“Cheers to Mansfield Town… you gave us a scare.”
I don’t know how some of you will feel about the first part of this blog, but I feel compelled to write it just the same.
Mansfield deserved a draw…
There… I said it.
I think their whole approach to this cup-tie was excellent.
There are clubs in their position that would have simply got all “up-n-under” and made it a purely hybrid Sam Allardyce, meets Tony Pulis, meets Pub Team, physical battle…
… but Mansfield didn’t do that.
Okay sure… they were physical… at some times, even direct…
… but they also spent large parts of that game trying to pass it around, in what our very own manager would describe as “possession based, death by football”.
I’ve heard and read a fair number of opinions on that game… (and provide an analysis of our performance below) …but in unbiased terms, I reckon it was just a good game of football. (as good as it could be on a pitch like that anyway.)
The weather contributed to making their pitch a mess… but it actually looked like they’d tried to dry it out and clean it up, and make it playable… and put on their best face for the viewing UK public than can’t even spell Mansfield, let alone know where it is…
…where there have been times in the past, when teams have deliberately watered pitches down, in an attempt to prevent “better” silky skilled players from higher league teams from “playing football”
How many teams have we faced since 1989?
How many of them… when a game against us represented a cash-cow… closed off 96 seats and placed the names on them?
Teams helmed by blokes with decades of experience in football have done fuck-all…
… but a team helmed by a 20ish blonde who looks like she should be on the arm of a footballer, or reporting about them from a SkySports desk, rather than actually running their fuckin team, did that.
So Cheers to Mansfield Town, and much Respect!
Our winning goal created an inevitable “shitstorm in a teacup” because of the player involved…
…and because of all I’ve just written, to be perfectly honest… there is a part of me that almost wishes Luis’ goal had been ruled out and Mansfield had gotten their replay.
I think they fuckin deserved it over the 90 minutes.
… However unrealistic… and it is… there is a part of me that wishes he’d have turned around…
…and with the same fervor he waves his arms about and claims for handballs and penalties and protests his “onsideness”… he’d have waved the Ref down and said, “no, no… it was handball”.
As I said… that is totally unrealistic…
Again to their credit, Paul Cox, the Mansfield Manager, himself said that it was just one of those things, and if it had been down the other end, he’d have taken it all day long.
One of their own Strikers, himself said, “if it gets me on the scoresheet, hay, I’d have taken it” or words to that effect.
… but I still wish we hadn’t won that way…
Make no mistake though, as much as I wished the World were a place where honor and honesty ruled… I’m aware enought o know that it just isn’t… shame but there it is… and as a result, the other part of me is glad to be past that oil-laden, banana skin and through the other side of it, where we can get back to …ah shit… facing Oldham on their patch….
Ultimately, we absolutely did not need the extra game, for sure… but we can’t say that Mansfield weren’t good for it.
From their nod of the hat to Hillsborough, to their approach to the game, to not only, their acceptance of the “controversy”, but their stated opinion of it, Mansfield Town showed everybody in the world that the “Magic of The F.A. Cup” isn’t some long-lost mythic tale of days gone by.
It would be gilding-the-lily in the extreme to suggest they single handedly put the luster back on that faded-glory of an idea… but when people refer to “the Magic of the FA Cup” …that tie was what they were referring to…
Plucky little non-league mining town… were “well up for it” and in their own little version of our own “great European Nights”, gave the 5 times Champions of Europe a run for their money!
Pity the commentators and pundits couldn’t show the same fuckin dignity, but that’s commentators and pundits for ya!
… Maybe Suarez could consider paying for Paul Cox’s Honeymoon?
For our part…
It was good to see Danny Sturridge so confidently take his debut goal for LFC.
It was less good to see his American Football end-zone dance in celebration of it.
You’re at LFC now Danny not Stamford Bridge, lay off eh?
I was critical of his signing initially.
I was revising my position and softening to it by the time he’d signed.
… but I DID like what I saw of him on Sunday… and can see elements of what people who wanted him were on about.
As I said, I thought he took his goal very well.
He then got a bit cocky and allowed the keeper to get the better of him twice in the subsequent 30 minutes… they were chances he should have easily put away… but he looked a bit like the first goal had convinced him “this keeper is shit I’m on for a debut hattrick here” (to be honest, and in fairness to him, that’s pretty much what I was thinking) and as a result, he was a little too casual in taking the other chances that came his way.
Some will suggest that’s a bit harsh.
