Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 12/13

skydish79

Are these Reina's comments people are talking about

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11669/8470808/Pepe-Reina-says-Liverpool-can-t-compete-in-Premier-League-title-race

Chucky the tree

PRAF wrote: »

He said we can't compete with the big guns, he has been unsettled this year, etc. fcuking ludicrous to come out with that kind of tripe after you just cost us against City and have apparently cost us 10 points already this season. Needs to let his performances do the talking for him

That's some over reaction.

fcuk all wrong with those comments.

michael999999

skydish79 wrote: »

Are these Reina's comments people are talking about

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11669/8470808/Pepe-Reina-says-Liverpool-can-t-compete-in-Premier-League-title-race

He's right though, we can't!

5starpool

PRAF wrote: »

He said we can't compete with the big guns, he has been unsettled this year, etc. fcuking ludicrous to come out with that kind of tripe after you just cost us against City and have apparently cost us 10 points already this season. Needs to let his performances do the talking for him

The original interview was with Marca. I'd imagine it was before the City game. Nothing untrue about what he said anyhow.

ShamoBuc

Not sure what is the problem - most of what he says is true. The fact that he cost us 2 points yesterday doesn't change that fact.

budgemook

hate brigade :pac:

googled eyes

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/02/04/zenit-look-to-complete-12m-liverpool-defender-signing-this-month/

Caught Offside are claiming that Zenit will launch a £12m bid to lure Liverpools "most sound defensive option" Martin Skertl back to his former club.

ShamoBuc

googled eyes wrote: »

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/02/04/zenit-look-to-complete-12m-liverpool-defender-signing-this-month/

Caught Offside are claiming that Zenit will launch a £12m bid to lure Liverpools "most sound defensive option" Martin Skertl back to his former club.

If true, bye bye Martin.


Not true though...1.2?

PRAF

Chucky the tree wrote: »

That's some over reaction.

It's loser talk. Downbeat, negative, and making excuses for himself. And this guy is supposed to be one of the leaders in this team?

Timing is everything and those comments are badly timed given his poor form over the last 2 years, his very recent mistakes, and his recent links with a move back to Spain.

mav79

PRAF wrote: »

It's loser talk. Downbeat, negative, and making excuses for himself. And this guy is supposed to be one of the leaders in this team?

Timing is everything and those comments are badly timed given his poor form over the last 2 years, his very recent mistakes, and his recent links with a move back to Spain.

If he came out and said we can compete he'd be called deluded.

djPSB

Countinho hasn't contributed enough so far.

Not sure he'll make it at Liverpool.

mav79

djPSB wrote: »

Countinho hasn't contributed enough so far.

Not sure he'll make it at Liverpool.

Must not be a Rogers signing:D

PRAF

mav79 wrote: »

If he came out and said we can compete he'd be called deluded.

He needs to stop fixating on the clubs financial capabilities and start concentrating on making some saves. Players are paid handsomely to play. I'd be pissed off if I was Fsg. They're paying this guy 100k a week, he's not even playing well, and he has the temerity to question their oft stated contention that we can, and will, compete with the big boys both financially and squad wise.

Anyway, rant over, 10 clean sheets between now and seasons end and he can call John Henry & co a bunch of incompetent morons for all I care!

aramush

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

MD1990

Lionel Messi has completed 21 nutmegs this season, 2nd best in top 5 leagues. Liverpool's Luis Suarez has 36. [via @suarezstats @messistats]

yesno1234

aramush wrote: »

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

I remember all through the 00's there'd be situations like this or cup/CL matches that it looked like we never had a chance of progressing. But I still always believed that we would, and many times we did, I don't know whether that was youthful ignorance or real belief but whatever it was I seriously miss it. Last few years have seriously killed my belief in us pulling something out of the bag time and time again :(.

Vanolder

googled eyes wrote: »

http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/02/04/zenit-look-to-complete-12m-liverpool-defender-signing-this-month/

Caught Offside are claiming that Zenit will launch a £12m bid to lure Liverpools "most sound defensive option" Martin Skertl back to his former club.

You'd nearly take 12m for both Agger and Skertel at this stage.

djPSB

Vanolder wrote: »

You'd nearly take 12m for both Agger and Skertel at this stage.

