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

rob316

Bang on. My thoughts exactly about Kenny/Comolli.

kennys intentions were good but him and that other cowboy burned the owners money on **** that should only have seen anfield as an opposing player.

Criticise the owners and Rodgers all you want, but your kidding yourself if you dont acknowledge the mess we were in and are still cleaning up.

We are slowly getting there and will be well placed for the future.

Sea Sharp

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

We need to score more goals and concede less.

We aren't good enough defensively though but I don't think Luis can be criticised too much for that.

We were 4th (joint with champions Man Utd) last season for least goals conceded. Our defense is pretty solid. We just need a better midfield tracking back to help out.

opr wrote: »

Where you dreaming this? I've been trying to find some related stats and all I can come up with quickly is an article the mail did after he was the first in the league to score 10. The stats would have had to go completely haywire for the remaining part of the season for what you're saying above to be true.

Here.
This means that people sitting around worrying about how much Liverpool depend on Suarez are wrong. Feck him and take the money. Replacing Downing is more of a priority than keeping Suarez.

rob316 wrote: »

Wouldnt mind seeing a few more players on the pitch with his **** and glory hunting attitude.

Absolute shocking post.

A player glory hunting, trying to run around three defenders when other options are available: When that player is having a bad day, it's a liability for the team. On a good day he looks like a legend though. I think the good days are making people look at Suarez through rose-tinted glasses.


He's able to score hat-tricks against inferior teams having a bad day defensively, but then when he's frustrated by top CL quality defence not letting him through (Chelsea and Man Utd) he throws a 3-year old temper tantrum and gets himself banned for a good chunk of the season.

I'm not saying he's a bad player, I just think Liverpool wouldn't necessarily be that much worse off without him. The squad needs to improve, and they have done. Suarez isn't the crucial glue holding the team together as people seem to think.

mike65

rob316 I hope you have your hard hat handy. That's fighting talk.

PRAF

Sea Sharp wrote: »

I'm agreeing with David James on Suarez. He's not a good team player.

Most of the passes he makes have an air of '/rolls eyes, if you were as good as me you could have gotten it.'. It seems like he over-hits it too much, giving the pass recipient a awkward/ scruffy first contact.

His attitude is sh1t and he's a glory hunter.
His huge goal tally means feck all if it's all hat-tricks against mediocre teams having a bad day while the rest of his team were having a good day.

How often does he stand out in a match and single handedly win a game where the rest of the squad is having a bad day? (Relative to any other premier league teams's top striker.)

I remember seeing something on match of the day last year hypothesizing how every club would be doing in the league without the contribution of their top goal-scorer taken into consideration. At the time it would have meant United would have been a lot closer to 2nd position City without Van Persie, but Liverpool would have been more or less in the same position in the league.

What Liverpool needs to improve on from last season is managing to turn the games where we dominated possession and attempts on goal but still managed to draw. The fix for this is by having 6 players making the right runs and being able to decide in what situation is it better to attempt the shot than pass to a team mate.

Controversial opinion but a good bit of truth in it IMO. Still think this is potentially a win win for us. Sell for a good price, replace well, and we improve the team. Keep him and we retain a world class player.

gafferino

From SS.........

Diego Costa says he is happy to remain at Atletico Madrid, which will come as bad news for Liverpool who are interested in signing the Brazilian.

The Anfield club recently tried to buy Costa for a reported fee of £21.8m.

But the striker, who scored 20 goals in 44 matches for the Spanish club last season said: "I'm well here, I'm happy here.

"As I've been in Argentina and Uruguay I've not heard anything about this.

"I'm happy here, if the club want me to be here, I'm going to be here.

"I think that our coach (Diego Simeone) counts on all of us, not just me.

"He knows how important it is to maintain the squad, the fans know it as well."

billymitchell

gafferino wrote: »

From SS.........

Diego Costa says he is happy to remain at Atletico Madrid, which will come as bad news for Liverpool who are interested in signing the Brazilian.

