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

NukaCola

It happens every matchday on boards.....I'm not sure if its getting worse but certainly at the start of each season it gets unbearable. One bad result and everything gets questioned, our new signings are rubbish we should have signed superstars, does the manager know what he's doing etc etc Even reasoned well balanced posters lose it. The Aston Villa game is a perfect example of it.

Its almost as bad elsewhere. A certain team does well and batter what can only be described as cannon fodder and all of a sudden the problems they have dont exist to some fans, all down to one game.

Get a grip lads. Long season and a lot of football to be played. Dont lose faith in BR and the team this early.

5live

Robson99 wrote: »

Feeling bad ye couldn't afford him???

Suuuuuuure....

*pats head*

Tuesday night. 7.45. Champions league. See you there.

Or not...

OwaynOTT

ratracer wrote: »

As has been said previously, for some posters on here, if the new signings get it right, they're great, if they're rubbish B Rod should get the sack!! Apparently :rolleyes:

If only half of the summer signings turn out to be good quality players for the team over the next 2-3 years, the summer transfer spree can only be seen as a great set of signings.
If any more than half prove to good signings, will then the spree would have to be viewed as excellent.
I would love to see the findings of research into transfers in the premier league over the last ten years, to establish how many turn out to be successful to downright turds.
Id imagine the success % rate wouldn't be massively high.

The Pontiac

5live wrote: »

Suuuuuuure....

*pats head*

Tuesday night. 7.45. Champions league. See you there.

Or not...

Just a pity UTD aren't in the champions league this year - then they could have signed some world class players. The likes of Falcao and Di Maria will have to do for the time being.

It's incredible Liverpool received £65m for Suarez and then replace him with a headcase in Balotelli for £16m. The mind boggles. Did then even try to sign Diego Costa or Alexis Sanchez?

Same auld story with Liverpool.

Pilsbury Doughboy

Hopefully everyone will ignore that post!

OwaynOTT

NukaCola wrote: »

It happens every matchday on boards.....I'm not sure if its getting worse but certainly at the start of each season it gets unbearable. One bad result and everything gets questioned, our new signings are rubbish we should have signed superstars, does the manager know what he's doing etc etc Even reasoned well balanced posters lose it. The Aston Villa game is a perfect example of it.

Its almost as bad elsewhere. A certain team does well and batter what can only be described as cannon fodder and all of a sudden the problems they have dont exist to some fans, all down to one game.

Get a grip lads. Long season and a lot of football to be played. Dont lose faith in BR and the team this early.

Someone mentioned considering reviewing the situation in a five game set, I think that's a good idea.
I also look at supporting Liverpool as a long term obsession and try not to get worked up over what will, hopefully, be only a small fraction of the games that I follow them for.
I've seen three FA cup wins, three (?) league cup wins, uefa cup win, super cup win and a champions league win over the years I've supported Liverpool and I'm happy with that. There has been some exciting runs in the cups that have ended ultimately in defeat but they were overall quite enjoyable.
There has been a couple of almost in the league that inspired long periods of euphoria despite 'slipping' at the final hurdle or not being able to reel back in the winners.
I will hopefully over the next few decades enjoy some more times like that and I just can't understand the short sighted over reactions that we see in here.
I have no problem what so ever with constructive criticism and civilised debates over where the team is going in the short term but people flying off the handle over minuscule monuments in a life long journey of being a Liverpool fan just flummox me.
I find looking at the funny side of things is much better and eases the sting of defeat.
Look we are all saps posting on boards and we follow a team which can put you through the wringer in a regular basis and which never ever do things the easy way - that bloody FA cup win over West Ham fooling savage game.

Demosthenese

The Pontiac wrote: »

Just a pity UTD aren't in the champions league this year - then they could have signed some world class players. The likes of Falcao and Di Maria will have to do for the time being.

It's incredible Liverpool received £65m for Suarez and then replace him with a headcase in Balotelli for £16m. The mind boggles. Did then even try to sign Diego Costa or Alexis Sanchez?

Same auld story with Liverpool.

