Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 15/16

redzerdrog

dogbert27 wrote: »

Caulker on loan.

Final nail in the Enrique coffin. He really should look for a club in Spain at this stage.

Don't see how the two relate

I agree that Enrique should be looking to return to Spain though

tok9

Only a loan deal, that's fine by me. He'll be cover and if he's useless we only have to worry about him for a few months.

dogbert27

redzerdrog wrote: »

Don't see how the two relate

I agree that Enrique should be looking to return to Spain though

He had a chance to show something at CB the other night against a league 2 team and did nothing.

Smith is ahead of him in the pecking order for a LB start at this stage.

I liked Enrique but he really is turning in to a wasted footballer.

Knex*

Just glad we got him on loan, and didn't actually fork out.

BorneTobyWilde

A journey man?
Signed a few contracts with clubs only for them to send him packing on loan
Must be a reason no one wants him

Boom_Bap

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

A journey man?
Signed a few contracts with clubs only for them to send him packing on loan
Must be a reason no one wants him

Left Spurs because he wanted to play, then got relegated alot as no bigger team wanted to take a chance on him.

I wouldn't call him a journeyman, a guy that wants to play and had to move clubs a bit to stay in the premier league.

If I recall correctly, he had some excellent stats but always got relegated.

Knex*

Is this a Brendan Rodger signing so, or the transfer committee?

MightyMandarin

Knex. wrote: »

Just glad we got him on loan, and didn't actually fork out.

This. At least we've nothing to lose when it becomes apparent that Caulker is indeed sh*t. At least we won't have wasted £20m on another sh*t CB.

BorneTobyWilde

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-owen-insists-liverpool-can-7164444

Michael Owen believes Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League this season.

“It’s going to be quite tough but you couldn’t really want it any easier," says the BT Sport pundit.

“Chelsea, for me, I don’t think they are going to get top four. You’d have expected them to be nailed on, but they are out of it. If Liverpool finish a place under 3rd and a place above 5th they will have a good chance of 4th ''

K-9

If it's basically an emergency loan to provide cover over the next month, fair enough. I'd presume our preferred target, whoever that is, just isn't available in January.

Lord Trollington

redzerdrog wrote: »

Given that a recent game we had Jose Enrique as CB and Ilori was replaced by Joe Maguire I am happy that Caulker will add some depth in the short term.

He will also be trying his very best to impress in the hope of getting a full time move.

I really don't see a downside to this loan signing

A downside to this loan deal for me is that we have no plans to sign a decent CB in this window and opted to loan a championship player instead.

Are we lacking ambition with 4th so close to anyone who wants it or are we being penny wise?

We'll see come May.

K-9

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-owen-insists-liverpool-can-7164444

Michael Owen believes Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League this season.

“It’s going to be quite tough but you couldn’t really want it any easier," says the BT Sport pundit.

“Chelsea, for me, I don’t think they are going to get top four. You’d have expected them to be nailed on, but they are out of it. If Liverpool finish a place under 3rd and a place above 5th they will have a good chance of 4th ''

Normally I'd say you added the bit about 4th in but it's Michael Owen...

LuckyLloyd

Lolorli

Needs to be paid off and booted out in the summer.

8-10

Knex. wrote: »

Just glad we got him on loan, and didn't actually fork out.

He was already on loan to Southampton and QPR decided to recall him and then loan to us instead? I'm shocked if that's out of the goodness of their hearts, we must have forked out to get this one done (though presumably not a lot)

8-10

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Rasmus Ankersen is the chairman of Danish league club Midtjylland who spend a lot of time identifying undervalued talent and won the Danish league for the very first time last year. Cynics will call it "Moneyball" type wizardry

It is pretty much the definition of Moneyball to identify undervalued talent

Harry Palmr

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-owen-insists-liverpool-can-7164444

Michael Owen believes Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League this season.

“It’s going to be quite tough but you couldn’t really want it any easier," says the BT Sport pundit.

