Liverpool FC Forum

[damjan193]

I Fu*king hate this time of year with all the negativity and moaning.
Lets see who the manager brings in and how they perform. If theyre sh'it then f*ck them off
Simple...

This is a BIG opportunity for us.  With a war chest of a transfer budget and Champions League to offer this could be make or break for the next few years, we cant really afford to 'see how they perform and f*ck them off' if they are no good.  We need class now, these players MUST hit the ground running.

That's true. You really can't blame our fans for panicking a bit since we've already seen this scenario a few times and we've always ***** it up and always because of similar reasons (sold our best player, failed to spend the money on proven quality, signed a few 10 million players who rarely kicked a ball for us instead of spending the money for a single quality player etc.). It's a deja vu that most people are sick of reliving over and over again.

I personally am not too unhappy with our transfer dealings (though they could be better), but I can understand those who think that we're making a big mistake yet again. Some of the reactions are way over the top though, like Stu's and the rest of the usual suspects.

[killerp]

If theyre sh'it then f*ck them off
Simple...

Is your name Joe Kinnear?

[Red Focus]

Based on what I've seen in BR's signings, he is still mostly in the business of signing young players with potential and seems to stay away from star names unless they're available for 12 million. Based on this, he gives me the impression he may not be comfortable handling the egos and pride of star players, but only in young players who will learn and be molded into his philosophy. The risk here is, we may not be good enough to challenge for the title. The squad definitely has more depth now but will it be good enough to replace the top player we've lost, only time can tell.

To avoid any disappointment, I will be happy with a 4th place finish not because I am happy with a 'regression', far from it. Because last season we were a 6th best team in the PL but the one LS factor jacked us up to 2nd. So to finish 4th from 6th without LS is a marked improvement.

[Eagle]

Out of interest, from the players we have bought into the club over the last 15 years, how many were considered marquee signings at the time? I don’t think there are many. Rodgers is facing the same issues other managers have in terms of competing with clubs who have more financial clout and a stronger standing amongst players from around the globe in the modern football world.

[killerp]

Ok so this is 88.8 million pounds+ worth of new players..

Lazar Markovic (Winger – Benfica)  £20m

Adam Lallana (Attacking Midfielder – Southampton)  £25m

Rickie Lambert (Striker – Southampton) £4m

Emre Can (Central Midfielder – Bayer Leverkusen)  £9.8m

Dejan Lovren (Central Defender – Southampton) £20m

Divock Origi (Forward – Lille OSC)  £10m

Out of the the whole bunch thus far Can looks the best value for money spent & i'm hoping Lovren will displace one of our CB hacks and reorganize the defence.

Lambert has lived up to his role, a bench warmer and nothing more. Slight improvement on Aspas.

Lallana & Markovic - please tell me we have not signed two new Harry Kewell's for 55 million pounds. I understand injuries can involve bad luck but some players have a god damn black cloud following them around.

It might appear that we have depth but it remains to be seen if there is much quality in this new mob.

[Homebooby]

One glance at the above few threads tells me all that I need to know about how everyone's been feeling about the transfer dealings of the club these past few weeks since I've been away. Not sure I agree with comment about how Brendan isn't comfortable with dealing with big egos at the club, the way that he's handling Reina and dealt with Suarez in general would seriously suggest otherwise. Clearly the policy for the last few years has been to buy young with potential and lower wages and get the cash flows working to our advantage as we're clearly bringing in a lot less revenue that our competitors week on week due to the stadium etc. Personally I think that the whole thing makes a lot of sense and there's a distinct possibility that we'll see some of those seeds sprouting this season and next.

One thing that seems to get missed here a lot is that some players appear to be bought purely from an investment perspective. Take Borini as an example, if he is to be sold to Sunderland for the reported 14 mill fee, the investment of 8 mill to start with has almost doubled in the space of a couple of years. I genuinely think that this is the tactic for some of the investments that have left us all a little bit cold at times and explains away how we signed some people that we've hardly ever seen playing. Part of it is also to do with who you can get at the time relative to whether someone wants to play for you. Anyhow, I think we're missing that piece of the puzzle when we talk money and it explains a few things.

