Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2015 Mod Note in OP 9/4

niallo27

Biggest regret of the season for me is we never Sturridge and Mario up front together. Could have worked.

donfers

The home defeat to Man U was when Top 4 was blown, even a draw there and we'd still have a good chance but losing the key games will hurt you and we've too much to do and show no signs of being able to do it

murpho999

Agent Coulson wrote: »

We need to score more goals?

Then why always leave our fit strikers on the bench or out of the match day squad?

Borini, Balotelli & Lambert may not be the long term options but there are all proven PL goal scorers with other teams.

So maybe if we played strikers and maybe play two of them up front together and maybe we play to their strengths we might have scored goals.


But I really think Rodgers would never play a striker if he could get away with it.

In my opinion all three had their chances and were shown to be not good enough.

Borini being the worst of the three I wouldn't call him a proven goalscorer and he has done nothing in 3 seasons in a Liverpool jersey.

Morzadec

Knex. wrote: »

To be honest, I've never really thought top 4 was viable. Even more so since the United game.

Before the United game, in fact a couple of game before I thought we were favourites. So much hinged on that game - it was a pivotal result.

If we had won we would be firm favourites now, 1 point behind with a game in hand.

If we had drawn we'd be very slight underdogs but with all to play for being 3 points behind with a game in hand and inferior GD

There hasn't been a whole lot between us and United in general this season. Both teams have weaknesses and it's almost been a case of who's been worse. I think there's been better 4th placed teams in seasons gone by.

But they turned up with an excellent performance that day and their injuries actually worked well for them with Mata getting a chance in his preferred role and being clinical with his chance.

I do believe we probably would have managed to get a point if Gerrard hadn't blown it. These are fine margins. That match was the key match and we would have every chance if we had got something from that game. Gerrard's moment of madness probably cost us in that game and as a result maybe cost us top 4.

I know there's hundreds of moments you can point to over the course of the season, but that match was clearly the pivotal match and that moment possibly a pivotal moment (of course there's no guarantee we would have got something from the game).

Anyway, my point is that we were capable of getting top 4 this season. It wasn't an impossible dream. So much so that we can probably boil it down to just one match. But United turned up for the important day and we didn't.

They deserved the win on the whole so as a result they will deservedly take the 4th slot

sweetie

murpho999 wrote:

Borini being the worst of the three I wouldn't call him a proven goalscorer and he has done nothing in 3 seasons in a Liverpool jersey.

Was he allowed wear his pool Jersey at Sunderland?

murpho999

sweetie wrote: »

Was he allowed wear his pool Jersey at Sunderland?

No, but the fact he was sent there is enough.

Scoring a few goals in a relegation fighting team is not the level required for Liverpool and he has shown that in the times he has played for us.

Offered us nothing except his "excellent movement" that dazzled so many people, including himself!

MightyMandarin

To think we could've got 14m for him last summer, only for him to insist on staying.

The little f*cker...:mad:

JohnDaniels

MightyMandarin wrote: »

To think we could've got 14m for him last summer, only for him to insist on staying.

The little f*cker...:mad:

I had forgotten all about that. The ****er! It shows the value a well planned loan deal can have for players. We'll probably be lucky to get 4-5m for him now.

Speaking of loan deals, anyone know how Illori has gotten on this season?

donfers

we need full-backs

Yakult

Good job Everton. Still giving us a glimer of hope for fourth position. Believe.

5starpool

Yakult wrote: »

Good job Everton. Still giving us a glimer of hope for fourth position. Believe.

Be less silly.

JohnDaniels

donfers wrote: »

we need full-backs

We need to know what formation the manager favours going forward. If he wants to continue playing 3 at the back next season, scouting and buying fullbacks like Manquillo is a waste of time as a wingback. It is crazy after three years under Rodgers that we have no real identity or formation as a team.

DVDM93

murpho999 wrote: »

In my opinion all three had their chances and were shown to be not good enough.

Borini being the worst of the three I wouldn't call him a proven goalscorer and he has done nothing in 3 seasons in a Liverpool jersey.

