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

mormank

Turtyturd wrote: »

Am ashamed to admit I am only getting around to watching The Sopranos now.....It's not The Wire....not that that's a bad thing.

On Topic.....F*ck Yeah Liverpool.

I only watched the Sopranoes myself chronologically for the first time this summer, had seen episodes but never the whole lot so no need to be ashamed. I finished watching it the day before James Gandolfini died actualy, I **** you not.

K-9

How long will Suarez last before his next ban?

mormank

K-9 wrote: »

How long will Suarez last before his next ban?

It's Suarez, theoretically he could receive a fresh ban before his old one expires. :eek:

hefferboi

Pedalstool wrote: »

What is so special about his style of play? I didn't see anything remarkable in how Tottenham went about things last season.

Nothing special about it. But its good balanced football while getting results. It's better than playing counter attacking football imo and he has them playing better than 'Arry.

LuckyLloyd

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I can't help but wonder if I'd got my wish of AVB instead of Kenny in January or June of 2011, where we'd be right now squad wise. Devastated is an understatement if they sign Lamela.

You were never getting him at either juncture. Wasn't going to leave Porto half way through that season and we weren't going to beat Chelsea for him at that stage.

He may very well have been gettable last summer though.

NukaCola

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

You were never getting him at either juncture. Wasn't going to leave Porto half way through that season and we weren't going to beat Chelsea for him at that stage.

He may very well have been gettable last summer though.

All explained here

Kerrigooney

NukaCola wrote: »

All explained here

That didn't take long

Vicxas

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

You were never getting him at either juncture. Wasn't going to leave Porto half way through that season and we weren't going to beat Chelsea for him at that stage.

He may very well have been gettable last summer though.

But we decided to go with Brendan, and if by what a lot of people say here the jury is still out on that one.

daithijjj

NukaCola wrote: »

All explained here

I keep saying it but i came across this blog in the Guardian. Manager is only as good as the people above him when its all boiled down. This part struck me.

"it's understandable why some top clubs have taken the step of recruiting executives who are dedicated to the area of player recruitment and have the contacts, background, knowhow and overview of players on a worldwide scale – and, most crucially, know their true value. You can't reasonably expect managers to have this knowledge – their job is to focus on coaching and match preparation"

^^^We dont have this. We have an excellent commercial director who fell into a job.............however, its clear as day to me is brutally out of his depth. He hasnt done one deal that wasnt a 'penalty kick' imo.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/09/transfer-window-analysis-sporting-directors

Kerrigooney

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Isn't he? I give it 3 weeks.

I half jokingly wrote this about the thread just after it opened 21 days ago.

21 days :eek:

It's awful hard keeping up these days...haven't spoken to the wife or kids for weeks :pac:

LuckyLloyd

Vicxas wrote: »

But we decided to go with Brendan, and if by what a lot of people say here the jury is still out on that one.

AVB was a far more accomplished candidate than Rodgers. I think he was higher up everyone's wishlists and rightly so.

NukaCola

daithijjj wrote: »

^^^We dont have this. We have an excellent commercial director who fell into a job.............however, its clear as day to me is brutally out of his depth. He hasnt done one deal that wasnt a 'penalty kick' imo.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/09/transfer-window-analysis-sporting-directors

I suppose you could argue that we tried that with Comolli, but it is a flawed argument I know. One of my biggest concerns is transfer activity, and with all due respect to BR, last summer was an example of how out of his depth he was in that regard.

Maybe he felt it would undermine him to have someone above him looking at players, or maybe he was over confident. It has gotten better with the upgrade of the scouting network, but i hate to say as it has been said by nearly everyone, at this point, with the season about to start, business in the transfer market has been very disappointing. Especially when BR has said we need more player and have money......

Dickerty

daithijjj wrote: »

We dont have this. We have an excellent commercial director who fell into a job.............however, its clear as day to me is brutally out of his depth. He hasnt done one deal that wasnt a 'penalty kick' imo.

Really? He didn't do well on Coutinho, Sturridge, Sahin? Didn't do a good job in getting rid of Shelvey, Cole, Carroll, Downing?

He's Chief Exec, I do agree that we should have someone else involved in dealing with valuations and contracts, but we don't exactly what the members of the committee do. Maybe the chief scout is looks after those things, after all he knows the player market best.

I put no blame at his door for Mkhitaryan, it's clear that Dortmund were always at the table. We did 4 bits of business early, too early to say whether good value but certainly no massive overpayments. We probably splurged on Allen and Borini last year, but they were players that Rodgers really wanted, so we overpaid to secure them. The approach is much more measured now.

