Yeah exactly. He should keep his stupid comments in his pocket.
Liverpool 2014/15 | WARNING: Contains strong amounts of Scouse nonsense
- Thread starter Wumminator
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Oh I thought I read recently that LvG said it was a 3 year plan to challenge for the title ? Maybe I'm wrong.
Injuries - all the top squads have them but some far more than others. A month or so back I posted on here the ridiculous lack of injuries Chelsea have had this season (and last) and wondered how they manage it. They were virtually bottom of the number of 'Injury Days' per squad. United were something like 5th /6th in the table of most injuries and Liverpool were top (so maybe we did win something this season - do we get a trophy) ? Delving further though I'd say that it affected us the most because it meant we had (one way or another) now lost the scorers of 50% of our goals from last season (Suarez and Sturridge) and were reduced to depending on wide midfielders and 3 back up strikers that proved to be WTF buys. Now the transfers are the fault of BR and FSG but that aside even a blind man could see how more damaging losing Sturridge was to us, more even than United's defensive woes.
5 seasons is an eternity as we've seen in the last 2-3 seasons with United's fall and rise and Liverpool's rise and fall. It's impossible to say if it will materialise but 2-3 years is a reasonable time-frame to challenge if it all comes together.
So Kevin Boateng is available, surely no worse than the Welsh Xavi?
Come on, Raf mate, this is too much...Rafateria said:
Sort of but they were still contributing to Premier League titles so they weren't really a burden.
the problem for Liverpool is, that United will be stronger next year. The ghost of SAF is finally out of the dressing room and we´ll bring in a couple new players, who will actually fit into the system. I dont expect miracles (not a LvG fan), but its really unlikely, that United will regress.
Liverpool is in a more difficult situation. Bringing in three new starter and 2-3 squad player on a smaller budget is very difficult (almost impossible). Even if the transfers are spot on, you´d be stuck in another year of transition (4-6 new players + 6-8 players leaving). This year Rodgers failed to hit the start running, because he had to integrate a couple of new players. Next year you´ll be in the same situation. Liverpool also doesnt have a fixed system yet. The 343 worked quite well for some time, but it was Rodgers last straw and isn´t necessarily the way forward.
If Liverpool makes very good decisions in the next month, they´ll certainly be in a position to challenge for the top4. Considering the track-record of your management, this would be quite a big surprise so.
Well you're making a lot of assumptions on our budget based on ..... ? You may be right of course but I believe with the additional new sponsorship money, increased PL cash and money accrued from LC semi, FAC semi and numerous matches in the CL & EL, along with huge savings on the salaries of Gerrard, Johnson et al (the salaries alone accounting for annual savings of well over 30M - though of course at least half of that will go out again) plus the fact that FSG were happy to pay 35M for Sanchez last Summer ... and even though they threw 16M away on Balotelli there should still be money in the pot - and of course anything accrued from sales, should mean there is considerably more available than maybe you have accounted for but still keeping us inside FFP. All pure conjecture on my behalf of course.
Benteke will cost ca. £30M anyway, Lukaku has set the bar there, so it's not like buying him will save anything over the others you listed (not that you were suggesting it would), though I think Vietto may be top of the shopping list from rumours, Viktor Fischer may be on the radar again, Bacca would be ace, the Aubameyang rumours have started again and I really like him (i.e. he's not a midget !) and I think he'd slip seamlessly into our team, Andre Ayew is getting mentioned again and there are quotes from the man himself re. Liverpool interest, it also seems we've made a £3.2M bid for some kid in Uruguay that I've never heard of ! I agree though that Ings is looking likely at ca. £6M - that's decent enough if he comes in at #3 or 4 alongside Origi. I can't see us not spending big on strikers with Sturridge likely to be out for the first 2 months of next season now as well.
Nainggolan or Pjanic would be brilliant .. but maybe beyond us. Also as I mentioned I believe that at least a couple of the new players need to be seasoned, mature, pros. The squad is simply far too young at the moment, so those are unlikely to be as expensive as young rising stars. Pirlo anyone
The RB we're looking at seems to be Montoya (at £8m).There is no way we'll keep just Lucas, Allen, Can and Henderson as our four midfielders and not replace Gerrard, especially as Lucas doesn't seem to be a BR favourite and there's no-one from the U21 that's really ready to come and sit on the bench either (Rossiter is going to need another season in the U21 or better, on loan, after his injury woes of this).
