Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014 - Mod Warning in OP, 10/12

We were always going to struggle to score even close to what we did last season, but losing Suarez and having Sturridge injured is only one of the many problems with the team. Last night I can't remember one time where the back four held a flat line when on the back foot. Lovren and Skrtel kept looking at each other but never moved to support each other, and the fullbacks were usually missing.

Fair play to the Basel fans last night. Sang from start to finish. Nice touch with the JFT96 banner at half time. Pity about the result and performance and most importantly the selections made by the manager. I want to get behind him but he's entered Benitez mode with his selections.

What's going to be very interesting is Sturridge when he gets back. I fear he won't be near the same level of player he was when he had Suarez beside him, spotting runs, executing passes, creating space, taking the focus of defences.

The expectation heaped onto
Sturridge by fans, the manager & players at the club is going to be absolutely monumental.

Mr Alan wrote: »

What's going to be very interesting is Sturridge when he gets back. I fear he won't be near the same level of player he was when he had Suarez beside him, spotting runs, executing passes, creating space, taking the focus of defences.

The expectation heaped onto
Sturridge by fans, the manager & players at the club is going to be absolutely monumental.

Sturridge is getting better every week he is out. If he misses the whole season he'll be better than Suarez

SlickRic wrote: »

Rodgers is an issue right now, but the transfer policy is the big, big, big problem.

That really doesn't follow from our position.

We're not where we are because the players we bought aren't good enough. We're where we are because of mismanaging the squad of players we have available and a failure to fill a key role after overestimating our main threat's ability to stay fit. Rodgers' ability to use his squad properly is an ongoing concern and if he can't improve then he'll get the can but one mistake in the transfer market isn't evidence of systemic failures.

Our players are better than the players of all the other teams in the league with the exception of what you'd predict would be the top 4.
Southampton, Swansea, West Ham and all that - they're not top quality and all the good players at us, Arsenal and Utd aren't crap all of a sudden just because of the way the table looks after less than half of the season.

Rodgers has bungled the team selection at times this season and we've failed to find another player who can play up front effectively but that doesn't invalidate the entire strategy or consign the entire squad we've assembled to the bin.

amiable wrote: »

Sturridge is getting better every week he is out. If he misses the whole season he'll be better than Suarez

I think he got 10 goals in 10 games when Suarez was suspended. He has looked good for England and we scored 6 goals against southampton city and spurs and looked a totally different team than we have since he got injured.

Dayum wrote: »

Remy was snapped up by Chelsea and then scored 2 goals in the 3 senior games

Well he is hardly going to play under 21's now is he being 27.

Dayum wrote: »

I'll never understand how Rodgers, a guy that's paid stupid amounts of money for his football knowledge, has chosen a player that has had problems at every single club he's been at over the likes of Remy, Bony and Benteke. He could have signed all three strikers for 35million and still have more than half of the Suarez money to play around with nevermind the Champions League cash and sponsorship funding...

It boggles the mind....

I get the feeling balo was the only option he had left, and his goal second before pool was decent enough.

Things I don't get about Rodgers is his refusal to play some players, lalana who I've only ever seen play in a Liverpool shirt can't get near the team.

Other things I don't get - mig, can anybody remember what he was like at sunderland, I bet he had the same problems then as he does now, surely Rodgers and the committee could have spotted this, also pool still had rein on the books who was still very decent at the time.

Actually pretty much all his signings even the average punter could spot flaws in most of the signings.

As recruiting players is a huge part of football management and just like mignolot can't catch a ball, Rodgers can't make signings, he can't do his job then he shouldn't have one.

Dayum wrote: »

Liverpool can't afford to take risks?!

Then what the hell do you call Balotelli?!

What I actually wrote is Liverpool can't afford to take the risks Chelsea can. There's a difference to what I said and what you are implying I said.

rarnes1 wrote: »

Sign a player who had a bad achilles injury, or a player who previously had a heart problem.

Surely, you can see the difference in risks compared to a risk on a player like Ballotelli (ie attitude risk etc)


Didn't you ask the exact same thing the other day ?

hmmm

Exactly. Seemingly something showed up on the medical that made Liverpool pull the plug. Chelsea went ahead previously and bought Demba Ba too who has failed several medicals previously.

Am I right in saying in his time back in Serie A Balotelli scored more goals than any other player? I think I read that somewhere recently

Dayum wrote: »

I'll never understand how Rodgers, a guy that's paid stupid amounts of money for his football knowledge, has chosen a player that has had problems at every single club he's been at over the likes of Remy, Bony and Benteke. He could have signed all three strikers for 35million and still have more than half of the Suarez money to play around with nevermind the Champions League cash and sponsorship funding...

It boggles the mind....

He didn't choose Ballotelli. He's made it clear the options he was given towards the end of the transfer window were Ballotelli or nobody and we badly needed somebody.

Now how we ended up in the position of Ballotelli or nobody is another story.

think its fair to say,given the amount of games he has played in,and time at his new club... the mig aint up to it,good shot stopper....awful at most other things. and hendo has gone to sleep since becoming vc. also the players deserve just as much heat as the manager,they are not performing..they have shown they can when they want too,they just are not .. the main players.

Players not performing could also be down to the manager. If you are guaranteed to be getting your game every week then there is no need for you to bust your gut. If you're one of the younger players looking to break into the team knowing that at best you'll be on the bench unless our older players can't manage 3 games in a week, what's your incentive?

The players might also think the manager's a spoofer, some people think it based on weekly press conferences and post match interviews, the players hear a lot more every day.

A couple of things floating around my head about our situation.

Top of the list really is Rodgers. If he indeed had the last say on signings, then he has gone about it all wrong. The players that we brought in aren't bad players imo, a lot are coming off the back off good season or have a bit of buzz of potential. The problem with the players is that we've bought to many and at the wrong time.

What the club needed was a good spine. Instead what we got is a bunch of players that are don't know what to do because Rodgers doesn't know what to do. He's had to change his set up because he lost Suarez but he doesn't know how. He though he had to buy so many but he didn't!

Imo, if you lose a player of that quality and cannot replace like for like, then you don't flood the squad. You obviously have to fill the position but it should be filled in a way that suits the way we play. We didn't do this. We arbitrarily bought a load of players hoping that they would some how work together. Its ****ed us.

The other is they way we go about buying players.

If we don't change this it doesn't matter who we bring in, if we don't fix this we will always struggle. We need to be able to go out and offer a competitive package. If we cannot do this, then we need to bring in a Director of Football (I think we need this anyway) who oversees the sourcing of players and improves our scouting. There needs to be a clear message that this is the way its going to be. No ignoring players a la Borini, Can and Lallana.

Such a frustrating season.