Liverpool Banter Archive October 23 2013

23 Oct 2013 23:07:25
Didn't get a chance to catch any games tonight and was wondering if anyone can tell me if Griezmann (real sociedad) or Giovinco (juve) looked? We were linked with Griezmann in the past and scored an amazing goal did get into the champs league (plus remember the eds saying we might go for a left sided forward) and always liked Giovinco myself thought he looked good. So curious if they looked good or average?

Griezmann had a alright game not something special hit the post with a brilliant free kick and he gave the ball away quite a few times.

23 Oct 2013 15:28:32
Can I ask why we've suddenly gone back to the ways of 'Hi eds what are the chances of this, this and this player all moving to Liverpool?'

I thought we'd gotten past the random name-dropping And now I'm seeing names that we have shown no public desire for being asked about. I wonder how this trend would change if FIFA and FM stopped bringing out games.

23 Oct 2013 13:51:11
Ed0002 do you see a bid for Noccerino being made? Not really getting much time in Milan, could be cheap and play some decent football in merseyside, have we shown any interest? {Ed002's Note - No.}

24 Oct 2013 21:26:56
Lots of players could play decent football. Whether they will or not is another story

23 Oct 2013 09:46:14
Hi eds, what's the situation with Sydney Sam? Cheers {Ed002's Note - There is no "situation" that I am aware of.}

23 Oct 2013 01:33:11
Why are so many of you bothered about performance?

As it stands this season, we have a very good opportunity to achieve a top four finish and for me it doesn't matter how we get there.

The way I look at it is this. Is this current squad at "Champions League level"? The answer is no. Currently, we have a group of players with a sole purpose of achieving a top four finish. They are not all world beaters, but they are players who have the hunger, desire, and ability to achieve this objective.

We also need to stop expecting too much of our players as most are still young and learning their trade in the most difficult league in the world and as I have said, all we need them to do is keep us in that top four until the end of the season regardless of performance.

Once we achieve this we will become an "attractive" club with funds to bring in "world class" players such as Costa, Mkhitaryan etc. Top players will be much more likely to consider joining Liverpool in this situation than our current situation.

When we have qualified for the Champions League and we have brought in several "world class players then we should worry about the performance but for now, let's just keep doing what we are doing and that is getting the results!

Red Rum

I suppose, it's folk who desire an improvement on what we've already achieved. Just guessing here, but that's what I think. I'm really happy and have tried to keep positive during the shaky times and really enjoyed looking at the table in recent months and felt really proud for the players and coaches at the club to see hard work paying off.

Sure i've been worried at times and had my critical moments. for example, I was worried after we had some poor second half performances, almost looking tired for parts. I think the less said about the Southampton match the better, so i'll move on. :)

We finished the season so strongly and in good style with goals galore and a swagger that I think people want to see those sort of gelled performances again, almost instantly and regardless of how many new players we have trying to bed and get a feel for the team, tactics and for some a new league and way of living. Impatience, I think it's called.

But let's be honest, I for one didn't expect to be where we are and i've mentioned quite a lot that I think top four is harder than ever before and that teams are spending 100's of millions over the seasons to compete for the few spots available. I wouldn't want the managers head for missing out on the Champions League and because I think it's harder to qualify from England than actually getting to the quarter finals of the competition it's self!

But now that we've started so well and so strongly and we've got important players feeling their way back into the grove, I think it's well worth believing it's possible, even with so many youngsters. Rodgers did a tremendous job in capturing Kolo Toure, after Carragher the great stepped down from the game, I don't think anyone could have hoped for a player so revitalised and joyful to be part of a great club and to be playing the game he loves after being overlooked at City, things like this add for such a huge moral boost and that permeates throughout the squad and the all important belief that teams need is addictive.

If Liverpool are playing in a lower gear that what they might and results have still been overall favourable and left us in a strong positions to push on from now until Christmas then awesome, truly great stuff. If we peak at the right time and produce some stunning results then that would bring everything into perspective and leave us reeling in the belief that Champions League is possible. But I still think it's harder than ever before and heroic efforts, even if fallen short shouldn't mean drastic decisions are taken.

I agree with the majority of what your saying, but I personally wouldn't put Costa and Micky in the world class bracket. The Newcastle performance wasn't good enough yet we got a point, we will play much better this season and probably lose but I can't see us playing much worse tbh

23 Oct 2013 18:06:55
"Why are so many of you bothered about performance? "

What sort of question is that?

Fans are bothered about performance because it gives some indicator as to what our future results are likely to be. I'll put it to you this way, if we perform to the same level against Arsenal as we did against Palace and Newcastle, we'll basically be depending on Arsenal to not play as well as they have been to avoid defeat. So it'd be nice if we could start playing better.

Also, had a couple of performances been a bit better (Swansea and Newcastle in particular), we'd have more points on the board. And please no one roll out the "well if you had been offered 2 points off the top at this stage before the season started. " line, because it's a red herring. With the fixtures we've had, I don't consider our points haul particularly exceptional. The only surprising thing is that 17 points is 3rd place only 2 points of the top at this stage.

I'm not unhappy with where we are in the table, but there's definitely more to come from this group of players. Coutinho has to come back from injury, Agger's only just back and will probably displace one of our current CBs soon, Gerrard & Lucas have not played half as well this season as they did last season. So I don't think people are being entirely unrealistic to want a bit more from the team.

"Why are so many of you bothered about performance?"

Very simple reason. Because we have little chance of finishing top four playing like we did against Southampton or Newcastle.

Our league position is partly a function of our relatively easy schedule, and teams like United and City dropping unexpected points.