The Liverpool FC Thread

Toon fan here!! GUTTED!!!!! Trust me he will be worth every penny,he has got everything and will only get better,i was a bit naive thinking there was any loyalty left in football,he has come out saying he was forced out but i think that is bollocks, if he really wanted to stay he could have told cashley to f#ck off,anyway in five years time you will realise you got a bargain!!!

Also keep your eyes off Shola

Originally posted by blupblup
Well, done and dusted.... WOW


Paid about £20-£25m too much for Carroll..... oh well, he may turn out to be a great buy, In fact I'm confident he'll do well for us.


Chelsea paid probably £10-£20m too much for Torres so that's good.



Our transfer market is insane... really, really is.


Whispers from BBC that poss getting Warnock on loan, we'll see.... I doubt it.



Not bad..... Got Suarez (world Class) and Carroll (Huge potential) for the money from the sales of Babel (never given a chance) and Torres (Hugely overrated) .... so we'll still have a decent kitty come the summer.... sweet.


Let's start to sort things out...

edit on 31/1/11 by blupblup because: (no reason given)

babel was given plenty of chances, but the fact is that he wasted them all - maybe if he had a bit more between the ears, and a bit more heart he could have turned his potential into actuality, but the fact that 3 different managers gave him a chance then stopped playing him is indicative of his lacking something...

Torres hugely overrated? sounds like sour grapes to me - he is genuine world class and has proved it countless times.

Suarez - scored lots in the dutch league, but so did Kuyt, and Babel - we'll have to wait and see, but his performances at the WC suggest he has class, good workrate and a team ethic, although no doubt Ghana (?) would call him a cheat.
Carroll has huge potential, but is also a huge gamble - but he also has that swagger that the best players have, and when defending gives his all, links play well, can pass, is good on the ground and in the air and is quicker than most give him credit for.

On the plus side, thanks to abramovich, we spent only 1.8 million net in this window, which gives us plenty to spend in the summer, although we will have to be carefull because of the UEFA financial fair play rules coming into force.
However this should be negated when we start to do our own TV deals soon, for the coming seasons, with satellite channels and PPV channels, which will effectively put us on top of the world due our huge global fanbase - then all we have to deal with is matchday revenue, although stadium costs can be written off under the fair play rules.

Originally posted by budski
babel was given plenty of chances, but the fact is that he wasted them all - maybe if he had a bit more between the ears, and a bit more heart he could have turned his potential into actuality, but the fact that 3 different managers gave him a chance then stopped playing him is indicative of his lacking something...

Yeah I meant a decent and consistent run in the team.
I think he was a fantastic player but you're right... never really showed the passion and to be honest, never really looked like he wanted to be there.

Torres hugely overrated? sounds like sour grapes to me - he is genuine world class and has proved it countless times.

Na not at all man, I like Torres a lot and on his day, he's as good as any striker in the world, without a doubt.

Thing is, we got one (full) good season out of him, mainly because of injury, and when he wasn't in form, he just looked uninterested and lazy and sloppy.

I think Chelsea paid for too much but I'm not complaining, quite the opposite.

His record with us was fantastic and his strike rate phenomenal, and that's mostly at about 70% fitness.... so I just wish we could have had a fully fit and fully committed Torres, unfortunately, we never had either.

reply to post by blupblup


I think the same thing as a lot of Ajax fans felt - too often blows hot and cold, drifts in and out of games too much.

BUT the single biggest factor is his heart - if it doesn't go right for him, his head drops.

Thing about Torres is that he always seemed to get injured playing for spain - I think chelsea got him at a decent price, given his scoring record, but NOT considering his injury record.
Like all sprinters in football he gets a lot of groin, hamstring and adductor injuries which I think will finish him early unless he can adapt his game...

Good luck to the lad (apart from sunday) he did well for us, but I think our new strikers can do better, because they are younger and less prone to injury, and more importantly they will play for the team rather than themselves.

Gooooooaaaaaaaaaaal

El Pistolero!!!!!!!!!



The first of many, many to come from Suarez

reply to post by blupblup


Interesting fact - KK has won more trophies than hodgson has won away games in the EPL

The mixture of KK and clarke (seemingly another "canny" scot) has brought back the pass and move game we know and love - I'd go so far as to say that bringing in Clarke was a masterstroke by KK.

I expect us to play 4231 again on sunday, with a more defensive look and an eye for the counter.

reply to post by budski




I said to my mate who is a geordie and supports Newcastle that getting Clarke was a great thing for us to do.
He's a fantastic coach and gets players working and motivated.

A very good move for sure.


Also yeah, can't wait until Sunday.... A nice full blooded Gerrard tackle on Torres would be nice too...

reply to post by blupblup


Yeah, although judging by Skrtels comments in the press, I'd be a tad worried if I was Mr Torres - he might be out of form (skrtel) but he's still as hard as nails.

I really hope it doesn't come to that though - we shouldn't be looking for revenge any way except by making sure he's on the losing side.

reply to post by budski




I don't mean to injure him or hurt him, just to S*** him up a bit, remind him who we are.... I think he's forgotten.