Is that you Comolli?

augustus gloop

aramush wrote: »

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

Jesus when you see the fixtures, I dont think its too unreasonable to think we could win them, now I dont think we will win them all ovb but we could go unbeaten till the end

Chucky the tree

Typical that the first season Agger doesn't do his Mr. Glass impression is also the season his form takes a shocking dip.

gafferino

aramush wrote: »

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

Pfffff one game at a time lads Jesus....or at least a month at a time. Only 2 teams capable of going on a run like that at the moment and we are not one of them. I think we might make 5th.

mike65

PRAF wrote: »

Reina, fcuking hell his comments are ill timed and ill judged. I hope he gets an almighty rollicking over them.

I'll raise you a Shelvey

I played against Stoke and obviously I didn't have too great a game. I had a few personal issues that were going on in my life. I didn't think I was the only one that had a bad game that day but I was the one that suffered if you know what I mean."

Shelvey, speaking ahead of England Under-21s' friendly against Sweden in Walsall on Tuesday night, has started one game since – the FA Cup third-round tie at Mansfield – though he came off the bench for the fourth-round defeat at Oldham. "You just have to take it on the chin and work hard in training and try to get myself back in the team which I'm trying to do," he added.

---

On the match fixing claim, would you trust the word of an Electric Blanket?

Chucky the tree

Liverpool Football Club has appointed Matthew Baxter as the club's new Chief Media Officer to head up its digital media and TV operations.

Baxter brings a wealth of global digital media experience having held senior positions in well-known TV businesses including Warner Bros International Television and Walt Disney, and was part of the Fox Kids launch team in Europe.

Most recently, Baxter has been working as Senior Vice President of MGM Networks - where he worked across the commercial spectrum, with an emphasis on sales and marketing, creating and launching TV channels and MGM businesses around the world.

Ian Ayre, managing director, said: "Our digital media and television operations are a crucial component of the club's future brand and commercial development.

"Matthew will have global responsibility for establishing a world-class television and digital media business by further developing our digital platforms domestically and internationally.

"This is a key appointment in our digital strategy to create further engaging content for our growing global fan base."

Liverpool announced earlier this month that the club have overtaken Barcelona as the world's most globally active club on the social media platform Twitter, launching eight new local language Twitter accounts in just two months.

On the digital video platform, the club is also leading the way having recently become the first football club to launch an official page on iTunes, enabling fans to download their favourite programmes to Apple devices.

Baxter said: "It's a real honour to join the team at an organisation that is steeped in history and has enormous global appeal.

"There is a real opportunity to build on the existing platforms and develop the club's digital and TV strategy to further modernise this hugely potential asset."

Baxter is British, married to Louise and has three children. He will be relocating with his family from his home in London and joins the club on Monday, February 4. He will be part of the club's senior management team

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/lfc-appoint-new-digital-media-and-tv-chief

mike65

I wish they'd put LFC tv on FTA, I'd like to know what the arrangement with SKY is, it can't be that much to either party.

K-9

rarnes1 wrote: »

fcuk all wrong with those comments.

Indeed, even self criticaly comments his performances.

Are we really going to have an over reaction to his comments like Rodgers after Oldham?

googled eyes

Vanolder wrote: »

You'd nearly take 12m for both Agger and Skertel at this stage.

Ah come on, thats a crazy statement

scudzilla

aramush wrote: »

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

Yeah, just not by Liverpool

BorneTobyWilde

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/pepe-reina-insists-he-is-not-to-blame-1586193

Blatter

MD1990 wrote: »

Lionel Messi has completed 21 nutmegs this season, 2nd best in top 5 leagues. Liverpool's Luis Suarez has 36. [via @suarezstats @messistats]

People actually keep a record of all the nutmegs by all the players in the top 5 leagues?

5starpool

mike65 wrote: »

I wish they'd put LFC tv on FTA, I'd like to know what the arrangement with SKY is, it can't be that much to either party.

Is it not free to air? I have it on sky but don't pay for it. Is it part of the skysports package then, like ESPN, or are you talking about UPC?

daithijjj

Blatter wrote: »

People actually keep a record of all the nutmegs by all the players in the top 5 leagues?

Only virgins do.

Super-Rush

5starpool wrote: »

Is it not free to air? I have it on sky but don't pay for it. Is it part of the skysports package then, like ESPN, or are you talking about UPC?

