Liverpool Banter Archive May 18 2014

18 May 2014 22:44:54
Hi eds

Are you aware of any interest from LFC/ from anyone else in Jonathan Tah of Hamburg? Seems like a solid young cb from what I've seen of him this season and saw a few articles (albeit from extremely unreliable sources!) linking us with him.

Thanks

{Ed002's Note - Not at this time.}

18 May 2014 23:44:40
Hi ed's great work and good effort spending so much time replying to all of these.

Any interest in Ricardo Rodriguez of Wolfsburg?

Ta, Luke

Plenty of interest in Ricardo Rodriguez, but all of the clubs seem to have a preferred choice ahead of Rodriguez.

No interest from LFC though.

18 May 2014 22:52:11
Urmmm as far as I know we have scouted Targets Dani Parejo & Juan Bernat. If anyone would like to check them out and tell me what they think of them

No interest in Juan Bernat. You will find plenty of posts about Parejo if you read through yesterdays pages.

18 May 2014 22:34:32
Hey ed can my question last week be poll of the day now the season is over?

"Would Liverpool have won the league if carra stayed another year and started ahead of skrtle?"

Really wanna see what it would be percentage wise.
Many thanks

How about. Would we have won the league with messi. Or, would crystal palace have won the league if they won all 38 games?

I doubt it. We would have to play with a very deep defence due to Carra's lack of pace.
He went at the right time.

Carra hardly ever scored goals but this season Skrtel got 7. At the same time with Carra in the team we may of leaked a lot less.

Personally i'm going to vote YES.

Gotta disagree Ken, Carra never had pace but has always adapted his style to make the most of his strengths. I for one think a pairing of Carra and Skrtel could and would have delivered the title.

Hindsight is wonderful. News Flash! If Carra had played and SG slipped like he did against the chaves, the result would still have been the same because the last time I checked, we lost the league by 2 points (lost 3 against chelsea) and not on goal difference. Pointless question IMO.

Its impossible to answer this question. No one knows what Carragher's performances would have been like another year older.

Come on Benny no need to be sarcastic mate. I thought you where better than that.
It's a tough question. Carras lack of pace and goals but far superior organisation skills and an overall better defender.
Vs
Skrtles goals and err he's a bit quicker. But for me he drops so deep anyway it makes no difference.

For me carra would have saved us a few goals leaked and been worth at least 3 points more over a season. Therefore champions.

It's nothing personal Mikey. Just, these questions really p me off and are not needed nor can be answered with any logic. Just my opinion, I apologise for expressing it.

Thierry Henry said that Carra was the fastest player he ever played against. Mental speed is of more importance for a CB.

No. Carra was past it had been for probably some time. It is time we look forward.

18 May 2014 22:02:44
Eds heard that we've held talks with Jordan Henderson's brother. A source close to the player revealed "the Duracell Bunny is open to the move"

Sorry couldn't resist!

I didn't know that Dirk Kuijt was Hendo's brother - their Dad must have had a bike which would make him Dutch as all Dutch have (at least) one bike!

Ha.haha you guys are so funny. ha

18 May 2014 21:27:48
Have to take my hat off to you Ed's, how you are not going insane answering the same questions over and over again is quite amazing!

{Ed002's Note - Most went insane some time ago.}

18 May 2014 20:13:27
So going through the banter page and loads on giving out about Migs, however not too many coming up with the name of a keeper who
Great Shot Stopper
Commands and Organises defenders
Comes for ball and crosses
And fantastic Distribution.

So who do you want guys, who has all this, who do you want between the sticks next season so you never have to complain again about the Pools goalkeeper?

Petr Cech Will leave chelsea this summer I think we should move for him.

{Ed002's Note - Is this part of the Victor Moses, Ashley Cole and Thorgan Hazard package deal?}

Petr cech would b good but Wudnt come
To us, it's bergovic or vorm from the prem, talking the Cardiff keeper being Available, don't know about ruddy and Celtic keeper Forster has looked good when I have seen him play.
Eds do u think we will go for a
Direct replacement or
Competition?

Take Moses out of the package and add Cech.

Hazard, A Cole and Cech.

That'll do

Ruddy has his worst games against suarez, we get him and that would erase that problem.

Plus another english international, we seem to like them.

I like diego Lopez.
Salvatore Sirigu is very good
Neither would come though

I'm happy to stick with Mignolet anyhow.

Bobatron, PSG are interested in Hugo Lloris from Spurs and Sirigu could become available this summer.

That's in interesting development, I had no idea.
He would be a keeper I'd look at investing in if he's available.

18 May 2014 20:13:27
So going through the banter page and loads on giving out about Migs, however not too many coming up with the name of a keeper who
Great Shot Stopper
Commands and Organises defenders
Comes for ball and crosses
And fantastic Distribution.