NukaCola

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

AVB was a far more accomplished candidate than Rodgers. I think he was higher up everyone's wishlists and rightly so.

BR must pinch himself every now and then....if you look at it rationally there is no way he should have gotten the job.

I don't mean that as a put down, i quite like BR....he seems like decent bloke......but if you asked me "would you like KD out and BR in", i would have laughed in your face.

Lovely Bloke

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

AVB was a far more accomplished candidate than Rodgers. I think he was higher up everyone's wishlists and rightly so.

So maybe he was approached, had a look at the situation of Liverpool and Spurs and decided he'd prefer Spurs - not that hard to imagine.

Luckycharms_74

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Ah yeah I know, but it's difficult not to look at them and see players I've rated and wanted at some point or another being snapped up by them:

Lloris
Dembélé
Vertonghen
Soldado
Holtby
Sigurdsson

Chadli and Paulinho are decent signings in their own right as well. It's particularly annoying seeing them sign Dembélé, Vertonghen, Soldado and Lloris. Could be adding Lamela soon enough to that list.

daithijjj wrote: »

BBC are running with them signing Capoue tomorrow :cool:

And according to the "Daily Express" Tottenham are plotting moves for Roma's 21-year-old forward Erik Lamela, Ajax playmaker Christian Eriksen, 21, and Anzhi Makhachkala's 25-year-old winger Willian. ...:)......:(......:mad:

barone

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

So maybe he was approached, had a look at the situation of Liverpool and Spurs and decided he'd prefer Spurs - not that hard to imagine.

or maybe he already had a house in london from his chelsea days and decided be easier to stay there ..

or maybe neither

Dickerty

NukaCola wrote: »

BR must pinch himself every now and then....if you look at it rationally there is no way he should have gotten the job.

I don't mean that as a put down, i quite like BR....he seems like decent bloke......but if you asked me "would you like KD out and BR in", i would have laughed in your face.

You mean the storybook version of Kenny, or the Kenny that bought Carroll, Downing, Henderson and finished 8th in the league?

deadeye187

AVB and Spurs are showing LFC how it is done in the transfer market. No CL for spurs still no prob singing players.....LFC looking like sunday lge, no wonder we having problems singing players!!!!!!


YNWA

NukaCola

Dickerty wrote: »

You mean the storybook version of Kenny, or the Kenny that bought Carroll, Downing, Henderson and finished 8th in the league?

I think my criticisms of KD are well documented. But its funny how you completely lean on the negatives, IMO KD deserves more than that.

I'm not getting into a KD vs BR debate, i'm quite happy with BR at the moment but to suggest that at the time of his appointment that i was happy would be false.....

Mr Alan

Something that's constantly overlooked regarding Kenny's role in the Carroll transfer is that he was in the job only a couple of weeks and was still very much a temporary employee of the club. It would be my opinion that he had very little input into the Carroll/Suarez transfers. The following summer is different as he had gotten a full time contract at that stage, but when he parachuted in originally? No chance, he was in to do a temporary job for FSG, it would make no sense to give a temporary employee who was only in a couple of weeks the power to make a deal like that.

Kirby

Mr Alan wrote: »

Something that's constantly overlooked regarding Kenny's role in the Carroll transfer is that he was in the job only a couple of weeks and was still very much a temporary employee of the club. It would be my opinion that he had very little input into the Carroll/Suarez transfers.

I don't believe this for a second. Carroll was his buy. He really rated him. He said so as much on numerous occasions before he had the permanent gig. Obviously when you get the job you have to back your players but he said he rated him before that. I remember reading an article he wrote in a newspaper saying as much while Carroll was still at Newcastle.

CL7

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

AVB was a far more accomplished candidate than Rodgers. I think he was higher up everyone's wishlists and rightly so.

True but it would have been pointless him coming here if the owners didn't back him in the transfer market. Spurs was a much better choice for him at the time anyway so maybe he turned FSG down.

NukaCola

Mr Alan wrote: »

Something that's constantly overlooked regarding Kenny's role in the Carroll transfer is that he was in the job only a couple of weeks and was still very much a temporary employee of the club. It would be my opinion that he had very little input into the Carroll/Suarez transfers. The following summer is different as he had gotten a full time contract at that stage, but when he parachuted in originally? No chance, he was in to do a temporary job for FSG, it would make no sense to give a temporary employee who was only in a couple of weeks the power to make a deal like that.

Would FSG give clearance for a 35m purchase to a temp manager.....personally i doubt it

hefferboi

I'll be honest and admit I never really wanted Rodgers. Don't think many did. It was Rafa or AVB for me. However I've been happy with how he's done. I didn't expect any miracles and said if he stabilised us this season and got rid of the deadwood he'd deserve another season.

