Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2016/2017

SM01

Here's the Statsbomb review of Liverpool's season (below the City write-up).

It's interesting that they lean towards keeping the likes Lucas and Moreno saying small squad size is an issue. Some on here were​ advocating the same.


http://statsbomb.com/2017/05/top-four-review-part-two-man-city-liverpool-and-arsenal/

SM01

SM01 wrote: »

...............

It's interesting that they lean towards keeping the likes Lucas and Moreno saying small squad size is an issue. Some on here were​ advocating the same.

............

It's a balancing act I suppose ........... with a 25 man squad it might not be possible to improve the first 11, improve strength in depth and keep the likes of Moreno who played very very very limited minutes last season despite more or less being available for every game.

Moreno isn't homegrown either of course so that makes it more appealling to get rid of him.

Our first 11 in the last day of the season had Milner at LB, Sturridge starting and Henderson injured.

With a new LB, Mane and Henderson back you are at 14 players. Add in our bench for that matchday and we are at up to 20 players.

Origi, Lucas and Moreno were used subs.......... 17 players.

Add in Karius, Grujic, Alexander-Arnold and Klavan .........21 players

Ings .......... 22 players


We can't keep them all and strengthen too.

Will players be happy to stay if they aren't going to be in Euro and/or PL 25 man squad. Nope.

Knex*

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

sword1

Striker for me anyway

Sappy404

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

Desperately need width and pace, so a top-class left back or a counterpart/stand-in for Mané would be ideal.

Vicxas

A LB followed by a Mane Counterpart on the LW

BullBlackNova

SM01 wrote: »

Here's the Statsbomb review of Liverpool's season (below the City write-up).

It's interesting that they lean towards keeping the likes Lucas and Moreno saying small squad size is an issue. Some on here were​ advocating the same.


http://statsbomb.com/2017/05/top-four-review-part-two-man-city-liverpool-and-arsenal/

It's hard to bring in 7, 8 or 9 players without seeing some pretty major disruption in the squad, though, so keeping players like Moreno or Lucas makes sense in that regard.

I've got no love for Moreno and would happily see him go but if him, Lovren, Lucas, Sturridge and Ings (for example as some on here have called for) all left, we'd need 5 direct replacements plus the five or six players we already need to bring us to a level where we can handle playing in 3 or 4 competitions next season.

Just in practical terms, it makes sense to hold on to the likes of Lucas if they are content with their role in the squad.

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

I am torn between a CM and a winger. I think I'd lean towards CM, but it's close.

I think a hard-as-nails player with a decent passing range to sit deeper in the middle - the role Henderson played when fit - would make a big difference to in terms of shielding our defence and moving the ball to attack. Tbh, off hand, i can't think of anyone that we could go for but I'm sure that some on here can advise.

I'd love a winger to play on the left. Pacy, creative like Mané - two of them would be a nightmare for defences I'd say - but since we know how good our attack can be when it's in full flow, I'll opt for the centre-mid.

Honourable mention for a left-back who can attack. I like Milner but I think an over-lapping full-back allows our creative players on the left to cut in, causing more problems for the opposition.

GotTheTshirt

garra wrote: »

It's the only part of his body he hadn't injured before

So you're saying he's almost completely repaired? Yay!

NukaCola

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

Mascherano.....

Knex*

NukaCola wrote: »

Mascherano.....

I could be wrong, but I feel like Can provides a little bit of his combativeness. Not the same intensity, of course, but in games when he's not asked to pass the ball 90+ times, he was great at getting physical, breaking up play, and being that all action kind of guy.

I'm happy with him playing DM for many of our games next year, but those matches where we have all the possession and not much is happening in terms of breaking the opposition down, that's where he can struggle.

Mascherano perhaps would not be much help in that scenario either, although he could provide a platform that allows you to get more creative players on the pitch and with a greater freedom.

Sappy404

NukaCola wrote: »

Mascherano.....

Great player but he's not really what we need, is he? What would he do for the 65% of the game where we have the ball?

If we got an "Alonso" than Coutinho would rarely/never play deeper than #10.

brevity

If we are getting rid of Marcovic I wonder would Rafa at Newcastle take a chance on him?

I'd be interested to see if Rafa could get the best out of him.

Harry Palmr

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

The best single buy would be a Keita type CM I think - scoring goals has not been a problem even in the stupid result matches Liverpool have usually scored at least once (5 games with a blank 2 home/3 away, the same as Spurs and Man City), so a player that can dominate the middle and help shield the defensive half of the pitch would add the most.

If anyone is a bit bored and loves stats then this page is a good browse

http://www.soccerstats.com/team.asp?league=england&teamid=13

Knex.

