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

opr

Linked with Will Hughes tonight. He does looked a talented player but from what I've seen of him he's quite a similar player to Joe Allen. We already can't find a place for him in the team without adding another similar type player, although Hughes would be much better option in hole behind the striker than Allen.

As others have said I'd be much more in favour of moving Coutinho into the centre permanently and putting whatever money we have into buying players to play either side.

Opr

5live

Toure was impressive today. Plenty of communication with Wisdom.

But Wisdom very off the pace. He was beaten 4 times when his positioning was poor. A loan to Fulham for the season would have been for the best i think. He could work the kinks out of his game while not costing us anything.

Enrique can make football seem very difficult at times.

Coutinho was excellent. Again. His covering back was exceptional at times. He covered 60 yards to get back in position once and seem to have gotten much stronger. He was doubled up on for much of the match also

Gerrard was pretty average.

Allen started ok but his passing was poor at times but credit to Celtic for their pressure too.

Aspas was average. Not really up to leading the line from this match but time will tell.

Downing was good first half but after the first 15 minutes he seemed to play 100% safe. We need an upgrade.

Celtic had one shot first half and scored. We lacked a cutting edge. Sturridge was very good and added a different dimension to our game as did Ibe.

Lucas seems back to being Lucas:-)

Can anyone tell me why Toures goal wasnt given?

mike65

Will Hughes should be bought and loaned straight back to Derby. There would be no point in having him in the squad this season.

Pilsbury Doughboy

Toures goal chalked off for offside, and it was just off IMO.

jcsoulinger

Sea Sharp wrote: »

We lost because Rodgers has made Liverpool adopt the tika-taka style and Celtic/ Lennon had quite a lot of preparation for defending against this style playing against Barcelona in the CL earlier this year.
The jest of how to suppress it is "close them down quickly and without hesitation."
Made us keep making crappy passes under pressure.

There was nothing tika-taka about today's performance.

Vicxas

Jumping on the defender apparantly. Didn't go down to well in the East Stand

SlickRic

if Will Hughes is signing, then I'd be convinced that the club are taking the píss out of us.

tok9

It's going to be very disappointing if we don't sign one definite first team player in the window.

Kess73

Feck.

I go to Dublin, then get back in the door here 15 mins ago to discover that Cardiff have bought Medel for £11m? :eek:

Kess73

mike65 wrote: »

Runs and hides

Oh thanks a lot Mike, like just finding out about Medel was not enough to tip me over the edge.

Grayditch

Cool, Will Hughes was back up hope after Mkhitaryan...

LuckyLloyd

Briana Strong Leader wrote: »

Yeah a team who did quite well in the champions league last year would be relegated :rolleyes:

I wonder about people sometimes.

Yes. They've lost Waynyama, Hooper and Richardson. Their squad is super thin. As for last year's CL, it's Celtic - one of the great clubs. You could see the Barca players looking at each other in the tunnel. You don't get beat.

Juve studied that game and Lennon made a key error and their class (or lack thereof shone through).

The point is that today was our first test of preseason. Other games were a joke opponent wise. That's all.

opr

5live wrote: »

Toure was impressive today. Plenty of communication with Wisdom.

Yeah have to admit to being extremely impressed with him so far in pre-season. He looks that cut above as a player in defense that Coutinho looks in attack to the players around him. He showed a good turn of foot at one stage today for recovery pace I didn't think he had left at this stage. He also looks to have huge potential as a weapon from set pieces. It wasn't just the goal today but in general over the last couple of matches he has been causing mayhem from corners and free kicks. I still wish we had gone out and attempted to buy a Toure MKII in his prime but as a stop gap he looks to have at least another good year in him.

Opr

Pilsbury Doughboy

opr wrote: »

Yeah have to admit to being extremely impressed with him so far in pre-season. He looks that cut above as a player in defense that Coutinho looks in attack to the players around him. He showed a good turn of foot at one stage today for recovery pace I didn't think he had left at this stage. He also looks to have huge potential as a weapon from set pieces. It wasn't just the goal today but in general over the last couple of matches he has been causing mayhem from corners and free kicks. I still wish we had gone out and attempted to buy a Toure MKII in his prime but as a stop gap he looks to have at least another good year in him.

Opr

Yup, he gained a place in my FF team on the back of what I've seen today, could chip in with a few alright.

Wisdom isn't ready yet for first team action in the league, a new CB should be priority

GTR63

Kess73 wrote: »

Feck.

I go to Dublin, then get back in the door here 15 mins ago to discover that Cardiff have bought Medel for £11m? :eek:

Don't worry we're signing WILL HUGHES!

