Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14 Mod warning post#7005

mike65

Coutinho isn't going to be upgraded, no reason buy any player for the AM/No10 position. Liverpool will soon be up to its neck in players who can fit in there.

Summer CL shopping is

Back up GK
Left FB
DM/CM
Winger
Striker (maybe)

To answer the posters question I personally wouldn't swap him for Coutinho.

I think Coutinho has incredible potential. Still quite raw atm and inconsistent but he's young. Has been brilliant at times this season.

Agueroooo

I don't think we will win the league but it's probably the best chance we have in the past 10yrs, and probably for the next few as well.

think about it...

nothing else to worry about only the league.

If we get to being CL regulars in the future then that would take away from the push for a title.

This is a great opportunity all considered and hopefully we grasp it with both hands.

Gmol

brevity wrote: »

Just on Coutinho, while he is a good player, I feel we definitely need an upgrade on him in the summer.

I kinda agree on this, I would be looking at either Suso or another type of similar player to come in and challenge him, he seems to be the kind of player where you can tell in the first 5-10 minutes how his game is going to go, I also would be dropping him in certain games away from, eg Stoke where he is a passenger and replace with Allen to give us a more aggressive midfield

noodler

I think Coutinho's performances have been such that a definite improvement would be extremely expensive and take up an alarmingly large part of whatever budget we have.

Definitely, the priorities are elsewhere. Besides, there is certainly the potential, as others have alluded to, that his progression will continue apace and an even fewer number of fans will be calling for him to be upgraded after next season as a result.

Paulegend

hey guys im looking at heading over for the sunderland or the spurs game at the end of march. just wondering if there is anyone here who heads over regularly who could give me a couple pointers on how to do the trip cheap? ideally it would be the wednesday game but flights are expensive if im flying over wednesday. just wondering what way ye would go about yer trip over.

Kess73

Paulegend wrote: »

hey guys im looking at heading over for the sunderland or the spurs game at the end of march. just wondering if there is anyone here who heads over regularly who could give me a couple pointers on how to do the trip cheap? ideally it would be the wednesday game but flights are expensive if im flying over wednesday. just wondering what way ye would go about yer trip over.

If you are a member of Irish Kop, you could ask there about going on their magic bus. Have heard nothing but excellent stuff from anyone I know who has gone with them. Their prices for the daytripper are generally very very good.


Dub13 here on Boards would be the man to chat to



I tend to fly either direct to Liverpool or to Manchester, but I stay at least one night if not more each time, so am not really bothered about flight times. Booking early is the best way to get a better flight price though.


Edit: Just noticed you are in Limerick. Cork airport often has better times for flights than Shannon and for some reason the flight prices from Cork can be better than those from Shannon (maybe because the Shannon times are often closer to game times).

5starpool

Paulegend wrote: »

hey guys im looking at heading over for the sunderland or the spurs game at the end of march. just wondering if there is anyone here who heads over regularly who could give me a couple pointers on how to do the trip cheap? ideally it would be the wednesday game but flights are expensive if im flying over wednesday. just wondering what way ye would go about yer trip over.

Book flights as early as possible. It's usually much cheaper to fly via Manchester and get a train/bus from the airport to Liverpool than to fly in/out of Liverpool.

It's a real pain to get cheap flights now compared to a few years ago. if you want to stay in Liverpool the hotel prices are usually exorbitant, so it would be cheaper to look at airport hotels, although they are obviously less convenient.

djPSB

Dickerty wrote: »

What work rate?

Seriously though, I find it hard to believe that we couldn't make any player a hard worker, that's the way we play. Coutinho wouldn't have been naturally that sort of player, nor Sturridge very much, but they do it now like it is second nature...

Eriksen is a lazy player and his work rate when the team don't have the ball is a very Ozil-ish.

The thing about Coutinho and Sturridge though is, they both have that little bit of fire in their bellies and both are very competitive. If a player pushes them off the ball, it angers them somewhat.

djPSB

brevity wrote: »

Just on Coutinho, while he is a good player, I feel we definitely need an upgrade on him in the summer.

Not sure we need an upgrade as such.