So who do you want guys, who has all this, who do you want between the sticks next season so you never have to complain again about the Pools goalkeeper?

No-one matches that perfectly, obviously.

The closest available is Begovic. But looks like that ship has sailed.

18 May 2014 19:44:42
dont no if its been asked edds sorry if it is but are they any word on Emre Can

{Ed002's Note - Never heard of him.}

18 May 2014 20:08:05
You don't know him Ed002? He's that man with a face, some hair and occasionally facial hair. Known to breathe general air on a reasonably frequent basis, living positions include standing, sitting, lying (usually when sleeping) and crouching. Eats general food and drinks liquid in various forms. No special superpowers.

18 May 2014 17:58:49
Why are we looking to replace migs I go on holiday for a week and all of a sudden we need a new keeper??

18 May 2014 18:54:17
Haven't seen all the mistakes he's made this season, then?

I would say he made less individual errors than pepe did in his last season.

He needs to improve with crosses and corners imo . good shot stopping is not the only area that a goalkepper should be strong in

Right ok. fair point what about all the saves he's made that's kept us in games maybe having someone to challenge him would do him the world of good but to just out replace him is harsh

Right ok. fair point what about all the saves he's made that's kept us in games maybe having someone to challenge him would do him the world of good but to just out replace him is harsh

I think he needs competition

I think he needs another season. Especially another season with a reshuffled defence in front of him.
If he had say carra in that back 4 the defence wouldn't have been so vulnerable and his weaknesses might not have mattered as much.
Everyone's in agreement his an excellent shot stopper, he has a lot to work on though and I don't think it's worth writing him off just yet.

That's the problem of being a GK ramy, you fail once and you're hauled over the coals whereas a forward can have a 20- 40% strike rate on goals to shots and be deemed world class!

Goes with the territory, but he does have to improve his decision making and management of his back 4. the lack of confidence in each other is palpable, but I think he can come good given decent coaching. that's the change for me that needs to be made

Enrique, skrtle and Johnson would never listen to orders from mignolet, the manager or anyone so it's a bit unfair to say migs doesn't organise them properly. They just play their own game.

"Enrique, skrtle and Johnson would never listen"

Good point. Didn't Carra say something along those lines?

{Ed001's Note - on more than one occasion he has said it, both publicly recently and privately for a long time now.}

Ramy2007 all of Liverpools transfer decisions have been made when you went on holidays for a week

18 May 2014 17:13:25
Ed, reading articles and hearing fans' opinions, it seems like rodgers is not a good admirer as thought of simon mignolet. I really think his one-one is probably the best in the premier league but then he did make a lot of mistakes that resulted into us conceding a lot of goals this season. What do you think?

{Ed001's Note - I believe he is not impressed with Mignolet's distribution under pressure, in particular. Also his ability to organise the defence. Added to that his mistakes when flapping at some crosses and occasional lapses, it is no surprise he is looking elsewhere for a keeper that fits the desired type. If Mignolet had been solid, I am sure his awful distribution would be overlooked and just worked on in the hope of fixing it. Goalkeeper is the most important position on the pitch though, you can't have one there that the defence is not completely confident in.}

Ed001, did you know why Begovic wasn't interested in Liverpool, I thought he would jump at the chance.

{Ed001's Note - no I don't mate sorry. I was told it was his wife's decision, but I am not sure if that was a joke or not, so I don't know for sure.}

The only area I really think Mignolet is excellent in is shot stopping. Outside of that I wouldn't be opposed to bringing in a new keeper, but there are other areas that need attention first.

I would assume if we do get a new keeper it will be late on a list on new arrivals.

Ed1 is Rodgers interested in Vorm to replace Mignolet?

{Ed001's Note - I don't know sorry.}

Good luck to him trying to find a keeper good on the ball when it's passed to him from an person like skrtel with an attacker merely metres away.

Migs distribution has always been poor.Rodgers should have taken a closer look before purchasing. Only has himself to blame there.

"Only has himself to blame there."

Transfer committee decides, not Rodgers.

By all accounts, Rodgers wanted other keepers ahead of Migs.

I would assume rodgers would have some sort of say in the transfers. If he's simply been bent over and told, this is who we're going to buy. He needs to be stronger. So I'll stick with my, 'he's only go himself to blame'' this time for being so weak

18 May 2014 16:25:20
We must have some budget for new signings! According to the mirror, in the last few days we are going for lallana, lovren, can, shaqiri, hazard, carvalho, moreno, bony and sanchez. Somone at fsg must have a blank chequebook! Hope the rumours about sanchez are true though as the guy is class and can play a variety of positions. I heard that him an messi don't get on but there loss is anithers gain. if he is available for less than lallana then it tells its own story about over inflated english teams valuations.

Haha the mirror want us to fail the ffp rules.

