Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Note in OP, 1/09

Borini should absolutely get a start. Especially if we are playing one up front, he is most suited to the task. I dont understand how he isnt even making the bench. Lambert is quite similar to balotelli except with more effort and less quality. Neither are capable of playing as a lone striker and i cant imagine theyd form a good partnership up front. Borini can also play out wide if needs be and will certainly put in a shift, which might help us gain solidity by defending from the front.

rarnes1 wrote: »

for the week that's in it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKbrAU9wGqQ

Bring back Rafa

daithijjj wrote: »

When i consider my words above i really have to ask WTF the club have been at the last 18 months knowing full well Suarez would be going. We should have had a massive portfolio of options. I dont believe for 1 second he (Balo) is the best we could have got. I do believe we wanted to use most of Suarez wages on others who werent strikers.

This has been Rodger's biggest mistake since he came to Liverpool. The club knew Suarez was off months in advance. Replacing him with the best player possible should have been the summer's number one priority. Money was no object, and the club had just finished second playing great football and were in the Champions League, so big names would have surely been interested. People were only really happy with Balotelli because there was a fear that we wouldn't get in anyone of quality. If you had have raised his name at the start of the window, most would not have been happy with him at all.

Suarez was not just our most talented player, he was also our most consistent. And we replaced him with a notoriously inconsistent player. It's a terrible mistake.

Tusky wrote: »

This has been Rodger's biggest mistake since he came to Liverpool. The club knew Suarez was off months in advance. Replacing him with the best player possible should have been the summer's number one priority. Money was no object, and the club had just finished second playing great football and were in the Champions League, so big names would have surely been interested. People were only really happy with Balotelli because there was a fear that we wouldn't get in anyone of quality. If you had have raised his name at the start of the window, most would not have been happy with him at all.

Suarez was not just our most talented player, he was also our most consistent. And we replaced him with a notoriously inconsistent player. It's a terrible mistake.

It seems to be down to the wage structure, the striker replacements we went for i mean. Simply wont offer the wages unless the player performs in 'our' shirt. Makes you have to unearth gems constantly to keep your level. Not sustainable imo.

I simply dont believe a Newcastle striker was the first one to accept an approach, thats not to disrespect Newcastle or Remy. Its screams our wages offered for a replacement.

Demosthenese wrote: »

Berahinho really puts our striking options to shame right now - when you consider if Ballotelli was sighed for around 16 mill and Borini was supposed to sign for Sunderland for 13ish ... the guys work rate alone is a credit to him and he finishes the 1-2 chances a game which is all the more impressive.

He would have been a shot in the dark signing in the summer - his goal stats were poor 5 goals in league 32 appearances last season. He's having a purple patch at the moment while we're missing Sturridge.

Danny Welbeck was available for £16M should we have signed him? He has scored 6 goals this season including a hat-trick in the Champions League. As I recall the general consensus during the summer was that he's a sh!t player and should never be considered as a possible signing, yet to date he has scored 5 more goals than Lambert and Balotelli combined.

Liverpool's problem stems from the fact that too many players are being integrated at the same time. If the defence and midfield were settled then integrating Balotelli would be a lot easier.

niallo27 wrote: »

Jesus that music is fair depressing.

It's almost like the video was made a few days ago, and the music is saying 'look how well we used to play'...

J.

Connavar wrote: »

Didn't Remy come out and say it was to do with his heart condition? (Liverpool were not happy with the initial expert evaluation or something along those lines)

But if that was the case how did he pass the Chelsea medical? i refuse to believe that they use sub standard doctors at Chelsea and not pick up the same things as they did at Liverpool.
Just seems bizarre we have taken such a huge gamble on Balotelli instead of taking a punt on Remy.

I think like many posters have already said it seems like madness that after knowing for so long we were going to lose Suarez that the only option we were left with in the end was Balotelli.
I remember at the end of the transfer window there were many saying that it was a great transfer window for us, but to me now it looks like anything but. Daglish ultimately lost his job after the shambles of the transfers made on his watch, followed by a poor season. And it looks like Rodgers is guilty of the exact same, if not worse. I'm not saying he should be sacked or anything like that but his transfer dealings to date for the most part have been abysmal.

firemansam4 wrote: »

I remember at the end of the transfer window there were many saying that it was a great transfer window for us, but to me now it looks like anything but. Daglish ultimately lost his job after the shambles of the transfers made on his watch, followed by a poor season. And it looks like Rodgers is guilty of the exact same, if not worse. I'm not saying he should be sacked or anything like that but his transfer dealings to date for the most part have been abysmal.

That's a bit premature. Don't you think losing the worlds most in form player combined with bringing in nine new players, losing your main striker to injury and having to accommodate an aging legend into the team structure somehow regardless of his suitability, physical capability or suitability to the role requires a bit more than a handful of games to sort out?

Once we get Sturridge and Balo on the same pitch and have Lallana, Can and Allen back fit then and only then will BR be able to put the team he wants on the pitch and even then it's going to take another 5-6 games for them to settle down. It's frustrating but there's no shortcut. They have to learn to play together, understand each others strengths and weaknesses etc.

Great interview with Arbeloa ahead of Wednesday's game - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/20/alvaro-arbeloa-liverpool-real-madrid-champions-league

BenEadir wrote: »

Great interview with Arbeloa ahead of Wednesday's game - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/20/alvaro-arbeloa-liverpool-real-madrid-champions-league

Enjoyed that. Will be a good game

noodler wrote: »

Haha!

SODDING MMAACCHHHEEEEDDDDDAAAA!!

*Shakes fist*

i'll see your Macheda and raise you a Nabil El Zhar!

Solid first start from him - do think he can progress into a very good player.

I think if our defence was playing better we'd have seen him looking to carry the ball out from deep more often which is something he's quite good at - unfortunately if he was to do that and get caught in posession then our back 4 would have been left exposed somewhat - and our back 4 were all over the place