Originally posted by blupblup
reply to post by budski

 

I don't mean to injure him or hurt him, just to S*** him up a bit, remind him who we are.... I think he's forgotten.

I'm not sure he's forgotten - I think he never cared and just told us what he thought we wanted to hear.

And you just know that if anyone goes near him, he'll go down like a sack of spuds...

Originally posted by budski
I'm not sure he's forgotten - I think he never cared and just told us what he thought we wanted to hear.

And you just know that if anyone goes near him, he'll go down like a sack of spuds...

Yeah you're right actually....he probably never cared.
There are those players who go where the money is.... and I guess he's gone that way.

I don't think he was that way.


And yes, he will go down like a...... well, ya know..... sadly it seems that falling over, diving and cheating has become endemic in the EPL.... but there are those who are far worse than others.

:shk:

reply to post by blupblup


To be fair, he's not the worst, and there's usually contact.

I'm not happy that Gerrard does it, but again there's usually contact even if sometimes it is minimal - the other side of the coin is that when a player is running at speed, it doesn't take much to bring them down.

But AGAIN we have seen some really poor decisions against - how fulham and stoke got away with some of the challenges they made is beyond me, especially the fulham player going in knee high from the side/back on Gerrard, that the ref didn't even feel warranted a yellow...

I don't like it, but "simulation" is part of the game now - and the fact is that continental players view it as a legitimate tactic, when in reality it is just cheating...

Originally posted by budski
I don't like it, but "simulation" is part of the game now - and the fact is that continental players view it as a legitimate tactic, when in reality it is just cheating...

Oh it IS part of the modern game now for sure... but I hate it.

Football is almost becoming a non-contact sport.... It's very sad.

Games are won and lost by cheating.... teams lose out on staying in a league or carrying on a cup run or any number of things.

There is no real solution so I'm basically just moaning, but it does piss me off man.

reply to post by blupblup


I'd really hate to bring technology into the game to combat this, but really, usually when there is a foul or a penalty shout, the game stops for a minute or so anyway, especially in the case of a free kick or a corner/throw in.
Would it really be that hard to have a 4th official quickly review the footage?
In many cases it would make sense to let the marginal calls go - but for pens and really bad fouls a minute while everything was stopped anyway would make sense as well.

The Gerrard sending off against man u in the cup was a case in point - the replay showed that Gerrard went in with his left leg and got the ball, but carricks leg knocked his right up into the air which made it look 2 footed.
It took about 30 seconds reviewing the replay to see it.

reply to post by budski




Yeah exactly... I go to Twickenham quite often to watch England play Rugby and the video ref's and stops in the game, do no harm it at all.

It takes secs usually and a minute at most if it's really, really obscured or something.

But I also think that once you start bringing in the Tech, where does it stop? Throw-ins.....when players insult each other verbally.... I mean I can understand both sides of this argument.

I would rather have some technology to sort out things like goal-line disputes and red card issues.... but It's whether or not it would stop there.


And also about the Man U game.... was never a pen either, Berbatov dived.... so.... two ridiculous decisions.

reply to post by blupblup


Yeah, but Webb was reffing, and you know him and utd...

As to where it would stop, simple, the same way it does with rugby - plus give the ref more power to deal with players ganging up on him, again, the same as rugby.

I remember they tried the 10 yard penalty for backchat a few years ago, but it really wasn't feasible because it doesn't give the same advantage that it does in rugby.

Put it this way, if I was reffing, I'd go into each dressing room before the game and let them know in no uncertain terms, that any backchat or running after me or appealing against a decision after it had been given would result in a booking for conduct unbecoming - in other words, unsportsmanlike conduct, a rule which is still on the books but is rarely used.

It's time players learned to respect the ref and his decisions.

However, to temper that, I would be happy to talk to the manager after the match and explain my decisions - and if I had got something wrong, hold my hands up, BUT I would expect players and managers to do the same...

reply to post by budski




Yeah it could be implemented, We've (mates and me) had this discussion so many times.
If they can do it in rugby then they can do it in football.


Also sometimes, the human error and controversy adds to the game... I know when you're on the receiving end of a decision it's never easy, but when it goes your way, It's fantastic.
Not sure I'd want to take the human element of refereeing out of the game, and I know we're only talking about certain uses for video tech, so other things would be untouched.... but I dunno man.... I'm kinda undecided really.


Hmmmm

As you can see, I'm on the fence.

I think we need it for sure, but I also think we may regret it if we got it.

reply to post by blupblup


Yep, part of the fun, and the whole magic of the game is these decisions.

BUT, too many times we have seen refs favour sides to the detriment of others - man u being a case in point.

And that's something that needs to stop - knowing their decision could be reviewed at any time may help take some of the bias out of the game.

Funniest moment - stupid chelsea fans ripping off the LFC "el nino" banner, and leaving the Shnkly Gates on there!

reply to post by budski




Yeah, I saw that a couple of days ago. You would think they would have changed it by now.

Great performance. Great result.