Liverpool FC Forum

[account deleted by request]

I think you are still at the being ridiculed stage mate 

That sounds like my sex life too, feck im starting to see a pattern

Dawson goes to a psychiatrist who administers a Rorschach test (ink blots). The doc asks what he sees in the first one.

“A man and a woman making love.”, he answers.

Second one he answers, “Two men making love.” and the third, “Two women making love.”

The doctor says, “I can see right away you have an obsession with sex!”

“Me!”, Dawson exclaims. “YOU are the one showing the dirty pictures!”

[Owzat]

Babel would be a good player with a half decent club and if hes played in the right position

As for Degan, hes got a bit of skill, hes better than some of the dross thats worn the top recently

But the bottom line is if the MANAGER won't play Degen, and barely trusts Babel from one month to the next, then you might as well cash in

Premiership 09/10 - matchday squad apps

36 Cavalieri : 0 apps. 36 games as unused sub
30 Babel : 25 apps, 15 as sub. 5 games as unused sub
20 Riera : 12 apps, 3 off bench. 8 games as unused sub
17 Aurelio : 14 apps, 6 off bench. 3 games as unused sub
16 Degen : 7 apps, 4 off bench. 9 games as unused sub
12 Spearing : 3 apps, 2 off bench. 9 games as unused sub
10 Ayala : 5 apps, 3 as sub. 5 games as unused sub
8 El Zhar : 3 apps, 2 as sub. 5 games as unused sub
2 Plessis : 0 apps, 2 games as unused sub

There's nine players you could sell and as long as you brought in a left sided player you would barely notice they'd gone. Why have NINE players in the squad, most of whom barely play, and not cash in and get them off the wage bill?!? Ayala and Spearing might be cited as "ones for the future" but that's optimistic in the extreme given who they would have to displace. Clinging on to feint hopes the kids might come good is Rafa-esque in it's blinkeredness

While Babel might make a fair few appearances, in the squad for all but eight of our Premiership games, he is on the subs bench 2/3 of the time and if we can't get more use out of him then we may as well sell. Even though Torres played six less games this season overall, he played 700 more minutes than Babel. He got as many minutes as he did because who else is there? (with Riera frozen out)

Degen made just seven appearances, if the manager won't play the back-up right-back when the first choice right-back is injured then why keep the back-up?!?!?

Spearing is unlikely to break into the first team with Aquilani, Gerrard, Mascherano and Lucas in the squad, and while there is plenty of sentimental feeling for the kids, I think we have way too many and few close to good enough so let's try and raise a bit of ££££ and reduce the squad size. As I mentioned elsewhere, we used THIRTY players in the Premiership this season which is ridiculous, three were in the squad 40 times between them and never stepped onto the pitch once, albeit 36 of those were our back-up keeper

[psycllone]

u cud add lucas to tat list mate...he is pathetic for this form of football atleast

[jacdaniel]

Our team will look much different next year to say the least. 

masch, Yossi, Riera, Aurelio and maybe Babel along with some younger lads like El Zhar will be out.  Maybe the likes of Spearing as well will be used to make money.  Lets pray Gerrard and Torres are still here though.

BUT.. if the players ive listed do leave, surely that will give Rafa 45 million to spend?  And hopefully the owners will give Rafa something..... (its worth hoping for.. even 5 million).

If we had 50 million to spend, id go for Silva on the left wing and can also play CM, a decent LB and hopefully enough left over for a back up striker!  Rafa needs to be bold in this market and take big risks.  (he knows this too).

[mart]

Our team will look much different next year to say the least. 

masch, Yossi, Riera, Aurelio and maybe Babel along with some younger lads like El Zhar will be out.  Maybe the likes of Spearing as well will be used to make money.  Lets pray Gerrard and Torres are still here though.

BUT.. if the players ive listed do leave, surely that will give Rafa 45 million to spend?  And hopefully the owners will give Rafa something..... (its worth hoping for.. even 5 million).

If we had 50 million to spend, id go for Silva on the left wing and can also play CM, a decent LB and hopefully enough left over for a back up striker!  Rafa needs to be bold in this market and take big risks.  (he knows this too).

If we manage to generate 45 mill through player sales the question is not how much H&G will add on top of that. The question is how much of that 45 mill will actually go towards new players.

[mkingdom]

I remember reading posts about James Milner when we were last linked to him, and the idea was ridiculed.

We'd just won the CL, and we "were back".

A few years on, and we can't afford him, and we're back...to winning feck all again.

One good thing about the absolutely dire ownership situation is that we have to be reasonable about who we can go for, and who might want to come.

Rather than being linked with Kaka, Villa etc....I'd be more than happy with losing

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

And get in realistic targets who are proven prem players

Joe Cole - free
Stephen Ireland - £10m
David Bentley/SWP - £8m
Warnock - £6m
Peter Crouch  - £10m (i'd have him back tomorrow, but we're more likely to sign an overseas player as back up striker)


We could look like this

                   Reina

Johnson   Carra  Agger   Warnock

Bentley   Gerrard  Ireland  Cole

             Crouch   Torres


or

                  Reina

Johnson  Carra  Agger  Warnock

Kuyt    Aqua    Ireland     Cole

            Gerrard

                  Torres

or

                  Reina

Johnson   Carra  Agger  Warnock

SWP    Gerrard   Aqua    Cole

           Kuyt   Crouch

(for when Torres is injured).

