Liverpool FC Forum

At the end of the day if Suarez had suffered a season long injury we would be in the same position as were are now - difference is we now have several additions to what was a threadbare squad for the number of competitions we are in. Lallana and Lovren (to some extent) are tried and tested in the premiership, so the risks are really Can and Markovic - but both are young enough for us to recoup the money if thats what it comes down to.

Main goal this year has to be retaining top 4. then we would have given the new signings time to bed in, would still have some money in the kitty from this transfer window and will add more with CL secured for another year - maybe 50-60 million to spend on one or two players having filled in the holes of the squad this summer. Foreign marquee players will be a bit happier to see us sustain the CL position and so would be more attracted to the club rather than risk last year being a potential one-off (Everton and Spudz have been there recently)

Lets face it, anyone choosing Arsenal recently, knows that they are unlikely to win much, the squad is too light in areas other than attack, but the stability AW has brought and the attraction of London helps

I am deeply concerned about our firepower up front. Sturridge is too injury prone esp. with his recurrent hamstring problem and I don't expect him to be available for all 38 PL games. So if he's not playing, who do we have? We have Lambert and Borini who are average players. So if Danny Sturridge is out injured, I can tell you, we're f**ked.

There are some good strikers out there like Benzema, Falcao, Higuan etc but they're all telling Liverpool to f**k off. The only one I can think of now is Swansea's Bony. Brendan should sign him now at all cost because him as a lone striker or together with Sturridge would make a formidable pair.

Red Focus » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:21 pm wrote:I am deeply concerned about our firepower up front. Sturridge is too injury prone esp. with his recurrent hamstring problem and I don't expect him to be available for all 38 PL games. So if he's not playing, who do we have? We have Lambert and Borini who are average players. So if Danny Sturridge is out injured, I can tell you, we're f**ked.

There are some good strikers out there like Benzema, Falcao, Higuan etc but they're all telling Liverpool to f**k off. The only one I can think of now is Swansea's Bony. Brendan should sign him now at all cost because him as a lone striker or together with Sturridge would make a formidable pair.

Clueless!

RED BEERGOGGLES » Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:22 pm wrote:
Eds Its all part and parcel of following the reds mate ,last season in terms of football was one of the best I've witnessed us play since the 80's ,and even though Suarez
was part of that ,I still consider the most cohesive and fluent movement came from the team as a unit .

Rodgers is no fool ,he will know the expectations he has unearthed. I expect him to build something remarkable in the shape of a team with so much balance and pace
they will practically unplayable .....All the signs last season point to this ,so even without Suarez I'm excited that Rodgers is still following his blueprint for exciting
football ,and I have no doubts that when a striker and Moreno  eventually comes in we will have significantly strengthened in key areas ,although I like most fans have
my reservations about Mignolet .

Isn't he a fool though?

I'm not so confident. He worries me.

The reality is, last season, everyone was complaining about the size of the squad. Effectively though, there was a MASSIVE list of things that went in his favour last season and things that made us what we were and I don't believe much of it was down to exceptional management of judgement. I believe a lot of last season was down to a forced hand if you like.

Sterling was practically a none event last season until November, Rodgers to his credit did decide to throw him in when Sturridge picked up a niggle and the added quality he gave us from our early season form helped us improve immensely.

The confidence gained from the win at Tottenham had a snowball effect, but the fact is Suarez form was ridiculous. We played a system which suited our best players, but we'll always play that system. Suarez, Coutinho and Sterling were always fit and available and it was simply a case of leaving them to do what they do best and allowing them the platform to keep doing it. Also, having one game a week and no injuries was a massive part of why we ended up where we did. Last season we were very fortunate in that respect, we also got ALOT of favourable refereeing decisions last year, which doens't happen every year and were able to get the ball into the box a lot more than we have.

We were good enough to take advantage of this luck, which was pleasing to see, but I firmly believe if Rodgers really was "the one" then we'd have completed what we started last year, we'd have progressed in the transfer market and he would have had more good transfer windows the one he's had so far. For me I have serious concerns that last season was a flash in the pan and down the brilliance of one individual, supported by a few workhorses.

