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

JohnDaniels

5live wrote: »

Yeah. FSG are buying potential because they are not willing to go down the Andy Carroll route again. With the results of that spree, i don't blame them tbh.

We will have a very young squad next year but i expect there will be additions of experienced players in a few positions, similar to Toure.

We need top level experienced players in their prime, not ones like Toure whose careers are drawing to an end. An injection of 2/3 of those type of players would elevate everthing. Apart from a goalkeeper, we don't really need need much squad work so all the funds should be on finding those couple of quality additions.

Talisman

5live wrote: »

Yeah. FSG are buying potential because they are not willing to go down the Andy Carroll route again. With the results of that spree, i don't blame them tbh.

Andy Carroll was only 22 when he signed for Liverpool. They justified the transfer fee by saying they were paying for potential.

marklazarcovic

stevie ,lucas, skrtel, these are the last real remnants of an era which hopefully is over,one where we failed to win the big prize we all want.. perhaps when they go the club can start a new era so to speak,with players not there years used to not winning it,but hungry,young,almost fearless players who want to become club icons like stevie gerrard himself ...who will go above and beyond what they are contracted to do to win the big prizes .. sturridge strikes me as one who could become a icon,sterling could if he stays long term...

the next bunch of players that win us the league will have stands named after them in the future,how could any footballer not want that...at whatever club... a sad day in some senses,but optimism for the future as the clubs going places on and off the pitch,might take 5 years but i fully believe that if things remain stable with the owners and management then the fruits of that will be a manager gaining experience year on year,honing his team to become winners. exactly like our neighbours and greatest rivals did 30 odd years ago.

thats my feeling on the recent developments at lfc,since fsg took over.

Turtyturd

rarnes1 wrote: »

Carroll was bought as potential too. Wasn't he only 21 or something?

The only problem was we paid about 20m too much

And the lack of potential....don't underestimate that.

8-10

rarnes1 wrote: »

Aspas and Lambert have taken the last two 9 shirts. The two of them together wouldn't even make half a 9!

"I took number 45 because I was joking that four plus five is nine"

J Mysterio

klose wrote: »

More of a yesteryear thing but the 1-11 shirt numbers will and probably be mostly vacant come summer

1-jones- nowhere near the level required, could and should be sold
2-johnson-like gerrard, in the last 6 months of his contract and free to speak to foreign clubs, will hopefully leave.
3-enrique-massively out of favour and with some good full backs in the academy could well be sold. Cant have too much remaining on his contract.
4-toure-again like gerrard and johnson is free to speak to foreign clubs as he has 6 months left on contract. Not much word of it being extended
5-aggers old number, still free to take
6-initally albertos number, now taken by lovren. Probably one of the few playes on the list that will still be here.
7-still vacant after suarez leaving
8-gerrards number 8 becomes free for the first time in ages, this will be interesting to see who he takes.
9-lambert-bar torres the 9 shirt has largely been a miss for a few years now, ricky is a fine back up plan b. could still be here next season more then likely
10- coutinho-almost certainly will be here
11-assaidi, one of the oddest signings in recent times and is not wanted. Probably will be off in the summer.

Bit mad when you think about it.

that's pretty disturbing.

Turtyturd

Turtyturd wrote: »

And the lack of potential....don't underestimate that.

That'd be a good one for a manager to say alright.

"We've paid big money for him because we can see he has a serious lack of potential"

:pac:

Gbear

rarnes1 wrote: »

Carroll was bought as potential too. Wasn't he only 21 or something?

The only problem was we paid about 20m too much

Perversely, it kinda proves the underlying logic behind it.

Even a breathtaking cock-up that ought to stretch the principle well beyond breaking point ended up being mitigated by over half the cost when WHam paid us something like £19m for a loan and the transfer.

If we can manage to salvage that much from a disaster that huge it gives us a lot of flexibility and makes it a lot less likely that we'll spend our way into a hole we can't get out of.

Gbear

Gbear wrote: »

Perversely, it kinda proves the underlying logic behind it.

Even a breathtaking cock-up that ought to stretch the principle well beyond breaking point ended up being mitigated by over half the cost when WHam paid us something like £19m for a loan and the transfer.

If we can manage to salvage that much from a disaster that huge it gives us a lot of flexibility and makes it a lot less likely that we'll spend our way into a hole we can't get out of.

