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

missingtime · 30-11-2012 05:36PM

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

A manager who doesn't have the balls to select Gerrard in an appropriate position (i.e. not as a deep lying central midfielder) is probably out of his depth managing Liverpool.

Possibly, but I'd wager Rodgers is picking his battles at the moment.

Vanolder · 30-11-2012 05:40PM

missingtime wrote: »

Possibly, but I'd wager Rodgers is picking his battles at the moment.

How do you both mean? Gerrard will play where he is told, like he has always done. It was never an issue under previous managers when he was played 'out' of position.. His best season was when he linked up top with Torres, why would he not replicate that?

Chucky the tree · 30-11-2012 05:44PM

Vanolder wrote: »

How do you both mean? Gerrard will play where he is told, like he has always done. It was never an issue under previous managers when he was played 'out' of position.. His best season was when he linked up top with Torres, why would he not replicate that?

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

missingtime · 30-11-2012 05:50PM

Vanolder wrote: »

How do you both mean? Gerrard will play where he is told, like he has always done. It was never an issue under previous managers when he was played 'out' of position.. His best season was when he linked up top with Torres, why would he not replicate that?

When Benitez played Gerrard on the right wing, where he had his most successful season as an individual player, there was constant talk from Gerrard and his buddies in the press about him not playing in his favoured position.

While I myself don't give too ****s about was the press think or say, once we are successful I'm happy, it added pressure on Benitez and detracted from the good work that both Benitez and Gerrard were doing.

Rodgers, I think, doesn't need that attention or, for want of a better word, hassle as he is only just in the door. There are plenty of managers who have fallen on their sword for trying to change too much too quickly.

Kerrigooney · 30-11-2012 05:52PM

Chucky the tree wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Me either. And if Gerrard doesn't want to play where he's told to then he should be told to shut the **** up and do what he's told.

That mightn't be the case tho...it could just be Rodgers making a balls of the whole situation.

Leiva · 30-11-2012 06:11PM

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/pepe-celebration-and-more-great-shots

going by the bibs then I can work out the following are in the team:

Suarez
Allen
Shelvey
Gerrard
me

Johnson
Enrique
Agger
Sterling

G.K. · 30-11-2012 06:15PM

Leiva wrote: »

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/pepe-celebration-and-more-great-shots

going by the bibs then I can work out the following are in the team:

Suarez
Allen
Shelvey
Gerrard
me
Johnson

Means Gerrard on the RW I presume?

Washington Irving · 30-11-2012 06:17PM

Leiva wrote: »

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/pepe-celebration-and-more-great-shots

going by the bibs then I can work out the following are in the team:

Suarez
Allen
Shelvey
Gerrard
me
Johnson

On gettyimages Agger and Sterling have white bibs too

opr · 30-11-2012 06:18PM

Tusky wrote: »

If Rodgers first 11 is better than Kenny's then that can not be used as a stick to beat Rodgers with. Kenny was given enough money to almost totally revamp the squad - he failed on unprecedented levels in that regard. Many of the plaers Rodgers is utilising to great effect this season, were available to Kenny last season. You could argue that Suso, Sterling et all were not ready to play so many minutes, fair enough, but they could have played a bit-part.

Kenny underused the likes of Shelvey, Maxi, Bellamy, as well as the younger players. On top of that, he bought badly. If Kenny's squad was worse than Rodger's, he only has himself to blame.

People seem to be ignoring some of the good things Rodgers is doing too. Lots of players have improved under him. Enrique, Sterling, Suso, Shelvey, Wisdom and Suarez are all better than they were last season.

Rodgers inherted a poor squad, and was not given enough money to adequately improve it. Results have been disappointing, but it's even more disappointing to see people calling for his head before December.

I'm not really using it as a stick to beat him but more trying to measure his ability as a manager. All things being equal surely the thing you should be looking for in a manager is if he's currently getting the best he can from the current team. After this you can measure him on transfer dealings and the other stuff but surely the starting point should be knowing that the manager gets the best from the players he currently has at his disposal.

The main area we struggled last season under Kenny in terms of depth was central midfield. To think that at times last season we had a CM pairing of Spearing/Adam is shocking. I know this is Kenny's fault but I can point to that and say it would be very hard for any manager with those two in CM to be getting results.

I feel like it's hard to make excuses for why we haven't improved when we've added quality in the likes of Sahin/Allen in that area that was really needed.

