Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15

billymitchell

Mr Alan wrote: »

Btw, tonight was Mignolets best game for the club imo

Still needs to go though.

Sakho was very poor though.

Even if he kept playing like tonight?

Utopia Parkway

Gbear wrote: »

We're not just missing someone to stick it in the net. We're not really creating a huge amount of good chances.

We made plenty of good chances over the two legs in fairness. More than enough really but a combination of poor finishing and Courtois meant we only had one goal to show for it.

Demosthenese

Thought we put in a serious shift tonight. We matched them in most areas of the pitch and only for a few scuffed chances we really should have scored. That was the only difference on the field. Tired badly in extra time.

Very excited about Coutinhos form. Can looks a real good player in numerous positions. Lucas and Hendo an their asses off and Mig was superb ... Chelsea are a real good side at home and if we can keep this form going we'll be grand.

Mr Alan

billymitchell wrote: »

Even if he kept playing like tonight?

He won't though

klose

If sakho is injured for a while we are in trouble imo, our outside centre backs are superb ball playing defenders well able to play long balls, into midfield and pass into the wingbacks space, if lovren comes in he will just tap it about to skrtel and mignolet repeatedly. I shudder to even think of johnson getting a run there so im not going to as i dont think i could deal with those nightmares.

NukaCola

Turtyturd wrote: »

Don't listen to anyone who says Series 2 is terrible.

I was confused about season 2.

So the cops knew that internal affairs were setting them up?

garra

NukaCola wrote: »

Balotelli has forgotten how to play football.

I'm nervous about this statement that we will afford Balo every chance to prove himself in remainder of the season, following that course of action we might end up paying a club to take him off us in the summer.

NukaCola

garra wrote: »

I'm nervous about this statement that we will afford Balo every chance to prove himself in remainder of the season, following that course of action we might end up paying a club to take him off us in the summer.

There is a precedence for this. Aquilani/Cole etc

SlickRic

Balotelli is done, but make no mistake, he didn't cost us the tie. Not even close.

The club's negligence of the striking position cost us, like it's been costing us most of the season.

billymitchell

Mr Alan wrote: »

He won't though

But just say, in some sort of upside - down future, he did. I know, not likely to happen, but would you keep him?

Mr Alan

billymitchell wrote: »

But just say, in some sort of upside - down future, he did. I know, not likely to happen, but would you keep him?

It wouldn't be a priority position to upgrade them imo.

His distribution is still very poor though

tok9

It may have already been mentioned but a rare nice thing to say about Mignolet. He played really well today and at least picking up some form.

This isn't our goalkeeper issue solved but I'm just that bit more confident with him now than I was 3 weeks ago.

garra

SlickRic wrote: »

Balotelli is done, but make no mistake, he didn't cost us the tie. Not even close.

The club's negligence of the striking position cost us, like it's been costing us most of the season.

Agreed that he didn't cost us the tie, we needed to have more targets than Sanchez/Remy as a fall-back scenario. All we had as a fall-back was Balotelli. Not cool.

Dirty Steve

Without a good striker in the team we're always going to lack a final product going forward. I'd argue that while Sterling is a good player, he's too small to lead the line for us; the team played in a few crosses with just Sterling in the box and he hadn't a hope of winning them.

Really need some options on the bench too; Allen, Lambert, Balo & Lovren are never going to be good enough against the big sides. If Ibe wasn't cut tied he probably would have made more of an impact than the two forwards brought on.

We all know where the current problems lie, but there don't seem to be willing to address them this transfer window. I think we'll struggle to finish in the European positions.

Chucky the tree

Mr Alan wrote: »

He won't though

Tonight he played exactly like he's done for most of the season though. Difference is tonight he was never really tested with coming off his line.

Sappy404

I thought we were very poor in posession today. Passing it around at the back cost us two gilt-edged chances. Some wayward stuff from Can and Sakho especially, though the former played well overall.