3 seasons? Jesus. He's done so little since his arrival that I'm actually surprised to hear it's already been 3 seasons. I'm genuinely struggling to remember anything he's done in a Liverpool jersey in those 3 years. Thinking of the fact that he refused a move after bumping up his value to 14m with that nice run at Sunderland and fcuked up the only way he could have actually been beneficial to us makes me upset. That said he was only staying to try and prove himself a starter, can't blame a man for that.

Perhaps I'm being unfair in some ways given a few of his injuries and never really given a chance (as some say) But fcuk it, my annoyance at blowing 14m overpowers any sympathy I have for him.

Football is a results/performance game as so many sacked managers have seen in such short periods of time. So I'm sorry Fabio but it's sh1t or get off the pot and I've lost patience at this stage. All of my genuine best wishes go to you in your future career but goodbye.

That said, who'll want him now for anything more than the price of a few extra bibs and cones for training or a box of Freddos? Has he even done enough so we can throw together one of them Youtube videos that can make a poor player look world class to advertise him to potential buyers? West Ham have been good to us recycling our waste.

^^^ Harsh.

noodler

niallo27 wrote: »

Biggest regret of the season for me is we never Sturridge and Mario up front together. Could have worked.

I don't think it could have.

The win at WHL came so early in the season and was Ballotelli's debut so it seems etched in the mind of fans.

All Mario's problems aside, alot of our good run in 2015 probabaly coincided with Sturridge playing and I don't think Mario could have helped.

NukaCola

MightyMandarin wrote: »

To think we could've got 14m for him last summer, only for him to insist on staying.

The little f*cker...:mad:

JohnDaniels wrote: »

I had forgotten all about that. The ****er!

Imagine, a player we signed and under contract wanting to stay to fight for his place....

JohnDaniels

NukaCola wrote: »

Imagine, a player we signed and under contract wanting to stay to fight for his place....

He stayed because he couldn't come to an agreement over wages? He was told in no uncertain terms he was surplus to requirement. He'll probably run down his contract and leave on a free now. Stay and fight for his place, lol

Caovyn Lineah

Borini was well within his rights to do what he did. He should have played a lot more games this season.

Caovyn Lineah

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

Borini was well within his rights to do what he did. He should have played a lot more games this season.

No he shouldn't have imo. He's a bit of headless chicken and not up to the standard required.

He'll be gone in the summer and rightly so

JohnDaniels

He has no pace, no quality on the ball and always has his head down which in turn means no vision. He works hard and does make intelligent runs but is light years below the level needed and should have played less not more this season. The major thing that comes from Fabio Borini is more doubts abot the managers ability to buy players as Fabio was I would say 100% pushed by Rodgers.

Caovyn Lineah

rarnes1 wrote: »

No he shouldn't have imo. He's a bit of headless chicken and not up to the standard required.

He'll be gone in the summer and rightly so

When we were playing Sterling up front, that should have been Borini instead with Sterling out wide. It took away from the team not having a proper striker in the side, his movement and intelligent runs he makes would have also been an asset with Coutinhos passes.

He'll be gone no doubt but I think he was treated rather harshly this season.

Harry Palmr

Liverpool scouts watched Benfica v Porto, presumably looking at Martinez but so are scouts from about 10 other clubs! Ended 0-0 though.

Lacazette has scored again.

Vicxas

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

He'll be gone no doubt but I think he was treated rather harshly this season.

Absolutely. Been treated like a piece of dirt. Poor fella.

MightyMandarin

NukaCola wrote: »

Imagine, a player we signed and under contract wanting to stay to fight for his place....

If he thought he was going to get games, I would seriously question his intelligence. It's a nice thought that he wanted to stay, but he's absolute garbage and has been from day 1.

His only contribution could've been a ridiculously over-priced transfer fee for Sunderland, but his ego got in the way and he sat on the bench just like his first season.

A total waste of space and wages, and I sincerely hope he's cleared out along with the rest of the rubbish the committee has bought.

MightyMandarin

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

When we were playing Sterling up front, that should have been Borini instead with Sterling out wide. It took away from the team not having a proper striker in the side, his movement and intelligent runs he makes would have also been an asset with Coutinhos passes.

