Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 *mod warning linked in OP 26/07*

Boom_Bap

Kess73 wrote: »

No arguement from me that those players can do that and do it very well, but I think what attracted Rodgers to Lambert was how well Lambert fitted into a playing style that was similar to that of Liverpool. I think Lambert is a clever player who uses the ball well, and brings an awful lot more than goals with him. His link up play with Lallana in particular was very noticeable last season and I see it as no conincidence that Rodgers went after both.

Oh yeah, the fact that both Lambert and Bony have played in similar style to us is a massive bonus, they could be just dropped into our first team immediately if needs be.
But, it does come with it's restrictions, there wont be the fluency of interchange wetween the 3 players highest up the pitch.

joe123 wrote: »

Thats fair enough but if sturridge gets injured you would be left with lambert and Bony both of very similar styles and Borini who is nowhere near the level needed to be in the starting 11.

Sturridge isnt necessarily the point man at the top of our attack, we paly with a top 3 that like to move around. If we get Bony or Lambert in if Sturridge is injured, we still have Sterling, Borini, Ibe, Coutinho to fill out the left and right side of him. Also, the transfer window is not finished yet, and i would expect another player of that ilk to come into us.

Kess73

Kess73 wrote: »

Who do you drop from midfield for him assuming Gerrard starts alongside him (a pairing that never looked all that cohesive when they last played together at Liverpool).

Would probably be one from Lallana or Henderson that gets dropped, and it would mean a change on how our midfield gets set up compared to last season.

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

K-9

Kess73 wrote: »

Would love to see a quality playbreaker that can also play come in, but that is not going to happen until Gerrard retires.

Bringing one in to play alongside Gerrard would mean that we lose a player in the other team's half

+1,000, that seems to be Rodgers thinking, early days yet but looking at the transfer targets it's hard to see it any other way. We'll be looking to still out score the opposition while hoping to be a bit more defensively solid.

I'd be surprised we aren't after Bony or Benzema. Huntelaar maybe if he's around £14/15 Million.

x43r0

Kess73 wrote: »

Bony would not be a direct replacement for Suarez though. Outside of signing Messi or Ronaldo there is probably no one player that would replace Suarez in the Liverpool first team.

This!


I'm banging my head against the wall reading " [Player Name] is not good enough to replace Suarez"

K-9

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Last season we had something like 14 regular starters that understood the fundementals of how we play and our different systems. That number needs to be around the 20/22 mark .
The players we are buying fit the mould of the systems, are adaptable and are already in training with some of the 14 from last season that know the system. They also give us more flexibility in what we lacked last year against the extremely defensive teams, someone to put thier back to the goal, take the ball and bring the rest of the team into play. Lambert can do that, and if Bony comes in, he's not afraid of that either.
When that was asked of Suarez of Sturridge last year, most of the time the would end up flat on thier face on the ground, or lose the ball pretty quickly by trying to turn to face the goal.
That would be particularly more useful in the cup games against lower league teams where we struggle to play a fluent passing game, and in the Champions league where teams set out to draw.

Again it probably comes back to out style of player. Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling don't really hold the ball up much, they tend to trap the ball, look to turn and go on the attack and see what options are available to them, and because of our attacking style, there usually are a couple of options!

Nuri Sahin

bicboy6666 wrote: »

throw the ****in kitchen sink at reus

I like drugs too.

Kess73

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

Have to be honest and say I would hate to see us line up with Masch and Gerrard sitting deep, and Henderson sitting just in front.

Could see that causing similar gaps in our team to what we saw during Rodgers' first season as gaffer.


Lallana I think will be a starter come the new season, and he will bring energy levels that put Henderson to shame ( have a look online for the distance covered stats for Lallana. The guy covers a crazy amount of ground and still manages to add some real quality to his workrate).

My own gut instinct is that it will be Gerrard starting in the deeper role with Henderson and Lallana sitting ahead of Gerrard.

Then three attackers ahead of the midfield be it a striker with two wingers/wide forwards or a pair of strikers with a player in the AM or second forward role behind them.

K-9

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

For me we'd have to play Gerrard further forward and we all know how infuriating that can be. I do think Masch is under rated, he's a very good passer of the ball, that area of his play was starting to develop the season he left Liverpool. I'd put Gerrard as the more AM in that trio and put Henderson box to box. Isn't going to happen though!

Kess73

K-9 wrote: »

Again it probably comes back to out style of player. Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling don't really hold the ball up much, they tend to trap the ball, look to turn and go on the attack and see what options are available to them, and because of our attacking style, there usually are a couple of options!