Generally I don't sense the same level of concern regarding the signings that have been made thus far as I've observed before. Generally the business is being done under the level of control that we'd want to see, generally we seem to be getting our men and generally we seem to be getting people in for around and about levels that most people would see as acceptable (give or take). In general the signings seem to make sense with the style of football that we're looking to play and most seem to be somewhat of an improvement on what we already have. Generally I don't think anyone has anything to aim at Ian Ayre so far this window either….so what is there to complain about? Were we ever gonna use all the money on 2 marquee signings, no….will we still make a marquee striking signing….I think so. I don't believe we're done yet.

My gut instinct last season was that we should wait and see how we fare with the 'thin' squad that we had then and we excelled massively. Do I expect the same over-achievement this season, no, I think that challenges will be different as people have wised up to how we play a little more now, but I do feel confident in our consistency much more than for the last 4-5 seasons prior and I think we will maintain that for sure. I hope I am not proven massively wrong, but I think we'll be ok.

I don't think myself that we as a club have any target to win things…we're in the business of rebuilding our credibility and attractiveness to the new talent of the world. Our success is seen in most people we've targeted wanting to come and play for us and we need to maintain that again this season. I think a top 4 finish remains the target to retain CL status and I think that we'll be expected to have a good run in the CL to raise our profile again. Based on those goals, I think the signings make sense considering where we started from, our profile currently and the money we had available.

Fingers crossed.

[chriserfolg]

I think we should have signed players to rectify our problem area first .Beginning with the most important ;  A goalscorer replacement for Suarez , which should have been the top priority .Fullbacks on each side , hope the Moreno deal goes thru and a Goalkeeper . Otherwise we have installed depth to the squad with promising qualities yet the crucial position are still with question marks .

[Kopite-Jud]

This lack of a new class striker is worrying.

The blue sh!te have bought a striker better than what we're linked with!

Bad times.  If Sturridge gets injured I shudder to think what will happen.

Rodgers with money is not for me.

[alxy]

Key thing was to shore up our defence. Last year we got away with it just cause Luis was banging them in. I doubt we can get >100 goals this season. But that would be fine if we can ship 30 goals less in defence at the same time. I would rather take 2-0 and 3-0 wins than 6-3 and 4-2. Hopefully BR realises that we just don't have that strikeforce now, so we need to approach games with a little more caution. Because we ain't gonna have "don't worry we'll just score more than them" coming to our rescue so much anymore.

[killerp]

I don't think myself that we as a club have any target to win things…we're in the business of rebuilding our credibility and attractiveness to the new talent of the world.

I think you really nailed it on the head... But I'm afraid we our current policies may be permanently stuck in a battle for 4th each season if we cannot hold onto any world class players we may discover. Sterling after this season will be next on every top clubs radar.

Rodgers has still to sign one player that you can without a single doubt say is top quality and I'm not talking almost top quality, I mean fooking Real Madrid or Barca material. What's better value, injury prone Lallana and Markovic or Reus?

If we sell big again I don't feel confident of getting in decent replacements.

[alxy]

Yup, I think we overachieved plus the combination of surprise last season helped us get to 2nd. This season, everyone will be gunning for us, and we don't have Luis anymore. So I would think to fight for 4th would be our target this year. It also doesn't look good that United seem to be on the up with LVH. I think City won't do so well this year, so it will be a toss-up between Chelsea and maybe Man U for the title this season. Hopefully we'll be in the mix all the way to the end though.

[mkingdom]

Yup, I think we overachieved plus the combination of surprise last season helped us get to 2nd. This season, everyone will be gunning for us, and we don't have Luis anymore. So I would think to fight for 4th would be our target this year. It also doesn't look good that United seem to be on the up with LVH. I think City won't do so well this year, so it will be a toss-up between Chelsea and maybe Man U for the title this season. Hopefully we'll be in the mix all the way to the end though.

