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

rob316

Raif Severance wrote: »

That's why we always get Mugged in the Transfer Deals.

Schalke has agreed to sell Papa to Zenit for 16M, Pre-Injury!

He's Injured now, but his Value rose by 4M?

Sorry Mate, but our Offer is already more than Fair. If Schalke wants 20M, then they can keep him.

That post is dangering on making too much sense. According to some on here arent we suppose to show our 'ambition' and just pay the asking.

Kess73

Raif Severance wrote: »

It seems the Taider Link is gaining ground.


You know something about Taider, Kess?

I used to watch Serie A alot during Kaka's Days with AC Milan. Not so much right now.

In case anyone wonders, Kaka and Ronaldo are 2 of my Favorite Non-LFC Players.

Don't know a lot about him at all. Know of him, and might have seen him play a couple of times on tv but that's about it.

5live

Kess73 wrote: »

If we played on paper, then we have had loads of top class players in our starting XI over the past four seasons and it is only bad luck and bad refereeing decisions that cost us better league finishing positions.


In the real world it might be a case of many of our paper players not being as good as we like to think.

So you think our squad is paperthin?:D

We tend to look on players with a fairly large bias, either for or against particular players. No different to other supporters i suppose.

It is interesting to read the views of supporters of other clubs and their opinions of our players and how different their opinions can be from ours. Both watching the same game but reading the threads they could be watching matches on different continents

LuckyLloyd

I think Kess is right. In 2011 / 12 Agger and Skrtel looked a decent unit and not a problem, but last year shattered that illusion. Also, in 2011 Lucas looked to be arguably the best defensive midfielder in the league but thus far in 2013 he's been off that.

The best we can do right now if everyone is fit is probably:

---

Mignolet

---

Johnson

---

Toure

---

Agger

---

Enrique

---

Lucas

---

---

Gerrard

---

Maybe Mignolet will have no problems with the transition. Maybe Lucas will return to his best form with an uninterrupted summer under his belt. Maybe Johnson and Enrique will be more consistent and maybe Agger and Toure can rediscover better form from their respective pasts but it's really hard to look at that and say 'we're good, nothing needed'.

Being realistic, Gerrard is probably going to miss ~10 league games. Toure probably isn't going to be the best version of himself and Enrique and Johnson are probably going to suffer lapses from time to time.

I don't think it's good enough of a starting defense and midfield to sustain a top 4 challenge over an entire season.

billy2012

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I think Kess is right. In 2011 / 12 Agger and Skrtel looked a decent unit and not a problem, but last year shattered that illusion. Also, in 2011 Lucas looked to be arguably the best defensive midfielder in the league but thus far in 2013 he's been off that.

The best we can do right now if everyone is fit is probably:

---

Mignolet

---

Johnson

---

Toure

---

Agger

---

Enrique

---

Lucas

---

---

Gerrard

---

Maybe Mignolet will have no problems with the transition. Maybe Lucas will return to his best form with an uninterrupted summer under his belt. Maybe Johnson and Enrique will be more consistent and maybe Agger and Toure can rediscover better form from their respective pasts but it's really hard to look at that and say 'we're good, nothing needed'.

Being realistic, Gerrard is probably going to miss ~10 league games. Toure probably isn't going to be the best version of himself and Enrique and Johnson are probably going to suffer lapses from time to time.

I don't think it's good enough of a starting defense and midfield to sustain a top 4 challenge over an entire season.

If Lucas can return to his best he makes everyone elses job alot easier.

Raif Severance

LFC Training Game.

Liverpool FC @LFC
Orange bibs: Mignolet, Downing, Sterling, Alberto, Henderson, Ibe, Skrtel, Wisdom, Coates, Suarez, Kelly #lfctour

Liverpool FC ‏@LFC
Green bibs: Jones, Johnson, Gerrard, Borini, Coutinho, Lucas, Toure, Aspas, Enrique, Allen, Agger #lfctour

Liverpool FC @LFC
Orange bibs won 2-1 thanks to a Downing header and great Sterling drive. Borini got the consolation #lfctour

Kess73

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I think Kess is right. In 2011 / 12 Agger and Skrtel looked a decent unit and not a problem, but last year shattered that illusion. Also, in 2011 Lucas looked to be arguably the best defensive midfielder in the league but thus far in 2013 he's been off that.

The best we can do right now if everyone is fit is probably:

---

Mignolet

---

Johnson

---

Toure

---

Agger

---

Enrique

---

Lucas

---

---

Gerrard

---

Maybe Mignolet will have no problems with the transition. Maybe Lucas will return to his best form with an uninterrupted summer under his belt. Maybe Johnson and Enrique will be more consistent and maybe Agger and Toure can rediscover better form from their respective pasts but it's really hard to look at that and say 'we're good, nothing needed'.

