Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

daithijjj

~Rebel~ wrote: »

tbh when Lucas has played 'poorly' I find he adds a lot more then he's given credit for too. My main point though, is that its the attacking positions we really need people on a bit of form, and that hasn't really been Babel at any point this season.

Now, I really do like Babel, but with the performances Riera, Kuyt and Yossi have put in this year, he's 4th choice on merit really. I would have much preferred if he played more when Torres was out injured as i thought he was excellent against Chelsea in that role when he came on, but Rafa obviously preferred the idea of grooming Ngog for that position

Agree with those sentiments. Its just my opinion that with the 4231, the wings are very much a lonestar role from the players point of view that play those positions. Whereas with lucas he has 4 behind him, 1 alongside him, gerrard just ahead of him and dirk doing the donkey stuff for the team on the right of him. Hes nestled in there with plenty of options.

Its much more black and white with the wingers though, your either producing or your not, its very much a confidence game for riera, babel etc. Rafa himself has found it very difficult to find players for these roles.
Nunez, pennant, leto, gonzalez, zenden just to name five. I suppose he may just be thinking to himself that he will just have to spend big in these positions (silva?) to make any progress next season because his previous aquisitions, allthough tied with purse strings, just dont make the grade.

ButcherOfNog

Babel did well in his first season, I think the opposition now know how to cope with him, thus he's been pretty ineffectual for us this season, even when coming on as a sub (apart from the Man UTD game, but then their central midfield players are fairly manky at defending).

citytillidie

Would this work as a sig?

mike65

You'd break the sig rules if that size.

Karmafaerie

I'll be happier the longer that we have no transfer dealings.
It'd make me think that there is work bein done behind the scenes, and that no budget has been set yet.

zing

Anyone fancy a career change ?

http://www.odgersberndtson.co.uk/index.php?id=819&L=9&tx_llproxy_pi1[request]=maqtp5tiYMXTps_akaaan8ap2WfHpqaglGSSk2Gmp6Sanad7xqeSzc9kxNTTr3Wf1qDKdpZucJyY&cHash=ba8ec69355

SlickRic

zing wrote: »

Anyone fancy a career change ?

http://www.odgersberndtson.co.uk/index.php?id=819&L=9&tx_llproxy_pi1[request]=maqtp5tiYMXTps_akaaan8ap2WfHpqaglGSSk2Gmp6Sanad7xqeSzc9kxNTTr3Wf1qDKdpZucJyY&cHash=ba8ec69355

rofl.

i'm so tempted

Highsider

DeadSkin wrote: »

TORRES AGREES NEW IMPROVED DEAL

Torres knows this club is going places. Great news:)

Karmafaerie

Masch dismisses Barca reports
Argentine happy at Anfield amidst transfer rumours
Last updated: 28th May 2009


Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano insists he is not about to quit Anfield to join Barcelona.

The Argentine has become a vital part of manager Rafa Benitez's plans since joining the Merseysiders on a five-year contract in 2007.

That form is reported to have caught the eye of Barca, but Mascherano is unaware of any interest from the UEFA Champions League winners.

The 24-year-old angered Benitez at the start of May after confessing he was unsure over his long-term future, but he now has no doubts.

"I still have three years on my contract with Liverpool and I am happy there," he told TyC Sports.

"I am comfortable and thinking only of Liverpool. I don't know anything about an approach from Barcelona or any other club."

Meanwhile, Mascherano has reiterated his desire for Liverpool to sign compatriot Carlos Tevez.

The forward's future is in question as he has comes to the end of his loan at Manchester United, who are reluctant to pay a quoted price of around £25million.

"I hope we can count on him," Mascherano told Radio La Red. "Because of the type of player Carlos is, he would be great for us.

"However, it will be a tough fight because so many clubs are interested in him."

C'mon the monster!

Highsider

Karmafaerie wrote: »

C'mon the monster!

