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

K-9

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

The defensive issues were a symptom of overall tactics rather than individual weakness. You could have peak Maldini and Cannavaro as our CBs and they'd still struggle with how overexposed the back line is left.

Lovren or someone else at £20m isn't going to magically fix that problem.

We could get away with it last season because of Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho. With Suarez gone we'll struggle to do that as much as we did. The worry is we'll be as leaky at the back but nowhere near enough goals to compensate.

punk_one82

Hidalgo wrote: »

I'd love a no nonsense tough ball playing DM added to the mix.

Hopefully what Emre Can will develop into.

Turtyturd

Vicxas wrote: »

With 8 defenders on the pitch. How could we lose!?

Martin 'OG' Skaertaerl.

Seaba

Crazy how expectations can change in the space of a few days/weeks.
Before Suarez leaving, and the subsequent bids for many unproven players with potential, I was hoping we could add 1 or 2 'top' quality players plus 2/3 squad players, get out of our group in the Champions League, make another push for the title and possibly, possibly a sneaky FA Cup thrown in!

Right now I would bite your hand off if you just offered me 4th in the league next year <shaking my head in disbelief>

beakerjoe

With Suarez going, you'd expect a top quality striker to replace him. Yet Markovich seems like the man so far. Bit of a gamble.

punk_one82

beakerjoe wrote: »

With Suarez going, you'd expect a top quality striker to replace him. Yet Markovich seems like the man so far. Bit of a gamble.

In all fairness, what top quality striker is available to us that could even attempt to replace Suarez?

Soft Falling Rain

K-9 wrote: »

We could get away with it last season because of Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho. With Suarez gone we'll struggle to do that as much as we did. The worry is we'll be as leaky at the back but nowhere near enough goals to compensate.

I could live with a decrease in our swashbuckling style if it meant more protection at the back, coupled with a clinicalness maintained up front.

I want to see an assuredness throughout the team, if that means sacrificing the hockey scores so be it.

Akabusi

Knew nothing about Markovic, but after watching the obligatory youtube video I'm really impressed with the speed he can run with the ball. I'd say he is a level up on Kono and will be a huge success

murpho999

Why are people seeing Markovic as a direct replacement for Suarez when it appears to me that Suarez is not being directly replaced?

Boom_Bap

The thing that I am happy about is that we are buying players that fit our style and can slot straight into the team.
We are also buying a mix of players with EPL experience, Champions League experience and young players with games under thier belt.
We may not have bought a marquee player (yet) but what we have got has enhanced the first team and squad without derailing the squad from last year that was so impressive.
The glaring hole is Suarez, but he is a void that any team with struggle to replace, there are only 2 other players in the world on the same level or better, both of which are unbuyable.
My main concern would be a left full, reliance on Flanno is not an option, he is still learing his trade. He should be a cover player for both full back positions.
Enrique - I always have my doubts about him, he's been without football for a year and will need a bit of time to get up to speed.

Knex*

I wonder if the cooling on the Moreno talk, coinciding with Enrique being back fit, is more than just coincidence.

Boom_Bap

Knex. wrote: »

I wonder if the cooling on the Moreno talk, coinciding with Enrique being back fit, is more than just coincidence.

I personally think that the Moreno deal is going to happen. His club have set the price and I think the owner even mentioned that if LFC wants him they have to pay that amount. Although it appears in the media that it's stalled, i would think there are other negotiations going on in the background.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

Why are people seeing Markovic as a direct replacement for Suarez when it appears to me that Suarez is not being directly replaced?

There's no way Marcovic is a direct replacement for Suarez. If he is we are in trouble.

Any word on a RB?

I have this fear that I'll see Glen Johnson in our starting lineup in August.

Somebody reassure me.

Dont be at yourself

I don't think we'll go from willing to spend €15m on a left-back to not buying one at all.

While the club have shown that they won't go above their set value for a player (Mkyhtharian, Willian, Sigurddson, etc, etc), it's still possible that Sevilla will reduce their price.

If not, I'd expect a move for Ryan Bertrand, Marcos Rojo or Ricardo Rodriguez or another young LB.

beakerjoe

rarnes1 wrote: »

There's no way Marcovic is a direct replacement for Suarez. If he is we are in trouble.