He's done that plus has us playing very good football and brought in a potentially world class player in Coutinho. He's also done well with the Suarez incident and shows signs that he won't back down also with the Sigurdsson transfer.

The only things he's messed up imo are with Sahin (not playing him in his proper position) and not bringing in a steely centre midfielder which I think we badly need if we're to challenge for 4th.

Overall I've been pleasantly surprised and I know many don't agree but that's just my opinion. However my views will change drastically if, by Sept 4th, we don't have at least one quality 1st team player brought in. Ideally we need 3 but one will do for me.

Raif Severance

Turbulent Thursday is off to a Good Start.

KingJamsie

hefferboi wrote: »

I'll be honest and admit I never really wanted Rodgers. Don't think many did. It was Rafa or AVB for me. However I've been happy with how he's done. I didn't expect any miracles and said if he stabilised us this season and got rid of the deadwood he'd deserve another season.

He's done that plus has us playing very good football and brought in a potentially world class player in Coutinho. He's also done well with the Suarez incident and shows signs that he won't back down also with the Sigurdsson transfer.

The only things he's messed up imo are with Sahin (not playing him in his proper position) and not bringing in a steely centre midfielder which I think we badly need if we're to challenge for 4th.

Overall I've been pleasantly surprised and I know many don't agree but that's just my opinion. However my views will change drastically if, by Sept 4th, we don't have at least one quality 1st team player brought in. Ideally we need 3 but one will do for me.

Then he would have had to bench Gerrard?

Vicxas

Raif Severance wrote: »

Turbulent Thursday is off to a Good Start.

Every day theres some new meltdown on this thread, I cant keep up anymore.

Although Paullegend's meltdown was hilarious yesterday.


Any update on our targets today?

T-K-O

KingJamsie wrote: »

Then he would have had to bench Gerrard?

Sahin wasn't good enough during his time at Anfield. Simple as.

NukaCola

Vicxas wrote: »

Every day theres some new meltdown on this thread, I cant keep up anymore.

Although Paullegend's meltdown was hilarious yesterday.


Any update on our targets today?

Lets target Raif on his posting style again

Luckycharms_74

deadeye187 wrote: »

AVB and Spurs are showing LFC how it is done in the transfer market. No CL for spurs still no prob singing players.....LFC looking like sunday lge, no wonder we having problems singing players!!!!!!


YNWA

Dickerty

NukaCola wrote: »

I think my criticisms of KD are well documented. But its funny how you completely lean on the negatives, IMO KD deserves more than that.

I don't mean to belittle Kenny in any way, certainly not based on his achievements, but I didn't think he was the right choice at the time, and it was always going to be a temporary thing. In terms of havnig a long term strategy, a style of play at all levels, and a feeling of control, I think Rodgers was a good call. Now we just need to add a few players and get better results.

Vicxas

So the rags have exploded with the news that Suarez is saying that he never said he wanted to stay......

Yet they're ignoring the news from the Uruguay from a person close to the player.

Scraps people, they live off scraps.

SlickRic

the day after tomorrow.

awesome.

flanzer

With the latest news about Suarez coming through, I'll just leave this here

LuckyLloyd

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

So maybe he was approached, had a look at the situation of Liverpool and Spurs and decided he'd prefer Spurs - not that hard to imagine.

Maybe. What we know is that Martinez and Rodgers were interviewed. Would AVB have declined to talk to us if we had made a strong approach immediately following Dalglish's departure offering a good wage package though? Maybe he would, but I'd be surprised if he wouldn't have at least met with Henry but I could be totally wrong on that.

hefferboi

KingJamsie wrote: »

Then he would have had to bench Gerrard?

Could have and should have, imo played Stevie behind Suarez as the furthest forward of our midfielders. Could have also played him on the left of the front 3 where I think he would have been good. Don't forget, Gerrard was stink for the first half of the season. Second half was the best I've seen him play in 3 or 4 years.

Also, one of the few times Sahin was played in the deep lying role he dominated the game. Think it was against West Brom? Scored aswell! I was disappointed with the way his time here went.

witnessrenegade

Rodgers press conference later today, hope we get some news with regards transfers. Sick of the Surez situation now, can't wait for the football to start again come Saturday morning!

hefferboi

flanzer wrote: »

With the latest news about Suarez coming through, I'll just leave this here

Banned.

billymitchell

T-K-O wrote: »

Sahin wasn't good enough during his time at Anfield. Simple as.

