Liverpool Thread: Road to thinking we might get top 4, only to feel stupid at the end of the season

by **Crimey** Wed 05 Jun 2013, 2:52 pm

First topic message reminder :

Transfer ins:
Kolo Toure (free transfer from Manchester City)

Transfers out:
Danny Wilson (free to Hearts)
Jamie Carragher (free to Sky)
Peter Gulacsi (free to Salzburg)

by Guest Thu 27 Jun 2013, 2:41 pm

I admire the attitude of the board at the minute towards the likes of Reina and Suarez. "Not happy at the club? fair enough, let's look at getting a replacement."

They don't look to be going down the same route Utd did with Rooney by pandering to him and whilst I'll be immensely disappointed if Suarez goes, you have to say that the Club look to be building a squad based around the fact that he'll go at some point anyway.

I suppose the only issue is, what if Suarez comes back home (which I'm sure he'd due to do soon given Uruguay's exit from the Confederations Cup) and decides he's simply had a bad few weeks and things are so bad after all? Can the club afford all the players that they have because whilst there's a fair few coming in, there don't seem to be that many going in the other direction.

Heard rumours of Shelvey going to Norwich and also that Allen, Coates and Downing will be offloaded if there's any interest but there doesn't seem to be anything concrete re those.

by **Kenny** Thu 27 Jun 2013, 4:15 pm

Shelvey maybe going to Swansea ? Coates again i can see leaving especially if another CB comes in , Downing i would imagine would be allowed to leave if anyone comes in for him .

I would imagine that the players brought in wouldn't be on high wages ( with maybe the exception of Toure given his free transfer ) Fenway using that Moneyball policy replacing high earners with a squad of lower earners

by Guest Thu 27 Jun 2013, 8:25 pm

Kenny wrote:Fenway using that Moneyball policy replacing high earners with a squad of lower earners

Oh dear, that policy takes you in one direction. I must admit Liverpool's signings, in my opinion, have been completely underwhelming. Is this the main side, I'm just guessing here?

- - - - - - -Sturridge - - - - - -

Coutinho - - - - - - - - Luis Alberto

- -Gerrard - -Lucas - Allen - - - - -

Enrique - -Toure - Agger - -Johnson

- - - - - - -Mignolet - - - - - - - - -

Aspas/Henderson/Downing/Borini/Assaidi etc. Not a great looking side, no way competing for fourth.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu 27 Jun 2013, 11:07 pm

Would imagine Aspas would start, and Henderson ahead of Allen, no way should Toure be anywhere near that starting XI

by **Kenny** Fri 28 Jun 2013, 12:26 pm

think there will be at least 3 more signings more if/when Suarez goes

by liverbnz Sat 29 Jun 2013, 9:38 am

Mkhitaryan deal to be completed in 72 hours pending medical. Haven't seen a lot of him, but exciting none the less.

by **Kenny** Mon 08 Jul 2013, 4:23 pm

Can't see us selling Suarez to Arsenal , if the English press are whats hounding him out then i can't see him wanting to go their either .

Bayern Munich ? could we ask for Gomez part ex ?

by Holymiky Mon 08 Jul 2013, 4:28 pm

Kenny wrote:Can't see us selling Suarez to Arsenal , if the English press are whats hounding him out then i can't see him wanting to go their either .

Bayern Munich ? could we ask for Gomez part ex ?

I saw today that a fee had been agreed for Gomez with Florentina and Bayern Munich mate.

by **Kenny** Mon 08 Jul 2013, 4:30 pm

Holymiky wrote:
Kenny wrote:Can't see us selling Suarez to Arsenal , if the English press are whats hounding him out then i can't see him wanting to go their either .

Bayern Munich ? could we ask for Gomez part ex ?

I saw today that a fee had been agreed for Gomez with Florentina and Bayern Munich mate.

Straight cash is good as well Smile

by **Crimey** Sat 13 Jul 2013, 11:22 am

Suso has gone to Almeria on loan for a season, don't think he's ever going to make it to be honest. He looks a decent little player, but is perhaps a little lightweight for the Premier League and Coutinho is a very similar player and only a year or two older.

Think if Rodgers was serious about developing Suso for the first team he should have been loaned to a Premier League side, no point him getting used to La Liga if we want to use him.

by **Crimey** Sat 13 Jul 2013, 11:23 am

Tell you what else annoys me, Luis Alberto with the number 6 shirt, he's a forward, he should not be number 6. Annoyed me when Baros was 5 and Dempsey and Kone number 2 as well. 18 was available?

by **Crimey** Sat 13 Jul 2013, 3:56 pm

2-0 to Liverpool at half time against Preston North End, Coutinho pen and Ibe have scored.

Can't work out what the formation is but Mignolet and Toure both started. So did players like Assaidi and Spearing. Flanagan is back from injury as well.

by Guest Sun 14 Jul 2013, 4:54 pm

The Preston friendly is being repeated on ESPN right now if anyone's interested.

by **Crimey** Sun 14 Jul 2013, 5:02 pm

Aspas, Ibe and Sterling all looked decent. Showed that we probably need some reinforcements in central midfield.

Gerrard
Henderson
Lucas
Allen
Coutinho

is not enough.

Alonso is available....? Cool

by **Kenny** Wed 17 Jul 2013, 5:31 pm

i would love to see Alonso back at Liverpool , if Real do come in for Suarez then i would take £35 million plus Alonso every day of the week

by **Kenny** Fri 26 Jul 2013, 5:11 pm

The Suarez situation needs sorting out one way or the other soon . We need to put a deadline on this then move on

by Guest Fri 26 Jul 2013, 8:06 pm

Kenny wrote:The Suarez situation needs sorting out one way or the other soon . We need to put a deadline on this then move on

Yeah it's already doing my head in.

by **Kenny** Fri 26 Jul 2013, 10:59 pm

There is no point in Ian Ayre coming out and saying " It is never been our intention to sell Luis Suarez " if in the closing weeks of the window we then do sell him leaving us no time to bring anyone in .

Ayre needs to come out and issue a statement along the lines of ..... after say July 31st Suarez definately will not be sold

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:00 am

I'd take the 40 million, stop playing hardball and get him off the wage bill otherwise you are going to to take a further hit on the player 6/12 months down the line.

Why make an unhappy player stay put when you know that his value will drop in the next transfer window?

I'll be stunned if he's still at Anfield come September.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:01 am

Would you sell him to Arsenal Freek then?

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:11 am

Olly wrote:Would you sell him to Arsenal Freek then?

Yes.

I don't buy into all this "we are strengthening our rivals" crap. We haven't rivalled Arsenal since before you were born Olly and selling them one player isn't going to change things a whole lot, in my opinion.

A 17 million quid profit on a player that you brought 2 and a half years ago is good business in a sport that is more or a business than it is a sport. So what if Luis Suarez leaves the club and goes to Arsenal.

He wants to go so let him. How many players in this day and age do you make a hefty profit from?

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:14 am

You'd be mental, absolutely mental to sell to Arsenal.

Liverpool's ultimate goal is to get back into the Top 4 is it not?

Arsenal currently hold that 4th position.

Why on earth would you make that 4th position get further away, by making your team weaker, and their team stronger.

No matter what profit you get on him

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:20 am

Olly wrote:You'd be mental, absolutely mental to sell to Arsenal.

Liverpool's ultimate goal is to get back into the Top 4 is it not?

Arsenal currently hold that 4th position.

Why on earth would you make that 4th position get further away, by making your team weaker, and their team stronger.

No matter what profit you get on him

And they will maintain that fourth place with or without Suarez as will Liverpool finish outside the top 4 with or without Suarez.

The only difference (if Suarez does roll up at the Emirates) is that they'll have to deal the suspensions and petulance instead of us.

Good luck to them with that.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:26 am

They'd also get a world class player...

And who knows, Wenger might be able to deal with Suarez...

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:29 am

Olly wrote:They'd also get a world class player...

And who knows, Wenger might be able to deal with Suarez...

Ah yeah that world renowned disciplinarian Arsene Wenger!

Ipswich might go unbeaten this season....

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:30 am

Never say never...

I have no problem with Liverpool selling Suarez, no point keeping him around if he wants to leave.

However selling him to Arsenal would be a mistake of epic proportions

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 12:43 am

If Arsenal are the only takers then so be it.

by **Kenny** Sat 27 Jul 2013, 10:51 am

FSG deny they are willing to sell the club .

Yet another thing to unstable the club

by Guest Sat 27 Jul 2013, 5:58 pm

Rodgers has one season to get it right or he's a goner. FSG were adult enough to admit they made a balls-up re a replacement for Carroll last season and accept that this was instrumental in the team not even making the Europa League. However, this season they've set out their stall by making funds available for players and I believe they'll be telling BR that he has no excuse for failure this time.

Re Suarez, as much as I'd like him to stay, I feel he's already got one foot out the door. However, I'd like to think that given the support he's received from the club he'd at the very least give it until at least January and, if LFC aren't in the top four/five, he may be justified in asking again about a transfer

by TheCultOfPersonality Mon 29 Jul 2013, 1:51 pm

Pretty successful pre season tour of Asia there for Liverpool.

Countinho is unbelivable and will shine this season.

Good progress between Ibe and Sterling, who's first choice?

And I reckon Agger is going to be the new Vice Captain.

by Guest Mon 29 Jul 2013, 3:43 pm

Agree with comment's re PC, the kid is class...how long before someone offers £40,000,001.50 for him?

Aspas's touch for his goal was lovely stuff too.

Agger is good choice for VC, failing that Lucas or even Johnson.

Despite scoring more goals without Suarez for the last few games of last season I'd still much rather have him in the team than not but the team is looking good and if they can continue where they left off last season, we have a very good chance to finally make that break into CL contention.

by **Crimey** Mon 29 Jul 2013, 4:22 pm

I think Agger got something like 65% of the fans choice when they did an official poll to be the vice-captain and he's had the armband quite a bit over pre-season so he's looking likely. Would have been Reina had he not been pushed out I'd have thought.

Coutinho looks excellent and I do worry that if we don't get Champions League this year, we're going to have the same problem as we have with Suarez next year.

by Guest Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:17 pm

I think I'd prefer it if Suarez came out and said he wanted to leave because he wanted to play Champions League Football and wasn't bothered where he got it. If he goes to Arsenal it makes a mockery of this "The English Press are hounding me" excuse. However, he's naive in the extreme if he thinks the press have any more ethics abroad than anywhere else. Suarez is always going to be a target wherever he goes.

Anyway, after the Torres debacle I've decided not to invest any real emotional effort into the whole transfer thing. I'm a big fan of Reina...he's gone and my attitude is now "Mehh!" If Suarez goes I'll be disappointed but all it means is that I have to teach my daughter another song to sing on match day.

BTW, anyone heard any songs to welcome the new boys to the club?

by TheCultOfPersonality Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:20 pm

Can definately see a team like Real Madrid chasing Countinho, and I think he will go if we don't get into the champions league next year.

The team certainly looks good and Sturridge isn't even back yet, will he be fit for the opener against Stoke? I think a front three of Sturridge, Suarez and Aspas could be excellent with PC, Gerrard and Lucas in midfield.

I too was always a big fan of Reina, seems a good funny guy and more importantly a leader. However we have Mignolet now whos settled in well. When torres left, I was bitterly dissapointed, don't know how I would feel if Suarez went to another english team...

by **Crimey** Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:22 pm

The thing that made the Torres deal that bit easier to deal with was that we got £50 million for him and I think it was quite clear from those of us that watched him every week that he simply wasn't the same player. Suarez is at the top of his game, the only world class player at the club really and I think £40 million is only his value, so we wouldn't be getting more than he's worth.

I hope Mignolet does well, but I'm not convinced signing him for £9 million and loaning out Reina was good business.

by Guest Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:38 pm

The thing that made to Torres thing easier (and this won't reflect well on me) is that he was absolute gash for Chelsea and couldn't hit a cow's ar$e with a spade. Watching him spurn a chance to score against Liverpool within five minutes of his first game for his new club and then watching Agger crack him in the jaw still makes me smile.

As for the value of Suarez, if Gareth Bale is reportedly worth £85 million+ then £40 million for Suarez is, to be frank, a bloody insult.