“Chelsea, for me, I don’t think they are going to get top four. You’d have expected them to be nailed on, but they are out of it. If Liverpool finish a place under 3rd and a place above 5th they will have a good chance of 4th ''

That's too good to be true. Surely some cheeky editing by the Mirror

Buford T. Justice XIX

Hasn't Caulker already scored for us in the 3-2 win 2 seasons ago?

We should be signing him for that lovely tap in:)

Francie Barrett

8-10 wrote: »

He was already on loan to Southampton and QPR decided to recall him and then loan to us instead? I'm shocked if that's out of the goodness of their hearts, we must have forked out to get this one done (though presumably not a lot)

Two reasons why QPR would want to recall him from Southampton and send him to us.

1. His lack of playing time won't be helping his value at all. Also, with QPR going nowhere in the Championship, they'll want to put him in the shop window to get him off their wage bill.
2. As you state, perhaps we will cover more of his wages, or perhaps provide a loan fee for his services.

Agent Coulson

I think it's great we aren't panic buying a player that we will be stuck with because of an injury crisis

Loan deal makes sense Klopp would have asked to look at the players the club would have been scouting over the few years anyway and there would have been plenty of stats and video of him playing for the new coaching to ok the loan move.

8-10

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Two reasons why QPR would want to recall him from Southampton and send him to us.

1. His lack of playing time won't be helping his value at all. Also, with QPR going nowhere in the Championship, they'll want to put him in the shop window to get him off their wage bill.
2. As you state, perhaps we will cover more of his wages, or perhaps provide a loan fee for his services.

Will he get that much playing time? I guess he'll be ahead of Kolo and Ilori now and be rotated with Skrtel/Sakho and Lovren when all are fit - I guess we are still in 4 competitions.

Only 24 years old and I think he's a decent player. He was abysmal in the 6-1 game this season (last game he's played in actually) but I've seen him have good games before and he at least gives us a threat at set pieces which pretty much no other player bar Benteke gives us.

I'm definitely ok with him starting ahead of Enrique, Ilori or Can at centre-half

rob316

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-owen-insists-liverpool-can-7164444

Michael Owen believes Liverpool can still qualify for the Champions League this season.

“It’s going to be quite tough but you couldn’t really want it any easier," says the BT Sport pundit.

“Chelsea, for me, I don’t think they are going to get top four. You’d have expected them to be nailed on, but they are out of it. If Liverpool finish a place under 3rd and a place above 5th they will have a good chance of 4th ''

I actually had to check if that quote was real. Very good

LuckyLloyd

Bandana boy wrote: »

Seems pretty logical to me.
Llori as unlikely as it may be could be the greatest defender in the history of world football. Not getting into an Aston villa side could be just one more in a lengthy list of bad decisions by that club .
He was highly rated when we bought him and we have never seen what he can really do , hence the interest and optimism

Everybody knows exactly what Caulker gets you. Hence the dismay and pessimism

Don't care about young players. Good players stop being considered 'young' very quickly - i.e. they just start producing and that's that. Stones is a good player, not a young player. Ilori has been looked at by three coaching regimes over the past season and a half that have concluded he isn't good enough. Next. Rack 'em, pack 'em, stack 'em. Get the next young body in as a project in the summer and see if he actually pans out and can do it.

ush

What squad number will Caulker get? I want to get a home shirt with Caulker on the back.

rob316

Welcome anyway Steven, hope you can take this opportunity to prove me and your doubters wrong.

Its a huge opportunity for the lad, play well for the rest of the season and you never know, I bet he cant believe his luck.

Utopia Parkway

Caulker was actually decent at Swansea but probably made the wrong move in going to QPR as they were a basketcase. Hasn't recovered his Swansea form since and hasn't made any impact at all at Southampton.

Actually surprised he's still only 24. Thought he was older.

dogbert27

If Caulker is brought in this fast then either Toure or Sahko are not ready for tomorrow night. Maybe even both!

I think our whole CB situation is now up in the air.

Skrtel should be moved on in the summer. Not good enough for us to be in the top four consistently.

Toure will be moved on in the summer.