Have you been drinking? 

No doubt they won't be as bobbins as last year but they have some serious squad issues to resolve. A top 4 challenge for sure, but highly unlikely for the title.

[Stu the Red]

Just came out of hospital after a two week stint of chemo therapy to find we've spunked the Suarez money up the wall as completely predicted, feared and stressed about.

Last season I believed that if Rodgers was the man, he wouldn't have got it so drastically wrong against Chelsea like he did and pulled us over the line, I was however willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this as a lack of experience can occasionally lead to such naivety under that kind of pressure (poor excuse for me personally but one I was willing to accept) providing he fixed problems of last season and strengthened us a club and as team. However, I believe he's completely failed so far to do this.

The signings quite frankly, have been a complete let down. The money spent is ridiculous for the players accuired and unless Markovic is "the next Suarez" I can't see us getting anywhere near the top four next season.

Make no mistake, I wasn't expecting us to WIN the league this season with or without Luis, I was however expecting us to be there or there abouts. What I now see after his fifth transfer window in charge, is a completely unbalanced squad which is lacking quality in key area's.

I find this completely unacceptable if I'm honest.

How on earth we can be going into his third season in charge having Mignolet as his only viable option in goal, Flannagan s the only option at right back, an injury prone Enrique at left back and Markin Skrtel still at the club after 5-6 years of defensive rubbish is quite frankly beyond any sort of explanation. What also worries me is the lack of a signing of any real quality, Coutinho a side (Jury out on Markovic).

Now, on a positive, I've heard good things about Markovic from people who've told me things before which have turned out to be good information, but my hopes of him becoming a truely world class talent like Suarez are none existant. I've been told he's a similar level of player to Coutinho, which I'd be delighted with, but still, thats the sort of quality you need to support players like Luis, not to replace.

Lovren unfortunately is a player I've wanted for a while. He moved for buttons last year and I feel we've over payed (again). However, he has genuine quality. He's a leader and an organiser and a far better player than Skrtel. However, to command a defence you need good soldiers, unfortunately thats something we don't have. If we can keep Agger and Enrique fit and Flanagan plays at right back the defence will improve although it will still have a very weak keeper behind it, but I can see jokers like Skrtel and Johnson keeping their places, which will not help Lovren settle one bit. I've seen our defence look weak with Hyypia playing next to poor players and Lovren is no Sami, so I must admit this is still a major concern.

However, Origi, Lallana (for the price paid) Can and this right back all to me just stink of squad fodder signings.

I have a strong feeling our line up next season is going to look like:

Mignolet

Johnson
Lovren
Skrtel
Enrique

Gerrard
Henderson
Coutinho

Markovic
Sterling
Sturridge

Which to me, looks massively weaker than last sesaons team. Skrtel and Johnson should be absolutely bombed out as should the keeper, something we knew last season and failed to address, Gerrard is miles past his best and is only going to be worse this season and Markovic, as good as he may be is not going to produce what Suarez did.

For me its massively worrying.

[devaney]

Sounds like a shit a Sh*t couple of weeks Stu. Hope the treatment is helping your body if not your head.

I think your predicted line up for next season is way off the mark. A lot can happen in 3.5 weeks in the transfer market. To say BR and the transfer committee have got it wrong before the window has closed is a little premature. Your predictions for last season were an absolute load of old tosh and I think we will do a helluva lot better than your typically negative views suggest. 12 wins in a row and you still can't resist having a dig at BR. Just how many other managers in the Premiership achieved that last season. Markovic,Lovren,LLalana,Can and Origi could hardly be described as bad buys. In Luis we had a complete and utter nutter but a total worldie. He couldn't be replace unless you buy Ronaldo or Messi. We have lacked strength in depth for years and just maybe the introduction of five to probably 8 quality players will rectify that situation.

Chin up ffs Stu 

[Stu the Red]

Sounds like a shit a Sh*t couple of weeks Stu. Hope the treatment is helping your body if not your head.

