Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2018

Super-Rush

amber69 wrote: »

kasper schmeichel?

Good shot stopper but his distribution is worse than any of our keepers.

Hangballlouie

https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2018/01/liverpools-great-goalkeeping-debate-why-its-not-a-case-of-karius-v-mignolet/

Kinda how I feel on the whole goalkeeper issue.

razorblunt

davyboy1975 wrote: »

Fulham in talks to sign our ex winger Leto

Didn't he have work permit issues and need to be moved on?
Class goal in the Champions League, trapped a ball like it was a bag of cement.

Umaro

Jon Flanagan due to be sentenced today for beating up his girlfriend.

Live updates: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-fc-defender-jon-flanagan-14165796

BullBlackNova

razorblunt wrote: »

Didn't he have work permit issues and need to be moved on?
Class goal in the Champions League, trapped a ball like it was a bag of cement.

As I recall (am open to correction), he was delayed signing for us by work permit issues and loaned out to Olympiakos, like Mark Gonzales before him.

When he did arrive, he was given an Italian passport (granny rule, I think) which allowed him to play in the EU. He started a CL game and some League Cup games but not in the PL and his passport was then revoked as part of an ongoing investigation into passport fraud in Italy.

It was a bit messy but, at least in part, pissed off the club because he had played for the club and at the Olympics, which would usually be taken into account for non-EU players when it came to permits but had been overlooked because of the fake/non-fake passport situation.

Either way, I think that was it and he's floated around Greece and Italy since doing a perfectly fine job.

razorblunt

BullBlackNova wrote: »

As I recall (am open to correction), he was delayed signing for us by work permit issues and loaned out to Olympiakos, like Mark Gonzales before him.

When he did arrive, he was given an Italian passport (granny rule, I think) which allowed him to play in the EU. He started a CL game and some League Cup games but not in the PL and his passport was then revoked as part of an ongoing investigation into passport fraud in Italy.

It was a bit messy but, at least in part, pissed off the club because he had played for the club and at the Olympics, which would usually be taken into account for non-EU players when it came to permits but had been overlooked because of the fake/non-fake passport situation.

Either way, I think that was it and he's floated around Greece and Italy since doing a perfectly fine job.

You're right, it was actually Gonzalez's goal I was getting him confused with.

citytillidie

gimli2112 wrote: »

You get a place in Europe I think. the other one though, that no-one wants to be in.

Not any more

Sappy404

Rumple Stillson wrote: »

I don't know enough about coaching goalkeepers to comment on Achterburg.

I don't know how to lay an egg, but I know a rotten one when I smell it.

Riesen_Meal

Umaro wrote: »

Jon Flanagan due to be sentenced today for beating up his girlfriend.

Live updates: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-fc-defender-jon-flanagan-14165796

I hope he never plays for us again, the little toerag...

Morzadec

amber69 wrote: »

kasper schmeichel?

He was the only one who came to mind actually,I was considering saying "except maybe schmeichel".

However I still would hope we can maybe go slightly better, someone with experience at a dominating club (yes I know Leicester won the league bit they still largely did it as a counter attacking side).

He's a very good keeper though I agree

Knex*

Pearce saying Firmino is about to get a new contract. Hopefully get that sorted soon anyway!

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/roberto-firmino-explains-commitment-liverpool-14166059

BullBlackNova

Knex. wrote: »

Pearce saying Firmino is about to get a new contract. Hopefully get that sorted soon anyway!

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/roberto-firmino-explains-commitment-liverpool-14166059

Make him our highest paid player to ward off any future interest too. Huge fan of Firmino, love how much he has developed in the last season or so too. Salah/Coutinho may have been the stars for many people but I feel like we'd have a much harder time replacing Firmino if he was to leave so you'd like to avoid that at all costs.

---

Separately, Chelsea pursuing a deal to sign former Liverpool superstar perma-crock Andy Carroll. That's absolutely f*cking hilarious.

Muahahaha

Hangballlouie wrote: »

https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2018/01/liverpools-great-goalkeeping-debate-why-its-not-a-case-of-karius-v-mignolet/

Kinda how I feel on the whole goalkeeper issue.

It makes some good points about Mignolet

He doesn’t have any redeeming qualities of note, I don’t know what someone would say he’s actually good at. It’s like that job interview question of “sell me this pen”. How would you sell Mignolet if you were standing on a market stall harassing passers by?

