Sport Liverpool Football Club

[Guest]

Kenny believes he's playing Football Manager. You always have to make sure you've got enough Midfielders.

[kiroquai]

Supposedly the Miereles thing was Juve wanted him, and were offering Melo as part of the deal. Melo isn't too happy about all this.

[SMD]

Juve seem to think we're still run by the same chumps as last summer.

[V3zna]

Supposedly the Miereles thing was Juve wanted him, and were offering Melo as part of the deal. Melo isn't too happy about all this.

I'd suggest nobody at Anfield would be happy at the thought of Melo either.

[kiroquai]

I am still waiting on this Wickham deal. I watched a good few games of his last year and he really does look a good prospect, so I hope we get him. I am warming to the idea of Downing too... all we need do is add another specialist winger and a few defenders and we will have done okay.

[SMD]

Hopefully it's just a Mata of time.

[Guest]

Hopefully it's just a Mata of time.

Good, our first neg of the day.

[SMD]

Good, our first neg of the day.

[redbloodcell]

I'd suggest nobody at Anfield would be happy at the thought of Melo either.

He's played quite well whenever I've watched Juve this season, especially given how dysfunctional the team has been in other respects.

[V3zna]

He's played quite well whenever I've watched Juve this season, especially given how dysfunctional the team has been in other respects.

He's no Lucas, that much is apparent.

[bear]

What's the latest with regards insua? I saw he was the face in the crowd on the last issue of the official magazine which reminded me he still hasn't left. Is it an Aquilani like situation where he'll be coming back despite the clubs having agreed a fee earlier?

[SMD]

He either has one year left or his contract expires, no news about a new deal and nothing's been heard so far.

[dogsout]

Meireles struggled with the physical side of English football. I doubt many where impressed with his limp attempts at 50/50's etc. I do want him to stay and he played well in the second half of the season but he's not irreplaceable. I'm not sure I believe these stories about him leaving have any truth in them but if we where offered £13.5 mil for him I'd consider it.

I agree. I know it was his first season and he needs time to adapt, and I think he did OK and scored some good goals. But at the same time, I think the purple patch papered over the cracks a bit, and he doesn't look quite right anywhere on the pitch. He came to us with a reputation of being a box-to-box, steely centre-mid, who would link up with the defence and the attack, but to me he looks like a striker playing from deep. I don't know, he has great movement and can hit a ball, but he pussies out of 50-50s, can't run the play, and we have better options than him at the club already. Like I said when it happened: why on earth did we loan Aquilani out and then spend £11m on Meireles? That money could have been put to much better use, and still could be. I'd be happy enough for him to stay but if a decent offer came in, I think we should take it and put the money towards a winger.

[Chewylegs]

Meireles struggled with the physical side of English football. I doubt many where impressed with his limp attempts at 50/50's etc. I do want him to stay and he played well in the second half of the season but he's not irreplaceable. I'm not sure I believe these stories about him leaving have any truth in them but if we where offered £13.5 mil for him I'd consider it.

Its a bit unfair to highlight the physical side of his game after just one season as there are plenty of players who have struggled in the prem at first and gone on to be better. The second half of the season shows he was fitting in well. As for Aquilani, hes more injury prone so if anyone get rid of him. We have so much deadwood to remove first in my opinion

[dogsout]

Its a bit unfair to highlight the physical side of his game after just one season as there are plenty of players who have struggled in the prem at first and gone on to be better. The second half of the season shows he was fitting in well. As for Aquilani, hes more injury prone so if anyone get rid of him. We have so much deadwood to remove first in my opinion

It looks as though Aquilani will be gone, anyway, so this is probably moot, but he certainly impressed me much more when he was given a run in the team than Raul did. You say Meireles was "fitting in well", but where was he playing? Would you be happy with him playing on the wing again next season? That's the real issue, for me: he's all right on the wing but it's not his position, and there isn't much to suggest he is likely to dislodge Lucas or Gerrard from his favoured position. Add in the emergence of Jay Spearing, as well as the fact that we've bought Henderson for a big fee, and are looking at Charlie Adam, and Raul's value to the squad diminishes significantly. And why stop there? We should be able to get a good fee for him, his wages are going up this year, and his sale would allow us to bring in another player that can hopefully add more than he can offer to the squad. I think it makes sense to consider selling him.

I agree with you about the need to remove deadwood, but the problem is he will bring in a higher fee than all of the deadwood put together. And why can't we do both, anyway?

If we end up with Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Adam and Spearing as our centre midfield options next season, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that we'd have struck a good balance in terms of styles, age, ability and depth. Mereiles would not be needed in such a scenario. So if we sell both him and Aquilani, we'd be looking at pulling in over £20m and we'd be saving a fortune on wages. All of that can go towards a top quality winger. Would you not be happier with that than seeing Raul playing wide again?