Opr

daithijjj · 30-11-2012 06:29PM

Tusky wrote: »

If Rodgers first 11 is better than Kenny's then that can not be used as a stick to beat Rodgers with. Kenny was given enough money to almost totally revamp the squad - he failed on unprecedented levels in that regard. Many of the plaers Rodgers is utilising to great effect this season, were available to Kenny last season. You could argue that Suso, Sterling et all were not ready to play so many minutes, fair enough, but they could have played a bit-part.

Kenny underused the likes of Shelvey, Maxi, Bellamy, as well as the younger players. On top of that, he bought badly. If Kenny's squad was worse than Rodger's, he only has himself to blame.

People seem to be ignoring some of the good things Rodgers is doing too. Lots of players have improved under him. Enrique, Sterling, Suso, Shelvey, Wisdom and Suarez are all better than they were last season.

Rodgers inherted a poor squad, and was not given enough money to adequately improve it. Results have been disappointing, but it's even more disappointing to see people calling for his head before December.

Tom?, John?.......seriously, no need to post from Boston. :cool:

So much disingenuous sh1te in such a small post.

Your outlook on things is the polar opposite of mine. Never read so much nonsense.

Totally revamping the squad?, Kenny got the same money as Rodgers has, it just happened to be the case that Rodgers hasnt lost 75m worth of player so he has had less to spend. You dont account for turnover and players trying to get used to each other, 50% of the team who had never played with each other. Underplaying Bellamy wasnt a choice, it was because Bellamy couldnt physically deal with it.

Revamping makes it sound like there was a great squad there, there wasnt, there was a team who lost its good players window after window for 2 and a half years, making over 10m in profit in that time on player sales. All the money that came in was diluted, Alonso/Macherano money was spent on 4 or 5 players, and the leftovers was spent on higher wages. The higher wages were paid because the banks would not allow us to spend on xfers. We took a stance where we would try to tread water for a while until the club was sold.

People say we have, and have had, wages that cannot be sustained. Will someone explain to me how you came to this conclusion?. Its simply not true in business terms alone. The British taxpayer effectively owned the club and deemed us sustainable, we just could not invest.

FSG are not investing either, look at the numbers. 50-55m net, 30-40m increased turnover and 15m p/a off the books in wages. We have 'invested' NOTHING.

Your whole post comes from the mould of someone who has totally fallen for Rodgers and the owners spin doctoring. My emotion reading it wasnt even madness, it was almost sympathetic.

That man gets on my nerves more and more with every passing day. He blows so much smoke up peoples holes its unreal. And his comments today re Sterling will not help the situation at all. Out of his depth, like everyone else who holds responsibility at the club right now. Only man there who has a clue is Rodolfo Borrell.

joe123 · 30-11-2012 06:37PM

daithijjj wrote: »

Tom?, John?.......seriously, no need to post from Boston. :cool:

So much disingenuous sh1te in such a small post.

Your outlook on things is the polar opposite of mine. Never read so much nonsense.

Totally revamping the squad?, Kenny got the same money as Rodgers .

Not this ****ing nonsense again. Net spend out of it. The truth is, Kenny had 100 million at his disposal.

Rodgers had what? 17?

K-9 · 30-11-2012 06:37PM

Just on this pressing thing,somebody posted an in depth analysis of our play in comparison to the 12 games last season and contrary to what is said, we are doing more pressing. The problem is the use of possession and the lack of support when we get possession back.

jesus_thats_gre · 30-11-2012 06:40PM

joe123 wrote: »

Not this ****ing nonsense again. Net spend out of it. The truth is, Kenny had 100 million at his disposal.

Rodgers had what? 17?

Rodgers can sell Sterling and Suarez and he too will have the guts of 100m to spend..

daithijjj · 30-11-2012 06:41PM

joe123 wrote: »

Not this ****ing nonsense again. Net spend out of it. The truth is, Kenny had 100 million at his disposal.

Rodgers had what? 17?

There's no educating some people.

You must agree with Ronnie Whelan that Rafa spent 300m.?

Enjoy the delusion and fantasy.

Jayob10 · 30-11-2012 06:43PM

People harping back to Hodgson's time, Kenny's time, comparing points with last year etc....

Take a look at our current personnel.

Last season had to be judged at a higher standard, we had shelled out large sums (regardless of whether this money was recouped from sales in the overall scheme of things) on players who were going to move us up the table. They didn't, the vast majority were critically bad players.

We had a horrendous season on the back of spending alot of money. I don't care whether it was money we recouped on sales, the bottom line is we spend a shocking amount of money on duds.