The Carroll transfer was so bloody weird as it tied in with the Torres transfer. No bloody way should we have got 50m for Torres, and no way should have paid 35m for Carroll. We paid about 20m too much as did Chelsea or near it

The difference is Chelsea could afford to, we couldn't. In hindsight we should have just sold Torres and waited until the summer. Hindsight eh

Talisman

JohnDaniels wrote: »

We need top level experienced players in their prime, not ones like Toure whose careers are drawing to an end.

They are clearly not the type of players that are transfer targets for the club.

JohnDaniels

Talisman wrote: »

They are clearly not the type of players that are transfer targets for the club.

Costa, Willian, Sanchez etc. The club has gone after some of these players, the question is will they now push the boat out to make sure we close deals.

Talisman

Cheeky... Ronald Koeman offers Liverpool star Steven Gerrard Premier League lifeline at Southampton (Daily Express)

rossc007

rarnes1 wrote: »

No bloody way should we have got 50m for Torres

At the time Torres looked good value at 50m imo, that changed pretty quick!

Mumha

Talisman wrote: »

They are clearly not the type of players that are transfer targets for the club.

Mid season is a poor time of the year for chasing those type of players though. If you look at last summer, Liverpool were clearly setting their stall out to buy Sanchez, one of the best players at the World Cup. I thought Ayers should have gone for that, in not having a back up or two to go after if the Sanchez deal failed.

For this window, IF he is available, Liverpool should go and get Cech. With Sturridge coming back, we can manage up front, until a big purchase in the summer.

Kerrigooney

Talisman wrote: »

They are clearly not the type of players that are transfer targets for the club.

Indeed. That needs to change or we're going nowhere.

Kerrigooney

Mumha wrote: »

Mid season is a poor time of the year for chasing those type of players though. If you look at last summer, Liverpool were clearly setting their stall out to buy Sanchez, one of the best players at the World Cup. I thought Ayers should have gone for that, in not having a back up or two to go after if the Sanchez deal failed.

For this window, IF he is available, Liverpool should go and get Cech. With Sturridge coming back, we can manage up front, until a big purchase in the summer.

We've already thought Sturridge was coming back twice this season and it hasn't happened. Who's to say he won't break down again as soon as he comes back?

Simple fact is Sturridge can't be relied on and i don't think we can manage up front.

shamrock55

We need to bring more local lads like rossiter, flanagan etc into the squad,we need more heart and desire in the team now that carra and stevie are gone,and more local talent could provide this

J Mysterio

Agree and anyway, Flanno was brilliant last season.

T-K-O

shamrock55 wrote: »

We need to bring more local lads like rossiter, flanagan etc into the squad,we need more heart and desire in the team now that carra and stevie are gone,and more local talent could provide this

Of course, finding the talent is the problem.

Ross barkely?

smileyj1987

T-K-O wrote: »

Of course, finding the talent is the problem.

Ross barkely?

Finding the raw talent is easy . It's all down to nurturing it and keeping the young lads head screwed on when they get their first pro contract because when that happens their is a good chance they will become millionaires !!

Jesus Wept

Mario for captain, it could be just what he needs.

Gerrard was a few levels above where Barkley is now at his age.

T-K-O

smileyj1987 wrote: »

Finding the raw talent is easy . It's all down to nurturing it and keeping the young lads head screwed on when they get their first pro contract because when that happens their is a good chance they will become millionaires !!

I'd beg to differ, who was the last great player we produced?

T-K-O

rarnes1 wrote: »

Gerrard was a few levels above where Barkley is now at his age.

Agreed but You can't replace Gerrard.

Would barkely play for us, anyone?

T-K-O

T-K-O wrote: »

Agreed but You can't replace Gerrard.

Would barkely play for us, anyone?

Everton would never sell unless you gave them stupid money and then the pressure would be on him instantly to produce week in week out. He looks good but is he good enough to be really top player? (not top top)

Harry Palmr

Liverpool don't need a Barkley they need a Claude Makélélé.

Iused2likebusts

Probably the right time for Gerrard to move on. He hasn't got going this year and is probably finding it hard to accept he is no longer one of the top dogs. Some great memories and hopefully he can finish off with a trophy. He obviously wants to play week in week out and id admire him for that.

T-K-O

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Liverpool don't need a Barkley they need a Claude Makélélé.

