Liverpool Banter Archive February 10 2014

10 Feb 2014 22:28:55
Ed I've got a quick question for you. If United stay in this position for a couple of seasons and don't get anywhere could they get into serious trouble money wise being on the stock exchange just if people pull out they could loose a hell of a lot of money quite fast I only ask because as a Liverpool fan we all remember them dark days when we thought we were going into liquidation and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy cheers ed

{Ed001's Note - no.}

So even if the stock exchange crumbles like it did before United would still be fine?

{Ed001's Note - their income far outweighs their outgoings, there is little for them to worry about.}

Hello Ed01, with all the income why don't MU pay down their massive debt?

{Ed001's Note - they have been.}

United's turnover is more than us and Spurs combined. It would take several years of not playing in the CL before they'd have any sort of issues.

10 Feb 2014 21:38:02
Why is it when someone mentions winning the league they always get called ''dreamers" or "lol not a chance". Why shouldn't we say we can win the league we can and quite easily so. We are six points behind atm, if we can't say it now when can we say it.
I don't think we will win the league but we can if things go our way. I'm not going to get into we have x games against x team blah blah. We are playing good enough to win but could be let down defensively imo as we have the best attack in the league. Let's start looking forward we are in a great position now at the tail end of the season. We can win the league this year when was the last time we could say that in February. I think we are 21pts better off now (open to correction) who's to say we won't gain another 6 on our rivals.

Stranger things have happened in Istanbul I mean football.

Enjoy the end of the season boys and girls.

Don't jinx it! Don't even think it, if it happens then great but until then let's just support the lads and hope silently.

10 Feb 2014 21:04:18
Got myself a new android, but don't seem to be able to get any banter posted? I will try again, here goes:
All lfc supporters need to get organised.
Our 1st task is to get behind the team and raise the bar as high as we can.
Our 2nd task is to stay calm and not get involved in silly talk about possibly winning the league, its not going to happen ( its ok to dream tho!).
Our 3rd and most important task is to help kill off our potential rivals when they are weakened. To this end we need to ensure agent Moyes stays in charge at United for a couple more seasons.

If we raise the bar then hendo might start scoring. :)

Sorry I'll get my coat :(

10 Feb 2014 20:19:17
This is a question for Ed001. Ed being realistic and if we achieved champions league football for next season what 3-4 signings would you make and would be realistic that would could actually sign if we had champions league?

Thanks,
Josh

{Ed001's Note - I have no idea, I am not really sure who would be realistic and could actually sign. For instance, the Sevilla left back, everyone wants him, well maybe not Chelsea as they are set on Luke Shaw, but he might not be available, depending on how they do between now and the end of the season. Secondly, it would depend on how we perform in the run in as to whether we would be a better option than the other teams interested in him. It is far too early to talk about signings now. We would need to have a few more than 3 or 4 to have a realistic chance of competing in the Champions League and the Premier League next season.}

How many would you say then mate around 5 or 6 players? Also do you think we will move for tello again in the summer

{Ed001's Note - to compete properly, yes. Unless we had a massive amount of luck regarding injuries.
Far too soon to say, he is not making any noises about wanting to leave just now. It is all about getting in the Spain squad for him right now. Once that has been announced I am sure he will focus on his future and make it known if he is happy to stay with Barca or looking to move on.}

Thanks for the reply mate. let's hope the game goes a head Wednesday

Do you think we need that many? Mean wouldn't suso, borini, ibe, and wisdom boost the squad a bit? With others like assaidi or rossiter, mean obviously not all will make it but imagine a fee will get the chance

{Ed001's Note - depends a lot on the outs, but I would expect a few players to leave as well, so yes we would need that many.}

In terms of first 11 players not many we only need LB, LF, RB.

for the squad we need another defensive mid.

then after that replacements for Aspas, Agger or who ever leaves.

10 Feb 2014 19:45:14
Hi Eds
My conspiracy head is on again.
What is all this about calling the game off Wednesday v Fulham because the staff etc might not be able to get to the ground.
Didn't they play Sheffield united last week on a strike night.
This is telling me they are tired after the Manchester United exploits and using any excuse to get it cancelled or have picked up a couple of injuries.

