Liverpool FC Forum

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

I think although Meireles was brought in ... I still see Mascherano as a huge loss in terms of controlling the Midfield ,Poulson in my opinion is a very different player who is more measured in his approach (more Methodical )as opposed to Mascherano who was everywhere charging into tackles brilliantly ... but I think the most salient point being is Roys subsequent failure to bring in a Quality striker to fill the void when Torres is out .... this is why I opted for option 3
Listen we can all argue about the vagaries as to why we finished seventh last season till we are blue in the face ,but  posters should realise that when in charge of driving the happy bus it pays real dividends if you remove the blinkers first .... only time will tell whether there will be an improvement ...I think I will just see what pans out and where we are in the table after Xmas ......
Anyway like every season the manager has my full support( even if we finish Eighth as long as we play the Liverpool way)   ....its just this season I remain a little less audible in my praise ...until its warranted that is......I think this is the most sensible approach to adopt given the circumstances

[burjennio]

I went for the 3rd option but I dont like the way the questions are loaded, he may have done brilliantly well in the transfer market and not win the title, that would be a huge gap to bridge even with a ton of cash after last seasons underperformance. I think he has done well given the funds available to him but the lack of striker is obviously a major worry. N'Gog has shown improvement but for me he still doesnt have the physicality to be a lone front man and unless Roy uses Dirk Kuyt totally differently that Rafa did as a front man I cannot see him scoring 20+ though he does always chip in with a few important ones as well as create a suprisingly high amount of chances and goals for others (apparantly hes behind only Gerrard in assists over the last 2 seasons )

Anyway he did about as well as could realistically be expected and heres to hoping that he somehow gets a few quid to get that striker come January.

[maguskwt]

I think although Meireles was brought in ... I still see Mascherano as a huge loss in terms of controlling the Midfield ,Poulson in my opinion is a very different player who is more measured in his approach (more Methodical )as opposed to Mascherano who was everywhere charging into tackles brilliantly ... but I think the most salient point being is Roys subsequent failure to bring in a Quality striker to fill the void when Torres is out .... this is why I opted for option 3
Listen we can all argue about the vagaries as to why we finished seventh last season till we are blue in the face ,but  posters should realise that when in charge of driving the happy bus it pays real dividends if you remove the blinkers first .... only time will tell whether there will be an improvement ...I think I will just see what pans out and where we are in the table after Xmas ......
Anyway like every season the manager has my full support( even if we finish Eighth as long as we play the Liverpool way)   ....its just this season I remain a little less audible in my praise ...until its warranted that is......I think this is the most sensible approach to adopt given the circumstances

Top post.

So, so far we have been able to voice our different opinions without resorting to attacking another poster... Newkit still has hope

[crim cram]

The issue isn't "did LFC do well in the transfer window",  its "did Roy do well in the transfer window".  A bit unfair on him since 2/3 of the window was spent w/ him @ Fulam.  I think he did an above average job and the mash factor was something he inherited, not created.  The striker issue being the only blemish on proceedings.

A couple of things Roy looks to be doing up front:

Getting rid of players who don't want to be here - Aquilani, insua, Degen,Mash , etc... (even if out on loan - these players won't be around to disrupt the dressing room)

Getting sure bets either from Roy's own management of the player (Poulsen, Konchesky) or proven Premiership players (Cole,Konchesky)

The speed with which he brought in Meireles once he had money was also impressive.

Jovanovic, Shelvey, and Wilson were all Rafa targets so its hard to say "Well done Roy" on those.

Bottom line:  Given the time and money restraints I'd rate Roy's dealings somewhere in the very good category.  Hindsight being 20/20 it would have been nice to ship Mascherano as early as possible to have a little more time to resolve the striker issue.

[Calum]

Roy did very well in the transfer market, but like most people say, another striker should have been bought. I expect Gerrard or Cole will be playing just behind Torres in most games, instead of playing 2 strikers. I just hope Torres' stand ins step up to the mark this season.