Theres no way to know if he is or not TBH, it looks like Suarez wont be replaced. As one poster previously said, who would you replace him with thats available.

Boom_Bap

rarnes1 wrote: »

There's no way Marcovic is a direct replacement for Suarez. If he is we are in trouble.

Not a replacement, a player that can play 4 or 5 places accross the front line and will be able to interchange. Not afraid to track back, pacey and wouldnt be of the 'Downing pass back to the keeper' school of football.

8-10

beakerjoe wrote: »

Theres no way to know if he is or not TBH, it looks like Suarez wont be replaced. As one poster previously said, who would you replace him with thats available.

Precisely this.

I know people are scared of what Spurs did in replacing big player with spend on multiple others but in reality there's no other option, we just have to do it better than they did. In fact I'd argue that with CL football we need more than them to spend on more than 1 player as a replacement. We should be looking at a squad of 20 core players that can start any game and actively rotate them for form and to avoid fatigue with midweek games, and still have options off the bench. The past season was focused on best XI available playing each game. If first choice in a position gets injured, second choice comes in and plays until he's back. I don't think it's sustainable with more games and we wouldn't have finished 2nd with that squad had there been midweek games also.

I'm a lot happier now that we'll have numbers. And I'm very excited for the new season and CL football. Brendan has gotten us there and I'm behind him on this summers transfers so far

5live

rarnes1 wrote: »

Any word on a RB?

I have this fear that I'll see Glen Johnson in our starting lineup in August.

Somebody reassure me.

We're fooked. Be lucky to have even 11 players at the start of the season. All the money gone to buy new seats in the stand. GlenJo captain and leading scorer. Flanagan starts in goal coz Mignolet changes his name to Miglet. We sign Sakho after his loan to play up front.



Feel better now?:-)

daRobot

From what I've seen from the youtube clips anyway, Lazar looks very expensive at £20 mill +

Looks promising, and a good prospect, but it's a big gamble at that money.

The players we were linked with last year (Willian, Mkhitaryan) were much more inspiring.

An injury to Sturridge and we might struggle for goals, with Suarez now looking as good as gone.

ricero

daRobot wrote: »

From what I've seen from the youtube clips anyway, Lazar looks very expensive at £20 mill +

Looks promising, and a good prospect, but it's a big gamble at that money.

The players we were linked with last year (Willian, Mkhitaryan) were much more inspiring.

An injury to Sturridge and we might struggle for goals, with Suarez now looking as good as gone.

Still feel we will sign another striker but defence needs sorting first

mosstin

daRobot wrote: »

From what I've seen from the youtube clips anyway, Lazar looks very expensive at £20 mill +

Looks promising, and a good prospect, but it's a big gamble at that money.

The players we were linked with last year (Willian, Mkhitaryan) were much more inspiring.

An injury to Sturridge and we might struggle for goals, with Suarez now looking as good as gone.

Bloody scouts. Fancy seeing him in the flesh without bothering to look at the YouTube clips. Pah.

rob316

I don't get it we had no CL football last year and tried to sign Willian, Mkhitaryan, Costa and Bernard. Now we have CL football the targets a little underwhelming. If you spend £25m on a player you expect him to be commanding a starting spot not one for the future.

In Rodgers we trust, I guess.

Boom_Bap

Mexican left full Miguel Layún being mentioned today.

Cjs21

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Not a replacement, a player that can play 4 or 5 places accross the front line and will be able to interchange. Not afraid to track back, pacey and wouldnt be of the 'Downing pass back to the keeper' school of football.

Let's be honest, Borini may not be a world class player but he can play in every position on the front line.

He could very well turn into world class player although.

He impressed me last year in big games and seems committed.

When he joined I recall Gerrard saying he hasn't seen anyone train as hard as him in his career. I reckon we should give him a shot this season. Out of the current squad (excluding Suarez) I reckon we could have a great season.

I'd go for something along the lines of this.