Maybe it is, but I don’t think so… I’m just trying to analyze his debut.
What you absolutely want, in a striker particularly, is a bit of swagger.
All the greats have had it. An almost unshakable “I’m gonna score here and there’s nothing you can do to stop me” mentality. Keegan had it, Kenny had it, Fowler had it, Nando had it and misplaced it, Luis has it, even though he often doesn’t score. RVP has it Thierry Henry had it, Anelka and Drogba had it… etc…
…and Daniel Sturridge definitely looks like he has that “swagger” about him.
He’s obviously not fit… he looked like a Joe-Cole-Two-Pack-a-Day-Man after about only 15 minutes of that game… so maybe its was more a case of him clearly not being fit and his physical “touch” to put them away not quite being there yet, as opposed to a mental issue.
But suffice to say, that little criticism aside, I’m now really looking forward to seeing Sturridge play alongside Luis Suarez… if these two can learn to play together… that could really be something to watch.
The rest of Our Bunch… what can I say… thought there were some pretty dour performances out there… particularly in the 2nd half… in spite of the bog of a pitch.
Overall, I’m a bit concerned with how badly some of Jonjo Shelvey’s performances have dropped. And for me, this game was a microcosm of his season so far. Really terrific in spurts… he put Danny through for his goal and repeated that several times… but over the 90 minutes he faded in and out of the game, as he has done a number of times.
Joe Allen… what has happend to this guy… was he riding hype, is he just exhausted?
…coz he looks like shit over the last month or so…
I’m left wondering what he brings to the side sometimes. I know some love him, but if you wanted sideways crabcake footy, Lucas, Hendo and even Adam were capable of that. All our midfielders seem very similar to one another at times to me… For 15 million could we have gotten someone more in the Mascherano/Sissoko mold?? I don’t think we have a physically imposing midfielder.
Lucas puts himself in there, as does Hendo and even Allen tries to… but its not the same as having someone who simply IS physical… and by that, I don’t mean a bruiser, but someone who is physically imposing. To clarify… the Masch wasn’t a particularly “big” lad but he played… or “went in” …big.
I’m honestly left wondering in some games if we’d have been no worse with Adam or Hendo next to Lucas and used the 15 million to get Studge in August??
The other weird thing about Allen, is that played Allen in Lucas role at the beginning of the season, with other players as the “playmaker”… but since Lucas returned, who has replaced him as a sub in every game? Henderson, with Allen roaming or pushing forward. So why didn’t he just use Hendo there in the first fuckin place and play Allen further forward, or just not buy him?
I dunno, maybe a bit harsh on the lad and he’ll grow, but I wonder if he’ll become a squad player, with us getting better players in midfield, if we are to progress. That’ll probably be a controversial opinion… and I’m willing to admit I could be entirely wrong.
And I thought Hendo did really well, given that he had little support (in that they both had poorish games continually conceding possession, especially as the game wore on,) from Lucas and Allen.
I thought Coates had a dodgy game, (rumours he’s on the chopping block to be sold?) as did young Jack Robinson. And if you can’t impress in a game like this??? …Of course, neither player has really been playing, which can’t be helping.
And I thought Suso was a bit of a waste of space also. I know there’s a terrific player inside Suso, I just know it. But we haven’t seen it much lately. Against a team of Mansfield’s level he should have been able to show it… pitch condition aside, but he really didn’t.
Downing was all huff, with no puff… though he did deliver some fine balls into space that we didn’t take advantage of… he’d have been on about 4 assists if our lads had played better… So I’ll give him a 5.5 out of 10… which is “Fuckin Great for Stewie”, like 
As previously stated, wondering a bit about what has happened to Jonjo Shelvey? He looked very promising last season and first part of this, but he’s been awful since we tried to turn him into a striker.
Wisdom was good and bad… it looked like it was his first game back from injury… so I’m giving him a pass overall.
Thought Carra was pretty solid, but started making some real howlers towards the end… you could see he was losing it, getting both nervous, frustrated and angry, by the way he kept bollocking players, even when they didn’t deserve it.
And credit to Jones for putting in a few very important saves, particularly as the defense in front of him began to wobble quite worryingly.
And then there’s Luis Suarez…. little scamp… just when he was redeeming his reputation… he goes and does THAT (The Ref’s view was partially blocked, and the linesman simply HAD to see that… but given WHO it was… it makes you wonder how they came to the instant conclusion that it was ball-to-hand???)
I’m not big on crediting one player with results in a team sport… but I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest we got through that tie because of him.
