Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 mod warning linked in OP 26/07

Boom_Bap · 11-07-2014 11:19AM

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'd rather Mascherano than another striker.

I've been harping on about getting him back every window since he left.

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:20AM

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'd rather Mascherano than another striker.

Who do you drop from midfield for him assuming Gerrard starts alongside him (a pairing that never looked all that cohesive when they last played together at Liverpool).

Would probably be one from Lallana or Henderson that gets dropped, and it would mean a change on how our midfield gets set up compared to last season.

MonkeyTennis · 11-07-2014 11:22AM

Im not assuming Gerrard will start next year.

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:23AM

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Last season we had something like 14 regular starters that understood the fundementals of how we play and our different systems. That number needs to be around the 20/22 mark .
The players we are buying fit the mould of the systems, are adaptable and are already in training with some of the 14 from last season that know the system. They also give us more flexibility in what we lacked last year against the extremely defensive teams, someone to put thier back to the goal, take the ball and bring the rest of the team into play. Lambert can do that, and if Bony comes in, he's not afraid of that either.
When that was asked of Suarez of Sturridge last year, most of the time the would end up flat on thier face on the ground, or lose the ball pretty quickly by trying to turn to face the goal.
That would be particularly more useful in the cup games against lower league teams where we struggle to play a fluent passing game, and in the Champions league where teams set out to draw.

No arguement from me that those players can do that and do it very well, but I think what attracted Rodgers to Lambert was how well Lambert fitted into a playing style that was similar to that of Liverpool. I think Lambert is a clever player who uses the ball well, and brings an awful lot more than goals with him. His link up play with Lallana in particular was very noticeable last season and I see it as no conincidence that Rodgers went after both.

bicboy6666 · 11-07-2014 11:23AM

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Im not assuming Gerrard will start next year.

Good luck to Brendan dropping him.

joe123 · 11-07-2014 11:24AM

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Last season we had something like 14 regular starters that understood the fundementals of how we play and our different systems. That number needs to be around the 20/22 mark .
The players we are buying fit the mould of the systems, are adaptable and are already in training with some of the 14 from last season that know the system. They also give us more flexibility in what we lacked last year against the extremely defensive teams, someone to put thier back to the goal, take the ball and bring the rest of the team into play. Lambert can do that, and if Bony comes in, he's not afraid of that either.
When that was asked of Suarez of Sturridge last year, most of the time the would end up flat on thier face on the ground, or lose the ball pretty quickly by trying to turn to face the goal.
That would be particularly more useful in the cup games against lower league teams where we struggle to play a fluent passing game, and in the Champions league where teams set out to draw.

Thats fair enough but if sturridge gets injured you would be left with lambert and Bony both of very similar styles and Borini who is nowhere near the level needed to be in the starting 11.

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:26AM

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Im not assuming Gerrard will start next year.

Would be very surprised if he does not begin the season as a nailed on starter. The only way I would start to doubt if he was a nailed on starter would be if we went out and bought someone like Strootman (just picked him due to his style of play and where he has often played in terms of position) this window.

Raif Severance · 11-07-2014 11:26AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Would love to see a quality playbreaker that can also play come in, but that is not going to happen until Gerrard retires.

Bringing one in to play alongside Gerrard would mean that we lose a player in the other team's half

This.

Like Kess said, we won't get one until Gerrard retires.

Bringing in a Specialized DM to play alongside Gerrard means, we don't have a CM that can Run with the Ball and be our Link to our Forwards.

Not to mention, the Kind of Domino Effect it has on how we play. Since we will be Sitting Deeper to accommodate those 2.

Then imagine the Kind of Work an AM for us would need to do, in that Kind of Setup. Every play will need him dropping back just to get the Ball, instead of using his Energy to Orchestrate our Offense and Penetrate the Opposition's Defense.

In other words, we would Lose the Fluidness of our Attack.

Pyjamarama · 11-07-2014 11:27AM

If football manager taught me nothing else, it's that it's no fun winning the league by buying established stars. It's all about buying the wonder kids and winning it all. Brendan knows it'd be too easy for him if he went out and bought Sanchez and Benzema etc. I'd say he went onto the editor saw that lazar has -2potential (he plays the updated champ man 01/02 like all pros) and reckons he can get him up to 190+

5live · 11-07-2014 11:28AM

RasTa wrote: »

Could be worse, you could have replaced Ronaldo with Valencia..... £50m of the Suarez money should be spent on a new forward

Look, we have told you before.

We are NOT buying Welbeck:pac:

Boom_Bap · 11-07-2014 11:32AM

Kess73 wrote: »

No arguement from me that those players can do that and do it very well, but I think what attracted Rodgers to Lambert was how well Lambert fitted into a playing style that was similar to that of Liverpool. I think Lambert is a clever player who uses the ball well, and brings an awful lot more than goals with him. His link up play with Lallana in particular was very noticeable last season and I see it as no conincidence that Rodgers went after both.