It's FTA if you have a viewing card in the box. Even if the card isn't working you can still get it. It's not available on most other boxes.

mike65

Its FTV not FTA, important difference. The former is SKY boxes only the latter is any sat box.

5starpool

Oh right. Get a sky box then

mike65

Blatter wrote: »

People actually keep a record of all the nutmegs by all the players in the top 5 leagues?

Every action by every player and every official decision is now fed directly into a data bank from special cameras covering every game.

Actually its bloke sat in front of the telly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R04HAbG6_0

Kess73

daithijjj wrote: »

I think we are in for more of the same to be honest this season. We were still in with a good shout of 4th in March last year and got very unlucky at home to Arsenal. March 10th will have a big say in it, if we can win every game until then and then beat Spurs, that's our only chance of 4th imo.

12 months ago almost to the day, we had beat City over two legs, put United out of the cup and we had the league cup final coming up.........during which Suarez had a massive ban. Before the mongs chirp in, those are facts. We cant get away from what happened within the club last season during that ban. Focus on the league after the Arsenal game was not what it should have been.

Lets see how we get on now, West Brom and Swans are no slam dunks, the same equation still stands. If we beat them it will be two wins against top 10 teams which we havent managed yet this year.

We were still in with a shout of 4th place in March last season? That's news to me.

We were 10 points off of 4th place by the first saturday of March last season, which was game 26 in the league, and we were 13 points off of 4th by the end of March last season, which was game 30 in the league.



If we win next weekend, then we will have the exact same amount of points as we did from the same amount of games last season and less further off of 4th place than we were at the 26 game mark last season.



We are not going to come 4th this season imo (I think we will finish the season on 58 points and in either 6th or 7th place), and I certainly don't think we are in with a good shout of it at present, so I really don't get how you think that being a similar distance off of 4th last season after a similar amount of games could be reagrded as being in with a good shout of 4th.

daithijjj

Kess73 wrote: »

We were still in with a shout of 4th place in March last season? That's news to me.

We were 10 points off of 4th place by the first saturday of March last season, which was game 26 in the league, and we were 13 points off of 4th by the end of March last season, which was game 30 in the league.



If we win next weekend, then we will have the exact same amount of points as we did from the same amount of games last season and less further off of 4th place than we were at the 26 game mark last season.



We are not going to come 4th this season imo (I think we will finish the season on 58 points and in either 6th or 7th place), and I certainly don't think we are in with a good shout of it at present, so I really don't get how you think that being a similar distance off of 4th last season after a similar amount of games could be reagrded as being in with a good shout of 4th.

If i could be arsed to go and look for the match thread on boards im 100% confident the feeling was with most people that if we could beat Arsenal we still had a great chance of 4th, it died that day and we were very unlucky. I may be wrong but i think there's a bit of bending of the details in your assessment there. If we had beat Arsenal (how we lost that game i will never know) we would have had 42 points. Arsenal and Chelsea would have had 46 and we had a game in hand. So im sorry, but that was a good chance at 4th in my book. It didnt materialise.

And i doubt it will this year either.

5starpool

Kess73 wrote: »

We were still in with a shout of 4th place in March last season? That's news to me.

We were 10 points off of 4th place by the first saturday of March last season, which was game 26 in the league, and we were 13 points off of 4th by the end of March last season, which was game 30 in the league.



If we win next weekend, then we will have the exact same amount of points as we did from the same amount of games last season and less further off of 4th place than we were at the 26 game mark last season.



We are not going to come 4th this season imo (I think we will finish the season on 58 points and in either 6th or 7th place), and I certainly don't think we are in with a good shout of it at present, so I really don't get how you think that being a similar distance off of 4th last season after a similar amount of games could be reagrded as being in with a good shout of 4th.

Up until the defeat at home to Arsenal, which was the end of Feb I believe, we were still in with a shout of 4th.

BorneTobyWilde

I think we will win next, And I think Newcastle will draw at spurs next,
SO gap is 7 Next week :P

daithijjj

5starpool wrote: »

Up until the defeat at home to Arsenal, which was the end of Feb I believe, we were still in with a shout of 4th.

Before the home game V Arsenal in March the table was this.