Vicxas

GTR63 wrote: »

Don't worry we're signing WILL HUGHES!

Why does he sound like another English charmer..

Courtesy Flush

At least Sturridge got some game time. That has to be good news

Pilsbury Doughboy

Will be interested in seeing if Sturridge and Aspas can forge a decent understanding, I'd have them both starting next week anyway.

Vicxas

Pilsbury Doughboy wrote: »

Will be interested in seeing if Sturridge and Aspas can forge a decent understanding, I'd have them both starting next week anyway.

With Suarez banned its more than likely I'd say

Kess73

If Medel, Eriksen, and Alderweireld arrive in the EPL for a combined fee in the region of £26m without us having had a good sniff, I shall be miffed.


Can see why Spurs would be interested in Alderweireld. Putting him back alongside his old CB partner is a no brainer. He and Vertonghen worked ever so well together at Ajax.

MD1990

we need a strong,powerful,dynamic centre midfielder
Medel would have been a good signing
so would Capoune for 8.5m
also Toure looks a great signing
physically still in great shape

Kess73

MD1990 wrote: »

we need a strong,powerful,dynamic centre midfielder
Medel would have been a good signing
so would Capoune for 8.5m

Would have loved to have gotten Medel, but Capoue would have been an even better signing. Has a lot more to his overall game and has a damn good range of passing ability.

raven136

i thought the worst thing about the game was how brutal our supporters were compared to Celtic
Despite various criticisms,the Celtic fans were a credit to their club,loud,non stop singing and dancing.

brianregan09

Just wait till ya play a team that plays a lot of high balls to see how good Toure is.....at closing his eyes when heading the ball

Was a great CB for us in his prime but is also very error prone

GTR63

Kess73 wrote: »

If Medel, Eriksen, and Alderweireld arrive in the EPL for a combined fee in the region of £26m without us having had a good sniff, I shall be miffed.

The club is such a mess now I suspect we are snoring at the wheel nowdays.

googled eyes

Just agreeing with sentiments re: players potentially arriving in the league and us not signing any more players.

T'is a fvking joke

MD1990

Kess73 wrote: »

Would have loved to have gotten Medel, but Capoue would have been an even better signing. Has a lot more to his overall game and has a damn good range of passing ability.

Kondongbia would be a player we should look to sign

Daemonic

Jack Robinson assisted Blackpool's winning goal today with a long throw Delap would have been proud of.

Vicxas

googled eyes wrote: »

Just agreeing with sentiments re: players potentially arriving in the league and us not signing any more players.

T'is a fvking joke

Surely they're aware of this. They can't be THAT blinded

Nuri Sahin

MD1990 wrote: »

Kondongbia would be a player we should look to sign

Would much rather him than his now former team mate Medel.

Courtesy Flush

Pilsbury Doughboy wrote: »

Will be interested in seeing if Sturridge and Aspas can forge a decent understanding, I'd have them both starting next week anyway.

Doubt if Sturridge would be ready to start a league game so quick ?

Pilsbury Doughboy

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

Doubt if Sturridge would be ready to start a league game so quick ?

I dunno, he played 45 today, another week under his belt and surely we can squeeze 60 mins at least out of him next week, shame the lad seems to be made of meringue!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Vicxas wrote: »

Surely they're aware of this. They can't be THAT blinded

Wish I had your faith....

googled eyes

Vicxas wrote: »

Surely they're aware of this. They can't be THAT blinded

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Wish I had your faith....

You look for a simple blind leading the blind image like the one above and you find weird images of Bjork. I think its time i went to sleep. Only a few days left ......

(a) til the league starts
(b) in this tread

darced

This post has been deleted.

opr

Guardian - David Peace: 'Bill Shankly was a good man, as close to a saint as you could get'

The writer on his new book about Bill Shankly, living in Japan and racial segregation in West Yorkshire

After the controversy surrounding The Damned United, when Johnny Giles and several other ex-Leeds players objected to their portrayal in the book, what brought you back to football in Red Or Dead?

The fallout from The Damned United wasn't particularly pleasant. I'd written about police corruption, the miners' strike, war criminals, problems in Tokyo with the American occupation, but I never imagined that the most controversial thing I would write would be a book about football.

I wanted to write a book that would be more than another dark conspiracy. My plan was to write about Harold Wilson. Wilson was somebody whose life and achievements, I thought, had been forgotten. Then a film producer, Mike Jefferies, a passionate Liverpool supporter, was curious to know if I'd ever considered writing a script about Bill Shankly. It sounds dramatic, but it was as if the scales had fallen from my eyes.