Love the masher. Happy days. Tevez for 25m? No thanks

Karmafaerie

Highsider wrote: »

Love the masher. Happy days. Tevez for 25m? No thanks

I'd take him for £20,000,000.

SlickRic

Karmafaerie wrote: »

C'mon the monster!

damn straight.

fast becoming my favourite player that man. the spurs game was just amazing; even Rafa commented with words something along the lines of (paraphrasing terribly here)...

'i thought we'd struggle, but to see Mascherano running all over the place (cue rye smile on Rafa's face), was fantastic.'

Highsider

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I'd take him for £20,000,000.

20m at the most TBH. He would without a doubt improve the squad but i suppose he's have to except a lot of bench time.

mike65

from CEO job description

Empathy with the values and heritage of the most successful football club in the history of English football and a deep-rooted love of the game.

So no Americans then!

Tusky

Is Tevez decent on the wing ? If not, I fear it would be round peg in a square pole - ala Mr.Keane. We need to improve on these areas

---

Torres

x

---

Gerrard

---

x

Karmafaerie

Highsider wrote: »

20m at the most TBH. He would without a doubt improve the squad but i suppose he's have to except a lot of bench time.

Gerrard and Tevez behind Torres with Barry, Alonso, and Masch behind, and two wingbacks (Degen and Doss :P) would scare the fu€k out of a hell of a lot of teams.

---

Pepe

---

---

Carra

---

Skrtel

---

Arbeloa

---

Insua/Aurelio

---

Masch

---

---

Alonso

---

Barry

---

---

Gerrard

---

Tevez

---

---

Torres

---

or against weaker teams....

---

Pepe

---

---

Carra

---

Skrtel

---

Arbeloa

---

Insua/Aurelio

---

Masch

---

---

Alonso

---

Barry

---

---

Gerrard

---

---

Torres

---

Tevez

---

Highsider

Tusky wrote: »

Is Tevez decent on the wing ? If not, I fear it would be round peg in a square pole - ala Mr.Keane. We need to improve on these areas

---

Torres

x

---

Gerrard

---

x

That's just the thing is'nt it. Think if we sign a backup striker for Torres in the 8-10m region it would make more sense. I'd rather see the money spent on a quality winger myself.

mike65

Karmafaerie - where is the width? Thats narrower than Chelsea play!

Highsider

Excellent read in today's times. Worth a read as i think people seem to forget (outside LFC) just what Bob Paisley achieved in his time with the club. Amazing man TBH.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article6375290.ece

Karmafaerie

mike65 wrote: »

Karmafaerie - where is the width? Thats narrower than Chelsea play!

It's what Rafa wanted last year, and what I think he'll want this year.
Dossena and Degen were both bought to be wingbacks, but Doss hasn't made the cut (yet) and Degen has been well Degen!

He wants the natural width to come from further back the field.

I hate to compare, but Barca don't play with out and out wingers.
They get the width from Alves and Abidal.
Even last night it was Silvinho and Puyol of all people!


When you have someone like Mascherano to mop up, wingbacks work.
With Tevez, Bary, Gerrard, and Alonso there for the interplay, fast wingbacks can give you more than enough width.
especialy with the pace of Gerrard, Tevez and Torres.

Tusky

Karmafaerie wrote: »

It's what Rafa wanted last year, and what I think he'll want this year.
.

Naah. He fully intended to sell Alonso last year - I dont believe he wanted to play either of the formations you posted. I also dont believe we will see the second one under Rafa (thank god).

mike65

Okay I'll buy that as an argument but Glenn Johnson (or Micah Richards before he went crap) would be better than Arby then.

zing

Times claiming we're one of 5 clubs to have met the asking price for Tevez

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6383259.ece

SlickRic

Karmafaerie wrote: »

It's what Rafa wanted last year, and what I think he'll want this year.
Dossena and Degen were both bought to be wingbacks, but Doss hasn't made the cut (yet) and Degen has been well Degen!

He wants the natural width to come from further back the field.