Must be delighted with the new signings ... and got getting rid of Tom Cleverly which must seem like a bonus as well considering your great fanbase BOO'd the kid when on the field for not performing ... superb fans you lot. Classy.

The Pontiac

Demosthenese wrote: »

Must be delighted with the new signings ... and got getting rid of Tom Cleverly which must seem like a bonus as well considering your great fanbase BOO'd the kid when on the field for not performing ... superb fans you lot. Classy.

I'm not a UTD fan.

Augmerson

The Pontiac wrote: »

I'm not a UTD fan.

Plot twist.

You may tell us who you support so we can have a go at ya that's how this works.

TheTownie

The Pontiac wrote: »

Just a pity UTD aren't in the champions league this year - then they could have signed some world class players. The likes of Falcao and Di Maria will have to do for the time being.

It's incredible Liverpool received £65m for Suarez and then replace him with a headcase in Balotelli for £16m. The mind boggles. Did then even try to sign Diego Costa or Alexis Sanchez?

Same auld story with Liverpool.

Just on Costa, Rodgers met Costa's buy-out clause last summer but Costa decided to stay with Atletico one more year and signed a new contract with a bigger buy-out clause.

With Mendes being Costa's agent, Mourinho would have always had first dibs on him.

Kerrigooney

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Someone mentioned considering reviewing the situation in a five game set, I think that's a good idea.
I also look at supporting Liverpool as a long term obsession and try not to get worked up over what will, hopefully, be only a small fraction of the games that I follow them for.
I've seen three FA cup wins, three (?) league cup wins, uefa cup win, super cup win and a champions league win over the years I've supported Liverpool and I'm happy with that. There has been some exciting runs in the cups that have ended ultimately in defeat but they were overall quite enjoyable.
There has been a couple of almost in the league that inspired long periods of euphoria despite 'slipping' at the final hurdle or not being able to reel back in the winners.
I will hopefully over the next few decades enjoy some more times like that and I just can't understand the short sighted over reactions that we see in here.
I have no problem what so ever with constructive criticism and civilised debates over where the team is going in the short term but people flying off the handle over minuscule monuments in a life long journey of being a Liverpool fan just flummox me.
I find looking at the funny side of things is much better and eases the sting of defeat.
Look we are all saps posting on boards and we follow a team which can put you through the wringer in a regular basis and which never ever do things the easy way - that bloody FA cup win over West Ham fooling savage game.

Such a sap :rolleyes:

Kerrigooney

Pilsbury Doughboy wrote: »

Hopefully everyone will ignore that post!

Ignore what post?

Harry Palmr

OwaynOTT wrote: »

I've seen things you wouldn't believe - FA cup wins, three (?) league cup wins, uefa cup win, super cup win and a champions league win over the years I've supported Liverpool and I'm happy with that. There has been some exciting runs in the cups that have ended ultimately in defeat but they were overall quite enjoyable.

This was the speech that Roy Batty would have made if he had been a Scouser.
(gratuitous Blade Runner reference as its on BBC2 at 10.55)

Meanwhile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTO4eLIshm0

Darkglasses

Robson99, stay out of this thread if you're going to continue posting like that thanks.

Demosthenese

Never been different as a Liverpool fan, its a rollercoaster. Win and all happy, lose and pick through the pieces and begin questioning the reasons why. I think most fans will be happy to give the new signings some bedding in time and then make a judgement. Lazar/Lallana/Ballotelli can be judged after a sustained run in the side and that's only fair.

Yesterdays game was a hard one to judge any player on aside from the defence really. It was stifled from start to finish by Villa and you cannot argue that credit must be given to them for restricting us to so little to cheer about for 90 mins. It reminded me a little of Chelsea last season more so cos we weren't patient enough to come up with something clever to open them up. Provided we learn from that i am happy enough cos they'll not be the last team to come to Anfield and play like that.

Busy week ahead that we've all been looking forward to so lets not focus on the negativity and enjoy being back in Europe.

Pilsbury Doughboy

Some randumb ramblings...