Our new manager inherited this squad, with alot of expensive flops not fit to wear a red shirt. He was never going to be backed with the same money Kenny had (I wish he had been able to spend 35million on a striker, 20 on a left winger and another 16 on a midfielder).

The goalposts have changed. Its not really a matter of interpretation either, these (Carroll, Downing, Henderson) are bad players and cost a small fortune for a club who are not flush with cash.

They have been replaced by talented kids who are going to have patchy form by their nature.

We need to stop acting like we have this world class squad of players. We don't. We have 2 players who can claim to be in that bracket in my opinion and thats Luis Suarez and Glen Johnson on occasion.

Thats not "accepting 2nd best" and its not an attitude of a fan that "is the reason the club has fallen of its perch", its reality of today. And it hurts like f*ck. But thats where we are.

We bullsh*t on this thread about Shelvey, Sahin, Agger, Skrtel et al like we have this world class set up, but we really don't. We have some very good players but not vastly of a level that will set us apart from the Everton's, Newcastles, Tottenham's of this world.

Comparing Rodgers and Hodgson is complete folly. Hodgons tried to dampen expectations, he signed some god awful players (Konchesky, Poulsen) and expected guys like this to be part of liverpool's future, whilst being cavalier about some of our better players futures.

Rodgers has immediately identified the sh*te we had in our squad and its a cleaning up job. Spearing, Carroll and Adam are out the door, players 99% of Liverpool fans, hell football fans, could tell you were not up to it. He has made a concerted effort to hold onto players we deem to be key and he has blooded some of our most talented kids. For many games this season we have seen Wisdom (19), Suso (18), Sterling (17), Shelvey (20) playing in the same XI in the league. Its pretty mad when you think about it.

Add in players like Allen, Borini, Henderson and its a crazily young side, and anyone who knows anything about football will know there are always going to be inconsistencies with a team so young. Many are not even the best prospects in their positions.

He has well and trully trimmed the fat and blooded hungry talented players in their place.

People also whinge that clearing the wage bill is nothing to be celebrating about. Its vital we do this. For too long, Liverpool (without ever being champions of England for nearing the last 23 years) have paid top dollar to some outrageous inadequate players. Players who are not deemed good enough to play week in week out.

This issue will no doubt raise its ugly head in the next month with Sterling for instance. We rightly wish to pay the kid a moderate wage to keep him hungry but the managers hands are tied on this. Stewart Downing is warming the bench on 60k per week so how can the manager tell Sterling he is worth less than half that figure?? The allocation of hefty wages for sh*te players is a huge problem.

All of the culture needs fixing, before this club can fully heal. Especially for a club and I always emphasise this, which DOESN'T HAVE BAGS OF MONEY. When we spend big we have to make it count. This has been our downfall for many years.

The work being done right now is hugely encouraging, and thats work in the background side.

As for the style of football, I wrote a post before detailing the way I think the system is working now and how it should work when everyone is on the same page. To say highly paid pro's should pick it up in 20 games is a stretch. Its a completely different system and it takes intelligent players to know when to drop between the lines. Its not something you drill into players (like pressing and running the channels). It's a philosophy that requires alot of creative thinking by the midfield and attacking players especially and it takes a hell of alot of time. The upside is that when it starts to click, things get better and get better rapidly. Attack is used as a form of defence. We are pourous at the back because we have no players barring Sterling, Suarez and Suso who are confident in possession and safe with it in the attacking third. And 2 of the 3 are kids. Teams hit us on the break due to this breakdown.

My main criticism of him is his use of this system so soon when he clearly has not got the players to do so. His midfield has not got the engine to deal with loss of possession in key areas and the inevitable attacks.

Our "passing for the sake of it" looks just like that right now, teams let us have it, confident that we cannot hurt them and wait for their chance to break.

Our defence are learning to play without the protective shield they have had for years.

With the right personnel this is an extremely exciting system, and this is why Rodgers deserves a transfer window to get players who he deems fit to play this system. As I mentioned earlier, how we dream he could spend the Carroll, Downing and Henderson money on players who fit in with what he is trying to do.

I am by no means saying Rodgers is the next Mourinho or Guardiola. He most certainly has it all to prove. And he may fail, but to say he needs to be sacked now is f*cking ridiculous.

joe123 · 30-11-2012 06:45PM

daithijjj wrote: »

There's no educating some people.

You must agree with Ronnie Whelan that Rafa spent 300m.?

Enjoy the delusion and fantasy.

No Im just taking the ****ing nonsense your spouting.

