Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013

donfers

The lad on my stream said we had scored the most goals in 2013 - I love the media love to get a hold of any stat that paints us in a bad light but is that good news stat true?

donfers

donfers wrote: »

The lad on my stream said we had scored the most goals in 2013 - I love the media love to get a hold of any stat that paints us in a bad light but is that good news stat true?

If there were trophies for stats we'd have some haul this year

Knex*

Seeing Spurs missing out on CL today, which is a good thing for us of course, but it shows you just how difficult our task of top 4 is next season.

I would be gutted if I was a Spurs fan when you look at their last two seasons. They've been fantastic and have come so close twice now with a squad that is perceived to be a good bit better than ours, although we have closed that gap since January.

At the moment we still have the 6th best squad in the league (I think ours is better than Evertons). We can probably assume come next August Chelsea, United and City will still all have better squads. Question for me is, can we close that gap on Arsenal and Spurs.

Delighted that Spurs have missed out on CL as it may halt their momentum somewhat in terms of signing the quality of players that they have been, although I still fancy Levy to back AVB in the market somewhat.

Arsenal are a funny one, but looking at their squad I don't see us as being miles off right now.

If we can get the CB and midfielder that we need, along with the winger/CAM, it will be very interesting to see how we compare when the season starts afresh next year.

monkey9

Good to see us break the sixty point barrier. Next season's target should be to break the seventy point barrier.

messinkiapina

Off topic but did Benitez take part in the Chelsea lap of honour today?

kfallon

smileyj1987 wrote: »

I agree with you 100% , Anytime I have had 100% faith in the club it has let me down badly . But what I love the most supporting our club is the fact its a rollercoaster . One week it can leave you feeling on top of the world and other weeks it can leave you scratching your head .

Tbh that's what annoys me the most, just want some consistency. The Villa, West Brom & Soton games for example had us tearing our hair out (well not mine, it's gone already )

I just want us to be regularly beating the teams we should be beating and then take what we can get from the Top 4 cos on our day we'll give anyone a good game

SlickRic

Williams isn't good enough for what we want. end of.

anyway...

the summer is just huge. Rodgers has set himself up for a top 4 challenge with what he's said over the last while.

for that, we need to find 10 points at least again.

big ask. Coutinho and Suarez are vital as well as the at least 4 signings that need to be made. plus a goalie if Reina goes.

daithijjj

daithijjj wrote: »

Neville reacts to the possibility of Williams coming in to replace Carragher :pac:

Is he an upgrade on Skrtel?

Wouldn't think so.

Nuri Sahin

klose

Sounds like west ham want to wrap up the caroll deal asap, hopefully when the window opens sort of job so we can use the funds to get our business done early aswell

Knex*

messinkiapina wrote: »

Off topic but did Benitez take part in the Chelsea lap of honour today?

Laughed at the thought of that. Tried to imagine him running around a pitch and couldn't. Ended up thinking of Homer

klose

klose wrote: »

Sounds like west ham want to wrap up the caroll deal asap, hopefully when the window opens sort of job so we can use the funds to get our business done early aswell

West Ham fans were chanting for Carroll to stay today, so hopefully it can be wrapped up.

He had another good game today by all accounts with a few assists

Turtyturd

SlickRic wrote: »

Williams isn't good enough for what we want. end of.

anyway...

the summer is just huge. Rodgers has set himself up for a top 4 challenge with what he's said over the last while.

for that, we need to find 10 points at least again.

big ask. Coutinho and Suarez are vital as well as the at least 4 signings that need to be made. plus a goalie if Reina goes.

10 points is a big ask....yet when you look at the games against Villa, Southampton, and West Brom.....that's nine points we should be taking, add in the games against City where we handed them a lifeline, and the games against Arsenal where we did the same, and one where we didn't show up, and it becomes infuriating.

messinkiapina

rarnes1 wrote: »

Is he an upgrade on Skrtel?

Wouldn't think so.

BR has bought in a couple of good players, but I'm not sure I fully trust his judgement completely when it comes to players he has coached with other teams, players who he thinks can make the step up to Liverpool.

Fince

Who had the armband for the last 5 mins?

Turtyturd

Reina I would say.

monkey9

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

What a brilliant photo. An iconic image.

daithijjj

rarnes1 wrote: »

Is he an upgrade on Skrtel?

Wouldn't think so.