The Anfield club recently tried to buy Costa for a reported fee of £21.8m.

But the striker, who scored 20 goals in 44 matches for the Spanish club last season said: "I'm well here, I'm happy here.

"As I've been in Argentina and Uruguay I've not heard anything about this.

"I'm happy here, if the club want me to be here, I'm going to be here.

"I think that our coach (Diego Simeone) counts on all of us, not just me.

"He knows how important it is to maintain the squad, the fans know it as well."

I suppose he has to say that.
I'd actually hope we dont sign him, we already have too many loose cannons in our forward line, getting in a striker who is liable to get an extended ban for something stupid would lunacy

mike65

gafferino wrote: »

From SS.........

Diego Costa says he is happy to remain at Atletico Madrid, which will come as bad news for Liverpool who are interested in signing the Brazilian.

The Anfield club recently tried to buy Costa for a reported fee of £21.8m.

But the striker, who scored 20 goals in 44 matches for the Spanish club last season said: "I'm well here, I'm happy here.

"As I've been in Argentina and Uruguay I've not heard anything about this.

"I'm happy here, if the club want me to be here, I'm going to be here.

"I think that our coach (Diego Simeone) counts on all of us, not just me.

"He knows how important it is to maintain the squad, the fans know it as well."

Meh, means nothing in the face of a serious offer and his known interest in playing in the Barclays Premier League*




*(c) Owen Coyle

Demosthenese

Liverpool better off without Suarez ... sweet jebus. Sure our one and only world class player was always a liability and a greedy git when in front of goal. Remember the way he rolled his eyes at a team-mate and bad first touches but forget about the consistant way he terrorised defences in the PL for 2 seasons, became our most lethal threat from free kicks and basically hauled us through the first few months singlehandedly ...

Not saying the guy is a saint, missed too many game by being a jerk but to suggest that the TEAM are better off without their best player beggars belief. Could anyone seriously suggest they would be better off without him if we were unaware of his interest in joining Madrid? Pffft.

Sure Bale was crap last season, one time he even got frustrated when a bad pass was played to him, then the diving, Spurs are dying to see the back of him, same with RVP, sure once he went 10 games with no goal, who is he kidding eh? United would be glad to see a huge bid for him. :rolleyes:

klose

billymitchell wrote: »

I suppose he has to say that.
I'd actually hope we dont sign him, we already have too many loose cannons in our forward line, getting in a striker who is liable to get an extended ban for something stupid would lunacy

Someone said here the other day that the only ban hes picked up was for racking up yellows a season or two ago, by all accounts hes not nice on the pitch but we're not ones to be takin moral high ground/turning off players because of their on field behaviour seeing as weve stuck by suarez so much

GTR63

Glad he said that £22m is daft money for him(maybe not that crazy for the summer 2013, but not worth his market value all the same). Now can we move on to a Centre Back, a Winger or Eriksen please.

slingerz

There seems to be a trend that the big wage earners are being pointed towards the exit door at Anfield. To be fair there was a lot earning big wages that didn't deserve them. Downing seems to be the next on the bus out of town

Skrtel is another big wage earner that seems to be pushed aside

messinkiapina

Costa is overpriced at that money, plus his dodgy temperament. I wouldn't be enthusiastic about his signing.

amiable

Well that's that then

Slimity

amiable wrote: »

Well that's that then

?

daithijjj

rob316 wrote: »

Bang on. My thoughts exactly about Kenny/Comolli.

kennys intentions were good but him and that other cowboy burned the owners money on **** that should only have seen anfield as an opposing player.

Criticise the owners and Rodgers all you want, but your kidding yourself if you dont acknowledge the mess we were in and are still cleaning up.

We are slowly getting there and will be well placed for the future.

The last 4 managers and the current owners (including their appointment of Commoli) all have reasons to look back with regret. None of which amounts to the mess of H&G. Important to have some perspective here.