The chances we did create were decent but Coutinho and Henderson are awful in front of goal. Sterling brings the play forward well but he's no striker. Balotelli and Lambert playing wide? What in the hell was Rodgers at? And Lallana on the bench when a wrecked Gerrard and Lucas stayed on is inexplicable considering we knew that at least one goal was needed and played for two hours.

Sappy404

Sappy404 wrote: »

I thought we were very poor in posession today. Passing it around at the back cost us two gilt-edged chances. Some wayward stuff from Can and Sakho especially, though the former played well overall.

The chances we did create were decent but Coutinho and Henderson are awful in front of goal. Sterling brings the play forward well but he's no striker. Balotelli and Lambert playing wide? What in the hell was Rodgers at? And Lallana on the bench when a wrecked Gerrard and Lucas stayed on is inexplicable considering we knew that at least one goal was needed and played for two hours.

Chelsea press our defenders under Mourinho. It's a good tactic tbh

NukaCola

It was a decent cup run. Shame we didn't make it to Wembley, would be good experience for the younger lads. Cant complain to be honest, played very well in both games, just didn't have the guile in front of goal.

Utopia Parkway

Not sure what we'll even get for Ballotelli at this stage. Be lucky to get a bag of footballs for him. Thought we would at least make back most of the money if he flopped. Can't see that now.

Hangballlouie

I wish we had someone as snidey as Costa playing for us. Yeah he's a Cnut, but he'd be our Cnut.

Yes, we really miss the goals and work rate of Suarez, but we also miss how much of a Cnut he was to play against.

Sign a top class striker and sign a top quality Cnut(it doesn't have to be two different players) and we have a chance to get something from this season.

NukaCola

SlickRic wrote: »

Balotelli is done, but make no mistake, he didn't cost us the tie. Not even close.

The club's negligence of the striking position cost us, like it's been costing us most of the season.

We have hindsight etc but Rodgers was happy for Sturridge to be our number one striker and bring in another to be our number 2, instead of bringing in a number one striker and having Sturridge as our number 2 striker......or in other words going for a goalscorer that would be better than Sturridge.....I know its easier said than done and I might not have explained it concisely but hopefully you get the meaning.....

Riesen_Meal

Hangball Doughboy wrote: »

I wish we had someone as snidey as Costa playing for us. Yeah he's a Cnut, but he'd be our Cnut.

Yes, we really miss the goals and work rate of Suarez, but we also miss how much of a Cnut he was to play against.

Sign a top class striker and sign a top quality Cnut(it doesn't have to be two different players) and we have a chance to get something from this season.

That honestly was going through my head watching Costa tonight, he is a big presence for Chelsea and has that dirty sly buzz about him - can see him being the new PL villain a là Suarez....

Any cnut who can put them in the net will do.... :P

Hollister11

RainMaker wrote: »

Got my first ever yellow card tonight! It was worth it though

Jaysus, that match thread was so full of poison and BS, really disgusting at times, mods and everything trying to defend Costa... Think I'll go back to just reading rather than posting

Why can't we buy strikers who actually score goals???

Apart from Suarez and Torres, we've had 20 years of failed strikers, some of them ending up playing right wing... Saunders, Collymore, Diouf, Kuyt, Ballotelli, Borini, Cisse, etc.

Fowler , Owen ?
Kuyt wasn't a failure

Bandana boy

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Not sure what we'll even get for Ballotelli at this stage. Be lucky to get a bag of footballs for him. Thought we would at least make back most of the money if he flopped. Can't see that now.

I would have had the same opinion when we signed him ,but nobody thought he would fail this hard.I do not buy the talk of him not even trying ,he clearly is but Man he offers so little.
Does not look like he can hold the ball up
Does not get into the box
His shooting is some of the worst I have ever seen from a Centre forward
Can not dribble
Can not go wide
Can not cross the ball
Does not seem aware of the players positions around him.

Genuinely now think we would be lucky to get 3-4 M in the summer

NukaCola

Hangball Doughboy wrote: »

I wish we had someone as snidey as Costa playing for us. Yeah he's a Cnut, but he'd be our Cnut.