Being realistic, Gerrard is probably going to miss ~10 league games. Toure probably isn't going to be the best version of himself and Enrique and Johnson are probably going to suffer lapses from time to time.

I don't think it's good enough of a starting defense and midfield to sustain a top 4 challenge over an entire season.

You think I am right? Think?

You know it bai. :pac:


But yeah, that six in front of Mignolet would not inspire me with confidence that they could stay consistent for a season.

Mignolet and Agger are the players that I have the most confidence in out of those you listed.

Toure I think will prove to be a very handy squad player, but I really don't know about using him for the season.

The fullbacks we pretty much know what we are getting. We know they both could be upgraded, but at the same time they are not going to be replaced with game changers.

Gerrard and Lucas have to have question marks over them. Gerrard was good for large chunks of last season, especially the second half, but it was very unusual for him to go most of a season without injury and I am still not convinced by him in a deeper role just ahead of Lucas.

Lucas we have no idea if he will be able to recreate the form he showed during the 09/10 season and for a chunk of the 10/11 season. Plus he has been injured for large chunks of the past two seasons. He came back at the start of last December and by the end of May just gone his mobility still looked off. The brain was still as good as ever but while he was reacting to things on the pitch he was often that fraction too late to stop players bypassing him, and December to May saw more players get past him than I have seen at any other point of his Liverpool career.

Another thing with Gerrard/Lucas is that there is no real pace between them and no real steel. Would prefer for some proper qualityto be put in between them.


A quality CM and a quality CB could be game changers imo, and we have been crying out for them for a couple of seasons now.

mike65

Liverpool youths playing Hearts today, no idea of the time. You'll be lucky to find a stream!
Looks like the same squad as the other day.



Some lad called Danny Wilson for the away side.

Strongbow10

Good test for the younger lads against top flight opposition.

I thought Wilson's move fell through?

mike65 wrote: »

Liverpool youths playing Hearts today, no idea of the time. You'll be lucky to find a stream!
Looks like the same squad as the other day.



Some lad called Danny Wilson for the away side.

mike65

mike65 wrote: »

Liverpool youths playing Hearts today, no idea of the time. You'll be lucky to find a stream!
Looks like the same squad as the other day.



Some lad called Danny Wilson for the away side.

Started at 14.30. Not watching it but I seen it's 0-0 online

Francie Barrett

Jaoa Teixeira

mike65

Follow the action here

5live

Strongbow10 wrote: »

Good test for the younger lads against top flight opposition.

I thought Wilson's move fell through?

Hearts had some problems (tax?) and couldnt sign anybody but got it sorted a few weeks back and Wilson signed after that.

Knex*

One player I am surprised at the lack of talk around, is Diame.

Rumours afloat last year that he has a release clause for £3m in his contract. Now, he wouldn't solve all our problems, by any means, but at that price he gives us a very different option to what we have in the center right now.

messinkiapina

5live wrote: »

I have to agree. If someone came in with enough cash, FSG would be gone.

Unlike the Glazers, FSG dont seem to be taking any cash out of the club to pay for the purchase. Indeed, they have given the club loans to keep the club going. They have no interest in football in general or the club in particular so how are they going to make money?

The only way that can happen is if the club is sold, and for more than they have invested in it.

No great surprise really.

Could be. They're almost certainly here to make money, and I don't mean by raping and pillaging the club the way H&G did. I suppose if they came to the conclusion that they'd make more money in selling the club than owning it, they'd do just that.

Knex*

For less than £30m we could add Diame, Alderweireld and Eriksen, all of whom I believe to be realistic targets, and would improve our squad by a distance.

If they are the only transfers the club is involved in from now till the end of the window, I think we'd all be pretty happy with that.

Realistically, someone like Skrtel would be sold, but that just adds more funds to make the above even more plausible.

messinkiapina

Knex. wrote: »

One player I am surprised at the lack of talk around, is Diame.

Rumours afloat last year that he has a release clause for £3m in his contract. Now, he wouldn't solve all our problems, by any means, but at that price he gives us a very different option to what we have in the center right now.

I'd be quite happy to spend 3m on him. I haven't seen him play a tonne, but whenever I have he's looked quality. I think he'd offer our defense a lot more protection than Lucas. Skrtel and Agger might have looked a lot less shaky last season if he was sat in front of them.

LuckyLloyd

Knex. wrote: »

For less than £30m we could add Diame, Alderweireld and Eriksen, all of whom I believe to be realistic targets, and would improve our squad by a distance.