Just one point, what Kenny took over was probably the worst mess since Souness imo, people should not forget it. When the current set of 'employees' actually achieve something tangible i will hand out the compliments deserved.........provided it ever happens.

Chucky the tree

slingerz wrote: »

There seems to be a trend that the big wage earners are being pointed towards the exit door at Anfield. To be fair there was a lot earning big wages that didn't deserve them. Downing seems to be the next on the bus out of town

Skrtel is another big wage earner that seems to be pushed aside

There is definitely a trend to push out the over-priced players we have. It's about time as well.

PhiloCypher

GTR63 wrote: »

Glad he said that £22m is daft money for him(maybe not that crazy for the summer 2013, but not worth his market value all the same). Now can we move on to a Centre Back, a Winger or Eriksen please.

Who said ?

link ?

~Rebel~

GTR63 wrote: »

Glad he said that, £22m is daft money for him(maybe not that crazy for the summer 2013, but not worth his market value all the same). Now can we move on to a Centre Back, a Winger or Eriksen please.

FYP, what a difference a comma can make

Nuri Sahin

Turbulent Tuesday begins \o/

I wish to discuss Rafa's rotation policy, with a dabble of net spend followed up by some talk of Rodgers appointment.

GTR63

PhiloCypher wrote: »

Who said ?

link ?

Who said what?

mike65

?

billymitchell

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Turbulent Tuesday begins \o/

I wish to discuss Rafa's rotation policy, with a dabble of net spend followed up by some talk of Rodgers appointment.

Give it a few hours until people get into work and have their coffee first, their is a lot to be discussed

Kerrigooney

EDIT: Don't mind me....wrong thread:o

PhiloCypher

GTR63 wrote: »

Who said what?

You said "glad he said 22 was too much", that combined with someone posting "well that's that" a few post further down makes it sound like Rodgers had addressed the Costa situation in an interview I must have missed. Maybe I'm adding 2 and 2 and getting 5 idk.

5starpool

PhiloCypher wrote: »

You said "glad he said 22 was too much", that combined with someone posting "well that's that" a few post further down makes it sound like Rodgers had addressed the Costa situation in an interview I must have missed. Maybe I'm adding 2 and 2 and getting 5 idk.

He said that he was glad that Costa said he is happy at Atletico, and that in the posters own opinion 22m was too much. It was poorly punctuated though, and explained by a poster since.

My own view though is that it doesn't mean he won't join LFC, even if it is a reliable quote. Another one we'll have to wait and see on I guess.

OwaynOTT

I'm off to bed now, so ill be nice and rested for work tomorrow. Must have my wits about me when it takes off in here tomorrow.

5starpool

Judging by some posts in here recently it'd nearly be for the best if we sold Suarez to Arsenal as it would make us a better team, and I'm presuming he would make them a worse team, despite becoming their best individual player as well.

It's a theory I wouldn't be surprised to see anyone actually seriously put forward.

Ferris_Bueller

I think it's fairly obvious that any poster who said we are better off without Suarez meant that we could be better off having 2 players who score 15 goals a season than one who scores 20 (for example). I would agree with this and think it might be best for all parties if Suarez moved on, but would be worried about the signings we make, get them wrong and we are in big trouble.

rob316

daithijjj wrote: »

The last 4 managers and the current owners (including their appointment of Commoli) all have reasons to look back with regret. None of which amounts to the mess of H&G. Important to have some perspective here.

Just one point, what Kenny took over was probably the worst mess since Souness imo, people should not forget it. When the current set of 'employees' actually achieve something tangible i will hand out the compliments deserved.........provided it ever happens.

I agree mate with HG we were on the brink of disaster, FSG came in and added investment straight away but it went horribly wrong. Our mess became even bigger, that money was the money to push back up to where we belonged only kenny and comolli pissed it away. Isnt it about 125 million they spent and all we have to show for it is Suarez. I mean who spends that kind of money and the majority of players have zero impact.

