Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Note in OP, 1/09

LuckyLloyd

Really don't think dropping points this weekend is an option.

Grayditch

Had a dream we were two nil up after 26 mins.

Markovic on the score sheet. You heard it here first.

Fescue

Rodgers is talking a lot about the technical level of the team not being at the level of last year. What I am coming to realise is that the foundation of the team was built on the individual brilliance of Suarez and Sturridge. Lest we forget we were a shambles defensively most of last year also. We didn't control games. We are operating at the exact same technical level minus the extraordinary talents of Suarez and Sturridge.

Knex*

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Really don't think dropping points this weekend is an option.

Think somebody should inform the players that they should try and win.

Fescue

Knex. wrote: »

Think somebody should inform the players that they should try and win.

Maybe we could get a petition going?

Boom_Bap

Rodgers being honest. What a bast*rd.

We moan whinge and complain for years that the owners, management, club are not speaking truthfully to the supporters. When this happens it appears that we are moaning, whiging and complaining about it.

hadoken13

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Rodgers being honest. What a bast*rd.

We moan whinge and complain for years that the owners, management, club are not speaking truthfully to the supporters. When this happens it appears that we are moaning, whiging and complaining about it.

Ye but there is a difference he is speaking truthfully about the players but not his management this season.

OwaynOTT

Knex. wrote: »

Think somebody should inform the players that they should try and win.

Maybe we should hire a plane to fly over melwood and Anfield for the next couple of days.

Boom_Bap

hadoken13 wrote: »

Ye but there is a difference he is speaking truthfully about the players but not his management this season.

I think he was asked about the signings in that interview, why would he talk about his management?

And in fairness, he is being honest about that, he had no problems talking about the set piece problems post match.

Admitedly, there is alot he cant say, but he is saying alot.

prettyboy81

Its very simple for me, the buck stops with the manager. If he thinks its best to have a go about certain players & for it to be printed, fair enough. However, he must accept he sends the team out, picks players & set the game plan. It cannot just be the players fault for our start to the season.

A simple thing why play Enrique on Wednesday night. Stick with Moreno & keep a consistency with your back four. Stevie Wonder can see playing Gerrard in a 2 man midfield even with a road runner like Henderson is risky. Play Lucas & 3 man midfield, its away in the Champions League so a defensive balance to the team is needed. Especially a team that doesnt keep clean sheets.

Thats my 2 Cents, Happy Friday & Come on Redmen 2mo!

8-10

I think there's more to the story between Mario and Brendan. The comments just seem odd

greendom

8-10 wrote: »

I think there's more to the story between Mario and Brendan. The comments just seem odd

When he first came to Liverpool, I remember thinking that Rodgers comments weren't that effusive.

DVDM93

Anyone know much about Dele Alli?

Hangballlouie

DVDM93 wrote: »

Anyone know much about Dele Alli?

Is that the Pakistani sandwich place on Dame Street? I've heard good things.

D'Agger

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

I knew I wasn't going mad, Andy Hunter also pointed out that Coutinho blanked Rodgers when he was subbed on Wednesday. He also said that there were angry exchanges between them during the game.

You'd say something about a player sulking when playing well and taken off - just having a bit of an attitude but Coutihno has been muck so far this season - well, well below par. Sounds like he needs a kick up the hole from the manager tbh

Ardent

D'Agger wrote: »

You'd say something about a player sulking when playing well and taken off - just having a bit of an attitude but Coutihno has been muck so far this season - well, well below par. Sounds like he needs a kick up the hole from the manager tbh

Coutinho played well Wednesday. In contrast, Sterling and Markovic had shockers. I'd be pissed off at being substituted too!

gafferino

Ardent wrote: »

Coutinho played well Wednesday. In contrast, Sterling and Markovic had shockers. I'd be pissed off at being substituted too!

I like when a player shows this kind of reaction to getting substituted sometimes. It can show desire rather than petulance...I hope thats what it is. Suarez was the same too.....never wanted to come off.

gafferino

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

Everything is ok

Liverpool AGREE £38m deal for Arsenal target Karim Benzema

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/402884/Liverpool-AGREE-deal-for-Arsenal-target-Karim-Benzema

For some reason I have never been particularly impressed by Benzema. We could do with him however as we are now almost solely relying on Sturridge to score goals and make the team work

brevity

Perhaps Rodgers has tomfoolered us all by being the bad guy and getting us on Balotelli's side...

