Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 12/13

rarnes1 wrote: »

Why would Chelsea sell Sturridge anyway as it'd leave them with Torres as the only recognised striker at the club, if you can even call him that.

Supposedly Chelsea had Loic Remy lined up to replace Sturridge last summer

Leiva wrote: »

Am I the only one that wouldn't mind Sturridge?
Now I'm not saying at any cost but aint he at the end of his current contract? so he might be available on the cheap, which would be acceptable.

He was very good at Bolton and I think his limited game time at Chelsea has not done him any good, as when he gets on the pitch he tries too hard to prove, hence the silly shots and greed.

A regular starting spot and I think the Bolton Sturridge could return, but again the transfer fee would need to reflect the risk.

I don't mind Sturridge - he was good at Bolton like you said and maybe you're right about his time at Chelsea, but I'm not sure if £15m or whatever the figure being banded about could be better invested elsewhere - I believe it could.

Sturridge has potential and is still learning as a young forward but I think we need a striker who can provide is with short term results, despite this being a long term project - be it in the form of Huntelaar or a different striker. I'm still on the fence about it - I wouldn't mind him joining once the price isn't too high.

PRAF wrote: »

Huntelaar, Walcott, Ince, and Sturridge wouldn't be a bad transfer window! If we got one of the first two and another of the second two, wouldn't be too bad either

Ince. Suarez
Huntelaar


Or


Walcott. Sturridge

Suarez

Wouldn't be a bad window? Ah heyor, that'd be the best window in years if it happened. Not that it will..

Hidalgo wrote: »

QPR linked with Remy this morning, could be fluff

Chelsea linked with a Brazilian striker at Metalist. If so, that could be paving the way for a Sturridge exit.

8m QPR are looking at for Remy - he's supposedly fairly decent that'd be a good price for him I'd imagine

PRAF wrote: »

Huntelaar, Walcott, Ince, and Sturridge wouldn't be a bad transfer window! If we got one of the first two and another of the second two, wouldn't be too bad either

Ince. Suarez
Huntelaar


Or


Walcott. Sturridge

Suarez

For some reason I fear that latter combination. Not in a good way, in a, we'll be looking back in 2 years going how have we blown all that money on them way.

I would almost say Suarez is priceless at the moment and there's no realistic fee that I'd be in any way happy to see him go for.

He is far beyond the level of what we can attract. We'd likely be weakening the team even if we brought in 3 good players with the money.

He really is absolutely indispensable - if we sold him in the summer that would be the nail in the coffin in terms of defining us as a midtable club.

Suarez is a pull for other transfer targets as well - they see him and think that they'd like to play with him. If the football world sees us finishing 8th or whatever yet again and selling Suarez we'll be resigned to mediocrity for the forseeable future. It could be really hard then to attract players of a decent standard and we'd probably end up spunking £50m on Matt Jarvis, Daniel Sturridge and Shane Long.

Leiva wrote: »

Am I the only one that wouldn't mind Sturridge?
Now I'm not saying at any cost but aint he at the end of his current contract? so he might be available on the cheap, which would be acceptable.

He was very good at Bolton and I think his limited game time at Chelsea has not done him any good, as when he gets on the pitch he tries too hard to prove, hence the silly shots and greed.

A regular starting spot and I think the Bolton Sturridge could return, but again the transfer fee would need to reflect the risk.

All he is is another Milan Baros style player. Head stays down and he runs in a straight line. Yes he will get some goals but his oblivious style of play means more chances get missed or not even seen by him than those he tries to get for himself.


Go into the Chelsea thread here on Boards just to get the opinion of a small sample of those that have watched him far more than any of us and you will find a majority that would be happy to see him go and who will use adjectives like "greedy" "selfish" "unintelligent" when describing his play.

Yes he had a good run during his time at Bolton but it could be argued that was a streak rather than an indication of anything consistent, but he seems not to have developed at all as a player since then so that looks more like the exception rather than the norm for him. No sign of guile, no sign of being able to link up well with other players, no sign of figuring out that he needs to be able to see what is happening elsewhere on the pitch, and no sign that his game improves when put on the pitch with top class players.


The last point for me is a big one, because if he still manages to look tactically inept with the likes of Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Ramrez & Co providing runs, passes then what would he be like in a team like Liverpool where he would have big expectations put upon him to score on a regular basis but where he would not have the same quality around him.

Torres for all his critics does fit in with the quality at Chelsea. Watch how he peels off the centre back when Hazard goes wide or how he makes a diagonal run to draw two defenders with him when Mata cuts inside. The clevber players at Chelsea use Torres' ability to read play to their advantage and know that they can use him as part of their link play. When Sturridge is on the pitch you see him run down blind alleys with and without the ball and the likes of Mata/Hazard/Oscar having to turn on the ball because Sturridge has no clue how to be part of the flow of an attack.

Would hate to see Sturridge at Liverpool. I think he would be a poor foil for Suarez and would frustrate the hell out of any player trying to either make clever runs or who was looking for Sturridge to make runs.

Just look at the just three of the other "name" players who will be in the exact same position contractually come January.

