Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/2014

Francie Barrett

Think I would have preferred Lorenzo Melgarejo.

5starpool

T-K-O wrote: »

Liverpool agree defender terms;

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/media-watch/express-liverpool-agree-defender-terms

I though it was official first when I saw the LFC link, but it is from their media section where everything is posted. Still be true, but far from confirmed.

Pedalstool

daithijjj wrote: »

The best of the defence when it was brought up in the past included tangental points, "we have a better medical team now" and "Kenny subbed Suarez a few times".

We lost 14 games in 2011/2012. Scored 41 goals. 52 points.

We lost 9 games in 2012/2013. Scored 71 goals. 61 points.

Its pretty obvious there was progress.

Raif Severance

T-K-O wrote: »

Liverpool agree defender terms;

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/media-watch/express-liverpool-agree-defender-terms

Reposting:

The 25-year-old full-back said: "I will not believe that I am going anywhere until I am in Liverpool and having a medical.

"Liverpool is such a great club, so to be linked with them is fantastic. But there is nothing concrete from anyone at the moment.

"If there is an opportunity to join such a club, I will take it. Valencia are a great club, in a great city, but Liverpool are a legendary club."

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/media-watch/sky-sports-defender-likes-lfc-link

Just like Cissokho, I'm not going to believe this, until I see him either having a Medical or doing a Leaning Pose in Melwood.

daithijjj

Pedalstool wrote: »

We lost 14 games in 2011/2012. Scored 41 goals. 52 points.

We lost 9 games in 2012/2013. Scored 71 goals. 61 points.

Its pretty obvious there was progress.

How do you think we would have fared if we lost Suarez and Gerrard for 26/7 games more last season?.

I am pie

Uff, what a disappointment, news of skrtel going and a new defender in had me hoping....instead it's the least appealling transfer being completed.

Bah.

mike65

Why is anyone posting random stuff off the internet. the offy really should not collect random stuff off the internet and publish it.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.

Pedalstool

daithijjj wrote: »

How do you think we would have fared if we lost Suarez and Gerrard for 26/7 games more last season?.

There are so many variables that just focusing on players missing doesn't give the whole picture. Its hard to quantify.

We can only focus on the results .

In the 2nd part of the 2011/2012 season we lost 11 games.

In contrast to that we lost 3 games last season in the 2nd part of the season.

Thats pretty convincing in my book.

Vicxas

God this thread really needs a signing.

Think we all do

mike65

Difference

Jan-May 2012 Andy Carroll
Jan May 2013 Sturridge

billy2012

mike65 wrote: »

Difference

Jan-May 2012 Andy Carroll
Jan May 2013 Sturridge

**** sake Rodgers!!!:D:D

Pedalstool

Brendan Rodgers is coming up on Newstalk now in a few mins...Should be interesting, well to most of us!

Knex*

mike65 wrote: »

Difference

Jan-May 2012 Andy Carroll
Jan May 2013 Sturridge

Jan-May 2012 Andy Carroll & Suarez
Jan May 2013 Sturridge & Coutinho.

I'm probably still taking 2012 over 2013.

mike65

When Carroll is your second striker you are in trouble, a very blunt weapon indeed. Sturridge is the polar opposite. Of course Coutinho also helped in this regard and yet we have people here telling me we're not progressing.

billy2012

Pedalstool wrote: »

Brendan Rodgers is coming up on Newstalk now in a few mins...Should be interesting, well to most of us!

link?

mike65

http://www.newstalk.ie/player/

Pedalstool

billy2012 wrote: »

link?

http://www.newstalk.ie/player/

Morzadec

How good is Cissohko? Would anyone tip him to make the left-back spot his own?

Nice to have cover. We're looking good for cover in all positions now. Although we would need another centre-back if Skrtel goes. Arguably short on cover for Lucas too in terms of a like-for-like replacement, though you would hope one of Henderson or Allen could slip in there. Might even be worth hanging onto wee Jay... I never thought he was quite as bad as others. I would put him in the 'can do a job' category along with Stewart Downing

Vicxas

If anything interesting is said on news talk can someone post it up

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

When Carroll is your second striker you are in trouble, a very blunt weapon indeed. Sturridge is the polar opposite. Of course Coutinho also helped in this regard and yet we have people here telling me we're not progressing.

Who will be our second striker if Suarez leaves? Hopefully lightening doesn't strike twice...

Pedalstool

Vicxas wrote: »

If anything interesting is said on news talk can someone post it up

"we showed real progress in the second half of the season" Rodgers

Raif Severance

rarnes1 wrote: »

Who will be our second striker if Suarez leaves? Hopefully lightening doesn't strike twice...

We can't realistically replace him by 1 Player unless that Player is in the Category of a Messi or a Ronaldo. It would be Goals by Committee.