But we do need other options. Another player of Coutinho quality would be good.

tok9

I think it's a bit premature to be considering a replacement for Coutinho.

From what I've seen, I like the look of Konoplyanka.

If he was signed we'd be looking at a lot of competition for that attacking midfield role

Coutinho,Allen, Henderson, Suso, Teixeira.

And with that you could still look at playing Suarez there too.

So I don't think it's necessary.

Nerdlingr

Axel Witzel is due a move in the summer I'd say. Any thoughts? Cheeky little bid?

kop77

my line up for tomorrow.....

...................Ming......................

Flann......Skrtel.......Agger......Glenjo

..................Gerrard.....................
......Hendo..................Allen..........
..................Coutinho....................

.........Sturridge.........Suarez.........

Devilman40k

tok9 wrote: »

I think it's a bit premature to be considering a replacement for Coutinho.

From what I've seen, I like the look of Konoplyanka.

If he was signed we'd be looking at a lot of competition for that attacking midfield role

Coutinho,Allen, Henderson, Suso, Teixeira.

And with that you could still look at playing Suarez there too.

So I don't think it's necessary.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but I don't see Henderson as a CAM he's becoming more and more a box to box payer, a look at his heat maps would show he covers a huge amount of ground during a game. And his energy/workrate alone means most of the names in that list are vying for a place alongside Henderson now

Paulegend

cheers guys ill look into that. i was looking at flights (dub-liverpool) for the tues night and flying back on fri. flights are working out about 120/135 (myself and the missus) and i seen a youth hostel that offers private rooms for a little over 100 for the tues wed and thurs night. along with the match tickets itll prob work out about 340 for the both of us. seems reasonable. dont mind staying over night its just i was wondering if people usually do it cheaper than that. prob not a lot cheaper anyway i suppose

thanks though im not a member of the irish kop but ill certainly look into it

hefferboi

8-10 wrote: »

I'm telling y'all, Davy Klaassen is the next guy to look at in that mould. Mentioned him here yesterday then he scored in the EL again last night. Summer 2015 he'll go for £10m

Yeah I've seen his name pop up every so often on twitter but haven't seen much of Ajax this year. He's scoring a fair bit this season? Ajax seem to always have gems of young players every year. Actually, the Dutch league always seem to produce very good young players. Depay, Boetius, Vilhena, Bakkali, Adam Maher, Clasie, Fischer, Castaignos and Henriksen all players I'd like to see given a chance in England, eventually.

hefferboi

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Axel Witzel is due a move in the summer I'd say. Any thoughts? Cheeky little bid?

He'd be a perfect signing for us. He's cool on the ball but is hard as nails if needed.

djPSB

Paulegend wrote: »

cheers guys ill look into that. i was looking at flights (dub-liverpool) for the tues night and flying back on fri. flights are working out about 120/135 (myself and the missus) and i seen a youth hostel that offers private rooms for a little over 100 for the tues wed and thurs night. along with the match tickets itll prob work out about 340 for the both of us. seems reasonable. dont mind staying over night its just i was wondering if people usually do it cheaper than that. prob not a lot cheaper anyway i suppose

thanks though im not a member of the irish kop but ill certainly look into it

€120 for two flights is pretty good.

Nerdlingr

hefferboi wrote: »

He'd be a perfect signing for us. He's cool on the ball but is hard as nails if needed.

Yeah I think he would compliment us perfectly. Only problem is the price tag. Zenit bought him for around 30m so will probably looking to get most of that back!

Paulegend

Devilman40k wrote: »

I agree with most of what you are saying, but I don't see Henderson as a CAM he's becoming more and more a box to box payer, a look at his heat maps would show he covers a huge amount of ground during a game. And his energy/workrate alone means most of the names in that list are vying for a place alongside Henderson now

i agree with this. if hendo was played as an attacking mid we would lose out on his work rate a little further back. i like that he gets forward and he has the legs to be able for the box to box role.

id prefer someone in teh attack mid role that i wouldnt rely on for their defensive attributes. kinda like coutinho or even allen (just seems to be brushed off the ball at times. i dont trust him playing deep)

ideally we could sign a player in the mold of yossi or litmanen during the summer to play that att mid role giving coutinho a challenege

hefferboi

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Yeah I think he would compliment us perfectly. Only problem is the price tag. Zenit bought him for around 30m so will probably looking to get most of that back!