Yes, we really miss the goals and work rate of Suarez, but we also miss how much of a Cnut he was to play against.

Sign a top class striker and sign a top quality Cnut(it doesn't have to be two different players) and we have a chance to get something from this season.

We signed a "Cnut" in the summer in the form of MB......turned out he was a useless cnut......

emo72

the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds ands bees. i want money. thats what i want.

NukaCola

Bandana boy wrote: »

Can not dribble
Can not go wide
Can not cross the ball

Thought Can done ok being honest......

mada999

Mr Alan wrote: »

Can have no real complaints.

Not bringing in a decent striker has cost us a League Cup final appearance

Incredibly disappointing

Agreed as a team tonight, we played as good as the players we have.... get this transfer committe the heave ho and get us some fúcking great players not these 'gamble' or potential players as someone said we have the youth players with potential knocking on the door over the next few years.. buy proven attacking players now

Hangballlouie

NukaCola wrote: »

We signed a "Cnut" in the summer in the form of MB......turned out he was a useless cnut......

There are many different types of cnuts in this world, Mario was the wrong type of cnut to replace Luis.

NukaCola

mada999 wrote: »

Agreed as a team tonight, we played as good as the players we have.... get this transfer committe the heave ho and get us some fúcking great players not these 'gamble' or potential players as someone said we have the youth players with potential knocking on the door over the next few years.. buy proven attacking players now

I think Lallana was meant to be one of those "proven" attackers but he is being used sparingly for some reason....

Will I Amnt

RainMaker wrote: »

Got my first ever yellow card tonight! It was worth it though

Jaysus, that match thread was so full of poison and BS, really disgusting at times, mods and everything trying to defend Costa... Think I'll go back to just reading rather than posting

Eh... You had the worst post of all in the thread, you don't get to take the moral high-ground.

fullstop

RainMaker wrote: »

Got my first ever yellow card tonight! It was worth it though

Jaysus, that match thread was so full of poison and BS, really disgusting at times, mods and everything trying to defend Costa... Think I'll go back to just reading rather than posting

Oh yeah your carded post was lovely compared to anything else posted...was there anyone you missed calling scum with that one?

mada999

Gbear wrote: »

We could've played all day and still not scored.

It's a little more worrying than wasteful finishing though.

Nobody in our squad was taking good shots. Nearly everything was low percentage stuff. Hit and hope half vollies, shots on the turn or scuffed efforts.

Makes not bringing on Lallana puzzling. He's probably the only other player we have in the squad, after Sturridge, who can at least in theory score from open play.

to be honest Henderson should have at least hit the target...sure charlie austin at lowly QPR would have burried that....coutinho should have scored too..

mada999

MD1990 wrote: »

Can't understand fans posting alot during the game. I know it only takes a few seconds but I like to concentrate fully on the game.

it's great you should get into it...

mada999

klose wrote: »

Also, i love hendo as much as the next guy and think hes a big player for us but **** me does he bottle it way too often in front of goal. A 1 in 10 return for a starting midfield is pretty woeful.

our midfield players hardly score in fairness, really poor!

mada999

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

If they aren't that special, what does it make us?

They are a quality team and there is no need for silly nonsense just because we lost. We played relatively well over the two legs and gave it a go. Happy enough with that.

we had the chances to put the game to bed in the first leg

mada999

super_furry wrote: »

Sky are talking Costa into a well-earned retrospective red.

good, he deserves a ban for his actions tbh...

mada999

NukaCola wrote: »

Great experience for the young lads and manager. Its a learning curve, next time round we will be better and hopefully have a recognised striker.

nope, FSG will still make the same mistakes instead of consolidating the positives they have....they'll prob sell coutinho in the summer and get some other clown in

mada999

billymitchell wrote: »

(sahko will be a huge loss if he is out)

he made two potential serious gaffs tonight which should have caused goals tonight.... Skrtel was rock solid imo and still our best centre half.. imo

mada999

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Don't know how Henderson missed that header in extra time. Any decent contact and it was a goal. He just glanced at it though.

