Liverpool Thread 2013/14

[Scouse_Jimi]

Haha, I might be a scouser but I'm less deluded than some.
The owners have given Brendan Rodgers 3 years to get back into the Champions League. This season I would hope we challenge for both domestic cups and put up a decent fight for 4th place. Can't see us getting there unless we strike it lucky with our signings and they all turn out to be world beaters.

The LFC forum I post on has some pretty compelling arguments as to why we could make top 4 such as our performances in the 2nd half of last season etc but I can't see it. There is certainly an opportunity but it's very much an outside chance. I put us getting 5th with a cup win this season.


Suarez always struck me as an awful lot more Loyal than Tevez for example, as much as I love Tevez there lies the crux.

Despite the mad histrionics and bollox, he is without a doubt along with Torres when he signed for Liverpool the best foriegn transfer since Cantona.

I can say with honesty though that I'm not that fussed for this season as long as we keep playing the way we have been and signing the players we appear to be going for. I stopped going to Anfield during the back end of Rafas reign due to the style of play. I'm back there week in week out now because, whilst we might not win every game, we play some outstanding and exciting football. It's a good time for Liverpool fans in my opinion, feels like the start of a revolution of sorts...though i'm sure it'll be another false dawn ;-)

That's not hard.

The key to your season is obviously the Suarez situation. With the general consensus that he will be off somewhere a huge load depends on who comes in and how they could perform from the word go.

Better asking you after deadline day.

Ooooof you quote changing fucking quote changer....

 

[more lazy than useless]

Well, no one will make way for us - we'll need to show a steel we didn't have last season. Players like Aspas & Toure will help give us that...what Liveprool need is some real grit - Suarez has it in spades, Stevie obviously, Agger and maybe Henderson but other than that we're lacking any real bite when it comes to taking on and taking down the opposition. Flat bullies beat us, not through skill but through determination and that's what we need to fix to move forward.

FSG have a considerable amount of funds, they could afford to bank roll us (though nothing in compared to your billions) however it's not their way. They are, rather foolishly in my opinion, relying on FFP to even the field. Teams have proved in the past that whilst money helps, it doesn't guarantee a top 4 place - take City for example, they shelled out over £250m in 2008 & 2009 before getting back into the top 4 whilst Newcastle nearly made it by spending under £50m.

Skill and luck are what takes teams into the top echelons, we definitely have the skill thanks to Man City - our scouting team is top drawer as proved with the January sales and as, I believe, they will be this summer. Luck is what we need more than anything, if all our transfers are like Coutinho we've a definite chance of hitting the top 4 this season and no one will need to make way, we'll take it from them...

I'd certainly agree that you will need plenty of grit and determination, and that can't always be bought. But Arsenal are the classic example of 'you finish top of the clubs you beat'; if you want to move up the table you have to be able to beat the teams above you (one offs aside).

As for your City/Newcastle example, I would look at that and see it a different way. City had to spend silly money to get the players to take us up to the top level - and it still took a few years of spending it - but once we got there we could stay. Newcastle assembled a good squad who achieved as much as could be expected but couldn't sustain it because there wasn't the depth that bigger spending brings. Spurs would probably be a better example; they have spent steadily and built a good squad which almost pushed past Arsenal. But it didn't and now may struggle to emulate that as Arsenal loosen the purse strings. I would say my experience suggests that rather than 'money helps, it doesn't guarantee', money is essential but there are no guarantees.

If your scouts really do the business for you (I did wonder if they were the ones with the know how to hack our system!) then that's a big help. However, aren't these the same scouts involved in paying silly money for our signings in 2008 & 9? And, to paraphrase you, luck is what you need (with the signings) and that isn't ever guaranteed in signings either!

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out. It could be a good season ahead. I was a little worried the league could stagnate again if the top 4 settled, hopefully yourselves and Spurs can stop that happening - with the 'right' clubs loosing out if you know what I mean!

 

[Matty]

Liverpool are some distance away from being a side with a shot at Champion's League qualification. They've addressed the issue of Reina being on the decline by signing Mignolet who I think is a good keeper, but defensively they aren't all that great. Skrtel and Agger are the only centre halves with any real quality (and I don't think Skrtel is anything special), Carragher has retired whilst Coates hasn't made any impression at all. Toure will add some decent depth, and he's not bad at all, but he's 32, he makes mistakes and he's not the player he was. Full backs look ok, without setting the world alight (Johnson and Enrique). There seems to be a fair few "youth players" defensively, the likes of Kelly, Flanagan, Wisdom etc but none look like future stars. In fact a squad made up of a large number of young unproven players normally indicates a squad which hasn't had enough money spent on it.

In midfield the likes of Shelvey (could be leaving), Allen, Downing and Henderson hardly fill the opposition with dread. Lucas looks good, Sterling is young but looks a good player, and Coutinho has strated very well, however it remains to be seen if that was an initial flash or more of a long term thing. Gerrard is quality, but he's also 33, he'll be retired or way beyond his best in 2 to 3 seasons, the Liverpool squad won't be good enough quickly enough for him to be able to last the distance.

Upfront Sturridge has started very well, but Borini looks shit. Suarez obviously has quality, but he'll miss the first 6 games next season, and I'd be astounded if he was actually at Liverpool next season anyway. He's made up his mind that he's fed up of English football and wants out, 99% of the time the player gets his own way. Lets face it, if you force him to stay against his wishes, to play for a team which isn't in Europe at all, and needs huge strengthening, are you really going to get the best out of him? The two new guys are a bit of a mystery, however Luis Alberto has only played 7 top dividion matches in his entire career so expectign him to set the Premiership on fire is asking a hell of a lot. Iago Aspas has only played 1 season of top flight football (and he's 25), ok, so he scored 12 goals in La Liga last season, but execting a Michu is a bit much, you'll be lucky if he gets 10 goals this season, in all competitions, this is a guy whose career average is 1 goals every 4 games. Liverpool will, in all likelyhood, finish in 6th place next season, but I don't think they'll be anywhere close to the top 4. They were 12 points behind an underperforming Arsenal last season, that's a lot to catch up when your opponents are all seemingly looking to bring in top class players and you're signing players no-one really has heard of (Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas were hardly names we knew about 6 months ago).

 

[THFC6061]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

 

[Blue Hefner]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

The reason why teams shop abroad is summed up in those 2 sentences

 

[THFC6061]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

The reason why teams shop abroad is summed up in those 2 sentences

I couldn't agree more.

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

It's a decent move for the lad, he get's to sample European footie at Swansea.

 

[THFC6061]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

It's a decent move for the lad, he get's to sample European footie at Swansea.

Ouch!

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Congratulations to Liverpool for getting £5,000,000 off Swansea City for Jonjo Shelvey.

It almost rivals the £5,000,000 Spurs mugged Wolves for Jamie O'Hara for a few years back.

It's a decent move for the lad, he get's to sample European footie at Swansea.

This amuses me.

 

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Just signed Messi.