The squad players to come in as required (Carling cup/injuries etc) would be

RB - Darby/Kelly
CB - Greek bloke, new kid from rangers, Ayala
LB -  Insua/Agger
RW - Maxi/Benny/Kuyt/SWP
LW - Maxi/Benny/Insua/Bentley (can play there)
CM - Lucas/Plessis/Spearing/Shelvey
ST - Ngog/Pacheco  (but we'd have 4 first team options, Torres, Kuyt, Gerrard, Crouch)

That would be a fantastic summer's work, and then hopefully the takeover goes through and by January we have some cash to boost the challenge and then spend again in the summer.

[Rhazally]

WHO HAS TO GO???  1.RAFA... In his bags, U need to have 1.Lucas 2. Riera 3. Aurelio 4. Degen 5. Insua 6. Babel 7. El Zhar 8. Plessis 9. Kyrgiakos.....
My God... I think most of them are Rafa purchases!!!! He's wasted our money.. and he has the guts to tell that we didn't provide him... There were also Voronin, Bellamy, Keane, Garcia, etc. etc. He's a complete mess.... Don't tell UEFA Champions League 2005... MOST were Houiller players... RAFA HAS TO GO... end of the story...

[jacdaniel]

WHO HAS TO GO???  1.RAFA... In his bags, U need to have 1.Lucas 2. Riera 3. Aurelio 4. Degen 5. Insua 6. Babel 7. El Zhar 8. Plessis 9. Kyrgiakos.....
My God... I think most of them are Rafa purchases!!!! He's wasted our money.. and he has the guts to tell that we didn't provide him... There were also Voronin, Bellamy, Keane, Garcia, etc. etc. He's a complete mess.... Don't tell UEFA Champions League 2005... MOST were Houiller players... RAFA HAS TO GO... end of the story...

Sorry but i REALLY hate when people say Rafa won the Champions league with Houlliers players! 

I guess Ancelotti winning the double with Chelsea is not his achievement either? 

You can't forget that Alonso and Garcia played a HUGE part in the 05 CL.  Not to mention Rafa made better use of Le Tallec, Pongolle and Mellor.

I cant believe any LFC fan would use Garcia against Rafa

[jacdaniel]

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

Do you think Rafa will be that bold in the market?  I hope he is!

[mkingdom]

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

Do you think Rafa will be that bold in the market?  I hope he is!

I don't think he has any choice!  Well I hope not anyway.

Time to refresh the squad, and not just tinker.

I have no doubt that there will be no money to spend so he must generate his own.

[jacdaniel]

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

Do you think Rafa will be that bold in the market?  I hope he is!

I don't think he has any choice!  Well I hope not anyway.

Time to refresh the squad, and not just tinker.

I have no doubt that there will be no money to spend so he must generate his own.

Yeah i hope so!  It does look like there are some good players available like the one's you've mentioned.  From sales i think he could easily gather 50 million.

hopfully we can attract a bunch of English players.  But im sure Spurs/city will be in the driving seat.

[Owzat]

Rather than being linked with Kaka, Villa etc....I'd be more than happy with losing

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

I'd be happy if we got £8m for Babel, but I'm not sure that many sides that could pay up to £10m for a player would be willing to pay £8m+ for him

Fair enough on Mascherano, I feel our side needs more creativity and 'forward focus' (forward direction not position) and while many love the Mascherano type, we need to be scoring goals not trying to close down a game and win it narrowly. We need to be attacking midtable and lower sides, not playing them as if they are the stronger side. If anything we should be playing Aquilani beside Gerrard and Benayoun in behind Torres (or two strikers), not Lucas and Mascherano most games.

I think you are optimistic indeed re Skrtel who has been injured quite a bit and been average at best. Might get £3m-£5m for him, I mean Kjaer is mentioned at £10m and I doubt Skrtel is in the same class

Riera at £8m which is what we paid for him?!?!? The only way is down for Riera, can't see any big club wanting him and clubs that do willing to pay £8m for him. Try £5m

Degen at £3m?!?!? An injury prone back-up RB that we didn't even use when fit and needed! Not that big an overestimate but I'd know a million off, you can get a much better full-back for £4m so why would people pay £3m for a very ordinary one?


So you might be looking more at £45m-£50m than £60m of which Mascherano would make up 60%+ It's funny how people can overvalue what we'll get for someone, although Babel is one of those players that if you believe reports we could get nearly what we paid for him. I dread to think who Rafa would bring in to cover LM if he sold both Riera and Babel

I don't mind the sales list, but I doubt we'd get £60m for a 1st choice, one sub and three fringe players

[Owzat]

Oh, and we could get £100m from player sales, I'm as much concerned with what Rafa would waste it on as how much he'd have to waste. In those terms the best financial move could be for Rafa to be the one "who has to go", while it might cost as much as £20m, he could easily waste that like he did in 08/09 and 09/10.