Oh yeah, the fact that both Lambert and Bony have played in similar style to us is a massive bonus, they could be just dropped into our first team immediately if needs be.
But, it does come with it's restrictions, there wont be the fluency of interchange wetween the 3 players highest up the pitch.

joe123 wrote: »

Thats fair enough but if sturridge gets injured you would be left with lambert and Bony both of very similar styles and Borini who is nowhere near the level needed to be in the starting 11.

Sturridge isnt necessarily the point man at the top of our attack, we paly with a top 3 that like to move around. If we get Bony or Lambert in if Sturridge is injured, we still have Sterling, Borini, Ibe, Coutinho to fill out the left and right side of him. Also, the transfer window is not finished yet, and i would expect another player of that ilk to come into us.

11-07-2014 11:32AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Who do you drop from midfield for him assuming Gerrard starts alongside him (a pairing that never looked all that cohesive when they last played together at Liverpool).

Would probably be one from Lallana or Henderson that gets dropped, and it would mean a change on how our midfield gets set up compared to last season.

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

K-9 · 11-07-2014 11:34AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Would love to see a quality playbreaker that can also play come in, but that is not going to happen until Gerrard retires.

Bringing one in to play alongside Gerrard would mean that we lose a player in the other team's half

+1,000, that seems to be Rodgers thinking, early days yet but looking at the transfer targets it's hard to see it any other way. We'll be looking to still out score the opposition while hoping to be a bit more defensively solid.

I'd be surprised we aren't after Bony or Benzema. Huntelaar maybe if he's around £14/15 Million.

x43r0 · 11-07-2014 11:35AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Bony would not be a direct replacement for Suarez though. Outside of signing Messi or Ronaldo there is probably no one player that would replace Suarez in the Liverpool first team.

This!

I'm banging my head against the wall reading " [Player Name] is not good enough to replace Suarez"

K-9 · 11-07-2014 11:40AM

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Last season we had something like 14 regular starters that understood the fundementals of how we play and our different systems. That number needs to be around the 20/22 mark .
The players we are buying fit the mould of the systems, are adaptable and are already in training with some of the 14 from last season that know the system. They also give us more flexibility in what we lacked last year against the extremely defensive teams, someone to put thier back to the goal, take the ball and bring the rest of the team into play. Lambert can do that, and if Bony comes in, he's not afraid of that either.
When that was asked of Suarez of Sturridge last year, most of the time the would end up flat on thier face on the ground, or lose the ball pretty quickly by trying to turn to face the goal.
That would be particularly more useful in the cup games against lower league teams where we struggle to play a fluent passing game, and in the Champions league where teams set out to draw.

Again it probably comes back to out style of player. Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling don't really hold the ball up much, they tend to trap the ball, look to turn and go on the attack and see what options are available to them, and because of our attacking style, there usually are a couple of options!

Nuri Sahin · 11-07-2014 11:43AM

bicboy6666 wrote: »

throw the ****in kitchen sink at reus

I like drugs too.

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:43AM

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

Have to be honest and say I would hate to see us line up with Masch and Gerrard sitting deep, and Henderson sitting just in front.

Could see that causing similar gaps in our team to what we saw during Rodgers' first season as gaffer.

Lallana I think will be a starter come the new season, and he will bring energy levels that put Henderson to shame ( have a look online for the distance covered stats for Lallana. The guy covers a crazy amount of ground and still manages to add some real quality to his workrate).

My own gut instinct is that it will be Gerrard starting in the deeper role with Henderson and Lallana sitting ahead of Gerrard.

Then three attackers ahead of the midfield be it a striker with two wingers/wide forwards or a pair of strikers with a player in the AM or second forward role behind them.

K-9 · 11-07-2014 11:44AM

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'm assuming Gerrard starts.

So I'd have him, Mash and Henderson.

Could also play a diamond with all 3 and Lallana , and then Sterling or Coutinho up with/behind Sturridge.

For me we'd have to play Gerrard further forward and we all know how infuriating that can be. I do think Masch is under rated, he's a very good passer of the ball, that area of his play was starting to develop the season he left Liverpool. I'd put Gerrard as the more AM in that trio and put Henderson box to box. Isn't going to happen though!

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:45AM

K-9 wrote: »

Again it probably comes back to out style of player. Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling don't really hold the ball up much, they tend to trap the ball, look to turn and go on the attack and see what options are available to them, and because of our attacking style, there usually are a couple of options!

And with the purchase of Lallana and the interest in players like Markovic, it would seem that more options is what Rodgers is after rather than changing the style of attacking play.

Nuri Sahin · 11-07-2014 11:45AM

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'd rather Mascherano than another striker.

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:48AM

K-9 wrote: »

For me we'd have to play Gerrard further forward and we all know how infuriating that can be. I do think Masch is under rated, he's a very good passer of the ball, that area of his play was starting to develop the season he left Liverpool. I'd put Gerrard as the more AM in that trio and put Henderson box to box. Isn't going to happen though!

I know this is not going to be popular, but I would prefer to see Gerrard replaced by a Strootman style player (that's if we are going to stick with one deep midfielder) and then add a quality centre back and a quality full back to the back line. Gerrard would still get plenty of game time given how many games we should have this season, and with less of a workload it should be easier for him to stay fresh for when he did play.