Something that looks obvious from the Villa game is that we tend to suck these days unless we play with 2 up top, should be 4-4-2 with the diamond from here on in.

Also I felt Lallana was a bit wasted being stuck on the left, the whole performance was very disjointed, I'm not mad about trying Sterling up front with Balotelli, I would just stick him at the tip of the diamond where he's been brilliant and start with Lambert and Balo, Lallana, Gerrard, Hendo as the 3 midfielders.

Coutinho really annoyed me yesterday, he was prob no worse than anyone else but he's here long enough and has such potential that his start to this season has been infuriating.

segadreamcast

TheTownie wrote: »

Just on Costa, Rodgers met Costa's buy-out clause last summer but Costa decided to stay with Atletico one more year and signed a new contract with a bigger buy-out clause.

With Mendes being Costa's agent, Mourinho would have always had first dibs on him.

Aye, was frustrating last summer as I saw him as a great replacement for Suarez. Obviously glad Suarez stayed but was gutted that Chelsea had seemed to reach an agreement for costa pre-WC, as that would've been the first door I knocked on...

On Balotelli: wasn't sure before he signed, but the next few games will tell, though it isn't promising. That was his first time leading the line, and it ended up being only our second game without scoring in a year. Even if we win our next game, hardly a guarantee, we will end this block of five games below the 2ppg average that we need to be hitting to get top 4. More than 10% through the season. No need to panic of course, but it's simply to say that some of this has been disappointing - though our game against spurs was nice to watch.

Southampton - workmanlike performance, we won but we didn't win well and it could've been a draw.
Man City - we lost this fixture last year, but with legitimate grievances. This time we had our arses handed to us. Promising opening 30 mins with no goals isn't much use if you get spanked for the next 30.
Tottenham - We nailed it. Mignolet's save at 1-0 was key. But up front, everything worked out well, bar Balotelli's misses.
Villa - not encouraging. The early goal was key to their setup but they could've made it 2-0 in subsequent minutes.... One of our hallmarks of last season was retrieving ourselves from losing and drawing situations with an insane urgency and pace. I just saw none of that yesterday sadly.

I wonder and worry a little at this stage naturally, need to see a lot more of us, but I think it'd be unfair to characterize the above as "panic" and not simply "objective analysis of where we are right now".

OwaynOTT

Pilsbury Doughboy wrote: »

Some randumb ramblings...

Something that looks obvious from the Villa game is that we tend to suck these days unless we play with 2 up top, should be 4-4-2 with the diamond from here on in.

Also I felt Lallana was a bit wasted being stuck on the left, the whole performance was very disjointed, I'm not mad about trying Sterling up front with Balotelli, I would just stick him at the tip of the diamond where he's been brilliant and start with Lambert and Balo, Lallana, Gerrard, Hendo as the 3 midfielders.

Coutinho really annoyed me yesterday, he was prob no worse than anyone else but he's here long enough and has such potential that his start to this season has been infuriating.

His start hasn't been encouraging, trying to force a pass too often. I hope his form towards the end of last season wasn't inspired by the hope of playing his way into the Brazil squad for the world cup.

OwaynOTT

Kerrigooney wrote: »

Such a sap :rolleyes:

Sorry Gooney!

Harry Palmr wrote: »

This was the speech that Roy Batty would have made if he had been a Scouser.
(gratuitous Blade Runner reference as its on BBC2 at 10.55)

Meanwhile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTO4eLIshm0

Thanks, going to record that now to watch tomorrow.

Harry Palmr

TheTownie wrote: »

Just on Costa, Rodgers met Costa's buy-out clause last summer but Costa decided to stay with Atletico one more year and signed a new contract with a bigger buy-out clause.

With Mendes being Costa's agent, Mourinho would have always had first dibs on him.

Just on this, someone yesterday on Final Score (I think) said that deal was done last summer.

Agent Coulson

Agger's return home.

http://instagram.com/p/s7giebGobG/?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=video&modal=true

rossie1977

The Pontiac wrote: »

Did then even try to sign Diego Costa or Alexis Sanchez?