That's a given but now we also need to replace Gerrard.

Talisman

JohnDaniels wrote: »

Costa, Willian, Sanchez etc. The club has gone after some of these players, the question is will they now push the boat out to make sure we close deals.

At the time we were linked to Willian and Costa neither would have been considered "top level experienced players in their prime". Prior to last season, Costa was scoring a goal every three or four games. But I would agree that the club don't push the boat out to close deals.

Lamela: He was supposedly lined up to replace Kuyt but ended up at Tottenham.
Sigurddson: Tottenham offered a more lucrative contract.
Willian: Liverpool again lost out to Tottenham, Chelsea then hijacked the transfer.
Salah: Chelsea sealed the transfer because we tried to haggle a better deal.
Jovetic: He spoke to Liverpool before signing for Man City.
Costa: He chose to stay in Madrid when Liverpool matched the release cause and used the situation to leverage a better contract for himself.

Sanchez is the one player that would be considered top level before we showed interest and he chose Arsenal. Wenger went to meet the player during the World Cup which probably helped, Benitez took the same approach and it helps the player feel wanted.

Salah's representatives said that Liverpool wanted to talk about money, while Chelsea spoke first about football. I guess money being no object to Chelsea means they only have to talk about football. But a player is more likely going to feel wanted if you talk to them about how they will fit into the team. Mascherano made the same point about Benitez when he first showed up at his door. Benitez showed Mascherano his proposed role in the team using salt and pepper pots, after that money was secondary.

Talisman

Mumha wrote: »

For this window, IF he is available, Liverpool should go and get Cech. With Sturridge coming back, we can manage up front, until a big purchase in the summer.

That's a major risk. He has missed almost half the season due to two injuries and he's not due to be fit to play until the end of January.

Harry Palmr

T-K-O wrote: »

That's a given but now we also need to replace Gerrard.

Wrong I think, Liverpool have Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling, Markovic, Ibe on the books, to buy yet another attacking midfielder would be a shocking misuse of money. I see people saying we should get Xherdan Shaqiri - again another missbuy if that happened. LFC have to live with FFP and as such will need to start to be careful and not spend on positions already filled.

Talisman

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I see people saying we should get Xherdan Shaqiri - again another missbuy if that happened. LFC have to live with FFP and as such will need to start to be careful and not spend on positions already filled.

Shaqiri has to be a replacement for Borini.

Hangballlouie

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Wrong I think, Liverpool have Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling, Markovic, Ibe on the books, to buy yet another attacking midfielder would be a shocking misuse of money. I see people saying we should get Xherdan Shaqiri - again another missbuy if that happened. LFC have to live with FFP and as such will need to start to be careful and not spend on positions already filled.

I agree to an extent but you can never have enough match winners IMO. Sign him, then worry about moving players out that he is better than. I know, easier said than done but it is what is needed. We don't have enough match winners in the squad, it's the reason Utd can play very average all season yet they sit 3rd in the table. At least 4-5 top class match winners.

Osmosis Jones

Wen talking about replacing Gerrard we shouldn't be looking for a similar player, just one of similar stature. We need a big signing and with the freed up wages we should be able to do so. A defensive minded midfielder is the key position we need to invest in I believe, should be looking at players like Strootman and the likes.

J Mysterio

We dont need Shaqiri, we need a striker. Besides, Shaqiri is not as good as people think he is. Theres a reason he doesnt play regularly for Bayern, he's inconsistent for one. Happier with Lallana or sterling out widem

T-K-O

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Wrong I think, Liverpool have Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling, Markovic, Ibe on the books, to buy yet another attacking midfielder would be a shocking misuse of money. I see people saying we should get Xherdan Shaqiri - again another missbuy if that happened. LFC have to live with FFP and as such will need to start to be careful and not spend on positions already filled.

None of those guys can fill Gerrard role,yet...We need someone to inspire the team.

Gbear

This team is geared to provide goals for strikers we don't have.

We cannot function without a proper goal-scorer. It is absolutely paramount that we find one.

