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

mooseknunkle

mooseknunkle wrote: »

Its on Setanta also

Clearer picture on 5 Live

Kirby

Indeed. The satellite that Setanta uses is horrible. Go with BBC.

mosstin

garra wrote: »

If he scores / assists or plays a few key passes in first half, would you still think it's a bad idea to play him from the start? Sometimes you have to consider motivation when selecting a team, Gerrard is that type of player who loves the battle of the derby and thrives in that sort of ol fashioned english game.
He comes into his own in these games by (yes, still) inspiring those around him to believe we have the right to win, to dominate. Above all you know he will leave it out there, being his last game against Everton. He starts.

Your opening question there beggars belief.

YouTookMyName

Kerrigooney

Put it on BBC HD and then watch it through the bottom of a jam jar for the Setanta effect.

MarkY91

them valentine cards are epic. :L :L :L

Bandana boy

Francie Barrett wrote: »

If we finish 5th - how would people feel about him then?

What position we finish in is as much to do with the teams around us as our own doing ,that is true this and to be fair any other season.
If he has the team set up correctly and motivated ,if he addresses tactically the positions we are weak and performs adequately in the transfer market with the budget he is given ,then I support him if we finish 8th.
The questions being asked in November were more about the performances than the results (for me anyway). Ignore problems in the future and expect the knives to come out again.

Charlie19

https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/562702987181953024

MR NINE

MR NINE wrote: »

Out of curiosity are there still many posters who would want Rodgers sacked tomorrow?

I'm still fully in favour of Rodgers

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93439311&postcount=6810

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93439126&postcount=6788

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93438961&postcount=6766

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93389057&postcount=6033

Knex*

Arsenal version of the cards above from YLYL

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=94127699#post94127699

Dickerty

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Ryan McLaughlin has been linked with Rotherham but no word on that.

He has really dropped off the radar, with injuries and loan spells that didn't go anywhere. He needs a full fit season on loan in the Championship, then I would expect him to be almost ready to start for us. He'd be a great wing back if we persist with a back 3.
And Wisdom would be a good RCB, with Can central, Sakho left and Moreno on the other wing...

Francie Barrett

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Ryan McLaughlin has been linked with Rotherham but no word on that.

It's a real shame about McLaughlin. Two years ago I would have put money on him making it at a high level in football. Since then, it appears that he's gone backwards if anything.

garra

mosstin wrote: »

Your opening question there beggars belief.

So... thats a "No" then??

Sir Gallagher

Dickerty wrote: »

He has really dropped off the radar, with injuries and loan spells that didn't go anywhere. He needs a full fit season on loan in the Championship, then I would expect him to be almost ready to start for us.

Jesus, you have low standards pal.

gafferino

Any team news leaked for tonight?

Dickerty

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Jesus, you have low standards pal.

Did you watch many underage over the last few seasons? He's a superb young FB, bags of pace, tenacious, eye for a cross or a goal. As a defender, he needs more work (as most young defenders do), but he makes up for that in attack.

12 or 18 months ago, i would have put him ahead of Flanno and Wisdom as our future FB, but he has stagnated and too many injuries. But he's only 20, he has time in his side.

LuckyLloyd

If he's good enough he'll make it at the top level. In all likelihood he isn't good enough and won't make it. Getting attached to youth players is pointless. Plenty more meat coming through.

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

If he's good enough he'll make it at the top level. In all likelihood he isn't good enough and won't make it. Getting attached to youth players is pointless. Plenty more meat coming through.

No more attached to him than to Sinclair, Jones, Rossiter, Wilson, Kent - any of them could make, law of averages said maybe one of them does.
No skin off my nose, but it's a better pot of players than we have had for some time...

LuckyLloyd

Dickerty wrote: »

No more attached to him than to Sinclair, Jones, Rossiter, Wilson, Kent - any of them could make, law of averages said maybe one of them does.
No skin off my nose, but it's a better drop than we have had for some time...

Meh, we've had supposed great crops before that didn't pan out. Sterling is this decade's big breakthrough. Flanno could contribute for some time. Kelly wasn't quite good enough. Gerrard / Carra / Owen / McManaman / Fowler

If you produce a couple of long term first team starters every decade you're probably doing okay all things considered.

Harry Palmr

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Meh, we've had supposed great crops before that didn't pan out. Sterling is this decade's big breakthrough. Flanno could contribute for some time. Kelly wasn't quite good enough. Gerrard / Carra / Owen / McManaman / Fowler

If you produce a couple of long term first team starters every decade you're probably doing okay all things considered.

Its your enthusiasm that so endears you to us Lucky! The currenet crop are easily the best footballers since that 90s generation. They leave the Richie Partridge, John Welsh, Zak Whitbread era standing.

Turtyturd

It's hard to get behind the youth players seeing as they are not real men, big names players, or big game winners.

LuckyLloyd

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Its your enthusiasm that so endears you to us Lucky! The currenet crop are easily the best footballers since that 90s generation. They leave the Richie Partridge, John Welsh, Zak Whitbread era standing.