Yeah he'd be on big wages too, but we need a player like him if we're to push on. I don't think he'd be much of a gamble either as his game is suited to the PL.

djPSB

tok9 wrote: »

I think it's a bit premature to be considering a replacement for Coutinho.

From what I've seen, I like the look of Konoplyanka.

If he was signed we'd be looking at a lot of competition for that attacking midfield role

Coutinho,Allen, Henderson, Suso, Teixeira.

And with that you could still look at playing Suarez there too.

So I don't think it's necessary.

We should be upgrading on the likes of Aspas and Moses, not replacing Coutinho.

hefferboi

Paulegend wrote: »

i agree with this. if hendo was played as an attacking mid we would lose out on his work rate a little further back. i like that he gets forward and he has the legs to be able for the box to box role.

id prefer someone in teh attack mid role that i wouldnt rely on for their defensive attributes. kinda like coutinho or even allen (just seems to be brushed off the ball at times. i dont trust him playing deep)

ideally we could sign a player in the mold of yossi or litmanen during the summer to play that att mid role giving coutinho a challenege

Wasn't Rodgers saying that the way we play, our attacking mid has to press high up the pitch. Henderson has played his best games at AM for us, imo.

Paulegend

hefferboi wrote: »

Wasn't Rodgers saying that the way we play, our attacking mid has to press high up the pitch. Henderson has played his best games at AM for us, imo.

its true but that would mean we will need to get someone in to fill the void he would leave by playing more advanced. as i said i dont think allen is good enough for it. i like allen and he is composed on the ball but a strong midfielder up against him and he looks very much out of his dept. at the moment hendo is doing the job brilliantly. plus it allows us to play our 4 best attacking players sterling danny coutinho and suarez. if hendo was to play forward now he would need to replace one of them probably being coutinho. but who fills in for hendo in cm? lucas isnt back yet. allen can do it but we need 2 cm's.

next year i wouldnt rule out hendo being played more advanced. but would it not be better to take advantage of hendo being able to get in on goals from where he is right now AND have 4 players attacking ahead of him?

i see what your saying and it makes total sense. i just dont know if it will be a short term situation

hefferboi

Paulegend wrote: »

its true but that would mean we will need to get someone in to fill the void he would leave by playing more advanced. as i said i dont think allen is good enough for it. i like allen and he is composed on the ball but a strong midfielder up against him and he looks very much out of his dept. at the moment hendo is doing the job brilliantly. plus it allows us to play our 4 best attacking players sterling danny coutinho and suarez. if hendo was to play forward now he would need to replace one of them probably being coutinho. but who fills in for hendo in cm? lucas isnt back yet. allen can do it but we need 2 cm's.

next year i wouldnt rule out hendo being played more advanced. but would it not be better to take advantage of hendo being able to get in on goals from where he is right now AND have 4 players attacking ahead of him?

i see what your saying and it makes total sense. i just dont know if it will be a short term situation

Tbh, I like Allen in there. I think he'll be a very good player if he get's his injuries sorted. Hasn't put a foot wrong this season when he's played, bar the miss against Everton but even then I though he had a very good game before that miss. He can close down players in that role but recycle the ball as well. I can see why some people won't agree, though and that's fine too.

Knex*

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Axel Witzel is due a move in the summer I'd say. Any thoughts? Cheeky little massive bid?

More like.

But yes, definitely. Would be ecstatic and shocked if we managed to get him.