And they're correct. Haemorrhaging over 4 million each month and still looking to sign more players. Have you considered loan signings?

18 May 2014 16:03:44
Just found out an incredible stat! I couldn't believe it, All banging about Mignolet and his distribution, well I found out on whoscored.com that his distribution has 67.3% success while Pepe Reina (who is known as one of the best for his ball playing skills ) has 63.8 % success! Call it what you want to call it, but when Reina has worse distribution than Mignolet in Serie A which is much slower tempo that the PL then calling Mignolet's distribution awful is a MYTH. Reina has much better technique than Mignolet, therefore when he gives the ball away it looks better? that doesn't mean he actually gives the ball away less than Mignolet but actually more. Its a fact.

For me only people who dislike him will want mignolet out, can't count the times he saved our backside any more this season but his mistakes are to be counted on 1 hand! In his first season, taking a huge step from Sunderland to Liverpool he has been very good. If BR doesn't like him I hope the next one he brings in can actually save us points this like Mignolet has done many many times this season.

I like mignolet but you have to take into account the amount of long passes pepe picked players out with. He attempted these balls a lot more where as most of mignolets completed distribution was short balls to the back 5 (including Gerrard) as I said though I do like mignolet and wouldn't be pushed to replace him with say begovic who I rate on a similar level

How many clean sheets did Reina keep each season compared to Mignolet?
How many times did he win Golden Glove? Or Runner Up?
Reina was much more decisive, his throwing and kicking was excellent. I think he just lost his "Mojo". having seen the likes of Alonso, Mascherano, Torres, leave (players who were at the time, arguably, one of the best if not the best in their respective roles/position) not to mention Stevie getting on, Luyt leaving and seeing the likes of Poulsen, Konchelsky, Carroll, Charlie (couldn't believe this one) Adam, Downing. Even Enrique and Assaidi. Borini.
Of course guys morale etc would've been smashed to pieces, but maybe now if BR chose to have him back, I think it's possible we'd see the Reina we saw for first 3 years of his tenure. Reina was good enough to get assists! Lol

Good post Koto,
Like you said Migs has saved us on several occasions this season.
I personally feel he set up this season for us with the penalty save against Stoke.
Had he not save d that, and we had not won that game, I feel this season would of panned out a lot differently.

{Ed001's Note - how is it a good post? It is a meaningless stat! How many of those passes were to a man within 10 yards of him? How many were simple rolled out passes to the centre backs or Gerrard dropping deep in front of him? Because Reina very rarely got to play those, plus they are pointless to count as evidence of his distribution being decent, when any Sunday league level player could have managed those.}

I love migs. Since pepe and dudek, it's so nice to have a keeper come and punch/catch.

67.3% is awful.

The main problem people have with Mignolet is his communication with the defenders, I don't agree that it's not something we can't solve.

Why does comparing his stats with Reina prove your point. Reina has been passed it for a couple of seasons.

You seem pretty good at pissing everyone off from what I've seen in the past week or so. I would recommend you think before you post mate because you'll get to the point of no return where in everyone will just go after you no matter what you say.

Any Liverpool fan can see that his distribution is poor, comparing him to Reina doesn't make it any worse. Liverpool need a commanding keeper who can command the box and distribute the ball well, Mignolet is poor at both, however a very good shot stopper and nobody can argue with that

Sorry but being a good shot stopper should be a given for a bloody keeper. You can not even compare him with Reina who is by far a superior keeper. Reina commands the area, the defence look to have confidence with him and IMO would have been worth another3 points last season. Anyone see another westerweld in our current no 1

Hi Ed001,
I liked the part of the post that stated he had saved our asses on a few occasions this season.
I am of the same opinion as you as to his distribution is poor.

I think far too many fans here have completely forgotten Reinas last 3 years at the club

{Ed002's Note - Don't you think it great the loyalty the fans show to the players who have left - wanting Mascherano back, Torres, Alonso, Pepe, Joey Barton..

Migs is like all GKs, imperfect. He has his strengths and his weaknesses. The good thing is his strengths have kept us in games and without those saves, we don`t win those games. The most important thing is not just the saves, it`s when he made them which where during the time we were under pressure (at Saints, pk save v Stoke, City at home in the 1st half, at Villa, I could go on) and needed to hold the lead or not concede. His faults are there for all to see and needs to be more vocal and get in the faces of the defenders if they`re not doing their jobs. This will come w/ coaching and confidence and a willingness to get better. As for Reina, he wasn`t great when he first arrived and made mistakes that almost cost us the FA Cup in 2006 but w/ support from the fans and a well-drilled defence by Rafa, he got better and better b4 becoming over-confident and thought he was bigger than the club IMO hence, got shipped out. In summary, Migs is a good GK because he wouldn`t be here if he wasn`t BUT needs personal improvement and most importantly, support from the fans and a better communication from a well-drilled defence. Let`s not give up on him as we didn`t give up on Pepe when he was here.