And with the purchase of Lallana and the interest in players like Markovic, it would seem that more options is what Rodgers is after rather than changing the style of attacking play.

Nuri Sahin

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'd rather Mascherano than another striker.

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

Kess73

K-9 wrote: »

For me we'd have to play Gerrard further forward and we all know how infuriating that can be. I do think Masch is under rated, he's a very good passer of the ball, that area of his play was starting to develop the season he left Liverpool. I'd put Gerrard as the more AM in that trio and put Henderson box to box. Isn't going to happen though!

I know this is not going to be popular, but I would prefer to see Gerrard replaced by a Strootman style player (that's if we are going to stick with one deep midfielder) and then add a quality centre back and a quality full back to the back line. Gerrard would still get plenty of game time given how many games we should have this season, and with less of a workload it should be easier for him to stay fresh for when he did play.

Still buy the likes of Markovic to add to our attacking options, and maybe even add another attacker if there is money there after that.


We conceded a hell of a lot of goals in the league last season. I have a feeling that sorting out the problems at that end could offset the loss of Suarez up front.

Kess73

Kess73 wrote: »

Have to be honest and say I would hate to see us line up with Masch and Gerrard sitting deep, and Henderson sitting just in front.

Could see that causing similar gaps in our team to what we saw during Rodgers' first season as gaffer.


Lallana I think will be a starter come the new season, and he will bring energy levels that put Henderson to shame ( have a look online for the distance covered stats for Lallana. The guy covers a crazy amount of ground and still manages to add some real quality to his workrate).

My own gut instinct is that it will be Gerrard starting in the deeper role with Henderson and Lallana sitting ahead of Gerrard.

Then three attackers ahead of the midfield be it a striker with two wingers/wide forwards or a pair of strikers with a player in the AM or second forward role behind them.

On current signings it's the only plausible lineup I can see

punk_one82

Lads is there any possibility that Benzema will actually be leaving Madrid? If it's the case he's available I think we should do everything in our power to at least tempt him. Use this new money of ours to actually tempt a big name with big wages

Kess73

punk_one82 wrote: »

Lads is there any possibility that Benzema will actually be leaving Madrid? If it's the case he's available I think we should do everything in our power to at least tempt him. Use this new money of ours to actually tempt a big name with big wages

Don't think we would get him if he were available tbh. Can see him eventually ending up at one of Monaco or PSG.


Do rate him though, and he was one of the players I hoped we would look at last summer when last summer's Suarez saga was ongoing.

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

A quality CB and RB I'm taking as a given.


We should be aiming to ship about 20 less goals next season.

K-9

Kess73 wrote: »

And with the purchase of Lallana and the interest in players like Markovic, it would seem that more options is what Rodgers is after rather than changing the style of attacking play.

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

That would seem to be the balance we are after, and I'd bloody well hope so!

An excellent point was made earlier, we'd 14 squad players last season that we could depend on. We are obviously looking to upgrade on Cissokho, Aspas and Alberto and it looks a very real possibility Lucas is gone. I can see the logic in the signing of Markovic, Lambert and Lallana and seeing as we are replacing Suarez, one more good quality option would go a long way to improving the squad options for the front 3/4. We'll never replace Suarez so this is the right way to go about it.

With Moreno and Lovren we are looking to improve the options at the back and we can afford to let one of the CB's go. The gaping hole, and transfer targets would seem to back it up, is DM. Can could be a bit raw, only really 1 season at a high level.

punk_one82

Kess73 wrote: »

Don't think we would get him if he were available tbh. Can see him eventually ending up at one of Monaco or PSG.


Do rate him though, and he was one of the players I hoped we would look at last summer when last summer's Suarez saga was ongoing.

That's what I meant about tempt. I don't think we'll get some of these superstar players either but we'll have roughly 70 million to spend and 200k per week wages to replace. We should at least be trying to tempt the likes of Reus, Benzema etc. instead of just saying nah we won't get them, let's buy Wilfried Bony instead for 19 million...

ricero

punk_one82 wrote: »

That's what I meant about tempt. I don't think we'll get some of these superstar players either but we'll have roughly 70 million to spend and 200k per week wages to replace. We should at least be trying to tempt the likes of Reus, Benzema etc. instead of just saying nah we won't get them, let's buy Wilfried Bony instead for 19 million...