He doesn’t command his area, he can’t kick a ball very well, he doesn’t sweep and allow a defence to play a high line, and if he isn’t going to save things like that Granit Xhaka attempt at Arsenal then you can’t even argue that he’s a good shot stopper that goes some way to making up for these deficiencies.

While this doesn’t tell a huge story, Manchester United have given up 96 shots on target this season and Liverpool 67. One has conceded 16 and one has conceded 28. I suspect you don’t need me to tell you which is which.

As a percentage 16 per cent of Man United’s shots on target conceded end up as goals, our number is 42 per cent. This is an incredibly basic metric and has huge holes in it but on a base level it isn’t indicating that Mignolet is a good shot stopper.

42% of shots conceded is pretty awful, it must be as bad as it gets in the PL. I know stats can sometimes be misleading but this one grates on me.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Super-Rush wrote: »

Good shot stopper but his distribution is worse than any of our keepers.

Need someone with Pepe's distribution, Clemence's shot stopping and claiming from corners and bogdans price tag!

. It’s like that job interview question of “sell me this pen” ...... in sales land they want you to speel on about doing volume deals, quick delivery & upsell other products in your catalogue.

Just FYI like :pac:

PhuckHugh

Lads I'm finding this goalkeeper talk very boring. Can we talk about something a bit more upbeat please.... It's mid January and i need to inject a little more pep in my step.

Thanks in advance.

Boom_Bap

PhuckHugh wrote: »

Lads I'm finding this goalkeeper talk very boring. Can we talk about something a bit more upbeat please.... It's mid January and i need to inject a little more pep in my step.

Thanks in advance.

Sorted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1KQNUecm2o

Grayditch

There's no such thing as a video with James Corden in it that could ever cheer anyone up. Even this one.

LuckyLloyd

Rumple Stillson wrote: »

Benitez, Dalglish, Rodgers and Klopp have all seen fit to keep him on the staff but some lad on Twitter is sure he's the problem.

Sports is a results based business though. At a certain point, when you've burned through a large sample size of ****ty goalkeeping performances from Reina, Jones, Mignolet and Karius it is perfectly reasonable to step way back and ask the question about who is accountable? In many other sports the goalkeeping coach would be long fired, whether it was fair or not.

One_Of_Shanks

Liverpool defender, Jon Flanagan has been sentenced to 40 hours of unpaid work and a community order after pleading guilty to assaulting his girlfriend on 22 December.

Flanagan was charged with assaulting Rachael Wall at 03:20 on the night in question, on Duke Street in Liverpool City Centre. The court was shown CCTV footage of the incident and told how the 25-year-old kicked Ms Wall at one point.

District Judge Wendy Lloyd told Flanagan 'You are, of course, a young man of previous good character and therefore it's undoubtedly sad that you have brought yourself here by your behaviour,' handing him a sentence which includes 15 rehabilitation activity days, 40 hours upaid work, £85 costs and £85 victim surcharge.

Judge Lloyd accepted that Flanagan was of 'previous good character' but added that 'I have been given a detailed breakdown of that CCTV footage which shows that you assaulted this young lady not just once but on several occasions during that few minutes in the early hours, once involving your foot.'

Talisman

Grayditch wrote: »

I like Mignolet, but I get the impression he thinks all of this is unfair. Why does he only perk up and start putting a shift in when his position is in threat? Then he gets complacent. And replaced. And repeat.

Marc Wilmots, the former Belgium manager once said that Mignolet is a talented individual and a nice guy but his personality is more suited to an office environment than competitive sport.

Courtois played in the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final for Atletico Madrid, Belgium had a friendly game against Luxembourg two days later for which he was unavailable. Instead of naming Mignolet as the keeper for the game, Marc Wilmots called up a relative nobody, Sammy Bossut, for his international debut. When asked why Wilmots said that Mignolet was happy enough to be part of the group, he didn't feel the need to push himself to challenge Courtois so why should he automatically take his place.

I used to think that Mignolet had issues with concentration in games but Wilmots was right - he doesn't appear to have the inner drive to motivate himself. Instead he's happy to go through the motions until somebody lights a fire under his ass.

Grayditch

We can get rid of Flanagan, yeah?

Grayditch

Talisman wrote: »

I used to think that Mignolet had issues with concentration in games but Wilmots was right - he doesn't appear to have the inner drive to motivate himself. Instead he's happy to go through the motions until somebody lights a fire under his ass.

And having to do this every few months... nah.