Everything goes against it. Money, age.....everything.

daithijjj

daithijjj wrote: »

Everything goes against it. Money, age.....everything.

Hopefully it's a smokescreen

Blatter

Was having a look there at the odds and Williams is 12/1 to join Liverpool in the Summer.

Seems a bit high considering the links. Arsenal are odds on favorites which is strange seeing as he'd be a very untypical Wenger signing.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/ashley-williams/club-after-summer-transfer-window

whatawaster

End of season report:

Reina - 7/10 - very shaky in the first half of the season and he wasn't making the big saves, but I think since the City away game he has been excellent, he has been more commanding and his shotstopping has improved.

Jones - 6/10 - Was mostly fine when called upon

Johnson - 7/10 - Outstanding going forward in the early parts of the season but he has looked off the pace for at least 3 months, bar a few good games (like today)

Wisdom - 7/10 - Dominant in the air, strong, composed on the ball, quick - a very assured debut season. He was skinned badly a couple of times, notably away to Everton, but he looks a real gem

Kelly - 5/10 - didn't play enough really, though he was having a storming game against United when he got injured. Can't wait for him to come back.

Enrique - 8/10 - one of our most improved players this season. Awful initially, but that stint on the wing did wonders for his confidence and he has been solid ever since. Our best defender this season IMO

Robinson - 5/10 - hit and miss in his limited opportunities

Agger - 6/10 - too many mistakes, not strong enough at times, but I still feel he's probably the one centre-back we don't want to let go.

Skrtel - 5/10 - we saw bad Skrtel too many times this season. When he's good he's good, when he's bad he's terrible. We can't rely on him any more, but overall he's been a pretty good player for us.

Carragher - 7/10 - came in when we needed him and was largely solid for the final 4 months of the season. One of the best Liverpool players of my lifetime and he will be sorely missed. Legend.

Coates - 5/10 - how much hope I had after his performance against City. I don't think he's got a fair go of things at Liverpool but I doubt we'll see him play for us again to be honest

Lucas - 6/10 - he has slowly been getting better since his return, but still not quite there

Allen - 6/10 - He started like a train, filling in well for Lucas and looking assured every time he got the ball. It's been downhill since then, unfortunately and injuries haven't helped, but we would do well to remember the experiences of Henderson and Lucas and be patient.

Gerrard - 8/10 - His best season since 08/09, though I still think our midfield two would be better off with him playing in front of it.

Henderson - 8/10 - Most improved player. Nearly out the door in August (wrongly) and often out of the team at the start of the season, he has slowly proved the manager wrong and become an important part of play. He would run all day and he is starting to add goals. Big player for us now and his fee suddenly looks less mental.

Shelvey - 5/10 - another who put in a great performance against City and followed it up with a couple of good European performance. But the sending off against Utd looks like it affected him and he's been flitting between average and terrible ever since. Loan out next season.

Coutinho - 9/10 - I've said it before, he looks like the player I've wanted LFC to sign for the last 10 years. If he had been in our team 2005-2009 then we might have won that elusive title, who knows. His through balls are second to none. Mark docked for cutting the hair.

Sterling - 8/10 - Cannot forget his contribution in Aug-Dec. Shouldn't have played as much as he did but he had a big impact on our team. Biggest positives are his intelligence and his passing ability. Needs to work on his finishing. Should have had 10 goals this season.

Suso - 7/10 - I think we could have used him more this season, but from fearing he was off last summer to coming on a half time (with us down to 10 men) against United, I'm very pleased with how he has progressed. Has the ability to be the man who slots in when Coutinho is rested/injured next season

Downing - 7/10 - Fair play to him, big turnaround in form in recent months. Still too predictable, but his workrate has been a vital part of our improved form. Still, for me there's a big question mark over his future. He may now be worth a few million more than we thought.

Assaidi - 6/10 - I think he's been hard done by. He looked good in his starts in Europe against decent opposition but his chances have been so limited that he's looked increasingly rusty as the season has gone on. We'll never see him pull on a red shirt again.

Borini - 5/10 - Injuries have been cruel to him, and some fans even crueller. He looks a better player off the ball than on it, but his movement is so good that I think he definitely warrants a second season before being judged.

Sturridge - 9/10 - as frustrating as I imagined he'd be. He's blind, he doesn't pass even when he sees a pass on and he shoots from everywhere. But when he is on he looks the complete forward and he's been on plenty of times in his 5 months here. Can't argue with 10 goals in half a season.