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:06 am wrote:

RED BEERGOGGLES » Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:22 pm wrote:
Eds Its all part and parcel of following the reds mate ,last season in terms of football was one of the best I've witnessed us play since the 80's ,and even though Suarez
was part of that ,I still consider the most cohesive and fluent movement came from the team as a unit .

Rodgers is no fool ,he will know the expectations he has unearthed. I expect him to build something remarkable in the shape of a team with so much balance and pace
they will practically unplayable .....All the signs last season point to this ,so even without Suarez I'm excited that Rodgers is still following his blueprint for exciting
football ,and I have no doubts that when a striker and Moreno  eventually comes in we will have significantly strengthened in key areas ,although I like most fans have
my reservations about Mignolet .

Isn't he a fool though?

I'm not so confident. He worries me.

The reality is, last season, everyone was complaining about the size of the squad. Effectively though, there was a MASSIVE list of things that went in his favour last season and things that made us what we were and I don't believe much of it was down to exceptional management of judgement. I believe a lot of last season was down to a forced hand if you like.

Sterling was practically a none event last season until November, Rodgers to his credit did decide to throw him in when Sturridge picked up a niggle and the added quality he gave us from our early season form helped us improve immensely.

The confidence gained from the win at Tottenham had a snowball effect, but the fact is Suarez form was ridiculous. We played a system which suited our best players, but we'll always play that system. Suarez, Coutinho and Sterling were always fit and available and it was simply a case of leaving them to do what they do best and allowing them the platform to keep doing it. Also, having one game a week and no injuries was a massive part of why we ended up where we did. Last season we were very fortunate in that respect, we also got ALOT of favourable refereeing decisions last year, which doens't happen every year and were able to get the ball into the box a lot more than we have.

We were good enough to take advantage of this luck, which was pleasing to see, but I firmly believe if Rodgers really was "the one" then we'd have completed what we started last year, we'd have progressed in the transfer market and he would have had more good transfer windows the one he's had so far. For me I have serious concerns that last season was a flash in the pan and down the brilliance of one individual, supported by a few workhorses.

Happy to see you posting again lad ,and glad your treatment is going well .

Now to the question in hand ...First and foremost I am a fan ,and the burden of every fan is the hope they carry into the new season ,I would like to think that
the players brought in will grow with the team and become as integral to our play as some of the more illustrious names we have procured in the past whilst
avoiding ridiculous fees. Like I said Stu ,no one knows how good or bad the players are going to be until we kick our first ball in anger in a competitive game.

I prefer to watch a season unfold ,rather than jump in with a plethora of what ifs ! Leave the what ifs ,to the media and blurts like Trevor Francis ,the manager
knows how much scrutiny he will be under in this transfer season ,because its his well publicised Achilles Heel ,he also is fully aware the Liverpool faithful will be
viewing his purchases this season firstly with great expectation ,but some scepticism given what's gone before...Now if that was me ,I would be intent on making
no errors with the players I brought in.

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:57 pm wrote:
Happy to see you posting again lad ,and glad your treatment is going well .

Now to the question in hand ...First and foremost I am a fan ,and the burden of every fan is the hope they carry into the new season ,I would like to think that
the players brought in will grow with the team and become as integral to our play as some of the more illustrious names we have procured in the past whilst
avoiding ridiculous fees. Like I said Stu ,no one knows how good or bad the players are going to be until we kick our first ball in anger in a competitive game.

I prefer to watch a season unfold ,rather than jump in with a plethora of what ifs ! Leave the what ifs ,to the media and blurts like Trevor Francis ,the manager
knows how much scrutiny he will be under in this transfer season ,because its his well publicised Achilles Heel ,he also is fully aware the Liverpool faithful will be
viewing his purchases this season firstly with great expectation ,but some scepticism given what's gone before...Now if that was me ,I would be intent on making
no errors with the players I brought in.

Tar red.

You say, you would be intent on not making errors... But, whats an error? Is Joe Allen an error? For me, we overpayed, he's not improved the team (the squad maybe) but he's no world beater. The fact is, I personally wouldn't really call him an error or bad signing...