Hahahaha !Come on, Raf mate, this is too much...
According to Aspas himself he has signed a 3 year deal with Sevilla and it's said we are getting our full fee (£7M) back. Whoopee ! Nice start to the Summer kitty.
Is the thought amongst Liverpool fans that Sterling will leave this summer?
That's money laundering.
How would ye not take a hit on the fee?
I expect Liverpool to be better next season. They brought in a ton of new players and struggled early, as is to be expected.
But their second half point haul has been good, and they should improve as familiarity grows.
They need some savvy transfers, to be sure. It's probably more likely that Rodgers has a nervous breakdown.
But their second half point haul has been good, and they should improve as familiarity grows.
They need some savvy transfers, to be sure. It's probably more likely that Rodgers has a nervous breakdown.
No idea. Please note that is not official. I guess Spain really suits Aspas' game and so Sevilla, who have had him on loan for this season, are happy that he can form an integral part of their side going forward.
No. Nor the bookies who have him at something like 1/5 on to stay.
However if City or Arsenal wanted to throw £40-50M our way then I'd drive him there myself.
Let's not mention Welbeck then shall we !
Out and in. They have to convince someone to pay for Lambert, Borini and Balotelli before they even start. can't be stuck with those three on the payroll next season.
That's weird, just had a quick look at his season, looks like he's only played 10 games for Sevilla, scored a meager 2 goals in the league. His goal haul looks a bit better when you add in his 7 Copa del rey goals, but 6 of those came against a Segunda division outfit. Surprising that Sevilla would be willing to pay that much for him.
So is he going to just be content staying for another year on tiny wages knowing that he can triple his money elsewhere and win things?
Financially speaking around £40m net I'd imagine is roughly the budget you'll have this Summer bearing in mind the lack of Champions League revenue next season. I certainly can't see the owners dipping into their own pockets to fund additional purchases and there are big costs associated with your ground expansion.Well you're making a lot of assumptions on our budget based on ..... ? You may be right of course but I believe with the additional new sponsorship money, increased PL cash and money accrued from LC semi, FAC semi and numerous matches in the CL & EL, along with huge savings on the salaries of Gerrard, Johnson et al (the salaries alone accounting for annual savings of well over 30M - though of course at least half of that will go out again) plus the fact that FSG were happy to pay 35M for Sanchez last Summer ... and even though they threw 16M away on Balotelli there should still be money in the pot - and of course anything accrued from sales, should mean there is considerably more available than maybe you have accounted for but still keeping us inside FFP. All pure conjecture on my behalf of course.
Benteke will cost ca. £30M anyway, Lukaku has set the bar there, so it's not like buying him will save anything over the others you listed (not that you were suggesting it would), though I think Vietto may be top of the shopping list from rumours, Viktor Fischer may be on the radar again, Bacca would be ace, the Aubameyang rumours have started again and I really like him (i.e. he's not a midget !) and I think he'd slip seamlessly into our team, Andre Ayew is getting mentioned again and there are quotes from the man himself re. Liverpool interest, it also seems we've made a £3.2M bid for some kid in Uruguay that I've never heard of ! I agree though that Ings is looking likely at ca. £6M - that's decent enough if he comes in at #3 or 4 alongside Origi. I can't see us not spending big on strikers with Sturridge likely to be out for the first 2 months of next season now as well.
Nainggolan or Pjanic would be brilliant .. but maybe beyond us. Also as I mentioned I believe that at least a couple of the new players need to be seasoned, mature, pros. The squad is simply far too young at the moment, so those are unlikely to be as expensive as young rising stars. Pirlo anyone
There is no way we'll keep just Lucas, Allen, Can and Henderson as our four midfielders and not replace Gerrard, especially as Lucas doesn't seem to be a BR favourite and there's no-one from the U21 that's really ready to come and sit on the bench either (Rossiter is going to need another season in the U21 or better, on loan, after his injury woes of this).
That being said funding the cost of 2 strikers, 2 midfielders, a full back and a central defender seems a bit unrealistic unless you're shopping in the bargain basement, which judging by some of the player's I've seen mentioned isn't the case.
As a general question: if you had say £40m net to spend and £25m in sales how would you apportion that £65m it in terms of your squad?