{Ed001's Note - I do wonder about this, plenty of games went ahead during previous tube strikes. There is no real reason to postpone it.}

All clubs must meet the safety requirements laid down by the FA. Failure to do so, given that there was 4 weeks notice of strike, should mean fulham will forfeit the points. Next thing we know Chelski, man city and united will be delaying their matches with LFC due to after effects of potential rail strike.
The game must surely be played, crazy scenario

10 Feb 2014 19:28:40
Hi eds
Just wondered what your opinions were on some of our fringe players and what could happen come the summer, obviously things could change given a bit of luck or good run of form. However at the moment do you see any of our loan players coming back to have in impact next season or do you believe they will be sold/loaned out again?
Players like Robinson, Coady, McLaughlin, suso, borini, assaidi, wisdom, ilori etc
And do you think some players like teixeira, smith, Kelly, aspas, Alberto, sama, jones etc will get a chance at all this season or are they likely to be sold in the summer or stay as back up?
Cheers

{Ed001's Note - far too early to say, the club will discuss with most of them in the summer and the player will make the choice in the main.}

Teixeira might get a shot in these next 4 games from the bench before the likes of agger, johnson, enrique & sakho comes back from injuries. might replace Ibe on the bench.

suso & borini has the most chance of coming back into the squad next season.

10 Feb 2014 17:54:06
EDS IF YOU COULD POST ON ALL LFC THREADS PLEASE. TY

Just saw on the news that a LFC fan was killed in Kenya by stabbing from an angry Arsenal fan after the game. Apparently the banter was too much. Please keep his family in your thoughts.

10 Feb 2014 15:55:17
Just read this stat on the ssn website, its interesting as I would not have believed it if somebody told me.

"David Moyes used his programme notes to bemoan his luck with injuries, referring specifically to the absence of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney for large periods of the season, but such words should fall on deaf ears. Whilst Rooney and RVP have 34 PL appearances between them, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge have just three more, and the Liverpool strike pair have started nine matches as a partnership compared to ten for United's front two"

Moyes really has no excuse and I can't wait to play them at Old Trafford soon.

10 Feb 2014 13:48:26
Watching motd again about the 5th time since Saturday just a quick question what is sterling's celebration all about anyone know

I believe he puts his hand over his face as a symbolsation of the fact he is so small and fast he creates a "you can't see me" type of illusion when he whizzes on goal and scores (most of the time).

Completely made that up.

I really don't know what it is all about but I always get a feeling that he wants to show us that he just can't believe what is happening. At least I get this feeling when I look at his face when he scores.

Noshbag, hilarious mate!

Read somewhere it was a Jamaican thing. No idea if that's true or not though.

I thought he was trying to remember how many kids he has

It's a hand sign made popular by the "Gaza" recording team in Jamaica.

Vybz kartel is the leader of the group but is not the person credited for the popularity or origination. That belongs to Tommy Lee, a Dancehall recording artist from the group. The sign supposedly represents the group, however it has also been used to show support for their incarcerated leader - Kartel.

The hand sign is popular with Jamaicans all over including the Olympics where Warren Weir made it popular using it as his signature post race symbol (similar to usain's bolt pose).

It's a "W"
For Woy.

It's his signal that he's ready for an England call-up. ;)

10 Feb 2014 12:53:32
Just curious about how far off the top CL teams everyone thinks we are, if we were to qualify for the CL we will have a bad coefficient so face a tough group. So just wonder how people (Eds in particular) believe we would fair ATM, is hard to judge! Still think even City are far off the elite teams like Bayern or Real, but we outplayed city on their ground and tore Arsenal, Spurs and Everton to pieces (whilst City beat Bayern recently). Add in teams like Dortmund, Athletico and Juventus just hard to judge were our squad stands? Hope we qualify for CL and if we did could see us doing alright, think we would beat any Italian team but curious how we'd fair against the biggest clubs in Europe

I think we will win in next year. Why not. I was looking at our starting XI when we won it in 2005 so anything is possible!

We smashed arsenal the other day and they do ok in Europe.
I don't think we are miles off but squad depth will be the main issue I imagine.
Our first 11 on form will be a match for anyone in Europe. We would still need about 5 decent players in order to sustain top 4 form in the league and a decent show in Europe though. That's if Suarez stays.

Starting eleven is still not the finished article however we look very strong when everyone is fit. Like has been said though squad depth is the biggest issue when thinking about that question. Look at the Bayern and City squads and we are nowhere near that level of depth!

You could have put any team against us on Saturday and the scoreline would have been the same or better depending on the quality of the team. I honestly believe that if you put Real, Barca, Bayern, Dortmund etc in front of us on Saturday, they'd have all been battered the same way Arsenal were.