That for me though isn't good enough. I'd have rather seen four signings, had we signed, Lovren, Begovic, Markovic and Tevez (for example) I believe that would have been a superb window. Instead, we've not signed a keeper when its absolutely glaringly obvious to anyone with an ounce of knowledge that Mignolet is nowhere near upto it and is a bad weak link.... and apart from spunking £10,000,000 on a forward who isn't even going to be here, we've not signed a replacement of any standard for the third best player on the planet so far... which is baffling.

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:31 pm wrote:

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:57 pm wrote:
Happy to see you posting again lad ,and glad your treatment is going well .

Now to the question in hand ...First and foremost I am a fan ,and the burden of every fan is the hope they carry into the new season ,I would like to think that
the players brought in will grow with the team and become as integral to our play as some of the more illustrious names we have procured in the past whilst
avoiding ridiculous fees. Like I said Stu ,no one knows how good or bad the players are going to be until we kick our first ball in anger in a competitive game.

I prefer to watch a season unfold ,rather than jump in with a plethora of what ifs ! Leave the what ifs ,to the media and blurts like Trevor Francis ,the manager
knows how much scrutiny he will be under in this transfer season ,because its his well publicised Achilles Heel ,he also is fully aware the Liverpool faithful will be
viewing his purchases this season firstly with great expectation ,but some scepticism given what's gone before...Now if that was me ,I would be intent on making
no errors with the players I brought in.

Tar red.

You say, you would be intent on not making errors... But, whats an error? Is Joe Allen an error? For me, we overpayed, he's not improved the team (the squad maybe) but he's no world beater. The fact is, I personally wouldn't really call him an error or bad signing...

That for me though isn't good enough. I'd have rather seen four signings, had we signed, Lovren, Begovic, Markovic and Tevez (for example) I believe that would have been a superb window. Instead, we've not signed a keeper when its absolutely glaringly obvious to anyone with an ounce of knowledge that Mignolet is nowhere near upto it and is a bad weak link.... and apart from spunking £10,000,000 on a forward who isn't even going to be here, we've not signed a replacement of any standard for the third best player on the planet so far... which is baffling.

Couldn't agree more Stu.

The fact that there is a week left to the season starting and we haven't bought in a striker to at least plug the massive hole that Suarez left is downright disturbing.......

We have plugged the Suarez hole to a large extent, Markovic, Lallana, Lambert, an emerging Ibe and a rapidly improving Sterling.

No way we can replace Suarez and only clubs willing to put down 50m + on a player could even try.

Direct replacement no, but we have a lot of flexibility and options in attacking areas, smart young players, that will hopefully go
some way to plugging the hole.

If that doesn't fully cover our goals for ratio the defence and holding midfield has been reinforced, that may make our strike rate
less important if we can lower goals against.

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 10:31 pm wrote:

RED BEERGOGGLES » Sat Aug 09, 2014 2:57 pm wrote:
Happy to see you posting again lad ,and glad your treatment is going well .

Now to the question in hand ...First and foremost I am a fan ,and the burden of every fan is the hope they carry into the new season ,I would like to think that
the players brought in will grow with the team and become as integral to our play as some of the more illustrious names we have procured in the past whilst
avoiding ridiculous fees. Like I said Stu ,no one knows how good or bad the players are going to be until we kick our first ball in anger in a competitive game.

I prefer to watch a season unfold ,rather than jump in with a plethora of what ifs ! Leave the what ifs ,to the media and blurts like Trevor Francis ,the manager
knows how much scrutiny he will be under in this transfer season ,because its his well publicised Achilles Heel ,he also is fully aware the Liverpool faithful will be
viewing his purchases this season firstly with great expectation ,but some scepticism given what's gone before...Now if that was me ,I would be intent on making
no errors with the players I brought in.

Tar red.

You say, you would be intent on not making errors... But, whats an error? Is Joe Allen an error? For me, we overpayed, he's not improved the team (the squad maybe) but he's no world beater. The fact is, I personally wouldn't really call him an error or bad signing...