If they are the only transfers the club is involved in from now till the end of the window, I think we'd all be pretty happy with that.

Realistically, someone like Skrtel would be sold, but that just adds more funds to make the above even more plausible.

No tbh. Apart from Eriksen you wouldn't be talking about significant improvements to our first 11. Need to do more.

Knex*

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

No tbh. Apart from Eriksen you wouldn't be talking about significant improvements to our first 11. Need to do more.

Who are realistic alternatives?

I'd love if we could get Rami or Godin at CB, but I'm not so sure that we can. Perhaps more frustrating, I'm not so sure that the club would even try.

As for midfield, I don't think Rodgers would be looking to invest a lot of money in it this summer, hence why I think Diame would be a nice addition for the price.

Wouldn't solve the backup issue with Lucas however as I feel Diame would be better fit alongside him rather than replacing him.

Raif Severance

Luis signs a "Please Stay With Us" Banner.

Wayne hue ‏@Waynehue 1h
#Suarez signs banner 'Stay' #LFC #lfctour #Bangkok

Rumor: Derby to loan Flanagan.

The money coming into Derby from the Brayford transfer now means that manager Nigel Clough can complete the signing of Leon Barnett from Norwich.

Other potential signings include Jon Flanagan on a loan deal from Liverpool and Chris Forrester, a young winger currently playing for St Patrick's in Ireland.

LuckyLloyd

Knex. wrote: »

Who are realistic alternatives?

I'd love if we could get Rami or Godin at CB, but I'm not so sure that we can. Perhaps more frustrating, I'm not so sure that the club would even try.

As for midfield, I don't think Rodgers would be looking to invest a lot of money in it this summer, hence why I think Diame would be a nice addition for the price.

Wouldn't solve the backup issue with Lucas however as I feel Diame would be better fit alongside him rather than replacing him.

I appreciate the point but people need to start separating in their minds 'what the club is likely to spend and do' from 'what the club needs to do if it wants to be competitive'.

If all we did was sign those three players and sell Skrtel you're talking about a slight improvement to the first 11, and we need much more than that to mount a top four challenge.

mike65

Peterson scores for Liverpool, from Nacho cross. 1-0

edit FT 1-0 the twitter feed suggests LFC had a good goal chalked off. Teixeira impressing again it seems.

Just looking through the various feeds, it looks like BBC Scotland had a camera there so someone should have highlights later.

Kess73

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I appreciate the point but people need to start separating in their minds 'what the club is likely to spend and do' from 'what the club needs to do if it wants to be competitive'.

If all we did was sign those three players and sell Skrtel you're talking about a slight improvement to the first 11, and we need much more than that to mount a top four challenge.

Rami or Godin would be a slight improvement for our RCB slot?


Either would be a bit more than that, and I think Alderweireld would be also. Rami and Godin would be far better players than Skrtel imho. Both are good on the ball, very good in the air, and able to physically impose themselves on attackers. Both are very good leaders at the back as well.

Would have no doubt that they would make for a great foil for Agger, and that they would be more than just a small improvement to the first team.


Getting in one of the three centre backs I named and Eriksen would improve our current first team quite a bit. If Suarez then shagged off we could (should) bring in two more players of first team quality with that money.

Not saying all that will happen, but players of the ilk of what I mentioned would be a step up for our first team and getting three or four of them (if Suarez goes) would improve the first team a lot even with Suarez gone.

messinkiapina

mike65 wrote: »

Are Chirivella and Canos playing in a different age group or something?

Raif Severance

messinkiapina wrote: »

Are Chirivella and Canos playing in a different age group or something?

The ones on the Teamsheet are the U-21s.

Canos and Chiri plays for the U-18s.

mike65

Frankly I think we need to let them settle before exposing them to Scottish hackers! :pac:

Raif Severance

There's actually a Player for the U-21s that has only turned 16 last March. Name's Jordan Rossiter.

mike65

Rossiter is a natural - people keep wondering who the "next Gerrard" is going to be, well its him if its anyone (obviously "the next X" is a dumb label to attach to any player).

billy2012

mike65 wrote: »

Rossiter is a natural - people keep wondering who the "next Gerrard" is going to be, well its him if its anyone (obviously "the next X" is a dumb label to attack to any player).

Yes, he looks the part, going to be a few years before we see him, hopefully he keeps on progressing.

Shelvey still kicking ass for the swans!!

Raif Severance

Yup, Shelvey's been doing well.

Anybody got the Lowdown on Coady? I think they have a Game today as well.

