Liverpool FC Forum

by **jacdaniel** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:03 pm

Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

by **Thommo's perm** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:37 pm

jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

Good
Any right wingers in the reserves?

by **Greavesie** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:05 pm

jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

source?

by **jacdaniel** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:25 pm

Greavesie wrote:
jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

source?

Its reported on a bunch of webistes. This is what he said: Doesn't sound like we'll be up to too much over the summer

"It is early days. We will probably make some adjustments in the summer but nothing that we've done before,'' he said. "We signed nine players since Kenny came back so there will be a few adjustments but nothing massive.

"We have done the hard work and now it is a question of making some adjustments in certain positions.

"Kenny has said it several times that we have a very competitive squad and all positions are covered by two or three players, quality players, and we have a lot of young players coming through as well.''

by **Greavesie** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:28 pm

"We have done the hard work and now it is a question of making some adjustments in certain positions.

I'd say this indicates that we won't see a massive overhaul and we'll focus on one or two key positions more than anything else

by **maguskwt** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:38 pm

Kerry07 wrote:perhaps...and dont get me wrong im overjoyed with the trophy, as far as im concerned if the season finished now it would be a success. If we just want to focus on us winning a trophy then great.

I'm looking at the bigger picture tho (mentioned that phrase a few times)... we are a long way short of being where we want to be. My main gripe above all is that we have new signings (primarily Carroll) who patently are not good enough, and the issue is how do we rectify it. The problem with Houllier is when he bought Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou.. he persisted with them when it was obvious they were inadequate. Ferguson did the same with Djemba Djemba, Kleberson and Alan Smith from 2003 onward which is why they won nothing for 4 years. Wenger has done this for the last 6 years. Its one thing making poor buys, its another compounding it by persisting with them.

Some don't look at the bigger picture. Where do we aspire to be? Do we want to challenge for top 4? the league? Ask yourselves that question. And while your doing so, think about Andy Carroll, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson... you realise that the two don't fit. Stewart Downing was excpetional yesterday and yet there wasn't a #9 on the end of anything. On Radio City Aldo stated "great ball Stewie, why wasn't there anyone there making a run"... as HE would have done, as Rush would have done, as Owen would have done... Torres, Fowler. etc etc. We dont have a quality #9. Mark Lawrenson said the same on BBC when Luis shot was saved by the keeper and pushed out, and no one was anywhere near following up... "andy carroll doesnt even move".. he was stood still at the edge of the box. No anticipation, no movement, no awareness. Nothing.

I'm also concerned about Kenny's tactics and how deep we play, our backline is almost on top of Pepe, and we dont commit enough men forward. We should have a much higher line, and be pressing constantly, instead of backing off and playing deep.

Good post mate... More or less my sentiments...
Some people just can't accept hard truths...

by **maguskwt** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:39 pm

Thommo's perm wrote:
jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

Good
Any right wingers in the reserves?

Or any strikers?

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:19 pm

maguskwt wrote:
Kerry07 wrote:perhaps...and dont get me wrong im overjoyed with the trophy, as far as im concerned if the season finished now it would be a success. If we just want to focus on us winning a trophy then great.

I'm looking at the bigger picture tho (mentioned that phrase a few times)... we are a long way short of being where we want to be. My main gripe above all is that we have new signings (primarily Carroll) who patently are not good enough, and the issue is how do we rectify it. The problem with Houllier is when he bought Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou.. he persisted with them when it was obvious they were inadequate. Ferguson did the same with Djemba Djemba, Kleberson and Alan Smith from 2003 onward which is why they won nothing for 4 years. Wenger has done this for the last 6 years. Its one thing making poor buys, its another compounding it by persisting with them.

