[tetsujin1979]

Joining the academy staff at Stoke: https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2020/august/Liam-is-back/

[seanfhear]

Joining the academy staff at Stoke: https://www.stokecityfc.com/news/2020/august/Liam-is-back/
Good player. Probably lacked that bit of pace ( could be injury , whatever ) I think a player like that , that has had to work out a style of play for himself because he lacked a bit of pace / whatever, always has a chance as a coach. He showed as a player that he could get over that drawback.