Its the squad depth that's the killer - hypothetically if we were in the CL this time next season we'd have 3 highly competitive competitions to deal with. We have a small squad and limited scope to rest players. Man to man we are probably not that far off some of the top teams but, squad wise, we are miles away. As an example City have Jovetic, Negredo, Aguero and Dzeko to rotate - we have Suarez, Sturridge, Borini, Aspas. The gulf in quality is enormous. When injuries strike we would struggle, I think it will take consecutive seasons in the CL (and the team strengthening that goes with it) for us to be able to compete domestically and in Europe for honours. In all honesty I think it would take as long to do the same in the league - points wise we are close but realistically City, Arsenal and Chelsea are miles ahead in terms of finances available and their current squads.

10 Feb 2014 12:17:11
Jus hoping for an opinion of ed001 if he about?
Do you think Rodgers has altered his way of thinking tactically over recent months? I seem to get the feeling when he first come here he had a certain way of playin i.e. his swansea style & tried to install that in us regardless of the oposition & that was his only way, but jus thinkin as games passing by we seem to be playin differently, we seem to still play a high pressing game but don't seem to want to keep possession for the sake of it by passin sideways or backwards we take more risks in going forward tryin to hurt teams instead of containing them like I feel we used to in his first season & begining of this season if i'm honest. I can't remember the possession stats in the game v spurs if i'm honest but if I remember correctly the games v efc & the gunners we seemed to have a lot less of ball but where much more purposeful & dangerous in those games than games v hull, villa & most other teams.
That jus my opinion anyways but whatever is changing or not changing i'm jus made up we in 4th & wrackin up some important & big wins, long may it continue.
kj

{Ed001's Note - I just think he is playing to the strengths of the players at his disposal. At Swansea, he inherited a team of nice passers with little pace and penetration, so he went with it. He came in at Liverpool, knowing the tradition was to play a possession game and so went with that. Now he is just going with what suits the players he has, from the formation to the tactics, it has all been shaped around the players. In my opinion that is the best way, unless you are in a job for 20 years and can bring through youngsters from the academy who are moulded to suit the style you want to implement.}

Eds, do you think we have one of the best young mangers in the game?

{Ed001's Note - far too soon to judge him.}

10 Feb 2014 13:43:04
Cheers for response ed, long may the winning feelin continue eh?

Yes and it's for the very reason Eds provided that he's gaining the affections of the fans, like me, who weren't too impressed at the start when emphasis was placed on nonsensical possession football in our own half. Notwithstanding the cheesy cliches etc., which thankfully have subsided in recent times.

10 Feb 2014 11:41:28
There's a discussion going on the United page about which manager is getting the most out of their team. One of the fellas over there (I think it was Peashooter) reckons our Brendan is getting the most out of the players he has at his disposal. Personally I think Tony Pulis has done a fantastic job with the team he has available to him. What do you guys think?

10 Feb 2014 12:04:18
I agree that Tony Pulis is doing fantastically.

I would also say that Roberto Martinez has done a brilliant job with the players and resources available to him. He's finally got rid of the facade that Moyes crafted about Everton not being able to challenge due to lack of money. Martinez has challenge for top 4 within six months of being there with a more attacking style than Moyes ever possessed.

1 arsene wenger
2 Brendan Rodgers
3 tony pulis
4 roberto Martinez
For getting best out ov the squads because us and arsenal not have big squads and very above us so!think are first team is as good most in prem at min and can match any team for a game still long way to go! Tony pulis doing great job at palace looked long gone months ago and Martinez got them playing good stuff! All so big shout out to mr david moyes for the best football games I have watch this year so scrap that list mr david moyes gets it for me

Pulis can kiss my bullet hole. I hate everything that man stands for. His thuggish tactics, his consistent whining about the refs and his ego which he has no reason to have. He's not a football manager, he's a general. Someone who goes to war, not someone who plays "The beautiful game".

The only word for Pulis is a word that won't get posted.

Pulis is doing very well but agree with hsf- can't stand the man or the manager, caveman football in the 21st century and stuff I hoped i'd seen the last of when Stoke gave him the boot.

10 Feb 2014 11:27:25
Hi Ed's, I hope you are doing well, great job you are doing dedicating your time to fellow LFC fans.

Question for you.
Some people have compared some of our performances this season to that of the 'Liverpool of old' in terms of the way we have performed - particularly at home and in terms of style. My intial thoughts are that this is premature and that we ned to consistently perform against lesser teams. I would be interested to know your thoughts on this?

Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - I don't see it as anything like the 'Liverpool of old', that is unless you are referring to the Barnes, Beardsley team that Dalglish, under Paisley's guidance put together in the late 80s. Prior to that, most of our performances were just about dominating possession, to the point that it was considered boring. The team would often pass to the keeper, rather than lose possession or take a risk. It is a whole new Liverpool we are watching, as even the late 80s team was slightly different in style.}

There seems to be a subtle change from last season ed001, do you think?
We used to try and dominate the whole game, death by football and all that, whereas this year Rodgers is a bit more canny. We play high tempo, then ease off and defend from deeper, hit on the counter, particularly when a lead has been established.
I've never seen Liverpool play with such pace for a long while now.
We've been crying out for that, we were so slow coming forward under Kenny Mk II.

{Ed001's Note - I agree, though not so sure the change is all that subtle!}

Yeah, haha, I suppose.
Whatever it is, it is very welcome.
I sort of liken it to 'power plays' in limited overs cricket.
Less structured than that, but there are several points in a game when Liverpool's tempo goes up.
It will be interesting to see how the Fulham game goes, after their Alamo-style defence yesterday.

Got to say I'm really enjoying the whole smash and grab/shock and awe tactics like we saw against arsenal.
I have never seen Liverpool dominate a big team like that before.

To go back to the OP's point, here's one for the ole timers.
The current Man City as the Liverpool of 1978/9 period, with Mourinho's current Chelsea as Cloughie's Nottingham Forest and Eden Hazard as the new (and slightly slimmer) John Robertson.
Are you having it?

Juicer you are spot on with that power play analogy. I do it with my club. Just shouting right, next 2 minutes intensity of pressing and passing.

10 Feb 2014 10:02:51
Hi ed001

I've heard a few times you mention how much you like Gary medel and wish we had signed him.
I was listening to the other day and they were sayin Cardiff need to drop him cause he's not doing his job we'll enough.
Your thoughts?

{Ed001's Note - really? Or is it that Cardiff are playing so poorly under Solskjaer that he is getting over run trying to protect the back four on his own? From what I have seen, and been told by Cardiff fans, he was their best player under Mackay but the whole team has fallen to bits without Malky. They have no organisation under a manager who has yet to imprint any kind of style on them and they all say they are going down now. I haven't watched them since Malky left, but while he was there Medel was excellent. He was the focal point of everything, launching attacks from deep and biting into the opposition, stopping them.}

We have enough biting on our side don't think we need another one. Lol

Might he be available if Cardiff go down Ed? I'm a fan as well.

{Ed001's Note - yes, there is every chance he will move if they are relegated.}

10 Feb 2014 09:25:28
Hey eds do you think lfc have the first option on hughes? And do you think konoplyanka would have been a good signing if it would have come off?

{Ed002's Note - If there is any option it would only be to match any other accepted bid and then the kid can decide. I really have no interest in "rating" players at all.}

10 Feb 2014 08:03:58
Do all those posters who thought that we should be playing in the Europa league still hold that view
We are now very much in the driving seat as far as CL goes and I can't see Spurs involvement in Europa as being anything but a hindrance for them
COme on you redmen - show us you are up for the small teams as well as the big ones

Please, please a draw between the gunners and the mancs- if we win that will put us 11 points in front of them.

Why does everyone continually write off the europa league as a non-event. Have any of you cared to take a look at our UEFA coefficients of late? Our lack of european football over the last 5 years has left us well down the pecking order.

Effectively this means that IF we qualify for UCL, our group will be similar to the last Man City's for the last 2 years. We will be 4th pot which makes our task of progressing further in the competition a much harder task.

I wouldn't worry too much on coefficients.Dortmund 2 year ago were ranked 66th. It didn't stop them reaching the final last year.

As Bobatron says, Dortmund were out of the European competition since 2003? Or something similar. Then they come back and because the manager is good enough and because he'd built a good squad of players, they're now considered one of the top European teams. It's a shame that they keep having players taken away from them, like Sahin, Lewandowski, Goetze and Kagawa. Those players were all fantastic for Dortmund and it looked like they were building something really special. Then Real, Bayern and Manchester United came in and ruined it all.

10 Feb 2014 07:45:47
Do you think will hughes will be a good addition to Liverpool and which position he does play in midfield and how do you rate him? please dis time atleast give me a reply eds. keep up the good work.!

{Ed002's Note - Much is expected of Hughes and he plays in central midfield.}

10 Feb 2014 02:27:46
Hello to all,
I was just wondering if any of the edds or fellow reds could give a quick review on how Ryan mcgloughlin is getting on in his loan spell and is he progressing well? Thanks in advance.

He's out for a few weeks with an injury

09 Feb 2014 23:12:08
Hi Eds. I was just searching on internet and found guy from Shahtar with good statistics in last seasons and maybe great potential - Facundo Ferreyra. Looks interesting, any info or interst in him? Thanks

{Ed002's Note - No.}