Liverpool FC Forum

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Time after time we are surprised to learn that footballers,in most of the time, are a bunch of egoistic shiites Coutinho included...He wants to leave? No problem but on our terms..let him leave next year after we get Keita and others joining..

Yep, though I would say I doubt a lot of this stuff coming from Phil's camp about him being played out of position and falling out with Klopp etc is actually coming from Phil himself.
Don't get me wrong I think Phil deffo wants to move but I reckon his advisors have told him that the only way he's going to get out of Liverpool with 5 years still on his contract and no buy out clause is if he poisons the relationship between himself and the club.
Unlike Luis I don't think Phil is comfortable going down that route so he's probably left it to his advisors to say what needs to be said to get him his move to Barcelona, hence the 'close family member' having a hotline to Sky Sports News instead of Phil giving Raheem-esque interviews himself.
The fact that the stuff being said isn't even original (Sterling pretty much said the same things word for word about Brendan) tells you that there is nothing in it and his advisors are just going through the 'How To Leave A Club In 10 Easy Steps' playbook.
As the window approaches and Barcelona get more desperate the things being said will get worse and worse and Phil may even make an appearance on our TV screens but the club and our fans just need to hold our nerve, as I said he is under contract for 5 years so there is no rush to do anything, I'd let him sit in the stands sulking for a year before I'd be pressurised into a hasty decision by the cabal of Barcelona, Phil's advisors and their buddies at Sky Sports News.
The danger is if there are one or two within FSG who think that £100m for a player we bought for £8m is moneyball at its finest and use the situation for their own ends but that would be false economy at its best or rather, worst.
The blow to our prestige worldwide would be huge as our status as an also ran and a selling club would pretty much be set in stone. John Henry wants to go and ask some of the also ran clubs in the division how many shirts they sell or how many fans turn up to their Asia tours if he wants convincing.

[ken_job]

I am a fan of Coutinho and losing him will considerably weaken our team which irrespective of the fee is a royal f*ck up at this time of year, if he goes however ...

I say f*ck Coutinho - if a player wants to leave and starts stirring up the camp in the final week of preseason and his entourage fabricating sh*te I say he has no place in the squad. An unhappy player always leaves so we might as well bite the bullet, sell the player for the highest price and try to concentrate our efforts on signing VVD and an out and out striker. I would say the same for any player under the circumstances. We have decent balance in the squad and Firmino and Lallana ready made to fill his gap - if a top striker came in i could see Firmino dropping back.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I am a fan of Coutinho and losing him will considerably weaken our team which irrespective of the fee is a royal f*ck up at this time of year, if he goes however ...

I say f*ck Coutinho - if a player wants to leave and starts stirring up the camp in the final week of preseason and his entourage fabricating sh*te I say he has no place in the squad. An unhappy player always leaves so we might as well bite the bullet, sell the player for the highest price and try to concentrate our efforts on signing VVD and an out and out striker. I would say the same for any player under the circumstances. We have decent balance in the squad and Firmino and Lallana ready made to fill his gap - if a top striker came in i could see Firmino dropping back.

We will never amount to anything if we keep allowing our best players to engineer their way out of the club. Three times over the past decade we have built sides capable of challenging for the title only for our key player to do one (or in Coutinho's case attempt to do one) and leave us back at square one. If we allow 'close family members', Barcelona and Sky Sports News to bounce us into selling a player with 5 years left on his contract and no buy out clause we will never hold onto a player and if we can't hold onto our best players we will be in a permanent state of rebuild, or in other words we will be rebuilding forever. English football is littered with once great clubs like Preston, Wolves and Huddersfield, we'll be well on the way to joining them if we don't make a stand now.

[ken_job]

I don't disagree but try explaining that to Coutinho

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I don't disagree but try explaining that to Coutinho

Coutinho is our player, he's under a long contract and there is no buy out clause so he's not going anywhere without our say so. We should not be getting bounced into any quick decisions when he is only 6 months into a 5 year deal, Coutinho's 'close family friend' can call Jurgen, the club, the city, the country or whatever all the things they want, which they will no doubt do over the next 3 weeks, we'll probably have Messi et al calling us all the names under the sun as well, that's another party trick of Barca's, but whatever [sh]it they throw at us we have just got to ignore it and do things on our own terms and by our own timescale, not the artificial 3 week time scale Barcelona have decided.

[woof woof !]

We will never amount to anything if we keep allowing our best players to engineer their way out of the club. Three times over the past decade we have built sides capable of challenging for the title only for our key player to do one (or in Coutinho's case attempt to do one) and leave us back at square one.

Maybe as a club no matter how talented they are  we should think twice before we sign "Latino" players ?

Sounds a bit racist ? It's not meant to be BUT let's face it history has shown us that however much they profess to love Liverpool, at the first indication that Barcelona or Madrid are interested in them players from Spain or South America start packing their bags and waving goodbye to life in Liverpool.

I'm not blaming them for that, if you were raised in Spain, Brasil or Argentina the prospect of moving to one of the top clubs in the world and into a culture that resonates with you and your family is virtually irresistible.

As for Coutinho, put a minimum £120 million price tag on his head, wish him well and say goodbye.

[devaney]

I presume you are referring to McMananinho, Owinho and Rushuez  Sorry I forgot Baleinho !!

The £120m is fine Woof if you have a decent replacement. Our midfield today without Lallana and Coutinho was verging on the pitiful. Klopp knows that and that is why he is so determined not to let Coutinho go. Perhaps if we had gone after players that we had a chance of buying the situation would be different.

[woof woof !]