Stop trolling. Tiny wages FFS. IMHO he's not worth more than 100k a week, though it's likely he'll get more I hope it comes in the form of PAYE ! He's still got a lot to learn and improve on to be worth much more than 100k .. and I don't he can.
So he discovered penicillin a year after it was... discovered for the first time?Come on, Raf mate, this is too much...
I was quite sure he'd stay a couple of months ago but I'm not too sure anymore. His head seems elsewhere of late and he's been bang average for at least two months now. Like Rafateria said, if a £40M+ bid comes in, he can leave if he wants to. We could get someone like Roberto Firmino or Felipe Anderson and save up to £20M for other transfers.
The never ending story of delusions, fantasies and 'if' the season's game changer!
Where's the money, who's going to take responsibility for buying all the dross that will be leaving, how is this going to happen in one summer transfer session, what did you learn from failing in Europe, and why do you think your owners would let you lot do it all over again?
Rodgers had the money last season and it burnt a hole in his pocket. He sold his top striker, and bought kids to pad up a dinosaur, and set targets strange targets. His assessment of your performances were scripted in la-la land. You limped out of Europe twice and the quality of the football declined with every game.
Your seem to equate youth and experience with ability, as 'if' your youthful squad will lend credibility to a top 4 performance. Go back to your last game in Europe and ask yourself what was wrong with your entire squad this season. It wasn't youth, it was mediocrity. They were poor buys and have landed your squad with dead weights.
Sorry mate but your report is a fantasy.
As far as I'm aware FSG have said that none of the costs of the ground expansion will affect the transfer kitty, so I don't see that as an issue (if you believe them and they haven't lied about anything so far).
I honestly don't see any way it's going to be £65m, so make that £80m (still under where i think the actual budget will end up) then for me :
£25m - Striker #1
£5m - Ings
£20m - MF #1
£5m - MF #2 (Milner perhaps - that figure is his personal signing on fee)
£8m (because that's what it seems it is) - RB
£12m - Keeper
For the CB I'd bring Ilori back - fantastic pace for a CB - or try and persuade Kolo to stay, a lovely bloke and a real comedian, the sort of player a young squad needs.
I have no idea what their budget looks like, but I suspect you're right, getting those wages off the books may be more important than any fee.
Liverpool have this '****' vibe, this giddy aura of unreality, it has to give some players pause; you might be asked to wear a Suarez tshirt or agree with something Rodgers pulls out of his donkey.
Ilori is shit.
I blame Wikipedia. And Frogie.
Which first choice striker would you buy for £25m? Add at least £5m-10m to that if you want a decent purchase.
In general, I don't think there's much wrong with our team that better coaching and more consistency in tactics wouldn't fix, once we have another capable striker.
For all the crap people talk about Gerrard and Lovren and whoever else, the big failure this season was the manager's inability to bring in a decent striker who actually fitted the way he wanted to play. If you're replacing someone as gifted and hardworking as Luis Suarez, the first names to trip off your tongue should not be Ricky Lambert and Mario Balotelli. Everything else that went wrong cascaded down from that.
Who to buy? It would depend on who was sold to get that 25M. But assuming it's bit players players, I'd prioritize a striker and a midfielder. I don't know how I'd split the money and I don't know who I'd buy other than Icardi, who will probably cost too much and have more attractive options. But it's worth remembering that although we won't receive any money for Steven Gerrard or Glen Johnson, we will be freeing up a shit ton of wages, so who knows? Personally, I wouldn't object to a Benteke. But then I wouldn't object to a Jack Colbeck or a Will Hughes either. It's not about individuals, it's about the balance, the coaching, and knowing how we will play.
I actually think our defence is pretty decent when the midfield ahead of them is strong, but if the manager commits to playing the season with three at the back, then I might swap the midfielder for a central defender, or spread the money across the three, one striker, one midfielder, one defender.
Our biggest challange, I think, will be knowing how we are going to play. I get the feeling the manager doesn't have a plan.
Money - covered above. FSG wanted youngsters and paid for them, I don't think they can throw that back on BR when they have this bollocks Transfer Committee involved. They are also savvy people - they know that losing as many mature players as they will this Summer will mean investment. You seem to think that spending £80-100m is a large figure, whereas with the sponsorship and PL returns (to say nothing of CL/EL this season at least) from this year on I'd think that will soon be the norm, if it isn't already for a team in the Top 4 or with Top 4 aspirations.