Depending on his attitude over the next 4 months Ilori will probably be moved on in the summer.

Lovren? I really don't know. What a waste of money though. Never worth the transfer fee.

Sahko, just signed a five year contract so see him being definitely kept.

Caulker - When Skrtel, Sahko and Lovren are fit he drops to 4th at best. How much playing time will he get? If he's a player that goes on loan to get game time he's been choosing the wrong clubs.

Gomez was a CB with Charlton being used as a LB by Rodgers. Will he prefer to play CB when he returns from injury?

It's getting to the point where we almost need a whole new first team for Klopp!

Goalkeeper, CB's, CM's, forwards, wingers you name it we need it!!!

Harry Palmr

Bull****e really /\

Sakho, Lovren, Matip and Another (Gomez?) will be the centre backs next season.

dogbert27

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Bull****e really /\

Sakho, Lovren, Matip and Another (Gomez?) will be the centre backs next season.

How is that bull when you've just agreed with the only 2 I have been kept along with potentially Gomez??

And even keeping Lovren, he's still debatable.

Francie Barrett

Honestly, I think Caulker might just surprise a few people. There is clearly talent there, he has the physical attributes, he has played very well at times in the Premier League. Obviously something has gone wrong. I mean it can't have been easy for a young lad to end up at not one, but two basket case clubs. People seem to forget that Cardiff were managed for awhile by a 23 year old kid who had been on work experience at the club. Things weren't much better at QPR either, where you had a poisonous dressing room that consisted of cast-off's that Harry had been only too quick to scoop up. It would not surprise me at all if Caulker forced his way into the first team. Our defence is a mess, and there certainly is scope and ability in this lad to make a future for himself with us.

8-10

I still think the Southampton loanee we really missed out on was Alderweireld last year. Spurs went through a bit of a battle for him but £11.5m was a steal and he would have been solid in our back 4. Shrewd business. Caulker hasn't lived up to Toby's loan stint there last year though I still think he'll do a job for us on loan.

kfallon

Best case scenario - he's better than the muck we have

Worst case scenario - he's as bad as Skrtel

Worth a punt!

Vicxas

I hope Caulker doesnt get us relegated.....

rob316

I'm desperate to see use beat this LVG United side, knowing our luck though he will be sacked after they lose tonight and they will play a stormer at anfield next sunday.

ricero

Anyone else to be signed do yous reckon ? Perhaps a striker or winger

Boom_Bap

ricero wrote: »

Anyone else to be signed do yous reckon ? Perhaps a striker or winger

I keep seeing talk about Berahino (sp?)

Harry Palmr

With Origi out for another 6/7 games I can't help but think someone needs bringing in.

Agent Coulson

Klopp did say everyone was going down the wrong path with Pato.

I took that as there is another player/path being looked at.

Potential Underachiever

Caulker certainly came out of the blue, I didn't see one mention about him signing and then it's a done deal, Twitter must not have been given the inside scoop on this one. Strange signing really but at least it's a loan and we can get rid in the summer if he's bad. Without having seen too much of him I fear that he could be a calamity, he won't have felt the pressure before like he would playing at Anfield, my gut is just saying he'll be out of his depth. Hard to say how it'll go though maybe he'll be the next Hyypia!

LuckyLloyd

It does show (yet again) how laughable the idea is that one can somehow get an inside scoop from social media, etc. As always, when the deal is done you'll know and - in the absence of 'next signing' markets being available - you're losing nothing by hearing about it that juncture.

NukaCola

Caulker is ok cover, the main reason we brought him in I suppose.

Would be nice to see us going for a better CB as we need one anyway but its something I guess.

Sappy404

Twitter was talking about Caulker hours before it was announced, which is typical. There are 3 or 4 ITKs on Twitter but they're likely getting their info from different sources so won't all have every scoop until late on like this. It's the sources at the other clubs that usually leak - the Henderson and Lambert transfers spring to mind.

All in all the club seems to be keeping things in-house pretty well, and in this case, that's all the more easy when it's arranged quite quickly.