Francie Barrett

I wouldn't pay a bit of attention to what Costa is saying to be honest. A few days before Coutinho joined us he said this.

"I don't feel that I'm on my way out," Coutinho told Sky Sport 24. "I hope to stay at Inter. I feel the coach and the club trust me. Now I'm focused only on doing my best in my job and getting back on the field soon."

Same thing happened with Reina, literally 2 days before he was shipped out, he was adamant he was going to to remain a Liverpool player and fight for his place.

It seems to me that we can take Diego Costa's statement saying that he's happy to remain with Atletico as confirmation that our bid has been lodged and that he will be ours within a week :pac:

daithijjj

rob316 wrote: »

I agree mate with HG we were on the brink of disaster, FSG came in and added investment straight away but it went horribly wrong. Our mess became even bigger, that money was the money to push back up to where we belonged only kenny and comolli pissed it away. Isnt it about 125 million they spent and all we have to show for it is Suarez. I mean who spends that kind of money and the majority of players have zero impact.

Well i think with all the dross Kenny picked up after Hodgson (do people remember us playing Jovanovic and Poulsen in league games just to put them in a shop window?) that the task was massive, much bigger than Rodgers took over. We needed to spend to replace the older crew anyway before everything else came into play and the turnover was big. Torres forcing a move didnt help.

Its my opinion that Comolli/FSG were equally culpable to some degree for the money paid. FSG signed this stuff off on the advice given to them by the man they appointed, Comolli. Kenny was just happy to have more players to work with.

We spent and sold heavily under Kenny but it isnt all about what you spend. City spent 200m in 18-24 months and didnt get the results until they spent 100m more and some time had passed for those to mesh together. People shouldnt underestimate 'time'.

Sturridge has started well but when people say all we have is Suarez to show for that spend before, its still our best player. You dont know how football works out sometimes. Rodgers could spend and spend and we could end up saying the same about Coutinho in 2 years.

ush

5starpool wrote: »

Judging by some posts in here recently it'd nearly be for the best if we sold Suarez to Arsenal as it would make us a better team, and I'm presuming he would make them a worse team, despite becoming their best individual player as well.

It's a theory I wouldn't be surprised to see anyone actually seriously put forward.

What about his motivation? Will he keep putting in the performances for a team he doesn't think will get him CL football. He knows there's interest from CL clubs. He could become a very disruptive influence. Or there could be a messy legal process.

Great player; but if he wants away, then its very possible we're better off without him.

pauldoo

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I wouldn't pay a bit of attention to what Costa is saying to be honest. A few days before Coutinho joined us he said this.

Same thing happened with Reina, literally 2 days before he was shipped out, he was adamant he was going to to remain a Liverpool player and fight for his place.

It seems to me that we can take Diego Costa's statement saying that he's happy to remain with Atletico as confirmation that our bid has been lodged and that he will be ours within a week :pac:

A lot of this talk will be due to loyalty payments i would say, Costa says he doesnt want to leave, Madrid will have to pay him off

Vicxas

Nice to see Thermonuclear Tuesday is off to a flying start!

SlickRic

daithijjj wrote: »

Its my opinion that Comolli/FSG were equally culpable to some degree for the money paid. FSG signed this stuff off on the advice given to them by the man they appointed, Comolli. Kenny was just happy to have more players to work with.

as much as none of it will tarnish Kenny at all in mine, or any other sane fan's eyes, you can't just abstain Kenny from any blame like that.

do FSG/Comolli also get credit for bringing in Suarez then? because a defence i've seen for the spending during Kenny's reign is, "well, at least we were spending, and he did bring in Suarez, our best player now by a mile."

let's not have it both ways.

Nuri Sahin

daithijjj wrote: »

Torres forcing a move didnt help.

The timing didn't help. That was it. There was no need to spend that much if there was no perceived value in the market so long as promises were made that the money would be spent in the summer.

daithijjj wrote: »

Kenny was just happy to have more players to work with.

As Slick said basically.