Got to agree with ED001 there; 98.3% of stats can be interpreted anyway you want!

Reina's throwing and kicking when the ball was passed back to him or moving from defending to attacking was superb.

But we play a different way now.

But Migs doesn't possess that level and can't see him getting to that level; more worryingly would be if 3 (or this season 2) of the 4 defenders don't listen - I knew about Enrique but not the others - apart from the Ed's reminding us of Skrtel's preferred trick of dropping deep.

19 May 2014 09:44:10
Ed02 - In my defense I only wanted Mascherano back purely on objective reasons. I still think he is a top class player, irrespective of how he left the club.

Reina hasn't exactly been loyal in as much as Suarez hasn't been loyal. Constantly angling for a move to Barcelona does not meet my criteria for loyalty, although the club was in a bad situation if he was truly loyal he would have kept his mouth shut about the move and done it privately.

There is no doubt that Reina was excellent for us, but the key term is 'was'. In his last couple of seasons he was making a lot of mistakes & was constantly bailed out by second rate strikers. He was very vocal though and it's no coincidence that we've conceded more this year without him governing Skrtel's at best infantile decisions.

I think it's far too early to make a call on Mignolet. He ticks all the boxes in terms of natural attributes for a goalkeeper, all he needs is a commanding CB in front of him (Sakho perhaps) & to get some confidence himself.

Frankly, some of the fans on here are way too quick to write someone off which led to a lot of red faces when it comes to Henderson & Lucas. Although Lucas is probably going to be moved on it's more to do with the fact that he is far too good to be on the bench & having Stevie still playing means he has no chance of holding down a constant role in his best position.

19 May 2014 09:44:31
Ed02

Nothing like those red rose tinted specs of denial we reds are often guilty of wearing

18 May 2014 15:59:27
I'm fascinated by eds 002's revelation regarding Bergovic (stoke keeper) rebuffing us last summer and the inference that he may do once more if we go in for him again. Admit is the best keeper in the land and top 5 in world football and with him in the onion bag our defence would be a lot more confident. I like Migs but if there's a chance we can get Asmir and get good money for Migs then I say it's a no brainer. Eds 002 do u know the reason behind why Bergovic turned us down and why he would again? Maybe holding out for another team possibly? I'm a first time poster and I hope this is the first of many. Just wanted to say Thankyou to eds 001 & 002 (and the others) for all their hard work keeping us entertained and informed over the years. Please continue as there's fans all over the world that rely on you guys. let's hope we can go one better next season and get out of this supposed champions league 'group of death' everyone is putting us in. A happy summer to all, enjoy the World Cup and let's hope Suarez doesent do many interviews for the Uruguayan media!

{Ed002's Note - Begovic was too expensive for Liverpool last summer. Begovic will likely move this summer with Real Madrid, Milan and Borussia Monchengladbach showing some interest.}

18 May 2014 17:34:27
I second Ed02, Begovic is a top class keeper.

{Ed001's Note - not often I agree with you Harry, but I do this time, Begovic is the best keeper in the Prem. Though Courtois will change that when he moves into Chelsea's backline.}

18 May 2014 20:04:28
Curtois is on another level, The lad will be a Legend. I never thought GK cost an awful lot of money.
TBF, We should have bought Begovic last season instead of Mig
Mignolet needs improvement, In fact significant.
Begovic doesn't need anything

Courtois is something else I must admit. Just Brilliant!

18 May 2014 15:39:15
Hello Eds and all posters

Reading so many articles about leaving 14 players from Liverpool squad I started to be confused. What is wrong? We finished 2nd in the league, is it really so bad result to send so many players out? Especially I do not understand mentioned names like Lucas, Skrtel, Agger, Ilori, Borini.(I would keep them) Not sure about Alberto (what happened to him.?) (do you have Eds any information about them like they want more time on the pitch or problems with coach.?) I understand departures of Cissokho, Moses, Coates, Enrique, Pepe, Aissadi, Kelly, and Aspas. I would keep most of the team together if possible and add in only LB (Ricardo Rodriguez, Bertrand, Rojo. ), 2Wingers (Lallana, Shaqiri, Kono, Tello.) and maybe ST (Lukaku, Bony.) I know this is not Football Manager and the reality is not so simple. Many people say we have weak defense and they want to rebuild all defense. In the beginning of season our results were mostly 1:0. Then we started hooray offensive tactics which is fine, looks good but we forgot to defend. Defense starts at striker, it is not only about defenders. Maybe it is not all only about "poor" defenders we have. We have so many central defenders so why buying another one? Agger, Skrtel, Toure and Sakho are good enough for me. On the right side we can play Flanno as first right full back and Glen as back up (yes his wage is too high for back up but there is only one year left on his contract). Left back could be Rojo and Glenn and Flanno can play there as well when needed. Midfield with Gerrard, Henderson and Coutinho is good, back up with Allen, Lucas and Suso looks solid to me. We can have problems maybe with too high dependency on SAS. We need back up for them. Maybe Fabio shows his quality during pre season but I do not think he is goal scoring machine. He is more hard worker what is very useful as well. That's why I want to see Lukaku (There are some articles we are watching his situation, is it true?) in our team next season but I do not think he will be cheap and we cannot give him first team regular as he wants. And I would give Mignolet another season to prove he is at similar level like Curtosis :). So I think our team is really good and all we need is maybe 4 signings.