We all understand about net spend etc etc.

What I am saying is, Kenny was handed the 100 million to use to reinvest.

Rodgers was given 17 million. Comparing the two is ****ing retarded. Yes we all know it was at the cost of Torres,Babel etc.

But im just focusing on the part after. Its annoying reading people acting as if he got all these players on a free and the 100 million that was used (yes it was actually used) was a figment of our imagination.

Tusky · 30-11-2012 06:49PM

daithijjj wrote: »

Tom?, John?.......seriously, no need to post from Boston. :cool:

So much disingenuous sh1te in such a small post.

Your outlook on things is the polar opposite of mine. Never read so much nonsense.

Totally revamping the squad?, Kenny got the same money as Rodgers has, it just happened to be the case that Rodgers hasnt lost 75m worth of player so he has had less to spend. You dont account for turnover and players trying to get used to each other, 50% of the team who had never played with each other. Underplaying Bellamy wasnt a choice, it was because Bellamy couldnt physically deal with it.

Revamping makes it sound like there was a great squad there, there wasnt, there was a team who lost its good players window after window for 2 and a half years, making over 10m in profit in that time on player sales. All the money that came in was diluted, Alonso/Macherano money was spent on 4 or 5 players, and the leftovers was spent on higher wages. The higher wages were paid because the banks would not allow us to spend on xfers. We took a stance where we would try to tread water for a while until the club was sold.

People say we have, and have had, wages that cannot be sustained. Will someone explain to me how you came to this conclusion?. Its simply not true in business terms alone. The British taxpayer effectively owned the club and deemed us sustainable, we just could not invest.

FSG are not investing either, look at the numbers. 50-55m net, 30-40m increased turnover and 15m p/a off the books in wages. We have 'invested' NOTHING.

Your whole post comes from the mould of someone who has totally fallen for Rodgers and the owners spin doctoring. My emotion reading it wasnt even madness, it was almost sympathetic.

That man gets on my nerves more and more with every passing day. He blows so much smoke up peoples holes its unreal. And his comments today re Sterling will not help the situation at all. Out of his depth, like everyone else who holds responsibility at the club right now. Only man there who has a clue is Rodolfo Borrell.

I'm not going to get into a big back and forward on this as it's clear we have polar opposite views. All I'll say is that I have far from fallen for Rodgers and the new owners, in fact, on this very page of this very thread you will see me outlining a number of worries about; our failure to press; our passing; lack of goalscorers and the owners allocation of transfer funds.

I see the problems, and they worry me, I just don't believe in hounding a young, promising manager out of a job after less than half a season.

There are plenty of negatives to focus on this season, but there are also some positives, I am just trying to see the big picture, whereas others seem intent on merely looking at the negatives.

Back Rodgers in January and give him until the end of the season to improve the club's position. Judge him then. That's all I'm saying.

[edit] And maybe try a less partronising tone if you want proper discussion?

daithijjj wrote: »

Tom?, John?.......seriously, no need to post from Boston. :cool:

So much disingenuous sh1te in such a small post.

My emotion reading it wasnt even madness, it was almost sympathetic.

daithijjj wrote: »

There's no educating some people.

PRAF · 30-11-2012 06:50PM

Ah, the gross spend vs net spend debate. Haven't heard this one in a while. The reality is that they are just metrics on which to assess someone's performance.

Gross spend - great way to judge investment from the owners (although cannot be taken in isolation and must also include net spend) and also a great way to judge a manager's eye for a player

Net spend - great way to judge investment from the owners (although cannot be taken in isolation and must also include gross spend) and also a great way to judge the efficiency of a managers spending

People get caught up in terms of which one should be the only metric to assess. The reality is that both should be assessed (as well as quite a few more - ppg average, no. of trophies won, etc.)

Vanolder · 30-11-2012 06:55PM

daithijjj wrote: »

There's no educating some people.

You must agree with Ronnie Whelan that Rafa spent 300m.?

Enjoy the delusion and fantasy.

Did Kenny not blow 100m on tripe?

Turtyturd · 30-11-2012 06:56PM

joe123 wrote: »

Rodgers was given 17 million.

Borini 10.
Allen 15.
Assaidi 3.

joe123 · 30-11-2012 06:57PM

Turtyturd wrote: »

Borini 10.
Allen 15.
Assaidi 3.

Ah forgot about Borini!

Strongbow10 · 30-11-2012 06:59PM

Jayob10 wrote: »

People harping back to Hodgson's time, Kenny's time, comparing points with last year etc....