Goalkeeper: Mignolet
Defenders: Sakho, Skrtel and Agger
Midfield: Lallana, Gerrard and Hendo
AM: Sterling and Coutinho
Strikers: Borini and Sturridge

Bench: Reina, Coates Lucas, Assaidi, Can, Suso and Aspas

Obviously the above squad can be improved a good bit but the squad as it stands does not look too bad in my opinion.

DrumSteve

Tbh, I'm not worried too much about this season.

If anything, last year shows how capable we can be with or without Suarez.

We are no longer a one/two man team, we are not going to struggle for goals and we are most definitely not going to struggle in the league.

If he wants to go to Barca, I hope he does and we get a shedload of money for him. He came to us, scored a lot of goals, now he's leaving. It's not a massive issue; like all the irreplacables before him he'll be replaced and we'll go on.

We are making some good signings to supplement to players we already have. Hopefully we will bring in one or two more big names before the end of the transfer window.

Onwards and upwards.

K-9

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

I could live with a decrease in our swashbuckling style if it meant more protection at the back, coupled with a clinicalness maintained up front.

I want to see an assuredness throughout the team, if that means sacrificing the hockey scores so be it.

But Can is a bit young for me to be offering that, I'd have expected somebody more experienced at a high level at offering that protection. I don't think Lucas is going to turn out that player we thought he could become either, his injuries seem to have robbed him of that.

It's early days yet but it doesn't seem we are linked to those type of players, yet again, same as the last couple of seasons. I'm sure Rodgers has an idea of what he wants so I'll just have to see how the window goes.

I've no problem with how our budget is going to be spent. If we are talking more than £100 Million it makes perfect sense to use that to strengthen the squad. As others pointed out we had a very weak bench last season, it definitely needs addressing if we want to compete in the CL, get top 4 and maybe a cup run.

Somebody like Sanchez would inspire more confidence than Markovic and wouldn't cost that much more considering the experience somebody like that would have. We need one player like that, not buying potential, which we know can be a mixed bag, for every Coutinho there's an Alberto.

daRobot

mosstin wrote: »

Bloody scouts. Fancy seeing him in the flesh without bothering to look at the YouTube clips. Pah.

That's all we fans have got to go on, and to be fair considering that's a 'best of' comp, Sterling looks a far superior player.

Seems a high price for potential.

Emre Can is another. I personally would have liked Medel over him.

Cjs21

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2014/07/uruguay-manager-claims-liverpool-barcelona-agreement/

Please tell me it aint so

K-9

I suppose Suarez is irreplaceable so we've to hope the rest of the team steps up with a good spread of scorers. In fairness the team did improve at that as the season went on with Coutinho and Sterling chipping in with goals.

D'Agger

Without seeing very much of Lazar, I think it's fair to say that the fee seems a tad high for a guy who's still somewhat unproven - would also signal an end to our potential interest in Shaqiri which upsets me deeply - he's the one guy I was hoping we could bring in

Knex*

rob316 wrote: »

I don't get it we had no CL football last year and tried to sign Willian, Mkhitaryan, Costa and Bernard. Now we have CL football the targets a little underwhelming. If you spend £25m on a player you expect him to be commanding a starting spot not one for the future.

In Rodgers we trust, I guess.

How many of them were we linked with by the first week in July?

Also, I think they'll be the ceiling of what we bring in this time around as well, unless we do manage to pull off the Sanchez deal. Only this time around, we can actually entice the above to join as we have the CL football.

I don't think we're suddenly going to make the jump to signing Di Maria level of quality players. We have to be realistic about it.

Boom_Bap

Cjs21 wrote: »

Let's be honest, Borini may not be a world class player but he can play in every position on the front line.

He could very well turn into world class player although.

He impressed me last year in big games and seems committed.

When he joined I recall Gerrard saying he hasn't seen anyone train as hard as him in his career. I reckon we should give him a shot this season. Out of the current squad (excluding Suarez) I reckon we could have a great season.

I'd go for something along the lines of this.

Goalkeeper: Mignolet
Defenders: Sakho, Skrtel and Agger
Midfield: Lallana, Gerrard and Hendo
AM: Sterling and Coutinho
Strikers: Borini and Sturridge

Bench: Reina, Coates Lucas, Assaidi, Can, Suso and Aspas

Obviously the above squad can be improved a good bit but the squad as it stands does not look too bad in my opinion.