Still buy the likes of Markovic to add to our attacking options, and maybe even add another attacker if there is money there after that.

We conceded a hell of a lot of goals in the league last season. I have a feeling that sorting out the problems at that end could offset the loss of Suarez up front.

11-07-2014 11:49AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Have to be honest and say I would hate to see us line up with Masch and Gerrard sitting deep, and Henderson sitting just in front.

Could see that causing similar gaps in our team to what we saw during Rodgers' first season as gaffer.

Lallana I think will be a starter come the new season, and he will bring energy levels that put Henderson to shame ( have a look online for the distance covered stats for Lallana. The guy covers a crazy amount of ground and still manages to add some real quality to his workrate).

My own gut instinct is that it will be Gerrard starting in the deeper role with Henderson and Lallana sitting ahead of Gerrard.

Then three attackers ahead of the midfield be it a striker with two wingers/wide forwards or a pair of strikers with a player in the AM or second forward role behind them.

On current signings it's the only plausible lineup I can see

punk_one82 · 11-07-2014 11:50AM

Lads is there any possibility that Benzema will actually be leaving Madrid? If it's the case he's available I think we should do everything in our power to at least tempt him. Use this new money of ours to actually tempt a big name with big wages

Kess73 · 11-07-2014 11:54AM

punk_one82 wrote: »

Lads is there any possibility that Benzema will actually be leaving Madrid? If it's the case he's available I think we should do everything in our power to at least tempt him. Use this new money of ours to actually tempt a big name with big wages

Don't think we would get him if he were available tbh. Can see him eventually ending up at one of Monaco or PSG.

Do rate him though, and he was one of the players I hoped we would look at last summer when last summer's Suarez saga was ongoing.

11-07-2014 11:57AM

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

A quality CB and RB I'm taking as a given.

We should be aiming to ship about 20 less goals next season.

K-9 · 11-07-2014 11:57AM

Kess73 wrote: »

And with the purchase of Lallana and the interest in players like Markovic, it would seem that more options is what Rodgers is after rather than changing the style of attacking play.

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I'd rather some more than capable defenders alongside Cissokho than a striker in all honesty. We can offset the production (obviously Suarez offers more than just numbers) lost upfront with conceding much, much less goals, especially against inferior opposition.

That would seem to be the balance we are after, and I'd bloody well hope so!

An excellent point was made earlier, we'd 14 squad players last season that we could depend on. We are obviously looking to upgrade on Cissokho, Aspas and Alberto and it looks a very real possibility Lucas is gone. I can see the logic in the signing of Markovic, Lambert and Lallana and seeing as we are replacing Suarez, one more good quality option would go a long way to improving the squad options for the front 3/4. We'll never replace Suarez so this is the right way to go about it.

With Moreno and Lovren we are looking to improve the options at the back and we can afford to let one of the CB's go. The gaping hole, and transfer targets would seem to back it up, is DM. Can could be a bit raw, only really 1 season at a high level.

punk_one82 · 11-07-2014 11:57AM

Kess73 wrote: »

Don't think we would get him if he were available tbh. Can see him eventually ending up at one of Monaco or PSG.

Do rate him though, and he was one of the players I hoped we would look at last summer when last summer's Suarez saga was ongoing.

That's what I meant about tempt. I don't think we'll get some of these superstar players either but we'll have roughly 70 million to spend and 200k per week wages to replace. We should at least be trying to tempt the likes of Reus, Benzema etc. instead of just saying nah we won't get them, let's buy Wilfried Bony instead for 19 million...

ricero · 11-07-2014 12:09PM

punk_one82 wrote: »

That's what I meant about tempt. I don't think we'll get some of these superstar players either but we'll have roughly 70 million to spend and 200k per week wages to replace. We should at least be trying to tempt the likes of Reus, Benzema etc. instead of just saying nah we won't get them, let's buy Wilfried Bony instead for 19 million...

I like bony he has a fantastic record for club and country . Defence is more worrying

mormank · 11-07-2014 12:11PM

whatawaster wrote: »

Can't agree with this at all. He made a significant contribution to us last season and was there, and playing very well, in some of our best performances.

He had injury problems at the start of the season, but he was there when Gerrard was out injured (excellent performances away to Spurs and City amongst others), when Henderson was suspended and when we wanted to go 3 in midfield he was a much better performer than Lucas

When you add to that the fact that he can ably cover for Gerrard in the deep midfield role, for Henderson in the CM role and can play further up effectively when we are playing an intense pressing game, then I think he is extremely valuable to us.

But he missed THAT chance against Everton! I like the guy but am having trouble getting over that mis, even now, just like That offside decision against Sterling.

Knex* · 11-07-2014 12:11PM

Had a good ol' laugh catching up with the thread just now. Great gif work on show.

Instead of trying to beat every team 6-5, we could just solidify our midfield and defence, and try to be... Normal.

Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 *mod warning linked in OP 26/07*

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Liverpool Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 mod warning linked in OP 26/07