Turtyturd wrote: »

It's hard to get behind the youth players seeing as they are not real men, big names players, or big game winners.

I'm a 31 year old man not involved in youth coaching or youth player development. It's not weird for me to simply not give two ****s about ten a penny 16 to 20 year old footballers. The world is full of talented players in that age bracket who possess great physical or technical traits or both. Most won't make it at the top level no matter how good they appear to be at youth or reserve level. The conveyor belt rolls at pace. Plenty of parents and kids willing to sacrifice it all to chase the dream.

Dickerty

Agreed, it's not weird to not care, but when a player like Sterling comes through, or Stevie/Jamie from the last generation, it feels like unearthing the Hope Diamond, rather than buying it at auction.
So it is also not weird to get excited about the possibilities...

kfallon

Has the team been leaked for tonight yet?
Sturridge should start imo but he prob won't

Dickerty

kfallon wrote: »

Has the team been leaked for tonight yet?
Sturridge should start imo but he prob won't

I don't think he should start, not for this game. We should be able to do with Lambert or Borini tonight to start, and Sturridge for the Everton game...

Harry Palmr

Liverpool committed to two games in Australia next summer - Brisbane and Sydney I think.

Oh yes -

Henrikh Mkhitaryan wishes to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season, according to his agent, Mino Raiola.

The Armenian star has never quite delivered on his potential at the Westfalenstadion and is looking to exit once BVB's battle against Bundesliga relegation is decided.

"Henrikh wants to leave Dortmund at the end of the season," said Raiola, per Bild (h/t Stefan Coerts of Goal.com). "We will have to wait and see what we can do."

I doubt Liverpool will be interested

kfallon

Dickerty wrote: »

I don't think he should start, not for this game. We should be able to do with Lambert or Borini tonight to start, and Sturridge for the Everton game...

I understand why people don't want him to start but he's missed half a season and needs to get his sharpness back asap, that will come with games so I think tonight would be perfect to get 70 mins or so into him!

the kelt

kfallon wrote: »

Has the team been leaked for tonight yet?
Sturridge should start imo but he prob won't

Rodgers has said that it may be a few weeks before Sturridge is starting games.

I think he is right, he is still way short of match fitness and its too much of a risk to throw him in at the deep end straight away particularly bearing in mind the type of injuries he has had.

Dickerty

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I doubt Liverpool will be interested

We don't need him now, Coutinho and Sterling can both play that #10, and Lallana also in theory...

Harry Palmr

I must admit that a bit of me is delighted that he wants out, Dortmund going down! :pac:

Nerdlingr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I must admit that a bit of me is delighted that he wants out, Dortmund going down! :pac:

Yeah, same with Salah. Delighted they made the wrong choice in turning us down.

T-K-O

Dickerty wrote: »

We don't need him now, Coutinho and Sterling can both play that #10, and Lallana also in theory...

This. We should raid BVB in the summer but not for this guy.

Dickerty

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I must admit that a bit of me is delighted that he wants out, Dortmund going down! :pac:

That would be an astounding, from CL final to 2. Bundesliga, an amazing fall from grace, especially considering they still have so many of their stars...

K-9

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Meh, we've had supposed great crops before that didn't pan out. Sterling is this decade's big breakthrough. Flanno could contribute for some time. Kelly wasn't quite good enough. Gerrard / Carra / Owen / McManaman / Fowler

If you produce a couple of long term first team starters every decade you're probably doing okay all things considered.

I do think Kelly was good enough to easily be a squad player, we never found out though, terrible shame!

Sterling is the obvious one but Flanagan and Wisdom are fine as well, seem well able for PL football.

Dortmund far from gone.

2 points from safety with 16 or so games to go

Dickerty

T-K-O wrote: »

This. We should raid BVB in the summer but not for this guy.

Yep, if they DO go (and I think they'll find the wins to survive), then you can expect Reus, Hummels, Bender, Mkhitaryan, Gundogan, Pisztzek, Immobile, Kagawa, Aubemayang at least to leave.

The first 3 would do nicely...

Knex*

Insane to think a team can go down with that much talent.

I'd imagine Champions league would be needed to secure those players.

Or has that argument been disbanded this season....

LuckyLloyd

K-9 wrote: »

I do think Kelly was good enough to easily be a squad player, we never found out though, terrible shame!

Sterling is the obvious one but Flanagan and Wisdom are fine as well, seem well able for PL football.

I liked Kelly, but he had injury troubles and Rodgers obviously didn't fancy him too much. It's great to see him doing well at Palace.

The jury is out until Wisdom gets a run for us, but I agree it's promising.

Flanno was great last season, very solid for an extended period. Shame about the injury - hopefully it doesn't set him back hugely. Kelly looked equally good for a run under Dalglish and injuries scuppered his future with the club essentially.

==============

Generally though, from a fan's perspective trying to follow this stuff is wasted energy. I have a good mate who works as a full time youth football coach and the amount of variables that matter in assessing a player are huge. Watching them play games (and this is counter intuitive) at youth or reserve team level is a small part of the assessment as all of those games are out of context. Their personality / their aptitude for the game / their workrate in the training facility / their physical traits are massively important and - as much as we like to think we know - it's impossible to get an inside track on those things.