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

Hyypia is the type we are missing the most.

brevity

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

Garry McAllister

Buford T. Justice XIX

Reports by Paul Joyce in the Times that Keita would cost Liverpool as much as £50m as Leipzig want to keep their squad together after qualifying for the CL for the first time.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/keita-could-cost-klopp-more-than-50m-3b3xzfw7v

Vicxas

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Reports by Paul Joyce in the Times that Keita would cost Liverpool as much as ?50m as Leipzig want to keep their squad together after qualifying for the CL for the first time.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/keita-could-cost-klopp-more-than-50m-3b3xzfw7v

Time to play MONEYBALL!

Buford T. Justice XIX

Vicxas wrote: »

Time to play MONEYBALL!

We'll monitor the hell out of him...

ERG89

Buford T. Justice V wrote:

Reports by Paul Joyce in the Times that Keita would cost Liverpool as much as £50m as Leipzig want to keep their squad together after qualifying for the CL for the first time.

Thats that then.
The end of a brief saga. Leipzig are well off & don't need to sell. We won't spend that under this regime. If we do our budget would be halved.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Knex. wrote: »

Interested to see what way people would go if we could only sign one player this summer. As in, which position would you prioritise above all others? CB, LB, DM, ST.

Like if we had 1999 Hyypia, 2004 Alonso or 2007 Torres to choose from, what would people want most.

I can't decide whether an Alonso type midfielder, or a Torres type striker, would have the greater impact on our results. Genuinely.

2007 Torres, hands down.

It was the greatest time of my life

Harry Palmr

ERG89 wrote: »

Thats that then.
The end of a brief saga. Leipzig are well off & don't need to sell. We won't spend that under this regime. If we do our budget would be halved.

How?! :pac:

sword1

ERG89 wrote: »

Thats that then.
The end of a brief saga. Leipzig are well off & don't need to sell. We won't spend that under this regime. If we do our budget would be halved.

If we are to continue this it would mean the news on henderson is not good, either way as we have seen ourselves if the player pushed for a move the transfer fee could be lower, glad the club will not be pressurised into overpaying for players.

ERG89

Harry Palmr wrote:

How?!

Wasn't our budget 100m. I more or less said if we bought Van Dijk & Keita we'd have fu*k all left.
Even if it was paper talk I can't see FSG spending much more especially after the last 2 windows when we still achieved out objective.
We can make money from sales but is Sturridge leaving? Do palace still want Sakho?

Harry Palmr

But that doesn't half the budget - the budget is whatever the budget is (logic ed).

Sappy404

Bernardo Silva to city for ~€50m. Anyone still think players can't be bought from clubs that don't need the money?

Harry Palmr

More like 80 million euro for Silva

corwill

Sappy404 wrote: »

Bernardo Silva to city for ~€50m. Anyone still think players can't be bought from clubs that don't need the money?

I'm seeing suggestions that the fee is as high as £65mil.

He's a lovely player, speed, trickery and vision.

Harry Palmr

Sappy404 wrote: »

Bernardo Silva to city for ~?50m. Anyone still think players can't be bought from clubs that don't need the money?

Harry Palmr wrote: »

More like 80 million euro for Silva

corwill wrote: »

I'm seeing suggestions that the fee is as high as ?65mil.

He's a lovely player, speed, trickery and vision.

Hmmm I've seen two tweets which are e30m apart, maybe one is without add-ons.

NukaCola

Sappy404 wrote: »

Great player but he's not really what we need, is he? What would he do for the 65% of the game where we have the ball?

Cover the wing backs so they can stay forward and push teams wider, if theres a counter he'd sweep it up handily enough.
Would offer excellent protection for the backline too.

Morzadec

Clichy, Navas and Sagna all available on frees.

None are world beaters but all would fill out a squad that needs filling.

I wonder if we'd be interested at all. Clichy in particular is still only 31 and an experienced premier league left back.

MD1990

Sterling won't be a regular next season for City now. Gabriel Jesus can play on the right too.

corwill

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Hmmm I've seen two tweets which are e30m apart, maybe one is without add-ons.

Twitter is a box of ar$ebiscuits, really.

murpho999

Have many people seen this Keita lad play?

Is he top class?

ERG89

ERG89 wrote: »

Thats that then.
The end of a brief saga. Leipzig are well off & don't need to sell. We won't spend that under this regime. If we do our budget would be halved.

We spent £34m on Mane, a year later with potential CL football I'm sure £50m on a Keita isn't out of the question. He probably wouldn't demand huge wages either.

Carrol and Benteke both cost over £30m too.