Harold Wilson turns up in Red Or Dead: does that mean you've now dealt with him?

Having spent so long writing about that period of time, and with Wilson in the book, I thought maybe I'd finished with it. But actually, now, a couple of months down the line, I realise I do want to write about him. I think he could have a relevance.

What did you know about Bill Shankly before you started researching the book?

My football memories really start in 1974. The first game my father took me to was when Brian Clough brought his Leeds team to play Huddersfield in a pre-season friendly. And Shankly, although I was aware of him, was never an active manager within my memory. Older friends talk about how Mike Yarwood used to impersonate him, but I just had this very vague notion that he was a good man. The book was really going to focus on the mystery of his resignation [as Liverpool manager, in July 1974] and the aftermath. But starting to do the research, I felt that you couldn't really talk about the retirement of the man without talking of the work of the man. I read everything on him. And at the end I did still feel that he was a good man, as close to a saint as you really could get… maybe that's over-egging the pudding – as usual for me.

You've lived in Japan since 1994. When you first arrived, you were heavily in debt. What was life like for you?

I didn't know anyone at first, so my options were somewhat limited. I spent a lot of time walking about, but I didn't go down to the Roppongi, where all the foreigners go, and spend my nights drinking. I didn't go out in the English sense of going out – getting pissed. I'd lived in Istanbul for the previous two years. But when I came to Tokyo, it oddly seemed an easier place to get your bearings more quickly. Silly things, but there was a Tower Records, and an HMV; that kind of thing didn't exist in Istanbul.

Before going to Istanbul, you wrote a book that was rejected by everyone. What was it about?

Up until Red Or Dead, it was the longest book I'd written. There were three different voices: one in the first person, an unemployed pseudo-private detective solving a case of a missing girl; the second narrative was in the second person (which I've used many times), a man obsessed with a woman; and the third voice was in the third person, set in the slight future, where the apocalypse had occurred and a man was in search of the birthplace of the antichrist, which turned out to be in Blackpool.

So it didn't lack ambition?

No, you could say many things about it, but it didn't lack ambition.

That experience of being rejected – did it knock you back?

It did initially. Certainly to me, being unemployed and living in Longsight, in Manchester – it was the time of Gunchester. It was endless bad news, one thing after another. And with the arrogance of youth, I thought it was just a matter of time before I was recognised as Britain's greatest author. And when that didn't happen, I went to Istanbul and didn't write for two years.

You returned in 2009 to live in Yorkshire for two years, after 17 years away. What changes did you notice?

It's all very subjective and I'm wary of making sweeping pronouncements. There were many positive things. From abroad, I had an image that the education and healthcare were very developing world. But I didn't find that at all. My kids went to the local primary and secondary schools and I can't speak highly enough of them. Same with visits to the hospital. I had my wisdom teeth out, no complications. We'd moved back to near Dewsbury and – not to look back with rose-tinted glasses – when I went to school in Batley it was a very racially mixed class. People got on and mixed. I had friends from all religions and so forth. It struck me that in somewhere like Dewsbury that seemed to have disappeared. Certain towns in West Yorkshire just seemed segregated. Friends of mine spoke openly: "That's an area we don't go into." That's the biggest change. The only time I met people who were non-white was getting in a taxi or going for some food.

How is your Japanese?

In daily life I get by but when I do interviews I always do them with translators. This conversation, for example, I wouldn't have wanted to do in Japanese.

That's a relief. Neither would I. Can you read Japanese?

I can read the sports newspaper, but anything the equivalent of the Guardian is too much for me. Every year my new resolution is to get better. But I spend most of my life writing about Britain.

What are going to do this evening?

I was in the office at six this morning. It's been a very long day, so I'm going to go home. My son, for my sins, is a Manchester United supporter. They're about to arrive in Japan. We're going to watch them train at Yokohama stadium.

http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/aug/11/david-peace-interview-bill-shankly

Opr

billymitchell

Fcuk sake LFC, sign some good fcuking players before the window closes!!

Gringo180

billymitchell wrote: »

Fcuk sake LFC, sign some good fcuking players before the window closes!!

If Dalglish didnt **** the club up financially maybe that could of been a possibility but Rogers and LFC has to live with the fallout of his absolute ineptness in the transfer market for years to come.

Grayditch

Jaysus. I wonder does Linda have to sell her old dresses before she can get a new one. Mon' Henry.

billymitchell

Gringo180 wrote: »

If Dalglish didnt **** the club up financially maybe that could of been a possibility but Rogers and LFC has to live with the fallout of his absolute ineptness in the transfer market for years to come.