Then, when a player does break into the first team squad or show promise on loan, etc you have to take that with a pinch of salt also - as that first run of games is still out of context. A new young player up against players that have never played him before can do very well initially. But then the first team coaches get video tape and as a season progresses he's beginning to face opponents who have received a report on how he prefers to receive the ball; what foot he's more comfortable on; what passes he looks for, etc. It gets harder and - allied to that - we're finding out about the player physically for the first time as they're being tested across a run of the most physically demanding games for the first time in their career.

There are so many examples of kids getting their chance at first team level in the Prem and looking brilliant for a handful of games before regressing quite quickly. That regression can go all the way down the league structure and out of football, or it can be short term and the player can recover to be great ala Sterling.

Ultimately if they end up being good enough they become part of the squad and part of the same player assessment conversation as your 26 year old World Class star or ageing 34 year old club legend. That's where my interest begins really. If I'm being brutally honest I have always found the fascination with trying to follow youth teams on here baffling. If I had an interest in the development of young men I'd be looking for work as a teacher, social worker, etc or go get my coaching badges and get involved. There's plenty of use for volunteers willing to work positively with young people in this country. Investing time in following a 17 year old kid from Spain who is overwhelmingly likely to be ****ed out of Melwood in a couple of years is an...interesting hobby I guess.

K-9

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I liked Kelly, but he had injury troubles and Rodgers obviously didn't fancy him too much. It's great to see him doing well at Palace.

Obviously?

I'd say it was more more obvious that we couldn't take the risk on him any more, probably little Rodgers could do, the guy was always injured.

LuckyLloyd

K-9 wrote: »

Obviously?

I'd say it was more more obvious that we couldn't take the risk on him any more, probably little Rodgers could do, the guy was always injured.

I'm not blaming Rodgers in that or anything - no need to be on high alert.

He was fit when we moved him on, and who knows one more shot might have done it but I get why we decided not to take it. As it is, there's no guarantee that he'll stay healthy for the rest of his career.

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

He was fit when we moved him on, and who knows one more shot might have done it but I get why we decided not to take it. As it is, there's no guarantee that he'll stay healthy for the rest of his career.

He had so many false dawns, and he needed games to build up fitness, so we could not rely on him enough - it was best that he moved on.

MightyMandarin

Dickerty wrote: »

Yep, if they DO go (and I think they'll find the wins to survive), then you can expect Reus, Hummels, Bender, Mkhitaryan, Gundogan, Pisztzek, Immobile, Kagawa, Aubemayang at least to leave.

The first 3 would do nicely...

Aside from his injury-proneness, Gundogan is a top player and I'd take him in a heartbeat, before Bender too. We'd have little chance of getting Hummels and Reus so Gundogan should be the main target should we raid Dortmund.

Sir Gallagher

Im with Loyd with regards following the youth set up, bit of a waste of time imo. Although wouldn't knock any fan taking an interest. Too many false dawns over the years, Nemeth, Pacheco, Dalle Valle, Spearing, Amoo, Suso, Plessis, Kelly, Ince etc. etc. Never quite made the grade for one reason or another, sad really.

That said, I am excited to see how Ibe pans out. Hooefully he'll feature tonight.

whatawaster

A priority in the summer needs to be someone who can take set pieces. I cry every time Henderson stands over a direct free kick.

gafferino

Nice touch from the club.....

8-10

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Im with Loyd with regards following the youth set up, bit of a waste of time imo. Although wouldn't knock any fan taking an interest. Too many false dawns over the years, Nemeth, Pacheco, Dalle Valle, Spearing, Amoo, Suso, Plessis, Kelly, Ince etc. etc. Never quite made the grade for one reason or another, sad really.

I agree I never really understand the fans who follow the youth set up but each to their own really, I've said here before that I am a supporter, but to me that only means first team. Underage trophies/games don't excite me and I don't tend to watch them.

I don't think it's unique to Liverpool though, most teams buy in players rather than have them come through the system, at EPL level anyway.

The ones that come through like Rossiter and Ibe recently obviously hold a lot more interest. But I couldn't care less about how such and such a 16/17 yr old played in the U-21's last week or on loan at Brentford etc.

Harsh perhaps, but that's a lot of time to invest in a lot of players who will never play for Liverpool's first team. Not knocking people's interest mind, just not for everybody.

Dickerty

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

That said, I am excited to see how Ibe pans out. Hooefully he'll feature tonight.

Is he not cup tied?

asdfgh86

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

That said, I am excited to see how Ibe pans out. Hooefully he'll feature tonight.

I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. :pac:

Dickerty

whatawaster wrote: »

A priority in the summer needs to be someone who can take set pieces. I cry every time Henderson stands over a direct free kick.

Coutinho should take them IMO, since he's not much of a threat in the box or around the edge.

Always confused me why more full backs don't take corners, for example, when they are often some of the best crossers...