OwaynOTT

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

No tbh. Apart from Eriksen you wouldn't be talking about significant improvements to our first 11. Need to do more.

Were you not advocating the signing of Diame before Lloyd? Back when he was at Wigan.

billy2012

Raif Severance wrote: »

Yup, Shelvey's been doing well.

Anybody got the Lowdown on Coady? I think they have a Game today as well.

Nah, I don't think he is good enough TBH.

I tend to follow the lads on loan, the ones that I think have a chance of making it, but I think I would be wasting my time with him.

LuckyLloyd

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Were you not advocating the signing of Diame before Lloyd? Back when he was at Wigan.

I'd absolutely like to have Diame, but it's another squad acquisition is the point. Absolutely sign him, but we do need to be looking at bringing in two players of genuine quality that immediately impact out starting 11.

Raif Severance

BR on Suarez...

Total LFC ‏@TheTotalLFC 25m
BR [on Luis] “He's a number of weeks behind the others but I must say he's working tirelessly to get himself up to speed.”

Total LFC ‏@TheTotalLFC 26m
BR"“He actually tweaked something in the shooting exercise towards the end there but I think he'll be fine for the game on Sunday."

Total LFC ‏@TheTotalLFC 22m
BR“Certainly the idea is to try to play our best team[vs Thai NT]. We are in good shape and the players are in tremendous condition."

billy2012

Raif Severance wrote: »

BR on Suarez...

The best team??

Didn't the 2nd team with Mignolet beat the so called best team in training today / yesterday.

Raif Severance

billy2012 wrote: »

The best team??

Didn't the 2nd team with Mignolet beat the so called best team in training today / yesterday.

He is saying that we'll field our Best Team (Starters) against Thai. Not necessarily the Training Game.

machiavellianme

mike65 wrote: »

Liverpool youths playing Hearts today, no idea of the time. You'll be lucky to find a stream!
Looks like the same squad as the other day.



Some lad called Danny Wilson for the away side.

Rafa still at the club...
What's with all Mr Alan's whinging then? :P

daithijjj

gosplan wrote: »

Ultimately I reckon people would get on board if it meant success but obviously a lot would have a big problem with it.

There is a better but tougher way to do things.

This is kind if why I'm dissappointed with a lot of the aggression and jibes from Liverpool supporters towards Arsenal lately.

We did things in the tight way. We tightened our belts, went through a period of austerity, saw a positive net spend for years which was the result of all best players leaving.

Now we're out the other side all we get is 'you haven't win anything in years', 'you've no hope' etc.

What we do have is 50 million to spend on a striker. We like your striker and are going about it in the proper way - no discussion of it, just making bids and declining to say much more.

But you're annoyed with us for that?

You would rather sell to City? Chelsea? Madrid maybe once they're finished getting more debts written off while making up conversations between Bale and Levy/AVB.

Arsenal are a proper club run well and the fact that we're in for Suarez is a huge positive for the right way of going things.

So think about where we are now and where we will be for the next decade before you harp on about how you won an FA cup or CL more recently.

Sorry to drag up from this morning but anyway.

Nobody has said anything in here about Arsenal that hasnt been brought up by your own fans at every AGM for the last 4 or 5 years.

I also object to your claims of austerity, austerity for who?. Your club has 'raped' fans on ticket prices while showing great financial results. What does your club do to give back to the game and its fans?, fk all is what i can see, its like you are corporate whores. You have had empty seats throughout the year in the stadium, sometimes up to 10k people not even turning up to the ground but some of these are people with tickets, so the official figures dont show a lot of hidden things with how the club is run. You have plenty of cash in the bank from the hard earned of fans, charge people fortunes to watch football and then dont reinvest that money. At what point do you question your existence?. Apathy rages at the Emirates imo.

Are you really surprised the extra pound over 40m was met with some distaste also?. And you know what the real issue is, and that i have said for a long time, is that our club wants to imitate yours (thats the thing that p1sses me off). We are progressing where estimated figures from independent analysts show we will be making small profits in the next set of accounts and thereafter on this strategy. Its a pretty sad situation for two of the top 9 clubs in the world in revenue tbh. Not the profits but the delusion.

AdamD

daithijjj wrote: »

Sorry to drag up from this morning but anyway.

Nobody has said anything in here about Arsenal that hasnt been brought up by your own fans at every AGM for the last 4 or 5 years.

I also object to your claims of austerity, austerity for who?. Your club has 'raped' fans on ticket prices while showing great financial results. What does your club do to give back to the game and its fans?, fk all is what i can see, its like you are corporate whores. You have had empty seats throughout the year in the stadium, sometimes up to 10k people not even turning up to the ground but some of these are people with tickets, so the official figures dont show a lot of hidden things with how the club is run. You have plenty of cash in the bank from the hard earned of fans, charge people fortunes to watch football and then dont reinvest that money. At what point do you question your existence?. Apathy rages at the Emirates imo.