Sorry for my English.

I don't know where you're from but you're bang on the money for me. 100% agree.

None of our CB's are good enough apart from Sakho and Ilori hasn't had a chance yet but I think he'll be good, we need a LB desperately and Mignolet is and never will be anywhere near Courtoisis level.

I think you make some good points there mate and far more sensible than some things I've been reading on here! I'd be very wary of letting so many of the experienced players go at once

18 May 2014 15:23:03
Hay Guys

Dose anyone know if bild newspaper is actually reliable?

If so well done to lfc for keeping that under wraps. Let's hope he Can have a good impact on the squad.

I wouldn't personally say any newspaper is a reliable source in footballing transfers

A very reliable newspaper. Only slight problem is Bayern have a buy back clause but at the end of the day I suppose its the players choice.

{Ed002's Note - It is a little more complicated than that - as it is time constrained.}

18 May 2014 13:15:08
I am hearing lots of rumours going of around of Liverpool targets; many of so being attacking midfielders/wingers, left-backs, centre-backs, goalkeepers and defensive midfielders, do you know what positions we are looking at and what positions are we likely to improve

{Ed002's Note - Read the posts.}

18 May 2014 11:37:50
eDs are we looking at moving suso on. Would be a great shame if we did!

{Ed002's Note - Read the posts or try the search function.}

18 May 2014 11:00:29
Don't think it's been asked certainly can't find an answer. do Liverpool have any plan to have someone from the club at the world cup with Suarez as the last couple times he's been away he's given some fairly embarrassing interviews in relation to the club and after what he's said in the last week or two it would be completely embarrassing to have him at the world cup and come out and say he's decided he wants to leave and doesn't want to return to anfield.

{Ed002's Note - I know it was suggested last summer in the States and the club, I assume, decided against it. Suarez will have had the riot act read to him about last summer and hopefully he will think before he speaks. There is always an issue with the press asking leading questions, and this is much more the case in the Spanish speaking parts of South America where they would like to see him move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus.}

18 May 2014 15:33:52
Ed02 do you think he would have to hand in a transfer request to leave the club?

{Ed002's Note - I really don't know Raj.}

18 May 2014 12:01:53
Was just listening to Tim Sherwood on goals on Sunday and while I don't agree with a lot of what he did at spurs listening to him there he seems very passionate about developing the youth. not going to happen I know but I just thought to myself getting someone like him in as one of the youth coaches would only be positive. having someone that has managed a top club and brought through youth combined with Rodgers openness to instill youth into the squad I think it would be a good match. Well this was just my thought listening to him!

I thought he was a tool when he was at Spurs but towards the end of his tenure there and now he has been relieved of his duties I've began to like him a little now for some reason!

We have outstanding coaches at Youth Levels.

Sherwood is a polka-dot, I'll never understand why English clubs in particular give managers jobs to people and then wonder why they fail.

I thought he was way out of line at spurs and thought he acted like he had been the best manager in the world for 20 years not a man in his first job. But in fairness to him his principles were right players like sandro got far to comfortable and he brought in bentaleb and Harry Kane both of whom did quite well under him. I know Liverpool have good youth coaches but I I think he does have a bright future in management as long as he learns to hold his mouth a bit

{Ed001's Note - Bentaleb was awful, week in, week out, flat out rubbish, yet he wouldn't drop him until it became a joke. His 'principles' were simply wanting players like that, who had no ability but would run around all day for him. No way on earth would I want him anywhere near our youth team. It would be back to the bad old days of players being picked on their power and size, rather than skill and technique.}

18 May 2014 10:43:56
Hi eds

A question for Ed001 about Mignolet (Sorry I realise you will be getting a lot of questions on the topic at this time!) other than Sergio of Celta Vigo which goalkeepers do you know of that we have looked at? I know you mentioned we have looked at a lot but we there any that we have declared an interest in/contemplated a bid for?