That for me though isn't good enough. I'd have rather seen four signings, had we signed, Lovren, Begovic, Markovic and Tevez (for example) I believe that would have been a superb window. Instead, we've not signed a keeper when its absolutely glaringly obvious to anyone with an ounce of knowledge that Mignolet is nowhere near upto it and is a bad weak link.... and apart from spunking £10,000,000 on a forward who isn't even going to be here, we've not signed a replacement of any standard for the third best player on the planet so far... which is baffling.

I think I sort of agree with Stu here. But we probably needed  5 quality signings; a keeper, a CB, a DM, a Winger and a forward. We bought a CB in Lovren. We bought a DM in Can. We bought a Winger in Markovic. As much as I like Lallana alot, it appears to be a good to have rather than a must have since we have Henderson and Coutinho there, even though I like Lallana alot. So what we're missing here is an improvement on the keeper, which would be ok if Reina stayed because then we have 2 keepers, and then strengthening in the striker options. Would have liked Remy in all honesty but he failed his medical. Now we are short in two positions, GK and striker, and we still have players on our books which are in excess. Our transfer business appears abit too unbalanced. This Origi seems to be a quality player and good for the future, but we need someone now... given the injury track record of Sturridge... I'm downgrading my assessment of our transfer business from B+ to B-... However in the mean time, if we can sign a quality striker, it can go back to B+ or A-...

Another beef I have is that we still have alot of excess of unwanted players in particular positions on our books, as well as players we bought the last 2 seasons for potential and squad filling. We are too slow to move them on. We could've shipped them out and went for the quality signings needed:

Defence
Glen Johnson, Toure, Llori, Coates

Midfielders
Teixeira, Lucas, Allen

Wingers Forwards
Assaidi, Borini, Suso, Yesil

Do they still have future at the club? Not saying all of them are excess to requirements but they are on the fringe. We could probably ship half of them out and it wouldn't do anything to the squad depth. BR needs to decide who he wants and who he doesn't want. If not, move them on quick... we appear to have a bloated squad which is not strength in depth. The squad needs to be leaner and meaner...

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:36 am wrote:

Red Focus » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:21 pm wrote:I am deeply concerned about our firepower up front. Sturridge is too injury prone esp. with his recurrent hamstring problem and I don't expect him to be available for all 38 PL games. So if he's not playing, who do we have? We have Lambert and Borini who are average players. So if Danny Sturridge is out injured, I can tell you, we're f**ked.

There are some good strikers out there like Benzema, Falcao, Higuan etc but they're all telling Liverpool to f**k off. The only one I can think of now is Swansea's Bony. Brendan should sign him now at all cost because him as a lone striker or together with Sturridge would make a formidable pair.

Clueless!

Who is the one clueless here? You mean to say that you're contented with our strikers' department? Look at the strikers manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and City have at their disposal, they are formidable. Look at who we have at the moment. Sturridge, Borini and Lambert. There is no way Sturridge will be able to take part all matches in 4 competitions because he can be injury prone and when he's not available, we have Borini and Lambert who are just average strikers IMO. So if Sturridge is out injured or rested, it will be a scary prospect.

I'm not saying we should sign a direct LS replacement unless of course we sign Messi or Neymar. With less than a week to go before the new season kicks off, Brendan must hurry up to sign another striker in the calibre of Bony whom we can be confident of putting the ball into the back of the net in a consistent basis. If Brendan leave it as it is, I'm afraid, finishing 4th will be a struggle. Yes, we can depend on the rest of the team to grab the goals, but that one is too uncertain whether it can materialise.

parchpea » Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:19 am wrote:We have plugged the Suarez hole to a large extent, Markovic, Lallana, Lambert, an emerging Ibe and a rapidly improving Sterling.

No way we can replace Suarez and only clubs willing to put down 50m + on a player could even try.

Direct replacement no, but we have a lot of flexibility and options in attacking areas, smart young players, that will hopefully go
some way to plugging the hole.

If that doesn't fully cover our goals for ratio the defence and holding midfield has been reinforced, that may make our strike rate
less important if we can lower goals against.

Lambert, Borini and an injured plagued Sturridge leading a forward line is plugging f**k all........