Take a look at our current personnel.

Last season had to be judged at a higher standard, we had shelled out large sums (regardless of whether this money was recouped from sales in the overall scheme of things) on players who were going to move us up the table. They didn't, the vast majority were critically bad players.

We had a horrendous season on the back of spending alot of money. I don't care whether it was money we recouped on sales, the bottom line is we spend a shocking amount of money on duds.

Our new manager inherited this squad, with alot of expensive flops not fit to wear a red shirt. He was never going to be backed with the same money Kenny had (I wish he had been able to spend 35million on a striker, 20 on a left winger and another 16 on a midfielder).

The goalposts have changed. Its not really a matter of interpretation either, these (Carroll, Downing, Henderson) are bad players and cost a small fortune for a club who are not flush with cash.

They have been replaced by talented kids who are going to have patchy form by their nature.

We need to stop acting like we have this world class squad of players. We don't. We have 2 players who can claim to be in that bracket in my opinion and thats Luis Suarez and Glen Johnson on occasion.

Thats not "accepting 2nd best" and its not an attitude of a fan that "is the reason the club has fallen of its perch", its reality of today. And it hurts like f*ck. But thats where we are.

We bullsh*t on this thread about Shelvey, Sahin, Agger, Skrtel et al like we have this world class set up, but we really don't. We have some very good players but not vastly of a level that will set us apart from the Everton's, Newcastles, Tottenham's of this world.

Comparing Rodgers and Hodgson is complete folly. Hodgons tried to dampen expectations, he signed some god awful players (Konchesky, Poulsen) and expected guys like this to be part of liverpool's future, whilst being cavalier about some of our better players futures.

Rodgers has immediately identified the sh*te we had in our squad and its a cleaning up job. Spearing, Carroll and Adam are out the door, players 99% of Liverpool fans, hell football fans, could tell you were not up to it. He has made a concerted effort to hold onto players we deem to be key and he has blooded some of our most talented kids. For many games this season we have seen Wisdom (19), Suso (18), Sterling (17), Shelvey (20) playing in the same XI in the league. Its pretty mad when you think about it.

Add in players like Allen, Borini, Henderson and its a crazily young side, and anyone who knows anything about football will know there are always going to be inconsistencies with a team so young. Many are not even the best prospects in their positions.

He has well and trully trimmed the fat and blooded hungry talented players in their place.

People also whinge that clearing the wage bill is nothing to be celebrating about. Its vital we do this. For too long, Liverpool (without ever being champions of England for nearing the last 23 years) have paid top dollar to some outrageous inadequate players. Players who are not deemed good enough to play week in week out.

This issue will no doubt raise its ugly head in the next month with Sterling for instance. We rightly wish to pay the kid a moderate wage to keep him hungry but the managers hands are tied on this. Stewart Downing is warming the bench on 60k per week so how can the manager tell Sterling he is worth less than half that figure?? The allocation of hefty wages for sh*te players is a huge problem.

All of the culture needs fixing, before this club can fully heal. Especially for a club and I always emphasise this, which DOESN'T HAVE BAGS OF MONEY. When we spend big we have to make it count. This has been our downfall for many years.

The work being done right now is hugely encouraging, and thats work in the background side.

As for the style of football, I wrote a post before detailing the way I think the system is working now and how it should work when everyone is on the same page. To say highly paid pro's should pick it up in 20 games is a stretch. Its a completely different system and it takes intelligent players to know when to drop between the lines. Its not something you drill into players (like pressing and running the channels). It's a philosophy that requires alot of creative thinking by the midfield and attacking players especially and it takes a hell of alot of time. The upside is that when it starts to click, things get better and get better rapidly. Attack is used as a form of defence. We are pourous at the back because we have no players barring Sterling, Suarez and Suso who are confident in possession and safe with it in the attacking third. And 2 of the 3 are kids. Teams hit us on the break due to this breakdown.

My main criticism of him is his use of this system so soon when he clearly has not got the players to do so. His midfield has not got the engine to deal with loss of possession in key areas and the inevitable attacks.

Our "passing for the sake of it" looks just like that right now, teams let us have it, confident that we cannot hurt them and wait for their chance to break.

Our defence are learning to play without the protective shield they have had for years.

With the right personnel this is an extremely exciting system, and this is why Rodgers deserves a transfer window to get players who he deems fit to play this system. As I mentioned earlier, how we dream he could spend the Carroll, Downing and Henderson money on players who fit in with what he is trying to do.