Do not speak ill of Kenny or Rafa in this thread, you will be lynched!!

Anyway, we were going to spend 20m+ on Costa or Micky Ryan, so we have money to spend, I hope they just spend it on some quality before Sept 2nd. Thereis a ridiculous amount of promise at the club, but we need some pro cen players otherwise its 5-7th position again!!

BMJD

5live wrote: »

Toure was impressive today. Plenty of communication with Wisdom.

But Wisdom very off the pace. He was beaten 4 times when his positioning was poor. A loan to Fulham for the season would have been for the best i think. He could work the kinks out of his game while not costing us anything.

Enrique can make football seem very difficult at times.

Coutinho was excellent. Again. His covering back was exceptional at times. He covered 60 yards to get back in position once and seem to have gotten much stronger. He was doubled up on for much of the match also

Gerrard was pretty average.

Allen started ok but his passing was poor at times but credit to Celtic for their pressure too.

Aspas was average. Not really up to leading the line from this match but time will tell.

Downing was good first half but after the first 15 minutes he seemed to play 100% safe. We need an upgrade.

Celtic had one shot first half and scored. We lacked a cutting edge. Sturridge was very good and added a different dimension to our game as did Ibe.

Lucas seems back to being Lucas:-)

Can anyone tell me why Toures goal wasnt given?

Just in from the match after some pints

Agree with most of that, we were very poor. Wisdom wasn't at the races at all. Johnson and Enrique were average, Gerrard was playing very deep, his "trademark" long passes looked very boring and predictable, Lucas was good though, got stuck in a lot of the time, postitioning was good. Downing wasn't too bad, a lot of people were waiting to give him stick when he was working as hard as anyone else was. Coutinho had some magical touches, really was a class above everyone else, made me
Aspas, meh, Sturridge had some really nice touches and upped the tempo a lot when he came on, hope he stays fit until you-know-who is back/available again.

overall I was very disappointed,no urgency, no spark, no determination to get back into it

opr

Let just clone this guy and forget about buying players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyF1WctMUNI

Opr

Luckycharms_74

opr wrote: »

Let just clone this guy and forget about buying players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyF1WctMUNI

Opr

Sad honest fact is he is too good for our current setup. If we don't show real ambition in the next 2 windows I can see him moving next summer. He is gonna be a world superstar.

Charlie19

Only a little bit disappointed over yesterdays result but its only preseason so I'm not starting to panic just yet. I'm not surprised that we lacked cutting edge in the final third because its early days for Aspas, and Sturridge is only back, downing is an easy target but the lad just has no imagination and has only really got two options going forward but this is not new to us.

Couthinio was star player again today and Toure is just a beast so far and will probably have a statue built in honor considering the legend status the greek got.

witnessrenegade

Rodgers said theirs another preseason match behind closed doors during the week so I doubt Sturridge will be starting on Saturday cause he said he would be playing a bit in that

Tusky

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

Sad honest fact is he is too good for our current setup. If we don't show real ambition in the next 2 windows I can see him moving next summer. He is gonna be a world superstar.

So excited to watch him play this season. And what an incredible highlights video considering his age and short time at the club:

If I was a person who randomly came across this thread I'd think the team being discussed had just lost a vey important match.

But no, people are in meltdown over a pointless friendly that the players are obviously not going to give near there all in.

Allyall

Briana Strong Leader wrote: »

If I was a person who randomly came across this thread I'd think the team being discussed had just lost a vey important match.

But no, people are in meltdown over a pointless friendly that the players are obviously not going to give near there all in.

In my opinon, that is part of the problem. Liverpool haven't seemed to give 'their all' for a long time, with the exception of the big matches.
Sometimes they barely show up.

It saddens me to see them struggling to convince mediocre players to join them.

daithijjj

Briana Strong Leader wrote: »

If I was a person who randomly came across this thread I'd think the team being discussed had just lost a vey important match.

But no, people are in meltdown over a pointless friendly that the players are obviously not going to give near there all in.

Most people i spoke to about the game couldnt care less about the result. In fact it just reiterated that the club has actually done next to nothing to improve itself over the whole summer, and some, who thought beating absolute garbage in pre season looked decent, are actually asking more questions.

The Celtic game meant nothing, its fitness and nothing else, like the rest of pre season. However........

Since we signed the group at the start of the window, the manager stated it was now time to improve the team. We havent brought in a single player since those comments. That's the major reason why people who are worried, are indeed worried, not about the result yesterday.

And all of this is before we even bring up the fact that our best player (and a huge portion of our goals), firstly, isnt available, and secondly, wants out.

Lots of positives, im sure everyone agrees :pac: