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I was about to start this blog with “reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”, but on this occasion they actually haven’t been too far off the mark. A bit of a health scare among other things has given my presence on Kopblog over the past few months an almost Joe Cole-like invisibility, in fact I’ve made even less appearances than Steven Gerrard!
I’ve had other things occupying my mind and have hardly even been online for the past couple of months. But just like King Kenny at Liverpool I’ve managed to turn things around. I’m well on the road to recovery and have also just got myself an extended contract at work, so life is good again! Many thanks to those who sent me some e-mails they were much appreciated. Anyway I just want to brush off the cobwebs now and get back to some serious (ish) blogging, so let’s get on with it.
The one bright spark I’ve had over the past few months has been the turnaround in fortunes of my beloved Reds. You talk about a season of two halves, since King Kenny has returned to the Liverpool dugout we’ve made one of the most remarkable comebacks since Lazurus!
When I think back now to where we were just 6 months ago with all of the doom and gloom among our players and supporters not to mention the bloody awful football we were playing, I shudder to think where we might have ended up. But thankfully the FSG guys took the necessary action of removing Gandalf the Grey and returning the King to his throne, and the effect was immediate and even beyond what I had hoped for.
Considering the position and mood at the club when Dalglish took over I would have considered it an achievement just to come within a mathematical sniff of a European qualifying place but the fact that we actually got ourselves into a position where we were in control of fifth spot with an outside chance of the top four was just amazing.
Granted it was a bit of a disappointment that we finished the season with two defeats and ended up finishing in 6th spot but from an overall point of view you’ve got to say that since Kenny returned we’ve gotten more positives than Wayne Rooney at an STD clinic!
The pass and move football we are trying to return to, the players coming together as a team, the amazing signings of Suarez and Carroll, the appointment of Steve Clarke and the terrific performances of the young players coming into the team. The list goes on and on, and getting into the specifics of it all will give us plenty to discuss over the close season but for now I’m just going to stick with the overall picture.
I was split pretty much 50/50 on the question of us qualifying for the Europa League. On the one hand I thought being in it would give us more games to continue to blood the youngsters and build up their experience and it is also a competition that we could realistically win. But on the other hand a season out of Europe might not be a bad thing for us right now in fact focusing on things domestically without a European distraction might turn out to be just what the doctor ordered.
As I’ve already mentioned, things have been great since Kenny returned. The performances have been much improved and we’ve played some really entertaining football at times. Suarez has been superb, the energy of him and Kuyt upfront has been like watching Jedward on Acid! Raul the Merciless has also been terrific in midfield as has the ever improving Lucas. The young players have all been brilliant when called upon, particularly Kelly and Flanagan. Pepe has been solid as ever and I really enjoyed the double hat-trick by Maxi recently, the guy was running around with a smile wider than the Mersey, brilliant stuff!
So while it didn’t seem likely at the start of January, I do have some happy memories of the season but the fun is over now and the real work must now begin. When Kenny arrived his task was to turn things round, get the players performing and get the team climbing the table. He certainly achieved all that and more, and has thankfully been given the job on a permanent basis. But he knows and we know, a lot more will be required next season.
The honeymoon is over now and this is the end of what will hopefully be the beginning. We’ve got to kick on from here and at the very least be aiming for a return to the top four next season but that is not going to be easy. We finished the season in 6th spot and the five teams that finished ahead of us are all likely to spend heavily over the summer and we can’t afford to do any less.
I believe the FSG guys will make cash available, especially considering that beyond the Suarez and Carroll signings we had another £20 to £30 million in unsuccessful bids for other players in January. But no matter how much we have to spend it’s important that we spend it wisely. Obviously quality is important but so is the character of the players we target. Our dressingroom seems to be a happy place at the moment and there’s a good team ethic among the players so we wouldn’t want anyone coming in who might upset the balance.
Equally important in terms of generating funds and freeing up space on the wage bill is getting rid of some of the deadwood that is clogging up our squad and we’ve got a lot to ship out. I remember a report of some German side bidding £6 million for Jovanovic in January. So if I take that as his value and add in my estimated value of Konchesky and Poulson, then getting rid of those three would by my reckoning generate a total of £6,000, 003.57p, a fun size Mars bar and a Chicken McNugget!
There are also plenty of other players we really need to be rid of. A lot of them have been out on loan but there are others in the current first team squad I’d rather see the back off. Joe Cole has turned out to be a disaster. Granted he’s had a bad run with injuries but even when he has been available he’s been about as much use as a chocolate tea-pot but he’s apparently on mega wages so he might be a hard one to shift.
Aquilani is a difficult one. Considering the lack of depth of quality in our squad I thought it was an absolutely crazy decision to send him out on loan for the season, particulalrly as we’d spent most of the previous season getting him fit only for Juventus to reap the rewards of our efforts. From the bits and pieces I’ve seen of him playing for Juve over the season he seems to have done very well for them. I can’t blame the guy for wanting to stay in Italy after the way he’s been treated at Anfield under the previous regime but a part of me thinks a player like him could really flourish under Dalglish so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this works out.
Another one I’d like to see the back of is David Eggnog. I don’t have anything against the lad and I’m sure he’ll go on to have a good career in the game but I just don’t think he is good enough to be playing for Liverpool. If you consider that Suarez, Carroll and Kuyt are our three main strikers and each of them have different qualities then you would want to have a fourth choice striker who might offer something different and be at or near their level but Eggnog is a long way off.
There have been times when he’s shown flashes of quality and he has scored a few goals but even a blind squirrel can occasionally find an acorn. He’s also not somebody who can be a game changer coming off the bench. I’ve seen him brought on many times in games and he’s really made no difference, in fact most of the time he looks as if he couldn’t hit his own arse with both hands and a GPS!
So I’d definitely get rid of Eggnog if possible. I noticed recently the club have placed an £8 million price tag on him, I don’t know who came up with this price but whoever it was I wish they’d come over and do a valuation on my house!
As regards incoming players, I’ve read recent press reports linking us with the likes of Aguero, Mata, Coentrao, in fact just about every player whose surname ends in a vowel! The one common thread in all of these reports is that they are all total bollocks. This is the usual press tactic of firing buckshot in every direction in the hope that they might hit on something and then proudly proclaim “you read it here first”.
It may turn out that we end up signing one or two of the players they have us linked with but this would be just a lucky guess on their part. I think we all know enough about Dalglish and Comolli at this stage to realise that they both play their cards very close to their chest and these press guys know as little about their potential transfer targets as we do.
A left back, some width and another attacking option is the priority in my opinion, more cover in central midfield and central defence would also be nice if possible. But there are only so many quality players around and there is going to be a lot of competition for signings. We’ve also got the added disadvantage of not being able to offer European football to our targets so Comolli really has his work cut out. I’m still not too sure about this guy but if we get through this summer with some quality signings coming in and some of the squads dead wood going out, he will make a believer of me.
Anyway, I’ll leave it there for now and just finish off by saying congratulations to Barca for their very well deserved victory over the mancs in the Champions League final yesterday. They are a great club with a great team and some of the football they play is really quite beautifal at times. In Lionel Messi they have beyond a shadow of a doubt the world’s greatest player. I’m glad they won it and I hope they go on and win it again next season, but the season after that may be a different story. Because somethings stirring at Anfield and after we get through knocking the mancs off their perch we might turn our attentions to Barca!
Keep the Faith
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 #1 |
Redneck
Posted on May 29, 2011 @ 7:14 pm
welcome back gerry, our long lost scribe. we rejoice over your return.
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 #2 |
Redneck
Posted on May 29, 2011 @ 7:16 pm
tell us what happened to you.
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 #3 |
corklfc
Posted on May 29, 2011 @ 7:51 pm
Gerry, great to have you back online man, to cap it off, you have to make your way down to Cork for the Kopblog gathering. We will give you the same welcome as the Queen!!!
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 #4 |
dougle
Posted on May 29, 2011 @ 9:48 pm
(Yeah … Gerry the Queen has a certain ring to it !) Great to have you back man. I totally agree with you about Barca. I watched the second half last night in a bar with many “Irish Mancs”. I was nervous just in case those jammy bastar*s managed to win another but not a chance. Beautiful football, delighted to see it. Mancs were bewildered and dispirited. I reckon that has finished them if they meet again next year.
Anyway, I am actually not so sure us being or not being in the Europa makes any difference to the type of player we are looking to bring in. Hopefully it’s the CL they are looking to play in not the mickey mouse mayhem that is the EL.
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 #5 |
corklfc
Posted on May 29, 2011 @ 11:07 pm
Invited to a buddys house for bbq last night, arrived and a room full of maanc fans watching the match. They could hardly speak during the game, as the game finished and it showed the trophy being inscribed, one of the lads says “they are quick off the mark there”. i piped up- ” no that’s a recording, that was done an hour ago” sweet!!!
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 #6 |
kopcolly
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 12:51 am
Great to have ya back Gerry !
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 #7 |
ykleong
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 1:43 am
Great to have you back Gerry! Classic piece and worth the wait! Hope all is better with you…
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 #8 |
Kiwi_Mark_LFC
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 8:39 am
Oh dear Lord…I am only up to page 46 in “An Epic Swindle 44 months with a pair of Cowboys” and its already shocking as to just how bad Moores and Parry were at running the club…how useless they were at everything…the bit on the sacking of Houllier is laughable!
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 #9 |
Lurgankop
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 8:56 am
Welcome back Gerry. I am happy to hear that health/work related things are going much better for you.
Away to read your blog now.
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 #10 |
Sam Wanjere
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 10:32 am
Welcome back Gerry. I for one have truly missed your humor.
This week’s gem(s): “…A bit of a health scare among other things has given my presence on Kopblog over the past few months an almost Joe Cole-like invisibility, in fact I’ve made even less appearances than Steven Gerrard!” – hope it’s nothing serious though.
Gandalf the Grey? Pricess. “… from an overall point of view you’ve got to say that since Kenny returned we’ve gotten more positives than Wayne Rooney at an STD clinic!”
“…As regards incoming players, I’ve read recent press reports linking us with the likes of Aguero, Mata, Coentrao, in fact just about every player whose surname ends in a vowel!”
We’re on the up, a fact I can’t help repeating to any who cares (or mostly don’t) to listen. There’s a genuine fear factor back in opponents when it comes to facing Liverpool. I can’t get enough as our song to Suarez says
About players to Anfield, I think like Kenny our name is gargantuan in world football. Those who WANT will come. I for one don’t want to see mercenaries and stepping stoners who want to use us for some personal milestones. Only the hungry, hardworking, fight-for-the-Red are welcome at Anfield, and I think we’ll see quite a few of such.
PS: MUFC has knocked us off our perch? Is 19 + 3 equal to 18 + 5? We still lead in League Cup wins, European cups and UEFA tournaments. Two CL wins by SAF in some 18 attempts will never come close to quiet Paisley’s achievements on the pitch. It’s taken United about 35 years to reach our sporting achievements, but the Reds still win that odd trophy every now and then.
It will take some doing to be Red, just like MUFC and Arsenal have learned about being Barcelona.
Heads high, big smiles through the storms, happiness galore. YNWA!
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 #11 |
blud red
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 12:42 pm
er..gerry
if i ever become a stand up comedian can you write me a few jokes please? gandalf the grey? i’ll be laughing at that one for the rest of the week. welcome back.
i must say however that i possess a twinge of sadness that the fabled 1000 comments mark fell at the last hurdle, but as aitch said, it was taking a monumental effort to get onto the site towards the end.
having said that, more blogs from you are needed as you’re a top wordsmith. but what is there to write about now the season’s over, i wonder?
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 #12 |
blud red
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
i really enjoyed the CL final for many obvious reasons. but i was surprised at the lack of strategy employed by man u. they seemed to have one tactic and when that didn’t work, they stuck to it. odd really, considering sluralex is supposed to be a great manager. i hope liverpool learn some lessons watching barca play. dynasty’s rise and fall in football. their time is now. manshites time is over. our time will surely come.
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 #13 |
Rafalution
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
Welcome back Gerry! Good to see the best Liverpool FC blog on the planet ‘up & running’ again!
Agree with you on Eggnog. I hate to see a player leave Liverpool, especially when he given his all, but now that we have funds & should be in the market for a top name striker, he would be surplus to requirements.
Nice to see Masch dedicating Barca’s win to all Liverpool fans, even though he was a chop in the way he keft us.
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 #14 |
JackHill
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
Come into the parlour Gerry,like many others I’m glad to see you back and in fine fettle.
Like you I will be gad to see certain players depart,especially Ngog.He sored some nice goals but who wouldn’t with all the chances he got-he just hadn’t got it.
Barca were very good but ManUre + Sir Alec were like rabbits caught in the headlights.”Sir” had no answer but recovered enough to berate a Press journalist who asked a very stupid question at the press conference. Even I cringed when he asked it and Old Red Face was not in a good mood to say the least.
Anyway,repating – glad to have you back Gerry, and so enough of my words.
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 #15 |
McrRed
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 7:05 pm
Great to hear you again Gerry, glad things are working out…
I know we should concentrate on our own strengths and shouldn’t need to mention the opposition but:
Utd have unveiled a banner at old trafford saying “19″ to celebrate the number of touches they got on Saturday…
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 #16 |
dougle
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 10:23 pm
Ok guys – time for a bit of guessing here. I think there is a general view that we may need another up front striker. The line is that Ngog isn’t going to cut it for us now and we need some quality now.
I would agree by the way.
So we have Carroll and Dirk who have some similar characteristics and we have Suarez who has very different qualities. In my opinion we could do with another quick, smart, good finisher. We don’t need a “big man” and we don’t need another Dirk per say, at least not up front.
So who do we go for ?
I’ve seen mentioned Mata, Young, Downing, Aguero (no chance) (Gervinho, Hazard as well) .. but none of these guys is a pure striker. Guinness mentioned Shane Long …. but for me he is more the AC/Dirk mode.
What about a punt on Diego Forlan ?
He’s probably just past his peak age-wise, is the wrong side of 30 now, apparently fell out with Atletico. He is a superb footballer, Suarez team mate. He would come cheap albeit with highish wages. Give him a short contract. He has manure baggage of course but …. what’s he gonna win with Atletico and he ain’t going back to manure is he.
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 #17 |
corklfc
Posted on May 30, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
Dougle, i see age as a big issue re forlan for fsg. i see any player being signed being aged between 21-25. A team playing on Europe would offer big wages to get the likes of forlan. Sure robbie keane looks to be hitting form again, what do ye reckon:-)
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 #18 |
Aitch
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 1:26 am
If there are any players out there not convinced that LFC is the better destination… all Kenny has to do is show them 3 things.
The video of Man United’s Open Top bus tour that drew… and I quote from the BBC… “tens of thousands” (and seriously go look at the clip on the beeb site… its fuckin pathetic, half of those people were just out shopping and stood to watch it drive by.
Keep in mind… this is Number 19… all they’ve been able to talk about ALL fuckin season long… its a big, big deal to them, and they could barely muster 50,000 fans for the parade.
The video of Manchester City touring their FA Cup in an open top bus that drew a crowd estimated to be… and again I quote the BBC… 100,000 fans.
(now that’s a bit more like it but still, its their first trophy in how long?)
…and finally…
The video of LFC bringing #5 home… well over 250,000 fans lining a route from Lennon Airport to Anfield … a crowd so big, that it halted the bus numerous times… and had the lads stuck on the bus for so long, they were nipping off into neighborhood homes to use the facilities.
There’s much talk about what “we need”, or what “type” of player we need…
The players LFC need… will think, “yeah, I wanna be part of that” and will sign immediately!
…oh and yeah… welcome back sicknote!
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 #19 |
Aitch
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 3:49 am
… oh and someone just reminded me that we had 40,000 Reds still stuck in Istanbul waiting on flights… so 05 would have likely topped 300,000
… and we hadn’t “knocked anyone off their perch” so go figure?
Someon posted a crackin picture on a thread about this over on RAWK…
There’s the bus with the players on it… there’s some policemen walking alongside the bus… there’s a police car in front and one behind the bus… and other than that the streets look like something out of a Zombie Apocalypse movie… Desolate!
It was less “roar of the crowd” and more “tweet of the crickets”…
I kept expecting to see Will Smith drive by in a Red Mustang…
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 #20 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 4:59 am
Good to have you back Gerry!
Is anyone expecting us to have sorted our transfers out early in the upcomming transfer window? Would be good to make 2-3 signings, clear out some un wanted players and to get a good pre-season trainning camp underway….
Will be interesting as we’ve been notoriously slow with our transfers in the past…
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 #21 |
sachem
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 6:51 am
Welcome back Gerry. Not sure for how long we would have survived without your ingenious observations. In fact, I was probably about to go mental myself. Even the comments of bm started to make sense, it was terrifying!
Have a look at this clip lads, fucking quality comedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmcsx05qElU
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 #22 |
Rafalution
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 8:34 am
Dougle, as Corkie says – Forlan’s age would be an issue with FSG for sure. However, imo, it would be a good buy. He & Suarez were the best strike partnership at the 2010 WC, and he was indeed player of the WC.
Aitch, I posted a clip several months back of the scum players warming up before a game against Liverpool. The game, incidently, where we beat them 1-4. The announcer on the tannoy was trying to get the Old Twatford crowd – and it was 2/3 full at that stage – to sing & create an atmosphere. To no avail! Well embarrasing it was – if you were a manc fan!
So yeah, in my biased opinion, CL footy or not, Liverpool & it’s supporters should (& does) hold a huge attraction for any pro footballer.
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 #23 |
ldono2
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 2:16 pm
Welcome back Gerry, i was sorry to hear about your bout of ill health but am delighted your back on your feet now & hope all is well with you!!
Things got so bad in your absence a lot of the lads stayed away for large periods but i wouldn’t go as far as Sachem & say BM’s comments were starting to make sense, i don’t think it ever got that bad.
On a serious note, i hear today that Ged has left Villa by mutual consent, i really hope he takes his doc’s advice now and calls it a day. Best wishes for the future Ged whatever you decide to do!!
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 #24 |
blud red
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
just been checking out the academy lads. there is a lot of good stuff being reported lately on the class of the youngsters coming through. i can’t help but think that 2011/12 will be a big year for kids like sterling, wisdom, coady and the like.
we’re forever asking FSG to dip their hands in their pockets for foreign players when i’d really like to see the nippers coming through.
am i the only one who thinks that sterling deserves his first team call up. i mean, we’re all getting carried away with the likes of ashley young (not me) and i’ve even heard stewart downing mentioned also (please no). from what i’ve seen of sterling he’s a match for either of those two. he reminds me somewhat of suarez. loves to run at defenders. even at reserve level the opposition are putting two or three players on him whenever he’s on the ball. real talent.
like to know what you all think and whether any of you clever scousers have any inside information about whose really being talked about in the LFC ranks. answers on a postcard plase.
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 #25 |
koped49
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
BLUD RED
I am in agreement with you, ive been watching the young guns for some time and there is some talent in amongst them. We have had three show good promise in Kelly,Robinson and flanno. If Kenny had been in from the start of the season we may have had a few more. But podgeo either sold to buy the bags of shite Pulson and konch who lets face it are not LFC players by any stretch of the imagination. The acadamy is what Rafa left us so thanks for that Rafa. It was him who brought Kenny back to the club so he must have had some vision for the club. And now King Kenny will carry on in the Liverpool way and bring the club to the summit once more we used to do it buying the right type of player in to the club. we also reared our own and we are now doing it again.We will of course have some guys who wont make it at LFC. but they will because of the experience go on to be good for some other club, and by doing so earn us some corn to reinvest either in new players for the acadamy or quality players for the first team.
But lets give the young guns a fair crack at it, any way keeny will be fair to everyone and if any player deserves to be there then they will get there chance under him. Cant wait to see what happens next season but dont lets get too carried away, it may take a couple of seasons to be right a the top. but we will be there or there abouts next season. COME ON YOU RED MEN
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 #26 |
dougle
Posted on May 31, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
Well Blud. Before Kenny took over I had barely heard of Flanagan, vaguely remembered Robinson, didn’t rate Spearing, was very dubious about Shelvey and really rated Pachego so it goes to show what I know !
Therefore I, in the best traditions of armchair internet opinions, will now give my opinion.
In the specific case of Sterling it may well be he starts to get bits of games, as well as more squad time. I think he’s a bit on the small side and is still very young, (at school ?). I think it would be prudent to dip him gently into the hacking fest that is your average EPL encounter.
I don’t think we all expect that FSG will forever be dipping their hands in their pockets. However money talks in EPL-world. FSG want success and we are not presently capable in my opinion of achieving it. We need to be competing for top 4 immediately and surely need to make the top 4 by end of 2 seasons time.
Given we are in direct competition with 2 monster money clubs who will buy their way into the top 4 as well as the most successful and biggest club in england over the last 20 years, manure, (make that the biggest club in the world commercially) it effectively (it would seem) means we are fighting Arsenal, who are the richest Club in London, with their 66,000 sold out stadium with the highest ticket prices in the world and a well developed system of mopping up young talent in the Francophile world. Stable, rich, with a coherent philosophy from top to bottom.
Then there is Spurs. Right now a far better squad then we have.
Then there is the rest, Everton who always punch above their weight, Villa, who are moving in the right direction. Sunderland are now a very strong and stable club albeit with a bit of a hit and miss manager right now. And on and on … and Rafa could well be the manager in one of these clubs soon.
Suffice to say that it is going to be an even tougher competition next year.
So I think while we do need to bring in new blood from the academy, it saves us money, it pleases the hard-core support too, it serves us very well in that these lads are already schooled in the style we wish to play. It gives everyone from the Ressies down the incentive to really try when one of their own makes it. It only solidifies kenny’s reputation even more as he guides these new players into the team and squad. It’s all good but …. are they good enough to get us where FSG, us, as well as all aspects of our support want us to be? They have to be Blud because we don’t have time for … 6 seasons more without a trophy (see Wenger). Would you take that ?
If we want to win then we do need to beef up this squad quality-wise. If we want to attract quality we need to win. This is why I think this off-season is very important. I think we need to go up a level. The Academy boys won’t do it for us on their own I think.
I think FSG will plough money into new players and I think they will chop out quite a few non-productive, expensive players that are not really contributing. They may well take a loss in these moves too but it will be a one-off. There will be loan out moves if we cannot sell these guys.
So, for me, we need both Blud, Academy and New Quality. Probably there will be 2/3 transfer seasons before we are at the level we want to be and then it will be just keeping us there, with plenty of home-grown talent, (well maybe just one good find per season would in itself be fantastic) I hope !
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 #27 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 1:30 am
Great to have you back Gerry man!
Was worried about you there for a while
good comment there Dougle
Ill go and have a proper read before I have a crack
Over and out
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 #28 |
Aitch
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 7:16 am
…oh… not sure where the fuck my head was at there… it was actually 750,000 and not 250,000 for #5′s triumphant return to its spiritual home!
…which just compounds their embarrassment if you ask me!
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 #29 |
corklfc
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
I see the mancs have taken their first step in closing the gap on barca by re-signing M Owen!!
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 #30 |
blud red
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 3:03 pm
Koped49/Dougle
thanks for your posts. points taken.
but lets put it another way.
if we look at the feted Barca model, who have spawned many of their players from their own school, la maisa (the farm)including Guardiola, Sergi, De la Peña, Puyol, Xavi, Reina, Víctor Valdés, Gabri and Messi, in the short term they may well buy into players of impact like ronaldinho but in the long run their focus is their own academy. the players from la maisa are still (worryingly for the rest of europe) still coming through.
i have heard so many great things about our academy, and yes we do have rafa to thank for that, then is it not time to place equal empahasis on academy players.
personally, although we are being now heavily linked with stewert downing, after last seasons showing i am beginning to believe we already have lads of his quality in the club.
i am not a fan of downing and have seen little over the seasons i have watched him to change my mind. he seems below par.
why don’t we, for instance, save on the £15million being quoted for him, bring in youth to fill that gap and then use the saved finances to bring in a winger with better skills and a higher price tag, ala suarez.
apparently we have stated that we will not be bringing in players of lesser stature than the ones we have, but if suarez is anything to go by, downing falls way short of that mark, surely???
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 #31 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 3:51 pm
Gerry,good to have you back in the swing of things again.You were missed.
There`s a lot of work to be done on the squad no doubt about that at all should be an exciting summer to say the least but i won`t be getting carried away with my expectations of who we sign yet.Having no European footy dosen`t help but it isn`t the be all and end all either.I`m sure comolli will do a decent job selling LFC and its bright future,especially to foreign targets.
Word on the (internet)street is we`ve agreed a fee with Newcastle united to sign Joey Barton.Make of it what you will.
And Aitch,i heard once the open top bus dropped the mancs off at the Toilet the bus driver offered to take all the supporters home too for a whip around.
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 #32 |
Aitch
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 4:20 pm
I read that timmy. Funny.
Did you see the photos though… it really was utterly tragic. There’s one photot and it literally is just the bus, the police cars and police/stewards walking alonside the bus… and that’s it… the sidewalks were empty!!!
I seriously just can’t stop laughing about it.
As for players…
I think for the most part we’d be in agreement of those that definitely need to go…
Poulsen, Konchesky, Jovanovic.
There’s a few others out on loan, like El Zhar, Deggen, Mavinga, Insua that will be released or sold for a few bob.
The big question on loan players is gonna be Aqualani, and while fans are split on him, I reckon if he stays its coz K&C have looked at him and think he can offer something, and if he goes its coz we got a decent enough offer to reinvest.
… I think there’s a case to be made for and against both Cole and Ngog…
…and Kenny & Comolli will make that call.
They’ll probably also be looking to the medics for an assessment of what value Aurellio (and maybe even Agger) can offer next season?
But yeah… when it comes to players like Downing or McCarthy… fuck that… I’d rather see Jay and Shelvey get that playing time.
Our sights need to be set higher than that.
I’m hoping that our kids fill the spots that would normally be filled by such purchases, then lets go get 3 or 4 real quality players
We were in for 20 million worth of additional players in January… so if that much is still available, we can add 10 or 15, and we can muster 30 from sales, then we can get 3 Suarez-Calibre players.
I’ll take that… with the youngsters getting a sniff.
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 #33 |
dougle
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 5:04 pm
Aitch … we can add 30 million from sales ? Who or what are we selling ? I’ll have what your having mate !!
We’ll have to pay to have Deegan, Cole maybe even Poulsen taken off our hands. Nothing coming for el Zhar, Insua. Jova and Ngog will bring in a few bob ok, Mavinga and Konch ehhh … again we’ll be lucky to shift the pair for revenue neutral. I reckon when you add all off the above together we might break even. Aquaman and Agger/Skrtl might bring us a few bob tho’.
Moving on Ngog, Deegan, Insua (? maybe not ?), El Zhar, Konch, Poulsen, Cole etc will not strip the first team of any great quality, will open space for the youngsters to aspire to and fill and will release wages for the 4/5 quality players I hope we buy. But I think FSG will still be spending (relatively) big this time.
The beauty is that
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 #34 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 5:10 pm
Great write up thanks Gerry.
I don’t think Europa would have helped sell LFC to any transfer targets – if anything it would have hindered us. I think we’ll still be able to get the right player. Man City got players through throwing bags of money at them as they had nothing else to offer. We have a reputation for our supporters and from our history that helps (an inspirational manager, a project in the making, and hopefully a fair bit of cash)
I too hope we don’t go for the likes of Joey Barton and Stewart Downing. Its hard to believe a word of the press as Gerry said – if they spout enough rubbish some of it is going to be true. So (although easier said then done) I think it best to completely ignore until someone signs on the dotted line.
By the way if we can muster 10mil from Sales I will be impressed… The interesting one will be Aquaman. Seems Juve don’t want him, and I don’t really think Kenny wants him (but obviously doesn’t want to say that as it would lower his price).
Ashley Young is an interesting one. He does have some quality, rarely gets injured and 15mil seems a fair price for him. I don’t think it will be a make or brake whether we get him or not.
I think there is a lot of posturing between Slur Alex and King Kenny – I think we are linked to players who we don’t want just to try to increase the asking price.
I think both Ashley Young and Adam will go along those lines. (I think Manure will end up with Adam to replace Scholes) so I don’t think it hurts for Kenny to put in a couple of rogue bids…
Do you guys think we’ll have to wait till August for a few of these signings?
I’m not completely convinced by Jose Enrique.
Just watched the champions league final and Dani Alves was immense – wish we got him back in the day…
Also both the wingers for seville would be great – Jesus Nevas and Diego Perotti.
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 #35 |
theredman
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 5:42 pm
First and foremost glad your on the mend Gerry,
had a bit of a bad time myself lately but now well on the way back to full health as i hope you will be, and if last saturday didn’t make you feel better, well you must be poorly.
I know this has been said before but just got to say it again, “there was a flood warning on saturday night on Merseyside at approx 10-00 clock as 250,000 Liverpool supporter’s pissed themselve’s laughing”.
Lad,s can any of you enlighten me on the coming fixture’s for 2011-12 season as i believe we alway’s seem have a couple of bastard games at the start of every season, while the Champion’s league LOSER’S alway’s have piss easy one’s, i think it was Aitch who bought it up last season or the season before.
Answer’s on a postcard please and no more laughing at the mancs.
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 #36 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 6:19 pm
I think the schedule comes out mid june.
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 #37 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 6:32 pm
after fergus-scum gives it the all clear….
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 #38 |
theredman
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 7:26 pm
Nice one Red,
should be interesting no.
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 #39 |
Aitch
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 10:45 pm
I dunno dougle… I don’t see why we can’t muster some semi-serious dosh on sales?
I mean sure, valuations are pretty arbitrary and the sticky issue for us is going to be the fuckin stupid wages Christian Poulsen handed over to people, but basically a player is worth what someone will pay for him.
And granted we may be taking a loss on some of those players… but its not FSG’s loss…
Sure they are stuck with balancing books, but they are basically starting from scratch as far as player sales and purchases go.
Jovanovic cost us nothing… but as an under-contract player, there’s no reason we can’t sell him back to a Euro side for 4 or 5 million.
Cole was another free transfer… his wages are gonna be the sticking point, but if a bottom half team wanted him (or even a Euro team) they’ll pay at least 4 million to get him.
No reason we can’t get 2-4 million for Konchesky. He’s not LFC material. He’s not top 4 or top 6 calibre… but lower mid-table and newly promoted sides would pay that for him…. Maybe even a certain Wet Brom manager would pay more??
Same goes for Poulsen. Probably wouldn’t get much for him in the Prem, but I would think he could be offed to a mid-table Euro team for between 2 and 4 million fairly easy.
We had a 6 million offer for Ngog last summer from a French team (can’t remember which one right now) so again, no reason why we couldn’t get that for him now. And I think a move back to France would be the right move for him. He tasted regular first team action for a whole season, and was on the fringe of a France call-up, so he’s not gonna wanna go back to being 4th choice.
Yes… Insua and Degen will walk on Bosman’s, El Zhar too I think… but I’d think we could potentially add another 2-4 million for selling off youngsters or outer fringe players that haven’t made it… (shit we could get that alone for that Jones keeper fella.)
Like I said, maybe some of those valuations might be high, but someof them might be low too, so that’s at least 20 million on the conservative side right there.
Then if we sell Aqua instead of keeping him, (my preference would be to see him come back, but.,.) you’re looking at between 10 and 18 million.
We supposedly made 20 million in offers for other players in January… and that doesn’t include the Ashley Young bid (and I seriously hope we don’t go overboard for him… anything over 18 million and they can fuck off and we’ll look elsewhere) … so I reckon we’ve got that and a few other bob in the coffers.
But as I said… rather than lashing it all over the place on 8 or 9 players like some seem to want… I’d settle for the Luis Suarez of left backs fro 20 mill, the Luis Suarez of Left Wingers for 25 mill… maybe a decent 2nd left back for about 8 and a Ngog-replacement for about 10 or so, is what we should be looking for
I could be wrong… as I said these things are pretty arbitrary… but I’m trying to take an objective approach to valuations rather than the “he’s shit, we’ll have to pay them to take him” approach.
(that wasn’t a personal swipe at anyone by the way)
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 #40 |
corklfc
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
Aitch, i agree with Dougle, your valuations are very optimistic, id let Cole go on a free just to get him of the wage bill, who is going to offer 4m for some one who hasn’t played in 2 years effectively. Poulson is 30+, free to get off the wage bill. Konc is the same. 2M for ngog, 2m jova, 10m for aqua.
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 #41 |
dougle
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 11:27 pm
Hi Aitch,
Fair enough you came up with valuations ! I do agree that it’s supply and demand. If we have someone and some other team wants them then fair game for us. Funnily enough I could see some team looking at Joe Cole but … the problem (as you said) is the stupid wages that Purslow signed these guys up at. That’s why any fee we get for Poulsen, Konch and definitely Cole may have to go back to the player for the wage cut they’ll take at the new club.
Now I also don’t call and never have called these guys shit players. They are not. It’s just they don’t work for us, simple. Jova would be another example. I thought we had a possible player on our hands here but it just has not worked for him. Fortunately his name is good in Belgium and I think he’ll get a good club and we will make a few bob there.
Anyway I think we are all singing from the same hymn sheet here. I hope you are right Aitch and probably we won’t know in any case.
At a guess how much could we save in wages shifting on those guys ?
Jova + Cole + Poulsen + Konch + Ngog + Aqua + Jones + Soto ~ 350,000 / week ?
Well that’s the wages of 4 high quality players I reckon.
Sign them to long contracts and the spread will make us ok with FIFA financial regs too.
It makes space for Pachego, Shelvey, Spearing, Robinson, Flanagan, Kelly (at centre half), maybe Sterling-Suso-De Silva-Coady-Wisdom popping up in the squads as well….. and then you add 3/4 crackers too.
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 #42 |
blud red
Posted on June 1, 2011 @ 11:52 pm
most of all, if you’re talking about players we might buy, i’d be interested in scouring europe for players of charlie adams characters, players who make their team tick. i call them captains on the pitch. they might play for lower league sides, but the lower league sides support know them and love them.
we need players who will come in that will make the supporters sing songs about them, the macherano’s of the world, the grafters, the day in day out diehards. jermaine beckford springs to mind, that type of player, so valuable to teams like leeds, now playing for the toffees and doing a job. what about scouring the planet for these type of guys. suarez is an extreme example of this. there will be others, if we can find them.
will the anfield crowd being singing songs about downing? i can’t see it myself.
but i’ve eaten my hat before on this blog. i don’t mind doing it again if they prove me wrong.
we need heroes next season, because we all know what we want. i know what kenny wants and without a shadow of a doubt the king wants to be number one and knock that flaming red nose off his perch.
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 #43 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 1:55 am
lads there seems to be something to this jordan henderson story, to be honest i dont know to much about the lad, ive been looking through a few of the teams in spain to see if there was any stars in the making,there seems to be a few players on the rise so i’ll put up there names & see if any of ya have any knowledge on them,javi marquez plays centre midfield for espanyol , 25 yrs old, from what ive read the only reason he aint in the spain team is the obvious one,
borja valero, attacking midfielder for villarreal, by all accounts this lad is the complete package,
rondon a striker who plays for malaga, a 21 yr old venezuelan, seemingly terrific speed, a great right foot & brilliant technique, by all accounts this kid is one for the future, any of you lads watch spanish footy & know anything about these guys??
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 #44 |
john constantine
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 3:50 am
I remember a report of some German side bidding £6 million for Jovanovic in January. So if I take that as his value and add in my estimated value of Konchesky and Poulson, then getting rid of those three would by my reckoning generate a total of £6,000, 003.57p, a fun size Mars bar and a Chicken McNugget!
lmao well worth the wait Gerry.
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 #45 |
john constantine
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 4:01 am
its still “our fucking perch”
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 #47 |
Gerry
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 5:33 pm
Am I missing something about Downing? I’d be 50/50 on him myself but it seems some people really can’t stand him and I’m wondering is there any reasoning behind it or is it just the usual “he’s shit” argument?
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 #48 |
Aitch
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
Christ, not only a new blog, but a comment within it before it hit 48 posts…
…you’re spoiling us Ged, the kids will never be the same now!
The problem with Downing is not that he is shite. He’s a good player… but is he…
a) a “Luis Suarez” caliber signing??
…Or…
b) a Konchesky caliber signing??
…Or…
c) somewhere in between??
(the answer is c by the way )
For my money, I don’t see Downing as significantly “better than what we already have” since that was the gauntlet Kenny has thrown down in several interviews.
As Ged sed… I’m in the 50/50 camp on that signing… just don’t pay too much if it is on….
…but Personally I’d rather see Shelvey given that spot, and see if he develops, than spend a load of money on Downing.
I’ve been trying to find the article from early February that listed the 4 or 5 players we’d inquired about… and I mean serious inquiries, not rumored targets… it was an interview with Comolli and he named 4 players we’d tried to get in January for a total of around 20 million, but weren’t able to secure for various reasons.
None of the names I’m reading rumors about strike a bell from my recollection of that article, and I’m not sure why we shouldn’t still be interested in them… so hopefully all the rumors will be bollocks and we’ll get a hint of signings the day before they actually happen… which is frustrating for us, but is how it should be.
As for player valuations… thank fuck you’re not at the helm of LFC corky … no offense lad…
…but “letting Cole go on a free just to get him off the wage bill” is pissing away money we could get for him.
I just don’t get that thinking… Joe Cole may have had a poor season for us, but he is still a marquee name…
… and still a decent footballer, who if he did stay could actually recover form and contribute next season…
There are 3 teams coming up from the Championship and 3 teams that missed relegation on the last day… are you seriously telling me they wouldn’t pay us 4 million for Joe Cole?
Maybe you were looking at it from the point of view that dougle stated… that is… we’d have to subsidize such a move with that 4 million, to convince JC to take a pay cut from 10k to 75k or some-such?
I get that… but as much as he may want to sit on the bench collecting 100k a week…
… he’s also only got a season or two left in him…
… money is money… but as someone who can’t play anymore due to injury (and as many ex-pros have stated) “your playing career is short, you wanna play as much as you can before you can’t do it any more”.
…Sami Hyppia left for Germany to play every week rather than sit on the bench for us… and he “loved” it here at LFC…
… I could see if Joe Cole gets a chance to go somewhere and play every week he would do so, and take a pay cut to do it.
…and maybe not…
… but I certainly wouldn’t start the negotiations with, “you can have him for free and how much of our money each week do you want, to take him?”
No, I start with… “you can have him, but it’ll cost you 6 million. He’s Joe Cole, he’s an English International, behave!”
As for Ngog… 2million???
Seriously???
We had a 6 million offer on the table last summer and Birmingham offered us 5 million last summer and then around 4 million in January.
He’s young, he’s a France Under 21 International.
…and some of you criticize Rafa’s transfer policies????
Sure, United won’t want him. Chelsea won’t come knocking. Arsenal won’t be looking to add him to Arsene’s Kindergarten…
…but Sochaux might want him, or Marseille, or even Lyon… and they’d likely pay 5-8 million for the privilege.
Like I said… valuating players is pretty arbitrary (I mean seriously … 35 million for Andy Carroll?? Seriously???) but if I’m overvaluating players … then some of you are grossly, grossly undervaluating them.
… but I guess we won’t have to wait too long to see who lands closer.
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 #49 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 8:33 pm
Aitch, I think we tried to sign the following players in January:
Young
Adam
NZogbia
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 #50 |
blud red
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 9:48 pm
gerry,
no one’s down on stewert downing, particularly, because he’s a pretty anonymous dude really. over the years i’ve watched him i can’t remember ever thinking, now there’s a talented winger. can you?
he was elevated in england a few years back because he was left footed when england were crying out for a left sided player…but he never made that role his own either, in fact he was so good they preferred to go with joe cole.
also, i like to think the game has moved on somewhat and liverpool are moving on at the same pace. would you play downing against some of the talent in europe? against inter, barca or real? i’m not sure.
like i said earlier. if you want to challenge for the title, you want captains in every position on the pitch.
having said all that i’ve just googled the lad and villa rated him player of the year!! well, fair enough, i suppose their fans know what they’re talking about, but he’s a pretty anonymous player of the years.
of course you can prove me wrong
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 #51 |
sachem
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 10:28 pm
In my opinion, Downing has had an excellent season. Anonymous? Nothing could be further from the truth. Does that mean he’ll repeat it next season, presumably in a bigger could? Of course it doesn’t. He might do, but to be honest I never thought he’d be as consistently influential as he’s been over the last season.
In any case, I think there are better options out there. We do of course need a certain amount of home-grown players in the squad, but to get a real world class winger I think we need to look outside Britain. Players like Mata or Hazard would be brilliant, but too expensive. Comolli will probably have to unearth some young lad whose talent haven’t yet been fully monitored by other big clubs.
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 #52 |
corklfc
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 10:29 pm
SAitch, i am an accountant, so thats why my figures are all so that conservative. its grand to say we had offers back in Jan or last summer for players, butm the most telling thing for me since kenny is all those players went way down the pecking order as soon as he arrived. That won’t go unnoticed I would love to be wrong, but time Will tell. A year ago Juve were were going to pay 14m, now they don’t want him, not saying he’s a bad player, but previous offers or agreements mean nothing.
Players coming in have to be better players than maxi, raul & kuyt. is downing such a player? not convinced myself. we have enough young players at the club so no need to be buying potential.
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 #53 |
corklfc
Posted on June 2, 2011 @ 10:31 pm
Aitch, excuse the spelling mistakes, bloody smart phone!
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 #54 |
Aitch
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 12:48 am
Fair enough point Corky… but WHY has Ngog slipped downt he pecking order?
Its not coz his game went to shit, its coz we bought Suarez and Carroll.
Ngog has never progressed to the point I thought he would.
I reckon there are a host of reasons for that… and the least of them is … “he’s crap”.
The lad was thrust into a starting position because Nanod got injured, and finances restricted buying other striking options… and he scored some important goals.
I had this discussion with someone earlier in the season… pre Kenny.
Ngog only scored 10 goals (I think) last season and 8 this season…
…not much of a return…
…BUT…
…almost every single goal rescued a point, or bagged us 3 points.
Compare that to someone like Babel who mostly scored #3 or 4, late in a 3-1 or 4-1 victory…
…and yet… people still rate Babel’s strike rate over Ngog’s.
“He had a helluva shot on him” I still read to this day in regards Babel.
Which is fine… if you define a helluva shot as “twatting the bloke in row Z in the face”.
LFC fans seem to devalue players they don’t like.
I recall people banging on about off-loading Vorronin for free… yet we actually sold him for cash money!
The one good thing about Fabio Aurellio being under a 2 year contract is that he can;t walk on a free this summer (unless we release him) and so realistically we “could” get a few bob in return for him.
I wouldn’t put it past a Euro team offering 2 million to take a chance on him?
Its the kind of thing we’d have done a year or so ago, under G&H.
Yes… a total loss in the grander scheme… but money in the coffers is money in the coffers…
Letting players walk for free is the kind of thing Parry and Purslow did… I hope Ayre and Comolli have a different outlook.
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 #55 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 1:25 am
I’m not to convinced by the buy English talent talk, sadly England has been in the World football wilderness for decades. How many of Englands finest would make the Barca team, or RM for that fact.
.
English players have intensity so usually provide good defensive/tackling type players, but when it comes to outlandish flair type/game changing players,it grim. Nme me an English winger who could grace the big European stages, its difficult.
.
Look at the difference in touch and style between Saurez and Carrol, its dramatic, of the big teams which one would be jumped at first.
.
I’m still a firm believer we need to invest heavily, enough to re-build so our young stars of Suso, Pecheco, Sterling ect have chance to come through.
.
We desperately need two wingers, with style and flair. English players may keep you in a game but style and flair can win it.
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 #56 |
Aitch
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 1:27 am
“Aitch, I think we tried to sign the following players in January: Young, Adam, NZogbia”
Christ LB, give me a bit of credit will ya?
Those are the players EVRYONE and their dog new about.
I’ve just wasted a fuckin hour of my life scanning through news archives for February and March trying to find the article/interview with Comolli where he talked about the other players.
There were 4 players he named, that he said he had put initial bids in for, but the negotiations never progressed. None of this made it to the media in January… “all done behind closed doors… the Liverpool Way”
Anyway, like I said, I can’t remember the names now… they weren’t marquee players that you’d remember.
I remember one was a 21 year old Real Madrid midfielder… the proverbial “very highly rated” player in Europe, but hasn’t been able to break into their midfield (but given their midfield options, that’s no small task.)
It wouldn’t surprise me to see a few such players land on our doorstep, while the media are linking us with Uncle Tom Cobbly and Snoogy Doogy.
And frankly, I’d prefer that to Downing and such.
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 #57 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 2:11 am
lads , been reading your comments on players out & there value,seen an article in the mirror & here’s there take on it, it also gives there view on who we are after,
aitch i’ll have a look on lfctv & see if i can get that interview with comolli to find out those 3/4 players you were talking abouthttp://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Liverpool-transfer-news-Jordan-Henderson-link-further-proof-Reds-owners-want-to-buy-young-and-buy-British-article743794.html
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 #59 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 6:05 am
Must agree with yo Aitch, a mate of mine was telling me that we’re in the lead for Ashley Young… I said to him that our last two transfers were almost completed before the media found out about them… Im really not expecting any of these rumours to be true unless theres a photo of the player with Comolli about to sign a contract….
How come theres always talk (in the media) about King Kenny signing this or that player? I thought Comolli does all the signing etc?
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 #60 |
sachem
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 11:41 am
I think John Henry himself wrote one twitter a few months ago, pointing out to the fans we shouldn’t believe in the rumours concerning players coming. Just as Gerry says, if the media prove to be correct in any of the players mentioned, it’s only because the rest of the rumours were wrong.
The only reports I would put any real trust in is if people like Tony Barrett says he knows our scouts have been watching a player a lot. That’s what he wrote on twitter a few weeks before the Suárez signing was officially announced. Unfortunately I can’t seem to resist having a look at the rumours every now and then, even if I know it’s all most likely based on mere guesswork.
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 #61 |
Aitch
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 4:57 pm
I wouldn;t believe a word in the Daily Mirror.
We’re after “young and British”?
One wonders how they’ve just gleaned this “exclusive” piece of information for such a stop-you-in-your-tracks-headline…
… when it is information that Henry, Werner, Ayre, Comolli, and Dalglish have ALL shared openly and publicly over the past 8/9 months.
I too read this stuff, for fun and coz its LFC related, but I don’t fuckin believe a word of any of it.
If they get it right, as Gerry said… its coz they’ve rumored us with EVERY possible signing, so one or two will eventually be right.
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 #62 |
London Red
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 7:55 pm
We seem to have been tracking this Snoogy Doogy fella for several years now,I think its time we put in a decent bid and sign the lad.
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 #63 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 9:46 pm
Welcome back Ger its good to have the captain of the ship back at the helm.
As for the transfers hopefully we have most of ours done before were sick to death of th 99% bollox thats just about everywhere. I do think we will buy mostly British & Irish these are the type of players that won Kenny all his league titles. I dont think he’s soft enough to not to want to buy the very best the continent has to offer maybe one or two stars each season but lads from these Islands are what we need to win this league, Europe is a different story though but lets cross that bridge when we come to it.
Get the squad full of good players who want to be here for the club and its history not for the money, get them playing as a unit and for the manager and lets see where that can take us.
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 #64 |
koped49
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 10:17 pm
I have a mate who is a villa fan, and he says there ruors are that Ashley Young was at the manure training ground yesterday having a medical. dont how true its but he is normally reliable/ anyway wont bother me as i am not convinced hes right for us anyway. And the lad Downing not bad but again dont think he is that much better than we have, and not as good a bet a young Sterling who is going to be a fab little player. One who Kenny rates quite highly. im with you Aitch. Give our guys a go.
YNWA
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 #65 |
sachem
Posted on June 3, 2011 @ 11:12 pm
Impossible to say how much truth there is in it, but the last few days several sources have claimed Liverpool are trying to sign three English players, all 20 years old or younger. If true, Comolli and Kenny would seem to take the Arsenal approach, because these young lads would cost us a lot of dough.
The players are Jordan Henderson (Sunderland, born 1990), Phil Jones (Blackburn, born 1992) and Connor Wickham (Ipswich, born 1993). The first two would make sense, because we could well use those types of players. Connor Wickham, though a great talent, does seem like a typical target man, nearly identical to Andy Carroll.
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 #66 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 12:13 pm
Is there something wrong at my end or has nobody posted since Friday
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 #67 |
corklfc
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 1:22 pm
Reports that Joe Cole heading to Spurs for 3m, that would be a great kick-start to the transfer window if it was to come off. Aitch, your up 1-0 if this one comes off!!
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 #68 |
sachem
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 1:33 pm
Poulsen stating on .tv today he really wants to remain at LFC. This is a bit worrying to me. Don’t mean to disrespect Christian as I’m sure he’s a good professional and also currently a Liverpool player, but honestly, he must find himself a new club.
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 #69 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 2:07 pm
This Joe Cole news sounds too good to be true?
Surely `Arry can`t be that thick can he?
As for Poulsen i think its time Kenny told him he hasn`t a future here and to look elsewhere for a club,same goes for Milan Jovanovic.Those three players alone are costing us nearly a million a month on wages alone!
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 #70 |
sachem
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 2:15 pm
Not sure what to think about the Joe Cole news. Reports suggesting ‘Arry is sure he can regain Joe’s form because he knows him since the West Ham days. This makes me suspicious, since that’s exactly the kind of fact usually added to that kind of story in order to make it seem more credible. Even so, I hope it’s fucking true!
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 #71 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 2:28 pm
jova’s on £120,000 a WEEK. Mental altogether. Hopefully a big clear out can be achieved but I cant see any clubs anywhere offering these lads even 25% of that, they could prove hard to shift.
Seeing as it fantasy football time I would love to see us playing with Gerrard McCarthy Henderson in midfield and Luis Andy and Khun Aguerro up top. aint gonna happen but would be a fairly dynamic line up.
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 #72 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
The club need to get ruthless. Tell Cole, Poulsen and Jova they do not figure in our plans and therefore should either find another club ASAP. I wouldn’t give any of them a squad number for next season and they can train by themselves.
Also – tell Juventus to fuck off if they do not want to pay the asking price for Aquilani.
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 #73 |
London Red
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 6:40 pm
I hope the rumours about us being after Henderson and Nzogbia are true,two very good players who I think would definitely improve us also Wickham looks a good prospect as long as we don’t pay over the odds for him.
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 #74 |
dougle
Posted on June 5, 2011 @ 11:36 pm
London – I’m sure these players know the score and it’s a bit of a phoney war at the moment. Just like Juve and Aquilani too. I’d bet my bottom dollar that Aquaman is finished here. He doesn’t want to be here. He’s just back in the national team. Juve are talking the cost down but they’d better be careful as some other Italian team will take Aquaman. I know nothing about Italian football politics but I know Roma have come into new ownership and he’s an ex-Roma idol who was sold to keep the club going. That’s my tip. Aquaman back to Roma ?
Same for Jova, Konch, Poulsen and Cole I reckon. It’s just spinning to get the best (financial) deal.
I can see J Cole and Jova both wanting to play to prove something. Poulsen is still a big player for the danish national team so he too has motivation to play regularly, something which he has failed to do and it would seem it’ll be even less likely next season at ‘Pool.
The Konch … well I don’t know. See other posts above.
As or Cole to Spurs I hope so for all the reasons we know but also maybe harry can get something out of Cole .. but he ain’t gonna get Modric out of him so go there by all means Joe. Agent Torres has done a good job at Chavski, agent Cole at the Lane ? Perfect !
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 #75 |
theredman
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 4:25 pm
Reading some report’s suggesting if Cole goes to the Spud’s, it will open the door for Modric to move to the manc’s, now why on earth would we help that lot, look what he did to Preston (old whiskey nose) when his lad got the boot the petty fucker, keep Cole and see if Kenny can get him to play the way we know he is capable of, i know his wage’s are a lot to be desired but we have gone this far with him i cant see another half season more doing any more damage and as i say he may just find his form again.
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 #76 |
Aitch
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 7:08 pm
I wouldn’t put stock in any of this bullshit if I were you fellas.
For every player we’ve been rumored with… there is an open denial from their respective clubs… that we haven’t even been in contact, let alone tabled an opening bid.
And that’s how it should be.
I want us to be in the final throws of a deal before we find out about it.
As far as Poulsen’s statement… put yourself in his shoes… right now, he’s a Liverpool player… if we sell him, who’s he gonna be playing for?
Of course he wants to fuckin stay.
The same goes for anyone currently on the books who we are looking to sell. So I wouldn’t be spinning into a tizzy when you read such things.
In regards Aquaman, I’ve read all 112 pages of the Aqua thread on RAWK (not in one sitting, over a period of weeks obviously… urgh…) and among its many “experts” seemingly with inside information on the subject of Aqua’s situation…
…there is not one single quote attributable to Aquilani, where he has stated he does “not want to return to LFC”.
What he has said, is that he would “prefer to stay in Italy”.
That’s fine. The lad is Italian.
Towards the end of his time, he also got fairly fucked about by us, so I can see his point.
But that doesn’t mean if Kenny were to go have a chat with him, he wouldn’t be as willing to come back as Suarez was to come to us.
People also seem to be getting very hung up on things like player wages and transfer fees…
The idea that we rid ourselves of Joe Cole’s 100k per week is a bit disingenuous when what everyone wants is for us to sign a Mata or Aguerro… who won’t come to us for anything less than 100k per week. (especially when that translates to 75k per week in Europe due to taxes.)
If we are to offload the 8 or so players previously discussed… I’m willing to bet that even if we only replace them with 5 incoming players… our wage bill will not be significantly less.
In January we sold Torres and Babel… we signed Suarez and Carrol for a near net-Zero spend.
I don’t know the exact wages… but I’m willing to bet we didn’t save much if anything.
And yes, we’ve shelled out quite a bit of dosh for Aquilani… but the current owners haven’t.
Yes they’ve got to balance the books still… their purchase wasn’t a complete push of the reset button, and they’ll be balancing financial mistakes made prior to their takeover for some time to come…
But… another way to look at it is… in real money terms… the decision to bring Aquilani back costs us 4.4 million… (the final Roma installment due this month) …a fuckin snip for a player of his caliber.
Balance that against 8-12 million to get Charlie Adam … or even 8m as is rumored for this Henderson kid?
So the argument then immediately jumps to wages…
… untested kids (at the highest level) will sign for 40/50k-ish… but Adam won’t sign for 40/50k a week… especially if Arsenal or Scum are in the bidding mix… he’ll hold out for 75 to 80k-ish
Now Joe Cole…
According to Kenny… Joe hasn’t sat sulking on the bench, (and I should fuckin well think not for 100k per week, but…) … has kept his spirits up in spite of only getting 5 or 10 minute cameos, and has generally been a happy and positive influence within the squad and on younger players.
100k per week might be a bit stiff to pay for that influence… but that influence is exactly what we missed when we lost players like Didi Hamman and Sami Hyppia…
… and Joe Cole is …was… a class player.
He is as likely to rediscover form, as he is to fade into obscurity.
So Kenny will know if he wants to give him another 6-12 months and if he does, then in Kenny I trust.
If not… then I’ll trust K & DC to negotiate another million from Spurs if we are to sell him (4 mill will buy a promising kid or two or add to the warchest for a Suarez-type signing.)
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 #77 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 8:05 pm
Any of you lads see xabi’s interview on lfctv lastnite? Claire o rourke asked him would he play for the reds again & he gave it the thumbs up, now that would be a signing! Go get him !
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 #78 |
dougle
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 9:41 pm
general media bullshit and raise you Kenny’s intelligent handling of the press as well as my arguments in the previous posts.
I can’t see Joe getting back his form because (A) he’s not been fit and that’s unlikely to improve and (B) where he wants to play i.e in the hole (Mr Cole) we already have Miereles/Gerrard/Suarez/Shelvey/Pachego even Dirk at a push. He can’t cut it out wide and neither deep. At least that’s what I see of him. Also he’s getting on.
If he can get a deal where he keeps (one way or the other) his money and gets regular first team ball where he wishes to play then I reckon he’s gone. I do understand the need to have squad depth but really the wage package combined with the age, positional preference (and momentum) is not a good deal for us.
God knows but he might even think he can get back in the Ingurland international set-up at this stage. He needs playing time.
If you gave me Mata/Aguero/ even Dowling/Young and took Joe out in wage exchange I’d bite your hand off.
Ditto Poulsen, he is finished as an international player if he doesn’t get regular playing time.
Aquilani, well it’s all smoke and mirrors but I reckon he’ll go.
Now if you give me the choice of a fully fit and motivated Aquaman or Charlie Adam then .. for me, from what I’ve seen and given it’s the EPL we are talking about, it’s a toss-up. Good point on Aqua’s real cost being only 4.4 ml tho’.
As for the Torres-Babel/Suarez-Carroll swap. Pure genius for me. Maybe we have only broken even on wages (I’d say we may have slightly edged it anyway) but we got rid of a big moaning sulk (i’m sorry to say) as well as a goofy serial non-producer and got in well.. Suarez alone was worth the trade. AC is all credit for me, whatever we get out of him is a bonus. On top of that Chelsea have now to re-mould their team around a very dodgy longterm prospect i.e Torres. Pure genius.
Finally Aitch you are right in a way about Kenny. he doesn’t put a foot wrong with the media and the players. I we have J.Cole at the start of the season (the pints are on me) well Kenny has made him more than welcome. Likewise Aquilani. He gives no hostages to fortune does our Canny Scot.
I too have been scanning the transfer rumours and the best posts I have read have been from well-sourced ITK’s (in the knows) who have said they are getting nothing, nada, they have closed up shop at Anfield and about time too.
I want to hear it when I see it on LFC.tv. Done deal, press in the dark, and Lawro and Ronnie and Aldo as ignorant as the rest of us.
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 #79 |
dougle
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 9:45 pm
First line of last post got lost some where … Should have been
Aitch, I’ll see your Joe Cole positive influence, Aquilani’s polite clarification, Poulsen’s well feathered nest and general media bullshit and raise you …. etc etc
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 #80 |
Aitch
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 10:50 pm
Fair enough double, I wouldn’t necessarily argue with much of that…
To what extent I rate Aquilani, or Cole, or Snoogy Doogie… is a separate issue from… to what extent Kenny might rate him… to what extent you might rate him.
I’m doing my best to be objective about these things… and that’s always hard.
Charlie Adam was on fire in first half of the season… but what had he done before that?
None of the clubs reportedly interested in him were giving him a first look, let alone a second look, let alone tabling massive bids, which is why he ended up playing for Blackpool in the Championship.
We went in for him based on that 6 month period of exceptional play… and that’s how I view that 6 months of play… as the exception, not the rule… with what I considered at the time to be an outrageously overpriced bid… and to some extent, I’d argue his subsequent performances bare this out… though I’ll give him credit for getting a bit of it back at the end, in the final few games.
My thing with Adam is… he is Blackpool’s Stevie G. All roads lead to him, all play goes through him… that wouldn’t be the case if he came to us…
…and I’m just not sure he could really raise his game… let alone maintain that first-6-month-level with us.
Although I will say this…
Tony Barrett wrote an interesting blog today about Kenny’s first stint in charge and his buying of players.
To some extent he compared Adam to our purchase of Steve McMahon…
…and I’ll be honest and hold up my hand and say I never thought of it that way…
… but TB has a real point there… and if Adam could come to us and be the “new McMahon” then fuck it… I’m on board big time! (but only for <9million quid.)
So I do see where you are coming from as far as the choice of Aqua or Adam (if that were our choice, and who knows?) being a wash. I guess it comes down to whether you think we need a grafter or a flair player, and to what extent you rate either.
But I find it interesting the way people waffle about the bit they know about the clubs finances.
A big argument for getting rid of “the dead wood” is to reduce the wage bill… but if we sign 2 or 3 top players… and again, “top player” is somewhat subjective, but for the sake of argument let’s just say “players other top teams both domestic and Euro, would want”… they won’t sign for 40/50k per week, they’ll sign for 80k plus
I agree to some extent on Joe Cole, dougle. I think I said as much.
I understand your position in re: he’s not likely to recover his form… and fair enough, I get where you’re coming from and accept the logic… but we’ve seen aging players do it, I’ve done it myself at amateur level after injury “supposedly ended my career” and I had a stellar season before getting injured again the following season. So, I’ll give Cole (based on Kenny making that determination) the benefit of the doubt should he stay, and admit you were right if he goes. How’s that?
No doubt 100k per week is a lot to pay for someone who has marginal impact on the field but is providing some good guidance backstage.
And for sure, how badly he wants to play regularly will be a big indicator to Kenny…
But I’ve long argued that we sold Didi Hamman a season too soon. His experience was sorely missed and is the type of thing that helps new boys “bed in”.
Sami Hyppia was allowed to leave… because we couldn’t guarantee him playing time… so I would caution those who have the opinion that Jamie Carragher should be arbitrarily dropped or sold.
I don’t think anyone can really argue that Joe Cole has been an abject failure of a signing.
But saying that does not equate to … he will continue to be so next season.
By that logic, we should be looking to offload Stevie G for whatever we can get for him, to get the 120k per week off the wage bill.
Madness.
Well, not madness… it is an argument to make…
… but only if you also recognize the argument that both players are well capable of getting fit and healthy over the summer and being “our Giggs and Scholes” next season.
2 seasons ago Giggs was all but written off as a crock who was past it. Then he puts in a stellar cameo season for which he (questionably) wins player of the season… followed by a season where he perhaps deserved it more than Parker.
I think Kenny & DC have their work cut out for them…
… but I’m largely unimpressed by the vast majority of names we’ve been linked with.
Oh and just to clarify my point… on the Torres/Babbel-Suarez/Carrol switch.
I was looking at that strictly from a “wage bill” perspective. LS and AC didn’t sign for pennies.
There is no doubt (is there?) that Suarez and Carrol have already given us a better first season, than Torres and Babbel’s least seasons.
Both new players seem happy to be here, whereas the other two clearly didn’t (recent revelations of serious regrets in one of them aside, you silly, silly boy!)
But the finances of the swap were pretty close to a wash. Incoming fees matched outgoing fees and incoming wages, pretty closely matched outgoing wages.
But many fans (in various forums, not so much in here, but it does happen) follow some flawed logic in talking wage bills and such.
Obviously I’m no more in the know of the actual figures than anyone else, but following a straight train of logic…
There seems to be this idea that selling Poulsen, Konchesky, Jovanovic, Ngog, Cole and Aqualani will relieve the wage bill by a significant amount.
And that’s true… but not if we replace them.
… if we do go out and replace those 6 players with 2 Luis Suarez caliber players and say 3 Henderson-grade players… then the wage bill going into next season is highly likely to be the same as this season. (and if we get lucky and snag 3 Suarez-class players… then we’d likely be looking at a higher wage bill.)
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 #81 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 11:36 pm
Aitch, the Joe Cole signing was appalling. Giving a 29 year old who has played well or remained consistently fit in 3 years. Criminal. His contract could potentially cost the club £21m. I would rather we bring back Aquilani. He at least potentially has his best years ahead of him and has played well in recent times. Joe Cole for me is finished. Similar to Michael Owen. There is a reason Chelsea let him go and why other clubs were not scrambling to sign him.
Where I agree with you is getting 3 players of Suarez quality. All these mediocre players like Downing etc leave me utterly underwhelmed.
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 #82 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 6, 2011 @ 11:42 pm
Why not spend £20m on Juan Mata rather than £18.5m on Jordan Henderson? Buy British? Fuck that. Buy quality.
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 #83 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 1:45 am
hmmm…
lots of talk about spending and wage bills and marquee signings and thats all fair enough i suppose.
but the reason i supported liverpool in the seventies (apart from the stunning all red kit) was the footballing philosophy engendered by bill shanks and rammed home by a succession of managers canny enough to see sense in the scotsmans ideology.
before you buy big or small players you must have a footballing methodology and the players you buy must fit into it like a silk glove.
fuck british buy quality, says LB. well mate i’d argue that if the players you buy fit into a system designed to grind the enemy into dust, your team becomes the very definition of quality, not a rabble of rudderless stars; great in the nightclubs and on the front page of the tabloids, yet a waste of space on the pitch.
not only do you have to buy well in the market place, you also have to work well, nay better, on the training field.
the most marked improvement towards the end of the season came from the youngsters coming off the bench. whoever is responsible for coaching the lads in the youth set up for the last few years is also responsible for some of the praise being heaped on king kenny.
i genuinely believe that teams are better if they are built from the bottom up, rather than the top down and it is the players coming through the system that are more important than the players that are bought into the system. without that system in place, liverpool and every other football team in the league are just a bunch of also rans.
thankfully i don’t believe that is the case. i have immense confidence in our squad now that i have witnessed the calibre of youth we are nurturing. when i saw flanno turn that rat faced racist lee bowyer inside out on the touch line, i realised that bowyers time was over and flanno’s had just begun. and that maybe, just maybe there were more kids like flanno waiting in the wings in the academy.
in fact i have seen glimpses of jonjo shelvey that have shocked me, to be honest, i’ve seen touches of the gerrard about him and i was not expecting that one bit. i have seen moments of genius from raheem sterling better than anything i have seen the premier league, that makes me so very grateful ashley young is on his way to the scum, because at this present time i don’t want anything getting in the way of sterling getting a first team pick.
getting the right players for the team is more than just looking at the price tag on their backs. it’s also about making sure they can play alongside existing talent like meireles and lucas and suarez, adding more talent to the idea of team work, rather than isolating fellow professionals because their style of play is opposite to everyone else on the pitch.
if jordan henderson can walk on the pitch and make suarez and carroll look better, and be made better by lucas and kuyt and gerrard, then you have the perfect storm.
then you add flavour to the mix and blood another hungry nipper from the bench, who comes on and plays so well, in a system to designed to maximise their potential, it gives the established players confidence in the squad that surrounds them. bingo.
in my opinion, if you want to build a great team you have to foster a great mentality and that cannot be bought in the transfer market. it has to exist in the fabric of the club. for this reason i believe liverpool are in better shape than most clubs in the premier league.
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 #84 |
Aitch
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 3:03 am
There is no doubt that Joe Cole’s contract was unforgivable!
The fact is though… Rafa had been inquiring about him for a season or two… but I don’t believe he’d have made the deal that Purslow made.
But that’s a done deal now… we have him on the books.
The question is simply, can he offer us anything in return for his gravy boat, or can he not.
Understand me… I have no great argument with those who say the answer to that is NO and we should offload him.
Where I perhaps differ is that I believe in the mantra “form is temporary, class is permanent” and the lad was class 2 or 3 seasons ago.
Can he recover it? Who knows.
I’m not suggesting he will. My argument is that Kenny has stated he has been a good influence in training and on the bench… and if he deems keeping him is worth it, then that’s good enough for me.
If Kenny decides… 4 million and a run for the door, I’m fine with that too.
I absolutely agree with the Mata/Henderson question.
If 20 mill is the price for Henderson, they can fucking keep him and we’ll play one of the young lads we already have.
If we can get Mata for 20m and say, Henderson for 8m… then roll on… and we can all rub our hands at yet another tastey piece of biz brought to you by the New LFC!
I think you’ll find that I’m mostly in agreement with you Blud, and not to speak for him, but from previous posts, I reckon LB is too.
look… Suarez isn’t a local lad… he’s basically a “big money foreign singing” but he slotted right in, seems to have the right attitude and certianly the right skills.
When I talk about a big money signing… THAT is the type of player I want to see us sign.
If we can get a few young Brit lads into to stregnthen the cause, then great, but not for 20 million… that’s utterly ludicrous for a youngster.
I’ve spent the last 3 seasons baying at the moon, in response to those who have suggested the LFC squad “just isn’t good enough”…
… so I’m certainly not about to change my tune now.
I look forward to seeing Flanno, Shelvey, and Spearing get more game time.
If Ayala comes back, and even Pacheco, then I wouldn’t mind seeing them occasionally too.
As good as Sterling and Suso are… I believe its a seaosn or two too soon for both… but then again a little now-Manc twat started at 17 and never looked back, so you never know…
…againg, if Kenny trusts them to start games, then fuckin ACE!
…but “no one wins the Prem with a bunch of kids” do they?
And as much as I want to see more of them, my biggest concern with relying on kids when we don’t have to, is the fucking lighting quick speed with which a certain section of our fanbase will turn on them the minute they struggle… and they will…
… just look at the game vs Aston Villa… Flanno got away with very little criticism after that game… in spite of getting beaten more times and easier than Insua at his worst.
It was one game and the kid will learn form it… he barely put a foot wrong prior to that, so don;t take what I’m saying the wrong way… but that’s what you get with young players.
And we do have a section of fanbase that were fine seeing the kids while Kenny was charging up the league from relegation territory…
… but if any of them have poor games in opening matches, particularly if we drop points in those matches… the tide will turn on them.
So we need to get the balance right…
…its all about that balance of youth and experience… quality local and quality foreign…
…and I’m semi-confident that’s what the men in charge now will be looking to do…
…they’ve talked the talk so far… this summer will give us a good look at their walk.
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 #85 |
Hyde
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:27 am
Very glad to have you back, Gerry, and a true liverpudlian that you are, you seem to have battled your misfortunes with a great sense of humour. Well done.
As for our transfers, I will try to refrain from commenting too much right now in conformity with the old wisdom of ignoring the silly season.
However, the truth is, I am still pissed off with losing out on dani alves and David silva, because these 2 signings are the ones that are still haunting us.
Therefore, I only hope that if there is anything to the stories of our being linked to players like young, downing or henderson (or god forbid, cattermole), it is all because of the homegrown players quota rule. I am still not fully familiar with this rule yet and don’t know when it really kicks in, but if that is not the reason why we do not end up the signing the likes of Alexis Sanchez or Neymar after spending 40 million or whatever, then, well, we wiil have to have one big discussion once our signings become definitive.
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 #86 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 6:29 am
Amazing to see tha Wesley Sneiderbn is wanting 175,000 pounds per week!!!!!!! Crazy!
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 #87 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 8:15 am
“Why not spend £20m on Juan Mata rather than £18.5m on Jordan Henderson? Buy British? Fuck that. Buy quality.”
Fully agree with LB & Aitch here. Unless Henderson performs like a young Stevie G within 2 seasons, then that is too much to pay for an English youngster. We already have Shelvey (really like the look of him), Spearing, Flanno, Kelly etc. Pleanty of English youngsters coming through, not to mention Sterling! But obviously Kenny has seen something in the lad, judging by the way they are pursuing him.
Mata is not just a fancy foreigner, like Shiteh & Chelski seem to go after. He has his head screwed on, captains Valencia, speaks well etc. And a quality player. Given the choice, I would buy Mata every day over an average English player with potential. I know you have the ‘Fair Play’ ruling coming into it, but as I mentioned, we have plenty of ‘locals’ coming through. Adding a bit of Spanish or Argentinian flair to the side would add something to the squad, not hinder it! The English players all seem overpriced – it’s fine building for the future, but if you can get a similar (or better quality) foreign player for half the price, then fuck that, it’s not rocket science.
I would, however, like to see Jones or Cahill joining Liverpool – big, strong, skillfull-enough English CB who is used to the EPL already. Unless Lucio was for sale & wanted to come to Liverpool
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 #88 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 10:24 am
It’s all about buying quality. I couldn’t give a shit where they are from. We have some very promising English youngsters at the club already do I will be rather confused if we spend say £50m on the likes of Downing, Henderson, Mcarthy, Jones, Cattermol etc. We already paid way over the odds for Andy Carroll. Players like Mata and Eden Hazard are young and already full internationals and similarly priced. Bloody hell we could have bought Aguero for the money we paid for Carroll.
I’m a bit concerned that’s all.
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 #89 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 10:40 am
So, not do! This fucking iPhone. You need thin pencil fingers to type properly.
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 #90 |
sachem
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 10:47 am
Whether the signing of Carroll was a good one is yet to be determined. So far, I haven’t been overly impressed by his performances, and judging by them, he’s nowhere near worth the money we paid. There’s no doubt he will be given loads of time and all the support he needs, but Kenny and Steve Clarke need to figure out how to use him properly. As yet, I don’t think they have, even though his injury troubles really came in the way.
I mention this because I think it will have an influence on which players we go after at the moment. It’s not just about the partnership of Carroll and Suárez (or another striker when Luis isn’t available), it’s about the overall tactics and player types supplying balls to big Andy upfront. A winger possessing the quality of Juan Mata could be the solution to a lot of our problems in this regard. From what I’ve seen of him at Valencia, he’s absolutely phenomenal at creating goalscoring opportunities for others. Whether it’s crosses or through balls, his passes are clinical.
In honesty though, I think it will be too difficult to acquire Mata’s services. I would say Inter Milan is the most likely destination for him, now that Alexis Sánchez seem to be on his way to Barcelona (Inter reportedly tried to sign him previously).
If we miss out on Mata, we need to go for someone with similar qualities and near the same level. No British player I know of fit into that description.
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 #91 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 12:14 pm
ok
will some bright spark tell me what the new rules are for involving english players in the cl league, because i’m not up on the details. thanks.
answers on a postcard please.
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 #92 |
somnath07in
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 1:23 pm
I am with LB on this one. I think we are too much bothered about buying English..Mata should be our target. LB, your point about buying Aguero is bang on.
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 #93 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 1:36 pm
Or even Pato…
But now we have Carroll and it’s important to get the best out of him. I’d therefore expect us to try to sign top quality in wide areas rather than spending £20m in a young centre mid who migh not even start and then signing a wide Player for £6m who is of the quality of a Pennant or Riera. I’m a bit fed up seeing the club sign mediocre wide players over the last 20 years.
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 #94 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 1:46 pm
I like the Charlie Adam link though. He is fantastic at taking corners and freekicks, something we are a bit shit at. There would be a point to us winning a corner. I’d love to see stats on our corners to goals ratio. It’s surely amangst the worst on the league?
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 #95 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:04 pm
Home grown players rule
• From 2008/09, clubs in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League required a minimum of eight homegrown players in a squad limited to 25. These rules are also in force in several national leagues across Europe.
• UEFA introduced the rule in three phases:
Season 2006/07: minimum of four homegrown players in 25-man squad
Season 2007/08: minimum of six homegrown players in 25-man squad
Season 2008/09: minimum of eight homegrown players in 25-man squad
• Clubs have no obligation to put a certain number of homegrown players on the field of play, or on the matchsheet. They are entirely free in their team and matchday squad selection.
• UEFA defines locally-trained or ‘homegrown’ players as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. Up to half of the locally-trained players must be from the club itself, with the others being either from the club itself or from other clubs in the same association.
• The UEFA rule contains no nationality conditions whatsoever because within the EU such conditions are illegal (following the Bosman ruling). The European Commission stated that the UEFA rule was legal in a statement in May 2008, and that a review would take place in 2012.
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 #96 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:12 pm
thanks LB
thats not as severe a ruling as i thought it was.
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 #97 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
Our current “home grown” first team squad players including those out on loan:
Gerrard
Carragher
Johnson
Carroll
Spearing
Kelly
Shelvey
Flanagan
Cole
Insua
Konchesky
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 #98 |
dougle
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
Sachem – the Andy Carroll deal with Newcastle was actually a Chelsea and Newcastle deal effectively. We said to Chelsea you have Torres for the cost of Carroll plus 15 million. So the price tag, supposedly 35 million, doesn’t really matter.
We were not going to be able to buy Aguero at that hour in the transfer market either. For me talk of Aguero/Hazard/Mata(?) coming to us is a bit fanciful. We are not in the CL nor even in the Europa. We may have the name but we are not in the top rank of England let alone Europe.
Mind you I’d love to see Mata at Anfield.
Good posts Aitch/Rafa/Blud .. gotta go to work now tho’ !Talk later.
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 #99 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:26 pm
Latest tweet from Rory Smith (Liverpool fan I think) of the Telegraph:
“So, Henderson for £20m (or so), Jones for £16m, maybe Wickham for £10m. Damien Comolli: he spots the cheap unknowns, doesn’t he?”
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 #100 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 2:27 pm
We managed to sign Suarez didn’t we?
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 #101 |
Aitch
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 3:52 pm
LB
There are a few others in the official 40-ish man squad. Young Robinson for instance and also Danny Ayala qualifies as a home-grown player.
but then again, if we buy foreign, its harder for include them int he 25 and they move into the 26-40 rank of the squad and therefore don’t meet the quota.
Christ I hope Roryt was simply tweeting about rumors and those prices do not reflect actual bids.
There’s a thing in the Echo that suggest the club has stated we have not approached Sunderland at all for Henderson.
That could however be the obligatory denial before the announcement.
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 #102 |
koped49
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:10 pm
Its a case of bying players who fit kennys ideas and methods of play. Can any one remember Steve Highway and Brian Hall joining the club, They did not cost a fortune. also we bought players from Oxford a certain Mr Aldridge and Ray Houghton and look what they did for us. we have always had players who wre not fashionable or well know, but became well known after they joined us. thats also the liverpool way. And KK has done it before for us and i trust him to do it again, with the help of all his staff. In Kenny we must trust. its nice to see big names associated with LFC but not essential to are cause, we do have good talent in these youngsters within the club.It may take a couple of seasons but it will happen, We have waited a long time to see it, we can wiat a couple of more to get it right. Long live the king
YNWA
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 #103 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
realistically as dougle says were not gonna be signing massive stars when we have no European football to offer we might get one maybe two. Its pretty obvious the rest are gonna be young, british & expensive. But if ya cant trust Kennys judgement you cant trust anyones.
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 #104 |
dougle
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:37 pm
LB – Suarez, so we did. But it could be argued that he was playing for a top second tier European team in a league that no-one really cares about anymore.
So to some degree he was under the radar. Uruguayan not BNeymar, Ganco, Lucas (#7), Hazard, Aguero, Sanchez, Sneider etc … (Mata is a little like Suarez for me slightly less high profile playing with ? Valencia ? There may be some chance there). As for the others, I really doubt we’ll land as big a fish this time.
However by spending (if that is what we do) we not only buy, hopefully quality, but also signal our intent.
Anyway, it’s as Blud said, a matter of buying quality where we need it too. I’m gonna wait to see who we buy before figuring out how he fits in.
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 #105 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
can i suggest that even though these players may not suit everyones ideal of what a liverpool red should be, remember dalglish signed barnes from watford and aldo from, what oxford??
also, from what i know about FSG, i still reckon they are about to spend big, much bigger than this and that these guys maybe the tip of the iceberg.
if they are signed that is…..??!!
also, there is a new fresh breeze blowing through LFC at the moment. i believe there is more to life for your modern footballer than playing in the champs league. there is also the draw of playing for a manager who players can relate to, for big money (you can’t ignore the financial backing FSG are giving to comolli) and for a team that has the most wonderful supporters in a city that is iconic to say the least. not to mention the history of the club. not to mention the famous red kit…come on, what’s not to like?
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 #106 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
Spurs managed to sign players such as Berbatov and Modric without European football. We signed Suarez while we were in midtable and playing shite with no CL football anywhere near the horizon. I don’t think it is unrealistic to get a player like Juan Mata or Hazard. It’s not like I’m saying we should put in a bid for Messi or Ronaldo. Another point some of you are making is that we’ve signed players in the past that don’t seem fashionable but have gone on to become legends. That’s fair enough but we didn’t pay the equivalent of £20m to get those players. It seems we are likely to be spending premium rates to get players who have not yet proven to be top quality.
I thought the idea of bringing in Comolli was so we could find real gems on the cheap. Not unproven British youngsters at club record fees. Maybe I’m one of the few that is a bit confused by all this.
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 #107 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:51 pm
Blud – we bought Aldo on the cheap and Barnes was very reasonably priced and already an England regular. Watford were a good side as well at the time.
Dougle – Hazard plays in a 2nd tier league. Or maybe I’m doing the French league a disservice?
From my armchair perspective – I’d test the waters with an undisclosed fee bid of £25m bid for Hazard and a €22m bid for Mata. If they say “no thanks” then we can move on to other targets.
Fall I know the club could already have put in bids on the quiet but I need to feel the need to get this off my chest.
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 #108 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:52 pm
Supposed to say… For all I know…..
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 #109 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
for example, i checked out wickham on you tube and though it’s not the most dazzling display i’ve ever seen, there’s something about him that reminds me of a certain spaniard who shall remain nameless.
if he signed, if he did, might make a nice fourth choice striker. liverpool need strength in depth and it appears (if you believe the hype) that dalglish may well be looking to improve the quality of a squad that is improving in quality day by day.
ok. mark moi words. you heard it hear first, but i reckon LFC will spend big this summer and i mean big. several decent squad players and when i mean decent i mean capable tough championship hardened pro’s and one or even TWO top name signings. this is my prediction because of what i have heard from kenny in his interviews.
he talks like a man who has utter confidence in the process he is about to undertake.
but then, he is the king, isn’t he.
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 #110 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
I give up trying to write coherent English with this iPhone.
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 #111 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 4:57 pm
Blud – when you say spend big, give me a ball park figure. Chris Bascombe reckons £75m. Other journos say £50m + sales. I doubt anyone knows because the club hasn’t and won’t make that information public. I’m in the believe it when I see it camp.
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 #112 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
fair play LB, point taken.
now tell me, back then in 86, was £900,000 a lot of money to pay for barnes or a snip? did the fans rate him in connection to his price tag? were we even so caught up in the finances back then?
if you want to buy a championship player of quality these days, then how much do you expect to play for, say a striker that is comparable to what was paid back then for aldo.
in fact what did we pay for aldo? how much did it cost to prise a player of his class and strike rate from oxford? and if he came cheap why did they let him go for so little?
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 #113 |
blud red
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 5:16 pm
LB
in answer to your question…how much do you think is big??
cast your mind back to january, just after we were stunned by the torres/carroll/suarez deal.
remember we had no idea that LFC were about to buy that big. it properly shocked everyone here.
then, we started to hear kenny mention it would have been even better had they got all the players they were after. that knocked me backwards, that they had intention to spend more.
these fsg guys have surprised us all and between them and kenny, well i wouldn’t like to play poker with them because they keep a straight face, then slam down the aces.
i think they want to signal their intent. in kenny i believe they have entrusted him with the collateral to WIN the premier league, not to compete for a top four spot.
remember kenny said in an interview, when told he had done well to achieve 5th (at the time we were ahead of spuds) and the dude turned round and said:
‘i’d rather be 1st’
that’s fighting talk that is.
so how big is big?
well LB, how much do you need to spend to take the PL by storm? i’m not putting a figure on it, but i think these guys want to do what’s necesary to put LFC on top spot. whether that’s the dukes of hazard or mata hari, it does not deter them. mark moi words.
mostly we have been led to believe that we have some nice sweet owners from across the pond with a penchant for ivy league and hot dogs and mom’s apple pie. i think we should see through their poker hand and that they are as hungry for success as the owner of chelski. it might not suit our ideal of them, but under the surface that might be just who we have in charge of the club.
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 #114 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 5:56 pm
I’m not sure what 900k in 86 equates to in today’s money but Beardsley was the bigger signing at the time. He was the more established player certainly at international level. Barnes had impressed consistenly for Watford and had been in the England squad for a few years before we signed him. In contrast I hadn’t heard of Henderson, Phil jones or Mcarthy a month or so ago.
We’ll have to see about the spending. I don’t think it will be as big as you suggest.
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 #115 |
corklfc
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 6:03 pm
Beardsley cost a then record 1.9m
Barnes was .9m
Aldo was around .8m
Rush was sold for 3.2m the same summer
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 #116 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
Aitch,i too want Cole sold on.And yes,one of the reasons is about getting him and 95k a week off the wage bill.Thats not me being being disingenuous as you suggested.
Let me explain..
Joe cole (on the pitch) has been a disaster.The signing was one of Cecils last acts as the fantsy football manager.His wages were wayt over the top.Yes he has been a quality player through his career,but as LB said earlier he`s finished and has been for a couple of years now.He`s clogging up the wagew bill along with others.
Thing is Aitch as you know yourself,its about value for money.I`m not saying get rid because he`s on “95k” for the sake of it.I know we will put one of our new signings in that bracket,but Cole isn`t worth that money any more.That 95k could be used to pay the contract of (insert name here) when he signs for us this summer.
He offers very little on the field and although the King see`s him as a good influence with the young lads off the field,95k is one hell of a wage for just being little more than a good influence off it.
I my humble opinion,i reckon John Henry is privately fuming with the size of Joe Coles contract.This kind of contract goes against everything they are trying to build.A 30 year old,who is clearly past it,on almost 5 million a year.
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 #117 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 7:30 pm
What a cunt Christian Purslow is.
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 #118 |
sachem
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 10:49 pm
LB, no offense mate, but how can you not have heard of those players? They’ve all been hyped for quite a while now. That kid of yours sure must have kept you busy…
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 #119 |
corklfc
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 11:07 pm
On the wages issue, the key is not to cut the wages, but make sure there is value for money / productivity for what we are spending. Cole and jova wages alone would cover the wages of two excellent players (who Will get a game).
Another factor next season is we could be playing as few as 40 games next season, max 52? so repeating what’s being said already, quality not quantity
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 #120 |
dougle
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
LB – in my opinion the French League is a more relevant league than the Dutch league both of itself and because of the players that have come from there and are being touted here. But maybe I’m splitting hairs to be honest.
I have no problem personally with FSG spending and spending big. I also don’t mind, at this stage, who they buy or where they come from as long as they know what they are doing and the result is we can compete and win the EPL and get back into Europe.
So once again, for me, it comes down to where we are vulnerable, left back, a quality centre half, a shadow for Lucas, 1/2 widemen with pace and intelligence and a capable quick and technical goalscorer. That’s all I want Santa !!
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 #121 |
corklfc
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 11:12 pm
It has just struck me, isn’t it great we are all back discussing football matters, it beats keeping up to date with online court updates.
All we need now is fatty to make a return!
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 #122 |
sachem
Posted on June 7, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
Yeah, let’s create a petition for the return of Fat Scouser! Kopblog can still return to its former glory.
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 #124 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 12:32 am
Well by all reports buying British has happened and sending out French has continued. I just don’t seen what this does to the chances of Spearing, Conor, Shelvey ect. He must be one hell of a player, or Kenny see’s something special in the kid. If it’s truely happened then welcome aboard Henderson, hope you enjoy the ride with the worlds greatest club.
.
We desperately need some serious wide skillful pace, so head to that next, Mr Commoli. And also snap up Wickham as a long term project, that kid looks like a younger version Nando.
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 #125 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 5:20 am
LB, I can think of a couple of missed chances that AC could’ve taken last season, to be honest I also think that Raul is a pretty handy corner taker as well…
Im not buying into the current argument that we’re better to spend the $$$ on this or that international player… Buying Brittish is a good strategy IF that’s what FSG, King Kenny and Comolli believe the player is upto taking us to Champion League qualification and hopefully domestic silverware…
To be honest I’ve no idea about Jordan Henderson, BUT, he will be learning from some pretty good seasoned pros in the form of StevieG, Kuyt, Carra, etc (not to mention some very good coaching staff)… I’m more than happy with Liverpool FINALLY buying their targets early in the transfer season and hopefully getting a good pre-season underway…
Loving the fact that the media is pretty clueless about or targets!
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 #126 |
Aitch
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:08 am
…err… so basically we got 5/6million for Ngog.
Does that make me 2-0??
…or is it 2-1 since we bought Henderson
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 #127 |
burgerman
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Hendo ain’t worth £ 15 mill.3 goals last season, Sneidjer is avbailable for £ 30 mill ! Same for Downing, buying English players for crazy money will bleed the club dry, Carroll being a good eg.Portuguese sides have caused the Reds big problems for the Reds in recent years, where are our Iberian/south American/Asian scouts ? No more comment until July 1.
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 #128 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:15 am
Reports suggest 13m and Ngog (7m) Aitch.Not bad business by the club,infact its fabulous business.We made 5.5m profit on Ngog,not bad at all.
Welcome to LFC Jordon Henderson.
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 #129 |
corklfc
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:20 am
Well, Cole is still with us.
Do we know the breakdown in the Henderson/ngog transfer? Aitch your doing your 3 card trick with the figures again!!
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 #130 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:23 am
As above i believe Corky.
Ipswich have put a bid in for Michael Chopra,hopefully opening the door for us to sign Conor Whickam.Good young striker him,could be direct replacement for Ngog.
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 #131 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:43 am
Hey lads
interesting summer ahead indeed I reckon
have a feeling this will be the price they accept for Aquaman between 10 – 13 mill
replacing aquaman with hendo and wickam with ngog
overall outlay of around 10 mill while upgrading the squad with younger potential
lets not forget Aquamans injury problems too
although I dont know much about henderson I have been reading up on him today and watching a few clips
all i can say to him is welcome to LFC and soak up everything on the training ground
Over
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 #132 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:54 am
Welcome to lfc Jordan Henderson, lads YouTube wickam/ torres & watch this video, it’s scary how similar this kid is with el’cunto, we gota sign this kid,
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 #133 |
blud red
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 12:54 pm
jordan henderson – centre right midfielder….interesting.
if we are going for young conor wickham too, well that would put the cat among the pidgeons.
i agree with those who say he bears resemblance to a certain spaniard, but the difference is, he is 18 years old. nice.
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 #134 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
Looks like Phil Jones is having a medical at United
Its a fucking frenzy lads!!
He’s a good defender too and I’d a liked to see him with us
ah well lets see who’s next
My money is on Adam
Over
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 #135 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 2:37 pm
My money`s on Conor Whickam Donal
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 #136 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
Rory Smith thinks Downing is our number 1 target for a winger and it’s likely we will only be in for Mata if Aston Villa refuse to sell Downing…… I’m in despair here. Someone cheer me up and remind me in Kenny we trust?
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 #137 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 3:49 pm
Well if we offload Torres, Babel, Ngog, Aqua, Jova, Cole, Poulson and Konch.
And we Sign Luis, Carroll, Henderson, Adam, Whickam, Dann and either Downing or Mata…..
Now I might not be the most insightful of fans but I know which group of players gives you a better chance of finishing in the top four. It may not be a championship winning side but it sure looks like a team that will be able to scrap for wins against the sides below us and we know we can beat all the teams above us so lets keep em coming and going.
Kenny knows how to build teams to win this league he is after all the only man in the league to have done it with two clubs and he hit the transfer market many times while doing it. Exciting stuff. Look at what was going on last year Lads this is heaven in comparison. Were all along for the ride lets enjoy it while we can.
(7 mil for Ngog. Lovely Gubbly.)
YNWA
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 #138 |
dougle
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
LB – I reckon (IF that is true) then they want Downing because stats-wise he’s a really good chance maker, he’s Villa’s player of the season, he’s a seasoned EPL pro who knows how to do a job up an down the line. So maybe it’s a case of going with what they know. However he ain’t no Johnny Barnes !! More Lucas than Suarez if you get the comparison.
I’m not gonna comment much on Mata as i know sweet fu*k all about him beyond the obligatory Youtube. Mind you I liked that !
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 #139 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
You are right of course!! I need have some perspective. This time last year was real despair! Rafa future uncertain followed by the sack, Hodgson appointment. Hicks and Gillett still in ownership. Cecil and Broughtman in control. Joe Cole, Konchesky. Fucking hell.
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 #140 |
corklfc
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 4:29 pm
During the H&G era and even well before it, we were never in the market for the top emerging local talent
(Walcott, Bale, Dawson, Adam Johnson, Ashley Young (from Watford)etc). Up to now we have been in the bargain basement, and with very little success over all. Even the news that Wilson could be going back to Rangers on loan, when we are in the market for a centre-back proves that.
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 #141 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 4:33 pm
Uefa are going to have some laugh at the leagues spending by the end of the transfer window its shaping up to be out of this world. If the scum sign their keeper, jones and young thats 50mil and they still need a creative midfielder so whack 30-40 on top of that.
We look like were going to top 50mil. Arse need a good few players too. Then Chavski and Shitty are going to start waving their mickeys around at anything that can kick a ball!!!
Lets get ours done fast before the real madness begins eh.
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 #142 |
theredman
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 5:24 pm
Well i hope this cheer’s you up LB, wayne rooney has used coleens pubic hair for his hair transplant,
apparently the success rate is much higher if transplanted from one cunt to another.
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 #143 |
sachem
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 6:23 pm
Just watched John Guidetti (who’s been at Man City for three years) talking about young English players. According to him, Connor Wickham’s talent is terribly overrated. Personally I can only judge by what I’ve seen at youtube in this, and we all know that’s not the greatest way to determine the quality of players.
If we sign him, I sure hope it will be worth it, because he won’t come cheap.
Guidetti is a big fan of Henderson’s though. A magnificent prospect, according to him.
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 #144 |
somnath07in
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
LB- Your comment on your iPhone made me laugh a lot !!
So we are done with Henderson. I think more than Downing, i would like to bring Nzogbia( My first choice is Mata though). If we can add Charlie Adam then our midfield looks in good shape atleast for next season. In defense, we would need a CB. Dont know who that will be though. Coming to the the replacement of Ngog..I dont know how good is Wickham but i would prefer to use the Joe Cole wage ( Which might be available assuming he leaves) and bring in another quality centre forward. Someone who is proven,young and a top class finisher. Goals will win us matches and give us 3 points and to me spending some bucks and getting another striker will be an ideal thing to do.
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 #145 |
blud red
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 7:06 pm
good joke redman.
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 #146 |
Neilob
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 7:58 pm
Welcome back Gerry.
Henderson seems like a good prospect.
It know it’s early days and you can’t believe all the rumours but a lot of players being linked with us are in areas where we are strong or realtively strong.
My priority would be
Left back and left winger
2 centre halfs
Maybe we’re going to buy 7 or 8 players but they won’t all be top quality.
A little concerned at spending 35m on carroll and now 20m on Henderson when they are both so young.
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 #147 |
London Red
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 8:13 pm
What do you guys think of Scott Dann,haven’t really seen enough of him myself to judge,but apparently we are looking at him,is he any good?.
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 #148 |
Lurgankop
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 8:30 pm
Is Henderson worth 20 million? I am not so sure? We just got Suarez, a proven international talent, for the same amount.
The last time there was a drive for a minimum number of national players guff, we went down the same route and then got burned when the regulations were changed again – was against EU working rules or something like that- could be talking tripe there though.
Anyway, I am a bit worried about this young british buy policy, like LB. FFS, what the fuck have they won since ’66? Feck all.
Good that we have a bit of cash to splash around the place but I would prefer if it was done in a prudent manner. More than happy to eat humble pie here.
See that Ngog donkey that Rafa bought will be probably moving on for a 5.5 million quid profit. Old habits die hard!
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 #149 |
London Red
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
Btw I think imho Kenny may have seen a bit of Terry Mcdermott in Henderson.
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 #150 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
LB #136
Rory smith is talking through his hole.Nobody knows for sure who out targets are and who`s priority over who.All the journo`s are linking us with everything with a pulse in the hope of getting one right.Since Kennys come in things are being kept more hush hush and in house.
I`m confident we`ll make a move for Mata,weather we pull it off is another thing.I hope so,we need at least one top notch signing,along with decent other signings, to take us on to the next level.
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 #151 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 10:12 pm
Looks like Rafa knocked back Villa.Good,their fans are knobheads who don`t deserve him.
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 #152 |
corklfc
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
Based on the players we have now, a possible starting 11.
pepe
Kelly carra agger glenda
Lucas stevie
hendo raul suarez
Carroll
subs, flano skrtel jay dirk shelvey.
So two quality signing plus the young players coming through, job oxo! !
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 #153 |
dougle
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 10:57 pm
Nice one Redman !
Guinness that was an interesting view of where we could go with the in’s and out’s. Like just about everyone here I am hoping we get someone on the left with a bit of zing in him. We could do with some pace and threat out there.
I’ll throw this one out again. Ngog is gone, we have 2 roughly similar style players in Kuyt and AC with one rapier in Suarez. We could do with another. Wickham is young and goes to the back of the queue.
Diego Forlan, cheap buy, high wage, (Joe Cole standard) 2 year contract and we are sorted up front for now.
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 #154 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 8, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
Most Aston Villa fans I’ve come across are morons. Rafa did well staying clear.
I hope Rory is talking out of his arse. Downing over Mata? There must be some good weed being smoked at Anfield.
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 #155 |
blud red
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 1:13 am
now correct me if i’m wrong but i saw a video of hendo on the clubs website being led round anfield in full reds training kit today, yet the first we knew of his signing was today also. this means that the deal was done a couple of days ago and we and the press are lagging on time difference. that means, if we signed say mata today, we wouldn’t actually find out till saturday. not exactly hush hush behind closed doors but that seems to be the lead time.
also means that if the press seem to speculate loudly enough, then they may well be onto something.
so who are the press speculating loudest about now?
they don’t appear to be talking about anyone, maybe a bit of adam, a bit of wickham, but no flurry of excitement just yet. we may have to keep calm and carry on for a while before the next signing.
one thing seems clear…man shite know our intent and have bought jones and ashley young.
for my money they can have ashley young. not a big fan of his, all smoke and mirrors. and as for stewert downing…please not in a liverpool shirt.
london red
my bro is a birmingham fan. i asked him a about scott dann the other day and he rates him highly. says he is very smooth in defence.
corklfc…you’re missing the point aren’t you?
based on todays signing liverpools first team are
reina
kelly (pips flanno, just)
glenda
carra
skyrtl
gerrard (i know he hasn’t played but you wouldn’t leave him out)
lucas
miereles
suarez
kuyt (definitely would not choose carroll over the dutchman, YET)
maxi (won his spurs)
bench : carroll (not ready yet), hendo (not proven yet), spearing (loses out to SG), flanno (loses out to kelly), shelvey (his time will come), dagger (inconsistent through injuries)
sorry corklfc, but i’m going for on form players. and just because we bought hendo, doesn’t mean he’s a shoe-in. dagger would sit on the subs bench because i think skyrtl plays more often than the injury prone defender.
now i’m going to add sterling, robbo and pacheco to that mix. handy squad but needs reinforcing.
the bench looks stronger already because of the good work done by the likes of flanno and shelvey but it still lacks flair and bite. we need a fourth choice striker and wickham looks tasty and we need a tricky winger too so mata would again fit the bill. throw in scott dann and suddenly the bench is filled with quality.
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 #156 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 3:36 am
Blud,
The things, the form you’re picking your team from is last season’s form guide…
I wouldn’t be too sure at all about next seasons line up as we’ve still got to finalise any other new signings, not to mention have or pre-season build up…
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 #157 |
corklfc
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 8:11 am
The form and injuries in March/April will have no bearing in August, I was just trying to hi-light there is a decent tea there as is, before we get really stuck in to the transfer window.
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 #158 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 12:44 pm
Burger, Sjneider wants 175k a week!
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 #159 |
dougle
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 7:26 pm
Rafa – so do I.
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 #160 |
London Red
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 7:35 pm
With the Henderson signing & Aquaman possibly coming back,Meireles/Lucas/Spearing/Shelvey & Gerrard in situ and the possible signing of Adams it could get a little crowded in the centre of our midfield next season.
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 #161 |
Aitch
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 8:26 pm
Hendderson hasn’t actually signed yet… The Echo reporting it should happen tomorrow though…
…but…
looks like Ngog won’t be part of the deal…
…now reporting a 13 million straight cash deal… with performance add-ons.
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 #162 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 9, 2011 @ 8:28 pm
Aitch, I’m sure I saw Henderson in the Liverpool training kit.
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 #164 |
blud red
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 12:04 am
ok
so it’s blatently obvious from that comolli interview that LFC have a strategy for acquiring their players this summer. comolli said he is targeting several players, not just one or two. so what is this strategy.
they know where the weakness is, so they line up a 1st and 2nd choice. seeing as they didn’t get phil jones it is likely they’ll go full steam for their other centre back option. who that is only DC and KK knows.
i don’t just think they want british, but they definitely want young and talented and wants to play for liverpool so rule out jones and ashley young. they want to know who wants to wear the shirt above any other club.
comolli is the key man here. in any other profession he would be in acquisitions or sales and marketing. what is encouraging about him is the way he speaks about KK. he has respect and sounds like he is working in tandem, not in isolation, which is great for the club. comolli may not be a red at heart, but he seems to be fully committed to his role for the club. read bewteen the lines for yourselves, but this is what i’m hearing.
the midfield is pretty packed now which must mean that with the addition of another winger suarez, maxi kuyt and a.n.other will interchange on the wings. i still think LFC have the option of playing glenda on the wing too. we also have fabio who plays left midfield when he’s fit. suddenly we have options. adding a fourth choice striker like wickham would be a massive difference if we are really serious about him, but i also see the possibility of bringing in a big name striker of suarez’s calibre too. of course they have to move on Ngog as well.
henderson looked like he was signed for £13 million with caveats rather than the £20 million that has been suggested. if so, would this not be a nifty piece of business?
i like this new proactive liverpool. its not so much about splashing the cash. it seems they have a plan and they were willing to implement it at the right time.
kenny most definitely has a style of play he wants to enforce and he is in the market to find the players that can help him achieve that. look to see a new barnes, a new aldo and a new houghton signed in the next few months.
or do you think i’m dreaming?
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 #165 |
Aitch
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 8:04 am
Echo suggest it’ll be announced today after Henderson passed his medical and agreed personal terms
… for about 16 million
better than 20… and with Ngog still a sellable asset to recoup some of that.
not exactly an “edge of the seat” signing, but most seem to rate him.
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 #166 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 9:29 am
Aitch, he’s signed mate.
No the edge of the seat signing I agree. I’ll try to sit tight until August.
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 #167 |
Sambo
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 11:38 am
welcome back gerry!! didn’t even realise the new blog was up cos the main site still says “Little Shoots of Recovery” which i’m a bit sick of!
i think you lads are being a bit harsh on Downing. yeah, i know he’s not the glamour signing we all want, but the fact is glamour signings won’t be coming til we’re back in the CL.
we need quality youngsters to build for the future, and proven quality to get us straight back into the top 4. like the rest of you, i’ve been praying for the likes of Hazard and Coentrao, but they ain’t coming until we get back in the top 4, so what do you expect? i like the youth policy, but i also want to see a couple of signings that will instantly and significantly influence the width of our play.
Downing is a good player. not a great player, but a player who is a natural wide-man with a great cross, a decent eye for goal, and a proven premier league record. he’s also relatively young, an england international, and keen to play for us (i think).
don’t get me wrong, the same things could’ve been said about Konch, and he was one of the most sickening signings ever to come to the club. but Downing ain’t Konch. he’s got a bit of quality to him, and i think he’s a bit underrated.
genuine wide-men are rare, but i reckon our best chance for getting back in the top 4 next season is to sign a PROVEN winger. i know this isn’t exactly a revelation because we’ve all been saying that for years, but with AC in the middle, we need the crosses pinging across the box as often as we can, while balancing that with a tight passing game through the middle. my first choice would’ve been ashley young, but i’d take Downing as the best available option. i don’t claim to know what kenny and comolli are thinking, but it seems pretty obvious they’re looking at stats for dribbles and crosses.
when we signed Peanut it was based on the fact that he’d delivered the most successful crosses the year before, so i’m not saying i necessarily agree with the policy of stats-based buying, but i do agree we need that kind of player.
all i’m saying is that if i was Kenny, i’d be looking at mainly youngsters and a couple of quick-fixes. time is against us. we need the top 4 next season. Downing can help us there. after that, maybe he’ll fade out when new faces come in… maybe he’ll become an anfield legend…. but yeah.. i’d prefer Adam Johnson or even Shaun Wright-Phillips…. but i’d take Downing over an unproven foreign youngster. he’s a good player.
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 #168 |
Sambo
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 11:52 am
pepe
glenda, skytel, ‘newman’, ‘newman’
lucas, henderson
suarez, gerrard, downing
carroll
for me (depending on the ‘newmen’)that looks better than city and spurs. and even without the newmen, carra, agger, flanno, and aurellio make that team look pretty strong. downing would do a good job there… for a season at least. spearing would defo be pushing for a place as well.
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 #169 |
blud red
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 12:35 pm
not exactly edge of the seat signing, no?
but then who do you you expect? kaka?
and didn’t we already sign two of the most exciting prospects in carroll an suarez just a few months back?
what if i suggested that liverpool are intent to sign players of henderson’s class rather than galactico’s like figo and beckham?
we already have a capable side aitch, as you have said many a time. what they need is capable players able to fill the void if injuries claim the likes of gerrard and lucas and miereles, players who are able to step in, who don’t have legendary status attributed to them yet.
manshite are busy playing catch up with liverpool and not the other way round because they saw how suarez walked into the team and carved them a new arsehole. so they add ashley young in the hope he can do the same to us (but he won’t because his talents are already well documented and i believe our improving defence can handle the likes of him). we need to invest in emerging talents, those whose futures are uncertain, who bring a touch of mystery to the team.
thats why i’m not enamoured of downing. over the seasons i’ve never seen much of him that has made me wet my pants in fear.
we need to look for chaps like gareth bale was (read conor wickham) who have untapped potential rather than those who are so established that they become predictable rather than exciting. don’t get me wrong, young is a good player and will do well, but i believe he has already reached the peak of his game, henderson i’m convinced will improve significantly under the current management and who knows what kind of player he will be in two or three years.
don’t forget we still have andy carroll as a third choice striker thus far. man shitty must have dropped a log when they saw how he ripped them apart.
andy carroll is fantastic with his head but i believe his biggest challenge will be adapting to the fast footwork that liverpool want to employ on the deck.
what liverpool need right now is strength in depth. i think we lost impetus when miereles picked up an injury. we desperately need a bench full of capables to replace players like him, so we buy hendo. we need others, for me that is a capable defender (say Scott dann, 24) a fourth choice striker of calibre (wickham, 19, loves the reds) and an attacking left back (any suggestions).
also i would like to go on record to suggest the whole winger strategy is a bit 20th century, heighway on the wing and all that. most top teams seem to play through the middle and use the width to create channels rather than employing an a single-purpose winger who hugs the touchline and dinks balls in for the big centre half. that strategy is misleading and i’m sure football is not played that way anymore.
after all, on two occasions i can remember we scored from the wing, one was miereles crossing from the left midfield on his right boot for AC to score with his head against citeh. the other was glenda overlapping on the right who crossed the ball for maxi to slide home against fulham. neither players qualify as wingers but would be what you might term multi-functional. in the modern game a player who can only fulfil one purpose is as much use as a chocolate teapot.
perhaps thats why there is so much speculation about bringing more midfielders into the side. i can see the logic might well be to create a phalanx of attacking potential that has no particular allegiance to a specific role but can adapt to several. henderson plays centre or right mid. adam plays left or centre mid. spearing was a holding midfielder immediately encouraged to play attacking mid. suarez plays mostly off the left wing to centre and sometimes right, kuyt drifts from wide right to centre and maxi is all over the shop. gerrard, left right, holding, attacking mid.
this is a much more attractive proposition for me. it makes your attacking options organic rather than set in stone.
and i’ve said this hundreds of times before but we still have sterling and thank god he’s sitting on our bench. i am aware he’s about nine years old, but with the right coaching (to stop him becoming the next theo walcott or aaron lennon, and propel him towards being the next john barnes) he could be such a talent. and for the purists, he’s a bloody winger too.
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 #170 |
spinkage
Posted on June 10, 2011 @ 4:39 pm
Glad to see you back Gerry. Excellent blog as always.
Anyway, I am glad to see us doing business with signing Jordan Henderson.
I know that some may thought that it was bit overpriced. As quoted in the media in the region of 16-20M. But, as Comolli said himself in the official website, the prices quoted in the media, none are correct.
But the way it was done, is very encouraging. Minimal fuss, and quick.
So far from what I read in some of trustworthy journos in twitter, we’re making moves for Wickham (N’gog replacement – he goes to Sunderland), a cheeky bid for Gael Clichy (He’s on last year in Arsenal. Or it could be leaked to open talks with Newcastle over Enrique), Charlie Adam (Another Central Midfield), Scott Dann (Central Defender). And Downing for winger position. Not sure about the Juan Mata deals though. All been quiet regarding the Valencia’s winger.
I haven’t heard anything regarding our Daniel Ayala though. What do you reckon lads? With his past glowing reviews, do you think he still got a chance in LFC?
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 #171 |
corklfc
Posted on June 11, 2011 @ 12:37 am
I watched king kennys 10 top moments on lfc.tv tonight, one word – inspiring! every new signing should be made watch it.
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 #172 |
Hyde
Posted on June 11, 2011 @ 4:37 am
well that’s that then. if Comolli’s statements are to be believed then the price is either below 16M or above 20M. My guess is that it is below 16M, in which case, I won’t complain too much. Let’s just hope that Kenny can get the best out of the lad. We might see him on the right as some have suggested.
As for a centre-back I actually think we already have the best player in the world– Gerrard. If his legs and lungs start to let go, I think he would make a fantastic ball-playing central defender that we all want, if he is resigned to playing in that position. And if he is, I think it will prolong his career at our club for an extra 2 to 3 years.
Thank god ashley young chose united– there are better and cheaper players out there. I thought he was fantastic in his debut season for villa but since then he has gone downhill. A typical lost potential type who is just a relatively good player.
At least 3 more players please.
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 #173 |
Hyde
Posted on June 11, 2011 @ 5:22 am
@bludred, I agree to an extent on your “archaic winger doctrine” claim. But I also disagree to an extent.
True, modern day football is not just about touchline hoggers or huggers. That is why I cannot fathom people when they say that playing Kuyt on the right is a square peg in a round hole. His intelligence and quality of movement (not just his workrate) makes him an ideal right side midfielder, one of the best in the world.
But those types of players do not work against teams that park the bus. What we also need is someone who can get past players on his own to break down the defense. The only player who can do that in our current side is Suarez. Gerrard arguably was able to do that when he was in his prime, but we can’t expect that looking into the future. One craic player is not good enough for a team looking to win the league.
The only team that is of any excellent level that arguably does not have any wingers is barcelona, but they just happen to have incredibly gifted players all over the pitch. There is no way we can emulate that right now. Besides, if rumours are true, it looks as if Alexis Sanchez is going to sign for them, so they also understand the need for “dribblers.”
We are not looking for touchline hoggers, we are looking for players who can penetrate on his own. That’s what we all mean when we say we are looking for wingers. And such type of players still do exist.
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 #174 |
dougle
Posted on June 11, 2011 @ 8:58 pm
Nice to see you back Hyde. One point I’d take you up on in Stevie at Centre Half. You need to have 100% concentration there and I think one of the best descriptions of Stevie (was it Aitch) was that he’s like a hand-grenade, best kept close to the opposition goal and far away from ours.
He’s got the talent but would he have the discipline and concentration ?
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 #175 |
Hyde
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 12:11 am
Cheers, Dougle– finally am feeling better enough to start commenting properly. Was absolutely heartbroken when we lost rafa (and still am) and ever since then I just couldn’t get myself to comment much here. Life with Kenny is good though, it reminds me of my schoolboy days. At least now, the press will tone down the bullying.
Anyway, yes, I agree with you on the mental side of Steven, which is why I included the caveat “if he is resigned to the idea.” I am hoping that as he starts to grow old, his temperament will mature enough to accept that he should leave the bombarding to younger players. If anyone can convince and persuade him to accept that role, Kenny can. I can’t see him respecting other gaffers wel enough to listen to the notion.
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 #176 |
blud red
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 12:31 am
thanks hyde and some good points.
by your own admission barcelona is the only team not to use wingers, but they have exceptionally good players.
i don’t deny their ability, but it is the coaching at barca that is exceptional. it is the coaching that provides the framework for those players to thrive, including messi.
barca believe the movement of their players around the movement of the ball is important and they use a system called tiki taka, similar to total football where players and positions are interchangeable.
asking for a winger is asking for a player to remain stationary for 90 minutes and probably an anathema to modern football.
better to search for talented players who can use the entire width of the pitch rather than patrol one section.
and if teams park the bus, as you mention, it is logical to assume they are afraid of you and this is generally regarded as good news. the more they park the bus they less able they are to attack your goal. the less able a team is to attack,the more players you can throw into attack, the more they have to defend and the more they are likely to concede.
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 #177 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 2:27 am
been reading reports that the reds put in a bid for jones today(saturday) & could hijack him from that old whiskey face fucker,
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 #178 |
corklfc
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 11:02 am
I agree with Hyde, i think sg would make a great center back, any time sg played at full back earlier in his career he was unbeatable. playing ay the back is alot more straight forward than center mid as you are facing the play the wholetime. i reckon he Will play there in his last season or two.
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 #179 |
koped49
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 11:56 am
CORKLFC
What if we buy a couple of class CDs do you think you would still move stevie into the a centre back role. I think he is such a good player he could basically play any where in the side, dont know aout in the nets though.But would be very interesting if he wanted to do it in a year or twos time. It would lengthen his carrer by a few years. and it would help with the young guns coming through.
May be after Carra starts to take a bit more of a back seat in the team.
Think Carra will start to move into coaching in a couple of years time, hope it is with LFC as he would be a good role modle for the guys.
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 #180 |
sachem
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
The story around Phil Jones is getting interesting. Apparently it’s far from certain he’ll end up with whiskey nose, because Blackburn’s Indian owners won’t budge and only sell to the highest bidder. They would prefer to keep the player, considering him a future captain, but would allow him to leave if a good enough offer comes in.
This might well turn into a bidding war between Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and us. While I would love to see whiskey nose miss out on one of his main targets, I don’t think we should pay crazy money for this lad. Whatever happens, we need to sign quality in other positions, and could probably find cheaper options among young, gifted defenders. Paying more than £20m for a 19 year old CB doesn’t seem like a wise move, considering the financial fair play rules kicking in.
It must be mentioned as well that the story I read came from Daily Fail and was published on a Sunday, so it might of course be sensationalism and complete fabrication. In any case, I hope Comolli and Kenny won’t be drawn into these bidding wars. Don’t think it would be worth it.
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 #181 |
corklfc
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 1:18 pm
I suppose that’s the point with SG, he can play from full back to Striker and be very effective, the same would go for center back if the need was there.
With no European football and with Carra/Scary/Agger as first choice, Kelly as a real option for cover, SG could be 5th choice if needed.
I rather see the money spent on a wide attacking option than a center back that going to act as cover.
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 #182 |
blud red
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 3:57 pm
there are two interesting speculations going on in the press that are difficult to ignore. apparently, a spokesman said, rumour has it we are in the running for oxlade-chamberlain (chose a name for pities sake) or conor wickham. quite frankly i’d like to see both at anfield but i’m coming to believe one will move to liverpool as a fourth choice striker. wickham bizarrely reminds me of nando and chamberlain plays footie like a certain luis suarez.
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 #183 |
koped49
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 5:08 pm
Well i guess it is down to the owners how much we spend, and KK and DC whom we buy. A different situation than the one we had under two cowboys.
All we knew under them was any money that came in would go in their back pockets or on the loan interest.So we are in a far better place than last summer. it will be interesting who goes out the back door.Has there must be a least eight players who could go. Ngog,konch,cole,pulson,milan,ayala,pachico,aquaman,etc etc.
getting interesting very interesting,and everyone will have a player that they think should be brought in, great times ahead. Long live kenny.
Its funny that kelly and ayala were the centre back partnership in the acadamy and reserves until ayala was shipped out on loan by podgeson.But then we have young Wisdom coming through the ranks, and he is a big strong lad who seem to do the business. and home grown bought in but is still an home grown player.
As i said great times, very exciting to say the least.
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 #184 |
London Red
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 7:04 pm
Gerrard playing at centre half are you guys smoking drugs if he does not have the self discipline to play as a holding midfield player how the fuck can he play in defence good grief!!!!!!.
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 #185 |
London Red
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 7:33 pm
I think Kenny needs to build a first team without Gerrard and then use him sparingly like Man Utd did with Giggs and Scholes it will probably extend his career and we might get more (Napoli in the second half) performances out of him.
He won’t like it but I think It’s what the Americans call tough love.Also the only positions he should be playing are wide right or behind the main striker,It would be interesting to see him link up with Carroll.
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 #187 |
theredman
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 7:38 pm
Forgot the A.
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 #188 |
koped49
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 10:28 pm
We have now been linked with about every player who the papers can throw a name too. Like i said intereting times indeed.
No one knows other than the club whats going on, Love the way KK and his team keep them all guessing its great. Love the fact that if its true we have upset whiskey nose and if true, and he still goes for the boy Jones. I hope it costs him dearly. We now really have men at the club who dont give a fuck about the red nosed arseol.
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 #189 |
koped49
Posted on June 12, 2011 @ 10:28 pm
We have now been linked with about every player who the papers can throw a name too. Like i said intereting times indeed.
No one knows other than the club whats going on, Love the way KK and his team keep them all guessing its great. Love the fact that if its true we have upset whiskey nose and if true, and he still goes for the boy Jones. I hope it costs him dearly. We now really have men at the club who dont give a fuck about the red nosed arseol.
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 #190 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 9:20 am
I think we’re all falling into the agent V media paper talk, Ferguson couldn’t give a flying fuck about price, he has been allowed to pay big money for players, we haven’t. Unfortunately he can compliment his team with several astute buys, we need a fucking pile of players. We need to get back in the top 4 before we start spruiking about Ferguson looking over his shoulder. I despise the man but he’s not my main concern, we are so should concentrate on that. We haven’t won a league in 20 years and sadly of late, we have been sitting in the wilderness. Time to concentrate all our efforts on winning games when the heats on, not folding under pressure when we need to win 1 game to get into Europe.
.
We had a great run under Kenny towards the end but still folded under pressure, as we have for the last few years. Thats the part of the team I want to see improved, I guess Kenny would be scrolling over those tough individuals, seeing who he can get. I really don’t think he be spending any time on pissing Ferguson off, why bother.
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 #191 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 10:05 am
Gaz,although we`re not the direct competition to the drunken bastard down the road,he`ll always rejoice in our downfall and he wants to see us fail.We got too close for comfort under Rafa and the man nearly lost his mind,he even drafted in his boys (big sam et al) to help him have a go at Rafa,along with his buddies in the press of course.
What i`m getting at Gaz is the man,like the Yernited support is obbsessed with LFC.Remember when we played AC Milan in the european cup final he was saying things like he`ll share a bottle of wine with Ancelotti if he beats us.
And more recently,when we were down the bottom half of the table just as Kenny took over he couldn`t help but stick his big red whisky nose in our business when he said..”Adams corners are worht ten million alone”.This at a time when we were negotiating a deal for less than that amount.
You see Gaz,we are behind them,by a long way at the moment.Thats where the bar is,we have to reach it.If upsetting them along the way is what we have to do,then fine,i`m all up for that.Don`t act like your afraid to wake up the sleeping giant,lets kick the fuckers and let them know we`re coming up the hill!!
John Henry is famous in the states for bidding for his rivals targets just to whack the price up for them to pay,but also known for seeing deals through if they`re the right deals for the club.
Friday,Yernited thought they`d jones sealed up for 16.5m.
Saturday,LFC make 22m bid.
Monday Yernited have to cough up an extra 4 million to seal the deal.
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 #192 |
Aitch
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 11:03 am
The thing is Gaz… Kenny doesn’t need to DO anything specifically to irritate Fungus… simply because by his very existence, he does irritate Fungus.
The best thing that ever happened to Fungus as a manger was the day Kenny quit LFC… it opened the door for his subbsequent success.
That’s not to take anything away from him.
As good a manager as Shanks, Paisley, Fagan were, they were as successful as they were because they were in the right place, at the right time, with the right team, in the right circumstances.
And so too Fungus. No one could have predicted that that group of kids would all to a man, be that good, for that long. In fact, exactly the oppposite as evidenced by Alan Hansen’s now infamous “nobody wins anything with a bunch of kids” statement.
No my friends… Kenny doesn;t need to do anything but just be Kenny… and Fungus will grow ever more irritated by the day. (if along the waay, Comolli can bbid on players they want and up the price they have to pay, then that’s ust gravy! Their financial might is based on the same house of cards ours recently was, so if we can cause them to overpay for players, then we should do that… they’ve certainly done it to us in the past.)
The thing to remember about Fungus is that he wanted the success he has achieved… He wanted it bad. So bad he could taste it. So bad he announced it to the world.
And fair enough he achieved it…
… but what he is all about now is his legacy…
… and he may well have “knocked us off our perch”
… but then again… it’s still “our” fuckin perch innit?
Even with 19… they still refer to it as our perch…
… with one more than us… isn;t it now their perch???
Weird that one…
… but therein lies the rub gents, ladies and those yet undecided…
…don’t be distracted by the fact that we haven’t won one in ages, that we finished 6th last year and 7th the year before…
… its grimm reading for sure… but it doesn’t tell the whole story and was all about circumstances…
… don’t be dismayed by certain shortcomings at the final hurdle…
…circumstances contributed to an inability to “go that last extra mile”…
… and the easy conclusion to draw is that we “are/were just not good enough”
… but that isn’t necessarily the correct conclusion…
… perhaps we just lacked that “little bit extra”
… the kind of extra that a fit Stevie G could have provided… (center-half indeed? I’ll have some of what you’re smoking! )
We’ve got some good kids coming through… we always have had, but we’ve always seemed to fall a bit short there too… but there is something about this crop of lads, and the one’s waiting in the wings.
Personally, i like what I’m seeing from most of them…
… not just good performances now…
… but real potential to improve on that…
… complement that with a few top signings here and there, and we are on our way.
Everyone starts from zero in August…
Personally….. I fancy a treble!
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 #193 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 11:47 am
Good post ditch
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 #194 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 11:48 am
Sorry , fuckin iPhone, good post Aitch
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 #195 |
blud red
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 3:29 pm
yeah good post ditch
someone in the press suggested we were going to buy some midfield spark and use shelvey as makeweight in the other direction. and i thought…get fucked, that lads not going out on loan, he’s just improving, he’s going nowhere.
like ditch, thats because i see real potential there not just in him but several others.
dalglish is a thorn in fergies side and that’s one great big fat reason why i love the man and one gigantic reason i did not like itchy and scratchy who did not seem to appreciate you were not supposed to be in love with your main rival.
make no mistake, liverpool will have to do their talking on the pitch, but when it comes to off the pitch shenanigans KK is a master in his own right.
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 #196 |
London Red
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 3:51 pm
Was hoping for a Suarez like quality signing in this window.
Doesn’t look like we’ll be shopping at Harrods this summer.Tesco it is then.
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 #197 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 4:17 pm
London red,i didn`t realise the transfer window has closed.Have a bit of patience man,its very early days.Player are on holidays,at the u-21`s and the european window isn`t open to the premier league until july 1st.Just think back to where we were 12 months ago,in the market for Puolsen,Konchesky etc.Have some perspective here.
Sanchez and Hazard are looking to go to clubs in the champions league.That is a stumbling block,but we`ll have a much stronger squad come the start of business in August,i`m sure of that.Rome wasn`t built in a day.
As for shelvey,Blud,i don`t mind him going out on loan,once its to another premier league club,he can progress playing week in week out in the PL.Going to a championship team on loan will stall his progress imo.
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 #198 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
Blud, easy on big guy with the ditch:-) , I hear the Charlie Adam deal is to be complete this week , the bookies have stopped all betting, there’s also increasing speculation that Adams arrival could mean the end of rauls time at anfield, the rumour is fsg are concerned about his age & his injurys
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 #199 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 8:39 pm
They have stopped taking bets on downing also, seemingly inter are interested in Raul
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 #200 |
dougle
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 10:26 pm
Hey Donal – when are you gonna be around these parts ? We must set up the Kopblog meet?
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 #201 |
corklfc
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 10:41 pm
Ya Donal, the lord major is waiting to be given the go ahead on the civic reception!
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 #202 |
sachem
Posted on June 13, 2011 @ 10:50 pm
Here’s an appraisal of Charlie Adam from a Blackpool supporter: http://t.co/jTRBPUb
Clearly written by an intelligent fella.
It looks like we’re gonna have a lot a central midfielders in the squad. What do you guys think should be done in this area (assuming Adam deal will be done this week, as it seems)?
Those reports about FSG being concerned about the age and fitness of Meireles seem fabricated to me. That’s mere speculation I wouldn’t believe unless it came from reliable sources. People like Tony Barrett usually don’t reveal information of this nature, that is what people within the club think of this or that player. It’s an entirely different story when it comes to what players being scouted, which can be presented as a fact, but doesn’t necessarily mean the player in question will be signed.
In any case, I suspect some of the young lads will be sent out on loan. Jonjo Shelvey for instance might well spend a season elsewhere. Aquilani will most likely remain in Italy, while Poulsen most certainly be shipped off to which ever club are willing to acquire his services.
This would still leave us with no less than six players in the squad usually thought of as central midfielders; Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Meireles, Spearing and Adam. We can also add young Coady, who might of course be sent out on loan.
This would make sense if Gerrard and Meireles are thought of as players to deploy in the hole behind the striker. Then we would have at least four players as options in CM. Lucas/Adam could form an interesting partnership there, and are likely to feature more often than Henderson and Spearing providing the Adam transfer goes through.
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 #203 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 1:24 am
Roger that lads Alright corky and dougle
I’m in Thailand until the 4th July and in Eire
From then till aug 17
Any time between then is good
Obviously I have family stuff planned in-between
I’ll drop ye a line when I get back and we’ll hit the murphys
Looking good on my Adam prediction Timmy ?
Over
Ye are right about this I phone malarkey lads
Took ma about 15 mins to type this and i can’t even
Read what I’ve written before I post
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 #204 |
Sambo
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 3:57 am
all these central players are exactly the reason i’m (reletively) happy to see Downing come to the club.
like i said before, he’s not necessarily my player of choice, but he’s an out and out wideman with bags of experience and a skill-set that isn’t as shabby as many believe. personally, i’d rather have him out wide than Deadly because he’s more likely to take the fullback on.
what’s wrong with him exactly? he can beat players, cross accurately, and score goals. i know he’s got a boring face, a boring name, and he’s come from 2 boring clubs, but he generally terrorises opposing fullbacks and gets the ball into the middle. i bet AC is hoping he comes.
all i’m saying is, assuming the likes of Mata, Sanchez, Hazard and Coentrao will only move to CL clubs, Downing might just be the best available option to compliment the central players, but more importantly, compliment the youngsters with his experience and PL savvy.
what worries me is that we might start the new season without a proven impact player, and just a whole load of unproven future potential.
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 #205 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 6:04 am
Nice one Sambo
I tend to agree that alot of it has to do with his boring hair and clubs etc.
In fairness he’s only 26 and not exactly in the rolando nani mould
he wont be unlocking defences with his trickery but we have luis for that
what he will do though is widen the pitch
take the ball out wide beat his man and deliver a good (usually great) ball into the box
In fairness with adam next to him we’d be looking at a lot of dangerous balls from that side of the pitch
and still have Luis Dirk Stevie doing their thing too
he would definitely add a dimention we havent had for a while
That said if we dont sign him and sign Mata (insert foreign name) I wont be too pissed off either
One thing I have learned is that Comolli and kenny know shit loads about it than I do
I’d rather they picked the players with the mentality and drive to succeed for LFC than some fancy pants that I saw playing a few times!
Over
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 #206 |
London Red
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 7:31 am
Donal Isn’t Rolando that bloke who used to be in Grange Hill back in the day,never saw him play footie but I would assume Downings a better player.
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 #207 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 8:57 am
Dunno mate
I was too busy watching the A-Team to get into Grange Hill!!
Over
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 #208 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 11:50 am
Just looked up a few vids of mata
He looks special
Actually he looks like Rooney with hair
Plays like him too
If we can get him for 20 mill it would be a snip
An accacking 3 of mata big Andy and Suarez would be sick
Anyways here’s to hoping
Over
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 #209 |
Aitch
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 1:09 pm
Here’s the thing Sambo.
I wouldn’t say Downing was a bad player. I doubt most who are positing against his acquisition would really say that.
but you sort of have to look at any incoming player with the same eye as some look at some of the current players in the squad.
I largely disagree with the mantra “wouldn’t get into the Man Utd side” simply because, as I’ve suggested before… would carrick, Hargreaves, O’Shae and a host of others, walk into the Reds team… and would any of us really want to see that?
Its called perspective.
The thing about players of the calibre of Downing, or even Henderson and such, is not that they are crap…
…it is simply that, as additions to the squad…
…they represent an approach that is “slow and steady wins the race”
… and that’s fine… its a good approah to establish long term success (and I use a loose definition of success there… simply to stay in the top 4, stay in contention… coz that’s the platform from which you build to win anything.)
…but while I’m utterly on board with our current (so far) transfer approach, coz like I said, we need that approach to stay competitive over the long haul…
… it is my belief that we stand at a crossroads in the Premier League…
… that is to say…
…each summer, we hope for/look for chinks in Scum’s armour… and they have been there, its just that we haven’t been able to exploit them… only Arsenal and mroe recently the Chavs have… and thye too have chinks of their own…
But this summer, they have more chinks in their armour than ever before… they can repair them obviously… they’ve got the cash/credit/reputation to do so…
… but the Scum, the Chavs, the Arse, they are weaker this summer than they have been for a decade.
And a “slow and steady wins the race” approach to squad rebuilding will not immediately sieze on that opportunity…
…but I’d say at this point… fear not good friends… this is merely round one of the transfer window…
Henderson might not be “inspirational signing”, Charlie Adam neither…
… but they are good cogs, and if… if… we add that “inspirational” quality later in the window, then it puts a different spin on things…
…so keep yer powder dry for now lads, and let’s see where we land.
for my part, I remain reasonably confident that we are adding quality to the squad, that we will offload the players we need to, and that we will sign at least one or possibly two of those “very exciting” additions. (and remain hopefull that the others will not repair all their chinks.)
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 #210 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 1:43 pm
Downing is 27 next month and apparently Aston Villa want up to £20m for him. This doesn’t seem to fit into the FSG transfer policy. If we shell out that sort of dough for Downing, only for him to have no resell value in a couple of years, I think we live to regret it.
Some of you might baulk at the £20m figure but consider this. Villa will lose Ashley Young, do you think they will lose their nest best player for what we consider to be a reasonable price? We have already seen how they play hard ball during the Gareth Barry saga. I think they will look to keep Downing for another season unless they get an offer they can’t refuse (£20m).
Downing is not a bad player. But he doesn’t really excite. I have always considered him an ordinary player. Never shone for England at all. Had the odd good game for Boro but nothing special. Had a very good season last season but is that a flash in the pan? In my opinion he isn’t any better than Riera or Benayoun and I didn’t wet myself in anticipation when we signed those either.
Our team still lacks pace in my opinion and we only have one player who can dribble past an opponent. This needs addressing and in my opinion Downing is not the answer.
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 #211 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
Rolando didnt he used to run smack with Carlito Brigante?
Well with Adam, Henderson and Downing I think its safe to say our Midfield is sorted all of them bring something better to the squad.
If we also get a very good left back and Maybe a center half and we can ship out a few (we all know who they are) before were even into July Id bet anything we’ll get one even two major signings closer to the end of the window.
It looks to me like Kenny wants to get the squad beefed up with better players then we have and then he’ll see whos available that is in the top top bracket, there will be excess players at Real, Barca, City and Chelsea who are top class but are surplus to there squads. Look at Van der Vart last year. Very happy with how things are rolling along.
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 #212 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
I don’t think the Downing transfer will be a quick straight forward affair. A saga running deep into August is what I expect.
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 #213 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
well we should just go for nzogbia then looks like he’s available for 10-12 mil. I really cant see FSG paying 20mil for a 27 year old. 15 is a bit steep but 20 no way.
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 #214 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 3:20 pm
LB
I hope they do holdout because if we get downing quick it might mean no mata
I reckon fsg comolli and the king won’t be pissed around too much
Downing is probably 2nd choice signing anyways
Over and out
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 #215 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 3:53 pm
Rory Smith reckons Downing is our number one target. I hope he is talking cack. We’re spending all this money and Stewart fucking Downing is our number one target? Surely not.
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 #216 |
somnath07in
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 5:07 pm
The way i understand it is we will end up with most of our targets who are ok without champions league football. Assuming Mata is our 1st option and if he chooses not to come because of lack of european football, then we are left with NZogbia or Downing. I would prefer Nzogbia any day.
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 #217 |
dougle
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 9:44 pm
I wouldn’t mind what (most) journo’s write. They have to produce copy every day. Does he talk to Kenny and does Kenny tell him who our main target is ? No. They just make it up (like us).
If FSG/Kenny/Comolli decide Downing is who they want and he’s worth whatever is paid for him, so be it.
If “our” spend comes to 50 million for 60 million or 80 million this summer then great.
We have to assume they know what they are doing. This, now, is where the Kenny era is stamped.
I was in relative dread this time last year. I was pissed off at Hodge, Purslow, H&G (and a few of the better known players). I was really dreading what was going to happen to the squad etc etc.
Now it all feels completely unreal to be honest. I’m not worried. As was said by Aitch above it’s step building, creating a potent squad. And despite the fact we are in vicious competition with Arse and Spurs for the 4th CL spot (in reality), you know there is a chance next season that we could go all the way. Manure, The Plastics, Abu Dhabbi and Arse they are all in re-modelling mode as well. It’s gonna be interesting to see who gets it right.
We fell 2 seasons ago, we near enough went down down down (see H&G staying there). I have a sneaky that it could be someone else’s turn next season.
And we may not get it right this time and we are coming from a (big) deficit so it’s a long shot for next year but who knows .. gonna be interesting to see exactly who is in the squad come Sept.
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 #218 |
dougle
Posted on June 14, 2011 @ 10:04 pm
One final thought about the “buys”. It’s been a while since the close season has been a good buying time for us. For various reasons both Hodge and Rafa ended up with … with whom ? When was the last real successful signing (pre-Kenny) ? Miereles I suppose. Soto ? Before him ?
For me Suarez has been ace. Andy C ? We’ll see but I reckon he’ll contribute (which is v important). Henderson I know little about but he could be at least an upgrade on Spearing and an option for the right mid-field. The important thing is he does contribute. Too many forced, second hand, unfit and badly judged buys have loaded our squad with non-productive players and even if we can reverse that, (get rid of said non-producers), have a competitive productive squad (withor without more “stars”) then we will have gone a long way towards where we want to be.
As has been alluded to we have a bunch of youngsters coming through and a coherent philosophy being formed right throughout the club.
“Stars”, great if they work.
One more thing … this idea that Jamie C moves directly into the coaching staff and (by extension) that he’s groomed to be a future manager/coach well not for me. He does not have the qualities that I would like as a future manager and tactically he makes John Terry look like Franz Beckenbaur on the pitch so … It’s all very well having passion and guts and determination but be a motivator (not a bully) and a tactician not a sheep.
Not saying he can’t develop but imho he’s got quite a way to go.
Just thought I’d stick that one out there !!
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 #219 |
theredman
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 11:10 am
I tend to agree with LB here,
i know we need a bigger squad all-round, but to me Downing could be another Penant (one of the few Rafa got wrong), like has been said on here he is not that consistent so i dont see the sense in forking out a possible £20mil out for him as i understand that’s how much Villa seem to have priced him.
Quite correct Dougle with sticking with KD’s decision’s, but all in all myself personally i dont think Downing is worth half of the Villa asking price not when you compare him to Suarez and look at what we paid.
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 #220 |
sachem
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 11:51 am
Downing wouldn’t be my first, second or even tenth choice as a winger for us if I could pick freely, but Kenny and Comolli are the ones who build the team. If they think Downing can provide enough quality to the team, than that’s enough for me. Then they might be proven wrong of course, but that’s a debate for later.
Concerning the price, I reckon Comolli value Downing quite a lot lower than Aston Villa does, and £20m is not a reasonable price for a 27 year old with those qualities. But neither was £35m for Andy Carroll. I’d that price was even more inflated.
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 #221 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 1:00 pm
Maybe the idea is to sign players who have premier league experience so it gives us the best chance to get into the top 4. We have no European football so maybe they don’t want to risk £25m on say a Mata who might take a while to settle. Once we are in the CL then we might look at marquee signings from abroad? It’s a theory. But then to counteract that City bought a lot of English players and foreign players already at PL clubs but didn’t get into the top 4. It’s when they signed Toure and Silva they went to the next level and finished 3rd.
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 #222 |
sachem
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 1:26 pm
According to Tony Evans the new third kits are awful, looking like Man City kits. Will be unveiled tomorrow.
To be honest I don’t care all that much since we’ll only be using them in a few games, but on the other hand it is a bit disturbing when our second and third kits have nothing to do with our traditional red. There has to be some connection there.
I suppose we’d have the same color on all our kits every season, only changing the design slightly, but then there would be less income for the club.
Personally I wouldn’t buy any of these kits, not even the first one. To me it’s all about the feeling I get when I see us play, and the fact that Shankly once came up with the brilliant idea of an all-red kit.
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 #223 |
corklfc
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 2:06 pm
Your not far of the mark there LB i’d say. I have said before we could be playing as few as 40 games next season, we got used of playing 55-60 game under Rafa because we were getting to the latter stages of European comps every season.
70 p0ints will get a top 4 finish next season i’d say. we were 10 points short this season and thats including how bad things were under Roy (not to mind H&G). with the current squad i’d fancy us to be very close to reaching that.
With Rafa signing the likes of Pennent, he was a 2nd choice option like so many others over the last 4 years, the key for Kenny is that he gets as may of this first choice options as possible. if that includes Downing that will do for me right now.
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 #224 |
corklfc
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 2:17 pm
On City, how many players have not worked out for them of the past 3 years. Robino, Adebayor, Santa Cruz alone were 70m, not to mind the crazy wages they are paying.
If Kenny had City squad to work with, he’d walk the league.
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 #225 |
London Red
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 8:49 pm
I agree with LB we need another player or two that can beat his opponent for pace and skill.
I’ve watched Downing over the years and I have to say at no point have I thought I wish he played for us.
Having said that I think we are looking at him for his crossing ability so we can get the best out of Carroll.
But personally I would prefer to get someone who can rip a fullback a new one.We need a player who can put the fear of God into the smaller teams and breakdown the bus parkers and Stewart Downing Aint that man.
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 #226 |
dougle
Posted on June 15, 2011 @ 11:17 pm
Who is London? This years “biggest and brightest” Neymar, Lucas Moura, Hazard, Gervinho, Sanchez, Mata, Aguero, whom amongst that lot is going to come to play for us as we are right now ?
Hopefully one will but I doubt it. It’s like the lads said. Horses for courses now. Get into the CL and next year buy to compete there.
We are dining at the second table now and we’re only there because of Rafa (and Ged to an extent) who gave weight to our name.
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 #227 |
blud red
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 12:10 am
i’m not sure what the third kit is used for officially or even why it’s white/light blue/black but luis suarez looks damn good in it, so…er…what do you guys think? it appears to be a departure from adidas’s usual style.
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 #228 |
sachem
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 12:20 am
The third kit is a disgrace, but I’d much rather have us hate that than the people in charge of the club – which was largely the case one year ago.
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 #229 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 1:43 am
the new third kit is meant to resemble the clubs first home kit, what the fuck do we need a third kit for anyway? it’s fuckin horrible! come on the red’s/blues! fuck sake!
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 #230 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 11:22 am
I’m hoping we’re only in for Adam because we want Man U to out bid us and therefore bait into their own budget. I really don’t see where he adds anything more than what we already have. As Kenny said, we will be buying players who are better than the ones we have. So Downing is marginally better than Maxi, using the marginally loosely. Maxi out scored him late in the season, maybe all season.
.
Henderson well he’s young, lets see how he goes.
.
Aitch slow and steady, 20 years is snail pace but that might be just about to change.
.
I’m with LB, pace and skill, been screaming for it for years. Alas though the international window hasn’t opened so maybe just maybe all these rumoured buys are simple smoke screen feed the shit to the pidgeons stuff.
.
Maybe we can get Rory Delap for say 20 million, surely his throw ins could feed AC. PL ready, consistant performer.
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 #231 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 12:22 pm
Dougle,
I thought the point of having a director of football with a scouting network all over Europe was so that we could find the next star before he’d actually become a star. We signed Suarez when we were 12th in the league with a caretaker manager at the helm. Spurs signed Berbatov and Modric while Comolli was there. There were not world beaters at the time. It’s that kind of signing I am looking for. Someone who is very talented, that can go past fullbacks, has pace and good game intelligence but is still a bit under the radar.
Signing Stewart Downing for £20m is ridiculous no matter how you slice it.
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 #232 |
Aitch
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 2:25 pm
Gazz, it may well have been a 20year plod through the wilderness for us… but it hasn’t been for FSG… they just got here.
(but to be honest, I get where you’re coming from in terms of not winning the Prem, but I don’t think we can honestly say we’ve had a 20year plod, since we’ve actually won big things in that 20 years and at least challenged a couple of times… City winning the FA Cup was their first taste of anything in 35 years… now that’s a plod!)
…for sure Kenny understands the 20 years thing… but he hasn’t taken over a stable club that just finished 2nd… he taken over a club…
…with new owners…
… that needed complete restructuring both as a footy team, and as a business…
… that had fallen into the wilderness…
… that has endured 2 years of injuries to senior players, their replacements, and in some positions, their replacements…
Downing might not make set heart a flutter… but we don’t currently have a left winger.
Maxi played there but he’s primarily right footed as was almost everyone else played there since Riera… and he always cut in on a right foot he couldn’t use…
…so he might not be a “top” target, but he a decent left winger which is something we don’t have.
Get him this year, and maybe get a better addition next. Sounds reasonable?
I agree 20 million seems a bit high… but he’s English, so that’s about 5 million just for the fuckin birth certificate… that’s just the crazy way of things these days…
Though it is still largely reported that we paid 20 million for Henderson and from what I’ve been reading, the fee has not yet been disclosed, and that was something calculated by the papers when Ngog was part of the deal…. and it wasn’t actually anything close to that.
Sourced from some ITK’s that are largely trustworthy. what I’ve read is actually 16 million… but that’s the “rising to with add-ons” total, and the actual transfer fee was closer to 13 million.
So maybe the Downing deal will flesh out closer to something like that???
As stated by others above, SD wouldn’t necessarily be someone I’d put in my first 5 choices as a target, but if we got him for 15million, I’d be reasonably pleased with that and would venture far enough to say, he’ll be far more productive than Albert fuckin Riera was.
Charlie Adam isn’t someone I was a big fan of either.
Not that I didn’t rate him… he obviously, clearly, had a good season for Blackpool.
But he’d moved from Scotland to Blackpool when they were in the Champ and hadn’t turned down offers from us the Chavs or Scum to do so… why… coz no one rated him that highly at that time.
One, maybe two great seasons for Blackpool, where he was their go-to-guy, and all roads led through him in the way they do/did through SG at LFC, does not a 15-25 million bidding war between us and the Scum make. (…or it shouldn’t anyway) …especially at his age!
But after reading an article by Tony Barrett, where he compared him to Steve McMahon, I thought about it and drew the conclusion that if Adam can stay hungry after securing a move from Blackpool to LFC on a higher wage… if he doesn’t tke his foot off the gas and continues in his recent vein of form… then Adam for <10million would be a good bit of bizz and strengthen us.
Looking at this past season, we didn’t need World beaters to knock off Scum and the Chavs… what we were lacking was grinders to grab 3 points at West Brom on a cold Wednesday night…
…and surely Adam fits that bill?
…Downing too, no?
So looking at it that way, we would seem to be on track…
…and come July 1st (again going off what some ITKs are suggesting, though they admit Anfield has slammed a cone of silence down on all leaks) when the Euro window opens, if we can add one or two Suarez like names (say Mata and Turan for instance, but you’ll all have your individual preferences, so suffice to say similar quality players) then we’d be well armed to compete for the title. (depending on how the “others” strengthen of course.)
I’m far less bothered by who we’ve been rumored to be signing, or the rumored price, than I am by the lack of anyone having already left.
So far we’ve got Maxi leaving for Newell’s Old Boys (not confirmed yet, but looking highly likely)… but there are at least 5/6 names that should have been stood at the Taxi stand with packed bags before him!!!
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 #233 |
Aitch
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 2:42 pm
Editor’s Note:
My laptop keyboard has gone wonky on me, and sometime types double lettters, or misses letters…
…oh, and I can spell, but my pc is just set to American spell-check, since that’s mostly who I do biz with and so its more important that words… like color and theater are in actual fact spelled correctly for them, rather than spelled colour and theatre… for the likes of you lot!
… and anyway, if any of youz actually did have a problem with that, fuck off!
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 #234 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 2:52 pm
Hopefully after July 4th the Taxi rank will be well populated with the likes of Cole, Konchesky, Poulsen, ElZhar etc etc… They need to be fucked off big time.
Stweart Fucking Downing. I tell you what. If we buy him for £20m and the mancs get Modric for say £25m I’ll be foaming at the mouth with fury.
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 #235 |
sachem
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 3:20 pm
One thing’s for sure: Stewart Downing would be a significant upgrade on Joe fucking “Messi” Cole.
I agree, that so few players are on their way out is a bit worrying, but I think it’s safe to say there’s going to be a lot of movement in and out of the club around July 1st.
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 #236 |
elbmw
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 3:57 pm
I agree with you guys about Downing. Personally I think the talk of £20 million is way over the odds for a player of Downings’ quality and ability.
However, to sign him for his crossing ability alone so as to get the best from AC then I don’t know about that. I mean £35 mil for AC + £20 mil for Downing, who will be bought not for his own merits but to make AC look good.
Very much undecided but hey, if he helps us win #19 then so be it.
And £20 mil for Henderson?
Rafa must be thinking God Damn! I was fighting with prick parry to bring in top players like Alves and Simao for around the £10 mil mark and was constantly getting rebuffed and all this after proving myself by taking them to 2 CL finals in 3 seasons and winning one and they wouldn’t give me £10 mil. Fuckers!
What is the world coming to?
Redman I think Pennant is a better player than Downing but his problem was that he didn’t/couldn’t cope with his defensive duties too well and had an attitude problem.
For me we are putting far too much emphasis on up and coming youth that still need a lot of development, which could take some time.
Having said that there are quite a few very good youngsters around but most of them are NOT English/British.
Take a look at this FIFA site…
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1363573.html
I don’t know who compiled the list but it makes interesting reading if nothing else.
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 #237 |
corklfc
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
Jasus LB, you really have it in for poor Stewart!!
I’d wouldn’t like to knock on your door to tell you I have just crashed into your parked car!!
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 #238 |
elbmw
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 4:28 pm
Oh and meant to add that the new 3rd kit has the same blue of our sponsors standard chartered. The SC logo also has green but thankfully its changed to grey on the new shirt.
Don’t like it much but if you make a deal with the devil then you’re going to pay the price somehow.
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 #239 |
Aitch
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 5:47 pm
Just got an email from the LFConline Store inviting me to pre-order the new 3rd away kit”
I sent them a reply that said “errr… no thanks. Its got blue on it.”
Fuckin eejits!
I can understand Addidas not knowing any better, or even trying to give us the big fuck you for going with Warrior…
…but Ian Ayre or someone had to authorize that before it went into production, and that’s inexcusable.
And they can keep all that bollocks about how we originally wore blue back before Columbus discovered the New World nonsense.
Once we became the Mighty Reds, there was no turning back and with Blue being our cross-town rivals’ color, it is something that in any shade variation, should Never Ever be considered for an LFC kit.
It is my sincerest hope that ALL LFC fans boycott the fucker and don’t buy any, that way they’ll learn that we didn’t expend all our energy on H&G and can be fucked about because of it.
Some lad did a mock-up of the shirt, simply replacing the blue stripe with red… it looks sound, and they’d have sold shedloads.
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 #240 |
sachem
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 6:54 pm
They are going to make a massive loss on these kits. I thought our commercial department was greatly improved these days, but apparently there are still issues there.
First of all, it must be said that these kits went into production way before FSG took over, so they can’t be blamed. Secondly, the colors are Standard Chartered colors, as mentioned, so it’s not entirely unexpected. Thirdly, there are many horrendous second and third kits among big clubs in Europe. Just look at they ones Barcelona have been wearing over the last decade.
Still, I think it’s fucking awful and I hope no one will buy this kit. I’m sure there are loads of ignorant people out there who will though.
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 #241 |
dougle
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 8:49 pm
I couldn’t give a toss about the 3rd kit. Buy the first one, simple.
In praise of grinders Aitch. I’m with you on that one. As you say there is nothing official, no Kenny says this or that. Let’s see where we stand come Sept 1st.
LB I actually do believe we will look to bring in what you want.
elbmw that 35ml deal for Andy Carroll is a bit of an illusion. Effectively Plastic Chavski PLC paid Newcs for us. It had pretty much nothing to do with Carroll or Liverpool. Our deal was “The price of Carroll plus 15ml”. So the barcodes and the plastics negotiated through us. So let’s leave the 35ml price tag out of it. It’s not relevant.
I also don’t see Kenny putting all his eggs in the “buy a winger to whack the ball to 35ml Carroll”, that can’t be the limit of his vision. It may be a tactic but if we bring in intelligence (plus a bit of pace) on the wing and another finisher with above qualities then we will see a squad with options. Also Carroll has good touch, he links well for a big man too. Chillax (as my daughter says to me).
Even if we end up paying 20ml (and we did not pay 20ml for Henderson) for Downing so what ? This is FSG time. Who the hell knows what our budget is and how they have planned it all.
I will be very happy if we get players that fit what we want to do now. We are not in Europe this year the focus is clear and it’s local, not European.
I will eat my hat if we end up again with the mess we’ve become used to through the recent transfer windows.
On taxi for Poulsen etc … there will be deals I reckon for some if not all. We’ve had many versions of how much we’ll gain or lose with Jova, J Cole, Poulsen, Konch, Aquaman ?Soto ?, Maxi ?, Agger ? Aurelio ? but I think FSG/Comolli will move (some of ~6) of them on regardless.
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 #242 |
Aitch
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 8:55 pm
Sachem, I read loads of comments on forums today from people saying it was quite stylish and they’d buy it.
I honestly don’t know what’s happened to a large section of our fanbase in recent years… it seems we’ve gone from being the most knowledgeable fans in the world to being half populated with numpties, in less than a decade.
I reckon if you see someone wearing one of these things, you’ve just seen someone who thinks all our problems were Rafa’s fault.
This nonsense about it being a “nod to the original kit” makes for a nice soundbyte, but you don’t see a collar on it or buttons down the middle do you?
Bollocks, this was bending over and taking it up the Arse for a few bob from Standard Chartered… yet another parting gift from Christian Purslow perhaps?
They should have been told when they bid to sponsor us… “er right, so about this blue thing you chaps have going in your logo. That’s not gonna work for us. Can we show you something in a nice shade of red?”
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 #243 |
elbmw
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 9:22 pm
“Excuse moi” for my delboy speak but “Au Contre” dougle. £35M is very significant whether it was paid by FSG or H&G – yeah right! Its still the clubs money and should be invested correctly as it directly impacts on all the stakeholders, including us! In fact, ultimately we (the supporters) are the ones who are paying for him.
Don’t get me wrong. I think AC will and up being a solid player in the years to come but I cant help thinking what else could be bought with £35M. And the other problem is that AC is one of those players who doesn’t carve out chances for himself “a la Suarez” but needs someone to supply him with quality crosses to get the best out of him.
The point I tried to make was that AC will cost us £55M (AC £35M + SD £20M) and more importantly 2 positions. One AC and another to cross the ball to him.
However, these are merely concerns of mine (until I see otherwise) and like I said I’m not rubbishing the lad. After all its not his fault we paid so much for him. I just hope it works out.
And… as for the chavs effectively deciding Carrols price I don’t think thats correct. We could have said £50M to the chavs without any complications and they would have paid it as they wanted him and could afford him.
Still only time will tell. Cant wait for the new season.
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 #244 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 9:57 pm
aitch, i also got the email from lfc online, i responded quite bluntly, im curious to see if the club will respond to those of us who are unhappy with this fuck up, i think not but hope im wrong, i was checking out the comment on lfc’s facebook page earlier & there seems to be alot of disgruntled fans that share our view!
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 #246 |
London Red
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 10:42 pm
Guys I think some of us are underestimating Carrolls abilities he came to us injured weighed down by a monumental price tag and I think because of the immediate impact of Suarez he has been unjustly compared to him.
Personally I think he will be immense for us next season and gives us a dimension we have not had for a while.
When he’s fully fit playing in a team creating chances he will get 20 + a season imo.
Personally and I’m putting my neck on the line I think he could be better than Shearer,I don’t think Kenny would have just spunked £35 million on anyone he obviously sees something in Carroll and I back Kennys Judgement of a Quality striker over anyone.
Some of you have said that we could maybe buy Downing now then upgrade next season,I wasn’t aware we had that sort of money I thought we needed to make every transfer count.
I really do hope we set our sights much higher than Downing,if we do buy him he’s not worth more than 8 or 9 million at the most.
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 #247 |
London Red
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
Also this is becoming a Trinny and Susannah blog with all this talk about the 3rd kit FFS who cares.
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 #248 |
blud red
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
well reading some of your comments re the new third kit it seems the management have made a right royal fuck up of trying to make us look like man shitty.
i like the design personally, but can’t get over the colours and i can’t imagine many of these replicas will get sold which will be the defining factor in the debate. after all, if it is an exercise in taking it up the arse for standard charter, the best answer we as supporters can give is not buying the damn thing. it would send out a clear message to the marketing department to check their ideas with a focus group made up of people who actually support the club.
one viral campaign and the whole thing will be done and dusted.
anyone can make mistakes. even my beloved football club.
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 #249 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 10:59 pm
All i can say isn`t it good that,12 months on,were talking about kits and transfers etc,as opposed to the crap we had to go through last year
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 #250 |
elbmw
Posted on June 16, 2011 @ 11:26 pm
Here here Timmy!
We’ll always find something to talk about and discuss about LFC. It shows that by and large were a passionate lot.
Can you imagine the… well you don’t have to… just look at the glory hunting manc supporters with their limp excuse of a campaign to oust their owners.
But yeah its refreshing and it didn’t come soon enough.
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 #251 |
sachem
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 12:15 am
According to Rory Smith, Sylvain Marveaux had his medical today. The transfer will probably be announced July 1.
I think this deal has been done for quite a while, it’s just been a matter of formalities to finalize it. Don’t know much of anything about this player, other than that he recently played at Rennes as an attacking midfielder (central, but can also play as a left winger).
He is 25 years old. I think he comes on a free transfer, but not sure. Maybe this is the type of player LB was looking for. A excellent talent, but below the radar of most big clubs? Let’s hope so! It would be a major accomplishment for Comolli if Marveaux proves to be a bargain, as I suppose this is “his” acquisition more than Kenny’s.
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 #252 |
sachem
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 12:22 am
If anyone’s interested, Rory Smith (Merseyside football reporter on the Daily Telegraph, for those who don’t know) also says he thinks (let’s underline that) we will sign the following players this summer:
Downing, Wickham, Marveaux, Adam, a left back (probably Clichy), a centre back, a sub goalkeeper and a right winger.
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 #254 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 1:24 am
So we had blue in our kit in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. I don’t remember anyone kicking up a fuss then. Even though those kits were horrendous. Correct me if I’m wrong lads? It’s the 3rd kit – I think people are making a big deal over a load of bollacks. Everton’s away kit is pink for fuck sake.
Anyway having said that, I think our away kits should be white top and black shorts with red trim. All yellow with red trim. All grey with red trim. All black with red trim. Just rotate those colours from season to season. Simple.
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 #255 |
Kiwi_Mark_LFC
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 1:48 am
Bloody hell Aitch – youre having a bit of a whinge over some blue…yes – Everton play in Blue – but its not the same blue as Evertons anyway – and it really is a minor matter…far more important is your total and complete disregard of your duty to EDUCATE Yanks to the CORRECT spelling of ENGLISH words…really – what a dereliction of duty…you should be up on charge for that!
I agree with LB – isnt it absolutely fantastic to be whinging over which player we are going to sign and whether the 3rd away kit is kosher or not…it is an absolute Joy that these are now the issues with LFC…we are a real football club again…
I think all our signings and intended targets are great…they may not all be world class…but for how many years have we been complaining about our lack of strength in depth…a squad that is full of players capable of playing in the EPL…a squad that allows the manager some options…
At least this year we arent going to have a net spend less than we brought in…
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 #256 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 9:00 am
So Marveaux passed a medical at Anfield, well what do you have to do to actually fail one here. I’m led to believe that Mr M only played about 10 games in the last two years due to injuries.
.
Maybe the thing with medicals at Anfield is you must actually have a problem or you can’t sign, our doctors need to see one. Anyway good luck to the guy but hes been a sick note at Rennes.
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 #257 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 9:17 am
Sunderland at anfield for the opening day
Followed by arse away and Bolton at home
Not too bad
Over
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 #258 |
Aitch
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 10:25 am
So its only “a bit of blue, and not the same blue as Everton” at that?
“At least its not pink”
“We’ve had blue in our kits before.”
Really? This is logic.
Hey let’s go out and sign a load of injured players… after all we’ve done that before.
You know what, times are tough economically. No point John Henry shelling out loads of his and NESV’s hard earned dosh on transfers, just take out a loan and leverage the club to the hilt… after all, we’ve done that before and survived it.
Hey… you know what… fuck this Kenny Dalglish lark, Gerrard \houllier is out of a job, let’s go get him back in the drivers seat… or fuck it, I don’t see Graham Sounness managing anyon, let’s put him back in charge, after all, we’ve been that route before too.
Ultimately if it sells it sells, if it doesn’t it doesn’t… but we as ardent fans should never just be accepting of this nonsense.
Coz if we are… then the next step is “You know what, we always give you a red shirt. But we thought we’d give you a slightly different shade of red this season. A nice shade of salmon for all home games. Honestly its not pink, it’s not, its salmon and a nod to the favorite tie our first Director used to love to wear.”
If we are to call ourselves the Mighty Reds, (particularly because our cross-town rivals are the Blues) then we should simply never have blue in our kit… we should have done when we did, we shouldn’t do now!
I’ve even seen people justifying this by saying that the Mancs have worn blue kits… as though its entirely logical we should follow hee-toe to anything the fuckin Mans do.
You know what, fuck all this singing for a lark, its so much less tiring to just wave a plastic flag.
This blue was not “a nod to the original kit”.
If you believe that, then let me just reiterate that Mr. Hicks was in fact the victim of an epic swindle.
This is all about the blue in the Standard Chartered logo.
Christ sake, even Everton made One2One take the red out of their logo for fucks sake… but we should just be accepting of it?
John Henry said he was going to form a supporters group with whom he’d meet to gather opinions from time to time… if he’d presented this mockup to such a group prior to manufacture do you think we’d be…
a) arguing about this
or
b) discussing the design of a kit with red stripes and how the formerly blue Standard Chartered logo looks quite good in red?
As for trying to educate Yanks on correct spelling… shit they’ve just give us a blue kit… and you think I could talk them into spelling certain words correctly… give me a break
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 #259 |
Aitch
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 10:38 am
fuckin keyboard…
obviously meant “we shouldN’T have done when we did and shouldn’t now”
elbmw and dougle are both right really.
The 35 mill for Carroll was crazy money to spend…
but it was the Chavs money
but granted if it had only been 25 mill, we’d have had 10 mill to spend elsewhere
Andy Carrol was an odd singing… it was January, it was late in the window, he was english, the Chavs were waving suitcases of rubles…
… to my mind, there was absolutely an element of PR involved in making sure we landed some big-press-statement-signing to alleviate any potential backlash from selling Fredo… and by that, I don’t mean him so much, but the idea of selling a “world class” striker to one of our chief rivals for success.
I wanted us to buy Andy Carrol a few years ago when Newcy went down… we could have snipped him for 2 million… some of the same people who now rate him at 35 million, actually shot me down and questioned my sanity back then.
His transfer was a strange “one-off” of sorts.
I don’t know if we’ll ever get 35 million’s worth out of him… but as stated, I agree he has teh potential to be better than shearer.
Its also a bit disingenuous and a bit short sighted really to be talking about needing a winger to land crosses on his head… its the same argument that was used for Peter Crouch yet he too scores far more with hsi feet than with his head.
Most of Andy’s best goals (that I can remember) were with his feet… turn, move, shoot… like his goal against City, and that fuckin corker of a goal he scored against us.
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 #260 |
theredman
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 10:45 am
I think Aitch is worried that the 3rd kit colour will clash with his eye-shadow,
ffs lad it’s a colour what it has to do with signing injured player,s or getting Houllier back i dont know.
Like a lot of the lad’s i couldnt give a fuck if they run on the pitch dressed like Liberace as long as they perform this coming season.
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 #261 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 11:05 am
Theredman, your right its only a colour and ours is RED. Haven’t seen the new strip but anything in Red will do.
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 #262 |
Kiwi_Mark_LFC
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 11:08 am
Bloody Hell Aitch…we’re not stupid…we know its blue because thats Standard Chartered colors…
And by the way we don’t like the shirt – it looks crap…but really…to equate that with the rest of what you are implying is taking a longer leap than the smelly greasy spotty virgin nerds that play Football Manager and think that it is in anyway realistic…
A what is wrong with stating facts…it is only a bit of blue…it isnt everton blue…and we have had blue kits before…its called taking things in perspective…
All some of us are doing is pointing out its a bit of a minor thing to be getting worked up over – especially as we have had other 3rd kits with MORE EVERTON blue on them than this gaudy thing…
If you really want to get pissed off at something read Brian Reades 44 Months with a pair of Cowboy’s…Parry, Purslow et al will make you see red…
But looking forward I am far more interested who we are signing and how we are going to go next season rather than whether we are wearing some sponsors colours…especially as that sponsor has paid us a PL record for a shirt sponsorship…because lets be brutally honest here…money talks…without it we cannot compete…if some idiot sponsor wants a 3rd kit to be fluro green and is willing to pay for that – who gives a shit…they arent changing our HOME kit – they arent changing our OFFICIAL colours…
In an ideal world we wouldnt have it…but since that only exists in the minds of the truly deranged how about we live in the real world and do the best we can to make sure we are actually competitive…and stop majoring on minors…
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 #263 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
Lads, just had a look at our seasons fixture list & it dosent seem so bad, the first two game seem tough but over all it’s pretty spread out, apart from the toffee & scum fixtures together both times we don’t seem to have a run of big games, I think we’ve done alright! Last home game against the chav’s! Sweet!
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 #264 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 2:40 pm
Someone’s taken the jam out of Aitch’s doughnut again. Fucking hell. Didn’t we have multi coloured seating in Anfield. I seem to remember a whole section of blue seats in the Anfield Rd end. I’m sure Rafa wore a blue tie once or was it a blue suit? I wonder if any of our players over the years have worn blue boots? Or blue underpants? Oh the disgrace.
Our identity is the home strip – which is red! The away kit has been grey, green, yellow, white, black… I’m not sure if our away kit has ever represented our identity. Or maybe I have it totally wrong?
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 #265 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 2:42 pm
yep fixtures look ok we get a big away game out of the way early. last two games could be very interesting. cant wait. think i’ll download football manager in the meantime.
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 #266 |
Aitch
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 3:49 pm
Alright… so where do you draw the line.
Look I’m not stupid, I get its all about commercialism, but I don’t get why people are so, so quick to accept whatever’s thrown at them.
These sorts of things set precedent.
The argument for not getting perturbed about blue in our kit this time around is that we’ve had blue in our kit before… or that it is an away kit and therefore not representative of our identity…. But it shouldn’t go to the other end of the spectrum either and be representative of a rival’s (and particularly our home-town rival’s) identity.
So they got away with that, they get away with this…
… then maybe in a few years, in the desperation for money to achieve success, Warrior comes out with an all blue kit, and they move us from Anfield to the new American Airlines Arena, where you get to pay 100 pounds of your hard earned money to sit in nose-bleed seats, high above the 3 tier corporate skybox enclosures.
I know it seems like such a little thing… for any other club, I’d perhaps agree that it is… but for us, I just think it’s a big thing too.
You mention “44 months” so okay…
We all clamored for Moores to sell.
He did… we were overjoyed… a new dawn beckoned.
Traditions would be respected, we were told…. they would be “custodians” we were told… money would be made available for Snoogy Doogy, and Spades would be digging with much rapidity, we were told.
A few voices suggested caution… but largely they were told to shut up and stop moaning, coz a new day dawned.
If only more of us had raged against the machine then?
Fast forward…
The initial purchase of 270 million… assured to have not been placed on the club, was in fact revealed to have been entirely placed on the club… was refinanced to the tune of 350… but we got Babel and Torres in the deal, so it was party time.
“Warning” shouted some…
“shut the fuck up, we’re coming up the hill you miserable tits”, was the reply.
Now I can already hear the argument… that’s totally different, we’re just talking about a bit of blue on a shirt here…
Sure… I get that they don’t have the same significance… but its still acceptance or not, of what you’re given.
Then comes the infamous “I’m concentrating on coaching my team” press conference.
“Warning” shouted certain fans… “have any of you read this stuff about Corinthians, its really scary reading?”
“Oh fuck off, stop asking me to read. Rafa’s clearly lost it” was the reply.
More research is done… more information revealed… yet still we got…
“We finished 2nd, stop moaning. We’re gonna win the Prem next year coz every team that has ever won it, finished 2nd the year before they won it.”
When do we wake up… where do we draw the line??
LFC fires Rick Parry and hires Christian Purslow.
Right lads, we’re putting this young chap Adolph Hitler in charge … thank fuck we’ve finally got rid of that Genghis Khan bloke, he was a terror.
I remember stating quite categorically to a friend, when Rafa was fired, it was a big mistake, and when Hodgson was hired it compounded that mistake. He was overjoyed by the Joe Cole signing, and when I questioned it (and I wasn’t particularly against his signing) I was told to stop being a whinging gag-on-Rafa’s-tackle dickhead and I should stop rainging on his parade and just look forward to how Cole was gonna help Roy take us back into the top 4 and challenge.
I often read people commenting that, “no one could have predicted how poorly Roy would do.”
…but people did… FS got slaughtered for it, and left this forum.
At what point do we say… “hang on a minute”?
When someone nicks their first car for a joyride…. or after they’ve established themselves as the leader of the biggest stolen car ring in Europe.
When a lad is caught downloading teen-snuff porn and burying dead cats in the backyard, or after he’s grown up and been caught after killing 16 women and burying them on the moors???
Where do you draw the line in the sand???
While Liverpool still has something of a soul…
… or when we are just a bunch of plastic flag waving tossers who’ve meaninglessly bought the Prem.
If you want to be in the latter group, then I’ll never be able to make my case to you… and good luck to you.
But personally I want to be in the former, even if that means never ever winning anything, ever again.
How much more time would John Henry have given Roy Hodgson if the majority of the fanbase had simply accepted “a dodgy patch of results”, rather than vocally railing against him?
The Mighty Reds… should never wear blue.
When we did “once before” it was a mistake and an aberration… not a precedent to do so again!
If we accept even the slightest hint of blue in our kits, 3rd or otherwise… what will they give us next???
Maybe the answer is nothing… it’s a one-off… but maybe we should just be having a word to make sure of that, eh?
If we’d have accepted Hodgson, we’d have been bidding on the likes of Robert Huth and Benny McCarthy this summer.
Compare what happened at Anfield in January to what has just happened at Aston Villa… those poor bastards should boycott every home game and have them playing to an empty arena, but I bet they won’t kick up half the fuss we did over Hodg.
Some of you will say its completely different… that such things don’t compare to a bit of color on a kit.
But “being from the Red half of Merseyside” has meaning.
It does.
Identifying yourself as “a Mighty Red” …
…has significantly more meaning than…
… identifying yourself as a “Red Devil”… they’d wear green and gold as long as they get prawn sandwiches at half-time and a Premier League title in May.
Being a Reds fan means more than that… or at least it should.
But by all means, buy it if you fancy it.
But do remember that when the dam breaks… and you’re swimming in the refuse laden flood, gulping for air… there were always a couple of holes squirting leaks that went ignored.
Maybe its just me… I’m a Red coz my Dad was… (I was fortunate… my Mum’s family are Blues …poor bastards) and being a Red is part of my identity… if it wasn’t why waste so much of my life in here discussing this shite with you lot.
As a result…
I would never own a blue car.
I used to collect guitars when I was younger. I’ve owned about 45 of them… and I’ve never owned a blue one.
I would never wear a blue suit, a blue shirt… or a blue tie.
The only blue t-shirt I have, bears the logo of a band my nephew was in.
I wear jeans, and I guess you could argue that negates everything I just said, but as they only come in blue or black I don’t count that. (of course, jeans do come in both red and white… but I’m not gay. )
I guess if you want to be more liberal and accepting then fine…
Personally, I think the line should be drawn here.
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 #267 |
koped49
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 4:31 pm
I am with aicth it anit RED but then it is only a third strip, but then it is still blue, yes money does make the world go round it also fuck it up ask all debt ridden countries that are now in the world. Even the great USA are in the shit over debt so it is not wise to buy now pay later attitude as we have just been through taht. It all starts with well its only, just keep your perspective guys. the chavs sold their souls to the devil look at them sad gits. sit in the stands waving thieir little plastic flags.
Any way we are reds first and i hope we never have to ghallenge any one who owns us over our identity, just we have shown them over the last year how strong we can be if needed.
Any way just to show that when a red you never walk alone i am over in a place called Miramar next to Miami. I went out for a meal and the guy who served me was RED from kirby had great craic with him and will kept in touch he was a great lad.
So now matter what we feel or are oppinions and we have the right to differ, but hay we are all the same family THE MIGHTY REDS.
YNWA
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 #268 |
sachem
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 7:16 pm
Interesting reports saying Marvaux has failed his medical test and will not be playing for Liverpool next season. The reason is claimed to be a severe groin injury he got last year, which is apparently still a major problem.
Some people might wonder how this can be the case, when players like Aquilani and Carroll both passed the medical. I think Comolli mentioned in an interview recently the importance of nog signing injury-prone players. It’s just too expensive and inefficient to have players on huge wages who are in and out of the team.
It makes you wonder why they wasted time on this player in the first place. Surely they must have been aware of his injury record?
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 #269 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 10:18 pm
where did you read/see that report sachem
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 #270 |
sachem
Posted on June 17, 2011 @ 10:41 pm
Read it on some French site, here translated via google:
http://tinyurl.com/6fhg6cm
Also been confirmed by several journos on twitter. It isn’t however entirely certain the transfer will not go through anyway, but looks unlikely at the moment. Apparently it’s been ages since the last player failed a medical for us. Can’t remember it myself.
It’s also been reported today that Colombian centre back Cristián Zapata has claimed he is very close of signing for us. A really good player in my opinion, but not sure whether too believe this. Seems like he doesn’t want to finalize the deal until after the Copa América, and it’s also uncertain whether he would get a work permit.
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 #271 |
blud red
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 2:05 am
its like this boys
when i was a lad, not hailing from liverpool, but moved around the country by my folks, i had a choice of teams to support. i was seven, so my reasoning was simplistic. i loved simple kits. i loved leeds united who wore all white like real madrid. i adored ajax with their iconic white stripe. but more than anything i loved this team that played in an all red strip.
now lets get one thing straight. the football they played was one thing. the manager was another. the players i took to my heart. but i connected with the red in a way only a seven year old child can.
now i’m older i thank the lord for shank’s genius. what a fantastic decision. make the kit all red. and do you know what…thousands of fans flocked to that flag because of him. its a simple statement.
and this gave rise to one of my favourite sayings: no good can ever come of any team that wears blue. blue was opposite to the way i thought about football, blue seemed so negative a strip to don for ninety minutes. i disliked any team in blue as much as i loved my team who played in all red.
so when i see a blue third fourth or fifth kit i feel that somehow that spirit of shankly has been forgotten, however momentarily.
after all, the owners want to buy into that special liverpool culture…well fine, but respect the traditions of the last fifty years of effort by some of our greatest of heroes and get rid of it.
aitch, wise words. red is the colour of passion. football is 100% just that. don’t accept mediocrity. don’t dilute the message. never accept second best. say it loud: i’m a red and i’m proud! YNWA
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 #272 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 3:06 am
sachem, idunno about this lad zapata coming out in the press with this statement as kenny has been saying we are returning to the liverpool way & keeping our shit in house, if the club were in talks with this lad im sure they would have made sure he didnt gab off about it, as kenny says if theres something to tell ya you’ll here it from us first, what ya think??? as for the player. i read the report ya put up lastnite & he seems just like a babel to me,
good post blud
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 #273 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 4:22 am
I’m going into bat for Aitch, anyway I love a good old banter session. Its great to be discussing issues which don’t relate to debt, H&G, Rafa, Purslime, Houlier, or anything else in our recent turbulent and traumatic existence.
.
We’re actually talking about a shirt, in fact the colour of a shirt. Just any shirt really except its OUR shirt, a fucking Red shirt with Red trimmings and Red sleeves, Red on the outside, Red in the middle, Red underneath. In fact Red all over.
.
Not just a shirt, its our club, our traditions, our supporters, and our players who we support who have been put in that shirt. If we let our traditions drop in the most minute details then we will away the very things that make us special.
.
If we will away our shirt, why not change our name, what about sharing a stadium, what about blue seats again. Over the years we have lowered our expectations, let the club fall into disaray, generally been apathetic until recent event stunned us back into reality. Recently we came within a whisker of not having a Red shirt, so like Aitch, I’ll have any colour shirt thats Red all over.
.
If our sponsor want a change they should be doing the changing, not us, lets not roll over and take it up the Arse.
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 #274 |
somnath07in
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 4:45 am
Did everyone read what Modiric said? Chelsea is the best club in the world. These players have got no loyalty towards their club. We experienced it first hand from Torres and now this from Modiric. The present Tottenham team is not that bad to challenge for top 4 again but the way he creates a gulf between Chelsea and Spurs is so much insulting to his present club. I think this is one big issue.
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 #275 |
theredman
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 9:29 am
Marveraux has signed for the bar codes,
Pardew has said they have been monitoring him for some time so it’s a good coop.
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 #276 |
blud red
Posted on June 18, 2011 @ 3:36 pm
that the way i feel gazmaninaus.
on sylvain marcel marceau. i read that link about his profile. he sounded interesting but did not really float my boat.
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 #277 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 19, 2011 @ 1:35 pm
Not too pissed off about not signing Maveraux.Apparently he`s made of glass so much he makes Agger and Aurelio look like the rock of Cashel and the Blarney stone!
As for the kit,i shall not be buying it.For obvious reasons.This shits on our traditions,and i agree wholeheartedly with you guys.Quite frankly,i`m surprised with Ian Ayre,the man was born and bred up around the Anfield road area so he should know the score.No blue,or Cyan or whatever.It looks like a standard chartered thing here,but if thats the case then why not use the green in their logo if they wanted a colour from the logo.Problem solved.
Valencia have announced on their website,a friendly with Liverpool at Anfield on august 6th.
Nothing to do with Mata though lads
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 #278 |
timmysuarez
Posted on June 19, 2011 @ 1:37 pm
::)
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 #280 |
elbmw
Posted on June 21, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
BMs last comment looks like its broken the blog again LOL!
Since its gone a bit quiet in here I’ll talk about the paradox of the Liverpool Way and commercialism.
Seems that Alan Kennedy is the latest ex player to make a public statement hinting that Liverpool is going to win the league in the next couple of seasons and praising KK.
This has been the norm in recent years, whenever we seem to be on the brink, there also appears to be a heavy weight of expectation thats stoked up by ex players and other dignitaries, not to mention our own fans who jump on the bandwagon and place a very heavy burden on the current players.
But with all this hype beginning to surround us again its very much NOT the liverpool way of going about our business quietly and effectively.
And I do realise that times have changed whereby creating public interest and hype improves the commercial aspect of the club but I dunno, I just get the feeling were being setup to fail every time I hear statements like that.
I wish people would stop doing that but even more so I wish lfc.tv would stop publishing it as it implies an official approval of those statements.
What do you guys think.
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 #281 |
London Red
Posted on June 21, 2011 @ 2:10 pm
We seem to have gone from rumours of us signing everyone and their uncle to nothing.I do hope we sign Nzogbia though,all the Journos have gone a bit quiet it was only last week they where saying we would be unveiling Charlie Adam last Friday.Lets hope no news is good news YNWA.
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 #282 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 21, 2011 @ 2:14 pm
Elbmw, I understand where your coming from, but there’s also a part of me that thinks this year more than any other players & ex players have been in the press more & I think maybe part of it is to highlight the club to the players that we want to sign,
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 #283 |
dougle
Posted on June 21, 2011 @ 2:41 pm
Interesting take on it kopcolly. I haven’t a clue as to how “deals really get done”. I’d suspect the “hype” created by ex-players and journo’s and fans is all a kind of mutual masturbation really. They all have to earn money, fill column inches and feel like their opinion counts for something. It’s interesting to just stay off the forums for a couple of days and then have a quick flick back over who’s written and tweeted and said what. Guess what ? It amounts to nothing.
I have no idea (again) what Alan Kennedy said and what LFC tv are broadcasting but it’s an inane question to ask really. Can we win the League ? Yes we can. So can Wigan. What the difference ? Given the ex-player/Journo in question has any ability to analyse and see the big picture then a few of the following factors might be taken into consideration;
Analysis of club history and goals, tactics, squads, individual players, fitness and injuries, financial considerations, relevant competitions etc etc etc. Now show me the editor of a newspaper or a tv show who makes up a headline involving all o the above !
Given that I do think we have a very outside chance of winning the league, right now maybe 10%. Let’s see where we all are come September and we’ll all have a prediction.
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 #284 |
elbmw
Posted on June 21, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
Lads I’ve re-read the story on the .tv site and the story leads with “Alan Kennedy believes the Reds will challenge for the title next season”
But in fact they quote him as saying “If everyone pulls their weight then I think we’ve got a good chance of challenging for the league.”
Not quite the same but I’m a bit surprised with the official site sensationalising what an ex player said.
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/ak-kenny-s-great-he-sold-me
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 #286 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 2:31 am
photos a fake, count the hands
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 #287 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 3:51 am
Lads not sure about our expectations, once there was a time you didn’t come here unless you wanted to win the league, alas lets blame our fans for putting to much pressure on our players, lets drop our expectations to being a top 4 team instead of a league challenging team.
.
No thanks, I want my team to be challenging for the number 1 spot every year, and if our players don’t feel that way or are just here to take their pay packet, then fuck off.
.
Its the same with the RED shirt, if your lucky enough to be offered a run in it, then you should run through brick walls.
.
I believe Wayne Bennett’s mentality when he took over at the Bronco’s was if your happy with second place, then don’t bother turning up here, we want players, fans, owner to think number 1 or nothing. He instilled a feeling of invisibility into the Brisbane Bronco’s which he now has with the St George Dragons, thats what we need, not the hopefully we’ll make the top 4.
.
Before we critise former players who want us challenging for the top, lets think about who is actually allowing expectation in this club to decay.
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 #288 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 7:59 am
It’s inevitable that we are linked with every man & his dog, but there are ‘strong’ rumours about Nolan Roux (who?), a Frenchman. I say strong because PT has even mentioned him a few times on his twitter page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REsRtQec9ww&feature=youtu.be
The constant speculation is doing my head in – I just want the season to start, albeit with a quality (preferable foreign) winger in place, and maybe a CB and LB. I say foreign, because I certainly can’t see any decent English or British wingers around, not since, well, our own Johny Barnes! The best there is, is the Shiteh youngster, Adam Johnson, and I don’t think he is for sale.
And of course, you pay over the odds for an English player these days. We have enough coming through the Academy anyway, so let’s look abroad is what I say!
Mind you, I would be too dissapointed if we signed N’Zogbia.
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 #289 |
London Red
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 10:20 am
Just read on twitter.
mudhutter?: Charles N’Zogbia spotted going for a dump at Keele Services. Tony Pulis in next cubicle. IS CHARLIE OFF TO STOKE I hear you say #wafc
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 #290 |
dougle
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 10:49 am
Gaz – who is allowing the expectations to drop ? Look at interviews form Rafa’s time and from Roy’s time. As Aitch said, time and time again, the effects of the 2 gobshites and their legacy could take years to overcome.
We had hauled ourselves to near the top of the EPL and the number one ranked team in Europe then came the fall.
Remember Torres.
I was looking at a Sunday newspaper this morning and Gervinho (whom we were linked to) “is” going to the Arsenal. Modric “is” going to Mancs / Plastics “a great club”. Nasri is off to “winners”. Sandro wants CL football. Neymar is off to Real, Sanchez is off to Mancs/Sheiks/Barca …. Enrique is off to Arsenal. The list goes on.
These guys are modern footballers with little or no loyalty to the club they play for. To think differently is delusional. Or it is the exception to the rule (Dirk Kuyt).
So we are fishing in a different pool to the “Big Clubs” right now.
However there are certain advantages to this. You are buying players who want to prove something, to win for us now would be (will be) a massive achievement. You also have the motivation of younger players coming up through the ranks. And maybe, just maybe, you have a guy like Suarez who bought the dream (from Comolli).
Ultimately you are right. It is unacceptable to play for Liverpool and not aim to win. It’s our history and their (the players and management) responsibility to honour it. However we are not in a great place or phase right now. Actually we have not been so now i believe we are on the way back.
I’m with you, aim high but we have to be real about where we are in the pecking order right now.
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 #291 |
blud red
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
i once went to gillingham to play a game of footy against the youngsters there. i was a bit passed it by then and i wanted to assess whether all that talk of modern footballers wanting fast cars and fame was true. in the changing room i asked a bunch of these kids whether they wanted the bling lifestyle that goes with the territory.
their answer, unanimously was yes.
now what to think of this? i was a bit shocked at the time, but now i look back i was a bit naive to believe the answer would be any different. most 16 or 17 year olds would answer in the affirmative having been asked such a narrowly defined question. that’s what kids that age want. that’s broadly speaking what i wanted. i was one of many kids who grew up with a picture of a ferrari dino on his bedroom wall.
of course, there is always a higher path of personal development over personal riches and there will be a few players who have healthy opinions about the pursuit of life in the fast lane and will constantly endeavour to keep their feet on the ground. yet for most, hot-house schooled in football since the age of seven, training 3 or 4 who will see that lifestyle as a reward for all the hardwork they have put into their career. kids who play for any top flight club have usually had to overcome enormous challenges and made sacrifices to their personal lives just to get a shot at the reserves bench.
so i always feel a bit awkward when people suggest that modern footballers are just journeymen who traverse the globe looking for a pay packet. i think their are a few idiots who take the mick, just like any other profession, but the majority who have made it to the top have done so through hard endeavour. whether you believe £150,000 a week wage is acceptable or not, i’m not sure it should taint you into thinking that all players are the same in the modern game.
i have noted that jordan henderson doesn’t party, doesn’t drink and has one focus and that is football. yet when people defame him for costing £20 or £16 mill its somehow like they are grouping him together with a brotherhood of footballers who aren’t worthy to tie the laces of heroes of the past.
asking me whether i care if suarex gets paid £90,000 a week is a bit like asking me how i feel about the estimated end of the universe in approximately 13.9 billion years. its too intangible a figure so i don’t waste my time worrying about it.
or is anndy carroll worth £35million. my answer would be i don’t really have an opinion about the precise figure but i do really care that liverpool had the balls to buy the player who destroyed them when they last played newcastle.
i suppose i coming round in a rather long winded way to the debate about whether top flight footballers believe liverpool is top flight enough for them to consider signing for, because …er..we don’t have CL football this year and therefore they won’t have the platform on which to show off their skills and buy themselves another ferrari.??
well, perhaps if liverpool did not have ambitious owners like FSG and a brilliant managerial structure with Kenny Dalglish. perhaps if they were not the most decorated club in english history, or certainly one of the best supported teams in the world, i might think twice. but they are all of these things. so, really, come on, what is not to like?
of course there are always those certain types of players i have spoken about before, the few who really do think more of their pay packet than their football, who believe in the cold cash of teams like chelsea or man city rather than the historic credentials of liverpool.
but i firmly believe there are others, quieter types who have struggled to get where they are, who will fight for the club they play for, rather than fight the club that pays for them.
have a little more faith in the modern system. not every footballer is the same, otherwise the game wouldn’t be worth watching. but it is.
and what position do you lot lot really think we are challenging for this season?
do i hear some of you say we should get real, and settle for 4th.
yer crazy.
KK said it himself “I’d rather be first”.
its not a question of getting real, in my opinion. its more like fine tuning your attitude to accept that no.1 spot is a viable option.
surely anything else is not acceptable. surely?
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 #292 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 5:58 pm
Great post blud. I think most people just feel they have a right to expect loyalty from people who are paid so well and live in a dreamworld but to those kids who do make it, its their reality and they are not really going to care what any of us think. How many of us would if we were in their shoes. If your biggest struggle in life is weather you change football teams well you haven’t struggled at all EVER. When they leave football now thats another story.
As regards our position in English football since we last won the league we have finished outside the top four seven times for a club that completely failed to capitilise on the new money that came into the game over those years its not a bad return not up to the standards we require but not too bad.
Now it looks like we have finally got owners who will seek to make as much as they can from the game (for good or bad) it looks like they will spend big money on players the manager wants and it looks like they will sort out the stadium situation. We are not in the top bracket of club this transfer window but if all of the above actually happens it wont be long before we are once again and then well who fecking knows…..
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 #293 |
London Red
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 9:14 pm
It amazes me how we demand loyalty from the players we want to keep hold of.But never mention it when we are trying to offload a player who wants to stay.
Managers and players get loyalty from the clubs until they have served there usefulness then they are discarded ruthlessly.
We cannot have it both ways you can’t demand loyalty from our players and then go to other teams and put in offers for there best players who are under contract and turn their heads.
We talk about loyalty but in fairness we only apply to our best players the rest can sod off.
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 #294 |
dougle
Posted on June 22, 2011 @ 10:51 pm
Good post Blud. I like your posts including all the ones i disagree with ! The one thing I’d point out is that we are not in CL this year, nor were we last year and for the majority of players, the best ones that is, it’s not just money and souless clubs but trophies too. Whatever you might think about Torres he left (so he said) to win. It hurts but there you go. He looked at his time as a player and reckoned he hadn’t the time left to wait (added to all the other bs that went on – G&H time).
Now the only thing about being sick rich, arrogant, see Plastics, Sheiks, real Madrid etc … is that at the end of the day you can only play 11 – 14 players per game, no matter how many you buy.
I know it’s a bit boring reading this again but look what Barca have done with a stable of home grown players, schooled in a style, augmented by a few well chosen buys. Real for all their bullshit and bluster and arrogance have won next to nothing now for years.
That’s the way I’d like us to go, it may well be that we are on the way too.
Cracker of a point London.
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 #295 |
blud red
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 12:31 am
dougle
yeah and look at torres. good player for a. madrid, bit of a starlet. he signed for us and we made him an international megastar. sold for fifty big ones.
now tell me what rising player world wide would not look at that and think ‘i’d like some of that’??
with the greatest of respect to the geezer, but luis suarez?? luis who? signs for liverpool, now he’s bigger than liam gallaghers ego.
if any player doubts we can accomplish great things for them, particularly strikers, think again.
gazmaninaus. modern footballers make massive sacrifices like every other top flight athlete on the planet. your point when you said the biggest decision they ever had to make was whether to change clubs…er tell sol campbell that, cos it nearly cost him his sanity. tell justin fashanu he didn’t make sacrifices. tell david beckham he didn’t make sacrifices when people start burning effigies of you and sixthy thousand of your own fans calling your missus a whore. tell kenny dalglish he didn’t make sacrifices as a player and a manager. or lucas leiva, the amount of sacrifices that bloke had to make because of gobshites like me claiming he wasn’t brazillian. come on. if i had to walk out in front of forty thousand fans i’d probably shit myself.
i’m not saying for one moment i think players deserve to be able to buy a new gaff in kensington every week, but i’m of the mind that by the time they reach the top tier of football, they just might, might have bigger balls than me.
we’ll get the players we want, in time and a few will surprise us all i reckon. i don’t underestimate fsg at all.
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 #296 |
blud red
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 9:54 am
more activity on the stewert downing story. leads me to believe there might be some truth to this particular rumour. i cannot imagine that he or bent will want to stay long in a villa side that just lost young to the mancs. cue exodus.
if this story is true, and from what people have said in this blog, downing is nobody’s first choice winger, it is still interesting to note that downing was villa’s player of the year, not ashley young.
if this story is true, then we are about to enter a new phase in dalglish’s managerial reign, the one where the gloves are off and he becomes open to criticism just like any other premiership manager.
personally speaking, he has my backing 100% but i am interested to see what his philosophy is now that he will take the reins for a full season.
good luck KK ynwa
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 #297 |
blud red
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 10:01 am
also,
there’s more rumour about conor wickham being brought to the club for the ten million mark. money aside for one second, i like the look of this lad. anyone got mates from ipswich who can shed more light on his potential? difficult to gauge from youtube which is fast turning into a marketeers shop window.
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 #298 |
akka
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 12:09 pm
Hey everyone.
Havent commented for around 3-4 months now, work has been crazy. Good to hear Gerry is kicking on.
Been reading and keeping up to date with things in here and as always some great comments.
Heading to Liverpool for the first week of the season. Hoping I can snatch some tickets, thinking I may just do one of those ThomasCookSport tours, at least I am gauranteed a ticket. cant risk going all that way and missing out on a seat.
Does anyone else use any other service with success?
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 #299 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
The mancs just signed Ashley Young for about £17m according to BBC Sport.
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 #300 |
corklfc
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 3:52 pm
Young for 17m, sure Donodowning is def worth the 19m in that case!!
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 #302 |
rome77
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 6:26 pm
I’ve been having a bit of a football holiday lately but the addiction is starting to kick in again and we still have ages to wait.
Valencia should be a good game and i cant wait to see any new players we get and hopefully the back of a few like Cole,Jova,Poulsen,Konch and maybe the return of a couple of players out on loan.
Stewart Downing for 19 mill!!! WTF
YNWA
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 #303 |
McrRed
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 7:58 pm
Good work Blud, very entertaining…
Winning the league?
I agree it’s all about expectations. Should we expect too much? No, of course not. Should we say we’re gonna do it, now you’re gonna believe us, we’re gonna win the league? Well, that’s a more qualified “Yes”.
Look at the table. Are there any sides there we can’t beat? Are there any sides we haven’t beaten recently?
The only side that troubles us is Arsenal and they’ve been lucky to get a draw a couple of times in the last few seasons.
So, if we have belief…but above all, if we have CONSISTENCY, we are going to win the league.
Bet you’re all happy about that, eh!
But, being realistic, we have to look at the things that affect consistency. Previous seasons have had us fighting on several fronts with an injury ravaged squad.
This year no europe.
Plenty of preparation time between matches (apart from *@~#ing International Friendlies).
And hopefully some additions to strengthen the squad. The consistency should be high. If that’s the case then we’ll do well.
We have beaten every team in the league home and away in recent seasons…
It’s going to be a season to remember. Believe!
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 #304 |
London Red
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 9:48 pm
As our Squad/team stands at present we will not win the league that is obvious.We need to walk before we can run,our head to head matches against the top teams is one thing,but until we steamroller the minnows like we did against Fulham at the end of last season on a regular basis we will struggle to even break the top 5.
We should reserve judgement on what we will do next season to when we have captured our transfer targets and then wait to see if the team gels.
We are so far from the title at the moment we would need the Hubble telescope to see it.
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 #305 |
corklfc
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 10:11 pm
I know if I started saying to manc supporters I know here, that I expect LFC to challenge for the title next season, I would get laughed out of Cork, we have only had two decent attempts in the last 20 years (96-97 & 08-09).
One of the first things you have to do before you can move forward is have an honest assessment of where you are.
So it’s not lightly were are going to go from 6th to 1st in one season especially when at least 3 of the clubs above us are going to spend as much are we are.
In my view we need to improve our points total by 12-15 to qualify for CL. The question then is, will Downing be a good enough addition to help us get and extra 4-5 wins that we need, and this is against the bottom half sides that we tend to drop so many points too.
My answer is for that purpose he would be a good addition.
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 #306 |
dougle
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 11:05 pm
Blud ….. just ask the people of Ghana who Luis Suarez was before he joined us! He was just about the most talked about footballer in the world for a while in 2010. I remember him very well indeed from the WC, he was outstanding as was Forlan (a guy I think we should take a sneaky punt on).
The reason he was somewhat below the radar was that he was playing in Holland which is no-where as far as your average Sky soccer fan (not you mind you) is concerned.
We got lucky with him, great work by DC. Who knows, maybe he got lucky with us too because he is the perfect FSG proposition. If he continues as he has been playing then I wouldn’t bet against FSG moving him on in 2/3 seasons time for that big fee. At least that might be the plan. Things allover might be a lot different in 2/3 years time.
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 #307 |
McrRed
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 11:19 pm
Cork, I guess the question for next season is not CAN we beat every team set against us but WILL we beat them.
It’s easy to say against last year’s top four teams yeah, we’ll win at home and if we’re lucky get a draw away…. but those other teams – the minnows – why can’t we beat them convincingly given enough preparation and a reasonably fit squad?
Last season was the worst in living memory (until King Kenny got back behind the wheel). But still, even with this rubbbish squad of players-not-fit-to-wear-the-Red-jersey we could beat all the strong teams in contention for the PL title.
To beat any team in a one-off match is an odds-on proposal for LFC.
Sooo, if you know – going into any match – that you can beat the opposition, why would you say that actually beating them is being presumptuous or hasty or too cocky? Why is pretending that we can’t beat any team set against us more honest?
If we can predict a win (despite the odds against us) for any single match, why can’t we do that for a whole season in advance?
As long as we can be consistent, the title is ours!!!*
*Would never say that outside this blog and wothout a huge slice of devils-advocatism
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 #308 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 23, 2011 @ 11:54 pm
Lads, this might sound overly simplistic but I think to finish in the top 4 we are going to have to have better players than 16 teams in the division. Or at least our players will need to perform better than that of 16 teams in the division. During the Rafa reign I believe we always had a better squad than at least 16 other teams. In 08/09 when we challenged for the title we had I’d say 6 world class players in the first XI. We’re no where near that at the moment. And as I don’t believe we have a top 4 squad at the moment I’m not confident of a top 4 finish.
Over a 9 month season it’s the quality you have compared to your competitors that ultimately determines where you finish. As our squad was asset stripped and others strengthened we slipped down the pecking order. So much so that the likes of Downing has us believing he is the best we can hope for.
I am finding it difficult to accept that we can’t attract the likes Hazard, Mata, Young when they are not even amongst the elite. I’ve gotten used to the fact we can’t get the absolute cream of the crop like Messi and Ronaldo but now we seem to be looking for 3rd tier players if you will. Players that the likes of City, Mancs and Chavski are not interested in.
Perhaps I was naive in believing Comolli when he said our lack of European football will not have an affect on whether or not we can attract players. Apparently player’s agents were still indicating that their players would want to join us.
Hopefully when the window opens proper on July 1st we can go about adding some real quality to our squad and my concerns are proved to be premature!
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 #309 |
London Red
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 1:09 am
I agree with LB and share his concerns,and I have noticed that our some of the main rivals for our “rumoured” targets seem to be Newcastle/Villa and Sunderland,but I will also wait until July when the euro market opens before I allow my bottom lip to wobble.
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 #310 |
London Red
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 1:26 am
No Jimmy Carter’s/David Speedie’s or Ronny Rosenthal’s please Kenny
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 #311 |
Sambo
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 11:26 am
LB, i do think that’s a bit over-simplistic in all honesty.
yeah, we’re the famous Liverpool, and yeah, we’ve got the fans who’ll sing ya name. but we don’t have champions league football, and it seems to me that there’s been quite a dramatic shift towards prioritising that in all the great, good, and even average player’s minds.
for me, the best thing that happened to LFC last season was Spurs finishing 5th behind City. don’t get me wrong, i like spurs, and find the way city are carrying on pretty repulsive. but with spurs offering champions league football, that automatically made them a bigger club than liverpool (despite all the history and everything else) in the eyes of prospective signings. at least now we’re clearly 5th on the pulling-power list.
this is now the nature of the league. first you qualify for the CL, then you attract the big names. i don’t think there’s 2 ways about it. if we want to win the league, first we either buy Downing and his ilk, or we rely on good scouting and unproven (undervalued) talent to get us into the top 4, then we look to entice the elite players to the club.
i know you lot already know this, so i’m not trying to sound clever, i’m just saying that the players we sign this season are there to give us a chance at winning the golden ticket. once we’re into Willy Wonker’s magic factory, it’s up to them to prove they’re good enough to keep us there. if they’re not, they move on to Sunderland (Cadbury) or Newcastle (Nestle).
not forgetting of course that we’re aiming to buy young talent as well. young talent alone won’t get us into the top 4 though, so 1 or 2 proven performers need to be bought, and the market looks pretty fuckin busy this summer!
also, i don’t know what your theory of ‘better players than 16 teams’ means. Hernandez was a nobody last season and look at him now. surely the chemistry of the team and the unexpected emergence of talent counts for something. it obviously did for the scum because their mid-field was a bunch of journeymen and they still won the league.
i’ve got some faith that at least 2 of Carroll, Lucas, Henderson, Spearing, Kelly, and Flanno will develop into great (maybe world-class) players. Add them to Reina, Gerrard, Suarez and we’ve got 5 A-list players right there. we could do with a new CB though. Skrtle is looking better and Agger has shown signs of class, but I’d love to see a world class player with them in front of Pepe. it’d make all the difference. swap carra for vidic and we’d win the league!
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 #312 |
burgerman
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
Doing business with Villa for Downing would be crazy.How did they get £ 16 mill for a player with 1 yr left on his contract , the Reds only got £ 7 mill for Owen and Kewell cost a similar sum.Need a versatile left back and striker as well.Time to ditch the dross.
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 #313 |
corklfc
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 1:25 pm
LB, we only have to close the gap on Spurs and the arse to get CL football at the end of next season. Bearing in mind we had 25points after 20 games under roy, we now have carroll and Suarez in the squad and Kenny in charge, I beleive we can close the gap on them with any new signings.
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 #315 |
Aitch
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 4:06 pm
Read this within a blog thread this morning, regarding Powerball an analytic methods in sport, then couldn’t find it again… but just found the actual article.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9471db52-97bb-11e0-9c37-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1PhipgDZn
Its a terrific read about the whole analytics model that FSG like to use… where it came from, how it took hold in the game, how its used and misused… but more importantly, how Comolli was a student and now big proponent of it and how it works.
Seems to me a good manager can spot these things without actually quantifying it…
….a good manager can watch a player and see what he does right, wrong, and what potential he has to get better or not…. he can just see it… and grade that player as getting 80% right, 10 % wrong, and 10% neither in particular, but with an 8 in 10 chance of improving his game by at least 20%
These analytical guys, take opta stats and crunch the numbers and can extrapolate that a player is getting 80% right, 10 % wrong, and 10% neither in particular, but with a 8 in 10 chance of improving his game in certain areas by at least 20%
If Kenny is the first and Comolli is the latter, seems to me we’re on a winner???
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 #316 |
corklfc
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 4:41 pm
I have often heard John Giles say, 70% of management is getting the right players into the club.
This is one area where Kenny has excelled.
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 #317 |
blud red
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 5:22 pm
dougle
ok, so you say that suarez was well known before he came to lfc? well thats a fair point, but it goes some way to prove my other point.
if he was so well known and highly regarded, then how come he signed for a team with no CL football.
surely this means that other top flight players still find LFC an attractive proposition.
my point is, if suarez signed so readily and carroll did too, then others will follow, undoubtedly.
fingers, legs and bollocks crossed that mata story is true because if that geezer signed for the reds there would be a stunned silence in this blog.
perhaps then people would truly believe we are challenging for the title and not begging at the table for a place in the champs league.
but, we will see. patience is a virtue.
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 #318 |
elbmw
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 5:59 pm
Aitch thanks for that link. A very interesting read.
I did a Management Information Systems module as part of my degree (as a mature student) and tbh it blew me away at what analysis could be made from raw data. One of the biggest problems that one could see was the accuracy of the raw data. As an example; is it being captured automatically by a machine or was it manually entered by humans? -who we all know are prone to errors. The natural follow up question there was how to try and mitigate those errors.
And again, if it was by machine then is the data been captured accurately? What checks are there to verify the data. How often is the machine checked for accuracy? Who calibrates the machine? Can that be verified? OK I’ll stop here.
So OK. You have done whatever is possible to ensure that the data is correct and verified (where possible) so then you have to analyse the data and form conclusions. And thats where the biggest difficulty lies. Analysis is only as good as the person performing it, her take on what’s important and relevant.
I did always wonder since then to what extent LFC uses information systems and analytics to formulate their plans and tbh I was a little surprised to hear that we hadn’t had anything of note till DC came onboard.
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 #319 |
blud red
Posted on June 24, 2011 @ 6:42 pm
elbmw
no mate, your not boring anyone. carry on. i think your points are worth listening to.
maybe the answer to your question of whether the collation and analysis of data is a fail safe approach to modern management is similar to the debate about internet shopping for groceries.
yes, you can order your weekly food over the net with some success, but at the end of the day several humanising factors determine whether the system still works. meaning, a calculator may only give you statistics that reinforce views you already had.
for example, if i as a manager did not like a certain player, yet my director of football pointed to the stats and said he would be a good buy, i would stick by my instincts and withhold the cash.
but if my director of football showed me the stats that stated player X was worth buying, and, i also thought player x was worth buying, then its a done deal.
also, this system sounds similar to fantasy football, where you pick players with the best stats that you can afford. you try to balance the team with performers in every position tallied with value for money.
are we ultimately suggesting, that if a super computer, with access to accurate information could pick a world beating side?
not sure i haven’t tied myself up in knots, but a good debate nonetheless.
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 #320 |
blud red
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 12:12 am
oh and by the way
regardless of stats or whatever, i hope these rumours are untrue because miereles is not for sale as far as i’m concerned. nada . end of story. bring in charlie adam if you want but meireles has got to stay. he made us tick last season.
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 #321 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 10:47 am
It looks like Aquilani is coming back so the club is like to cash in on Raul. With 45 central midfield players it’s unlikely Raul will be first choice and probably will not be happy playing a bit part role. Reports suggest if we get a £13m bid for him we’ll sell.
I like Raul a lot, his only weakness though is he routinely bottles 50/50 tackles. I don’t think Kenny trusts him in deep midfield. Which is why he has tended to play him behind the striker or out wide.
With Aquilani back and Gerrard fit, then if we buy a couple of wide players, where does Raul fit in?
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 #322 |
Aitch
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
Not entirely sure what the argument is here?
Last season we had Meireles and didn’t know where to play him. We played him on the right, in the hole, next to Lucas, even on the left once ro twice.
Regardless of any supposed limitations “in the tackle”, he played pretty consistently, and played very well far more often than not.
He scored some important goals and had a hand in creating others.
Surely it’s better to have Raul and “not know where the fuck to play him” than to NOT have Raul as an option.
Anyway, its just as likely this whole “raul is available” is a smoke screen to mask other movements… and frankly I’m not sure how anyone knows “Raul is available” since the club has dropped a Berlin Wall Cone of Silence around transfer activity.
….
In so far as the stats go… like I said, for my money, it seemed a bit of nonsense. I got how it could be used in static games like baseball… made sense, that sport (uses the term loosely ) is all about set plays.
…same for American Football… essentially set plays from a standing start.
But I always had my reservations about how useful it would be in a fluid game like “our” footy.
Its like the argumetn re: Lucas.
Stats show a high percentage of completed passes.
People fire back, yeah but they are short and sideways and back.
But what a further analysis of his passes reveals is what I’ve always known from observing the lad during games… his passes are effective and keep things ticking over. In other words a successful “sideways” pass keeps possession, and therefore is more useful and effective than a forward pass that results in a loss of possession.
There was a great comment re Maldini… whose stats showed that he didn’t make many tackles … in fact his tackles stat was the worst for any defender in Italy… but a further analysis showed that heis positional sense meant that he didn’t need to make glory-last-ditch tackles, or even big block tackles… he simply put himself in the way, causing the breakdown of an attack.
(interestingly something Lucas often does without credit from many)
The statistics in and of themselves don’t tell the whole story… and fortunately Comolli understood this and was among the group of people who took the Powerball idea and worked to adapt it as a model that would help to tell more of that story.
And that is his strength.
I’ve seen anumber of comments (elsewhere) regarding DC’s relationship with martin Jol at Spurs… a situation where Jol didn’t rate the stats stuff, so of course it was not going to be successful.
FSG rate the idea of using stats. DC does too, it is supposedly specifically why they hired him.
I don’t know if Kenny does, but I would imagine if he’s seen it explained the way that article helped me understand it, he’d be all for it.
There’s an element of “tells me what I could see with my own eyes” for sure…
… but also an element of, helps bring to light someone who you maybe hadn’t noticed… the unsung lad who keeps things ticking… that every team needs to complement your SG, Suarez and the like… a lad like Henderson maybe?
Anyway… gaining a better understanding of how the stats thing is supposed to work, and how FSG have seemingly sought to implement it with Comolli in the DoF position, has given me a lot more confidence in how having a DoF alongside Kenny as manager will work for us moving forward.
I guess we’ll have to see what develops over the next couple of weeks to judge?
But personally, In Kenny and DC I trust… but from an informed position and not rose tinted glasses.
(and would everyone STOP saying henderson cost 20 million please. He didn’t. We don’t know the exact figure but it wasn’t 20 million. It was closer to 16… with some reports suggesting it was actually 13 with add ons. A much better deal at that price, especially when we do eventually recoup 3-5 million when Ngog makes his eventual move to Sunderland.)
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 #323 |
JackHill
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 1:27 pm
Here goes-I have just received an email from #1 son Roger.Both he,and my grandson are coming over from Canada specifically to see the game,24th September re-Wolves.I know, from past experience, that you can buy Anfield Road ticketes at the window BUT they would like KOP tickets.I have trained them well,however I can’t guarantee KOP tickets,and there lies the rub,as Shakespeare would say. If any of you know of,or if you know anyone,who is not going to that game and can get 2 KOP tickets (not even side by side) – let me know,on this site or my e-mail address of:-
I know it is early,but the word is out now,so here’s hoping.
BTW – Roger is 56 now and so is no spring chicken.
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 #324 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 8:37 pm
Aitch,
I’m not sure about this wall of silence. We all knew we were after Suarez. The Henderson link was there for a couple of weeks before we signed him. Then there is the Adam and Downing reports. Strong links too. Nobody will be surprised if we sign these players.
The rumour that Meireles is available makes sense to me and just to add more to what I said in my previous post. We could have Lucas, Spearing, Gerrard, Adam, Aquilani, Maxi, Kuyt, Downing, another winger, another defensive midfielder as well as Meireles. If the club took £13m and let him go I’d understand the logic.
Then again if the club refused to sell Meireles because they rate him as a key player in the squad I’d understand that logic also.
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 #325 |
London Red
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 9:24 pm
I can’t see Aquaman coming back permanently I’m guessing we are just playing hardball to get a fair price for him.
As far as Meireles is concerned personally I would be happy to see him leave if he is not going to play as a central midfielder because I don’t think he offers us anything out wide or behind the main striker.
He’s probably better suited to the other euro leagues where the tackles don’t fly around in the middle as much.
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 #326 |
dougle
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
Tricky one London viz a viz Miereles. He does seem to not like the tackle, fair point. Personally speaking him stuck out on the right doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But then again he playing on the right with a good attacking right back i.e Glenda is a completely different proposition, as Raul would be more an inside right player with a degree of licence to roam which really suits him.
Playing behind the striker does tho’. He’s a smart cookie, faster than he appears and with a good brain, good football intelligence and an eye for a goal. I actually see a lot of similarities with Aquaman in that position. Pound for pound right now I’d take Raul.
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 #327 |
dougle
Posted on June 25, 2011 @ 11:41 pm
Upon mature reflection….. there is Raul’s age to consider.
Anyway (there is a rumour that) Adam has signed now.
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 #328 |
elbmw
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 12:35 am
Guys I agree that Meireles looks as if he’s afraid to tackle but don’t forget that was his first season and I may be wrong here but didn’t he join the squad late in pre-season, following his participation in the WC, which hampered his preparation?
I think with a full pre-season and some summer rest added with the benefit of having already played a season in the PL we should see an even better Meireles.
Would be a shame to lose him now. Give him another year, sign or nurture a better replacement and then decide if he should be sold.
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 #329 |
elbmw
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 12:37 am
On Meireles V Aquaman I think the former is more mobile and the latter a better passer, perhaps even a better play-maker.
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 #330 |
McrRed
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 12:22 pm
Wouldn’t be surprised if Meireles was being transfer listed to add to the impression that we’re keeping AA thus keeping his price as high as possible…
It’s what I’d do, regardless of whether I wanted to sell RM…
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 #331 |
Aitch
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 1:39 pm
LB, Luis and Andy were very much pre-Cone of Silence.
Pretty much anyone who claims to have any contacts at the club is saying the same thing… as of a couple of weeks ago, they were cut off. The word came down to their contacts that no information was to be leaked.
The Henderson leaks came from Sunderland’s end of the deal, something LFC has less control of.
Adam is hardly a secret, since we went in for him in January so the press have assumed will do so again now, and have kept that story alive… but even “knowing” that deal is in the works, we are getting very little information beyond speculation.
Adam supposedly had a medical, yet no one can verify this (with cameramen camped out at Melwood?)
And Commoli was supposedly in talks with Oysten this weekend to finalize the deal… yet not a single leaks with even a scrap of information about said talks has been leaked.
We might know…. but we don’t know… if you know what I mean?
As for Raul… from a footballing perspective, I think it makes no sense at all to sell him… get back into the CL and he is exactly the type of player we will then be looking to bring into the squad next summer…
I get that often other considerations come into play… we’ve been dealing with that shite for years now… but I wouldn’t sell the lad meself…
… especially when there are at least 6 other players we really could do without.
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 #332 |
London Red
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 2:17 pm
The word on the street is we have signed Adam and he will probably be unveiled tomorrow
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 #333 |
blud red
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 4:15 pm
london red
the word on the street is…??
who do you think you are, Huggy Bear??
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 #334 |
Aitch
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 5:11 pm
What street?
Certainly not the eStreet named http://www.liverpoolfc.tv
Sky reporters were just standing on a street outside Anfield, and in “breaking news” they reported nobody had been signed.
Like I said… we may all “know” we are signing Adam, but nobody “knows” what the fuck is going on.
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 #335 |
McrRed
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 5:53 pm
Its funny, but for so long we have been crying out for a return to The Liverpool Way. Well, now we’ve got it…
And it is good!
I love the fact that, outside of a set of parameters – youth, value for money, resale value, proven contribution according to data sets – nobody knows what the fuck is happening. $ky News report that Liverpool haven’t signed anyone else yet. You couldn’t fucken make it up!
I can’t wait for a return to the times where everything is done behind closed doors (or Twitter accounts – seen what happened to King Kenny’s account once he became manager? Dead as a dodo!)
I loved it best in the times when everyone knew that “we can’t win the league again; we’re simply not strong enough.” Only for another title to head our way come the Darling Buds of May.
May those times return soon…
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 #336 |
blud red
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 6:03 pm
definitely don’t want us to sell miereles. as aitch said, he is the sort of player you will eventually miss, a bit like the alonso scenario.
miereles is an intelligent player whose runs from midfield always drew attention away from players like maxi and suarez. i also remember the way he crossed the ball for carroll to score his second against citeh.
plus, the existing players are only just beginning to form an understanding of his talents. he is bedded into the LFC way. he may be slightly older than you would like, but the man’s got style, panache.
wedded to that opinion is the way lucas has flourished with miereles buzzing around him. it occurred to me that maybe raul encourages lucas to play much further up the pitch.
ok, he’s not the hard tackler some would like, but the way the game is going only suits players of his quality. of course there are tough tacklers, but modern football demands players know how to steal the ball, pickpocket players in possession rather than up-ending them into row Z. i believe that its around players like miereles that the next great liverpool squad will emerge.
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 #337 |
Aitch
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 7:42 pm
that’s a good comparison blud.
I remember very well when we were touting Alonso to Juve while chasing Barry… mostly coz I was a big Xabi fan and even coming off a weak season and Barry coming off arguably his best to date, the two just didn’t compare.
I don’t recall their being a huge outcry at the time… in fact while some saw the danger, many were very much in favor of the switch.
A year later and the whole thing in hindsight was madness and everyone knew it but Rafa.
BOLLOCKS!
I also remember making the statement “If we keep Alonso we could win the Prem next season. If we sell him we won’t.” (Keep in mind, I’m quoting that out of the context of the larger summer transfer discussion within which I made it).
I was near burned in effigy at such a suggestion.
but one year later, loads of people held the opinion that it was selling Alonso that was all the difference, and if we’d kept him we’d have challenged.
The situation mirrors what we are seeing regarding our chase for Adam and the suggestion that Meireles will depart to accomodate him, or coz of his age, or resale value, or whatever…
How come no one ever suggests “if it were Man Utd or chelsea they’d buy Adam AND keep Meireles.”
We may well end up with 45 midfielders, (though I think its only 35 ) but Raul isn’t one of the ones you want to cull and stay competitive.
I don’t know how the fuck Kenny is gonna accomodate all these playes… but I’m confident his ideas in that regard, will be largely better than most of those sugested in here.
And no one ever suggests that united have too many players and have to sell Rooney to accomodate.
The complaint always seems to be that our squad isn’t big enough.
Now it is getting there, we should not be looking to sell one of its best performers last season.
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 #338 |
elbmw
Posted on June 26, 2011 @ 10:47 pm
How do you accommodate 45 (or 35, Aitch) midfielders?
one word…Rotation.
Thanks to Sly most people think that it was that horrible foreigner Rafa who invented that nasty and un-British Rotation system… remember when Rafa first came here he stated many times that the aim was to have at least 2 international players for each position, which he hoped would add competition and that for a team like Liverpool who usually challenge in many competitions and play around 65+ games a season he would need a big squad to be able to make the challenge.
And remember in KKs first stint (circa. 1987-1988) where he had an abundance of quality central midfielders; McMahon, Whelan, Wark, Molby, Spackman, MacDonald. He would only play 2 of those at a time but managed to keep them all happy and competitive.
Oh and he won a few trophies for us along the way!
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 #339 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 12:14 am
Usually it’s resources or lack of as to why we usually have to sell a player when the squad looks like it’s getting a bit top heavy in a particular position. Mancs and chavs seem to accomodate players because they aren’t under pressure to generate funds to strengthen.
You don’t usually here reports suggesting Chelsea or United need to get players off the wage bill and need/want to flog player x,y,z. Whereas with us all we here is that we need to sell play x because he is a burden to the wage bill.
Whether these ‘reports’ are true or not I don’t know but that is the perception. LFC needs to do x,y,z to generate funds while Chelsea and United can just add to their squad without too much worry.
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 #340 |
Sambo
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 11:07 am
for me, it’d be hard to drop Lucas or Gerrard if they’re fit, in any kind of form, and it’s an important game (nearly all of them).
Lucas ironed out his game superbly over the course of last season, and he fully deserved player of the year. Gerrard will hopefully come back in the mood for it after a strange couples of years of injuries and personal problems. those 2 should ‘expect’ to play.
so it’s out of Kuyt, Raul, Downing (just supposing), Adam (not yet i know), Spearing, Henderson, Aquilani, Cole, Shelvey and Maxi for the other 2 slots (assuming that Carroll and Luis play)
Cole obviously has a lot to do to get a start so he’s on the bench. Aqua is up in the air so forget him.
it’s tough on current form to drop any of the others though. dirk looked good with Luis, linking well and feeding off the other’s enthusiasm. Spearing put in some sensational performances during our winning run, and i’m actually quite excited about this lad. Raul added definite quality, and he was sorely missed when he got injured. Downing… if we buy him, i don’t see any point in making him a bit-part player at that price, so it’s either sign ‘im and play ‘im, or don’t bother at all. Adam and Henderson would have to battle it out with Spearing in training to win the right to play alongside Lucas – and may the best man win (hope it’s Jay). maxi would probably play a role from the bench despite his goal-glut at the end. Jonjo is supposedly off on loan to Blackpool (if you believe what you read) so if Adam’s coming in i’ll assume he’s going out.
like elbmw said, it’s going to be about clever rotation of these players, but a couple have to go (even if it’s just Aqua and Jonjo or Cole).
the rotation thing does scare me a bit. for me, managers should grab opportunities to give peripheral players valuable time on the pitch, not just bung them on in the 88th minute. as some of you might remember, i wasn’t that impressed with Rafa’s handling of Crouch and Yossi (at specific points in his tenure), and i’m not all that impressed with Kenny’s handling of Cole. i’m just talking about giving them 25 minutes sometimes, not just 5… if the team was coasting to victory, or staring down the barrel….
i trust Kenny more than any other manager we’ve had since… er… Kenny. his interviews are incredible. i’d never proclaim to know better. i just hope he rotates these players in the best possible way for the good of the team and for the individual player’s moral.
i’d like to keep Raul too. but i do fancy Adam for some reason. maybe it’s just Kenny’s got me believing in anything tartan.
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 #341 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 12:00 pm
Looks like this Adam deal is getting a lot of hype on Twitter with Darby going the other way & also shelvey going on loan, they are saying the downing deal is edging closer,
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 #342 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 1:37 pm
Sambo, If Kenny gets you believing in Andy Murray (tartan!) winning Wimbledon (or any tournament), then he must be a miracle worker!
Downing for 19 million? No way, I just don’t get it. I would like to start seeing some sales as well. We all know the list of ‘deadwood’.
Apparently (rumour?) the Chavs approached Steve Clarke, but he turned them down. If it’s true, good on him.
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 #343 |
London Red
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 1:43 pm
Pity If true about Shelvey going on loan to the championship,would of preferred him going on loan to one of the smaller prem teams and starting regular and gaining valuable experience.
Nothing confirmed yet but if its the word on the street it mus be true.
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 #344 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
Rafa, I also seen that on Clarke turning down the plastics to stay with us, thank fuck I say!
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 #345 |
London Red
Posted on June 27, 2011 @ 7:45 pm
Just read we were linked With Jonathon Woodgate at the weekend,I think our medical team would go on strike if it happened.
His injury record would make even Agger and Aurelio blush
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 #346 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on June 28, 2011 @ 10:27 am
I think more the problem with our purchasing players is getting rid of the one’s we don’t need. Alas though it doesn’t look like anyone else wants them either.
.
We have gathered up some absolute shite, and may I say well paid shite. When you can’t get rid of a 1.5 million pound striker because he wont take a pay cut to 30,000 quid, then this club has been in a shambles.
.
Thank goodness we’ve been taken over, but its going to cost money just to move people on. Half our outgoings could be just to get them to leave.
.
Getting sick and tired of these Adam rumours, the club should just come out and tell Blackpool to fuck of and get back in league 1. They have a real oportunity to gain some quality players from LFC
over the next few years, but due to their Chairman being a total utter fuckwit, they’ll end up back in
league 1.
.
Anyway just my rant, by the way Downing was excellent for Villa last year and as such should stay there, he’s not good enough for us, afterall we want to move up the league, not stave off relegation.
|
 #347 |
corklfc
Posted on June 28, 2011 @ 12:18 pm
On the “deadwood”
Aitch, I gave you a 1-0 lead with the proposed transfer of Ngog to Sunderland. I think I’ii have to disallow that goal. So it’s 0-0 and your playing against the wind!!
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 #348 |
elbmw
Posted on June 28, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
Hahaha London Red! Nice one!
“Look man. I lay it out for y’all to play it out”.
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 #351 |
sachem
Posted on June 28, 2011 @ 8:59 pm
Deadwood, that’s a great television series!
Looks like we’ll be losing out on Wickham as well. If that means we’ve been wasting a load of time on a first choice, then it would feel like the same old story for us, but I really couldn’t tell how much of a setback it is in reality.
Let’s wait and see what squad we have on 1 September. I for one fucking expect the fucking deadwood to be fucking gone by then.
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 #352 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 28, 2011 @ 9:08 pm
I wasn’t overly keen on Wicham, certainly not for £13m but if he was a key target for us and we lost out to fucking Sunderland then it doesn’t make for encouraging reading does it? I know one thing. If come Sept 1st our net spend is measly and the squad had not improved a great deal, the fans will turn on the FSG regime extremely quickly.
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 #353 |
London Red
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 12:39 am
Reports of Sammy lee’s departure some are saying may end up at West ham with fat Sam
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 #354 |
London Red
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 12:40 am
Sammy Lee is actually Trending on Twitter WTF
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 #355 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 12:54 am
all the best sammy & thank you
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 #356 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 10:15 am
Well although he is Liverpool through & through, I couldn’t really see his role at the club after Steve Smith arrived – besides translating Kenny’s brogue for the foreign lads.
Good luck Sammy, you’ll always be a Red.
I read an interesting article (won’t mention the author or the rag, coz they are both pricks), where similarities between the Spuds buying policy and ours, was highlighted! The common denomenator: Comolli.
The Spuds bought over 10 British players when he was there – Bentley, Jenas, Bale, Bent amongst others. Plus a couple of successful foreigners – Modric & Berbadoll.
Now it seems we are after not much else besides British? If rumours are to be believed?
Well, I suppsoe we have to wait & see what we have & don’t have (start selling!!) when the season starts.
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 #357 |
burgerman
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 11:39 am
Rafalution, who is Steve Smith ? Is Parry in charge of transfers, what happened to all the players going to be bought and sold? Why hasn’t Rafa B got a new job ? We could end up with Gerry Adams instead of Charlie Adam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 #358 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 7:35 pm
Shoot, Cheeseburger, I meant Steve Clarke…had cricket on my mind for a minute.
And as we speak, Any Murray goes through to the semis. Heaven forbid – have to endure another couple of days of he & his mom, and the purple-rinse ladies with their Union Jack flags…
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 #359 |
elbmw
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 8:56 pm
Personally I find BMs drive-by tweets amusing… in a “schadenfreude” sort of way!
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 #360 |
sachem
Posted on June 29, 2011 @ 10:14 pm
BM just loves to have a go at everything he can get his head around, especially the wrong things. Anyone else recall him declaring his admiration for the marvellous deeds of Maggie Thatcher? Think I’ll let the late Mr Postlethwaite speak on my behalf on that one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKx3MUqzCcQ
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 #361 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 12:23 am
Rory Smith reckons we need to sell before we buy any more players. Hence the delay with Downing and Adam and losing out on Wickham. Oh dear.
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 #362 |
elbmw
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 12:50 am
LB Rory Smith may be correct but I would challenge that view purely on the principle that he doesn’t know anything and he’s just doing what the rest of us are doing at this point… speculating.
Could it not be possible that some of our targets are already in the bag and the Anfield hierarchy is keeping it quiet so as to not reveal their hand so early on and maybe they’re waiting to announce them later on in the transfer window? That would make sense as it would keep the opposition guessing as to how our rebuilding program is going and not induce the opposition into strengthening even more to keep ahead of us. I hope that makes sense.
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 #363 |
rome77
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 1:07 am
LB
I see its definitely a case of “Once bitten,twice shy” with your trust for the new owners / stewards
Sachem I thought “Coco the scab” put it better myself, not as eloquently, but better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isM1aKgV0zM&feature=related
And just like the 80s we have a Tory government,Strikes,Unemployment and public spending cuts.
It seems “Once bitten twice shy” is a lesson not everyone bothered to learn.
YNWA
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 #364 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 1:45 am
elbmw, I agree with your first paragraph. Don’t agree with the rest though.
Rome77, regarding the owners I will never be totally convinced until I see the evidence with my own eyes. They still haven’t told us fuck all regarding the stadium and our net spend to date isn’t anything to write home about. Early days I know.
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 #365 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 1:58 am
“On the “deadwood”
Aitch, I gave you a 1-0 lead with the proposed transfer of Ngog to Sunderland. I think I’ll have to disallow that goal. So it’s 0-0 and your playing against the wind!!”
…surrounds Corky, instructing him to consult linesman, suggests he fucks off, questions his eyesight, manhood, heritage…
…comes to the sudden realization I’m acting like an utter twat (that is to say… Manc or Chav)…
…apologizes and slinks away in shame…
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 #366 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 2:02 am
Shame about Sammy Lee really.
Though I wouldn’t mind a bit if his replacement turned out to be Gary Mac…
…all done under the radar with no one seeing it coming…
… you know… like Sammy’s departure.
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 #367 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 2:55 am
elbmw, i 2 agree with the first part of your last post, we are all fucking clueless as 2 what will happen in this transfer window, but for me the suspense has got us on the edge of our seats waiting for something to happen, & hell yeah its fucking frustrating but john henry tweeted 2day that ” some things will happen early & somethings will happen late, but the important thing is that things happen” aitch im with ya on the gary mac replacing sammy, i think it would be brill, i thing mac is due a lot of credit in shaping stevie g into the player he is/was, something he could also pass onto lucas / henderson & co,
YNWA!
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 #368 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 3:14 am
For those not happy with, or simply frustrated by summer developments so far, may I suggest the following…
1. Pop the cap on your favorite brew…
2. Grab your laptop
3. Find a reclined seating position
4. Take 1 full deep breath, exhale completely (remembering to then breath back in of course ) and relax
5. Read the following…
http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/06/holy-comolli-statman-liverpools-data-revolution/
6. Rejoice… safe in the knowledge that the right men are doing the right things on our behalf… and an open top bus (that more than 45 casual shoppers will watch drive by) is in our not-too-distant future!
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 #369 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 8:49 am
Aitch, followed your instructions – except didn’t pop the cap of my favorite brew as it is 9.45am.
Superb read, and puts a lot into perspective, such as the ‘panic’ & ‘knee-jerking’ regarding our transfer policy thus far under FSG.
And his last comment about Stevie G & AC feeling like new signings in the new season is spot on. Just hope Gerrard can stay fit for a decent period of time.
I also read some stats on Lucas: He made 172 tackles last season. More than any other player in the top 4 leagues in Europe. Put that in your pipe & smoke it!!!
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 #370 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 9:02 am
looking forward to reading that thompkins piece later. In the meantime looks like our wage bill is really getting on the owners tits I can see their point obviously too many uberfat contracts were handed out to mediocre players over the years but is’nt it also true that the team with the biggest wage bill usually wins the league?
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 #372 |
burgerman
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 11:46 am
2 seasons without CL football means a loss of £ 50 mill.Hence few new players.Kenny must of known what the transfer budget would be when he signed.New stadium, no chance unless it’s a groundshare, knew that a decade ago.New Labour did a great job, banjaxed everything like they did in the seventies and deservedly lost 4 elections in a row.It was labour who opened the flood gates to immigrants in the nineties and squeezed natives out of the job market.In the eighties, net migration was zero.Tony Benn, resident of Holland Park, the most exclusive address in europe.Vote UKIP, you know it makes sense! Overall, the transfer market is very quiet, looks as if the Mancs will walk to no 20.
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 #373 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 11:52 am
Great piece by tomkins, thanks 4 the link aitch, I see John henry is aware of our fustration judging by some of his tweets, he follows 10 people on Twitter,the only lfc related follows are Tia & SOS . I guess we all need to CALM DOWN!
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 #374 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
We’re very quick to get worried during transfer windows aren’t we? For good reason I think. How many transfer windows have we gone through where next to fuck all happens? We have hope in late May and the month of June only for it to slowly fade during July and come to despair in August. We talking about maybe competing for the title, then more realistically hope for a top 4 finish until the realisation sinks in that actually a top 6 place is a truer reflection of our chances.
I have read that Tomkins piece. It is very good. The trouble is it means absolutely nothing in real terms. As ever, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
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 #375 |
sachem
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
kopcolly
And how many ignorant replies do you think have been sent to JH? Just have a look at the first paragraph of that Tomkins article Aitch linked to, and you’ll have some idea of the utter nonsense JH get sent to his Twitter timeline.
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 #376 |
sachem
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 2:02 pm
BM
So what’s your take on Shankly’s socialist values, found at the very core of the football club you (presumably) claim to support? It seems to me, with your views, being a Liverpool supporter is a bit like having Maggie Thatcher joining the trade union.
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 #377 |
sachem
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 2:07 pm
Sorry kopcolly, I meant third paragraph.
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 #378 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
So if I’m understanding it right…
We should just throw in the towel now because United bought two young kids and a fella that looked goow without really excelling at Villa?
Yeah, if only we’d stopped the ferry service a century ago and stopped all them damn potato eaters coming over and ruining our city.
Should have built a wall while we were at it too, that’s what I say. Could have maybe named it after that Hadrian fella. I mean its not like anyone can understand what the fuckers are saying anyway, what with that bloody gaelic accent and all.
…and don’t even get me started on those fuckin opera singing Welsh.
Fuckin foreigners the lot of them, coming in taking all our jobs… ruined the city forever.
Probably could have forged a true and proper English port city, maybe one of the busiest and most successful, if it hadn’t been for that lot flooding in.
And just think of everything we’d have won if places at Liverpool had gone to proper Englishmen instead of the likes of Shankley, Dalglish, Yates, Souness, Rush, even Hougton, Aldridge…
…err…. never mind…
We now return you to our usual broadcasts.
You know what, I just looked at the league table and we’re in 8th without having even kicked a ball.
Not good enough.
Fire Kenny now before its too late.
Something must be done.
Time to mobilize the troops and get shut of these fuckin Yanks!
Immigrants!
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 #379 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Sometimes… Kopblog makes me sad
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 #380 |
Aitch
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 3:28 pm
Honestly I don’t get some people sometimes.
Everyone starts from Zero in August.
Last season, teams who had “no right” to go to Old Trafford and take points away from it … did just that.
Same for Stamford Bridge.
Sure they’ve been dominant… but that doesn’t mean they automatically will continue to be so.
My opinion is that we will surprise a lot of people next season.
|
 #381 |
corklfc
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 3:53 pm
LB, you really are a hard man to please. There are 2 full Months left in this transfer window, we miss out on a player you did’t fancy anyway and you are calling things as “same old story”.
Since Kenny has come in we have signed Suarez, Carroll, Hendo. Aqua is returning by the looks of it, a fit Gerrard & Kelly (maybe even Agger) for pre-season. Of all those 7 players listed only Suarez was fit and available to Kenny while he was there.
We DO need to sign a more players, we DO need to get rid of players, but its still only the 30th of June
Who have Spurs City Chavs or Arse signed as of today?
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 #382 |
corklfc
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 4:07 pm
Aitch,
The mancs only dropped 2 points at home to West Brom last season!
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 #383 |
dougle
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 6:10 pm
Corkie, Aitch will have the hitmen on you soon boyo.
Since announcing the Charlie Adam was coming (strong rumour) I have restrained myself from looking at the Rumour threads – for that is all they are. I am wiser in my silence !
It looks like we missed out on some of our rumoured targets…. so let’s make a new rumour. As ever it’s Deigo Forlan for me … watch this space.
Conor Wickham would have been behind AC, DK, LS and probably even Ngog so it’s not such a big deal right now is it.
Gael Clichy, he was very good but ..I’d take their reserve actually (can’t think of his name).
And as yet we haven’t signed Lucas/Neymar/Gervinho/Hazard/Dann/Adam/Mata/Downing/Aguero whoever else … !!! I mean ….!
We also have not moved on the excess.
I reckon we will move on Konch and Poulsen and Joe Cole and a few of the loaned (including Aquaman). It will all happen and probably it will be a few late deals for loans and sells out. I reckon the in’s will be quicker.
As ever, left fullback, Center Half (if Agger cannot be vouched or by the medics), cover for Lucas (doesn’t have to be a big buy, Left side x 2 and a sharp operator up front.
I don’t believe we have to sell to buy. But i we buy then maybe we’ll sell (Maxi and Miereles).
It will be better than now which is better than January and we will have Stevie, Kelly, Andy Carroll, Hendo and Agger to add to the squad from the second half of last season as Corkie has said. I’ll hold fire.
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 #384 |
sachem
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 7:02 pm
Regarding the ongoing sell-to-buy-debate, I think LB might have misinterpreted what Rory Smith “reckons”. These are from his twitter:
“As for transfers, neither #LFC nor #EFC fans need be in L4 in case Sky need people to Speak Their Brains. Suspect both need sales first.”
“That does not mean #LFC have to sell to buy, you crazed conspiracy theorists and paranoiacs. Just need to avoid an even more bloated squad.”
But of course, neither he nor any other journalist can supply us with anything else than more or less informed speculations. Only a few people within the club have some idea of what’s going on. Nobody knows for sure what’s going to happen.
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 #385 |
sachem
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 7:14 pm
Had a cheeky look at the Villas-Boas press conference. I was really impressed by the young manager. Won’t escape Mourinho-comparisons, but he doesn’t seem to have any of the arrogance. Well-spoken, courteous and sharp-witted. Amongst a load of other things he took time to give credit to Kenny for his work in bringing us back on track last season.
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 #386 |
Rafalution
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
Makes a change from Hodgson, Ferguson, Fat Sam, Steve Bruce & that lot eh Sachem?
Funny how it’s normally the foreign fellas (+ King Kenny) who have any manners, class, dignity & grace.
|
 #387 |
dougle
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 8:49 pm
Apologies to posters here, I can spell, it’s just my kid has flipped the “c” and “f” keys off the keyboard … amongst others !
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 #388 |
corklfc
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 9:53 pm
sorry aitch, not picking on you, your just making your self an easy target !
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 #389 |
kopcolly
Posted on June 30, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
the club just made a statement on sammys departure
|
 #390 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 1, 2011 @ 12:54 am
There are indeed 2 full months left in the transfer window so I’m not making any judgements yet. I just like to get things off my chest and at the moment I’m a bit concerned the club is losing out on players who are seemingly genuine targets. I also think I’ve been conditioned to fear the worst when it comes to LFC. I give immense credit to those who still continue to see the glass half full after the last couple of years we’ve had.
|
 #391 |
Aitch
Posted on July 1, 2011 @ 7:26 pm
I thought you were expressing an oddly off-kilter opinion than your usual self there LB.
The thing is… that’s just it isn’t it… “after the last two seasons…”
Coz the last two seasons didn’t exactly see a stable team running out at Anfield did it?
09/10 Was a bizarre aberration where-in a) years of sell-to-buy finally had its impact, b) we experienced an injury list that not only included a large number of senior players, but also a large number of injuries to their 2nd string understudies, which was then compounded by injuries in several positions to their 3rd string understudies c) the undermining of the manager continued at ownership level, but was compounded by a new CEO who went about undermining him even further and, d) poor results releasing the flood-gates of bad press that increasingly turned the opinions of fans who should have known better.
10/11 While each season is an island unto itself… after 5 years of board-room mismanagement… this one really wasn’t. a) The firing of Rafa. b) The power that handed to Purslow c) The post-start-of-season sale of the club. d) The hiring of Hodgson. e) An incredibly poor summer of transfer decisions. …I’d even go so far as to suggest f) an incredibly unlucky start vs Arsenal, that set the “oh here we go again” tone for the season. and finally g) The delayed decision to rectify all that was Hodgson.
So okay YES… we finished 7th and 6th … and that is disturbing… but is it really a true reflection of who LFC is?
I get why some people think so.
There is a heck of a lot more noise out there suggesting that, than suggesting that it isn’t… but it really isn’t.
Sky had us all believing that Rafa left Anfield in a shambles…
… and I’ll grant you 6th and 7th appeared to give some credence to that.
Our “very own” (urgh) manager Hodgson confirmed this for them.
Ex-players and “Greats” toed the party line.
But it was bollocks.
It was as much bollocks as anything that ever came out of G&H’s mouths, or Purslow’s mouth, or Hodgson’s mouth, or Lawrenson’s mouth/keyboard.
What we saw when FSG had had a few months to stabilize the back room (and make no mistake, that needs to be read “start stabilizing”… coz the work has only just begun and will continue for another season or two) was that we weren’t as bad on the field as previously reported… shit… even Maxi scored a fuckin hattrick for fucks sake?
We actually have a pretty decent squad as it stands.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to see movement… but even a player like Joe Cole, who has made zero contribution outside of a late “cherry on top” hopeful punt of a goal courtesy of a goalkeeping error, is someone who could, with a decent pre-season, get back to form and be a very useful player for us.
(do I really have to caveat that statement to counter all the arguments I am fully aware of for selling him?)
Even Aqualani and Insua after full seasons away, could come back into this squad and be useful, contributive members… and how fuckin great would it be if Fabio Aurellio could give us a full season uninjured at left back?
As I prefaced… before the arguments come flying back…
… those are all risks… coz we wouldn’t want to be “counting on” any of those things transpiring…
…but those players hardly fall into the same category as “for god’s sake, please sell Konchesky, Poulsen, and Jovanovic.”
If we sell Poulsen and Jovanovic and we’ve already bought Henderson and really are a loan player away from Charlie Adam… that in and of itself is a massive improvement.
Those two changes alone could be 6 to 12 points in terms of goals scored or created. (I believe you hinted at a similar idea LB in #324)
As for the teams we will compete with…
United certainly seem to have strengthened in signing DeGea, but Young has already prompted Nani to have a moan to the press about not being worried that his position is under threat. And I utterly fail to understand the baseless statements regarding their signing of a young uncapped defender, versus our singing of a young U21 International who’s had his club team somewhat depend on him and actually scored goals???
Chelsea’s signing of Villas-Boas was just about the worst thing that could have happened… for everyone else. He’s a terrific coach… but… can those fuckin egomaniacs take direction from someone the same age? And how will shelling out almost 20 million for a manager, plus severances for his predecessor and staff affect them inre: Financial Fair Pay?
Spurs had a great season (by their standards) but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will repeat that next season. While Freidel in my opinion is a big improvement on their previous keeper and could save them the 6 Gomez-gift points alone, they’ve got issues elsewhere on the pitch.
Arsenal are Arsenal. Until they get some steel in the middle of midfield and defense, they’ll always win games playing great footy, and they’ll always drop points to teams they shouldn’t.
Citeh… well who knows? One game they beat someone 5-1, the next they get utterly played off the park and lose 3-0. They are the big concern in terms of us “getting back into the top 4”
Liverpool, well like the Arse, they are Liverpool aren’t they?
… but we’ve shaken off something of a mortal coil in the last two seasons… how far we can “rise from the ashes” is as yet to be determined, but I see us as perfectly positioned to do so.
We’ve got the right owners and board.
We’ve got the right Management team.
We’ve got some Great players, and some very good players, and some pretty decent workhorses, and some very promising emerging talent. We will add to that (and have we really “missed out” on anyone that could be regarded as a Suarez-type singing yet?)
…and just to address corky… you’re right, I misspoke.
… what I was getting at was the way in which Scum won some of those points at the Toilet (and away even.)
There are those for whom scoreboard is the only thing that matters… and ultimately points are what determines champions… I get that…
…but it doesn’t tell the whole story and they really did only just barely scrape a helluva lot of points last season.
They’ve been doing it for a decade now, but at some point their luck WILL run out.
I know we wish and hope for it every season only to be disappointed by their resilience.
But last season, a lot of teams who have previously rolled over for United and let them tickle their bellies, actually put up a fight and went for it…. And I just wonder if it has finally sunk in that their dominance is to some extent based on their projection of that dominance.
In other words, their success is a self-fulfilling prophecy. (much as it was for us in the mid-80s … when teams came to Anfield hoping to keep the scoreline respectable, rather than hoping for a point… but once you lose that gloss, it changes everything.)
Wolves, West Brom, Blackburn, Blackpool, all went to Old Trafford and gave them a scare… if the rest of the league learns from that, we could finally see their demise, or if not their fall, at least their slip from grace.
|
 #392 |
corklfc
Posted on July 1, 2011 @ 8:22 pm
wait for this, I agree with aitch!!! that our squad is better than people think, we badly need a few players in a few positions alright, but I don’t think we need 6 or 7 players, 3 of the right ones would be enough.
I was thinking of the mancs starting 11 in the CL final – how many would go straight in to our team.
I would only pick out Vidic, Evra, Valencia Rooney.
Reina Agger Glenda Stevie Lucas Raul Suarez are better the other 7 they started.
The mancs have spent 50m, but they have lost a world class keeper, signed a defender who is going to be 3/4 choice in the short term and if young goes in the team it’s Nani or Hernandes on the bench, I can’t see how they are stronger, especially as they are utter shit in midfield. The Arse also look to be falling apart, and remember as shit as we were last season, we were only 3 wins from finishing ahead of them, and now their better players are doing a runner.
In the previous 2 seasons with H&G/Purslow/Roy what chance did we have?
At least with FSG, they seem to had a vision (like at the Red Sox), and as I have said, our squad is not the worst since before Shanks (lawro etc) like some were saying last season.
|
 #393 |
elbmw
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 2:58 am
Good post Aitch but I’d venture that the boardroom mismanagement actually started in 1991, perhaps coinciding with Moores’ ownership. I think it’s fair to say though that it was the case especially in the last 5 years!
|
 #394 |
Aitch
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 6:48 am
yeah but elbmw, there is mismanagement and there is mismanagement.
Some would suggest Obama is mismanaging the U.S. economy, and maybe he is, but compared to Bush?
Some would suggest Cameron is mismanaging the U.K. economy, and maybe he is, but compared to Maggie?
No doubt there are a litany of mistakes from the LFC heirarchy from 91 to 2005…
…but the errors made from 05 to last summer not only eclipsed those mistakes, but actually made them look like a textbook in how to properly manage a club!
Mistakes made from 91 to 05 prevented us from winning the league…
… whereas deliberate mismanagement from 05 onward set us oncourse for a barely avoided disaster.
There are times when people forget where we were last summer… just exactly where we were…
…just read some of the comments on RAWK for fucks sake… FSG are being compared to G&H because they’ve “missed out” on Young and two unproven teenagers, and not signed Aguera, Mata, Sanchez and Messi before July 1st.
Utter madness.
…oh… and corky… stop agreeing with me 
(do we disagree that much? I didn’t think so…)
|
 #395 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 9:01 am
Good post Aitch. Lot of good points, and my biggest ‘Oh no, bastards’ of the transfer season so far, has been the Chavs signing of Villas-Boas.
But the most promising thing for me – and a lot of fans seem to foregt this – is that we are going to start the season with good, solid, supportive owners, no pricl & undermining snake as an MD, a good manager that teh supporters & players are behind, and even the press seem to like (helps when they are not calling your manager a foreign bastard every week), a happy squad and a few players who have suffered injuries last season, coming back (hopefully) fir & raring to go!
You don’t get much better than Stevie G, Andy C, Dagger & Fabulous Aurelio. Add Kelly & Johnson into the mix, and it’s more than half a team coming back!
But Aitch say, there are a couple of positions that need to be filled: we certainly need a quick, skillful winger who can provide AC & Luis etc with goal-scoring crosses & ‘through-balls’.
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 #396 |
corklfc
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 11:53 am
Aitch, we do agree on most things, except for transfer valuations I’d say
.
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 #397 |
Dubrogue
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 12:09 pm
The fact that the July player on the official calendar is Paul Konchesky says it all about our previous MD Cecil. He really should receive a life-time ban from Anfield. Even Broughton is welcome after he came good and ousted G&H. No matter who we buy (or don’t) is nothing.
We have a good squad and a great manager, great owners and a great MD already in place. As has been stated already, we all start from scratch now, which we didn’t for the last few years. The foreign window has just opened and we will get more players in and hopefully won’t hear about it until it is done and dusted. If Joe Cole is our idea of a marquee signing, we don’t want one this summer, just a few more reliable signings for KK to work his magic on.
Sammy Lee moving on also reiterates our change in thinking. He is a great guy and a great LFC stalwart but is more a fitness coach than a asst manager. Whoever replaces him is again an upgrade IMHO. Come back Gary Mc and then we will have the perfect management team in place, Steve Clarke to specialise on coaching the backs, Gary Mc to specialise on coaching the midfielders and KK to teach the forwards and indeed every player at the club.
With the hugely impressive youth system in place now also (thanks Rafa), the future really is Red.
Away with the doom mongers and bring on the new season. In Kenny (and FSG) we trust.
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 #398 |
Aitch
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 4:20 pm
Oh behave corky… are you now really suggesting that Ngog is NOT worth 20 million after all?
Utter, utter madness! (which is not to be confused with udder, udder madness, which is a new strain of mad cow disease they’ve just discovered in Lithuanian cattle… but I digress…)
On player valuations, I guess we’ll just have to agree to NOT disagree 
(see what I did there?)
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 #399 |
Aitch
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 4:24 pm
May 29, 2011 18:39 UK time
Gerry
“Anyway I just want to brush off the cobwebs now and get back to some serious (ish) blogging, so let’s get on with it.”
Oh aye yeh!
Pull the other one, mate, its got bells on it, like!
I’ll bet you’ve got a spade in your back yard and you had it there in 30 days?
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 #400 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
Very quiet on the transfer front I fecking hate the silly season this whole Liverpool way thing just wont do I need my fix and i need it NOW. oh look the copa america..
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 #401 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 7:42 pm
My biggest worry is that the longer we fail to finish in the top 4, the further away we’ll be from competing. That is because we’ll struggle to attract the better players while we are not in the CL and we’ll also lose out on the CL revenue. This summer’s transfers are very very important.
I have another concern, and that is FSG’s reliance on the UEFA financial rules being strictly applied. I’ve read that one of the reasons they bought the club was that they were convinced they could compete against the best should the rules be applied properly.
I just don’t trust UEFA enough to apply these rules properly. The likes of Chelski and Citeh continue to spend crazy money thus making loses. How hard will UEFA come down on clubs who don’t fit their criteria?
Club mismanagement does indeed go back to the early 90s. We had a wally for a chairman who used “The Liverpool Way” as an excuse to get left behind as football went into the new age.
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 #402 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 7:46 pm
In 2004 Chelsea were making more in revenue than LFC. Amazing.
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 #403 |
Aitch
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 9:11 pm
But revenue doesn’t tell the whole story if your costs are astronomical.
The Chavs may very well be bringing in a lot of money… but how many managerial severance packages have they laid out since 2004… they’re on their 6th manager and all 5 predecessors were bought out to the tune of millions… and that’s before you get to player purchases and wages.
I’d kind of look at the Chavs and City in a slightly different way.
The Chavs are shelling out loads of money still… in what seems to be flagrant disregard for FFP rules… but does that simply indicate a less than long-term view of the asset?
Is Villas Boas a last ditch attempt to buy the Champions League before selling the Chavs short and fucking off to F1 or some other plaything?
Likewise the salary structure at City is nearing something that simply cannot be sustainable, even with CL money.
Unlike them… recent mismanagement apart… LFC just bought two top class players and it didn’t cost us a dime, we used Chelsea money.
FSG’s strategies …in terms of whether we’ll like them and how sustainable or successful they will be… are yet to really be judged… and I’m not entirely sure this summer will really give us much more to go on… but they seem to be wiley buggers so far.
I completely understand people’s concerns regarding non-participation in the CL, but I recall reading a quote from Ayre (sorry can’t remember the specific interview) wherein he suggested LFC could suffer 3 seasons outside of the CL before it “financially impacted” the club.
Being outside of the CL for a 2nd season is a concern… but much less of a concern if we see some domestic success this season, and there really is no reason why we can’t achieve that… and we didn’t have much problem signing Suarez when we were languishing near the relegation zone and clearly going in the wrong direction… whereas we finished strongly and look to be going (in deference to my “we all start with zero” comment earlier) in the right direction.
The Liverpool Way is an enigma to some extent.
You’re dead right LB when you say it was used as an excuse for falling behind.
And its been my experience that “The Liverpool Way” means different things to different people (would make for a very interesting blog topic if Gerry could pull himself away from his spongebaths and enemas?) but as a concept it is real… it did mean something… stand for something… if only the kind of dignity in both victory and defeat that is sorely lacking in the teams we seem most worried about…
… and for my part, I think much of The Liverpool Way is too archaic… perhaps that’s too harsh… too quaint… for modern football in the Premier League/Champions League era…
… but that’s not to say you can’t take the best parts of it, modernize it while holding to traditions, and emerge with a Liverpool Way for Y2K, a Liverpool Way for a new generation…
… and my hope is that with Kenny at the helm and FSG walking the talk they’ve thus far talked, we can find that mantra, that edict and forge a new dynasty.
…and maybe that starts with fucking off players who’s main concern is playing in the CL for those (like Suarez) who seem to have the “right ethic” for an LFC that was, and granted, hasn’t been, but certainly can be again.
People are seriously freaking out coz with 6 weeks gone and 9 to go… we’ve only bought Henderson… where Scum have handed 120k per week to Ashley Young, paid well over what they wanted to pay for a promising yet totally unproven young defender, and a goalkeeper that looked good in Europe, but will be sorely tested by Robert Huth throw-ins and Emile Heskey shoulder barges….
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 #404 |
dougle
Posted on July 2, 2011 @ 10:12 pm
Aitch – War & Peace indeed !
LB – absolutely spot on there. We need to get into CL (preferably as champions) asap.
But FSG know that and no-one at Anfield is speaking Roy’s lingo these days.
We have to do 3 things (for me) this close season.
1 Unload expensive players (Sell/Loan) if they are not going to contribute. We all know whom we are speaking about. I wish them the best and I hope their pride and professionalism beats out their greed.
2 Solidify the squad. We can’t (hope) to win the league with lame centre-halves, no experienced left full and no pace out wide nor enough creativity throughout.
3 Hit me with a halo – give us another Suarez-type (or 2) to make us sing and make us dream.
I don’t mind about anyone gone so far bar the blackburn lad that manure snapped from us. As far as any of us really know the rest of the rumours could be clever tactics as much as anything else by Kenny etc.
Keep them guessing – get “bids” in that you pretty much know won’t cut the deal, for players you are not that fussed about, but also shows we won’t pay over the top just because we can. At the same time keep your powder dry for whom you really want.
In saying that i wouldn’t be surprised if some of the rumoured targets came our way in the end, after all we’ve been linked with how many players ????
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 #405 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 8:30 am
LB- I can understand your point of view. You are hopeful about a revival but at the same time you are worried about how quick we can recover and get back to top4. Same thoughts here.
As much as some of the posts here indicate that whatever FSG is doing is a brilliant idea in the making, i will only endorse that once we see the changes. So far the backroom changes are encouraging, the academy outputs are huge.
If we take a honest and unbiased look at our performance after Kenny took over, we will not deny that Liverpool played at a level where it is expected to play. Kenny’s work was great but it was magnanimous only because of the utter shit we were in courtesy our previous manager and the legal battle. Next season will determine whether we can cross that line and finish 4th or above.
We bought Suarez(A great signing) and AC(I cant rate him still as he is yet to get proper no of games. But prior to the injury he was one of top goal scorers playing with an avg side. So its expected that with a better midfield at LFC, he will be more lethal.Let c)which was great news. But both of them were bought from the Chelsea money.
So the point is very simple. So far so good. FSG,Kenny taking us back to winning ways were all breath of fresh air for us. Anything and everything would have felt better after the dismal 2010 we had.
The real test for me will be next season. I am not much into craving for new signings because if they are to happen,they will happen irrespective of our desires.
I am more interested to see how we deal with players who are not part of our plans. How prudent our judgements are. If we say cant sell Joe Cole, how effectively we can use him next season. Can we make Jovanovic contribute more to the team? Afterall he is a left sided player and can improve atleast 10-20% compared to last season. Ngog is not good enough but he did manage to score 5-10 goals last season if i am not mistaken. So the key here is to first see whether we can sell players whom we dont want, secondly if we cant then how effectively we use them.
Regarding transfers, as much as i hate to say this but the fact of the matter is we will find it tough to attract established stars. The way forward for us is to build a young team and try to win things and then when these players become superstars, sell those whom we can replace and retain the important ones.
Thats how we need to build.
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 #406 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 11:41 am
My two cents.
Very happy that Aqua is coming back. Adam seems like a decent mid but Aqua is our player and given the chance he will show his quality. I just hope Kenny gives him a chance.
Lots of links and a few of them seem serious which leads to dissapointment that they didn’t materialize (Wickham etc) but our current stewards tend to do things on the down low so we need to curb our over high expectations and wait and see what they do and who they buy and most important, how they do for the club before we start going crazy.
The idiot owners are gone. Good times are now coming people.
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 #407 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 1:00 pm
Aitch you use your keyboard prettier than a 20 dollar whore people are getting a bit worried by the lack of activity because of the previous owners I know I am lets be honest we need probably 6 very good new players we have bought 1 we need to get rid of players on crazy money who contribute nothing and we havent got rid of any its only 4 weeks until August I was hoping we would have the bulk of our players bought by mid-July and then would grab a marque signing or 2 to get everyone especially the players excited about the season ahead but not much at all seems to be happening in or out.
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 #408 |
Aitch
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 4:38 pm
Cheers guinness, outside of a Uni instructor once comparing my writing style to that of Hemingway (and I’m sure it was only a very loose comparison) that may be the awesomest compliment I’ve ever gotten!
And somnath… that is a terrific post squire!
I’ve read a helluva lot lately, here and other places about our “dead wood”. People are obsesssed with how much of it we have and how immediate the need is to rid ourselves of it.
I’m not arguing against that idea in principle, but you brought up the real point in regards the dead wood.
If we cannot offload certain players, can we in fact still get value from them.
We get SG back fit this season… can he return the Stevie G of 2009… or will we get 10-15 games out of him as in thepast two seasons?
That is crucial.
And you can ask the same of Agger and Aurellio.
Those 3 players, and Andy Carroll in essence ARE four marquee signings we’ve already made for the coming season… since we got so little use of them last time out.
So many people have written off Joe Cole.
He is in the same category as Konchesky and Poulsen in a lot of people’s eyes.
But that comparison is ludicrous.
If Joe Cole has worked all summer on his fitness, and is prepared to prove people wrong, then we potentially have a player who can come into the side and contribute far more than the young lad we’ve just bought.
Henderson might be young and promising and have looked good in a few games last season.
But Cole is experienced and has looked good for season after season… just not the most recent.
To clarigy… I’m not making an argument for not seeing if anyone wants to take him off our hands… but if we were to not find anyone come September… he is a player who could contribute more than Konch and Poulsen.
Ngog won’t keep Suarez, Kuyt, or Carrol out of the team if they are fit… but that’s not what you have a 4th choice striker for, you have him for when they are NOT fit.
For all Ngog’s shortcomings, the vast majority of his goals were scored as game winners or savers, bagging us 1 or all 3 points. Yet people still give Babel more credit, when the vast majority of his goals were cherry on top efforts in 3-0 or 4-1 wins… and while he may have had the potential to beat a man easier, he seldom did.
As an experienced International, one might say the same for Jovanovic… but I’m not so sure its as good an argument. I thought he’d be a good signing for us, but I saw very little from him to suggest he can get back to where he was before joinging us.
So Poulsen, Konchesky, Jovanovic, Deggen, El Zhar would be my “dead wood” list.
I’d see if there was a decent 5-6 mill offer from France for Ngog.
We’ve already signed Carrol, SG, Agger, and Aurellio.
We’ve got decisions to make about Aquilani and Insua
All 6 make the team that finished the last campaign much stronger.
There are no guarantees in life, or football… but make no mistake and stop believing the hype…
… We ain’t half as bad as some would like us to think we are.
The other thing that could really work in our favor next season, since we don;t have Euro footy, is to really go for the Carling Cup or whatever they call it now.
All the top teams make a half hearted effort before the semis.
I think we should go all out and field a strong team in every match.
Get it, win it… winning breeds a winning mentality, and its there to win.
Really go for that and the FA as well as the League.
Fuck all this “let’s just concetrate on getting back into 4th place” bollocks.
How about we go for a treble… coz that’s what’s on offer…. but how about we do it one game at a time and just get there… the way we used to.
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 #409 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 5:28 pm
Aitch, top post mate.
I disagree with you on Joe Cole. It’s 3 seasons now he has either been injured or been in poor form. Last season was not a one off blip. It’s not as if he has been playing great and then had a stinker. He’s been in decline for some time. It’s why Chelsea got rid of him.
Cole works hard and has a fantastic attitude. All of his managers and coaches say so. He works hard in training and in matches. It’s not a question of desire or getting his mind right with Cole. IMO it’s just a question of it being a natural decline. Next season will be the 13th full season in Cole’s career. His peak was between 04-08. It’s over now.
Steven Gerrard will not be the player he was from 04-09. I don’t think he is finished but the days of him being top 4 midfield players in the world are over IMO. It’s time for the next generation of world class LFC players to step forward. Suarez and Carroll have the potential IMO and I think we need to sign a couple more. We can’t hope players that were good 3+ years ago will roll back the years. I very much doubt that is going to happen.
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 #410 |
Aitch
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:17 pm
More than fair enough statement LB and I wouldn’t necessarily argue with any of it.
But then again, Giggs looked well washed up a few seasons ago and has had two terrific seasons.
Even Scholes to a lesser degree, looked pretty much done, then managed a final swansong (albeit not to the standard of Giggs)
I hate to use Mancs as the example, but it is possible for players to get back to that level, late in their careers… it mostly comes down to attitude.
Either way, I guess all I’m really saying is I just don’t think Cole fits in the same category as those who many refer to as “deadwood”.
Not making the case for keeping him … just if Kenny does, I think it’ll be because he’s seeing something “we” aren’t.
(though his repeatedly using Shelvey as a sub when Cole was an option on the bench is perhaps an indication that I’m talking out my arse )
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 #411 |
sachem
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
Some really well-written posts lately. Keep up the good work lads and let’s hope Gerry finds time to return to his quality blogging soon.
There’s been some talk of Gary Mac possibly returning to LFC as a coach. Doesn’t look like it’s going to happen as Kevin Keen has just been announced as a First Team Coach. I know nothing of the man myself, but hopefully it’s a shrewd signing, just as Kenny and Steve Clarke proved to be.
Regarding deadwood I think FSG have pointed out very clearly they will make it a priority reducing the wage bill. I’ll have to agree with LB that Joe Cole is probably finished on the top level. He could still be a star in another club that isn’t challenging on the same level, but I haven’t seen any signs of him returning to the player he used to be. The statements from Stevie G claiming Joe to be better than Messi was utter, rather mind-boggling, drivel intended to I don’t know what.
Joe is currently on a massive wage, paid to be one of our top players. It’s hard to find words accurately describing how stupid signing him along with Poulsen and Konchesky actually was.
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 #412 |
ldono2
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:27 pm
Lfc have announced Kevin Kean has been appointed as 1st team coach. He worked with Clarke at West Ham. If KK & SC rate him then thats good enough for me, welcome to the club Kevin!
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 #413 |
sachem
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:31 pm
Aitch mate, no matter how much I despise Man Utd, I would never draw a comparison between Joe Cole and Ryan Giggs. It’s like comparing a cottage with a castle or something like that. Every time Giggs started to look like he wasn’t cutting it any more, he adapted, he changed his style of play to fit into the system. The versatility, mentality, professionalism and tactical intelligence required to pull that off is extremely rare, and I just haven’t seen any signs of Cole being anywhere near those kinds of qualities.
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 #414 |
London Red
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:42 pm
Joe Cole can still do a job in the Premier League,and we are still going to need experienced backup players to the first team.
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 #415 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 7:49 pm
Giggs is an exception I feel. It’s incredible he’s still going at 37.
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 #416 |
sachem
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 8:54 pm
Watching the Copa América. Lucas in the starting lineup for Brazil against Venezuela. He’s done well in the first half, and what a fucking team he’s in! Could use some more width though. The most impressive of all for me is Neymar. The lad is 19 years old and already on his own level. What a player he’ll be in a few years.
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 #417 |
dougle
Posted on July 3, 2011 @ 10:21 pm
Sachem – I was watching the same game (albeit a shit stream). I thought our man did well but Brasil faded badly in the second half. Just goes to show the old cliche about no easy game is true.
Not that it’s any concern of mine but I thought Robinho, Ganco, Neymar, Ramirez, Andre Santos were well below par.
Getting back to our own discussion. I’m with LB & Co about Joe Cole. He’s not been at the races or a while now. As for getting fit why wasn’t he fit last year ?
I too reckoned Jova could have been a good signing. Boy was I wrong.
I still (hope) professional pride (Euros 2112) will mean both He and Poulsen will move this close season.
If it’s true Aquaman is back then perhaps that means it’s more likely Raul may move ? What say ye ?
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 #418 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 4:22 am
If Steven Gerrard,Joe Cole have gone past their best, so have Ryan Giggs. The point here is nobody expect Joe Cole to play like the way he used to at his prime but he can do much better even at current form. Roy couldnt bring that out, my hope is Kenny can. The first reason why i believe that is because Kenny has the authority to show top players like Steven,Joe etc that if we aint performing, you wont get a regular run in the team. He consistently kept Cole out of the starting line up which should instantly make the player understand that he needs to improve. So the thing is you sell him if you can but if you cant, dont crib that all are deadwoods and we cant utilize them.
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 #419 |
Aitch
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 6:05 am
That is sort of what I was getting at Somnath.
We sold Didi Hamman in a summer prior to a season where we could have really used someone of his experience to help the new younger midfielders along.
Same for Sami Hyppia.
There is a definite and real value to be placed on that.
Now granted, 90k per week, is probably a stiff value to place on it.
But Cole didn’t sulk about and throw a strop last season when Shelvey was repeatedly getting the nod ahead of him…
… by all reports he was great to have in the dressing room and on the training pitch, he was a big help to Shelvey and Flannagan, providing constant encouragement, and in short, the model professional.
Again, 90k might be a stiff price to pay for that, but it has a real value, and if he can recover some form and provide a contribution on the field, then Kenny will have an opinion on that and if we start the seaosn with Cole on the books, it won;t be because we couldn;t find someone to pay his salary (well, not just that) but because we think we can still get something from him.
Or… he really is shite and needs a taxi.
… either way.
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 #420 |
Aitch
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 6:13 am
dougle
I rate Aquaman. I think he’s a terrific little player.
But I rate Raul too.
I’ve read an alarming number of comments lately (here and elsewhere) pretty much discounting the level of contribution we got from him this season and personally, I feel its scandalous.
I’d hate to see Raul leave.
I’d love to see Aqua return. (Insua too)
I’d hate to have to chose one over the other.
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 #421 |
corklfc
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 10:30 am
Really excellant posts over the past few days – different points of view but really well articulated. I feel this blog/comment site is a mirror image of LFC.
Once everyone is able to focus on the football, the quality (football/blogging/comments) is heading in the right direction
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 #422 |
sachem
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 2:34 pm
Personally I would probably rather keep Meireles than bring back Aquilani if I had to choose between them. If we are to sign Charlie Adam (how long has it been reported that he is “close” to LFC now?), then I can’t really see how we could keep both Meireles and Alberto as they are both central midfielders on rather high wages.
They are in fact rather similar as players, and may have some of that creativity we certainly need in the final third of the pitch. Charlie Adam for me is more in the vein of Xabi Alonso, operating mainly further down the pitch.
Can’t be sure what ideas Kenny/Clarke/Comolli have been discussing concerning these matters, but as I said, it would be sursprising if we kept both Meireles and Aquilani.
Aitch, what do you mean “little player”? Aquilani is 1.86m, taller than Carra.
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 #423 |
sachem
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 6:21 pm
It has been reported by the official Norwegian LFC fan site that Jovanovic has been released by the club without compensation, sources coming from Serbian S Media. This seems very strange to me, because surely we would need some club to pay a transfer fee or give some sort of compensation to Jovanovic if the contract is terminated?
He wasn’t in the training session images posted on the official site today, but that’s far from conclusive I suppose.
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 #424 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 7:32 pm
The Jovanovic being released with no compensation rumour is nonsense. However he is in talks with Olympiakos regarding a move.
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 #425 |
elbmw
Posted on July 4, 2011 @ 11:51 pm
Of course we’ll never know whether Rafa would have got more out of Jovanovic but I cant help feeling that he probably would have. He scouted him for long enough and I think he had a different job for him in mind. He didn’t really play many games in a row to get a feel for the PL but he never really excited when he did play.
In any case, he was a bosman signing and unfortunately that was where we were at during those dark days.
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 #426 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Jovanovic is in the same category as Voronin. Rafa’s free transfers were mostly poor.
Zenden, Degen, Voronin, Jovanovic.
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 #427 |
corklfc
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 12:19 pm
You have to go back to Marcus Babble and Gary Mac in terms of successful free transfers.
whatever about 10 years ago, you really have to question why a player is allowed to run down a contract by his old club, and I suppose Joe Cole is a very good example of that
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 #428 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 1:01 pm
Exactamundo Corky! Especially when a player is in his 20s. What club in their right mind is going to let a quality player run down his contract during his peak years? The likes of Gary Mac and Babble were in their 30s and approaching the twilight of their careers. We got a good couple of years out of each of them. I must say I never had any high hopes for Degen, Zenden, Jovanovic, Voronin or Joe Cole.
I’ve just read that Gerrard will miss the pre season tour to Asia. He will be staying with the medical team at Melwood. It’s a bit worrying he’s had surgery in March and still hasn’t returned to full training yet. No wonder Kenny wants 12 central midfield players
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 #429 |
elbmw
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 1:50 pm
Babbel was only 28 when he joined us. That was a steal as we got a full international defender from Bayern Munich for free. And it was even sweeter as he was due to go to the mancs for £5M a couple of seasons earlier but the deal fell through.
Gary Mac was 35!!! But he was a very unusual signing given his age and in effect ended up being a one year wonder for us. But hey, what a year that was !
I thought Zenden was neat and tidy, without really exciting, but still did a decent job. As had Voronin. Both very experienced internationals that the squad needed at the time. In any case both were just stop gap players.
On the question about what club in their right mind would let a players contract run down see MacManaman.
It was all due to the Bosman ruling and not necessarily the clubs’ fault.
Up until the Bosman ruling the clubs had way too much power over the players, which was akin to slavery. Now the boot is on the other foot as the power generally lies with the players.
Probably why Rafa spent so much effort 2-3 years ago to extend all the key players contracts.
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 #430 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
LFC clearly was not in their right mind to let McManaman’s contract run down. We’ve been poorly run for a while. But these days clubs in general should be a lot more astute regarding the Bosman rule. Therefore to let a good player run down their contract these days is criminal.
Babbel was only 28 when we signed him? Great business!!
Never rated Zenden at all. I remember Gerry calling him Bollacks Zenden. Lol.
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 #431 |
elbmw
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 3:56 pm
LB I think SMac was saying he’ll sort things out in the close season but then Ged arrived and he changed his mind and refused to negotiate hence why his contract run down.
But yeah I agree that it was criminal to allow that to happen but he led us a merry dance with lots of promises but in the end he just left. Similar to owen except that owen still had a year left so we managed to get something out of him.
In those days (I know it was only 10-12 years ago) LFC and clubs in general got caught out with the Bosman ruling and whereas before, it was quite normal to let a contract near its conclusion before tabling a new offer for the player, the outcome of which was the MacManaman situation.
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 #432 |
rome77
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 4:55 pm
If the “free transfer” is a lifelong fan and has run his contract down with a understanding that LFC will definately sign him,then yes it might work.
But if that is’nt the case he’s either a mercenary who wont sign a extension or his club think he isnt good enough so either way it doesnt look good.
Then again if your club is having to sign
“free transfers” nothing looks good.
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 #433 |
sachem
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 6:28 pm
Didn’t Fábio Aurélio arrive on a free transfer? Mostly injured of course, but he’s played more than 100 games for LFC, given us an extraordinary free kick goal on Old Toilet and been playing well when fit. Top professional and gentleman judging from what I’ve heard and read.
Maxi Rodríguez is another one. He’s been good in my opinion, better than given credit for, even before he started scoring goals for fun. The adaptation process to the Premier League needs to be taken into consideration as well. A top professional and intelligent footballer.
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 #434 |
Aitch
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 11:20 pm
The idea of the Bosman Ruling was a pretty good one.
It meant clubs could no longer fuck players about, and took all the financial power from the clubs and made it more equitable.
… well… that’s what it was supposed to do…
… but in reality it just gave far too much power to players and more importantly their agents.
As a result, contracts (and their negotiations) are needlessly convoluted now… to protect player from being dictated to by the club and to protect the club from being dictated to by the Bosman.
Its just another part of a generally broken system.
As for how successful our free signings have been or not…
… we’ve had some that worked, we’ve had some that didn’t…
… just like every other club.
The issue for us, particularly in the last 7/8 years was not that we went in for players like Vorronin and Deggen…
… but that our manager was left with little financial choice but to do so, because the owners were fuckwits.
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 #435 |
Aitch
Posted on July 5, 2011 @ 11:22 pm
As for Stevie G… all I can say to that is WTF?
Now can we please stop talking about selling Raul Meireles coz “we have too many midfielders”… please?
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 #436 |
sachem
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 1:08 am
Read this fellas:
http://tinyurl.com/5vrtzap
More important issue than any of the stuff discussed in here lately.
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 #437 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 8:02 am
So we’ve had a 15 million pound offer for Downing rejected by Villa, who want closer to 20 mill?
But Juan Mata is available for 20 million, according to reports. Fecking no-brainer if you ask me:
Superior techique Mata
Age 24 v 27 Mata
Pace Mata
Goal-scoring ability Mata
World Cup winner Mata
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 #438 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 9:00 am
Apparently.we’re not good enough to attract players like Mata and we only want players with PL experience. Even though our best signings in last 7 years have been from abroad while Robbie Keane and Joe Cole were disasters.
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 #439 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 10:08 am
Yeah, reading further reports, it seems like the lack of CL might/will rule Mata out. Bummer.
So FSG’s, Comolli’s and Kenny’s tactics are to buy promising British ‘youngsters’, with the off foreigner (preferably with EPL experience), and rebuild from there until we get back into the CL & can attract these stars?
I suppose that makes sense. There have been arguments in here, wether Liverpool is a big enough club to attract the stars even without the lure of CL football. My heart says we are, but it seems like maybe we are not? It seems our history, our fans can take us so far, but the Holy Grail of the Champions League is still the X factor.
For someone like Henderson, Adam, Downing: the lure of playing for Liverpool would be too good to turn down. For someone like Silva, Mata etc, I suppose the CL is all that matters.
We will get back there though, of that I have no doubt. Wether it is next season or the season after, let’s wait & see. For FSG, that surely is their aim & I for one have faith in them & King Kenny.
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 #440 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 10:38 am
Silva signed for City and they were not in the top 4 at the time. So did Tevez, Toure and others. However the wages those players are on is incredible, and I guessed they believed in the project. I have the impression Comolli is struggling to sell the club to top players. I remember him saying in May that the lack of CL football wouldn’t be a problem, that he still had player’s agents telling him their players would be very interested in joining us. I guess this was bullshit. Unless he was talking about Adam, Henderson and Downing.
The PL proven players strategy is flawed in my book. City tried that under Hughes and finished 10th. The following Christmas they were 6th and Hughes was sacked. Their key players last season were the likes of Tevez, Toure, Silva, DeJong, Kompany IMO. The foreigners. They finished 3rd with the same points as Chelsea.
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 #441 |
rome77
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 1:01 pm
LB We cant have all them foreigners coming over and stealing our jobs untill we get a Labour government 
apparently.
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 #442 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 1:05 pm
That’s just it. Silva, Toure et al saw (a) a super-rich owner of an average club with endless funds that could buy their way into CL footy (which they have), and (b) 200k per week salaries.
It’s probably the latter that held sway for the likes of Tevez (?), Balotelli, that big asshole who plays up front (ex-Gooner) that was on loan to Real, and possible Toure. And for that idiot Lescott who can’t even get a game.
But what choice do WE have? A chance to earn decent wages, to possibly play CL footy within the next 2 seasons, to call Anfield your home, to play for (our opinion) the best football club in the world and of course, to play in front of the best fans & atmosphere you’ll ever see.
Again, no brainer to me, but then I’m possibly being biased, and I don’t have the expensive habits that the modern pro footballer has!
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 #443 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 1:36 pm
Rome, you laugh 
I ran different pubs in the London area for 5+ years. And at least once per week, I was asked by a (drunk) local that I had asked to leave: “you f&%^#*g foreigners, coming over here & taking our jobs!”. Yet there ponces were always on the dole, not prepared to work a 12 hour shift for 5 quid an hour!
You can’t use the same excuse for the foreigners though, besides the stick they take from the British press. Oh, and fried foor & mushy peas. They also have that to complain about
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 #444 |
dougle
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 3:03 pm
Good point LB. However we did get Suarez. I think we need another “big” signing precisely for the reasons you say we are not getting them (apparently). One more would do for me for this transfer window.
The rest is moving in and out … shuffling to get the balance required. It’s going to be a tricky summer in that I imagine it will only become clear right at the end who has moved on (Loaned/sold).
I remain hopeful that we will land a big fish as well as 2/3 middle rankers (Downing-Adam level).
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 #445 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 3:03 pm
Charlie Adam deal agreed , just has to pass a medical & he’s a red, welcome to lfc! Ynwa
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 #446 |
dougle
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 3:13 pm
Oh well that’s one of the middle rankers in then.
Let’s cast the next line out and see whom we entice.
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 #447 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 5:48 pm
I’d love another signing like Suarez, whats worse is a couple of months ago I thought we were gonna get one or 2. Kenny and Comolli had big talk. Players of high calibre Kenny said. Better than what we already have. My mouth watered at the prospect of Hazard and Mata linking up with Suarez at Anfield.
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 #448 |
Aitch
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 7:47 pm
Christ LB, did your dog die last month or something?
I don’t remember you ever being such a glass-half-empty guy…
… buck up little buckaroo…
… we’ve just signed Charlie Adam… the Treble is ours now!
There’s plenty of time left for management to get it right.
A promising youngster…singed.
A solid creative midfielder (who will hopefully insure SG neveer gets near another corner flag…please) … all but signed.
An decent bid for a decent left winger… officially made.
(with any luck, since Downing supposedly wants it, this indicates we should get him for between 15+ a player to 20… and that would be “about right” for an “English” player.)
A deal all but worked out for a back up keeper… pending personal terms.
…And plenty of time yet to do other deals.
In perusing the photos of training shessions…
We’ve got Aquilani and Insua back in training (with numbers) along with Danny Pacheco and Danny Ayala (also both bearing numbers) which is very good news.
Those 4 players, plus Henderson and Adam already make the squad a lot stronger than last years.
And I haven’t seen a pic of Konch or Jovanovic or Ngog… though Cole is in the pics.
And you gotta love the fuckin mohawk Danny Agger is sporting!
The pic of Kenny and Carra laughing hysterically indicates to me that they are not worried…
…well, that or someone just asked them if they thought Cole was as good as Messi.
(yeah it probably was the latter, huh? Still, they looked relaxed)
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 #449 |
blud red
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 8:02 pm
charlie adam just signed for lfc.
loverly jubbly
what’s not to like?
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 #450 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 9:27 pm
aitch , konch is back at melwood, no sign of jova or ngog, i seen the video that lfctv put up lastnite,
come to thionk of it aurellio was’nt there either, i doubt he’s away with brasil:-) agger looks very lean & fit, stevie didnt train with the rest of the squad, he was on the pitch but at the other end with the doc,it then showed him with kk & dc having a chat & hopefully im reading to much into it but it looked like he was explaining to them that something was’ nt right with his groin
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 #451 |
Aitch
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 10:16 pm
INterestingg.
Oh well if Konch was there, then I guess any of them could be plowing pastures new in the next few weeks.
Unfortunate that.
(it was being rumored that Konch was part of the Adam deal, but I doubted that from the off… and I was so hoping that Shelvey being among the pics meant that he was NOT part of the Adam deal, which was also rumored today despite Kenny supposedly making a statement a few days ago, that he would not be leaving.)
Stevie’s groin sounds a bit of a concern though dunnit?
Surely after an op, and 4 months rest, he should be good enough to train.
I wonder if they’ve accepted we’ll never get SG back to where we can count on him for a full season and that’s what drove the Henderson purchase and the almost relentless pursuit of Adam?
Then again, hopefully its just a minor set-back and a case of precautions being taken. Handle him with kid-gloves if that’s what’s necessary!
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 #452 |
dougle
Posted on July 6, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
There is a lot hanging on Stevie’s fitness outside of his direct contribution on the pitch.
He’s captain for one thing.
His actual and symbolic presence (local home boy etc etc).
He’s also integral (or is he not ?) to the system that Kenny will use. His presumed fitness will also influence signings and goings.
His wage is huge but, on the other hand, so is his marketing symbolism for the club.
I think his fitness and ability to play is very important on many levels to the club and not least for himself after a(nother) injury plagued season.
They got to get it right and it sounds like they know this by holding him back from the promo tour to the far east.
I have thought that the medics have a big role to play both in the case of Stevie and Agger. Not only what they do but how they analyse their future.
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 #453 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 12:41 am
ngog was at melwood just seen him training with the squad on sly, accordng to sly the adam deal was worth 7mill,
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 #454 |
corklfc
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 12:39 pm
There are alot of bodies in melwood. So we currently have 4 left full backs (Konc, Insua, Fabio & Jack Robinson) and 5th if you include Glenda for cover, if we signed Clichy, we could nearly field a team of left backs . They could play our team of central of midfielders .
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 #455 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 12:48 pm
Gerrard’s groin is knackered. Which is why I’m pining for top class talent and annoying the positive brigade
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 #456 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
Corky how many of our left backs are good enough right now?
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 #457 |
elbmw
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 4:46 pm
Good question LB… does Aurelio count? LOL!
IF they can get him fit then he would be excellent cover for a new high calibre left back until Jack Robinson comes through and starts challenging for a place. If indeed he does.
As for Insua, I feel a bit sorry for the lad as he does get forward very well but got skinned by average players a few times so can be a bit suspect in defense. Although I don’t know if he’s improved that aspect of his game during his loan spell so it remains to be seen what the new management team think of him.
And Konc? Well, he’s a goner really. He’s an average player whose over 30 and his mum doesn’t like LFC fans and Scousers in general. Not a good prospect either way.
On other matters the official site is reporting that Johnsons contract has been extended.
Heres an excerpt from his interview…
“The club is looking to bring a few more players in, so the future is looking bright.
“We’ve made a couple of good signings already and with a few more we will be a right force in the coming season”.
So for all those doubting Thomas’ there you have it from the horses mouth. Were looking to bring a few more players in. Have faith lads.
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 #458 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 6:54 pm
440 LB you make a great point about the type of player Hughes signed and where they ended up but surly Kenny is a different Kettle of fish when it comes to signing players and winning Titles.
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 #459 |
corklfc
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
Insua/fabio/Jack are good enough as cover, but we will need a first choice left back LB.
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 #460 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 7, 2011 @ 8:19 pm
Things are a bit different now compared to when Kenny won titles. The competition now is a lot more stiff, with clubs able to blow us out of the water and bring in superstars from abroad. In my opinion we can only win the title when we’re able to compete for the best players again.
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 #461 |
Aitch
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 2:28 am
But is that true LB?
I seem to recall holding our own against the teams that are buying the supposed “best players”.
That premise seems to be that these “best players” will only go to a CL team.
But we more than held our own against those teams last season and the season prior.
Sure we lost to Scum and City last season, but our approach to both games was abhorrent thanks to Roy… once Kenny got his feet under the table, we then hammered both.
We drew with the Arse courtesy of a red card and a very unusual Pepe error in the 90th minute.
The last two seasons have seen us acquire plenty of points against the “generally accepted” top teams, where we’ve suffered is dropping silly points to mid/lower teams.
The clamour to get rid of Insua was because he got beat for pace… but that wasn’t against lower league teams, that was against players in the top tier.
Replace him with Konchesky and you now have a left back who gets beaten by West Brom players, as opposed to Scum’s
Who knows what the squad will be come Opening Day?
But…
Having Insua back, Aqualani back, even Ayala and Pacheco.
Having Henderson and Adam, and if we get him Downing…
… makes us stronger against those mid-to-lower teams.
Suarez and a fit Carrol helps against thoes and the top teams.
We are not as far away as some would like us to believe.
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 #462 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 2:58 am
just seen an interview on lfctv with kenny about being back in training, he said it was great to be back with the lads & we still have lucas & suarez to join the squad, so im just wondering is maxi back at melwood ? (i thought he was away with the argentina squad) or does kenny see his future elsewhere? or do i just have to much fucking time on my hands?
also theres an interview with comolli about the transfers & he said there shall be a lot more movement, especially going out & also hopefully coming in,
so what ya make of that lads? i know weve been down this road before but whats your say on the in’s & out’s ? on defence going out i see konch & insua, agger [ see staying because i donnt think we’ll get a replacement,(if only the guy could stay injury free )midfield, aqua poulsen cole maxi, (would like aqua to stay) miereles i think might stay depending on gerrards fitness & the fact that suarez & lucas will miss the start of the season, forwards, nogg, hopefully pacheo will stay as the 4th striker & get a few run outs
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 #463 |
blud red
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 7:54 am
it is about this time that i like to remind those of you who bleat on about attracting the ‘top players’ that we have just signed suarez, carroll, henderson and adam in the last six months and seem intent on adding more to the squad. at this juncture if we signed stewert downing i would believe that liverpool possessed a solid outfit capable of challenging for the title. and yet i hear folk like london barnes yammering on that this is not good enough, that we need to sign ronaldo, pele, messi and maradonna before we can compete with the likes of yaddy-yaddah, blah blah blah.
it is worth remembering that this is liverpool not real madrid of chelski. if we’re going to win anything it will be through canny transfers, focused managing and superior coaching, not because we signed kaka. that kind of attitude would make us a laughing stock, just like we chose to laugh about man city. we see their dealings as a shallow get rich quick scheme, and yet somehow we want the same for us. i’d say its better to build from a secure base rather than yammering on about top-down investments.
the best thing about the club last season was the emergence of steel and talent from the academy and kk’s willingness to throw them in. i note with interest that andre wisdom has just signed a contract and they are hoping that this lad can step into a CB role. has the work of the academy gone unnoticed by folk saying we need to sign roberto carlos before the world ends?
we have a director of football who is in my opinion doing a fine job. i think kk’s in an enviable position as a manager. when i look at the current squad, all fit and ready, i wouldn’t like to play liverpool, if was bolton or barcelona. we have a great manager, a tough squad of veterans and youngsters, fantastic support and owners who genuinely want them to succeed. as i said before, what’s not to like?
london barnes…what is not to like??????
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 #464 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 8:23 am
BludRed: I think part of the problem is that we only seem to be going after British players who are good, but not great. And they come with an extra 5 million on their value. It’s just strange that there are players out there who want to play for Liverpool – Turan as an example (not sure if he is still available) – who I believe is a far superior player to (say) Downing, Bentley etc. And you would get him cheaper than the aforementioned.
But saying that, I do have faith in the guys running the show. It’s just that the scum look like they might pick up Nasri for the same figure we might get Downing for.
However, as mentioned by Aitch (461), we often/always beat the top teams. It’s winning at the likes of QPR, Sunderland, Newcastle, Blackburn etc that will determine if we’ll get back into CL football. I believe that in Suarez & Carroll, we have the amunition to beat these teams. Yes, we did have Torres before, but he almost palyes a lone hand against these bus parkers & he never recieved any service. But with the ‘mecurial’ Suarez, and the height & strength of AC – and with a hopefully fit Stevie coming back, maybe we will get 3 (or even 1) point against these sides. The players – even under Rafa – seemed to struggle to get themselves up for the mid-table sides. With Kenny’s natural presence & motivational skills, hopefully that won’t be a problem anymore?
But back to the comings & goings: a Van Der Vaart or any foreigner with technical ability, skill & pace (preferable winger) would be welccome 
And if we do get Downing, I’ll welcome him as well. I know he has got a deadly cross/pass on him, so AC should be happy.
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 #465 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Good posts blud & rafa
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 #466 |
Sambo
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 11:44 am
On the topic of signing British players, and LB’s Mark Hughs analogy. i reckon the beauty of signing British players isn’t so much about their ability (either they’re good enough or they’re not, it doesn’t matter where they come from). it all about the likelihood of a lengthy stint at the club.
i like Arsenal. i’ll always back them if LFC are out of the race. but the way their players carry on gives me the shits. what the fuck is going on with Barca’s policy of selling players in the knowledge that if they ever want them back, other teams simply have to cough him back up. some of the other Barca players were basically accusing Arsenal of holding Fabregas hostage because he wasn’t let go on demand. Arse have a history of players doing well, then demanding moves despite the team playing nice football and playing in the CL.
granted, it’s not all foreign players. Ashly Cole slung his ‘ook when the offer came in. but it’s definitely a problem with playing so many foreign players. Arsenal must be top of the ‘foreigner league’ over the last 10 years, and i think that’s been telling in their relative lack of success. please don’t get me wrong, Henry, Viera…. the list is too long to even begin….. have been wonderful wonderful players… but they all fucked off.
Alonso broke my heart when he left. that summer (NZ winter) when the rumours were flying round was pure agony. i got myself convinced that if he stayed, we’d win the league. but i always knew in my heart, he’d fuck off and leave us tantalisingly close…. then shit. Torres was no better. Jumps as soon as the chips get logged with vinegar
this is not a xenophobic rant….. but i’m sick of they way these foreigners are carry on!
seriously though, British players are not particularly loyal to smaller clubs (read: not challenging for title / not in CL / no history), but they don’t tend to demand transfers from the bigger clubs very often. when a big club buys a British player, it’s a long term investment. Spanish, French, South American players are likely to get sick of the weather, the ugly birds, or more likely the tax-pinch, and suddenly feel ‘unsettled’. Lampard and Terry were never going to up sticks and leave Chavski. Adams and Keown were never likely to head over to Italy for a spell in the San Siro. Gerrard was tempted, granted, but he stayed and he never asked to leave in the HG era. there’s no way Carra was handing in transfer requests. the Scum go without saying and i won’t bother listing that bunch o’ naves. exceptions like Owen and Macca only prove the point for me. it’s a rarity.
Hughs might’ve failed with his British policy, but Martin O’neil didn’t. he took Villa above us at one point (in terms of quality of football), and he signed up every decent British talent he could get his hands on. i liked Villa under O’neil. the problem is that Villa isn’t big enough to hold onto them, so off they go to Utd and Liverpool… but i bet they don’t ever seek transfers from those clubs unless they’re not getting played.
all i’m saying is that a British-leaning transfer policy serves the purpose of stability more than talent. talent should go without saying. the question is… will this player give us the best years of his career, even when the chips are lying on the pavement… but still edible
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 #467 |
elbmw
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 1:03 pm
Sambo, Henry and Viera were sold only when they were in decline.
As for foreign players jumping ship, well they mostly have little or no allegiances to clubs (from their perspective) and they go to another club to make money and win things. When that doesn’t materialize after some years of failure, why should they stay and rot when they could jump ship and improve their chances of winning things. After all their career is comparatively short.
And why stop at football? How many people here have left their jobs to improve their salary and happiness somewhere else? Where is your allegiance to the organisation that took you on and nurtured you into the worker that you may be?
What I’m trying to say is that its not just about the money as all people strive for full fulfillment.
For anyone interested read “Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs”
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 #468 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 1:27 pm
Aitch, we do indeed hold our own against other top sides but what does that prove? Wolves had a very good record against the top sides, Blackpool had a decent record against some of the bigger teams as well. Neither had successful seasons. We certainly didn’t.
Big picture time.
Someone please tell me, the last time a club that was not able to compete for the best players either in the country or abroad won the title? When we were winning titles we were able to attract and buy the best talent. We were also able to hold on to the top talent because the we were able to match the ambitions of our better players. When players such as Keegan, Souness, Rush sought pastures new abroad we were able to bring in top talent to replace them and continue winning titles.
When Kenny won the league with Blackburn he was able to spend Jack Walker’s millions and compete for the better players in the country. Alan Shearer (British record), Chris Sutton (British record), Graham LeSaux, Tim Flowers (British record for a goalie) he had a British record fee agreed with Nottingham Forest for Roy Keane before Fungas hijacked the deal last minute. Blackburn were buying or trying to buy the best players in the country. The spending took Blackburn from a 2nd division side to Premier League winners in 4 years.
Before Abramaovic could Chelsea compete for the best players? No. Did they ever challenge for the title? No. Once they could compete for top players what happened? The last 7 years they have won 3 league titles and finished runners up 4 times.
City – before they were able to buy top talent they was nothing special, some would say they were shite. They signed Silva, Toure, Tevez and now look at them. They got slaughtered at Anfield but who cares? They are in the CL and eyeing up Aguero while we are getting outbid by Sunderland for Connor Wickham.
Blud red, who the fuck is talking about Messi, Ronaldo and Kaka? It may have seemed cool to use those names to emphasise your point but it’s bollocks mate. Nobody is expecting LFC to sign Messi. However you cannot tell me that in May when you thought to yourself who we might sign in the summer names such as Downing and Henderson were at the forefront of your mind. You cannot tell me those types of names got you excited. How many of you shit your pants at the prospect of facing Downing last season? Was he on your wishlist for transfers this summer? Had Hodgson signed Adam, Carroll, Henderson, Downing for £80m would the vibe in here be so positive? Honest answers please.
Sambo, what did Martin O’Neil achieve at Aston Villa? He had a higher net spend than Rafa and won fuck all. Never got close to CL qualification with his buy English philosophy. He then fucked off when he realised he’d spent all of Randy Lerner’s money. Now where are they? And the same British players you say are loyal have fucked off already (Ashley Young) or can’t wait to leave (Downing).
Whoever thinks we’re going to finish above Mancs, Chavs, Citeh with our current squad + Downing is going to be very disappointed. We’ll likely be fighting Arsenal and Spurs for 4th place. During this transfer window I am hoping for 2 things. That we sign more players that have the same calibre as Suarez and that Arsenal continue to refuse to spend big money.
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 #469 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 1:39 pm
Aw c’mon Blud, at no point has LB expressed a wish to create a new Galacticos. Your takin liberties there now lad! All he’s expressing is a longing for a marquee signing (usually a quality attacker), a signing to make us feel like we’re 12 again, ya know? ‘I CANT FECKEN BELIEVE WE’VE SIGNED THAT GUY!! Roll on August 12th, roll on August 12th…..’. Thats all he’s saying (i think!) and ya know what? As a supporter thats fine, thats his right. We all dream of a Mata or a Sanchez. But the cold hard reality is we’re not dining at the Ivy no more. We’re down the street at the diner. For now.
Rafa, cant leave without asking the obvious, what makes you think Turan is better than Downing? I’m surprised by this. Granted Downing is no world beater but the lad still picked up 11 assists last yr with 6 goals and Villas player of the yr along with a deserved England call up. Not 100% sure but I reckon those stats make him one of if not the most productive wingers in the prem. Now, admittedly I dont watch the Turkish league but at the end of the day, its still the fucken Turkish league!! What is it about this lad that makes you think he could better the yr Downing has just had in a vaaaastly superior league. Just curious…….
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 #470 |
Sambo
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 1:49 pm
elbmw, i’m not knocking anyone for furthering their careers. the need to win things should be a source of motivation for a top player. i’m saying that i’ve got more faith in British players staying at Liverpool for a longer period than players from Spain or South America. i’m not having a go at these players, so much as losing faith in the longevity of the signings. i think that’s a fair observation, but i’m open to disagreement.
LB, i already alluded to Downing and Young when i said Villa isn’t a big enough club to keep them. c’mon mate, if you’re going to disagree at least read what i wrote. fair enough, i don’t know the ins and outs of O’neil’s departure and how much he spent, but i saw a decent transfer philosophy that quickly propelled a glamourless and underachieving club into a strong, dangerous side. you can’t compare him to Rafa because they’re completely different sets of circumstances. Villa ain’t Liverpool. if Rafa had gone to Villa when O’neil did, would he’ve done much better?
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 #471 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 2:05 pm
Sambo, apologies for not reading your post thoroughly and yes Martin O’Neil did a decent job. But the point is you need the best players to compete for the title. Villa never competed for the title, they finished 6th. Massive difference.
It’s not just about fancy foreigners either. If we signed Leighton Baines, Gareth Bale, Wilshere and Ashley Young I’d be a tad more excited than I am at the moment.
I’ve had enough of signing players who ‘do a job’ I’d like a world beater or a player who has a realistic potential to become a world beater. I’m just expressing these feelings.
Downing had a very good season last season. But he’s 27 now, was last season a flash in the pan? That’s my worry.
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 #472 |
corklfc
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 3:01 pm
Rafa won 2 league titles in spain, I am fairly certain he didn’t out spend the big 2 at the time. He nearly did it us and that was while H&G were in control.
Blackburn had their record signing for sure, they also had superstars like Ripley and Wilcox etc.
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 #473 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 3:21 pm
Rafa won La Liga before the massive financial divide in Spain. I realise Barca and Real had more resources but at the time Valencia were able to buy and keep very good players. It’s not the case these days. There is a financial chasm between the top 2 and the rest in Spain. They don’t split the TV money equally. Barca and Real are able to negotiate their own TV rights exclusively. As a result, it’s turned into a much better version of the Scottish Premier League.
My point was in the PL though and I think we had better players in 08/09 than we do now.
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 #474 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 3:24 pm
Obviously you don’t need a squad full of superstars. But one superstar player and a squad full of players that ‘do a job’ aint cutting it. Kenny signed top players at Blackburn. That is what is required especially these days.
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 #475 |
corklfc
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 3:48 pm
also, Ian Pearse, Jeff Kenna, David Batty!!!
We have a good team when most are fit, and we have proved that in the one off games against the top teams this season, The problem is when we have to rely of the back-up players (deadwood were are now calling them) over a season we are dropping too many points against below average teams as a result.
LB, I remember it was against Braga in the Europa league you listed the team out, and questioned the line-up, but then said, I can’t think how to improve the line-up with the fit players we had avaible at the time.
My point is, the likes of Hendo/Adam/Downing (plus a few more) are far better than our current “back-up players” which should enable us to be alot more consistant next season.
We need an extra 10/12 points next season to secure a CL spot, anything else will be a bonus as far as I am concerned.
It’s grand to say we are Liverpool, we want to win the league, but we have not won it in 21 years and finish 7th & 6th the last 2 seasons.
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 #476 |
corklfc
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
Didn’t Real win the CL in ’02 with Zidane, Figo was there by 02-03
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Casillas, César & Carlos Sánchez
Defenders: Salgado, Raúl Bravo, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Helguera, Pavón & Miñambres
Midfielders: Cambiasso, Celades, Conceiçao, Zidane, Figo, Solari, Makelele, McManaman & Guti
Forwards: Portillo, Ronaldo, Morientes, Raúl & Tote
Coach: Vicente del Borque
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 #477 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
There was already a big divide in Spain when Rafa won, which is why he was granted major kudos for what he did. He could have done it for us if given the right support but anyway…
Sambo has a good point but english players aren’t really that much better. Owen and Mcmanaman spring to mind. If the mentality of the club is right and the fans treat the players well, as is the case with Liverpool, the player is more likely to stay. Reina is a good example. Henderson and Adam were def not my top targets but i think Kenny is working on the team that can work as a team and a team that has each cog working well in unison. You don’t need star names for that. Barca showed that perfectly. Before they started dominating who would have even looked at some of their players? It’s about getting the right player for your team and I’m going to give Kenny the benefit of the doubt. 18mill is a shitload to spend on Downing but if he does the job and helps get Liverpool up there, who can argue with that?
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 #478 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
Rafa’s achievement was great but my main point is the EPL as thats the league we play in.
Wasnt David Batty considered one of the best defensive midfield players in the league at the time?
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 #479 |
Aitch
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 7:28 pm
Smashing discussion today lads. Some very good points being made.
But… David Batty…. Oh dear… you’ve just countered your argument to NOT go for flavor of the month singings… you know, like say Ashley Young?? Maybe??
Should we be buying Kevin Nolan?
Although mind you… Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing perhaps fit that bill too… so…err… never mind…
Here’s the thing from my perspective…
I totally see where LB is coming from… I just don’t draw the same conclusions.
…and here’s why.
In 08/09 we came close… very close.
What I would say is that as much as people argue that it was our own stumble, not being able to pick up those ever so few more points to seal the deal…
… our finishing 2nd was just as much down to teams going to Old Trafford, or hosting the Scum, and not putting up a fuckin fight for a point.
I argued that teams did that last season… it was countered with, well they still won the Prem… and that’s true… but they did so with the least amount of point for a very, very long time.
Coz that’s the thing…. Most of the Prem teams last season were stronger than they were in previous seasons… they’ve all been buying stronger and deeper squads
And it showed in the scares, even if it didn’t translate to points, that teams like Blackpool, Wolves and West Brom gave Scum, the Chavs and Arsenal.
Now maybe it was just a one-off season.
But maybe it was an indicator of more to come.
I look at what Sunderland have just done in the transfer window and I can’t help but think it’s the latter and we’ll see more of the same next season.
So what does all that mean?
In 08/09 we came close… we amassed the “right amount of points” to win the Prem, but fell short.
Last season, we had a hideous 1st half, where formations and tactics essentially kissed points away, then had a phenomenal 2nd half where if we’d played that way all season (and no its not an exact science, but just bare with me for a minute,) we would have seen us challenge the top 2.
But the important part of that equation is the proposition is not just that Kenny would have won or drawn games that Roy lost … but that say for instance, if those games had been the Scum game at OT or the first City game on their patch for instance… not only would we have had 2 or 6 points more… but they both would have had 2 or 3 points less.
Add another 2 if Pepe doesn’t drop the ball in the opener and then deduct 1 point from the Arse.
Now imagine that teams hold out against the Scum and Chavs and bag a point, thereby deducting 2 from both.
My point here is that in seasons past, the “cannon fodder” like Wolves have gone to both grounds looking to just minimize the damage, whereas last season they went to get points.
Now granted, Anfield has lost a bit of its gloss recently… it simply is no longer “fortress Anfield”… I accept that…. but Kenny can bring that back again.
Fortress Anfield was a self-fulfilling prophecy… and idea that became a reality… not simply something that happened.
Shanks wanted us to become a “bastion of invincibility” and then we worked towards it.
And one of the things you need to get there, is workmanlike players… Emlyn Hughes, Ron Yeats, Tommy Smith… to provide the foundation on which John Toshak and Ian St John, and Kevin Keegan can do the “marquee” stuff.
That seems to be something people fail to understand about Rafa’s time at the club…
… that despite all the hindrances from above, despite lack of funds forcing some wheeling and dealing… he brought in grafters to do the work, as well as silky players like Xabi and Nando… and for a time it worked a charm (occasional failures aside.)
A friend of mine argued that Rafa simply had to go, if only to unify the club.
I disagreed with that… and it was an especially failed premise given we then hired Roy Hodgson…
… coz in my opinion those decisions did some damage to the very foundations of what Rafa was building…
… but long term… now we’ve rid ourselves of G&H, Christian “muthafuckin” Purslow, and Roy…
… and are in the process of both moving forward and retrofitting that foundational damage…
… so what you get are Henderson, Adam, Downing, Doni…
…and what you will still get is that marquee singing we all want…
… it will happen… people are talking like the window is closed already…
…two weeks ago it was “Comolli is shite he hasn’t signed anyone yet”
… now its “Comolli is still shite coz none of these guys are marquee signing.”
… have a little faith/patience… take a breath for fucks sake…
…and at this moment, we’ve brought back Insua, Aquilani, Pacheco and Ayala…
…even if they aren’t “world class”….Insua is an improvement over Konchesky, which he always was, and Aquilani would have been better to have in the hole than…err… an unavailable SG!
… we’ve also got (thought admittedly, their reliability… to us on the outside… might still be in question) Andy Carrol, Danny Agger, and Fabio Aurellio all returning to fitness (and maybe even Joe Cole… threw that one in there just for you LB )… though Fabio will no doubt stub his toe on a Malaysian pavement and be unavailable for half the season…
… but still we already have a definitely better squad than we were last season.
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 #480 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 7:47 pm
The great man once said “A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.”
So if we have enough good players who are all fighting for the cause and managed well, they can help our great players and we have a couple at the mo (1 or 2 more would do nicely) play at the highest level if we can do that we’ll be back in the top four.
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 #481 |
London Red
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 8:25 pm
I am guessing that we are chasing Downing because we believe we can’t do any better otherwise it doesn’t make any sense.For all the talk about Liverpool still being able to attract top talent,looking at the sort of players we are pursuing in this window it does not seem to be the case.
In my opinion we need to sign players who can raise the technical level of the team rather than just filling gaps in the squad.After what now seems like the inevitable signing of Downing we will have done £40 million + so far on new players.
I hope my concerns are fruitless and there is some money left for some quality signings.
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 #482 |
Aitch
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 10:04 pm
So if I’m understanding this right…
Ashley Young is a quality signing coz he went to United…
… but Adam isn’t coz he came to us.
Christ even the kid Jones is supposedly a better quality youngster coz he went to United…
… but Henderson is simply a water carrier coz he came to us.
Downing is being pursued by Spurs…
… but because we are in for him, he’s just average…
Some of you make me laugh, you really do.
there’s no question we still need a “marquee” signing… but I don’t understand why so many of you think it isn’t coming.
Henry, Comolli, and Kenny all have said we will sign one…
… but they also said we’d sing young british talent…
Adam’s name might not make your heart’s go pitta-pat… but I’ll tell you what, his departure has made Balckpool hearts sink.
he was their player of the season.
Likewise Downing and Aston Villa.
No guarantee they’ll duplicate or improve that at LFC…
… but then again, we had Cisse, Diouf and Diao all coming off crazy-good World Cup perfromances, only to be far worse than just “space fillers”
Downing may not be David Silva, but he’s hardly Salif Diao.
I’d bet money that we WILL buy at least 2 more players… and one or both will be “marquee” names…
… just give it time before you start preparing the fuckin noose and pitchforks will youz.
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 #483 |
Aitch
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 10:53 pm
And my apologies if any of that sounds hamfisted…
… it just seems like some of the opinions being expressed are perhaps being expreeesed out of some sort of frustration…
diminshing the potential signing of Downing,
while bigging up the amount that we “missed out” on some kid from Ipswich,
Really?
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 #484 |
Aitch
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
…and to quote the last line of Gerry’s now MONTH AND A HALF old blog (you lazy fucker)…
“Im glad they (Barca) won it… Because somethings stirring at Anfield and after we get through knocking the mancs off their perch we might turn our attentions to Barca!”

I don’t know if the Reds are coming up the hill boys…
… but there’s a bunch of the fuckers milling around at the bottom of it and they’re looking up at the top like they’re thinking about it.
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 #485 |
dougle
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
Agreed – some interesting posts lads.
Top marks Aitch for the analysis of the change in relative strength and attitude of previous cannon fodder. I actually think Hollaway had a lot to do with it. Fair enough B’pool went down eventually but who would have said they’d have amassed so many points and really should have stayed up. I am delighted to see teams giving the “big six” a good run for their money. I’d go further and say we have been perceived as fair game of late by the west hams and Blackburns etc … do you remember Ewood park last season ?
Maybe a way of putting it is that we have to walk before we can run. Kenny showed (with SC) how intelligent organisation and good man management can work against any team (Chelsea, manure, Citeh etc) but we also flopped against West Ham, Spurs and Villa and dropped stupid points elsewhere. We did not have the quality or squad depth to “keep it up” all the time.
LB Downing won’t give Ashley Cole or Evra nightmares but he’s a handful for the average fullback. Adam more than proved his use with Blackpool and Andy C was Newcs main man. None of these clubs are big and threatening teams now all of these (above average club players) are ours (assuming it is Downing who arrives). We need bricks and morter before we add in the extras which will work both ways for us. Good players make better players great and great players can drag good ones even higher (or some such bullshi* !!).
I’m with Aitch on this one – we’ll bring in another Suarez type (Forlan !!!).. yet.
I am a wee bit concerned about Stevie tho’. This is make or break for him I reckon.
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 #486 |
elbmw
Posted on July 8, 2011 @ 11:07 pm
I think what a lot of people are failing to see is that KK is trying to build a similar type team as he did at Blackburn.
Heres a comparison of attacking players…
Henderson – Stuart Ripley
Downing – Jason Wilcox
Carroll – Sutton
Suarez – Shearer
The primary attacking force of Blackburn was driven by the above players.
None of them were what you’d call Marquee signings like Messi or Ronaldo or Zidane but they all formed parts of a an efficient attacking force and it won them the league.
For LFC he signed Aldridge and Houghton from Oxford UTD. Hardly Marquee signings but they formed an integral part of a championship side.
Its not all about names guys. If it was then anyone who can play Championship Manager could also manage a real football team.
You’d have to consider the style of play and balance of the team among many other things I’m sure.
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 #487 |
Aitch
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 12:33 am
Honestly… I’m stating right her and now, we will jump right back into the top 4 this season. No worries.
The only thing we “need” for that to happen is for the Ref to blow his whistle on August 13 and get us under way.
WE ARE NOT AS BAD AS SKY AND HODGSON WANTED YOU TO BELIEVE!
IF… we sign a marquee player or two between now and then… we’ll be challenging for the fuckin title…
And for those of you worrying about Man City, and automatically calling them a “Top 4 team” now simply on the merit of finishing there once…
…There is this little nugget from a Craig Bellamy interview…
… in context he was talking about having to go back to City, and revealing how Mancini totally fucked him about, and how he predicts they’ll just pay him to sit on his arse for the season, coz Mancini hates him… (and granted he’s the Nutter with a Putter, but nevertheless)…
“City are the richest club in the world. They work to a budget that no-one else works to, so they can write their own rules. Right now the club has got itself in a situation where a lot of players have to go on loan.”
That is somewhat telling for me.
Already we’ve got the Tevez situation, now Bellamy, they’ve got 3 Top Players in every position…
… which is great… until one of them doesn’t get to play and starts sulking…
…And what with Financial Fair Play rules kicking in.
…I can see this experiment imploding on itself….
(of course, I accept I’m reading betweent he lines and extrapolating somewhat… but when you look at it, I can see it just as likely to happen, as for them to strengthen and challenge for the title.)
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 #488 |
Sambo
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 1:05 am
no worries LB, and i do agree we need another Suarez-quality player if we’re going to challenge.
i’d just prefer that most of the people “carrying the piano” are British because they’re more likely to hang around. Idhawan, Owen and McManaman shouldn’t need to ‘spring to mind’ because i specifically mentioned them myself as exceptions that prove the rule. British players rarely seek transfers from the top 4/5 clubs.
if LFC have a good couple of seasons and get back on track, i’m betting none of Carroll, Henderson, Adam, or any of the British talent already at the club will be demanding transfers. i can’t talk about Suarez and Lucas with the same confidence. sure, they might play out their careers at Anfield, but i’d say the odds are more likely that sooner or later, a big offer will come in from Europe if they continue to progress the way they are, and they’ll be off, just like Alonso, Fabregas etc.
i’m not saying “don’t sign foreign players”. i just like the idea of a British team of ‘piano carriers’ that stays together for 8 or so years, with a rotation of top European talent coming through the club to play it. (i do reckon Kuyt will be happy to carry one end of the piano for as long as we need him though!)
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 #489 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Dougle timmy et al
back in ireland text me and well arrange a date
0873691290
over and out
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 #490 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 10:39 am
Nice to have some good debate eh?
I think our activities in previous transfer windows under the likes of Parry/H&G/Purslow has an impact on my way of thinking. There is a long way to go in the transfer window but I’m just not confident we’ll be signing the marquee player(s) I think we need.
If we could add that sort of player to the likes of Henderson, Adam, Carroll, Downing then I’d say we’ve had a decent transfer window. However if we just add those players and sell Raul I won’t be convinced going into the new season at all. Rumour has it Raul will not be travelling to Asia with the rest of the squad and it’s not because of injury.
A few other things have led me to believe we’ll not be signing any Suarez calibre players. I’ve been following all of the Merseyside based journalists on twitter – guys such as Tony Barrett, Rory Smith, Tony Evans and then there is Guillem Ballageu (excuse spelling). Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware none of these guys are the fucking Oracle but I must say they have been impressively accurate with their speculation to date. All seem to rule out signings such as Mata, all seem to say we’ll go back with another bid for Downing in the next couple of days and then try to get a left back. There has been no speculation at all regarding any marquee signing and I can’t remember the last time we signed a top player out of the blue. I suppose the Carroll transfer was a surprise but I think those were exceptional circumstances as we’d just trousered £50m for Torres. Then there’s the interview Comolli did with LFCtv where he talks about players who tick the boxes saying the club will be looking at players with PL experience – a philosophy I do not really agree with as I’ve mentioned before. Some of you have talked about Kenny’s transfer strategy at Blackburn and think he’s trying to do something similar this time around. I fucking hope not. That was effective in 1995 before the PL was a global league. I can’t see it working now.
Aitch, I have rated Ashley Young for a long time now and was delighted we were linked with him in January. He was certainly on my wishlist before it was apparent his preferred destination was Old Trafford. He has pace, skill, can play on both wings and just behind either one or 2 strikers. I rate him as a better player than I do Downing, it’s as simple as that.
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 #491 |
Lurgankop
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 11:57 am
Hey Donal and the kopblog Irish massive. Unfortunately I’ll not be attending the kopblog get together this week. Gutted!!!
I’ve already have plans to go to England next week and then Germany after that. Anyway, enjoy yourselves and have one for me. Don’t be slagging off Digger too much when downing a few pints. Just kidding Digger
Take a few pics and pass them onto Gerry. It would be good to see you, Timmy, Dougle, Corky et al.
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 #492 |
elbmw
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
Yeah LB I know what your saying but other than the fact Young is now going to the mancs it could be that what our team really needs is a Downing type player.
As for a team that was successful in 95 I don’t mean that you can take that actual team and play them in the PL now, but rather that the players have similar roles to play, albeit with current tactics and speed. The format or pattern can be similar.
Theres plenty of teams in the PL to play in lots of formations; you have your arsenals who play a very skilfull game but keep getting unstuck as soon as they play physical teams. Then there’s the mancs who have anderson and fletcher in midfield, again none of whom we’d consider marquee signings that we’d be interested in but do a very effective job in their team.
OK. I’ll ask you a hypothetical question…
Would you prefer Mata who is far more exciting to watch but we dont win the PL with him or would you prefer Downing and win the PL?
I know its very hypothetical but as none of us (from what I can judge) can be sure about anything so it’s potentially possible that it pans out that way.
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 #493 |
Aitch
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
I rated Ashley Young as well LB… but not so highly that I’m devastated we didn’t get him.
Sure, he would have strengthened us… but then so will Downing.
What’s the quotient difference?
Given that it was Downing that was Aston Villa’s player of the year, and not A. Young…
I don’t think Kenny is trying to replicate his Blackburn Blueprint… from the players we’ve signed, and supposedly missed out on… I think he’s trying to replicate his 87-90 LFC Blueprint.
But you do ask the right question, elbmw…. I’ll take Downing and a PL title please.
(though it’ll take more than just Downing, but I reckon that’s what you were getting at.)
Here’s the thing, I see to some extent why there is some apprehension.
We’ve been here before… and far too many times… the crossroads, the corner that’s about to be turned… the infamous last piece of the jigsaw.
I don’t think any of us have forgotten all that failed promise… year after year.
As LB said, it’s the windows of the past that haunt us.
But that is slightly unfair on FSG, Kenny and Comolli isn’t it?
These guys had nothing to do with the past… but they do have the unenviable job of cleaning it all up… and simply put, that’s gonna take a while.
They’ve only really done one thing wrong since taking over, and that was not replacing Hodgson immediately… then dithering on the decision.
There is no doubt in my mind that LFC would be looking at playing in the CL this season, instead of City or Spurs, had that decision been made as late as mid-December when all those games got postponed. That could have given Kenny as many as 6 games to accumulate up to 18 more points.
I give them a pass on that… since they were trying to get their feet under the desk and get the lay of the land, while also educating themselves on footy, the Prem, and LFC.
Other than that… what have they done wrong?
We’re only halfway through this window.
Two or three weeks ago, there were serious rumblings about lack of movement, now we’ve got Henderson and Adam sealed, and Downing and Doni looking very likely.
What will the next 3 weeks bring us?
We don’t know, but why assume it will be nothing.
If as some cynics suggest, FSG are masters of PR, then surely a marquee signing gets more traction and provides more benefit late in the window going into the first few games… than early in the window where the excitement dissipates as we then sign Henderson and Downing and go into the opener “disappointed” that we started with a bang and then petered out.
Nah… this is not your transfer window of Christmas past.
And my apologies LB, I’m not picking a fight honest, but we don’t need teams like Blackpool, West Brom, Wolves and Blackburn to have a successful season… we just need them to go to OT and the Bridge and grab a point… Something they haven’t always done, but at least tried last season.
(and Webb and his ilk to not be assigned to any Scum games)
Whether those teams then have any other success doesn’t matter to us…
Of course, we then need to not lose points to those teams too of course.
I’m encouraged by how poor Scum were last season. Yes they still managed to pull it out… coz they’ve got game winners… but they looked seriously weak in a lot of positions…
Arsenal are looking like they might need a total rebuild that makes our job look easy. They appear to have players jumping ship from every deck.
And as I mentioned above, City have some very real backroom unrest to deal with, that could potentially derail their season before it even starts.
Spurs haven’t done anything yet either, and stand to lose their playmaker?
The worry is Chelsea… Villas Boas is a terrific manager… but at his age, will the players pull a Scolari on him?? (there have been rumblings reported, but of course that could be bollocks)
They’re strong in depth, but a lot of that depth is aging rapidly.
We’re young, finished strong, all gee’d up on Kenny’s revolution!
The only real concern for me… at this point… is SG’s fitness.
Now granted… concerns could arise…
Agger and Carrol have been declared fully fit (lfc.tv today) and enjoyed a week of training with no problem… that’s two “top class signings” added to last season’s team (since neither were available for many games)
Could they get reinjured, or will we get a season out of either or both… that’s a concern, but not a strong one at this point (I’m chosing to trust the physios on that one.)
I’m concerned we are looking to release Raul.
I rate Raul very highly… but if he was replaced with Mata or similar, it would lessen the concern. (though I’d prefer we kept Raul and added Mata )
But right now… I see far more to be positive about, than negative about.
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 #494 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 7:57 pm
elbmw, I’d take Downing and the PL please. As a matter of fact I’d take back Jimmy Carter and the PL. The thing is I think a player such as Mata would give us a better chance of winning the PL. I think we’ve lacked the flat track bully type player. The type of player that can destroy shite sides who come to Anfield and put 11 men deep in their own half. Man Utd were poor away from home last season but at Old Trafford absolutely slaughtered teams with the likes of Nani, Valencia and Rooney tearing sides apart. Players like Fletcher and Park play in the big games and ‘do a job’ but against the poorer teams Nani tears them a new arse.
We have solid unspectacular players like Kuyt and Maxi, but how many times do they look quite ordinary when an organised side comes to Anfield and parks the bus? For years we’ve lacked the player in wide positions that can take 2 defenders out of the game. That’s what we need in my opinion. The game against Fulham last season I was on the edge of my seat any time Suarez got on the ball in an attacking area. You just knew he was getting past one or two defenders and we’d create a goal scoring chance. Against the mancs he went past about 3 players before laying the ball on a plate for Kuyt to tap in. We need one or 2 more players who can do similar. And can we have some pace please?
Villas Boas at Chelsea – very worrying. He’ll get plenty of money to strengthen the squad and a key thing is that his job title is Manager, with no director of football above him. Since Mourinho they have had a DOF and ‘head coaches’. He’ll call the shots. He’s a bloody good coach.
The mancs goal this year is to try and close the gap to Barca. The humiliation at Wembley didn’t go down too well apparently. They want the 20th title as well. You know they will spend more dough and strengthen further.
City haven’t flexed their wallet yet but you know it’s coming.
Compared to this time last year it’s very much a positive for us. However, there is still a concern that if we do not do the right things during the next few transfer windows we’ll be left further and further behind and permanently become a 2nd tier football club.
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 #495 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
Digger, regarding Turan v Downing: Like you, I don’t reside in the UK but I get to see more football matches on Supersport than the British lads get to see – we have 4 channels dedicated to the EPL, and then we watch La Liga etc afterwards. So I have seen a bit of Turan – most noticablt before the WC in South Africa where Turkey played USA in a friendly. He skinned the Americans all night long (yes, the US side who drew with England), and he scored a goal. I think he captains Turkey?
Anyway, his technical abilily is fantastic. He scores goals. He is 24 – 3 years younger than Downing. And, like Downing, he wants to play for Liverpool.
Done’t know if this is cool, but I have copied & pasted a passage from Wiki. Just to answer Digger’s query….
“Turan plays as a left winger and is noted for his exceptional dribbling and passing ability.
Arda already has over 40 senior national caps and 10 goals for Turkey, and following a successful Euro 2008 campaign, he was ranked 8th in a selection of the 100 Best Young Football Players in the World, published by Spanish magazine Don Balón in July 2008.[2]
In January 2010, Arda was voted as the most popular European footballer of 2009, and the second most popular footballer in the world, by the IFFHS”
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 #496 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 9:29 pm
There is no guarantee we will jump back into the top 4 next season. And there almost certainly will not be a title challenge. Well, not a sustained one at any rate, a challenge you know, you BELIEVE, we wont fuck up. There will however be a season long battle for 4th between ourselves Spurs and Arsenal. A battle my money is on the Reds to win. Because we’ve one thing the others have not, will never have and couldent have even if they wanted: Kenny. The reasons for this are pretty self evident and shouldent need to be pointed out by a none too swift observer like meself.
I cant remember, or know of an occassion where a team finished 6th in the league and came back the following year to finish 1st. Or 2nd for that matter. It just dosent happen. Now thats not to say we wont set a precedent but its not very likely is it? We’ve all got to ask ourselves a simple question, and honestly mind, can you seriously, seeeriously see us displacing utd, the chavs or city in the top 3. Right now, if your honest with yourself, and using your logical brain instead of your red heart, the answer of course is no. And I can see many hands now reaching for keyboards and I await the depressingly predictable indignant responses but it dosent change the truth of the matter. It dosent matter how many ‘but digger how many mancs would get in our team’ posts are put up it wont change the broader larger picture. As good or as shite as one individual is on that team, when they walk out on that pitch they are united. And Utd. And that wont change next season or overnight. They are the modern day equivalent to what we were in the 70′s and 80′s. They march to titles. And through teams. Over teams. It dosent matter how, it dosent matter when, but they WILL score that goal to win that game. It dosent matter if you watch it through your fingers or leave the room thinking ‘they wont score if I’m not watching, they wont score if I’m not watching’. And when you’ve come back? Yeah, you know it. They do whatever it takes to win the game. Whatever it takes. Not that I’m advocating their use of the dark arts but their mentality? Yes. Its a winning mentality. One that was once ours. And its far more important than all the matas in the world. When we get that back, when Blackpool and Wolves etc start coming to Anfield again already 1 nil down instead of fucking 1 nil up, then we can start realistically talking about a sustained title challenge again. For me Kennys biggest challenge next year is the restoration of that mentality and the instillation of a new reborn fearless ruthless Red philosophy. The last 2 games of the season are a case in point and quintessentially Liverpool over the last 20yrs. As soon as the pressure mounted again, we wilted. This, for me, is Kennys greatest challenge. The eradication of mental weakness and implementation of a new modus operandi: i.e Do not fucken come back in here without 3 points. I read with a wry smile a while back someone on here posting why they thought the mancs would begin to waver next season and as he listed out their team and their percieved weaknesses I thought to myself ‘fuck!’. And not ‘Fuck he’s right!’ but ‘FUCK!’. As he went through there players I was thinking the exact opposite to what he was writing! I thought to myself ‘Evra, yeah top drawer, Vidic yeah, best centre half in the country, arguably player of the year, Rio yeah, still good nuff for the prem, valencia and Nani, fuck what would we give for even one bona fide winger as good as em, Rooney yeah, knob but what a player, hernandez yeah, 20+ goals in his debut season, in English football? Fuck off Ferguson would ya, just fuck off! And eh, oh yeah, theres him too.’ So basically all they need is a Goalie and a quality midfielder and thats them fucked then yeah? Sorted! From 6th to toppling that lot and all we needed to do was watch em buy a keeper and a midfielder lol! Chelsea? Pfffft. City? Richest club in the world? Give us that trophy here ffs and stop yer messing! Anyway, all joking aside, nobody said it was gonna be easy but jaysus some of the speaks I’ve read this Summer would make a lad think all we’ve gotta do is turn up in August!
Look I’m not having a go at the poster who thought he was heralding the advent of utds demise but how many times in the past, really, how many times have we all thought and said ‘right, thats it for that lot, no fucken way will they win a league that soft again’ or ‘they’re done for a coupla yrs, big rebuilding job there for taggart’. And what happens? Well, we all know the answer to that. Lads, barring a miracle of Istanbul proportions Chelsea and the Mancs will contest the destination of the title again this yr. With city giving it a good swing too. Its just the way it is. For now. I understand LB’s frustration at the lack of premier signings and I think that frustration comes from what I’m trying (struggling?!) to get across here. LB, perhaps all of us, to varying degrees, understands how far we are behind. And the urgency with which LB wants us to recover that ground is what comes across in the ‘mata/hazard posts. Its hard to play the bit part when you’ve been the one holding all the cards for so long. We’re just not used to this. But thats our role now for a while. 20yrs ago would Young have signed for utd or us? Exactly.
Lads, I’m aware that I’m not pointing out anything other than the obvious here but its still probably worth noting is all I’m saying. I know its hard after our improbable ressurection in the spring but we have to try and temper our expectations this season. Again, I know that ‘temper your expectations’ is a difficult phrase to associate with LFC but its the reallty of our situation right now. Yeah sure theres a lotta guys at the foot of the hill alright but its gonna be a cunt of a climb and the years, hell decades now, of pressure and expectation that weigh us down and kills title challenges every year will not make that climb any easier. We have to start crawling again before we walk. And when we get walking then we can start thinking about breaking into a run to try and catch the fuckers above us who’ve been simply cantering for too long.
We will win the league under Dalglish. I unequivocally believe that. But it wont be next yr or even the year after perhaps. We’re a ways off yet but the path is being laid. And the first step on that path is champions league qualification. So no Hazard this year, but no mata, Downing to Carroll sounds good enough to me for now!
Btw, just wanna say on Meireles, if we sell him I will be fucken disgusted. It will be the first mistake of the FSG era in my opinion but but fuck me what a doozy. Way I see it, from what I’ve read its a money thing. Apparently Raul is on 30k a wk and had some form of agreement that based on his first season that that would go up. Now, under new ownership, i.e not the ones who struck that deal, this agreement will not be upheld. I call bollocks on this right here right now. Give him what he wants for fucks sake. I dont give a fuck what age he is, he was our player of the yr for fucks sake (imo). I dunno bout you guys but I remember the last time we sold our player of the year. In short its a no mark move. He MORE than upheld his end of the bargain. We should hold ours. 30k a wk?? Are you kidding me?!?! When was the last time we got value like that. Holy fuck. God knows what he must have been thinking looking a smokin joe cole and jovanoshit on 90 and 70k a week respectively. A more incongruous situation at Anfield I’m struggling to think of. An absolute joke of a decision if he is offed because we wont give him his well earned and well deserved payrise. And a decision if I’m honest, that gives me serious pause over FSG. Ya wanna cut costs? I’ve a list here for ya John. And ya give that saved salary to our PLAYER OF THE YEAR! Jesus the more I think about it the more absurd it becomes. What sort of message would this send to the dressing room? Have a career yr and we’ll off you? Fucken joke. Alright I’m done, rant over
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 #497 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 9:56 pm
Thanks Rafa, I must admit 10 goals from 40 international appearances is pretty impressive from a winger and honestly that carrys more weight for me than any of the other league stuff cos it still is Turkey afterall! It suggests that if given the opportunity he could perhaps perform at a higher level. But I still cant shake the feeling that he’s one of those mythological Kopblog cure-alls that we all throw around, myself included, from time to time. Look at it like this, how long has his name been bandied about on these pages? 2, 3yrs? And he’s still in Turkey. Why hasnt anyone else bought him? You would think by now if he was all that, or even half that(!) someone would have got him the fuck outta Turkey! A mid-tier Spanish team perhaps? France?
Anyroad, I guess neither of us know for sure but we do know what we’ll get with Downing. And thats the rub for me.
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 #498 |
dougle
Posted on July 9, 2011 @ 11:03 pm
Well this last few days has uncorked a few rants !
Digger, it may well be the case that it is precisely because stupid money is being payed to under performing players allied to Aquaman coming back (unsold and no-one apparently interested) that FSG and Kenny (Raul – not a kenny signing either) may want to cash in on him. He’s ~30 and altho’ very valuable in his intelligence and movement and versatility (all qualities that I would believe kenny is trying to infuse the team with) maybe Kenny figures that he can do without him … on the balance?
I’d say there would be little such issue if we didn’t have such a kinked inheritance from Roy and Purslow and G&H time.
I still think we will unload the majority of whom we (in general) see as less productive in the squad.
I have no problem with a new left full and a new centre half because i don’t think we’ll “win anything” without options there. I don’t think Carra has the pace, Skrtl the presence and confidence, Agger the overall fitness for us to dominate there. Likewise at left full Aurelio has fitness issues the young fellas should not be depended on and then that means Glenda moving over which means who takes over on the right ? kelly ? he too has fitness issues and despite our praise for me he is a bit of a one trick pony going forward.
We are gonna need 2 intelligent attacking fullbacks to compliment Kenny’s set-up. Kelly is not there for me, Glenda is, but there is only one of him right now.
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 #499 |
Aitch
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 12:01 am
Pretty solid arguments there Digger.
But I will say this…
Please, for the love of god, use your fuckin space/return bar and formulate paragraphs.
And while you see Chicarito, Nani and Rooney as capable of always bagging that goal that wins them 3 pints… and you’re right, I’m not arguing that…
… I see the other 80 minutes where they struggled.
Blackpool very nearly spoiled their party on the last day of the season.
The difference… as much as it may have been Nani, Valencia and Rooney…
… was also Blackpool’s inability to hold them off.
But they very nearly did, and had two decisions go against them at a crucial turning point in the game.
Blah, blah, blah, I hear you say… that is also part of the Scum mystique… getting Howard Webb decisions…
… no doubt… not arguing that either…
… but as much as we’ve always wanted it to happen and it hasn’t… at some point their luck WILL change, and teams will start to believe they can get points off them.
It happened this season… let’s see if that was a one-off or if it continues.
I see all the argument you make… I just draw a different conclusion.
Coz while they are the team fighting form a position of power… there are more and more chinks in their armor every season… and at some point… they will stumble…
… what needs to happen then, is for enough temas to believe they can stomp on them while they’re down…
… and that was the difference for me last season… teams starting to take that idea on board and have a go at them, instead of capitulating before a whistle had blown.
Even as we stumbled into the 90s… teams still came to Anfield hoping for nothing more than to keep the scoreline respectable…
… as we stumbled and teams bagged a few results…
…then…
… they started to come looking to get a point, as opposed to knock us off.
And yes… while we still try to maintain it on Euro nights… it will be a while before we get that aura back in the Prem…
…but we’re working towards it and I see it as closer than you do.
United ARE capable of having a strong season … but I have a suspicion they won’t… and no…that’s not just wishful thinking…
And since you have categorically stated that the title is the Scums and Chavs to fight out Digger, and the best we will do is to scrap for 4th…
… I’m going to categorically state… You’re wrong.
The title is up for grabs…
…and as for LFC… the last two years are not the norm, they are the aberration…
… we will bounce right back …
…not coz that’s what I hope for…
…but because all we have needed for the last two years is stability and direction… unified from top to bottom…
we didn’t have that… now we do…
…it cause players to underperform… this year they won’t.
If we can avoid injuries… and especially if we do add a Mata or Turan (LB is right about that)
(and I believe we will… lets see what happens in the next few weeks…)
… We will contend.
So that’s your predict and that’s my predict… Let’s see where we end up, eh
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 #500 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 12:43 am
I dont think Kenny has anything to do with this Dougle. Theres no possible way Kenny could have anything to do with something so utterly stupid as to off our player of the year over a payrise squabble. I just cant accept that. My tiny brain cannot process that scenario. No, for me this is a suits decision, a money decision. And look, I know these guys appear to be saints compared to the cowboys but goddamit I thought we we’re past all this sort of shit. Yeah I’m all for spending wisely and economic viability but for fucks sake here we are again pissballing around over what 30 or 40k for a player who most certainly deserves it and who if he leaves will most certainly get it. Why? Because he’s worth it!! He’s not 30 either Dougle he’s 28. Hardly passed it I’m sure you’ll agree? I thought we were trying to get stronger here. And we are. Adding Adam makes us stronger and gives us more options but subtracting Raul does exactly the opposite! And we’re back at square one. Stevies hardly gonna stay fit all year after having 98% of his groin reattached right?! Hendersons a cub. Lets call a spade a spade on Aquilani, the only reason he’s back is because we couldent shift him plain and simple. So that leaves us with just one attacking midfielder should the worst case scenario arise. And lets face it, when has the worst case scenario not arisen for us the last coupla seasons? We’ve the most overworked medical staff in Europe. Our injury record and record of injured players is a joke. Its like an Alan Partridge sports report; ‘Breaking news tonight from Anfield, Liverpool football clubs entire, yes thats entire folks, senior squad are tonight injured or major doubts for sundays game at arsenal. Liverpool have requested a special dispensation from the premier league to purchase some new players. Which was denied. Ouch, tough news for the scousers there Mike! And in other news….’
Theres another side to this mooted sale too thats bothering me. What price a bit of fucken honour in all this? Yeah yeah, I know its a cold ruthless high end business we’re talking about but theres something very smalltime and un-liverpool like about it all for me. Yeah he made the agreement with Purslow but ultimately he made it with the club. The badge. As I’ve said he more than upheld his end of the bargain so what, we welch? What price loyalty? We’re the very ones who demand a players loyalty but when the shoes on the other foot? Its all a bit unseemly to my mind.
Ultimately he’s only asking for what he was told he’d get. Give it to him says this observer. And get rid of the fuckers who contribute nothing. Not your player of the year.
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 #501 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 12:49 am
Between 1991-2011 we’ve challenged for the title once. 08/09 is the exception. Our norm has been to finish 3rd or 4th and that was when we didn’t have to worry about Spurs or City.
Another request I have is that we buy a bloody good quality left back.
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 #502 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 1:37 am
Haha! Is my longhand killin the auld eyes Aitch?! I’ll try and keep it in mind. When I’m writing I’m always racing to write whats popping into me head before I forget it lol!
Anyway, I think the difference between you and me is I see and so convey things in a very black and white style whereas you pay more attention to the details and inhabit the greyer areas. I know the grey area is there, it just dosent interest me as me as much as the heart of the matter, getting to the point, the crux of the issue or whatever way you want to put it. I think ‘ultimately’ has to be one of my favourite words. It just cuts through the bullshit if you know what I mean? Not that any of your arguments are bullshit, far from it, I’m applying it in a broader sense.
Over the years one thing I’ve always noticed about your arguments is what I’d call the ‘if a cow had balls it’d be a bull’ phenomenon! You go to great pains and lengths to outline so many different possibilities as to the reason for whatever we happen to be debating at the time but yet I’m always left thinking ‘yeah, good points but, ultimately…’
Take your point about Hernandez and ape-boy. So your thinking about the other 80mins? Ok, fair enough. I’m not. The mancs arent. Why? They’ve won the game. They’re top of the league. They’re going for 20. Ya know who’s thinking about the other 80mins? Fletcher is. Anderson is. Vidic is. Thats what they’re there for. I couldent give a fuck if Suarez sat on his arse on the penalty spot so long as he scored the winner every week. Do you think those 80mins hernandez does nothing for every week is gonna affect utds title challenge next yr? Really ask yourself Aitch, and try to come out with an ‘ultimate’ conclusion. Not reams of well articulated possibilities. A black and white answer.
I’ve just read that back and it might seem like I’m coming across harsh but I reckon you know its not meant like that. I’m driving at the difference between us and how 2 fans of the same team can see things so differently!
Btw, right now given the current transfer status my top 4 in May 2012 reads:
Chelsea
utd
city
Liverpool
I think utd and chelsea will go to the last day in an absolute death match, goal difference maybe deciding it. Battle for 4th will be the same. Mentally we’re stronger than Arsenal but we’ll have to kick the shite out of spurs a coupla times along the way to seal it. And boy do we owe them.
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 #503 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 1:39 am
I am quite sure that if Kenny wanted to keep Raul he wouldn’t be going anywhere. I think the club need to generate funds so that we can purchase all of Kenny’s and Comolli’s targets. They see Raul as an expendable asset they can cash in on. It’s all well and good saying we need to get rid of the players that contribute nothing. The trouble is they are so shite and on such good money we can’t pay a cunt to take them.
Also consider the reason we are in this mess – our previous owners agreed some fucking stupid contracts. £90k per week for a 32 year old Carra. £90k per week 4 year contract for a 29 year old Cole who had been injured for 2 years. £70k per week for Jovanovic. Fucking Ngog gets paid so well Sunderland coudln’t afford match his wages. FSG do not see it prudent to pay a 28 year old who is likely to sit on the bench £70k+ per week. Unfortunately we can’t opperate like Chelsea and City where their wages represent 71% and 104% of turnover. And we don’t have the revenue of Arsenal and Utd. We’re gonna have to make certain sacrifices if we’re to generate funds.
Note: Ngog is on the same wages as Luca Modric at Spurs. No wonder we were skint.
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 #504 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 2:05 am
Utd wages are 46% of their turnover. Arsenal 29%. We’re at 65%.
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 #505 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 2:41 am
Christ now I am depressed. That Ngog stat is just……just…..aw fuck I dunno……speechless. A fucken farce that is.
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 #506 |
Sambo
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 7:22 am
LB, we were skint, but we’re not skint now. FSG got the club for an absolute bargain i reckon. it wasn’t an ‘epic swindle’ because those cowboys were lucky not to be chased out of town with only the shirt on their backs. but that aside, it was a bargain. acquiring an asset like a world famous football club for that price (can’t remember exactly, what was it 350mill or something? – Torres alone was worth 50!) means that the owners were starting from a strong position of available funds and time to gradually correct the club’s financial imbalances. i don’t think there’s any panic over reducing the wage bill. i know it’s fucked, but there’s time and money to fix it gradually.
i’d also say that Arsenal’s low wages are the main reason players like Hleb demand transfers as soon as they catch someone’s eye.
back on the topic of signing players with PL experience, i’ve got to admit it doesn’t seem like it’s been particularly successful in the past. i can’t think of many examples of recent players who’ve signed for big clubs after mildly impressing for lower PL clubs, and then turned into great players. Arsenal haven’t really signed anyone like that that i can think of. even Walcott didn’t have any PL experience (which makes it even more surprising that this year they’re talking about Cahill, Parker, Downing, Samba, Dann etc – maybe Wenger has realised he needs some PL grit). Utd haven’t signed that many either. Carrick, Valencia, and Van Der Sar are the only one’s i can think of. i don’t count Rooney and Berbatov because they were ‘marquee signings’. Chelsea have only signed Sidwell and Bridge who fit that description, and they barely got a game.
Liverpool on the other hand have signed loads of these ‘mildly successful’ PL players; Keane, Pennant, Crouch, Koncheski, Johnson, Heskey… can’t be bothered remembering any more, but you get my point. in recent years LFC have signed up players who we all think “yeah, decent player (except Konch). should do well” but the reality is most of them didn’t really cut it.
for me PL experience doesn’t really matter unless they’re players who not only have experience, but also youth and obvious potential. hopefully Carroll and Henderson will become Lampard / Shearer style signings who immediately make their transfer fees look like a steal.
i like the idea of signing British, but that’s not because of PL experience. it’s because they’re more likely to stay.
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 #507 |
dougle
Posted on July 10, 2011 @ 11:08 pm
Digger – to get to the heart of the matter then – Kenny has nothing to do with (the potential) Raul move ? No dice buddy.
The thing is it is grey not black and white. Of course Kenny would want to keep him (as would I) and would want to get rid of whom he doesn’t want and would want to buy whom he wants but …. it ain’t that simple. Context is relevant here.
Financially we may be in a better position than G&H time but we are not Plastics or Sheiks. They live in the outer stratosphere compared to us. End of.
With due respect to everyone i have ripped off for that post.
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 #508 |
Yokohama Liverpool Fan
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 9:35 am
The Reds have touched down in China and will be training in the searing heat of Canton! I live in Japan and have got to say one of these days I hope they come here and play some J-League teams for their pre-season training. Unfortunately in Japan they have strange fixtures where they split the seasons into a winter and summer league and currently it is already the 3rd week of the summer league.
Together with the recent earthquake means Japan will not be high on the list for any forthcoming Far East trips. That said, no disrespect to the Chinese league or Comolli stating that he will be looking for Chinese talent but Japan and Korea are still light years ahead in terms of talent currently and even upcoming talent. The U-17 Japanese team lost 3-2 against Brazil in the Quarter Finals but in the Group stage they defeated Argentina and topped the group which also had France in it. http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1888308/index.html
Arsene Wenger has found a skillful, pacey dribbler Ryo Miyaichi who at the age of 17, now 18 was tearing defences apart in the Dutch league and has already been likened to Ronaldo for his pace, trickery, dribbling and 6ft stature. The Bundesliga teams have been importing quite a few useful players such as Kagawa as well.
I for one hoped Liverpool would sign Honda not just for being a marketable asset but because of his ability to keep possession, get into space and see opportunities that others couldn’t. He was the Asian MVP and would have been available for a snippet considering his marketability in Asia and the amount of “genuine” Liverpool kits people would buy over here. I’m not even including the domestic and TV commercial rights. We are overstocked in MF but his versatility means he can play up front, off a striker, on either wing as well as in the middle. When he plays for Japan he is on a different wave length for passing speed and quick thinking awareness with the rest of the team and I can see him succeeding in the Premier League even though many have alluded that the Serie A will be more suitable for him.
In terms of marquee signings (lynchpins) that will improve the team considerably and market Liverpool I can’t think of too many players other than Aguero and Mata who may or may not be available. The amount they will cost 35-40 million and 20-25 million pounds respectively could be a stumbling block. Other players like Hazard, Jeffren, Affelay, Turan, Lavezzi, Marko Marin, Elija, Vargas, Boudebouz and N’Zogbia could be very useful signings too. Not sure about Lennon but he would add pace.
Anyway, there have been many interesting discussions in here lately and I’m surprised nobody mentioned Peter Beardsley as one of the key contributors to Daglish’s 1995 Blackburn team.
A lot has been said about Downing and I do think he will improve the team as he will be the only winger that has a bit of pace that can cross the ball to Carroll. If we do get Downing for the inflated price of 18 million or so, I think our next focus will be a left-back: Luis Enrique, Cissokho, Bastos are a few names being bandied about and then maybe an additional centre back Scott Dann, Lovren, Matias Silvestre. Cahill is overpriced. Porto DF Rolando will be nice but I think he has publically said he will like to join Chelsea to reunite with his former boss. It seems there may be no fewer than 3 players moving from Porto to Chelsea if reports are to be believed.
As for Raul Meireles, he should definitely be kept at all costs with Gerrard’s dodgy groin, Henderson one to gradually mould and Adam playing more of an Alonso role rather than making intelligent runs into the penalty box and adding to the goals. Maxi may move to Newell Old Boys, Joe Cole may move to Hamburg now that Frank Arnesen is reportedly willing to pay his inflated wages and take him off our hands; Fiorentina is showing some interest in Aquilani and the sooner we flog Konchesky to Wolverhampton or any other team that will suit his level the better. Jovanovich is also history!
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 #509 |
Yokohama Liverpool Fan
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 9:55 am
We are maybe 2-3 signings (Downing, left back, centre back) without selling Meireles and Maxi from really giving it a go!
We need competition for places even though we aren’t in Europe and I hope we give it a go in the Carling Cup and FA Cup just to give us some silverware and develop that team winning mentality that some of the previous posts were mentioning!
RMF: Henderson and Meireles can be backup for Kuyt, Kuyt and Ngog will be back up for Suarez and Carroll unless we sign another striker to replace Ngog; Maxi can be a backup for Downing if we get him; and the 2 remaining central MF places can be reserved for Gerrard, Lucas, Adam and Spearing assuming we sell/loan Aquilani. Of course in reality a lot of these players can play a fluid formation such as a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 so it will give Daglish a selection headache but in a good way of course.
Most important of all we will have the strength in depth we haven’t had for as long as I remember, give us continuity, more chance of building up some consistency, while also avoiding a season threatening injury crisis. More reasons to be optimisitic are players like Pacheco, Kelly, Ayala and Spearing will all be a year wiser and can slot in when required assuming we don’t loan them out for another season.
Another month to go! Cannot wait!
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 #510 |
London Red
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 10:47 am
Yokohama Peter Beardsley never played for Blackburn
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 #511 |
corklfc
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 12:20 pm
Kopblog Gathering,
I just received a phone call from Dougle, he has made contact with Donal, who is going to be in the West Cork area(Clonakilty) tonight, Dougle is off-line at the moment and asked me to put this note up for anyone else is around.
Will back with more info later.
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 #512 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 2:45 pm
Anyone following the Copa America lads? Suarez is looking lethal as ever. Set up Uruguays goal at the weekend with another slalom run in the box before squaring it back for the easy goal. Argies play Costa Rica tonight. Great to Meireles on the plane to China despite all reports to the contrary. I’m taking it as a good sign.
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 #513 |
corklfc
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 5:34 pm
I will be heading to Craggy Island shortly to meet up with Dougle and Donal, I’ll do my best to keep Dougle off the Whiskey!!
I’m sure we will finalise Kenny’s remaining transfer targets slso!!
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 #514 |
Aitch
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 6:57 pm
“Great to Meireles on the plane to China despite all reports to the contrary. I’m taking it as a good sign.”
Aahh… so gray areas are fine when they suit your agenda then eh? 
I get it now.
As for the rest of it… the gray are is where debate exists… but “ultimately” if you don’t care about the gray area, then there is no debate, is there?
So… you’ve made your predict for the season… I made mine.
We’ll see how we each do.
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 #515 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 7:31 pm
Surprised there has been no debate in here regarding Ian Aye’s statement on the stadium. I had to go to RAWK for my fix.
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 #516 |
corklfc
Posted on July 11, 2011 @ 10:43 pm
The kopbog gathering is going well, but donal wants to sign a few players from the gap
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 #517 |
rome77
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 1:05 am
Digger i see you’ve given up before a ball has been kicked or a transfer window has shut and you’ve noshed off the Mancs while doing it 
Anyway the thing that surprised me was:
“Theres no possible way Kenny could have anything to do with something so utterly stupid as to off our player of the year over a payrise squabble. I just cant accept that.”
Now i think its fair to say that in the past you would always lay the blame at the manager even when we had the two parasites as owners so whats different FSG have a better track record than G&H so i think they deserve some time to prove their worth.
Or do you know something we dont?
Besides Lucas was player of the year and your ignoring a third option Raul may actually want to move to CL football, apparently its the only thing that great players want.
“Christ now I am depressed. That Ngog stat is just……just…..aw fuck I dunno……speechless. A fucken farce that is”
This explains your apparent lack of literary anger at Cole 90k a week… Your speechless 
Seriously though how much is Ngogg on ?
I know LB has said same as Modrick but i dont think the figure Modrick tells the tax-man has any bearing on his “Arry bonus”
As for Raul, anyone remember Alonso going to the Far East, he still left us.
PS I’m now off to RAWK to see whats going on with the stadium, 
YNWA
|
 #519 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 2:13 am
and the glove’s are off! hehe!:-)
|
 #520 |
Yokohama Liverpool Fan
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 2:35 am
London Barnes, I have no idea I was under the impression that Beardsley played for Blackburn. I was referring to all the assists he provided for Shearer but that was New Castle. My mind is going…
Regarding the stadium, we have an extension from the Council to make a decision and there are too many obstacles to expand Anfield. Daglish and many others might not like it but I think there is not a lot of option other than moving to Stanley Park.
Sentiments aside, there are many positives of moving such as improved traffic, more jobs for the community (sports/leisure) centre, besides the obvious of improved revenue from capacity.
I am just worried that the added expense of buidling a stadium from scratch may affect us like Arsenal until the debts of the stadium are paid off, meaning a move towards cutting costs and frugality in the transfer market.
What does everyone think regarding a possible 20 million improved offer for Downing?? This is dragging on like the Barry saga.
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 #521 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 2:38 am
Modric is on £40k a week. Ngog on about the same and turned Sunderland down flat when they refused to pay that. I believe we missed out on Wickham because of that.
I dont get why the deadwood still have squad numbers training in the fareast. I’d tell them to find another club and publicly declare they are surplus to requirements. Shame them into fucking off. I dont want to hear shit from Cole or Poulsen about fighting for their place.
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 #522 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 2:53 am
The club should build a new stadium. I think Ayre is being a tad economical with the truth when he says a refurbishment brings in the same revenue as a new build coz they’ll both be 60k seats. What he didnt mention was that corporate hospitality is worth a lot of money and a new stadium can tap into that far more than a redeveloped anfield. Naming rights for new stadium could generate up to £200m. A new stadium in stanley park also gives us the chance to expand beyond 60k in the future. Anfield does not. The club have had planning permission since 2003 and still no decision on how best to progress.
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 #523 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 5:16 am
Would be great to see a commitment to the stadium problem by September, but thankfully we’ve got the season kicking off well before the stadium “deadline”…
Is it me or is anyone else thinking that we maybe signing the “marquee” player last and that he maybe a ligit LB? lol, I’ll go as far as saying Leighton Baines maybe that person!
Bring on the start of the season already!
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 #524 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 8:31 am
I would welcome Leighton Baines, great little full back with a good cross & shot.
Rome, I was also going to remind Digger that Lucas was far & away our player of the season – in everyone’s eyes cept Digger’s 
Digger, I know Meireles was your player of the season (‘in your opinion’). Is tha because, like Rafa, you never liked Lucas & can’t accpet that he proved you wrong? Just an honest question, not a pop at you.
The thing with the stadium: the fans are obviously divided – refurbish or Stanley Park – so whatever Ian Ayre & FSG do, they are going to piss some people off. However, what LB mentions, if we upgrade Anfield to 60k, what happens in 10 years time when we need a 75k stadium? Will we be happy generating X revenue from the gate, when all our rival are generating XX? We would surely & slowly fall behind the pack. Of course my heart says ‘how can you leave a temple like Anfield’, but I’m sure John Henry is sensitive to this & would try & get the best developers & architects in, to try & create that ‘special atmosphere’? Unlike, say, The Emirates which is asthetically pleasing but has the atmosphere of a Bingo Hall on pensioners day?
Just my 2 cents worth on the stadium….what is the genral feeling in RAWK etc?
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 #525 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 8:58 am
Just noticed that Supersport here in SA will be broadcasting live, all of our pre-season friendlies – starting on Wednesday & ending on Aug 6th.
Looks like my season is starting already
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 #526 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 9:27 am
Lucas had a good season no doubt about it Rafa. Just not as good as Meireles in my opinion. Nothing to do with percieved likes or dislikes, just this observers opinion. But thanks for the reminder I stand alone!
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 #527 |
Yokohama Liverpool Fan
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 9:47 am
Diggerno, I think Raul Meireles was the lynchpin in the team until his injury and Suarez’s arrival. Lucas was the most consistent performer over the season, but in a less spectacular Kuyt like way.
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 #528 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
Which injury Yoko? I remember him picking up a coupla knocks alright but nothing significant that kept him out for any great length of time. He played 33 league games for us. Missed the last 2 of the season with a hamstring and we lost em both! I do however remember him slotting into midfield when Stevie was injured in October/November and he was outstanding for us.
As for your Suarez point, he landed on the last day of January when Meireles was in simply magnificent form. And Suarez’ arrival had no detrimental effect on that form whatsoever. In fact, if I remember correctly Meireles was the Barclays player of the month for February. So not really sure where you’re going with that point. But no matter, it seems the mooted is still attempted to be pushed through if todays papers are to believed. Apparently we’ve rejected cash plus Melo and are demanding 13.5mil. What gives the story credence is Melos furious riposte to Juve accusing them of a lack of respect and stating he will not be used as abargaining chip. So theres obviously some sort of dialogue going on. Curiously Juve wont take Aquilani but they want Meireles……..Mmmmmm……
I wonder…… actually I’ll put it to the blog, what would ye’re feelings be if it were Lucas who was being offered to Juve as the 13mil sacrificial lamb instead of Raul. Thoughts anyone?
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 #529 |
sachem
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 3:07 pm
Just a few things that have surfaced on twitter this afternoon. Haven’t been confirmed yet I don’t have any other sources.
But apparently Paul Konchesky is about to be confirmed as a Leicester City player (the fee is £1.5m).
Stewart Downing has just joined twitter and is receiving loads of abuse. Hopefully not from LFC supporters.
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 #530 |
rome77
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 3:35 pm
Digger
So you know for certain Raul wants to stay? because the term “sacrificial lamb” makes it sound like he’s been forced out of the door against his wishes.
(Melo does sound like a “sacrificial lamb”)
Now dont get me wrong i’d rather get rid of at least 3 differant midfielders before seeing him leave but “i want doesnt always get”
If Lucas was been offered for 13.5 id be shocked simply because i dont think we have anyone who could do his job.
LB
I think your been a bit harsh with Ngogg,he did more in the first 2 months than Cole did in the entire season and he’s on less than half the money.
Also there will be a profit when we do eventually sell him unlike the true deadwood.
I dont blame him for not wanting to move to that Manc infested Stadium of Shite either
YNWA
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 #531 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 4:07 pm
How bout Adam Johnson as an alternative to Stewart Downing? I’m sure Man City would let him go for not too high compared to Downing.
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 #532 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
Yeah pretty sure Rome. He did an interview at the end of May expressing his hopes that his deal would be improved. I’ll see if I can rustle it up for ya. Read elsewhere today that he tweeted or facebooked his desire to remain at Anfield. Tell ya what, I aint heard about any transfer request, put it to ya like that. Why would he wanna leave Rome? Makes no sense. Just had the season of his life, loves playing under Kenny (his words not mine), everythings going great except one thing – he was promised a raise and we reneged. He’s exactly what I said he is; a sacrificial lamb. Because we cant find buyers (who could?) for poulsen, smokin joe cole, aquilani etc. A joke of a situation. LB’s right, just fucken tell them to find new clubs. Their agents wouldent be long about cobbling together a deal from some club somewhere then. How can one who has contributed so much be the one to suffer so that the bums can warm the bench and keep Brukner company?
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 #533 |
sachem
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 4:46 pm
Sorry, the Downing twitter account was “as fake as a George Gillett shovel” according to Jim Boardman.
Will be interesting to see if the Konchesky rumour turns out to be true or false. If true, the offloading of deadwood has finally begun for real. Would still be quite a lot of work left in that department. If true, we’ve made a loss of £2m on Konchesky.
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 #534 |
rome77
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 5:16 pm
Ive heard it all before Digger and frankly its become a cliche, bottom line is he wants more money and if we sell him we want as much as we can get.
As long as we dont loan him out we’ll see a profit because nothing devalues a player more than a dreaded loan.
well apart from a player saying “I want to leave”
All the rest is a grey area for the grey matter to ponder on.
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 #535 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 5:25 pm
Theres nothing grey about it whatsoever. It couldent concievably be much clearer. But then again……
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 #536 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 5:38 pm
Miereles said today in china that he is staying at the club, so it looks like our SECOND best player of the season wants to stay,
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 #537 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
Ace news Col, cheers mate. Any link or source?
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 #538 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
Meireles was asked if he is staying and his reply was “of course” apparently. We’ve offloaded Jova and Koncheski – lovely jovely.
As for Ngog, he had the chance to go to a decent football club and be a first team regular. He could have really established himself but instead chose to stay with us where he’ll be lucky to get a place on the bench. Where is the professional pride with these players?
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 #539 |
dougle
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 6:59 pm
IF the Konch moves …. and IF we get 1.5m for him then I think FSG will look at it as 1.5m (plus 3 years wages ? ~ 4.5m ?) gained. Yep 6m gained for them. FSG didn’t buy him so whatever was paid for him doesn’t really matter to them.
That’s the right way to look at it too. He was going to contribute nothing to the team … ever, so getting him off the books for(any) kind of fee would be rather cool in my opinion.
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 #540 |
dougle
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 7:01 pm
LB is Jova gone too ? Where to ? How much ? I heard nothing about that.
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 #541 |
McrRed
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 7:18 pm
Just my twopenneth on Marquee signings:
I don’t two fucks about ‘em.
Just sign the right players and they’ll become household names anyway…
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 #542 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 8:04 pm
I read that Jova was 99% going to Anderlecht and 1% going to Lille. Quotes from his agent. He’s met with both clubs.
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 #543 |
koped49
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
McrRed im with if we get the right players the will shine for us, as you know it about getting the right pegs in the right holes. An
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 #544 |
koped49
Posted on July 12, 2011 @ 8:18 pm
we do need to get rid of some of the shite we have had thrust upon us by mid table mary. but it will take time.
And i think kenny and his team have a good idea of what they are trying to achieve.
With the extra depth that we now have we the new buys and the guys who have come back from loan we have a depth of good players. so acouple of other positions filled and we will have a squad (if all goes well) we will be in the top 4 places.
then we can build from there you cant expect to go to the top until the squad as settled together.
Once settled it then becomes easier to import and export the players we need to, and dont forget Kenny is not afraid to get rid of any player when he fells it time for them to go.
roll on tomorrow at least we can watch a game form the tour.
YNWA
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 #545 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:18 am
Konch is gone , signed for the foxes this morning, good riddance
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 #546 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:46 am
P.s. Give your mum all the best from us scouse scum . Cunt !
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 #547 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 4:23 pm
Just watched the pre season friendly. Not bad from some of the young uns. Shelvey could be something special very soon I think. He has all the hallmarks to be the next Gerrard. Commentator kept mistaking Kelly for Flanagan but it’s all good. Ngog scored a nice goal but always seems to be moving in slow motion. Pacheco did well, Spearing did well in the middle. THe young boys had more energy in the first half than the “oldies” in the second half. Was so happy to see Alberto playing. He had a few misplaced passes but the ideas were good and given time he can definitely do the business for LIverpool. I hope he stays. We saw some of Adam’s trademark bombs to the flanks. It will be nice to have some pacy wingers to receive them and cross them back in. Joe Cole looks energetic and created the first goal. I wonder if he will still be there come the beginning of the season. Poulsens goal has hopefully caught somebody’s eye to take him off our hands. Welcome back Dagger. Nice goal for young Connor Coady.
Yep…
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 #548 |
London Red
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 7:56 pm
http://bit.ly/pqYzIX link to highlights of friendly
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 #549 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 10:55 pm
the reds have agreed a fee with the villa for downing
welcome to LFC stuart
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 #550 |
corklfc
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:01 pm
lb will be thrilled to hear we have agreed a for downing, the squad is really taking shape now, it is a bit of a change to see business being done so efficiently compared to the previous years. Konc gone, jova nearly also
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 #551 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:15 pm
Leftback next? Cissokho would be good!
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 #552 |
corklfc
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:40 pm
Another item on the to do list ticked today, and I would be fairly sure left back is next on the list.
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 #553 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 13, 2011 @ 11:46 pm
Man, what a diffence FSG have made, awesome that we’ve been conducting our transfer business very early in the transfer window for a change….
Wow, we’ve actually got a left winger that’s proven in the premier league and isn’t injury prone! That’s a change from the days of Kewell…
Im still banking on us looking for a LB now… Although in all honesty I really liked having Glenda and Kelly on our flanks!
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 #554 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:28 am
I had managed to engage Tony Evans (Scouse Journalist for the Times) in a conversation on twitter. Him and Tony Barrett hinting thats our business done with and its all about clear out now. So I ask about left back. They reckon we dont need one as we have Johnson and Flano. The more difficult my questions were the more cryptic the answers became. Typical. Get more sense on fans forums.
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 #555 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:53 am
Agreed, between Glenda, Aurellio, flanno, robo and Kelly were looking pretty good for the flanks… But if Tony Evans is correct why were we trying to sign Gael Clichy?
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 #556 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 1:10 am
Good question! I think it would be a mistake to go into the new season without a proper quality left back.
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 #557 |
sachem
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 1:14 am
The two Tony’s are usually correct (though I seem to have vague recollections of Evans as a China-monger), but it’s strange there was so much talk about Clichy, and Enrique before that, if Kenny and Comolli weren’t looking to sign a new LB. Agreed, Glenda played well as a LB last season, and if both Flano and Robinson can be used there as well, then perhaps we would be pretty well equipped for that position.
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 #558 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 2:03 am
Actually, I rate Aurelio over Glenda at LB, only that he’s more fragile than a waffer cracker…
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 #559 |
ykleong
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 2:10 am
The Reds have landed in Malaysia early this morning!
Fans over here are looking forward to see them in action. It will be a “Anfield” like atmosphere come this Saturday at the 80,000 capacity stadium…
Have taken off today to watch them train and then matchday this Saturday!!!!
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 #560 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 3:24 am
Good that we signed Downing. Its much better to have a proper left footed winger compared to having no one but i just wonder what would be our transfer targets be like if Rafa was in charge with FSG as owners.
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 #561 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 4:58 am
To be honest it’s looking like a fairly easy to guess the run out team for the beginning of the season…
Actually, does anyone resonably expect StevieG to be playing much of a role in the upcomming season? He’s becomming a distant memory with the lack of games he’s been playing for us of late….
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 #562 |
dougle
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 8:28 am
YNWAlancey – This is a really big season for Stevie in my opinion. He needs to stay fit and play regularly or else …. I reckon without a center half, left full and support striker we are not a complete package.
But I could be wrong !!
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 #563 |
corklfc
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 8:58 am
Based on the squad we have, and assuming everyone is fit, here is my take on the 1st team & 2 team
1st Team
Pepe
Glenda Carra Agger ??????
Lucas Adam
Suarez Gerrard Downing
Carroll
2nd Team
Doni
Kelly Skrtel Soto Flano/Robinson
Spearing Shelvey
Hendo Raul Maxi
Dirk
Other players
Aqua
J Cole
Poulson
Wilson
Aurelio
Pacheco
Ngog
Insua
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 #564 |
Sambo
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 9:37 am
we still need a CB and a LB in my opinion.
i’m a big fan of kelly and flanno, but i’d like to see them support and learn from a more experienced player until they manage win a regular place ahead of him.
we leaked goals last season and the season before with the CBs we’ve got. for me this is a key area if we’re going to challenge… for anything. Dagger’s great on the ball but worries me a bit when it comes to keeping the goals out. he got skinned by that Chinese player! Skrts improved a lot last season so i reckon he should start, but we need a new partner for him. sorry to all the Carra fans out there, but his passing had me tearing my hair out last season.
unrelated to liverpool but…. Xabi’s latest comments about Fabregas really pissed me off. what does he expect, that Barca just need to drop a hat to land any player they want. fuck him, and fuck Barca too. big fan of the football, but hate the arrogance.
if you ask me, 4 big British signings is quite reassuring for the future…. as long as they don’t play shit and get sold for a loss in 2 years! supposing Carroll cost 35mill, that makes 83mill for 4 players who’ve never really proved themselves at any level.
hope Downing proves the doubters wrong, but in fairness to the doubters, i’ve got a few doubts as well. 20 million…. fuckin ‘ell!
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 #565 |
Sambo
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 10:02 am
when i say “any level” i mean “any high level”. Downing is a proven PL player, but he hasn’t really set the league alight.
on a more positive note, i’m fuckin excited about seeing this team play. there is a lot of quality in the side now. can’t wait to see what Adam can offer us. it’s defo the best squad we’ve had since 08/09, and if we can get close to those kinds of performances we’ll be in the top 4.
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 #566 |
sachem
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 11:00 am
Sambo:
You mean Xavi’s comments about Fabregas right? I’m so sick of that transfer saga I don’t really give much of a toss any more, but previously I’ve thought that in fairness most clubs use dirty tricks to get ahold of the players they want. Even though I’m usually a fan of Wenger’s, I do understand Barca are pretty frustrated when some of their finest talent are robbed from them. Fabregas has been at Arsenal since the age of 16, but Wenger must have foreseen the trouble that has been going on the last few years when he nicked him from Barca in the first place.
Concerning Dagger I don’t quite agree with you Sambo. When fit he’s one of the finest defenders in the league in my opinion, both offensively and defensively. We certainly could use a new CB though, as I don’t trust Dagger to stay fit for a whole season. After all, we’ve been linked with the likes of Scott Dann, Gary Cahill and Phil Jones before he signed for the mancs.
I don’t think Jones will feature regularly for them in the near future, but if we are to sign a new CB we need someone with similar qualities to those of Dagger and Jones. Think I’ve said it before, but I would go for Dagger’s fellow Dane Simon Kjær of Wolfsburg. I’m certain that lad’s got a great future ahead of him.
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 #567 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 11:03 am
So here’s my take on downing lads, why don’t we just give the lad a chance, we are turning into the bunch of bitches! Fuck sake!
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 #568 |
burgerman
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 11:11 am
Degen and Kyrgiakos are trousering 100k a week.The former hasn’t completed a game in 3 seasons.Makes Paul Stewart look good ! The euros next season give Poulsen etc a good reason to move.Who plays wide right next season ? SG ?
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 #569 |
Sambo
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:30 pm
Sachem
not sure what you mean by “Arsenal nicked Fabregas”. don’t know much about that deal, but would be surprised if Wenger demanded him and then accused Barca of holding him hostage when they asked for a reasonable price. sorry to keep going on about this, but it really pisses me off. He’s Arsenal’s captain, and best player. if Barca want him, they have to pay market value (about 50mill in today’s crazy marketplace), not just bitch and moan that he isn’t being handed over.
i know this is unrelated to LFC, but it just highlights the point i made a while back that signing British players gives a bit more security against this kind of situation. players like Nasri and Hleb piss me off as well.
as for Dagger, i hope you’re right mate. when he first burst into the team i thought we’d struck gold. i love the way he drifts effortlessly forward, and what a shot. i know he’s had a bad run of injuries, but i’ve still been pretty disappointed with his work in the box over the last couple of seasons. he doesn’t seem commanding enough. we concede a lot of sloppy goals. i’m talking proper bloody sloppy. i think Dagger has been at fault for a few of them (can’t remember any specifics). before we can think about winning anything, we need to tighten up at the back, however we do it. i hope Dagger’s the man, i really do.
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 #570 |
Sambo
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:36 pm
kopcolly, not sure if that was directed at me, but i’m all for getting behind Downing, and i’ve been advocating his signing as the kind of player to take us back to the top 4. i hope he’s a huge success for us. you’ve got to admit though, 10mill on N’Zogbia seems better value. Kenny must really really really rate him.
anyway, welcome to Anfield Stu!
|
 #571 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:52 pm
Sambo, have you had a look at our stats when Agger plays? Basically we concede a lot less goals and we hardly ever lose. In my opinion he is our best defender when properly fit. You don’t seem him making last minute lunging tackles because his positioning is fantastic. His reading of the game is first class as well. Unfortunately when not match fit players make mistakes because the pace of the game catches them off guard mentally as well as physically. Agger has not been match fit often in the last couple of years which is a damn shame.
I’ll try and dig up those Agger stats for you.
As for Arsenal nicking Fabregas. In spain a football club cannot sign a player to a professional contract before his 17th birthday. As a result other clubs who are allowed to such as British clubs have been sniffing around the academies in Spain to sign players under the age of 16. They offer big money to the kid and his family and often the family follow the money and take the kid out of the academy and – in Fabregas’ case – to London. The Barca youth coaches were fuming at the time. They were also fuming when we did exactly the same with Pacheco. The mancs did the same thing with Gerard Pique but Barca bought him back before the mancs realised they had a great player on their hands.
Barca’s attitude is that they see Fabregas as their player that wants to come home. I couldn’t give a shit either way but I do see both points of view on it.
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 #572 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 12:59 pm
Sorry, I meant other clubs try to sign players from Spain UNDER the age of 17 not 16.
And to add to the Agger debate. Have you ever seen him get skinned by the likes of Drogba, Rooney, Van Persie and the other top strikers in the PL? Not really IMO. However Carra gets skinned by Drogba time and time again and players with great movement like Rooney tend to run rings around Skrtel.
We all hate the fact he is injured so often but I have just had a thought. If he had been playing every week over the past 2-3 seasons I think there is a good chance we’d have lost him to Real Madrid/Barca/Citeh/Chavs. He’d quite possibly have gone the Alonso/Macherano/Torres route.
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 #573 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
Sambo that wasn’t directed at you mate, we support the best club in the world, we have kenny as our manager, & we gave solid owners, it’s time for all the bitch’n to stop( myself included) , let the owners & boot room do there job & let’s all get behind them, enough of the dummy throw’n & feet stamp’n, I want it & I want it now bullshit, let’s back the club , the season is only around the corner, & as aitch has said time & time again 4th place at least ! YNWA !
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 #574 |
blud red
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 2:58 pm
4th place at least?
i’m looking at no.1. so is kenny. he said so himself. so are fsg. they might be diplomatic, but if you think anyone connected to the club wants anything else than 1st, then you’re dreaming.
i stick my neck out. i want 1st place this season. so i’ll set my sights that high. yes, you can bring out all the stats you want and reasons why this might not be possible. you will talk about the emergence of spurs and the spending power of city and chelsea and andre villas boas and all those other reasons that might stand in the way. you may cite alex fergussons prowess and the fact that other clubs can attract champions league footballers. you can be as pragmatic before the event as as wise afterwards as you wish. but i’m in 100% percent in agreement with shanks who said “you have to believe you are the best, then go out and make sure you are.”
for me you don’t believe you can compete for 4th place. you don’t ring andy carrolls agent and say, hey man, come and join our team, we’re going to try our best to get 4th. you don’t chase suarez with dreams of hanging round the margins of the europa league. you say, this is where we are now, and this is where we’re going.
with these guys there is one mandate. to win. to build the perfect product. to be recognised for greatness and not to be damned by faint praise. for them it’s not the taking part that counts, its the winning. they have come to market to buy the best football club in the world. not the 4th best.
for me liverpool are one of the greatest footballing institutions in the world. i watched the crazy malays chanting when the team arrived. they believe we are capable of winning the EPL. so do i. without doubt.
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 #575 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 4:03 pm
That’s us told then. We’re the best in the world and we will win the lot this season.
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 #576 |
Aitch
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
Errr… hang on, I never said “4th place at least ”
… have a look a few comments back… what I said was…
We WILL challenge for the Title this season…
… and I didn’t say it through rose-tinted, we are LFC and have a right to it, glasses…
I said it coz I believe some of our players to be far better than some would have you believe they are.
I said it coz we’ve played large parts of the last 2 seasons without our best players… and still not done so bad.
I said it because while the players we’ve signed might not be headline grabbing Superstars, what they are, are players with the following Opta stats:
“Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson created 239 goal scoring chances between them last season”
… and I reckon assists and an occasional goal from them, might just be good for an extra 12 – 15 points next season…
Added to Andy Carrol and Luis Suarez getting a full season.
There’s a fair bit of unrest at some of our so-called rivals.
I’m referring to the Arse, Spurs and Citeh.
And so far… neither the Chavs or Scum have strengthened significantly.
Obviously they still have time to, for instance if Scum were to get Schneijder, that’s a bit of a game changer, but…
I’m actually predicting that stallwart of Kenny Management… A Double!
To steal a Matt Damon line… “how do you like them apples?”
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 #578 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 9:49 pm
sorry aitch, i didnt mean to say you said fourth at least, i meant to say fourth at least for me,( i wrote that on my way to work at 5:30 this morning)& forth is the benchmark i believe we will achieve at least, my bad !
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 #579 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 9:51 pm
do we need to send a search & rescue for mr timmy suarez?
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 #580 |
elbmw
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 10:55 pm
Colly I dont know if timmysuarez attended the Irish Kopblog gathering but from what I can see the only survivors were Dougle and Corkie LOL!
Anyway it seems that the worlds worst kept secret turned out to be true and we are on the verge of signing Downing. Salary and medical issues aside.
Hmn maybe Im reading too much into this but I wonder if we are signing Mata too as there has been equal amounts of speculation surrounding that player as there had been with SD.
And lets not forget the friendly with Valancia in August. Its not unusual for teams to organise a friendly as part of the transfer deal but I guess we’ll wait and see. But IF it did happen then that would be one BIG statement of intent by FSG and KK.
But either way I think were all agreed that what’s needed now is a quality left back, unless the medical team feel that they have managed to locate enough araldite to fix Aurelio.
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 #581 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 11:33 pm
Maybe a search and rescue for Gerry? Its stating too take way too long to load this page up….
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 #582 |
corklfc
Posted on July 14, 2011 @ 11:40 pm
Timmy didn’t make to the gathering in west cork, and the way donal was sinking pints of murphys he might never make his way out!
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 #583 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 12:22 am
elbmw, lol! im sure the lads had a blast!id have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the irish massive had there shindig!
i hope your right regarding mata , i thought/hoped the same when i heard the fixture was arranged, kenny has left asia early to return ti liverpool, i quess its to be there to welcome downing to the club as i know WE ALL WILL:)
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 #584 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 8:34 am
Morning sports fans haven’t time to read all the comments since the friendly but I was Impressed with most of the game, the squad is really shaping up. We are putting together a good bunch of players with a class management structure I think we will see a greater camaraderie between the players over the course of the season something we haven’t seen for a couple of seasons and something that can win those tricky games we tend to draw. Price for Downing is a lot and probably means Raul out the door which is not good but if we were to sign Enrique for 10-12mil with the funds from the sale I think its safe to say we will more then challange spuds n arse for fourth and if the others play like they did last year we could well give them a run for their money too.
Here we go again ever the optimists although I wont be sharing that view with fans from other clubs lets keep it low key eh
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 #586 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 4:39 pm
Better believe it Redman! I thought the 39th game was a good idea because of the passion of fans all over world for the PL. The idea was shot down in flames and everyone went into protectionism mode. Imagine Liverpool vs Man Utd in Asia.
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 #587 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
@TheRedMan : That video is circulating big time. I am from India. To be precise from a place called Pune. Next week on Sunday,will attend a LFC supporters Pre season meet. Across various cities in India, we have LFC supporters group. These groups are massive and they continuously organize events on matchdays.
The game is huge in Asia and the amazing marketing potential LFC has got is only for all of us to realize.
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 #588 |
Aitch
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
I’m not entirely sure what it is you are so sure I’m wrong about sachem?
Matt Damon not only uttered the “apples” statement in “Good Will Hunting”, but in doing so, is largely credited with the phrase seeing a resurgence in use… as is fuckin credited in the 2nd paragraph of the url you listed when telling me I was wrong… WTF?
As for my statement about us challenging… well you are welcome to believe I’m wrong about that… by all means there are plenty of seats in the glass-half-empty, black & white section next to Digger…
Look, we all need to have reasonable expectations… I get that…
… but honestly, (and yes, the window is still open and things could change before the whistle in August, but) I don’t think an immediate challenge is that unreasonable given the current circumstances…
… me I’ll continue to look at a team rebuilt by Rafa, that got knocked to the carpet, not by its opponents, but by its own hierarchy…
… a team devastated, not on the field, but in the board room..
… but a team… in spite of that… that is now unified from top to bottom.
I completely understand why people think LFC is no longer a top 4 team.
In this supposedly black & white world that Digger lives in, we finished 7th and 6th, so sure…
… but we did so NOT because we had a shite team, shite players, or a poor manager (though that was true for 6 months)…
… but because we had 2 owners constantly pulling in the directions of their own, non-unified agendas…
…we had a CEO who was under fire from all sides and left with only the option of playing the manger against the owners (individually and collectively)…
… we then had a replacement CEO who played everyone off against everyone, players, manager, owners, fans…
…we had a manager caught in the middle…
…we then had a replacement manager, who while I didn’t rate, in his defense was on a hiding to nothing from the off… caught between a useless CEO, 2 useless owners and several cliques of powerful players…
…LFC has taken some real body blows in the last 2 seasons… but while we are certainly not as strong yet as the team that finished 2nd, we are also not hell-and-away from the strength of the team that finished 2nd… not by a long shot.
We now have a unified board/upper management that is moving us in the right direction… and as importantly, ALL pulling in that same direction… and so far, making the right decisions off the field…
We now have a management structure with Comolli, Dalglish, Clarke that are making the right decisions for our present and our future… and so far, making the right decisions on the field…
We have a decent squad of good players, and have added real quality to it.
And we have some very talented young players coming through the ranks, not just this season, but continually for the next 3-4 seasons.
We have outfitted ourselves very well against our competitors over the last 2 seasons.
When I look at the games we lost to those competitors…
…the opening game 2 seasons ago vs Spurs, where we lost both Carra and Skrtel early on, and finished the game with Kyrgiakos and Ayala (our 4th choice and an academy player) at CB.
… the 1-in-1000 Pepe mistake in last season’s opener, and even the 1-in-100 Arshavin Roadshow performance he has never even come close to duplicating since that handed Arsenal a point each…
… the defend-for-55 minutes and don’t cross the half-way line tactical approach Roy took to the first Scum game last season… and his similar approach to the first City game…
… what I see is NOT “ultimately” failure to get the points necessary to combat the “black & white” points on the board…
… but the ever so tantalizingly slim margin between the “gray area” of success and failure…
…. Seriously, when we beat those same teams… we didn’t just scrape past them, we fuckin embarrassed them…
Where we have failed in recent seasons, is not in the head-to-head “6 pointers” but in dropping “silly” points to bottom half-teams…
… and that is where I see our summer signings strengthening us.
I understand why people are reserving their optimism… we’ve been here before…
…on the brink after the Treble, but not only unable to capitalize, all too eager to erode the gains…
and on the brink again in 2005… but with the wrong custodians at the helm…
FSG buying, then appointing Comolli and Kenny, and the subsequent team restructuring is something I view in the same light ats those two successful seasons… a victory off the field… silverware at board/operational level…
… can we now capitalize on the resurgence we saw between Feb and May???
That’s the big question…
… what I’m seeing suggests we can!
…and for the love of god Gerry, would you please post a new blog… once past 300 comments this site is hell for my pc to load…
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 #589 |
pshenava
Posted on July 15, 2011 @ 11:25 pm
My first post in a long long time. All I have to add is that I’m very excited. We went after our targets and have mostly ticked them off. This is very good business in my view.
Commend FSG on being so bold. Kenny, Commoli and FSG surely have a plan. We will see it unfolding during this season. In them I trust.
The intent has been positive and I feel they believe that we can challenge for the title and so do I.
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 #590 |
Sambo
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 1:28 am
comments from Comolli on the official site definitely suggest that’s it for ‘transfers in’ for this window, so Kenny must be satisfied that we’ve got the talent coming through to do the jobs in defense.
strange though. we spent most of last season desperate for a left back, with Agger and Robinson filling in there. we get a shed load of money to spend in the summer, and buy 3 midfielders….
in fairness, when Agger was playing at LB, that was under Woy who didn’t seem as willing to bring the youngsters through. Kelly, Flanno, and to some extent Robinson showed that we’re not as desperate as we thought. still, we all agreed a LB was a top priority and it hasn’t happened.
i suppose Kelly and Glenda are our first choice fullbacks now, with Flanno and Robinson backing them up. Fabio will probably stand on a piece of Lego before the season starts and be out for 6 months so he can’t be relied upon at all. sorry to be pessimistic, but i predict another fullback crisis this season. plus, i’ve got my doubts that Robinson is ready for a lengthy spell in the first team if Glenda gets another serious knock.
i’ve also got a few fears about the centre halves. Carra, Agger, and Skrts are just about up to standard, but for me, Sato looks like a player who was bought in out of desperation by a manager with no money to spend (funny that). i know he’s a bit of a cult hero and he has put in some decent performances, but for me he’s no more a genuine LFC player than Konch. he would never have been signed if all was right in the boardroom. a couple of injuries at the back (say… a smash of heads in the first game of the season) and we’re back to where we were 2 years ago with sub-standard players filling in, and no one in reserve.
everyone said last year that our squad was thread bare. well, we’re still in exactly the same position in those same areas… we’ve just got a wider range of midfielders now. nothing’s changed. we’re all praying that none of our defenders get injured or we’re fucked.
sorry to be a downer, but someone needs to counter Aitch’s title predictions
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 #591 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 5:59 am
Sambo, Soto has put in 2 (I think) MOTM performances for us. I doubt wether Konch would ever have. So glad he is out the door.
A few days ago, I was comparing the values of Downing v Mata. I still know that Mata is the better player, but I am quite excited about our 3 purchases.
And as mentioned before, we have a couple of players coming back ( i hope) from injury. Imagine a season without injuries for Agger, Gerrard & Aurelio? I suppose that’s asking too much.
But what I am looking forward to, is a decent set-piece specialist setting up chances for Stevie G, AC and the boys. Can any of you recall a goal scored from a set piece in the last 3 seasons? No, I can’t. There have been one or two, but we should be knocking in at least 1 every 2 or 3 games.
So Downing was not my first choice, but looking at some ‘footage’ of him from last season, AC should be licking his chops. So am I, as I struggle to remember a Liverpool side with a genuine winger. If Kenny was prepared to chase SD & pay a lot of money for him, then, well, who I am to argue?
And I have watched a bit of the Cop America. I am glad Suarez is ours!
As Deadly Dirk said, we now have a couple of quality players in every position & all the players are excited & optimistic.
We relied on a certain Spanish striker & Stevie G to score our goals. We now seem to have several avenues: a 6ft5 striker and a mercurial, silky South American, backed up by the Deadly Dutchman & Stevie G, and now we can add Charlie Adam & his dead-ball skills & his intelligent passing. Oh, and Downing’s wing-play.
Much to be positive about.
And what of our rivals? The scum have strengthened their side, no doubt about it. Even without Sneijder.
The chavs have just lost their best midfielder for 6 months (Essien), and their 2nd best (Lampard) is past it. They have bought a sulky striker for 50mill, and their other one is older & out of touch. All they have going for them is Villas Boas.
The spuds will always be beatable – especially with Arry’s questionable tactics – and everyone wants to jump ship at the Arse.
Shiteh will be up there, but it doesn’t seem to be a happy camp & if they lose Tevez, they won’t be the same force.
So yes, like a lot of you, I am optimistic for this season. Oh, and we are starting the season without Hodge Podge in charge. Great, innit?
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 #592 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
Look, at the fucking size of Insua!!
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 #593 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 12:20 pm
Aquilani is quality man..we cannot sell him!!
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 #594 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 12:32 pm
Am out and not able to watch the game, good to see two goals from insua crosses.
LB – do you mean Insua’s fat, muscular, small?
I thought he ran out of contract this summer is that not true? He’s an interesting option for LB this year.
Interesting all british side (except Reina)
…………..Reina
Flanno….Kelly…Carra…Robinson
……..Spearing……Adam
Hendo……..Gerrard……Downing
………….Carroll
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 #595 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 12:47 pm
Great friendly match against Malaysia. 6-3. Aquilani looked really good. Man of the Match.
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 #596 |
Sambo
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
oops. forgot about Insua when i was whinging about fullback options. if he pushes hard for a place that definitely makes the position a bit for competitive. maybe we’re alright.
didn’t catch the game. will have a look at some highlights now. good to hear Aquaman played well. LFC centre mid is looking like the most competitive position in world football! no player is a sure-fire cert to start there every week. personally i’m hoping Lucas and Adam create a legacy, but i’ll be just as happy if any of the others become legends!
Rafalution, i wasn’t saying that Kyrgiakos is as bad as Konch, they’re just in the same boat for me. Soto might’ve looked good on occasion, but he also looked a bit lumbering and bewildered on occasion as well. The scum are winning titles with their defense. they’re nothing special without it. and that’s surely why tramp made Jones his first priority. we’re weak at the back these days. i don’t think you’d ever see Soto anywhere near a Liverpool shirt under normal circumstances. i’d love to see Scott Dann come in and have the other 3 fighting for their spots.
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 #597 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 2:10 pm
The game was good… still a little loose defending but that will iron itself out. Adam did well in the middle but my man of the match was clearly aquaman. Had some nice passes and passed the ball and controlled the tempo in the middle. We could finally enjoy the player Rafa meant us to have, if we don’t sell him off that is. Come on Kenny!! You gotta keep him!
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 #598 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 5:26 pm
Insua looked looks overweight big time. Fast, mobile wingers will have a field day against him IMO.
If we freeze out or sell Aquilani it won’t be for footballing reasons. He’s class. Lucas, Adam, Aqua is an interesting midfield trio. But then we have Raul, Henderson and Gerrard. And Downing, Maxi, Spearing, Shelvey. Who’ll be sold/loaned out?
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 #599 |
Aitch
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 10:06 pm
Wow really LB… Insua is fat is what you took from that performance.
He had 3 assists and that would have doubled if the forwads had been on similar form.
I thought he looked more like Arnold Schwartzenegger than he did Tom Arnold.
Still lots of rustiness as is to be expected when playing through jetlag, and the cohesiveness is missing from the “new Lineups”.
A couple of players were trying a bit too hard… notably Adam I thought… for every pass he got right, he launched one wrong… and for all his good movement, he stagnated midfield just as much… but I reckon he just needs to relax into things and he’ll get there.
Thought Poulsen put in a good shift… most won’t want to admit that coz it flies in the face of the “he’s crap” diagnoses… but it was a good enough performance to convince Copenhagen to court him further.
The only real disappointment for me was Wilson, again, who hasn’t shown me anything at either left-back or CB to convince me he’s up to Prem level.
A decent warm up, on yet another shite pitch, with some sloppy possession and only a few defensive lapses allowing them back into the game.
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 #600 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 16, 2011 @ 10:25 pm
Aitch, I’ve always rated Insua going forward. He is good at overlapping and puts in a good cross. But in 09/10 I thought he had bulked up a bit too much and had lost mobility as a result. It meant he was a bit of a liability defensively. I must say when I saw him come on today the first thing I thought was what I wrote in post #592. He looks big in the face as well as the body. I think fullbacks need to be athletes and able to turn/change direction easily. Otherwise, faced with a tricky/pacey winger they’ll get skinned.
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 #601 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 6:44 am
Alberto Aquilani cant be sold. It is as simple as that. Yesterday, he was the best player by some distance. He is intelligent, he is good on the ball. To be fair to him, he has not done anything wrong. He came injured and then was made to suffer by Roy and his ‘woyous’ ideas. At Juventus he was amongst the top 3 player all season. Give him the chance and i am sure he can drive this Liverpool midfield.
To me Kenny can make use of all of them and we would need both Raul and Aqua to be with us if we are to mount a serious challenge. I dont know Kenny much but i am sure he is one of those who would tell the media that top 4 is our target but will have his eyes set on something more than that.
Aqua is my man for the coming season !!!
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 #602 |
koped49
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 8:29 am
Aquaman had a good game, looking composed and confident on the ball. he had good vision and set up some first time passes which split the defence.
He is the type player we need against the bus parkers, we need players who can see the pass inadvance of doing it, he was always ready to move the ball on with just one touch.
He had a great one two with deadly on one occassion which was as good a move as as been seen for a while by any midfield player.
Personally think he would be a great asset to the team, we need to sell others before players like him and Raul, keep them both.
And we should also give Insua a chance to prove himself. He was only young when we had to play him to often due to circumstance at the time.
He was never given the time in the lower sides to progress.
Just give him a chance.
Bring on the season. YNWA
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 #603 |
ykleong
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 9:36 am
@theredman, I am from Malaysia and was seated 7-8 rows away from that Manc supporter shown in the video. He was asking for it and he was provoking us by showing off his Manc jersey (with the number 10 and the name Rooney) while walking to his seat. Guess what? He had no choice but took off his shirt and escorted out of the stadium but returned with a Malaysia national jersey. You should see his face as he almost pissed in his pants.
And during match day yesterday, almost 80000 fans were at the stadium and the atmosphere was electrifying. YNWA was sung over and over again….I’m having a sore throat now.
Though we’re thousand miles away from anfield, rest assured that the support from us here in Asia is no less breathtaking.
There was a banner in the stadium yesterday that summed up my sentiment that reads “Malaysian by birth, Kop by choice”!
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 #604 |
ldono2
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Http://yfrog.com/Kg5f5dj
This is a photo Insua posted of himself on Twitter. When i saw the clips of him playing yesterday i thought he looked a lot fitter and more athletic than he did 09/10! And he certainly doesnt look overweight to me in this photo. Even if he did have any extra weight on him, there’s still 4 weeks of pre-season to go.
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 #605 |
ldono2
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 11:55 am
Sorry guys, you might have to copy & paste that link to into your browser!
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 #606 |
theredman
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
YKLEONG,
thank’s for the info and it is really heartening to see the Malaysian LFC supporter’s doing their bit, but we cant seem to get rid of the manc scum they are like tick’s on a thoroughbred they will not ignore us until (if ever) they go past number 5.
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 #607 |
Sam82
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 5:56 pm
Just to add to ykleong, as reported in SinChew, a Malaysian (Chinese) newspaper, LFC sets a record for visiting teams from premier league by attracting 77000 ticket sales for the friendly match. Previous record was by Manure who managed 68000 in 2009. This is the first time LFC came to Malaysia. Even 38000 watched the team’s training session two days earlier.
YNWA!
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 #608 |
Aitch
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 6:04 pm
There’s a YouTube video of the lad yk was talking about… I’ll see if I can dig it up.
I seriously haven’t laughed this hard in a long, long time.
The gob on the kid when they make him take his shirt off is absolutely fuckin priceless.
Well Done Malaysian Reds!!!
Fair enough LB…
… though I actually thought he did exactly that, switching directions, turning one way and another, when getting past the Malaysian right back… with the caveat of the Mrb’s ability level in mind of course… but its not like he just blundered at him, or dumped crosses in first time.
… But I honestly don’t understand some people’s opinion of Insua…
…and I think Insua is victim of a myth now though.
I often hear people banging on about how easily Valencia skinned him… and he certainly got past him with ease 3 or 4 times… but he also got stopped dead in his tracks and had the ball stripped from him by Insua on an equal number of occasions.
There were plenty of times he positioned himself well, made the tackle, and instead of just knocking it out for a throw-in, stripped the ball from the forward, and strode out 10/15 yards with it… only to find everyone else standing static and not giving him an outlet.
All this Insua isn’t good enough nonsense overlooks the fact that…
Insua was never 1st choice, or even 2nd choice left back, he was 3rd choice left back…
He was never a “starting left back” …he simply had to start there for most of the season due to an unprecedented injury list that didn’t afford him the luxury of switching Johnson to left back, or playing an even younger kid there.
His season was one of circumstance, and people are far too quick to judge the things he did wrong in the latter half of the season…
… while completely overlooking all he did right (and it by far outweighed his mistakes.)
Its also worth noting that his performances kept Aurellio out of the team when he did regain fitness, and caused a “much higher rated” and more senior Italian defender to spit his dummy, rather than “competing for his place” and skulk off back to Italy with his tail between his legs.
Was he the finished article?
Of course not!
But I’d hate to see young Flannagan forced to play every game of the season because we have no other option at right back, coz I’d bet you money (and I rate his potential as a defender higher than Insua’s when I say this) that he’d struggle just as badly…
…and I’d suggest the final game vs Aston Villa, where Flanno got repeatedly skinned and made to look very vulnerable, would perhaps bare some evidence for such a statement?
People are also quick to overlook and factor in, that Insua was jetting around the world playing left back for Argentina in their WC qualifiers at the beginning of the season… combine our game schedule…. while trying to make the step-up from reserves to first team Prem footy with those Int’l games, plus all that flying and jetlag…
… I’m not the least bit surprised his performances dipped… especially in an unsettled team riddled with injuries, that forced a revolving door, of unsettled back four line-ups?
Everyone should have calmed down and given the lad some breathing room… all we were ever gonna get as a replacement at the time was the likes of Konchesky!
And personally, I’d have rather had Insua there than Konchesky… if only coz one had the potential to improve and the other didn’t.
I’m pretty confident in suggesting that both Insua and Aqua were bombed out as a deliberate PR move by Purslow to fortify the “Rafa’s failure” hypothesis…
Getting rid of 2 failed transfers substantiated his “Rafa must go” position…
… whereas if they’d been kept and played well, then it would have given ammo to the other side of the argument that Rafa should have stayed.
Just my opinion, mind you.
Adopts voice from the movie Warriors…
“Gerry…. come out to play…ay”
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 #610 |
theredman
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 7:09 pm
Aitch,
you probably never bothered your arse clicking on the link i put in,in 606.
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 #611 |
theredman
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 7:12 pm
Sorry,
that should read comment 585.
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 #612 |
Aitch
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
Sorry thered, didn’t mean to plagiarize and steal your fire!
Had a lot going on the last few weeks, and forgot that you’d already posted it.
As I said, once past 300 posts, this blog loads like a pig on my PC… so it takes a while to read and post… and lengthy posts as evidence to the contrary… I don’t have too much time to spend in here these days…
I try to get in, read up to date, as much as I can, but if I have something to add, it means having to post as quickly as I can… then get back to my workload.
That’s my excuse anyway
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 #613 |
theredman
Posted on July 17, 2011 @ 9:18 pm
Ha ha,
nice one Aitch (plagiarize) indeed, no harm done mate i thought it was me going round the bend you had me wondering if i had posted it or not, like the man halfway up the stairs did’nt know whether he was going up or coming down.
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 #614 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 12:20 am
that video is class, thanks for the link, & well done malaysian red’s!
|
 #615 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 2:54 am
looks like aqua & ngog could be staying at the club judge’n by john henrys latest tweets, good news me thinks:-)
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 #616 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 12:40 pm
Who’ll get flogged then?
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 #617 |
rome77
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 5:05 pm
LB
Judging from some of the ex-player commentator, its Aquillani who’s getting sold and i’m starting to hope he does.
Apparently Aquillani is not strong enough for the PL and everytime he got the ball, they mention the word “time” presumably pointing out how little time he will get in the PL.
Its more diplomatic than Mark Wright who got ripped to bits for his BS “passenger” agenda but its there all the same so for me its either get rid of the Commentators or the players they slag off.
I was hoping when we saw the back of Woy and Kenny came in all the backstabbing agendas by the ex players would stop and players would judged on merit but its not the case and to be honest i’m sick of it all.
Did anyone see Roy Evans after Lucas got player of the season ?
Normally i couldn’t give a fuck what any of our bitter ex players think or say,but its corrosive to the team and the Club and when i’m thinking about why we haven’t won the League in the last 20 years its up there with the more obvious reasons.
For me i think it time these ex players got shipped out, they have sat and sniped for too long and hid behind the Legend status that idiots like me gave them in the first place.
YNWA
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 #618 |
Aitch
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 7:34 pm
I think people have vested interests in these players…
Everyone has an opinion on these players… Ngog, Aquilani, Insua, … whoever…
… some rate them, some are indifferent, some almost seemingly despise them.
… when Aqua and Insua were bombed out, it substantiated the opinion that they were “not good enough”.
… if they now are brought back in form the cold and perform well for us, then it makes that opinion look shortsighted at best, foolish at worst… especially when there are those who have been pointing out their strengths and talents all along.
Believe it… ex-players have a vested interest in this…
…those who slagged Aquilani, were the same people who plowed an agenda against Rafa… same for Insua, and anything that proves them wrong and makes them look foolish is not in their own best interests.
And it’s not just Ngog, Insua and Aqua…
Hey LB… did you read Clarkie’s comments this morning?
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 #619 |
rome77
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 8:00 pm
Aitch
I actually deleted two players names from my comment
mainly because i didnt feel the need to mention them.
So it begs the question: Are you a mind-reader ?
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 #620 |
Aitch
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
No rome, but I am all-seeing, all-knowing, and the sooner people in here understand and accept that, the sooner we can all move on
And to answer your next question…
NO, its not wrong to fantasize about Natalie Portman, but…
YES, it is very definitely wrong to do so after watching Leon/The Professioal
(but I see where you’re coming from )
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 #621 |
rome77
Posted on July 18, 2011 @ 10:17 pm
Alright Aitch i was also going to mention the names of 3 ex-Managers in various context.
So for a bonus point, can you name the 3 i didnt mention
BTW I’m going to make it a bit more difficult and try the “old tin foil around the head” thing and see if it really works
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 #622 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 12:28 am
aitch, what did clarkie say?
|
 #623 |
rome77
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 12:46 am
Kopcolly
Aitch (the tease) won’t answer you untill i take my new shiny hat off
|
 #625 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 1:56 am
Thanks for the link Rome
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 #626 |
Aitch
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 2:25 am
dammit… I thought Claire Voyant had divorced me…
…that fuckin tin foil trick again?
It’s playing havoc with my reception.
But I’ll a have WILD a guess… Evans, Sounness… and maybe Roy?
That article was not my source, however…
Yes, I was referring to the “Joe Cole might have a part to play this season” comment from Clarke…
… in re the discussion I’d had with LB about the debate on whether he’s past it and (not exactly LB’s position) “deadwood” or could infact recover form and be a contributing cog.
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 #627 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 10:25 am
So then Cole staying, aqua staying, so I take it Raul could be the Man to move on, (huge mistake) suarez is also going to miss a chunk of the start of the season due to his teams progression in the copa
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 #628 |
blud red
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 12:07 pm
not sure where your getting your info from kopcolly.
i don’t see meireles moving anywhere and his price would be greatly inflated if anyone was tempted to put in an offer.
this is because i know kenny has identified the portugese players as pivotal to his plans.
in our weakened team last season i constantly saw flashes of genius. he may be weak in the challenge but he is decisive and generous going forward. he likes to play the short ball at pace and rarely hits a backward pass. lose meireles and we lose our initiative up front. i wouldn’t sell him for all the tea in yorkshire.
there is a lot of talk about us having a bulky midfield but i am more than happy with this situation. we have a squad that is beginning to look like the envy of the premier league. the possibilities in attack are endless.
i am particularly interested in the width we now have on left and right flank.
left flank, adam, downing, aurellio, maxi,
right flank, kuyt, maxi, gerrard, meireles, cole
i am also enjoying the possibility of seeing spearing play in a much better team which will help the lad grow. he’ll be playing alongside gerrard, henderson, adam and lucas on a much more regular basis, though obviously KK has different options for different opponents.
this bulk in the midfield will also take the pressure off the defense, allowing greater distribution to quality players like hendo, adam, meireles, gerrard, lucas. we should see less and less of the long ball game unless it is specifically designed for opponents with weaknesses in the air.
and if we get that marquee signing up front that most have wanted, we will have a very crowded squad indeed and i truly hope the reds can afford the wage bill.
personally i am full of admiration for the way the club has handled the summer market. even fergie has come out and said liverpool will be a force to reckon with. thats not something he would have admitted in times gone by. i can’t wait to see what KK has in mind.
|
 #629 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 1:00 pm
Aitch, when I read Clarke’s comments about Joe Cole my first thought was I hope to fuck he is just giving a cliché answer to a direct question OR trying to talk up Joe for the shop window. He’s hardly going to come out and say the player is shite and we can’t wait to get rid. So that remains my hope because as you all know by now I think Cole is finished as a top level player. It’s a wrap and anyone who thinks differently probably thinks Kenny himself could still play off Carroll and do a job! He is also taking up valuable resources (£90k per week). Those wages could pay the wages of a young, hungry back up striker and centre half. If I were I charge I’d tell him he’s not in my plans and is free to talk to other clubs. I’d take the number 10 squad number off him too. Chelsea fucked him off for a reason. They ain’t stupid enough to let a top performer leave for nothing. If we sell either Aquilani or Meireles and keep the likes of Cole I’ll be incandescent with rage.
We don’t really have a balanced squad yet in my opinion. We are overloaded in midfield, short at centre half, up front and left back.
I’ll be pissed off if come the start of the season we’re still talking about lacking a quality player at left back. Fabio should never have been recalled. Purslow and Roy should be hung. Insua is back up material. Flanagan is a great prospect but should not be thrown in the deep end yet. Johnson is a right back who can do a job at left back but we really shouldn’t be going into the new season with square pegs in round holes if we can help it.
A word on Aquilani – why on earth people labelled him a flop in his first season I don’t know. He showed quality! Scored a couple of goals, had 6 assists and looked class at times. Now he’s having a proper pre season we’d be fucking idiots to sell him. He’s one of our better players in my opinion.
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 #630 |
rome77
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
Aitch
I see the shiny hat worked but i think it effected your eyesight aswell 
I’d already mentioned Roy and Woy but your right about Souness.
London Red
When Kopcolly says “Raul could be the Man to move on” i think its just his opinion so he doesn’t really need a source.other than his own mind.
However “i know kenny has identified the portugese players as pivotal to his plans”
does beg the question: where you getting your info from ?
For me if he is moved on it will be raise money to pay for Cole’s wage and thats what i’d tell Cole aswell.
Just to see if the shame of a better player been sold, to pay his wages increases the pressure on him to either leave or turn coal into a diamond for us.
Personally i’m thinking he could be a legend for W.Ham.
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 #631 |
dougle
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 6:42 pm
LB 629 in the interests of good discussion I hate to say i agree with most of what you say.
IF Joe C is kept on and Aquaman/Raul moved on it surely could only be because they can’t move Joe on at all.
I’m hopeful he’ll go though … a late deal I’d say.
It looks like we might be sticking with Martin Kelly on the right and Glenda on the left as our starters this year. It wouldn’t be such a bad thing but both players are a bit injury prone so what have we got left ?
Flanagan and Robinson too young and inexperienced to be first line starters for me. I think if we keep Insua and Fabio has a 20 game availability season we will be ok on the left. It all puts a lot on Glenda’s availability and fitness though.
I also agree we need a top line center half but I wonder are they going to go for one. That for me is a big possible crack in the team. I’ve been through the possible line-ups ad nauseum suffice to say Agger and Skrtl would be my number one line-up and I’m not sure about the quality of the back-up.
Downing will do a job for us either wing but I still would like a quick sharp (experienced ?) striker to shadow Suarez. In saying that Ngog whacked in a beauty vs Malaysia. He can do it ok I just wish he’d do it a bit more, really put his foot through the ball and less of the side foot swish….
One other thing, who s going to play instead of Lucas should he be injured/tired/suspended ? We have no-one to take his place in a “big game” for me. I could see him being rotated out against against (some) of the bottom feeders at home but he’s vital at the top level in my opinion.
So it’s a squad in progress at this stage. I doubt we’ll get everyone I want though. If I had the choice of just one more (back up) player it would be a striker.
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 #632 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 8:07 pm
Blud as Rome said I’m not in the know , but someone’s gonna move on, Clarke is blowing coles trumpet as Henry is aqua’s, I didn’t see kennys statement saying Raul is staying( which I hope he is)Rome thanks for sticking up 4 me as blud is a big bully:-)
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 #633 |
London Red
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 10:13 pm
Fact is we do not have anybody who can perform the playmaker role as good as Aquaman,if we are serious about playing pass and move football then we need Aquilani to make the team tick.
We have plenty of player who can hit the the forty yard pass to feet,but I cannot see anybody who can knit play together like Aquaman.
With Downing bombing down the left and Suarez Weaving his magic upfront we need a intelligent player in the middle who can “create the game” as Brian Glanville used to say.
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 #634 |
London Red
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 10:15 pm
Watching all the goals from last season on lfc tv
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 #635 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 10:25 pm
Good thoughts dougle.
I’d be very surprised to see Johnson kept on the left side. A few times last year he pulled out of crosses from the left out as he obviously isn’t as comfortable on his left (although he is far from just right footed). I just think with Big andy up front Kenny will want as many as possible pinging crosses into dangerous areas and so would prefer Johnson on the right.
I think Flano will be Glenda’s backup.
I also think Kenny and SC will try to groom Kelly into a dagger like right footed CB. I think (if Agger can stay healthy) our back 4 would ideally be Johnson, Kelly, Agger and Insua, with Flano, Skrtel, Carra and Robinson backing them up. I’m sure Carra will start for at least the first part of the season but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him ‘rested’ quite often…
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 #636 |
blud red
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 11:01 pm
yeah yer right kop colly, i am a bully.
look, the answer is obvious. if kk did not want meireles he wouldn’t pick him for every game that he’s fit and then leave joe cole on the bench. that is how i know kk does not want to sell the baldyman.
ok, this argument does not always hold water. kk also picks poulsen from time to time. but in kenny we trust.
i disagree with people in here about the left back situation. i’m beginning to see flanno as a first choice left back. i think the lads good enough, he shows mettle, he’s young but so was gary ratface neville, so whats the dif?? please god, some wise man tell me???
you guys always want to buy a bloody roberto carlos. just so you can moan about his wage bill half way through the season. flanno is very good and costs threepence hapenny. he’ll do for me. you do the math.
likewise people harping on about spending on a new centre back. i think they are looking to move wilson and wisdom into the ranks and forget out-laying £20 mill on a scott dann type. whether you think highly of them or not, that makes six centre backs, seven if you count kelly. how many CB’s do you need??
this is after all what the academy is for, is it not. to capture talent and bring them through the ranks, not to loan them out to porchester united.
am i the only one who likes the look of this team or what????
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 #637 |
blud red
Posted on July 19, 2011 @ 11:04 pm
i’ll answer my own question: yes i am.
and in answer to someones question about who covers for lucas when he’s rotated: er….henderson?????
i see us buying one more player and then that’s it done for the reds. game on.
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 #638 |
London Red
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:23 am
Hopefully a quality leftback 1st priority.
If there’s any money left a Striker and a centrehalf please
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 #639 |
pshenava
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:32 am
I’m with you blud red. I like the look of the squad and am very excited. However I do believe that many in here also share the same excitement so you are not the only one
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 #640 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 1:02 am
blud, take it easy tiger:-)
i like the look of the squad also, im 100% behind ya man, i dont want to see raul leave the reds , i was just stating i think someones gonna leave & with henrys & clarkes comments about aqua & cole its leaving the door open & that person could be raul, but hey it could all be reverse psychology for clubs intrested in aqua & cole, as for me id be more than happy with maxi & poulsen leaving & as said by some of you lads we have one hell of a midfield, only to be matched by the shieks,as of now i think the scum & chavs are weak in that area, our weakness for me is the defense, i beleive we need to offload soto bring in a full back off load aurellio & grab a starting leftback , i think we can more than cope up front, then im ditchin fourth spot & looking to join aitch’s gang:-)
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 #641 |
elbmw
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 2:35 am
Guys we can think what we want about Soto but in the end he is staying for at least one more year as he recently signed a one year contract extension.
On Meireles/Aqualani V Cole, at first thought I’m with LB and I too “would be incandescent with rage” if any of the afore mentioned were sold in preference to Cole.
However, with the addition of Adam we now have a lot of CM’s and the ONLY thing about Cole is that he can play on either wing and in the hole so that makes him more versatile and therefore deemed “needed” as were not blessed with a lot of wide players. In that sense it makes him more important than the other two.
Also, given that SC has publicly voiced the importance of Cole and how he’s worked with him to good effect before at the chavs, he may feel that he can get more out of him in the coming season.
When you look at it that way and as much as it pains me to say it, if we had to sell someone it would make sense not to sell Cole.
But on the other hand Meireles has scored a lot of goals playing in unfamiliar positions so that probably leaves Aqualani as surplus to requirements. Even though he’s probably the best “footballer” we have he may not fit.
As for Maxi I think we’d be daft to sell him now that he’s found his feet in the PL and started to score goals.
Or maybe none of them are being sold and were just being paranoid. Who knows?
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 #642 |
elbmw
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 2:45 am
Anyway I saw the following comment on the guardians’ TheSportBlog site discussing how Liverpool’s midfield may line up and it had me in stitches so I thought I’d share it.
“1-8-1, with Carragher launching missiles at Carroll’s head bypassing the midfield which is standing in a line holding hands across the center of the park, with a view to stopping quick counters using ‘bulldog’ methods”.
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 #643 |
Val
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 3:31 am
Just watching Peru vs Uruguay with Uraguay 2 goals to the good thanks to our man Suarez. His first was from a very tight angle, shades of his Sunderland goal. Rounded the keeper after a great run for his second. Taken off on 70 mins though as he was on a yellow and risked missing the final if he got booked again.
Great game by the little man, lets hope he’ll bag another few in the final at the weekend.
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 #644 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 7:39 am
Blud, just a question: what are your thoughts on Joe Cole? And if you want him to stay, would you start him ahead of Aquaman & Meireles?
I’m asking because you do seem to root for the British lads ahead of the foreign ones 
i.e. Spearing ahead of Lucas, Carra ahead of Dagger/Skrtel etc
I agree with LB – JC has got to go, and if Aquilani or Raul (or even Maxi) are sold ahead of Joe Cole, I would be pissed! Unless, of course, not other side wants Joe, or could afford his wages?
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 #645 |
dougle
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 11:20 am
You can’t resist a good old rant Blud eh !
Ok here’s my observation about Flanagan buddy. If you watched the last game of the season vs Villa he got caught out of position a number of times, woefully. It was a warning shot.
He got into the team as the team was on an upward curve and was gaining in confidence, it was a good time to debut.
Now contrast his profile with that of Insua, (whom a lot of us really liked when he broke into the team – Rafa’s title challange year, remember how good he was ?). Look at his profile now. People dismiss him, mock him, have no confidence in him. Insua got exposed in a sense but he was in a team going backwards. Believe it or not, despite the common perception, he was not the weak link in the defense but that’s what people think, that’s what they read, “that’s why we got rid of him wasn’t it ?” … well no it wasn’t actually. Anyway Aitch has been over this ground so many times …
I don’t doubt Flanagan is a real prospect but I would not stick him in number one just right now – IF I had the choice -.
As for the centre half position we are very dependent on Agger being fit. This makes a huge difference and not just defending wise (e.g Skyrtl seems to play better with him) but also attacking wise. Who else of all our CH’s can bring out the ball and create another attacking focus ? Check out Carra’s ability to create an attacking focus !
Do you trust Kyriakos, Carra, Wilson, Kelly, … who goes in as your top 2 (without Agger ?).
Gotta go now …
That’s why I think we need another battle hardened technically good CH.
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 #646 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:06 pm
@LondonBarnes:
You are spot on. I think the squad we have now is like a man who ate lots and and lots of cheese and has a huge belly.
I think it will be difficult to offload everyone but among Poulsen,Cole and Jovanovic(The three biggest wage earners)its the later one who is most likely to go. We are not able to offload Cole. Thats the basic truth. Poulsen to me still has a role. I think with Lucas,Spearing and him we are just about ok in that position.
So whom can we offload? Raul or Aqua? Both can give us more than $10m but it wud be a loss to sell even one of them. Its a tricky situation i would say.
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 #647 |
dougle
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:07 pm
Henderson for Lucas … could be a good call Blud. He’s a pass and mover for sure. We’ll see how he does with the defensive aspects.
Over to you my man.
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 #648 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
It seems as though we’ll be looking for a centre half and left back after we’ve sold off the deadwood.
http://tgr.ph/pzWMua
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 #650 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 12:53 pm
Gary Neville became the mancs first choice right back aged 19-20 and was England’s first choice right back aged 20 in Euro 96. Ashley Cole was 19 when he became Arsenal’s first choice left back and at 20 was regularly getting into the England side.
Is Flanagan as good as Cole or Neville were at a similar age? If he is (fucking huge IF) then even they were eased into very successful sides rather than thrown in at the deep end. Cole made his debut aged 17, then went to Crystal Palace on loan aged 18, back to Arsenal and became first choice. Neville made his debut at 17 in 1992/93 but wasn’t first choice for another 2 years.
It took Carra 2 seasons before he was a first choice regular. He played a lot for England U21s during his formative years as well. Which helps I think.
Kelly, Flano and Roberts need to be carefully eased into it in my opinion. Unless of course their performance in training and in the matches they do play simply forces Kenny to pick them. Obviously if you are standing out that much (like a teenage Robbie Fowler for example) then age should not dictate whether you are first choice or not. Although Flano has been impressive I wouldn’t put him on the “he has to play” level just yet.
Conclusion: a new left back please.
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 #651 |
blud red
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 5:27 pm
thanks LB, good work there on the background of other defenders. however, regardless of one or two games at the end of the season where flanno got skinned, i still like the way this kid plays. he is not rattled easy, strong in the challenge and prefers to pass and move intelligently. and, as you mentioned, flanno may not be coming into a rather successful side but he is going into a rather good one who will play with confidence. please take that into account.
ok guys, so like a rant but i really don’t mean much by it. take no notice.
but we should be feeling rather happy with our lot so far.
i’m not sure who will go before the season begins, but like the rest i hope it will not be meireles and i hope we find room for aqua too. and if kk really is the messiah perhaps he can get joe cole to play and he can stay too. but someone has to go. poulsen/jova. i don’t know, i really don’t know how this will pan out.
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 #652 |
Aitch
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 7:56 pm
Pretty bizarre that Kenny would drop a Cone of Silence on Anfield, not discuss any piece of business we’ve done so far…
… then feel the need to raise it and leak his “thoughts’ to … a Newcastle Journo???
Complete piece of fiction by Paul Fraser there, I think!
As for the squad…
I’m at a loss to understand why people seem so desperate to trim it, after bitching and moaning for 2 whole seasons or more about how fuckin thin the squad was.
If we buy no one else and sell no one else… are we not a much stronger squad going into this season?
We will in all likelihood sell of course…
… and it may well be the “usual touted suspects”…
… but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the “accepted wisdom” of who we do sell ends up being about as far from the mark as you can get.
As for some opinions on certain players…
Plenty of people wanted to write off Jamie Carragher early in his career… he survived and flourished…
…then his form dipped, or more appropriately his form didn’t jump to the next level…
… and again, he was “limited”… he never went “past the half-way line”, he was “not good enough for LFC”…
… Oh yes… it WAS said…
… then low and behold, he steps up and suddenly “we all dream of a team of Carraghers”…
… now after two seasons of “hoofing it” he’s apparently back to “not good enough” or “past it”!
The last two season have been an aberration for LFC… its fans and players…
I know some don;t want to accept that… but they have been…
Carra is a microcosm of that.
His head was turned by all the infighting… by the ownership situation, by the whispers in his ear from Purslow, by the Roy debaucle, and through that, his performances have been a mixed bag ranging from the “excellent” to the “what the fuck Jamie lad?”
But make no mistake…
A fit and on-form Jamie Carragher will be the first defender on the team sheet… and he fuckin well should be!
… and if not fit and on-form, there are competent lads to take his place…
Likewise, a certain Emiliano Insua started brightly, stumbled a bit, and was largely written off by people who chose to focus on the half-dozen times he got skinned by a Valencia, and ignore the by-far-more-often times he actually stopped a winger dead in his tracks, stripped him of the ball, and sent an attack on its way…
… that many of those attacking opportunities never came of anything, because other players put their foot on the ball, stopping the advance, and simply looked to keep possession, was not his fault.
Insua is well capable of stopping any right wing threat that Blackburn, West Brom, QPR, Fulham, or Sunderland throw at us.
And what is so bad about the idea of Johnson playing there against Scum, the Chavs, and the Arse… while Martin Kelly futher solidifies his right back claims?
Young Flanno has some very serious potential… but as pointed out… his game against Villa illustrates he’s not yet the finished article… and he got his chance only because Kelly was injured… otherwise he’d have been our right back when Johnno went to LB.
Our defense is not half as bad as some are panicking to believe.
Sure we’ve had some players continually injured… but why are we not also writing off SG in the same breath as Agger?
Some of the kids might be somewhat unproven… but some are talking about Scum’s defense as though it isn’t the shakiest thing since a California earthquake?
In all serious honesty… I’ll take our back line over their’s anyday…
…and I’ll raise you a couple of 2-0 and 4-1 results too!
I’m seeing some real hunger in the young players…
…I think they’ll be given real opportunities to show that hunger and develop their potential…
… and I believe that as much as some have already impressed… they could just well “emerge” this season… Kelly, Shelvey, Flanno, Spearing and Insua, could all make their mark as “regulars”.
Meanwhile, Rio and Vidic, Brown and Evra (well maybe not Evra, but,) Evans are creaking like a tall ship in a southwester…
…and don’t even get me started on their midfield…
I’ve gone out on a limb and stated that I think we WILL challenge for the title this season…
I’ll take that one step further… and with the obvious caveat of the next 40 days giving them the opportunity to strengthen… I’m gonna predict that…
… in spite of their “game winning players” this WILL be the year Scum stumble.
…bludred Boldness Incarnate!!! 
How do you like them apples?
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 #653 |
London Red
Posted on July 20, 2011 @ 11:58 pm
Aitch the only way we will challenge this season is if we get more firepower.
If we buy 2 quality defenders at centre half and left back and a striker with pace and a eye for goal then and only then will I start believing.
You can’t base your hopes on the ist team you have too also look at the backup.
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 #654 |
rome77
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 12:11 am
Yeh Aitch you have to look at the back up.
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 #655 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 1:51 am
Must say that I agree with you about a few points there Aitch.
Especially the fact that JC will be a first choice pick for me this year, hell he’s on the big $$$ and when push comes to shove hes one of the finest defenders going. (of course his attacking/distribution skills aren’t that great, but hes not there to be creating goals). Ultimately, I’d like to see both DAgger and Kelly in the heart of our defence, and have a Young Towering CH with Nija Skrtyl as backups.
I’ve never really understood the Insua situation, much like the Aquilani one I’ve never seen either player being particulary bad on the pitch… Maybe I’m just blind….
Yea, I can’t see why so many are stressing that we need to trim the squad down. To be honest, it’s a managers dream to have too many choices to work with, I think KK will need to make very deep runs in the three domestic competitions we’re in this year…
Soto will be fine as a CH in the early stages of our cup runs.
I’m also thinking that Joe Cole could become our super sub and really could play a pivotal role for us down the stretch.
Can’t wait for:
A) A new Post
B) August 14th (seeing as we’re a day ahead downunder-New Zealand)
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 #656 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 2:18 am
that should read:
A) A new Post by Gerry… This side of the off season…
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 #657 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 11:42 am
I want us to be as strong as we can be this season. So until August 31st I’ll be expressing hope that we can strengthen in areas where I think we’re not as strong. In my opinion that is at left back, striker and centre half. We’ve bought well so far this summer but we’ve only improved one area – midfield. A very important area midfield is but even when we had one of the best midfields in the world we still won nothing.
Expressing a desire to see the club buy top quality should not elicit the sort of response I’ve been seeing on LFC forums. “Why do we need player x!!?? We have player y to do a job!!?” I don’t know for sure but I doubt manc fans are saying “Why do we need Sneijder when we have Young, Nani, Valencia…. Rooney can drop deep and do a job” No, they want to constantly see improvement. I’m sure Barca fans are the same. I doubt any of them are saying “Why the fuck do we need Sanchez for €40m when we have Pedro, Iniesta and Messi – our squad is good enough as it is, just stick with Bojan as back up and we’ll be fine”.
In May most of us said we needed a left back. It was considered a priority position. We’ve been linked with Jose Enrique since March. Phil Thompson said it was a done deal in May. Most of us were saying “Yep, bring him in – good signing”. Now it looks like we might not be getting a left back out come the red tinted glasses. “Well Johnson can do a job at left back, we can put Kelly at right back, we have Flano… etc etc etc, we’ll be fine”. How many times have we done this over the years? We go into a transfer window with a particular need. We don’t fulfil the need. We convince ourselves it doesn’t matter too much – we’ll be fine. Only for it to bite us on the arse during the season. This has been the case for the left wing and right wing over the years. Back up striker as well. And now left back. I don’t want to go into a new season and we’re already talking about plan B, C and D before a ball has even been kicked. Title winning teams are built with specialists in each position – it doesn’t always work out like that but it should at least be the goal.
If I’ve come across as negative overt he last few weeks it’s because I’ve ditched the red tinted specs this summer. I’m trying to look at the squad without emotion, look at each area objectively. If I was a fan of any of the clubs that finished top 4 last season and someone said to me Liverpool could be a threat to your top 4 status, I’d look at the LFC squad and say: Very strong in midfield. Suarez is quality. Carroll – massive potential if he can stay fit. Should one of them get a long term injury though I can’t see them challenging. Weak at left back. Without Carra the centre of defence could be dodgy, Agger is injury prone. Solid at right back. Great goalie. Conclusion: won’t touch the top 3 but could battle for 4th place.
If we had Man City or Real Madrid money I don’t think any of us would care about trimming the squad. In reality however I think most of us believe that we will have to sell some players if we want to strengthen in the areas we think could do with improving. If selling 5 fringe midfield players allows the club to buy a quality left back, centre half and striker that’s what we’ll clamour for.
If selling Insua, Cole, Maxi, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Ngog, Soto allows us to buy Jose Enrique/Cissokho, Mata, Diego Godin, Higuain. I’d be begging for the squad trimming to commence. This would be me talking to Comolli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8H2FIf1oH4
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 #658 |
blud red
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
liking those apples aitch, sweet as green green granny smiths, m’lad. agree with you one hundred percent.
ok, so those of you, like london red, still think we need more. well yes, we can always do with a new forward or centre half, sure sure. but if you bring in a new striker, how will cole, kuyt, maxi, carroll, ngog and suarez feel about rotating even more?
sure you can bring in a new centre half, but then you have to answer questions from carra, wisdom, wilson, skyrtl, soto, kelly and dagger.
i know some of those players are not highly rated, while others seem untested, but they are all on liverpool books as first teamers, all expecting to play a pivotal role this season, all told by comolli dalglish and clarke they have a role to play. no player wants to sit on the bench for twenty games.
if i was playing fantasy football i’d take the LFC defence without question. i would make carra, skyrtl and dagger my stalwarts and rotate the others around them, ensuring all the players remain fit throughout a long gruelling season. i say we have a good balance, not a great balance, but a solid back-line outfit and good enough to start a title challenge. yes, you can always have more, but then you have to work harder at keeping all these players happy, and believe me they are going to have to work hard enough as it is.
london red, you stated we needed more firepower up front, well yes, again, we can always have more, like man city, options options options. but players also need consistency. they need to get used to the players standing around them. if you are chop and changing constantly, you change strategy, pace, everything.
more firepower? hmmm. it’s interesting folk don’t believe carroll kuyt suarez maxi ngog gerrard and joe cole and adam, not to mention raul the merciless and stewert downing provide enough firepower.
i spoke to my mate a chelsea fan the other day and asked him what he thought of his new manager. he said he was impressed, but he always felt his team were a play thing for romanski and that if the results weren’t there andres boas would get the sack. chelsea fans basically feel their club is at the whim of a dictator and for good or bad they are totally in his power. thats not a great feeling, is it?
man united have strengthened with ashley cole, but they have problems in midfield, and i don’t mean the problems we have either. their midfield looks assailable. and they also have uncertainty over who will be their first choice keeper.
arsenal are struggling to retain the services of their best player, though in all likelihood, barca can’t afford the price tag. but they have only bought gervinho and this is seen by some as a distinct lack of ambition. again, you could not point that accusation at liverpool. they would sign any of their targets if the deal was right.
man city are making giant strides but their best player wants out because he misses his family. how this affects the club is anyones guess, but as a fan i would feel dismayed that a lad they pay handsomely for does not like being part of their city (personally i don’t blame him. i would hate to work in scumland)
so looking at all of our rivals, i’d say liverpool are enjoying the better time of it. a successful tour to asia, owners willing to wave the cheque book, giant strides in the academy, players joining the cause and bolstering the squad, my blud has never been more red.
i see the rebuilding of LFC as gradual, but in my mind over the last six months it has been incredible to watch. they won’t be able to fit enough people into anfield this season and away games will be taken up too. there is a new hope (a la star wars) that is certainly evident in the clubs fortunes.
i too, like aitch, think we can mount a serious title challenge with the players we have already. with the team kk finished with last season it was widely accepted that had he been in charge from the off, we would have gained a top four spot.
well we have a much much better squad now. a fitter squad, a hungrier squad, a talented squad and that i think will see us through.
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 #659 |
koped49
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 5:14 pm
nice one blud
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 #660 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
re: post #657; What he said!
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 #661 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 8:02 pm
good post blud,
i was at u2 in giant stadium lastnite, unreal show!
as sick as two hospitals today!
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 #662 |
London Red
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 8:34 pm
@ Blud red do you mean Man Utd have strengthened with Ashley Young ? or did I miss the transfer of the summer ?
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 #663 |
Aitch
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 8:40 pm
LB, I wouldn’t necessarily argue against most of that.(#657)
Of course additions will make us stronger.
Of course we are weighed down by expectations of the past… but that applies as much to our successes as our failures.
In the same way though, that you are correct when you say we would be stronger with more additions…
… we are as I said, stronger already than last season, the season before, and even the “almost” season before that.
There’s a great interview with Riise on the official site…
… he talks about the own goal vs the Chavs in the CL… and suggests, but for that goal, we’d have won it that year “if only” he hadn’t made that mistake.
That’s a but bigger than J-Lo and Kardashian combined…
…yet, it’s a fine example of the small margins between success and failure, that in black and white are just bullshit… ultimately its failure!
I get that…
… but as blud just pointed out in the same breath that people seem so critical (or perhaps it is just less optimism coming out in that tone) of LFC, they are steadfastly claiming that our rivals WILL win the Prem, or be beyond a challenge.
Of course, they are the “traditional” strengths in the league, but there is so much evidence indicating the contrary…
One of the only things I agree with Digger on is that Scum have goal-scorers… game-winners… that they can always look to when they are struggling… to bag the necessary point/points… from an otherwise lost game.
And yes okay, ultimately, that puts points on the board…
… but we’ve also seen what happens when a team goes at them with belief.
We’ve shown the way (with the exception of the Hodgson game, and even then we scared the shit out of them in the 2nd half) in the last few seasons, and some of the lower teams finally took note… sometimes bagging the points, sometimes falling just short.
As much as Scum’s success depends on these goalscoring game-winners… (and overlooking the “official” help they get for a moment)
…it also depends on the myth of invincibility they have created around them (in the same way that we did in the late 70s and certainly in the 80s)
… and there were enough teams last season who questioned that aura of invincibility…
… it remains to be seen if those teams will do so again, or if others will take their lead and have a go…
…but of that I remain eternally hopeful… coz when they do… the house of cards will start to crumble… (and it will only take 2 unsuccessful seasons to start to cause serious ripples in a club that is organized under more debt than we were last year… few people are looking at that.)
As much as I “hope” Scum stumble…
…it isn’t simply wishful thinking that prompts me to make such a suggestion for the forthcoming season…
… they’ve got serious problems that get overlooked simply because they are “the champions”…
… Neville faded and retired, Scholes faded and retired, Giggs as good as he’s been recently will too…
… Rio and Vidic are top professionals, but neither are as unbeatable as their PR suggests…
… their midfield has weaknesses and Schnjeider won’t address them…
… their defence has weaknesses and Jones won’t address them…
People love to discuss our weaknesses in depth… and fair enough this is a Kopblog, not a Cuntblog, so it stands to reason…
…but by the same token, we need to stop handing our rivals praise they simply do not deserve!
They’ve pulled points out their arse at the death… Digger is dead right…
… but they are so vulnerable if you just open your eyes and look at where the soft underbelly is to aim for!
And the same rings true for Citeh…
…of course its impressive that they are buying stars…
… it won them their first trophy…
… but their 3rd place finish was as much by default as by accomplishment…
… Spurs handed it to them coz they are not as good as some think they are, and we had Hodgson for half-a-season…
…yet they are now somehow “entitled” to a top 3 finish.
Citeh have serious problems among their “galacticos” with the whole Tevez affair, the Bellamy stuff… and if they did add Aguerro, as much as that might strengthen them, it’s gonna cause selection issues among Ballotelli, Dzeko, Tevez if he stays… its not as cut and dry as it seems… they’re gonna have unhappy players… how will that manifest itself?
They could as easily struggle to finish 6th this season, as they could solidify their seemingly-already-set-in-stone “top 3” status or challenge for the title.
…and people talk about our wage bill?
Same for the Chavs… with an aging squad, of players that represent a wage bill that is astronomical…
… like Scum, they’ve got players that can pull a game-winner out of nothing…
… but like Scum, they have a soft underbelly if you know what to target.
As I’ve already conceded… with 40 days left, this could all change … and probably will… for us and them…
… but right now, its far from rose-tinted to suggest we are now stronger at ownership, board level, upper management, marketing/PR, management, coaching, experienced players and emerging talent.
I’m not saying we will challenge out of some rose-tinted hope…
… I’m saying it coz I rate our experienced players, I rate the emerging player, I rate the new buys and I rate the emerging youngsters…
… to a level… and under this manager… that has me believing.
… and I’m trying to look as objectively at our rivals.
If any of them stumble out of the gates in they way they did last seaosn… we are at present so much better off to take advantage of it than we were last season…
… and that’s without any further additions.
I see why people would be unsure about that… I do…
…but I simply do not understand why anyone would discount our chances… automatically and without a ball kicked… to nothing more than a challenge for 4th place?
I don’t get that at all.
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 #664 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 21, 2011 @ 9:35 pm
I’ve been speculating about the mancs weaknesses for the last few years. Especially when they lost Tevez and Ronaldo. Result? They’ve won 4 titles in 5 seasons. They don’t dominate as much as they did a couple of years ago but they are still formidable. They haven’t lost a CL away game in 2 years. Last season their home record was won 18 drawn 1. I hate to wax lyrical about the enemy but I’m afraid their on another level at the moment. We’ve finished above them once in 20 years and and competed with them on one other occasion.
On paper we see weaknesses but on the pitch they always fucking well end up getting better results than everyone else.
Chelsea are ageing but I don’t think their ready for the pipe and slippers just yet. The quality in their squad and recent history leads me to believe they will be strong again this year. We all know they’ll be going shopping soon as well.
City now remind me of Chelsea in 2004. New money, in the CL, won the FA cup. They got past us and Arsenal in a hurry. When you go through their squad you realise they have a bloody good side.
Now as for us, we’ve strengthened yes. Better manager and ownership situation than last year. Hungry players. But ultimately are we good enough as it stands right now? I’m hopefully but I’m not convinced. Not yet. There were matches towards the end of last season where I thought we looked fantastic. City at home and Fulham away. Then there were games where we were shite. Spurs at home and Braga at home. Both games without Suarez.
We’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll gladly have you guys tell me you told me so.
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 #665 |
corklfc
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 12:10 am
Great posts there lb, left full is the biggest priorty right now, the idea of shifting glenda to left back for big games is not the answer. We have 5 centre backs,6 if you include kelly, if we were to sign another you would need to loose 2.
I think kenny is going to play a 4231 system in the main, that’s carroll as striker, dirk will be his back up, ngog will be 3rd choice.
Players out for me. Wilson, jova, poulson, cole, maxi , I would put one or two others on loan to ensure raul and aqua are in the squad.
The most interesting thing in the next 12-18 months will be the development of the youths coming through, exciting times I reckon
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 #666 |
Aitch
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 1:34 am
Fair enough comments LB.
…and I apologize if it seems I’m pointedly harping on your contributions… I don’t mean it that way…
…its making for an interesting debate about ours/our rivals’ strengths and weaknesses… perceived and real…
You are, as you have always generally done… absolutely making thoughtful points and backing them up.
Let me just add that I don’t think we’re entirely miles apart on this issue…
…its not like I’m suggesting these teams are shite and ready for the plummet to relegation dogfights…
… I see the strengths you and others point out…
…but the chinks in the armour, to which I refer, are there…
… the cracks have been getting papered over pretty good for a while now, and yes, they all have financial might to varying degrees to pay their way out of trouble…
… but there is definitely a wobble in the wheels…
….how seriously it effects them is for sure and for certain… yet to be seen…
… but once that wheel starts to wobble furiously, I really do think it’ll come off in spectacular fashion… especially for the Mancs…
… just as it did for us circa 1990/91.
…and how great would it be if it was this season, and coincided with my forecasted Phoenix Rising?
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 #667 |
rome77
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 3:09 am
LB
I wouldnt worry about the poor finish we had to the season, once 4th place was gone,
i think a decision was made to avoid the Europa for business and sporting reasons.
Why?
Well last seasons Europa games were heavily subsidised to get the crowds in so financially it wasnt a pot of gold but it was a long draining campaign.
This season even more people are skint so that will mean less games for most people,so for me it makes sense to have less games and try and sell out the (higher price) Prem games we are playing. Which are selling very fast.
Plus we can make up some of those games with a good run in the domestic cups.
The money spent on flights, accommodation,etc by fans on Euro aways will hopefully be spent at Anfield, kind of thinking.
Then we have the fatigue factor that accompanies the Europa league and the corresponding drop in average pts after these games,so it clearly effects our league performance.
That alone could gain us a few pts and when we are playing those teams who have had a hard game in Europe, it could not only gain us a few more but cost our rivals a few aswell.
Inch by Inch, lads
YNWA
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 #668 |
Rafalution
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 7:40 am
Aitch: “That’s a but bigger than J-Lo and Kardashian combined…”
Thanks for the chuckle early Friday morning.
Good post LB.
I’ve often wondered how the scum keep on winning the league, certainly over the past 3-4 seasons. There side looks average at best, especially without Ladyboy & Tevez. That ‘winning mentality’ certainly has something to do with it – teams get used to winning (Aussie cricket, Kiwi rugby as examples).
But the main factor is, they put the middle & lower sides in the EPL to bed. They score goals against them, albeit with the assistance of referees (dubious penalties, loads of extra time). If someone could dig up the stats, I’m sure you’ll find their points tally against sides, say, 10th and below, pretty good. Probably the best.
But I really believe that in Suarez, Carroll and Adam, we now have the firepower to do the same. We have never (recently) had the airial threat of a 6ft5 striker. I can’t remember when last we had a dead-ball specialist (maybe Aurelio) & corner taker. I’ve seen some of the goals scored by Charlie Adam last season. He is a wizard on free kicks.
And add the guile & skill of Suarez – and let’s not forget, a proper winger since, well, since New Zealand last won the WC Rugby, and we certainly look a more attacking force than when we had Barnsey, Beardsley etc. So yes, we could & should get points against these mid-table sides as well. It will be beating the likes of the Arse, Shiteh, Chavski that will probably determine our season.
I have also just heard that Aqua’s agent (I know, he does talk a lot) insists he will be playing for Liverpool this season. Add a (hopefully) fit Stevie G & Andy Carroll, and we have 3 ‘new’ class signings to go with Henderson, Adam & Downing.
That’s a good transfer window, imo!
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 #669 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 11:18 am
Aitch, no worries. The debate is good. In theory we should be closer this year and when you look at our squad you’d say we should put up a challenge for top 4 and not be a million miles from top 3. So I understand the point of view that says we shouldn’t rule out challenging for the title. This has been my point of view up to last summer. Since then I’ve had a change of stance. There has been too many disappointments.
There was the summer of 2002 where after we finished 2nd and above the mancs I thought we were a couple of key signings away from a title win. Obviously Houllier had other ideas. Then there was the summer of 2006 where the season before saw us get more points from Oct-May than any other club. Logic told us we should challenge in 06/07. We sign Kuyt, Pennant and Bellamy. The mancs sign Carrick. We finish 21 points behind the mancs.
In the main we’ve flattered to deceive – the 08/09 season has not been the norm. So as I said I’m not convinced yet but I’m hopeful.
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 #670 |
Aitch
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 5:59 pm
Fair enough LB… just wanted to insure you were taking my “argument” in the spirit it was intended…
…and to carify…
When I say that the last 2 seasons were the aberration…
…that does not mean I think 08/09 was the norm.
When I refer to “the norm” … I’m referring to the idea that LFC is still a solid top 4 team…
…some seem all too willing to accept that we no longer are.
Yes okay, we finished two consecutive seasons outside of this bracket…
…that’s all nicely black and white…
…but to not look at the extenuating circumstances of those two seasons is… to twist an oft used phrase by those same people… to look at LFC through muddy-tinted glasses.
As you rightly point out LB, we’ve had an annoying habit for 20 years of climbing the 37 steps quite sprightly, then when it seemed a simple task to just complete the final 2 steps, we’d invariably lose our footing, miss the step and stumble back a few.
Clearly the emergence of City and Spurs in the last two seasons have moved the Prem from a situation where we had a clear top 4 teams to a top 6 situation.
My point primarily is that our 2 consecutive finishes outside the top 4 were far more down to off-field issues than on them… and those are mostly sorted now (though we are still a good season or two from fully cleaning up everything, today’s appointment of the Nike guy to Ayre’s old position being a good example.)
My issue is not with people pointing out that it will be “difficult” to win the Prem.
When I predict a challenge, I am in no way suggesting that we will walk the fucker.
But as strong as Scum were in attack last season, they still really won it by default…
…internal interference is the Chav’s problem, and by that I mean, buying and playing Torres instead sticking with a guy who scored almost every time he played …Kahlou in case you were wondering, (but its also worth noting that when Torres was played, there were games where he occasionally also kept either Anelka, Dogbreath or Malouda out of the team… that’s 4 players who all scored more than 13 goals each… for a single goal return.)
…Citeh took 3rd by default coz Spurs fucked up (and Roy) and Spurs equally took 4th by default due to Roy.
Our challenge was meaked by Hodgson’s first-half-season, not by Kenny’s second-half-season … and with the same “players who are not good enough to wear the LFC shirt” … yet still managed to embarrass not just Fulham, but the supposedly “locked-on-for-the-title” Scum and City… not just manage/grind a result, but truly embarrass!
Yes we had the Spurs and Aston Villa results…. But we had the Scum and City results too, and it was neither that cost us… it was all those meak outings under Roy where we didn’t even put up a fight… that cost us a top four finish.
Many of our fans are uninspired by the signings of Downing and Adam and Henderson…
… I get it … they wanted Aguerro and Sanchez…
… but those 3 signings have both Fungus and Rooney stating they think we’ll be real contenders for the title this season.
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 #671 |
Aitch
Posted on July 22, 2011 @ 6:16 pm
…errr… obviously meant “Spurs took 5th” there.
…and it remains to be seen if they can solidify their “top 6″ status… they’ve spent a lot of money to get CL footy and don’t have it. It will be interesting to see what happens with them this season and next.
I didn’t mention Arsenal… coz I consider them to be pretty much perennial also-rans, due to their insistence on attempting to dribble the ball across the line and their reluctance to not address the lack of some real steel for their midfield/defense… and at this point… they are in serious danger if they were to lose Cesc and Nasri… which seems entirely likely…
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 #672 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on July 23, 2011 @ 12:56 am
With all the recent bigish money signings and no further blog, I really hope Gerry is recovering quickly. His recovery has been as gaurded as SG, are both on the verge of imminent retirement.
.
Anyone been listening to these constant twitterings, (I mean the old type not computer related), about SG recovery. Anyone got any solid information about his groin issue.
.
Anyway back to footy and things have been ticking along, lots of goals, both ends really, probably need to tighted up at the LFC end, but its still pre-season.
.
Aqualani looking good but could now be on his way. I’m still stunned to see the amount of money, Jove, El Zhar and Degen are getting, its extortion.
.
Hope the game against Hull goes well, I still think we need a CB, and big time, Carra’s getting on, Aggers always injured, and Ninja’s up and down, I think we need a ball playing tough guy.
.
Anyway onwards and upwards.
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 #673 |
London Red
Posted on July 23, 2011 @ 1:24 pm
How can it be extortion when the money was offered to them.You can’t blame them you can only blame the people who offered them the contracts.
If any of us were offered a lot more than our Market value in wages by our employers wouldn’t we grab the money and run.
We must realise To us it’s a religion to most
players it’s just a job
If any of us were offered more wages than our true Market value
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 #674 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 23, 2011 @ 7:15 pm
Hull 3-0 LFC
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 #675 |
London Red
Posted on July 23, 2011 @ 11:40 pm
Mistake on last paragraph of #673 down to bloody Iphone.
Just watched the game against Hull very poor display but only pre season match,the players looked very sluggish but to be expected with all the globe trotting we have to do these days,and now we are going to turkey next ?.
Also just watched the U18′s we have some very technically gifted players coming thru I have never seen Adam Hajdu before but he looks really good YNWA.
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 #676 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 5:40 am
0-3. Friendly. Pre Season. Players not fit. But loosing to Hull 0-3? We were talking about winning mentality. I think when that mentality really sets in, these kind of results will not exist.
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 #677 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 7:23 am
Luiz Suarez will be more effective playing with someone like Diego Forlan rather than a player of Andy Caroll’s mould.
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 #678 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 1:40 pm
Bad Result but Hull were knocking it around nicely in fairness the lads have just done the whole Asia tour whilst also doing pre-season so scratch it off to a bad day. I thought Aqua showed some lovely passing and vision I really hope we give him another crack in England I get the feeling if he’s fit him and Adam could run our team. Hendo looked very good as did Downing. Looking forward to seeing how they all gel together I think we’ll be seeing some of the old banter and crack back at the club something that has been missing for well over a decade.
Kenny himself said he was dumbfounded to see the laughs gone from the place. It may sound corny but that type of thing makes you all mates on and off the field so when things are going shite you try that much harder for each other.
I also think Andy needs Luis back ASAP to take some of the stupidly mounting pressure off the lad, we all know he was never and is never going to be of sufficient quality to justify 35mil pound but some people are already getting on the lads case, if he scores 12-15 league goals and creates for the team that’s all you can ask of the lad.
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 #679 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
did’nt see the game yday, had to work, gonna watch it later, fitness is what its all about at the moment,so for me the result dosent matter, we have five weeks to get the team to gel,
on another note this stevie gerrard injury is very worrying,there saying he could be out until october at least, its obvious why we have made so many additions in midfield,so maybe we will be holding on to raul & aqua after all, good luck to the reds number 7 today in the final, please come back injury free,
YNWA!
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 #680 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 7:32 pm
lads any links to the copa final?
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 #682 |
JackHill
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 10:17 pm
Copa America 2010 Final
Uruguay 3 – 0 Paraguay FT.
Just watched it
Suarez wins Man of the Tournament Award also, as well as scoring.
Uruguay wins for the record 15th time.
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 #683 |
dougle
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
Nice one Luiz Suarez. Been thinking a bit about “winners” in our squad. How many do we have ? Pepe, Jamie, Stevie, and now Luiz. Is that it ? That’s not a lot.
Winning and playing such a big part in the Copa victory is going to push Suarez higher up profile wise. I think it’s a win win for us. He’ll be full of it when he gets back here and this is now the standard for his career expectation. He’s now a winner and I bet he’ll want more. We’ll get next season and maybe one more out of him unless LFC too become winners. That’s my guess.
That’s good because it puts pressure on the club to win from inside as well as the demented (us) on the outside.
One other thing, some wise, intelligent, perceptive poster on here has been banging on about (breaking the rules) bringing Diego Forlan in as the last piece in the attacking jigsaw. He’s class and (apparently) fell out of favour at Atleti. How about it FSG ?
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 #684 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on July 24, 2011 @ 11:24 pm
If we could get Forlan on the cheap we should no doubt.
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 #685 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 1:07 am
cheers gazza, congrats mr suarez!
|
 #686 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 1:16 am
dougle, bang on regarding our number 7 , his hunger for winning has just begun, there wont be a club in the world that wont want him,
|
 #687 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 2:53 am
Well.. it will surely lift Suarez’s profile. Its good for us but what we also need to make sure is that we give him the platform to win titles at club level. He will be hungry, he will want to do even better. I just hope we dont let dis guy become another Fernando Torres. You might slate me for talking negative but that the bare fact. Players(The good ones) play to win title. Thats what they crave for.
We should move for Diego Forlan if there is a possibility of a transfer there.
|
 #688 |
JackHill
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 12:41 pm
If Big, tall Andy C. links up with Suarez then we won’t need Forlan! Mind you,it would be very nice to have him on the TEAM.
|
 #689 |
elbmw
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 2:08 pm
I can’t see Forlan coming as he doesn’t fit the FSG profile.
He’s 32 and on the way down hill. And lets not forget that he couldn’t cut it in the PL when he was in his prime so I doubt that he could perform for a whole season now that he’s knackered.
And another thing… I watched all Uruguay’s games in the Copa and up until the final he couldn’t score, having had plenty of chances.
As for Luis…WOW! Now thats a player and I’m so glad we bought him.
The saddest thing for me is that had Torres (apologies for mentioning his name) stuck around a bit longer I’m convinced that they would have had the most prolific partnership ever. No one would have touched them. But alas its not meant to be. Ah well he’ll be playing his football with the 2 old sweats Dogbreath and Anelka. With Fat Lumplard feeding them! Hahahahaha!
Anyways congrats Luis Suarez and Uruguay. You deserve your victory.
While Im at it I wouldn’t worry too much about the loss to Hull as it was all about getting some match time for the lads, rather than playing to win.
Most if not all our players looked a bit knackered and rusty so they would have benefitted from the runaround they got.
Also bare in mind that we had Gerrard, Suarez, Lucas and Reina out. Not to mention that we had 2 players making their debuts in a very disjointed team consisting of other new players and reserves, academy players and others returning from injury or playing out of position.
All in all I think its going to take a while to gel these players into a team that plays consistently well so I see us starting the season with a few ups and downs along the way until the new players start to find their feet.
|
 #690 |
dougle
Posted on July 25, 2011 @ 10:52 pm
elbmw – from is temporary and class is permanent. Forlan has been exceptional in Spain since (I grant you that) he left Manure (which was his first step into Europe). His age is actually a positive i believe because he won’t command a huge fee. He has been “off” of late but hey 2 goals in the final of the second most important International competition for the south americans … I’ll take that. A 2-year contract would be lovely. He also has played quite deep at times and is a creator as well.
Anyway it balls because he won’t be coming here I’m sure. (Watch ‘Arry tho’).
|
 #691 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 11:47 am
Corky
It’ll take more than a few pints of Murphys to take this dog down!!
I’m in detox after a 12 day camping trip around Ireland
Dougle thanks for the fry up : it keps us going for a few days
Cant believe we didnt get any photos lads
anyway it was a good craic
apparently ill be drumming in the new Eviva stadium
during the inter celtic game and man city
Kopblog fantasy league code 358866-102228
website: http://fantasy.premierleague.com
join up lads
use yer kopblog name if ye can
good discussions lads
Dougle Forlan would be a good one alright but theres nothing linking us to him at all
is there another fella cavani
apparently they are the future of uraguay
i think we really need some form of a defender before we start
been following insua on twitter and he seems to be mad for the training everyday
N’gog to bolton?
we should get 5 or 6 for him
anyway thats the craic she said with one leg up on the table
over and out
|
 #692 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 11:54 am
oh yeah and the kopblog head to head / cup
358866-102692
over
|
 #693 |
dougle
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 2:27 pm
Hey Donal … you survived eh ! Good man. We are ready for round 2 in Cork City. Just send the word.
Forlan is just a hobby horse of mine.
Cavani is a bit more like an Andy Carroll. He does a lot of running around and scores a lot too. Either in all honesty would be great but neither is 99% probable outcome.
Yep a defender or 2 would be great. It’s seems to be gone quiet on the transfer front.
I know Aitch promised/reckoned there might be a surprise or 2 on the way out. We’ll see.
There is also Stevie G and well we’ll see how it goes with him too …
I’m being optimistic here but I reckon we’ll see another 2/3 in and 4/5 out. I hope so anyway.
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 #694 |
Aitch
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 5:31 pm
Dunno if we’ll get anyone else in or not, I have no more info than anyone else…
… but to be honest, as frustrating as it is for all us Junkies, I’m loving this new silence until its done approach.
It is looking like a deal will be done soon for both Aqua and Ngog to leave… but all seems to have gone quiet on Jova’s negotiations with Anderlecht and Lille.
Bolton have put in a 3m bid for Ngog, but we are holding out for 6million.
(Hey, since they rated Cahil at 16m… how about 10 million up front for Cahill… rising to 13… plus Ngog?)
(By the way, who was it suggested we’d get somewhere between 3 and 6 million for Ngog? Hmmm… not sure, but he’s looking the sage eh?)
Comolli is supposedly in Florence trying to hack out a deal for Aqua. Fiorentina wanted him on a season long loan with an option to buy, but its being reported that DC has told them 11 million or fuck off… err… or words to that effect
As for Forlan?? I’ll tell you what… he looked sprightly as fuck scoring that 2nd goal, didn’t he? Raced past 3 defenders with bags of pace… not bad for an old fucker. I suppose more than anything, it’s a question of whether he’d be willing to play a bit part and what his wage demands would be… but to some extent, a player of his ilk… with the right attitude… would be a better choice than a youngster… in my opinion…
Although the dark-horse I’d like to see us bag is Young, the Korean kid from Marseille… not strictly a striker, but a bit like Suarez.
Continuing the earlier discussion about our competitors….
… after all the Schnjeider rumors, Fungus has now stated they won’t be buying anyone else…. Hmmm?
Is anyone else just loving the fuckin soap-opera that is City though?
Tevez wants away, but they won’t do a deal.
Bellamy wants to go anywhere else, but has been told not just that they won’t sell him to another Prem club, but that they won’t sell him to anyone… what the fuck is that about?
And now Ballotelli is spitting his dummy.
I’m telling you, for all the concerns about their buying power, they’ve got a lot of egos to keep calm… and it only takes one mad-fucker to bellend their preparations… and they’ve got 3!
|
 #695 |
Aitch
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 6:08 pm
Aw shit… sorry meant Monaco, (who have just been relegated to Ligue 2,) not Marseille.
Chu Young Park is the lads name. Talented player.
|
 #696 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
Aguero same price as Carroll.
|
 #697 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 8:56 pm
Aguero
Age: 23
Career Goals: 125
Career assists: 41
International caps: 30
International goals: 13
Carroll
Age: 22
Career goals: 36
Career assists: 13
International caps: 2
International goals: 1
|
 #698 |
dougle
Posted on July 26, 2011 @ 11:57 pm
LB – If you offered me Aguero / Carroll I’d go for Aguero no problem.
The problem is if you offered Aguero Man Citeh (200k / week), CL, plus who knows what or Liverpool – maybe 100k/week and no CL footie then who do you think he (or 95% of his type) will go for ?
|
 #699 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 6:27 am
I’m thinking our game day line up will be:
AC
Kuyt
Downing Adams StevieG Hendo
Aurelio Skrtyl JC Glenda
Reina
Subs: Doni, Cole, Suarez(should be pretty fresh due to his suspension before joining us), Maxi, Merelles, DAgger, Kelly
Note: Not counting Lucus due to Copa America
Looks pretty healthy I think,I can’t see any drawbacks from having so many midfielders at this point in time.
Also, does anyone else also count Downing as cover for the LB position
|
 #700 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 6:49 am
I didn’t see Luis Suarez in the Copa America either LOL
|
 #701 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 9:05 am
Aitch I dream that they buy any fucking korean player at all
even a korean tea lady
if they did liverpool would be worshipped over there and I’d get to see all the games on d’telly
dougle spot on about the Augero deal
dont think he’d a came to liverpool with the clubs offering crazy money to him
chelsea were after him for a long time too
I fear big andy is gonna be carrying around that price tag like a dead weight which is a shame really cause he didnt price himself
35 mill was the price liverpool were willing to pay for him to replace torres on the last 30 seconds of the january transfer window!!
downing 20 mill
gervinho 11 mill
who gives a fuck let the owners deal with the money side and kenny get in the players he wants in his team
over and out
|
 #702 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 9:24 am
just saw on twatter there that if birmingham go into administration we will get into the europa league
Great!!
|
 #703 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 9:55 am
That Aguero/Carroll price comparison was just a bit of mischief making on my part. I was hoping it was stir Aitch into another War and Peace effort but he let me down.
All jokes aside, I won’t hold the price tag against Carroll if he gives his all and on and off the pitch. When I say off the pitch I’m referring to his lifestyle. He says he likes a pint, it’s the way he’s been brought up. I’m sorry Andy – this aint the 80s or the 90s. It’s been proved that alcohol hinders recovery from injury and makes it difficult to lose excess weight. The first thing I will be looking out for is his fitness levels. I watched some footage of him playing for Newcastle in the Championship and he looked a lot more lean and fit than I’ve seen him in a LFC jersey.
As for us getting a Europa League place if Birmingham go into administration. No thank you!!! We didn’t get in on merit, and I was glad we didn’t in a way because it means concentrating on domestic games. Hopefully Birmingham don’t go into administration.
|
 #704 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 11:01 am
I agree LB
Andy needs to sort his shit out and become a lean mean scoring machine
hes playing along a guy who just won the player of the tournament at the copa america
fuck this 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps shite
and feck the uefa cup and all
was looking forward to keeping her all domestic this season
over and out
|
 #705 |
elbmw
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
It’s not really fair to make comparisons between players especially when they have differing roles to play within the team.
Im sure you could make the same comparisons between Kenny and Rushie, whereby the latter players record would outshine even our king, so statistics can be manipulated to support a particular view.
I think what KK wants is players to play certain roles and he probably has something specific in mind for AC.
He may not become our most prolific scorer but he will provide a platform that will allow other players to shine and hopefully chip in with a few goals himself.
But I do agree that his fitness is going to make or break him. The PL is probably the most demanding in terms of physical ability and athleticism so he will need to stay fit and healthy if he is to succeed.
|
 #706 |
elbmw
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 1:58 pm
What I meant to add was that I think ACs ability is not measured in goals but perhaps other metrics that are more important to the dynamic of the team.
|
 #707 |
koped49
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
looks like kenny dont rate aquaman in the prem.
Shame not to have ahd him for a full season, but if kk dont want him its alright by me.
|
 #708 |
corklfc
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 2:51 pm
Donal,
Good to see you survived the camping trip, drumming in the Aviva? your like Forrest Gump the way you get youself involved in things
Aitch, you won’t being proved right will you transfer valuations I’m afraid (30m you said we were lightly to collect)
So far we have 1.5m in for the Knoc
|
 #709 |
Aitch
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
Miles to go before we sleep, mate.
We have indeed only brought in 1.5million for Konchesky… and as I recall that’s about 1.5 million more than a lot of people thought we’d get.
We may not get to 30 m… but we won’t just give them all away like some were suggesting.
Again, go back and look at people’s valuations of Ngog… it was well less than the 3 mill Bolton have just offered us.
People were frustrated as fuck that we hadn’t signed anyone, just 4 weeks ago… now we’ve got Henderson, Adam, Downing, Doni and 2 very promising and highly-rated-for-their-age teenagers.
We’ll shift players before the window closes, for whatever fee, be it income as I suggest, or simply saving on wages as others have… and we’ll likely bring 1 or 2 more in.
…and yes LB… I knew it was bait… I did in fact sniff at it… but as luck would have it, I had to spend the day visiting with family… otherwise I’d have probably bitten
I wanted Andy Carroll 2 seasons ago when Newcy got relegated and would have taken 1.5 million for him… I got laughed off this blog for the suggestion, coz he was nothing but a gangly kid who’d scored a few goals but was thought to be too lightweight and inexperienced.
We could have bought him and loaned him back for the year.
Ah well… we’ve got him now, and yes the price tag will haunt him… Sky Sports News will make certain of that at every opportunity… but this lad WILL score goals, and help to create them for others.
…and sorry donal, but just to correct some semantics…
“35 mill was the price liverpool were willing to pay for him to replace torres on the last 30 seconds of the january transfer window!!”
In actual fact… 35 mill was the price CHELSEA were willing to pay for him to replace torres AT LIVERPOOL on the last 30 seconds of the january transfer window!!
PotAto… potAHto… but there is a difference and we must endeavour to get these things right…
…. coz it’s the same as swanning about talking bollocks about how much money Rafa spent, when his NET spend was minimal…
…and anyway… why not take a different tack and compare Suarez at 22 million to Aguerro at 35, or even Torres at 50m… and agree we did the better biz and got the better deal?
|
 #711 |
corklfc
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 9:37 pm
Good points aitch,
It looks like ngog jova poulson and aqua are certain to be gone. Question marks over cole insua, so with 5 weeks left in the transfer window alot can happen yet.
I suppose the focus should now be on the team that’s going to be kicking of the season for us.
based on the squad available my best guess for the sunderland game is
Pepe
Glenda carra dagger fabio
Stevie adam
Dirk raul downing
Carroll
|
 #712 |
dougle
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 10:30 pm
Sorry guys but is there some news about Aquilani being moved on ? I reckoned he’d want to go so it would not be a surprise.
(If he does go then I think Raul probably stays.)
I know we can’t keep everyone but Aquaman does bring an element of technique and vision that we really don’t have a lot of.
I would like to see another wideman who can keep a ball and has good game intelligence, kind of a younger Maxi ?
(Mata … sez he, never having seen him play)
I have the feeling it would be good to have something creative that’s “not english” if ye know what i mean.
We have Suarez and Raul I guess, and Maxi at a push … Still would like one more.
Not counting Stevie as one of these players because whereas he has been pretty much exceptional at many aspects of the attacking game, movement, pace, power, diving, shooting, one-off passing we don’t know how he’s gonna be from now on and he is not so well schooled in the “hypnotise them to death by passing and movement spanish school” that I believe we need.
Basically, hanging on to the ball is a good option at times, stretch them slowly and stretch them quickly but have the ball. I like that as a technique and I am not (so) sure we have been good at that over the recent years, definitely not Ged (more so Rafa). I don’t yet know all of Kenny’s range of ideas. We can go for power and pace (Manure and Citeh), crafty and tactical cats (Chavs away), technique and possession (Fulham), 10 man defense and breaking (Arse away)… I’d like us to have “wear them out and bore them to death” a la Barca.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz snap Goal !!! I like it.
|
 #713 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 11:10 pm
I doubt Gerrard is going to be fit enough to start the season. If he hasn’t even been on the bench for a pre season friendly it seems unlikely he’ll be ready for Sunderland Aug 13th.
I hope Suarez starts the season – I really do.
|
 #714 |
Aitch
Posted on July 27, 2011 @ 11:39 pm
I have no idea what our starting 11 will be… but suffice to say, whatever Kenny selects will be good enough for me, until we’ve had a chance to see all of em bedded in.
I’d agree, I can’t see Stevie starting vs Sunderland… unless we’re immediately back to “Stevie is first name on the sheet, simply coz he’s Stevie, regardless of his fitness.”
… in my opinion, we’ve got options to not have to do that, and should only play him if he’s fit…
…proper fit… like the experimental DNA blending of Georgie, Millie and Charlotte fit… err… wait… that’s the wrong kind of fit innit? Never mind, you get my drift!
No definite news on Aqua yet.
We want 11 million.
Fio want to loan him for a season with an option to buy.
His agent is scrambling to make a deal by reducing his wage demands by spreading it out over a 3 year deal.
It was reported yesterday, that Comolli had met with them, and walked out of talks and left it at “the loan is not an option, its 10 million or fuck off”
… but not entirely sure I trust the source…
… though his agent did come out the same day with his 3 year plan, so who knows…
|
 #715 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 1:05 am
Every day Aqua’s agent says something different about the situation. The loan doesn’t make much sense to me. If Fiorentina can’t afford to buy him now how are they going to in a years time? By the end of next year he’ll have 2 years left on his contract and his value will have reduced.
|
 #716 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 1:15 am
According to Guillem Ballague, Valencia will sell Mata for anything over 18m euros. Arsenal are genuinely interested.
|
 #717 |
dougle
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 9:31 am
Yeah LB – Looks like Mata is history as far as we are concerned tho’. Never mind it probably means we are after an even bigger name ! Pity that because for all the reasons alluded to above.
With Stevie looking less likely to play at the season’s start and Aquaman “looking” like he’ll be off (Roma – where are you ?).Suarez will be back a week before S’land = unlikely to play…ditto Lucas, then we are looking, at the moment at ..
Pepe,
Kelly, Agger, Skertl, Glen
Poulsen and Adam
Downing, Raul, Dirk
Andy C.
Not bad, not world beating. But should be good enough to beat S’land I hope.
|
 #718 |
Dubrogue
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 10:00 am
Aquamans move to Fiorentina has fallen through because he, quite rightly, doesn’t want another loan move. Fair play. Hopefully this puts an end to all this crap and he is given a chance to play at least one season for us and show how good he is and what he can bring to the table for us. After all, he is our player.
|
 #719 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 11:30 am
That side Dougle just wrote down doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of our competition does it? It certainly doesn’t inspire me into believing we’ll be world beaters.
Lucas should start the season and with so many central midfield players on the books. If Poulsen starts against Sunderland I think I will burst a blood vessel.
Dougle – don’t depress me please.
|
 #720 |
dougle
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
LB … just getting you back for your Aguero-Carroll bait yesterday !
|
 #721 |
koped49
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 12:36 pm
I am with you LB Poulson i dont think he is upto it.
aquaman is a much better bet he looks class when on the ball he has good vision and is movement is good also always ready for the next ball.
still not long now and we will now how we will set up for the season, only a few weeks to go.
|
 #722 |
blud red
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 12:43 pm
i think lucas will start the season, maybe suarez too. as many have said stevie should be rested and brought back when fit.
dougle, on his past display against hull, poulsen would not start ahead of hendo, spearing, adam.
against hull i was impressed by hendo, he has a good touch and though he needs to improve his game, i think i like the way he plays football.
spearing impressed me too. he was immediately combative and showed signs that he wants to win, which i like.
adam likes to spray the ball about a bit, which is not always to my taste. great when it comes off, wasteful when it does not, but he brings something unique to the team that i can’t quite put my finger on, a certain dynamic that makes him want to knock forty yard passes and want to be the first to take a penalty or free kick around the box. he has hunger for the game.
for me, its about how the new midfield gel. tonights game against galatassary is important because against hull the midfield did not gel enough to prevent two easy chances. there was a lack of closing down as though no one knew whose role it was to do that. they need to work this out now or sunderland, a good team with a good manager, will make them pay.
when lucas steps back in it will help to settle the team.
aqua still has the same problem as before, if the hull game is anything to go by. he got caught in possession a couple times more than he should and instantly turned to the ref for a foul, but this is the english league, not the italian. his link up play further up the field is good, but he must act quicker on the ball and use more strength to hold off challenges.
then we look at raul the merciless and in my opinion he is much more likely to start than most. as a right wing, or inside right i’d value his contribution because he pre-empts play quicker than most and supports attacks generously. i would not leave him out.
on this basis, this is my 1st team against sunderland:
reina
glenda carra dagger flanno
lucas spearing
raul adam
kuyt
carroll
but my dream team is this
reina
kelly carra dagger glenda
lucas
gerrard
raul downing
suarez
carroll
bench: hendo, kuyt, adam, flanno, skyrtl, aqua,
in truth i don’t really know how to organise this squad yet, but when we have 95% fitness, we have enough options to dismantle every team in the premier league on our day. we just need to play like a team with belief.
|
 #723 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
‘…….like the experimental DNA blending of Georgie, Millie and Charlotte fit…..’ Ha ha!!
Ladies and horndogs, without ado, I give you…….CHEORLIE!!!
Seriously though, anyone seen the new girl yet? With the long black hair? Its just a piss take at this stage, where do they find them?!
|
 #724 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 3:13 pm
They probably use modelling agencies and just training them up to read the sports news.
|
 #725 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 3:38 pm
Georgies no model, shes a dwarf!! A damn sexy dwarf granted.
|
 #726 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
Short models do exist they just can’t get into catwalk and high fashion modelling. How do I know this? My missus does a bit of modelling and she gets invited for castings from time to time. Adverts, event hosting, promos, TV work, films, music videos etc etc.
I’m sure Sky have modelling agencies to invite girls for casting interviews. NFL Network must do the same. I see some young model looking blonde chicks talking about the NY Jets offensive line.
|
 #727 |
sachem
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 4:03 pm
I think it’s safe to say Agüero will prove to be a lot more expensive for City than Carroll for us, counting in add-on clauses and an astronomical wage.
That doesn’t mean Carroll will ever be worth the £35m we (or Chelsea) paid for him, but it’s worth remembering that these deals are mostly more intricate than the initial fee paid.
In any case, I think we still need to strengthen our squad in order to be ready for the season ahead.
In the midfield, we now look solid, with class, width and strength in depth. In central midfield, KD and SC have enough pieces to work with in this department; different types of players to be used in different types of games. It’s hard to say at this point how and when they will be used, but I reckon there will be an equal amount of game time for Lucas, Gerrard (if he stays fit), Adam, Meireles (if he stays) and Henderson (could also be used as a right midfielder).
I don’t think Aquilani or Poulsen will stay. Spearing is very useful as a squad player. Like last season, he will feature more prominently when there are injuries, but I don’t think we’ll see him as often as the above mentioned.
Out wide we have Downing on the left side in most games. Joe Cole (if he stays) will provide the competition for that spot, and possibly also Raheem Sterling if Kenny thinks he’s ready for the first team.
On the right side I suppose it will be Deadly Dirk along with Maxi and Henderson. Dirk would be more efficient as a striker, but he’s versatile enough to fill in wherever he’s needed. It does concern me that we still don’t have a natural right winger in the squad. There’s been occasional calls for Glen Johnson to move up there as a seems able to, but I don’t think those are the plans.
In the attack we have one world class player in Luis Suárez and a big lad who’s yet to prove himself in the red shirt. I think Carroll will be a very useful player in many games, but I still think we could use some cover up front. There was a lot of Connor Wickham before he signed for Sunderland, but since then we haven’t been seriously connected with any other strikers. Does that mean they’ve decided to use N’Gog as a cover up front or that a move will be made as soon as some more players have been shipped out?
Defensively, I’m slightly concerned. Most of us seem to agree we need a new LB, but I also think we need another CB as I just don’t trust Agger to stay fit. When he’s out, we just don’t have enough quality in those two positions. Carra and Skrtel will defend well, but that’s all they will do. An Agger-type of player does a lot more.
I’m not overjoyed to have Doni as a backup for Pepe, as he’s been abysmal for Roma the last few years, but he’s got experience and was brilliant between 2005-2008. As long as Pepe stays fit there’s no need to worry.
|
 #728 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 4:10 pm
Why do we need a new number 2 goalie every season? Serious question.
|
 #729 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 4:35 pm
Alright aitch
So chelsea gave Newcastle 35 mill and us 15 mill in the Torres deal?
Or did we check his price and ask them for the money
As far as I know we were paid 50 and then we paid 35 for Andy
I’m ok with that by the way
It’s like were putting the responsibility of carrolls price on chelseas door
Ultimately they are responsible for the crazy market nowadays
But for fuck sake we could of kept the money
Were legally bound to buy Carroll ?
No
Now I’m glad we bought him and we paid a lot of money for someone that could become one of the greatest centre forwards of his time
So fuck blaming Chelsea for his tag as if were embarrassed
We bought him and should stand up and be proud of it
Man city s strike force as it stands without augero cost 132 mill
Anyway it’s hard to stay focused on a point with this iPhone thing
So I hope you get me point
Over and out
|
 #730 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
I couldn’t agree more with Donal on this. No offence but I find the talk about Chelsea paying for Carroll as absolute fucking bullshit. FSG PR at it’s finest and I’m surprised intelligent people have swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Chelsea paid us £50m for Torres. We paid £35m for Carroll. This Torres + £15m talk is bollocks. If we got Carroll for £10m would we have sold Torres for £25m? My arse we would have.
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 #731 |
sachem
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
Interesting LB. I think you either need to present some proof of your PR theory or back it up with some stronger arguments. Doesn’t really hold up at the moment, but then again, I’m entirely sure the opposing view does either. Interesting debate. Who are we to believe and why?
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 #732 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 5:21 pm
In case pepe gets hit by lightening
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 #733 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 5:23 pm
I have no doubt LFC valued Torres at £50m and that is what Chelsea were willing to pay. We could have done anything with that money but decided to use £35m of it to sign Carroll. The semantics of it are irrelevant really. It’s just spin on FSG’s part to make is look as though we didn’t get shafted on the price.
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 #734 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 5:50 pm
That ones always baffled me too LB. 3.5mil for Diego Cavallieri in 08, another what, 3mil for Brad Jones last Summer? I can scarcely remember either making a senior appearance. 6.5mil for what? Madness. And we wonder why we’re a few mil short for insert-players-name-here? Imo the back up keeper role should be filled one of 2 ways; a 38/39 yr old experienced keeper entering his twilight but still capable of standing in and doing a competent job in a pinch i.e Friedal would have been perfect, ok he went for a shot at first team football fair enough but ya get my drift. Or if you have a starting keeper approaching that age then your back up keeper should be his longterm replacement, a kid with great potential, the tools to make it. This pissing 3 or 4mil on perpetual 2nd stringers is ridiculous.
Where are Cavallieri and Jones now? Fluminese and on loan to Boro respectively. Nuff said.
As for the Carroll thing, of course LB and Donal are right. Its the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. We bought Carroll. Nobody else. Simple as that. I dont think its FSG p.r though LB, I dont recall them saying anything like that. Its a silly fan thing is all. I’ve read it elsewhere on other forums aswell. Thankfully its never taken seed with the collective.
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 #735 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 6:24 pm
What do ye lads think of the Shane long
Link?
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 #736 |
Aitch
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:07 pm
None of us were privy to negotiations, or know all the ins and outs of the January deal…
…so you’re welcome to state that you “don’t believe it” and THINK “it was all PR”…
… but you cannot state it categorically as fact.
These things are never cut and dry… football works in mysterious ways, that often don’t make perfect business sense to us on the outside…
…but pretty much every ITK has said that LFC’s position on Torres was…
Chavs had offered 35 million….
We knew Suarez was gonna cost 20 odd, which would only leave us with 15 to replace him…
Newcy had already slapped a price of 25 for Andy…
LFC told the Chavs if they wanted Torres they’d have to stump up 15 million plus what his replacement would cost…
They made cursory offers of 35+ a player…
…but they weren’t offering anyone we wanted. (Sturridge was off the table…)
Newcy realized what was going on and slapped 35m on Andy thinking everyone would say fuck off and they’d get to keep him, but if it went through they’d be laffin…
… Roman went all Schevhenko on their arse…
….and it eventually became 50 …
…so Yes… WE paid Newcy 35 for Andy.
But that deal doesn’t happen if the Chavs don’t go to 50.
Had they held firm at 35 or even raised it to 40…
… the deal doesn’t get done…
There certainly was a lot of hype and PR surrounding the whole thing…
… the whole organization was recovering from some serious turmoil… the handling of Nando’s exit and Andy and Luis coming was very much hyped and PR’d to the max…
… it was necessary to placate fans…
But the price of Andy Carroll was a serious “one-off” situation of circumstances…
… affected by several factors…
Torres wanting away…
Chavs (Roman) wanting him…
Roman’s Stash of Rubles …
January window…
English player…
New owners needing to make a statement…
Disillusioned fans needing a statement of intent…
…so there seems to be considerably less support for the idea that it was “all bollocks…
…and more support for the idea that it wasn’t…
… I’ll chose to believe that, until information, real information, comes out that directly contradicts that…
… and so far none has.
… and anyway…. why are we talking about this and not still talking about CHEORLIE!!! ???
Yes the new brunette is a bit tastey.
I personally like the strawberry blonde Irish girl, whose name I can;t remember… she hardly ever gets airtime over here int he States, but when she does, I put myself through the excrutiating agonay of watching the whole fuckin broadcast… Mick Dennis drooling all over his friends “news articles” and all…
… the process is gonna scar me for life considering the bizarre confluence of eroticism she provides, and vomitous impulses he does!
… but hey, we can’t all be married to supermodels… LB you fucker… and have to do what we have to do.
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 #737 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:07 pm
According to Sky Sports Arsenal are in negotiations to sign Mata for £13.5m
Jesus wept.
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 #738 |
dougle
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:19 pm
Check out who’s playing right now. My line up is looking like Barca compared to the crew we have on right now. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel but it ain’t us that’s doing the shooting.
1-0 Gala, about 90% possession to the Turks.
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 #739 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:23 pm
Aitch, I wish she was a supermodel. I’d be a stay at home dad! Lol. Feet up, with the cigar out (figuratively speaking).
Digger, FSG definitely did make that statement about whatever Newcastle want + £15m. I read quotes somewhere – I think it was the official site but I can’t remember for sure.
The backup goal keeper situation is one of my pet hates. Other clubs keep a number 2 goalie for years. Yet every fucking year we’re pissing away £1.5m-£3.5m on a the latest backup for Reina. It’s farcical.
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 #740 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:42 pm
I’ve just seen the line up for the match tonight. Fucking hell. Doni, Flanno, Kelly, Soto, Robinson, Degen, Poulsen, Shelvey, Cole, Insua, Carroll. That is a piss take XI. I honestly don’t see the point.
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 #741 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
LB: You dont see the point. You should thank god that you didnt watch the match. Saw the 1st half and its pathetic. I dont know how the fans who have seen Liverpool taste so much success in the past can even tolerate some of these players. Anyways, pre season but we are chasing shadows. Andy Carrol is 35m buy.. well,time will tell.
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 #742 |
sachem
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 8:41 pm
Degen? What the bloody hell is he still doing at LFC? I have a tendency to forget about him, and then he pops up again like migraine.
Still, mustn’t ridicule the players. This is pre-season.
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 #743 |
sachem
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 8:44 pm
One might also ask an opposite question: what the bloody hell is Arda Turan still doing at Galatasaray? If it’s out a loyalty, then fair play to him, but if he wants to leave, it’s a mystery.
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 #744 |
sachem
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 8:57 pm
Maybe Poulsen and Degen would consider staying in Istanbul. If everything turns out well, some Turkish sign will sign the pair of them for a few kebabs and a bottle of yoghurt.
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 #745 |
dougle
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 10:16 pm
I gotta agree with you LB, I really do not see the point of tonight’s team. Frankly it was a bit of an insult to the Turkish (and Scouse) fans who went there tonight.
Liverpool in name only.
I await some sort of rational explanation from someone.
It did no-one any good at all…. well maybe Andy Carroll got to run around for 90mins.
Fortunately my kid needed to be put to bed so I missed the middle hour.
A bloody mystery!
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 #746 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 10:16 pm
Luckily I didn’t watch the game but to be fair there was only one player on the entire team sheet I would hope to envisage starting on August 13 – Big Andy. We are desperate for a LB. I’m sure it is a mix of needing to get rid before bringing in any further. I think the transfer window so far has really made a mockery of the assumption that our deadwood was worth any more than a bag of potatoes. I’m sure they would give away Poulsen, Cole, Degen, and Jovanovic if anyone was willing… but if we don’t get a top level LB pre august 31 I think it’ll be a long year. I know that sounds dramatic but it really is crucial
As far as goalie is concerned I think it is prudent having an over the hill goalie sitting on the bench as long as we dont pay much for him and he’s happy simply to enjoy his last few years with liverpool. Then you have a really decent young goalie with potential (like the one Chelsea bought from Genk) and loan him out with the ability to bring him back if you need. Then if pepe gets injured you bring on someone like Doni for the rest of the game and then bring back the young guy asap to start games with Doni as his backup.
So hopefully our starting XI will be
………….Reina
Johnson.Carra.Agger.Jose/cissohko/alvaro/fabio at worst
…….Lucas………Adam…………..
Raul……………………Downing
…….Luis……..Carrol
With Kuyt, Spearing, Hendo, Skrtel, Kelly, Flanno, Maxi and Doni on the bench.
I too agree there isn’t a chance Stevie will be back in time.
p.s. Gerry are we hunting for 1000 posts again?
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 #747 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 28, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
I thought the days of seeing the likes of Degen, Poulsen, Cole in a red shirt were over. Sadly I thought wrong.
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 #748 |
JackHill
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 12:01 am
The game? was a shambles the only thing to my mind was that it was meant to be a showcase of saleable assets. If it was, then it backfired,certainly in the first half. Gala ran rings round them and I think that Kenny must be sick to put out a “team” like that!!!
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 #749 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 1:09 am
Jordan Henderson £16m
Juan Mata £13.5m
?
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 #750 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 4:15 am
I’m thinking that we’ll be hitting the 1,000 comments very soon!!!!!!!!!
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 #751 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 9:18 am
3-0 is a shafting and what appears to be a well and truely earned shafting. Bit before we come out with the its only pre-season and we were using our fringe players, lets remember Baros was only a fringe player at our club, what is happening. What has happened to Ninja, Agger ect where have they gone, with two weeks to go.
.
Far too many goals for this time of year.
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 #752 |
Dubrogue
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 11:05 am
Last nights team lineup was a sham and the performance shameful. But a couple of points to take from the game, it shows, very glaringly, who the deadwood are and that may persuade FSG to give KK a bit more to work with. It was only when Kuyt and Aqualani came on for the second half that we even looked like a team.
But the second and biggest point is that, in my opinion, most of the big guns were being kept back for Oslo on Monday. Partly because of the massacre there last week and for LFC to show respect and maybe to give something to the Norwegian fans there but mostly because there are far more Liverpool fans in Norway than Turkey and if two teams had to be fielded, then this is the way to do it. But that may be just wishful thinking on my behalf. Last night and last Saturday still left really bad tastes in my mouth and no Liverpool teams should lose like that, ever, pre-season or not.
If Aqualani leaves and God forbid Raul, KK will have a few questions to answer if the replacements are not up to it. And we seriously need a new CB and LB. But until then we will keep the faith and hope that the last two matches against Valerenga and Valecia will show the real Liverpool and give us more of an idea of the starting eleven for Sunderland.
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 #753 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
nice one LB
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 #754 |
koped49
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 12:21 pm
What is wrong with whats happened in the last two games, is by the loses the whole club lose the winning mentality.
I hate saying it but thats what whiskey nose works on with the mancs no matter who they are playing its about the winning,
This is what happened in the glory days we won more than we lost, maintaining the winning mentality.
Winining becomes an habit i know you wont win ever game, but to win the majority is what its about,
Preseason is the right time to get that winning feeling so you can start the season up and running not thinking about will we win or wont we.
we should be ready to start with a positive attitude from the off, thats what regularly winning gives a team.
Preseason teams should have a large number of fisrt squad players in, with a few new or young guns in to enable them to get the benifit from the experienced winners in the team.
We need to get rid of the deadwood as soon as possible
i no its not always that easy but degen poulsen etc need to be gone and replaced by the young guys who have the egarness and will to prove they can come in and do a job when required.
Who knows what in the minds of the management, so ill keep the faith as always and hope they start from the next game to start and play nearer to what we will see in the prem.
Im sure that kk and co will sort it.
Give the red shirts to guyS who deserve to wear it.
AND GET RID OF THAT BLUE AND WHITE STRIP.
Nice lookig design in the wrong colours
YNWA
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 #755 |
sachem
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 1:18 pm
This is from Guillem Balague’s twitter:
“Mata and Liverpool: LFC DID think of him & knew it would cost around 20m euros. But went for Downing. Now not interested”
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 #756 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 1:41 pm
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 #757 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 1:44 pm
Lads, this isn’t a knee jerk statement coming. I’ve had this opinion for a while…. I think Shelvey is shite.
Please provide arguments to the contrary. I’d like to know why almost universally he is considered a quality young player with a lot of potential. I just can’t see it. At all. So help me out here….
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 #758 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
van der vaart 8 million in 2010
Stan Collymore 8.5 million in 1995
?
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 #759 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 2:43 pm
Sachem youll give London Barnes a connery posting stuff like that
i dunno LB hes only 18 or 19 has a good phisyce (cant spell for shit today)
ive see a few flashes when he came on for us like a really quick ball to suarez in one game that i think set up a goal
he showed quick thinking and good vision
hes got a good freekick on him too
but i havent seen too much of him but id say he has an awful lot of potential
id say give him a few years before calling him complete shite
over and out
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 #760 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
Shite is probably overly harsh. Lets just say I’m not seeing the potential others are seeing.
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 #761 |
corklfc
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 3:27 pm
Playing the game in Turkey looks like it was a money making exercise, but with 2 Weeks to kick-off you would like to see the shape of the team at this stage.
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 #762 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 3:28 pm
Maybe I’m jumping the gun here but with all the talk over the weeks who can blame me? Why is Liverpool trying to get rid of probably their most creative player? I don’t understand why Kenny won’t even give him a chance. All the talk all summer has been about Raul leaving, Aqua leaving and a few hints about Lucas too! (prob bullshit but still…). Players like joe cole and poulsen who didn’t do shit are still right where they should not be. This is frustrating.
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 #763 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 3:55 pm
The first team won’t have much playing time together before the season starts. I hope that doesn’t hurt us.
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 #764 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
How many goals have we conceded in pre-season? 12? 13? We need a centre back and a left back stat. And pray to jaysus Reinas ready for the start of the season. I know its only pre-season but tbh I think thats a crock of shit, always have. A culture of winning tends to just trundle along……winning. A lot of these guys still just dont have the right mentality for Liverpool. We’ve conceded 6 in our last 2 games with nothing scored. I’m loathe to be drawing comparisons but I cant help but feel worried when looking at our rivals. Utds B team kick the shite out of an MLS all 11 4-0 wednesday night with considerable ease, we cant score a single goal in 180mins against Hull and Galatasaray but ship 6. I’m not pressing the panic button here, just, as usual, a tad concerned. Should we draw or (shudder) lose to Sunderland, I can already foresee the sadly predictable excuse machine rolled out again: ‘our pre-season has been hindered, goddamn copa america, suarez needs a break, we’re missing stevie, pepes not match fit yet, we need dagger back, wheres aurelio?, no way was gyan onside for that goal, etc etc’ we know them all well, seen this movie before. I’ve no doubt we’ll contest 4th, Kenny will ensure that but I just cant help but think it’s gonna be a struggle. Hopefully I’m wrong and we steamroll em all but pre-season highlights for me evermore the need for cautious optimism and reasonable expectations. We’re a long way from where many of my fellow bloggers think we are imo. The honeymoon is over for Kenny, the new manager bump passed. The serious work has begun, the test is 2wks away. He was pissed off after Hull, I’d say he was seething last night. Cant wait to see the line up vs Valarenga. I suspect it will be as close to the Sunderland starting team as possible.
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 #765 |
Lurgankop
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 6:43 pm
Anyone think that King Kenny may be in over his head?
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 #766 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 7:40 pm
Digger, those ready-made excuses have already been packaged and are poised for delivery. I could smell the scent after the Hull game.
Apparently pre-season games don’t matter. Just glorified training sessions. Well Galatasary and Hull must have read a different script. And how come I’m seeing Rooney, Nani and Anderson doing one-two’s, give and goes, running rings around all of their opponents while we look shite?
I’m not pressing the panic button either. However I remember our preseason in 2009/10 where we were useless against every half decent team we played. I was told not to worry as the games were meaningless. We went on to have a shocking start to the season. Last season was similar. So although I’m not pressing the panic button, I am looking at it with an itchy finger.
Would be nice to see some of the first team players on the field together. After all the season is in 2 weeks. That’s not a long time.
Lurgan, that’s a good question and only time will tell. Kenny hasn’t managed during this era of such intense media and fan scrutiny. So it will be interesting to see how he and we go.
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 #767 |
Aitch
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 7:42 pm
Oh for fucks sake behave yourselves.
Is anyone seriously comparing an MLS XI to Galatassaray?? Really?
You’re in the States mate, so I know you’ve watched the MLS… Hull would walk the fucker with little effort!
And come on…. the comparisons with Scum are a bit daft too. They have a settled squad and are on a roll of success, whereas we have had our stability seriously dented in the last 2 years and are trying to put humpty-dumpty back together again…
They’ve been nurturing their youngsters in a stable environment…
…we’ve been throwing them in at the deep end… not just in a struggling side, but one being meddled with by the executives…. and then shunting them as “not good enough” the minute they even remotely struggle.
Some perspective.
As for our defense… well we simply haven’t played our defense in the last 2 games.
Soto is 4th choice CB…
Wilson is 5th choice CB,
Kelly is 6th choice CB …and 2rd choice RB
We played a kid who’s played fewer than a handful of senior games at LB, at Left wing, and a guy half of you already conclude is Not good enough for LFC at left back…
… and then bitch about conceding 3 goals.
When we start with Carra/Skrtel, or Skrtel/Agger, or Agger/Carra as our CBs, and Johnson at RB and concede 3 goals… then and only then… can you fuckin PANIC without looking and sounding like a fuckin girl!
I read somewhere that the Hull game was arranged last season as part of the Ayala loan deal? Not sure if that’s true… but we used it to trot out 2 completely makeshift teams for a fitness run… whereas they went all out to get a result against us.
I don’t know what the point of the Gala game was… or how long ago it was arranged… …but one look at the team sheets tells you we didn’t try to win it before we’d stepped on the plane, let alone before kick-off… whereas they did.
We fielded 2 or 3 players for a full run-out and half a dozen youngsters to see where they were fitness/level wise, and to remind people that Deggen was still alive and available, if anyone in the Swiss 3rd division wants him.
That was it.
The games so far, have not been about “building a winning mentality”…
… they’ve been about Kenny and Clarke getting a good look at where each and every player in the squad is in regards their fitness, their skill level, their positional sense, their adaptability, their mentality, their team spirit, and teamwork.
The result didn’t tell us anything…
… nothing about how good or bad we are in general…
…or how good or bad we will be vs Sunderland…
The kids were playing with our Dross, so does it even tell us anything about how good or bad they are or can be?
I don’t think so…. But in conjunction with their observations during training and preparations, it’ll tell KK and Clarke a little something more about them all.
Now if we go into the next 2 pre-season games and are still seeing Deggen and Poulsen getting serious game time… then we can all lift our skirts and start screeching!
As for Shelvey…
I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that I can virtually guarantee you that Shelvey will play far better next to Lucas, Raul and Dirk and with SG and Suarez in front of him… than he did at Gala… simply because he did… last season.
He was introduced into games last season… at center midfield, in the hole, right wing and even at one point, left back, and while its fair to say he didn’t “shine” or “thrill”… he never once floundered in any of those positions.
I’m not entirely sure why LB can’t see anything in Shelvey…
…and for sure, its far too early to be predicting he’ll be the next Stevie G.
…but if I were still coaching, he’d be the number one guy I’d be looking to nurture out of our young crop of players this season, (or at the very least, among the top 3 with Martin Kelly & Danny Ayala… but…) I only hope KK has the same opinion, coz I reckon the kid “has it”.
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 #768 |
London Red
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 8:14 pm
The way I see it all our hopes and dreams are tied up in Luis Suarez he is the catalyst if he plays out of his skin this season we have a shot at glory.
I’m struggling to see a goal threat when he’s not playing we may well have gone from a 2 man team to a one man team overnight.
|
 #769 |
corklfc
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 8:25 pm
It crazy to talk about going in to panic mode at the moment, but with 2 pre-season games left we have not seen any sign of the team that is lightly to line out against Sunderland. We have only been missing two players due to the copa, and no injuries apart from SG, we have also got our new signings in early enough.
Last Summer we had 13 players at the world cup, early europa action,so I can only assume that all the good work is being done on the training ground.
|
 #770 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 8:39 pm
Right, I’m away to pull up me skirt!
Aitch I know what yer saying, I’m just saying maybe we should reign in our expectations a little instead of, eh, saying we’re gonna win the double! Its gonna be a tough season dude.
Lurgan, wtf?!
|
 #771 |
Aitch
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 9:05 pm
“Rooney, Nani and Anderson doing one-two’s, give and goes, running rings around all of their opponents while we look shite?”
…err… Suarez, Stevie G. and Raul haven’t even on the pitch.
Neither were Maxi, or Lucas, or even Downing, or Adam.
Christ LB, are you wearing your supermodel wife’s thong again… the one that binds?
… I would have expected just a bit more perspective from you.
We have yet to field any of our senior players in anything even remotely resembling a formation/selection that will play in the Prem.
If ever we needed a comedian to do a bit of “calm down, calm down” its now….
“Galatasary and Hull must have read a different script.”
Err… YEAH… that’s exactly the reality.
Both Hull and Gala are 3 weeks further along in their season preparations… meaning closer to a competitive game… and as such were fitter… plus they both fielded a strong team playing a high tempo geared towards getting a result….
Was there anything about either team selection, that makes you think any priority was put on getting a result in either game?
We sent out a bunch of players for a fitness run.
I know its frustrating seeing 0-3 results…
…but look at the reality of the teams fielded before saying things like “King Kenny may be in over his head?”
…that shit will make you look very silly when the season starts and an “actual Liverpool team” made up of “actual first choice players” takes the field.
For every pre-season game we’ve lost, there is a 4-0 result against Real Madrid or Man Utd, or a 3-0 against the almighty and apparently unbeatable/unstoppable Citeh.
Yes there were poor results against Sunderland and West Brom too, but come on lads… these games mean fuck all.
If Kenny thought “nurturing a winning mentality” was what mattered above all else, he’d have been fielding stronger teams, instead of giving mixed bags, 45 minutes.
We have an entirely different set of criteria, of things to achieve in pre-season, than do Scum or Citeh or the Chavs.
Look at these games for what they are… no more no less.
When Kenny fields a strong team… that’s when I’ll get my clipboard, pencil and player-ratings scorecard out.
|
 #772 |
Aitch
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 9:29 pm
Oh… and fuck the double…
…we’re in 3 competitions and there’s no reason we can’t win them all…
… you heard me … A Treble!
… against the same odds, and contrary to every pundit prediction that was there the season we last won a treble!
We had no chance of a Treble the seaosn we won it.
We had no chance of the Cl the seaosn we won it.
We weren;t going to win against 3 team we won en-route… oh yeah… and… no one has ever come back from 0-3 down to win a CL final…
…err… until we did it.
No one will ever win the Prem with abunch of kids!
OOOPS!
So yeah, go ahead and choke down every fuckin cliche Lawrenson and Sky Sports wanna throw at you…
… believe the accepted logic that we simply cannot compete with Scum, and Citeh…
… me… I’ll bask in things like 3-0 floor drubbings and believe in the King…… and the impossible…
oh wait… all those things that were impossible…
…someone achieved!
(grabs a Playboy and heads for the bog )
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 #773 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 9:42 pm
I find this paragraph very strange Aitch: ‘we have an entirely different set of criteria to achieve in pre-season to the mancs, chavs and citeh’.
Really? I’m lost here. What are they trying to achieve that we’re not? Arent we all trying to achieve the same things? Fitness, cohesion, preparation, execution of tactics, gameplans, formations, etc etc. Cos if they’re criteria is different than ours then given what we’ve seen so far maybe we should change ours! I’m confused :-[
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 #774 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
Steady on Aitch, your bordering on disrespect. That’s twice you’ve mentioned supermodel wife. I’m not sure if your trying to take the piss or not. Either way leave it out.
We all have our pet hates. Sone lose the plot seeing blue in put away kit. Others dont like to see the club embarrassed in any game be it friendly or not.
With 2 weeks to go until the fucking season starts I’d have expected to more first team players start games. I mentioned Nani, Rooney etc because those first team players have been starting games and looking like they taking their pre season games seriously. Meanwhile our Preseason has looked a fucking shambles if I’m honest.
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 #775 |
London Red
Posted on July 29, 2011 @ 11:16 pm
I looked up the definition of rose coloured glasses after reading Aitch say we could win the treble and this is what I found.
:If you look at a person or situation through rose-coloured glasses or rose-tinted glasses, you see only their good points and therefore your view of them is unrealistic.
Sounds about right.
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 #776 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 12:00 am
Interesting discussion but if we all remember back to the glory days, we all remember there was one excuse for Liverpool losing a game. We didn’t play well enough and they deserved their win.
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And folks that was it, we played terrible and lost. All these other excuses are part of the reason our teams been in limbo for the last 20 years.
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We’re happy to make excuses than point the finger, politically correct I guess.
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All the times Aitch mentioned we won trophies against all odds is because Liverpool has that mentality, or that was the mentality, and should be the mentality, however over recent years its not.
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The excuses have risen and as such took some casulaties along the way, that being Rafa. Regardless of the H and G thing, the players have been awful and at times give up, remember the Northhampton game.
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We need a winning mentality and we need it now, not in 4 weeks time. We also need players who play week in week out, not SG he’s still struggling, Saurez needs a rest and Agger is MIA. We need players to fill these gaps until they come back fresh.
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 #777 |
dougle
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 12:47 am
Just a slight change of tack gang.
When FSG took over the club we already had Deegan, Jova, Joe Cole, Poulsen, (Konch) …. on the books. So these guys are not “investments” per say. In fact it’s safe to say they are probably the opposite.
Whom of them is gonna get regular first team footie ? None I would say.
Poulsen, if he were up to it, would be useful as we are unlikely to get Lucas playing as much as last season (I think). But he’s clearly too slow, way too slow.
Jova just has not made a place for himself.
Konch is gone (thankfully).
Deegan … !!
Joe Cole despite what he’s “done” before clearly (to me) is history now.
So … I think FSG will get rid of all of these guys, by hook or by crook, this transfer season. Even if it’s really kind of in your face “we don’t need you and you need to go” language I can see this happening. I can’t see FSG leaving guys on the books who are not contributing, just can’t see it.
For what it’s worth I would hold on to Insua who I like as an attacking fullback who has also had quite a dose of internet/tv shite thrown at him ( and if for no other reason than to piss off the ex-player-brainless pundit brigade).
I would also hold on to Ngog if we can’t sell him. He at least has some good qualities. I would prefer a more dangerous and astute striker in his place.
Aquaman I think also offers something but I do believe he’ll go.
Aquaman, Cole, Poulsen, Deegan, Jova … (sorry about this aitch) we’ll get a few bob maybe but we’ll be shut of ~3ook/week wages … watch this space.
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 #778 |
Aitch
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 3:20 am
Awe come on LB where the fuck was the disrespect in what I said… you’re the one who brought up the mention that you had a wife who models…
… the only comment I made was that you were wearing her knickers… meaning a woman’s knickers, not her’s directly, and therefore they were too tight and binding yer balls… hence the anxiety.
Any possible “disrespect” that can be found in what I typed, would be directed at you and the opinion you expressed, rather than your wife…
… had you not mentioned she was a model, I’d have probably simply stated you were getting your knickers were in a twist… that’s all I was saying.
… and really… we’ve had enough respectful go-arounds for you to know that I respect you as a poster here… even on the rare occasions when we have vehemently disagreed.
Do I really have to apologize for that bit of obvious “banter” that had no intent, direct or indirect, towards your spouse?
Fuck it… I apologize.
Now, with tail tucked firmly between legs…. Where it is creating an nice erotic rubbing sensation akin to a dog licking peanut butter off your balls (come on you know you’ve all done that… No… that’s just me… right well, ahem, where was I… errr…)
…I suppose I fuckin know better than to even open this door… I’ll regret it… but here’s what I mean… even though it was pretty spelled out…
The Glorious Man United are a stable team. They have been for 20 years.
Hence the clearly homo-erotic-bum-love-fest people have with them.
In spite of their recent very dodgy finances, winning has kept things stable for them.
The board backs the boss… or at the very least wouldn’t say a cross word about him to anyone.
Everyone at the club does what Fungus says. For example, when Rooney wanted away, he got set straight, and settled back in.
They’ve come off not just 2 years of success, but a decade…. more than that.
Their pre-season is about strolling in the sun, and having their massive egos stroked by having Mighty MLS teams roll over for a belly tickling… and keeping their marketing juggernaut rolling at full speed
They’ll start the season with essentially the same squad they finished the last with… their only issue is replacing Scholes and hoping the new keeper settles.
(caveat… from their perspective….. personally… I think they have way more than that to be concerned about, as I’ve previously stated, but the world thinks they will simply win it again next season and so do they, coz that’s who they are… but simply put… their mentality is: “the Silverware is ours, anyone who wants it, you have to go through us”… and that has worked for them for a long time… it may yet, but Prem teams can and will take them this season, if they try.)
We on the other hand (in spite of having “gone through them”) have come off 2 years of the biggest turmoil any top club has ever endured.
Have people really already forgotten all we went through, and simply assigned the failures of the last 2 seasons down simply to poor players? Really?
We had a decent 6 months… but be under no illusions as to the rebuilding job FSG had, Kenny had and All still have.
Some wise sage will point to that statement and suggest its counter to my argument.
Not at all… I wear no rose-tinted glasses when I view LFC… on the contrary they are clear as a bell. I don’t predict a successful season for us out of some blind faith or hopefulness…
…okay, to some extent I am banking my “prediction” (and yes the Treble was tongue in cheek, but having said that, everyone starts from zero and NO ONE DID expect us to win the things we’ve won in recent years) for the season on certain parameters, like the “big” players staying fit, Andy being fit, Luis building on his debut, and the kids continuing to progress… but why is any of that soooo unlikely.
I find it amusing that people bang on (particularly in other forums) about how Agger is made of glass, and we can’t count on getting 20 games out of him this season… but the same people discuss Stevie G as a certain starter in every game and first name on the team sheet.
Really?
In my own profession, I strive for the brass ring with every project I take. It makes for hard work and longer hours, and more stress.. but in doing so, I’ve made many a silk purse out of a sows ear… and won some real critical acclaim and awards for the final product… but none of that would have happened if I’d simply attempted to produce something worthy of 4th place… as evidenced by the total lack of acclaim and awards achieved by a myriad of coworkers through the years who did just that….
…and yes… comparatively speaking I was Tranmere and have beaten the Scum/Chavs of my profession to awards.
But I digress slightly… my point is this… if you don’t reach for the brass ring… you don’t win it…
… and a lot of people won’t see us coming this season, coz so many are so convinced that we are just a “competing for 5th team” now…
… and to my mind… we have them just where Kenny wants them…
I get the whole “we’ve been here before” argument about not getting our hopes up…
… but I’m sorry… we have never been here before.
We have never been to the brink of financial destruction…
We have not since the 50s years been on the verge of relegation…
… then pulled it out to 6th…
We have never had the King return…
We haven’t had owners like FSG since the 70s… and maybe not even then…
We have never been so utterly discounted by the media… for sure they’ve said it to make it true, but never truly believed it…
We have never been so utterly discounted by …sadly… a disturbing proportion of our own fans… not under Evans… not under Ged at the end… not under Hicks/Gillette…
… and I’m sorry but if you think the backroom turmoil of the last 5 seasons, and the poor executive management of the previous 5 seasons had no bearing on the pitch you’re kidding yourself….
… those aren’t excuses… they are circumstances… circumstances no other top team has endured… and getting “tired of hearing them” doesn’t discount their impact on the field…
More people thought the influx of Hodgson and Cole, Raul, Poulsen and Konchesky were an indicator of impending success last summer…
… than think Kenny, Suarez, Carroll, and the influx of Adam, Downing, and Henderson could be an indicator of impending success this summer…
I’m sorry… but WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ABOUT?
Our pre-season was about getting a good look at, and assessment of, the 2nd string, the 3rd string and the emerging youngsters.
Our pre-season was about doing that… while fulfilling pre-arranged financial obligations… in the form of an Asian tour, and the Hull and Gala games…
…and using those obligations to play a few unimportant games,
… while fulfilling the objective of netting some dosh and “growing the brand” from a marketing perspective.
…so… our preseason was about giving all and sundry 45 minute runouts, in a variety of mixed formations….
I get that some of you may have wanted pre-season to be more than that… but …
Can you really not see the logic in that?
…or the difference in Scums “position” and what they wanted/needed to achieve.
They blitzed Asia for the last two years… this year they did America.
We are still so very, very far behind them in terms of “marketing the brand”
They took a punt on Chicarito… and okay, it worked out amazingly (and I’ll venture beyond their wildest dreams) …but it now has a double return,
…coz as a result of him being a success, and them already having the American tour lined up…
…. they’ll make a fuckin shitload of money selling Scum shirts with a Mexican lad’s name on the back of them here in the States.
… its like the old saying … money makes money!
That is as much a part of their strength as any of Fungus’ tactical nouse, mindgames, or performances from any individual player.
Kenny was in a completely different place to Fungus, or Mancini, or Arsene, or Andres.
What he needed, was to “take a look at things” … and that’s what he’s done so far.
He also needed to do this while nursing a few of our biggest players back to health, and without 2 dead-bang, surefire starters, in Luis Suarez and Lucas Leiva.
Kenny already knows what he’s gonna get from the 1st teamers…what he needed to do was assess the rest.
Who needs to be moved on…. and who has the right attitude to be useful IF we can’t shift them… Which youngsters can fight it out in the squad, and which need to go out on loan.
So you get 45 minute kickabouts… as opposed to an attempt to drub or circus-trick an MLS team…coz that’s what shows you these things.
Would Scum have interchanged silky passes if Rooney and Rio were home nursing injuries, and Nani and Chicarito were playing in a tourney in South America?
I dunno, maybe… but I doubt Fletcher, Anderson and Obertan were up to it..
Either way… I doubt Scum’s results against MSL teams mean anything and will have any bearing on their performances, or results once the season starts.
And the same for us.
… if we fall apart and struggle, it won’t be because of our pre-season results…
… just as if Scum win the title again, it won’t be because they beat an MLS team…
… now excuse me while I pull my not-a-model-but-still-the-soundest-bird-I’ve-met-bar-Halle-Berry-Wife’s leather thong out my arse and give them back to her… my balls ache
We now return you to our regularly scheduled bitch session….
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 #779 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 4:17 am
Well if the only reason we need pre-season is to assess the 2nd or 3rd place starters then why are they not playing trails against league 1 teams and leave the first team to play against the Hull’s and Gala’s world class outfits.
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If the first game the top 11 play is against Sunderland then we’re in for a long day.
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In regard to the last 5 years, we haven’t won the league in 20, the closest we actually came was while H&G were in charge, sobering thought.
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Player attitudes, loyalties, and influence have contributed greatly to our current situation.
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 #780 |
somnath07in
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 8:28 am
Good discussion. I have a very simple way of looking at things.
1. Title Challenge: We are 2nd best to ManShite,ManCiteh,Chelsea
2. Squad: Add Tottenham to the above list.
3. Our nearest competitor: Arsenal(I say that assuming Fabregas,Nasri goes and they cant bring Mata).
So ideally given our money power,squad strength,player quality we should do well to finish 5th/6th. Anything above that will see us play out of our skin. I have set that in my mind and hence even though i feel frustrated when i see Mata’s bid at 22m,Aguero going to Citeh at 38m max(Both bid are something which we could match)i tell myself that Liverpool FC will take 2-3 season to get back where it belongs(If everything goes well).
To me our real strength will be unleashed from our academy. I do not know what City,Utd,Chelsea are doing at their academies but going by what Pep Guardiola said, my big hope is that.
I also have some doubt and apprehension about our transfer policy. Though its not correct to say that we are pro british but at times i have felt that we prefer buying british.
Regarding pre season, its been pathetic so far. 2nd team/3rd team or watever, the quality of play at time as been pedestrian. Hope we start well against Sunderland.
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 #781 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 8:28 am
Man Utd have 3 pre season games remaining. This is the team that started against MLS All Stars: Lindegaard, Jones, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Young, Rooney, Berbatov.
Chelsea have 2 pre season games remaining. This is the team that started against Kitchee: Turnbull; Ferreira, Terry, Rajkovic, Cole; Lampard, Zhirkov, Benayoun; Kalou, Malouda, Drogba.
Arsenal have 3 pre season games remaining. This is the team that started against FC Cologne: Szczesny, Koscielny, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Walcott, Ramsey, Song, WIlshere, Gervinho, Chamakh.
Man City have 3 pre season games remaining. This is the team that started against LA Galaxy: Hart, Richards, Clichy, Lescott, Kompany, De Jong, Barry, A Johnson, Silva, Balotelli, Dzeko.
Liverpool have 2 pre season games remaining. This is the team that started against Galatasaray: Doni, Insua, Degen, Kyrgiakos, Flanagan, Robinson, Kelly, Poulsen, Cole, Shelvey, Carroll.
Our rivals are putting out proper sides in order to get fitness and cohesion. Meanwhile we are fielding the stiffs and getting embarrassed. We must have some revolutionary method I’m unaware of. Lull everyone into a false sense of security by having everyine think you’re shit.
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 #782 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 10:03 am
I think the squad we put out against Gala is a reflection on the previous few transfer windows (since G&H started raping us). It will take a little bit of time to clear the decks and allow FSG and Kenny to build the squad they want. Unfortunately every other team knows we are desperate to get rid so if they start offer to take Jovanovic/cole/poulsen/degen if we agree to pay half his wages then we are forced to say “no thanks…” and wait and hope someone comes for something reasonable (like a free transfer).
I, and I’m sure most were pleasantly surprised when we got 1.5mil from leicster for konch.
Someone said it depends on who we get rid of as to who we bring in, which i think is more accurate than those saying we are done. I also though the way Pepe said in his interview that we will probably have one or two more coming in sounded pretty confident.
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 #783 |
dougle
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 10:51 am
Just a quick comment about the “buy brittish” vibe. I personally am not a fan but then I’m not the manager. Kenny (and DC) are doing it their way and while I would prefer a more exotic mix I think there is a coherency and sense in what they are doing.
We need english/homegrown (which i believe Insua also is) for eufa regs.
We are also not in europe this year and what we need is to win the league .. (nice to say it) If we can”t win it then we need to be top 4.
Rafa knew Spain and the Spanish, hence Xabi, Pepe, Torres, Luis Garcia etc.
Ged knew the french speaking world, hence Jimmy Traore, Diouff and Diao, Biscan, Diomonde, somebody’s brother who scored once away against Chelsea etc etc …
Kenny knows what Kenny knows hence a Scot, A Geordie, a Wearsider, a Tynesider and a street fighter from Montevideo (?) … no soft southerners there … He’ll mould a team that will play like he wants them to. Listen to all the pre and post press conferences and the themes are always the same. Play together, fight for each other, respect the fans and the club and the team etc etc ..
This year is gonna be about steel and sweat first and style second I reckon.
Then when we achieve what he sets out to do we’ll add the euro tech style merchants.
I reckon.
Great post there Aitch.
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 #784 |
Reds in Aus
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 11:16 am
I agree dougle. I think he wants fighting spirit first then when you bring in flair the fighting spirit should be contagious. Flair isn’t contagious…
So you get a mentally strong group of young guys who want to play for liverpool and want to win for liverpool by bringing in players such as suarez downing, carrol, hendo, and adam, and get them playing as one and I reckon results will follow. I’m not saying you need to be british to fight (suarez, kuyt and lucas are prime examples) but it might be one of the reasons Kenny is open to selling aquaman (who is clearly a class player – although I’m still reserved about him due to his fucked ankle problems). The last thing we want is a primadonna like balotelli or even what Torres was becoming.
It’s not just big names that get results (although you need extremely solid players at every position to compete), its also team spirit/organisation. Even last year Man city had a squad worth more than 400mil and yet they weren’t guaranteed 4th spot until within 2 weeks of the end of the season.
I’m more than a little concerned about stevie g. It is a bloody nasty injury that keeps you out for 6 months, And as we know it wasn’t a broken ankle, it therefore is certainly a non healing (or at least very slow to heal) injury. Can he come back and be as strong as before, hopefully… but I think Raul is vitally important especially if Stevie has a less than perfect re-introduction.
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 #786 |
sachem
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 12:23 pm
Liverpool FC this afternoon issued the following statement:
“Steven Gerrard today began a course of antibiotic treatment for an infection related to an ongoing groin problem.
He is expected to remain in hospital for several days while the precautionary procedure is completed.
The player will then return to Melwood to continue his rehabilitation programme and is expected to be available for selection in September.”
I doubt Stevie will have much more to contribute to LFC first team. At least we can’t count on him ever again contributing on a regular basis. When/if he recovers it will be interesting to see what he can do.
The best we can hope for is that he’ll return and be deployed sparingly, while acting as mentor for the younger midfielders.
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 #787 |
sachem
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
From twitter:
Paul Grech
Seems that #LFC have opted to pay a fee to Albacete for young midfielder Nacho Huertas when they could have got him for free. Classy.
Albacete have financial problems so fee they’ve received from #LFC gives them some breathing room.
Worth a mention that Albacete manager Antonio Gomes was on Rafa’s coaching staff at #LFC & that Nacho was training with 1st team there.
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 #788 |
ldhawan
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 1:41 pm
Kenny fielded a young side plus some misfits because he is trying to display them so somebody else can watch them play and hopefully put in a bid for the misfits. They will see they are fit and ready to play and hopefully somebody will be ready to pay. He needs to get rid of some before he can continue buying.
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 #789 |
Aitch
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 9:22 pm
… boring twat with his long-arsed posts alert…
Look lads, I’ve been stomping my size 16s pretty relentlessly the last couple of days, and honestly, I don’t mean to come off as a complete cunt, but really, we need some perspective here.
I can understand a certain amount of frustration… but given where we came from, and where we are… I honestly don’t understand the conclusions some of you are coming to.
MLS All Stars, Kitchee, Cologne, LA Galaxy…. (okay, I’m back on my chair and have stopped laughing now)… and Galatassaray…
Now seriously… with the exception of Cologne… which one of those teams has any… and I do mean ANY pedigree?
I honestly think you’ve made my argument for me there LB…
Playing a team of primarily first team starters, who all played with each other last season and know each other, so should have no problem whatsoever getting a result against any of that lot, tells you absolutely fuck all…
… the only manager that learned anything out of those games was Andres Villas-Boas coz he is new and getting to know his players… hence he only played 3 fringe players.
What did Mancini learn by playing essentially his first 11 against the Galaxy… and only barely managing to beat them.
Am I mistaken in saying they only managed a draw… and it needed 7 penalties to win it?
Their fans should be far more concerned by their “Narrow victory” in that game, than our fans should be concerned by a full strength Gala team, beating our kids and shop-window players, by only 3 goals.
There is no doubt the new boys need to be incorporated into the team that finished last season… but I reckon once knees have been reeled back in from their jerking… that is exactly what we’ll see in Norway and against Valencia.
Some of you are talking about our pre-seaosn as if its over and we play Sunderland tomorrow.
To some extent, I can understand why people would discount our title challenge hopes against Scum and the Chavs.
I get where people think their strengths vastly outweigh their weaknesses.
I do… I see where that’s coming from even if I don’t entirely agree with it.
But Arsenal? Fantastic players of football, but the biggest “soft center” in the Prem, with their 2 best player’s futures in question..
Spurs… one good season to get them to 4th, one not so good season, albeit with a spattering of some very good results, that eventually saw them flounder to 5th. They COULD challenge for the top, but I truly fail to see why people think we’ll struggle to compete with them.
And Citeh… are they not, right now, just Spurs with more money and bigger name players. You could make Digger’s Scum argument for them… they have game winners for sure… but does last season’s 4th place finish and a Cup against Stoke really put them in the same bracket as Scum and the Chavs? Really?
I get that it COULD put them in that bracket… I do… but why concede a challenge to them, they are not “proven” yet… far from it. They’ve achieved nothing to warrant such automatic credit/praise. People are giving them far too much credit.
I guess we’ll see?
As for the “buy british” lark… in and of itself, I can understand why people are getting frustrated by it… but its part of a long term strategy.
And yes, I know we need to be concerned about the immediate future of getting back into the top 4… but that concern should not be at the expense of long term planning, any more than long term planning should get in the way of the immediate needs.
In two years time, when UEFA increase the homegrown quota requirement… which they are planning to do… even further… we are looking to be the best place team to take advantage of that… and our lads will have had a few seasons together while Citeh will be scrambling to replace all their Foreign Stars.
But they’ll have won trophys in the meantime” I hear you say…
…possibly… but as Reds in Aus just said… Citeh barely managed the top 4 this season after a 400 million outlay.
Yes they achieved their objective, yes that’s all black and white…
… but does everyone really believe that if we had hired Kenny instead of Hodgson last summer, Citeh would have overtaken us?
For sure, they banked the points that got the CL spot… no argument…
… but come on… they did it coz we floundered for 6 months and Spurs fucked up their challenge, as much as by any of their own merit.
Why does that automatically qualify them as “automatic title challengers”? …coz they’ve added Aguerro?
They’ve got a team of stars and talented players… but we beat that team 3-0.
They’ve got Tevez that wants away… that they won’t let leave.
They’ve got Bellamay that wants to go ANYWHERE… that they won’t let leave.
They’ve got Ballotelli challenging his manager’s authority and one or two players have already taken up that fight.
And there’s 3 or 4 other players who are unsettled there too.
…if they stumble… will they bounce Mancini, causing even more strife?
All is not as rosey as it seems at Man City…
…seriously, I’ll take our situation over theirs any day of the week.
We’ve got 2 games and two weeks before the season starts.
What’s the worst case scenario?
We start the team that trounced Fulham against Sunderland?
Would that be so bad?
And we won’t coz we’ve got Adam, Downing and Henderson to add to that squad.
…and the transfer window hasn’t closed yet…
… more movement will happen… especially as we get close to the end, there’ll be lots of teams… around the world… teams panicking to pick up players …even if those players are Poulsen or Deggen… who while they might not be able to do a job for us, could certainly do a job for teams in Denmark and Switzerland.
I guess it just comes down to whether you’d rather be the guy with egg on his face for having predicted success for a team I’ve followed for better than 40 years, if they fail…
… or the guy who proudly pronounces I told you so, if we fail…
… coz honestly… without being a total Douchebag about it… I think that says more about you than it does about me.
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 #790 |
sachem
Posted on July 30, 2011 @ 10:50 pm
Have to concur with Aitch here. I don’t entirely agree with all his judgments, but in general, he’s talking sense here.
Some of you fellas need to settle down. Especially you, LB, especially you. Say hello to the wife from me (not joking).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzrhMw_sRI
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 #791 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on July 31, 2011 @ 12:48 am
I’m very calm mate. Very calm. A bit bored of this to be honest. Will focus on the cricket and formula one until Aug 13th.
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 #792 |
kopcolly
Posted on July 31, 2011 @ 3:04 am
great posts aitch.
any of the irish kopblog massive catch up or here from timmy suarez on your recent gathering?
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 #793 |
corklfc
Posted on July 31, 2011 @ 11:18 am
Aitch
your missing point. The problem with the Game against Gala is that it was totally meaningless because most of the players involved won’t be playing 2 Weeks time (maybe 2) same goes for the Hull game, so it not like Kenny & Steve can bring the players back to the training ground and work on the things that need fixing.
As you said he have 3 new players in the squad, more players fit again who will be involved against Sunderland, Kenny & Steve now have only 2 games to see how they gel with the existing team. Downing was purchased because of his high assist rate and this is seen as a key part of maxing the talents of Carroll, do we know how this is going.
Players are working on their fitness every day on the training ground, and I have no doubt any player starting in 2 Weeks will have the required level of fitness, but that’s all we know as this stage
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 #794 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on July 31, 2011 @ 11:12 pm
Rather tawdry and uneccessary final sentence there Aitch. ‘Without coming across as a douche’ you say? Ooopss…… Its difficult to keep the Uberfan down but please try. We havent seen his type in here for a while thankfully but he’s creeping out, rearing his head there in your final paragraph.
Nobody said we’ll fail. Some made predictions, some expressed concerns at our pre-season. Personally, given our last 2 seasons I think finishing 4th would be a fantastic achievement and constitute success not failure. The Uberfan in you over reaches with claims of bloggers predicting failure for the Reds. Nobody did. We all enter the new season every year with the same hopes and dreams: the title. But whilst we hope, many of us realize that its simply not realistic at this time. We’d love to be wrong but there it is. We hope, but we understand. So spare me all this glib ‘says more about you than me’ bullshit please. It says fuck all except we’re concerned at being thumped in pre-season and we hope we win the league but 4th is realistically our lot but would be a fantastic achievement. Thats it and thats all.
And if we finish 4th Aitch, ya wont see me in here in May giving it the old ‘told ya so’ routine.
Should we win the double can the same be said of you? Can you keep Uberfan quiet? I wonder…..
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 #795 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 3:30 am
The fact is we are assuming that we will play good football, all our new recruits will fire,Andy Caroll will be a hit and Downing’s partnership with him will be destructive and finally Suarez will be the icing on the cake.
All these are assumptions but the hard reality of a season is that we will not play at our highest level everytime,we wont get our 1st XI everytime. Finally if we assume everything to go perfect,then taking that as the parameter, City should win the league,Chelsea/United finishing 2/3rd.
Its very important for us to concentrate on winning against the ‘lesser’ sides of the league. We must take max possible points.
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 #796 |
Aitch
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 3:43 am
Oh, do fuck off with your “uberfan” bollocks lad.
I suggest you scroll back through the almost 800 posts here… there are more than enough people predicting that IF we finish 4th… it will be with great difficulty… and is the best we can hope for… you yourself have just suggested how hard that’s gonna be.
Me… I see no reason why we can’t jump straight back into the top 3… and where I recognize we might not… when that happens, I won’t need to come back in here and say shit… it will be enough that I looked at the players we have, the players we brought in, the management structure we have and was able to see the possibilities.
… it will no longer be in that gray area I try to analyze… it’ll be right there in the black and white you seem to worship so much… I won’t need to say shit.
… again though… nice try at claiming the high and mighty ground…
|
 #797 |
Aitch
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 3:48 am
… but somnath, by the same logic, you are assuming that those teams mentioned won;t have problems.
Scum have a new keeper to bed and are counting on Anderson to fill Scholes boots.
City are well capable of beating Inter Milan 3-0 in a pre-season friendly… just as they are of getting embarrassed off the field 3-0 at Anfield.
None of these teams have a guarantee of success… beyond the guarantee that any fan or pundit gives them.
Yes Scum have the track record… but so did we up until 1990.
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 #798 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 7:01 am
Well, stop acting like one and it wont need to be highlighted then will it? Claiming high ground you say? Jaysus mate take a read of your final paragraph in that post. Surely I dont have to point out the irony? That right there is the epitome of holier than thou, stake your claim to the higher ground condescension and as I said, was uneccessary. You dident read LB telling you he has now got some sort of superior insight into you now that you’ve made your predictions right? You dident read me laying down 40yr fanhood credentials as if that somehow implies or infers that my prediction is any better. We’re all the same Aitch. We’re all Reds. Get off the cross mate. Like I said, ya dont wanna hear Uberfan bollocks? Dont act like one.
|
 #799 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 9:46 am
Aitch, you are correct but somehow i feel things are not as rosy as it is made out to be or maybe we are wearing utopian glasses.
|
 #800 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
That time of the month again I see
Anyway there has been a lot of giving out about too many in central midfield but I think this summer we have just started to replace Alonso and monster
So when u think of what we lost we aren’t really too packed in there
Just need some depth in defense now
Atich that Korean lad u talked about came out and said he wants to join us
Man I hope we get in there
Over
|
 #801 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:22 pm
loosing 0-2 to Valeranga. Carra’s been given a good game by their striker…
|
 #802 |
Skeat
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:32 pm
Oh dear… Conceding 14 in 5 matches…
|
 #803 |
sachem
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:37 pm
Vålerenga is ranked 218th in Europe. According to Vegard Heggem, it’s Vålerenga reserves we’re playing.
|
 #804 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:47 pm
The good ole preseason rope a dope
Nicely done!
Over and out
|
 #805 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:52 pm
1-2 now… some meaningful attacks. Nice to see Agger playing. Such a wonderful ball player from the back. Charlie Adam conceded the penalty..something which he has done in the past. Got to work on that aspect of his game.
|
 #806 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 6:55 pm
Hopefully seeing the ball in the back of the net will give the lads some confidence because this is a team desperately lacking it. Starters, reserves, it doesnt matter, we are playing some horrendous horrendous stuff. It’s like watching barca, but the exact opposite.
Carragher is well and truly past it, and I do not think we can survive defensively if he is our first choice CB. He easily could have been sent off for that shirt pull, and he is repeatedly getting taken apart by their striker.
Also, we have no one in the team who can tackle. Absolutely no one. Without Lucas this is a real issue. We’re putting on pressure but not putting in tackles. Look at Adam’s absurd rugby tackle in front of the box. Just an embarrassing challenge. Fouls like that around the box are how to concede goals in the prem.
|
 #807 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 7:57 pm
Better game overall compared to previous ones. Got the chance to see Sterling. Aquilani again was impressive. Carragher was reminded of his age.
|
 #808 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
Bringing on Aquilani for Henderson was like bringing on xavi for poulsen. We actually looked like a competent team from then on. I will really doubt KK’s player evaluation abilities if he sells him for anything less than 20m.
I think right now our best lineup for Sunderland would be:
Reina
Kelly Carra Agger Johnson
Lucas
Meireles Aquilani Downing
Suarez
Carroll
We desperately need cover for Lucas, if he is out for any period of time we will struggle defensively.
|
 #809 |
Dubrogue
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
That’s a bit better anyway. Nice to see the consistency there now. That’s five played and three conceded in all of them.
Plenty of positives though especially Downing and Aqualani. If Aquaman goes, it will be a real real bad misjudgement. Adam was a bit naiive with a few tackles but sprayed the ball about quite well at times and Henderson got forward with pace at times but was still largely anonymous. Come back quick please Lucas and Suarez. So badly missing a left back and a new centre back though.
But a good performance against Valencia at Anfield and we should start the season in the right frame of mind. 4-2-3-1 the way to go me thinks with the personnel available. Still better than this time last year no matter what. No matter what. Must change these rose coloured specs.
|
 #810 |
dougle
Posted on August 1, 2011 @ 11:36 pm
Hmmmm … Once mighty Valerenga got the measure of us after 15 mins we looked pretty wooden. 4-4-2 does not work the way we played it defensively. None of the players seemed to be able to step back from the middle or forward from the back to take out the “number 10″ role player. Not great there.
Second half we were better by playing 4 lines (4-2-3-1) rather than 3. We occupied more space if nothing else.
I, as against, most, was not too disappointed with what did not work tonight. It was a game with meaning because it featured most of the team/squad that will have a role this season. It’s good to see what’s not working, we can fix it.
Glenda was rusty and we paid the price.
Our middle pack, for me, was a bit toothless both ways. Again that’s ok because they actually played with each other at last.
Positives for me were Downing in every aspect going forward. Henderson did make a few good runs and was looking very strong even when he came off. Aquaman has the touch, he made a big difference, albeit against a tiring team. We all can see it.
Agger looked really good except for that horrible mistimed tackle towards the end.
Robbo and Flanagan looked confident but Flanagan did get caught a couple of times.
Negatives – well Dirk had one of his “special” games – ‘nough said.
Spearing … ? I didn’t see anything special there, I think a good player with him makes him a better player.
Overall the midfield lacked authority for me. No boss there.
Andy looked lost for me. Disconnected frequently from support and having balls lumped at him. He scored a good goal but I am not seeing yet the knit around him.
It’s going to be important to have Lucas back and Suarez back of course, obviously enough.
What’s with Miereles ? Is he injured ?
If so that’s Skertl, Gerrard and Miereles (?) injured and Suarez and Lucas out of sync right now. Don’t like that. I would not be loaning or underselling Aquaman right now. Even holding him until January if necessary because of that team out there today there was very little in the way of creativity to be seen.
That said Glenda will only improve, Adam and Henderson will settle in, Downing already looks confident and will also settle in. Both Suarez and Lucas will soon enough be up and running and we (still) have Aquaman and Miereles as i write. Skertl will be back and Stevie is like, always a possibility.
So it was a good run out. Overall a very useful game as against Gala which was next to pointless from my limited view.
One thing, I think, to bear in mind, all we have to do at the start of the season is get results. I don’t care if we are shite against Sunderland as long as we win. Likewise vs arsenal and whoever else we play. It will be bloody great to get off to a good start points wise. The performances will come I believe but it will probably be October/November before we hit our stride. Why ? Copa-Fitness-Bedding in of new players.
Nice post Donal by the way, like your first line !
|
 #811 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 2, 2011 @ 5:57 am
We cant play 4-4-2 because we dont have the midfield to play that formation. We get dominated there. Jay Spearing is our back up for Lucas and we feel the absence of the Brazilian. That tells the story when it comes to the position of defensive midfielder.
Carragher gets the starting position because of his reputation. Mr Henry has made it clear that anything short of 4th position will not be pleasing. For that to happen, we need a LB, a ball playing CB and a first choice defensive midfielder(Lucas is not my first choice. Like Xabi, we have not replaced Masch)
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 #812 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on August 2, 2011 @ 8:20 am
Your right there dougle
Hold on to aquaman to b fucked
We bought him and he was injured
Went off for a successful loan season
Now he’s back with a good preseason behind him
Just hold onto him
It’s not as if it’s gonna break the bank to pay the man until January
Raul the merciless has a bruised foot
Man I’ll b glad to see him back in there
Clara Lara sunday
Tinahely show yesterday
Dublin zoo today
It’s all rock and roll in the gap!!!
|
 #813 |
ldhawan
Posted on August 2, 2011 @ 6:01 pm
This talk of Aqua to some italian club or another is pissng me off. We have 3 or 4 other players who should be on their way out yet all the talk is about our most creative player. That will be one fucked up day if it happens.
|
 #814 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 2, 2011 @ 6:25 pm
True. Absolute bollocks
|
 #815 |
sachem
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 3:05 am
Looks like we’re closer to signing José Enrique than ever before. At least according to David Maddock on The Mirror:
http://goo.gl/ju8q8
It’s also been confirmed than Jovanovic has agreed a 2-year deal with Anderlecht, but it hasn’t yet been finalized.
The most important thing is to get rid of a few more players if possible. Degen, Poulsen and El Zhar just don’t belong in our squad. Insúa and, unfortunately, Aquilani will also be on that list.
If these players leave the club then we’ll have reduced the wage bill somewhat and earned some cash to use for a CB, which would seem to be the next order of business when/if the Enrique deal is concluded.
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 #816 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 7:11 am
Aquilani should be given a chance. The position with him is unclear too. Kenny,Owner and he himself are not on the same page. I still feel we can make use of both Raul and Aquilani during the course of the entire season.
|
 #817 |
McrRed
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
Also talk of Cole to Rangers (the QP variety) on a 50% wage loan (ie we pay 50%).
…and to think how I laughed when we got Kewell from Leeds!
What goes around…
|
 #818 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
I’d prepare for the worst so if I was ye lads. Hes homeward bound I reckon. And not much Kenny can do but get the best price he can. If he wanted to stay at Liverpool he wouldent have had his agent negotiating with Ford cortina last month or with Milan right now would he? He’d have said ‘whoah there motormouth, I know you want yer commision but I aint going nowhere, I wanna be a part of what Kennys building here’ and that would be the end of it. Cos theres no way Dalglish would release a player like Aquilani if he wanted to be here right? I cant believe that is possible anyway. So from where I’m sitting its pretty clear he wants out. And we saw in January how Kenny deals with want-away players. I think its pretty clear how this one will pan out tbh.
|
 #819 |
dougle
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 9:54 pm
Digger – from where I am sitting – eating my tea at the kitchen table – I find myself agreeing with you – I’ve read different “reasons why” but it would seem to me that it’s fairly inevitable. I’m afraid we have to chalk this one down to Mr Purslow and Mr Hodgson.
Eventho’ I have always thought he would go I’m afraid we will miss out on the best he has to give and it is something we don’t have a lot of.
So be it – I hope we make a few bob back. Once again, it is optics but he was not a FSG signing and I don’t think they’ll be thinking they are being ripped off necessarily. Let’s say it’s 8 million in the hand and 9 million/3 years in wages off the books. That’s plus 17 million.
In the big picture all the noise from Anfield is money in before money out. Aquaman and Jova out, Enrique and ???? (center half) in ?
Jova going or free doesn’t do anything for your totals there Aitch. Corkie sitting at home with the Marietta, smirking. So far we have received 1 1/2 million for Konch and that’s it, is it ?
Rest easy tho’. I reckon both Cole and C Poulsen will both move on yet and we may well sell/trade Ngog. Deegan will be loaned or whatever we can get off his wages and probably a few of the ressies will go (loan/sell) closer to the end of the window. I still reckon we’ll pull in about 7-8 million (Aquaman apart).
It’s a guessing game. Time or a biscuit.
|
 #820 |
dougle
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 9:59 pm
Time FOR a biscuit.
Hey Donal, sounds like you’ve been getting down and dirty with rural Ireland at it’s best. We had the Alabama 3 in town over weekend here. They blew the roof off. Fantastic, as good a show as I’ve seen. Some mix, Brixton hedonists mixing with red-faced GAA boys on buckets of Vodka and a fistful of “E’s”.
|
 #821 |
theredman
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 10:39 pm
Just one thing,
like Aitch i am fuckin fed up with this shit of a site, i am with Virgin media and have just been up-graded to 20mb and it still takes forever to log on, if i click on a link one of you lad’s put in i may as well nip to the local and have 4 or 5 pint’s and when i get back it should be ready,
honest to jaysus that’s why i have’nt made a lot of comment’s lately, it really is soul destroying waiting for the fucker to download, for instance “waiting for picture to download” There’s only Kenny’s picture for fuck sake, rant over.
this is pretty interesting,
http://www.aliverpoolthing.com/2011/08/barcas-new-kind-of-loan.html
LFC and a host ofother club’s can learn something here.
|
 #822 |
theredman
Posted on August 3, 2011 @ 10:45 pm
Submitting that comment (821) and coming back in to post this one took approx 6 mins 47 seconds enough said, bring back the old 56k dial up at least you knew why it was as slow as it was.
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 #823 |
dougle
Posted on August 4, 2011 @ 9:59 am
822 – Redman – that’s a clever enough move from Barca. The difference at the moment is we don’t have players of the highest level to move around. We could however look at this with the bunch of new academy players coming through e.g Ayala, Pachego right now.
If we had space they would be in the squad but we are overstocked with both midfielders and centre halves (of a similar level).
Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’ll be having very different conversations this time next year I suspect.
9 days to go!
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 #824 |
rome77
Posted on August 4, 2011 @ 3:16 pm
Theredmen
I’ve got 10mb and it takes about 90 seconds to load it could be your PC, try deleting all cookies and see if it runs faster.
Dougle
I think it was about 9 months
Anyway i’ll be in 225 on Saturday watching us beat Valencia, idealy without Cole or Poulsen killing our midfield and Aqillani getting his usual quota of assists instead.
For some strange reason im thinking 3 goals will be scored by at least one team
PS Wonder if Rafa will be there.
|
 #825 |
McrRed
Posted on August 4, 2011 @ 10:40 pm
feel for ya there Redman, i’m on virgin too but it only takes about 5 secs for the lot to load….
…now scrolling through all the posts on me mobile is another thing completely – that takes about 5 minutes!
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 #826 |
theredman
Posted on August 5, 2011 @ 9:33 am
Rome,
i clean it first thing every morning, inrernet tool’s then CC cleaner and i run it for adaware or spyware with the same result’s “no threat’s”.
You say you have 10mb and it takes 90secs to load well even that is a bit slow for that amount, might be me though buddy, i’m not known for my patience.
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 #827 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 5, 2011 @ 11:53 pm
So the final game of our contentious pre-season is almost upon us. Personally I cant wait for it to be over and next wknd to just be here already but at the same time I’m looking forward to tomorrows game too. I think its pretty much a given that we’ll see our strongest available 11 tomorrow and so I think we’ll see: Pepe, Kelly(RB), Carra, Dagger, Johnson(LB), Dirk(RM), Lucas, Adam, Downing(LM), Aquilani(ITH) and Carroll up top. Or maybe thats just what I’d like to see?! I think thats our strongest 11 at this given moment. Thoughts?
Hope yer good Ger and havent suffered a relapse of yer health scare. Expecting a big season preview blog next wk complete with predictions to get us pumped for the battle ahead!
|
 #828 |
blud red
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 11:35 am
if liverpool are to get anything out of the valencia game then they must show quality in possession of the ball. regardless of who plays they will need to hold the ball and press advantage for long spells in the opposition half. otherwise, valencia are skillful enough to expose immaturity.
we have a good squad of more than capable players approaching the season. they have a week left to understand how they are going to operate.
personally, now we have the talent, i would like to see more confidence in midfield.
if, as digger suggests, we have kelly, carra, dagger and glenda playing then it would be ice to see them play like the experienced defenders they are.
up front i would like to see andy carroll being more difficult to play against than he has been. as many here have suggested, he did not cost us 35 million, the deal cost us that much. regardless, i would like an attitude change from rookie to fearless centre forward.
i expected another signing and as yet there is no sign of that so we must assume this is the side going into battle next week. well, the best that can be said is that we are a combative side with weaknesses (the same can be said for all the top six in the prem league). we have the personnel to challenge for the highest honours, but do we have the mentality? that remains to be seen.
|
 #829 |
sachem
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 12:41 pm
Lads, great news, Mata has been spotted in Liverpool! This obviously means he will be signing for us in the next 24 hours as Everton couldn’t afford him.
We’re playing Valencia tonight, but hopefully that’s just a coincidence…
|
 #830 |
ldhawan
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 1:29 pm
Isn’t Mata around because of Valencia playing Liverpool? I can’t imagine King Kenny buying another midfielder when he already bought so many.
|
 #831 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 4:43 pm
like the look of kennys team choice, reina glenda carra agger fabio, henderson adam spearing downing, aqua carrol,go on the redmen!
|
 #832 |
McrRed
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 7:45 pm
Weeellll, aren’t we glad we got Downing? Mata was ok but Downing was Good.
(I’d still have him as backup though
And at least we didn’t ship 3 goals!
Clean sheet. Carroll goal and one from the conjoined twin that is Kuyt/Soto.
|
 #833 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 8:40 pm
Was Mata playing? Banega looks a player though eh? What a pass that was that carved us open. Dont think they really bothered us til he came on.
We started really brightly and could have been 2 or 3 up early on. Much better showing all round today I thought and has gone some way to calming my pre-season fears. Best for us were Dagger and Downing in particular. Some great movement and crosses from our left winger. LEFT WINGER, fnally! Been waiting a long time to type those words. I think Carroll needs to up the effort levels though if he’s to gain the full benefit. Great hustle not giving up on the goal but he seems to plod a lot and as a result is coupla yards behind the play at times I think. Downing put in a superb ball across the box in the first half that he should have been bursting a lung to get on the end of. Again at the start of the 2nd half Downing swung in a peach that was begging to be attacked and Andy was a yard behind instead of busting through, getting across the defender and stitching it. Probably being over critical but just my thoughts on him today. Thought Dirk was great when he came on too btw. Overall much better all round and I cant wait for Saturday. Cant wait for Stevie and Suarez to get back and all!
|
 #834 |
dougle
Posted on August 6, 2011 @ 9:53 pm
Digga – interesting you mention Kuyt. I thought he was very rusty myself, with the ball, but very good without it both in terms of defending and hustling and also his timing and positioning. He, of course, was in the right place at the right time to poke the ball home for the second …. but he miss hit from 5 yards out .. again typically. He’s truly one of kind is our Dirk.
Credit where it’s due there were no goals conceded and that reads well.
What happened Glenda ? I missed the first 25 mins. Did he get injured ?
|
 #835 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 7, 2011 @ 2:09 am
He did yeah but he walked off himself and it looked more precautionary than anything else.
Yeah Dirk is truly…..unique alright Dougle! I thought his impact was immediate and effective though. He wasnt on the pitch a minute before he swung a beaut of a cross over to Maxi who maybe should have produced a better hit than he did. I actually think Kyut will start ahead of Henderson next wk and rightly so imo. Dirk was in great form during the run in last season and its up to Henderson to earn his place on merit not price tag.
Hope Johnsons alright for Saturday.
|
 #836 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on August 7, 2011 @ 2:37 pm
http://bit.ly/nOPJZd
Here’s an interesting take on our transfer dealings for the last 20 years from tompkins
Interesting that Heskey Saunders collymore and Andy caroll cost relatively the same amout of money
And if we bought Paul Stewart in this market he wud of cost 17 mill!!!
Over
|
 #837 |
Lurgankop
Posted on August 8, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
Digger, my question about Kenny being in over his head was that; a question and not a statement.
It was like (nearly) everyone on here was taking it for granted that KD would do the job and bring the #19 back home.
On what basis? That he took a decent team from (nearly) the relegation zone to the upper echelons of the 5th/6th place? This is an achievement of sorts but even one the great man himself wouldn’t list too high up in his overall achievements!
I concur that attaining respectability from humiliation should not be dismissed out-of-hand. However, I think that ‘appy ‘arry, or someone of his ilk, could have got some reaction from this set of players, had he been given the job (thank fuck that this was not the case BTW).
Similary, everyone is praising KD for bringing in the kids and what a good job they done. Again, I agree that they did a great job but would he have made the same call if we were not down to the bear bones?
I guess that is open to debate. What I am trying to say is that it was a no-brainer, for a managerial point-of-view.
I want to make it clear that I am not slagging KD, he was my boyhood hero. However I am trying to look at this, let’s say, from an independent point-of-view.
What does irk me slighlty (surprise, surprise), and prompted this post, is your stance with regards to our current and our previous managers.
(FYI, I never regarded the guy, with 30 odd years experience in the game, who played defensive football against Blackpool et al, at Anfield, as our manager – more of an imposter).
Here’s LB response on my original ‘question’:
Lurgan, that’s a good question and only time will tell. Kenny hasn’t managed during this era of such intense media and fan scrutiny. So it will be interesting to see how he and we go.
and your own:
Lurgan, wtf?!
If Rafa would have been the incumbent manager, I think that these responses would have been inverted. No?
|
 #838 |
rome77
Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 3:22 pm
Well lads hate to break it to you but there might not be any football this weekend.
These “riots” have already stopped the Ingurland friendly and a few other games. And i doubt the police will be able to attend the matches or indeed want thousands entering the cities effected by the looting.
Kenny is Liverpool manager: Check
Tory government: Check
Rising unemployment: Check
Rising inflation: Check
Rising interest rates: Check
Rising repossesions: Check
Riots all over the place: Check
Its just like the 80s again…We’re going to win the league.
If any of you lads live in any of the areas effected i hope youre all safe and well.
YNWA
|
 #839 |
rome77
Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
PS We even had a Royal wedding !!!
|
 #840 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 10:26 pm
very funny rome:-)
|
 #841 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 10:55 pm
looks like these games could be called off at the wknd alrite, there at it in mancfester & wolves, fuck sake!
|
 #842 |
blud red
Posted on August 9, 2011 @ 11:36 pm
rome 77
funniest joke on the blog, fella.
well if the games are cancelled, luis suarez will be fit and ready. shame it had to happen like this. real shame.
|
 #843 |
elbmw
Posted on August 10, 2011 @ 10:20 pm
Well, if they cancel this weekends’ games then it means that our first game of the season will be against the arse!
Adding that to the fact that the mancs had a tough game at wembley on sunday and in all probability would be tired at the weekend and one might think that all these riots are nothing more than a sideshow by slur fungusface to get the games postponed and as a bonus (from his view) we start our season against a top side.
Joking aside its strange how everything seemingly plays into the evil ones hands and at our cost.
|
 #845 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 11, 2011 @ 4:15 pm
Enrique signed lads. As Al Pacino would say ‘HooooAaaaaahh!!!!’. We buy a starting CB and I may have to amend my prediction Aitch!
Lurgan I was just a wee bit surprised at your question is all, actually thought you were joking/fishing tbh! But since you werent, then no. No I dont think Kennys in over his head, far faaaar from it in fact. Sorry if my initial answer was a bit flippant.
Ger, 2 days til lift-off, whats going on man? We need a new blog please. Its near pointless tryna get onto the page now as it is with the volume of comments. It will be impossible after we kick the shite of sunderland on Saturday!
|
 #846 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 11, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
well Lads, REALLY lookin’ foward to the season ahead if we get Cahill or Dann aswell as Enrique I think in the last six months we have done our best bit of transfer business in well…well..since Kenny Dalglish was in charge. We are gonna smash our way into the top four no doubts whatsoever if they all click and I think given the British core of the signings they will, we are gonna shake the whole thing up all together we may just be one or two short of challenging for the title what a difference a year makes (and a 100 mil or so and some Scots in charge and on the field..love it)
|
 #847 |
elbmw
Posted on August 11, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
One thing that strikes me is how tall “El Torro” is. It seems to me that pretty much all our 2011 signings are quite big/tall.
One other thing that some of our signings have added is speed as we now have 2 very quick full backs and a quick winger in Downing.
And another thing is that I cant remember the first team having so many left footed players. I think in years gone by we mostly fielded just one lefty, usually Riise and (when fit) Aurelio or perhaps Agger. We’ve bought four left footers this year; Carroll, Adam, Downing and now Enrique.
These attributes should sort out several things that we’ve lacked in quite some time. The balance of the team should be right, as well as being able to compete aerially and with some speed added in the areas where it was definitely needed.
Oh and another thing, with the exception of Suarez all the other players have been playing in the premiership, which should shorten their transition period.
All these things though do not necessarily mean that we’ll win #19 this year, as it may take some time for all the players to gel.
But one thing I’m confident of is that we should be a lot more competitive in the coming years.
|
 #848 |
blud red
Posted on August 12, 2011 @ 3:52 pm
hi all
feeling buoyant today after securing the skills of enrique. have lfc got one more major transfer to pull out of the bag? from what commolli has said in a recent interview, no, that’s the budget pretty much used up. but i’m glad many peoples call for a left back has been answered. we can all see how much this club is moving forward.
pre-season, i have had to eat my hat. stewert downing’s influence has impressed me. obviously KK knows more about football than i do.
our squad is looking pretty beefed up at the moment and my only concern is our wage bill, which must be over-inflated.
but, maybe this is the way forward for now. we wanted results in the summer break and we have been more than rewarded so far.
the sunderland game is a cracking match to savour. they are a good team with a good manager, who can beat anyone in the prem league on their day. i would not be surprised if they beat us and i would be delighted if we beat them. they will certainly be competitive.
i’m trying not to judge the entire season from the first five games, but it would be nice to get out of the blocks fast.
judging from our pre-season friendlies, there is still an amount of team-bonding to be done before we’re firing on full cylinders, but if the defence hold fast, i think we have the personnel in midfield and attack to cause splinters.
you see, although we haven’t jettisoned players like poulsen, neither have we lost the aquaman and at the start of the season he is still very much a red.
i am liking it. seems a long time ago when KK was placed in charge in january. in seven months he has worked magic.
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 #851 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 12, 2011 @ 10:55 pm
Here lads how do i get a profile pic up on kopblog?
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 #852 |
dougle
Posted on August 12, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
Good posts elbmw 847 and Blud red 848. Just wanna wish all kopbloggers a healthy, safe and exciting season.
I’m with you on tomorrow Blud, Id say it’s a game we would “expect” to win but really it could be any score tomorrow. Any win would be a great one.
Still holding out for a bit of an exodus before the end of the transfer window and I still hope we bring in a class centre half. I’m being greedy I know but if we got an upgrade at centre half then I think we are in with a shout this year.
Hope all’s well Gerry.
Fingers crossed tomorrow eh !!
|
 #853 |
rome77
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 2:10 am
Well its been a long wait and we have less than 13 hours to kick off so before the football starts take 20 mins to listen to this Liverpool fan.
He speaks more truth than Cameron and co will speak in a lifetime…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l0bkOj1Dr0
YNWA
|
 #854 |
john constantine
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 3:19 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Dalglish
This is the best read ever.This is why i’m optomistic!
Cant wait,10am here on the east coast.No score predictions here but i will be happy to get the season off with a home banker.No game is going to be easy this season,everyones tweaked and changed their teams,BFH Bruce for one,so lets not worry about the squad gelling! Lets get out there and show em what we’ve got….
ynwa
jft96
|
 #855 |
john constantine
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 3:24 am
sweet vid rome ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
 #856 |
dougle
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 12:25 pm
Wow … that’s callng it out all right.
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 #857 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
go on thr redmen!
|
 #858 |
dougle
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
Well that was a bit unfortunate there, apparently. Never give a sucker an even break. 2 points dropped. Balls. Looked pretty rudderless by the end and really Sunderland looked the better team by the final whistle. Confidence goes and pressure grows, and a fairly one-dimensional approach in the second half. Not great.
|
 #859 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 5:07 pm
Same old shit, different season I’m afraid. I didn’t see the first half but by all accounts we were excellent. Second half we were fucking depressing. Bad passing, poor pressing, unable to control the game, created fuck all, and it looked easy for Sunderland.
Flanagan was poor, not sure why Kelly didn’t start. Carroll looked like a very ordinary centre forward. Wes Brown had him in his pocket.
Not sure I like 4-4-2 and I’m not sure why when we’ve finally bought a left winger he’s playing on the right.
The fact we were excellent in the first half but poor in the second just sums up the club in recent years. We’re very inconsistent. Anyone expecting a league title challenge is in for disappointment. We’re not good enough.
|
 #860 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 5:15 pm
And not sure why the hell Henderson started ahead of Kuyt.
|
 #861 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 5:31 pm
First ive been on here in months.Apparently we looked tired by the middle of second half. But going on the apparent performance of the first half, I dont know why everyones moanin about team selection.
But its the first game of the season and we all know that cunt Potato head Bruce gets his team up for us more than anyone.
I wouldnt jerk the knees too much yet lads. We had enough of that shite during Rafas tenure, and we need to remember we have a lot of players to gel together. You have to consider we have only ever won a quarter of our last 16 matches against Fat head. Be patient lads.
|
 #862 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 5:33 pm
ps. im sure it wont take people too long to start cryin about Aqualani not being in the team, like thats the reason we didnt win.
|
 #863 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 6:15 pm
Very Very early days. We were top notch in the first half and should have been 2 up in 20 mins but we looked really tired in the second half which is strange given the training these lads do. Hard to call next week what with the upheaval at the gooners but looking forward to it.
|
 #864 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 6:15 pm
No complaints. Fair result. Liverpool the better team in the first half, Sunderland the better team in the second.
I used to watch the Sopranos every Sunday night, loved it. One episode came to mind today watching the game. It was called ‘Two Tonys’. It was about Tony trying to prove to his shrink that despite his dark criminal side there was another side to him, a good decent family man. Jeckyl and Hyde essentially. Anyway, the title of the episode came back to me today. Theres Two Liverpools. Which couldent have been crystalized any more clearly than those 2 halves today. But I only want one Liverpool!
What the hell happened to them at half-time?! Where’d the team that went down the tunnel go? They went upstairs. Or should I say things went wrong upstairs. I said in the Summer that Kennys biggest challenge this season would be the eradication of mental weakness and the implementation of a winning mentality. How can an upbeat, uptempo, confident, almost swaggering team be transformed into a fragile, nervous, hoofing, wreck of a team incapable of 10 yard passes? Mental strength. Or lack there-of.
As soon as Sunderland put a bit of pressure on us and got their tails up, we reverted to type. When they got their equalizer, they were bossing the game. They were the only ones looking to play football. We lacked the mental strength to collectively say ‘Right, this ends now. Calm down, back on the deck, lets get back to what we were doing first half, lets go lads, we’re at home here, we’re fucken Liverpool, LETS WIN THIS.’ Instead we got jittery, get rid of it as quick as you can hoofing. There was little or no evidence of the team having the mental fortitude to play football, carve out an opening and win the game. Did their keeper make a save in the 2nd half? By the end we looked desperate. And sadly, relieved.
Having said all that, its our first game. There is clearly still much work to be done. We will get fitter and stronger and Kenny WILL eventually get that mental strength and belief instilled. Anyone who dosent have it will be quickly sidelined I feel. And when these things happen we’ll hopefully only see one Liverpool. The first Liverpool.
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 #865 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 7:04 pm
Digger, Sunderland looked fitter to me. A few people I have spoken to had this same opinion. Hence the 2nd half collapse. If true it proves the point I was trying to make a few weeks ago. Our pre season was a bit of a shambles. Most of the games were used to get players who would not get in the team fit!
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 #866 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 7:39 pm
Yep, agree completely LB. Some of those games and team selections were shocking. But to be fair to Kenny he was between a rock and a hard place – he was only playing half the useless hoors to try and get rid of them!!
But yes there was a clear lack of fitness in a few cases out there today. I thought Henderson and Lucas were anonymous. Carra looked gassed too but he always does at the start of the season! Even Pepe looked a bit chunky lol!
Ahh, we’ll get there dude, but yeah, it’s always something with us eh?! *walks away muttering ‘feckin pesky pre-season….’*
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 #867 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
Getting our first team squad players fit should be of paramount importance during pre season. The shop window strategy is bollocks really. Who are we trying to fool? A club is gonna watch Degen or Poulsen in preseason friendlies and make us a good offer for their services? Yeah right. Kenny and the coaching staff fucked this one up IMO.
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 #868 |
London Red
Posted on August 13, 2011 @ 11:54 pm
I think some of you might be getting a bit carried away.
We had three midfield players and a new left back making there competitive debut’s for us in the same match today,we need to give them time to gel and then judge.
We are trying to build something,which will take time but some of you seem to be looking for instant gratification.
If Kenny and Steve Clarke could get us playing like we were at the end of last season after the dross we were served up before.I for one am willing to be patient and allow the players to get used to each other and the club.
I think LB saying that Kenny fucked it up is way over the top and very unreasonable.
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 #869 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 12:42 am
I think they fucked up preparations for the season. Players didn’t look fit enough in the second half. That’s me calling it as I see it, which is something I’ve always done no matter who is manager. I’m not expecting instant gratification but at the same time I do expect better than what was served up in that second half. It was as poor as anything we saw under Hodgson.
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 #870 |
London Red
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 1:07 am
Also after seeing Downing in our pre season games although I still think we paid too much,I think he will Vastly improve us,but when he is rested or gets injured who will provide the width
|
 #871 |
London Red
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 1:13 am
I don’t think Kenny wanted to play the stiffs in the pre season games but obviously if he is getting backed heavily in the transfer market,and the owners want some players shipped out,he has to give a little to gain a lot
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 #872 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 1:32 am
I’m not sure the result was anywhere near what I was looking for. Personally thought our buy British stuff will haunt us in the season. Once Saurez run out of steam, that was the end of our flair, Adam, Downing and Henderson offered no real flair, lots of effort but no flair. Our middle of the park was weak.
.
I can see we’re a better allround team than last year but I don’t think our buys have been to get us in the top 4 and keep us there, to me there more to get us into the Europa positions.
.
I think the using of both Lucas and Saurez shows how thin our team is in ability. Both must have been bordering on physical exhaustion. Carra is not good enough for a top 4 team anymore, he was awful, got to bite the bullet on this one lads.
.
Our last three competative games have been loss to Spurs, when a win would of put us in the Europa, loss to a near relegation bound Aston Villa, and now a draw with last seasons 10th place Sunderland, we have spent heavily on players from two of those teams.
.
I still think the team will go well but in essence we only created 1 or 2 real chances, the rest were from free kicks etc.
.
Anyway would have loved the 3 points but it wasn’t to be. I noticed on the main site someone said its next weeks game we need to win as their our main competition for places, well since when did Sunderland not become our competition. If we can’t beat the Sunderlands, Villa’s etc, then what is the use of beating Arsenal.
.
Looking forward to next week.
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 #873 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 12:38 pm
Heres an actual post from someone in the post match forum-
“Goal was Flanno’s fault, and KD’s for playing him, assume Kelly was injured also? but he was already looking shaky before that goal and we’re lucky he didnt cost us a 2nd, should have subbed for Aurellio.
Would have been good if Carrol had knocked one in other than the offside call
2nd half was a downer, even Suarez lost his touch.
So gutted to have lost opening match at home. Time for bed now.”
Apart from blamin Kenny for the goal (give it another couple months before we hear ‘Dalglish Out!), this twat actually couldnt get past his knee jerking to see that we didnt LOSE the match.
Honestly, is this the mindless twoddle we are gonna have to endure for the rest of the season?
Did people really expect us to be destroyin teams right from the off? Are we really gonna get on Kennys back for drawing the first fucking game of the season?
Patience is a virtue lads but it seems to have disappeared up some peoples arseholes along with thier heads.
London Red, your comments are spot on. Thank God there is still optimism among us.But sure, what does Kenny Dalglish know eh?
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 #874 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 12:42 pm
ps. when did we really ever destroy sunderland eh?we have always struggled with them in recent times for some reason, even during our title challenge in 08/09.we opened that season against them and came away with a barely scraped win from an FT wonderstrike.
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 #875 |
McrRed
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 12:43 pm
Whoever you are posing as Digger, we want him back.
We don’t have him on here to talk sense, make good analysis and offer suggestions and solutions…
Come on, what have you done with him?
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 #876 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 2:49 pm
Torres is looking very sharp.
|
 #877 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 4:09 pm
torres looking sharp, but fuck him.
At least we are level on points with Chelsea and Arsenal eh? i definitely think so far, us, chelsea and arsenal dont look very sharp, but unlike them, we have a few new players trying to slot in for us. All in all, everyonees still level. Just hope Manure can drop points today too.
|
 #878 |
London Red
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 9:42 pm
Currently watching Barcelona v Real Madrid,Football from the gods.
|
 #879 |
red kelly
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
AHHH, the new season brings fresh air back to the fans with the hope of a 19th title….oops back to reality.
Seriously we new it would take a little time and there is no doubt in my mind the king is the boss to do it.
!st half easily coulda/shoulda been 3-0…carrol wasn,t offside and it was not a foul…actually i think it was disallowed because of the foul not offside…he brought iot down beautifully and it was a class finish, downing nearly scored a pearla…went round 3 players now we have 2 fucken dribblers in our team..praise the lord, honestly i was bloody worried about downing…i think hes gonna be good.
Actually henderson nearly grabbed one at the near post from a great downing cross…lets not mention the penalty..should have buried it…and you could say should have finished it pre-penalty so theres 4 we could have had.
Still flanno was weak and cost the goal if he was a couple of yard back on his man he would have got a head to it easily…not sure about henderson either…the secound half was dire so i nguess i agree wth you all re- fitness which is a bit o a pisser. We have stronger tyeam no doubt it now upto kenny and steve to find the balance….exiting times ahead boys.
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 #880 |
dougle
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 10:38 pm
Well, I’m looking forward to reviewing the whole match sometime. Dust settled. Result (as I thought) not a surprise. It’s just we gave it away.
To take some of the points brought up. If it wasn’t our legs that went then it was our heads went (or both). I hope it was our legs. I can understand this to a degree given the fact both Lucas and Suarez are coming back off summer soccer (not fit). Also It’s been patchy pre-season for a number of players who played. Henderson played a bit, Enrique not at all, as with Lucas, Suarez and Miereles (sub, but submerged to boot). The rest of the team – Carra, Agger, Flanagan (?), Adam, Carroll, Downing have played the majority of our pre’s. The value of them, the last 3 apart, is very questionable.
One thing stands out for me. Aquilani has been the player of the pre’s yet he was not even in the squad for the game ? Why ? It makes no sense as far as the actual EPL is concerned.
If you want to play friendlies to showcase players to transfer then double the amount of friendlies and play 2 squads ?
It’s easy with hindsight to wonder why Kelly was not playing on the right.
The trouble (as i saw it) with Carra is, once again, if we drop deep and lose momentum then we are left with the depessing sight of Jamie doing what he really does not do very well, which is hit long passes. The opposition know it so they channel us to Jamie, give him room, trot back and pick up the punt. Groundhog day. Both player(s) and manager have to have a look at this. We are soooo predictable when this happens.
I can’t comment on player performances in general as i have not seen all the match.
Don’t know how Manure got on today but Chavs drew yeah ? Interesting Torres looked good. It was his pre-season in 5 seasons ? If Chelsea don’t get the best out of him now they never will.
Which brings me back to Lucas and Suarez. Lucas was player of the year last year. He did not play in the World Cup. He had a full pre-season. or a player who is the fulcrum of the team this is vital. Well he’s had no pre-season this year. It’s gonna have an effect. Suarez had an extended break in the middle of the season last year and he really hit the ground running. Again nothing this year. We may have problems with these guys this season.
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 #881 |
Aitch
Posted on August 14, 2011 @ 10:54 pm
…err… but we did fuckin destroy Sunderland… for 45 minutes anyway.
Suarez missed a penalty (how can a fuckin professional footballer at least not make the keeper save it??? I am at a total loss to understand what is so fuckin difficult about taking a penalty. Did you watch the Blackpool Carling Cup game? Attrocious… and that isn’t knee jerk… I’m a shite-level footballer compared to these guys and I never missed a penalty from 1982 to 1998 when I was forced to hang them up… not one… I was designated pen taker for every team I played for in that time and I put them all in the back of the net… and I’m nowhere near the level these guys are… so what the fuck? Its not rocket science… its one thing if you slip like Terry did in the CL… but to just simply twat it into the stands and not force the keeper to try to save it is unconsainable at this level…but I digress… rant over)
Dowd showed a yellow card, when it was clearly a red card by the laws of the game (what the fuck is it with Sunderland are they destined to be our “twilight zone” team?) …and so they should have been reduced to 10 men for the remaining 80 minutes…
…and he then disallowed a perfectly good Andy Carrol goal because Ferdinand completely misjudged the flight of the ball and went all dance-or-the-sugar-plum-fairies-spastic in midair, and Andy made the mistake of raising his hand so it sorta looked like he pushed him… which he DIDN’T and Dowd was positioned to see that!!
And Downing hit the crossbar.
4-0 at half time and the 2nd half wouldn’t have mattered.
Granted at the end of the day… we dropped 2 points…
…but we were all over Sunderland, in the first half… playing some really terrific pass and move triangles… and everyone looked comfortable on the ball … even Flannagan and Carra kept it under pressure and moved it about well.
We looked really good… and even at that, it looked a bit rusty… when that shit clicks, not if, but when, we are gonna be formidable.
What happened in the 2nd half?
It’s a valid question… and for sure a concern…and I’d go so far as to say, I was somewhat bewildered by Kenny’s sub decisions… but there was far more to be impressed with in that game than to be suicidal about.
As for the leadership issue… I thik that was our problem yesterday in the 2nd half more than fitness… we did trail off energy/effort wise, but I saw the lack of leadership as more of a problem than that to be honest…
…did anyone else notice Lucas bollocking Adam, all the defenders and even Pepe everytime they launched one? …and basically just being ignored by Adam & Carra in particular?
There was one particular incident when Pepe lauched it, and he and Lucas exchanged words, and eventually Pepe put his hand up acknowledging Lucas’ point… but then he still kept twatting it upfield, bypassing the midfield.
I think Kenny is gonna have to get a handle on who’s in charge on the field.
Adam, Pepe and Carra can all be leaders… but they didn’t do the job yesterday…
As far as pre-season training goes… there is definitely an argument to be made for playing more first teamers… but the shadows of the past still loom large over this squad and players need moving on… if most of them are still here on 1 September, then I’ll say there’s a point to be made… but if playing them helps us to move Deggen to Switzerland and Poulsen to Copenhagen, and maybe Cole to anywhere… then it will have been worth it… and the players remaining will get it together.
It looks bad coz we dropped the points…
…but if Luis had scored the pen (or if Adam had?) and Andy’s goal would have stood, we’d have been 3-0 up and would Sundferland have played the way they did in the 2nd with 10 men… leaving space at the back???
Small margins… it’s the gray area… it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to our current 4th place slot on 1 point, I’ll grant you… but comparisons to Hodgson’s time are utterly ludicrous… I’m sorry they really are.
No team won their home games yesterday… not one… first time in something like 26 years that has happened!
The Chavs and Arsenal both drew, along with us.
Even Scum only barely managed the win… and yes granted, “scoreboard baby” and all that, but I wouldn’t be handing them the title on that fuckin performance.
People were wtting themselves that they forced 3 goals back against City in the Charity Shield… ignoring the “soft center” that conceded two goals in the first place. They won it and that’s all that matters… okay sure… but the manner they did it in was hardly as convincing as it seems (just exactly what the fuck were City’s defenders thinking in the 94th minute anyway?)
We dropped 2 points… and at home… and that’s never a good thing…
…but as bad as the result was…
…when you are playing against the Ref, its hardly any wonder the shoulders dropped.
Arsenal have just sold Fiberglass… so we’ll win the 6 pointer against them next week.
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 #882 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 7:49 am
Talking about winning mentality, i dont remember an English national side in recent years performing under pressure. On numerous occasions i have seen them take a lead and then subsequently retreat. The opposition manages to squeeze them into their own half. The reason i am putting forward this is because with so many England players in our team, i doubt that mentality will be visible time and again.
My question to the coaching stuff is the moment they see that the players are not passing the ball, their intention is just to clear the lines, they are not concentrating on possession why there is a status quo? Why not tell them to stop that bullshit and concentrate on keeping the ball and play small passes between themselves,get the confidence back?
2nd Half was at Anfield and i dont expect anyone in the league to boss us at our home. Thats my expectation as a fan and i think i am quite right if its Liverpool Football Club at Anfield.
Oh and one more thing… Luiz Squarez will perform, he will continue to be our most creative player but to me our exam has already started. Each time we look pedestration, we look like a mid table team we are allowing a small ‘Fernando Torres’ to grow inside him. I am pretty sure about this.
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 #883 |
ldhawan
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 11:37 am
It was an awesome first half for sure. Downing showed some nice quality and will definitely prove his value. My take on the difference between the two halves is simple. Adrenaline. In the first half the boys came out pumped up and over charged. They ran Sunderland ragged and should have had a few more but that’s football. Due to the adrenaline rush they used up a lot of energy in the first half and suffered for that in the second.
Carroll still has to convince me of his price tag but hopefully he bangs in lots of goals and keeps us doubters quiet.
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 #884 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
I watched Real vs Barca last night. In my opinion those 2 sides are light years ahead of anything the Premier League has to offer.
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 #885 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 4:38 pm
Jaysus LB, going out on a limb a wee bit there arent ya?
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 #886 |
rome77
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 4:45 pm
Not a bad first half,could of been 3-0 by HT but we ran out of steam in the second and paid the price.
I was surprised to not see Kelly start at RB and AA’s
absence from the bench was another shock and will ultimately lead to all sorts of theory’s.
( untill he plays against Arsenal that is)
Personally i think if the Italian teams stop taking the piss he’ll be gone before long.
If they dont i’ll be happy
YNWA
|
 #887 |
rome77
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
I got the feeling Barca were in 2nd gear while Real was giving everthing with the added home advantage.
Still ended in a draw.
Some good football played though.
|
 #888 |
dougle
Posted on August 15, 2011 @ 10:38 pm
Nice snigger there Digger!
Good point in the middle of the post Somnath. I reckon playing with the ball is a better plan than playing without it (unless your a mourinho mob). Anyway they are not stupid and eventho’ Rome wasn’t built in a day (Yeah I know R77 !!) the “Plan” will make itself known over the coming months, indeed, seasons.
I’m gonna wait until Sept 1 and (hopefully a new blog) and then maybe we can all make our predictions or the season.
|
 #889 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 8:57 am
Taking LB’s comment further, i would like to know what you guys think of the Spanish La Liga. Usually what i hear from pundits,newspapers is that EPL is a better league. In terms of strengths of the top 4-6 teams,i would agree to some extent. A team like Spurs is more than capable of beating Chelsea/ManUnited. Same goes for Liverpool who can make the champions bite the dust and yet on another occasion loose to Stoke. In Spain, Barca and Real are untouchables.
The question here i would like to put forward is does their invincibility makes the la liga look weaker than what it actually is? In my book, Barca will look invincible in any league. Real will be next.
Coming back to our team, the Arsenal match to me will be a very good indicator of what really our mentality is. This fixture at Emirates is one of the very few reasons why i criticized Rafa Benitez(FatScouser never likd that ). I always felt that we used to go there not to loose rather than win the game. With the present situation at Arsenal and a tricky fixture against Udinese, this i feel is the right time to go there with an intent to win the game. We must play with to win. A draw at Emirates is not good enough simply because Arsenal FC is like a sitting prey waiting to be hunted.
|
 #890 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 10:11 am
By the way.. my team is Top of the table after Gameweek 1 at Fantasy Premier League ! Wooohoo !
|
 #891 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 11:19 am
Here is one way at looking at La Liga. You have Barca and Real who are in my opinion the best 2 teams in the world by far. Then you have Valencia, Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.
Barca and Real are the EPL version of Man Utd and Chelsea, but better. Are City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs better than Valencia, Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla?
We were the last English club to with he UEFA cup in 2001. Since then Sevilla have won the UEFA cup twice. Valencia and Atletico have won it once while Villareal have been to a CL semi final.
It’s open to debate I guess.
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 #892 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 11:26 am
Just scrolling through different forums and comments and listening to phone ins, Im amazed. The amount of so called Reds, so called LFC supporters, who are absolutely slaughtering Kenny, slaughtering the team…based purely on 45 mins against Sunderlnd in the opening game. Give me fucking strength.
”He should have played Kelly!!!” they all cry. Really? Noone complained before the game. In fact, everyone praised how well Flanno did against the likes of Citeh and the Arse last season. I wonder what they would have all said had Agger got injured? Surely Kelly would have had to slot in, which meant that Flanagan would have had to still come on at right back? And maybe would have made the same error?
Its astonishing how quickly can turn…even on King Kenny. Its amazing how people can blurt out how he got it wrong in hindsight. The old Xbox generation play some Championship manager and believe they have an actual real world trophy room. The same went on with Rafa..the same whining pathetic ‘I want results now’ crowd who helped crucified Rafa but who no doubt got drunk in May 2005.
It amazes me. I know Kennys human and is not above any kind of criticism….but the mans been there and done it before. Hes been one of our greatest inspirations..hes a talisman of our club…one of our greatest managers and our greatest ever player. And still..after one game…Ive actually read some of our so called supporters questioning if hes right for the job!! Not on this site, I might add, but still, it fucking sickens me how peopel can knee jerk so strongly. These are the same twats who think we are just gonna walk right up to the top of the league. Probably some of the same twats who went to the game on Saturday with thier arms folded, thier camera in hand, and thier ‘entertain me’ attitude. Im sure it didnt escape anyones notice how flat not only the team were in the second half, but how quiet the crowd were.
Everyones entitled to thier opinion, but I hope we dont descend into the farce of questioning Kennys ability, and eventually turning on him. Hes above anyone questioing his managerial skills cos hes already proved just how excellent a manager he is.
Im with Aitch when he says that people comparing our performance to the same as under Hodgson is ridiculous. It was nowhere near that. Lets not resort to that sort of overeaction. The team showed in the first half that when they get fitter and sharper and gel, we are gonna be playing some true Liverpool football, but we need to be true Liverpool supporters to help the team get there. Fourth and above is well within our reach, and in the coming seasons, even more.
|
 #893 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 12:18 pm
Artful, describe what you mean exactly when you say “slaughtering Kenny” because stating that you thought Kelly should have played and not Flano is hardly slaughtering in my eyes. Questioning the pre-season preparation is not slaughtering either. I thought fans in a forum were aloud to discuss such things without having the their support of the club called into question.
Unfortunately I missed the first half against Sunderland. I started watching from the 55th minute. What I saw was poor passing, poor defending, an inability to control the game, and inability to create anything, and a lot of long balls hoofed towards Carroll. The only times we looked dangerous were from Charlie Adam corners. In the last 10 minutes we looked either knackered or devoid of ideas. A goal did not look at all likely. That 35 minutes of football was indeed comparable to what we produced under Hodgson. The first half was probably light years ahead of the Hodgson era but unfortunately I missed it.
I respect Kenny as a past player, a man and as a past manager. He is a living legend. I do think though that the jury is still out on him when it comes to managing in the modern era. So far I would have to say that he has done a good job, but that doesn’t mean we as fans should not be aloud to question or even criticise his decisions amongst other reds.
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 #894 |
dougle
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 12:41 pm
I think it’s interesting to “try” and figure out the tactics, attitude, fitness of the team and management. Of course what most of us don’t do is credit the opposition.
Anyway onwards and upwards. I for one wish Fabregas and Gervinho were both available to play against us. It would just be more rancor and confusion for Arsene and the gunners next weekend.
By no means does our season depend on any one game (and it has to assessed – what is a good season for us?). I do think it will be interesting tho’ on Saturday. It was a bit of a 1-9-1 at the Emerites last year so let’s see how we approach this one. Right now what would you take ? Go for the win and take a draw ?
The tactics will be interesting and particularly i Arsenal don’t do well in the CL vs Udinese they will be under an awful lot of pressure from the start.
|
 #895 |
burgerman
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 12:56 pm
Same old problems.Need to shift Poulsen, Degen, Cole .Need striker and cb.
|
 #896 |
blud red
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
artfluff,
don’t worry mate about the so called fans slaughtering KK. the first five six games are no indication of what is to come next so you are right to say they are jerking knees. best thing i can suggest is to chill and let all that foul water flow under the bridge.
before this game i suggested sunderland would play well and would score goals. i thought a 2-2 score likely, because, at the moment, i believe we are a team of two halves.
…at the moment.
anyone who starts yammering now is a mug.
remember chelski this time last year looked unplayable? banging goals in for fun? remember blackpool were playing like brazil?
so what?
if liverpool ran out 3-0 winners at sunderland, i still would not be getting carried away.
saturday’s performance saw obvious problems, mostly to do with cohesion and motivation during the second half.
Good! now, as a manager or coach, i would have something to work on, a genuine concern to eradicate, fettle with, tweak, put right.
but hit the panic button?
i think not.
on another issue, i have been saying in this blog that flanno is a first team player. i’m not saying that he is better than kelly or kelly better than him, but i applaud kenny’s decision to use him because the only way that lad will get better, now, at this stage in his career, is to play him week in, week out. he will not learn by sitting on the bench any more.
flanno has been criticised for that goal and, well yes, he was a yard out of position. i’ve seen glenda do just as badly. don’t criticise him because he is young. feed the soul, don’t kill the spirit.
rather, i would give larrson his due, it was a fantastic finish.
and then i would give bruce his due: plays good football, buys good players and beats good teams. wasn’t he the fella to bring larrson from birmingham in the first place.
all defenders look shit when the attacker scores a goal. it is the nature of the game. i like john flannagan for obvious reasons. in my opinion he will grow and gain greater confidence. he could be our leighton Baines. a home grown dyed in the wool hardcore liverpool player. if KK wants to play him ahead of the equally talented kelly, so what?
i’m off to the emirates this weekend and if we come away from there with a win, despite all of arsenals present shortcommings, i will be surprised. we can win, but at this stage in the league, a draw between two teams trying to find their feet is more likely. i’m not sitting on the fence, but i see both LFC and AFC have problems that need ironing out. LFC are in a much better position to do this. arsenal may take longer.
you don’t know. nobody knows. united may lose 0-3 next week and it will mean nothing. knee jerkers just get all excited, it’s like they slather at the mouth, or wet themselves, or like premature ejaculation or some thing.
artfluff, enjoy the next few games with a pint of beer and a big smile, it hurts when we draw or lose, yeah, but pay no attention to the nay-sayers.
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 #897 |
blud red
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
oh, and dare i suggest that it is not britain that is broken. this blog is broken.
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 #898 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
I’m not sure that 2nd half display would have caused anyone to premature ejaculate.
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 #899 |
blud red
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
oh and while i’m here, listening to aitch talk about penalties some while back, can i chuck my penny worth in and suggest we were at error to allow suarez carte blanche to take penalties.
there are designated pen-takers in every team and suarez is not one of them.
when gerrard is playing, he takes them.
when gerrard is not it is dirk kuyt
when neither of those plays it must be charlie adam. he knows how to take pens.
no disrespect to the wee man, but suarez does not know how to take a pen. simples.
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 #900 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
The blog is more than broken. We’ve not had a new one since May 29th.
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 #901 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 5:02 pm
Agree with the penalties comments.
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 #902 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 6:27 pm
I suspect something major is ongoing in Gerrys life at the moment. I’ve been reading this blog for 6yrs and posting for 4 and I’ve never known Gerry to miss the opening of a new season without a new blog outlining his and our hopes and expectations for the upcoming year. He’s as dyed in the wool red as any of the rest of us and the blog is his and our outlet so for him to miss opening day leads me to believe something major is taking precedent in his life right now. He alluded to a health scare in his last blog and I just hope to Fowler it hasnt relapsed. Hopefully its something ‘good’ major as in a baby or a job offer in the bahamas!
And while we’re at it, wheres Arthur, Timmy, Keith, Redman, Jack et al too? Soon gonna need some new blood in ‘ere if this keeps up!
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 #903 |
dougle
Posted on August 16, 2011 @ 10:49 pm
All very well thought out and reasonable here at the moment. Congrats Blud that was a corker of a post.
One small thing I would disagree with you on was your analysis of why the team went flat in the second half. I don’t think it was lack of motivation. I think it’s a mindset, (probably brought on by a combination of panic after conceding a goal, and being overall a bit shagged). In this mindset players stop running to provide options, the defense drops deep, Carra narrows to simply booting every ball as far away as possible, we end up losing control of the ball, frustration builds, momentum shifts and we are on the desperate-defense mode. As LB has pointed out, so pointedly, this particular reactive way of playing has been with us quite a while now. It’s a mental thing and we have to change it. Funnily enough the best way is to win games.
Yep Digger, fingers crossed that Gerry is positively occupied right now.
I watched the majority of the second half of Arsenal tonight and they were nearly as bad as we were second half on Saturday. Udinese are still 2 weeks from starting their season and they played Arsenal off the park. The tactic ? Pass and move, retain possession, use space. Unfortunately they had no real bite up front otherwise it was bye bye Arsenal. A number of Arsenal players got injured and RVP was suspended I think.
I think we have a real shot next weekend. I’ve never seen them so disjointed. If we have the self-belief, hold the ball we can win.
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 #905 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 5:05 am
Really Burgerman? We NEED a striker? I thought that we have four strikers on our roster: Suarez, Carroll, Kyut and Ngog…
To be honest I was stoked DAgger had a full game and looked the pick of our defenders (In my opinion)…
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 #906 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 5:14 am
Totally agree there Digger, not like Gerry to “miss” the start of season blog
Hope all is well with him…
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 #907 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 8:17 am
@LB – True
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 #908 |
ar53fluff
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 11:31 am
LB….Your spot on. These forums and blogs are for disucssion. Im not calling peoples support into question, just thier patience.
I cant agree when you say that the jurys still out on Kenny managing in the modern era. It WAS a year ago, when he initially wanted the job over Hodge Podge. But not any more…he came into the club and within a heartbeat, had us playing far better attacking football with a squad that previously had been slated as ‘incapable’ of producing better football. He took us on a run of form that would have been title challenging form had it been replicated in the first half of the season. So, I do not think there is any jury out on Kenny at all. Hes proved how good a manager he is and I definityely will not reverse that because of one bad half against Sunderland in the first game of the season. Anyone who doesnt think that we will see a sharp improvement with sharper fitness in the next few weeks is living in fairyland.
I just think that will all this new optimism after what we have all been through as fellow Reds in the past year, Im sick of people who are way too eager to piss on our parade with thier knee jerking and hand wringing. People like that, made thier voices heard and pushed a great manager in Rafa, out the door. I just dont want the same happening to Kenny. Outsiders would love to gloat how crap we are for turning on our King.And Im saying that because I have already seen comments by fans openly saying that they doubt hes up to the job!!
Im not trying to offend anyone. Its just my opinion.
And again…no way did we play as bad as under Hodge. Thats out of order. We simply lost sharpness and cohesion…due to a lack of sharpness and cohesion.
Do people really need it pointed out that we are below par fitness wise, that we have so many new team members trying to find thier way round each other?? Honestly. Do we not look at the first half and say, fuck me, when we are fit enough to keep that going the whole game we will be a force?
Blud…agree on all your points. Especially on Flanno. I dont see why he didnt have a right to start..based on his previous form for us.
And I will be having a nice cool pint before we get ripped into the Arse!! And I will be smiling. Come on the Reds!!
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 #909 |
dougle
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
Saw the highlights of the first half last night. We looked very good indeed. S’land looked abysmal. Carroll’s goal was legit too. It was no sending off for Richardson, indeed Suarez did well to win the spotter and then hoofed the spotter out of the ground.
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 #910 |
sachem
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 9:01 pm
Youngsters were outclassed by Sporting in the first half tonight, played much better in the second and would have deserved a better scoreline. Still, it’s obvious we have some way to go before reaching the top level among European academies. Sporting Lisbon is a real quality side on youth level.
Some interesting individual performances tonight, both positive and negative. I was really disappointed with Jonjo Shelvey. To be honest he looked a bit out of his depth. In this kind of game you would expect him to dominate. Defensively I was impressed by Jack Robinson and Andre Wisdom (who isn’t even a natural RB, but played excellent there). Offensively Sterling stood out. What a prospect. Shouldn’t rush the lad into the first team, but there’s immense potential in him. I also thought Adorjan did well when he came on. Very intelligent player, with good technique.
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 #911 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 11:01 pm
Hope Gerry is well, this blog came out just after champs league final:-(
Just watched the u-19s and we were defo outclassed agree sachem jon-joe should have been head and shoulders above the rest but was poor.
watching Barca and madrid on my p2p at the min they are both in different galaxy’s to the rest of us but Barca good god just how good do you think they will get? I think we are privileged to be watching a side that will still be talked about in 50 years time lets hope we can get back to the top table and be one of the very few sides to beat them!
The Arse looked very shaky last night think we may get something there this weekend.
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 #912 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 11:04 pm
Just realised I’m like some junkie going back on the gear I’ve watched 6 full matches since sat!!
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 #913 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 17, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
Plus a Hurling match. gotta get a life.
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 #914 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 12:19 am
I was getting jealous reading about you watching the Barca v Real game Guiness!!!! 6 full games since sat? I’m very jealous!!!
The arse have got serious defensive problems after last nights game from the reports I’ve read… Looking forward to RVP vs Suarez, should be a cracker!
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 #915 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 1:54 am
I’m a little concerned at how confident the fanbase is about Saturday to be honest. Everyones telling me all we have to do is basically turn up! Wtf?! When was the last time we won at theirs? Seriously? Was it Titi Camaras winner, what, 11, maybe 12yrs ago? I dunno but I cant remember winning a league game there anytime recently. Yeah on paper, the way things are looking for them right now, we probably are favourites but……favourites is not a mantle we wear very well. And adversity has a strange way of pulling astonishing results from people when their backs are up against it. Par example, remember 2 seasons ago when we were on that appalling run in Sept/Oct heading into the utd game at Anfield? We’d lost our previous 4 games or something astounding like that, only won once in 8 or something. Anyway I was watching that game with a manc mate of mine (in the Liverpool supporters club bar no less!) and he said to me before the game “ye’re gonna win this today ya know…”, I said “Say what?!”, “You watch” he says, “Ye’re down on ye’re luck, worst run in years, confidence shattered. This is the absolute perfect fixture at the perfect time for ye. Utd. At Anfield. Ye’ll die before ye lose today”. A wise man is my mate. Anyway, I guess my point is, I’d be very wary about this tie. I’d nearly sooner Arsenal had all their big guns as it would keep our own lads wits sharp and not away dreaming of dishing out a bitch-slapping at the new library. I doubt Kenny would allow that though. So 4-0 to the Reds it is then!
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 #916 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 7:44 am
@Sachem: Good inputs on the reserve game. I think this will be a very good indicator as to where does our academy stand in Europe. Regarding Sterling, i have a different point of view. I think if he is good enough there is no reason why he cant be pushed into the 1st team and given few minutes whenever the need arise. As a supporter who knows that he is special, i would like to see him playing small but significant role this season. In Kenny, we also have a manager who will be glad to give youngsters their chance.
Coming to El Classico, i think Real Madrid are the closest group of 11 players who can beat Barca but given the fact that Barca were under prepared for this game, i think Madrid will have to play even better to win against them.
I think Xavi is right in saying that Real under the leadership of Mourinho are stooping to new lows when it comes to off field antics. What Mourinho did yesterday is disgusting. I dont understand why the british media goes ga ga over this man. He is a disgrace.
@Diggerno: This match against Arsenal will be nice indicator of our mentality. This statment that “Emirates is a difficult place to go and win” will be on test.In the past also when we played against much better Arsenal teams, we have thrown away winning chances because of our attitude to come away with only a point.
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 #917 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 7:53 am
One big shift in mentality which i want to see is the moment we take a lead in our matches, we must go for the kill. Often i have seen that after scoring we tend to take it a bit easy and allow the opposition to come back into the match.
The next thing where a shift is needed is the need to keep the ball immediately after scoring, scoring at a later stage of a match. The more you keep the ball, the more frustrating it becomes for your opponents.
We have players to do that. Its just the mental strength and belief that we can keep position for long periods.
A lot of skill,practice and understanding is needed though.
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 #918 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 1:45 pm
I would like to see some stats on how many times we have won a game where we either conceded the first goal or conceded an equaliser. Going from memory I think over the last 2 years our players have reacted rather poorly in adversity.
El Classico was a great game last night. Well the first half was. I won’t even mention the manager of Real Madrid. His antics should be treated with contempt.
|
 #919 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
LB, I’m gradually starting to agree with you more and more about Jonjo. He wasn’t one of the 10 best players on the pitch in a U19 game. For most of the first half he was deployed in the AM role in the 4231, while Suso was playing the Xabi Alonso role. Shelvey offered us nothing going forward and our only attacks came from the wingers.
The 2 switched positions in the latter part of the game, and immediately our attack improved immensely. However, our defense suffered as Jonjo has absolutely no positional sense and just runs around senselessly chasing the ball.
I don’t know who it was who said that Robinson had a good game. He was completely responsible for the 2nd goal with some absolutely horrendous positioning. He has a tendency to get to excited ball-chasing and forget about his responsibilities. Sterling was ok, but still nowhere near first team level. I was really impressed by Suso and Silva. I think Silva has a future if he can just learn to pass, he’s too selfish at the moment.
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 #920 |
sachem
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 5:28 pm
Robinson should take responsibility for the second goal, but that’s the kind of error that all young defenders occasionally do and will learn from. Didn’t see a lot of that when he faced Theo Walcott some months ago. I was otherwise impressed by his tackling and robust defending.
Sterling was “ok”? If that was an ok performance by his standards then I’ll be very interested to do when at his best. There’s no doubt we’ve got the new Messi in our ranks! Seriously though, Raheem was on a different level compared to the rest of our team. Probably man of the match including the Sporting players.
Some claim Sporting were missing a number of their best youth players that were called up to Portuguese national youth teams. If that’s true, then they certainly must have one hell of an academy at their disposal.
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 #921 |
dougle
Posted on August 18, 2011 @ 10:01 pm
LB – our record is dreadful at coming back after going behind in recent times. There is some mindset changes that have to take place indeed.
Not too upset we thumped last night in the U 19′s. It will wake them up and show them how far we have to go.
I agree about Silva as a possible impact player soon. He’s got a touch off arrogance and he’s strong, not easily knocked off the ball. I see him as being in Babel-prototype mode at the moment.
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 #922 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 19, 2011 @ 8:02 am
We have not done well whenever we have falled behind. During Gerrard Houllier’s time i almost used to predict our games correctly based on whether we take the lead or not. The season in which we finished 2nd was remarkable in terms of our defensive performance. Hyppia and Henchoz were pillars but i still feel a big reason we couldnt go all the way was our inability to come from behind.
Under Rafa, i dont think the problem was that acute but still we were far from what was needed. I hate writing this again but its almost like the mighty lord conspired against us and made sure we dont win the league following our 86 point finish.
If that summer we could have hold on to Xabi and improved our team, who knows.. LFC would have been the champions by now.
At times i feel sorry for Rafa given the owners he got.
Its a point of debate here but who would have better utilized the money available now? Rafa or Kenny? Just a question…
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 #923 |
sachem
Posted on August 19, 2011 @ 12:32 pm
Right now I don’t think it’s possible to determine how good (or bad) Kenny’s signings actually are. We also need to add the fact that Damien Comolli is responsible to see the transfers through. How much of an influence he has on the choice of players is unknown to me, but the signings this summer does at least appear as Kenny’s personal choices.
The only dubious one in my opinion is Jordan Henderson for the price of (presumably) £16m. I’m still not sure what he brings to the side. Looks to me like a tidy player with few, if any, extraordinary qualities.
I know the market is inflated and that Andy Carroll will probably never be “worth” £35m either, but in his case I see great potential and an extraordinary aerial ability. In Jordan Henderson I’m not sure what I see.
Could that money have been spent more wisely, or was it absolutely necessary to get that many British players, considering the home-grown rules? Time will tell.
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 #924 |
sachem
Posted on August 19, 2011 @ 1:00 pm
Yesterday, Atlético Madrid announced they had signed Brazilian striker Radamel Falcao for €40m plus €7m in potential add-ons, the most expensive transfer in the club’s history.
Before he signed for Porto in 2009, Rafa Benítez was trying to get him, but our beloved previous owners refused to pay the required €4m.
This summer we signed players for about £50m. The times they are a-changin’, no? How anyone could not feel sorry for Rafa is beyond me.
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 #925 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 19, 2011 @ 6:15 pm
@Sachem: You are correct. As you mentioned Falcao, i think players such as Alves,Vidic whom we were linked before they made their big money moves elsewhere are the ones where i see the potential of Rafa in the transfer market.
When i look at Arbeola,Reina,Mascherano,Alonso,Torres,Agger i feel Rafa bought players who went on to become superstars. Yes there were some mistakes but most of his trasnfers were spot on.
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 #926 |
sachem
Posted on August 19, 2011 @ 8:07 pm
Agreed somnath07in. Rafa sure did make some mistakes on the transfer market, but how many of these did he sell on (often for a profit) and how many were second, third (and so on) choices, net seldom free transfers he had to get in order to acquire some sort of squad depth.
Don’t mean this to sound as if you and I disagree on this point. Don’t think that’s the case. I only get so annoyed when Rafa is still painted as some clueless moron who filled up our squad with dross and always put the blame somewhere else when the results didn’t go our way.
There are journalists (some of whom I otherwise find rather respectable) who remain under the illusion that Rafa only wasted huge amounts of money on useless players such as Voronin etc.
I wouldn’t bring this up unless this false image of Rafa’s Liverpool managerial reign was still bandied about in certain circles. I would think it has made it more difficult for him to get a new job as loads of ignorant supporters of other clubs put more trust in myths and lies than facts and reason. It might not be the whole truth, but certainly a significant part of it.
Anyway, on to the game tomorrow. I think it would be a massive mistake to underestimate Arsenal because they’ve lost Fàbregas. They still have loads of classy players who can cause us trouble and the advantage of home ground. We can also add the fact that we’ve struggled against them for quite some time.
It will be interesting to see how they hold up if we play close to the way we did in the first half against Sunderland. Except for the loss of Fàbregas they appear to be missing some first team players because of injury.
It will also be interesting to see how Nasri will perform if he plays. The move to City still isn’t done. During their last game there were some less than friendly chants about him from Arsenal supporters.
A draw would be a decent result there, but if we are to beat them at the Emigrants we should have a pretty good opportunity tomorrow.
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 #927 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on August 20, 2011 @ 12:36 am
Aitch, I’m wondering whether you might be able to compile a new blog and submit it to TIA, it looks like Gerry is still under the weather, maybe even LB or Digger. Anyway haven’t been coming on to much due to how long it takes to log on and get in.
.
In regards to Arsenal never ever think there anything but a class outfit, they will not be walking onto their home turf and not expecting a win. The game will be hotly contested and will be a good indication of where we are.
.
I hope we secure a win out of this game as dropping points early tends to cost you later when the chase is on.
.
Gerry get well soon mate, we all miss you, hope everything is Ok.
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 #928 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 20, 2011 @ 8:53 am
@Sachem: Yeah absolutely. I get your point. Who could be Rafa’s worst signing? Voronin? In comparison to Joe Cole,Pulsen,Konchesky even he looks world class. That should basically sum it up.
Regarding the Arsenal match, if ever there was a good chance for us to beat them at their home ground, this is the match.
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 #929 |
theredman
Posted on August 20, 2011 @ 9:04 am
Bloody hell Digger,
what’s happened to you mate, was it some divine intervention or a visitation from the ghost of Christmas past.
Gone are those vitriolic and barbed comment’s, to be replaced by sensible and may i say knowledgable remarks, (When you wish upon a star playing in the background) anyway like Gaz and Aitch, have’nt been in much as this site is about as fast as LFC’s transfer policy.
What to make of last week’s match, well perplexing come’s to mind and yes LFC did look absolutely knackered in the second half (good observation LB on pre-season training, or lack of with most of the senior squad, but first game with new player’s and all that cack so we have to give Kenny some slack here,
Sunderland were up for it 2nd half and Cattermole could have sealed all 3 point’s near the end but he said “near the end my leg’s felt like jelly and i could hardly hit the ball”.
Today, have’nt got a clue what the score will be as these seemingly easy game’s (depleted Arsenel) tend to turn round and bite us in the arse, someone above said he cant remember the last time LFC won there in the premier, well it was 2000 0-1 thanks to Titi Camara.
Off now to start reading my Freudian book and see if i can shed some light on Diggerand his new personna (LOL).
|
 #930 |
dougle
Posted on August 20, 2011 @ 10:09 am
Yeah it’s a funny one today. We don’t ever seem to beat these guys of late (Oh how I remember 4-2 at Anfield, CL quarter final like it was a lifetime ago), specially at the emigrants.
I imagine this is going to be a slugfest.
My heart says 2-0 to us my head says 2-0 to them. I’m a natural pessimist anyway so nothing new there.
I see Wenger has been priming the gooners for Nasri playing today. That’s a good goalie, Sangne and Vermaelen, RVP, Walcott, Ramsey and Nasri plus a few kids … reminds me of a team i know quite well really.
Today it’s about mentality and scoring first. Kuyt to start along with
Pepe,
Enrique, Agger, Jamie, Kelly,
Lucas,
Adam, Miereles/Aquaman,
Downing, Suarez, Kuyt
Carroll, Maxi, Miereles/Aquaman, Flanagan, Spearing, Sterling, etc … on the bench
My idea, do what Udinese did, hold the ball, play Arsenal at their own game. We have more strikepower and plenty on the bench to boot.
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 #931 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 20, 2011 @ 2:45 pm
Good win. Expected. Important thing is… Suarez. Once he came in, we changed. My MOM-Enrique. A player who cant even get into Spanish team, kept Walcott in his pocket.
YNWA.
Andy Carrol,Henderson- Time will tell how justified are their price tags.
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 #932 |
Sambo
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 5:18 am
good game. good win.
hope Carroll doesn’t get too much stick because i think he’s doing alright as he tries to fit into the team dynamic. i know he didn’t contribute much against the arse, but i like the look of him in terms of attitude and confidence, and i’m sure when the balls start coming through to him in the right areas, he’s got what it takes to smash them home with his head or his feet.
Adam is a bit more of a worry. he looks quite one-paced and a bit careless with his short passing. i know we’ve brought him into the team for his Alonso-esque long passing and shooting, but the thing that made Alonso so special was how he was constantly involved in mid-field and rarely gave the ball away, biding his time before firing the pin-point pass. i think when Adam was at Blackpool, we all marveled at his long game, but we didn’t really get a good chance to look at how he interacts with other skillful players and moves the ball through tight spaces. in that respect, he’s looked a bit shaky in the first two games. don’t get me wrong, i’m not blasting him after 2 games, just expressing concern that there’s an important aspect of our play (that Aquilani specialises in by the way) that i’ve yet to see from Adam at Blackpool or at LFC. Even Henderson looked more interactive, and he also has a lot of improvement to make.
delighted with Downing and Enrique. Contrary to what a lot of us were saying before he signed (most notably LB), he IS a dangerous and exciting player and he does scare defenders. he also has a knack of finding good positions in the box, and he’s got a great shot on him so I expect great things from him this year. Enrique looks ice-cool. I’ve got a lot of faith in him to defend well and then launch attacks, both with his burst of pace up the line, and also with his calm, accurate passing. even in terms of just clearing the ball upfield to safety when he’s trapped in the corner (an underestimated skill in my opinion – a lot of goals are scored when a full-back hits it straight back to the other team in that situation), he seems capable of getting a lot of distance with little back-lift.
overall, pretty chuffed. 4 points, unbeaten, difficult fixture out of the way, another step in the gelling process under our belts. onwards and upwards!
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 #933 |
dougle
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 10:16 am
For me the important thing was number one the result. We got it, (I did not expect it eventho’ I hoped we’d win). Number 2 was the performance which was bitty I would say. Until Frimpong (?) got sent off the game was in the balance. We looked clumpy and a bit hit & miss for most of the time. Arsenal had half a defense and we weren’t doing a whole pile. No worries tho’ because neither were Arsenal. Our back 4 played very well I thought.
I also think Adam is just settling and when he scores a couple and the team (and he) plays well then I can only see him improving. Likewise big Andy. My starting team (as above) would not have had him in it. I would have started as we finished more or less. I’m sure 10 vs 11 had a lot to do with it but we killed them when Miereles and Suarez came on. The whole tempo and attitude of the team changed. We hung onto the ball and could have had another couple by the end. The movement was great to see. That for me is the best style for this team and I think Kenny is going to have a challenge to knit big Andy in to it. But hey that’s why he’s the manager and i’m at the internet.
I have not seen the game in peace and quiet yet but one small thing was the amount of times Arsenal came straight through midfield and had a pop at us. What was going on there ? Any takers ?
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 #934 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 10:35 am
Great result, and in patches we played quite well. Jose Enrique was our best player by a distance. Class. The other defenders did well. I thought Downing had a good game without being spectacular. Kuyt was decent.
My concerns are in midfield. Lucas/Adam partnership as a 4-4-2 won’t work as I don’t think Adam is good enough to play as one of a two man midfield. We played with more midfield players against Arsenal but I still wasn’t overly impressed. As Dougle said some of Adam’s passing was poor. His set pieces were disappointing as well. Henderson doesn’t do a lot. Keeps it neat and tidy but hasn’t had a creative impact yet.
We played much better when Suarez and Raul came on. It seems we play much better football when Carroll is not on the pitch. When he is on the pitch we seem to want to launch it or put crosses in from deep areas. Not good. When Carroll isn’t playing we pass it around more in the final 3rd. The movement between the forward players looks a lot more dynamic.
I’m not sure if Adam and Henderson should be keeping Merieles and Aquilani out of the side. It’s still early days so time will tell on this.
It will be interesting to see how Carroll develops. At the moment it seems he’s having a tough time. Service to him is generally not great but is that because his movement hasn’t been great? I don’t know.
Brilliant result though – it was important to take advantage of Arsenal’s current plight. Hopefully that gives the players confidence to kick on.
|
 #935 |
sachem
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 11:49 am
Good points LB, but personally I think it has to do with the fact that Liverpool as a team hasn’t yet learned to make full use of Andy Carroll’s qualities. I think it’s a problem that can be solved with the players at our disposal, but it requires time and good coaching.
At the moment I think we are far to dependent on Luis Suárez. He will probably be our talisman no matter who we sign, he really is that good, but we need at least one more attacking option as long as we can’t put full use of Carroll. Earlier in the summer we seemed to be looking for a new young striker, and with N’Gog seemingly on his way out, you would expect the club to bring someone in before the transfer window closes.
We also need to sign another CB, which has been pointed out for some time. The rumours seem to have gone quiet lately in this department. That’s a worry. Hopefully that only means they’re spending most of their time finding new clubs for the unwanted players, only to finalize other deals after that, but time is running out on us now.
Another worry is that both Aquilani and Meireles seem to be heading out before the window closes. That would be a major impairment of our so-called overcrowded midfield. Reports claim Meireles is unhappy because he hasn’t been given the improved contract he was promised by the former regime. Hopefully this is untrue. These aren’t the first rumours claiming he’s on his way out though.
We can do without one of Meireles and Aquilani, but should we lose both, we will need a replacement with similar qualities. Neither Charlie Adam nor Jordan Henderson can fill their boots. Still remains to be seen what Stevie has to offer on his return. Don’t think we can just expect him to be the Stevie of old.
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 #936 |
sachem
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 12:04 pm
Regarding Charlie Adam, I think it’s unfair to expect him to be as good as Xabi Alonso. “Though an excellent passer and very good on set-pieces, he lacks Alonso’s technique, intelligence, two-footedness and stamina” as someone else put it. I think this is true. In some areas Charlie can still improve, but he’ll never be Xabi Alonso.
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 #937 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 21, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
I was a little disappointed with Adam’s game as well, but he could very well get alot better when he fitness improves as he appears to peter out towards the end of the game…
I’m also not sure how much longer Henderson will be occuping the RW position, especially as Raul looks much better form-wise…
Absolutely stoked we gave the arse a good boot when they’re down!!! I didn’t see if Wenger was crying like last years fixture at the end…
Is anyone else looking forward to Glenda and Jose bombing down either flank?
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 #938 |
red kelly
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 8:33 am
Great win and agree regarding jose as our best player, Kelly being not far behind….i really rate that kid.
hey Sambo, totally agree with you on Adam, quite worrying especially his set piece…he had 4-5 deliveries that make my local pizza delivary boy look good(and hes dire),his short passes were really bad…so expecting alot more from him.
I feel henderson is pretty verage also..now im patient just observing as its my secound look at these new players and unlike Enrique…where you can see class movement and dare i say it a nice fucken passing game…im sorry but i do expect any pro bought for over 500 thousand to be able to pass the ball 2 touch, in the air and ahhh fuck it!! 1 touch at least 80%.
Still glad to hear kennys reasoning behind Luis and Rauls being on the bench ..made perfect sense and had the desired impact, can anyone tell me is Kelly a centre back or a full back…
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 #939 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 8:59 am
I think its Andy Carroll’s movement. He need a lesson or two about it from Suarez. When you are talking about quality service, i can agree that from set pieces Adam could not provide the quality. But if am correct, Andy is a player who along with being very good on the air is good with his feet too.
As for 4-4-2 and Adam/Lucas, i agree with LB. Those two cant pull the strings.
I was watching Davis(Bolton Wanderers) who came on as a substitute for Muamba. He looks quality. Very creative and good pace. Owen Coyle concept of playing football is quite refreshing.
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 #940 |
Yokohama Liverpool Fan
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 9:53 am
I will take a 2-0 away result against Arsenal any day. I watched the game and we started off very brightly with some neat triangles, quick closing down and possession football. It was a game of men against boys for most of the 1st half, patches of brilliance but some long patches of pedestrian paced sand bagging. I think we can attribute this to a lack of fitness, bedding in time for our new players and we will see some more fluid passing, running and drive once we have had a few games for the players to get used to each other. Ideally preseason should have been used to play our starting 11 together, in order for our new recruits to get used to playing with our formation and as a team. Unfortunately, due to injuries, Copa America and trying to sell some of our surplus players in the shop window. Hopefully next summer we will be able to have a proper preseason and enter a mini tournament like Barca, Milan, Bayern & etc.
Back to the game, there were some decent crosses from out wide for Carroll to head but Sczesny was well positioned for most of our attempts on target and didn’t have enough creativity to thread the ball through tight spaces. Noticed how all this changed when Suarez and Meireles came on afterwards, even though Arsenal were down to 10 men.
I was pleased we actually finished the first half with more possession than Arsenal at the Emigrants which even given their plight is a rare sight to see and finished off brightly in the 2nd half when we were looking like drawing again despite having the upper hand. Own goal asides, Suarez and Meireles made their defenders panic due to some intricate pass and move.
Defensively, I think we were rock solid apart from that one lapse we had where they nearly scored at our inside post. Enrique kept Walcott in his pocket and Kelly, Agger and Carragher were solid as well.
Lucas and Adam were assured in their challenges and solid for the most part but there were times when I thought they were a little slow and flat footed. We were dispossessed by poor control, stray short passes or too much dwelling on the ball, that a lightening quick counter attack could have punished us. What was particularly disturbing was when Lucas lost the ball and was only tracking back with a half paced jog. I liked Adam’s long range effort though. It’s this kind of quick decision making that could be a difference maker in games.
Henderson rarely lost the ball and didn’t put a foot wrong but I felt there wasn’t enough movement off the ball or creativity. A lot of the passes were straight to feet rather than into space (for pass and move to function) and we looked a little too predictable. He isn’t a wide player in my opinion and I think Kenny is just giving him time to not only justify the 20 million but to bed him in. Meireles is only just back from a knock, Suarez needed a rest and Kuyt was supporting Carroll up front but I suppose there could be an argument of starting Maxi who finished the season off brightly last season and has more pace out wide.
Against poorer opposition I would like to see Aquilani been given a chance alongside either Adam or Lucas for better balance. For people claiming he is lightweight, or preseason is just preseason, he has the kind of class i.e. Modric/Silva who are lighter than Aquaman and can be very useful in creating chances for our forward men. Suarez can create his own chances but I feel that Aqua can provide the delicately weighted through balls to Carroll in particular who I’m sure would love to have a variety of passes besides crosses and long balls all the time.
Downing on the other hand looked like our only option out wide to carry the ball into the final third. So in other words we were solid but looked a little pedestrian when trying to play the ball.
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 #941 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 10:36 am
It seems like Aquilani is off to Milan with us being royally shafted on the deal.
Initial loan deal with Milan signing him permanently for £5m in June 2012. LFC to give Aqua a £875,000 pay off.
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 #942 |
Sambo
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 11:22 am
red kelly, i like Kelly at full back. not seen much of him in the middle, but i really like his skill-set on the flank, and he uses his centre back experience to provide a strong sound influence in his own box when crosses come to the far post. strangely, i thought Flanno looked really strong in his own box last year, but he looked a bit confused there against Sunderland.
dougle, agree that arse came through the middle too easily. i put it down to Lucas who was caught up-field a couple of times and left a big hole that Nasri especially was happy to exploit. i think Lucas is at his most effective when he accepts full responsibility for protecting the defense and should only drift forward when he’s confident he’s been covered. there were a couple of occasions when our entire midfield was caught attacking, leaving the defense outnumbered and scrambling. Lucas’ player of the year displays, for me, were based on his niggly tackling followed by an incisive pass or calm retention of possession. he also received the ball from the CBs a lot. he should look to continue to dominate that area of the park.
i think Lucas and Adam would be fine in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as long as Adam sorts out his movement and short passing and takes his time before firing the killer pass. That’s what i was talking about in that earlier post as a side to Adam’s game he has to start showing. patience. touch. movement. more patience… killer pass to Carroll’s feet. goal. Carroll’s suddenly a hero. Adam takes a few high-5s as well.
i feel a bit sorry for Carroll. unlike Luis, he requires service, so i think the comparison is a bit unfair. Luis is our playmaker. Andy is an old-fashioned finisher and i think there’s room for that kind of player in the side as long as he gets the right service and then finishes the chances. when the service is sloppy or predictable he just looks like a waste of space. not his fault in my opinion. i think he’s taking up some good positions. “feed the carroll, and he will sing!” (doubt that’ll catch on… it doesn’t really make sense… oh well… feed him!)
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 #943 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 2:23 pm
“times when our whole midfield was attacking” god bless the king we have been missing this mentality for over a decade (imagine midfielders who are told to get into the box and try and score nuts just nuts!!). We will get caught out with this mentality but we will also play good positive football that will bring more rewards then not.
Plenty of room for improvement from the whole team but hopefully with each game we will start to dominate sides for long periods as we did second half of last season.
We are looking strong and the number one target of champions league football again should be well within our capabilities.
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 #944 |
sachem
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 6:51 pm
Soto joining Wolfsburg. Didn’t expect that one. He would have provided good backup for the CB position. Surely this means Comolli is convinced we’ll sign a replacement before the end of the transfer window? We looked solid on Saturday, but when (not if) Agger get injured, we’ll be in trouble.
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 #945 |
koped49
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 9:13 pm
Nice to puy one over the arse at long last, on there own patch.
only come in to say thanks to soto who for the money he gave us 100% commitment, All the very best for the future, and YNWA FROM NOW ON YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ONE OF US, THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS.
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 #946 |
McrRed
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 10:27 pm
I can’t believe some of yous are watching the same match sometimes…
Lucas lazy jogging back to catch Nasri? Adam fucked up the pass to Lucas who was in an advanced attacking position. Lucas tried to catch Nasri (but doesn;t have the pace). Lucas looks bad. Can you tell me where Adam was in that little scenario?
Also can you tell me which player has made the most tackles in the Premier League this season so far?
Clue: he’s one of ours.
Clue: he’s still getting scapegoated and not getting the recognition he deserves….
Still made up about the win, though disappointed to see Spurs crumble like a digestive in a cup of tea against utd.
So long to Soto and thanks for everything big fella…
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 #947 |
corklfc
Posted on August 22, 2011 @ 10:39 pm
On me hols over the last 10 days, so missed the first two games, happy with a 4 point return after though.
Watched most of the arse game today, and I agree with others that some of the patchy form is down to preseason preps.
Its a bit strange with so many new players, but its great place to be compared to the asset stripping 12months ago.
So it will be interesting to see how things develop as we play only one game a week.
Also it will be interesting to see who else follows soto out the door
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 #948 |
Sambo
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 12:33 am
McrRed, calm down. no one is making Lucas a scapegoat. you don’t need to get defensive on his behalf anymore because everyone acknowledges he was our best player last season on will probably be even better this season. you’re living in the past if you think he’s still being made a scapegoat for our problems. he’s not. but he’s also not beyond criticism, just like any other player in the team. Adam has had far more criticism for his performance, but obviously you chose to ignore that.
bloody hell, every time someone mentions Lucas’s name someone else gets shirty about it. there’s no need. he’s a gem (but he shouldn’t have left that space between the midfield and the defense… in my opinion).
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 #949 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 1:56 am
2-0 away is a good result. You can only beat what’s in front of you.
The lack of football knowledge sometimes is a bit disturbing. Why is Lucas all of a sudden playing further up the pitch? Is it because he got fed up of playing the defensive midfield position all season last year?
No!! it’s because he’s doing what he’s been told to do by King Kenny.
Andy Caroll is looking a bit pedestrian to me, I like the combo of Suarez, Kuyt, Mireiles, Downing and Adam with Lucas as defensive midfielder. When fit Stevie G would take Adam’s place. I think that give’s us solidity and fluidity.
Aitch – I’m not too confident your assessment that teams will take the game to Manure as they can see their weaknesses will happen. Spurs collapsed like a house of cards against Manure’s youngsters. Very worrying but unfortunately we’re going to see a lot of gutless performances against the mancs. It’s up to the mighty reds to show the way.
I’m pleased with our business this summer, we have some good options to turn to and Downing has pleasantly surprised me, I think he will be an excellent player for us. A center back would be good and I also think Martin Kelly with his skill on the ball could be a good option there bringing the ball out of defence, he’s fast and strong.
All in all a good start to the season. I like to see us start gathering pace, it’s a marathin not a sprint.
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 #950 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 2:25 am
just being browsing thru the latesr rumours, so heres the latest. aqua to milan by thursday,cole to qpr, ngog to bolton, bellamy resigning with us, also kuyts agent has had contact with inter & the raul chav rumour still out there,
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 #951 |
dougle
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
Yep. I think the time where (at least on this site) we had to defend Lucas is long gone. Just looking back at the Arsenal game and bits of the Sunnerland game it struck me that Lucas is actually becoming more of a presence in the attack already this season. He was the furthest player forward a couple of times and set-up the Suarez goal.
I think that it will be interesting to see how he dovetails with Charlie Adam in that sense. It could be good for both of them. Adam will improve the defensive aspects of his game (not just tackling which has been very good so far, but the covering and the angles he takes). Lucas will get to do what he originally used to do at Gremio which was slightly more forward of where he has established himself at Liverpool (and Brasil). It’s a win win situation really.
However there is maybe a change in the overall positioning of the team which may be more aggressive and the situation where you have a Nasri-type attacking midfielder coming straight at our defence could happen more often.
It may be more of a consequence of how we set up and play as much as individual error.
It will be interesting indeed to see where Stevie G is placed in the team when he is fit. I don’t see Charlie Adam being a temporary replacement for Stevie right now. I think it could be Oct/Nov before the roles have defined themselves.
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 #952 |
McrRed
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 2:18 pm
Old habits die hard, Sambo,
alright, we’ve established Lucas isn’t the scapegoat he was but he was MotM for me against Arsenal and the bit you wrote suggesting he was out of position rather than it was Adam who gave it away popped me back through a time-warp to where the lad regularly got a right kicking on here.
But you didn’t answer my question: yes, of course, Lucas has made more tackles in the Prem than any other player.
Anyway, the new scapegoat is Henderson…or should it be Adams himself.
Soto’s gone, good luck to him.
Coates looks set to replace him (as a youngster with lots of potential – and height…though not pace). That’s if City don’t get their grubby hands on him first.
Just to clarify the Kuyt rumours were based on a story from last year, so thankfully he’s going nowhere.
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 #953 |
McrRed
Posted on August 23, 2011 @ 2:19 pm
Yeah, good points, Dougle…
And we’re reaching towards the mythical 1000 comments…
…hope you’re okay Gerry!
YNWA
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 #954 |
Sambo
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 2:48 am
fair enough Mcrred, but it still doesn’t answer Dougle’s initial question as why we were so vulnerable through the middle. if its kenny’s instructions then he needs to take the rap for it because if we leave spaces like that on a regular basis we’ll concede a lot of goals. true, we’ll probably score a lot more and we’ll be more exciting, but let’s not screw up what’s left of Rafa’s legacy completely. Rafa brought in Masch, Lucas, Alonso, Agger, Skrtle, and Reina, and we kept the most clean sheets in the league for a couple of years. if nothing else we were fuckin difficult to break down.
i’m not saying Kenny should try to copy Rafa’s style, but i would like to see 4-2-3-1, and i would like to see a well-protected defense by a mid-field pairing that is also capable of keeping possession and launching attacks. as chuffed as i am with our start to the season, i’m a bit worried about the soft centre that i’m seeing.
the space
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 #955 |
red kelly
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 4:57 am
Sambo i cant help but feel that soft centre is more to do with henderon and adam than lucas..although i agree he tracked back to slow after Nasari skinned him…i dont for 1 secound think Lucas is slow.
Carrol should not be compared to suarez imo…the compliment each other you cant tell me that most centre backs would bo more than a little worried at trying to mark those 2 all day…nightmare!! ,for me Carroll wins everything in the air its just his positioning that needs work and that will come the more he plays..his shot as we all know is great as Kenny says we just need to give him time…all of them really…you can see that Adam is off slightly…hes playing for liverpool now and all eyes are on him…that must take a wee while to get past never mind everything else.
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 #956 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 5:43 am
There was a time when we’d have a new blog after only 150 comments, sad to say that things mustn’t very good for Gerry…
Haven’t heard from FS much either….
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 #957 |
Sambo
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 8:24 am
i’d say Gerry must be seriously ill to be missing this long. it’d be decent of TIA to post an update or something. it’s crazy to leave a group of loyal followers like us in the dark with no new blogs for months and no explanation. it’d only take a second to let us know what’s up with the old boy. hope he’s on the mend.
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 #958 |
McrRed
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 8:49 am
Good points Red Kelly and Sambo, controlling the midfield is as important for defence as controlling “Zone 14″ is for scoring. Not sure Adam’s up to it yet…but he will come good.
Shame about Aqua, seems he is going….would like him to stay but his gal is unhappy here allegedly.
Game against exeter tonight and very hard to call the team given that we’re taking it seriously. The shop-window approach didn;t seem to work in pre-season so I’d go with the strongest bench players plus a solid core…but second-guessing Kenny is as hard as Rafa
No offense, but don’t want to see Poulsen or Cole particularly though…that would be asking for trouble.
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 #960 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
Can see the sense in having midfielders defending the back four against good sides but unfortunately we used to do that against brutal teams even at home hence the amount of games we drew in the title run 08/09. If we go and play open expansive football against every side we face and we end up losing against the good ones but hammer the bad ones we WILL get into the top four, no need for negative football at home against poor opposition.
There seems to be a bit of a fear in here that Kenny is somehow “tactically naive” yet he has played different formations in nearly every game we’ve played since he came back and his league record is: played 20 won 11 drew 4 lost 5 by no means league winning form but look at the moral of the side he took over and I think its safe to say the man knows how to do well in this league and the type of player we need in the squad to do just that.
We may no longer be a great cup side grinding out two legged results but we might just be a team that can win the league within two seasons of having the great man back in charge.
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 #961 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 7:43 pm
Kenny needs to take the rap??? Have you any idea how arrogant that sounds? How foolish it sounds as well.
King Kenny didn’t say look boys I want you to attack and leave big wide spaces for Nasri to run into. Hello!!! It’s the tactics that have changed with more emphasis on attacking and pressing higher up the pitch, this means it will take a little while to get the balance right especially incorporating new players into the system. It’s not a million miles away from what Rafa was doing but in my opinion a bit more attacking.
There’s comments being made in here as if King Kenny is some sort of tactical mug??? This is a man who has done it all both as a player and a manager. Time and patience is needed people. We are a million times better off than this time last year!!
Looks like a centre back will be signing shortly. Don’t rule out a forward, although if we don’t I’m not too fussed with the firepower we have already.
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 #962 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 8:43 pm
Someone needs to tell Charlie Adam that he’s aloud to keep the ball on the grass when Andy Carroll is on the pitch. The same goes for our back four. Stop fucking launching to Carroll!!! Fuck sake!
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 #963 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 9:47 pm
LB – you are Mr. Angry lately. What’s up now? 3-1 not good enough for you?
Good win for the boys. I’m pleased with that and pleased that we are going for everything this season.
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 #964 |
dougle
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 10:29 pm
But LB has a point actually. From what I saw tonight (and most times he plays) Carroll got an awful lot of high ball hit up to him. Interestingly enough he doesn’t go to head it on but chest it down and bring players into play.
I’m not sure the “english mentality” is the best marriage for Andy. For sure he’ll head it at goal when the chance comes but he’s far more a player than that. He’s not a Shearer – pace and whack it – kind of guy. He’s actually more like Peter Crouch for me. He wants to play, wants to be involved, often drops deep. I’m not so sure the target man role suits him to be honest. I frankly don’t know how he fits into the team and the team doesn’t seem to function very well around him at the moment.
To boot he seems (rightly) to be getting quite frustrated both with himself and the team.
It’s like he’s a half step out of step with everything that’s going on. They need to figure this out but …. we are only 3 games into the season and it’s going to be Oct/Nov I reckon before the pieces really begin to fit together so I’ll take as many 3-1 victories as possible while that’s happening.
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 #965 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 24, 2011 @ 11:03 pm
I hope LB hasn’t heard about Nasri to Man City and Juan Mata to the Chav’s, he’ll blow a gasket.
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 #966 |
blud red
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 12:05 am
there are two teams that pose a threat to man united’s golden reign at present. one is man city, the other is liverpool. but i couldn’t give a shit about city, so that just leaves liverpool.
if rumours are true, we are about to sign a damn fine footballer, a centre back, no less, a compadre of senor suarez. if sebastian coates (cortez) signs for liverpool it could be one of the deals of the season, because if the lad plays as well on the pitch as he does on youtube then he will take the LFC defence to another level.
so what have we got? three games in, two wins and a draw. andy carroll and luis suarez scoring, that’s what i call a great start to the season.
i understand why we all get hot under the collar, but we need to stand back and allow a few games to roll by without judgement. it’s a marathon, not a sprint, it’s a long, long, long, long season.
they’ll be some teams that start out hot to trot, show title winning promise, only to falter and throw up come christmas. why don’t we enjoy being one of the quieter teams? my suggestion to some is to sit back and enjoy the ride, because this without doubt is the finest Liverpool set-up i have seen in over twenty years.
and yet i’m not surprised that andy carroll is the focus of some less than complimentary remarks; he’s a striker who hasn’t found his stride quick enough for some. it’s like we expect everyone to be an impact player; like a microwave meal that’s ready in two minutes.
i don’t. i expect kenny dalglish to know what he’s doing. after all, he’s the one with the trophies in the cabinet, not me.
and yes, i get it when folk are dismayed with charlie adams spraying long balls over the park, but then i remember, oh yes, that’s charlie adam, one of the finest players in the EPL last season, that we bought and not man scum, and then i think, my god, its nice to see him spraying balls about the park in a liverpool shirt, hell yeah!
and you know why charlie adam is spraying balls across the park in a red shirt? it’s because he’s trying to do a decent impression of steven gerrard before steven gerrard gets fit and joins him in midfield because we are still waiting for captain fantastic to join what is already an accomplished side.
sit back lads, enjoy the ride. this might not be a whopper meal at your local burger king, brought to you in three minutes flat. this may well be a slow-cooked speciality season and better tasting for that.
God Save The King! YNWA
|
 #967 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 12:21 am
I’m a KFC man meself!
|
 #968 |
elbmw
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 12:59 am
Hmn… Its only 3 games into the season but it looks like my “disingenuous and a bit short sighted” thoughts on how we would play with AC has (unfortunately) been quite apparent so far.
Shame really as, like dougle says he’s better than that. I noticed at one point tonight that he had a good moan at Henderson for crossing high when he wanted it to his feet and in front of him.
I can see what LB is moaning about and I agree. Our football maybe more effective but it certainly isn’t as pretty as it was under Rafa. Or at least not yet.
Still, its early days and it WILL take some time for all the players to find their feet and gel with each other.
As for the game I thought we played within ourselves, particularly in the second half when we went 3 up.
And Maxi scored again. That lad knows how to score and I think it would be a travesty if we sold him as I love watching him play. In fact I’d play him every week ahead of Henderson, who seems to be struggling a bit but given that he’s only 20 I think he’ll have every chance to improve as he matures.
Good to see Ninja back too, even though he gave the pen away. On the subject of center backs I’m quite excited at the prospect of signing Sebastian Coats (or Ko-ah-tez as it may be).
I watched him in the Copa America and his performances belied his age. He was very assured and together with Lugano they dominated at the back. And he’s only 20 so he’s only going to get better. And I don’t buy into all the rubbish about him being too slow for the PL. Sami was never blessed with speed and he did OK! Right? I hope we sign him.
Sad to see Hercules leaving as I think he did really well for us and got stuck in when his team mates were dropping their heads and feeling sorry for themselves. He gave everyone a lift when we all (including the players) needed it. He had a tough job to fill Sami’s boots and did his best under difficult circumstances.
Sorry to see you go Soto and wish you all the best.
Hope you’re OK Gerry.
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 #969 |
elbmw
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 1:04 am
LOL just seen the previous 2 comments… watch out lads… you know that all this talk of fast food is only going to prompt a certain BM into a drive-by tweet.
|
 #970 |
Sambo
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 5:51 am
KD LFC Legend, how arrogant and foolish of me to enter into a discussion in response to Dougle’s question about why arsenal were carving us up through the middle. my own ignorance disturbs me too. unlike you, i’ve got no idea what Kenny said to Lucas before the game, but you seem to know all about it. sorry mate. it’s difficult to know without either being there, or being you.
still, could be worse, i could be a self-righteous cock who has no idea how to discuss football without pious grandstanding.
|
 #971 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 6:10 am
Sambo if I knew what pious grandstanding meant I’d be right back at you.
Look, I don’t know what he said either believe it or not even though my user name suggests otherwise but I would wager it wasn’t ok Lucas lad you get forward mate and don’t track back, whatever Nasri does isn’t your problem. I would wager it was more along the lines of Lucas I want you to get forward more but don’t forget your defensive duties. Why would I wager this? because it makes sense. Is that pious grandstanding? Because Kenny needs to take the rap sounds to me a lot more pious grandstanding that what I said me ole mucker.
I don’t know who said as well that Lucas just jogged back but sorry that too is foolish. Shall I do some more pious grandstanding? Ok then…what happened is Nasri showed him a clean pair of heels…Why? Because Nasri is faster..That’s it plain and simple…not because Lucas couldn’t be bothered.
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 #972 |
Sambo
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 8:28 am
KD LFC, ‘grandstanding’ means ignoring the issue and spewing rhetoric to get attention.
the issue was “why were we so open through the middle of the park against arsenal”. i thought the same thing when i was watching the game (while enjoying the win obviously). when Dougle posed the question, i just said what i saw, i.e. Lucas wasn’t where he usually is. i never blamed him for it or suggested he’d ignored/followed instructions from Kenny. i just said what i saw. you come in with comments like “the lack of football knowledge is disturbing” and “have you any idea how foolish and arrogant that sounds” and worst of all “hello???”
when i said maybe Kenny should take the rap for it, i was saying that, as great as the King is, he might be putting his hand up and saying “shit, better not leave spaces like that for them to pour into unopposed next time. that’s a recipe for leaking goals.”
i’m not having a go at anyone, just pondering a question, and i’m open to disagreement. if you want to join a debate, maybe it would be better if you gave an opinion rather than just taking the moral high ground (being pious) and slamming me criticising King Kenny and Our Lord Lucas. debating football is fun, but not when issues are ignored and you’re faced with a load of pointless bluster.
anyway, guinessdrinker made a good point that Kenny has a habit of changing his formation and style regularly to suit the demands of each game, so maybe i shouldn’t be worried about it. maybe kenny will play 4-2-3-1 next game, maybe he won’t. i do have faith in him to do the right thing, but i reckon i’m allowed to show concern when we open up like a kipper.
on the subject of 4-2-3-1, i really fell in love with this formation when Germany used it at the world cup. i’ve always hated the german team, but the way they were breaking down every attack before it reached the defense with schweinsteiger and khedira and then quickly moving the ball forward to oezil and Muller was fantastic. i’d always been one of the “Rafa’s too defensive with this formation” school before that, but i realised it’s actually a fantastic attacking formation that can tear apart average teams like australia/sunderland and decent teams like england/arsenal alike.
a few of you in here have already said that maybe 4-4-2 doesn’t suit us, and i’d agree. a few have said that Lucas and Adam don’t really work as a midfield pair. i’d argue that they might if they were behind 3 attacking midfielders and a centre forward (say, Downing, Gerrard, Suarez, and then Carroll up top). it’s just an idea. maybe when gerrard is fit he could take Adam’s place and Dirk could be one of those attacking 3.
Kenny, what you proposing as a solution to the hole in the middle we saw against arsenal?
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 #973 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 8:32 am
Even Andy Carroll seemed pissed off last night with the amount of missiles being launched towards him from his team mates. Some of our players consistently look for the easy ball any time he is on the pitch. Charlie Adam is chief culprit. The entire back four as well. If they are being pressed by the opposition, they quickly lose patience and launch it to Andy. It does my head in.
When Carroll is not playing the other players are forced to rely on shorter passes, more movement and a quicker tempo. As a result we play better football.
3-1 is good enough for me but there are still certain worries. The main one is how we look when Suarez is not involved. He has been involved in all 5 of our goals so far and we haven’t created a lot without him.
This season we’ve played very well in patches and not so well in patches. Hopefully things improve.
As for Chavs signing Mata and City signing Nasri. I think that seals the top 3 this season.
Aquilani has gone. I’m hoping we can get rid of Ngog and Joe Cole and bring in upgrades to each position.
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 #974 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 8:43 am
With everyone fit, this would be my team:
Reina
Johnson, Carra, Agger, Enrique
Lucas, Adam
Kuyt, Gerrard, Downing
Suarez
That is a very fluid midfield that can go from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2. I’d have Carroll on the bench. I wouldn’t start him just because he cost £35m. Players should be picked on merit. Mancs bench Berbatov, Chavs bench Torres, Barca benched Zlatan a while ago. Real bench Kaka.
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 #975 |
Sambo
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 9:29 am
i agree LB, except that i get the feeling Suarez would be more involved in creating goals as well as scoring them if he was given the wide spot instead of Kuyt. he loves cutting in from there. or, like i said before, moving Stevie back for Adam and keep Dirk.
if the problem with Carroll is that we keep hoofing the ball up to him, wouldn’t it be within kenny’s powers to tell his players to stop doing it? i like Carroll. maybe i’ll be wrong about this, but i think he’ll come good and score a lot of goals as long as we play the short passing game you describe and look to feed him accurate passes in dangerous positions. he’s a good finisher.
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 #977 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 11:38 am
Wow staring to kick off in here again! whats it gonna be like when we lose a couple!! I think most people are in agreement that with Andy in the team we look a bit pedestrian and the huge price tag is never gonna help the lad but I still think he’ll score 15 league goals for us this year and that would be a great season for a 22 year old.
Lots of rumors over here that we are looking to sign Kevin Doyle for about 10-12 Mil many in here will scoff at the idea as they did when Shane Long was mooted but both these lads would add a great deal to our attack particularly Dolye he would be a huge upgrade on Ngog and would deffo take a lot of pressure off Carroll. He’s not a player you see winning the EC for us but he would take us a notch higher then we are right now for a decent price too and he would come without the baggage/age of Bellers. Would love to see it happen with the Coates deal if so I reckon we will be nailed on for top four.
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 #978 |
dougle
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
Hmm I’m wondering indeed where Everyone will start when everyone is “fit”. The fitness issue could be a player in our season. It seems those that know (not me) reckon Charlie Adam has a good hour in him per game. It may very well be the case that Stevie is maybe good for 30 mins/game for a while after be returns so thy may compliment each other that way.
Either way I don’t think I know what the team is gonna be. I think as was mentioned above that it will be horses for courses with Kenny. I don’t think Kenny will leave Andy in the team because of the money we paid for him either.
I can see Skertyl alternating with Carra depending on opponents. Carra may well play in the trench warfare games, Skertyl in the games where we are further forward. Likewise Kuyt and Miereles may well be switched.
I may be out a bit on this one but if Henderson can beef up confidence-wise then I can see him playing a lot this season. He’s fast, has a good touch, moves allover the place. I think he needs a bit of Suarez steel and arrogance tho’.
I think that all we need is time for this to jell together. It is going to be a bumpy road but I suspect more up’s than downs.
I’d love to see Coates here and also Kevin Doyle on a personal level (being a Paddy and he being an ex-player of my local club). The thing about Doyle is he can do the wideman thing as well as striker and he’s unselfish and a hard worker, prototype Liverpool.
Still going to wait until the end of the transfer season to make a complete evaluation but really it’s looking good so far.
LB I wouldn’t bet on Plastics just yet finishing top 3.
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 #979 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 1:20 pm
Good win yesterday. I think this victory should be seen along with the crucial areas where we need to improve.
For starters, I think Henderson can work on his 1st touch. Kuyt can join him too. A good 1st touch from one individual player can lift the overall performance of the team. Its time they should work on it.
The thing with Carroll is he looks a bit heavy on the ball. He is not as fluid as Suarez and hence whenever we are trying to build an attack around him, we are not as lethal. Our performance against ManCity last season was one amongst the top 3 and in that match he scored 2 goals. He got more time since De Jong didnt play. Hoofing to him on a consistent basis wont serve the purpose. The best person to point the football to head is Downing. Let him do it. Also, Adam from corners or free kicks. The centre backs should be advised to play normal passes to wingers or midfielders and occasionally they can mix it up.
With Raul injured now, i think Carroll and Suarez will both start against Bolton.
Hoping Coates is signed and Harry can take Joe Cole with him and make him the best player in England again.
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 #980 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 1:38 pm
I’ve noticed Raul tends to get injured because he is not committed in the tackle. He goes in not to get hurt rather than to win the ball and the irony is he gets injured.
Kevin Doyle? Goodness me.
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 #981 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 1:53 pm
Kevin Doyle – Just rumours or there is something in it? I feel he is a better play to fill the role David Ngog is suppose to play. Both Doye and Shane Long looks good prospect to me.
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 #982 |
dougle
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
Actually the “big” rumor is Bellemy back. It wouldn’t be bad I think. He’s got pace, experience and knows where the net is.
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 #983 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 6:03 pm
No one is saying that Andy Carroll is crap. The issue is that the TEAM as a whole functions more poorly when he’s in the lineup. We’ve assembled some players who are excellent on the ball. Why not dominate possession and control the game while searching for the killer ball?
Instead we keep lumping balls up to Carroll, and this oftentimes leaves our defense exposed because we’re not controlling the ball.
Sambo, I think the issue isn’t actually Lucas/Adam. I think the problem is we are trying to play a pressing game but our defensive line is playing very deep because Carragher is so slow. This leaves a huge gap between midfield and defense, which Nasri, Frimpong and others were running into and getting free shots. We really need a CB with more pace than Carragher so that we can play a higher line and eliminate that space. While Coates looked very good at the Copa, he seems to be lacking in pace as well.
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 #984 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 7:58 pm
LB if his name was Senor Kevanis Doylas would he be welcome?
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 #985 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 8:45 pm
I would have loved Diego Forlan on loan or short term contract. Wouldn’t mind Craigo Bellaminho to be honest. 2 year deal on a free transfer.
Karim Benzema or Higuain would be good but probably very unlikely. I couldn’t give a monkeys where the player is from. Just want quality.
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 #986 |
elbmw
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 9:06 pm
Guinness I prefer Shanedinho De Largo! Nah just kidding!
I think that the players we have at the moment will allow for some tactical flexibility, or plan B, as some people like to call it.
Without AC we’ll be able to play more on the ground but we’ll need someone with pace (like Bellend?) to chase the ball over the top. Suarez is tricky, skillful, quick thinking and tenacious but NOT speedy.
A speedy forward would provide for a plan C. The tactical permeations would be considerable and should provide a good team for pretty much every opponent.
I guess what Im trying to say is that we would have everything in our locker including skill (Suarez), combativeness/aerial capability (Carroll) and speed (Bellend?). Then play the midfield players who would be suited to the combination of forwards.
That would make sense to me. But as I’ve said before it will take some time to work these things out.
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 #987 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 25, 2011 @ 11:47 pm
Higuain would be top drawer but unfortunately without CL on offer I cant see any signings of that caliber. Bellers could do a job for us but at 32 and with his attitude Im not too sure, I just think Doyle would fit the bill for us right now.
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 #988 |
blud red
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 1:28 am
having watched both the exeter and arsenal i thought both were classy results. many of the criticisms here are unfair.
i think liverpool are playing some dynamic stuff at the moment and credit goes to adam, hendo, downing, carroll and suarez, not to mention maxi, spearing, kelly and the rest. these guys look like they are playing with conviction.
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 #989 |
Sambo
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 6:44 am
yanksarewanks, good point! Coates must have a bit more steam than Carra though surely!
|
 #990 |
red kelly
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 11:21 am
I never seen the midweek game but seen the goals and like against city…Carroll scored a bullet, thats what LFC needs from him…., if what im hearin is true then its slightly dissapointing as im sure kenny wants crosses comin from the byline for Carroll to head not hopefull i dont know what else to do with it balls.
Coates would be a great signing as im afraid the long balls have normally started at the back namely from Carra….i love the man but his time is surely comin to an end and with the introduction of Enrique…passing out of the back corners…kelly and dagger also play this style,, this suits the pass and move game, theres nothin thats gets on my tits more is the hopefull ball comin outta the back or from midfield when theres shorter needle passes that create space and attack…lovely long balls are gold but you need to be on yer game and adam and hendo arnt…yet.
So pas the ball to carroll fucken feet or wait to ye get further up the field before ya bang over a cross….the boys got a rocket on them legs..pity only Suarez got the clues to see it ….no worries kenny will be making sure.
|
 #991 |
red kelly
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 11:26 am
Seriously do we really want Bellamina back in our team…no….please Kenny say it aint true, we let Aqua go and get him…i dont see it.
Still we did buy Davy Crocket so anythings poss eh!!
|
 #992 |
elbmw
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 12:29 pm
Im really looking forward to the bolton game, albeit with a little trepidation.
I think it will give us a good indication of what may lay ahead in the first part of the season.
My reasoning is that the sunderland game was our first and we lacked match fitness, as well as some cohesion, which was to be expected.
Our win against the arse may have been a bit predictable, considering the problems they had so once again I dont consider it a good indicator.
I’ll ignore the cup game as we had a lot of squad players in that but the bolton game will be very interesting as the style of play will be very similar for both teams – get the ball out wide and cross to the target man.
They’ve started really well so far and with a bit of luck could have got something from the man shitty game so if we turn them over I think it would set us up for a top 4 finish.
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 #993 |
blud red
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 12:32 pm
red kelly.
i don’t believe lfc play that way at all. we are a team in transition, we have not decided to play long balls to carroll. we involve him in some exquisite play at times.
carroll is a young lad and deserves respect. i remember when NUFC beat us 3-1 last season. that boy was instrumental in everything. he tore us a new arsehole. he won everything in the air and he scored a rocket with his left peg.
people are so infatuated with suarez, they fail to see the merits of anyone else. if a striker is over six foot tall, suddenly he’s useless, ungainly, and every ball is played in the air.
someone please watch the exeter game online and look at carrolls contribution to the first goal. it happened after he came on the pitch, after all.
let me put people straight about andy carroll. he is a nightmare to play against. you mark him in the air and he scores with his feet, you mark him on the deck and he scores with his head. if you mark him too closely suarez or maxi will exploit the space and score. with carroll it is a win-win scenario. i’d play him every time, and drop him only if it was a tactical solution.
really, henderson and adam are two excellent signings in my opinion. hendo needs work but his potential is plain as the nose on your face. charlie adam is bossing our midfield, tackling, short passes, long passes, linking up further up the pitch.
people have said that mata going to chelsea and nasri going to city means that 1st, 2nd and 3rd place are all sown up?
well, isn’t that a tad negative? has anyone been reading the excellent reports coming out of anfield lately? there is an good spirit in the club at the moment and i’m glad they do not share the negative opinions that some do.
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 #994 |
blud red
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 12:37 pm
oh and no, that’s not me having a go at people who are debating footy, that’s me having a go at LFC players, making out they are shite and our manager is questionable. for the love of mike! who ever mike is.
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 #995 |
blud red
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 12:41 pm
sorry i meant people having a go at lfc players….
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 #996 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 3:50 pm
why the fuck are we loaning out aquilani when Miereles is now out for weeks with a collarbone injury? This is exactly why we need that depth. And Henderson isn’t in the same league as Aquilani in terms of class. Maybe in a few years, but certainly not now.
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 #997 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 6:18 pm
I have a question; what’s the difference between negativity and realism? I remember during the last 2 or 3 seasons being told that the clubs who spend the most on player transfers and wages would finish highest in the league. I remember reading links and articles in here that informed me of brand new shiny terms such as ‘net spend’, ‘player transfer index’, ‘ amortisation’ and yada yada yada. Ok, fine. Its a new day\era I thought. Now, at the time all this new terminology was used to defend (and rightly so in some instances) Rafa and also used to placate the more precocious amongst us (guilty your honour). Fair enough, water under the bridge, times change. Or do they, I guess is my question. So what’s so different now that when someone suggests the signings of Nasri and Mata wraps up 2nd and 3rd for the perennial big spenders? Nothing right? So, is he being negative or realistic? Where are the net spend figures and player wages for the top 6 to show us the defining line between negativity and realism? I want to, nay demand to, see the figures!
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 #998 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 9:49 pm
Sambo – My solution to not leaving us open in the middle is to press high up the pitch as we are doing and to hunt in packs. Unfortunately players of the calibre of Nasri will get free sometimes, that’s the way it is and that’s why teams play big bucks for them.
Also in my opinion those who think Carra is finished are mistaken. He’s still our best defender and with Enrique, Agger and Johnson/Kelly in the team there’s plenty of options to play the ball and still have a no nonsense defender like Carra in the team. There’s also enough pace in that back four to deal with anything.
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 #999 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 9:57 pm
in regards to who finished where, all the teams have strengthened, so I suppose it’s a case of who settles best. The fave’s would have to be the mancs (both) and the chav’s but who knows.
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 #1000 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
Bingo the 1000th post Come on Gerry hope you are well
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 #1001 |
dougle
Posted on August 26, 2011 @ 11:17 pm
Yep Kenny Carra has many qualities … still. But his tendency is to drop deep when the pressure is on. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. If we want to play that way and bring teams on to us, if other teams have too much pace then dropping deep is maybe an option and then Carra’s lack of pace isn’t such a problem.
Either way it’s coming time for him tho’. Thankfully we are in another era now and plans will be made for the next centre half team. I have said above that I think we’ll see more of Agger and Skrtyl as a pair this year and that is without Coates, if he comes.
Carra plays now because he’s the best option we have. Simples no !
Come on Gerry, be well buddy.
Digger – you (and LB) may very well be right and he who spends and pays wins. But this is an odd season looming. Arsenal in transition, Liverpool in transition, likewise Plastics and Sheiks and Mancs too. Chavs were booed off at “home” vs West Brom halftime at the weekend. They are caught between 2 stools because it’s the Drogba’s and Lampards are getting them over the line while the Torres-new PLastic era is not groovin’, they also have a tactically brilliant new manager, Young, too young ?? A Brilliant tactician = Maureen … ok but also = Benitez too and where did that get him in the EP league (G&H notwithstanding). I figure there are a lot of factors and question marks around all of the 5 clubs mentioned above, even more so Chavs, (meddling Sugar daddy) so let’s see. Mind you they could win it too but ….. let’s see.
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 #1002 |
blud red
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 12:21 am
negativity is when people suggest that kenny dalglish, one of the most decorated player/managers in the history of the game, is going to get his team into the changing room before the game and say:
“right lads, forget all this tiki-taka nonsense and lob the ball up to big andy and he’ll do the rest.”
negativity is when folk talk about 2 wins and a draw like it was three straight losses.
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 #1003 |
sachem
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 12:33 am
yanksarewanks
Have you been sleeping the whole summer only to wake up when Aquilani’s move back to Italy was made official? I’m only asking because he’s made it pretty clear from day 1 he wanted to remain in Italy.
It might be disappointing to have it made another loan deal, but I imagine it was only because our asking price wasn’t met. Comolli was then left with the choice of either loaning out the player for another season or have an unhappy well-paid player on our wage bill for a whole season.
Hopefully everything will go well for Aquilani at Milan now, so he’ll play enough games to make the deal permanent.
|
 #1004 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 12:47 am
Digger there is a new variable that I’ve read from Paul Tomkins that determines the success of teams – especially towards the top of the PL. The average cost of the XI over the course of a season, with inflation taken into account. £XI. For a team to field an expensive starting XI throughout a season obviously they have to have an expensive squad so that when injuries, suspensions and rotation kick in the starting XI is still up there in terms of value (value = quality). Here is a list of squad value in the PL as of August 9th 2011.
Chelsea £463,364,980
Man City £429,249,525
Man Utd £400,273,930
Liverpool £231,741,856
Spurs £227,373,672
Arsenal £165,881,468
Aston Villa £115,112,914
Everton £106,825,203
Sunderland £105,658,666
Newcastle £78,851,457
Fulham £72,550,959
Wolves £53,234,212
Wigan £48,782,767
Stoke £46,417,927
Blackburn £44,657,002
Bolton £40,861,401
West Brom £27,804,342
Look at the gap between the top 3 and the rest. If we finish in the top 3 it would be a major over achievement.
|
 #1005 |
elbmw
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 3:56 am
LB thats a very interesting table.
Does the LFC figure include the home grown players like SG, Carra, Flanno, Kelly and Robbo or is it the actual money spent of players we have bought in?
And does it represent the current market value of our players or is it what was actually paid out?
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 #1006 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 4:25 am
Dougle, that’s exactly my point. Carra plays now because he’s the best option we have. When we have someone better whether that’s sooner or later then it’ll be his time to stand aside, I also realise he’s at the end of his career but he’ll play the Big Sammi role for us.
Good point Blud Red. I agree.
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 #1007 |
blud red
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 9:30 am
london barnes
so does this mean arsenal have been over-achieving for years?
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 #1008 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 10:44 am
Elbow, I think it takes the value of the player into consideration so Gerrard for example would have a cost against him. Same goes for Fabregas. Arsenal will be valued even less now. They have overachieved over the last few years but it’s only in recent years where city and spurs have built such substantial squads.
Between 08/09 and January 2011 our squad value had plummeted. I think Spurs had a squad valued more than £50m than us in 09/10. As you can see, thanks to FSG we’ve gone past Spurs in this regard. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this sort of financial backing however we’re a few years behind the top 3 in my opinion.
It’s interesting that JW Henry expects CL qualification this season but he doesn’t expect us to finish above the mancs for a few years. Kenny on the other hand sees no reason why we can’t win the title this season. It seems we have fans who share both points of view. I’m in the JWH camp, though obviously chuffed our manager isn’t accepting 4th is the best we can achieve.
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 #1010 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 11:43 am
Cracking interview. Interesting he was studying the Allianz Arena, where Bayern Munich actually ‘groundshare’
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 #1011 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 11:53 am
I don’t think the fact Bayern ground share is the issue. It’s the naming rights aspect of it that is significant and also the capacity which is 65,000.
Ground share will never happen because neither LFC or EFC fans back it. JWH says so himself.
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 #1012 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 5:12 pm
Juan Mata seems to be settling just fine in the Prem…
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 #1013 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 5:19 pm
No comment.
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 #1014 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 5:46 pm
Lovely stuff…we look simply incredible with Carroll out of the lineup.
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 #1015 |
sachem
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 7:46 pm
Same old problems look vulnerable at the back. Big reinforcements needed. Kenny’s finished. Cheers / burgerman
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 #1016 |
elbmw
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
Great game with some great football and hardly any hoofs from the back!
Controlled the game and had 60% possession.
The new players seem to be finding their feet. I was very impressed with SD. Gave their defense a very hard time.
LB the only problem I have with the stats you posted is that they are very subjective. Even if they turn out to be accurate, which would be difficult to prove as the market changes and values go up and down and besides Suarez would be worth the total amount by himself .
Good tongue-in-cheek post sachem. You got him down to a “T” but you forgot to slate Lucas.
Anyway, forget this top 4 rubbish. We’re gonna challenge for the league. I’m convinced of it.
Will we win it? We’ll have a better indication after we play our main rivals but in the meantime ask Owen Coyle if he’d rather play us or shitty every week!
And with Coats still set to join us.
Final word on Lucas… just one word… WOW!
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 #1017 |
koped49
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
Thought lucas was very good today as i uasally do.Suarez was just about unplayable, Deadly was all over the place if he put the ball in the net more often he would be orsome. Pity about the silly goal against us, Carra not on the ball for that one. but not going to put anyone down has it was a good team performance.Some of you guys said it would be a big test today well we pass it with flying colours. just as we start to be building a bit of momentum we have the dreaded internationals, suppose it will give the walking wounded a chance to recover, some of the unfancied boys are now being invited to leave and slowly they are going, so we will be left with guys who want to play for us.
Well certainly a better start than last session.Just hope they can get coles a work permit i think thats all they are waiting for before he signs on the dotted line.
The guys are having to fight to get in the team now, and it is paying dividends, great to see Kenny going for the number one spot and not just settling for fourth place, but long way to go yet.
The way we are playing and pushing up does seem to leave us lose some times at the back, but apart from the goal we gave them we looked prety good in defence. We were even good at the back when keely was replaced.Last year we would have lost some of our compossure in that situation so it shows how we have progressed since podgy left and KK took over.
Roll on the next game, roll on the next blog,
hope you are well Ged and that nothing is amiss for you,we all miss your input, but its more important that you are well, we can wait for your return.
i know its been suggested before but maybe some like Aitch could do it till Ged is back and functioning again, he would do a good job.
YNWA
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 #1018 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on August 27, 2011 @ 11:15 pm
Top class performance, it should have been more, two defo penos turned down in my opinion.
Really pleased with that result, we went at them from the off. I love the Suarez/Kuyt combo works really well and today showed that King Kenny will pick who he thinks will win the game regardless of the transfer fee, so those who worry about that can now relax!
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 #1019 |
Sambo
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 1:49 am
great performance all-round. shame about the goal at the end, but the performance is more important than the margin and that was definitely a 5-0 performance. absolutely slaughtered them! Lucas was amazing (as we’ve grown to expect these days). but i’m really happy to see Hendo and Adam really starting to look like LFC players. in fact, it’s great to see the whole club looking like LFC again!!
shame about Kelly ay. poor bloke. looks great, gets injured. comes back. looks great, gets injured…
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 #1020 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 2:05 am
Agree with all thats been said obviously and not much else to add but wanted to make a point that is going to be key for us going forward. And by forward I mean a whole new era. I know I’m gonna sound like a broken record but: Mentality. It was superb today. That relentless, its never over, winning mentality was present and accounted for in spades today. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again the one thing the F.A and its officials can never take away from us is those 90mins 38 times a year. Its up to us what we do with them. Aint no fate but the one ya make. And thats what made me so proud of the lads today because in the face of such unadulterated, incompetent fuckwittery from the officials, they never stopped, never gave up, they did what it took to win the game. Suarez’s hunger and will to win is at a scary level, dare i say a Stevie level. But the whole team was just superb. In seasons past we would’ve fucken drawn that game against the likes of these opponents and I’d be in here reading the hue and cry about the ref this and the ref that. That game today is the quintessential example of the kinda game that no matter what happens you keep going, ya find away. Make no mistake, what we did today is exactly what the mancs have been doing for years and winning titles on the back of: taking care of business at home and rolling over the leagues middle and bottom feeders. Come hell, high water, hurricane irene or inept morons masquerading as refs, ya dont come back in without 3pts. And thats what we did today, we rose above circumstances rather than be a victim of them. Will there be bumps ahead? Yes, but a massive step forward today imo. Today was bigger than defeating a ravaged Arsenal for me. Well done Reds! And of course, well done Kenny!
P.s, that non back pass call today has elevated the officialdom – and believe me I use that term loosely – of this league into the realm of farce as far as I’m concerned. Monty Python aint got nothing on these guys.
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 #1021 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 7:00 am
Very good win. Read all the comments above.
I think Andy Carroll is the last piece of this jigsaw for the current season. Once he starts playing at his best,we will become even more dangerous. He has to be better with his movement. A few of the crosses which Downing provided him deserved better effort.
On the other side, Suarez was clearly upset that he could not feature in the score sheet which is an amazing hunger to have. Same goes for Reina’s frustration to let that goal away. I think this small things matter and speaks about the attitude.
Coates was seen sitting and he must have felt quite positive about where he is heading to. If we can add Bellamy, his 15-20 mints of pace either as a centre forward or on the wings would do us quite good.
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 #1022 |
red kelly
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 9:27 am
Yes Please……if i wanted an end to long balls i sure as hell got it!!,thats pass and move football…extremely pleasing to see our movement,i take my hat off to hendo and Adam both had terrific games and we looked very threatning thru the mid…and Lucas had a monster game.
Its actually quite hard to believe how quick Kenny can gel the players together after a slow start{pre season and sunderland} but ive got chills after watchin that it could easily been 8-0…2 pens disallowed Suarez just couldn,t find the net no matter what e did and carrolls positioning needs a wee bit of King tutalage and he’d iv scored a few as well and Downing is just gettin better n better….exiting times indeed.
great article above about henry…the owner of this club is as didicated as kenny bloody brilliant.
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 #1023 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
elbmw, those stats are not as subjective as you’d think. Only the players that didn’t cost a fee are given a subjective value. All the other players are valued on their transfer fee taking inflation into consideration. I am trying to describe it in very simple terms because it’s very scientific and I wouldn’t want to bore everyone with all of the intricate variables.
Great performance yesterday. Brilliant first 30 mins. Scrappy last 15 mins of the first half. I was worried it would be like the Sunderland game but in the 2nd half we were excellent. 3-1 was a travesty. Should have been 6-0.
A word on Kelly. He’ll always have hamstring problems. I’ve noticed that he doesn’t run properly. That probably sounds stupid but when he sprints he usually over strides. He is a walking hamstring injury. As Glenda is also injury prone, do we need a new right back?
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 #1024 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 2:47 pm
Spurs are being well and truly put in their place here. City making a bit of a statement.
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 #1025 |
elbmw
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 3:10 pm
Nah mate you’re not boring anyone. I find many of your posts very informative.
However, Im not very sure about the figures. For example, Lucas cost £5-6M (I think) but inflation would adjust that to say £6-7M but his actual value would probably be double that now. Same for Suarez, cost £24M? but imho he’s worth at least 2 times that amount now.
But anyway its swings and roundabouts isn’t it as we’d struggle to shift AC for for than £20M even though he cost £35M.
Anyway I do agree about Kellys running style. I think its due to his height and build. But then again owen had hamstring problems early on but that was due to his leg/foot speed which was solved with particular exercises to build his quads. Although that cured his hamstrings it affected other parts of his leg. Lets hope thats not the case with Kelly.
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 #1026 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 6:22 pm
Well if City made a statement LB, Utd have delivered a declaration of war. Jaysus they just carpet bombed Arsenal! Sometimes ya just have to put tribalism aside and give credit where credits due. That was as good as some of our displays in the 70s and 80s. Cant wait for the game at Anfield now as it seems it’ll have to be us to show the others how its done yet again!
And what of Arsenal? A watershed day for Wenger perhaps? Surely with 3 days remaining in the window he just goes and busts the bank for Cahill and Shawcross? Ahh, who cares?! Their decline benefits us!
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 #1027 |
somnath07in
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 6:39 pm
The problem with Arsenal(Its good for us) is that in the process of being obsessed with being a financially sound Football Club they have forgotten that they are a ‘FOOTBALL’ club and winning trophies is what matters the most.
They have kept on concentrating making their balance sheet look good and in Arsene Wenger, they have found the best person who can sustain such a business model.
He has amazing ability to find quality players(I think they found yet another today. The teenager who played in central midfield.He was quite good)but what he has not realized that they have ended up in becoming a feeder club.
They knew Fabregas wanted to leave. They knew Nasri’s head is turned and yet Wenger was in denial mode.
I have a cheeky feeling that Arsene might get the sack and of all people Rafa might replace him. Just speculating.
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 #1028 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
I missed the slaughter at Old Trafford. Got dragged to Ikea. 8-2 wow! My mate said it could have been 13-6.
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 #1029 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 28, 2011 @ 8:46 pm
somnath mate you might not be to far off the mark with your last post,
the lads were exellent yesterday, all over the park,
the officials were shambolic,
onwards & upwards
WALK ON!
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 #1030 |
Rafalution
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 8:13 am
Here you go lads!
http://www.empireofthekop.com/anfield/?p=35496
Pepe, Lucas & Suarez would be the first 3 names on Kenny’s teamsheet every matchday. I had my doubts about Downing, but he has looked the part so far. Adam & Hendo had better games on Saturday & look like they are settling in, but when Stevie comes back, Henderson would have to watch the game from the bench. And talking of benches, we suddenly have a cracking set of reserves – Maxi, Henderson, Skrtl, Flanno, Aurelio, AC, Shelvey etc etc. We will need it, because Shiteh & the scum looked very good yesterday! But so did Liverpool! Going to be an interesting season. We can’t afford to drop points against the likes of Blackburn, Norwich, WBA, Fulham etc.
So Arry gets a reprieve from the press. His team are outplayed, get 5 knocked past them, and then the scum come and spoil it all. Everyone will talk about the scum’s 8 goals, and not the fact that Arry didn’t have a clue. Oh, and the fact that Roy’s WBA have played 3, lost 3.
Who cares I suppose. But it just seems that the British managers can’t put a foot wrong. Even the commentators – when talking about Lucas – were saying “he is a different player than under Benitez, where he didn’t seem to fit in under his (Benitez’s) stodgy, conservative approach”. Assholes.
Some of these commentators are as useless as the officials we get nowadays!
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 #1032 |
dougle
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 10:55 am
Great read redman. Wouldn’t you love to be able to just lay this stuff out for the “Champion” peddlers of lazy ill-informed and populist shite journalism … but it would probably not make a blind bit of difference anyway.
Good to hear Dixon is starting to speak with an independent voice. Not that i heard him but apparently one Gary Neville (! Yes) also broke ranks … surprise surprise.
As far as this weekend goes. Number one we got the result, we played better for longer too. Three we played with a smile on our faces, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that.
Bad luck for Martin Kelly … AGAIN his hammer goes. they are going to have to have a serious look at this. He’s constantly getting injured.
I was delighted for Skertl, I thought he played a blinder when he came on. Given that, Bolton were miserable, but why ? Adam and most particularly Lucas who was simply brilliant at breaking up their attempts at building pressure. He made Kevin Davis life a drag and not the other way around. Hats off fantastic.
We should have had 7. I actually thought the ref was good for the bits and pieces i saw but that does not seem to be the general opinion.
As for the Manchester 13 North London 3 well it was pretty impressive stuff. It’s the silly season still tho’. Remember Chavs last year ? Let’s see where we all stand next Thursday morning.
Looks like Coates is in which is great, I wonder if we’ll get a striker eh ? And I wonder about Poulsen, Deegan, Cole and Ngog if we get a new striker. My money is on all of the above out by Thursday. If that happens then I think we can judge the last 2 transfer windows as the most impressive since one Kenny Dalglish did a similar job with barnes, beardsley, aldridge and Houghton.
Fingers crossed.
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 #1033 |
elbmw
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
Well put Rafalution. It seems Roy is finally putting his stamp on WBA. Some people might think thats unfair on Roy as WBA are always struggling but I see the similarities of our first 3 games last season.
OK so the mancs put 8 past the arse. But lets look a little deeper. The mancs played at home with a full compliment against a seriously week arse side that was full of children.
Compare that to our game against the arse where we were the away team and they had Vermaelen, Sagna and Nasri still in the team. BTW if it wasn’t for Vermaelen being there we’d have put 10 past the arse at their ground. According to Carra, Vermaelen was MOTM against us.
So I’m not going to join the manc glorification thing coz they only managed to put 8 past the arse academy team and they played at home against 10 men (well, boys actually) and all this with the assistance of Howard “Mr Man UTD” Webb helping them. All the manc players had to do was run up to the 18 yard line and bump into an arse player and get a pen or free kick, which accounted for most of their goals.
Talking of refs I thought our ref and his ass’s were ridiculous yesterday. Wilkins (co-commentator) only seemed to notice the correct decisions the ref made and praised him for every one he got right but nothing was mentioned about the corner he incorrectly awarded them, the corner he should have given us but didn’t, the dead cert penalty he didn’t give us for the rugby tackle on Suarez and the most obvious of all; the back pass that was handled by their keeper while the ref just looked on with that “1000 yard stare” into the distance, with glazed eyes, despite our protests.
And as for the spuds; was that not the most inept performance from a spud team that anyone can remember? I don’t know but I hope they play like that we we visit. And Im still not convinced by shitty. They have expensive players but I still think they’ll struggle come the winter when the cold starts to bite and the pitches cut up. I get a feeling that they have too many big egos and as soon as the results start to suffer a bit they will implode. Then Mancini can go back to writing more pink panther music!
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 #1034 |
kopcolly
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
Welcome back rafa lad
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 #1035 |
corklfc
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 6:25 pm
3 games in, 7 points in the bag, new signings all looking the part. And the likes of Carrol, Scary, Glenda, Raul & Stevie not starting on Sat, it’s great to have a squad again, and maybe one or two more faces on the way.
What I enjoyed most on Sat was when we were 3-0 up and the free for the Bolton back-pass wasn’t given, Suarez, Lucas etc went mental.
We are 6 ahead of the arse and 7 ahead of the spuds already, thats a 10/12 point swing on last season at this stage.
The Mancs and Shity look the part at the moment, but I am not convinced with the chavs.
Not being involved in Europe this season is going to be worth another 6/9 points also.
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 #1036 |
blud red
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 6:41 pm
the most telling sign of improvement at liverpool was the fact that two important players were not actually on the pitch when we put bolton so sweetly to the sword.
steven gerrard was sat a few places along from sebastian coates. the mind truly boggles. gerrard and coates have the potential to turn liverpool from also-rans into winners.
Saturdays game was a throwback to the kind of exhibition matches LFC regularly used to dish out to the anfield faithful in the eighties. not since kenny was manager back in the glory days have we been able to witness the kind of devastating cohesion that is plainly evident; from the boardroom, in the bootroom and on the pitch.
it is fair to say we have a unique talisman in luis suarez, rightly awarded man of the match for his dazzling display that stands as an example to all aspiring footballers.
every outstanding team has an outstanding player, be that pele, maradonna or lionel messi and liverpool are no different.
please don’t mistake my intention either. i am saying liverpool are an outstanding team. a work in progress certainly, but the team we watched yesterday are not the poor relations of city, united and chelsea anymore. for the first time in many years it is right to say that if we continue to play football at that level come january, we will be contesting the title by may.
last week on match of the day, hansen said he could see no contenders for the premier league title bar man united. i thought, back then, that statement was a little short sighted. now i think he should have gone to specsavers.
the thing that has always profited united is the way they play football. good football brings them success. success brings them riches. riches buys them players. and so on and so on.
now they have a genuine rival. their old enemy is back. kenny dalglish is coaching his players to play high up the pitch, but in order to do so you must retain possession; you must threaten for long periods of the game. you must have the personnel capable of dominating every position on the pitch.
liverpool had 70% possession against bolton. when was the last time you heard of that kind of domination emanating from the red men? Seventy Percent!!
owen coyle was sat on the bench with that thousand -yard stare reserved for men in a terrible situation who have seen too much and just don’t know what to do anymore.
as for commitment from players, there were several contenders for man of the match. henderson did a magnificent job of silencing his detractors, of whom now there will thankfully be few. he is young, he is fast and technically good and best of all he is humble. his abilities on the pitch are only matched by his desire to learn. He provided telling width on the right side of midfield, supplying dangerous crosses. Anyone who believes steven gerrard will be a shoe-in when he returns to full fitness disregards the impact Henderson has had on the shape of the team.
charlie adam also did a brilliant magicians trick of making steven gerrard dissapear. his passing and positioning was alonso-esque, his corner-taking will net opportunists like skrtyl many goals this season. his goal was just reward for his roving control in the middle of the park. there are many contesting for the central spot but he will be difficult to displace.
and then there was lucas. the man whose nationality i once questioned, demanding to see whether his south american passport was a forgery.
as i have stated before, you can’t play high up the pitch if you don’t possess the ball. lucas was the reason we played in the opposition half. he is one of those players who doesn’t let you settle. he is not an exponent of the lunging, scything tackle. his skill is simply stealing the ball from the feet of the player, a clear case of dispossessing to gain possession.
Perhaps the man of the match belongs to those who have been operating liverpool’s acquisition team and by that I mean Dalglish and Comolli. Arsene Wenger once said Comolli was the best in his field. I have to say that based on current form I totally agree.
But that’s not to take it away from the real hero of anfield. Say what you like about previous managers, but for me they pale into insignificance beside the king of the kop. Kenny dalglish is everything you want from a manager and something tells me, watching Coates and Gerrard observing their team run riot from the stands, that the best is yet to come.
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 #1037 |
corklfc
Posted on August 29, 2011 @ 11:15 pm
I see we are now being called a one man team compared to a two man team with torres and stevie.
I think this great, the longer we keep this team a secret the better.
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 #1039 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 30, 2011 @ 12:53 pm
Nice post Blud, agree with you on it all the signs are there that when we are playing at home against weaker opposition there will no longer be a rigidity to the side all the players can play and are comfortable with the ball and in various positions all over the pitch it makes for an extremely easy on the eye style but most importantly its successful, I dont think we will see it in every game we play but as has been said before you can afford to lose against our main rivals by making sure we give smaller clubs a good pasting. All talk of title challenges should be banned lets focus on a top four finish its well within our grasp.
The players we have signed, the much maligned British core are proving what nonsense some people have been led to believe about players from these Islands they are the players that won us everything in the past and they will be the core that will do it again add a bit o’ South American magic and things are looking very rosy indeed. Very lucid, very positive all smiling and playing for each other. Long may it continue.
YNWA
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 #1040 |
sachem
Posted on August 30, 2011 @ 4:34 pm
OK, so the Coates deal seems to have gone through now. Excellent. Could well be the new Sami Hyypiä, only quicker, but let’s not put that much pressure on the lad.
I laughed when I read the rumours of Neymar today. It was obviously nonsense I thought. Why would Liverpool spend the ridiculous money required to sign him? Why would he join us when clubs like Real Madrid have bid for him previously?
I would be genuinely shocked if it happened. Would be a major signal of intent from FSG though. To be honest I’d be happy with a striker like Sturridge to replace N’Gog.
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 #1041 |
elbmw
Posted on August 30, 2011 @ 11:06 pm
Its official… Coates signing has been confirmed on the official site. What’s more, Poulsen has also been sold!
There are rumors that Cole is on his way to Lille on a season long loan deal so if it is indeed true then that pretty much fixes all of christian “snake” purslows’ forays as championship manager. The irony is that if he stayed any longer we may have become a championship side.
Honestly, If I could do star jumps I would!
Anyway and now (with my serious side) I’d like to wish Christian Poulsen and Joe Cole all the best for their futures.
Things are looking up and up and what a contrast to a year ago. I’ve said it before but 2011 is a year for karma. Or maybe its just down to FSG and KK. Whatever it is it’s good!
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 #1042 |
corklfc
Posted on August 30, 2011 @ 11:41 pm
I am starting to loose track of the amount of players heading out the door, but it looks like that even my low sales proceed forecast was overstated!
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 #1043 |
blud red
Posted on August 31, 2011 @ 12:17 am
the new sami hyypia?
no disrespect to the big man but that’s an understatement if ever i heard one.
although having said that, i’m a big fan of the fin.
but coates has just won young player of the tournament in the copa america…that is young player of the competition. that takes some doing in south america.
he’s captained his club side at 19 and he was as instrumental as suarez in helping Uruguay win the tournament.
anyway, we just bought him for £7 million. in ten months time, ask yourself whether that wasn’t the shrewdest bit of backroom dealing you’ve seen since suarez left ajax for a paltry £24 million.
once again, my hat goes off to damien comolli and king kenny.
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 #1044 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 31, 2011 @ 3:57 am
I don’t know if I’d be comparing Big Sami to Coates until after Blud Red…I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself, and I might get the same inflection!!!!!
It’s hard to see many cracks in our team now that we’ve brought players in the positions that we were all concerned about.
Funny thing is, Arsenal seem to be in the same position we were when we bowed out of the CL….
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 #1045 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on August 31, 2011 @ 12:26 pm
Proceeds from sale have been horrific but that’s the class of player we had on the fringes lads pure muck, I think we will all be in agreement that the exception to the rule is Aqua to pay 18 million for an Italian International seems not to unreasonable but to sell him for what 5-8 million 2 years later is bonkers.
Ah well we cant have it all I suppose still cant get rid of Deegan!!
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 #1046 |
sachem
Posted on August 31, 2011 @ 5:49 pm
So, Joe “better than Messi” Cole has left for Lille. Stevie must be devastated.
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 #1047 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on August 31, 2011 @ 10:23 pm
To be honest, Id give our off season transfers a 9/10, sure the sales/loans haven’t been great, but slowly but surely were off loading the players that aren’y up to scratch for LFC…
Im not opposed to Bellamy coming to us as a third/4th choice option, as long as it’s only for 1 year, maybe two… Injuries are a problem with him, but seeing as he’s only going to be playing on and off he should surely be fine…
Looks like were finaly going to be at least two quality players deep in each position! Not quite on the level of ManC but still good enough to compete!
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 #1048 |
dougle
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:07 am
Well well well, Raul “has been sold” and has saved Aitch’s bacon. I reckon Corkie will have to give him an honorable draw there. Weird how it came out. 30 minutes it’s announced he’d asked for a move and voila he’s gone. Has been in the pipeline for a while ? (Once again) the club are putting themselves in the good light and Raul in the role of the mal-content ?
Well I think we’ll miss his intelligence, positioning, timing and his shooting. He may not be teak tough but he has qualities … I wonder if we can keep the guile and intelligence we have been playing with.
I guess tho’ he would have had a hard time starting every week.
Bellamy brings cleverness, pace, directness, desire, accuracy and options. He can play wide or middle and i think he is a good shout as a replacement for Ngog. I wanted a cute hoor with an eye for a goal and I reckon Craig will do fine.
By the way Degan is also gone.
Well I absolutely take my hat off to KD, DC, FSG for the work done. Maybe we didn’t take home as much money as we wanted (Aitch !) but we have really had a massive change … loads of players out, the majority probably we didn’t really rate and good players in.
|
 #1049 |
red kelly
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:07 am
What a day just got in from work and hear we sold Marieles and bought bellamy…what the fuck!!
Id be lying if i said i wasn’t dissapointed with Marieles goin to that shower…fucksake its getting laughable now, still we dont want a player who hands in a transfer request…
Did he not want to fight for his place or does he think he will walk into the chelsea 1st team…oh thats right champions football…in guess kenny would have said fuck off then ya dirty wee bastard….perhaps.
I really didn’t want Bellamy..its not that i dont think the lad can play but i think hes kinda toxic on the trainin park…anyway i trust kenny and we’ll see, on the other hand we have cleared the shit so im happy about that especially duggan oh and Poulsen……Ahhh fuck it, cole too
|
 #1050 |
theredman
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:41 am
Listen fellas,
i’m not trying to tell KD his job and how to do it, but why the fuck has Meireles gone to a side that is already (supposedly) stronger than LFC in squad term’s, it would’nt be bad if like the rumour’s we all heard that Sturridge and £7mil was the deal.
But as i say why make the chav’s stronger than they are as we know that Raul can be a bit of a player more often than not.
Another mystifying deal is Aqualani, buy him for £18-£20mil if reports are correct, as a crock, nurse him for a year then get him match fit, loan him to the italians for a season, get him back and is part of LFC’s pre-season training, then loan him back to another italian side for a season with the option to buy for £7mil, cracking bit of buisness that.
I read one of the boy’s above saying Raul put in a transfer request with half an hour or so to go then bang he was gone, is’nt it strange he fall’s over after 20mins or so against Bolton (and if anyone has seen it, well my grandaughter has had harder fall’s) then 4 day’s later he is sold, (something’s afoot Watson).
But who am i to argue with the man who has given every one of us a smile on our face’s and hope for the future.
|
 #1051 |
Lurgankop
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:58 am
Well said redman. I also do not understand why we sold RM to Chelsea. Balancing the books? Anyway, I agree with fungusface here – never sell fuck all to your direct competitors.
BTW, did you see Merieles’ reaction after laying on the 2nd goal at the Arse. He didn’t look overly thrilled. I would say more angry in fact.
As you said, something probably going on behind the scenes. Good that it’s being kept in-house, for a change, though. Also, we all know KD will not keep anyone who doesn’t want to be there. Just ask that other striker bloke – can’t remember his name now
I actually think that the Bellamy purchase is a shrewd move. A much better back-up than Ngog and it will keep Jack happy. KD was around when he was at the club, so he musn’t have been too much of a toxic influence on the training pitch.
All in all, more than satisfied with the dealings, only if they would have sold RM to some other fucking club than the Chel$ki. Only the manure could have been worse but I suppose that you can’t have everything in life!
|
 #1052 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:58 am
The Raul deal is a strange one indeed I would have deffo expected sturrige in return that lad has great potential but he wont see the light of day at that club but if reports a correct we’ve reduced the wage bill by £30 Mil!! and recouped £25 Mil (£15 Mil for Raul)£10 for the rest of the dross. A great summer really one of the best ever? Maybe. We may even have a few bob in the kitty now to strengthen if we look light anywhere come January. Happy days, just wanna get these Internationals outta the way and get an injury free squad back.
|
 #1053 |
Sambo
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:59 am
agreed dougle, the Raul deal is very strange. if the deal was lined up to that extent, why would he bother handing in a transfer request?… unless Kenny had said no. not sure about that. doesn’t really sound like Kenny to me…”No you can’t have him!… oh wait a minute, he’s just handed me a piece of paper.. oh ok then, 12 million please. ta”
shame we didn’t get Sturridge in return.
red kelly, i don’t mind Bellamy coming in. he’s a bargain for free and he was great for city. not so great last time he was here, granted. DC is praising the timing of his runs, but my main memory of him in a red shirt is constantly being off-side and then shouting at the lino.
the versatility of our players now is amazing. most of them are interchangeable and that’s going to make for some ‘liquid-football’!! Ngog was one-dimensional compared to Bellamy so it seems like a pretty good deal to me (with a bonus 4mill sweetie money). i know Ngog is young, but i’d lost patience with him. you need a few tricks to play up there against PL defenders, and he rarely had much except bringing the ball down and laying it off. i know the same could be said for Big Yin, but AC’s got quick feet and he’ll fire off rockets after bringing it down.
when stevie comes back i think we’ll have enough creativity in the side. Lucas was just amazing in the bolton game, and he is now well and truly established as a major creative influence. doesn’t quite have Raul’s eye for goal, but who knows! if he continues to add strings to his bow the way he’s done in the last year, maybe he’ll be banging them in by the end of the season. i’d actually prefer it if he just focuses on winning the ball and setting up play though to be honest. i reckon he’s better than Masch already.
very exciting times. have watched all 3 of our league games twice now, and the upward performance curve from everyone has been a joy to behold. this team has got something unique and can beat anyone (except Barca i suppose). the game against the scum will be the acid test of our credentials.
|
 #1054 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 11:06 am
Sorry lads but I’m going to broach a controversial subject and wanted to know your thoughts. Hopefully you get where I’m coming from.
The last couple of games has seen LFC not field a single Black player in their squad. Obviously Glen Johnson is injured and would be in the side, but we now have only one Black player in the first team squad. Of course it’s about quality of player and not about the colour of one’s skin. However I can’t help be a bit disappointed when clubs like Man United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs have multiple Black, mixed race, Afro-Brazilian, Asian players and we don’t.
I would never accuse Kenny of being racist. He signed my hero John Barnes when a lot of people on Merseyside thought he’d be no good because of his colour. He also gave Barnes the managers job at Celtic. On the flip side though his league winning Blackburn squad was all white.
Skin colour shouldn’t matter but I think it’s human nature to want to see some representation of your own kind in your football team. For example, I’m sure the South-East Asians here would love to see a couple of top quality Koreans/Japanese players in the squad. You Irish lads would have loved seeing Ronnie Whelan lift the FA Cup for us? Scousers must like seeing local lads represent the first team. I must admit, I started supporting Liverpool as a 9 year old for 3 reasons. 1. Red was my favourite colour. 2. We were on the Telly more than any other team. 3. The best Black player in the country was in the side and quickly became my hero.
So what do you think?
|
 #1055 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 11:12 am
As for deadline day. I was disappointed with the Meireles situation. It seems we went from being over loaded in midfield to being a bit short. If we get a couple of injuries now we’ll have to reply on the likes of Spearing and Shelvey. What happened to quality strength in depth? I knew one of Aquilani and Meireles would leave but both!?
I read somewhere we had first option on Eden Hazard because we agreed to pay 60% of Joe Cole’s wages while he is on loan at Lille. If that is the case I hope we can sign Hazard in January.
I’m not sure what to make of the Bellamy transfer. Haven’t seen him play in a while. Does he still have the pace? How is his recent fitness record? Will his attitude upset out team spirit?
|
 #1056 |
Sambo
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 11:27 am
LB, i think it comes down partly to style. not so much in terms of black British players, but maybe in terms of African and Asian football.
Wenger seems to like African players because they play with pace and panache. Kenny likes British players because they work hard and get stuck in.
a huge generalisation obviously, but i suppose that’s why we see certain patterns. i’m sure Lucas would be just as popular with the boss if he was a black Brazilian, but he happens to be white. that’s not anyone’s fault or by any kind of design.
many argue that Wenger’s arsenal would benefit from a bit of British grit, and maybe we’ll be saying that Kenny’s liverpool would’ve benefited from a bit of African flair come the end of the season.
|
 #1057 |
red kelly
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 11:31 am
Sambo,I too remember Bellemy mouthing off a helleva lot when he last played for us and having a go at Rise as well….ive just read his interview on pool tv and he does sound very keen and was pretty explosive for city so im looking at the glass half full matey.
Eggnog,well well …if he was gonna he would have and i aint seen it so good piece o bizzo imo.
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 #1058 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 12:00 pm
Sambo, some good points there mate.
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 #1059 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
Just read this in an article
Steven Gerrard is reportedly on £187,992 a week and Luis Suarez makes £71,585.
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 #1060 |
blud red
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 12:13 pm
london barnes,
kenny comes from rangers stock and played for celtic when the blue noses didn’t want him.
i guess he should know a thing or two about prejudices.
i’d like to think i haven’t got a racist bone in my body. therefore i can honestly say i didn’t give a thought to there being no black players in the team.
i have often wondered when sterling will get his call up and i have often wondered why he hasn’t.
the answer was always that he was not good enough, in some way that i couldn’t ascertain.
in short i have always thought that anfield remains a meritocracy. if your good enough, end of story.
it is always nice to see black players in the team, but it’s not an imperative. david ngog or djib cisse did nothing to placate my sense of equality in sport. it was nice to see momo sissoko roaming the park, but i gained more pleasure watching masher the gnasher.
your hero john barnes wasn’t so much a black player to me, more like a roly-poly lovable trickster in the centre of the park and i say that with the greatest of respect. he was a cog in the wheel, he was as charismatic as grobellar or jan molby.
i don’t really have an affinity for particular players. i prefer to admire the team.
LFC in the nineties and noughties was littered with black players, but as the club underwhelmed i wasn’t much interested, regardless of the colour of their skin.
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 #1061 |
Sambo
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 12:13 pm
i think Fungus’s scum have been pretty white over the years as well. Ferdinand, Ince, Evra, Cole, Yorke, Paul Parker…. um… i don’t know… not many in 20 years.
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 #1062 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 12:51 pm
I must say I like the way the mancs scout players from all over the globe and all different races. Black/White/South American/Asian/British/Foreign. You name it, they have it. It’s probably why they have such global support.
I often wonder how come there are no Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi players in the pro game. I think I read we are building an academy in India?
I don’t for one second think Kenny or anyone at the club wouldn’t sign a player because of the colour of his skin. But I think Sambo made a good point. It seems he prefers the British grit, that would explain the make up of the Blackburn side in the mid 90s and how our current squad is shaping up.
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 #1063 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 1:51 pm
Well lads, bitterly disappointed with the windows final hour as ye might have guessed. I was just after txting me cousin ‘best summer since 87 and who was in charge then?’ When a mate of mine txtd me ‘Meireles hands in written transfer request’. I just slammed the phone down, looked up at the ceiling and went ‘FUUUUCCKK!!!’ Lol!
Look, way I see it this is a major fuck up by the club. Major. No matter what angle I look at it from it hurts us. Strengthen an immediate rival by selling them arguably our player of the year? Check. Can’t use the paltry 12mil fee for 5mths? Check. Weaken your game changing, game winning potential from the bench in the full knowledge you’ve also released Aquilani? Check. Allow the idea that we’re a feeder club come chelsea bitch idea to take root and propagate? Check. Madness. Fucken madness. Genuinely surprised at and disappointed with our club on this one. Can’t see any benefit for anyone on this one. Except chelsea of course. And anyone who thinks that transfer request was handed in 30mins before the deadline, I’ll have what your drinking. Kudos to the man above who made the astute observation that the club portraying the player as the malcontent. Is he fuck. He stated during the Summer he wanted to stay and all the lad wanted was what he was told he’d get. Let’s be honest, what he fucken deserved. He was on the same wages as El Zhar and Ngog ffs. Misguided shithouse move by the club imo. And one I fear will come back to bite us in the arse.
Anyway, other than that, what a freakin window!!!
Yes LB I loved watching Whelan in the red and green shirts. And of course Houghton and Aldo. Yeah I know they weren’t born in Ireland but they wore both shirts with such pride and passion so it was always extra special when they scored or put in a motm performance. I used to be beaming as a kid when their names would come up on the screen and in brackets below would read (Republic of Ireland). Or likewise reading the international squads in the paper (Liverpool) after their names. Defo get where your coming from mate.
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 #1064 |
corklfc
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 2:09 pm
Hey Dougle, Raul was not on the list of players that Aitch calculated his valuations, so I have to declare myself a clear winner on the valuation front.
So since last Jan the squad has been totally re-shaped with a net spend less than 40m, and that excluding the Aqua transfer to be completed next season – that has been some job of Work.
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 #1065 |
sachem
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 3:36 pm
Meireles is a very good and likable player, but would hardly have been a crucial part of our performance this season I think. Also, I think the club would take any chance to sell him for a profit as things stood.
As for strengthening a rival, that’s certainly true and a clear drawback to the transfer. However, for all the qualities Meireles has, he’s no Luka Modri?. I think Chelsea would have been significantly stronger had they been able to sign the Croatian instead.
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 #1066 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 3:53 pm
I liked the fact we had quality to come from the bench for once. When we brought on Suarez and Meireles or Carroll and Meireles to win a game it was very encouraging. We’ve strengthened our attack but weakened our midfield options.
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 #1067 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 6:09 pm
He struck me as kinda crucial against Arsenal. And your right, he’s no Luka Modric:
Modric ’10-’11 season
Goals 3, assists 3
Meireles ’10-’11 season
Goals 5, assists 5
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 #1068 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 9:15 pm
Read somewhere today that of the last 8 games we played against chelsea they have signed every player we had who scored against them (xabi’s was counted as an own goal)and in fairness they’ve shelled out £70 million to us for 3 players and I still think we will give them a run for their money for 3rd spot ha ha .
LB was’nt something I picked up on regarding black players but it is a bit odd given the amount of great black players in the game. I know I love it when we have decent paddys in the side, I think we would all love young sterling to break into the side not because he’s black but because he looks fecking amazing and he’s ours kinda hoping we made some sort of deal for sturrige too maybe first dibs if he is moved on, as the great nina simone sang “he’s young, gifted and black” just a shame he is going to spend most of the year warming the bench when he was one of the best strikers in the league when given a chance.
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 #1069 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:29 pm
LFC made Meireles submit the transfer req so that they wouldnt have to pay him his loyalty bonus.
Agree with Digger, this is a horrendous bit of business by the club. Aqua + Meireles out for a combined 19m? About the same cost as Jordan Henderson? Are you fuckin kidding me? I know Henderson is one for the future, but we are talking about players who have started games for Portugal and Italy! It was a beautiful thing being able to bring proven quality off the bench in that Arsenal game.
It seems we are taking a huge gamble that a) Gerrard will play more than half the games this year and b) Gerrard is not past it and can still perform at his best. We shall see.
LB, it doesnt seem to me to be a question of race as much as it is of country. Just as Rafa preferred Spanish players, Kenny obviously prefers to buy British. I’m not a fan of that policy because they tend to command bloated fees. But I think we see that he chronically underrates non-British players. Look at the fees on Meireles and Aqua! It’s madness.
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 #1070 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
But in all honesty, if Raul helps chelsea beat manU out for the title then it will all be worth it. I know we are title contenders as well, but I wd rather Chelsea finish #1 and us finish #3 then for manU to finish #1 and us finish #2 if i had the choice.
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 #1071 |
London Red
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
I’m guessing Meireles didn’t think he was in Kenny’s 1st team plans as a starter plus he has watched while the club bought players in his position for a lot of money.
He wasn’t playing in the middle at the end of last season presumably because Kenny did not rate him as a central midfielder because of his lack of bite in the tackle which is necessary in the premier league.
He was played out wide with mixed results at the end of last season and I think we had all started thinking of him as a very good Squad player not a starter.
We may have been ok with this and Kenny may have been ok with this but I’m guessing Meireles wasn’t.
He may have thought he played out of skin last season when we were struggling and scored some very important goals for us and deserved better treatment.
Then his former coach and countryman AVP rocks up at Chel$ki and wants him to “come on down” and every player likes to feel wanted.
It’s not ideal timing but based on the fact he wasn’t going to start games and didn’t really fit into the structure of the team and was approaching 30 years old I think we got a good price for him.
It wasn’t anything like the Modric situation as Luka knew he would start games for Spurs and was a very important and crucial player for the team.
He obviously didn’t feel part of the new look reds so he made a decision to hand in a transfer request when he may of felt he was being held back by people who didn’t rate him in his preferred position.
Add to that the fact he is a Portuguese international player and was probably concerned about losing his place in there team who can blame him for pulling the plug on his Liverpool career.
If you play to the best of your ability and talent and you still aren’t 1st choice,and in football if a manager spends big on players(Downing/Adam/Henderson) he’s gonna play them.
Meireles’s departure was not good for us but we need to see things from his prospective.
YNWA
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 #1072 |
corklfc
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:37 pm
Raul is a good player, but the fact is that he was not going to be first choice, and that’s with stevie injured and before bellamey signed. Also a transfer request was made and lfc now have a policy that you don’t hold on to a player no master who he is when that happens.
Look at the mess spurs are in with modric, the way the arse were with cesc for the last few years.
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 #1073 |
London Red
Posted on September 1, 2011 @ 10:50 pm
Just read in here concerns about Steven Gerrard being past it.
As Jose once said about himself Gerrard is a special one and we need to get behind him because besides Suarez he’s our only other world class player so we better all hope he comes back firing on all cylinders because we may not see it now but we need him.
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 #1074 |
blud red
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 12:00 am
bravo london red. completely agree with you on raul. if chelsea want another thirty year old on their books, so be it.
3 games in, 3rd in the league, 2 points off top spot.
the glass is not half full. its over-brimming. keep the faith.
when meiereles went off injured the other day, he looked well pissed off, sort of like a player who really wanted to prove himself and ended up flat on his face. the physio was trying to calm him down but raul was having none of it. it was as though he could feel hendo/gerrard breathing down his neck.
have a look at the game. he was injured and he was pissed off.
i felt sorry for the lad at the time, but i don’t any longer, because he’s off the firm.
besides, maybe kenny wanted bellamy, saw an opportunity and acted decisively.
i loved raul as a squad player. he did well for liverpool, but we are not weakened without him. he was obviously not central to the masterplan, so they got rid.
i am now looking for an exciting inter-change between kuyt, suarez, bellamy, maxi, downing and hendo, oh and witha bit of gerrard and carolina thrown into the mix.
what’s not to like????????
sorry, did we just make a mistake because i can’t see it myself.
bad business by the club?
i say that’s exemplary business.
london barnes (or was it london red) stated at the beginning of this blof (many centuries ago) that we needed a winger, a left back, a striker and a centre back before we were a balanced side.
i reckon LFC just made our dreams come true
|
 #1075 |
elbmw
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 12:03 am
LB @1055 I recently noticed it too and in trying to figure it out I thought who is a top black player that we could have bought that would improve our squad but I couldn’t think of one. Ashley Young is good but he went to the mancs so I honestly cant think of another viable addition. In any case Sambo and blud make some very good points about that.
As for Raul… London Red and corkies comments are bang on. I think London Red even brushed on the answer when he mentioned Modric, who imho was the key. They were chasing him all summer and when deadline approached they realised that the spuds weren’t just playing hardball and that they genuinely wasn’t going to sell him so at the eleventh hour they had to switch their attention, which they did. What we don’t know is how you get from the chavs switching their attention to Meireles handing in a transfer request. A little text from AVB to him or a phone call from his old buddy Torres… maybe! But it’s all open to conjecture.
Digger I can understand how it might look from the outside but when you give it a bit more thought there is only one conclusion you can draw.
Lets analyse it a little… A player hands in a written transfer request with anywhere between a few hours to just one maybe. As a manager you’re faced with a decision. Either sell him or keep him, but at the risk of him sulking for the rest of the season. If you think “well yeah… sod him, he ain’t goin’ nowehere”. Then he brings his bad mood in with him every day into training and that will affect the mood of the squad which in turn would affect the results on the pitch. As a manager you cant allow that to happen so the only conclusion is you have to let him go.
It sucks but that’s life.
There are other issues at stake too. The old “Liverpool Way” of doing things with decorum in the public eye, something with which we often grumbled about in the past is very important to the image of the club. It adds value in terms of the fans from around the world that choose to support LFC instead of the chavs because we portray dignity and decorum in the eyes of the public whereas the chavs behave like, well, chavs and not many people want to be associated with chavs. So although they got their man and we lost out in fact you can say that in doing so they also reinforced their chav reputation and we reinforced ours as the good guys.
Does that count for anything these days? It does to me!
|
 #1076 |
dougle
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 12:32 am
Corkie I’m sure Aitch will have something to say about that. I do remember him saying there might be some surprise exits but …. I saw his original “valuation” post today and .. well .. let’s say it was optimistic !
As far as Raul going is concerned I think it’s something we’re gonna see more off actually.
I also think that Kenny directly or indirectly forced it. I don’t think he particularly wanted Raul myself. Maybe controversial but that’s what I think. If it was down to money and Kenny wanted him then what was the problem ? So it wasn’t down to (just) money.
Raul’s best position for me was the number 10, in the hole, attacker, the centre of the 3 in the 4-2-3-1. I don’t think he can cut it out on the right or the left and i don’t think he could physically cut it in the Adam role.
His competition would be Gerrard/Suarez (a buy) in the centre. Out right we have Henderson (a buy) and Kuyt. Out left we have Downing (a buy) and Maxi. Maxi is an interesting case. He keeps stum, is a clever, tactically intelligent footballer who keeps the ball, he makes late runs into the box and can finish well (remind you of anyone ?) (a lot of Raul’s qualities). I think it was Maxi or Raul.
I also think Raul went to balance the books, I think Aquaman the same. (Not saying that i agree).
I think kenny wants a tough, physical edge to the team as well as passing ability. I don’t think either Aquaman or Raul were ideal for him. In any case Aquaman wanted out.
We got to remember that Kenny has never really managed in Europe. We are not in Europe. It’s not a concern right now. Kenny knows how to win in England and we are going to do that again. That’s his game for me.
He has bought EPL experience, proven quality, an upgrade in attacking potential and now has a real physical edge – Bellamy, Carroll, Downing, Gerrard, Kuyt, Agger, Carra, Johnson, Kelly, Reina, Enrique, Skrtel, Coates, Spearing, Maxi …. no fairy’s there.
Kenny is going to win, that’s what he knows. Get ready for the ride.
Interesting post LB – I never thought of it like that.
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 #1077 |
Aitch
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 2:37 am
This blog simply does not work on my computer when it has this many reply/posts.
As it happens I’ve been mad busy and had some traveling thrown in the mix lately, but it takes forever to load in, so I just haven’t bothered when I’ve had time.
In regard my valuations… yeah sure I got it wrong…
…if that’s what’s required in here then here it is…
I’m sorry… I was wrong… you were right…
…but my overriding point was a starting place for the negotiations.
Some of you simply wanted to give players away… and don’t get me wrong… I don’t have a problem with getting shut of anyone we got shut of… for nothing… or even those that have cost us to shift… but I’m fairly sure Comolli probably started negotiations with better deals in mind.
The Joe Cole move might be an interesting case in point. His move to Lille is costing the club 3 million for the year… (less than the 5million his staying would have cost)
…but it’ll be interesting to see if anything comes of the suggestions of a link to Edin Hazard.
The Guardian article was edited 3 times within the first 45 minutes of it being posted on the Guardian site yesterday…
…the original article contained a “clause” granating us “first refusal” on Hazard… this was eventually edited out of the article. Time will tell?
My opinion on the summer’s dealings is… quite simply put…
David Comolli is a GOLDEN GOD … and I’ll happily be his prison bitch and attempt to bear his children should he be unable to find a willing young Scouse lass!
He achieved everything that was called for… he literally shifted every single player on the wide variety of “get shut of” lists… EPIC!
… and signed some real, genuine improvements to the team and squad… and a promising American youngster, immediately loaned out, to-boot.
He’s pitched up for “Legend” status in one fell swoop (plus his mini-swoop in January of course.)
I’m well impressed with all our acquisitions so far. Adam and Henderson are both on the scoresheet, Andy bagged one too, and Downing has hit the bar twice and forced 2 amazing saves, so its likely he’ll get one sooner rather than later.
I honestly don’t get the wrist-slitting some Reds fans did over Meireles.
Liked the lad a lot… no doubting he was a good player, and I can’t imagine any genuine LFC fan having a bad thing to say about him really, even with his choice of the Chavs…
… but having said that… the gray area is what this deal was all about.
There are those who feel shifting the “deadwood” was difficult because those players were utter shite… I’d suggest the real difficulty lay not in any of the player’s ability or lack of… but in the absolutely “business ruining” contracts handed to them by our previous regime.
That regime bares a lot of responsibility in Raul’s “situation”.
If he was verbally promised a revised contract, there is no doubt he was within his rights to ask for it… especially as he performed well (and certainly better than than many of those earning more) so yeah… Raul had a solid case!
But if he didn’t have that written into his contract (which seems utterly bizarre given the shite Purslow included in others’ contracts, see Kyrgiakos and Ngog) then the new owners were under no obligation to honor that verbal agreement.
I’ve read (several seemingly reliable sources, though it remains “unconfirmed” from official sources) that Raul was in point of fact, offered a pay rise, but that the amount was not inline with those “promises” and that led to his dissatisfaction.
As for Raul strengthening the Chavs… is that locked-on what he’ll do??
I can see him no more starting every week for them than he would have for us.
So be it… he’s entitled to earn more warming the Chav bench than he is warming ours…
…after all, Benny didn’t strengthen them, and neither has Nando… in fact he just gave them a selection headache (I’m very surprised Salomon Kahlou didn’t request a transfer, Anelka too for that matter?)
…as for weakening LFC… Really?
Would Bellamy have contributed any less coming off the bench in any of the games Raul just recently came off the bench in? Will he offer us more?
My opinion is No and Yes. But make yer own mind up…. and we’ll see in May, eh?
Side note on Raul: Maybe he looked pissed off injuring his shoulder coz he was thinking “aw shit, this is gonna fuck my move to Chelsea” (except you know… in Portuguese, coz that’s where he’s from and so probably thinks in his native language.) … And frankly… that was the absolute pussiest tackle to get injured from that I’ve ever seen.
I absolutely love what we’ve done this summer.
Simply can’t give enough Kudos to Comolli, Kenny and the Execs.
Christ… its almost like Purslow and Hodgson never existed… like we woke up from some bizarre dream and found Bobby Ewing, all soaped up in a steamy Shower (eeeuuw!)
(For those too young to get the reference…. “we can’t write our way out of this one, so we’re just going to pretend that the whole of last season didn’t happen.” …google it… that’s what your generation does anyway, init?
We’ve strengthened in every position… those thinking Raul’s departure weakens us, perhaps aren’t looking at Bellamy coming on in his position?
For my money, it’s like trading in a Doberman for a Rotweiller…
As for black (or other “ethnic”) players…
Who was out there that was real quality? I mean players who did move, not wishlist players.
I can only think of 2 black players who moved that I would have liked at LFC, Lukaku and Ashley Young, and neither would have come to us for what we could have offered us.
And I’d have loved us to go in for that Korean lad, Park Chu Young that went to Arsenal for a ludicrous 5 million!!! (him and Arteta just might save Arsenal’s season?) I think we missed a real opportunity there!
This summer was about squad building…. Real squad building, not the bullshit we’ve been sold before…
We needed serious players in serious positions, and we’ve done that… remember, we already had our marquee signing in Suarez and “big striker” in Andy from January…
We can add 1 player in January, if need be, but I don’t think there will, barring injuries…
… and maybe 1 or 2 “Quality Signings” next summer, with no need for panic or frantic buying or offloading dead wood (well actually there’ll still be a bit of that since some of them went on loan, but you get my drift) and the lure of Champions League footy after our much publicized Double to make the negotiations easier!
…and maybe that will lure a bit of color to Melwood?
Oh and anyway… For those worried about losing Raul… no worries Stevie will take his place!
|
 #1078 |
john constantine
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 5:09 am
Bobby Ewing lmao,you must be in your forties like me aitch? great summary,yeah i think kk has enough quality in the middle.Everyone,s happy.I have suspicions all this was in place prior to his transfer request.It really does make it a soap opera in the media.Liverpool way,we will tell you something when we have something to tell you.
|
 #1079 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 9:28 am
Overall I’m generally happy with the squad but I still think we’re a bit weak/unbalanced in some areas.
I would have liked to see a player with guile and pace replace Meireles. Someone like Afellay for example. If Suarez and Diening get injured then as a side we’re very functional IMO. Also we have no real back up/competition for Lucas position – holding midfield.
As our squad stands I’m hoping Downing, Suarez and Lucas stay fit!
I was hoping we’d get Sturridge instead of Bellamy. A young hungry striker eager to establish his career. Bellamy’s temperament is a worry IMO.
Regarding Meireles – anyone who thinks he handed in a written transfer request at 10:30pm is very naive. The deal was obviously agreed in principle for a few days if not weeks. As long as we got our price he was off. The club telling us about the transfer request mins before the transfer was confirmed is clearly FSG PR at it’s finest again. The average fan will see the transfer request and vent any ill feeling towards the player rather than the club.
|
 #1080 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 9:35 am
*Downing, rather than Diening.
|
 #1081 |
dougle
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 10:33 am
Aitch … great to see the epics are back. You are right about one thing it is the whole whole financial spread, signing on fee and wages that need to be taken into consideration. I wonder can someone get an overall financial take on this summer (and last winter) just to see where the club have moved to financially ?
|
 #1082 |
Rafalution
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 1:00 pm
Spot on Aitch.
Meireles will warm the bench at the Chavs. I personally think it was a money move – bet you he is earning twice as much now. Strange thing is, wasn’t Villas-Boas the manager who sold him to Liverpool?
Hats of to Comolli. I think he did a terrific job. Not only the signings, but getting rid of Ngog, Cole, Poulsen, Hercules & Degen. Trim the squad, and bring in quality with an eye to the future (i.e. youngsters who will/can gel together over the next 2-3 seasons, like the scum did).
LondonBarnes, re the post regarding players of colour. Mate, I watched the Liverpool youngsters last season – there were about 5 or 6 ‘players of colour’ in that side. So give it a season or two & your ‘wish’ will be granted.
|
 #1083 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 1:30 pm
Rafalution, I think there is less emphasis on ‘British grit’ in the youth sides. It will be interesting to see who makes it into the first team.
|
 #1084 |
theredman
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 1:53 pm
Dont think there is any “wrist-slitting” comments in here regarding Meireles Aitch, myself i was forming an opinion on the deal or lack of it, fan’s player of the year one minute then sold the next, like i stated in (1050), it would not have been bad for a Sturridge and £7mil.
But like you reckon he just bought him as a bench warmer, i hope so cos these thing’s sometime’s come back to haunt you.
|
 #1085 |
dougle
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 2:06 pm
Well I hope Raul has as much positive effect as our last couple of Plastic exports. Yossi gone to Arse on loan = wipeout. Torres is proving to be the perfect spanner in AVB works. He’s not scoring and apparently left the field straight down the tunnel with a scowl last weekend. Perfect !! Plastics puppeteer Roman wants his boy in the team…. I see trouble brewing in toy town.
I was going to hold off this question until next blog but given Gerry seems to be occupied at the moment maybe we should just shoot ahead with it.
Big question where are we gonna finish in the EPL this year. How is the season gonna go ?
I say third, I want first and I would have to be delighted with 4th given that that’s what (financially) we are fighting or at this stage. I think( with luck) we’ll go deep in the Cups and I could see us at Wembley this year.
I think if Abu Dhabbi Citeh get on a roll they could (and should) win the league. If not, I predict a dog fight, with 3/4 teams in the hunt ’till the end.
Altho’ Arse have strengthened up with Captains, grit and creators I think they will have their work cut out to keep up with the others. Spurs, well I think we’ve had a much better summer. Let’s see how Modric goes now ?
So who’s your money on gang ? Where do we finish and why ?
|
 #1086 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 3:29 pm
Raul was never my player of the year. That was Lucas for me.
Im happy with all our transfer business. I mean, its easier to say in hindsight, oh we should have got him or him blah blah. But kenny and commolli have signed the players to fit into the team as they see fit, and Im more than happy with what theyve done.
Raul was the same as Aqualani. Technically good but a bit of a pussy in the middle of the park. I remember a few times he got robbed of the ball last season at Blackpool way to easily. So I dont think our season hinges on him having left.
|
 #1087 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 4:04 pm
Im starting to think we’ll finish 3rd which would be some leap in one season, More then happy with 4th and I just cannot see us finishing below Arse or Spurs so worst case scenario we get back into the Champs league. Nice One.
Two great cup runs are on the cards also because, well why not. Kenny picking up some early silverware would really get the top players to notice we are on the way back.
|
 #1088 |
koped49
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
it is today 98 years ago that a Mr Bill Shankley was born. just hope you are happy looking down on what KK and the gang are starting to achieve with the club.
it was because of you Mr Shankley that i started supporting LFC. And i thank you for that YNWA.
|
 #1089 |
Aitch
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
Quick note about my last post… obviously meant Damien Comolli and not David… written after a long conversation about a friend who’s been going through some issues, and his name was on my mind.
To be clear… I wasn’t really referring to Kopbloggers… but on other sites, there was a serious meltdown when Raul’s transfer request was announced.
And LB’s dead right… the last minute nature of Raul’s transfer request was a bit of PR, and a bit of biz… The lad wanted out… he was entitled to have part of his contract paid out if selling was the clubs decision… the deal was probably already done and the lateness of the transfer was the club forcing him to hand in the request, (as we did with Nando) so as to save several million in contract termination fees.
Could it bit us in the arse? Well yeah… obviously last year he was a vital part of our table climb… so for sure he’d have been a good player to keep… but unlike last year, we don’t “need” him.
dougle, check out that new Anfield Wrap site (their weekly downloadable show is Aces by the way) for an article that devles into the finances… suggestion is something like saved 25 million in wages, with a net spend of about 35/37million… fairly impressive when considering the number of players who were moved in both directions.
As fro the season ahead….
Well I’ve already laid out my stall on where we will finish.
I see absolutely no reason why we can’t have a very good run at the Title this season… and I think we have a very good shout at it.
There is no question Scum and City are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to scoring goals… but both have a very real “soft center”
Both have looked as vulnerable at the back as they are strong going forward.
Jones has started very well at the back for Scum, as have a couple of other youngsters… but I don’t see them sustaining that… they have depth to cover them on injuries, but I can see them dropping enough points to allow someone else in.
City have an awful lot of egos to placate. They did well shunting Bellamy and Santa Cruz and a few other fringe players, but they’ve got a fair few lads who will be increasingly unhappy as the season progresses and they’re getting hauled off or riding the bench… Balotelli, Johnson, Tevez and a few others… that could derail them… especially since their defense isn’t as strong as some would like us to believe… concede a few silly goals and drop some points and again, they are well challengeable.
Arsenal have handicapped themselves with their start. They may have done just enough at the end of the window to save their season? I rate Park Chu Young highly and 5 mill was a fukin daylight robbery! Arteta could settle very well into the Arsenal team and show far more than he did carrying Everton. But if the new signings don’t hit the ground running, they’ve got a struggle on their hands to climb the table and I think a challenge for 4th is their goal.
I think Spurs fucked themselves Royally! ‘Appy ‘Arry was miles from happy when he did his obligatory annual through-the-car-window interview. Their “primary creator” (though I don’t personally subscribe to that) might be very unhappy… and I can see them stumbling badly. Two bad results for England and the press will be giving him a lifeline… and Redknapp’s Ego won’t be able to resist that carrot and will be off to take Capello’s job, leaving Spurs in the same state he left all his other previous clubs! I can’t see them in the top 6 to be honest.
I can see Stoke being the dark horse this season, they did amazing business for their level… possibly Sunderland if Bruce can get the new boys settled, or Bolton depending on Cahill’s state of mind?
And Everton have more or less fucked 10 years of good work by Moyes and are back to being nothing more than relegation dogfighters… but without the necessary quantity of yard dogs.
LFC… Granted… we are gonna need to be fit and firing all season to make that challenge, but I can see it. I think Bells can provide what we’ve lost with Raul. Spearing is far better than most give him credit for in terms of replacing Lucas… at the very least against the bottom half of the league.
Adam and Henderson are already off the mark… and did so at home!
Andy’s already broken his duck. Luis is 3 for 4 and looking better every game.
Downing seems to have something against woodwork, but will eventually start netting them…
…and we’ve already missed more chances than a Supercomputer can count!
We’ve conceded a couple of silly goals, but not really been put under any pressure we couldn’t handle… and haven’t got out of 2nd gear while playing some very tidy footy.
I can see the Top 3 being one of the following combinations…
LFC, City, Scum… or
City, LFC, Scum… or worst case,
City, Scum, LFC
Me? …I’m going for the first of those…
LFC, City, Scum…
… oh… and at least 1 Cup!
That’s right, you heard me… A Double…
…its what Kenny does!
|
 #1090 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 8:49 pm
Digger did a fair bit of wrist slitting, ridiculous and wind your neck in were my first thoughts after reading his tosh. Shithouse decision by the club? I’m presuming he knows what that phrase means so, the regime that bought Mireiles was not the regime that is in place now, it was a verbal agreement between him and Purslow…where is Purslow now?
Mireiles is a good player but picks up niggly injuries, back end of the season, front end of this season, so good player to have but in my opinion no need for Digger’s outburst.
LB – Regarding colour…I couldn’t care less what colour or where they are from or what ethnic minority they are as long as they are good enough. I would love 11 local lads in the team whether they be white or black scouse lads, apart from that couldn’t give a hoot if they were english or martian.
1. LFC
2. Manc City
3. Manure
4. Chavski
5. Arse
6. Spurs
|
 #1091 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 10:41 pm
1. Mancs (sorry)
2. Citeh
3. Chavski
4. Liverpool
5. Arse
6. Spurs
|
 #1092 |
theredman
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 10:52 pm
Ar53fluff,
no hindsight from me mate the supposed deal involving Sturridge and £7mil was supposed to be a done deal BEFORE Meireles went to the chav’s, i was just commenting that would have been my preference rather than £12mil.
And as for Raul getting the ball taken off him twice against Blackpool, fuck me i wonder why we bought him in the first place, sorry for the sarcasm but i have seen Stevie G giving the ball away and getting taken off him on quite a number of occaision’s the last 3 season’s, should we get rid of him as well, i dont think so, as i say no hindsight needed.
|
 #1093 |
roarin-red
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 11:20 pm
Just wrote out a huge post only for the computer to delete it……..Bastard!!!
To some up …. Aitch I’m glad your one of ours!!!
If anyone knows the craic with Gerry give me a wee heads up?
YNWA
|
 #1094 |
roarin-red
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 11:22 pm
PS
1. L.F.C
2. MAN FILTH
3. MAN CITY
|
 #1095 |
blud red
Posted on September 2, 2011 @ 11:40 pm
let me cast your mind to the brighton game on the 18th.
i will say this in no uncertain terms.
beat brighton and comfortably, at the amex stadium, by three goals, and we will have a chance of the league title.
this is the litmus test of quality for me. i live in the city. they are riding high, top of the league, again, brilliant manager, quality team and they will win promotion to the premiership next may. i’ve no doubt.
why? because their manager poyet has instilled a winning mentality and they will believe they can beat LFC on the south coast.
if you want to know how good liverpool are and where they will finish come may, you have to look at away games like this.
if we struggle against brighton, we will struggle to qualify for the champions league.
if we win and win convincingly it will be because the LFC players will see them as south-coast upstarts and nothing more.
i will say that if we win by three clear goals then we will have changed our mentality sufficiently to be in with a shout of the premier league title.
|
 #1096 |
dougle
Posted on September 3, 2011 @ 9:33 pm
Aitch you may well have a good point about Sheilk Citeh. It could be top heavy with “big” players and big egos. I don’t know their players beyond what everyone else would and I agree Balotelli, Tevez maybe Nasri (just ask Arsene) could be issues however they have a shitload of cracking players and I don’t see the soft center there myself.
The issue for them could be if they get dragged into a real dogfight for the league on top of going well in Europe (which I think they will) who knows how they’ll react.
I think something slightly different besets the Plastics. They have the old gaurd (JT, FLamps, Drogs, Anelka, Alex, Malouda, Kalou etc) which played a high pressure power game. They have new players Luiz, Mata, the barca kid, Sturridge, Lukaku etc who may have different style and technique and they have Torres who, I hope, never gets his mojo workin but who doesn’t seem to fit with the old gang and (I think) doesn’t have the technique to do a Suarez for example. To boot Roman has lashed out a bundle on him and well I do see conflict with AVB coming down the line. Where does AVB stand ?Vulnerable or me. They could well take a half season or more to get it together and that might be fatal for them and for AVB too.
Arse ? Let’s see.
Spurs ? Anything could happen there.
Manure ? Well they have the mantle, the wiles of Ferguson, another classic easy draw to the last 16 in Europe, Rooney is playing great, they have great talent and they are blowing teams off the park right now. That will probably be enough. They may not need to win all the games against the other big clubs (just like last year). We once had that omnipotence, Plastics have had it so too had Arse. It’s theirs to lose now. It’s harder for everyone else because things will go Manure’s way, substandard teams will play with no expectation at the Toilet and there you go .. 17 home wins give you 51 points and you are 2/3 of the way there.
That’s why I have then as favourites.
Us ? Well who knows eh. Brighton may well be a test but Stoke coming up next will be a big test. If we can win at Stoke (and we have better players) then I think that will be a huge boost for us and the best thing you can do is just keep on winning. Right now it’s all about points and the swing and style can come whenever. If we get on a run, stay with the leaders then come next year things are going to get complicated for the CL crew and we will have the cold, focused, clear, dead eyed stare of a killer shark going for the big kill. Yeah !
|
 #1097 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 10:54 am
I can’t see big egos having an effect in City in any significant way. Their squad is so strong and deep they can afford to tell Tevez and Balotelli to train with the kids. Not that I think that will happen. I don’t see a soft underbelly at all. They had the most clean sheets in the league last season and they’ve only strengthened again. To my mind they have the best quad in the country. I don’t see a weakness anywhere. Man Utd as always will be the team to beat. Chelsea have not been overly impressive but I think AVB is a very good manager and man for man I think their squad is better than ours. My prediction in the summer that we’d be battling with Spurs and Arse for 4th place hasn’t changed.
|
 #1098 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 11:39 am
Yahoo, got through the 30 minute log in, looking forward to the 30 minute upload. Come on TIA have a look at the blog.
.
To Gerry I hope you are OK my friend, obviously your not so my thoughts are with you.
.
In regard to our team I still think we’re a bit slow around the edges but we’re alot better than we have been. I’m glad Kenny is back and I think he’s doing a wonderful job but part of me wonders what Rafa would have done if he was allowed to spend some serious cash. Anyway will never know and that the way clubs move on.
.
I still would have like some serious pace out wide but I’m not complaining. I thought our last game was a wonderful performance and we left nothing in the tank. I think Saurez and Kuyt are our best forwards, there both squirrels who get around the park all day and both have the ability to pinch goals. In the last game there were two clear cut penalties that Saurez should have got. If he was wearing a Man U jersey he would have got 3 for both tackles.
.
Anyway my prediction is still around 4-5 but with Spurs and Arsenal looking shakey 4 is a real possibility. Alas though Stoke and Brighton to get past first, bring them on.
.
Once again take care Gerry hope we here some news soon.
|
 #1099 |
burgerman
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 1:03 pm
Are Shelvey and Spearing good enough ? Both lack pace.Pity Sturridge wasn’t in the Raul deal.Stoke will be a as tough as they come.Tweeted Gerry 2 weeks ago,no reply, doesn’t look good.
|
 #1100 |
2Red
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 1:07 pm
I don’t came here more oftenly but, on the evidence so far, Manu’s defence will not give them the title. And anyone can give them a problem. On the blog is there no way of atleast removing the May,Jun and July posts atleast?
|
 #1101 |
koped49
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 1:29 pm
About Shelvely and Spearing,Dont think they will get to many starts, as we have a large squad which as good quality in depth.In some of the lesser games they will either gat a start or come of the bench to give some one a rest, But i feel that most of the players will want to start most of the games, as we will omly be in three comps so not so much presure on them.and i agree they may not have enough pace for the way the team are ivovling now.
|
 #1102 |
elbmw
Posted on September 4, 2011 @ 5:39 pm
But neither do Adam or Lucas, the players Jonjo and Spearing deputise for, have any pace.
As for the final positions this season I have it exactly the same as KDLF @1091. But maybe Sunderland or Stoke to finish 6th and the spuds 7th. If that was to happen then “appy (wheeler dealer) arry” will kiss bye bye the ingerlund managers job that he covets so much.
Anyway, the damned internationals are are doing my head in at the moment. I just hope that none our our players come back injured.
|
 #1103 |
Sambo
Posted on September 5, 2011 @ 9:29 am
i reckon Spearing’s good enough. he was a big part of our revival last season. i hope he gets a few chances to combine with Lucas again this season cos they played off each other pretty well.
|
 #1106 |
Aitch
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 12:03 am
Martin Samuel can lick the sweat off my hairy balls.
And Fabio Capello can rim my unwiped cornhole.
Should Fabio drop Andy from his thoughts, it would be the best fuckin thing that could happen to him…. If he could include Downing, Henderson, and never ever cast an eye towards Steven Gerrard ever again… we’d all be quite happy about that, thank you very much. Take yer fuckin Ingurland picks and fuck off to Manchester and certain parts of London you … (edited)
What are Samuel’s sources for this comment…
“Rumblings of disquiet over Carroll’s refuelling preferences have emanated from Liverpool for some time. Carroll has had a persistent knee problem but that is not the only reason his form and fitness are felt to be failing, and concern stretches all the way from the medical wing to the dressing room.”
I read an inordinate amount, on a daily basis, about LFC … far too much of my time is invested in following this club… missionary Mormons on their bicycles put in less of a shift for their religeon for fucks sake!
… and the only evidence of any such current “lifestyle” concerns, is from one poster on RAWK who claims to have been witness to Andy boozing it up with strippers until 6am after the Bolton game…
… this same poster claims to have taken pics of it with his moblie… yet no such photos have surfaced… in an age when its as easy to post pics on RAWK, as it is to post…
and a certain old codger named Murdoch, and his wavey red-haired Minions pay handsomely for such paparrazzi!
So one unconfirmed rumor …sans art???
In stark contrast to the numerous statements by Kenny saating that he’s recovering his fitness quite well, and doing all the right things in training.
|
 #1107 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 12:34 am
Aitch, Serious question. Why do you think Capello keeps bringing up Carroll’s lifestyle? I myself would like to know.
|
 #1108 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 2:17 am
“far too much of my time is invested in following this club… missionary Mormons on their bicycles put in less of a shift for their religeon for fucks sake!” Gerry couldn’t say it any better Aitch…. Bravo!
|
 #1109 |
dougle
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 11:49 am
Gonna say that I think Andy C as Ingurlands number one would actually be good for him and us. It builds profile and stature and (i think) a degree of, shall we say, “understanding” amongst referees as to his style of play. Right now the “understanding” is that Carroll unfairly uses his physique and is therefore constantly being blown up and is having marginal decisions go against him all the time. He needs to be ingurlands darling I think.
Conversely we certainly don’t need Gerrard back in the fold, but, he loves it so ….
Capello is a spanner. He’s now playing the press game.
|
 #1111 |
McrRed
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 9:22 pm
apologies for the hit and run but those capello comments were dredged up from an article in march…
typical slack journalism that then gets read as truth
|
 #1112 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 6, 2011 @ 11:14 pm
Those Capello comments are recent mate. They were given in response to a journo asking why Carroll wasn’t involved against Bulgaria.
|
 #1113 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 7, 2011 @ 3:46 pm
Alright Lads how are we fixed injury wise after the Internationals? Gonna be a tough tough game on Sat, will we wilt as we used to under such pressure or do we have enough heart in the side to break down teams that wont give us a minute on the ball. Think I would be a happy with a draw from this one I can see stoke finishing in the top 8 at least this year.
|
 #1114 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 7, 2011 @ 10:57 pm
I watched Chelsea struggle big time to create anything at Stoke. However they were strong enough to go toe to toe physically. It was a very dull 0-0. Will be interesting to see if we can create chances in open play. Suarez will be key.
|
 #1115 |
Aitch
Posted on September 8, 2011 @ 7:52 pm
I don’t follow England LB, so I certainly don’t have as many references to pull from…
…but from what I have read, while some of Capello’s comments were recent, some as McRed states, were not, and the incident he was commenting on certainly was not.
I could be wrong, but it looks to me as though Capello’s comments were taken completely out of context… and then exaggerated to make the story… as is almost always the case with Liverpool players.
Capello didn’t bring up Andy’s lifestyle, the journos did and he responded… and from what I’ve read of his supposedly “direct quotes” his response was in regards his reputation, and past transgressions… not anything recent.
The most recent confirmed incident of “Andy on the Piss” (again, from what I’ve read) was the photos of him during his summer vacation… when he was pictured out boozing with Rooney (was it Spain or the Carribean, I can’t remember but think the latter?)
They were both pictured holding beers…. yet nobody is banging on about Rooney’s lifestyle.
This is all utterly press-manufactured bollocks!
And here’s Kenny’s response, which would seem to confirm that…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14834166.stm
As for Stoke… I agree with Guinness that I think Stoke could be the dark horses for a high finish this season… Pulis did some very astute biz over the summer… however, I don’t think we’ll struggle against them at all.
I’m predicting a comfortable 3-1 win for the Reds.
Pity the blog is so utterly wanked really, coz I’d have liked to have read a more in-depth discussion about the “players of color” idea/concern you raised LB…
…I reckon we haven’t heard opinions coz its just too hard to log in and post nowadays.
Without sounding utterly callous towards Gerry… why can’t the TIA fellas simply post a new blog providing an update about his situation… then we can continue to comment in that section… and keep Kopblog ticking for his return.
I fear he’ll lose some of his following if this continues?
|
 #1116 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 8, 2011 @ 8:41 pm
Must agree Aitch, it feels as though Kopblog is grinding to a halt…..
I’d like to think that we’d be able the take the 3pts at Stoke, but it’s going to be as tough a game as many that we’ll play this season….
I don’t see AC starting in this one, perhaps more speed and movement will be the order of the day against the Defence minded Stoke…
I’m expecting Adam to reallly come into his owns as well, Stoke are strong on their wings and in the air, so the middle of the feild is where we really need to dictate the play…
Has anyone contacted TIA yet?
|
 #1117 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 8, 2011 @ 8:58 pm
All of us should contact the TIA guys and ask them to do what Aitch suggested. Although I haven’t had any problems getting on the blog. Even on my iPhone. The lack of blogging here has me registering on RAWK and Tomkins times to get my fix. I’m also now addicted to twitter. But it’s just not the same as the kopblogging of old.
|
 #1118 |
blud red
Posted on September 9, 2011 @ 12:24 am
regarding juries,
from what i can see lads and listening the kenny on the LFC website, injuries will not be affecting the stoke game as such.
key players are rested, suarez, maxi, levia, enrique, other players are returning, glenda, gerra, kelly are all training.
then we have those that are just desperate to play, spearing, ninja, bellamy, carroll and fabio.
and then we have seba coates, who would usually wait for his anfield bow but i believe there in a strong chance kenny will throw him into prevent any aerial threat from that other langster crouch.
in short we are looking strong across the park. where we have weaknesses we have several options to choose from. we have the ability to field a strong squad.
as you all know, tony pulis is a credit to his profession, but something tells me that he won’t fancy this one. last season he would have committed his side for the win but i reckon he might try to hedge his bets looking at this liverpool side that are about to turn up at his doorstep. its a long season and he’ll know a draw against this LFC side will do him good come january when the shit hits the fan.
up front he’s facing the possibility of facing hendo, downing, suarez, bellamy/carroll and kuyt with adam as the fulcrum. he will be wondering whether to stick or twist.
i reckon he’ll stick and try to contain our midfield by sacrificing fire power up front.
he’ll hope that shawcross can deal with suarez and that palacios will take care of adam, but this a a big ask in my opinion. he knows he might leak possession, even at the mighty britannia which is sold out, but he’ll reckon on preventing clear cut chances.
then his team will try to inch forward into delap range and who knows???? crouchy?? in which case he will hope that our defence is not as organised as it could be early in the season.
this is why i have a sneaking feeling kenny will introduce coates. normally you might wait for anfield to unveil a player, get the crowd behind him. but it’s three games till we’re back at home. we’ve got spuds next then brighton; might as well get it on.
if we can win all three on the road and return to scouseland to play wolves, well, that would be a fine thing.
i guess if you have ever wondered why you need a strong squad to progress in the prem league, looking at our next three fixtures you understand completely.
i am hoping for six points and a place in the next round of the carling cup. and i’m being realistic. for the first time in i don’t know when, we have the personnel to do just that.
i liken it to that movie the warriors, where they had to get back home across new york without getting mashed.
its a long road home to anfield. come on you redmen. warriors, come out to play!!!!
|
 #1119 |
john constantine
Posted on September 9, 2011 @ 4:16 am
#118 can anyone tell me the “net spend”
for that title winning year?
|
 #1120 |
john constantine
Posted on September 9, 2011 @ 4:20 am
good post blud red
|
 #1121 |
john constantine
Posted on September 9, 2011 @ 4:24 am
sorry#115
|
 #1122 |
elbmw
Posted on September 9, 2011 @ 10:57 am
John C I think the only one missing from #115 is Ray Houghton so the main ins/outs for 1987 were…
Rush +3,250,000
Beardsley -1,900,000
Barnes -900,000
Aldridge -750,000
Houghton -825,000
———
Net Spend -1,125,000
Not bad bit of business I’d say but would be near impossible to repeat today in the EPL. The main reason is that in 1987 the big spenders and richest league was Serie A (Italy). Now its the EPL. However, there are still a few bargains to be had such as Suarez who was a £22.8M steal from Ajax.
|
 #1123 |
Lurgankop
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 8:40 am
Great to see Kenny putting the parasite scum press in their place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14840045.stm
Fucking classic!
Tough one today for the lads. Pullis has done a good job there and spent wisely. I guess it all comes down to whether they can handle Saurez. If he has a good game, I think that we will come away with 3 points.
It will be interesting to see if AC starts today. I would guess not but coming on as a sub to wrap the game up
Onwards and upwards.
|
 #1124 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 3:21 pm
Lb addicted to twitter myself
Been trying to start a fight with Rooney all summer
Shit!!!!! penalty
|
 #1125 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
Without stating the bleeding obvious a bad result BUT a good performance we at least deserved a draw, Bellers looked good when he came on and we deffo should have had a pen. Just gotta keep playing like that and we will hit our targets for the season.
|
 #1126 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 5:55 pm
Who still thinks we’re gonna win the league? First real test and we fail. Not surprising really. I’m still looking for those stats on how often we concede the first goal and come back to win.
|
 #1127 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 9:41 pm
A lot of people probably LB. And good for them, hope springs eternal and all that so a salut I say. But for those of us who fly a little closer to the earth!…….today wasnt all that bad. Really. Broken record time but…..90mins, 38 times a year. You dont stop. You make it happen. You find a way. Ok, we dident find a way today but it wasnt for the want of trying. And thats the difference. Thats the element that impressed me so much against Bolton. We never stopped. Its the element that gets you over the finish line more often than not. The relentless will to win no matter what. Despite losing today that will was there. Shoulda won that game today, dident, but the difference in today and previous seasons (compare to last yr at Brittania….*shivers*) is night and day and clear to see. And it bodes well for the future. Baby steps lads, baby steps. We’re getting there.
LB, the last time we came from behind to win in the league was against Bolton 2009. 3-2. What a goal from Stevie that day. Cant, cant, cant wait to see him back next week. Whats your moniker on RAWK btw? LondonBarnes I’m guessing?!
P.s, delighted to see nobody whinging about the ref today. A change in our own mentality too perhaps?!
|
 #1128 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 9:45 pm
LB did anyone really expect us to win the league?? pretty sure 90% of our fans saw us just getting back into the top four and would be quiet happy with that for our first full season with the new owners and Kenny in charge. The result seems worse because all the other sides won today but there wont be many of them who come away from stoke with more then a point no?
Spurs should be a much more open game if we play as well in that we will score a few.
Kennys response was interesting regarding the poxy decisions going against us something had to be said but who else thinks the FA will crack down on him for it and make an example of him.
|
 #1129 |
dougle
Posted on September 10, 2011 @ 11:07 pm
Well gutted not to win that game let alone lose it. I didn’t see Stoke have any other shot on goal other than the spotter. A horrible team, horrible football, but they won.
Whether we played well is one thing but even so for fuc*s sake we were allover them and missed 3/4 tap in’s from what i saw.
Sure (as Digger put it so well) there is yet another hard luck story but we were getting better as the game proceeded.
Nevertheless a couple of things for debate. I did not see the first half bar the five minutes around Carra’s mistake (he should have gone down himself) but we were not great …. why ? First goal (especially for us) is absolutely vital. Any takers from anyone who watched it ?
Secondly, Andy C, well really he didn’t make any difference did he ? How is this going to work ?
Note I do see we won’t be playing a bunch of lumberjacks on a meadow every week but where and how is Andy going to fit here ? I’m sure he will … but …
|
 #1130 |
Bayo
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 9:26 am
LB
I doubt that many of our fellow fans thought we would win the title this season even though our manager thinks we can do better than just getting into the top 4. I agree with Digger about the players’ commitment to winning and not talking about the referee. KD’s post-match interview with the BBC was, however, quite revealing, particularly about the referees. Despite Stoke’s ‘heroic’ defending, we had some good chances to get at least a draw. Unfortunately we didn’t take them but we will tear a lot of teams apart if we approach our away games with that commitment and intensity.
|
 #1131 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 10:37 am
If we continue this awful record of not being able to win a game when we concede first we can forget top 4.
Can’t fault the attitude and the commitment. We dominated Stoke – fair enough. But we can’t score a goal and come away with nothing. In my opinion we still lack quality in the final third. The last pass, the finish, is often not good enough. This is the frustration for me.
We spent over £70m on Carroll, Downing and Henderson.
Downing: 0 goals. 0 assists.
Carroll: 0 goals. 0 assists.
Henderson: 1 goal. 0 assists.
I know it’s only 4 games gone and no judgements can be made but my initial worry was that we spent a shit load of money on players that were not from the top bracket. I bored the hell out of everyone in the summer talking about Mata, Aguero and others but was told either (A) we aint attractive enough for these players. (B) We needed players with PL experience to hit the ground running.
Although Suarez missed a fucking sitter. He is the only player I trust to make the right decision in the final third. The others are hit and miss for me.
Glen Johnson has done his hamstring again. The lad has never played more than 29 league games in a season. As Martin is injury prone as well I think a new right back is priority in the January transfer window. Then sell Johnson next summer.
|
 #1132 |
roarin-red
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 2:41 pm
Tony Cascarino normally gives out good tips in the racing post on a saturday. He usually puts out one or two outsiders with a decent price and i’m not ashamed to say i’ve cashed in on this a few times.
However when he put STOKE in at the weekend I thought “not this week tony, I’m afraid you’ve been listening to the wrong people…we’ll be to strong for them”
Saturday evening as I had just finished the last few bites of my hat, a mate pointed out that Mark Clattenburg had taken a year out of the game because of a gambling addiction and attended AA meetings to help him with his problem!!!!
Trying to watch the match that evening and seeing the penalties we WEREN’T given and the fucking ONE they were, I can only assume Mr. Clattenbet is by no means closer to being cured and is also a stern follower of Tony Cascarino’s Saturday’s column to!!!!
DISGUSTED!
|
 #1133 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 3:07 pm
LB we all wanted Khun at liverpool and have done for years but can we offer him £250,000 a week? No. Can we offer Mata champions league footy this year? No. So would either of them come to us? NO.
So we bought players who want to be here NOT for the money but because all the players you mentioned understand what it means to play for us and want to play for Kenny.
Yesterdays result will not prevent us getting into the top four in fact in the long run it may well focus the collective of the team and the fans on the task at hand there will be plenty of ups and downs along the way but look at the stats from the game yesterday compared to our other visits to the Shitania.
Stoke Pool
Possession 27% 73%
Shots 3 24
On target 1 7
Corners 2 12
Last season (under hodge)
Stoke Pool
Possession 64% 36%
Shots 14 10
On target 7 6
Corners 4 3
And Under Rafa Jan 2010
Stoke Pool
Possession 45% 55%
Shots 12 9
On Target 2 1
Corners 10 0
Now Stoke have improved in their time in the league and they will probaly finish higher again this year yet the only time we have played them off the park was yesterday and yes we lacked the killer finish but we are still geling as a team.
IMO we are much better prepared now to face sides like stoke and 9 times out of 10 with the curent team we will beat these teams easily.
yesterday was a blip even if we dont beat spuds next week over the course of the season playing as we did yesterday we have more then enough to finish strongly in a top 4 position. No way will the Arse or Spuds dominate them like we did at their place.
|
 #1134 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
In my honest opinion Stoke’s pen was a pen. Carra wrapped his arm the player’s waist. It was blatant. He had been doing that a lot recently. When isolated one on one Carra is turning into a bit of a liability.
Our 2 shouts for pens could have gone either way. Sometimes they are given sometimes not. I don’t think any were stone wallers.
We missed chances that were easier to take than penalty kicks! Can’t blame the ref for our dreadful finishing.
|
 #1135 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 3:19 pm
How do you know Mata was only interested in a club playing CL football? Truth is we were never interested coz he didn’t tick all the boxes. We wanted players with PL experience so we could hit the ground running. It’s a bollocks philosophy. We’re still saying the team needs to gel aren’t we?
|
 #1136 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 5:05 pm
Any team with 5/6 new players in the first team needs to gel, prem experience or not. We have played well in ALL our games so far I cannot see what the MATA is.
|
 #1137 |
London Red
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 8:43 pm
LB why is it so hard for you to believe that Mata would only want go to a Champions League team.
do you really believe if given a choice between coming to a team that hasn’t won a title in 20 years and hasn’t been in the champions league for two years and didn’t even qualify for the Europa league.
And a team that has won league titles in recent years always qualifies for the champions league and most probably pays him 100k+ per week.
Probably to him it wasn’t much of a choice.Also being a fellow Spaniard and his international team mate he is obviously aware of Torres’s dramatic exit from us and the reasons he felt he had to leave.
Plus Mascherano and Alonso wanting out in recent years to play for Barca and Real.
We have to understand we are not the draw we once were and we cannot compete financially with City Man Utd & Chelsea.
Personally I like the way the team is progressing we have definitely improved markedly from where we were last season as a squad and as a team and Imho Kenny has bought well.
We ain’t Barcelona but we are getting better,we lost against Stoke yesterday but we dominated and we created many chances and it looked like a home game at times.
I would rather see it as the glass half full rather than half empty.
|
 #1138 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 9:06 pm
Yeah LB, (re: #1131) thats why I remain stunned at our treatment of and consequent sale of Meireles. He has that guile and creativity you speak of. Anyone see his performance yesterday? Galling, just galling. Worst bit of business we’ve done in a longtime imo. I still cannot wrap my head around it. With Stevie injured and Luis having an off day despite his industry, we just dont have that defence picker imo. Yesterday Downing was magnificent and much of our play went down the channels through him and thats great but if you dont have that balance or equally creative outlet through the middle then it all becomes a little predictable really and as good as Downings crosses were, Stokes defending of them was comfortable.
We’ll be fine in the long run dont get me wrong, and Downing will be a major reason for that but when you’ve got 10 bovine lummoxes standing in 18yds of space, whipping in cross after cross wont cut it all the time. Sometimes ya need that little bit of inspiration, a player who can see something and execute it before the defence even knows whats happened. We weakened ourselves and strengthened an immediate rival in this very department in an inexplicable move and I do believe it will come back to haunt us. In fact I’d go as far as to say it already has. I cant help but wonder what impact he’d have had yesterday coming off the bench or hell, even starting (cos imo Henderson shouldent be). Thoughts of the Arsenal game lead me to think he mightent have done too badly. And if ya wanna extrapolate further, his defence splitting winner for the chavs pushes them further away from us already. Now, to be fair its unlikely We’d have pipped them to 3rd anyway but just to be sure we gave them Meireles rather than give him a raise lol!! Ah sure if ya dident laugh ya’d cry…..
Anyway, anyone else think Henderson shouldent be starting lads? Hes gonna be a decent player alright but I just dont see all the fuss to be honest. He’s not ready imo. Just not doing anywhere near enough to justify a starting spot for me. I said at the start of the season I dident give a shite how much he cost he should earn his spot on merit and to displace Kyut at the start of season was not deserved and seriously harsh on Dirk I thought. And to be frank, nothings changed. I know Dirk played yesterday but Henderson still should not be starting. Not slating the lad, no scapegoating here,(before anyone jumps in with a size 12!) just calling it the way I see it. He’s not ready. To be fair, its a big step for a 20yr old. Theres a big fucken difference between playing for Sunderland and Liverpool. Maybe Kenny is approaching it like Rafa did with Lucas and is just gonna play him no matter what? Lucas improved immeasurably, fucken quantum leap compared to what he was and surely a large part of that is down to a managers faith and continued gametime irregardless of form. Maybe Kenny views it as such and is prepared to endure the inevitable growing pains no matter what? Thoughts anyone?
Well, guess we’ll find out soon enough. As George Costanza would say ‘theres a big matzoh ball’ coming back next week! ‘Biiiig matzoh ball Jerry!!’
|
 #1139 |
dougle
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 11:21 pm
LB are you serious ? Has Johnno done his hamstring again ? This is bloody ridiculous. Is this fullback injury situation ever going to get sorted ? Bugger that.
I don’t like doing this but the basic point you make Digger i.e we have lost craft with Raul leaving, well it’s hard to argue with it. That’s twice in 20 posts I’m agreeing with you, feels weird !! In saying that i do think Bellamy brings a bit of buzz out on the wing. Hopefully we’ll be singing his praises next week and Raul will be history.
LB Carra definitely was wrapped around walters but walters had already barged into him. Go down Jamie man. It should never have come to it. 3 errors in one play. Shit happens.
Henderson ? Well no-one was complaining about him last week were they ? Maxi brings more guile and a cool head perhaps ?
For what it’s worth i don’t think Aguero would have come to us last transfer window but maybe Mata would have. I’d have loved him. I also think we do have a lack of guile relative to the top teams but we’re better than we were and I’ve no doubt we’ll improve this season and we’ll be improved for next season too.
For what it’s worth how many points would you have taken from the first 4 games ?
For me Sunderland was a 2 point drop. Conversely Arsenal was a 2 point gain. Bolton was as should be. Stoke ? Well I’d have taken a draw even tho’ I’d have been looking for a win so 1 point dropped for me. Overall i.t.o. points I think I’d have been happy with 8, delighted with 10, 7 is ok tho’.
Overall performance-wise we are a bit ahead of where I thought we’d be.
Too early to think of the team for next week but I would like to see Maxi and Downing, Suarez in the middle and either Dirk / Andy up top.
Either way we go to win again and I hope we have a bit more luck (or cool heads when the chips are down).
|
 #1140 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 11, 2011 @ 11:45 pm
Carra is definately a concern… that’s two goals so far this season he has been directly responsible for… The Arsenal goal was an absolute howler, and the penalty this week was soley his fault… Hopefully he really lifts his game but, we’ve brought Coates to put pressure on Carra, DAgger and Skrtyl for this very reason…
Bellamy looked superb working with Suarez, for me Bellamy looked like be belonged out on the feild playing with Suarez..
I thought before the game that Adams needed to play a man of the match performance to get us home against Stoke… Unfortunately it was a real mixed bag, ultimately it was a disappointing game from him… Hopefully he’ll leran to temper though killer passes mentality…
Overall it isn’t the end of the world this result, it does point out that we aren’t on MANU or City’s level yet…
Finally, I’m a little surprised that Downing hasn’t gotten more reward for his performances so far this year! he’s been superb but just can’t buy a goal or assist…
|
 #1141 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 9:09 am
i usually like to avoid the blog after a defeat but in this case, this game belongs in the fckin twilight zone. Ive never seen us play so well and lose the game. Poor finishing coupled with (again) bad refereeing. Its all well to start wheeling out the same old arguments about Carroll, Henderson and Raul, but we really do need to give the lads credit on this one. It was Stoke away, a team and ground we have always struggled at, and we dominated them. But you cant play against 12 men . The refereeing since the start of the game has been shocking and some potentially pivotal decisions have cost us. Richardson gets a red, we likely would have scored another couple, or if Andys chest down and volley had counted, as it should have, we would have won. thats 2 more points in the bag. Bolton was a game we won despite the refs best efforts to fuck us all afternoon. And at stoke we should have had at least 2 pens of our own. but again, i cant our finishing.
So on the whole,YES the team is gelling and is going to take time. Im loving the football we are setting out to play every game and Im loving that we are trying, but its gonna take another while yet before we are the finished article. Or did people forget that.It just seems people cannot wait to get on the teams back, Carrolls back, Carras back (howler at Arsenal?when?) when it doesnt quite tick.I hope we play like that week in/week out cos 9 times out of 10 we will bury those chances and get the points.
As for Raul….he went to Chelsea. He has made it clear he wanted a love in with AVB, because he knew he wasnt automatic pick for us. So FUCK him. I cant belive some people in here give more support to him than they do to Carra. Its a joke. Missing craft in midfield? not that much. everyones making him out to be Messi all of a sudden. I remember he had a habit of disappearing when things got a bit physical.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. same performance next week and better refereeing and we will get 3 points at Spuds.
|
 #1142 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Raul is a good player no doubt and had a great season for us but where was he going to play because he wasnt going to start ahead of Stevie, Adam, Downing, Lucas, Kuyt or even Henderson and a player of his quality needs to be starting games so let him go admittedly letting him go to the chavs was a silly move but who else offered us 12mil?
Was very impressed with Bellers, I wasnt too keen on him coming back but your right his link up with Luis could well be crucial.
|
 #1143 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 1:43 pm
So lemme get this straight; he’s good enough to start for Chelsea but not good enough to start for Liverpool? Really? That’s what we’re going with here? Ooook so.
|
 #1145 |
pshenava
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 5:16 pm
LB honestly your whinging is getting too boring mate.
I don’t comment often. You put up statistics to support your argument and then say “I said it before”.
Yes mate you know everything and maybe much more qualified than me but what I have seen from our games Downing, Adam, Henderson, Enrique have all been very good so far.
Adam’s corner kicks are spot on I haven’t seen any other person deliver so much good service from corners so far this season.
Downing has been excellent and he more often than not finds a player in a red shirt in the penalty box. Our finishing has been poor which I trust will improve with Carroll.
However what you and me or anyone else on this blog don’t know is the factors that have been considered in the team selection.
So your stats about making you look good misses the point completely. I’m sorry I need to give you an advice Please support the team and there could be occasions when you might want slag of a particular performance but don’t generalize please.
|
 #1146 |
dougle
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 6:25 pm
Digger, I think Raul is a fine player (as you know). I am not too sure he would not have started, as in, I could have seen him starting plenty of games for us. I am not sure as to the “reasons” why he left. It was probably financial (on both sides), AVB and the portugese connection, the lure of London, champions league footie, and (maybe) perhaps kenny did not really fancy him with his perceived lack of punch in the tackle?
I reckon it was a mix of all of those reasons.
Let’s be real here, for a footballer at the height of his game, with no particular loyalty to the club he’s playing with, and at an age where he is not going to get better, an offer like going to Plastics makes a lot of sense.
So it’s not as black or white as it may seem, I think.
|
 #1147 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 6:29 pm
Pshenava, first of all you have a Chelsea player as your avatar. Not sure your best placed to be giving me advice on how I should support my team.
I come on here to give my opinion and I like to get things off my chest when frustrated about anything to do with the football club be it transfers, a performance or a result. No doubt some people see z lot of my comments and negative. My comments might do some people’s heads in. My advice to them and you would be to ignore my posts. There are bloggers here that bore the fuck out of me. I simply just ignore their comments when I see their user name. What I don’t do is tell them how they should vent their feelings on their football club.
I don’t give a fuck if I’m boring you. I’m not here for popularity or slaps on my back. I couldn’t give a shit if people find me entertaining in here. What I like to do though is ignite debate which I tend to do. So if you don’t mind I’ll continue to comment however the fuck I like. Cheers.
|
 #1148 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 12, 2011 @ 6:43 pm
Raul is a bloody good player. Not World class but good. Better than Henderson, Maxi, Spearing, Shelvey. It’s a squad game. Why weaken our squad and strengthen a rival? It makes no sense to me. All the attempts to justify the decision have been a nonesense IMO.
|
 #1149 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 2:23 am
Sorry pshenava, I meant carra’s howler against Bolton(that was absolutely terrible defending)… either which way his two assists so far this (short) season to date aren’t good….
|
 #1150 |
pshenava
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 6:30 am
Firstly apologies LB if my words were hurt you. I didn’t intend to but yeah on reading my stuff again it might have. So apologies.
On the points you mentioned
Torres my avatar – I was really sad when he left us. He had a bad last year in terms of his performance. Many people were questioning his ability and attitude as he seemed to have lost a yard of pace and was sulking. I think it was a bad decision mostly from his perspective as he was joining an aging squad but from our perspective we have been better of without him.
I look at people differently and don’t measure everything in black or white (as dougle said) or boolean (0 or 1) in a machine language but rather more in shades of grey because we aren’t machines. Little bit of philosophy. I think there are people of various kinds good people who occasionally can have bad judgments or bad people who occasionally have good judgments or people who are always in between. So the question remains where do I put him? I put him in good people who had some bad judgment calls. Hence I still like the lad because I remember the good moments he has given us not Chelsea.
How different are we LB? You still keep talking about the Chelsea players on this blog Meireles, Mata whilst even though I like Torres and I do have interest in his performance I never bring him up (only because you questioned I felt the need to explain myself). I still want him do well wherever he plays but it doesn’t mean that the club he plays for should finish above us any competition. Liverpool always comes first. By the way I do support a lot of other spanish guys and especially those who played for us. Alonso was lucky he had a iffy situation with Rafa so no one blamed him and put all the blame on the manager but he was pursuing what he wanted to do that is go back to Spain and played for one of the biggest clubs in the world. Arbeloa was not famous so no one noticed it. Meireles left and handed over a transfer request on the last day but he is not painted a villain like Torres was. In any of these cases I don’t think its easy to say who is at fault. There are number of things that happen behind the scenes to know the real truth so its never 0 or 1.
Lastly our new guys have done so well that I really see no reason for them to be slagged off or compared with anyone else. Its our team and I look at the performance from those dreadful Hodgson era I only see postives and we are moving up in terms of performace. Look at the possession we had and the number of chances we created at Stokes.
Its a season to be cheerful. I have trust in the management and believe they know what they are doing in terms of long term future of our club. I support them completely. Yes they can make mistakes but that doesn’t mean I will generalize. And finally do they know more than me ….ABSOLUTELY.. because they have proven in their past jobs.
|
 #1151 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 11:41 am
so according to commolli Rauls full of shit, and he made it clear he wanted to leave. so thats that. fuck him. another deluded twat who thinks the chavs are bigger than us. Can we bury the Raul thing now. Hes a fcking lightweight.
|
 #1153 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 12:17 pm
Pshenava, no worries. I also apologies for my over aggressive tone. This keyboard warrior thing is for kids really. I should know better.
Speaking of Torres – he’s having an absolute nightmare isn’t he? And you’re right about things going on in the background that we don’t know about. Things aren’t black and white. Which brings me onto Meireles and what Comolli said in his LFCTV interview. I don’t believe Comolli is being 100% truthful. Reading between the lines. I think the situation was this:
Raul was made a verbal promise by the previous regime that if he had a good season they would negotiate a significant pay increase. He performed very well indeed and was actually one of our better players in a difficult season. According to journalists based on Merseyside he was very happy at the club.
Then the club under a new regime decided they were not going to negotiate an increase in his wages. Think to yourself why this was the case. If Raul was a part of Kenny’s plans would the club have not given him a pay increase and extended his contract? Of course they would. I think it’s clear Raul was not a part of Kenny’s plans. As soon as Suarez was starting games in February Raul was parked up on the bench and only featured when we had a glut of injuries. As soon as the season starts we’re in the market for Henderson. Then we chase Charlie Adam.
During this time Glen Johnson is offered a contract extension (a silly decision for an injury prone player in my opinion).
All the while, no contract negotiation for Meireles.
The Merseyside journalists such as Rory Smith and Tony Evans are both of the opinion Meireles is for sale at the right price.
The season starts and Raul is on the bench for all league games. Put yourself in Meireles’ shoes. Would you feel like a valued member of the team/squad? If I was him I’d have bitten Chelsea’s hand off when the offer came in. Better wages, more game time, CL football. No brainer!
Once a deal was agreed LFC tell Raul he’ll have to hand in a transfer request before he is sold. Clubs do this for 2 reasons. (1) The player foregoes significant loyalty bonuses. (2) It’s better PR for the club. Fans will blame the player when they see the headline ‘Meireles hands in written transfer request’. The player is the bad guy. The club just claims it doesn’t want to keep players that don’t want to be here.
I agree with Digger on this. Unless we have to balance books (if we do then it’s a worry). I would have doubled Raul’s wages as soon as the season ended and made him feel like a valued member of the squad. Chelsea would have been told to fuck off.
Sorry if I seem negative but I am royally pissed off we’ve got rid of Aquilani AND Meireles. The club’s reasons for selling both is a load of balls in my opinion.
|
 #1154 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 12:21 pm
Edit * As soon as the season ends we’re in the market for Henderson. Then we chase Charlie Adam.
|
 #1155 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 12:42 pm
Check these reported LFC wages:
Downing: £90k per week.
Henderson: £65k per week.
Adam: £50k per week.
Meireles: £30k per week.
What Meireles said in May 2011: “If I had this opportunity I’d sign a new contract today. [For] 10, 20 years, for sure,”
|
 #1157 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 9:30 pm
Lurgan, it was pitchforks at Dawn for that journo. The lynch mob are in full effect. Was a disgraceful article though.
|
 #1158 |
dougle
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 10:57 pm
Pretty stupid article all around. Look at that and look at what ordinary punters like a few on here write … we’re a bunch of hidden gems we are.
So LondonB you’ve made your argument .. You reckon DC was telling porkies ? So where are you going with this ? Is it simply that you don’t agree with Kenny ? I assume you reckon Kenny has the last say.
So where does that leave the team and squad ?
Did you see what else DC said about Aquaman ? He let him go because Stevie would play in his place. To be honest that sounded even less believable. Stevie is presently injured and has constantly been so over the last few seasons. The chances of him coming back in and playing all the games are pretty slim. Doesn’t make sense to me unless (again, in my opinion) he kind of didn’t fancy him?
But maybe the shadow is finance, perhaps both Aquaman and Raul were let go to balance the books in some way. Maybe that was the call ?
|
 #1159 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 13, 2011 @ 11:49 pm
Dougle, lets just say I think Comolli was being economical with the truth in that interview. I was shaking my head while reading what he had to say about Aquilani. There was no place for him because a certain Stevie Gerrard plays in his position. What happened to having 2 quality players in every position? When was the last time Gerrard was fully fit?
I don’t think Kenny fancied Aquilani or Meireles. No wonder our first 2 targets were Adam and Henderson. I also think there was an element of book balancing as well. These days the club is doing it’s best on the PR front. But they were really taking us for idiots when announcing Raul had handed in a transfer request 20 mins before the transfer deadline.
|
 #1160 |
dougle
Posted on September 14, 2011 @ 3:38 pm
That’s pretty much how I see it too LB. For the record I reckon Comolli was not strictly speaking telling lies but I reckon conditions were created whereby a move for him was nearly inevitable if Plastics or some other “big team” came in for him.
Anyway as they say “you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone” and the banal first round of the CL began last night and we weren’t there. Sod that. I can’t wait to be bored by that again.
|
 #1161 |
pshenava
Posted on September 14, 2011 @ 5:24 pm
I read this somewhere and it kind of follows my philosophy but this is much more clearly represented
“There are 3 dimensions. One – what you say. The other- what others say. The third – THE TRUTH”
So my conclusion is we will never know the TRUTH (when dealing with people) hence my thought process is that lets not worry about what has happened and move on with what we have.
The more we dig the more we speculate and waste our
time.
|
 #1162 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 14, 2011 @ 10:46 pm
Too be honest I couldn’t give a toss about why Raul went, whether Comolli is telling the truth or whether he bending the truth. It’s obvious King Kenny never fancied Raul or Aquilani if he did they’d still be here. I’d rather have the players we bought and be in the position we are in now than have Raul or Aquilani, why? because King Kenny is building. I think LB is right to a certain extent we still have to balance the books, I also think they weighed up the situation and thought hey it’s either Maxi or Raul, similar players but only one of those is going to get us 12 million quid back. Maxi and Raul have never scored loads of goals there goal scoring run was a bit of a one off for both of them so I don’t think we could expect the same 6 in 6 games or whatever it was. I am not however saying Maxi is better than Raul or vice versa.
I don’t think the team is still gelling as in they look like strangers, I think the team looks in good shape, a bit of fine tuning and maybe one or two players need to find a bit more form ie Andy Carroll. I also agree we need a bit more guile/craft but we are a work in progress and we have made a lot of progress as far as I can see.
Aitch said that the state the Americans left us in would need time and I think that we are still feeling the effects, FSG are not sugar daddies, they are running us responsibly and as a business and if that’s the way it has to be then great as it really feels as if all the management team are working together to fulfill a well worked out purpose.
As regards Stoke it was annoying, we played well, our passing wasn’t as crisp as it had been but we had loads of opportunities, however if a ref doesn’t give a penalty then you can’t just sweep it under the carpet, decisions change games, what about when a player gets sent off unfairly? oh well it’s in our own hands, we can’t blame the ref, then why is he there? To make sure the rules are followed and applied.
All in all full of confidence for the season ahead, I think it’ll be down to us to show teams once again that manure aren’t invincible and that they will recieve their usual thrashing in the champion’s league as soon as they come up against Barca, Real, Bayern etc.
|
 #1163 |
Rafalution
Posted on September 15, 2011 @ 8:51 am
Can the techies open a new blog/page, wether Gerry writess one or not? Cannot one of you blokes in the UK phone TIA & ask them? We always get sane discussion in here, and I would hate to resort to using another site to air my views. But this is getting ridiculous – and long.
I saw an interesting article on The Anfield Wrap re Carra. We all know that he was directly responsible for 2 of the 3 goals we have conceded this season. And before some of you have a pop at me, this is not an anti-Carra thing. But I believe he has been the weakest link so far this season. And we have 2 good CB’s sitting on the bench in Skrtl & Coates. In the TAW article, the author (a scouser) lists Carra’s pass accuracy, and his ‘long-ball’ stats. No surprise that both stats are the worst in the team.
You can’t take away his leadership abilities, his fighting abilities, his worth to the club in general, his goal-saving tackles etc. But it does beg the question: should he be starting for us?
Regarding Raul: I thought we should have kept him. He has quality. But management know better at the end of the day. It is just galling to see him starting for the Chavs, and doing well it seems?
Can’t wait to see Stevie back. Hopefully he will make an appearance against the Spuds. I know it’s early days, but it’s pretty much a ‘must win’ for us – not only for the 3 points, but just to put the loss at Stoke behind us, get the confidence going. And come the end of the season, I reckon they could be challenging for 4th or thereabouts.
Did anyone see the Napoli-Shiteh game last night? Welcome to the CL. It’s not as easy as you think. And that no.7 for Napoli is not half bad.
|
 #1164 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 15, 2011 @ 9:51 am
Could not login and comment on our loss to Stoke. I think the match against them was a perfect opportunity for us to see that we are short in quality upfront. If Squarez does not score, it becomes very difficult.
Regarding Raul getting transferred, i think it was the club’s decision to sell him and given how he has started for Chelsea, we will regret selling him. I saw Aquilani against Barca and he didnt look bad either.
We will struggle for 4th. I have that feeling.
|
 #1165 |
dougle
Posted on September 15, 2011 @ 2:24 pm
Somnath, struggle we will do. If we “struggle” as we have been doing so far (and we will improve as time goes by) then I think we’ll be fine. It could still be a tight squeeze for 4th you could well be right there but if we are there abouts come March with no European interference and a squad better integrated then I would be very happy indeed.
You are right we didn’t score but we made chances and really dominated the game. We’ve dominated all games so far (bar Sunderland.
Spurs should be a great battle. Let’s put it this way I am far more confident then this time last year playing them.
That’s not to say we are the finished article because we are not.
|
 #1166 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 16, 2011 @ 3:19 am
holy hell sometimes the ball just won’t go in, I would worry more if we wern’t making the opportunities.
It’s early days regarding Raul, he’s a good player but I don’t think we’ll regret selling him to the Chavs, you have to look at the bigger picture, we are building something here, we have to balance the books I fancy as FSG are not a bottomless pit of money and we needed to strengthen the left side as wee all know, so I would rather have Stuart Downing than Raul if that was the choice, Henderson might not be the finished article but he looks like he has a lot of potential, we didn’t buy him as the finished article, why do people knock these players so soon, it’s poor it really is. Aquilani? If he’s that good why don’t these teams buy him instead of taking him on loan?
As regards Carra, horses for courses, We need him at the moment in my opinion, we have Dagger for taking the ball out of defence and don’t write him off too soon, he is quality, he’s a bit shaky but as we know he’s coming to the end of his career, the other boys will step in soon gradually, as regards Skyrtl are you really sure he’s more reliable than Carra, because for me I always expect a howler from him, not saying I don’t like him or I think he’s poor just saying his distribution is not much better than Carra.
|
 #1167 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 16, 2011 @ 5:00 am
To be honest, I think the debate about Carra’s role is very relevant…
He himself would crucify any body else if theywere to put in the performances he has recently… It also doesn’t surprise me that his pass completion is poor as well…
I do think that he may very well be at the limit of being an automatic inclusion into this team… That’s not to say that hes through with Liverpool, maybe he’d best be used as a reserve for defending a lead we already have or captain of the Carling cup teams.
Personally I’d like to see Skrtyl given the starting role next to DAgger. Lucus to recieve the armband and have Pepe as the Vice Captain….
I understand the concern that Skrtyl can make a howler, but for me he was the best defender last year, not Carra….
|
 #1168 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 16, 2011 @ 5:35 am
Having said all that, If King Kenny said otherwise I’d bow to his supreme authority!!!
I guess we’ll see in a month or two if Carra is still this automatic starting CB….
|
 #1169 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 16, 2011 @ 7:35 am
@Dougle: Yeah agreed. The level of confidence is much more. But dont you agree that we are a bit short in creativity in the final 3rd? I feel that.
@KD LFC Legend: I dont know how selling Raul to Chelsea attributes to long term building. Could you please explain that? Aquilani is not bought because of the fact that he is prone to injury. I think that’s the reason teams are not taking him in on a permanent deal and lets face the facts, we had to go for him because of Xabi leaving and in that process we took a big gamble with his injury.
@YNWAlancey: Lucas as captain? You think that can happen?
|
 #1170 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 16, 2011 @ 9:11 pm
Somanth – yes I will explain to the best of my ability and with my limited knowledge of what goes on behind closed doors.
I think we have to balance the books to a certain extent, so 12 million quid for a 29 year old who was expendable and whose value would go down was too good an offer to refuse. We got Henderson who is 21 for a bit more money I think 13 million plus add ons not the 20 million being reported by the jornos and whose value will go up, so a younger player who will be here for a long time. Obviously I don’t think King Kenny fancied him too much hence his starting position from the bench. I also think he had a rich vein of form 5 goals in 6 games which he’s never had before. Then bought Adam – younger, Downing 27 I think we all agree we needed something on the left and Jose Enrique 26? for a bargain n Coates who is 20.
I hope this explains what I meant.
As regards Carra he’s 33 he won’t get any younger but I also wouldn’t write him off just yet. If Skyrtl is in better form or Coates looks the business then I think King Kenny will not shy away as he never has done before from making a tough decision.
But to talk about Carra is the way that has been by some people is very disrepectful, as if he’s some donkey, he’s been a great player for our club. I don’t mind the debate about whether his time has come I just can’t stand he’s a hoofer, he this he’s that etc. My mum is 70 she’s not as sprightly as she once was but I’m not going to be disrepectful to her as if she’s getting slow on purpose, take away all her years of kindness and love she’s shown me. Talk about her as if she’s useless. More respect please!
|
 #1171 |
blud red
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 12:13 am
total respect to your mother Kenny Dalglish legend
and to all the mothers of the bloggers in here.
speaking as a member of the honourable union of defenders i’d like to say how it is for defenders like carra,
they can make several hundred tackles in a season and three mistakes and some folk will always focus on the mistakes. thats just the way it is. i think the word i’m looking for is myopic.
let me draw your attention to the other end of the park and plant some criticism where it also belongs. suarez.
his finishing is woeful at times.
i know thats blasphemous and i do like the lad but i reckon he was brought in as a supplier, strangely enough. fernando torres he ain’t.
so you want to criticise anybody, criticise him.
he’s only been here six months and already he looks like he wants to make all the decisions on the park. if someone don’t pass to him, he goes mental, yet when he gets the ball in front of goal he can be wasteful.
he is indecisive one on one with the keeper and seems to want to draw the penalty. he flings his hands in the air and looks dramatically at the ref. i’m not surprised they don’t give it.
carra is my hero because he has won everything bar the league with liverpool. suarez could be gone next transfer window after making a small splash.
i hope he stays because he’s a great player, but he also has a great deal to learn, like how to round the keeper effectively, how to chip the keeper off his line, how to claim a penalty without histrionics and finally, my favourite, how to take a penalty once you have been awarded it.
|
 #1172 |
Aitch
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 12:26 am
Kind of agree with KDLL… some of youz change your minds with the weather.
I understand why some people bemoan the sale of Miereles… to be honest I’d have rather he stayed and fight for his place and promised pay rise… how much money does a man need to make when he gets to wear the Liverpool shirt, drive Ferraris and bang supermodels?
But he’s gone… and I can’t say I agree that its damaged us to any great extent.
Its all well and good suggesting in hindsight that he’d have got us a goal at Stoke… but that’s ignoring the obvious fact that Mark Clattenburg would have found something wrong with it and disallowed the fucker.
We had 3 points taken off us at Stoke by a referee and regardless of how many chances we missed or failed to create or convert, there is no escaping that Clattenburg affected the result at Stoke.
3 handballs, and obvious foul, a high boot to Lucas’ head on the edge of the box, that went unwhistled let alone unpunished, which also led to a luckily escaped hospital/season ending foul a moment later.
I don’t know if it was inconsistency or incompetence, clear bias or ignorance… but Clattenburg affected the result… to argue otherwise is ludicrous.
Are we missing something in the final 3rd?
Yes and no…
Yes…
… we certainly have put the ball in the box a lot, with no one getting on the end of it.
… we’ve certainly struggled to break down an 11 men behind the ball defense.
… but No…
… we’ve also got on the end of those crosses and had good goals disallowed…
… and penetrated that 11 man defense more than 20 times
… and had clear penalty claims denied (as well as some 50/50s)
this team hasn’t even gotten out of 2nd gear yet and we battered all 4 teams we’ve played… we just didn’t come away with the result.
Scum looked great trouncing Arsenal 8-2… but if Van Persie scores that penalty… no way does that game end anything like that scoreline… it’s a whole different game then… as it was, Scum scored immediately after the miss and that was that.
Likewise, I’d bet that if Andy’s perfectly good goal had been allowed to stand, we’d have scored at least 2 more against Sunderland…
…and if we’d gotten an equalizer at Stoke, we’d have scored 3 or 4.
This team will click… maybe not this weekend… but it will do so soon.
We’ve got Stevie G coming back… which will boost everyone
Bellamy will make a contribution.
Henderson will get better.
And when Andy gets off the mark proper, he’ll bag a fuckin hatful too!
Challenge for 4th?
As of right now….
You bet your fuckin shit-brown tinted, negative, half-empty glasses we can challenge for 4th!
But fuck that…. We can yet give the title a challenge.
Chavs started immensely last season and faded… Scum are a young side and just need someone to take it to them… let’s see how they do against a good side that won’t roll over.
And as impressive as City have been, the same statement applies, so I’ll be standing by my previous judgment about them.
As for Jamie Carragher…
I’d hardly be calling him the fuckin weakest link.
On second thoughts…
…sure go ahead…
…coz if Jamie Carragher is our weakest link… then that really tells you everything you need to know about the last 18 months and how far we’ve progressed to where we are now.
Weakest link… watch some fuckin football will you. The lad made 2 mistakes in 4 games… and granted they both resulted in a goal, but that’s what happens when defenders make mistakes… as the season progresses, he’ll be able to make one every game and it won’t matter, coz like Bolton, we’ll already be 3-0 up when he does it.
Have a little faith for fucks sake.
Try to remember where we’ve just been…
…and I’m not saying that should stand as the trite, all-encompassing, excuse for any perceived failures this season…
… but let’s have some perspective…
…we’ve rebuilt the squad in 2 transfer windows (one and a half really)…
…we’ve rebuilt the back-room staff…
…we’ve rebuilt the ownership/board/management…
…talk about steadying the ship???
We’ve righted it, rigged it, polished the brass and put to sea at full sail again!
Will there be hiccups? Yes of course there will.
There’s far more to be positive about in the summer’s transfer biz than Raul Miereles opting for a bigger paycheck.
There has been far more to be positive about in the first games than there has been to be negative about.
Jamie Carragher has done 98% of what he’s required to do RIGHT so far this season.
When his teammates get themselves up to that mark… we’ll be a sight to behold!
We truly will.
On another note…
….here’s a link to an absolutely fuckin Amazing 50 minute interview Keys and Gray (yes I know they’re cunts but… ) with Craig Johnston.
http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/richard-keys-and-andy-gray/blog/2011-09-15/remarkable-life-and-times-craig-johnston
If you have an hour… go listen, its well worth it lads…
… Hell you could listen to it while waiting for this page to reload after commenting about how wrong everything I just said is
|
 #1173 |
blud red
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 12:30 am
as for the raulgate saga?
who cares.
decent player
29
spends more time in the tatoo parlour than on the training pitch
wears his shorts around his ankles
will net you five goals this season and several assists,
be out injured for three months
what’s the big deal?
our season won’t hinge on his departure.
come may i doubt we’ll be saying ‘if we only had meireles’.
though he is good, he is definitely replaceable and i know we already have replaced him, in hendo (better player imo) and bellamy who is comparable.
unless raul reappears with a rooney hair transplant, tucks his shirt into his shorts like he means business, instead of high jumping tackles every saturday, i won’t lose sleep.
in fact i’m glad that i won’t have to struggle to spell his fucking name and get it wrong is this blog. does my head in.
|
 #1174 |
kopcolly
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 2:54 am
great posts lately lads, thank’s.
please god gerry is in good health,
anyone been in contact with fat scouser? would be class to hear his thoughts on the last year or so ,
alot of heads missing in hear , good good people in my books , fat scouser, timmy suarez , i see rafalution has popped backed in to see us , good on ya mate, digger where are ya me old mucker?
a banana skin i expected for the stoke game , but fuck we were hard done by the officals, but not gonna get into it cause pure & simply we didnt take our chances, having said that im quite confident about our sundays game,
3 points and results going our way is my forecast!
WALK ON!
|
 #1175 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 8:25 am
I listened to the Craig Johnson interview live yesterday. Fascinating! Everyone should give it a listen.
|
 #1176 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 17, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
well i was going to add a comment, but Aitch has said it all perfectly.And I totally agree with Blud.My feelings are that we seriously need to cheer the fuck up, and trust Kenny. And stop obsessing with this whole Raul thing. If the guy had really wanted to be here, he would. To call Commolli a liar is just beleieving what we want to believe. And its immaterial. hes gone. lets try focusing on the good instead of the bad.
|
 #1177 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
This is where we stand. This 1st half performance speaks for itself. Charlie Adam – He was simply not at the same level today. I dont know whether he is good enough or its just that he had an off day.
|
 #1178 |
yanksarewanks
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 2:32 pm
While I appreciate the optimism in here, and I love to hear things like “Henderson is better than Aquilani,” sometimes I gotta call em as I see em. We’ve just sold our best 2 midfielders, the only two players who had any creativity and could stitch together defense and attack, and we replaced them with a bunch of dogshit english players who cant pass their way out of a paper bag.
But I guess that’s ok because they get “stuck in” and meireles doesnt. What a stupid concept. Barca doesnt have a single player who gets stuck in, but they somehow won 8-0 yesterday. The only thing getting stuck in is tottenham’s dick up our asses.
And andy carroll just isnt very good. Adebayor, now that’s a real player, spending 35m on him would make sense–he takes defenders on, holds the ball up, passes intelligently, makes great runs. None of which I have seen from Carroll ever.
|
 #1179 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 2:45 pm
I agree and even if we do anything positive in this match.. i dont think Adam and Henderson are good enough to lead our midfield…
|
 #1180 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 2:49 pm
Carroll – Saw enough of him.Dont know how we could think of replacing him with Fernando Torres.
|
 #1181 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 3:16 pm
Can’t wait to see the positive spin on this.
Refs fault?
We were unlucky?
Bad day at the office?
|
 #1182 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 3:35 pm
Andy Carroll drank too much yesterday and Skrtel was giving him company.. Thats d only legitimate explanation.
|
 #1183 |
sachem
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 3:59 pm
OK, fellas. If the Stoke debacle was “just one of those days”, then I don’t know how to describe what I’ve just witnessed.
I reckon the old Rafa bashing squad will be turning on Kenny after this. To be fair he got it all wrong today. When was the last time we were this awful? It was fucking torture watching that. An utter shite performance.
It would be easy to point out the referee as an extenuating circumstance. Normally I can’t stand referees waving cards about like mad, and nor did I today of course, but this is one of those occasions when we can’t really blame the ref.
Carroll and Henderson certainly look like a couple of horrendous signings at the moment, considering their prices. Especially Carroll of course. However, all our players were below par today, some more than others.
All hell seemed to break loose when we were more or less outclassed in the midfield, but there’s certainly more than that to analyze. I really hope this was an exception. Judging from our previous performances this season, I would say so, but it’s still worrying that we can collapse in that manner we there’s a positive atmosphere in place and the players are happy. Too happy, perhaps?
|
 #1184 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 4:11 pm
Well it’s been my opinion that we’ve spent almost £80m on average players. In May we were outclassed by Spurs and today we were embarrassed by them. They look a far superior side.
|
 #1185 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 4:45 pm
The way results are going.. i would like to know whats the definition of having a good team and having a good squad or it just that luck always favors Alex Fergusson?
|
 #1186 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 4:49 pm
and i am sorry to say this.. but English players are average and we seem to have too many of them…
|
 #1187 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
Torres looks electric!
|
 #1188 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 6:24 pm
How on earth did he miss that? He looked good though..
|
 #1189 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 7:41 pm
ok…that was a really shit performance from every single player. spurs set a tempo we could never seem to get up to. while i agree the ref cannot take away the bad performance we gave, the way we performed also cant take away how shit the ref was. it works both ways. last week we played stoke off the park and the ref fcked us. today we fcked ourselves, and the ref brought the lube. he couldnt wait to book our lads today and going down to 10 then 9 men away from home is never gonna get you anything.
we played bad and i do agree a couple of wrong decisions by kenny shackled us a bit. skrtel starting ahead of flanno to contain bale was a disaster waiting to happen.
But we have 33 games left to see an upturn, and we need to get BEHIND kenny and the team.
Thats being positive, not glossing over the problems. We all know that we are capable of producing so much more than we did today. Spurs played out of thier skins so give them credit.
of course, why dont we spend the season bitchin and moaning at every little mistake. i mean, i just think these players, because they dont have a feckin spanish name or italian hairstyle, were on a hiding from the start from some ‘supporters’. so when theres a defeat, or a bad performance, everyones giving them shit. i bet theres some people who think if we had aqualani in the middle today, we would have won 4 nil? and raul too…we would have won 8 nil? thats the logic eh? in fact..lets go the whole hog…wipe off Rafas blood from them daggers and lets stick them in Kennys back.
I know we are all allowed to have an opinion but fck me, ever since the first game people have been whinging. Kennys bought crap players, Kenny doesnt know what hes doing. Kenny sold a player who wanted to play for chelsea..how dare he? Raul has went on record and said once he learned of chelseas interest he wanted to play for AVB. But no, its Kenny and Commollis fault.
I dont know..Im just gonna stick to good old fashioned supporting my club, loving my club and having faith in the manager and the team. Its what we all want right? lets give things time.
And my stance on Torres and Raul are the same..fuck them both. I dont miss them and would never have them back.They didnt play for the shirt at all.
Sorry for the rant folks. The negativitys pissing me off in here and alot of it is overblown and not helping anyone.
|
 #1190 |
blud red
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
ah hell…even from the most staunch kenny fan, that was a pile of shite.
to be honest they all looked as though ‘appy ‘arry had spiked their pasta with lsd. they all looked terrible and completely misguided and that included the manager. i did not recognise one of them.
i am not blaming the management at all. the whole friggin set up looked utterly clueless.
from front to back:
reina: shite
carra: shite
coates: shite
dagger: made of fucking glass and shite
skrtyl: soft as shite
adam: unlucky shite
lucas: shite
downing : shite
hendo: looked like he had his first drop of alcohol the night before and shite
carroll: dear me
suarez: needs to stop flouncing shite
arfluff53.
i’m not being negative. i’m usually very positive. but credit where credits due. that was shite.
|
 #1191 |
blud red
Posted on September 18, 2011 @ 11:11 pm
it’s gonna be a long friggin season
|
 #1192 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 1:04 am
Blud red= unfortunately very true…
I’m still 100% behind King Kenny, but… If Rafa was playing Skrtyl in the RB position he would’ve been crucified already, by fans and critics alike…
We haven’t lost the season and one must remember that we’ve still to play he reverse game, but we just lost 3 pts to one of the teams aiming for the top4, hard to talk our chances up, escially as Stoke just got thumped this week to Sunderland…
AC still isn’t looking the goods… And Adams is getting shown up for his lack of quickness… I thought that Modric was the class act on the feild and couldn’t help to wonder if Stevie G was the missing player to gel this team as Adam (still) wasn’t linking our defence to our strikers in open play…
|
 #1193 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 2:41 am
I suppose its every Kopites right to have a grizzle so here goes.
.
1. Spurs started with gusto and thats what won the game.
.
2. We had two players sent off, so your fucked at that level with 9 on the park.
.
3. Carra did his best but its coming to the end, Agger is frustating with all his continuing injuries, he’s a liability in a strong and demanding position.
.
4. There first goal was a wonder strike, and well taken.
.
5. The rest of their goals were when we had 9 players. Reina should have stopped Defoe’s goal and should not have dropped Ada Bad Whore’s, so really they should have beaten us 2 nil with 9 on the park.
.
6. I am worrying about Carra but although Coates came on a gave his all, I think he looked very very slow, although not a great game to come into with injuries, players sent off, but his pace is worrying.
.
7. Al the lads at the end run their hearts out and thats all you can ask.
.
8. Call it a bad day at the office or whatever, but forget about it and move on. No use analysing something thats gone tits up.
.
9. I still maintain my stance that we bought to get a Europa place rather than CL. We have bought nuts and bolts players who hang in through thick and thin rather than tear teams apart.
.
10. Bring on Brighton, who just happen to be tearing the Championship apart.
.
Ps to whoever said Mierelas didn’t play for his shirt is talking shite. The guy gave everything all year, good luck to the lad on his new adventure.
.
Chins up we’re two points better off than this game last year.
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 #1194 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 4:07 am
@ar53fluff: Whatever you are saying aint gonna change the fundamental point. Charlie Adams was our midfield mainstay. He knew that we are playing away to Spurs(One of our main rivals for 4th). Once he got the yellow card, he should have been careful. To be aware of the circumstances, the importance of a game, the implications of any wrong decision makes a player great. The problem with him is he wants to force the game according to his pace and when it goes beyond him, he does something stupid.
We have bought Henderson because he is young, we have bought Caroll because he is good in the air(I feel Dzeko is much better and even Suarez was doing better than him to hold the ball), we have bought Adams coz of this dead ball specialty. None of them are complete packages.
From what i have seen so far, our best piece of business has been Enrique.
Also, looking at Jones playing yesterday, i feel United pipped us to yet another very good player.
I think we should stop getting obsessed with Caroll and play a 4-5-1 with Bellamy supporting Suarez. Thats our best hope.
|
 #1195 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 5:29 am
I wonder Somath if Bellers is the better fit for our team….
Also, (In hindsight) Downing wasn’t very effective on the right wing, I think that Kyut is needed to track back and help on the right side especially as Kenny is playing a CB in that position…
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 #1196 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 7:23 am
Kenny has to answer that question. Why didn’t he pick Kuyt?.
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 #1197 |
Arman23
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 11:50 am
The disappointing thing for me was the lack of ideas after it was blatantly obvious after 5 mins that Spurs were going to keep attacking Skrtel with Bale and he was going to keep beating him repeatedly. We just stuck to the 442 until it was too late. I thought the clock had be rewound 12 months and I was watching Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool, defending deep, inviting Spurs to attack and thumping the ball out of defence. Zero shots on goal in the 1st half!!! WTF!! Credit to Spurs, they were great. It’s a shame we had two players sent off because it may paper over the cracks of what was a disaster of a mangerial performance and give us an excuse for the big loss. I think we would’ve lost 4-0 regardless even if we had 11 players on the pitch.
The great thing about Kenny is the press doesn’t get on his back. If Rafa had put that formation and team out he would’ve been crucified in the media. I think Kenny is a great mascot for the club, a great spiritual leader but I would love for Rafa to be in the coaching staff to some extent. I can’t ever remember being outplayed like that under Rafa, not even with the likes of Traore, Biscan, Degen and all the other dross he had to put out there due to a lack of funds.
I wore my Liverpool shirt today, I’ll always support the team but really we have some issues and the fans deserve better than that performance. Cold hard facts are Lost to Stoke, Spurs, only a draw with Sunderland and the two wins are against two teams that are really struggling this year.
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 #1198 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 2:33 pm
arman23 hear what your saying man, but all managers dop have these stinkers. Remember we got two sent off and got absolutely tanked by Hodges Fulham team in Rafas last season? Remember Boro doin us 3 nil when we had Skirtel at right back in a season when we were playin title challenging football?
Kennys a bit more than a mascot. Mickey Mouse is a mascot, Kennys a symbol of our club and deserves a little more of our patience and respect than to be comparin his matches to Hodgsons.
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 #1199 |
Arman23
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 2:50 pm
Kenny is definitely a symbol of the club (I beleive I said spiritual leader) and of course deserves our respect. I just hope he isn’t playing his signings ahead of players who may have been more suited to yesterday’s match (Kuyt or Maxi for example). I believe Hodgson did this with Poulsen and the Konch and was shot down on this blog for it. You need to sometimes be subjective instead of just saying Kenny is a symbol of the club and therefore can’t be faulted in any way.
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 #1200 |
ldhawan
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 3:17 pm
When I look at this team, especially the midfield core that is now playing, the feeling I get is that I hope Kenny gets the whole playing better than the sum of it’s parts. Adam, Henderson, Carroll don’t look like world beaters so I am banking on Kenny having them play like a well oiled machine, with each player doing his part.
Of course that didn’t happen yesterday. It is unfortunate that we let our two creative sparks leave. People think Aqua couldn’t hack the premiership or his fitness was an issue but Silva and Mordric are two excellent examples of what he could have given LIverpool. Ah well, there are probably reasons we don’t know why things happened the way they did.
All in all, I can only hope Kenny gets the team playing as a team and quickly as we still only have one or two world beaters on our team.
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 #1201 |
sachem
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 4:25 pm
Maybe Rafa’s been holding out for the right opportunity to re-join Liverpool. Wouldn’t it be a magnificent sight. Kenny welcoming him back with open arms, putting full use of his tactical insight and attention to detail. In the meantime, the King handles the media and makes sure all the players are on their toes at all times with his great persona. In theory, it’s one hell of a partnership. In reality, it could never happen.
I do think this Spurs performance was simply a blip. It’s worrying to see our performance level dropping that low, but as long as it doesn’t happen again I wouldn’t worry about it. I still think we’re well up for fourth, even though it will be necessary for several players to up their games. Personally I’ve never been convinced by what I’ve seen of Carroll (except for one or two odd performances in the Newcastle shirt) and Henderson. We’ll just have to hope, in the long run, that Comolli and Kenny were right in signing those lads.
ldhawan:
In my opinion, both Luka Modri? and David Silva are light years ahead of Aquilani. He’s got quality, but not on their level and nowhere near as consistent. Perhaps we’ll eventually sign a player with the skill and creativity of Modri?, Silva or Mata, but those players are pretty rare and expensive. I personally don’t think we stood a chance of signing Mata this summer. Too much of a proven quality player (which wasn’t quite the case with Suárez when he joined us.
|
 #1202 |
London Red
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 5:14 pm
I do hope there’s no escape clauses in Suarez’s contract because if we don’t improve on perfomances like yesterday I fear someone will test our nerve in the summer.
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 #1203 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 7:23 pm
arman23 i said he was a symbol of our club. He isnt a spiritual leader. not a guru, not a messiah, but a symbol of our club. Just a man, but a man who has accomplished so much for this club and fought so much for this club over the years as im sure you know. But spiritual leader? no. some leader who we blindly follow? No again.
I was being totally subjective. What i said was, for the reasons i just touched upon, is that he deserves a little more respect and PATIENCE than people spouting off shite in here about us being as bad as Hodgsons team…or we never got outplayed like that under Rafa. Rafa had a good couple years of rebuilding all the same. Kennys had barely 6 months, so of course we are gonna have days where the shit hits the fan.
What I pointed out is that we WERE outplayed like that under Rafa. At Fulham…amongst others. How many wanky draws and stupid defeats did we get in the 08/09 season to hand the title to the Scum.
But Rafa was a great manager…its just that bad days happen..like yesterday. Kenny has nothing to prve. Both he and Steve C have got alot more right than they have wrong, and need full backing from us. People are sitting poised by thier keyboards ready to start knee jerking and blogging a load of panicky shite at the first sign of any of the new lads stumbling, which is wrong, considering its 5 games in!
Kenny did make mistakes yesterday, but can anyone tell me what manager hasnt from time to time? He isnt faultless, hes just human, as are the team. Its unfair to suggest he doesnt have a grasp of what hes doing, or Steve C, and that they would need Rafa back to help them. But anyway, keep positive. Its a long road yet. 4th is well reachable.
|
 #1204 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 19, 2011 @ 8:48 pm
The best team won. It happens.
|
 #1205 |
blud red
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 1:35 am
after a result like that everyone is welcome to vent their spleen without meaning lack of respect to kenny.
most adore kenny in this blog and thats a fact.
but fuck, that was a shite managerial performance by a long chalk backed up by some woeful performances on the pitch. thousands of liverpool fans sat through that and thought the same thing (except the fans in the crowd who sang their hearts out).
i have stood up for andy carroll in this blog on more than one occasion, but the lad looks out of his depth and the squad does not seem to play to his strengths.
if that game was a western film then we just walked into an ambush, then the ambush turned into a massacre. by the end it was like the little bighorn.
i certainly believe the refs have got together with fergusson and taken a bung because i also thought the official was particularly harsh. they just don’t like us this season.
i am also getting tired of suarez’s histrionics. it’s like he’s starting to believe his own publicity. all this arm-waving stuff is winning him a petulant reputation before he’s cemented the reputation he has as a gifted footballer. be cheeky yes, but don’t be a cheat. its like i’m watching the boy who cried wolf. he is particularly irritating when he screams at players who don’t pass him the ball even though he may be standing two yards offside. someone have a quiet word and tell him it’s a team game.
|
 #1206 |
blud red
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 2:30 am
and i’m not having a dig at the players so much because as a group of players i really like them and the squad has a symmetry that has been missing for years. but on saturday they looked like rabbits in the headlights from the minute the whistle blew and that was unacceptable.
one glaring area i thought was the out ball to the attack midfield. we struggled all game to connect to andy and luis.
this wasn’t just down to spurs pressing. i’m not sure i understand the movement of andy carroll. they did not lump the ball up to him, they tried to play it to feet, but he was always slow to link up. it was like watching a freight train make a connection. like me texting on my mobile: predictive.
andy carroll has strengths, he is good at winning the ball in the air in the final third and he is good on his left peg from 15 to twenty yards out.
but his link play is slack and from what i can see he is slow to react in the six yard area. he’s got to improve these areas if he wants to get a regular start.
and for fucks sake (while i’m still ranting) will some one stop suarez from taking dead balls free kicks. he can’t do it.
dalglish got it wrong here. we needed more pace up front and we needed more pace in defence. in the end deficiences in these key areas cost us dear.
|
 #1207 |
blud red
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 2:33 am
oh and there was no plan B either.
|
 #1208 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 2:50 am
True Bud Red, I don’t think theres anyone in this blog that disrespect’s Kenny…
Does anyone have any Idea whem Kelly will be back? We could sure use him and also Kyut, Bellers and StevieG on the starting line up…
|
 #1209 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 8:25 am
I agree with you blud. Kenny did get it wrong and there was no plan b. But the he wasn’t helped by the lack of movement or effort from the lads. We all know that this team is capable of far more. I don’t know how there could have been a plan B for a ref who was out to book us left right and centre and us going down to 9 men. They only got their last 3 goals after Skrtel went off. I also think if Modric had of sailed that effort into the sky and we had of ridden out the storm for 20 mins we could have gained a foothold. Goals change games. And the home side always come out of the traps to pen you back. Its normal. If we had of kept 12 men and not conceded early Im conivnced it’s a different game.
Im not trying to paint Kenny as faultless, I just tend to think some people are overreacting and you can sense that peoples expectancies are way too high because of Kenny. They expect that right away we should be battering everyone in the league. He got it wrong as does FergiScum from time to time, like when the Scum got battered 3 nil at Fulham 2 seasons ago. It will happen. Credit to Spurs, they have a decent team and played their game to a T.
Its been made clear that we are in the middle of rising and rebuilding from the ashes,and it will take time. There will be days when we don’t turn up. Lets be honest, apart from Sunday, when all that could have went wrong DID go wrong, and the second half of Sunderland, we have played pretty well and done what we were supposed to.
|
 #1210 |
dougle
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 11:44 am
Blud – you spotted quite correctly the lack of an out-ball. However it was due to Spurs pressing and particularly when Adam went off (even tho’ he was off the pace for the time he was playing) then the only out ball was to Lucas and he would have been swamped.
My verdict on this game was we went into it leaking on the right hand side – Skrtel (Carra) and Henderson were a wet paper bag and Bale skewered them. We were like the titanic – listing to one side. Of course it’s easy to say this in hindsight but Kuyt was ideal for this game.
Top that with Adam getting himself sent off for nothing, lack of mentality.
We seemed to be powder puff where and when we had players, the combination of Lucas, Henderson, Adam and Downing were simply brushed aside.
Again a lack of mentality across the team in general.
Unlike Rafa, Kenny really (over)believes in his players I think, with Rafa it was players to a system with the opposition in mind, with Kenny it was players first and no real system at all on Sunday, certainly no thought about Bale .
It’s a lot to get wrong in one game and I am genuinely surprised at the mess that was the collective effort.
The only good thing is there is laid bare what needs to be sorted. I also suspect Kenny is trying to gauge what his best 11 is, however, why is Maxi not being played and why is Henderson always being played ? Henderson is a centre-mid playing on the wing and it really is not working very well. You could play him with Lucas now in center-mid, Adam is out.
Brighton is a good game to have and so is Wolves and actually so are Everton. They are games where we have the talent and the toughtness to win.
So go do it Redmen.
|
 #1211 |
ldhawan
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 11:46 am
Sachem – I beg to differ. The only difference is that Aquaman didn’t get a chance to show his quality. Modric, Silva and Mata are all playing week in week out whereas Aquaman didn’t. He showed a lot of creativity during the pre season and I’m sure he would have done so during the season as well if given the chance.
That’s my opinion anyway.
|
 #1212 |
Rafalution
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 1:50 pm
Aitch, KDLL, bludred…guys, I posted a negative comment about Carra. Just telling it like I see it i.e. he hasn’t been very good this season, so I guess those barbed remarks were aimed at me.
Look, I greatly respect the bloke. As it happens, Rafa saved his carear – he was playing RB for Ged, and not every game. Rafa tuned him into a great CB – and I mean great – but he is not young anymore. So yeah, have a pop at me, but I still think Agger should be starting with Coates or Skrtl. That’s my opinion – doesn’t mean I disrespect the guy, or that I don’t appreciate what he has done & what he means to the club. So go easy on the ‘you must be fucking stupid’ etc etc.
Regards the game against the spuds. As Digegr says, it is one game. Bad day at the office, the whole side were shite.
But what bothers me is that for the 6 fouls we commited in the 1st half, 4 were carded. Spurs commited 10 (I think) & didn’t get a card? When a player gets carded so early in the game, he is automatically on the back foot (well, excepting for Adam) & are a bit aprehensive in tackles. And Modric’s hit & hope goal didn’t help matters.
What I do worry about is the form of Carroll. He has looked like a los fart in a perfume factory – running around (labourously) not seeming to have a clue. I liked him when he was at Newcy, so I know what he can do. But maybe we should start him in the Carling Cup, FA Cup etc & hope that he gets his form back. Coz at the moment he has absolutely no understanding with the rest of the team.
Kuyt should have played on Sunday. Maybe try him & Suarez up front from now – they looked good together in the 1st few games.
Otherwise, there is no way I’m going to critisize the King. It is early days yet, and we have seen glimpses of a very good side – we just need to string 90 mins together, and hit the fecking target as well!
|
 #1213 |
dougle
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Rafa – it doesn’t just come down to Carroll himself. It’s been commnented upon numerous times, in this blog alone, just how many hit and hope balls get slung at him. He’s not Drogba. The team has to play to his strengths and not just use him as a first resort when any pressure is applied.
It may come back to players vs systems. For me I like the 4-2-3-1 and I’m not sure Andy fits there (as the 1).
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 #1214 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 3:45 pm
Digger’s post #1204 is absolutely classic.
|
 #1215 |
McrRed
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 7:26 pm
Agree with most of the comments on here – even the contradictory ones!
To add my own, I really like Andy Carroll thought he was marvelous for Newcastle but every time I see him start on the teamsheet I worry about the result to come.
Same with Henderson and Adam. I think one of the two wouldn’t hurt us but bedding both in at the same time has occasionally cost us. Hendo because of his youth (and relative inexperience) and Adam because he’s so slow he’d be overtaken by the next ice-age. It seems he was brought in to add some spice from deadball situations and I think he does that really well. But the rest of the time he doesn’t track back quickly and has little anticipation to compensate.
It’s chalk and cheese between the kinds of performance offered by a small mobile trio/quintet of Suarez/Kuyt/Downing/Maxi/Bellamy and the static England-esque hoof it to the big man performances (apart from one match where we trounced City thanks to Big AC – I was going to call him brandy carroll but I figured that would be too disrespectful for one of our own).
I don’t think the game against Brighton will give us a clue as to the way forward…but Wolves might. Anyway, onwards and upwards!
Oh and I emailed Gerry last week to see how he was and he sounded in fine fettle and says there should be a new Blog in the not too distant future….
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 #1216 |
Lurgankop
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 8:21 pm
A big blow for us, IMHO.
-o-
Liverpool defender Daniel Agger is expected to be out for at least four weeks after suffering a rib injury in Sunday’s 4-0 defeat at Tottenham.
The Dane fell heavily and had to be substituted before half-time.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said: “Daniel has got a fractured rib, so he’s struggling a bit.”
Agger’s agent Per Steffensen told sporten.tv2.dk: “It’s the worst possible news. He has broken two ribs, and he must keep still for four weeks.”
He added on tipsbladet.dk: “Daniel is way down now and I certainly sympathise with him. He will miss the two [international] matches against Cyprus and Portugal and there is a match against Manchester United [on 15 October] he also misses. It’s insanely annoying.”
-o-
I know that he seems to be injury prone but he does seem to get some unfortunate breaks as well. I guess that the internationals may lessen the impact somewhat.
We are due an upper after the last few downers. Com’on Kenny, sort it out.
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 #1217 |
Lurgankop
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 8:23 pm
Thanks McrRed. Good to hear that Gerry is in good form. Was getting worried for him.
|
 #1218 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 20, 2011 @ 10:25 pm
Why so LB?! Surely I’ve posted more profound, insightful comments than that over the years?! 
But thanks, I think!
Great to hear yer doing well Ger, looking forward to reading yer new blog.
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 #1219 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:14 am
Will be a great thing to see another Blog!!!!! Was looking like this great blog site was going to grind to a total stop….
Not sure how anyone can assess Coates on the sole performance he has had for us… Especially as the set up was so wrong against Tottenham…
Funny thing is that my all time defender may have been the slowest of all defenders, he was Big Sami…. Sure Coates isn’t anywhere near Sami’s level (yet) but slowness isn’t the be all and end all… I do feel that Coates was brought for next season, when Carra will be relieved of his starting position…
I’m hoping he could develop into the future rock in our defence as Carra just isn’t at the top of his game at the moment and is likely to continue declining in form and ability…
I’m dissappointed that as soon as we sorted out the left back position our plan A and B right backs get injured!!!! What a shame we don’t have an Arbeloa to call on anymore, perhaps his role needs to be filled by Carra in the next year or two if Coates can force his way into the starting line up with Skrtyl or DAgger…
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 #1220 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:37 am
Some people need to grow up and stop behaving like hysterical women.
Saturday’s result? We were beaten by the better team on the day. Doesn’t mean we are crap doesn’t mean we are world beaters. Real Madrid were beaten by Levante, are they crap all of a sudden? Is Moaninho a crap manager? Of course not.
Regards Carra – Personally I couldn’t care less if people are saying he’s finished near the end of his career, playing crap. I might not agree neccessarily with those opinions but what I can’t stand is the lack of respect that comes across. He makes me sick, he’s a hopeless hoofer. Now Rafalution don’t get all prissy because these comments have been said, I don’t know by who so i’m not accusing you ok?
I don’t think we bought Adam for his dead ball ability alone, that would be ridiculous. This is not American football. I don’t think we bought Carroll for his heading ability alone that too would be equally stupid although at the moment buying at all looks silly. Likewise I don’t think we bought our players this season thinking, let’s by some average players just to get in the Europa league…????? That sounds ludicrous to me. What does sound sensible is we are in a rebuilding process, we have cut our cloth accordingly, we can’t do a city obviously and FSG are running the club in business like way which means the process will be slower, I prefer to work our way, earn our way to title, it’s hard watching the mancs(actually I never watch the mancs unless they are playing us it makes me feel sick) but let us remember when the figures are quoted as to what we’ve spent it’s only about 30 million net spend for the first part of the rebuilding phase yes first part. We’ve bought some youth and we’ve bought a bit of experience. Now Sunday was horrendous but do we really think that result was the norm or was a 4-0 drubbing a one off? So perspective and patience needed please and calm down blud red you sounded like a little girl with your tantrum all be it like a little girl who uses very bad language.
|
 #1221 |
blud red
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:53 am
lurgan kop
agger out for four weeks and then some? tell me something i didn’t know.
that lad used to be a great centre half, but he has played so little in the last two years the inconsistency has affected his game. i hardly see him as the promising player he was any more and that is a great shame because i thought he was the new hansen, only a much better model…now, he’s mr glass. he’s worse than ledley fucking king.
whats wrong with modern footballers? you can’t get three games on the trot from most of them, breaks my liverpool heart, it really does.
how can you possibly be match fit and up to speed when you’re playing two games every two months, then you’re shoved into combat to face modric or drogba or rooney. its just not possible.
there’s no continuity in our defence apart from carra. he’s built like a tonka toy while all the rest are fucking lego, there’s always bits falling off.
fabio aurellio, sounds like a bleeding gladiator, pity he doesn’t have the stamina to match. if ever there was a bloke who needed to have a bionic operation on his legs it is him.
glen johnson, walks on the pitch, plays for two minutes, feels a hamstring, waves to the bench, walks off. cheers mate, that will be £90,000 please.
martin kelly? that lads just left friggin school, he’s practically brand new and yet he breaks down more times than my old triumph stag, and that is saying something.
breaks my heart.
people have a right to criticise carra. i see where they are coming from, but in 15 odd years playing for LFC he must have missed 32 minutes of play.
no wonder the anfield crowd sing: we all dream of a team of carraghers. it makes total sense doesn’t it.
|
 #1222 |
Sambo
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 1:17 am
it’s certainly strange that Kenny has started Henderson every game. he hasn’t stamped his mark on the team and has done very little in terms of creative, dynamic, or attacking verve. the stats show that he’s running a lot, but where the hell is he running because he’s largely anonymous.
i think the others have been reasonably well-managed. Carroll has paid for a slow start with a couple of games on the bench. Adam has shown the quality of the passes he’s capable of (mixed in with a load of shite) so i can understand him being given time to find some consistancy…. but Henderson? i don’t really get it. he’s a young lad, there’s plenty of time to show his talents, but why start him ahead of Kuyt and Maxi? two of the key players who propelled us up the table last season. what’s Kenny’s rush to play him every week? i agree with someone’s earlier post that bedding in Adam and Henderson at the same time is costing us.
i can understand starting him at Anfield against Sunderland. it was a big day for him, he was a our ‘top summer target’ and he deserved to be given the chance to win over the anfield faithful…. but 5 games later…. maybe it’s time to bring back some of the shape that won Kenny the job in the first place.
are we ever going to have a first choice back 4 for a run of games!!?? it’s getting ridiculous. i’ve forgotten what it’s like to have a consistant defense. no Agger, no Skrtle, no Kelly, no Johnson, no Aurellio, no Flanno (although he’s back now by all accounts). sick of it. fullbacks are vital to an attacking side. why do we never seem to have any fit?
good news about Gerry!
|
 #1223 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 2:47 am
that’s more like it blud red…your last comment was hilarious…oh dear it’s all true not so funny now.
I can’t really understand the criticism of Henderson, is he the new Lucas? He’s done ok not great but ok.
I think the reason for starting Skyrtl instead of Flannagan was not to risk him up against a flying Bale and destroy the lads confidence. Let’s face Skyrtl should have had more about him but this was a day when the team didn’t perform.
2 players sent off makes a massive difference to the result. What I do like is King Kenny’s reaction to the result when he was interviewed…I didn’t hear any excuses or hard luck stories just a fair assessment of what happened. As regards we weren’t prepared???? Absolute crap…Do you really think we had the week off and then just turned up at White Hart Lane on Sunday?
LB – Last season and the season before I thought your comments were really well thought out and full of good reasoning, this season??? I don’t know what has happened to you, you need to pull your socks up as much as some of the players after that defeat. You are commenting like a little kid having a tantrum…want it want it want it!!! don’t want it don’t want it don’t want it!!! “Our transfer policy of British players is bollocks” why LB? “Because I said so, it’s bollocks!!” 5 games in chaps relax. Nobody seriously thought we would win the league did we? Except Aitch n me oh dear I’m looking a bit foolish now.
|
 #1224 |
McrRed
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 9:01 am
I get what people are saying about injuries and the modern footballer. I grew up in the time where the team was announced for the first game and basically that was it for the rest of the season. BUT every team not just us has the same problems at different times in the season and have to cope as best they can. We were happy to get one over on Arsenal for the first time in ages regardless of the injuries they were also dealing with. Now Wolves are going to be felling the same about us.
The other thing from the old days was a sense that you play your best team (which invariably means play your best players). A lot of the Liverpool Groove came from the players knowing each others’ game so well. Now in the days of high athleticism and squad rotation it’s much less clear. Kenny’s been there done it, got the T-shirt and the medal so he knows what he is doing….but…I just don’t understand how seasoned internationals like Kuyt or Maxi (or Raul when he was here) would be benched to fit a young (though promising) ingenue like Hendo. I don’t get it. But Kenny does. He has a plan – we just don’t know what it is.
I just hope the plan is working…
|
 #1225 |
blud red
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 9:39 am
my comments were only tongue in cheek about modern footballers and injuries.
i reckon there are many mitigating factors to bring into account.
we seem to accept that when football was young, players were hewn from steel girders on the docks of the mersey.
or with fifteen siblings to feed and fourteen of those working down the mines, the only route left for wee jimmy was playing left half in hobnails.
it was that or poverty and these kids were made of steel. as mcred said, i don’t remember rotation policies when i was a kid.
what i do know is that by the time you turn full pro you have basically been kicking a ball competitively since you were six years old.
the player we see joining us as a 18 year old fresh from the academy may have already had ten years full competition behind him, perhaps 2 games a week.
are they really box fresh? or seasoned youngsters with a full injury quota already?
anyone here remember that picture of jackie charlton relaxing in his hotel room with a pint of guiness and fag?
or the england team with bobby moore et al, during the world cup sitting round a hotel pool drinking and smoking?
jordan henderson strikes me as the norm rather than the exception these days. nice middle class kid, doesn’t drink, smoke, eats like an athlete should, pasta chicken, chicken pasta, played the game all his life.
people have been wondering why this lad was picked ahead of others.
i can see why. couple of games ago we all could see why when he curled that ball into the top left.
when it works, you don’t ask too many questions. when you don’t get the results there’s an inquiry.
oh and for the record. i believe that liverpool are strong enough to challenge for the title. i still do.
i also said that we would have a few hiccups along the way. brighton next. lets put this bad run of form to bed and walk on.
|
 #1226 |
dougle
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:44 pm
Good stuff Mc Red – delighted to hear Gerry is in fine form. I reckon tonight could be a great game to catch. Brighton play good ball (by all accounts,) but hopefully not as good as Spurs, (as in the Spurs that turned up Sunday not the wimps that lay down for Manchester).
I can see a few goals going in. Now whom amongst the squad needs to score a few goals ? I bet you AC starts.
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 #1227 |
dougle
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:46 pm
Ooops .. well this is the “earliest” team for tonight.
” Pepe, Kelly, Carra, Coates, Robinson, Maxi, Lucas, Spearing, Shelvey, Bellamy & Suarez”
|
 #1228 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 12:58 pm
KDLL, you probably liked my comments the last 2 seasons because you agreed with them. Whereas now, you don’t. I’ve given a full, thought out, reasoned breakdown on why I wasn’t a fan of our transfer strategy in previous posts. Hardly anyone in here agreed with me. Probably because Kenny is manager and to question Kenny is like blaspheming against God almighty.
Had Spurs slaughtered us 4-0 with Rafa or Hodgson in charge there would be a lot more mouth foaming with vexation posts. As it’s Kenny, you get Digger saying “The best team won, it happens”.
I’ll leave it there for now.
|
 #1229 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 6:36 pm
Not from me LB. I was a big fan of Rafa and always was even before you got on board. As regards Hodgson I said from the start he was hopeless for us, good for a club that wants to survive but hopeless for us. It was obvious from day one when we saw his transfer targets.
Konchesky – Enrique
Poulsen – Henderson
Cole – Downing
Not hard to see why everyone was foaming at the mouth with Hodgson.
Spurs 4-0 was a freak result. That’s it.
As regards Kenny you can criticize all you like, no probs from me. He got it wrong with Skyrtl on the right no bones about it, but 4-0 wrong??? Not sure about that.
Fergie went after Adam so he can’t be that bad, we were also after Jones but manure pipped us to him. I don’t think our policy was so bad but a bit handicapped by no champion’s league and a need to balance the books. I’m pleased with the business we did, not pleased with the result on saturday but you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Digger was right but I know what you mean it was Ironic.
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 #1230 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 9:44 pm
LB – You weren’t a fan of our transfer strategy, so what do you think our strategy should have been then?
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 #1231 |
sachem
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 9:51 pm
Excellent first half tonight. Second was quite awful. The opposition wasn’t too bad though.
Was anyone surprised to see Carra being the cause of yet another goal in the back? Don’t want to have a go at the man, but that wasn’t exactly the most clinical piece of defending I’ve ever seen.
Having said that, there are no worthy replacements around at the moment. If we’re lucky, Agger will stay fit for a few more games this season.
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 #1232 |
dougle
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 10:27 pm
A win’s a win za win za win …. That’ll do just fine.
I saw very little of the game. I like tonight how Kenny set the team up. I like how Robinson, a kid, got a game with the strength of the first teamers around him. Good for Coates too. As I say I don’t know the in’s and out’s of it but I like the result and I liked the team. Good man Kenny.
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 #1233 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 10:32 pm
Did anyone see the game? How did Coates, Kelly and StevieG look?
Carra is becomming a real concern… We need to sort our defence out, luckily we should be able to get a good result against Wolves…
Bellers for me may prove to be the bargain of the season, he needs to be in the starting line up with Suarez… Slow starts to seasons can come back to haunt at the business end…
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 #1234 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 11:17 pm
Read this off a web-site:
“Jamie Carragher didn’t have too much to do in the first half, beyond clear a few crosses and set pieces, but in the second half he was a reassuring and commanding presence as Brighton did their best to lay siege to the Reds’ goal.
His heading and marking was exemplary, and, as always, his reading of the game was of the highest order. (Several times he was the covering defender as Brighton’s wide men looked to exploit gaps in the Reds’ defence.)
The only blemish on Carragher’s copybook was giving away the late penalty after Spearing lost possession inside the Liverpool box, but even so this was a very good performance from the Liverpool vice-captain—who sportingly gave up the captain’s armband when Gerrard made his appearance from the bench.”
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 #1235 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
Are you seriously blaming Carra for that goal? Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Carra was hung out to dry by Spearing’s terrible decision to try and keep the ball in play when he should have just kicked it out.
A professional performance from the boys in my opinion, we should have gone in 3-0 up. Again some bad luck and poor finishing denied us a commanding lead. Brighton did well, I thought we sat off theem in the second half soaked up the pressure and then hit them on the break. Coates did well except for a dodgy pass along the back line which gifted them a shot on goal. Bellamy will be a bargain for us.
My team at the moment when all the players are fit would be
Reina
Kelly Carra Agger Enrique
Adam Lucas
Kuyt Gerrard Downing
Suarez
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 #1236 |
sachem
Posted on September 21, 2011 @ 11:54 pm
Of course Spearing made a terrible mistake, but the moment a saw a player with red shirt diving for the ball in the most reckless manner imaginable, I didn’t exactly have to see the number on the back of his shirt or any other identifying mark to be certain it was Carra. It’s hardly a coincidence his mistakes have given goals away 4 games in a row now.
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 #1237 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 12:11 am
Certainly not blaming Carra been trying to find analysis from the web as BBC text coverage just doesn’t tell the real story (BBC text simply says:
88:27
Penalty awarded for an unfair challenge on Rodriguez Vicente by Jamie Carragher)
very relieved to hear that he was good today, we need the back four to settle.
Also read this account, which I though was very informative:
“I find it curious that bloggers are yet again turning on Carragher just because he tripped someone right at the end when in fact it was Spearing’s mistake as he fell just before that. Carragher in fact was outstanding all evening always keeping pace with the play putting his foot or his head where it mattered the ‘typical’ criticism of him at the end is unwarranted.
Liverpool looked far more accomplished and stronger tonight and Dalglish may reflect that after his performances at the end of last season and again tonight that Spearing may be worth a go now in the premiership. Given the availability also now of Gerrard and bearing in mind the lack of composure Adam showed at White Hart Lane it may not do him any harm at all to be on the bench this saturday.”
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 #1238 |
blud red
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 1:03 am
carra, kelly, robbo and coates played well given tricky circumstances. carra was particularly good. spearing stitched him up for the pen.
bellers looked good. as did spearing until the pen and what can you say about dirk that hasn’t been said before.
i think man shite would have roasted this lot because of the fear factor. when a team is feared they are given license to play.
liverpool need to turn a corner and built up a reputation that will stick.
good result on the south coast in very tricky conditions. walk on.
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 #1239 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 1:09 am
I don’t agree with you on this one Sachem. If Spearing doesn’t make that ridiculous decision then Carra wouldn’t have had to try and remedy the situation. As it happens he was first on hand as on many occasions. Carra is not invincible and I know that he is nearing the end of his career but I think you’re wrong on this one.
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 #1240 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 8:07 am
We looked really good in the first half. Not so good second half. Nor sure if that’s because we dropped the pace or coz Brighton picked it up. Probably both. Anyway in the first half we played some lovely football. Suarez, Kuyt, Maxi, Bellamy all linking up great and creating clear chances. Right now I’d rather have Maxi/Kuyt/Meireles (last time I’ll mention Raul) in the side than Adam/Henderson/Carroll.
My main problem with our transfers is that we’ve spent a lot of our resources on players who in my opinion were not really an improvement on what we already have/had. I like Suarez and Enrique of course. But was never of the opinion Adam/Downing/Carroll/Henderson were anything better than just above average. I’d love to be proved wrong and served up some humble pie on this one believe me.
Anyway it was good to see the pass and move back last night. And good to see Gerrard back!
I think Maxi deserves a start in the league. His performances in the cup have been very good. Would have been easy for him to sulk but his attitude looks good to me.
My team against Wolves:
Reina
Kelly, Carra, Skrtle, Enrique
Maxi, Adam, Lucas, Downing
Kuyt, Suarez
Gerrard, Bellamy, Carroll, Henderson the options from the bench.
Right now I’d have Carroll as 4th choice striker. The other 3 look much better.
|
 #1241 |
Lurgankop
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 1:01 pm
I can’t comment that much on the match because I was watching it on a crappy feed. However, when I could see the picture, we looked pretty slick in the first half, with Bellers, Saurez, and Kuyt linking up well. Should have been 3 or 4 at half-time. Not the first time that that has been season recently.
In the 2nd half they seemed to have a bit more belief and went for it. I am not sure if we sat back to hit them on the break or they forced us to. They seemed to be a good footballing side though.
As for Carra, I thought that he had his best game of the season last night, although he did jump in to give the pen away. On the other hand, wtf was Spearing up to. All round cock-up which represents this season so far – giving away stupid goals.
Talking about Carra, here’s an interesting link for those of you who like the stats.
http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/09/the-whole-hoof-and-nothing-but-the-hoof/
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 #1242 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 2:23 pm
Good to be back winning games. Good 1st half and that did the job for us. Hopefully we can get back to winning ways on saturday.
Talking of transfers, i think we should go all out to get Banega from Valencia. He looks a great prospect. Qualifying for Champions league is imperative.
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 #1243 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 2:31 pm
Interesting article from Paul Tomkins. The thing about Agger is that he compensates for that with some nice forward movements, a great left foot.
|
 #1245 |
blud red
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 9:58 pm
somnath
do you really think agger compensates with some nice football?
i can’t remember the last time i saw him do so. his left peg has lost it’s mojo too.
as a defender, he was better then than he is now. at one stage he looked cultured. at times he looks clumsy now.
|
 #1246 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 22, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
Well Lads I missed the spurs game as I was watching my county win its first all Ireland title in 16 years and the debauchery continued until late monday night. Been catching up with comments and it seems we had a mare all round looks like we got it all wrong, I think we will just have to write it off as one of those results that hopefully we can forget about in the coming weeks.
First half last night was very good have to say Im very impressed with Bellers so far, hope he can keep it up. If Kenny really wants to put a few past wolves we have to drop Andy and play Bellers, Luis, Dirk and Downing hope he does we are starting to leave ourselves with little room for maneuver if spuds keep improving.
Score a few then throw Andy and Stevie on to finish them off.
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 #1247 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 7:49 am
@blue red: I would take his forward movement any day over Carra’s hoofs. But its true, his top performances are highly inconsistent. He has been always prone to injury.
If we look at it in that respect, we should be looking to replace both.
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 #1248 |
Rafalution
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 10:17 am
I’ve been ‘wondering’ about Carra’s form on here, but I certainly wouldn’t blame him for giving away the peno against Brighton. What on earth was Spearing thinking of? He (Spearing) was quite average on Wed night. Agree with LB, Maxi should be given a chance. Clever footballer, with some skill & scoring ability added to the mix!
Initially I thought Stevie should slot in on the right of midfield when he came back. Now I’m having 2nd thoughts. Suarex is a wonderful player, who creates plenty. But he has missed a couple this season already. With Big Andy not on top of his game, I would like to see Stevie pushing up behind the striker from CM, like he did when the Spaniard was with us.
So yeah, I would go with KDLL’s ‘team’.
bludred, It’s been pissing me off too, the injury problem. How does one go & dislocate a rib, FFS? And Johno – every time he gets onto the pitch, I worry about him pulling/tweaking something? It’s driving me nuts. kelly should be fit & strong, but maybe he has the same problem Stevie had when he was 19 or so i.e. body still growing, muscles adapting to growth therefore not strong enough & always being agravated?
I’ve put the Spuds result behing me now. It was 1-0 from a fluke goal, and then we had a man sent off. We didn’t play well or look good, but 4-0 shouldn’t have & wouldn’t have happened if we had 11 on the paddock.
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 #1249 |
sachem
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 3:04 pm
If Agger has been clumsy, then I wouldn’t even know what word would accurately describe Carra. Don’t mean to put a dagger (if you pardon the pun) in the back of a legendary player, but Carra is in fact a liability these days. Agger is not, even though I would agree those stats were interesting and surprising.
Even more interesting was that Lucas has apparently been our finest long range passer for years. Unless I misinterpret, he’s even been more precise in his long range passing than Xabi during his best season for us.
Returning to Carra, I think he still needs to play each game because of his organisational skills. Perhaps in the long-term, Coates could replace him in this department, but not at present. We sure could have used a certain Phil Jones at the back, eh?
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 #1250 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 4:27 pm
Carra can be a liability at times. We have to defend so deep and he has made the odd mistake. However he is still one of our best centre backs. Besides Agger who else can take Carra’s place on merit? Is Skrtle better? Not IMO. Is Coates a better option at the moment? I don’t think so. I think we need a new quality centre back. Our back four is suspect these days. Just doesn’t look solid. I checked Glen Johnson’s attendance record and saw that he has NEVER played more than 29 league games in a season. Since he was a regular at Portsmouth he has averaged 28 games per season. So he’s missing a quarter of the season every year. I think we need a new right back.
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 #1251 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 4:32 pm
Question to all:
Do you think our title drought will go on for longer than the mancs? It took them 26 years to win the title again after they won it in 1967. We have gone 21 years and counting.
|
 #1252 |
KENNY DALGLISH LFC LEGEND
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 5:09 pm
Are their better centre backs out there than Carra? Yes of course there are. Are there better centre backs at LFC at the moment? Not sure and I would say based on past performances and his sheer bloody mindedness that Carra is still not finished. He’s on the wane of course he is but Coates will soon take over and I reckon King Kenny will be looking to strengthen that area next.
I think we will win the title by 25 years LB. FSG are winners and King Kenny is a winner.
Not sure Adam can play against Wolves so my team
Reina
Kelly Carra Coates Enrique
Lucas
Maxi Gerrard Downing
Kuyt Suarez
|
 #1253 |
blud red
Posted on September 23, 2011 @ 11:11 pm
if carra was a motor car he’d be a volvo estate.
throw anything at him and he’d handle it, the kitchen sink, and it would be sorted with ease.
got long legs, will go and go and go and go. european trips, no problem, there and back and there and back and there and back again and not a whisper of complaint. ultra reliable, 547,000 miles and just a cam belt and a change of oil.
ok, so it’s not the most glamorous and its not the fastest from A to B but what it lacks in style and speed it makes up for with a bullet-proof engine and terrific value for money.
if daniel agger was a car he’d be an alfa romeo. pretty to look at but always in the garage.
|
 #1254 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 24, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
Happy with 3 points. Final possession – We had less of the ball. Gerrard and Kuyt changed the game a bit.
|
 #1255 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 24, 2011 @ 7:17 pm
Good result, patchy performance, great to have stevie back with two really tough games coming up we have to get back in the groove.
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 #1256 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 4:04 am
Good result but disappointing second half, until that is SG arrived. First half was good but the second, OMG, we were playing Wolves. Kenny Adam is not good enough, he is a luxury player who you can accommodate when your winning,when you are under the kosh he is slow, defensively weak and fails to mark up, thank goodness for Lucas’ performance yesterday.
.
Sorry to grizzle but it was painfully obvious, did anyone notice the back 4 got stronger once SG arrived. Adam should have been substituted with 10 minutes left in the first half.
.
We have all mentioned about our back 4 and our inability at the moment to keep a clean sheet, it is because we are getting out muscled in the centre of the park.
.
Other than that, Saurez played well, Carrol got better, Downing was offering and continually a problem, Henderson although off has a big engine and plenty in the tank. Kuyt and SG both looked sharp, Enrique had a blinder, Kelly was Ok and Carra and Ninja both improved once the midfield was addressed.
.
All in all a win is a win but we will have to address our problems and quick, Everton and Man U won’t be so forgiving.
.
Good to see SG back, he even looked like he wanted a goal. Unlucky for Carrol he did just about everything to get one, but it wasn’t his day.
.
Derby next week, and considering that Everton have spent nothing, lost players and happen to just be below us then its going to be very difficult for the Reds.
.
Ps I still maintain my belief we’ll finish 5th.
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 #1257 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 4:42 am
@Gaz: Very good point. The defense looks weaker than it actually is because of the poor midfield. This is not just yesterday. In recent times, a lot of other teams seems to be dominating us in that midfield. We seem to chase the ball.
I dont know about Everton but we cant afford this midfield against United.
|
 #1258 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 5:03 am
I dont know how many will agree to this but i am not convinced with this 4-4-2 formation given the players we have.
A much better option would be to go with a 4-5-1 formation. Once Glenn Johnson is fit, he should take the position of Henderson on the right wing. Kelly,Carra,Agger/skrtel,Enrique should be our first choice back four. In midfield we should have Johnson,Lucas,Gerrard,Adam,Downing. Suarez should the lead the line.
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 #1259 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 10:55 am
I don’t think we cope well with the 4-4-2 system, in fact if we want to use Andy C then really we need the 5-1 type. Anyway on to my point about Adam’, an interesting stat about our midfield. We currently have Lucas on 3 yellows, Adam on 2 yellows and 1 red, also another middle ground player Skrtle on 2 yellows and 1 Red, and we have given away a couple of penalties. This stat suggest we’re being out muscled in the middle of the park. Something LFC hasn’t had a problem with in several seasons. If the likes of Lucas and Adam are being pinged for constant infringements or last gasp tackles then the other team is winning the battle. Take out O’Hara and Wolves were a very ordinary midfield. I just think we need to shore up that portion of our game and the back 4 will look considerably better.
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 #1260 |
ar53fluff
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
i think Kenny and co are learning more about thier team with each game. Yesterday was, I think, Kennys attempt to say to those lads, you all played at Spurs and didnt turn up. Heres your chance to put it right.
I agree with the points about Adam. Hes a decent player, but I think we should keep him in the bench and get Stevie back in the line up. Charlies just a little slow and sometimes wreckless, but theres no doubt when hes on form hes a sweet passer of the ball and can deliver a good set piece.
Suarez desire to win is apparent, but Im starting to worry about the petulance and temper that boils over now and again. Not so much his disgust at being subbed yesterday, but the constant raising his arms aloft and griping at his team mates if a pass goes astray. Hes as open to giving the odd short pass or miscued shot as any of them and needs to remember its a team game.
Aside from that, it was an important three points for us. Wolves had a spell of pressure for a bit, but they had to gamble everything and push forward with a cup final attitude.
End of the day we rode it out and got the win we deserved.
I notice the Scum ran into a Stoke brick wall at the Britannia, and were lucky to escape with a point. In fact, from all accounts, we did far better down there against them but still lost. They had a good few chances to bury Manure whereas against us they had one, a penalty.Its fcked up. But noone gave us the credit for our performance at Stoke where we unluckily lost, and Im sure noone will criticise Manure for nearly conceding a few goals against them.
As far as we are concerned, Kenny is trying to find a system that works, but Im glad hes not constantly chopping and changing all the time on a whim or due to criticism from some supporters. Hes sticking to his guns and giving thse boys time to gel. This is defo the season of our rebuild and we need to remember that.
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 #1261 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 2:07 pm
I don’t think we have the right players to play 4-4-2. Our central midfield partnership of Lucas and Adam tends to lose control of games quite often. Adam is a bit of a luxury player – he did well for Blackpool as part of a midfield 3 where he was the spare man given license to be the play maker. As part of a 2 man midfield he’ll struggle a lot of the time, especially against teams who pass the ball well like Spurs.
3 points was a welcome relief! Good to see Gerrard coming back. I hope to see him at the top of his game sooner rather than later. Great goal by Suarez, he’s a genius but does waste chances doesn’t he?
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 #1262 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on September 25, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
Luis really could have double his goals so far, It was a much better display from Andy too. Its gonna be very interesting to see how we fit Stevie back in Id love if he started next week but Kenny seems to be very cautious bringing players back in after long lay offs.
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 #1263 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 12:11 am
Stevie looked sharp, doubt that he’ll start this weekend, however a starting line up with Bellers, Suarez, Downing, Stevie G and Kyut would be something to watch! all five could rotate wherever they liked in the attacking thiord and cause absolute chaos to the opposing defence…
Glad to see AC starting to come into a little bit of form, he will certainly help us in the long term if he finds his role in our team…
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 #1264 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 5:20 am
Our defense looks weak because our defense is weak. A 33yr old at the end of the line, a liability beside him, 2 right backs playing pass the parcel with the RB position due to having guitar strings where hamstrings should be and add to this another CB made of candy floss and a strong defense we certainly do not have. Nothing to do with our midfield. Theres only so much covering Lucas and Adam can do for that. They cant generate an exoskeleton for Danny, they cant build a flux capacitator for Jamie, they cant send Martin on a defending 101 programme……well they probably could but it’d be pointless…..anyway, ya see where I’m going here. The 2 lads can only keep their finger in the dyke so long. And at the end of the day, as the creative member of the pairing in a 4-4-2, guess what? There are times Charlies gonna get caught up the pitch. It happens, when yer, eh, attacking! Take that counter attack in the 2nd half where Adam was busting up the pitch with the ball, draws the defender to him before releasing the perfect pass into space for Downing who was unlucky not to score. End of play yeah? Well, technically yes but watch it again. After Adam releases Downing he continues busting up the pitch to get in the box and had Downing squared the ball instead of taking on the shot, Adam was all alone in the area with all the time in the world to pass it into an empty net. And we’d be talking about 3-1 win with Adam responsible for over 50% of our goals this season. Thats what hes here for. To create, spring us forward, put balls in the box and ergo, the net. Not to protect our flippin back four! I dont get the flak Charlie is catching to be honest. I read a stat stating he actually covered more ground than Lucas the other day. The man is hustling and covering as much of the pitch as any other red. And he certainly aint afraid of a tackle now is he? Seeing as how thats such a valued quality in our creative midfielders and all…..
We’ve scored what, 8 league goals so far right? He’s scored 2 and set up 2 right? The lad is responsible for 50% of our goals so far this year, he’s running his heart out, getting stuck in, and he’s catching shit? For what? Our defense being shit?! Gaaaaaarrrrgggh!! Come on lads.
Having said all that redemption may be just around the corner for our maligned back 4. The big guy is back. He starts. Obviously. So, where? Well, if it was me, I’d play him in the withdrawn role off Suarez with Adam and Lucas in the middle behind him, Kyut on the right and Downing on the left.This allows Adam to sit a little closer to Lucas instead of further forward in the space Stevie will now be occupying meaning some more of this much sought after protection our backline needs will be brought to bear. My team for the Derby then being:
Reina
Kelly Carra Skrtl Enrique
Kyut Lucas Adam Downing
Stevie
Suarez
I cant see how Kenny wont start Stevie in the Derby. He’ll be chomping at the bit and fuck he looks sharp. He looks hungry. Good for us, bad for bluenoses. On the right, quite simply, Kyut must start. Gotta be frank and say….I have no fucken idea what Kennys trying to prove with the inexplicable continued persistance of starting Henderson but its really starting to grind my gears. Not gonna say much more for now as we’ve all got eyes but if Henderson starts on Saturady, I dunno….I dunno what I’ll think. He’ll surely go on to score a hat-trick now!
But seriously, its the Derby. At woodison. The kid is the definition of anonymous, afraid of his shadow. No room for sentiment here and certainly no room for passengers. Plus Dirk always scores against the bitters!!
Cant wait for it, 2-1 reds, the skipper and Dirk.
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 #1265 |
Rafalution
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 8:45 am
I would go with that side Digger. As I mentioned earlier, Stevie just behind the striker, with a ‘free’ role.
I was going to agree with Gazmanius. Charlie Adam didn’t play well against Wolves. I lost count of the number of times he surrendered possesion, or just plain gave the ball away with a stray pass. But if you insist that he is responsible for 50% of our goals this season, well that changes my perspective a bit.
However, I have never seen Lucas so far forward than in this season so far. Between the 2 of them (Adam, Lucas) there doesn’t seem to be that solidity in front of the back 4. I’m a huge Lucas fan, and I liked Adam at Blackpool, so I’m not in here slating the 2 of them. I just think that they need more time to gel & understand each other. Like I said, Adam seems to give the ball away too much – maybe shorter passes to guys in space is needed?
On another note, do you hear there are some whoppers tweeting KK, having a pop at him re his team selection & tactics? There are some real fuckheads around, aren’t there? They should all piss off & follow the plastics…
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 #1266 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 9:05 am
@Diggerno: What you basically suggested is for us to get back to the luid 4-2-3-1 formation which was so effective towards the end of the last season.
Having said that, i dont think Gerrard will be at his lethal best unless someone from that midfield two consistently finds him. The reason Torres/Gerrard partnership was so devastating was because Gerrard used to find that perfect pass for Torres and more crucially Xabi used to find Gerrard at his will. Sadly, that does not happen anymore with such level of success.
Nevertheless, a 4-2-3-1 formation is the correct way to play for us.
Coming to Adam, as much as you mention all those statistics going forward, Charlie Adam is a burden to us when we chase the ball. I dont think there is any doubt to that. Did you see Pepe Reina screaming at him one multiple occassions? He was berserk that why aren’t the Wolves players closed down faster. We should not forget that he was part of midfield of Blackpool who conceded goals at an alarming rate.
As much as you slate our defense, i can assure you that even the best defensive line would fail to keep clean sheets if the midfield in front is bossed by teams of the calibre of Wolves at Anfield of all place. Also, this is not a new phenomena. We are being bossed,out muscled,dominated in short spells by teams on a regular basis nowadays even at Anfield. So the bottomline is Charlie Adam can play as long as he is covered and protected defensively otherwise he is a burden.
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 #1267 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
We defend so deep that there is a massive space in midfield for the opposition to play in. Then you have Charlie Adam who in my opinion is poor when we haven’t got the ball. It means teams like Sunderland and Wolves dominating possession at Anfield in the 2nd half of matches and us getting played off the park at Spurs. When we had Alonso and Mascherano in midfield how often did we lose control of matches? Very rarely. Both were good off the ball. Masch in the tackle and recovery pace. Alonso with superb reading of the game, positional sense and interception abilities. As I said in previous post, at Blackpool Adam had 2 midfield players as his insurance policy. I don’t believe he has ever excelled as part of a 2 man midfield.
If we play against ever Manchester Club with a 4-4-2 formation with Adam and Lucas, I will be watching behind the sofa!
I wouldn’t start Gerrard in the derby. He’s been injured for 6 months, I think he should be eased back in gradually. Throwing him into a white-hot Goodison Derby is asking for trouble. He’d probably be absolutely chest-wheezing knackered after 25 mins. Tired limbs then lead to muscle injures. No, I’d put Gerrard on the bench.
My team would be:
Reina
Kelly, Carra, Skrtle, Enrique (my player of season so far)
Kuyt, Lucas, Adam, Downing
Bellamy, Suarez
I’ve contradicted myself here saying we haven’t got the players for 4-4-2 and then reeling off the formation in my line up. Had we kept Meireles or Aquilani they’d be playing behind Suarez while Gerrard is out. As it stands I’d go with this line up until Stevie is good to start. However saying all that I am tempted to put Spearing in midfield and putting Bellamy on the bench. If we lose the midfield battle to Everton we’re screwed.
This is the team I think Kenny will pick though.
Reina
Kelly, Carra, Skrtle, Enrique
Henderson, Lucas, Adam, Downing
Carroll, Suarez
Just hope to Christ the Liverpool that turned up at White Hart Lane is not the Liverpool that turns up at Goodison.
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 #1268 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 6:52 pm
Fair points all lads, I think its just a matter of acceptance really as regards Adam, ya know? I mean we all know he’s no Alonso or Mascherano but then, who is? Our midfield is one thats battling for top 4 status again having finished 7th and 6th the last 2yrs. We dident retain Meireles or Aqualani. We couldent get Mata. Our midfield is Lucas and Adam. And thats just the way it is for now. Of course he’s gonna give away the ball on occassions, a lot more than other players but thats because hes attempting much lower percentage balls into dangerous areas instead of playing it back to where it came from! He’s trying to win the game, play some expansive football ya know? Instead of having a private kick about with Pepe and the back four! Thats what he was brought here to do, create chances, convert possession into points. He’s our creative fulcrum in the centre. What do you guys think would happen if Adam suddenly changed type and began recycling possession around the middle of the park? I’ll tell you what would happen. He’d be pulled aside fairly sharpish by Kenny and told ‘hi boy, thas nae wha you were brought here fer, now buck up yer ideas fast’. And that would be that. Ultimately, 6, games into his Anfield career, Charlies doing alright. 50% of our scores in the league have derived from him. Its not his fault the defense is a doddering old sponge. And its not his fault he’s being played in 4-4-2 where he wasnt before. Given all that, I’d say Adam has made a damn fine start in a Red shirt.
For what its worth I think we’ll see less of these misplaced hollywood balls from Charlie anyway now that Stevies back. Adam will be feeding him who will in turn be feeding Suarez. Theoretically Stevie will be closer to Adam than Suarez was so theres less potential for the pass to go awry. Also it means another option/target for Adam to pick out so say where-as before if Downing and Henderson was marked, instead of lumping a 50-50 forward to Carroll or a low percentage ball between 2 CB’s for Suarez, there is now an extra option, a short option, for Adam to hit. This, I think, will reduce the amount of misplaced passes from the middle. Our football and hopefully converting of chances, will only improve from here on in I reckon. It simply stands to reason that adding Steven Gerrard to your starting 11 makes you stronger. More powerful. Harder to beat. And thats just his ability. I also believe we’ve lacked leadership in the middle of the park at times so far this year. We’ve missed his inspiration, that figurehead everyone looks to when the chips are down, that presence the other team fears. Stevie brings more than just his footballing abilities to the table when he walks out onto the pitch. He lifts the whole place and so those around him. Look at the reception he got on Saturday when he came on. Look even at the reception he got when he got up to warm up! That was during a tense time in the game when it was no sure thing we’d leave with all 3 points, then Steveie gets up. Mass collective exhale!! ‘Its alright, Stevies coming on’. Instead of tension, now excitement. And it transmits to the pitch. It gives everyone a lift, players included. I’d bet dollars to donuts thats what Suarez’s strop was over too. Not so much coming off but coming off for Stevie. I bet he’s thinking there, ‘fuck this shit, this is the fucking guy I came here to play with, I saw what he did for Torres!’. I can see LB’s point about not starting him against Everton, but I just feel he’ll be like a pitbull at a sirloin come Saturday! I will not be surprised in the least to see him lead us into battle. And victory.
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 #1269 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 9:37 pm
For me Bellers should start with a mind to wards exploiting the space that Leighton Baines vacates when her pushes too far forward…
Bellers- Suarez
Downing-Adams-Lucus-Kyut
Enrique-Skrtyl-Carra-Kelly
Reina
I’d be looking at bring Stevie G and Maxi on pretty soon after the half to really try and push their back four and try to take advantage when their midfield floods our defensive third…
I feel that out right speed will go along way towards beating Everton…
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 #1270 |
dougle
Posted on September 26, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
Nice posts Digger. Very eloquent indeed. I agree with you about the fact that it’s the defense being deep and unsettled that has put the spotlight on CAdam perceived lack of covering and tackling. I suppose you take the whole defensive unit (i.e the team) and look at it.
Henderson does not “seem” to give much cover to the right fullback and the last and only right fullback that gas been fit was Flanagan. I am surprised that Dirk has not been playing, he will play this weekend tho’. When he came on Saturday it pretty much finished Wolves down the right as an attacking force (bar Lucas 92nd minute heroics).
I wonder too about Kenny using Henderson all the time. It’s difficult to know how effective he is but he’s not very prominent that’s or sure.
I am glad you tackled the “where do we play Stevie” question as well. I too reckon he’s best as the centre man in the forward 3 (4-2-3-1). But where does that leave AC ?
It’s gonna be interesting.
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 #1271 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on September 27, 2011 @ 12:38 am
Cheers Dougle! I dunno where it leaves Andy to be honest, especially as he’s just put in his best showing of the season. Amazing what a bit of competition for places can do eh?! At a guess I’d say it leaves him on the bench for away games and starting up top with Suarez for our home games with Stevie replacing one of Lucas or Adam depending on who we’re playing. I think we should be giving Lucas the odd rest here and there when we can anyway. He’s played a helluva lotta ball in the last year or so and the role he plays is very demanding, no man can remain at 100% every day. Nothing major, maybe the next carling cup game for example, or Swansea at Anfield, or if we’re a coupla goals to the good at home after 60 0r 70mins. Thats what a squad is there for, thats what Jays there for. And he’s proven he’s more than capable of performing that role. Lucas is a nailed on starter, no doubt. But no point in killing the poor hoor either!
As you can probably gather I’m certainly on board with your description of Henderson as ‘not prominent’. Kudos on the superb diplomacy!
I think he just looks lost. Utterly lost. But he’s 21, played at a small club all his life and suddenly your at Anfield playing for Liverpool with a massive price tag and rightly or wrongly, the national spotlight on you because of those facts. Theres a helluva big difference between lining up beside Lee Cattermole and lining up beside the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Luis Suarez. These men are European Champions, Copa America champions, world cup veterans, titans of the game. Hell, he’s probably watched these men on the telly when he was a kid representing his country at world cups and European championships. Now he’s stood in the tunnel with them walking out onto the pitch thinking; ‘holy fuck, am I really here? Am I at this level already’. And of course when doubts or second thoughts like those kick in its already over. You take the easy, risk free option everytime and the game ends up passing you by. Personally I think Kenny is doing more harm than good at this point by continuing to start him. Not intentionally of course, he’s doing it for the right reason i.e, ‘Dinna worry, I’ve faith in ya lad’. But there comes a point too, if it aint clicking, where it becomes counter productive and your just leaving the guy out there in the firing line and it becomes a downward spiral. I think we’ve reached that point. A while ago. In the race for fourth there simply is no room for passengers. Ya gotta be contributing something, anything. And the cold hard truth is that right now, he just isnt. He’s not ready yet. He should be coming off the bench relieving Dirk when he’s knackered and we’re a goal or 2 up ya know? Good situations when our tails are up and theres no pressure on him. Right now Dirk is simply the better option, even Bellamy or Maxi. Especially for our 2 upcoming games. If Kenny starts him in the cauldron of a Merseyside Derby I’ll be staggered. The best thing he can do for him right now imo, is take him out the spotlight for a wee bit.
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 #1272 |
somnath07in
Posted on September 27, 2011 @ 5:10 am
#1268 : I dont think the Charlie Adam going forward and creating chances is an issue at all. The point is how he plays when we chase the ball. In a 2 man midfield, he struggles to track back. You can see the matches he has featured in.He struggles.
As regards to Andy Caroll, I agree whatever you said but at the end of the day he is a centre forward who should be clinical in front of the goal. When he is getting a chance in the penalty box, he should be putting those away rather than taking extra touches. Taking a cue from what you said, the fact that he is playing alongside great players should motivate him to play even better. Accept it, his positional sense is poor, he is still not on the same page as our other attacking players. He is not sharp enough.
I am not judging him as a 35m forward. Far from it. I am just looking at him as a centre forward and what a player of his attributes should do. Unfortunately he is not doing it.
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 #1273 |
dougle
Posted on September 27, 2011 @ 12:14 pm
Somnath – I’m not so sure about your view of AC. He has good qualities, his distribution, his on the ground play, his shooting and his heading can all be very good indeed. It seems that the blend of players and tactics just have not brought the best out in him (allied to) his age (21 ?) and his own (in)/ability to adjust to what’s going on around him. Now we can wipe out last season as a reference for him. Essentially we are 6 league games and 2 League Cup games into his career here.
I don’t know enough to judge if playing center forward is more difficult than full back or wide mid-field but neither Downing nor Enrique seem to have had any problems adjusting but both Henderson and Carroll have had. Age may be a factor with both. I agree with those above who say Henderson seems to be needing well … more balls frankly.
We’ll just have to see, I have thought at times it might be good to try Henderson around Lucas more in the center. He’s got a bit of an engine and likes to pass and move too. He just melts away on the wing at times.
Mind you that’s Lucas, Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Gerrard all looking to play in the middle then ! With Lucas the only guy whom we know can do the dm role.
Good point again Digger about Lucas himself. He’s played every minute of every game so far I think. He’s physically and mentally covering a whole defense pretty much by himself at times. I know he has “limitations” but right now he’s just about the most important player (along with Suarez) in the team and we need to have a plan B.
Trouble is now every game is very important and we do not have a direct replacement for him. They are gonna have to bite the bullet one way or the other and try Jay there I reckon. He’ll need a break or get a suspension etc sooner or later.
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 #1274 |
kopcolly
Posted on September 27, 2011 @ 8:56 pm
Digger was that almost a compliment from you towards Lucas
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 #1275 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 27, 2011 @ 9:47 pm
Wow, word is that Carlos Tevez refused to play in ManC’s game today from the bench!!!!! Looking forward to hearing more about it!
Sad the Reds aren’t playing Champions League anymore, not even Europa League… Hopefully we’ll get some domestic silverware this year to help compensate!!!!
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 #1277 |
Sambo
Posted on September 29, 2011 @ 12:43 am
Gerry
no disrespect to you Gerry cos you’ve obviously been through an ordeal, but if you’re now in ‘fine fettle’ as McRed reported, could you not take 5 minutes out of your day to refresh the comments section so that the likes of Aitch and TheRedman can comment again? I don’t mean to sound rude, but you’ve got a band of loyal followers here who’re still visiting your blog 4 months after your last post, and if you can’t even be bothered to refresh it, that seems a bit inconsiderate.
you don’t need to write a blog if you’re still under the weather, just remove 1000 comments. that’s all. 5 minutes of your time.
looking forward to the new blog mate. hope you’re ok.
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 #1278 |
kopcolly
Posted on September 29, 2011 @ 10:49 am
You are a cheeky cunt sambo,
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 #1279 |
dougle
Posted on September 29, 2011 @ 2:53 pm
Lurgan – What kind of opportunities do you see there ?
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 #1280 |
blud red
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 12:10 am
aye aye kopcolly,
thats a bit harsh lad. i might have said it a bit more diplomatically, but basically i agree with sambo.
this blog is running slower than jamie carragher.
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 #1281 |
Sambo
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 12:11 am
yeah Kopkolly, i suppose that was a bit cheeky given the fact that the old boy could’ve been at death’s door for all i know, but still…. i love this blog, no just because of Gerry’s wit, but because there’s a nice close community of intelligent posters. it’s doing my head in that half of them don’t come in here anymore because no one can be bothered removing some of the comments. how hard can it be!?
anyway, sorry Gerry if my cheeky-cuntishness was offensive and i genuinely hope you’re on the road back to Stella Artois.
the main site is going to the dogs as well. they’re still reporting that our next game is Wolves at home!
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 #1282 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 12:16 am
Ho won earth can Capello name StevieG into the England squad???? grrrrrr…….
Real shame this blog is almost defunct, real shame…
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 #1283 |
Sambo
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 12:18 am
blud red, don’t worry. i live in nz where ‘cunt’ is actually a term of endearment. not sure if that’s how kolly intended it, but that’s how i took it!
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 #1284 |
kopcolly
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 1:44 am
alrite sambo, i admit was a bit harsh, sorry, but the way i read that made my blood boil, gerry is obviously having a tough time , i hope as we all hope he’s ok, so in respect to the years of knowledge & wisdom he has given us i think it fitting to give him his space, its the tech guys that need the ball busting in my eyes ,
i to love this blog,miss gerrys blogs, miss all the lads that dont come in here anymore, so with a bit of luck the techie people get there fingers out of there arses,sort there shit out so aitch redman & timmy & co can entertain us until gerry gets back on his feet, would be the dogs balls if fat scoucer could come back to us & as you said get this community of intelligent posters together again,
walk on!
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 #1285 |
Sambo
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 7:58 am
bear in mind i was responding to McRed’s news that Gerry was in fine fettle and a new blog was coming soon. all i was saying was that if he’s well enough to send Mcred a chirpy email, he’s probably well enough to refresh the comments. no need for boiling blood mate! i would never have posted that if we were still in the dark about Gerry’s health.
i agree though, it’s the tech guy’s who should take the rap for destroying a unique community of LFC supporters.
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 #1286 |
blud red
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
i think its also something to do with a bit of malaise around the blogosphere at present. i think those defeats and the ominous rise of citeh and united and chelski have dampened peoples ardour, so to speak.
there’s not a great deal to speak of. as a community we’re neither happy or unhappy with our lot, but somewhere inbetween. doesn’t make for a great debate.
having said that, there’s nothing wrong with a steady ship either.
imagine the grief on the web if you are a citeh supporter. you’d have plenty to say on a daily basis about all manner of things, as we did last year when itchy was at the helm of a sinking ship.
speaking personally i’ve only been a regular for two seasons and i love gerry’s blogs. i laugh my socks off at some of his witty banter.
i’m just bemused that there isn’t a substitute writer at times like these. get that tomkins lad in. he knows how to string a sentence together.
what about jimmy tarbuck. he’s good for a laugh. or that wry faced laddie john bishop.
what about rory smith of the guardian? that would throw the cat amongst the pigeons.
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 #1287 |
pshenava
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 3:34 pm
Just a bit off topic. Rafa has his own website just realized today and some insightful analysis from the man as always!!!
http://rafabenitez.com/
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 #1288 |
London Red
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 7:21 pm
Pshenava why have you still got El Cunto as your avatar,if you want to look at his picture,why not spare the rest of us and just stick a poster on your bedroom wall like all the other girls.
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 #1289 |
dougle
Posted on September 30, 2011 @ 10:52 pm
Hi gang – the night before the derby. How is it shaping up ? Well for me, all things being equal, it’s going to come down to a number of things.
1 Mentality. Everton can muster up “hate”-pressure.. Can we deal with it ?
2 Control. Can we control both the pace and the ball ? Will we have players on the park who can fight, pass and are comfortable on the ball under pressure ?
3 Our right flank. This is our achilles heel. How will Kenny set it up.
Going in reverse order. Dirk has to start for me. Himself and Kelly should be able to handle Everton’s pace and skill down their left. I don’t think Henderson should start.
Our left flank is fine. Enrique and Downing should be ok.
Now the middle. Carra (this is a game for him) plus Skrtel, Lucas and ?. Spearing might be the man here.
His bottle and buzz would be a match up for Everton’s.
Then is it Adam, being a fifth midfielder plus Suarez or AC and Suarez (dropping deep)?
Everton have big, powerful center halves so I would play Suarez as a mobile center forward dropping into the hole and using Dirk and downing to buzz around. Fight height with stealth, speed and intelligence. I wouldn’t play AC from the start.
The team I would play is
Pepe,
Kelly, Carra, Skrtel, Enrique,
Spearing lucas
Charlie Adam
Dirk Downing
Suarez
As ever, best wishes to Gerry and, as he would say himself, keep the faith Kopbloggers.
Everton 1 Liverpool 2
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 #1290 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 1:48 am
Lads I hope we play positive from the start and don’t get worn out with the long and arduous trip across Stanley Park. We need to take them to the fucking cleaners, otherwise our wee neighbours will be in the same position as us, in fact I think their goal difference is better.
.
Its always a great day, and this is one of importance, game of the year so far for me. Come on red men, todays the day.
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 #1291 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 4:27 am
This game will need a good strong ref who won’t throw cards like confetti and will let the game flow. At least 2 or 3 of the games I’ve watched this season, Spurs and Sunderland spring to mind, have not been dirty games, but have racked up lots of yellow’s and of course red cards
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 #1292 |
DJGAZZA
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 4:32 am
The wrong ref and this could end up 5 a side
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 #1293 |
kopcolly
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 12:35 pm
go on the red men! YNWA!
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 #1294 |
Lurgankop
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 1:33 pm
Anyone got a (good) link for the match?
Cheers.
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 #1295 |
ldhawan
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 2:06 pm
Even with Everton down to 10 men we are not looking very threatening. Don’t know if it’s down to the formation or what but the movement seems slow and Everton don’t look troubled.
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 #1296 |
ldhawan
Posted on October 1, 2011 @ 2:22 pm
Goal from Andy Carroll.. nice one. Nice run by Enrique, nice duck by Kuyt and nice finish by the big man.
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 #1297 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on October 2, 2011 @ 6:37 am
Well it was hardly an inspiring display, in fact is it me or do we appear to be lacking in the fitness department, they did extremely well in the holding the ball department with 10 men. Anyway I guess its their bi-annual cup final, so I guess they throw everything at it. Still not convinced by CA, I noticed many times he just gave up the ghost when beaten by Saha and others. Yeah I know he hit the bar but how many times did someone waltz around him. No doubt the change in the game came when Bellers and SG entered the fray. All in all good win but we really need to get back to the hussling and closing down in the midfield, instead of whats occurring now of just dropping off and forming two 5 metre lines. Good to see the big man score but someone needs to start training the lad about striking, big man 70% of world goals are scored in an area 1 metre either side of the back post just outside the 6 yard box, get there for fucks sake.
.
Anyway moving up the competition ladder, small break until the Man U game and no injuries of note, onwards and upwards.
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 #1298 |
blud red
Posted on October 2, 2011 @ 8:47 am
i think there was a great deal that was impressive about that game.
the fact that we won 2-0
and the fact that we won 2-0
and the fact that we won 2-0
oh yeah, it was against the bluenoses at away from home.
thats one of them banana skins that we neatly side-stepped.
oh and by the way, the deeply unimpressive andy carroll scored a goal.
yes, the unimpressive andy carroll scored a goal.
let me make this clear, he was so rubbish he scored a goal.
dalglish brilliantly ignored all the nonsense about rodwell getting sent off and said, wisely, that he was delighted with the result.
delighted?
of course he is. he’s just beat everton 2-0 away from home.
at the end of the season thats all that will be remembered when they tot up the points.
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 #1299 |
dougle
Posted on October 2, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
A bit of a poet and a philosopher in you blud !
I’m happy. It’s all about points now. We’ll begin to see how the shape will be as the season goes deep.
It’s never pretty at Goodison, rabid more like.
We won, no red cards, no injuries, solid defending by the back 5. Solid game Lucas. Patience, chances created, very professional throughout. I’ll take it, no problem. Oh, as someone more literate and creative then me once said, Andy Carroll scored.
Were we perfect, not by a long shot. The sparkling Suarez was off, Downing was quiet, Dirk never misses spotters, we hit the bar and post. Adam was by-passed a few times. We were a bit flat third quarter. The ref … well here I differ a bit from most people. He sent off Rodwell for what could have been a nasty tackle but he left off Felleini with a rotten tackle on Lucas so we got one but it was the wrong one.
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 #1300 |
theredman
Posted on October 3, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
Cant understand some of you guy’s,
i’m in Kenny’s camp regarding saturday’s win over the shite, last season we would have probably rolled over and let them run fuckin riot like they did in the same fixture last season, not so this time, myself i look at it this way we played mediocre but we were to strong for them, like the old cliche “we played bad but still won” that make’s a good team to me, wether we end up champions is another thing but i am not going to slate the boy’s for beating the shite on their own patch, and for fuck’s sake get off Carroll’s back cos your not helping him one bit by the moaning and the comparing, same goes for Charlie Adam.
If all our chances had gone in on saturday it should have been 4-0 probably 5-0 and it would have told a completely different story.
For fuck sake someone tell the techies to tighten the elastic band at their end and speed this shit site up.
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 #1301 |
ar53fluff
Posted on October 3, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
it wasnt a classic performance by the lads, but for the derby debutants they passed with flying colours. sitting in great position to challenge for fourth and the best thing is this team will only get better.
On saturday they were pattient and did what they had to do. For me, it was never a sending off or even a yellow, but on saying that, they generally should have down to ten men because there at least two other dangerous tackles in that game that didnt even get a yellow. The Bitters always resort to trying to kick us off the park and always have some gripe or convenient excuse afterwards.
Onwards and upwards for us. the rebuild this season is right on track. I think since the first game up to now, people are being way way way too critical of the new boys, and if we are not careful its going to start to filter into thier confidence and mindsets. We need to get off thier backs. Charlie Adam could be up to 4 or 5 goals already if he hadnt cracked the woodwork so many times. Same for Downing. Carrolls starting to come to life. I just wish people would exercise a bit of patience and allow this team to work its way up the gears and especially for Kenny to continue moulding his team. Hes the King and we trust him and thats what sets him apart from any other managerial candidate. While I agree that hes not above being questioned, Ive actually read people on blogs and heard them in phone ins griping about Kenny and doubting if hes got what it takes. Un-believable. I dont want to just blindly follow him, but theres no way I want to give the gutter media and everyone else an excuse to say..”yeah, see? theres the scousers showing thier true colours. they turned on poor Roy Hodgson and now thier even doing the same to thier ‘beloved’ King!”.
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 #1302 |
pshenava
Posted on October 3, 2011 @ 3:46 pm
London Red #1288.
Not sure where you are going with this. Just because girls put up his poster in their bedrooms (may I ask its a guess or you know for sure ) you want me to do the same. Sorry mate not going to do that. Will stick with the avatar.
In my not so infrequent posts you got to tolerate me.
By the way lets not flood the comments section with our stupidity and cause other serious bloggers more difficulty.
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 #1303 |
ar53fluff
Posted on October 3, 2011 @ 10:10 pm
i dont want to get cuaght up in a silly argument about an avatar, but I see where Londons coming from with this.You can put whoever you choose on your avatar, but you can see why most supporters wouldnt be for it. That guy turned coat on us and treated us supporters like shit on his shoes, so I can see why people dont want to see his name or image glorified. Some of us cant even say his name. You may say he done alot for us, but he took it all away by being a mercenary. Just my opinion.
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 #1304 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on October 4, 2011 @ 2:38 am
Must say that I thought the Red card was a very poor decision against Everton, pretty much destroyed all hope for them to get any result against us…
Well done to the Reds though for getting the win and keeping their heads by not putting in any real contentious tackles, very professional turn out from LFC… Hopefully theres more of the same next weekend against Manure…
With StevieG on his way back to fitness we could very well see an improvement in ourmidfeild and hopefully be in a very good position come X-mas (within the top four)…
I’m also a little surprised Bellamy hasn’t been given more game time, perhaps he’s filling Meirelles former position/role in the team. AC it seems is being given every opportunity to find his feet by Kenny, and considering his price tag that’s rightfully so…
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 #1305 |
red kelly
Posted on October 4, 2011 @ 3:02 am
Theredman….i couldn’t bloody well agree more,last season we sure as shite would have rolled. that was a tough game and one we would have lost last seas…shows you how far we have come as we have plodded along on form last few weeks.
Andy carroll for me is gettin better every week..shoulda scored last week and nearly got 2 this week…when stevies back in my bet is the combinations are gonna gell faster,im pretty fucken exited every time gerrard comes on the park…we fucken need him to strengthen our midfield, Lucas was great again and adams good but still findin his feet.
hendo off was better and eeven tho i was worried Bellemy looks good…so miles 2 go but were improvin…thank the good lord for the king. amen
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 #1306 |
Sambo
Posted on October 4, 2011 @ 5:38 am
regarding giving our new boys a break, i can see both sides of it to be honest.
they’re doing ok, but for the price we paid for them, some might argue that’s the least we should expect. our signing-of-the-summer has probably been Jose Enrique (so far), and he was the cheapest of the lot. i think the concern that some fans are expressing is mainly down to value, and whether we really got it with these signings.
then again, i agree with theredman and red kelly that the boys need confidence and time to gel, and the worst thing we can do is get impatient with them. look what happened to Lucas, booed off the park one season, player of the year the next. lucky he didn’t think “fuck ya then” and head off to the continent.
i’m not a fan of Hendo from what i’ve seen so far. KDLL asked the question a few posts ago “is he the new Lucas?” and maybe he is. maybe this time next year he’ll be our player of the year, but right now he looks like poor value for money. who knows what his future holds, but faith in the manager has to come into it, so i’ll hold back on my criticism.
another problem is that we’re seeing some scary performances from our rivals. i know we shouldn’t compare because those players wanted CL football and probably wouldn’t have come to us, but still. it inevitably makes you question the value of your own signings who aren’t having the same impact.
i’m relatively satisfied, but at the same time i look at Spurs and can’t help thinking they look better than us. there hasn’t been many times in my life i’ve thought that, and it’s strange that i’m thinking it now after a summer of heavy spending. we don’t have a Bale or a Modric. yeah, i know we’ve got players who they’d give their eye-teeth for, but those 2 are tearing apart defenses at the moment and i’m pretty envious. if we’re to finish ahead of them, we’re going to have to improve… and fast. hopefully stevie holds the key ay. YNWA
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 #1307 |
ldono2
Posted on October 5, 2011 @ 2:46 pm
Hi lads, according 2 my facebook page we’ll have a new blog posted this week!
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 #1308 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on October 5, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
Excellent news.
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 #1309 |
dougle
Posted on October 5, 2011 @ 7:35 pm
I’ll second that Idono. Been in touch though Matt from the main site and apparently Gerry has been in touch and is winding up for a big blog next week indeed. Great news eh !!
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 #1310 |
kopcolly
Posted on October 5, 2011 @ 8:09 pm
Great news indeed, ya happy now sambo:-)
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 #1311 |
theredman
Posted on October 5, 2011 @ 11:37 pm
Great new’s about a new blog lad’s,
the speed of this site, if Gerry composes it next week and then log’s it on we should get it by the middle of november, and then Christmas just around the corner “whoopee”.
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 #1312 |
Sambo
Posted on October 6, 2011 @ 12:22 am
happy as Larry!
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 #1313 |
koped49
Posted on October 6, 2011 @ 12:07 pm
Great news about a new blog,
But more to the point great news that Geds OK and up and running again
YNWA
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 #1314 |
blud red
Posted on October 7, 2011 @ 2:40 pm
as much as i admire gerry’s blogs, i can’t help but feel that more blogs are needed on a regular basis to keep this online community ticking over. we need a regular blog every few weeks.
is there still the commitment to provide that?
this really is an excellent site. i wouldn’t want to see it dissolve into cyberspace.
anyone else share my concerns?
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 #1315 |
blud red
Posted on October 7, 2011 @ 2:52 pm
what i’m trying to say is that these blogs are becoming as rare as a roy hodgsen away win.
gerry’s contribution is invaluable to this site, his wit and humour are comparable to the best on the web.
but, i also value the opinions of my fellow bloggers as they provide a rare insight into liverpool football club that is seldom found anywhere else.
they have lauded me when i have been right in my assumptions (which is most of the time) and slagged me off when i have been wrong (once in a blue moon) but their opinions have always been listened to.
so it is my opinion that the site must be maintained consistently, otherwise i’ll have no one to rant to.
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 #1316 |
dougle
Posted on October 7, 2011 @ 8:13 pm
You are not alone Blud !!
Have no fear, once Gerry is back in the saddle we’ll all be piling into you yet again as the blogs will come thick and fast I imagine.
Ok it’s time to get down on our knees and pray the Luis comes back intact from 2 (?) qualifiers in South America.
Anybody know if Luis Enrique has made the Spanish squad ? Indeed how many of the first team are on duty ?
Pepe yep
Enrique – no ?
Carra – no
Skrtel – yes plus baby coming
Kelly/Johnno – nope
Lucas – friendly – yes
Adam – I assume so
Gerrard – nope
Downing – yes
Bellemy – yes ?
Maxi – Nope ?
Henderson – Nope
Dirk – yes
Andy – yes ?
Luis – absolutely
It could be worse eh.
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 #1318 |
sachem
Posted on October 9, 2011 @ 12:08 am
Finally, a player has the integrity to criticize Stevie and Carra for their failure to take part in protests against the former owners.
It has been said before of course, not least of all by people in here. Now we have moved on from whatever happened between Carra, Stevie and certain other people back then, and rightly so I think. But it still nice to see someone like Pepe being honest about these matters.
I’ve never had reason to question my respect for that man.
http://bit.ly/pmA98D
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 #1319 |
kopcolly
Posted on October 9, 2011 @ 12:24 am
thanks for the link sachem,
fair play to pepe foe speaking his mind, but im wondering whether stevie & carra will have a chip on there shoulder after reading this? will this cause unrest in the dressing room? & the timing is a concern with our game on saturday with the scum, but fair play to pepe for saying what we were all thinking,
please god we get all our players back from interWANKal duty free of injuries,
3 points on sat bring us 3 point behind them with them having the manc derby the following week,
onwards & upwards!
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 #1320 |
sachem
Posted on October 9, 2011 @ 7:17 pm
The quotes are from Pepe’s autobiography, which is being released tomorrow. In general, I’m not a fan of players releasing (hardly writing themselves) their autobiographies right in the middle of their careers, but if they do, the least we as supporters can demand from them is honesty. It certainly would have been strange had Pepe chosen to omit his thoughts concerning the deep shite we were in under the previous owners. For being completely straight on this point, I salute Pepe.
Regarding Carra and Stevie, I’m sure they both always want what’s best for the club. I do hope however they realize they were letting the club down by not at least voicing their sympathy for the protests that want on. As I recall it, they were both completely silent.
I don’t think Pepe had anything to do with the release date of the book, so he couldn’t really be blamed for the timing (perhaps Fergie had something to do with it, eh?). If this is causing any sort of unrest in the dressing room, then I’m sure Kenny is more than able of handling the situation.
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 #1321 |
sachem
Posted on October 10, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
Liverpool legend Rafa Benítez is on the latest episode of The Anfield Wrap. Don’t forget to listen fellas.
http://bit.ly/nuNe4v
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 #1322 |
kopcolly
Posted on October 10, 2011 @ 8:51 pm
thanks for the link sachem , again
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 #1323 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on October 11, 2011 @ 1:10 am
Echo has a section dedicated to the one year aniversary of the new owners….
Thinking back in hindsight to the Hicks and Gillet era is absolutely amazing. I can hardly believe that we were all rallying behind FS, send through letters to this and that person…
To be honest, Im hoping that if Gerry is indeed about to resurface that he dedicates a blog to the 1 year anniversary of the FSG era…
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 #1324 |
somnath07in
Posted on October 11, 2011 @ 5:15 pm
I dont know who decided the release date of ‘Pepe’ but i dont like it. Watever be the reason, i dont think its a good idea to release such books prior to such a big fixture…
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 #1325 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on October 11, 2011 @ 9:45 pm
Actually, from what I’ve read of the book I’d be very surprised if anything in the book will ruffle anybody’s feathers… His peice about the fallout with Carra is nothing new in the sports domain, infact as a coach you’d be very concerned if none of your players showed the same passion and commitment, loved the peice where he said that afterwards the both sent each other text message apologies! I suppose Rafa wouldn’t let them go and have a beer instead (which apparently Rafa blocked while the team traveled)…
I’m more than happy with the release of this book and I’m looking forward to hearing more of his opinions especially in regards to the Hicks and Gillet era… What a shame he only has the community sheild and FA cup as he/we really should have more in the trophy cabinet since ’96…
We’re lucky to have such a classy player that’s totally committed and as passionate as us…
I really wouldn’t be at all concerned that he realeasing a book that may destabilise the current team….
Not long until The ManU game!!!!! Surely that alone is enough to inspire our super scribe Gerry out of his hibernation!!!!!!!
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 #1326 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on October 11, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
’96???? oh dear it seems that long, sorry it SHOULD read 2006…. lol
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 #1328 |
somnath07in
Posted on October 13, 2011 @ 9:46 am
Yes read the article. A few things are very clear:
a)FSG knows that Liverpool FC are bigger and promises to earn them more in the long run. The brand,the market appeal, the fans, the capacity of the ground, the global presence; this football club holds more promise.
b)Interestingly, i read that American owners keep changing their ownerships of franchises. They find it not too difficult to move on from one franchise to another.
c)Looking at the idea they had(Not about LFC as a club but LFC as a investment) i think it is quite obvious that they would want to have a different TV sharing model outside UK.
Lastly, the timing of all these. The ‘Pepe’ book, FSG and their Red Sox owes seems to be well planned. Often i get the feeling that a part of UK media is anti Liverpool. I have never been to UK and i dont know the ground realities but sometimes i get this feeling.
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 #1329 |
somnath07in
Posted on October 13, 2011 @ 10:24 am
At the same time, i think in John W Henry we have got the best possible owner.
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 #1330 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on October 14, 2011 @ 1:10 pm
I’m not happy with Ayre’s comments we cant call ourselves a socialist club built on the foundations of working class people all coming together to achieve the impossible and then cry foul because we want more money then other clubs.
But I think the reality of Shanks vision is long long since gone the game has become a “product” and Investors are here to make as much money as they can and if that means lumping us in with the corporate shower were facing tomorrow so we can profit from our fame that’s whats gonna happen. I cannot agree with it though.
Anyway enough of that cack on to the game tomorrow nerves staring to kick in now they have so much attacking talent they will score a couple but were capable of scoring a few ourselves so im going for a 2-2 draw just hope the ref stays out of it they might feel were owed one after Everton. Who is the ref by the way. (please bert not howard webb).
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 #1331 |
kopcolly
Posted on October 14, 2011 @ 4:06 pm
andre marriner is the ref for tomorrows game with phil dowd the fourh offical
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 #1332 |
blud red
Posted on October 14, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
guinness
i agree. don’t know what ayres strategy was.
i don’t like books by existing players either and for me the timing is wrong and divisive.
the reds needs as much unity as they can get. for me, a good club will always do its talking on the pitch. which leads me on to the game
we have a fully fit squad. take your pick.
i just wish that t**t rooney had got an additional three match ban from the F.A too.
for me, as cagey as dalglish is being to the press, gerrard has to start.
beyond that, and apart from the novelist pepe, i’m clueless as to who else is a shoe – in.
ok, yep, lucas, suarez….ok fuck it here goes
reina
enrique
kelly
carra
ninja
lucas
gerrard
spearing
downing
carroll
suarez
oh fuck it
i still can’t pick it
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 #1333 |
McrRed
Posted on October 14, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
I think Agger is fit, so will probably start with Carra.
Johnson is also fit so may replace Kelly (who’s been fine but is also carrying a knock).
Almost certainly, Carroll will start (though I’d rather otherwise. And I think the boss will continue with Hendo and Adam (though I’d rather otherwise).
I’d love to see Bellamy, Suarez, Gerrard and Kuyt get at them. They’d be shitting their kecks! but maybe I’ll have to wait until after the 72nd minute to see something like that. At least we’ll have options off the bench, eh lads?
King Kenny reminds me of Rafa in his heyday…there’s simply no way to second guess his team selections…
Adrenaline’s starting to kick in now, boys. Cant wait for kick-off!
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 #1334 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on October 15, 2011 @ 9:36 pm
For fucks sake Alex or Matt or TIA mods or whoever, if Gerry is sick or otherwise unable to, will ye take down this fucking comments page and put up a new one for jesus sake. Its beyond a joke at this stage. Our 2 biggest games of the season and 33 comments posted since the end of the Everton game. That would be an hours worth of comments if the blog was working. Its all but dead anyway so do us all a favour and either take the blog down altogether so we can reconvene on another site or put up a new comments page so that the remaining few us who spend the 30 fucken mins waiting for this page to download can still discuss the match and Liverpool FC as we used to. 6 fucken months lads.
I suppose I’ll comment on the match now but that needed saying. Not the end of the world but it feels like 2 points dropped. They rarely if ever threatened us and we were far the better team. Poor marking from a set piece cost us really but I think the thing that continues to cost us is our hospitality in front of goal towards the opposition. How we fail to convert some of the gilt edged chances we create is truly something to behold. I’d love to see us buy a true poacher in January and start to witness some of these superb crosses and square balls from Downing dispatched to the net Aldo-style. Unfortunately thats unlikely to happen given our last January splurge and its not a knock on that lad either but I cant help but feel that a true 6 yard box player would be burying these chances that Downing, Suarez and Gerrard create. Speaking of the skipper, cheeky goal today eh?! Hes really starting to like that move against utd isnt he! Brilliant to see him back leading the side into battle at Anfield. Brilliant to see him scoring against the mancs again. Brilliant to see him playing well. Just brilliant. I thought Downing and Adam played well today but my motm goes to Stevie.
A mention for Henderson too. Thought he had a great impact when he came on.This is exactly the way we should be using the lad. Build him up slowly but surely and integrate him into the team gradually. Took Kenny a few games but great to see him correct an error when he makes one.
All in all I’ll take a draw against the champions. I suppose we cant really complain when we’ve missed the chances we have today. Onward, Norwich next right?
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 #1335 |
somnath07in
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 6:46 am
Yes. Its Norwich. I agree, this blog is now reduced to a joke. I dont understand why the tech guys cant listen to some genuine request? Its a bloody simply delete from a database.
Good match. I feel we could have taken all 3 points. What was Ferguscum thinking by keeping Rooney,Nani on bench? What was he thinking by playing Jones in midfield? I think he underestimated us.
From our side, we have to be more clinical in our finishing. Suarez is a great player but i feel a genuine finisher playing alongside him will make our team even better.
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 #1336 |
blud red
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 7:46 am
i can only say that we have the best player in the league in luis suarez.
he might not sink as many as he should, but i find myself thinking he is worth the entrance fee on his own.
he had rio ferdinand in his pocket. he humiliated Evra, the man u captain. i seriously cannot think of a better player in the league.
i think man u were lucky to walk out without being hammered. i don’t know what the point of dropping nani and chicarita to the bench.
rooney is a terrific player but i’d be ashamed of his conduct as a fan. i can see why he might be dropped. everyone is accountable for their actions. nobody is unreplacable. what ever you think of him, fergusson is a strong manager.
dalglish had a fine game. i don’t think throwing on bellamy would have made any difference. we had chances, either we didn’t take them or de gay saved them. for me suarez has got to slide that ball to the left, got to, absolute cert, but he passes straight back to the keeper.
like i say, united were lucky and we failed to make our luck pay. united waltz out of anfield with a point, while we drop two points in the chase for the title. they can afford to do that, we cannot.
liverpool are a very strong team, i’ve no doubt. they are a lot to handle for every team in the premier league. one or two turns of the screw in the right direction and i think we would be too hot to handle.
some have been too critical of charlie adam and henderson for my liking. i thought both had dynamic games on saturday and had you been an opposing fan you would want these players in your squad. i feel lucky to have them in ours.
dalglish’s subs kept us all guessing. lucas for hendo? i didn’t see that one coming and i didn’t completely understand it either until the lad nearly chipped the keeper and nearly scored with his head. nearly.
but that’s what i want to see from my manager. i want them to be proactive rather than reactive. i want to feel they are performing better than i could.
the final word belonged to stevie g. he needs more games, needs to shed a few pounds, become properly match fit and match astute. but the guy is a legend. he is an unbelievable talent and he put a big smile on my face that day.
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 #1337 |
gazmaninaus
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 8:00 am
Well Dig, I guess we shouldn’t complain about the site, I tried to join the main site, I went through the sign up process. Message came up a Moderator will assess your application and an email will activate your account. 2 weeks later I get an email saying I did not fit their criteria and my application had been refused, I sent them an email requesting what in fact was their criteria when it was a free site, that was 2 months ago and still no reply.
.
So I guess all we write is just falling of deaf ears.
.
To yesterday, thought we played well and considering they went out with a half baked team we didn’t really dominate, in fact we played better once they had some stars on the pitch, that was of course after we conceded.
.
Can’t understand why we can’t finish teams off, or why we defend in a block of 8 just outside our 18 yard box. Still an all getting a point against the current Champions and unbeaten team is a positive result.
.
My man of the season so far is Enrique. Downing is supplying a lot of effort but for little reward. Henderson look 100% better in the middle of the park. We really are still trying to jamb square pegs in round holes. We need an out and out winger with pace.
.
I have seen many comments claiming Downing gives us balance but so did Riera and he didn’t cost 20 million, for that price we should be getting balance and flair. Anyway on to next week with things looking OK. By next week we could have 1500 replies.
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 #1338 |
somnath07in
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 11:04 am
Good point about us defending in blocks of 8 just outside the penalty box. That’s a very good point.It has to be due to the mindset we have while defending. Clarke needs to look at it.
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 #1339 |
Arman23
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 1:50 pm
The title of the blog should just be called “THE END”. I’m done with this blog, I’ll stick to Tomkins from now on. Thanks everyone for making me a better and smarter Liverpool supporter. I might just check back in though every now and again just in case anything has happened in here. It’s no longer worth following a blog if there hasn’t been a blog for 5 months and no communication from anyone running it. Thanks and good luck.
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 #1340 |
ldono2
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 2:58 pm
Hi lads, i dont know what the story is with the blog. As i said last week, i got a message on my Facebook page from Kopblog stating there would be a new blog by the end of the week, well another week has passed & still no new blog!!
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 #1341 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 4:52 pm
Well lads, where are we gonna head? Thats mad that the TIA forums rejected you Gaz. What are they looking for I wonder?! I think Tomkins site would be the most logical move for us. Ok he dosent have the humour of Gerry but the comments section would be the most similar to here surely? I.e rational sensible discussion. But how much is the subscription fee? And could I afford it?! I know LB said he was going to RAWK but I havent seen anyone named LondonBarnes on there yet. Some really good posters on there but its strength is also its drawback – its simply so massive its very easy to get swallowed up in the millieu and real interaction and exchange of ideas must become difficult unless you’re a longtime member. Timmys over there and its nice to see his thoughts but ya have to scroll through so many to get to people ya know so thats a drag. The Liverpool way is just an internet warriors heaven. Its a flippin madhouse! Anyone here ever been on there? Holy fuck is all I can say! They’ve got this system where you can be negged or repped for anything you say so a culture has formed where everyones trying to say the coolest, wittiest, sharpest thing and they just eviscerate each other!! Some of it is hilarious I must say but ultimately most threads just descend into chaos and end in farce. Although they do have a thread in their general forum called titty city that everyone should see. And the best thread of all is the Natalie Sawyer/Georgie Thompson one. Your welcome Aitch.
So I dunno lads, where do we go? Whats the best option? Has anyone on here discovered a hidden gem anywhere that would suit our Motley crew? I’m open to suggestions. Aitch, LB, Lurgan, GD, Arthur, Jack, Keith, London, Dougle, Donal, Corkie, et al: where ye guys at these days? Fuck it spuds just got a peno. Bollocks. Anyway, open to direction here lads, where to next for the Kopblog Krew?
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 #1342 |
dougle
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
Hi gang -
Just gonna sit down to the game right now so comments later.
Me too with the message from the main site, should have been a new blog up by now. I don’t know. I’m betting this will sort itself out this week.
What I’m gonna do is put up my e-mail address here. just in case the whole thing seizes up or withers away. I’m sure Gerry will be back but … if this doesn’t happen then maybe some one of us can set up a something similar type of thing. I’ll keep a file of the names and e-mails and we can, if we need and want to set some thing up.
So here goes, keep the abuse entertaining ok !!!
Send me your kopblog name and your e-mail address if you wish.
[email protected]
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 #1343 |
dougle
Posted on October 16, 2011 @ 11:49 pm
2 points dropped. Pity.
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 #1344 |
YNWAlancey
Posted on October 17, 2011 @ 1:24 am
I had the same thoughts Digger, if only we had an outright goal poacher then maybe we’d be be sitting higher on the league table…
Dare I say it, but Torres is being missed whether we or he himself would ever want to admit… I’ll leave it at that….
I liked that Kenny left AC on the bench, AC really needs to start improving. His positional play in particular would help us immensely if
he focused on that alone. I feel that he really needs to stay central as a focal point and focus on running the channel hard when we’re countering on the flanks… Of course Kenny and the coaching staff know more than me and will be working hard towards making Ac a success…
There’s still a significant difference in quality between the two teams though, we’re stil short in the striking department in comparrison to ManU, but
at least we’re more than capable at competing with them… the return leg, just like the Tottenham return leg will be telling for our season I feel…
Sounds like a good Idea Dougle, I’ll email you soon if Gerry doesn’t re-appear…
Evra is an absolute arse… Hopefully Luis does better on the reverse a scores a few to really rub it into Evra…
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 #1345 |
LondonBarnes
Posted on October 17, 2011 @ 12:58 pm
Digger, I am indeed LondonBarnes on RAWK but I’ve only commented a handful of times on there. Most of the time I just read and don’t bother to comment. There are some good posts on there but also a lot of bollocks. Maybe someone could start a thread on there called KopBlog but that probably wouldn’t be allowed. So we need a codename and then start a thread. All us KopBloggers just comment in that section. What do you think? I do find the whole process of waiting to be approved a load of bollocks though. It’s a fucking football blog not a mortgage application. I had to wait 2 weeks to be ‘approved’. Total balls.
I’m a member of Tomkins Times. There are some very good blogs on there with some good analysis and the fanbase there are knowledgeable. The writers do love their stats though – fucking hell. It can drive you crazy at times. The humour is less prevalent as well and it doesn’t have the feeling of banter that Kopblog had at it’s pomp. There is no long arduous approving process however, once they get your £3.50 you’re in!
The main thing I have been on since KopBlog hit the skids is Twitter! Oh and there is also the Anfield Wrap which has a brilliant podcast every Monday and some decent blogs throughout the week.
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 #1347 |
Diggerno.10
Posted on October 18, 2011 @ 1:01 am
Cheers LB, I’ll keep an eye out for ya on RAWK and I’ll check out that Anfield wrap too for sure. Maybe thats the one that’ll click with the Kopblog Krew? I dont think RAWK would permit a kopblogger thread and even if ya put an alternate title on it they’ve got some pretty draconian mods over there, we’d be busted pretty quick and out on our ear so not worth it really methinks. And thanks for your suggestions too Dougle, are you a techy? What would it take to start a blog I wonder…..not a notion meself but surely we have someone on here who’d know? If we got it up and running could we have revolving bloggers? A blog once a week or something? Surely theres 52 of us on here! I dunno, I’m just spitballing here and keen not to let the blog slip away. My email is [email protected] Dougle.
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 #1348 |
McrRed
Posted on October 18, 2011 @ 10:02 am
Agree with the comments about RAWK but it’s nice to see Fat Scouser appear every now and then…
Been dropping in on liverpool.theoffside.com which is probably the most regularly updated blog on the web at the moment…with some good analysis, intelligent debate and smart-arsing thrown in for good measure…it’s the complete opposite of this one with 5-10 new blogs every week. But it didn’t always be like that and substantially changed when Ed got a co-blogger (Noel) to assist him. I thought at one point we’d have Aitch and Blud and a couple of the other posters with stamina helping out Gerry in the same way…
…I still hope it comes to pass.
But this blog stays in my heart as the place of sanity when all about was falling to pieces and for that I’ll always be grateful!
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 #1349 |
guinnessdrinker
Posted on October 18, 2011 @ 3:08 pm
Lads I cant remember how long ago it was but when the blog started I think Matt and someone else were looking after it and then Gerry took over, I may be wrong but I have a hazy recollection of it back in the GED era never commented back then but used to love reading it.
I doubt Ger would take offense if we continued on with the blog ourselves until he returns we surely have enough decent writers in here to knock out a short new blog every week that can have a new comments section that wont be so poxy for people to log onto.
Sure even some of the comments in here could do as a blog.
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 #1350 |
blud red
Posted on October 19, 2011 @ 9:38 am
guinnessdrinker
i agree with you there man. i think a few here could qualify, aitch, LB, even digger if he learned to speak UK english instead of yankee english and maybe dropped a paragraph break here and there. maybe invite a guest blogger like tomkins or rory smith to contribute every so often. its a big shame to see this site go wonky like this
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 #1351 |
dougle
Posted on October 19, 2011 @ 12:18 pm
Seems like a few of the lads needed a game big time last night. Good run out eventho’ it was a pretty toothless performance. Doni/Hanson, Wilson, Coates, Agger, Glenda, Fabio, Spearing, Bellemy, Maxi all rusty.
The “big Andy” conundrum continues tho’ doesn’t it.
Anyway didn’t see all of the game. Charley Adam looked very good when he came on, saw the last 20 minutes and if we had decent crosses and a finisher we’d have banged in 2/3.
It’s another Charley Adam option tho’. He’d be very good as a game got stretched.
Digger I am to “techieland” as Aitch is to brevity.
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 #1352 |
donalfromthegap
Posted on October 20, 2011 @ 5:18 am
Hey lads
just popped in to let ye know im alive
havent been able to comment recently with a new house move and return to the single life
(surely I wont be on the shelf too long!!)
I second the anfield wrap
their podcast on mondays is absolutely brilliant
Other than that ill pop in between random women to read the comments and wait for the return of ged
keep her lit
Over and out
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 #1355 |
Lurgankop
Posted on October 21, 2011 @ 4:03 pm
I don’t think that you need to register and all that guff. Let me know otherwise.
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 #1356 |
blud red
Posted on October 21, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
lurgan
how do you sign in? i couldn’t figure the i/d part out
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 #1357 |
Lurgankop
Posted on October 22, 2011 @ 11:44 am
Blud, I didn’t think that you needed to have a login but maybe you need to be a member the http://www.blogger.com website. TBH, I don’t know.
I do see dougle and pshenava have been able to get in. Lads did you have to do anything special?
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 #1358 |
Lurgankop
Posted on October 22, 2011 @ 12:04 pm
blud, I think that you need to create a google email account and then you should be able to post. [email protected] should do the trick.
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 #1359 |
van-leffo
Posted on October 22, 2011 @ 7:30 pm
Another 2 points dropped to a championship side, how is this any better than when hodgson was in charge. We are now just a mid-table side with delusions of grandeur. whats the point of spending 100 million for the same old lethargic, can’t hit a barn door with a banjo crap. Enough is enough.
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 #1360 |
sachem
Posted on October 22, 2011 @ 8:58 pm
van-leffo
Your’re either mental or Roy Hodgson himself. The performance tonight was light years ahead of us under
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