Paulegend

hefferboi wrote: »

Tbh, I like Allen in there. I think he'll be a very good player if he get's his injuries sorted. Hasn't put a foot wrong this season when he's played, bar the miss against Everton but even then I though he had a very good game before that miss. He can close down players in that role but recycle the ball as well. I can see why some people won't agree, though and that's fine too.

i like allen i always have. when we where linked with him i was pretty happy about it. i think he will play a big part in our team over the next few years. hendo is looking primed to take gerrards mantel as it stands but i think allen could be a really good danny murphy for us. a useful player to have in your midfield. i dont think he will ever win player of the year awards or anything but he has the potential to be a cult hero for us.

does that mean we drop coutinho? i wouldnt be overly against that. coutinho is a great little player but at times he just seems too comfortable in the team. maybe being on the fringe of the first team as oppose to being a guaranteed starter might make him step it up a little bit more.

i just dont think we could dream of dropping sterling in his form. that kid needs to just keep playing until he falls asleep from being tired.

klose

kop77 wrote: »

my line up for tomorrow.....

...................Ming......................

Flann......Skrtel.......Agger......Glenjo

..................Gerrard.....................
......Hendo..................Allen..........
..................Coutinho....................

.........Sturridge.........Suarez.........

Relying on johnson and flanno to provide width would be disastrous imo. Dropping sterling would be criminal too.

Paulegend

Knex. wrote: »

More like.

But yes, definitely. Would be ecstatic and shocked if we managed to get him.

was he linked with a 5 million move to villa in january?? it might have been someone else but im sure it was a belguin midfielder

Paulegend

Paulegend wrote: »

was he linked with a 5 million move to villa in january?? it might have been someone else but im sure it was a belguin midfielder

sorry no was defour

Devilman40k

Paulegend wrote: »

was he linked with a 5 million move to villa in january?? it might have been someone else but im sure it was a belguin midfielder

Might have been Jan 2010 you seen that. Witsel cost Zenit £32.5m they'd want at least that back

tok9

Devilman40k wrote: »

I agree with most of what you are saying, but I don't see Henderson as a CAM he's becoming more and more a box to box payer, a look at his heat maps would show he covers a huge amount of ground during a game. And his energy/workrate alone means most of the names in that list are vying for a place alongside Henderson now

Ya I agree.. He wouldn't necessarily play it the same way as Coutinho but that would be the position he'd take up if lets say Lucas was back.

Knex*

Paulegend wrote: »

was he linked with a 5 million move to villa in january?? it might have been someone else but im sure it was a belguin midfielder

Hadn't heard anything Villa related, but would be fairly sure it wasn't Witsel. Both Club and price are below what you would expect for him, no disrespect intended for Villa.

I mean, if he does become available, you're competing against the likes of Madrid, Arsenal, United, and even maybe Juve, who have a thing for midfielders.

Guy is in that tier, and as mentioned, cost Zenith a bomb two summers ago. Plenty left on his contract too, and Russian clubs don't sell cheap.

kop77

klose wrote: »

Relying on johnson and flanno to provide width would be disastrous imo. Dropping sterling would be criminal too.

did we not have to take Sterling off after 50 odd minutes against Swansea the other day and bring on Allen...... it worked for us then, brought more balance to the team,

thats why I'd run with this line up away from home against Southampton who will probably play 5 in midfield....

5starpool

I was just checking the fixtures on the LFC website there, and from a quick count (count be slightly off, but not much) 30/41 games this season up to the end of April have been, or are due to be televised on UK channels. I'm sure another few were on Setanta, so even without needing to resort to underhanded means, if one subscribes to all the stations (I don't, I have sky sports though, but not the BT package), you'd only miss a few games even if you can't fathom the internet at all. Not that anyone of those types would be able to read here of course, but it's mad. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

For 12 months to subscribe to all of those would cost at least 500 on the sports channels alone, closer to 600 probably, although the threat cancellation thing can reduce that a lot. It's no wonder some people resort to more nefarious means.

Vicxas

5starpool wrote: »

I was just checking the fixtures on the LFC website there, and from a quick count (count be slightly off, but not much) 30/41 games this season up to the end of April have been, or are due to be televised on UK channels. I'm sure another few were on Setanta, so even without needing to resort to underhanded means, if one subscribes to all the stations (I don't, I have sky sports though, but not the BT package), you'd only miss a few games even if you can't fathom the internet at all. Not that anyone of those types would be able to read here of course, but it's mad. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

For 12 months to subscribe to all of those would cost at least 500 on the sports channels alone, closer to 600 probably, although the threat cancellation thing can reduce that a lot. It's no wonder some people resort to more nefarious means.