Some don't look at the bigger picture. Where do we aspire to be? Do we want to challenge for top 4? the league? Ask yourselves that question. And while your doing so, think about Andy Carroll, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson... you realise that the two don't fit. Stewart Downing was excpetional yesterday and yet there wasn't a #9 on the end of anything. On Radio City Aldo stated "great ball Stewie, why wasn't there anyone there making a run"... as HE would have done, as Rush would have done, as Owen would have done... Torres, Fowler. etc etc. We dont have a quality #9. Mark Lawrenson said the same on BBC when Luis shot was saved by the keeper and pushed out, and no one was anywhere near following up... "andy carroll doesnt even move".. he was stood still at the edge of the box. No anticipation, no movement, no awareness. Nothing.

I'm also concerned about Kenny's tactics and how deep we play, our backline is almost on top of Pepe, and we dont commit enough men forward. We should have a much higher line, and be pressing constantly, instead of backing off and playing deep.

Good post mate... More or less my sentiments...
Some people just can't accept hard truths...

I do agree with both of your sentiments about our signings - Carroll, Adam and Henderson. But there's two major reasons why we aren't able to attract top players, and that is money and Europe. We aren't in Europe, and we're struggling to get back in the top tier, which is where the top players aspire to be. Sure, Man City weren't exactly a top team until the new owners came and brought in a whole team of superstars, but if we were to follow the same suit, we'll be paying exuberant wages which will create a very bad precedent. What if, the owner got bored one day and decides he wants to sell the club or something along those lines? Would the new owners be able to foot the wage bill? The first thing we need to do to get the top players, is simply to get back in Europe.

However, one can always refute my comments above by referring to Newcastle as examples. They bought Demba Ba for free, and he is on hot form, just like their new signing Cisse. The fact that such good players slip under our radar just goes to show our scouting network isn't good at all. Another fine example is M.Diarra, who just went to Fulham for free. He could have been great cover for the injured Lucas, and far better than Spearing. This goes to show that a club doesn't need to spend big to find quality players. Not everyone has scouts like Arsene Wenger though!

Also, I do feel that by buying players Carroll and Henderson as players "for the future", doesn't that defeat the purpose of the reserves who should be the players "for the future"? Fair enough, we're lacking in strikers and buying Carroll is justified (ignoring the fee) but Henderson and Adam? My worry is that it dampens the progress of players like Shelvey, Coady, Suso and Morgan. We've seen so many of these players who are touted to be the next big thing only to leave the club, with Nemeth being the prime example. On hindsight yes, none of them who left has gone on to better things. All in all, our signings these season has been baffling, mainly due to the amount spent on them and also it's left the midfield very imbalanced, as we don't have a combative defensive midfielder when Lucas isn't around. But don't get too negative to the point where you forget, that 2 of the best EPL signings this season came from us - Bellamy and Enrique.

With regards to the defense playing too deep, we have the best record bar Man City. So if any fingers are to be pointed as to why we aren't scoring and winning games, with so many at home ending in draws, it should be pointed at the midfielders and strikers.

by **stmichael** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:20 pm

SouthCoastShankly wrote:I disagree. Lucas IMO is a great disruptive defensive midfielder, I have seen nothing (in all his years here) to suggest he could do an more attacking role.

I was just saying it would be interesting. I was not suggesting that we do it

On the midfield issue, as proven in the past the team functions better when we play two central midfielders who can defend well and tactically in order to get the most out of our full-backs - especially Johnson. Last season this was Spearing and Lucas when we went on that great run in the second half of the season. Whenever Johnson flew forward Lucas just filled in for him. Same as Mascherano before him.

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:24 pm

maguskwt wrote:
Thommo's perm wrote:
jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

Good
Any right wingers in the reserves?

Or any strikers?

Sterling, Suso and Morgan.

by **Thommo's perm** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:53 pm

maguskwt wrote:
Thommo's perm wrote:
jacdaniel wrote:Well, according to Comolli we wont be spending big this summer.

Good
Any right wingers in the reserves?

Or any strikers?

by **metalhead** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:54 pm

Kenny Kan wrote:
Benny The Noon wrote:
Kenny Kan wrote:I'd like to see Kenny revert back to 4-4-2.