Jovanovic, Poulsen, Cole, Degen and whoever else I've forgotten that count as "deadwood" are all likely going to be shipped out. The difference is they are going to be difficult to get rid of because they are on more money than their ability warrants, and most of them have a long time left on their contracts. Even so, getting rid of them, even for nominal fees, would free up a lot of money. I think they'll all go but it will likely take a while to shift them. We shouldn't wait for them to go before considering the sale of others that are deemed to be surplus - as long as we won't miss them, and I think we'll be fine for CMs if we get Adam (which could happen very soon).

[V3zna]

To be honest I also really like the look of Shelvey, who is obviously yet another central midfielder. I'd suggest as well Suso looks a special talent and would possibly thrive as the furthest forward in three man midfield in a 4-3-3. These two aren't first teamers but don't forget about them either.

[Kelthink]

I'm still not sold on Shelvey myself, but the lad's not even 20 and he looks at the very least capable. I'm really happy with our youth at the moment, I'm sure I read that Pep Guardiola reckons our youth system is the next best one to Barcelona's, and that's praise if praise be needed.

It's strange this thread isn't more active, but I suppose everyone's in shock at how different the new regime is compared to previous campaigns. Difficult to speculate, I suppose. I do hope we keep Meireles though, I'm fully aware he skips out of 50/50s too easily, but the current setup allows us to deploy players like that, especially when you have Lucas and Kuyt doing a lot of grunt work.

[larrydavidsanger]

We still own Deggen?!

[Dom B]

There are so many nonsense rumours and speculative stories every day about so many players that I've given up trying to filter through them. Doing my head in. But I'm quite reassured by the lack of actual facts leaking out, I think they know what they're doing. I'm not bothered that players may go out before new ones come in, so long as both happen and the end result is a net improvement, which it surely will be.

[Chewylegs]

It looks as though Aquilani will be gone, anyway, so this is probably moot, but he certainly impressed me much more when he was given a run in the team than Raul did. You say Meireles was "fitting in well", but where was he playing? Would you be happy with him playing on the wing again next season? That's the real issue, for me: he's all right on the wing but it's not his position, and there isn't much to suggest he is likely to dislodge Lucas or Gerrard from his favoured position. Add in the emergence of Jay Spearing, as well as the fact that we've bought Henderson for a big fee, and are looking at Charlie Adam, and Raul's value to the squad diminishes significantly. And why stop there? We should be able to get a good fee for him, his wages are going up this year, and his sale would allow us to bring in another player that can hopefully add more than he can offer to the squad. I think it makes sense to consider selling him.

I agree with you about the need to remove deadwood, but the problem is he will bring in a higher fee than all of the deadwood put together. And why can't we do both, anyway?

If we end up with Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Adam and Spearing as our centre midfield options next season, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that we'd have struck a good balance in terms of styles, age, ability and depth. Mereiles would not be needed in such a scenario. So if we sell both him and Aquilani, we'd be looking at pulling in over £20m and we'd be saving a fortune on wages. All of that can go towards a top quality winger. Would you not be happier with that than seeing Raul playing wide again?

Jovanovic, Poulsen, Cole, Degen and whoever else I've forgotten that count as "deadwood" are all likely going to be shipped out. The difference is they are going to be difficult to get rid of because they are on more money than their ability warrants, and most of them have a long time left on their contracts. Even so, getting rid of them, even for nominal fees, would free up a lot of money. I think they'll all go but it will likely take a while to shift them. We shouldn't wait for them to go before considering the sale of others that are deemed to be surplus - as long as we won't miss them, and I think we'll be fine for CMs if we get Adam (which could happen very soon).

I understand what you are saying and IF losing him means we will get a couple of good wingers in, then I agree we could take the hit. However there is nothing to say we must let him go to supplement transfers. He should be playing in the centre, and as yet with no wingers we have no idea how Kenny wants to set the team up next year. I also want our bench to have a good deal of skill and creativity so its actually worth making a sub, which players like Raul will help to bring. I also dont think Aquilani wants to be at Liverpool, Raul does and as we know its not good to have players that dont want to be at the club. If all the deadwood goes, we still need players to cover injuries, tiredness as well, Raul would certaintly be a great squad player. Personal opinion, I'd rather he stayed and we had a squad to worry teams than him go and we be short of attacking qualities. (I personally dont see Lucas and Spearing as potential scorers)

[V3zna]

I understand what you are saying and IF losing him means we will get a couple of good wingers in, then I agree we could take the hit. However there is nothing to say we must let him go to supplement transfers. He should be playing in the centre, and as yet with no wingers we have no idea how Kenny wants to set the team up next year. I also want our bench to have a good deal of skill and creativity so its actually worth making a sub, which players like Raul will help to bring. I also dont think Aquilani wants to be at Liverpool, Raul does and as we know its not good to have players that dont want to be at the club. If all the deadwood goes, we still need players to cover injuries, tiredness as well, Raul would certaintly be a great squad player. Personal opinion, I'd rather he stayed and we had a squad to worry teams than him go and we be short of attacking qualities. (I personally dont see Lucas and Spearing as potential scorers)

The simple fact appears to be that Adam and Downing will be Liverpool players within 48 hours and we've made Meireles available to anyone that'll make the required cash bid. At this stage of his career Raul needs to be a first choice most weeks and he might find his games limited at Liverpool with the rather large amount of midfielders we have.