Ultimately, what matters is that we got through it…
… but Full Credit to Mansfield for giving us a game… and with it, a bit of a scare.
So that gives us 4 wins and 1 loss so far out of those 8 games I listed as “needing six wins” from… with the Mancs of The Evil Empire up next…
… and given that Fungus ordered up a whopping helping of Howard Webb and was immediately served it by the F.A. we’ll likely be on 4 and 2 by next Monday…
… but it’s a winnable game if we pluck up and get at them… and a draw is always on the cards in such a fixture… so looking good so far.
Its been said before about the Mancs, and its sounding a bit foolish to say it anymore… but they really are the poorest Manc side to sit top of the league. Without RVP, I think they’d be struggling it out for 3rd/4th… (but there again, where would we be without “a cheating racist Uraguyan”? 
) …so here’s hoping the Van Penis gets Pneumonia this week, coz you can bet the fucker’ll score against us.
Anyway, All the Best to Mansfield in their future endeavours…
For us… and I hope it wouldn’t be too painful for them… if the Reds players all turned out for the pre-match kick-about at the Toilet in white t-shirts with a handprint emblazoned on them and the name Suarez… just to piss off the Mancs… think that’d be quite a larf…
…and In True Luis Suarez Scampy Fashion… I Fancy a 3-2 win for us.
Worst I’ve seen us all season , shocking , downing back his shite self , should have went shopping with the wife! Fact !
Rodgers needs to take Allen & downing off bring hendo & studge on
Very quiet here…symptomatic of our performance…this was the most rubbish 45 min I have seen for a while…I think BR will be bold and make few changes at half time…
Like to see shelvey,sturridge and henderson come on to replace allen, lucas and sterling
Much improved performance in the second half…we could have easily scored another…Sturridge and Suarez look good together.
I was a great supporter of Lucas but he is not the same since his injury. Will he ever come back to the same level as before?
Allen did improve after the break but he has been having off days quite a lot recently.
Not sure Lucas, Gerrard and Allen are a right fit. Despite Gerrard at 32 and not getting any fitter but he still has the vision to create a chance which I can’t say of the other 2. Perhaps Gerrard with one of them or Henderson looks better but does it fit into BR’s style?
Team selection wrong for me again today, & players never showed up ! Heartless ! I wouldn’t have taken Lucas off as I think he was our best player in first half , maybe the yellow card had a lot to do with it
The Liverpool of old,
go 2 behind and then we wake up, i hope Sturridge get’s fitter, the sooner the better.
And i must say i think Webb had a pretty decent game for the mancs.
Redman I thought Webb did alright to be honest
I must say that United really are a class above us…
Very glad to have sen the back of Joe Cole, strange as theres been very little said about him moving on.
Sturridge + Suarez looked very promising. Seems as though they have already formed a great partnership… Only leaves the left side of the top 3 to fill, which, if you don’t mind me getting carried away would be a perfect fit for Sneijder… Time will tell in regards to Sneidjer, but surely we’d be able to pay for Sneijders wages from the savings of Cole, (hopefully when we sell) Caroll and Sahin…
Surely the books must be looking pretty good now, would love to know how big our salary bill is comparatively speaking now.
Carra is almost at the end of his contract in June as well, If he signs another extension I doubt that it’ll be for anywhere near what hes on now…
shite first half, excellent second half. the positives at least give us some hope for the future.
i agree that Lucas, Gerrard and Allen don’t look right as a midfield trio. with Gerrard at the apex of that triangle, there was no one providing the service, hence the lack of chances for the forwards. as soon as Stevie dropped back to take Lucas’s position alongside Allen, we looked a lot better.
i think Suarez in the number 10 role is our best fit at the moment. he sees more of the ball there and has more of the game in front of him. also. it’s great for him to have Studge in front of him to play 1-2s off as he approaches the box.
if we sell Downing and replace him with a top quality player (i like the Sneijder shout!), we can have a really attacking line-up with Gerrard launching the attacks and setting up play….
——————pepe————
Glenda—Ninja—–Dagger—-Jose
——-Gerrard——Lucas/Allen——
Sterling——-Suarez———Sneijder
—————-Studge——————–
…..imagine that! those front 4 would be fairly fluid, interchanging and pulling defenders apart.
i know Sneijder’s age means it’s unlikely FSG will want to pay up, but it’s pretty clear they need to sign at least one experienced player to guide the youngsters and put a composed foot on the ball. this is exactly the kind of signing we need and exactly the kind we always miss out on to spurs.
anyway….. as i’ve been saying for a couple of seasons, pulling Gerrard back gives us the best service to the forwards, the best means of spreading play, and it also means we can play another forward in front of him (giving us an additional goal-scoring player, which Lucas and Allen clearly ain’t). it makes a lot of sense to me. the best quality Gerrard offers this side now is quality service from deep. he’s the closest thing we’re likely to get to our next Alonso.