Same auld story with Liverpool.

liverpool tried and failed to sign both actually.

i said it before and got huge heat but the manager is of key importance when attracting players. never in a million years would torres, alonso or suarez have signed for liverpool under rodgers..he would have tried but they would have gone somewhere else.

OwaynOTT

Augmerson wrote: »

Plot twist.

You may tell us who you support so we can have a go at ya that's how this works.

He is a neutral apparently but posts mostly in Liverpool and Man Utd super threads and rarely has anything positive to say about Liverpool, their players and their fans. Now I only skimmed through his history.

rossie1977 wrote: »

liverpool tried and failed to sign both actually.

i said it before and got huge heat but the manager is of key importance when attracting players. never in a million years would torres, alonso or suarez have signed for liverpool under rodgers..he would have tried but they would have gone somewhere else.

Torres and Alonso were but influenced by the club having a Spanish manager and the clubs recent cup win. I would argue that any decent manager at the club at the time they were signed would have had a good chance of signing those players.
Suarez was scouted a lot under Hodgson and I doubt Suarez had much knowledge of who Kenny was before he signed. The wage increase and the chance to get play at a larger stage likely played a part in convincing him to join the club. There also wasn't many other clubs in for him at the time.
Rodgers did convince Suarez to stay for another year when it looked very likely that he was off. And in convincing him to stay, the club got an excellent years performance and a larger transfer fee but then Rodgers shouldn't take any credit for that.
The reason why the club, or one of the reasons, has struggled to sign top top players recently is due to the clubs poor performance towards the end of Benitz era, during Hodgson's reign and the tail-end of Kenny's second spell at the helm.
Rodgers poor first season didn't help but I'm sure last season has added some shine back to the club and that's down to Rodgers and another year or two like that and continuing on the same upward trend, will likely see the signing of more established players or those players wanting to come to the club.
But carry on bashing Rodgers for all our woes.

Finical

Embarrassing and frustrating some of the last few pages that was read.

Gbear

rossie1977 wrote: »

liverpool tried and failed to sign both actually.

i said it before and got huge heat but the manager is of key importance when attracting players. never in a million years would torres, alonso or suarez have signed for liverpool under rodgers..he would have tried but they would have gone somewhere else.

All in all the league is a very different place. Money's inflated, competition is far stronger and we've had a pretty bad few years prior to last season.

Money is the first motivation and after that it's probability of success. You can show them DVDs of the 80's all you want and you can have an absolute goon of a manager for all the difference it'll make - if you can't promise money and CL then you'll be overlooked. If you can, then you're in a very strong position.

MR NINE

Yesterday was obviously a very disappointing performance but we shouldnt get too down over one game. It reminds me a lot of the southampton game from last season where we looked awful and bereft of ideas and the game was decided by a scrappy set piece goal when neither team really looked like scoring. Last year we had Suarez absent, this year Sturridge. And sterling on the bench. It should be no surprise we looked blunt in attack with our two biggest threats not playing and our front three all making their home debuts.Every team will have off days and that was just one of ours. Hopefully Rodgers realises he cant afford to rest sterling while sturridge is absent and vice versa, at least until the new signings settle a bit.

For a positive spin on things, we have a higher points tally this year than we did from the four corresponding fixtures last year.

OwaynOTT

Not long to go now to the return of two days that have been missing in this thread.

A poor performance at the weekend and the inevitable blues that the start of the week brings, will surely mean that 'Meltdown Monday' will return in full force.

The silver lining of this ugly looking cloud is that that European football and Tuesday nights will see the return of midweek Champions League football nights.

The return of champions league to Liverpool is bittersweet for me though, poor auld Bill won't be presenting RTE's coverage.

Harry Palmr

OwaynOTT wrote: »

The return of champions league to Liverpool is bittersweet for me though, poor auld Bill won't be presenting RTE's coverage.

Hey if you're watching RTE2 on Tuesday you not be watching Liverpool!

greendom

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Not long to go now to the return of two days that have been missing in this thread.