I presume you are referring to McMananinho, Owinho and Rushuez 

They were always "maybe's" .

You know the people I'm thinking of were "certainties   

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

We will never amount to anything if we keep allowing our best players to engineer their way out of the club. Three times over the past decade we have built sides capable of challenging for the title only for our key player to do one (or in Coutinho's case attempt to do one) and leave us back at square one.

Maybe as a club no matter how talented they are  we should think twice before we sign "Latino" players ?

Sounds a bit racist ? It's not meant to be BUT let's face it history has shown us that however much they profess to love Liverpool, at the first indication that Barcelona or Madrid are interested in them players from Spain or South America start packing their bags and waving goodbye to life in Liverpool.

I'm not blaming them for that, if you were raised in Spain, Brasil or Argentina the prospect of moving to one of the top clubs in the world and into a culture that resonates with you and your family is virtually irresistible.

As for Coutinho, put a minimum £120 million price tag on his head, wish him well and say goodbye.

Take £120m and do what though mate? As soon as we go in for a player we will have to pay way over the odds because the selling club will know that we have a big wad of cash burning a hole in our pocket. Besides £120m is not what it used to be, we'd probably have to pay £100m+ to get Keita out of Leipzig and he's had one good season in the Bundesliga.
I'd let Coutinho sit in the stands for a couple of months myself, with the clock ticking down towards the World Cup he'll soon come around.

[woof woof !]

We will never amount to anything if we keep allowing our best players to engineer their way out of the club. Three times over the past decade we have built sides capable of challenging for the title only for our key player to do one (or in Coutinho's case attempt to do one) and leave us back at square one.

Maybe as a club no matter how talented they are  we should think twice before we sign "Latino" players ?

Sounds a bit racist ? It's not meant to be BUT let's face it history has shown us that however much they profess to love Liverpool, at the first indication that Barcelona or Madrid are interested in them players from Spain or South America start packing their bags and waving goodbye to life in Liverpool.

I'm not blaming them for that, if you were raised in Spain, Brasil or Argentina the prospect of moving to one of the top clubs in the world and into a culture that resonates with you and your family is virtually irresistible.

As for Coutinho, put a minimum £120 million price tag on his head, wish him well and say goodbye.

Take £120m and do what though mate? As soon as we go in for a player we will have to pay way over the odds because the selling club will know that we have a big wad of cash burning a hole in our pocket. Besides £120m is not what it used to be, we'd probably have to pay £100m+ to get Keita out of Leipzig and he's had one good season in the Bundesliga.
I'd let Coutinho sit in the stands for a couple of months myself, with the clock ticking down towards the World Cup he'll soon come around.

For starters, with a £120 million on top of everything else we have, I'd meet Leicester's price on their want away player Mahrez and make Southampton a offer they'd be mad to refuse on Van Dyke.

[woof woof !]

I presume you are referring to McMananinho, Owinho and Rushuez 

They were always "maybe's" .

You know the people I'm thinking of were "certainties   :;):

Just to add to that, Rushie, never wanted to go (to Italy) and we through mismanagement and failure to cough up the money allowed " McMananinho and Owinho " to run down their contracts.

[Thommo's perm]

Gerrard says "we are not a selling club" but we all know deep down thats bullsh'it. Mascherano, Alonso, Torres, Suarez have all left and gone on to better things. We have to admit that certainly Real and Barca are bigger clubs than us with regards to money and power, as well as recent trophies.
That said, its totally disrespectful and disgraceful what Coutinho is allowing to happen in his name and and I hope the owners stand firm and make him stay another season, just like Suarez. He is nowhere near the legend that some seem to say he is and I said continuously that Firmino was a better player last season. Coutinho is too weak and inconstant for me, but I still think he should have the respect and consideration for the supporters and his team mates and wait until next season to move.

[woof woof !]

Gerrard says "we are not a selling club" but we all know deep down thats bullsh'it. Mascherano, Alonso, Torres, Suarez have all left and gone on to better things. We have to admit that certainly Real and Barca are bigger clubs than us with regards to money and power, as well as recent trophies.
That said, its totally disrespectful and disgraceful what Coutinho is allowing to happen in his name and and I hope the owners stand firm and make him stay another season, just like Suarez. He is nowhere near the legend that some seem to say he is and I said continuously that Firmino was a better player last season. Coutinho is too weak and inconstant for me, but I still think he should have the respect and consideration for the supporters and his team mates and wait until next season to move.

Agree with some of what you say Thommo, but personally I'd mug Countinho off right now provided we could screw Barcelona for every penny.

On his day Coutinho is deffo top shelf BUT he's not always "on it" and just needs a "tasty" tackle to sideline him for a few games at least.

He doesn't want to be here, imo take the money and wave him goodbye.

[only me]

What's good having money If we are unable to use it? We have already 100+ right now on the table gathering dust...little Phil will need to sync or sink.

[bunglemark2]

Thing is, for a manager who in years gone by (in Germany) was renowned for making a purse out of a sow's ear, i am F'kin amazed he hasn't managed to unearth a decent defender, or midfield lynchpin. Think Lewandowski, or other players for BVB, for instance. He never had the money Bayern had but was able to find decent players all over the pitch.
It should have been obvious on Day 1 that we need strengthening at the back. It's been like that for years. And, for years, all our so called captains have been Dogshyte, Gerrard included. A proper Captain would tear that defence a new ar$ehole for their consistent schoolboy defending. He'd set an example. At a minimum the manager would fix the problem.
We're heading for mid-table mediocrity folks, and that's why Coutinho wants out.