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Liverpool Football Club Thread

glb

By glb
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christaylor

christaylor

Posted
Posted

Got the inside track on another potential signing...

I coach a local U6 team that my son plays in and we were at a tournament at the weekend. During the tournament I was approached by someone claiming to be a national scout for Liverpool, who introduced me to a couple of their youth coaches and said they were very interested in our No. 7. My son!

I'll spare you the gushing details, but essentially he's been invited to train at one of their development centres, just for the next 5 weeks as they break for the summer shortly, but then with a view to signing up properly from September.

As potentially awesome as this all is I'm remaining very cautiously realistic as I know the odds of him progressing to the academy are hugely stacked against him, and I've only given him a vague idea of what's going on, but the next few weeks should be pretty interesting. :)

Had his first session this evening, very high standard of boys there and good (FA lvl 2) coaches, but they were doing pretty much the same drills and skills training as we normally do with our local team at the weekends, which was reassuring. He loved it so we'll be going back next week, but the logistics could prove to be a bit of a nightmare longer term as it's a 110mile round trip!

Free coaching from Liverpool's youth development centre + £15 in petrol each time!

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Istanbul

Istanbul

Posted
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Or Champions League football, possibly higher wages and van Gaal as a manager.

Or?

Is he like this every close season?

I'm just worried about 'Saints rising' and 'Liverpool declining'....and that 'gap getting smaller'....

HHAHAHAHAH. No.

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Sng

Sng

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Is there any actual basis behind people saying Liverpool are slow in the transfer market? Any slower than others? Does speed actually make the slightest bit of difference? I doubt any transfers these days are done without anyone finding out. If the agent wants other clubs to hear about a possible move then they'll let everyone know. Then if the player wants to go elsewhere it's nothing to do with the speed - It's just them wanting to go to a bigger club.

I think people just feel better saying "oh we're too slow" instead of "oh he'd rather go to Chelsea/Utd/City/Spurs, etc".

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SaintM

SaintM

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Or?

I'm just worried about 'Saints rising' and 'Liverpool declining'....and that 'gap getting smaller'....

HHAHAHAHAH. No.

I love the way you go and neg every one of my posts, regardless of content. It's kinda reassuring that I'm hitting a nerve.

Just for clarification though, I said LFC were stagnating, not declining. Quite a difference.

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SaintM

SaintM

Posted
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Is there any actual basis behind people saying Liverpool are slow in the transfer market? Any slower than others? Does speed actually make the slightest bit of difference? I doubt any transfers these days are done without anyone finding out. If the agent wants other clubs to hear about a possible move then they'll let everyone know. Then if the player wants to go elsewhere it's nothing to do with the speed - It's just them wanting to go to a bigger club.

I think people just feel better saying "oh we're too slow" instead of "oh he'd rather go to Chelsea/Utd/City/Spurs, etc".

I think you've been the most active of any team in the top tier so far. The window isnt even open yet too!
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Istanbul

Istanbul

Posted
Posted

I love the way you go and neg every one of my posts, regardless of content. It's kinda reassuring that I'm hitting a nerve.

Just for clarification though, I said LFC were stagnating, not declining. Quite a difference.

Are you hitting a nerve? Or do I simply consider 'some' (not every one as suggested) of your posts in this thread as complete and utter drivel.

For clarification...it's the latter.

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gospvg

gospvg

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City have come in with a £25Mil bid for Sterling, i guess the board are probably waiting for an offer from a non-premier league club. Although what about a part exchange deal with City for Dzeko?

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Commander Jameson

Commander Jameson

Posted
Posted

Adam Bogdan confirmed. Has had a few good games against us. Other than that, haven't really seen him.

Given the Benteke links, buying people who have had a good game against us sounds like our whole transfer strategy.

Bogdan didn't get make games last season, did he? Not sure he's going to be challenging Mignolet in any sense.

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Istanbul

Istanbul

Posted
Posted

Given the Benteke links, buying people who have had a good game against us sounds like our whole transfer strategy.

Bogdan didn't get make games last season, did he? Not sure he's going to be challenging Mignolet in any sense.

Agree 100%. Seems we've changed our transfer strategy again to 'Premier League proven' now. We flip flop all over the place.

There's no way Bogdan will be challenging Mignolet either. Which is what we needed last season when he had his wobble.

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Commander Jameson

Commander Jameson

Posted
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We did try Premiership-proven last summer though and overpaid for them, but those players haven't worked out for whatever reason. We did the, "pick up younger talent with potential" thing in Can and Moreno, etc. also with varying levels of success.