08/09

£20.3m Keane - signed in August, sold in January
£8m on Riera - pretty much on his way out
£0m Degen - cost nothing, the price is about right
£7m Dossena - most expensive Liverpool defender at the time, gone within 1.5 seasons
£1.5m on N'Gog - about the only worthwhile signing
£3m on Cavalieri - expensive keeper to sit on the bench, free ones are just as capable of doing nothing

And of course 09/10 was £17.5m on a RB who can't defend, £20m on an injured player who Rafa uses sparingly and a £1.5m greek who is getting on a bit. With that record in the past two seasons, and with Rafa moving the exit only a few yards past the entrance (metaphorically speaking), perhaps he should be shoved through it.

[Johnny Boy]

I remember reading posts about James Milner when we were last linked to him, and the idea was ridiculed.

We'd just won the CL, and we "were back".

A few years on, and we can't afford him, and we're back...to winning feck all again.

One good thing about the absolutely dire ownership situation is that we have to be reasonable about who we can go for, and who might want to come.

Rather than being linked with Kaka, Villa etc....I'd be more than happy with losing

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

And get in realistic targets who are proven prem players

Joe Cole - free
Stephen Ireland - £10m
David Bentley/SWP - £8m
Warnock - £6m
Peter Crouch  - £10m (i'd have him back tomorrow, but we're more likely to sign an overseas player as back up striker)


We could look like this

                   Reina

Johnson   Carra  Agger   Warnock

Bentley   Gerrard  Ireland  Cole

             Crouch   Torres


or

                  Reina

Johnson  Carra  Agger  Warnock

Kuyt    Aqua    Ireland     Cole

            Gerrard

                  Torres

or

                  Reina

Johnson   Carra  Agger  Warnock

SWP    Gerrard   Aqua    Cole

           Kuyt   Crouch

(for when Torres is injured).

The squad players to come in as required (Carling cup/injuries etc) would be

RB - Darby/Kelly
CB - Greek bloke, new kid from rangers, Ayala
LB -  Insua/Agger
RW - Maxi/Benny/Kuyt/SWP
LW - Maxi/Benny/Insua/Bentley (can play there)
CM - Lucas/Plessis/Spearing/Shelvey
ST - Ngog/Pacheco  (but we'd have 4 first team options, Torres, Kuyt, Gerrard, Crouch)

That would be a fantastic summer's work, and then hopefully the takeover goes through and by January we have some cash to boost the challenge and then spend again in the summer.

Don't forget Jovanovic, coming soon I assume.

[mkingdom]

Rather than being linked with Kaka, Villa etc....I'd be more than happy with losing

Babel - £8m
Masch - £30m  (he is unsettled, best to cash in)
Skrtl - £10m     (just signed the rangers kid as 4th CB)
Riera - £8m      (will obviously never play for us again)
Degen - £3m    (local hospital may want to buy him for medical research)

So over £60m without counting all the odds and sods of fringe players.

I'd be happy if we got £8m for Babel, but I'm not sure that many sides that could pay up to £10m for a player would be willing to pay £8m+ for him

Fair enough on Mascherano, I feel our side needs more creativity and 'forward focus' (forward direction not position) and while many love the Mascherano type, we need to be scoring goals not trying to close down a game and win it narrowly. We need to be attacking midtable and lower sides, not playing them as if they are the stronger side. If anything we should be playing Aquilani beside Gerrard and Benayoun in behind Torres (or two strikers), not Lucas and Mascherano most games.

I think you are optimistic indeed re Skrtel who has been injured quite a bit and been average at best. Might get £3m-£5m for him, I mean Kjaer is mentioned at £10m and I doubt Skrtel is in the same class

Riera at £8m which is what we paid for him?!?!? The only way is down for Riera, can't see any big club wanting him and clubs that do willing to pay £8m for him. Try £5m

Degen at £3m?!?!? An injury prone back-up RB that we didn't even use when fit and needed! Not that big an overestimate but I'd know a million off, you can get a much better full-back for £4m so why would people pay £3m for a very ordinary one?


So you might be looking more at £45m-£50m than £60m of which Mascherano would make up 60%+ It's funny how people can overvalue what we'll get for someone, although Babel is one of those players that if you believe reports we could get nearly what we paid for him. I dread to think who Rafa would bring in to cover LM if he sold both Riera and Babel

I don't mind the sales list, but I doubt we'd get £60m for a 1st choice, one sub and three fringe players

Fair comment.

Whether it is £60m or £50m, we could still acquire the players mentioned for that amount of cash, were Rafa to be given the funds he raises from sales.

I feel the first team and squad would be healthier and stronger if all this fantasy transfer stuff happened!! 

Jovanovic?  Yes I've heard that one, but know nothing about him.  So that means we take Crouch off my list?