Sniejder? Wesley Sneijder? Man Utd couldn’t afford his wage demands. We have no chance.
I don’t think turning up with 20 minutes to go is a sign of positive progression, because thats when we arrived, dam I’ll blame it on a traffic jam. Allen is having a horror stretch, I don’t think he’s fast enough or tough enough for games where we need to dominate.
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I simply can’t understand the decision to buy a striker and then sit him on his arse at Old Trafford. FFS, who cares if he’s out of puff, or just coming back from injury, thats what we bought him for. Before anyone comes back with the injury bit, saving a possibly injured player as a sub is pure suicide. Once he’s on as a sub, you’re going a player down if he’s crocked.
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Considering everybody thinks the Man U defence is their weak link, we sacrifice a striker, stinks of mid table mentality, lets try and get out of there with a draw.
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As I said, horror stretch coming up, hope the lads lift their respective games, otherwise the big kahuna could get an early shower.
but LB… we’ve just shifted Sahin and Cole off the books. if we shift Downing as well, that should free up some wages for a stellar player who’s available at at affordable price.
we now have youngsters right through team, and very few leaders to guide them. this has got to be in BR’s thinking and hopefully he can persuade the owners to invest in a player who we might not necessarily get any money for in the future… but who right now can give us something we’re desperately lacking.
alright…. we can’t pay him 200k a week, but i don’t think Gerrard or Suarez would object to him arriving as our highest paid player. they’re crying out for more quality and experience around them.
nnyeeeh… maybe it’s a pipe dream. i’m just seeing it as Downing wages + Cole wages = Sneijder wages…. but i’ve always been shit at maths
Not happening sambo , ayre said yday it was a no go
As I predicted, sit back and lose. Allen, Downing , Sterling shite. In 2012, reds finished with third lowest points total when you exclude promotee and relegated teams. Only Villa and QPR finished with fewer. MU are on course for 95 points ! Reds have taken half the points MU did in 2012, 46 V 93. Rodgers is the sort of bloke who wears 3 condoms, just in case.
Terrible performance yesterday, feel really let down by the lads…. We played the exactly the way 90% of the cannon fodder play against them wankers and now they have the league in the bag….not that we are the team to stop them but that was a tasty we confidence booster for them.
Downing is such a coward of a footballer why is he so afraid to take players on ffs. That wee wanker evra showed him down the left and he still didn’t take him on!! The guy is just a passenger.
On reflection Sturridge starting could have made all the difference he really was the one highlight of the our game so good to see him look for Suarez ever chance he got. I’ll be avoiding social media and my phone for the week!!
Sorry Sambo, it aint happening.
Oh by the way… my trip to Debenhams was alright.
Burgerbrain,
i wish your dad would have wore three condom’s.
Very good redman, funny that!
alright… so forget Sneijder… but the point stands.
I’d like to see Suarez operating behind Studge as effectively the top of a midfield diamond. i know that sounds strange to move one of the world’s best strikers (and pretty much our only goalscorer) away from the goal, but I honestly don’t think it would effect his scoring too much. he often drops deep to get the ball anyway, and he often looks isolated when he stays forward. when he runs at goal, he thrives when there’s another player there to play off. the more he sees of the ball, the better we look. he’s our Messi.
if we can add a top quality player outside him, i think that is a really potent forward line that will see us changing some of our possession into goals. but the new wide man needs to be genuine quality… not potential…. not 1 decent youtube compilation…. a player who scores and assists goals. if Barca is our model, we need to replace Downing with a player who brings guile, skill, and threat to the left flank.
Thank’s Colly,
he’s one of those daft fucker’s that just dig hole’s for themselves, my old man used to say “you cant educate pork”.
But he is an annoying shit that just doesn’t contribute as a so called LFC fan, you can go back on all of his comments since he has been coming in here and i dont think he has ever given the Red boy’s a slap on the back and said “well done”.
Ah fuck it i don’t know why i bother getting agitated by him i mean he is only a rung up the ladder from a chimp.