I'm delighted to have Borini back, last year is something that I would classify as being a successful loan. He started off on the periphery at S'Land and then became the focal point of the Sunderland team, and a fan favorite. Before going there he lacked being clinical in his finishing, I think that that has improved now, and can only get better.
So I'm defo happy he is back in the squad for us now.

Illori is also another player we loaned out last year that should be back as a better player. I'd expect him to improve our defensice options this year.

As for Assaidi, I love his commitment, I think he is a decent player, but he is more of a traditional winger and not suited to how we play.

Soft Falling Rain

Cjs21 wrote: »

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2014/07/uruguay-manager-claims-liverpool-barcelona-agreement/

Please tell me it aint so

So it's Liverpool's fault that he chowed down on another player again.

Lol

daRobot

D'Agger wrote: »

Without seeing very much of Lazar, I think it's fair to say that the fee seems a tad high for a guy who's still somewhat unproven - would also signal an end to our potential interest in Shaqiri which upsets me deeply - he's the one guy I was hoping we could bring in

Yep, at roughly the same money, he looks to be the much better buy. Wonder what happened?

mosstin

Cjs21 wrote: »

Let's be honest, Borini may not be a world class player but he can play in every position on the front line.

He could very well turn into world class player although.

He impressed me last year in big games and seems committed.

When he joined I recall Gerrard saying he hasn't seen anyone train as hard as him in his career. I reckon we should give him a shot this season. Out of the current squad (excluding Suarez) I reckon we could have a great season.

I'd go for something along the lines of this.

Goalkeeper: Mignolet
Defenders: Sakho, Skrtel and Agger
Midfield: Lallana, Gerrard and Hendo
AM: Sterling and Coutinho
Strikers: Borini and Sturridge

Bench: Reina, Coates Lucas, Assaidi, Can, Suso and Aspas

Obviously the above squad can be improved a good bit but the squad as it stands does not look too bad in my opinion.

Borini might turn into a world class player? Sorry, based on what in his career so far has brought you to this conclusion? That's like saying Gaston Ramirez might turn out to be world class. It isn't gonna happen.

K-9

Cjs21 wrote: »

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2014/07/uruguay-manager-claims-liverpool-barcelona-agreement/

Please tell me it aint so

There was talk at the time of the contract that there was conditions based on us qualifying for the CL, or not. Made sense at the time but it hasn't been mentioned in recent months at all.

A Greedy Algorithm

So the Sanchez deal is a gonna now?

From what I've read online he would like to go to Arsenal - i am just curious as to why this is? Better money, the allure of London maybe? Could be anything i suppose.

Cjs21

mosstin wrote: »

Borini might turn into a world class player? Sorry, based on what in his career so far has brought you to this conclusion? That's like saying Gaston Ramirez might turn out to be world class. It isn't gonna happen.

Ok maybe world class was a bit optimistic. Saying that I have one name for you. Henderson.

Dont be at yourself

Regarding Lazar Markovic, not sure if anybody follows In Bed With Maradona, but they tweeted this yesterday:

Our two penneth maybe, but (if happens) #LFC fans should know that out of 000's of young players we've watched, Lazar is our favourite.

Here's their end-of-season write-ups on him:

11/12: http://inbedwithmaradona.com/the-100-for-2012/2012/11/26/lazar-markovic.html

Marković is a versatile modern forward, sometimes played wide but most effective in our opinion as a second striker through the middle. The first thing that hits you when watching him is the pace, he has that two-second burst that can carry him away from even the quickest defenders in what feels like the blink of an eye. Married to the acceleration is the close control and willingness to take men on one, two, three or even four at a time. The rambunctiousness of youth is coupled with the talent to pull it off, a combination that is always likely to make you stand out from the crowd.


Another huge tick is his attitude which has seen everyone who has worked with him both at Partizan and with Serbia’s U17 and U21 international teams effuse about his desire to work, his focus on having a top-line career and his dislike of parties, alcohol and all the other things that can distract a young man.