I hate to compare, but Barca don't play with out and out wingers.
They get the width from Alves and Abidal.
Even last night it was Silvinho and Puyol of all people!


When you have someone like Mascherano to mop up, wingbacks work.
With Tevez, Bary, Gerrard, and Alonso there for the interplay, fast wingbacks can give you more than enough width.
especialy with the pace of Gerrard, Tevez and Torres.

boom!

couldn't be more on the money man.

i remember being so impressed against Villa in particular...aurelio and arbeloa getting into nosebleed territory constantly, and i was thinking, why haven't we done this all along?

it's what rafa was building to maybe, but it took so long to materialise. it was only during the run-in that we really saw how good we can be as an attacking unit.

Highsider

zing wrote: »

Times claiming we're one of 5 clubs to have met the asking price for Tevez

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article6383259.ece

Jesus. Did'nt realise utd had already paid 10m for a "loan" of Tevez over the last two years. So if they meet the 25m pricetag and keep him he would of cost them 35m :eek:. Is this right or am i mistaken?

missingtime

SlickRic wrote: »

boom!

couldn't be more on the money man.

i remember being so impressed against Villa in particular...aurelio and arbeloa getting into nosebleed territory constantly, and i was thinking, why haven't we done this all along?

it's what rafa was building to maybe, but it took so long to materialise. it was only during the run-in that we really saw how good we can be as an attacking unit.

To be fair though we didn't have much of gerrard and torres together. If we had we may have been the lovely flowing attacking side we know we can be.

Chardee MacDennis

Tevez just smacks of Keane Part II for me...

Karmafaerie

Tusky wrote: »

Naah. He fully intended to sell Alonso last year - I dont believe he wanted to play either of the formations you posted. I also dont believe we will see the second one under Rafa (thank god).

He fully did intend on selling Alonso last year, but I'm sure he also intended on Lucas stepping up a lot more too.
Football is a squad game.
What rafa wants is a squad that he can adapt to his opposition.
Against a team like Stoke, where they double up on our wide players, we have no recourse.
With wingbacks, and clever players inside, you can adapt your team to break down the oposition.

mike65 wrote: »

Okay I'll buy that as an argument but Glenn Johnson (or Micah Richards before he went crap) would be better than Arby then.

I think that that's what Rafa wanted last year.
A player like Al for when he wants to play a compact team, and Degen for the freeflowing attacking, but we all know that didn't work.
We would definately need improvement on the right, or for Degen to drink loads of milk.

Karmafaerie

SlickRic wrote: »

boom!

couldn't be more on the money man.

i remember being so impressed against Villa in particular...aurelio and arbeloa getting into nosebleed territory constantly, and i was thinking, why haven't we done this all along?

it's what rafa was building to maybe, but it took so long to materialise. it was only during the run-in that we really saw how good we can be as an attacking unit.

When I saw Aurelio tearing West Brom apart, I was ove rthe moon.

zing

My understanding is the 10m was to effectlvely 'lease' him for two years with an option to then buy for a fixed price. I'd be very surprised if Utd wouldn't take up that option if that price was set at 15m so I've got to assume the 25m is on top of the 10m. They appear to have tried to negoiate that price down a bit - fair enough - but Kia isn't budging as he's got other buyers waiting int he wings.

mayordenis

If he has a choice of where to go I'd be fairly confident of him choosing Liverpool, as much as he's built a great rapport between himself and the united fans I think he feels that he's been treated poorly and wouldn't mind coming back to haunt them.

mayordenis

BastardPrince wrote: »

Tevez just smacks of Keane Part II for me...

They are so disimilar - like seriously? the wrongness hurts

DeadSkin

zing wrote: »

Anyone fancy a career change ?

http://www.odgersberndtson.co.uk/index.php?id=819&L=9&tx_llproxy_pi1[request]=maqtp5tiYMXTps_akaaan8ap2WfHpqaglGSSk2Gmp6Sanad7xqeSzc9kxNTTr3Wf1qDKdpZucJyY&cHash=ba8ec69355

Cool

Where it states;

Where did you hear about this opportunity?

