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

Skrtel up front

According to Twitter Liverpool due to sign Lovren and Remy by Tuesday!

Moreno supposed to be close too apparently.

Be interesting to see who else gets snapped up

SlickRic wrote: »

Kroos, Rodriguez, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.

holy mother of fúcking hell.

Suarez, Neymar, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta say hollllllaaaaaaa

Any rumblings as to what's going on with Borini, Has he definately headed off with the squad, seems a bit odd considering he looked all but gone yesterday.

Always thought that £20m seemed a bit excessive for Lovren. £16m seems like a fairer price.

Him and Remy seem good business. You could say the squad is pretty much done and dusted at that point, there'd be a huge amount of strength in depth.

Moreno possibly being back on is good news too as we need further strength cover here.

The goal after getting these three (if we do end up getting them) would be to try and attract a real quality 'marquee' player like Di Maria to the club if possible. If not possible then I guess we wait until January and see what's available, but at this point I don't see the point in signing more players that don't offer an obvious improvement on what we have.


Still, at the moment the squad could be shaping up as follows:

---

Mignolet Reina

---

JohnoFlan--LovrenSkrt--SahkoAgger--MorenoEnriq

---

GerrardCan

---

---

HendersonAllen

---

CoutinhoLallana

---

SterlingIbe

---

SturridgeLambert

---

MarkovicRemy



The likes of Toure, Kelly, Lucas and some of the youngsters to provide further cover.

Quite a lot of options and strength in depth. Maybe Lallana or Coutinho more likely to start in one of the wide roles at first instead of Markovic. The ideal would be to sign Di Maria or another high quality attacker and loan out Ibe.

We should have a bench with plenty of options and should be able to deal with most injury worries.

That bit more genuine class in the front 3 would have me more confident though, Markovic still looks very raw and we don't know how he'll adapt. Remy and Lambert know the league and should play their roles well, but again it's hard to know with a new club. Hopefully something materialises from the Isco or Di Maria rumours. While the latter is a longshot, I see no reason why Isco wouldn't be gettable, especially on loan

Yep, you can see a bit of depth to the squad especially compared to last year when we only really had numbers at the back. There's lots of versatility in that front 4 or 5 and the back up, and still plenty to spend.

Lovren is a good signing, and the fact he's coming from Southampton should be of little concern (in the context of Lambert & Lallana) as a good few people would have taken a punt on him from his Lyon days. We know he can adapt to the PL from the season gone, and will be used to the type of system that Liverpool will probably adopt for the 14/15 season.

The thoughts of himself and Sakho pairing up are good, but it will mean zip if either the system isn't calibrated correctly, or the personnel manning aren't changed.
I wonder how much of the defensive frailties of last season were down to the constant changing of the backline, and how much down to the lack of protection in front, and/or to the side of it? If there was a back 4 at ease with itself, in equilibrium <so to speak> then maybe the system would be better. Maybe if LFC signed the two full-backs that it requires, then there would be a natural improvement on the defensive front.
The worry is that this is what the coaching ticket believe, and that this is identified as the kernel of the season ahead. The problem will lie when/if those signings are made, and after a settling in period, the old problems resurface, the imbalance between defence and attack, and essentially a soft underbelly, without this problem having being addressed adequately at all. That is my worry, because realistically I think that Gerrard's position is not being aimed at being upgraded upon, which I believe will be a serious problem.

Liverpool don't need two amazing full backs, but two that are competent and efficient. Two 2014 versions of Steve Finnan's for what it's worth would do just nicely.
I just don't believe in Flanagan long-term. I think that he had an amazing 6 months to finish last season, and I congratulate him and the coaching staff for it, but for me, his place of birth and the absolute dearth of options around him helped his cause a whole lot more. As a backup, he's shown his worth, but for me he should be that and no more.

The argument that Liverpool don't need to replace Suarez' 30 goals but need to replace his qualities - work-rate, technique, etc - and tighten up at the back is a viable theory. However as I've mentioned above, if the tightening up doesn't happen, and at this juncture I'm not sure it's going to be, then Liverpool are going to have a huge problem on their hands this season.

It's a very, very, tricky tightrope to walk when making signings or when evaluating your squad when you've lost a huge quality like Liverpool have, but this is (in my opinion) is the last shot for a while in solidifying a CL spot Top 4 needs to be the priority again this season, City, Chelsea and probably Arsenal are going to be there again. Finish behind United, and out of the top 4, and with the money and prospects those clubs have, it will make qualifying for the CL very difficult for years to come.

Can "panda saps" stop being a thing from the start of the new season? Its fckin brutal.

Sir Gallagher wrote: »

Can "panda saps" stop being a thing from the start of the new season? Its fckin brutal.

I think that's the idea.

Washington Irving wrote: »

I think that's the idea.

No.

Kingdom wrote: »

I wonder how much of the defensive frailties of last season were down to the constant changing of the backline, and how much down to the lack of protection in front, and/or to the side of it? If there was a back 4 at ease with itself, in equilibrium <so to speak> then maybe the system would be better. Maybe if LFC signed the two full-backs that it requires, then there would be a natural improvement on the defensive front.

I'm trying to remember now as the MOAR goals part kind of took away the emphasis from the back 4:

Sakho was out till mid Feb,
Johnson a bit longer
Flanagan a regular from Dec/Jan on.
We had loads of different CB partnerships pre Jan due to injuries.

I suppose what I'm getting at is, I don't think we were defensively as bad when we changed personnel at the back, more goals seemed to leak in when we were more settled. Again playing such attacking football ahd to play a part. I could be wrong on that, that's my general impression.

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Very curious to see how much of the Suarez money will be used especially seing as you could still recoup a lot of money from potential outgoing players.

If Reina, Borini, Agger/Skrtel, Lucas and Johnson go, that's maybe £40 Million, add Suarez, over £100 Million. We were supposed to have £60/70 Million on top, I don't know, I find it hard to believe we'd spend that much.

My suspicion is Johnson will stay out of those but that still leave a serious transfer fund.

I think if you are to sign a few more players I would worry a little about getting them all to gel too but but again having these lads used to each other and the premiership might help. Still think it would be huge if you could dangle your CL football carrot and get even one already established big name in like a Di Maria etc as unlikely as that might be as there are a few who may be leaving Madrid for example as things stand

That's the worry but the squad is so small it has to be added to for CL. Tbh out of those 5/6 players named none were guaranteed starters last season for various reasons, so it isn't as bad as it seems, not a Spurs anyway.