Liverpool Banter Archive January 01 2015

01 Jan 2015 22:50:09
Eds fellow reds, I'm watching the game on sky .out of all the players BR has bought can anybody name me one quality player .the only one that got some quality is COUTINHO and he only cost £9 million .the rest are crap to average .how many of our squad could make first team of any of top 5 teams in the league .i think none

I think given playing time Markovich, Moreno, Manquillio, Sakho, Can, Lallana, Origi will be decent players.
Sturridge, Coutinho are pretty decent too.

Aspas, Ilori, Alberto, Balotelli, Lovren, Borini, Lambert are not so great but some didn't settle, some don't fit our system and some are suffering from stepping up to Liverpool.

We have a more than capable squad and Rodgers knows how best to utilize it but for some unknown reason seems to consistently revert back to tactics, formations, lineups, sub's, that disrupt any forward momentum we create.
Gerrard does have an affect obviously, as Rodgers seems unable to leave him out for a run of games. .we have to tools, Rodgers just need to use them efficiently and consistently for a stint.

Sturrdige

Sorry mate but you can't judge Origi .he never kick a ball, the French league is pants remember la tallic pongelle bruno rubbish they were the best French players . and the worst liverpool ones

{Ed002's Note - You should get down to Anfield and burn some effigies of him - let him know what to expect from the world's most fickle fans.}

01 Jan 2015 22:37:33
its all over the BBC now, he's leaving at the end of the season,
He won't go to another English club and itll be announced in the morning
Thanks for the memories lad!
YNWA

01 Jan 2015 22:18:53
It'll be announced tomorrow that Sevie's leaving.

What an absolute star and legend of the club. He'll be remembered as one of the greatest to ever pull on a red shirt.

Thank's for all the memories, you were one of us, a local lad living the dream of representing this great club and city.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

01 Jan 2015 22:38:45
I thought that he had already left!

01 Jan 2015 23:01:04
Sad day, not the player he was but time catches up with all of us. A true legend and will be remembered as one of the best liverpool players ever.

Think the slip against Chelsea hurt him more than anyone and he doesn't seem to have recovered but still the best leader we have.

I fear for liverpool going forward, fear sterling may not sign his contract and things may get worse before better.

Thank you for the memories Stevie G.

Will always be a legend, but he could see himself that he couldn't keep up and be the player that he was, I'm glad that Gerrard has made the decision rather than the decision made for him. I think he can no longer be an automatic starter and needs to be dropped to the bench.

01 Jan 2015 20:39:26
LA galaxy in for Gerrard on a pre-contract and I hope he goes for it. He is a legend for Liverpool and does not deseerve the grief he is getting from fans. I personally would have not played him till Xmas given how deflated he was aftee finishing 2nd and the world cup. Go for it stevey. Ynwa!! Oh and get this. He'll be loaned out to napoli if benitez is still there next season. Similar to the lampard situation with city. If benitez isn't at napoli, AC Milan it is.
Mirror reporting shaquri from bayern is moving to us. £23mill.

{Ed002's Note - I would think the chances of Gerrard being in Italy next season are about zip.}

01 Jan 2015 20:09:54
Evening eds, several twitter pages have said stevie will announce tomorrow that he's chosen to join la galaxy at the end of season? Is this true? Or just made up as usual? Cheers

{Ed002's Note - RTP.}

I think it will be the best thing for the club if Gerrard goes, our best performance of the season was Mon night without Gerrard and Henderson in the middle he slows the attack down and is not good enough defensively, also our best performance last year Spurs away with Henderson in the middle without Gerrard. For some reason Henderson was shunted out to the right today and our passing was a lot slower with Gerrard in the middle. Great servant but it's time to move in without Gerrard because he could cost Rodgers his job as well if he keeps playing him.

01 Jan 2015 21:21:10
Have to concur. He should be used as an impact sub in the front 3. Leicester were walking through our midfield today

01 Jan 2015 21:41:04
Thank you Stevie YNWA

Stevie G, if you can hear me. It`s not been good, not even great watching you play for our great club. It`s been freaking AWESOME and a complete blast al these years watching play for LFC. Some of the memories you have left are indelible and we become watershed moments in our club`s folklore. If indeed it is true that you have chosen another path in your career, I cannot begin to thank you for all you have done and the many trophies you ahave helped bring to this great club. You will be sorely missed. Goodluck, brave captain and eternal legend and as always, You Will Never Walk Alone! Red Till I`m Dead!

01 Jan 2015 19:22:22
Strong rumours going around that Gerrard will announce very soon that he has signed a pre-contract with LA Galaxy and will join them at the end of the season.