Are you really surprised the extra pound over 40m was met with some distaste also?. And you know what the real issue is, and that i have said for a long time, is that our club wants to imitate yours (thats the thing that p1sses me off). We are progressing where estimated figures from independent analysts show we will be making small profits in the next set of accounts and thereafter on this strategy. Its a pretty sad situation for two of the top 9 clubs in the world in revenue tbh. Not the profits but the delusion.

Arsenal have only shown great financial results to those with little knowledge of financial results to be honest. They would actually have been in the red over the last few seasons had they not have sold key players. They owners haven't taken dividends either, the money has gone into paying down stadium debt, or into the large cash reserve which is where most of the assumed large transfer budget is coming from.

Where they go from here is just pure speculation, they're talking a good game with regards to large spending from here on out: with the stadium almost paid for and revenues about to go through the roof its certainly believeable.

Knex*

This again. Could have sworn there was an Arsenal thread on boards.

Liverpool should not entertain any bids from Arsenal as they are the closest team in the top 4 to us. Its quite simple and that is all there is to it.

I barely struggle through reading about our Liverpool's finances, I couldn't care less about Arsenal's.

Vicxas

I was just gonna ask why are we even taking about Arsenal

daithijjj

AdamD wrote: »

Arsenal have only shown great financial results to those with little knowledge of financial results to be honest. They would actually have been in the red over the last few seasons had they not have sold key players. They owners haven't taken dividends either, the money has gone into paying down stadium debt, or into the large cash reserve which is where most of the assumed large transfer budget is coming from.

Where they go from here is just pure speculation, they're talking a good game with regards to large spending from here on out: with the stadium almost paid for and revenues about to go through the roof its certainly believeable.

The issue is Arsenal are selling players to finance stadium costs, which you dont have to do. Stadium costs under FFP are ring fenced to not affect on pitch matters. That is Arsenal's choice and not one FFP is forcing upon them. Arsenal have made 40m profit on players in the last 4 or 5 years. The talk of spending on the team has been said for quite a while and never has materialised. It was the clubs individual choice to pay off the mortgage in super quick time, alternatively, they could have prolonged it and given fans something to shout about. That's why people turn up........or not.

Raif Severance

If anyone wants a look at Soldado, there's a Game currently on right now, Valencia vs AC Milan.

mike65

Klose asked

who's Rafa on the bench?

He is Rafael Paez (Cardona) who is a central defender released (?) from Real Madrid. He's 18 and 6' 3" inches high, on trial for a week or two.

bing translation of profile

Defense very smart positionally. It handles well the beginning of the game and has much presence in the center of the rear. It offers a variety of actions that is running. It carries four seasons at Real Madrid discipline and his father, Rafa Páez, practised athletics and was international for Spain in the specialty of triple jump

Knex*

Anyone know if tickets for Gerrard's testimonial are still around? I'm heading over with a group of six that weekend and we already have four tickets so just trying to gauge how likely it is that we could pick up another two.

Any help is much appreciated

messinkiapina

mike65 wrote: »

Defense very smart positionally. It handles well the beginning of the game and has much presence in the center of the rear. It offers a variety of actions that is running. It carries four seasons at Real Madrid discipline and his father, Rafa Páez, practised athletics and was international for Spain in the specialty of triple jump

Did he come in an Ikea flat pack I wonder :pac:

klose

Cheers mike!


Adorjan scored his first senior goal today for gronnigan in a 3-1 win i believe, texiera was the standout plyer today v hearts too i read, would love to see him go to the valerenga game. The 21s are playing rela sociadads first team soon which should be interesting.

Grayditch

Eriksen netted there, too. Sign him up.

Courtesy Flush

Knex. wrote: »

This again. Could have sworn there was an Arsenal thread on boards.

Liverpool should not entertain any bids from Arsenal as they are the closest team in the top 4 to us. Its quite simple and that is all there is to it.

I barely struggle through reading about our Liverpool's finances, I couldn't care less about Arsenal's.

If we refused to let Suarez move to Arsenal and no other bids come for him that meet that value, are we going to keep an unhappy player in the squad who doesnt want to be there ?

Hidalgo

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

If we refused to let Suarez move to Arsenal and no other bids come for him that meet that value, are we going to keep an unhappy player in the squad who doesnt want to be there ?

Its a lesser evil than selling to Arsenal.