4th Arsenal - ... P 26 Pts 46
5th Chelsea - .... P 26 Pts 46
6th Newcastle - ... P 26 Pts 43
7th Liverpool - ... P 25 pts 39

It was a case of beat Arsenal, win game in hand, 1 pt behind Arsenal. Still 4 behind Chelsea but they were having it tough themselves. They picked up 1 point from their next 2 league games.

K-9

daithijjj wrote: »

Before the home game V Arsenal in March the table was this.

4th Arsenal - ... P 26 Pts 46
5th Chelsea - .... P 26 Pts 46
6th Newcastle - ... P 26 Pts 43
7th Liverpool - ... P 25 pts 39

It was a case of beat Arsenal, win game in hand, 1 pt behind Arsenal. Still 4 behind Chelsea but they were having it tough themselves. They picked up 1 point from their next 2 league games.

So the Arsenal 6 pointer this season was comparable to last season.

Spurs and Everton at home will tell a lot, win those both and we should be in with a real shout given their run ins. We wont do it though so I'm not thinking about it. We'll beat last seasons total no bother though, especially if we go out of the EL early.

tibor

The new anfield wrap "periodical" is fantastic. Beautifully presented and some very well written articles. Top drawer stuff! Got lost in it for the last hour. Get on it if you've got an iPad!

Hidalgo

daithijjj wrote: »

Before the home game V Arsenal in March the table was this.

4th Arsenal - ... P 26 Pts 46
5th Chelsea - .... P 26 Pts 46
6th Newcastle - ... P 26 Pts 43
7th Liverpool - ... P 25 pts 39

It was a case of beat Arsenal, win game in hand, 1 pt behind Arsenal. Still 4 behind Chelsea but they were having it tough themselves. They picked up 1 point from their next 2 league games.

If this happened and if that game in hand was won etc.
If City and Arsenal were beaten last week it'd be 4 more points.

personally I think league positions are over analyzed during the season itself. Yes its an indicator to judge off other seasons, but all that matters is where you are after 38 games.

City were 2nd for large parts of last Spring, but it didn't matter a f*ck after 38 games, that's the one that counts.

~Rebel~

Hidalgo wrote: »

If this happened and if that game in hand was won etc.
If City and Arsenal were beaten last week it'd be 4 more points.

personally I think league positions are over analyzed during the season itself. Yes its an indicator to judge off other seasons, but all that matters is where you are after 38 games.

City were 2nd for large parts of last Spring, but it didn't matter a f*ck after 38 games, that's the one that counts.

Of course this is all true, but half the fun is in looking at all the permutations and speculating what might happen in the run in for both us and the other contenders.

gafferino

Sturridge: Top four not beyond us

Daniel Sturridge claims Liverpool's display at Manchester City on Sunday shows why a top-four place is still not beyond them this season.

The No.15 fired his fourth goal in six games in the 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium and he insists the players will give everything they can to try and cut the nine-point gap to a Champions League spot.

"We are gutted with the draw because I felt we deserved to win," Sturridge told Liverpoolfc.com.

"In our last two games we have played against two great clubs and deserved to win both of the games.

"We have got two good results in fairness even though in mine and the lads' hearts we know we should have had six points, but we didn't lose so hats off to the boys for the character they showed.

"We'll regroup and get ready for our next game against West Bromwich Albion, which is another massive game for us because they are also challenging for the top places.

"We are nine points off the top four so it's not a massive gap to try and recoup so hopefully we'll be able to do that - we believe we can.

"We have still got to play Chelsea and Tottenham at home and the other teams challenging have to play each other so hopefully we can win those home games and stamp our authority.

"When teams come to Anfield we need to show what we are all about."

Reflecting on his strike at the Etihad, the striker admitted he didn't celebrate the goal as a mark of respect for City, who gave him his big break.

He added: "I didn't celebrate because it was against my old club and they paved the way for my career and gave me my league debut. I respect the City fans, I respect the staff and I'm just thankful for the opportunity they gave me."

Sturridge also paid tribute to inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard, who netted a fine strike - on the same day he was crowned as England's Player of the Year for 2012.

He said: "It was a great strike from Stevie for his goal, trademark for him. He's a great captain, a great player, a great man off the field and I'm delighted to be playing alongside him."

The striker received a great ovation from the travelling Kop when he left the field and he was quick to pay tribute to their support.

