Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread [mod warning #11145, #32140 (see OP)]

Mr Alan

I'm so glad Rafa has never walked away from the farce of a club we've become & pray he won't anytime soon.

whatawaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

I'm so glad Rafa has never walked away from the farce of a club we've become & pray he won't anytime soon.

+1. I don’t think he can leave now. He’s well and truly caught the bug. And now that the owners seem to have stopped giving him any money whatsoever even they can’t sack him. So we have him for a long time I think.
I for one would rather Rafa with no money to spend than pretty much any other manager in Europe with loads of money.

missingtime

Reds track Honda
Liverpool linked with Japanese star

Liverpool are reportedly keeping a close eye on Japan international Keisuke Honda.

According to Dutch reports, VVV Venlo chairman Hai Berden revealed several top European clubs have expressed their interest in signing the free-scoring midfielder.

Honda, who was Eerste Divisie's Most Valuable Player last year, has started life in the Eredivisie in style with three goals in his first two games.

In the season opener against PSV Eindhoven,his impressive display won him plaudits from opposing manager Fred Rutten.
"A number of top clubs are interested in Honda. Some of them are participating in the Champions League this year," Berden told Algemeen Dagblad.

Liverpool scouts have been watching Honda this term and the 23-year-old admitted he would not hesitate to move to England if the opportunity arose.

"Playing in a league as prestige as the Premiership would be a dream," he said earlier in the year.

"I would seriously consider any offers that come my way."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5482864,00.html

Dunno if there is anything in it. Interesting to see if he would be signed in an effort to sell shirts in Asia or as a decent squad player.

whatawaster

missingtime wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5482864,00.html

Liverpool are reportedly keeping a close eye on Japan international Keisuke Honda.

well we do need more drive in midfield

Karmafaerie

Yeah, I'm up for a Liverpool only one.
Not that I've a problem with non pool fans, but Its easier with less people.

missingtime

whatawaster wrote: »

well we do need more drive in midfield

oh no. oh no, oh no, oh no.

Eire-Dearg

Trying to rack my brains - we've never had a Japanese player at the club no?

dannydiamond

Kingdom wrote: »

I'd be pretty happy if we went for Shawcross. He'd a very good season last year for a team that were constantly backs to the wall. Tough as nails, a brute and very threatening from set-pieces.
I believe he'd be a better alternative to Turner, and if he's cheaper then even better.

100% agree.
Only seen him a couple of times but he seems tough as old boots and works like a demon,he'd be a great addition imo.

In for the ff too, good idea, who's gonna set it up?

whatawaster

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

Trying to rack my brains - we've never had a Japanese player at the club no?

No. I don’t think we’ve ever had a player from Asia.

slingerz

throw me in for FF too!

killwill

whatawaster wrote: »

well we do need more drive in midfield

And more money!

Dont be at yourself

The transfer would pay for itself with the boost in popularity it would bring in Japan.

I've never heard of this guy before though. Wikipedia, the reliable tome, reckons he can play at left-back too...

Irishpimpdude

I just setup a league for us liverpool fans
Make an account http://fantasy.premierleague.com
Then join
Liverpool@Boards.ie

wcarey1975

Stick me in for FF also.

Headshot

Irishpimpdude wrote: »

I just setup a league for us liverpool fans
Make an account http://fantasy.premierleague.com
Then join
Liverpool@Boards.ie

if your using boards name you have to get permission

Pyjamarama

I'll sign up for the FF.

On the subject of the Japanese guy never heard of him. As usual the sceptic in me would imagine it's just to sell more jerseys but ya never know.

Would love to sign Shawcross. Exact kind of squad player we need. He'd be kinda like our own John O Shea but without the dopey head on him!

whatawaster

Irishpimpdude wrote: »

I just setup a league for us liverpool fans
Make an account http://fantasy.premierleague.com
Then join
Liverpool@Boards.ie

is there a password?

MementoMori

On the links to Turner and Shawcross - anyone think Rafa might be doing some planning for the future as regards CB? Carragher turns 32 this season which means he's going to have to be replaced in the not-too-distant future.
Rather than waiting until Carragher retires and trying to get a replacement in then (when any clubs will up the price even more), it probably makes more sense to get one in now and develop/train him up. If they happen to be English to help with 4+4 then so much the better.

While we do have Kelly, San Jose and Ayala possibly coming though the chances of all of them getting enough first-team games to develop at Liverpool is very unlikley. I really think we should try and place whoever ends up in the 5th place in the CB out on loan this season in order to give them a chance at getting games. Shawcross who is 22 in a few months has played almost 70 games for Stoke already. Turner has played 125 games for Hull.

Also add me into the fantasy football league as well.