If he goes, we need to add a Quality CAM and a Quality RW.

Lennonist

Brendan Rodgers on Newstalk now. In Ireland for the Celtic match on Saturday. He played Gaelic Football and Hurling as a kid.

mike65

Vicxas wrote: »

If anything interesting is said on news talk can someone post it up

Some mild critique of the traditional British game (like basketball "back and forward, back and forward") when possession football was raised via a question about does Liverpool pass sideways too much. Discussion about they way Irish players are being coached and then used by Trap (hey, its OTF) and Rodgers views of Irish players (basically he thinks Trap is wasting plenty of talent but didn't actually say that!).

No transfer tittle tattle nor would you expect any.

billy2012

Raif Severance wrote: »

We can't realistically replace him by 1 Player unless that Player is in the Category of a Messi or a Ronaldo. It would be Goals by Committee.

If he goes, we need to add a Quality CAM and a Quality RW.

If Suarez Stays we Still Need 1 of the Above.

Morzadec

Pedalstool wrote: »

"we showed real progress in the second half of the season" Rodgers

Was interested to see just how well in real numbers (seeing as how a lot of people say Rodgers is all talk).

2nd half of last season:

Played: 19
Won: 10
Drew: 6
Lost: 3

GD: +26

PPG: 1.89

PPG extrapolated over a season: 72

So true enough, we would certainly be at the very least challenging for CL spots if we kept up the form from the last half of the season.

There's reason for cautious optimism, and I can't understand those who don't see hints of progress in a respectable accumulation of points here (along with a hefty GD - the best in the league in fact in that second half).

On the other hand, Arsenal (who we all see as the most realistic target) have a ppg of 40 over the same period, which is close to title challenging form.

Mr Alan

People really need to relax on the expectation being heaped on Sturridge & Coutinho. Both have had very good starts to their Liverpool careers which is great to see & I'm excited about them both.

They're looking like excellent buys, both of em. But both have previously had great spells at previous clubs only to be unable to really push on & get proper consistency into their performances & cement their places in the side.

Hopefully that won't happen at Liverpool, but as I said, people need to relax a bit.

5starpool

Lennonist wrote: »

Brendan Rodgers on Newstalk now. In Ireland for the Celtic match on Saturday. He played Gaelic Football and Hurling as a kid.

He's in Norway now, won't be in Ireland until Friday I'd say.

Pedalstool

Interesting reference to Gerrard saying it took the players 5/6 months to get to grips with what Rodgers was asking them to do on the pitch. Since then form improved and that improvement seems to have been carried into preseason.

Lets hope it continues.

Raif Severance

billy2012 wrote: »

If Suarez Stays we Still Need 1 of the Above.

Yup.

If Suarez stays, I'd prefer if we got RW. Since he and Coutinho can rotate as CAM. Not to mention, both Allen, Hendo and Luis Alberto will also get a look there.

Turtyturd

5starpool wrote: »

He's in Norway now, won't be in Ireland until Friday I'd say.

Guarantee he gives an interview saying he used to build longships and ride around on reindeer while he is there. :pac:

witnessrenegade

https://soundcloud.com/offtheball/brendan-rodgers-interview

Interview their, no word on players coming in, can we just have someone! It's wrecking the head at this stage!

5starpool

Dalglish had a great first half a season, and good first half of his full season as well let's not forget. Pointing to stats from a past set of games is not necessarily a reliable future indicator.

gafferino

daithijjj wrote: »

How do you think we would have fared if we lost Suarez and Gerrard for 26/7 games more last season?.

We are into what ifs now as the basis of a discussion?
What if we won 3 of our drawn games in 08/09? Then we would have been league champions 4 years ago. Brilliant.

billymitchell

Mr Alan wrote: »

People really need to relax on the expectation being heaped on Sturridge & Coutinho. Both have had very good starts to their Liverpool careers which is great to see & I'm excited about them both.

They're looking like excellent buys, both of em. But both have previously had great spells at previous clubs only to be unable to really push on & get proper consistency into their performances & cement their places in the side.

Hopefully that won't happen at Liverpool, but as I said, people need to relax a bit.

Lennonist

5starpool wrote: »

He's in Norway now, won't be in Ireland until Friday I'd say.

Oh. Newstalk talking to John Barnes now.

Pedalstool

5starpool wrote: »

Dalglish had a great first half a season, and good first half of his full season as well let's not forget. Pointing to stats from a past set of games is not necessarily a reliable future indicator.

Dalglish started well, carried that momentum into the following season but then the wheels began to come off and he wasn't able to do anything to arrest the slide.