Leroy42

osnola ibax wrote: »

Hodgson getting criticism from other managers for showing preferential treatment to Liverpool for not picking Sturridge, ffs

Can you play on Saturday but not turn up for the internationals?

I thought there was something against that, or is it the game afterwards?

If Hogson has allowed L'pool to simply decide not to send him then that is a very strange call. Though given the easy group the England have they can easily do without him.

Dickerty

Looking at Enrique's two games so far, and Moreno having been very impressive to date, I wouldn't be surprised to see Enrique as a LW in a few games, he is more direct and links better (as a wide player) than Coutinho or Sterling, who always want to get inside. For the Real games, would give us extra defensive support, and both he and Moreno are capable of getting outside the FB.

That's my prediction!

gafferino

brevity wrote: »

Perhaps Rodgers has tomfoolered us all by being the bad guy and getting us on Balotelli's side...

I'm pretty sure he said a similar thing when we signed him. Dont see the big deal really. A quality player who needs to improve consistency and score goals is the essence of what he said.

dogbert27

hangballlouie wrote: »

For some reason, people think last season makes him immune to criticism, which is bollix. He is not the messiah, he's a very good naughty manager.

:pac:

murpho999

Interesting comments by Rodgers but a little worrying for me.

I don't think Ballotelli is the problem with the team as I don't think he's getting the service from the midfield.

Yes, he maybe should move more to create spaces but I don't think he deserves such a public admonishing after a short time at the club.

Defence need to sort themselves out and the teams attacking pace needs to pick up and that should create more opportunities for the strikers.

D'Agger

Ardent wrote: »

Coutinho played well Wednesday. In contrast, Sterling and Markovic had shockers. I'd be pissed off at being substituted too!

One decent outing out of how many thought? String some performances together like Sterling has and you'll get the benefit of the doubt that you can maybe produce something worth keeping you on the field.

He's a professional footballer, you can be píssed off at being taken off, but showing emotion in the form of petulance isn't a sign of desire to me - it's a sign of not getting what you want and publicly showing it - when you're clearly in the public eye.

dogbert27

I made a point last week about our coaching.

When Rafa left he took the goal keeping coach with him. The new goal keeping coach that came in (after Hodgson's coach) played with Tranmere Rovers for 9 years.

There is a parallel with this guys appointment and Reina's decline. Imagine you have played in the CL final. Won the FA Cup. Finished 2nd in the league. Been part of one of the greatest international football squads that won the European and World Cup.
You turn up to work one day and you're told that a guy who has played with Tranmere Rovers for 9 years is now your coach. Fxxk that for a game of soldiers.

This guy is still the coach in charge of making Mignolet a top keeper. FFS Liverpool, go out and get a top level coach.

Also it was quite clear last year we were useless defensively. This year looks even worse! Did Rodgers and Clarke have a falling out in their time together at Chelsea or something?

dogbert27

The frustration with Balotelli for me is the same frustration with Robbie Keane. They keep dropping back too deep to midfield so that when another midfield players get the ball and looks to play it in Balotelli/Keane are usually beside or behind them.

There's no forward pass to make.

Benzino

dogbert27 wrote: »

There is a parallel with this guys appointment and Reina's decline. Imagine you have played in the CL final. Won the FA Cup. Finished 2nd in the league. Been part of one of the greatest international football squads that won the European and World Cup.
You turn up to work one day and you're told that a guy who has played with Tranmere Rovers for 9 years is now your coach. Fxxk that for a game of soldiers.

This guy is still the coach in charge of making Mignolet a top keeper. FFS Liverpool, go out and get a top level coach.

How does a coaches playing career indicate how good of a coach they are? By that logic, Mourinho would never be a good coach, or Rodgers, or Ferguson etc etc. His playing career has no bearing on his coaching ability.

Harry Palmr

DVDM93 wrote: »

Anyone know much about Dele Alli?