If so I ask all Kopites to not remember the Gerrard of this last year: the slipper, the lack of speed in central midfield which has cost us in some games; but the captain, Istanbul, the FA cup final of 2006, the man of 2009 who Zidane claimed was the best in the world.

Are the rumours true then?

It's all over twitter at the minute. LA GALAXY looking most likely.
He'll always be a legend of the club
If it's true good luck stevie

King Luis

I would say it all depend upon him.
My wife asked me this question today about Gerrard, now she is not a footballing person but knows the offside rule- if Gerrard knows that he has past it and the team is better without him why does he insist on playing almost every game? The only answer I could give is, may be he loves himself more that the club.
Now I don't want to remember Gerrard that way but I don't even want the club to fall more backwards then they are. He should do the honorable thing and move on, its best for everybody.

I have no idea if it's true or not, but Galaxy do have a DP slot open with Donovan retiring, so it makes a bit of sense from that perspective. Galaxy are my local team, so would be a bit torn about this one.

{Ed002's Note - They are certainly going to be one option.}

Me neither, Crazy> I know a player of his talent and calibre doesn`t get to where he is w/o having supreme belief in his own ability as ell as having an inflated ego. However if he knows he is past it and we are better w/o him YET he still wants to start every game and play 90mins, then the decision should be made for him by the club and release him with all the fanfare and honarable farewells a player and loyal servant of or club for almost 2 decades deserves.

Totally agree with you redohio but if the manager doesn't have the balls to do it and the owners are not football people, gerrard could take that initiative and do what's best for the club. I am very sure he is a very smart person and have a plan outlined for himself, why not take the right decision for the club he has been for 2 decades. There is no doubt about the talent he had, or the service he provided to LFC and trophys he has won for us, but i will always put LFC ahead of everything else.

Always talking sense as usual, Crazy. If the media is to be believed, SG is on his way to the Galaxy in MLS so maybe he has already made that decision which goes to your point of him being smart and knowing that his time is passed. As for BR not playing him, maybe this decision will change his MO and will now prob feel empowered to reduce SG`s role in the team. We shall see.

01 Jan 2015 18:31:27
Hi eds or fellow poster, want to get your opinion on few of these managers. Firstly its pochetino, its not because they are winning against Chelsea, its because I did watch thier games a lot this year and always felt that they play good football, obviously much better than us.
Second one is rudi Garcia I did watch Roma play few times and they are interesting to watch as well. The game where they were 4-0 down to Bayern in CL match he did take out totti in the half time, now that's guts he is the Roma god and he subed him and they played much better second half. It made me think why can't Rodgers have the balls to do that to Gerrard. Rodgers would be the only manager to change a winning team or a formula to one that doest work at all

{Ed002's Note - I have no idea what your question is. Sorry.}

Ed just want to know what do you think of those two managers, how they are doing in their respective teams. not related to Liverpool in any way or that they will come to Liverpool, just an opinion.

{Ed002's Note - I remember Garcia as a scout for St Et a number of years ago. He is liked and well thought of an did well at Lille. All is going well at Roma. Pochettino will do well and is favoured by a number of mainland European sides - although he turned down an approach from a French side last summer. I suspect he will move before too long.}

Thanks ed always wait for your precious opinion. would even like to get EMS or harry or Redohio opinion on these guys. In any case i wish we go for Biesla as a coach and monshi as a DOF. I know i'm dreaming.

Garcia started to gain recognition when he was manager at Le Mans who he got promoted to Ligue 1 b4 going to Lille and now Roma. He has always been well thought of and in a year or two, could be in line for a bigger job if he continues to do well there.

01 Jan 2015 12:06:31
Hello Eds,
What with this being a reputable rumours site, and modern "journalism" seemingly consisting of nothing more that trawling twitter et al, I was wondering if you have ever noticed an instance of a rumour, obviously made up or mischievous, being started here and then picked up by mainstream media? Seems the logical extension of this site's role.

Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - About three years ago someone did do that. The problem with the UK "journalism" is that they do indeed seemingly pull information from blogs or twitter nowadays. Obviously there are still those folks who don't but the "new generation" seemingly have now real interest in sorting the good from the bad.}

It may have been purely coincidential, but last year I spoke to an ex coach from Austria who told me that Liverpool had been scouting 2 Red Bull Salzburg players (Kevin Kampl and Martin Hinteregger), there was nothing online at the time. I posted what I had been told on here and the next day a site had us linked with the 2 players and Transfermarkt had that site linked as a source. It could have been a coincidence but you know what Journalists are like these days.