Thanks

{Ed001's Note - I listed a few I could remember off the top of my head in response to another post, this is something that got missed a week or so ago, when I mentioned the interest in Sergio. I would have been able to remember more of the names I was given then, but my memory is not the best. Personally, I expect it to come down to finances, we simply might not be able to stretch to a keeper on top of the other positions, though I know it is seen as an extremely important position by Rodgers.}

But Ed don't you think some part of our defensive problems can be eradicated with a more commanding goal keeper hence proving that to be a key area which should be financed ahead of certain other areas. Just trying to get into the mind of the transfer committee haha :)
But just so you know I'm with sticking to Simon and him improving whilst he's with us.
Cheers

{Ed001's Note - I have no idea how the transfer committee will see it, but great Liverpool sides of the past built from the keeper.}

Built as in building an attack or the team itself?
I agree on the fact that, on a long run, it is best to build a team around it's defence(gk incl), however attacking you wish to be.

Just to have a taste of your opinion Ed if you could get any Keeper, who would you go for? I myself would go for Lloris. Think he'd be a terrific fit for us.

18 May 2014 10:48:05
Good morning Eds and fellow reds

Lots of rumours as always about incoming and outgoing players. Imo we don't need megga changes other than the few posistions mentioned by the Eds.

Im inclined to beleive there is some legs in the Emre Can reports. aswell as Bertrand and of course Lallana.

Eds I no what youve said about Emre Can and it being complicated but could there be spme truth in it.

18 May 2014 09:56:10
Was anyone else hoping for Hull (being underdogs) to win yesterday.

But was happy for the Arsenal lads that post on our page as they deserve it?

Yeah, they deserved to win that.

Ye I was quite happy for arsenal although I did want them to loose just from a selfish point of view I think next season is going to be tight for top 4 and winning that might give them a lot of confidence going into. but we should only concentrate on ourselves and going into next season we should have just as much confidence and if we sign the right players and continue the way we have we should fear no one

I am made up for Arsenal. The way that they have stood by Arsene Wenger is a testament to the integrity that the club is built upon. 9 years is too long for the Gooners to go without a trophy.

18 May 2014 11:52:05
Maybe shut mourinho up for a little bit with his desrespect of other managers.

18 May 2014 09:04:59
Ed001, I saw you mentioned the club are interested in Sergio of Celta de Vigo. I just wanted to know if he's any good. I actually watched a lot of Celta this season and Yoel Rodriguez seemed to be their first choice keeper. A quick search on Sergio and I found he is just 5ft10. In keeper terms that's tiny. How do you rate him? Or if you've not seen him is he highly rated? He's 27 so no chance he'll grow any taller!
Yoel at 6ft1 and 25 years old is taller, younger and clearly preffered by Celta to Sergio. Should we really be targetting a keeper not good enough to start for relegation fodder in La Liga as Mingolets replacement? Back up, maybe, but Mingolet hasn't been that bad has he? Apologies if I'm jumping the gun and this Sergio has just missed a lot of the season through injury and is actually quite good. This just seems a weird one to me.

{Ed001's Note - I have no idea mate, I only know he is one of the ones we have shown interest in. All I know about him is that he had a starring role in one match against someone like Real Madrid and stirred up a lot of interest. I would think it is simply the fact that we have other positions that demand priority over a keeper, in terms of bringing in players. He is probably seen as the cheap option. Oh and they are hardly relegation fodder, they finished 9th! It is most likely he will be replacing Pinto at Barca anyway, as back up to Ter Stegen, I believe.}

18 May 2014 09:25:04
Sorry mate, he is awful. There's a reason he is Celta's 3rd choice GK. there is a 17 year old ahead of him and he hasn't been injured and has just played 4 games in 2 full seasons. If anything like this happens, BR should never be allowed to even speak of transfers. He is looking for a GK with a better command of his area? LOL, and this midget who actually is no good at all will solve the problems in the PL where you basically play Giants weak in weak out. Good idea.

Fair enough Ed. Sorry about the relegation fodder slur. I knew they'd had a good season but wasn't aware it was that good. You are correct, Sergio was MOTM against Real Madrid in a 2-0 win for Celta. I didn't personally see the match, but did hear about it.
A tad harsh there Koto. I'm 5ft10! ;)

{Ed001's Note - only a fool bases their judgement of a player on his height. He is looking for a keeper who will organise the defence and can distribute the ball better. I have no idea why Koto is gibbering on about command of area being related to height etc. Just typical English mentality, if you aren't big enough you apparently can't play football. Some of the best goalies in the world have been under 6ft tall.}

Maybe it is just routine scouting. We were maybe scouting someone else during the game and he just happened to catch our attention.

Certainly I see no reason to replace Mignolet; especially with someone like Sanchez.