A poor performance at the weekend and the inevitable blues that the start of the week brings, will surely mean that 'Meltdown Monday' will return in full force.

The silver lining of this ugly looking cloud is that that European football and Tuesday nights will see the return of midweek Champions League football nights. Human

The return of champions league to Liverpool is bittersweet for me though, poor auld Bill won't be presenting RTE's coverage.

Even worse, TV3 does Champions League on a Tuesday !

The Pontiac

Augmerson wrote: »

Plot twist.

You may tell us who you support so we can have a go at ya that's how this works.

OwaynOTT wrote: »

He is a neutral apparently but posts mostly in Liverpool and Man Utd super threads and rarely has anything positive to say about Liverpool, their players and their fans. Now I only skimmed through his history.

I was actually shouting for Liverpool last year, really hoped they'd could pull it off. Rodgers is a great manager.

The reason I post so much on the UTD thread is due to the transformation of the club since Fergie left, and to see how it all unfolds.

LVG has signed some splendid players in Rojo and Blind for little money in today's market.

Pool on the other hand sell a world class striker for £65m and replace him with a very much overrated headcase in Balotelli for £16m.

It's just typical Liverpool.

Gbear

greendom wrote: »

Even worse, TV3 does Champions League on a Tuesday !

How do those utter amateurs keep getting CL matches?

TV3 is absolute ****e.

djPSB

To summarise the problems.

Southampton; 4-3-3 Poor performance

Man City; 4-3-3 Poor performance

Spurs; Diamond Excellent performance

Villa; 4-3-3 Horrendous performance

Solution; Diamond from here on.

hadepsx

Finical wrote: »

Embarrassing and frustrating some of the last few pages that was read.

Indeed, yoda

OwaynOTT

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Hey if you're watching RTE2 on Tuesday you not be watching Liverpool!

Poorly written, sorry. I didn't mean to imply I would be watching RTE on Tuesday night but just that when we are in the final, Billo won't be presenting the match.

greendom wrote: »

Even worse, TV3 does Champions League on a Tuesday !

ITV it is so, just because I would like to be able to see the match not that the level of punditry will be better than TV3.

Gbear wrote: »

How do those utter amateurs keep getting CL matches?

TV3 is absolute ****e.

They have Brian Kerr sometimes though, he's always worth a listen, oh wait he's in the studio with TV3. Bleedin' pillocks.

mada999

hefferboi wrote: »

Moreno, I think, has potential to be one of the best full backs in the league. He was the one signing I wanted this Summer, other than a proper dogged centre midfielder. The way we play, you need 2 solid full backs who can bomb forward when we break.

yup 2 full backs like this are a must. But the way we played on sat, they never got to the byline, the passed it back into the middle and then gerrard passed it to the center back and and then back to the keeper.. it was rotten

Jesus Wept

Brendao will sort things.
Looking forward to more witty banter with you blokes tomorrow.

citytillidie

Putting this here to as u don't know if anyone is viewing the match thread from Saturday

Ok so watching the game live I got this impression

There were zero pace up front until Sterling came on, Mario did not run much but then he was getting fouled alot off the ball i dunno if this was picked up on the tv.

Manquillo seems to be scared to pass the ball forward.

Defence was a mess most of the game and kept letting the ball bounce which is bad.

It seemed Villa came for a smash and grab with keeping everyone behind the ball after they scored and trying to hit on the counter attack, say way Chelsea played last season

Vicxas

djPSB wrote: »

To summarise the problems.

Southampton; 4-3-3 Poor performance

Man City; 4-3-3 Poor performance

Spurs; Diamond Excellent performance

Villa; 4-3-3 Horrendous performance

Solution; Diamond from here on.

Seems Diamonds are more than just a girl's best friend.

dogbert27

citytillidie wrote: »

Villa came for a smash and grab with keeping everyone behind the ball after they scored and trying to hit on the counter attack, say way Chelsea played last season

People were saying here last season that after the Chelsea game teams this season would come to Anfield and try to play the same way.
Villa are the first team to try it and they've left with three points. Very worrying.