Ya gotta luv him redman , he’s our very own village idiot
So Sneidjer is out of the question, aparently… I don’t think anyone really believed in the rumour in the first place, but would’ve certainly given us a real boost + a good shoot at getting into the top4- ie win against Everton, Spurs and Arse and we’d have clawed back alot of ground on the 4th spot… But that’s not to be as we’re looking at the year after next before we’re going to be contenders, apparently
My guess is that BR will be after another tearway type of forward sooner or later, ala Sturridge/Walcott, so that we’ll be able to really stretch the pitch on either side or have a real counter attack ability…-Shame that Babel never amounted to much huh?
When we get two lightning quick players on the pitch the likes of Allen will see more light around him I’d hazard a guess…
Actually, I don’t mind having Downing as a squad player, if I imagine him as a 5mill buy then all is good with us having him on board (as a squad player)… But like Sambos saying, we really could use maybe one or two more players that can operate either side of Sturidge… I’m not overly convinced that Sterling should be an automatic choice, week on week. Sure in 2-3 years time he might be at a similar level to Walcott, but he’s not at the moment…
Not really understanding why we’re in for another defender, I’d rather see Coates getting a few sub appearances, will be a shame if he’s also off loaded for the Norweigan fella…
@theredman, abortion was meant for clowns like you. Face it ,Dalglish and Rodgers bought hopelessly. Roy Evans never finished more than 13 pints behiind MU. This season the total will be > than last season’s laughable 37. Andy Carroll is now worth £ 5 mill and falling every week. Has Done nothing in 2 yrs, Van Persie has scored 60 goals in the same time, cost £ 3 mill from the Dutch league. Pat on the back?, kick up the arse is what the overpaid players deserve. Bring 4th place Houllier back.
Lads i have stopped pleading for players. Ever since the Henderson/Adam/Downing transfer window and seeing the continued wastage of substantial resources on mediocrity.
By the way the other tear away player BR wants is Tom Ince but we won’t be getting him in January.
Sure LB, Tom Ince was the man for tat description… Funny that Aitch’s point about paying a little bit extra for Dempsey seems to apply here, again… But you never know, maybe all of the hard line refusal to over pay might start paying dividends in the future… Look at Rafa’s buys, some are still paying out long after he’s gone…
Tom Ince has less than 18 months left on his contract so I think that I can understand why paying 7 mill is well over what LFC are willing to pay… Unless he goes to another team and rips it up…
Seemingly Swansea are after ince & are willing to meet blackpools valuation
And we would get 35% of whatever Swansea pay for him.
A clown like me,
that’s fuckin rich coming from someone who still count’s with his finger’s.
Burgerman if i had an IQ like your’s i’d walk on my hand’s and teach my arse to talk.
Oh well, if Swansea pay 7 mill then we’ll be pocketing 35% of the fee… Might very well pay for Sneidjers pay for a week….
Looking forward to the Norwich game, tough team, but the Sturridge + Suarez partnership should be far too good for them.
lancey, I think there is a decided difference between “not paying an extra million for Dempsey”… a proven Premiership striker…
…and…
“not paying an extra million for Ince” … a promising kid that we sold them for 300k less than 18 months ago and who has “done well for 1 season” in the Championship.
If we buy him for 3 million, we get about 2 million of that back
… if we take a pass, we net just under 3 million in the deal.
Maybe there’s a decent player we could bag for 3 million?
(if Schneider is available on a free and we could talk him into taking 80k per week to “play with Suarez and Stevie G” that’s 37.5 weeks salary)
(That’s how you balance books and payroll.)
I’m not into twitter but snedjer was meant to have tweeted YNWA lastnite, it was removed shortly after.
Schneider is coming to LFC so get over it, its bullshit. We can’t afford a player of his stature in the game. The owners are on a major cost cutting regime, so we can stay a mid table team and keep bubbling along in the Premier League.
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So far we have Sturidge in who should be rather fresh after spending realistically the last 3 seasons sitting on his arse. However our other signings look anything but value. Allen has hit the wall, Assadi is looking like being shipped out, Sahin is gone, and Borini is only coming back from injury but prior to that looked like a rabbit in the headlights type player.
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So spending money is only looking like reducing the wage bill, we are technically still paying Cole’s wages until the 18 month period is up. The money we saved on Sahin has gone to pay off Cole.
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And before we jump in and cruxify Burger, he’s right with some of the things he’s been bringing up, Carroll is probably only worth about 5 million at the moment, he’s continually injured, hasn’t scored for West Ham, slow, sluggish Old English type centre forward, I don’t see where the recouping of cost of him will come from. He’s rubbish and will cost LFC for the next 3 years.