12/13: http://inbedwithmaradona.com/100-2013-review/2013/12/8/lazar-markovic

Still the real deal and still a house favourite, he looks everything we hoped he would be last year, a season to settle in Benfica and then he may well really begin to impose himself - we can’t wait

K-9

Knex. wrote: »

How many of them were we linked with by the first week in July?

Also, I think they'll be the ceiling of what we bring in this time around as well, unless we do manage to pull off the Sanchez deal. Only this time around, we can actually entice the above to join as we have the CL football.

I don't think we're suddenly going to make the jump to signing Di Maria level of quality players. We have to be realistic about it.

I think Mk was pretty early on, maybe not first week of July but early enough IIRC. Markovic seems a step or two lower than him, potential but it could take 2 or 3 seasons to start delivering on it. The above would have been the level of players I'd have expected us to be going for heavily when we got CL, because well, we'd stand a much better chance of getting them than last Summer.

We'll see, but it will be disappointing that we wasted our time on those players last Summer as we were always likely to get trumped by CL clubs, now we have CL, we don't seem to be in for these type of players yet.

We went for squad type players early last Summer, then ended up struggling to get 1st team ones. Maybe it's early days and it's a similar strategy and the club has a couple of tricks up its sleeve yet.

daRobot

mosstin wrote: »

Borini might turn into a world class player? Sorry, based on what in his career so far has brought you to this conclusion? That's like saying Gaston Ramirez might turn out to be world class. It isn't gonna happen.

He's 23. Thierry Henry wasn't setting the world on fire back then either.

A lot can happen with players of that age with the right guidance.

Francie Barrett

Surprised that Ashley Cole has ended up at Roma. With the Moreno deal dead in the water and Enrique now fit, I think we should have signed him up. Could have let himself and Enrique slug it out to secure the start spot. We could have offered CL football and I would be shocked if we couldn't offer more money.

smileyj1987

K-9 wrote: »

I think Mk was pretty early on, maybe not first week of July but early enough IIRC. Markovic seems a step or two lower than him, potential but it could take 2 or 3 seasons to start delivering on it. The above would have been the level of players I'd have expected us to be going for heavily when we got CL, because well, we'd stand a much better chance of getting them than last Summer.

We'll see, but it will be disappointing that we wasted our time on those players last Summer as we were always likely to get trumped by CL clubs, now we have CL, we don't seem to be in for these type of players yet.

We went for squad type players early last Summer, then ended up struggling to get 1st team ones. Maybe it's early days and it's a similar strategy and the club has a couple of tricks up its sleeve yet.

Once the Suarez deal is done you will see the big moves around Europe happening . The club could be holding out because Real Madrid will more then likely look to trump the move with a huge signing of their own . So the club could be holding out for that to happen and see who could be snapped up then .

Connavar

smileyj1987 wrote: »

Once the Suarez deal is done you will see the big moves around Europe happening . The club could be holding out because Real Madrid will more then likely look to trump the move with a huge signing of their own . So the club could be holding out for that to happen and see who could be snapped up then .

Ronaldo has said that Rodriguez would be a perfect signing for Real. Wouldn't be surprised to see more players saying similar and a signing taking place

daRobot

daRobot wrote: »

He's 23. Thierry Henry wasn't setting the world on fire back then either.

A lot can happen with players of that age with the right guidance.

Not a great comparison.

Arsene Wenger moved him from a winger to a striker as soon as he signed him. The first season he played as a striker he scored 26 goals.

Francie Barrett

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Surprised that Ashley Cole has ended up at Roma. With the Moreno deal dead in the water and Enrique now fit, I think we should have signed him up. Could have let himself and Enrique slug it out to secure the start spot. We could have offered CL football and I would be shocked if we couldn't offer more money.

Imagine the wages we saved though!

Boom_Bap

What we've suspected to be the 3rd kit is now official. I dig this one alot.

citytillidie

Boom_Bap wrote: »

What we've suspected to be the 3rd kit is now official. I dig this one alot.

GK top is nice

Can't warm to Warrior stuff at all. It looks cheap and tacky imo.