Was listening to Newstalk last night about Sahin, allegedly he was very unsettled from the moment he arrived at RM, and his form dropped off drastically. That definitely continued on to his time at Liverpool. He showed glimpses at Liverpool of what he was capable of, but he seemed like a player completely out of sorts.

daithijjj

NukaCola wrote: »

I suppose you could argue that we tried that with Comolli, but it is a flawed argument I know. One of my biggest concerns is transfer activity, and with all due respect to BR, last summer was an example of how out of his depth he was in that regard.

Maybe he felt it would undermine him to have someone above him looking at players, or maybe he was over confident. It has gotten better with the upgrade of the scouting network, but i hate to say as it has been said by nearly everyone, at this point, with the season about to start, business in the transfer market has been very disappointing. Especially when BR has said we need more player and have money......

Maybe we get sucked in by good talkers?, coz if you read his CV or looked at St Etienne we should have had reservations.

hefferboi

billymitchell wrote: »

Was listening to Newstalk last night about Sahin, allegedly he was very unsettled from the moment he arrived at RM, and his form dropped off drastically. That definitely continued on to his time at Liverpool. He showed glimpses at Liverpool of what he was capable of, but he seemed like a player completely out of sorts.

I think he's in his element at Dortmund. Judging by his twitter and facebook pictures alone, he seems to be very liked there and he seems to love it aswell. Obviously Ade knows more about it though.

daithijjj

Dickerty wrote: »

Really? He didn't do well on Coutinho, Sturridge, Sahin? Didn't do a good job in getting rid of Shelvey, Cole, Carroll, Downing?

He's Chief Exec, I do agree that we should have someone else involved in dealing with valuations and contracts, but we don't exactly what the members of the committee do. Maybe the chief scout is looks after those things, after all he knows the player market best.

I put no blame at his door for Mkhitaryan, it's clear that Dortmund were always at the table. We did 4 bits of business early, too early to say whether good value but certainly no massive overpayments. We probably splurged on Allen and Borini last year, but they were players that Rodgers really wanted, so we overpaid to secure them. The approach is much more measured now.

My idea of a good job and yours might be different. When i said 'penalty kick', who have we brought in from the names you mentioned that the club wasnt happy to sell and we paid up decent money for in any case?. Who else was in for those players at the money we paid?.

skydish79

witnessrenegade wrote: »

Rodgers press conference later today, hope we get some news with regards transfers. Sick of the Surez situation now, can't wait for the football to start again come Saturday morning!

more than likely we are working hard behind the scenes etc.etc.

Dickerty

billymitchell wrote: »

Was listening to Newstalk last night about Sahin, allegedly he was very unsettled from the moment he arrived at RM, and his form dropped off drastically. That definitely continued on to his time at Liverpool. He showed glimpses at Liverpool of what he was capable of, but he seemed like a player completely out of sorts.

A quality player who WANTS to make it work should show their quality. Coutinho did, Suarez has often played in difference positions, Gerrard has done it his whole career. I think he was talked into coming, but I don't think he was really feeling it...

prettyboy81

Two more sleeps

Dickerty

daithijjj wrote: »

My idea of a good job and yours might be different. When i said 'penalty kick', who have we brought in from the names you mentioned that the club wasnt happy to sell and we paid up decent money for in any case?. Who else was in for those players at the money we paid?.

We have no idea who else might have been in for them. Most deals don't attract bidding wars, you keep it as quiet as possible until it's as close as possible. But I am sure Celta wanted to keep Aspas (their star player) and Sunderland would have certainly kept Mignolet. We may good money because the player wants to join and the club finds a figure they can live with.

But with Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Allen (IMO), we should have had a Plan B and C. When the price exceed the worth of the player, we should have gone elsewhere. If Aspas had been priced a few million higher, we wouldn't have done a deal, we would have moved to an alternative. We've seen that with Papa (complicated by the injury), and with Cissokho (where he wants a higher wage). It's hard ball, you will lose out sometimes, but it's a far better approach than the "all-in" we used to do.

billymitchell

Dickerty wrote: »

A quality player who WANTS to make it work should show their quality. Coutinho did, Suarez has often played in difference positions, Gerrard has done it his whole career. I think he was talked into coming, but I don't think he was really feeling it...

Its gotta be tough to get a big move to one of the biggest clubs in the world, you are on a great buzz, but then after only a couple of appearances, getting shipped out. It has to affect you mentally. At least back at Dortmund, he is back somewhere he feels he belongs, and his performances are probably showing it

Vicxas

prettyboy81 wrote: »

Two more sleeps

It feels like an eternity!

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

What's happened?