Good point Ed001. I seem to recall a Mexican keeper who was about 5ft8 playing at a recentWorld Cup and he was easily the best player In their team. It does seem to help keepers if they are taller, but smaller keepers like Vorm and Casillas seem to be more agile and better on the deck. I can't see gow it can relate to commanding the area. that's about strength, organisation and decision making. Height only really affects you if you wander off your line, hence why the best keepers in the world don't need to be tall. If this Sergio is deemed good enough by goalkeeping scouts, who am I to disagree?

{Ed001's Note - commanding the area is more about confidence and control. If a keeper is confident enough to come for crosses and order his defenders about, like all keepers used to, then his height shouldn't matter.
He already has the advantage over attackers by being able to use his arms and raise them above his head, he shouldn't need to be 8ft tall as well. He just needs to be brave, decisive and loud, so the defenders know exactly what he is doing.
I have seen as many tall keepers lobbed as short ones. Usually the shorter ones can jump higher anyway. The same with height in the out field players, the best headers of the ball are not the tallest.
Tim Cahill was under 6ft and could beat just about anyone in the air at his peak. Suarez wins more than his fair share of headers. There is a lot more to winning the ball in the air than being tall, otherwise Crouch would get 80 headed goals a season!}

18 May 2014 10:38:20
i am not even English, and I have watched celta for years and that you say I base my opinion on his hight is so far from the truth as you can get :/ But he is not agile at all so his height clearly doesn't help him! He is glued to his line.

Have you seen him ed? I have, he makes Brad Jones look like Casillas and want to know why? Because he is very slow and can't jump, also the 2 times I have seen him in the last 3 years the team was parking 3 busses. And there was nothing in his play to suggest he was comfortable with the ball either. On Mignolet he is a huge downgrade in every single department apart from distribution and that's just a maybe.

{Ed001's Note - I have already said I have only seen him play once and have no idea what he is like. What I was pointing out is your bitching about him being short is irrelevant.}

18 May 2014 11:46:02
actually it's not irrelevant because he can't jump. If he could Jump then it would be irrelevant! I am pretty sure our GK coach is the problem. And I'm not bitching, I am just concerned because there is a very good reason sergio is celtavigos 3rd choice. Ochoa isn't the tallest eitherbut he is very agile and has very good jumping height!

{Ed001's Note - maybe you should have said that instead of waffling on about his height then?}

Maybe he would be a replacement for Brad? Just a thought.

Red Rum

Ray Clemence: 6 ft tall.

Best goalkeeper LFC have ever had. By a mile.

Anticipation, agility, speed, vertical jump. No great height.

Would walk into the LFC first team and the England national team today.

He would not have given up the goals to Eto'o or Negredo in December, which ultimately cost us. Too quick and too good for that.

Not knocking Simon; he has done his best for us. But nowadays far too much is made of height - no question.

18 May 2014 05:22:05
Emre Can would be excellent, young and can play defensive midfield but very skilful and attack minded but Ed02 reckons it's unlikely so I'll stick with that for now.

18 May 2014 09:45:57
Wohoo, let's replace Lucas's experience with a 20 year old who will no doubt need 2-3 seasons to settle!

BR what are you doing? Sign 2-3 top players and stop screwing around, The Emre and Parejo of this world will not improve us one bit, why waste 25 million on them for no reason at all.? Parejo is not even better than Suso who is much younger and free, Emre Can is one of the most undisciplined DM I have seen for a long time. I can't believe he will sell Agger and keep Skrtel either. And keep playing Johnson and Skrtel together, its like there's no defensive football knowledge at all, those 2 can't play together, we will keep leaking goals next season as well by the looks of it. I am already loosing my head for next season. It will obviously be a transition bull again! With a lot of ins and outs. Which is obviously the last thing we need in my opinion! But the difference will be he will have more crappy players to choose from :) Awesome stuff. Lucas & Agger make a bit to much money, have to be replaced by young cheap players (wages) who will come sit on our bench and sold again next season. Look at Aspas and Alberto 99% both will have nothing to do with Liverpool next season.

Can is a good player and has the potential to be outstanding. But if last summer taught us anything, it is that we need to but quality over quantity, something that BR himself admitted, but then we are linked with quantity over quality.

Kotomoto, I am assuming then that you have never seen either of Can or Parejo play? Both would improve us greatly.

18 May 2014 12:12:58
Kotomoto

I don't wanna start an argument, But after your long post, I have just one question to you.
What does Lucas offer, that Liverpool need to keep him desperately.
He hasn't played for last 10 games and can't see him playing next season with Gerard playing at DLP.
How is he better than any other DM?

I just need your honest opinion.

18 May 2014 12:37:17
Actually it seems you're the one who have never seen them play, because I have seen them many times.