I like bony he has a fantastic record for club and country . Defence is more worrying

mormank

whatawaster wrote: »

Can't agree with this at all. He made a significant contribution to us last season and was there, and playing very well, in some of our best performances.

He had injury problems at the start of the season, but he was there when Gerrard was out injured (excellent performances away to Spurs and City amongst others), when Henderson was suspended and when we wanted to go 3 in midfield he was a much better performer than Lucas

When you add to that the fact that he can ably cover for Gerrard in the deep midfield role, for Henderson in the CM role and can play further up effectively when we are playing an intense pressing game, then I think he is extremely valuable to us.

But he missed THAT chance against Everton! I like the guy but am having trouble getting over that mis, even now, just like That offside decision against Sterling.

Knex*

Had a good ol' laugh catching up with the thread just now. Great gif work on show.


Instead of trying to beat every team 6-5, we could just solidify our midfield and defence, and try to be... Normal.

Connavar

Knex. wrote: »

Had a good ol' laugh catching up with the thread just now. Great gif work on show.


Instead of trying to beat every team 6-5, we could just solidify our midfield and defence, and try to be... Normal.

Wheres the hiding behind the couch fun in that:pac:

Agent Coulson

ESPN's, Hillsborough 30 for 30 Documentary got nominated for an Emmy yesterday.

Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking
"The Amish: Shunned (American Experience)"
"Brave Miss World"
"Hillsborough (30 for 30 Soccer Stories)"
"Live According to Sam"

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/emmys_2014_complete_nominations_list-2014-07

dfx-

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

to me, this is a foolproof selection, especially if you're trying to make up 30 goals from several other players (I don't see how you can do that and keep a nearly regular 11 on the pitch).

Particularly if you factor in how many forward signings might not be Rodgers' signings and not get picked ahead of Sterling etc.

Milkers

Kess73 wrote: »

Have to be honest and say I would hate to see us line up with Masch and Gerrard sitting deep, and Henderson sitting just in front.

Could see that causing similar gaps in our team to what we saw during Rodgers' first season as gaffer.


Lallana I think will be a starter come the new season, and he will bring energy levels that put Henderson to shame ( have a look online for the distance covered stats for Lallana. The guy covers a crazy amount of ground and still manages to add some real quality to his workrate).

My own gut instinct is that it will be Gerrard starting in the deeper role with Henderson and Lallana sitting ahead of Gerrard.

Then three attackers ahead of the midfield be it a striker with two wingers/wide forwards or a pair of strikers with a player in the AM or second forward role behind them.

Yes I think I purely based on the signings so far we are looking at Plan A next season being the 4-3-3 again. Just a slight difference in opinion but I wouldn't be surprised to see two of Gerrard-Henderson-Can-Allen as the 2 in a 2-1 midfield with Coutinho (Sterling or Lallana the alternate number 10s) ahead of them and Sturridge (Lambert the alternate) flanked by two of Lallana-Sterling-Markovic-Ibe.

Of course all this will change once we sign Pogba and Vidal :-)

TBH the position I am most concerned about by a mile is fullback, both left and right.

Kerrigooney

ricero wrote: »

I like bony he has a fantastic record for club and country . Defence is more worrying

I don't get the hate for Bony either. 25 goals last season for a less creative team than us is a bloody good return.

Suarez isn't getting replaced...it's practically impossible so we need to think differently.

And give me Bony for £20m over Benzema for £40m any day of the week.

Sappy404

Mascherano? He pissed and moaned for ages before downing tools to force a move the last time he was here. He's now 30, and he's ostensibly a defensive midfielder, a position Rodgers clearly doesn't want to accommodate. His wages are also likely to be massive.

As excellent as he is, I'd consider any move to be very unlikely.

Nuri Sahin

rarnes1 wrote: »

A quality CB and RB I'm taking as a given.


We should be aiming to ship about 20 less goals next season.

Maybe because it's early and I'm quite groggy this morning, but have we been 'properly' linked with any RB so far this summer? If Johnson is.. ugh, staying, well I can't see a RB being brought in as things stand with him, Flanno, Wisdom and Kelly there. I wouldn't be upset if Flanno started the season as RB, but a bit like Johnson, I have this feeling he's more competent at LB than RB.

whatawaster

LFC confirm Suarez to leave

Liverpool Football Club today issued the following statement in relation to the future of Luis Suarez.

Liverpool FC confirms that Luis Suarez will be leaving the club after a transfer agreement was reached with FC Barcelona. The player now has permission to complete the usual formalities, which will then conclude the transfer.