Do you think Kenny had little to no say as to who was signed under his second tenure? I ask because it sounds like you're absolving Kenny from any blame over the tragically awful signings that were made.

The Rooster

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

The timing didn't help. That was it. There was no need to spend that much if there was no perceived value in the market so long as promises were made that the money would be spent in the summer.



As Slick said basically.

Do you think Kenny had little to no say as to who was signed under his second tenure? I ask because it sounds like you're absolving Kenny from any blame over the tragically awful signings that were made.

In fairness, at the time while there were names thrown out that might have been better players and better value, most supporters thought most of the Commolli/Dalglish signings would improve the team (Adam was maybe the only one where a decent amount of people thought he wouldnt work out.)

Nobody thought we were getting good value.

My guess is that Dalglish okayed most of the players signed, but unlike Commoli he had no involvement whatsoever in the transfer fees agreed.

Turbulent Tuesday in full swing!

machiavellianme

Tantrum Tuesday more like.

Demosthenese

The Rooster wrote: »

In fairness, at the time while there were names thrown out that might have been better players and better value, most supporters thought most of the Commolli/Dalglish signings would improve the team (Adam was maybe the only one where a decent amount of people thought he wouldnt work out.)

Nobody thought we were getting good value.

My guess is that Dalglish okayed most of the players signed, but unlike Commoli he had no involvement whatsoever in the transfer fees agreed.

It was a team effort, Kenny was told how much he had to spend so he could identify roughly the players that fit the profile. Big Target man, young attacking mid, winger to supply the ammo and fat midfielder with hollywood passes to supply the lot. Commoli then went out and payed the most ridiculous prices for 3/4 of them despite anyone with any insight into football knowing it was a rip off.

FSG made a mistake with Commoli, Kenny made dreadful choices, whomever directly dealt with the amount after Carroll should have been shot and yet somehow we still ended up paying 20mill for 2 players that were worth 10 each. It was a piece of business as a whole that set the club back 2 years and made us the laughing stock of the PL.

IMO the buck stops with the manager and Kenny showed how out of touch he was by going for these players. Probably equal share of the blame goes towards Commoli for the fees agreed though.

The impact of a 20mill winger, 20mill mid and 35mill forward should be massive for a club, imagine what we could do with that sort of investment now.

PhiloCypher

Oh god not the tiresome transfer flop blame game again.

Can we all just agree to disagree on this and move on.

Why does someone always have to take the bait.

OwaynOTT

Tuesday, this weeks real Monday.

LuckyLloyd

As a confirmed Kenny apologist I have no problem admitting that he should take a share of the blame on the transfers. As I've discussed on here before, in all liklehood there was an element of groupthink on every transfer during that period (and every transfer before and since). Commolli has installed scouts and had people working to identify names. Kenny would have had his opinions and probably would have talked potential deals over with Clarke and some or all of his coaches. The ultimate decisions rested with a combination of Commoli and Dalglish, and they failed on the majority of their acquisitions. The wrong targets were identified, and we negotiated purchase prices poorly.

But all that said and accepted, two things still hold true:

- It was correct to want to invest in the team and aggressively attempt to improve the playing staff;
- Commoli and Dalglish inherited a mess following three transfer windows in which the club did ever worse business and failed to address fundamental weaknesses and gaps;

Kenny took over a huge mess and left it slightly smaller. Paulsen, Jovanovic, Cole, Konchesky, Babel, N'gog. It wasn't as if Kenny didn't have dead wood to clear out or deal with. It wasn't as if he inherited a perfectly balanced squad. And this was all in the context of the star player on the squad wanting out when he took over.

The last 18 months of G & H's reign were utterly disastrous. It was a key period for the squad we had slowly built up which required tweaking and freshening and the money ran out at the worst possible time. Kenny didn't fix it but this thread pretends it was all his doing at times which is hugely incorrect.