No but everyone is raving about him and I think he is the new English star youngster that LFC have targeted rather than Will Hughes. However I think Liverpool may already have Dele Alli in the shape of Sheyi Ojo 17 years old. I was an Ojo sceptic as I couldn't quite figure out his place or "style" but in the last year its started to become clear he has a lot to offer.

Ojo v West Ham U21s - fantastico golas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_AOALzGNHI

Alli highlights reel with sh'ite music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfUvqb_EOmA

Obviously Alli plays at a higher level week in week out in the Championship but I'd not bet against Ojo doing similar stuff at a club like MK Dons next season.

Crash Bang Wall

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Rodgers being honest. What a bast*rd.

We moan whinge and complain for years that the owners, management, club are not speaking truthfully to the supporters. When this happens it appears that we are moaning, whiging and complaining about it.

Did he not say Gerrard was excellent on Wednesday night. Hes making Mario the scapegoat. The honest comments would have been:

Gerrard in his current position is not working
Skrtel was at fault for the goal
Sterling and Markovic were awful
I should have started Lallana

Not Mario is what we scraped off the bottom of the barrel

dogbert27

Benzino wrote: »

How does a coaches playing career indicate how good of a coach they are? By that logic, Mourinho would never be a good coach, or Rodgers, or Ferguson etc etc. His playing career has no bearing on his coaching ability.

Mourinho and Rodgers went around Europe learning their trade.

My example was the perception of the player being coached. John Achterberg went from finishing his playing career with Tranmere straight in to coaching Liverpool reserves and academy keepers.

He got promoted to first team coach in 2011. My perception of Reina is that he was wondering, what can this guy teach me better than I already have been taught.

cj maxx

Dickerty wrote: »

Looking at Enrique's two games so far, and Moreno having been very impressive to date, I wouldn't be surprised to see Enrique as a LW in a few games, he is more direct and links better (as a wide player) than Coutinho or Sterling, who always want to get inside. For the Real games, would give us extra defensive support, and both he and Moreno are capable of getting outside the FB.

That's my prediction!

Think that would be the way to go if balo is up front on his own ,
Get service into him in the mire traditional way

DVDM93

Harry Palmr wrote: »

No but everyone is raving about him and I think he is the new English star youngster that LFC have targeted rather than Will Hughes. However I think Liverpool may already have Dele Alli in the shape of Sheyi Ojo 17 years old. I was an Ojo sceptic as I couldn't quite figure out his place or "style" but in the last year its started to become clear he has a lot to offer.

Ojo v West Ham U21s - fantastico golas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_AOALzGNHI

Alli highlights reel with sh'ite music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfUvqb_EOmA

Obviously Alli plays at a higher level week in week out in the Championship but I'd not bet against Ojo doing similar stuff at a club like MK Dons next season.

Cheers. Rumours flying about that we've signed him for £8m. To be honest I hadn't heard of him before this morning.

I've heard of Ojo alright, I have LFC TV so get to see him play quite a bit. Exciting prospect

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/518032/Liverpool-Chelsea-Man-Utd-Arsenal-Messi-Dele-Alli

http://m.tribalfootball.com/articles/4042574
http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/03/liverpool-agree-8million-transfer-deal-to-sign-mk-dons-star-dele-ali-4890863/

Dickerty

Alli is much more of a striker/finisher, whereas Ojo wants to be in midfield creating things. But Ojo doesn't yet have the mindset of a midfielder, only wants to do the attacking stuff.

Alli is another guy who is unlikely to be a poor acquisition, given is English and young so his value will hold, but not what we need right now...

DVDM93

Rossitier added to the injury list not long after Suso, lovely.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/jordan-rossiter-suso-join-list-7874413

Agent Coulson

https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/517953047629398016

Agent Coulson

Liverpool confident of signing ex-Barcelona star Victor Valdes in next fortnight.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/518046/Liverpool-Ex-Barcelona-Star-Valdes

Utopia Parkway

8-10 wrote: »

I think there's more to the story between Mario and Brendan. The comments just seem odd

Starting to wonder if Rodgers wanted him at all or whether he was signed on the recommendation of the transfer committee.