We played this system at the beginning of the season and were able to produce some wonderful football with it. We played this formation when we were genuinely unlucky in front of goal and when we were carving teams open. We used the width of the pitch much better than we currently do now as we tend IMO to get too narrow and not as effective in the wide areas.

Yes, we do become a little soft in the middle of the park and leave more space for teams to exploit. But I think we should encourage teams coming to Anfield to 'have a go' and try and exploit that space in the center. It results in an open game and will put more pressure on our the back four if teams are encouraged to 'have a go'. I think we'd have to play with a slightly higher line and squeeze the gap somewhat between defense and midfield but this isn't a bad thing. We've seen our current system huff and puff to break teams down, especially at Anfield and I wouldn't (personally) rely on this game plan to get us fourth - we'll end up drawing more, the proof is already in the pudding.

I think Kenny should go back to the expansive approach rather than stick with the pragmatic one, one I think Clarke has helped put into effect. I honestly believe with these players attack is the best form of defense, I'd even play it against Arsenal on the weekend who defensively aren't the best and we need to pressure defenses more rather than run out of ideas, like we did against Spurs. I think the formation here can help with that and set the tone and mentality to go out and win.

We played 4-4-2 at Bolton , they managed to rip right through our soft centre to beat us at ease - that game is the perfect advert for not playing 4-4-2

Your basing the avoidance of playing 442 on one game? Even though we played this to good effect earlier on in the season?

And you're also forgetting about personnel, Gerrard and Adam wouldn't be my CM pairing.

Gerrard and Alonso in a 2 man midfield would have been perfect

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:07 pm

metalhead wrote:
Kenny Kan wrote:
Benny The Noon wrote:
Kenny Kan wrote:I'd like to see Kenny revert back to 4-4-2.

We played this system at the beginning of the season and were able to produce some wonderful football with it. We played this formation when we were genuinely unlucky in front of goal and when we were carving teams open. We used the width of the pitch much better than we currently do now as we tend IMO to get too narrow and not as effective in the wide areas.

Yes, we do become a little soft in the middle of the park and leave more space for teams to exploit. But I think we should encourage teams coming to Anfield to 'have a go' and try and exploit that space in the center. It results in an open game and will put more pressure on our the back four if teams are encouraged to 'have a go'. I think we'd have to play with a slightly higher line and squeeze the gap somewhat between defense and midfield but this isn't a bad thing. We've seen our current system huff and puff to break teams down, especially at Anfield and I wouldn't (personally) rely on this game plan to get us fourth - we'll end up drawing more, the proof is already in the pudding.

I think Kenny should go back to the expansive approach rather than stick with the pragmatic one, one I think Clarke has helped put into effect. I honestly believe with these players attack is the best form of defense, I'd even play it against Arsenal on the weekend who defensively aren't the best and we need to pressure defenses more rather than run out of ideas, like we did against Spurs. I think the formation here can help with that and set the tone and mentality to go out and win.

We played 4-4-2 at Bolton , they managed to rip right through our soft centre to beat us at ease - that game is the perfect advert for not playing 4-4-2

Your basing the avoidance of playing 442 on one game? Even though we played this to good effect earlier on in the season?

And you're also forgetting about personnel, Gerrard and Adam wouldn't be my CM pairing.

Gerrard and Alonso in a 2 man midfield would have been perfect

Actually I remember that wasn't that effective, as Gerrard isn't the most positionally disciplined player in the world.

The best set-up we had actually was the midfield triangle of

Mascherano - Alonso
|
Gerrard

would be interesting to see if we ever get the opportuninty to test the modern day equivalent

Lucas - Adam
|
Gerrard

by **Thommo's perm** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:19 pm

That could work....

by **7_Kewell** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:24 pm

Adam is not, and will never, be able to offer the passing and creative flair of Alonso. If we were to use that set up then we'd need to bring in someone who could play that role, and not a squad player who performs 1 in 5 games

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