Agent Coulson

Liverpool held talks with Goretzka's reps but they believe he's on the brink of signing for Bayern Munich #LFC

https://twitter.com/JamesPearceEcho/status/953599404455485440

Talisman

One_Of_Shanks wrote: »

Judge Lloyd

Any relation to Lucky (The Voice of Reason)?

MD1990

Really need to get Can a new deal now. He is inconsistent but still a good player but should be keeping & only 24 3-5 years off his peak.

I would include a buy out clause if he wants one so bad. 100m if we are in CL & something like 60m if we are not.

Dub13

MD1990 wrote: »

Really need to get Can a new deal now. He is inconsistent but still a good player but should be keeping & only 24 3-5 years off his peak.

I would include a buy out clause if he wants one so bad. 100m if we are in CL & something like 60m if we are not.

I don't think he wants a new deal, he would do great in Italy with a bit more time on the ball.

Knex*

Think Can has probably played the most minutes too over the busy period. He's been quite steady these past few weeks after a very bumpy start.

Knex*

Dub13 wrote: »

I don't think he wants a new deal, he would do great in Italy with a bit more time on the ball.

I think he's the opposite tbh.

He's great when the game breaks down and he powers forward with the ball, or if he's asked to be a destroyer and break up play.

He's poor when the opposition sits backs and asks him to play the deep playmaker role and pass the ball 100 times. We've seen him be absolutely dreadful at this for Liverpool before Klopp finally stopped asking him to play that role he had carved out originally for Henderson. He's far from Jorginho at Napoli, for example.

He's more Gattuso than Pirlo, imo.

smileyj1987

Knex. wrote: »

Been thinking just now, the last time we could look at our squad on paper and genuinely think, "we're just a player or two away from having a title challenging team", was probably back with Rafa when we had Alonso, Masch, Torres etc.

I know we had the year when we came 2nd, but nobody saw that coming even at Christmas of the very same year.

While I think the Rafa team probably had some bigger stars, it definitely didn't have the same depth that we currently have. We honestly have a great platform right now, and the Club is obviously in a much more stable position.

Add Keita, a goalkeeper, and maybe the likes of Lemar also, and I'm very excited to see what Klopp can do for us next year. Just hopefully now the team can push on for the remainder of the season, secure top 4, and have a good run in the CL.

I remember loosing 100 over that season i put the money on Liverpool to win the league in December i was adamant they would and the last time i felt like that was under BR in 2013-2014.

This current team is much better then BR's team and falls behind rafas team over the defence. Get the defence sorted and this squad can compete at the highest level.

jeff bingham

Really looking forward to champions league. Don't think we'll win it but if we get over Porto would love to see us have crack at Barca/Real/Bayern or PSG.
Think we could take at least 1 big scalp, unfortunately it goes without saying that defence will be an issue.

smileyj1987

jeff bingham wrote: »

Really looking forward to champions league. Don't think we'll win it but if we get over Porto would love to see us have crack at Barca/Real/Bayern or PSG.
Think we could take at least 1 big scalp, unfortunately it goes without saying that defence will be an issue.

Honestly think Liverpool could do very well in the champions league. The majority of the big sides in the competition would hate playing against them because of the pressing and speed.

MD1990

Dub13 wrote: »

I don't think he wants a new deal, he would do great in Italy with a bit more time on the ball.

I don't think it would suit Can. He is more so a physical CM rather than a playmaker.

Plus we could offer more wages than Juventus as well. If he goes there it will be for trophies.

Dub13

I know he is far from a playmaker, my point is he is great at the breaking up play and physical element of the game and they love that over there. But then when he does have the ball (the weak part of his game) he will have a bit more time than in the PL. So Italy will play to his strength's and weakness.

j8wk2feszrnpao

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Sports is a results based business though. At a certain point, when you've burned through a large sample size of ****ty goalkeeping performances from Reina, Jones, Mignolet and Karius it is perfectly reasonable to step way back and ask the question about who is accountable? In many other sports the goalkeeping coach would be long fired, whether it was fair or not.

Could it not just be a case of 3 average-to-poor keepers?
Reina had some dodgy moments as well after he left to go to Napoli.

I've no idea of the GK coaching situation at Liverpool, but we haven't really signed a good keeper in that time. I was not keen on Minolet when he first arrived, and Karius was an unknown really. If we end up signing a top keeper, who then starts to under perform, then maybe it points towards the coaching. Right now, I think it's a case of the keepers playing to their ability.