I think Rodgers took on the team left by Dalglish, a team which had become used to losing and gradually over the first 5 months of his reign rebuilt their confidence. Gave them a system of playing that they could buy into. This season we will see how that system performs over the course of a full season.

fred funk }{

Barnes really is a great talker and talks a lot of sense . Top bloke.

Vicxas

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Barnes really is a great talker and talks a lot of sense . Top bloke.

I can't keep up with him.

Fowler87

What a legend John Barnes is

Mr Alan

Again people don't even mention the fact that Dalglish won a cup & got to the final of another in the second half of his last season

While people can argue about the importance of cups in the grand scheme of things, it's merits a ****ing mention

Raif Severance

I just don't get why we have to Recycle the tiresome Argument of whether we've Improved or not. I thought it was beyond Pointless TBH, irregardless of whether you choose to use Statistics/Numbers or not.

I mean, it's pretty simple. Just ask yourself this, who would you rather have:

A. Carroll and Adams.
B. Sturridge and Coutinho

fred funk }{

Vicxas wrote: »

I can't keep up with him.

Yeah, he's a fast talker alright. They say it's a sign of intelligence!

LuckyLloyd

daithijjj wrote: »

How do you think we would have fared if we lost Suarez and Gerrard for 26/7 games more last season?.

Or had, you know, meaningful games after February and the like.

tok9

Mr Alan wrote: »

Again people don't even mention the fact that Dalglish won a cup & got to the final of another in the second half of his last season

While people can argue about the importance of cups in the grand scheme of things, it's merits a ****ing mention

Losing a cup doesn't merit a mention. In fact, majority of people I know seem to forget Liverpool got to another Champions League final after winning it which shows the point really.

Pedalstool

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Or had, you know, meaningful games after February and the like.

All games have a meaning. The ones in the Premier League even more so.

Nuri Sahin

daithijjj wrote: »

I dont think we were in the market for more strikers after spending 50m on them 6 months previous. Didnt Atleti just put every penny form Aguero money into Falcao?. Anyway, im sure there were plenty of names around in the other positions we could have gone for, hindsight is great though, i have seen plenty of names put up in here as player we should go for in the past who turned out to be poor signings for those teams who ended up signing them.

My point is clear here Daithi. There were numerous players that were available 5 months later on, many of whom who were willing to move on and whose clubs would have have entertained bids, pretty much all were more established than Carroll unless him looking the part in the EPL for 6 months and for a team that was tailor made for him is an important factor for yourself or others. He was also injured at the time we signed him. It wasn't a **** up, it was a catastrophe. For all the great football we played under Kenny in those first 5 months as caretaker and we did play some superb stuff, it was clear we were abandoning that in the hope of becoming more of a Newcastle (at the time) in building towards Carroll when everything should have been built around Suarez. Sure we had some really good games under Kenny (in the cup and Aresnal away springs to mind) in his second stint as full time manager, but the football was clueless far more often than not. Our striker(!) played as some type of wing forward as he did leading the line it seemed like. Reference the majority of match threads for many who complained about this.

To be honest, I'd argue that the likes of Gameiro, Osvaldo, Remy and perhaps Rossi to a lesser extent because he was being quite regularly linked with a host of top CL clubs including Barca, well they were attainable in January. I'm sure there were far more names I could have listed as well, but it's hard to remember the circumstances of two years ago on such a big scale as is the case when it comes to transfers.

As for Falcao, he eventually went on to sign for Atleti for around €40M. Perhaps a bit more with add-ons. After all, Atleti qualified for the CL eventually, as well as winning the Copa del Rey and the Europa League too. A lot of money but worth every damn penny. Atleti were smart, they sold a proven goalscorer (Kun is more than that of course) and bought a proven goalscorer. We took a chance, a beyond stupid chance and deservedly got burned.

LuckyLloyd

Pedalstool wrote: »

All games have a meaning. The ones in the Premier League even more so.

Swansea and QPR came to Anfield with real meaning and purpose alright. Pressure is a funny thing in sports. When the pressure was on and the games counted last year we didn't win much. We'll find out a fair bit from Saturday week on...

It won't be long until we find out if we've improved or not.

I'll say a similar points total is on the cards if some signings aren't made.

Nuri Sahin

Mr Alan wrote: »

People really need to relax on the expectation being heaped on Sturridge & Coutinho. Both have had very good starts to their Liverpool careers which is great to see & I'm excited about them both.

They're looking like excellent buys, both of em. But both have previously had great spells at previous clubs only to be unable to really push on & get proper consistency into their performances & cement their places in the side.

Hopefully that won't happen at Liverpool, but as I said, people need to relax a bit.

A young player not being given a proper chance and others would consider failing at Inter? Shock and awe. Who'd have guessed it!

Could debate the same thing about Sturridge with Chelsea.