Liverpool FC Forum

I'm surprised so many people are so eager for Benteke, especially at what he'll cost.  He's almost in the same position as Carroll was when we signed him.  Benteke has 1 year of experience, 19 goals in 1 season.  Carroll had 11 goals in half a season, so an even better ratio.  So many people are saying pay what it takes to get Benteke, which appears to be somewhere over £20 million at this point, and they'd be thrilled, and yet many people are shocked that we went after Carroll when he only had 6 months under his belt.  6 months and one year just aren't that much different.

With that said he does look a pretty good player, but you never know with these forwards, especially the powerful forwards.  Kenyanwe Jones, Carlton Cole, even Amir Zaki all had a season with a crazy amount of goals, and then after that they didn't usually even reach 10 in a season (or in Zaki's case, was never seen again).

ethanr » Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:46 pm wrote:I'm surprised so many people are so eager for Benteke, especially at what he'll cost.  He's almost in the same position as Carroll was when we signed him.  Benteke has 1 year of experience, 19 goals in 1 season.  Carroll had 11 goals in half a season, so an even better ratio.  So many people are saying pay what it takes to get Benteke, which appears to be somewhere over £20 million at this point, and they'd be thrilled, and yet many people are shocked that we went after Carroll when he only had 6 months under his belt.  6 months and one year just aren't that much different.

With that said he does look a pretty good player, but you never know with these forwards, especially the powerful forwards.  Kenyanwe Jones, Carlton Cole, even Amir Zaki all had a season with a crazy amount of goals, and then after that they didn't usually even reach 10 in a season (or in Zaki's case, was never seen again).

yep, I'm not too sure on players of his ilk especially at these costs.

Give me a poacher over a battering ram any day of the week.

Kenny Kan » Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:48 pm wrote:

ethanr » Fri Jun 21, 2013 1:46 pm wrote:I'm surprised so many people are so eager for Benteke, especially at what he'll cost.  He's almost in the same position as Carroll was when we signed him.  Benteke has 1 year of experience, 19 goals in 1 season.  Carroll had 11 goals in half a season, so an even better ratio.  So many people are saying pay what it takes to get Benteke, which appears to be somewhere over £20 million at this point, and they'd be thrilled, and yet many people are shocked that we went after Carroll when he only had 6 months under his belt.  6 months and one year just aren't that much different.

With that said he does look a pretty good player, but you never know with these forwards, especially the powerful forwards.  Kenyanwe Jones, Carlton Cole, even Amir Zaki all had a season with a crazy amount of goals, and then after that they didn't usually even reach 10 in a season (or in Zaki's case, was never seen again).

yep, I'm not too sure on players of his ilk especially at these costs.

Give me a poacher over a battering ram any day of the week.

in that case we need to sign no1 cos in borini you have a poacher,, can you honestly say you'd be happy with borini up top

BR won't sign a big burly striker but if he did then I would prefer Lukaku

yea would take lukaku, i can see suarez staying

I don't think we should be signing a striker at all. If Suarez leaves, we'll have Sturrige as the first choice striker and Borini as his back-up, with the new boy Alberto, Morgan and Yesill as third back-up. I'd rather concentrate on players that can play wide or behind the striker.

If Suarez goes we need a striker - we can't go into a season with just Sturridge and Borini as back up ! Madness

as i have said a few times i think sturridge has done enough to deserve the chance to lead the line for us, he has scored goals at a phenominal rate and scored  against big teams too like city, united and chelsea. his game seems dovetail with coutinho`s so i wouldnt be spending big money on a central striker this window.
some of our best performances came when suarez was out and sturridge and coutinho were the architects behind those displays (newcastle, fulham etc) so as the old adage goes if it`s not broke dont try to fix it.
i`d bring in players to play around those 2 like wide forwards and midfielders, i wouldnt bother spending big money on a CF or creative attacking mid.

Benny The Noon » Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:52 pm wrote:If Suarez goes we need a striker - we can't go into a season with just Sturridge and Borini as back up ! Madness

Why? How many strikers do we need? Would you rather we went into next season with Downing on the wing and 18 year old kids as back up?

ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Fri Jun 21, 2013 2:54 pm wrote:as i have said a few times i think sturridge has done enough to deserve the chance to lead the line for us, he has scored goals at a phenominal rate and scored  against big teams too like city, united and chelsea. his game seems dovetail with coutinho`s so i wouldnt be spending big money on a central striker this window.
some of our best performances came when suarez was out and sturridge and coutinho were the architects behind those displays (newcastle, fulham etc) so as the old adage goes if it`s not broke dont try to fix it.
i`d bring in players to play around those 2 like wide forwards and midfielders, i wouldnt bother spending big money on a CF or creative attacking mid.

With Sturridge's recent history of niggling injuries it would be absolute madness not to replace Suarez with a quality centre forward if he goes mate.  I wouldn't fancy our chances over a long stretch of games using Borini as our main goal threat.  Aspas may be able to fill that void but I think he's been bought to provide cover across the front 3 positions and I think Rodgers would want someone else in too if Suarez goes.

Who we'd get is another question entirely.  Benteke would do for me, he's got a lot more to his game than goals and he's proved himself against the big teams, but you just don't get the feeling Rodgers would go for him.  I have no idea really who we might go for.  Going by this summer's targets probably not a household name.

Squad balances and hapiness is a major factor. If we spent a huge amount of money on a replacement for Suarez then they will expect to play week in week out.

Filling the front 3 positions we currently have Sturridge, Borini, Downing, Coutinho, Sterling, Assaidi. With the additions of Aspas and Alberto let alone Atsu if he comes to then add another forward players will start getting frustrated at not playing.

Healthy competition is one thing but the amount of forward players we have some will get disheartened. That being said Assaidi and Downing could leave and there is always a chance Sterling could go on loan.

LFC1990 » Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:51 pm wrote:Squad balances and hapiness is a major factor. If we spent a huge amount of money on a replacement for Suarez then they will expect to play week in week out.

Filling the front 3 positions we currently have Sturridge, Borini, Downing, Coutinho, Sterling, Assaidi. With the additions of Aspas and Alberto let alone Atsu if he comes to then add another forward players will start getting frustrated at not playing.

Healthy competition is one thing but the amount of forward players we have some will get disheartened. That being said Assaidi and Downing could leave and there is always a chance Sterling could go on loan.

Don't think spending a 'huge amount of money' on a replacement for Suarez would happen anyway under our current management.  But I do think we'd need somebody in.

Suso and possibly Sterling will be loaned I reckon.  Assaidi was a strange signing given how little he's played and Downing I agree could also be moved on.

if you spend big money on someone like benteke you are going to have to play him every week, that means sturridge gets shoved out wide to a position where he doesnt want to play and a position that doesnt get the best out of his attributes. on top of that your breaking up that sturridge/coutinho partnership. when the pair of them were played through the middle they looked as good as anything in the league (in the latter stages of the season).
1 signing like that can unbalance the side.
i understand what your saying about sturridges susceptibility to injury but if you bring in a top quality goalscoring wide forward and you have someone like mkhitaryan in midfield your spreading the workload. i`m sure borini could lead the line every now and then if we have other goalscoring threats in the team. the problem has been in recent years if our CF doesnt score no one does.

damjan193 » Fri Jun 21, 2013 4:00 pm wrote:

Benny The Noon » Fri Jun 21, 2013 3:52 pm wrote:If Suarez goes we need a striker - we can't go into a season with just Sturridge and Borini as back up ! Madness

Why? How many strikers do we need? Would you rather we went into next season with Downing on the wing and 18 year old kids as back up?

We certainly need more than 2 strikers !! Sturridge and both Borini have suffered from injuries over the past 12 months and it would stupidity to go into the season as just those two !!!

Like LFC1990 and yakka said, if Luis leaves, we'll need to build around the partnership of our two best players, Coutinho and Sturridge. If we bring in an expensive direct replacement for Suarez he'll have to be an automatic starter, thus breaking the partnership because Sturridge will have to either play wide or sit on the bench.

On the other hand, our team has a lack of wide players, with only Coutinho and Downing being most capable of playing wide (considering Assaidi leaves). Signing only Aspas isn't going to be enough so we'll have to spend some cash to improve this position. Also, if Coutinho is moved wide (which IMO would still keep the Coutinho-Sturridge partnership alive), we'll need to sign an attacking midfielder, so that's another attacking position we'll need to spend money on.

Because of these reasons, I would much rather stick with what we have considering the CF position, and concentrate our effort and money on the other attacking positions.

Not to mention, we'll still need to spend big on a CB.