Liverpool Banter Archive February 06 2014

06 Feb 2014 22:05:04
Eds was wondering if you reckon BR will get a pretty big transfer budget (or at least bigger than usual) if we do get a champions league spot. From what I understand we are no more than around 12m better off unless we get into the knockout rounds; so I doubt he will get too much to spend.

And if BR was given a Daglish sized war chest, would you be a tad nervous as to how he spends it? In my opinion he has only made two or three signings which add true quality to the side, Sakho, Coutinho and Sturridge.

Jury still out on mignolet, ilori, alberto of course and even allen to some extent. but Mignolet in my opinion was the wrong buy, a fantastic shot stopper on his day, but his distribution is shockingly bad at times and Allen, well he isn't a 15m midfielder is he.

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool cannot continue to spend money the club does not generate.}

06 Feb 2014 19:59:28
Hi ed1, if your around I have a question for you. Has Liverpool lost its big draw for world class or potential world class players.? Its just that I've noticed your reply in various posts. eg. Luke Shaw. I think you said something like no way.Do you think its just purely a lack of Champions league, or financial reasons? Would love to hear your thoughts. Many thanks in advance ed.

{Ed001's Note - no, I just think he has his heart set on Chelsea and they can afford to pay what it takes to buy him. Not many clubs will spend over 20m on a full back, plus offer a replacement as part of the deal, Chelsea can do so.}

06 Feb 2014 19:29:36
Ed's,
What can you tell me of the American Fabian Johnson playing at hoffenheim? Is he any good?

{Ed002's Note - I can tell you he is German and not American. He has simply decided to play his senior football for the US through having a parent who is American as he was not expected to be good enough to make the German side. He is out of contract in the summer and there is a little interest from German clubs I understand. Sunderland showed some interest in him 18 months ago.}

Sounds perfect!

06 Feb 2014 23:32:41
Ed02, how do you no about every player some I never heard of. its not real, your usuallly right aswell. how mind blowing

{Ed002's Note - Fabian Johnson is an easy one. He attended a game in Holland last year whilst he was injured with me and one of the US team coaches. And the summer before Martin O'Neil was looking at him before he moved for Adam Johnson.}

06 Feb 2014 15:07:33
Ed01 if you're about. I would just like your thoughts on Alberto. Of what little I've seen of him, I think he is pretty good on the ball, but lacking the confidence to do the things he did when he was back in Spain. Do you know of the plans for him? Does BR rate him and do you think he will be given more opportunities or will he be loaned like Ilori to gain more experience next season? I have no idea why, but I like Alberto quite a fair bit and think that he may be an important player for us in the not so distant future. Your thoughts as well fellow Reds.

YNWA
JFT96

{Ed001's Note - I haven't seen enough of him to judge him, hard to say if he is lacking in confidence when he gets no time to do the things he did in Spain. He was bought for the long term, unlikely he will be loaned as we are not exactly blessed with an abundance of options in midfield.}

Thanks for your input Ed01. What I meant is that he seems to be playing things safe when he's on the pitch. When he was in Barca B, he let loose long shots, but there was this game, can't really recall which one, he had the opportunity to whack one but chose to play it safe and passed the ball away from the box. I found that a pity as I know that he has the ability to at least work the keeper from range. Do you think in your opinion, will BR fit him in the attacking midfield role or switch him to play slightly deeper in midfield? Cheers.

YNWA
JFT96

{Ed001's Note - he was bought for the attacking role, but I do expect him to end up dropping deeper, simply because we are so short of options there.}

So when will our illustrious leader give him a chance, he's not that young and if he was good enough for Barcelona B then he's sure good enough for a game or even a few halves with us.
It's not like Coutinho is lighting up the world at the moment, give Alberto his chance as it's only then will we see if he can cut it here.
This crap about the future is utter nonsense as more players will come in in Summer which could push him further down the pecking order.
Step up Brendan and give the guy a run even just to put one up Coutinho which might spark him back to life.

Players for the future is nonesense? Three words, arsenal football club.

If I'm not mistaken Coutinho was pretty much our classiest player during the derby. let him play through his bad form as its better than anything else we have creativity wise and its only going to kill the young lads confidence benching him. PC can turn a game on its head with one pass. some of you will benchsell a player over a few bad games. Bad form Peter!

Ye lads face facts your mouthing off about coutinio because he has missed some very scorable shots and his key passes havnt been as affective lately a goal against city. the last two games I feel his form has been on the up again and every time he runs ball at feet he lures two players at a minimum towards him.alberto is about two seasons away from this level if he can get there.try actually watching the game p.s for a young att mid he tackles a lot and quite well to

06 Feb 2014 12:41:23
is it not time to sell Enrique? for obvious reasons, and buy a young top quality left back? same deal with Johnson.

It's a somewhat fair statement to make, but who do you think is:

a) clearly better than Enrique
b) available
c) affordable
d) would be willing to move to LFC?

Honestly struggling to think of many that would meet all 4 of those basic requirements. Perhaps Sandro of Porto or Moreno, but even those would be debatable on several points. Truth is there aren't many quality LBs about for some reason.

As far as I'm concerned I would definitely sell Johnson. Flanagan has performed better this year and we have Kelly and young Ryan M on loan at Barnsley.

I would however keep Enrique. He's good on the ball and decent in defence - who's better who's available?

I'm hoping a 100% fit johnson, agger, sakho and enrique will completely rejuvenate the back line. The competition for places in the backs will surely improve once all are available. Cissokho has def improved over the last few games and well flanno has been a revelation. Hopefully for the last 10 games at least. Any idea how much longer lucas is out for. Be nice to have everyone available at some stage before the season ends.