5starpool

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

I think it's fairly obvious that any poster who said we are better off without Suarez meant that we could be better off having 2 players who score 15 goals a season than one who scores 20 (for example). I would agree with this and think it might be best for all parties if Suarez moved on, but would be worried about the signings we make, get them wrong and we are in big trouble.

I don't think it's obvious at all. Also, if we lost Suarez and got in 2 players who would contribute 15 goals a season, who else would lose out? Sturridge? Coutinho? You can't be including either of those in the 15 each goals thing as we already own them so they could contribute that anyhow.

We could lose Suarez and go on to have a good season, but I personally think it is more likely we have a good season if we keep him.

ush wrote: »

What about his motivation? Will he keep putting in the performances for a team he doesn't think will get him CL football. He knows there's interest from CL clubs. He could become a very disruptive influence. Or there could be a messy legal process.

Great player; but if he wants away, then its very possible we're better off without him.

I can't foretell any more than you can, but I think if he does stay he will be itching for football come late September. It's a world cup year, so even if for no other reason, that would motivate him. It even motivated Harry Kewell at whatever club he was at, so I think someone with the passion that Suarez has will be ok in the effort stakes.

Tipsy McSwagger

I hate the way the Kop is supposed to represent all LFC fans (especially in the media). Just because most of the Kop cheered Suarez on Saturday doesn't mean we are all happy with his behaviour and would be heartbroken if he got his wish and left the club. I was at the Fulham game a few years back and they were booing Lucas, truly fcuking disgusting. Whenever I go to a game I avoid the Kop and usually sit in the Annie rd end.

ush

5starpool wrote: »

I can't foretell any more than you can, but I think if he does stay he will be itching for football come late September. It's a world cup year, so even if for no other reason, that would motivate him. It even motivated Harry Kewell at whatever club he was at, so I think someone with the passion that Suarez has will be ok in the effort stakes.

What if his passion is being poured into leaving Liverpool?

World Cup year? Is he at risk of losing his place? Don't really see why people are mentioning it.

qvsr46ofgc792k

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

I hate the way the Kop is supposed to represent all LFC fans (especially in the media). Just because most of the Kop cheered Suarez on Saturday doesn't mean we are all happy with his behaviour and would be heartbroken if he got his wish and left the club. I was at the Fulham game a few years back and they were booing Lucas, truly fcuking disgusting. Whenever I go to a game I avoid the Kop and usually sit in the Annie rd end.

Only because you can't a ticket for The Kop :P

5starpool

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

I hate the way the Kop is supposed to represent all LFC fans (especially in the media). Just because most of the Kop cheered Suarez on Saturday doesn't mean we are all happy with his behaviour and would be heartbroken if he got his wish and left the club. I was at the Fulham game a few years back and they were booing Lucas, truly fcuking disgusting. Whenever I go to a game I avoid the Kop and usually sit in the Annie rd end.

Rather that than the whiny people that populate forums and twitter for the most part. (not referring to you specifically of course)

ush wrote: »

What if his passion is being poured into leaving Liverpool?

World Cup year? Is he at risk of losing his place? Don't really see why people are mentioning it.

We can't tell how things can pan out, but I'd rather take my chances with him than without him. He will likely not be dropped, but if he is a petulant child who doesn't perform then he doesn't play much for a few months. It won;t do his chances of moving to Madrid or similar any good, or keep him at the sharpness he would like for Uruguay.

Francie Barrett

Liverpool Echo has Downing going to Newcastle for £5M - another awful financial hit if the rumour comes to fruition.

messinkiapina

I hope he goes, as long as it's not to Arsenal, and as long as there are still a couple of weeks left in the window. Otherwise, we're going to have the same situation again next summer, and it will drag long into the summer with it being a world cup year too.

It's hard to make other transfer plans when the future of your best player is hanging in the balance, even if there's only one way it's going to go, realistically. I think it's gone some way to making a balls of the current window, planning wise. It would be better if it was resolved now rather than letting it drag into 2 more transfer windows, imo.