My worry is I'm not sure how we want to play. Was the Suarez and Sturridge season an anomaly where Rodgers had these players in tremendous form and worked the team to take the best advantage of them?

Seeing the football last season was uninspiring at best, with only a couple of memorable performances. Even during the unbeaten streak, I never really thought we were convincing not as fluid or majestic as we were the season before.

I guess we will have to see what the situation is at the end of the transfer window.

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dogsout

dogsout

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Posted

My worry is I'm not sure how we want to play. Was the Suarez and Sturridge season an anomaly where Rodgers had these players in tremendous form and worked the team to take the best advantage of them?

I think so, and I said as much at the time that it was happening. I remember posting in here moaning about Rodgers' claim that "the team is the star" after he brought Suarez back from the ban and changed the shape (and style) to fit him in.

The more I think about it, the more I think we won't be signing another striker. I think he'll want to go back to what he was supposed to be doing before he realised how good Suarez was. So 4-3-3:

GK: Mignolet/Bogdan (he's decent cover, IMO).

RB: New guy (kind of worrying that we need someone to go straight into the first 11 here... Clyne?), Flanagan (if he ever plays again), Manquillo (if he isn't sent home early).

CB: Sakho, Lovren (still think he will come good if given some protection from midfield), Skrtel (to be phased out and then cover until his contract's up), Toure.

LB: Moreno, Flanagan (hmmm... could do with more cover here).

CM: Milner, Henderson, Can, Allen, Lucas (I kind of suspect he'll be sold so may need more cover).

WF: Coutinho, Lallana, Markovic, Ibe, Sterling (if he's still here).

ST: Sturridge, Origi, Ings.

There's not much space in the squad for many more additions, really. I reckon it's pretty likely that we'll get a right-back and then just address cover at left-back and possibly midfield depending on what happens with Lucas and Sterling. I know everyone is expecting another striker but unless he's planning on playing a two striker system, I'd be surprised to see much money spent there.

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Adrock

Adrock

Posted
Posted

Given the Benteke links, buying people who have had a good game against us sounds like our whole transfer strategy.

It used to work for me in Championship Manager!

I think dogsout has it about right, the current squad will fit into the Rodgers 4-3-3 system nicely after one or two defensive signings. But I disagree that 3 strikers is enough considering Sturridge isn't going to be fit for a while so a nice marquee striking option would be a good morale booster for the squad and fans.

I think the most worrying thing is everything is up in the air with how Rodgers intends to play and its coming upto his 4th season in charge!

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dogsout

dogsout

Posted
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The thing is, if we spend big money on a striker then one of the following will happen:

- Sturridge is on the bench, along with Ings and Origi. Which means comfortably over 200k p/w sat on the bench, and in fact, there wouldn't even be space on the bench for all three.

- Sturridge is injured for months again so it's only Ings and Origi sat on the bench, and Sturridge being paid £140k p/w to sit in the treatment room.

- Sturridge is fit again so the new guy is sat on the bench along with the others.

- Everyone is fit so Rodgers swaps to a formation that allows him to play two strikers.

Let's also bear in mind that Rodgers doesn't really rotate much, and is also reluctant to even give substitutes a short cameo a lot of the time.

The problem as I see it isn't that 3 strikers isn't enough. It's that Sturridge cannot be relied upon to be fit often enough. This problem is exacerbated by the fact he is earning £140k p/w. I just don't think it's realistic to expect us to drop £20m+ on a new striker, along with what will no doubt be high wages. Due to Sturridge's high wages we kind of just have to cross our fingers that he'll stay fit. It's either that or blindly hope that FSG will be prepared to up the wage bill significantly in preparation for him being injured long-term again. Call me a cynic, but I can't see it.

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DeNeo

DeNeo

Posted
Posted

We release everything to the press - the recent transfer deals, the coaching overhaul and the Rodgers decision were all leaked way before anything official was heard (although we're yet to hear anything official about the latter two). Which makes me think the Benteke links are very real.

It would make sense - he becomes the starter and one of Sturridge, Ings or Origi plays with him. So we switch back to two up top, like I mentioned a few pages back, which would get the most out of Coutinho (rather than him cutting in from out wide). There was no real point buying Ings when we've already got Origi (and 3 other strikers to sell) if we're only going to play with 1 striker - playing with 2 means we need more cover.

We're filling gaps in the squad with free and low-cost transfers, rather than spending big money on say a proper challenger to Mignolet. The budget is being saved for Benteke.

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