MementoMori

Confirmation that Hammill is gone.
Find this one rather strange.
The rumoured price I saw was £500k which is reasonable but not overly exciting.

LFC CONFIRM WINGER SALE
Jimmy Rice 10 August 2009

Winger Adam Hammill today completed his move from Liverpool to Championship side Barnsley.
The 21-year-old spent the second half of 2008-09 at Oakwell and has now made the move permanent.

Hammill is a product of the Academy who has been cutting his teeth on loan in Scotland and the Football League for the past three years.

The Scouser was part of our 2006 FA Youth Cup winning side, scoring a sensational goal from the half-way line in the early rounds.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N165358090810-1014.htm

internelligent

Crash Bang Wall wrote: »

sound like a good idea. I would suggest that if you set one up you can only PM the code as anyone could pick up the code by reading this

Good point.

Liverpool fan here. Send it to me when it's set up please.

PiE

internelligent wrote: »

Liverpool fan here. Send it to me when it's set up please.

What he said.

~Rebel~

me too for FF please!

mada999

to be honest i think we need to bring in another quality striker (incase Torres is out for a long time with injury / dont think Ngog is ready yet..., a center half and a left midfielder.. (don't think Babel) is up to it..

redzerdrog

~Rebel~ wrote: »

me too for FF please!

+1

Glico Man

MementoMori wrote: »

Find this one rather strange.



http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N165358090810-1014.htm

Particularly because he was very highly rated by Rafa and the rest of his staff.

Good luck to him in his career because he is a very talented young player.

Brando_ie

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Yeah, I'm up for a Liverpool only one.
Not that I've a problem with non pool fans, but Its easier with less people.

+1

whatawaster

MementoMori wrote: »

Confirmation that Hammill is gone.
Find this one rather strange.
The rumoured price I saw was £500k which is reasonable but not overly exciting.



http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N165358090810-1014.htm

I'm not really surprised. He's another one of these local lads, much like Spearing who i never thought would cut it at the top level. It's quite telling when only championship clubs are after many of our local reserve players on loan. Whereas Arsenal and United tend to loan to much higher clubs.

mada999 wrote: »

to be honest i think we need to bring in another quality striker (incase Torres is out for a long time with injury / dont think Ngog is ready yet..., a center half and a left midfielder.. (don't think Babel) is up to it..

If we bring in a quality striker will they be a) good enough to score goals in Torres' absence, b) willing to sit out probably 80% of games when Torres is fit, c) within our budget constraints? I can think of very few who'd fit the bill.

whatawaster

count me in for the FF too!

spockety

whatawaster wrote: »

I'm not really surprised. He's another one of these local lads, much like Spearing who i never thought would cut it at the top level. It's quite telling when only championship clubs are after many of our local reserve players on loan. Whereas Arsenal and United tend to loan to much higher clubs.



If we bring in a quality striker will they be a) good enough to score goals in Torres' absence, b) willing to sit out probably 80% of games when Torres is fit, c) within our budget constraints? I can think of very few who'd fit the bill.

I think we need an 'old head' striker. Someone similar to Sheringham etc. You know you'll get quality at the times you need it, but too old to play too many games and happy enough to sit on the bench at a top club and still have deep motivation to give it their all.

Obviously that profile of player would fit into our budget as well.

redzerdrog

is the liverpool ff set up yet and is there a password available???

whatawaster

spockety wrote: »

I think we need an 'old head' striker. Someone similar to Sheringham etc. You know you'll get quality at the times you need it, but too old to play too many games and happy enough to sit on the bench at a top club and still have deep motivation to give it their all.

Obviously that profile of player would fit into our budget as well.

Hard to find though. And wouldn’t really be a replacement for Torres because any old striker is likely to have no pace. Van Niistelrooy would be a decent shout if Madrid were selling.
I think we’ll be sticking with what we have though.

Dublin_Gunner

whatawaster wrote: »

If we bring in a quality striker will they be a) good enough to score goals in Torres' absence, b) willing to sit out probably 80% of games when Torres is fit, c) within our budget constraints? I can think of very few who'd fit the bill.

I can think of a couple: Voronin, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog, Nemeth & Pacheco.

livinginkorea

whatawaster wrote: »

count me in for the FF too!

+1

whatawaster

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I can think of a couple: Voronin, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog, Nemeth & Pacheco.

well they fit b) and c). Hopefully between them they'll get the goals

Fink Goddie

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

I can think of a couple: Voronin, Babel, Kuyt, Ngog, Nemeth & Pacheco.

He said a 'quality' striker

Dublin_Gunner

Fink Goddie wrote: »

He said a 'quality' striker

And lord contradictor - what lack of quality do you see in my list?

Karmafaerie

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

And lord contradictor - what lack of quality do you see in my list?