.............do I get bonus marks for saying zing from boards.ie :pac:

Karmafaerie

BastardPrince wrote: »

Tevez just smacks of Keane Part II for me...

I like Keane, don't think he got a fair chance, but the main difference I see is that you'd never see this from Tevez 50 times a game.

Chardee MacDennis

mayordenis wrote: »

They are so disimilar - like seriously? the wrongness hurts

not in terms of his ability/style obviously :rolleyes: but in terms of not being what we need and the potential outcome...

SlickRic

missingtime wrote: »

To be fair though we didn't have much of gerrard and torres together. If we had we may have been the lovely flowing attacking side we know we can be.

absolutely true.

seeing the wing backs is something i'd been dying to see all season though too. hopefully it carries into next season. it better do, because we started to roll over teams with it.

maybe with glen johnson as the right back? not to diss arbeloa, but johnson would be huge in that formation.

rich f***ing portsmouth might screw that up now though.

zing

DeadSkin wrote: »

Cool

Where it states;



.............do I get bonus marks for saying zing from boards.ie :pac:

Only if I get a referral fee

But have you got what it takes to fill Parry's shoes ?

DeadSkin

zing wrote: »

Only if I get a referral fee

But have you got what it takes to fill Parry's shoes ?

Referral fee, hmm, I'll get my people to contact your people

I have the hair...........



...............if that helps

Karmafaerie

zing wrote: »

Only if I get a referral fee

But have you got what it takes to fill Parry's shoes ?

I laughed.:D

Tusky

mayordenis wrote: »

They are so disimilar - like seriously? the wrongness hurts

Not really...they play in the same position for a start. The real question is - do we need to be spending 20-25m on a second striker when we have Gerrard ? If Tevez can play in the wide areas (Ive no idea if he can) then fair enough. Otherwise, I dont see the point.

mike65

Was this posted here, if not prepare to shed a tear!

How could he?

Chardee MacDennis

Tusky wrote: »

Not really...they play in the same position for a start. The real question is - do we need to be spending 20-25m on a second striker when we have Gerrard ? If Tevez can play in the wide areas (Ive no idea if he can) then fair enough. Otherwise, I dont see the point.

and that's what i was trying to say...

Karmafaerie

mike65 wrote: »

Was this posted here, if not prepare to shed a tear!

How could he?

Allow me to be the first to wish Nando and Mr Alan a happy life together.

Theresalwaysone

Just wanted to come in and congratulate all the fans on the victory last night. Best team won and I dont think its disputable. Congrats again Barce enjoy a successful and fully deserved season.

Karmafaerie

Theresalwaysone wrote: »

Just wanted to come in and congratulate all the fans on the victory last night. Best team won and I dont think its disputable. Congrats again Barce enjoy a successful and fully deserved season.

SlickRic

Karmafaerie wrote: »

he's being cute.

suggesting we're all barca fans, as if we were supposed to want utd to win last night.

i assume....

maybe i'm not thinking enough of you theresalwaysone?

Theresalwaysone

Lol I coulda sworn that I had the Barca thread open.

Maybe your thinking too much of me Ric, thats a golden trolling opportunity.:pac:

My bad.


Edit: I did have the barce thread open. Firefox tab mishaps. heh, Im lolling away here, that coulda blown up.

SlickRic

Theresalwaysone wrote: »

Lol I coulda sworn that I had the Barca thread open.

Maybe your thinking too much of me Ric, thats a golden trolling opportunity.:pac:

My bad.

lol.

it was just there was a lot of talk yesterday about opposition fans turning into Barca supporters for a night. it could've been a perfect opportunity to get a rise out of some people here.

it would have been an unappreciated one but the opportunity was indeed there!

~Rebel~

mike65 wrote: »

Was this posted here, if not prepare to shed a tear!

How could he?

bitch



.

K-9

I don't believe the Tevez rumours, if they are true though, I think Alonso will be gone!