We would like to thank Luis for his contribution and the role he played in helping bring Champions League football back to Anfield.

Everyone at Liverpool Football Club wishes Luis and his family well for the future.

Kerrigooney

Sappy404 wrote: »

Mascherano? He pissed and moaned for ages before downing tools to force a move the last time he was here. He's now 30, and he's ostensibly a defensive midfielder, a position Rodgers clearly doesn't want to accommodate. His wages are also likely to be massive.

As excellent as he is, I'd consider any move to be very unlikely.

And he has a €100m buyout clause.

Agent Coulson

Remy reported to be available for £8m.

Bony reported to be available for £20m.

I really don't see £12m in the price differeance between them.

Calvin

whatawaster wrote: »

LFC confirm Suarez to leave

So....is Suarez not allowed to be unveiled at Barca cos of the ban?

Knex*

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Remy reported to be available for £8m.

Bony reported to be available for £20m.

I really don't see £12m in the price differeance between them.

I'm not too sure Remy is the type of character that Rodgers wants around the team.

He bangs on about it so much, it would surprise me if we went for him, tbh.

Nuri Sahin

Finito.

taidghbaby

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Finito.

Needs more Cissokho

Sappy404

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Finito.

FOOTBALL ACTIVITY!! FOOTBALL ACTIVITY!! FINE HIM!!

Agent Coulson

Knex. wrote: »

I'm not too sure Remy is the type of character that Rodgers wants around the team.

He bangs on about it so much, it would surprise me if we went for him, tbh.

I think what I mean is we are looking at the overpriced player again when a player of similar skill set is available for half the price of the one we are looking at.

For me a new RB and CB are compulsory.

Left back with Enrique and Flanagan isn't an urgent problem. An upgrade would be great of course but other areas as mentioned are more important.

Another attacker will come in too, I'm presuming a pacy one that can play anywhere across the front. That's mean we'll have one of Coutinhio and Sterling as backup.

Can and Allen are backup for the midfield. Also Coutinhio can play in the advanced midfield position as seen last season.

---

Mig

---

New RB

---

New CB

---

Sahko

---

Enrique

---

Gerrard

---

---

Lallana

---

Hendo

---

Coutinhio

---

Sterling

---

Sturridge

---

MagicIRL

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

Vex Willems

I'm a sad panda today

Kerrigooney

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Finito.

We knew he was leaving but that's still kinda heartbreaking.

Fuck everything.

K-9

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Maybe because it's early and I'm quite groggy this morning, but have we been 'properly' linked with any RB so far this summer? If Johnson is.. ugh, staying, well I can't see a RB being brought in as things stand with him, Flanno, Wisdom and Kelly there. I wouldn't be upset if Flanno started the season as RB, but a bit like Johnson, I have this feeling he's more competent at LB than RB.

Yep, was just thinking about my post that DM seems to be the area we are light on, RB is up there too. Can't believe we'll have another season watching Johnson!

TheTownie

MagicIRL wrote: »

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

Probably best to wait and ask that question after the transfer window closes.

Sappy404

Luis is going to feel pretty stupid when he remembers he's enrolled his daughter in a Liverpool school and has to cancel his move to Barca.

Boom_Bap

MagicIRL wrote: »

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

Were still in with a shout. It's not all about Suarez. He is an awesome player and got bags of goals, assists and thrilled. But if we replace that with a 20 goal a season player, and some of our other players chip in with more goals we are in with a shout. Not having Suarez there means theres an opertunity for others to score goals.
I would much prefer to still have him, but it's not the end of the world.

It's the other end of the pitch we really need to improve on to mount a challenge.

Turtyturd

MagicIRL wrote: »

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

65% chance of winning the league....25% chance of top 4.

MagicIRL

MagicIRL wrote: »

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

Won't win league.

Should be challenging for top 4.

I'd take 4th now tbh.

Agent Coulson

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Finito.

Qatar, Barca and Suarez all in the one picture.

FIFA will have no choice now but to lift his ban or the will meet the wrath of Qatar and it's brown money envevlopes! (allegedly):pac:

Nuri Sahin

K-9

MagicIRL wrote: »

Serious question boys!

How do you reckon your chances are of 1) winning the league or 2) finishing top 4 without Suarez?

Anybody who thinks 1 got far too carried away about last season.

Realistically I think we are back to what we hoped last season. A top 4 serious challenge. We've probably to sign 3/4 first team players yet so too early to make a call.

tok9

Ya.. it was coming but it's still so gutting. We'll miss you you crazy ******.