Morzadec

Morzadec wrote: »

Clichy, .........available on frees.

.......... Clichy in particular is still only 31 and an experienced premier league left back.

He's only played 73 PL games in the last 4 seasons at City but plays lots of cup games for them. ............. another 50 appearances in the last 4 years in cups.

32 in July, I'd see no harm in throwing him a two year contract tbh. I don't buy into the "legs are gone" theory. Has to be better than Milner or Moreno.

Agent Coulson

Since we are looking at taking all the released players Shay Given has been released surely he's better than what we have got now I'd throw him a 5 year contract still a young in goalkeeping terms.

ERG89

Augeo wrote:

We spent £34m on Mane, a year later with potential CL football I'm sure £50m on a Keita isn't out of the question. He probably wouldn't demand huge wages either.
Carroll and Benteke both cost over £30m too.

I imagine mentioning the latter 2 would be a bad idea to try convince the owners. :pac:
If the manager wants him at that price I hope we back him. If we spent the price on him it'll be a jump up in the market for 1 player even from Mane. I can't see it myself as we need a few players in.
As I said the sales of some our players may have changed. Sturridge could be staying & Sakho may not be going to Palace with a new manager (possibly Marco Silva).

ricero

If fsg dont splash the cash this summer then there done for me and should sell up the club to people with ambition. Keita for 50 million should be well in our means especially with champions league qualification

sword1

ricero wrote: »

If fsg dont splash the cash this summer then there done for me and should sell up the club to people with ambition. Keita for 50 million should be well in our means especially with champions league qualification

A bit early in the transfer window for this, we really don't know if he was ever a target. How much would you think is 'splashing the cash'?

Talisman

I think our transfer strategy will be to let other clubs make their high profile signings and then we will make offers for our targets so as to avoid over paying.

After the last game of the season Klopp spoke about how he would have a meeting with Michael Edwards to finalise transfer targets and was also quoted as saying he wants to have his full squad for the start of pre-season. The day after the meeting, he said that he didn't expect to have the new players for the start of pre-season but it would be a nice to do so.

A subtle but significant change to his view, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the meeting has influenced him.

Talisman

ricero wrote: »

If fsg dont splash the cash this summer then there done for me and should sell up the club to people with ambition. Keita for 50 million should be well in our means especially with champions league qualification

It's not even June and you've started already. There was plenty of money available last summer and in January, Klopp chose not to spend it.

Harry Palmr

With City going transfer crazy Patrick Roberts and Kelechi Iheanacho could be got I suspect, yes they are young and all potential but surely worth a punt?

ricero

sword1 wrote: »

A bit early in the transfer window for this, we really don't know if he was ever a target. How much would you think is 'splashing the cash'?

I expect the club to be spending near 150 million plus this transfer window. No excuses with the money the club is making from revenue, champos league money and from player sales.

Im not having a go as some here think but its a massive summer for the club and i just hope fsg know this. The last time we qualified for champions league it was a shocking summer transfer window and our penny pinching ended up with us signing mario

Agent Coulson

Aubameyang wants out of BVB and handed in a transfer request.


It's going to one crazy transfer window.


The amount of ?$€ yen spent could be astronomical this summer.

Talisman

ricero wrote: »

I expect the club to be spending near 150 million plus this transfer window. No excuses with the money the club is making from revenue, champos league money and from player sales.

Im not having a go as some here think but its a massive summer for the club and i just hope fsg know this.

Klopp wants to sign 5 players - he's not likely to spend £150-200M, it's not his way of doing things.

ricero

Talisman wrote: »

Klopp wants to sign 5 players - he's not likely to spend £150-200M, it's not his way of doing things.

Nonsense if money is availible he will spend it. Dont buy into this theory at all

Sappy404

Talisman wrote: »

I think our transfer strategy will be to let other clubs make their high profile signings and then we will make offers for our targets so as to avoid over paying.

After the last game of the season Klopp spoke about how he would have a meeting with Michael Edwards to finalise transfer targets and was also quoted as saying he wants to have his full squad for the start of pre-season. The day after the meeting, he said that he didn't expect to have the new players for the start of pre-season but it would be a nice to do so.

A subtle but significant change to his view, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the meeting has influenced him.

There is no advantage to doing business after everyone else. The only reason Mané cost £30m and not closer to £40m is because we got in early. In what way is letting the other teams overpay before we make our moves going to be of benefit?

Talisman

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Aubameyang wants out of BVB and handed in a transfer request.

It was reported about a month ago that he had agreed a deal in principle with PSG.

Harry Palmr

I thought Aboomerang was only interested in Real Madrid