He'll be gone no doubt but I think he was treated rather harshly this season.

At least Sterling has some sort of finishing ability. Borini has some of the worst finishing ability in a striker I've seen. Pretty much his only meaningful stat is his runs and movement, but what good is that if you can't score?

J Mysterio

Spot on Caovyn - i'm confident Borini would have got a few goals if he was given more of a chance. Same goes for Balotelli, thought he was ok against WB.

Caovyn Lineah

MightyMandarin wrote: »

At least Sterling has some sort of finishing ability. Borini has some of the worst finishing ability in a striker I've seen. Pretty much his only meaningful stat is his runs and movement, but what good is that if you can't score?

How the hell can you expect a player to get any decent run of form going when he is getting 10 minute appearances? Football works on confidence and momentum, Borini has never been given a chance to get either up and running at Liverpool. He proved at Sunderland he can get goals and that was in a god awful team.

Edit: I'd guarantee, put Borini in the positions Sterling got into against United at Old Trafford and he leaves with at least 2 goals, Sterling wasted 3/4 simple chances.

mav79

No wonder we are being linked with Illarramendi at the moment, he is looking completely out of his depth at Real now. Celta are going through them like there is no midfield at all there.

mosstin

Has Will been in today at all? Need to get in touch. It's just that I assumed he hung out here every Sunday evening.

mosstin

mav79 wrote: »

No wonder we are being linked with Illarramendi at the moment, he is looking completely out of his depth at Real now. Celta are going through them like there is no midfield at all there.

Don't you mean.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ45u38deRM

MightyMandarin

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

How the hell can you expect a player to get any decent run of form going when he is getting 10 minute appearances? Football works on confidence and momentum, Borini has never been given a chance to get either up and running at Liverpool. He proved at Sunderland he can get goals and that was in a god awful team.

He got about 10 goals at Sunderland while playing pretty much every week. That's hardly proof that he's an unbelievable finisher who should've started for us when Sturridge was injured.

Charlie Austin has 17 goals playing in an abysmal QPR side, but not in million years would I want us to start Austin unless he proved himself in the PL over a number of years. Even then, Austin is a much better player than Fabio.

smileyj1987

Tony Barrett @TonyBarretTimes · 43m 43 minutes ago

My understanding on Memphis Depay is Liverpool & PSG are the only clubs to have held talks with him up to now. Obviously that could change.

Caovyn Lineah

MightyMandarin wrote: »

He got about 10 goals at Sunderland while playing pretty much every week. That's hardly proof that he's an unbelievable finisher who should've started for us when Sturridge was injured.

Charlie Austin has 17 goals playing in an abysmal QPR side, but not in million years would I want us to start Austin unless he proved himself in the PL over a number of years. Even then, Austin is a much better player than Fabio.

I never said he was an unbelievable finisher, I said he has proven when given a run in a team, he can get goals.

LuckyLloyd

Gbear wrote: »

That just sounds like sheer childishness.

We can't have them now, so suck it up.

Our current squad won't always be young, we won't be selling all of them and we certainly won't be selling all of them in one go.

You always need to have started these systems 5 years earlier. That's always going to present problems in the here and now, before the system delivers, but that doesn't mean we're doing the wrong thing.

If Sterling is to leave it's going to shake any faith I had in the 'system'.

MightyMandarin

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

I never said he was an unbelievable finisher, I said he has proven when given a run in a team, he can get goals.

Even if we started him every game, I still doubt he would've helped us to reach the top4. He might reach double figures if he played with a bigger player alongside him like at Sunderland, but alone he is nothing. He's short, slow and can easily be brushed off the ball.

Caovyn Lineah

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

If Sterling is to leave it's going to shake any faith I had in the 'system'.

If Depay signs, it's the end of Sterling at Liverpool.

SlickRic

Utd losing their last 2 just accentuates how pathetic our recent form has been.

Just fúcking awful.

tritium

SlickRic wrote: »

Utd losing their last 2 just accentuates how pathetic our recent form has been.