[carmonkeycasino]

Number 3 please! He did okay. Meireles and Cole are good signings. I was disappointed about missing out on a striker...but i suppose Ngog, Babel, Kuyt or Jovanovic could fill that role...they don't score much though. A striker like El Nino is hard to come by.

[In and Out]

but  posters should realise that when in charge of driving the happy bus it pays real dividends if you remove the blinkers first

You can tell you haven't been around over the last few seasons

[Fauxy]

He did good, ony bad thing was no striker.

Best thing he did though was Signing Joe Cole because it seemed to ecourage Gerrard to stay.

[bigmick]

but  posters should realise that when in charge of driving the happy bus it pays real dividends if you remove the blinkers first

You can tell you haven't been around over the last few seasons

I actually thought red was deliberately ironic given the way the forum has been for a couple of seasons.

[fivecups]

Very nicely balanced poll this one. 3 groups - 2 sets of extremists on both sides but by far the largest group are the 'sit-on-the-fencers', 'wait 'n see's', 'balanced view-point' posse.

I wonder if we did one of these this time last year would the result be exactly the same - just a perfect swap of extremists on both sides and the big group stuck in the middle in exactly the same way!

[Benny The Noon]

Option 3 - good signings in Cole and Merieles , balanced out against no striker coming in . The signings off Konchesky and Poulsen would be good signings if they were coming in as back up but think neither are good enough IMO as first choice . We once again have to rely on Torres being fit and IMO it's not going to happen all seasons so think we will struggle to get near 4th and will end up between 5th and 8th .

[damjan193]

Well I think that he did OK, he signed 2 great players, Cole and Meireles. He signed Poulsen for little money but I think that he gave too much for Konchesky, who is an average sign but for more money than he is worht. IMO he shouldnt be blamed for not buying a striker becouse there are resons which made that extremely difficult, and ofcourse he shouldnt be blamed for the departure of Mascherano. He should however be given credit for keeping both Gerrard and Torres. All in all I think that he did all that he could in the transfer window, for the rest we'll just have to see.

[ethanr]

Just to clarify more. The reason I picked 3 and not 4 is that I'm putting alot of faith in Ngog  . We've seen he has improved and with a strong midfield, which Roy seems to be prioritising we might just score enough goals even playing Ngog or Kuyt when Torres is injured. But I still do think that we might struggle to finish 4th. The league is about strength in depth and the squads of Spurs and Man City are stronger than ours. I actually think in terms of squad depth and overall quality, the sequence is like this:

Man United
Chelsea
Man City
Arsenal
Spurs
Liverpool

If you look at that, Roy has a big task on his hands to qualify for CL

That's true.  People may bag on us for not qualifying for the champions league this year, if we don't, but when looking at the talent each squad has, we are not at all in the top 4.

[fivecups]

The big five can be summarised thus:

Mascherano - Poulsen
Aquilani - Meireles
Insua - Konchesky
Yossi - Joe Cole
Reira - Jovanovich

It aint bad considering Roy didn't get to spend all that was recouped. Masch, huge loss IMO; hopefully Meireles is a superstar.

I should also add that more important than any signing was keeping Gerrard and Torres. Roy and possibly Purslow have managed to do that and it definitely deserves a lot of credit.

[TarnRed]

I opted for number 3.

I feel apart from Mascherano we have a much stronger starting eleven than last season. What I feel we have more than last season is options of creativity, people can whine and whinge as much as they like about Torres been out but he missed 2 games less than the season we finished second but what we missed was creatvity check it out it's true. What Roy has done IMO is bring in a player that can manage 30-40 games a season and contribute along the way, for some reason uknown to us Rafa din't seem to think Aquilani could.

We now have the ability to throw Cole wide left (whether he likes it or not so fecking what) it's about what's benficial to the team not the players. It gives us the opportunity to throw Gerrard behind Torres, and if worse case scenario, Gerrard back alongside Poulsen as we'll stick with the trusted 4-2-3-1 for me.

Konchesky is solid, Insua wasn't last season, Aurelio is about as fit as my 90 year old nan. Kelly is and will be better than Degen. If Roy gets the right blend and the players can adopt to his instructions and tactics they will succeed, if not, so be it.