i think he tried for the spectacular top corner... if he had of hit the middle of the goal he would have scored

mada999

doc_17 wrote: »

Balotelli should never have been signed, should be sold immediately and never spoken of again. I'd honestly rank him as a worse signing than El-Haji Diouf

yup i thought he would have been decent with his £16m price tag, but to be honest the gamble (as always) hasnt paid off.. get rid.. and play Ibe for the rest of the season

billymitchell

mada999 wrote: »

he made two potential serious gaffs tonight which should have caused goals tonight.... Skrtel was rock solid imo and still our best centre half.. imo

Sktrel has been ropey for ages, but he is doing ok since we went to a back three. Sahko and Can are the best part of that formation. imo

mada999

theoneeyedman wrote: »

This makes sense to me . Need to back him now. Can see why (apart from money) sterling is dallying in that he is being flogged and constantly played out of position, and I believe as you suggest no guarantee of BR having the backing of the money men.
loss of sakko was huge tonight, glenjo all over the place and gaping holes when he came on. Also, a typically cheap free conceded (and should have been a second yellow) by Lucy for the goal. THAT'S why he needs to be replaced !

agreed that Sahkos loss was huge i disagree about a second yellow... you can't give a yellow for every foul imo..chelsea central mid players made persistant fouls and got away with them imo

mada999

Charlie19 wrote: »

Well on the plus side:

I watched the first episode of The Wire last night.

And I liked it.

damn i wish I was you with your virgin wire's eyes...what a show.....move on to the shield afterwards, damn you!¬!

Dirty Steve

Balotelli is probably just happy to be getting another big pay day.
Would be worried we might not be able to get rid of him at all.
Depending on what paper is to believed, he's earning between £75-110k a week at Liverpool.
Looking at a financial loss whatever happens; lad is a waste of space and everyone knows it now.

mada999

Gbear wrote: »

Gerrard wasn't too bad but there's not a lot of use having him up there if he's not going to get the ball where he can do anything useful with it.
It's pretty clear to me that he has to be the one Sturridge comes in for.

Agreed he did really feck all, really shows his ages sometimes...other times he made a couple of great tackles

mada999

Demosthenese wrote: »

only for a few scuffed chances we really should have scored.

seems to happen us in most matches this season :mad:

Utopia Parkway

mada999 wrote: »

he made two potential serious gaffs tonight which should have caused goals tonight.... Skrtel was rock solid imo and still our best centre half.. imo

Skrtel also should have conceded a penalty for lunging in when he had no need to.

A bigger mistake than any Sakho made. He just got away with it.

PRAF

Delighted with the recent, sustained upturn in form. Performances seem to be much better. Results much improved too. A real shame though that we lack the killer instinct that we had last year. Praying that Sturridge is back soon and gives us a more clinical edge.

I do think that Rodgers has been a little unlucky with his strikers. Losing Sturridge for so long was bad luck. Ok, we shouldn't be so reliant on him but Rodgers did try to get Costa when it was clear that Suarez wanted out in summer 13 and then tried to get Sanchez after Suarez did leave in summer 14. Both have proven to be sensational signings for their clubs.

Balotelli was a gamble but I don't think anyone could have forseen just how bad it's worked out. The £16m is one thing, but the £16m AND his wages mean we probably can't buy another striker until we sell him. Remy might have been a better fit for us but unfortunately he failed the medical. Perhaps could have bought someone better than Balo if Borini didn't pull the plug on his £14m Sunderland transfer.

Agree with other posters though. We can't afford any more misfiring strikers. Oh to have a world class, fit striker in the team now.

mada999

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Not sure what we'll even get for Ballotelli at this stage. Be lucky to get a bag of footballs for him. Thought we would at least make back most of the money if he flopped. Can't see that now.

this always seems to be the case when we take in 'gambles'... this practise needs to be stopped by FSG imo