Suarez - 10/10 - Despite imo letting the club down with the bite, he has been an unstoppable force for most of the season, sometimes doing things all on his own. If we keep him, we can finish 4th next season. If we lose him it looks so much more difficult.

Rodgers - 7/10 - has overseen the biggest, the quickest and the most overdue squad overhaul I can remember at the club and it's been difficult. We started terribly, but have got better and better. The positives - youngest squad in the league, his January signings, the attacking play, the improvements in incumbent squad members. The negatives - the defense, some poor tactics and substitutions, the cup exits. 9 point increase on last season, under the circumstances, is a pretty good return. IMO.


Player of the year - Luis Suarez (2nd Phillipe Coutinho)
Young player of the year - Phillipe Coutinho (2nd Raheem Sterling)
Most improved - Jordan Henderson (2nd Jose Enrique)
Goal of the season - Suarez vs Newcastle (2nd Coutinho vs QPR)
Performance of the season - Away to Manchester City (2nd - Home to Manchester City)

whatawaster

Blatter wrote: »

Just to say, Kenny got 33 points in the 18 league games he was in charge for in the second half of the 2010/11 season. I wouldn't be putting much stock in these half season runs (especially when you've exited all the cups early), it doesn't matter if you can't sustain it for a whole season.

We had a squad full of players at their peak or past their peak then. A squad that required massive changes.

We now have the youngest squad in the league (last time I looked anyway) which we would expect to improve with age

Blatter

Gbear wrote: »

The order in which they happen is important. We gradually improved during the season. Last season was just a complete cluster**** from about the half way point. Even both the cup final performances were fairly ****e.

It's also relevant to compare the teams - our current team is significantly better than the one we started the season with and a reason to expect the most recent half season is more representative of what this team will do next season.

The comparison was with the 2010/11 season, not last season. The team was hovering above the relegation zone, Kenny came in, lost Torres for an injured Carroll and went on an unbelievable run until the end of the season. The majority of LFC were extremely optimistic about the next season, far more so than they are now.

Blatter

whatawaster wrote: »

We had a squad full of players at their peak or past their peak then. A squad that required massive changes.

We now have the youngest squad in the league (last time I looked anyway) which we would expect to improve with age

I think the decline was too rapid to be put down to just ageing players. I think it was more down to variance tbh. Kenny overachieved in his first half season, underachieved the next, the true quality was somewhere in between.

If Rodgers averages 1.89 ppg for the whole of next season I'll be impressed. I guess we'll see, the summer will be important as said already.

Agree with most of those scorings.

Would have Lucas maybe at 7/10, he had a better season than Allen for sure.

Suso I'd have at 5/10, he's quite a bit away from the first team for me.

Sterling was good in a few matches, missing in a lot 6/10.

monkey9

Looking at the highlights there, i was thinking we're the last team in the Premier League now who'll have what should be a goal not given once the goal line technology comes in.

5live

Knex. wrote: »

In optimistic news, we've only finished 28 points off the leaders compared to last season's 37.

Our year in 2017!

Made me laugh:-D.

Not every silver lining has a cloud. Fergie gone could mean 9 or 10 points less next season due to transition. Man city and chelsea have new managers and arsenal seem to be on a slow downward spiral. IF (and its a big if) we replace Carra well and improve on Downing and keep Suarez and Reina i think we wont be far off tbh.

I would be more hopeful at the end of this season than i have in a long while that we are going in the right direction.

After all, how do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

whatawaster

Blatter wrote: »

The comparison was with the 2010/11 season, not last season. The team was hovering above the relegation zone, Kenny came in, lost Torres for an injured Carroll and went on an unbelievable run until the end of the season. The majority of LFC were extremely optimistic about the next season, far more so than they are now.

And Suarez

Turtyturd

Bit overstating the contribution of Sterling.

kfallon

Thinking about it you'd be hoping Coutinho would be even better next season as he tries to establish/force himself into Brazil's World Cup squad.

Got some serious man love for this guy, what a player!

If you compare Sterling to Coutinhio there's light years between them imo.

I'd send Sterling and Suso on loan next season tbh.

Blatter

Sterling was overused in the first half of the season, I think he could be an excellent asset to your squad next season if he used properly. The odd start and plenty of 15-20 min cameos.

whatawaster

rarnes1 wrote: »

If you compare Sterling to Coutinhio there's light years between them imo.