The amount these guys charge can be extortionate, I think it is down to the PL though and how much they charge, but why can BT sport show X amount of games and only charge €20 a month

mooseknunkle

5starpool wrote: »

I was just checking the fixtures on the LFC website there, and from a quick count (count be slightly off, but not much) 30/41 games this season up to the end of April have been, or are due to be televised on UK channels. I'm sure another few were on Setanta, so even without needing to resort to underhanded means, if one subscribes to all the stations (I don't, I have sky sports though, but not the BT package), you'd only miss a few games even if you can't fathom the internet at all. Not that anyone of those types would be able to read here of course, but it's mad. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

For 12 months to subscribe to all of those would cost at least 500 on the sports channels alone, closer to 600 probably, although the threat cancellation thing can reduce that a lot. It's no wonder some people resort to more nefarious means.

I have all the sky,bt,setanta channels and yeah nearly all of Liverpools games have been televised,the west brom game wasn't i remember that and a couple others..actually on a Saturday i have 3 PL games BT noon match Setanta afternoon and Sky in the Evening ,then MOTD on bbc later..then Sunday you have Goals on Sunday and 2 PL matches on Sky..

kfallon

5starpool wrote: »

I was just checking the fixtures on the LFC website there, and from a quick count (count be slightly off, but not much) 30/41 games this season up to the end of April have been, or are due to be televised on UK channels. I'm sure another few were on Setanta, so even without needing to resort to underhanded means, if one subscribes to all the stations (I don't, I have sky sports though, but not the BT package), you'd only miss a few games even if you can't fathom the internet at all. Not that anyone of those types would be able to read here of course, but it's mad. I wish it was a bit cheaper though.

For 12 months to subscribe to all of those would cost at least 500 on the sports channels alone, closer to 600 probably, although the threat cancellation thing can reduce that a lot. It's no wonder some people resort to more nefarious means.

West Brom (H)
Hull (H)
Norwich (H)
Fulham (A)
Oldham (H) FA Cup

These are the only ones I can think of that weren't televised

Vicxas

Vicxas wrote: »

The amount these guys charge can be extortionate, I think it is down to the PL though and how much they charge, but why can BT sport show X amount of games and only charge €20 a month

Because they're absorbing massive losses to try and gain market share.

gimli2112

What kills me about all this is when Sky had everything I had to pay one subsription. The EU said that was uncompetitive and allowed other providers in. Now I have Sky, BT and Setanta costing me a fortune.
On the flipside you do get to see a lot more matches, I guess.
I remember the days of "The Match" on ITV. First game of the season would be screened in November and could be anyone. Probably showed ten games over the year can't really remember. They did show that one in May 1989.

LuckyLloyd

gimli2112 wrote: »

What kills me about all this is when Sky had everything I had to pay one subsription. The EU said that was uncompetitive and allowed other providers in. Now I have Sky, BT and Setanta costing me a fortune.
On the flipside you do get to see a lot more matches, I guess.
I remember the days of "The Match" on ITV. First game of the season would be screened in November and could be anyone. Probably showed ten games over the year can't really remember. They did show that one in May 1989.

It is kind of hilarious how untapped the market was at the tailend of the First Division era. I am watching less football now than I have in years, but back in 2011 / 12 I was watching pretty much most televised Prem matches; tons of European and English domestic cup football; plenty of La Liga; Championship; Seria A; Lower English League fare. And I was a season ticket holder for UCD. Madness, but if it was on I'd watch it.

The next frontier for football is versions of NFL Gamepass. Owning a TV is no longer an essential component of life for 18 - 35 year olds. I reckon we're a decade or so away from being able to get a high quality streaming option on your laptop with price differences depending on how many leagues you want access to. I'd pay €600 a year for access to all currently televised Prem fixtures on my laptop / mobile with archiving. I can't be the only one...

Dont be at yourself

With internet streaming, we are now where we were 10 years ago with MP3s, and 5 years ago with TV and movie downloads.