Red Rum

I don't believe in coincidence. It isn't a surprise at all that this happens; even Sky are reporting what twitter says about non-stories now.

01 Jan 2015 13:55:33
I'm glad they didn't pick up on the Rodgers to Liverpool rumour posted by Macca.

Macca insisted that Liverpool were still interested, even after Rodgers initially knocked us back.

If they did listen, I wouldn't have got the healthy 16-1 odds at the time.

Needless to say, I won a few bob.

Personally, I've never seen or heard a 'rumour' as accurate.

What a nice chap.

01 Jan 2015 08:12:02
Happy New Year EDs
Wish you all and families have wealthy and healthy.

I need info support from you EDs.
As I follow your answers in topic of investigation process from the owner.
Do you have any informatuon that when the process will be finalised? (In Jan, Feb or Mar)
And what would be going on for a new set up? And if we have to change the head coach, I know you mentioned to De Boer is the first option but who are other options in case De Boer deny us again?

Thank you and Best Regards

{Ed002's Note - I can't answer questions about timing. I would not discount anyone - Benitez, Laudrup, Leblanc ...}

01 Jan 2015 05:28:03
Lots being said about points total needed for 4th, based on history. This season seems a bit different though. So called mid table teams are doing better, and so called upper table teams struggle at times. I think there's a good chance 5 or 6 teams will be in the race for 4th and maybe even third. We're 6 points away from where we need to be and have had a pretty ordinary first half of the season, surely we can only improve?

The fact that so many other "big" teams have played poorly and find themselves above us in the table says everything about just how bad we have been. 3rd place is/was there for the taking - we are currently a significant distance of that. Talk of an upturn in our fortunes, after an undeserved 1-0 win over Burnley and a comfortable 4-1 home win over a bad Swansea, is premature. Against even half decent teams we have floundered and I have seen little evidence thus far of that anomaly being rectified.

It's hard to see us needing anything less than 13 wins or so from the next 19. It's possible, sure, but we only won 15 out of the last 19 last season and that was without many distractors (Europa, League Cup).

I believe it is possible. take the game one at a time.

You also have to look at who we are chasing. ManU and Arsenal both look quite solid at the moment and just like us are in good momentum. They will not lose many points against teams that are not Chelsea or City and we need them to. We, however, will have to take a lot of points in the big games as well. I still think, if we are indeed getting much better, and the Swansea game was not a one off and with a better GK and a fit Sturridge, we may have a half decent chance to do it in the Europa League.

I think we need to win 19 out of 19 now to win the title
14 out of 19 for fourth spot.
we could start by winning today against leicester.

Seano united didn't deserve the 3-0 win over us nor 2-1 over Southampton but they got 6 points.

It's irrelevant what point totals have got certain positions in the past you've got to lookat what's in front of you.

After chelsea drew to Southampton did you really see city drawing at home to Burnley. I doubt it.

At the end of the day we are 5 points off 4th spot which isn't a lot and within 3 or 4 games that could easily be changed.

If united draw or lose today at stoke which they could and we win, we are looking 5-6 points of 3rd.

Lets just look at 1 game at a time and see what happens.

United deserve to be above us in the league at the moment, but there is still a way to go yet. We are playing better now and will be even better when Sturridge the soot juggler comes back.
Personally I don't believe united are better than us at present despite their position. Its head down and roll your sledves up time for our boys. If we can get a decent result today, it will be a big mental boost for the team. If Gerard back, who gets dropped, i hope not lucas ?

Utd to lose today, Southampton to draw with the Gunners, Spurs to get beat 3-0 by Chelsea, Everton to get beat, just for the fun of it and Liverpool to win 5-0. Things will look better by 8pm tonight. Trust me! I never get these things wrong!

@ Lavers - We were woeful against Burnley Lavers and that result, combined with the Swansea one, is fuelling a lot of talk of a resurgence in our form. I don't deny that United have rode their luck this season but it isn't really relevant to either our club or my original post. This talk of us flying up the table is an over reaction to 2 wins against, let's face it, weak opposition. That we didn't deserve to beat Burnley speaks volumes for how well we have actually played. If we beat Leicester its 3 more points against what you would have to consider weak opposition - I don't think such a win marks an upturn in fortunes - when we start doing it in the tough games, when we need to win, then i'll buy into it. Until then, for me, wins over Burnley and Swansea signify little.

01 Jan 2015 13:19:15
I agree with Tel an Rover, especially with Rovers predictions which are similar to mine!!

Tell, mate, what's a soot juggler?

Lol

Cheer up Seano lol
I agree we were crap against Burnley, but all we need is confidence.