[dizogg]

He is at a point in his career where his value is just going to go down. I'm guessing the owners thinking is that if we can get a decent price for him, what is the point of having him sitting on the bench half the time being a bit part player.

[V3zna]

He is at a point in his career where his value is just going to go down. I'm guessing the owners thinking is that if we can get a decent price for him, what is the point of having him sitting on the bench half the time being a bit part player.

Yep, near 29 and at the peak of his value.

[Gabe]

It looks as though Aquilani will be gone, anyway, so this is probably moot, but he certainly impressed me much more when he was given a run in the team than Raul did. You say Meireles was "fitting in well", but where was he playing? Would you be happy with him playing on the wing again next season? That's the real issue, for me: he's all right on the wing but it's not his position, and there isn't much to suggest he is likely to dislodge Lucas or Gerrard from his favoured position. Add in the emergence of Jay Spearing, as well as the fact that we've bought Henderson for a big fee, and are looking at Charlie Adam, and Raul's value to the squad diminishes significantly. And why stop there? We should be able to get a good fee for him, his wages are going up this year, and his sale would allow us to bring in another player that can hopefully add more than he can offer to the squad. I think it makes sense to consider selling him.

Before last season started I was saying that Aquilani had started to settle and it was a crazy decision to send him out on loan; he added a bit of craft and guile to our midfield to complement the workmanlike nature of Lucas and Kuyt. Still, as you say, it is probably moot now.

I still am not sure about Charlie Adam. We've not been a team to threaten from set-pieces for a long while, and it isn't really to do with delivery. We don't have an imposing centre-back like Sami or a towering midfielder who is good in the air. And we don't have some bad free-kick takers already. I'd rather we get somebody who has a good, accurate range of passing to work the midfield.

I'd also rather see a winger, an experienced, pacey centre-back and a squad striker with a proven track record of scoring in the Premier League than another midfielder. Suarez is fabulous, but as I wondered back in February/March, is he going to be more like Kuyt (more a provider than goalscorer) than Torres? And Carroll has only had one season in the top flight to call on (and he isn't going to be fit all season - due to injury or nightclub fights etc).

[Kelthink]

Speaking of Carroll...

Classy as fuck

[Hoodedclaw]

certainly looks better then i do when im at a fezzie

[dogsout]

I understand what you are saying and IF losing him means we will get a couple of good wingers in, then I agree we could take the hit. However there is nothing to say we must let him go to supplement transfers. He should be playing in the centre, and as yet with no wingers we have no idea how Kenny wants to set the team up next year. I also want our bench to have a good deal of skill and creativity so its actually worth making a sub, which players like Raul will help to bring. I also dont think Aquilani wants to be at Liverpool, Raul does and as we know its not good to have players that dont want to be at the club. If all the deadwood goes, we still need players to cover injuries, tiredness as well, Raul would certaintly be a great squad player. Personal opinion, I'd rather he stayed and we had a squad to worry teams than him go and we be short of attacking qualities. (I personally dont see Lucas and Spearing as potential scorers)

I think Vezna and Dizogg have pretty much covered it, but I'd like to add that I don't think Meireles has proved that "he should be playing in the centre" because most of his performances there were sub-par. He had a couple of good games there with Lucas, but the rest of his good performances came when he was played from the right or left. I don't think we can really expand too much more on this because our opinions of the player are obviously quite different. I do agree about Aquilani, though.

Oh, and I think it's too early to be drawing any conclusions about the lack of wingers signed so far. Downing's arrival seems imminent and it's still very early on.

[Guest]

Seems a bit silly to me that we shouldn't want an expert free kick taker. Gerrard has always been over rated, his corners are routinely dreadful.

Best set piece creator we had in recent times was Danny Murphy. Kenny wouldn't have let him go let me tell you!

[Chewylegs]

Its fine saying Meireles is at a stage when his value can only go down and he needs to be playing regularly, but Liverpool FC still need a top squad to challenge for the top 4/title this season. If by the end of the window we have that, then by all means its prob good to cash in on him now (even though he must have a good 4 seasons left in him). But if we start the season with Ngog, Spearing and Cole as our bench, i'll be a little miffed. Its all ifs and buts though as yet. You all seem pretty sure we are getting Adams and Downing soon, surely we arent paying 19mil for Downing though?!

[Guest]

What is going down with the Adam deal? Surely it's staightforward or are Blackpool still being hissy about it.