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Lads lets not get into a bitch fight online, if you don’t agree with someones views or posts, and you choose not to debate with the person please refrain from personal abuse. We are all concerned here. In fact Burgers recent epic posts suggest he’s even more frustrated with the club than druing the bungling G+H days.
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I want my team to be number 1 again but sadly I can’t at this stage see us challenging for a title in the forseable future, that hurts.
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Chasing Ince smacks on mid table mentality, hope he gets better and make a profit on sale. We are not Swansea we are fucking Liverpool.
Puhlease… gaz…. to a certain extent I agree that those who come into here to discuss, should not be abused… but that guy is a douchebag of the highest order and always has been.
A broken clock is right twice a day… and his posts are never more useful to the discussion.
Make that Schneider is not coming to LFC.
Not necessarily Schneider specifically… but Loic Remy just went to QPR for fucks sake.
And not him specifically… there are players out there that could make us better.
Though you are correct in that we’ve not really got the wage bill under control… its a fallacy… in that a lot of the money saved on selling certain players, has gone into improved contracts for others we’ve kept and bought.
There you have it Kopcolly, we planned it all along, pump up Ince’s value so Swansea buy him, we get the sell on fee and reinvest into Sneidjer’s wages… Brilliant…
Well Aitch his post are getting bigger by the year. All jokes aside, we should be able to buy decent top quality players, afterall we have just got countless players off the books, lets see, Kuyt, Aqualani, Cole, Maxi, Bellamy, some of Carroll, Adam, Sahin and thats just in this season, if everyone of them was on an average of 50,000 grand a week, we now should be 3.5 mill better off to start with. Now I know as you do our improved contract offers haven’t amount to 3.5 million a week. We also have to take into account about 30 others who have been shown the door since Henry and Co arrrived. Some big money going somewhere.
Ok lads got this, its not a reliable source so to speak but its about Schneider which everyone seems to want.
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Tancredi Palmeri ?@tancredipalmeri
Sneijder: “I don’t want any pressure now.I need time to decide, it’s not about money, it’s a life choice”. On Gazzetta tomorrow edition
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The little comment about its a life choice tells me he’s looking to retire on a nice comfortable wage, somewhere warm, not fucking Mersyside.
Surely he could afford a heated house though gaz??
Jokes aside gaz, AND being totally honest it looks like we’re being stripped down even further from these owners… Payroll is drastically down, revenue is up, but spending on the roster seems to be limited… Theres still cause for optimism, 3-4 quality players and we’d be there fighting for the top 4 again…
Stripped? Lads look, our wages was over 70% of turnover and that’s when we were a Champions League club. In contrast Arsenal’s and Spurs’ wages are 55% of turnover. Man United’s is 46%. Our wage structure simply had to be re-structured. I have criticised FSG big time this season. There are a lot of fuck ups they are responsible for but what I won’t criticise them for is how they handle the club’s finances. Put simply the club’s finances were a mess and are being sorted out and sorted out well. Money saved is re-invested into the club. No dough is being taken out. Get any accountant to scrutinise the books and you’ll see. (Accountants on other forums have done just that and come to the conclusion I have).
Wesley Sneijder. A player who averages 20 appearances in all competitions in each season for the last 5 years. Meaning he misses about a third of the teams matches due to his injuries. A player who when Man United showed interest had wage demands of over £200K per week. There is a reason Inter want him off the books. I think we should take learnings from the Joe Cole situation. Forget Sneijder.
FSG have strict guidelines when it comes to signing players. They’ll only sign a player over the age of 26 in exceptional circumstances. When you look at it, this is not a new philosophy. Our best manager in the transfer market of all time is Bob Paisley. Sir Bob signed 20 players who played league football for Liverpool. Of those 20, EIGHTEEN were 24 or younger. The other two were 25 and 26 years of age. Average age of Paisley’s signings was a mere 22.3. Dalglish was the oldest at 26. Paisley’s 10 best signings with an average age of just 22.5 played an average 464 games for the club. These players were Hansen, Rush, Neal, Whelan, Grobbelaar, Nicol, Dalglish, Souness, McDermott & Lawrenson.
We are buying in the right age bracket. We just need to scout the right players. This is why I go on and on about the football operation.
Quote from Bob Paisley regarding players
‘Let them lose their legs on someone else’s pitch’