And I didn't mean bringing in a "direct" replacement for Suarez as there are only 2 players in the world capable of doing that.

I meant bringing in a proper CF to strengthen our forward line up.

Red Focus » Sun Aug 10, 2014 4:32 am wrote:

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:36 am wrote:

Red Focus » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:21 pm wrote:I am deeply concerned about our firepower up front. Sturridge is too injury prone esp. with his recurrent hamstring problem and I don't expect him to be available for all 38 PL games. So if he's not playing, who do we have? We have Lambert and Borini who are average players. So if Danny Sturridge is out injured, I can tell you, we're f**ked.

There are some good strikers out there like Benzema, Falcao, Higuan etc but they're all telling Liverpool to f**k off. The only one I can think of now is Swansea's Bony. Brendan should sign him now at all cost because him as a lone striker or together with Sturridge would make a formidable pair.

Clueless!

Who is the one clueless here? You mean to say that you're contented with our strikers' department? Look at the strikers manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and City have at their disposal, they are formidable. Look at who we have at the moment. Sturridge, Borini and Lambert. There is no way Sturridge will be able to take part all matches in 4 competitions because he can be injury prone and when he's not available, we have Borini and Lambert who are just average strikers IMO. So if Sturridge is out injured or rested, it will be a scary prospect.

I'm not saying we should sign a direct LS replacement unless of course we sign Messi or Neymar. With less than a week to go before the new season kicks off, Brendan must hurry up to sign another striker in the calibre of Bony whom we can be confident of putting the ball into the back of the net in a consistent basis. If Brendan leave it as it is, I'm afraid, finishing 4th will be a struggle. Yes, we can depend on the rest of the team to grab the goals, but that one is too uncertain whether it can materialise.

Agree with everything your saying but surely with the money we have and the stature of our club we can bring in a better forward than f**king Bony.

Infact

this is our best team we're playing now

There's not many people id rather have up front than Sturridge.

We wont buy anyone that will take Sturridge's plac because thats not what we need, so we'll buy Bony. 

I'm happy with that

no astronomical wages and wont moan when he doesn't play.

Red Focus » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:32 am wrote:

Stu the Red » Sat Aug 09, 2014 11:36 am wrote:

Red Focus » Fri Aug 08, 2014 5:21 pm wrote:I am deeply concerned about our firepower up front. Sturridge is too injury prone esp. with his recurrent hamstring problem and I don't expect him to be available for all 38 PL games. So if he's not playing, who do we have? We have Lambert and Borini who are average players. So if Danny Sturridge is out injured, I can tell you, we're f**ked.

There are some good strikers out there like Benzema, Falcao, Higuan etc but they're all telling Liverpool to f**k off. The only one I can think of now is Swansea's Bony. Brendan should sign him now at all cost because him as a lone striker or together with Sturridge would make a formidable pair.

Clueless!

Who is the one clueless here? You mean to say that you're contented with our strikers' department? Look at the strikers manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and City have at their disposal, they are formidable. Look at who we have at the moment. Sturridge, Borini and Lambert. There is no way Sturridge will be able to take part all matches in 4 competitions because he can be injury prone and when he's not available, we have Borini and Lambert who are just average strikers IMO. So if Sturridge is out injured or rested, it will be a scary prospect.

I'm not saying we should sign a direct LS replacement unless of course we sign Messi or Neymar. With less than a week to go before the new season kicks off, Brendan must hurry up to sign another striker in the calibre of Bony whom we can be confident of putting the ball into the back of the net in a consistent basis. If Brendan leave it as it is, I'm afraid, finishing 4th will be a struggle. Yes, we can depend on the rest of the team to grab the goals, but that one is too uncertain whether it can materialise.

The reason I said you're clueless is because you sit there and slag off Lambert, which I understand, he's not the best, but then praise a pile of dog turd like Bony. Bony is rubbish and in no way the answer in any way shape or form. He's a poor mans Emile Heskey. Remy would have been a decent signing, especially for the money, but he's no world beater. How you can advocate signing Bony though is just a joke. We should be looking at world class forward to replace Suarez, Sturridge will also get found out this year now he doesn't have Suarez to bounce off.