"The Liverpool fans are the best in the country," said Sturridge.

"I'm not just saying that because I've joined the club as I've always felt when I played against Liverpool that it had been a different kind of feeling with the way the fans get behind the team.

"It's different to other teams and when you hear 'You'll Never Walk Alone' you really feel the passion and it is in my heart. I'm delighted to be here and I thank the manager for giving me that opportunity."

After picking up a knock in the game, Sturridge is out of Wednesday's England friendly with Brazil at Wembley. The striker will now be assessed by the medical team.

He added: "I got a knock on my quad and I'm going to get a scan on it.

"Hopefully it's not too serious and I'll be okay for next week's game."

Kerrigooney

.
Sorry Gafferino. I'll leave it to you.

Morzadec

aramush wrote: »

So they say 69 points is the magic number for Champions League football.. Lets do some work here, we need 33 points from 13 games. That means 11 wins from the last 13.

Fixtures:
West Brom H
Swansea H
Wigan A
Tottenham H
Southampton A
Aston Villa A
West Ham H
Reading A
Chelsea H
Newcastle A
Everton H
Fulham A
QPR H

All winnable?

To give ourselves a chance we need at least 7 pints from the next 3 and then to beat Spurs. Then we can start thinking about it being a possibility.

Our team is arguably the strongest its been all season, and with Sturridge in the side I feel we are less likely to struggle to break teams down.

The fixtures look nice on paper, but it's a really big ask to achieve that type of consistency.

68 points might be enough to weasel in as well so maybe 10 wins, 2 draws and a loss. It's a big ask, but if we do very well in the next 4 fixtures it will start to look a lot more possible

Vanolder

Morzadec wrote: »

To give ourselves a chance we need at least 7 pints from the next 3 and then to beat Spurs. Then we can start thinking about it being a possibility.

Our team is arguably the strongest its been all season, and with Sturridge in the side I feel we are less likely to struggle to break teams down.

The fixtures look nice on paper, but it's a really big ask to achieve that type of consistency.

68 points might be enough to weasel in as well so maybe 10 wins, 2 draws and a loss. It's a big ask, but if we do very well in the next 4 fixtures it will start to look a lot more possible

If we can get 10 points from our next four including beating Spurs, I will start to believe. At the moment I refuse to and think we will hit in and around the 60 mark and finish 6th. If we can consistently play like we did Sunday, we will push right to end, but we haven't been consistent all season so it's a worry. Our defence is too poor not to have a few slip ups and I can't see that changing.

firemansam4

Kess73 wrote: »

We were still in with a shout of 4th place in March last season? That's news to me.

We were 10 points off of 4th place by the first saturday of March last season, which was game 26 in the league, and we were 13 points off of 4th by the end of March last season, which was game 30 in the league.



If we win next weekend, then we will have the exact same amount of points as we did from the same amount of games last season and less further off of 4th place than we were at the 26 game mark last season.



We are not going to come 4th this season imo (I think we will finish the season on 58 points and in either 6th or 7th place), and I certainly don't think we are in with a good shout of it at present, so I really don't get how you think that being a similar distance off of 4th last season after a similar amount of games could be reagrded as being in with a good shout of 4th.

daithijjj wrote: »

If i could be arsed to go and look for the match thread on boards im 100% confident the feeling was with most people that if we could beat Arsenal we still had a great chance of 4th, it died that day and we were very unlucky. I may be wrong but i think there's a bit of bending of the details in your assessment there. If we had beat Arsenal (how we lost that game i will never know) we would have had 42 points. Arsenal and Chelsea would have had 46 and we had a game in hand. So im sorry, but that was a good chance at 4th in my book. It didnt materialise.

And i doubt it will this year either.

I don't often comment on here, and probably do a lot more lurking than anything else, but the same theme seems to keep cropping up about the pro kenny versus pro rodgers!

Kenny is now gone so I don't really see the relevance of the constant comparisons between Rodgers and Kenny now, the fact of the matter is there were many games we could have and should have won under Kennys rein just as there have been under Rodgers this year, the positions are not that different, although I personally think that 4th place is a step too far for us this year.

Kenny should never have been sacked and at least deserved another season to turn things round.

I think Brendan has showed enough to be given the chance of another season and see how we progress, and then can be judged at that stage.