I'd send Sterling and Suso on loan next season tbh.

Sterling is 18. There should be light year's ahead of them. Coutinho wasn't nearly this good at 18.

Sterling is good enough to be a squad player next season, benching in most games. No need to send him on loan, Liverpool is the best place for him. Don't want him playing 40 games next season.

Yeah he was overused for sure and faded badly as a result.

Francie Barrett

rarnes1 wrote: »

West Ham fans were chanting for Carroll to stay today, so hopefully it can be wrapped up.

He had another good game today by all accounts with a few assists

Just after watching the highlights, he did look very impressive. I think it goes to show that if you make him the focal point of your attack and play to his strengths, that he can still play a big part in a Premier League team. Not saying he's top 4 - but definitely top half.

Turtyturd

rarnes1 wrote: »

Yeah he was overused for sure and faded badly as a result.

To be honest he faded early in the season, and it seemed like the only reason he was getting included in the squad was because there was all the talk about the contract at the time. He was rightly dropped to the bench once it was sorted. He could go on the be a good player but right now for a winger his crossing is terrible, and he could do with a loan somewhere.

gafferino

monkey9 wrote: »

Looking at the highlights there, i was thinking we're the last team in the Premier League now who'll have what should be a goal not given once the goal line technology comes in.

Which if given means we would have finished 6th

smileyj1987

gafferino wrote: »

Which if given means we would have finished 6th

Tbh at times it felt like we had no luck at all during the season . Once goal line technology comes in it will kill alot of the talking points about football . Did or didn't it cross the line .

donfers

Are West Ham going to pull a Juventus trick and offer less than they agreed at the start of the loan (Aquilani)

He had an interrupted start there, lots of injuries but since he has played regularly he has been probably their most important plaer, creating and/or scoring most of their goals

now unfortunately a blind man on the street knows we want rid of Carroll so they may lowball us but anything below 15 million and we should hang on to him - he did the business for them so they should pay up....much rather sell to them than newcastle too who have tried to humiliate us with 7-10million pound bids for a player they got 35 million for, absolutely taking the michael, I'd do an Oyston and not answer the phone to them, don't want ben arfa either, we can do much better

donfers

donfers wrote: »

Are West Ham going to pull a Juventus trick and offer less than they agreed at the start of the loan (Aquilani)

He had an interrupted start there, lots of injuries but since he has played regularly he has been probably their most important plaer, creating and/or scoring most of their goals

now unfortunately a blind man on the street knows we want rid of Carroll so they may lowball us but anything below 15 million and we should hang on to him - he did the business for them so they should pay up....much rather sell to them than newcastle too who have tried to humiliate us with 7-10million pound bids for a player they got 35 million for, absolutely taking the michael, I'd do an Oyston and not answer the phone to them, don't want ben arfa either, we can do much better

Of course.

No chance we will get 17/18 million for him.

Anything over 12 and I'll be shocked. 3 months ago I'd have said anything over 8

5live

5live wrote: »

arsenal seem to be on a slow downward spiral.

By what metric? Went on a great run for the last 16 matches averaging 2.44 ppg, higher than anyone else in that time.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

By what metric? Went on a great run for the last 16 matches averaging 2.44 ppg, higher than anyone else in that time.

Yeah their last 10 games they won 8 and drew 2.

26 points from 30. Unreal finish.

Rekop dog

Love how the teams run in recent years when not contending for anything near the end of the season gives some semblance of hope to fans who believe the club is on the right path.

People used to laugh at the 'our year' in relation to fans being over optimistic about potentially winning the title but I think its becoming similarly far fetched to think they've much of a hope of top 4 these days.

slingerz

Summer going to be an interesting time! New managers at UTD, City, Chelsea, Everton could see some instability at those clubs. Pool spurs arsenal best placed to capitalise

Big summer needed from Rodgers and FSG. Still 5/6 players away from the top 5 teams IMO

You should get a few replys to that.

That was the intention of course

EDIT not you slingerz

messinkiapina

I'm still not a fan of Henderson to be honest. He's been way better than he was last season, but he's a pretty ordinary/limited player in my opinion.

Gbear

passremarkable

Some effort in fairness to carra

mike65

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xllWnXg-kXE

Kerrigooney

Big Andy got a funny assist for West Ham 's first today and a brilliant assist for their second.