However, I'm sure Henry and Werner are accutely aware of how much Luis is worth to the club (I'm sure his shirt sales etc bring in a tidy sum) and if Suarez does go, it's to be hoped that people don't start lambasting Rodgers as it the likes of Henry, Werner and Ayre who will have the final say on this.

by TheCultOfPersonality Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:48 pm

Yeah I don't like the loan deal either, would have prefered a permanent move for him. There was speculation of him to Barcelona, I think that would have been perfect for Pepe but it seemed not to be.

Suarez is certainly worth more than £40m. I mean if his uruguyan conrad, Edison Canvani is worth 50+ million, than Suarez is worth at least 60m as I think Cavani is vastly overated. I do like how Liverpool are putting there stance on the matter by assuring Suarez is not for sale, however we need to hear this from Suarez too.

by Guest Mon 29 Jul 2013, 5:57 pm

I agree, Suarez's reluctance to say anything one way or another is frustrating but given the way things have developed since he casually said "Ooh, wouldn't it be nice to play for Real Madrid one day?" I don't blame him for opening his gob again.

As I said a while back, whilst Suarez is probably always going to be on the press' radar, if he keeps quiet, knuckles down and just plays football, there will be some other hapless victim taking the limelight.

John Terry is likely to do/say something incredibly crass, Nile Ranger seems to be pushing his way to the front of the "This way for ridicule" line and no doubt Wayne Rooney will comb his hair in a slightly different direction thus affording the press several months of speculation as to whether or not he needs/has had another transplant

by Duty281 Wed 31 Jul 2013, 10:42 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-23510657

Political correctness strikes Liverpool Football Club. You're now not allowed to say: "don't be a woman", "play like a girl" and "that's gay"

What has this country become. Laugh

by TheCultOfPersonality Wed 31 Jul 2013, 2:07 pm

Its hilarious yet so ridiculous. I doubt anyone will be following to these rules.

by TheCultOfPersonality Thu 01 Aug 2013, 5:27 pm

Jack Robinson has gone out on loan to Blackpool. Does this mean we are getting a left back, Enrinque is the only proper left back we have with the likes of Johnson and Wisdom playing their occasionally.

We've been linked with a few left backs, most notably the one from Benfica I think.

by **Crimey** Thu 01 Aug 2013, 5:36 pm

Yeah heard a loan deal for the Benfica left back was all but done, so that's cover for Enrique sorted.

by Guest Fri 02 Aug 2013, 9:39 am

TheCultOfPersonality wrote:Its hilarious yet so ridiculous. I doubt anyone will be following to these rules.

Did you see the article about how the Warrior website is encouraging people to "Man up and sign up" and how last season Rodgers claimed that players who were moaning about training niggles etc should also "Man up"?

Whoops!

Anyway, nice idea in theory but wholly unenforcable. Imagine the uproar when someone is given a three year ban for telling Ashley Young to "stop rolling around on the floor like a big jessie"

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 06 Aug 2013, 4:23 pm

Skrtel is off to Napoli apparantly?

If so why?

by CFCNick Tue 06 Aug 2013, 4:24 pm

Because Napoli only deal in facts.

by **Crimey** Tue 06 Aug 2013, 4:52 pm

Because Rodgers thinks Toure is good enough for the first team... picard

by Guest Tue 06 Aug 2013, 5:47 pm

Crimey wrote:Because Rodgers thinks Toure is good enough for the first team...

This frightens the life out of me.

He's a good 3 years past his best.

by **Crimey** Tue 06 Aug 2013, 5:50 pm

I was quite happy with the signing as I thought he'd be excellent cover, if Rodgers seriously thinks he's a better option than Skrtel then he's not got a clue.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 06 Aug 2013, 5:53 pm

So you could potentially be going from this;

Reina
Agger-Skrtel

to this;

Mignolet
Agger-Toure

At the heart of your defence.

I know which one I'd rather have...

by **Crimey** Tue 06 Aug 2013, 5:58 pm

Exactly.

And while we're busy offloading past key players of the squad, players like Spearing, Downing, Coates are still at the clubs despite lots of question marks over their future.

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