Just fúcking awful.

United losing just makes the result yesterday far far worse......

NukaCola

JohnDaniels wrote: »

He stayed because he couldn't come to an agreement over wages? He was told in no uncertain terms he was surplus to requirement. He'll probably run down his contract and leave on a free now. Stay and fight for his place, lol

Thats what he said. Doesn't matter anyway, contracts require two partys to agree, as do transfers. He was well within his rights to stay.

Caovyn Lineah

SlickRic wrote: »

Utd losing their last 2 just accentuates how pathetic our recent form has been.

Just fúcking awful.

We've lost 2 league games since the middle of December, cop yourself on.

Hidalgo

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

We've lost 2 league games since the middle of December, cop yourself on.

No need for the aggression.

Harry Palmr

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

If Sterling is to leave it's going to shake any faith I had in the 'system'.

Which system? To turn £1 million players into £30-40 million players and then buy £25 million players? Looks like a smash hit to me!

SlickRic

SlickRic wrote: »

Utd losing their last 2 just accentuates how pathetic our recent form has been.

Just fúcking awful.

20 points from the last 10 games is f***ing awful?
Please get real.

Caovyn Lineah

Hidalgo wrote: »

No need for the aggression.

Aggression? Really?
We've lost 2 games in 5+ months, how is that awful form?

NukaCola

MightyMandarin wrote: »

If he thought he was going to get games, I would seriously question his intelligence. It's a nice thought that he wanted to stay, but he's absolute garbage and has been from day 1.

His only contribution could've been a ridiculously over-priced transfer fee for Sunderland, but his ego got in the way and he sat on the bench just like his first season.

A total waste of space and wages, and I sincerely hope he's cleared out along with the rest of the rubbish the committee has bought.

I agree mostly and I understand the frustration many have that he didnt go. In fact, i think that transfer could have been an excellent move for him, however he was well within his rights to stay as he has a contract.

MightyMandarin

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

Aggression? Really?
We've lost 2 games in 5+ months, how is that awful form?

We lost the 3 most crucial games in our season which, if we won them, would've handed us a cup final and probably CL football.

If that's not a disaster, I don't know what is.

Caovyn Lineah

MightyMandarin wrote: »

We lost the 3 most crucial games in our season which, if we won them, would've handed us a cup final and probably CL football.

If that's not a disaster, I don't know what is.

We've lost 2 league games in 4 months. Against 2 superior teams.

NukaCola

MightyMandarin wrote: »

We lost the 3 most crucial games in our season which, if we won them, would've handed us a cup final and probably CL football.

If that's not a disaster, I don't know what is.

Damage was done well before christmas......

MightyMandarin

NukaCola wrote: »

Damage was done well before christmas......

If we beat United and Arsenal we'd sit in top4 right now and barring a bottling of last year's proportions, we would've gotten CL football.

Caovyn Lineah wrote: »

We've lost 2 league games in 4 months. Against 2 superior teams.

Last 4 months doesn't count for sh*t. We lost the 3 most crucial games in the season which could've turned a complete failure, which this season was, into a success.

Caovyn Lineah

MightyMandarin wrote: »

If we beat United and Arsenal we'd sit in top4 right now and barring a bottling of last year's proportions, we would've gotten CL football.



Last 4 months doesn't count for sh*t. We lost the 3 most crucial games in the season which could've turned a complete failure, which this season was, into a success.

Would it have been OK if we'd lost to Arsenal in January and United in February? Is it just that they were one after the other that bothers you?

NukaCola

MightyMandarin wrote: »

If we beat United and Arsenal we'd sit in top4 right now and barring a bottling of last year's proportions, we would've gotten CL football.

The point is, when you have 22 points from your first 17 games you leave yourself too much to do.

What your saying is if we went unbeaten and won every game since the 3-0 loss to Utd we'll be 4th now, yet its unreasonable to expect that to happen. We'd also need to continue to win our remaining games to make sure of top 4.

A loss to Utd and being beaten by Arsenal is no disgrace, the first half of our season done us, not losing to Utd and Arsenal.