Either way we didn't seem to have any clear plan on who to replace Suarez with. The Sanchez thing only cropped up once Barcelona wanted to get rid of him. You would imagine replacing Suarez should have been number one priority from early in the Summer. Especially given Sturridge's propensity to pick up knocks.

gafferino

Agent Coulson wrote: »

https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/517953047629398016

Thats a bit ridiculous. What is he doing posting something like that ffs.

8-10

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Starting to wonder if Rodgers wanted him at all or whether he was signed on the recommendation of the transfer committee.

First of all as I said in the match thread, not clapping the travelling fans is a non-story. I left shortly after the final whistle as did most of the supporters and remember seeing Henderson, Gerrard etc clapping but was certainly not the whole team.

So first off, for Brendan to publicly state that he didn't was odd, kind of like setting the seed in the media that he is not happy with Mario for something, strange thing to target but maybe to get the fans on his side saying that they deserve this and that, and Mario is not giving them respect. Odd.

Then to further air his dirty laundry in public, he says the next day that he was the best available, it was a gamble and it's not paying off. I'm all for giving a player a rollicking if he's not performing, but an odd way to do it. If he's not performing then drop him. You spend the same money on Sakho and have no issue dropping him so do the same. Make him do extra shooting training or whatever, I don't care but don't run to the media to slate the player. Especially if it's Mario, is that really going to be a constructive way to criticise him?

I really think there's something else to this story, perhaps something from after the match on Wednesday. If he was unhappy beforehand he wouldn't have played him, if he was unhappy during the game he still had Borini on the bench and only made 2 subs so could easily have dragged him off. But after he leaves him on the field for 90mins (where admittedly he spent most of the time strolling around in an offside position), he's reacted in a very unusual way in firstly making comments about his respect to travelling fans and secondly making indirect comments about his performances by talking about his availability during the summer. I might be wrong but something in this story is not sitting right for me. Let's see if he starts this weekend.

brevity

Kinda echoing what others have said but perhaps Rodgers needs to look at his backroom team and see if there is enough experience there to properly help him.

He really needs to rethink how he's set up in defense & goalkeeping areas.

Agent Coulson

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Starting to wonder if Rodgers wanted him at all or whether he was signed on the recommendation of the transfer committee.

So is this another signing that doesn't work out has to be the committees fault not Rodgers?

We have seen players that have allegedly been bought by the transfer committe frozen out by Rodgers. Balotelli hasn't been frozen out.

Brendan has stated many times that he has the final say on what players come in.

Harry Palmr

Which sap is going to start a match thread, or shall we just avoid the ignominy?

dogbert27

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Which sap is going to start a match thread, or shall we just avoid the ignominy?

Doesn't matter. I'm taking it upon myself to never follow a match thread again.

Only two threads I didn't follow this season were Southampton and Spurs. I am the jinx.

LiamoSail

dogbert27 wrote: »

I made a point last week about our coaching.

When Rafa left he took the goal keeping coach with him. The new goal keeping coach that came in (after Hodgson's coach) played with Tranmere Rovers for 9 years.

There is a parallel with this guys appointment and Reina's decline. Imagine you have played in the CL final. Won the FA Cup. Finished 2nd in the league. Been part of one of the greatest international football squads that won the European and World Cup.
You turn up to work one day and you're told that a guy who has played with Tranmere Rovers for 9 years is now your coach. Fxxk that for a game of soldiers.

Similar happened Bergkamp at Arsenal and Deco at Porto when Wenger/Mourinho turned up. That didn't work out too badly

Fair play Rodgers on the Ballotelli comments.

Hopefully we sign a striker in January that suits our style and not just the moneyball strategy.

gafferino

I have gone ahead and started the match thread. My first one.
Tread softly for you tread on my dreams.

kfallon

5starpool wrote: »

Wasn't Suarez meant to be releasing an auto biography about now? Anyone know the release date?

23rd of October is the pre order date on Amazon!

Going by most Footballers autobiographies it will be a classic!

MD1990

It was reported earlier the summer that Rodgers wanted more of a say over transfers for the summer just gone. I think all the signings this summer are his.