Hey lads, the main problem is Enrique is Never available, ergo any LB is a better option.

Mcgoveb, that Enrique is injured more than not is one of the reason's I asked the question, when fit and on form then yes Ok, but he plays a few games then gets injured again! I like Enrique but we need him playing every week, and I read your comment on the younger players and totally agree.
@ Simonpw, I want that too, them all fit and fighting for a place but it never seems to be the case does it? as soon as one is fit another breaks down.

I agree jacket healed, sell him

Just stick johnson on the left. he seems to concentrate more and he likes cutting inside and hitting one. flanagan on the right.

100% agree with RDL.

And lads he missed a month last season with a thigh injury and other than his current injury he hasn't missed a bit the 3 seasons before this.

Agreed rdl and Sean I think Enrique with confidence is an absolute beast of a defender despite him not running up the pitch like evra used to he won't be letting anyone by him in a hurry

"Jacket Healed" - that made me spit my coffee everywhere

For some one who's always injured he's played 107 games out of 138 in the league which is 77%.Not bad for a physio boy, when you consider how many people wanna keep D'Agger who's played 48% of the games under his Liverpool contract in the league

He can play as long as he wears a big beard with a shaved head.

06 Feb 2014 08:45:17
If at all LFC fail to qualify for Champions league -
Who do you think will replace Gerrard and (fingers crossed) Suarez next season?
I feel that coming season Gerrard won't be playing week-in and week-out.
Allen and Lucas are injury prone.
Agger unlike Suarez will be leaving if we fail to Qualify for Champions league.
I feel that Lucas will be Captain and Henderson/Skertel will be vice-captain.
And it does give me feeling that with the Superstars like Suarez gone LFC will loose the metal.
Hope we don't become the Everton which was under Moyes.

06 Feb 2014 16:17:26
Bit of a ridiculous post, although you have a right to your opinion.
FSG are not going to see us push so well for top four, especially if we attain it, and then let us slide. Even without the football sense of attracting better players again; it simply wouldn't make business sense. Around £50m for Champions League and a big boost in TV revenue means that this is the season all teams will spend and strengthen, probably nkne more so than Liverpool who will have the Champions League money as extra, as we have not been used to it the last few years, although we still pay CL size wages, look at Suarez.
It would also lack credibility for Suarez to be allowed to leave, he wants to play the Champions League and if Liverpool can offer him that, at the head of the most potent strikeforce in Europe, then he has a serious chance of winning it in the next 5 years at Liverpool, if we get the right players. This would be a massive achievement and something the owners will push and invest for over coming seasons.
Liverpool is once again a club on the up, not on the decline. Gerrard will go, much like Fowler, Owen, Rush, and others who were our main man in their era, and he will similarly be missed, but we will continue and forge a new talisman.

06 Feb 2014 17:42:47
1) Gerrard will remain at the club and I'd be very surprised if his involvement in the first team was reduced by any major degree. Coutinho might leave if we don't get into CL, if he does, we'll probably sign a direct replacement. If not, I reckon midfield reinforcements will be in the form of cover / replacement for Lucas, and an alternative creative option to Hendo and Coutinho rather than a straight replacement for either.

2) There isn't one player we'd be able to sign that'd replace Suarez, and I really don't see him staying if we drop out of the Champions League. Most likely, we'll buy at least a centre forward, a winger and a fullback with the money we get for him.

3) Unless I've missed some media quotes recently, I don't think Agger will leave by his own choice, because if he was prepared to leave to play in the CL, he'd have probably tried to by now. But I have to wonder if the club will decide his injury record is too much at this stage, especially with so many other centre halves at the club and suggest he find another club. I'd personally prefer to sell Skrtel because I think he's a liability as first choice and keep Agger, but if we did that and Agger gets injured again, we'd be starting Toure and Sakho with Illori or Kelly as backup. I don't think Rodgers would really want to go for that. And if we sold and replaced Skrtel, we'd have to find someone good enough to replace Agger when injured, but prepared to face serious competition from Agger and Sakho (who I think are both excellent when fit and in form) for a first team place. Most logical option would be to sell Agger and Skrtel and bring in another first team centre half to partner Sakho, but I'd personally find it hard to see the club sell Agger.

4) If Agger does leave, Lucas or Skrtel (if he stays) will probably be vice captain, and how we'd do in the future would depend on how effectively we reinvest the money from Suarez.

To be honest I don't see how the additions the squad needs can be made without selling Suarez. With or without CL football it makes little difference - it does provide extra prestige and extra funds but it isn't an unlimited pot of gold people make out. We are still in debt and still in breach of FFP regulations and do not have vast amounts of money to spend on players. Selling Suarez might be the only viable way to strenghten the team as a whole.

I love Suarez and think he is fantastic but what's best for the team must come first - there are plenty of areas that need strengthening and not a lot of money. If Suarez was to leave in the summer we could hopefully recruit players in a more productive fashion than spurs managed.

I know it is depressing to talk about the necessity of selling our star player - I felt such talk was ludicrous earlier in the season - but if you really look at our finances, the state of the team, the additions required compared to the money we actually have then it seems obvious than Suarez will probably need to be sold (hopefully for 70-80 million, but who knows?) in order to strengthen. Or do we have a CL strike partnership coupled with a mid-table midfield and defence?

06 Feb 2014 08:02:46
Just read an article about ex Red Albert Riera being let go by Gala due to numbers of foreign players on the books after the window. I thought he did ok when here, not favoured by Rafa though, and has apparently played at left back for Gala this season. Worth a bench spot for a few quid till the end of the season Eds?

{Ed001's Note - seriously? He offered nothing.}

C'mon mate, if he's one of the players Gala let go, he's really not good enough.