Knex*

Dub13 wrote: »

I know he is far from a playmaker, my point is he is great at the breaking up play and physical element of the game and they love that over there. But then when he does have the ball (the weak part of his game) he will have a bit more time than in the PL. So Italy will play to his strength's and weakness.

That's the thing, I think that will only expose his weakness on the ball more.

He's good on the ball when it's a bit more chaotic, playing quick, driving through lines. Not when they sit back and go, "well show us what you have now".

When he has time to think he's pretty poor.

Dub13

Knex. wrote: »

That's the thing, I think that will only expose his weakness on the ball more.

Fair point, I hope he does not go anyway.

dogbert27

munstermagic11 wrote: »

Could it not just be a case of 3 average-to-poor keepers?
Reina had some dodgy moments as well after he left to go to Napoli.

I've no idea of the GK coaching situation at Liverpool, but we haven't really signed a good keeper in that time. I was not keen on Minolet when he first arrived, and Karius was an unknown really. If we end up signing a top keeper, who then starts to under perform, then maybe it points towards the coaching. Right now, I think it's a case of the keepers playing to their ability.

Bruce Grobbelaar made a good point though. Mignolet has not improved in 4 years that he's been at the club.

For the first two years Grobbelaar was critical of Mignolet but he said at that point he had to stop as after two years with Mignolet showing no difference in his style of play or performance you then have to start asking questions of the goalkeeping coach. 4 years later and there is still no difference.

Karius, Bogden, Jones, Reina. There is a trend of poor performances and you have to start looking at how these keepers are being coached and set up for games.

j8wk2feszrnpao

dogbert27 wrote: »

Bruce Grobbelaar made a good point though. Mignolet has not improved in 4 years that he's been at the club.

For the first two years Grobbelaar was critical of Mignolet but he said at that point he had to stop as after two years with Mignolet showing no difference in his style of play or performance you then have to start asking questions of the goalkeeping coach. 4 years later and there is still no difference.

Karius, Bogden, Jones, Reina. There is a trend of poor performances and you have to start looking at how these keepers are being coached and set up for games.

Maybe (excluding Reina) it's just a trend of poor signings of poor keepers?
Grobbelaar may be correct or course, but since the the days of David James we seem to have bought badly.

Mr.H

Grayditch wrote:

We can get rid of Flanagan, yeah?

Hopefully he will be released this month but I can see them waiting until the end of the season not to make a big deal about it. It's a pity he tarnished his image this but completely deserves what he gets. His sentence was too lenient imo

Boom_Bap

Mr.H wrote: »

Hopefully he will be released this month but I can see them waiting until the end of the season not to make a big deal about it. It's a pity he tarnished his image this but completely deserves what he gets. His sentence was too lenient imo

The club have released a statement as soon as the verdict was announced.
Basically there will be the internal investigation and disciplinary actions taken following the review. There were some heavy words used as well:

“It leaves his own reputation damaged and, through association, he has severely let down the club he had previously represented with distinction.
“We have expressed to him our disappointment and anger that he has failed to live up to the values of Liverpool Football Club, in this specific instance.
“The club has allowed the legal formalities to reach a conclusion before deciding on or implementing any internal disciplinary action. That internal process will now begin.
“The club has no further comment to make at this time.”

Grayditch

2 weeks waiting to hear what the F.A has to say about that other thing.

Agent Coulson

Fcuk Flanagan he kicked someone in the head he can rot he's a s(umbag.

Utopia Parkway

Some time Liverpool target Inaki Williams has signed a 7 year contract with Athletic Bilbao. 80M release clause.

Knex*

Grayditch wrote: »

2 weeks waiting to hear what the F.A has to say about that other thing.

Wonder if they're they're just hoping people forget at this stage. Be like, "phew, didn't have to deal with that one".

Francie Barrett

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Fcuk Flanagan he kicked someone in the end he can rot he's a s(umbag.

Apparently he is back together with her as well :eek:

Agent Coulson

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Apparently he is back together with her as well :eek:

So what first attracted and then kept you attracted to a s(umbag that kicked you in the head.

Grayditch

Knex. wrote: »

Wonder if they're they're just hoping people forget at this stage. Be like, "phew, didn't have to deal with that one".

Oh, 100%.

dogbert27

Agent Coulson wrote: »

So what first attracted and then kept you attracted to a s(umbag that kicked you in the head.

Report said he kicked her in the body. She refused to file a complaint herself.

It was a witness from a balcony who called to police and they followed up the CCTV footage.

Utopia Parkway

Grujic gone to Cardiff on loan.