We can hobble along with Mignolet and Lucas is grand as a DM but not getting a forward is writing the season off as far as I'm concerned.

theoneeyedman

Re Stevie G, a sad day for the club on a few levels. First and foremost it confirms the ending of a magnificent career at Liverpool of one of the finest players in the clubs history, and one of the finest players of his generation. He served his club well, owes them nothing.
It though, cements how the club is being ran at the moment, and it doesn't reflect well IMHO. I'd St gad a yearning to play elsewhere, ten good for him, but the truth is he has never indicated this before now, and it would appear to me he couldn't agree a new deal with the club.
From where I stand, the management within the club, have sfa idea how to maximise the playing assets at their disposal. They have signed hundreds of millions of players over the last 5-10 years, with little or no improvement. Players like Mario, Sakko, Marko, Lalana, were signed over last 2 years for megabucks, and we don't know what to do with them. Others like lovren appear to have been poorly scouted. Now we see Gerrard leaving, when clearly if managed properly, he could contribute both on and off the field for another couple of years.
I have reservations over The Rodgers at times, but all aspects of player management are not fitting of a club of the size of Liverpool imo.
That all being said, Godspeed Stevie, thanks for the memories. When the dust settles, we'll be able to properly assess where in the League of Liverpool Legends he sits, very near to the top I'd say.

Osmosis Jones

Gbear wrote: »

This team is geared to provide goals for strikers we don't have.

We cannot function without a proper goal-scorer. It is absolutely paramount that we find one.

We can hobble along with Mignolet and Lucas is grand as a DM but not getting a forward is writing the season off as far as I'm concerned.

Just to clear up the top class DM talked is directed more towards summer with Gerrard's departure.

Turtyturd

T-K-O wrote: »

None of those guys can fill Gerrard role,yet...We need someone to inspire the team.

When was his last inspirational moment though?

5live

T-K-O wrote: »

None of those guys can fill Gerrard role,yet...We need someone to inspire the team.

We aren't going to find a player to fill Gerrards boots. He was a once-off, a freak, if you will. Maybe Rossiter could be a similar type player but he will have different strengths and weaknesses, as will any other player bought to fill the position.

What we need are one or two leaders in the team, regardless of where in the team they play, and ones that are better than what we have available atm.

MD1990

Turtyturd wrote: »

When was his last inspirational moment though?

3 weeks ago vs Basle

Harry Palmr

T-K-O wrote: »

None of those guys can fill Gerrard role,yet...We need someone to inspire the team.

You make it sound like you can just go out and buy a ready made player, if so Ross Barkley is hardly that (young) man.

The side works perfectly well without Gerrard these days that should continue to be the case provided we get a couple of strikers in this calender year, a DM and a keeper.

Agent Coulson

You can't replace a Gerrard in his prime and even less prime.

In the 3-4-3 system and even if we played the same system of last season you don't need a player like Gerrard for them to work at there best.

When you have a player like Gerrard you have to play him as Rodgers has found even if that hurts those systems.

The club the manager the transfer committee need to be looking for players who will suit the systems the manager wants to play not looking for a Gerrard replacement because there is no player who can replace him.

Talisman

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Just to clear up the top class DM talked is directed more towards summer with Gerrard's departure.

I'd be very surprised if we sign such a player. We're linked with moves for Fabian Delph and James Milner, neither of whom fit the criteria.

JohnDaniels

Soft Falling Rain

I think we missed the boat in spending big on one or two players lads. We could have done it with the Suarez money but rightly or wrongly, that money is spent.

The reality is that FFP is going to limit us. Maybe the club could go all in on one class player without signing other filler next summer but imagine the reaction if it goes wrong?

The terms "eggs in one basket" and "reckless gambling" comes to mind.

The owners and manager are in a poxy situation basically, of their own doing you could argue. But regardless of what strategy they go with they're going to be strung up either way if it goes wrong.

BMMachine

Well, going to be harder to sign AAA class players now that they know they wont be playing with Gerrard

As well as a striker that scores lots & a new keeper, I'd like a DM that gets the head up and has a good pass, Can might be that for us. Given the recent tinkering with set up & formation I'd like us to stick with .............

Keeper
2CBs and Can as a 3rd, Moreno & Manquilla as WBs
Lucas & Hendo with Lucas DM and Hendo CM....
Lallana, Sterling & Coutinho...........

I do reckon Borini is gone in Jan so someone strikerish will be coming in, have a feeling it'll be Bony and I'm not overly enthused.

Allen could cover for Lucas with Hendo and Can on the pitch imo.

Osmosis Jones

Sky Italy reporters now saying we've put in a bid of €14m for Shaqiri