The genie is out of the bottle, and it's not going back in. Most football fans, especially the people in their 20s-30s, expect to be able to watch every match their team plays in, and expectd to be able to do it cheaply. There's going to have to be a massive shift by the EPL, to open up all games to live television, and to offer a better value proposition for fans of all clubs. They need to, because it's currently too easy to get a better service (in terms of # of matches, if not broadcast quality) for a lot cheaper.

Illegal downloading of music brought iTunes and eventually Spotify. Illegal downloading of films brought Netflix, etc. The same will need to happen with live sport.

Devilman40k

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

The next frontier for football is versions of NFL Gamepass. Owning a TV is no longer an essential component of life for 18 - 35 year olds. I reckon we're a decade or so away from being able to get a high quality streaming option on your laptop with price differences depending on how many leagues you want access to. I'd pay €600 a year for access to all currently televised Prem fixtures on my laptop / mobile with archiving. I can't be the only one...

I'd go further...I wouldn't mind a season pass for a specific team (will never happen)

AdamD

Devilman40k wrote: »

I'd go further...I wouldn't mind a season pass for a specific team (will never happen)

It will happen at some point, just maybe not in the UK. What's holding us back at the moment is that our digital TV providers are all British, and it Britain its illegal to broadcast a 3pm kick off. This leads to us missing out on most 3pm kick offs. In America/Asia etc. the broadcasters offer match choices at 3pm so you can pretty much watch whatever game you wish. If a season pass were to come out we'd be fine but the Brits may not.

gimli2112

You'd have objections from the "lesser" teams, if I can call them that. Clubs like Liverpool would do very well from a specific team pass but who would buy one for Stoke?

Stoke fans obviously but you know what I mean

hefferboi

Paulegend wrote: »

i like allen i always have. when we where linked with him i was pretty happy about it. i think he will play a big part in our team over the next few years. hendo is looking primed to take gerrards mantel as it stands but i think allen could be a really good danny murphy for us. a useful player to have in your midfield. i dont think he will ever win player of the year awards or anything but he has the potential to be a cult hero for us.

does that mean we drop coutinho? i wouldnt be overly against that. coutinho is a great little player but at times he just seems too comfortable in the team. maybe being on the fringe of the first team as oppose to being a guaranteed starter might make him step it up a little bit more.

i just dont think we could dream of dropping sterling in his form. that kid needs to just keep playing until he falls asleep from being tired.

Coutinho is a talent alright. When he's on form he's as good as most attacking mids in the league. He plays unreal for 2 or 3 games then tends to go back into his shell. I thought he got taken off at half time against Swansea because I didn't see him on the ball in the second half until the last 5 mins. Dropping him every now and again would do him no harm until he gets that consistency.

Knex*

Yeah, NFL gamepass type thing for the PL would be amazing, and I'd certainly sign up for it.

retalivity

I haven't owned a tv since 2009, and I don't ever see myself buying one again, so the sky/bt/setanta argument is completely foreign to me. Was living with the parents for a few weeks and saw what they were paying for sky, which they hardly ever use. waste of money.

Would still always have a match on the computer whenever there is one on

5live

retalivity wrote: »

I haven't owned a tv since 2009, and I don't ever see myself buying one again, so the sky/bt/setanta argument is completely foreign to me. Was living with the parents for a few weeks and saw what they were paying for sky, which they hardly ever use. waste of money.

Would still always have a match on the computer whenever there is one on

That would depend on having a good internet service. Living in 2.5G land, just getting normal 3G would be a huge boost to our ability to access games.

At this stage, i am not even thinking about 4G, i might as well worry about what i would do when i win the euromillions:(

Gaillimh1976

gimli2112 wrote: »

You'd have objections from the "lesser" teams, if I can call them that. Clubs like Liverpool would do very well from a specific team pass but who would buy one for Stoke?

Stoke fans obviously but you know what I mean

The likes of Stoke would get fees for their games against Liverpool/Chelsea/Arsenal/City/Utd whoever


Say for arguments sake their games against the top 8, home and away

That would be 16 live games per season for even the worst clubs

Doubt they are shown that much now