Quality of football - we went through a bad patch, pretty much as United did at the start, however it was turned around and if you had bothered to watch the youngsters in our team then you wouldn't be going on about mediocrity. Fact is that if you look at those leaving, or likely to leave, the club this Summer then those are the players that have been slated as 'unworthy' or 'over-the-hill' or the 'Dead-weights' as you call them. We played some lovely football as well as some shite ... there was a time when most on RedCafe were convinced we were going to finish in the Top 4 so you need to add some counter-balance to your argument.
As for fighting for a Top 4 slot that you seem to think our young team incapable of .. they ran your Allstars mighty close this season. It is very naive of you, though most likely just spite, not to think they haven't benefited from this season and will be better for it. A blend of maturity and youth is what I'll be looking for after this Summer.
Rest of your post was your usual 'Liverpool Hammer" so it's been deleted from my response
Oh really. Tell me how many games you've seen him play this season ? He's 22 yrs old .. incredibly young for a CB but still highly thought of in Portugal as one for the future.
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Hopefully our board does and it's called "bring Klopp to Liverpool".
That's enough about Barney.Stretford End Phil said:
I gave a long list above .. at least half of those wouldn't top £25m.
You better erase that dream right now. It's the hope that kills you.
It's not only the individuals, but it's also the individuals, especially if you're talking about a top 4 push against teams that will probably improve, recruit strong individuals and will most likely be coached by competent managers. A few teams in the PL have good coaches and play pleasant football (Swansea in recent seasons, Southampton this year, Everton last year), but the difference between that and making the push to challenge better teams also relies on individuals.Money - covered above. FSG wanted youngsters and paid for them, I don't think they can throw that back on BR when they have this bollocks Transfer Committee involved. They are also savvy people - they know that losing as many mature players as they will this Summer will mean investment. You seem to think that spending £80-100m is a large figure, whereas with the sponsorship and PL returns (to say nothing of CL/EL this season at least) from this year on I'd think that will soon be the norm, if it isn't already for a team in the Top 4 or with Top 4 aspirations.
Quality of football - we went through a bad patch, pretty much as United did at the start, however it was turned around and if you had bothered to watch the youngsters in our team then you wouldn't be going on about mediocrity. Fact is that if you look at those leaving, or likely to leave, the club this Summer then those are the players that have been slated as 'unworthy' or 'over-the-hill' or the 'Dead-weights' as you call them. We played some lovely football as well as some shite ... there was a time when most on RedCafe were convinced we were going to finish in the Top 4 so you need to add some counter-balance to your argument.
As for fighting for a Top 4 slot that you seem to think our young team incapable of .. they ran your Allstars mighty close this season. It is very naive of you, though most likely just spite, not to think they haven't benefited from this season and will be better for it. A blend of maturity and youth is what I'll be looking for after this Summer.
Rest of your post was your usual 'Liverpool Hammer" so it's been deleted from my response
I rely on the opinion of my Girondins supporting mate who has seen every Bordeaux game this year, recently stating 'Ilori est à chier'. I've only seen him a couple of times, both of which he was poor.
How am I trolling? Isn't he on peanuts (for a footballer obviously) like £30k a week?
Why would he not want to move to a much better side and earn £100k+ a week? I do think he's worth that much and he wouldn't look out of place at all in our current side.
If a crock like Sturridge who misses more games than he plays is on £150k why shouldn't Sterling be?
Fischer, Aubameyang and Ayew are no real strikers though. We need a true goalscorer.
This is how Scholes finished his premier league career
This is how Gerrard finished his
This is how Gerrard finished his
I think your list is more realistic than many I've seen. In fact I think that'll be almost exactly what you'll spend, apart from the new goalkeeper, where I think he'll stick with Mignolet.
True enough. The list above is pretty realistic it's just a question of finding the right £25m striker and £20m midfielder. The likes of Milner & Ings are fine to pad out the squad, but they're never going to get you back to where you were last season. If I were a Liverpool fan I'd be looking at going all out for Moutinho if Monaco are continuing their fire sale, as well as Jackson Martinez. Both deviate from your policy in recent seasons of buying young players, but should add some well needed experience to the team. I'd also say both would see Liverpool as a step up and I don't think any bigger club would be massively in for them.
Even if you had to pad out the rest of your squad with free signings like Milner, Vlaar and Ings and a few younger players I think it'd be a good Summer.