I am by no means saying Rodgers is the next Mourinho or Guardiola. He most certainly has it all to prove. And he may fail, but to say he needs to be sacked now is f*cking ridiculous.

A long read but a great read again.

The part is bold is a definite issue, he is caught between a rock and a hard place. You can just imagine the conversation with the agent, BR- "Sterling is inexperienced he's only going to get £20k", Agent- "Downing is on £70k isn't he Brendan?"

Awkward silence ensues.

If it wasn't so crazy you would laugh.

Chucky the tree · 30-11-2012 07:08PM

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Rodgers can sell Sterling and Suarez and he too will have the guts of 100m to spend..

Chances are he'd do a far better job than Kenny at it to be fair.

opr · 30-11-2012 07:08PM

Leiva wrote: »

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/pepe-celebration-and-more-great-shots

going by the bibs then I can work out the following are in the team:

Suarez
Allen
Shelvey
Gerrard
me
Johnson
Enrique
Agger
Sterling

Looks like the above will be the team. Shelvey starting on the left.

So

Johnson---Agger---Skrtel---Enrique

Lucas---Allen

Gerrard

Sterling

Suarez

Shelvey

Quite excited to see that team

Opr

Turtyturd · 30-11-2012 07:12PM

Ugh Shelvey....Suso really seems to have fallen down the pecking order.

Tusky · 30-11-2012 07:17PM

Turtyturd wrote: »

Ugh Shelvey....Suso really seems to have fallen down the pecking order.

I've really enjoyed the introduction of Suso this season and think he has a bright future. However, I'm not quite sure he offers enough of a goal threat (yet) to start in one of the three positions behind Suarez.

opr · 30-11-2012 07:19PM

Turtyturd wrote: »

Ugh Shelvey....Suso really seems to have fallen down the pecking order.

In fairness he played great stuff for Blackpool in a similar system on the wings. At least he will attack the box when the ball is on the other side and has a goal in him.

Lucas on that team sheet makes the heart soar. It looks instantly like the team just fits better all over the pitch with loads more options for the manger. Hopefully we get to see the real Joe Allen now.

Opr

Sir Gallagher · 30-11-2012 07:20PM

opr wrote: »

Looks like the above will be the team. Shelvey starting on the left.

So

Johnson---Agger---Skrtel---Enrique
Lucas---Allen
Gerrard

Sterling
Suarez
Shelvey

Quite excited to see that team

Opr

Would love to see that team, with Lucas there not only do we have quality defensive cover but also frees up Gerrard to do what he does best. So basically him being there will make us a much more potent in attack as well as improving us defensively, well in theory anyway. You'd have to wonder what's going on with Sahin also.

mike65 · 30-11-2012 07:22PM

Agents fees from the offy

Liverpool Football Club can disclose the following information regarding fees paid to agents:

Payments to agents - 2011-12

Total amount paid to agents in the period 1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012 was £8,600,444.

Explanatory note

The amount shown is the aggregate of all payments made to agents for transfers and contract extensions during the reporting period for agency activity, including payments made by the club on behalf of players.

ben.schlomo · 30-11-2012 07:26PM

Knex. wrote: »

Just on those transfer targets posted above.

All of them are pretty young midfielders but Holtby is the only one I'd have much knowledge on. As for Merkel, has anyone even seen him play a game yet? He hardly ever gets a look in with Genoa as far as I can tell, perhaps I'm wrong.

Clasie I've seen play once this season with Feyenoord so I've virtually no idea on what type of player he is. Some references to him being the "Dutch Xavi", which if is the case then its seems Rodgers wants to make LFC into a tribute Xavi band having already signed the Welsh imitation.

Maybe Ade (still weird seeing him as Sahin ) or Kess could give a quick synopsis of what he's like?

Lucky Holtby is an interesting one. Wasn't it said on here that his father is a die hard Evertonian? Wonder would that have any effect on him joining.

He has stated, or at least his agent did I think, that he has received offers from England recently, and as far as I know I think his contract is out in the next 6 months or so. Doubt he'd be on a lot at Schalke either as it was his first real professional contract.

He's primarily an AM, don't think I've ever seen him play anywhere else, so not really a replacement for Henderson in that regard I would think. A better player right now, probably in all honesty, but I'd have my reservations over how good he could be for Liverpool if he did join. I would think the low fee and wages is why we would be in for him as there is definitely better AMs out there.

Huntelaar, Draxler and Farfan are the players I really would love to get off Schalke.

Wondered where he had gone.:D

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

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