Improve us greatly? That proves not only you haven't watched them, but clearly underrate our own players! Parejo would cost a lot and start over coutinho & Sterling and that wouldn't improve us greatly at all actually. Then Emre who would be a back up for Gerrard will probably not even make the bench most games, that will probably improve us greatly ;) He would also replace Lucas, but in reality we need a box to box midfielder to those we have not replacing one of the 4 we have when BR likes to use 3 most games.

Harry, can I ask what you see in Emre Can so that he is worth selling Lucas over?

18 May 2014 14:59:03
Agre e with your reply REAL AG, we do need quality over quantity, hopefully we can unearth more gems like corthinio, flanagan, and iust trust the scouts and hopefully we use whatever money we do get extremely wisely :)

18 May 2014 17:15:43
The Real AG

You never get my point, I haven't watched that lad ever. My question was on Lucas, I don't care whose the replacement, Coz, anyone would be better of Lucas, He contributes nothing apart from being a loyal Player to the club.
I don't see any point in keeping Lucas, If you buy another DM ( which I believe would take the burden of Gerrard with Quality)

18 May 2014 04:30:20
With all these Manc banners attacking Our Captain may the kopites show their support to the lads not just Stevie.
We must not let them single him out, we are a team. No one shld walk alone esp Stevie.

We go again! Let a plane fly over pre season and more so our first game. We go again!. Even if we win 60 trophies in the coming years back to back even. Let it be known, we go again.

Like the warrior ad goes "we came not to play." We go again lads. The glory days are here.

I'd rather we left the plane-flying malarkey to the lesser clubs. Let them keep their petulant gimmicks and lack of class.

Exactly blocked clearly shows how bad there season was that they celebrated us not winning the title

They don't have anything to celebrate about themselves so will use that as a relief to hide the pain of their abysmal season. But let them be, the start of next season we will have the last laugh when they watch us on telly Wednesday/Thursday nights with a deep, deep sickening pain.

18 May 2014 01:15:49
Firstly well done to Athletico. Absolutely fantastic that they've broken the boring Barca/Madrid trend and won the Spanish title. I've been backing them all season and even have a nice Bet from day one of them clinching the champions league.
But here's my point,, Barca and Real both smashing the 100 goal mark and Athletico only scoring 77. They've won that league with their defence conceding 15 goals less than the other 2. We need to strengthen the back 4 and that has to be priority. I know it's a totally different league and don't get me wrong I'm loving the attacking football were playing, probably the most exciting team in the world at the moment, but it has to be addressed in the summer. We let in 3 less than Hull this season who very neerly got relegated. The Adam Lallana type of signings are luxurys whilst we have a defence that is bottom half of the table calibre. I hope we get a couple of world class defenders, just too many mistakes from Skirts Agger Toure Johnson we need a shake up at the back because we're on the brink of something great here with this manager and young team, let's not let it pass us by

18 May 2014 02:26:49
Well said.

IMO: 1)we need to ship GJ and play Flanno as right back
2) we need a bloody good left back.
3) we need to be a lot more streetwise as a team. I I've seeing us smash the likes of Cardiff 3-6, but it's wreckless and unprofessional. We should learn how to kill the game once you're 2 or 3 up.

I really don't believe we can compare the style of plays here,
Liverpool play a high entertaining brand of football, which would often see teams conceding goals .
take for eg barca they can't defend on corners at all. I think attack is the right way to go, but we have to sort out the method for killing games after going 3-0 up 2-0 up . this season I think it was a very new style of play for our defence to adjust to, remember we won first three games of the campaingn 1-0 and it was a masterclass in defending . so you just cannot say we cannot defend, after all it was the same defence . but then post suarez, we adopted a super attacking technique commiting men forward, so when it worked we scored, when it didn't we became susceptible to counter . I donot think Liverpool conceded a lot of goals from setplays and dead balls, we couldn't defend on counters and that is because of the nature of our game.
i hope BR doesn't change it, becuase I rather score 100 and concede 50, rather than conceding 30 and scoring 60, yes we can do better defending, but I don't think we need to be defensive tactically at all

They won the league because they won more games than the other two. had they been equal then they would have lost on head to head and then if that had been equal they'd have lost on goal difference.
Man City won because they too had more points scored more and conceded less!
Yes we need to strengthen our defence but it is only one factor in the equation and certainly not the determinant factor. points are

Agree and have posted similarly saying we don't need fantasy football buys we need less glamorous but equally impressive defensive signings. The defence is key next season as we are alreDy there going forward. Defo go for a LW and I would like a back up striker especially if we ship aspas as I believe we should but defence wholesale needs looking at from GK, LB, RB and a DC

Good post mate.

Red Rum

18 May 2014 00:28:16
Javi Martinez, Alexis Sanchez, Adam Lallana, Ryan Bertrand.
What a summer that would be!

If you're dreaming like that, why would you dream for Bertrand?

Yeah then next summer we can give UEFA £50m in FFP fines.

Great