Huntelaar
Llorente
Walcott


Sturridge would probably cost us circa £7m to £10m in January and I doubt if he would accept small wages given that he is meant to have looked for big wages at Chelsea.

So I think all four strikers would require big wages as a result, and I think that all four would cost in the region of £7m to £12m.

So what exactly does Sturridge do or have that at least one of the other three cannot match or better?

Finishing? Would argue that all three are superior in that department.

Game smarts? Would argue that at least two of the three beats him easily there and the third beats him to a lesser degree.

Link play? Would argue that all three beat him handily.

Speed? He beats two on the list, but Walcott beats him, and given that Walcott is stronger in other departments I could see no reason to have an inferior speedster over a better one.

Age? Same outcome as the speed department.


Basically, for me anyway, he is the worst option of the six month brigade and by a distance, but the cost of buying him and paying him may not be as far removed from that of the others to warrant a punt on him. I have not even started to take into account players who may be available who have more than six months on their contracts that would be far superior and more rounded players than Sturridge but who might want similar wages.

If Sturridge was not English then I think he would be regarded as just another fast but very average striker/wide forward. Perfect for a team that will work around his limitations and even build to suit those limitations, but no good for a team that is in the top end of the league or who wants to rely on him to help get a team into the top quarter of the table.

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

If we sign Sturridge, I'll be furious.

We need a striker but if we sign Sturridge is the only option in jan we are wasting money that could be better spent in the summer.


If Sturrige is the option bring Carroll as a squad player.

If we got Walcott and Ince i'd be happy. I know everyone wants to see a proper number 9, but I actually think it's the other areas we need to improve on.

The fact is Suarez is top scorer and is most effective through the middle. Here can drift between the lines, roam outside, be the centre of our attacking threat and generally wreck havoc to the greatest extent. There are question marks over his finishing, and with reason, but the fact is he is scoring goals, creating chances and generally making himself a nightmare for defenders. Rodgers comments a few weeks ago about him being our Messi lead me to believe he is nailed down for this spot and the club won't spend big (if at all) on what will just be backup.

We also have Borini to come back who can offer cover in this position.

Look at what we have in the wide-forward position, and what they have contributed this season. Really it's not good enough:

Sterling - we are all rightly excited by him and he's done fantastically. However he is far from the finished product. 1 goal and 3 assists isn't bad going, but does he really offer enough of a goal threat? He offers no threat shooting outside the box - he lacks power on his shots. His finish against Reading was very good, but he fluffed an easy one against Everton. The lad is 17 and while he has the quality to be playing in the first team, we should not be relying on him.

Borini - Jury out as we have not seen a lot of him. From what I have seen he shows good movement off the ball and good work rate defensively. He reminds me of Dirk Kuyt which is nice to have, but he's maybe not the player to call upon to break down teams.

Enrique - He's been very good playing this new role for us, but he perhaps gives the ball away too often. I'm not sure if it is a long-term solution but it certainly shows the extent of our problems in this position when Enrique is considered the solution.

Suso - Again, a young lad that has done very well coming in. He's comfortable on the ball and keeps it well. However his return in terms of goals/assists is not good enough and he can seem to drift in and out of game at times. Like Sterling, we shouldn't have to be relying on someone so young.

Downing - Less said the better.

Cole - Showed against Young Boys he might still have something about him, but he still doesn't offer enough and I worry about his ability to fulfil defensive duties. Doesn't offer much pace either.

Assaidi - Has shown flashes of brilliance but is still largely unproven. Again I'm not sure if he offers a goal threat himself, which is really important in these positions - it's not just about creating chances, as with Suarez in the centre there should be opportunities to get behind and finish from the wide positions as well. The fact he isn't getting in the team when the competition is poor suggests that Rodgers sees him as no more than backup.


I would wager that Rodgers sees this as the problem area of the team - and with reason. How many goals have come from these areas this season?

2 - Sterling and Enrique. That's 2 out of 16. Suarez is carrying the forward line single-handedly at the moment. We saw against Swansea that teams are now happy to double or triple up on Suarez, safe in the knowledge that we don't possess much of a threat outside of him.

These wide roles need to be chipping in with goals - Rodgers' system is supposed to be a 4-3-3. These players are not 'wingers', they are 'forwards', and the contribution from these players has not been good enough this year.

So I believe we absolutely need a top signing in this area, but probably 2. I think Walcott would be a major coup and would thrive in this system. He'd offer the threat in behind and finishing ability that we don't have, and I believe defenders would be stuck in a no-win situation with Suarez dropping between the lines and Walcott running in behind them.

I don't know much about Ince, but he seems to be a wide player who can score goals which is what we need.

These 2 players should be able to offer goals in our frontline and free up Suarez more which will make him even more effective.

At the moment we are falling way short in these areas.

I didn't realise Nigel Adkins was at Liverpool as a kid

Leiva wrote: »

Am I the only one that wouldn't mind Sturridge?
Now I'm not saying at any cost but aint he at the end of his current contract? so he might be available on the cheap, which would be acceptable.

You're not the only one. His star has only fallen because he hasn't been playing.

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Sturridge is more proven than Ince in the Premier League.

Is Ince a striker?

Suarezistheman wrote: »

Is Ince a striker?

Left wing, but cuts in a lot.