Against arsenal we deserved 3 points, united 3-0 was very flattering for them. Also against Chelsea we should have had at least 1 penalty which could have changed the game.

To say how crap we have been to be where we are has got to give you confidence because there's only one way we can go and it's up.

I don't think we are going to go on and win the league but top 4 is realistic.

Seano, to be fair, Burnley have caused a few teams problems this season. They recently drew 2-2 with City as well, so it's obviously not just us who had a bad game against them.

It's brilliant you've all just completely discounted southampton, and are concentrating on UTD and Arsenal

@lavers - is this Leicester game cheering you up?

@hsf - City are fighting for the title. Slip-ups happen - when you play badly every game for half a season it ceases to be a "slip-up".

Seano

It was doing , sod it Rodgers out Rodgers out haha

Well we didn`t win and played aweful due to BR`s stupid decision of changing a winning team s so much for calculations and if`s and but`s. Forget the calculations because it is freaking irrelevant. Why? We are outsiders and on the outside looking in to 4th spot hence, leave the calculations alone, focus on one game at a time and focus on winning that game. The rest will take care of itself.

2 penalties (one a definite joke, the 2nd very harsh) saves us from defeat. Another abject performance and against the leagues bottom team? Sorry but you read way too much into the Swansea result - it was the exception to this seasons rule, the Leicester game is the standard and boy was that standard scraping the barrel.

I disagree with the analysis of the second penalty. Couts played a pass to Sterling and the defender`s arm was so far away from his body and hit the ball which stopped the pass from going to Sterling. Result? Penalty! Why? In that specific situation, intentional or not no longer comes into it because it stopped a pass from reaching it`s destination during an attacking phase. If you doubt me, check the incident in the Utd v Stoke game where Crouch heads the ball towards goal and the ball hit Smalling`s arm in the same situation the Leicester defender was in. The ref did not give it YET everyone including me, was outraged a penalty was not given. Stoke should have had a penalty just as we had a pen for the second penalty incident.

01 Jan 2015 04:43:53
Heres to 2015 bein better than last year hey boys would rather finish 6th than have gerrard fallin over an losin us the league

I don't really care, if he slips again but we finish 2nd, that's better than 6th.

i care about where liverpool stand at the end of the season. there is a chance gerrard will no longer be here next season.but liverpool will still be in the premier league.

01 Jan 2015 00:56:20
Happy new year to all the essential and fellow reds let's hope for an exciting 2015

31 Dec 2014 21:28:29
Eds, Thanks for the help, Got my Username back.
Happy New year Ed's, You guys rock.
Party time.

{Ed001's Note - happy new year to you and everyone else.}

31 Dec 2014 20:56:10
Feeling optimistic for tomorrows game. I fancy us to win and win big.

Rodgers is playing a good system, the pressing and direct counter attacking is slowly creeping back into our game, Lallana, Henderson and Coutinho are finding form, Sterling is still making a nuisance of himself even if he has only scored once in the last 10-12 Premier league games (he creates space for others well) and the defence will be so much more solid with Can, Toure and Sakho in the back 3 (although Lovren could be there also).

One thing I did consider is resting Sterling and putting Gerrard in the false 9 role. He will hold up the ball better, has a better finishing technique and is very clever with his runs. He might not have the pace or ability to beat a man but he will still hurt them. I just think it'd be absolutely ridiculous to break up the Hendo-Lucas partnership after how well they played vs Swansea. The other option is to leave Gerrard on the bench and give Balo, Lambert or Borini a chance to actually start a game in this new found 3-4-3 / 5-2-3 / 3-6-1 etc.

I was spot on when I dreamt of a 4-1 against Swansea (although scorers were miles out!). No foreseeing dreams this time but I fancy us to destroy Leicester. 5-0 maybe. Lallana x2, Gerrard, Henderson and Coutinho to score.

I would prefer to see Markovic up top rather than Gerrard. Markovic has a wicked burst of pace that would tend to catch Leicester's defenders off guard. If that does not work out, then maybe introduce Balo or Gerrard to either replace or partner Markovic up front. Without pace and energy up front, the team has looked average ever since Brendan got here. So why remove the team's biggest strength up front. Gerrard simply does not have the legs for it anymore.

I'd prefer Borini personally. I just wanted to get peoples opinions on where to put Gerrard.

On the bench Adam. Why change a winning formula. Apart from Skrtle's suspension.

No doubt he will recall Gerard as he will not have the bottle to keep him out two games running.

I was thinking when Sturridge is back we should try Sterling on the right wing back role. I know you like him behind the front man but Lallana and Coutinho have looked good there.