BullBlackNova

As cover, he'll be a grand solution. If he doesn't work out, he'll be gone at the end of the season and, if nothing else, it means we will have a CB in the centre of our defence for a few games which will be unusual...

Boom_Bap

Rumours of Caulker started when he was seen at Melwood this morning.
It's that simple.

Agent Coulson

Video in link.

The manager told Liverpoolfc.com:

“It was very important for us. In our situation, four weeks ago we didn’t know we’d have a problem with centre-halves because they were all in the race. At the start of the season, Joe Gomez was also in the squad, so a fifth centre-half - and then the situation changed completely.

“Now, we’ve had to make a decision whether we wanted to get another player for the position. The situation is Martin Skrtel is not available for around about the next four-and-a-half weeks, five weeks. Then we have the problem with Dejan – it’s only a little muscle injury. I think he’ll be available in one to one-and-a-half weeks. Then you have Mama with a little knee issue – he can play, but it’s not perfect and you cannot bring him three or four times in a row throughout the season. And it’s the same for Kolo and so would mean we are always in this situation, do we have enough or not? So we thought, ‘Yes, good idea’.

“We looked for Premier League experience because in this short time, you need that experience. We looked for a good header [of the ball] because that’s what we need – we want to play good pressing, we want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls. If they play long balls, you need people in the last line who can help you with headers.

“And we’ve found it with Steven Caulker. He was not in the best situation in Southampton, didn’t play too much, but this is January and we want to have the best solution for us and we are absolutely convinced that Steven is the best solution for us.

“I am looking forward to working with him. He will be here today and then we can start working, so everything is good!”

With Liverpool set to play at least five more fixtures before the conclusion of January alone, Klopp acknowledged the schedule meant it was essential Liverpool drafted in some defensive reinforcement.

He added: “I don’t want to talk too much about the schedule because I think I’ve spoken too much about it in the last few days, but my problem is most of the time I say the truth!

“The schedule is like it is. We have these two games [this week] and then hopefully we have a lot, a lot more games.

“We know all about our games in the league, but we don’t know how many games we will have in the different cups. This is the situation and we have to be prepared for this.

“January is the only month where we can do something. We did it in this position [defence] and now let’s go on.”

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/202926-klopp-why-caulker-is-an-important-signing-for-lfc

Sappy404

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

Caulker certainly came out of the blue, I didn't see one mention about him signing and then it's a done deal, Twitter must not have been given the inside scoop on this one. Strange signing really but at least it's a loan and we can get rid in the summer if he's bad. Without having seen too much of him I fear that he could be a calamity, he won't have felt the pressure before like he would playing at Anfield, my gut is just saying he'll be out of his depth. Hard to say how it'll go though maybe he'll be the next Hyypia!

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It does show (yet again) how laughable the idea is that one can somehow get an inside scoop from social media, etc. As always, when the deal is done you'll know and - in the absence of 'next signing' markets being available - you're losing nothing by hearing about it that juncture.

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Rumours of Caulker started when he was seen at Melwood this morning.
It's that simple.

The Paul Joyce tweet was at 9.16am. The official announcement was at 1pm.

But yeah, Twitter is useless.

rob316

How many times does it need to be said. Twitter is a medium not a source. Plenty of good sources on twitter and plenty of bad.

Potential Underachiever

So what's our transfer set up? Is the TC still in place, Is Caulker a TC or Klopp signing, any info on this out there or just speculation?

Sappy404

Potential Underachiever wrote: »

So what's our transfer set up? Is the TC still in place, Is Caulker a TC or Klopp signing, any info on this out there or just speculation?

We still have a transfer committee like most clubs. The difference is that we called it a committee in public, and it was then used as a stick to beat them with.

Like Rodgers, Klopp is on the committee and has final say.

Harry Palmr

Maybe Alex Inglethorpe reckoned he could be useful - would have coached him at Spurs

rob316

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Maybe Alex Inglethorpe reckoned he could be useful - would have coached him at Spurs

Very good point, never thought of that.