+1

livinginkorea

Fink Goddie wrote: »

He said a 'quality' striker

A quality striker that will break up The partnership of G/T? No 'quality' striker is going to sit on the bench and wait for one of them to get injured because that is exactly what will happen.

Pyjamarama

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

And lord contradictor - what lack of quality do you see in my list?

Well to be fair none of them are as good looking as Nando...

livinginkorea

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Well to be fair none of them are as good looking as Nando...

None could be as good as him

Karmafaerie

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Well to be fair none of them are as good looking as Nando...

Don't forget Voronins "sexy chest"!

Podge2k7

Pyjamarama wrote: »

Well to be fair none of them are as good looking as Nando...

Tbh i think Voronin's pony tail is sexy;)

Karmafaerie

Podge2k7 wrote: »

Tbh i think Voronin's pony tail is sexy;)

Very Fabio-esque

whatawaster

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

And lord contradictor - what lack of quality do you see in my list?

To be fair there is a lack of proven premiership quality on that list. Not a lack of quality by any means. Plenty of potential as well.

Voronin will probably surprise some people this season, but he’s not a striker, he plays best in the Gerrard role
Babel has it all to prove. He has lots of talent, but he hasn’t done nearly enough to be called quality – certainly not up front
N’Gog will be the best replacement I think. He has more of Torres’ qualities than any of the others on the list. He has pace, height, touch and is a good finisher.
Nemeth is a great finisher but lacks pace and strength. Will probably only play a bit part this season
Pacheco is an attacking midfielder I think. And will be a bloody good one. But not in the prem this season.
Kuyt will score us goals up front, I’ve no doubt about it. But he’s now more effective as a winger.

In short, I think we’d do ok in Torres’ absence not because we have “quality” backup, but because I think we have enough goals coming from Kuyt, Riera, Benayoun and Gerrard to get by. Those 4 could well get 40 goals between them.
I think/I hope that this time next year Babel, N’Gog and Nemeth are in the quality bracket, and then maybe Pacheco a year later.

Fink Goddie

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

And lord contradictor - what lack of quality do you see in my list?

If we have so much quality, why did Rafa feel the need to buy Keane.
We need two strikers on the pitch, Torres and Villa would be perfect in a perfect world.

As i said before, United have Rooney, Berbatov, Owen
Chelsea have Anelka, Drogba
Man City have a long list

All proven premiership goal scorers, ours are lacking and thats where we'll fall down this season.
If Torres and Gerrard get injured we lack fire power up front

That_Guy

Fink Goddie wrote: »

If we have so much quality, why did Rafa feel the need to buy Keane.
We need two strikers on the pitch, Torres and Villa would be perfect in a perfect world.

As i said before, United have Rooney, Berbatov, Owen
Chelsea have Anelka, Drogba
Man City have a long list

All proven premiership goal scorers, ours are lacking and thats where we'll fall down this season.
If Torres and Gerrard get injured we lack fire power up front

Can Kuyt play up front?

Karmafaerie

Fink Goddie wrote: »

If Torres and Gerrard get injured we lack fire power up front

So that's why we only scored more goals than anyone else in the league, with Torres and Gerrard injured for half of the season!

Sure they only started 14 matches together.
We must have never scored.

Oh wait.

Fink Goddie

That_Guy wrote: »

Can Kuyt play up front?

He's not great up front either.

whatawaster

Fink Goddie wrote: »

If we have so much quality, why did Rafa feel the need to buy Keane.
We need two strikers on the pitch, Torres and Villa would be perfect in a perfect world.

As i said before, United have Rooney, Berbatov, Owen
Chelsea have Anelka, Drogba
Man City have a long list

All proven premiership goal scorers, ours are lacking and thats where we'll fall down this season.
If Torres and Gerrard get injured we lack fire power up front

Listen.

United have Berbatov as their first choice main striker. We have Torres. Who is in a different class to Berbatov
United have Rooney as their support striker. We have Gerrard. Who is a more accomplished and productive player than Rooney is at this time
United have Owen and Macheda as their backup. Maybe Wellbeck as well. I’m happy with how Babel, Kuyt, N’Gog and Voronin shape up here.
Conclusion – I think we’re stronger than United here.

Similarly, Chelsea have Anelka and Drogba to our Gerrard and Torres, and not a lot else in reserve to be honest.

So, in conclusion, you’re talking rubbish.

Fink Goddie

Karmafaerie wrote: »

So that's why we only scored more goals than anyone else in the league, with Torres and Gerrard injured for half of the season!

Sure they only started 14 matches together.
We must have never scored.

Oh wait.

So if Gerrard and Torres are injured, who do you think we can rely on to win games for us??

Yeh we scored lots of goals, even Dossena scored a couple, would ya be relying on him to do that again??

Or Lucas since you all love him here