Hope BR knows how to fix this.

5live

i heart chewy louie wrote: »

Brendao will sort things.
Looking forward to more witty banter with you blokes tomorrow.

Only 1 more sleeps to go!

Soft Falling Rain

I think the last few years of the PL have shown that the sh1t happens element has increased big time. Freak results and performances are going to happen to every team.

It was just a bad day at the office for reasons I don't know. I think whatever it was is more complicated than the recent cool trend of going on about the "diamond".

What I do know though is that this is a team very much in its infancy, but one that has shown already what it's capable of (1st half against City, performance against Spurs).

So I think some of yis just need to take a chill pill and remember this is a 38 game marathon, instead of having mood swings from one game to the next.

Kimbot

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

I think the last few years of the PL have shown that the sh1t happens element has increased big time. Freak results and performances are going to happen to every team.

It was just a bad day at the office for reasons I don't know. I think whatever it was is more complicated than the recent cool trend of going on about the "diamond".

What I do know though is that this is a team very much in its infancy, but one that has shown already what it's capable of (1st half against City, performance against Spurs).

So I think some of yis just need to take a chill pill and remember this is a 38 game marathon, instead of having mood swings from one game to the next.

Bipolar Panda Syndrome is rife in here

Underpaid Mike

Heartbreaking result Saturday, didnt turn up and didnt perform
Disappointing across the board and it was a brutal goal to concede

BUT then I see this, classic Carragher

Nerdlingr

"Just defend, don’t try and be clever, don’t try to play, just defend and don’t let them have the set-piece." - Brendan Rodgers.

Thanks be to f*ck he seems to be coming round to the idea of getting Sakho to defend first and play later. Calling for Mignolet to be more assetive as well which is no bad thing, he's a quiet as a church mouse and just as timid.

rob316

dogbert27 wrote: »

People were saying here last season that after the Chelsea game teams this season would come to Anfield and try to play the same way.
Villa are the first team to try it and they've left with three points. Very worrying.

Hope BR knows how to fix this.

Its not worrying, we have 8 new players he has to experiment and see what works and what doesn't, I'd rather now and than later on in the season.

Its been one bad result! The reaction in here has been ridiculous. To some we are no longer a top team. I'm very disappointed as we could have went 2nd and with Chelsea and City playing next week could have been right up there but its very early days.

Harry Palmr

Nerdlingr wrote: »

"Just defend, don’t try and be clever, don’t try to play, just defend and don’t let them have the set-piece." - Brendan Rodgers.

Thanks be to f*ck he seems to be coming round to the idea of getting Sakho to defend first and play later. Calling for Mignolet to be more assetive as well which is no bad thing, he's a quiet as a church mouse and just as timid.

I think we all saw that Sakho did have the opportunity to simply knock the ball sideways out for a throw but he tried to get it under control in an area for which that was never on. If in doubt.....

kfallon

The league doesn't settle down for 5 or 6 games, not the greatest start but plenty of time to get it right. I'm not getting into a panic yet! We're still only a point behind the current champions!

Dickerty

I can't talk about the game, was on a stag with Chelsea, United and Arsenal fans, so it was NOT pleasant.

On to tomorrow, the U19s on at 2pm tomorrow at St Helens. Oddly, you have to be born on or after Jan 1st 1996, which means that guys who are still 18 now (but 19 before year end) are not eligible.
But we could put out a very strong side, with the likes of O'Hanlon, Polgar, Sam Hart, Chirivella, Rossiter, Ojo, Brannagan, Kent, Sinclair, Wilson and Canos all eligible.

martyos121

kfallon wrote: »

The league doesn't settle down for 5 or 6 games, not the greatest start but plenty of time to get it right. I'm not getting into a panic yet! We're still only a point behind the current champions!

Exactly, and if you look at it another way, we're two points up on the corresponding four fixtures from last season.
Technically, we're improving. No reason for worry.

I'd go with Balotelli and Lambert up top.

Anytime we've tried one up top this season so far we have struggled.