I think your predicted line up for next season is way off the mark. A lot can happen in 3.5 weeks in the transfer market. To say BR and the transfer committee have got it wrong before the window has closed is a little premature. Your predictions for last season were an absolute load of old tosh and I think we will do a helluva lot better than your typically negative views suggest. 12 wins in a row and you still can't resist having a dig at BR. Just how many other managers in the Premiership achieved that last season. Markovic,Lovren,LLalana,Can and Origi could hardly be described as bad buys. In Luis we had a complete and utter nutter but a total worldie. He couldn't be replace unless you buy Ronaldo or Messi. We have lacked strength in depth for years and just maybe the introduction of five to probably 8 quality players will rectify that situation.

Chin up ffs Stu 

Wasn't that bad mate to be fair, was a bit spewy the first week after that was a doddle really, got loads of footy manager time in, took me back to my youth the amount of time I spent on that game this last week, made me realise how good it is... and how easy it is to win the premier league

On the subject of last season I'm sorry Devaney, but with hindsight I'm certainly not counting this as the "acheivement" that everyone else is. Fact is, we failed to win it, when we clearly should have. For me, the excuse of no-one expected us to be there in the first place is exactly that, an excuse. Nothing more.

I absolutely stand by what I said last year. I defy anyone to have predicted Suarez would have reached that level last season and then to add to that a player who looked like an embarrasing joke (Sterling, so bad infact there were numourous nicknames for his dire performances) on more than one occasion all of a sudden decided to show why he was rated so highly and start performing like a seasoned top quality professional.

The impact of Suarez last season papered over some absolutely huge cracks like our midfields ability to be over run at times and our absolute shambles (and make no mistake, it was a shambles) of a defence. This season, we don't have the luxury of the third best player on the planet to pull us out of the Sh*t with 30 goals and 20 odd assists. We also have another year on an already long way past his best Gerrard, at times last season he wasn't upto it with one game a week (nowhere near to the extent some would have you believe, but amoung the good and great games there were some absolute stinkers) but he did put together some superb performances towards the end of the season, this season, with 2 games a week most weeks rather than one, I'm telling you now, that isn't going to happen. Last season we were a 5th/6th placed side, that had the third best player in the world. Now all I see is a 5th/6th place side. Also, if you think United will be as laughabley bad this season now they actually have a manager rather than a doughnut, then you can think again.

We also played a settled side last season, once we got a head of steam up, it would have been an acheivement for Rodgers to completely f*ck it up in all honesty.

Lovren I don't class as a bad buy, I rate the lad, have done for years. He's a leader and a damn good defender and player. But we've massively over payed again for a player who isn't what you'd call top bracket. Don't get me wrong, I'd have payed that myself to secure him, so I can see the reasons we payed what we did, however, had we done our home work we could have had him last year for £13,000,000 less. Also, he's nowhere near good enough to sort that defence out on his own. Manquillo is obviously a massive improvement on Johnson but is he an improvement on Flanno? Another question mark instead of a pretty much guarenteed yes. Also the goalkeeping situation is a complete joke... I do hope I'm being premature and we sign Begovic, but I can't see it and quite frankly, the longer we don't go and get that lad, the more I wonder what on earth our manager is playing at and what he see's in mignolet that hardly anyone else does. Especially when the best in the league is 50 odd miles down the M6, playing for a mid table side.

I also now believe Rodgers was weak with Suarez. I believe he's begged him for "another year" last year and promised he could go this year if we acheive a champions league place, rather than use it to keep the lad at the club. The fact is, we've badly weakened our first team with the sale of sixty percent of our quality, I believe so far we've added 10 percent with Lovren and maybe (if people are to be believed 15% with Markovic)... that to me is still a considerabley weakened team. Despite the strength in the "squad". The fact is, good players make a good side, having a great player can be worth five or six places, we seen that last season.

I really do think a lot of people are going to get a nasty shock this season. Again, I hope I'm wrong... if I am... I win but unfortunately, with the lack of quality brought in I believe the money's been spunked up the wall... and I can't say I'm in any way suprised.