Liverpool Banter Archive February 12 2015

12 Feb 2015 21:39:03
Hi, long time lurker first time poster.

With the upcoming cup games in mind, would you guys prefer the team to go all out to compete in the FA cup and Europa league.

Or would you prioritise the league ?

Personally I would like to win trophies more than finish top four. With the added caveat of the Europa league winners obtaining a CL spot it would persuade me to play a strong team. The FA cup is also an enticing prospect as there are some "more weaker" sides left in the tournament than usual.

The race for top four as we know is very close at the moment and their are some strong teams vying for 3rd and 4th. I'd hate to come away with 5/6/7 in the league and nothing else to show for it.

anyway i'm sure i'm being naive, but feel free to discuss.

12 Feb 2015 22:08:39
Welcome Bedders. I'm going to say the league myself mate, cups come as a lottery but I'm definitely with you that it'd be nice to lift some silverwear this season.
My thinking being though, I think if we fail to get top 4 even a cup won't save Brendan and here comes the new manager with new ideas, new players (transition) again,,,, and apart from stupid mistakes in the transfer window and opening his mouth too often, I'm actually happy with the young exciting players we have, the ideas of being a fast team, and generally the way of playing attacking rapid football and closing down like pit-bulls

At the moment we seem to have big enough squad to compete in full intensity in all competitions to be honest and can be risky to prioritise - one bad game in the FA cup and you are out (need to win only 4 to win it though).

Obviously the jackpot this year is the EL - both a nice trophy and a CL spot. After that if I had to choose between the FA cup and top 4, I would take the FA cup. A trophy is a trophy and the FA cup is a big one. I am not sure that next year we will be strong enough to compete with the big teams in Europe, not in the later stages anyway. And the FA trophy is more important that just showing up for the group stages as we did this year.

I used to think on the early stages of this season that if we miss top 4 this season it will be very hard to go back there - and we may lose top players and find it hard to attract big names. I am not sure that this will be the case now. I think we are likely to keep most of the squad even without CL football and we don't have money to bring big names anyway.

12 Feb 2015 22:34:22
Totally agree. Football is based on winning trophies, that's what success is measured on

12 Feb 2015 23:06:16
Yeah the Europa league is a nice trophy; as i understand it the majority of other European league entrants take the tournament very seriously. Whereas regular premiership teams in the past like spurs just haven't! Will be interesting to see the outcome this year with the CL spot up for grabs.

I'm not sure how much i want Rodgers out now, i was a strong advocate prior to christmas; but now we have a bit of form and a new shape i'd be tempted for continuity rather than more transition. The consensus seems that rodgers will go, a trophy or two could sway the owners? though i'm sure that sentiment isn't too popular here!!!!

12 Feb 2015 23:11:37
Another point, will CL football be as important financially to BPL clubs with the new Tv rights deal? Since that all BPL clubs will now be earning top dollar.

{Ed002's Note - Yes, of course.}

IMO, Top4 is needed so we can keep our great players and progress with revenue and keep the debt down. I would like the FA Cup too BUT it will not make up for the investment made this year. But I do agree, a trophy is always nice.

13 Feb 2015 01:40:45
After such an "well financed" summer, I would expect to be able to compete in all competitions for top honors.

I would love to see a trophy - I can't actually see us winning either of the cups though. Based on that, I would choose top four again. As a squad, we should be able to do all of them, but I am not sure Rodgers could pick the right team for the right game to achieve that. Maybe he could - we will soon find out.

13 Feb 2015 08:03:36
I can't see competing in everything to be an issue until right at the end where we'd potentially have 2 finals and 2 key PL decider games in a 10-14 day period. Let's worry about that when we come to it or if we get masses of injuries, aside from that it's not an issue to compete in 3

12 Feb 2015 18:45:10
What is everyones opinion on Miralem Pjanic from Roma, he apparently has been linked with Liverpool for a while now and some journalists say he's the replacement for Gerrard (this was before they seen Can obvs) but do you think he'd be a good fit for us? Personally I think there is some questions over his attitude and mentality but no doubt that he has the talent to succeed.

The biggest question is where would the money come from?

We pretty much spent as much as we could in the summer, and it seems we now have to sell players to raise most of the funds for new signings.

I can't see us having enough funds in the summer for such a high profile and expensive player.

Don't see the point myself, I think Emre Can is more than capable than replacing Gerrard. Personally I think we have to consider moving Allen on and replacing him, and fighting to keep hold of Lucas.

Emre Can will be doing Gerrards job next season, if we keep Lucas then we won't need to bring any midfielders in. If Allen leaves I'm sure one of the youngsters can do a job there.

You lost me at "some journalists say. "

I am with anonymush.
I don't see the point and we already have too many players.

Agree with trying to move pointless Allen on in the summer and give his place to a youngster. Surely Wilson, Rossiter or someone can produce one assist or a goal, improving on Allens stats by 100%.

12 Feb 2015 23:26:23
Well we are losing a lot of players this summer, Gerrard,Toure,and Johnson will all leave for nothing, then we can safely assume that Borini, Aspas, Coates, Luis Alberto, possibly Allen, Balotelli or Lambert will leave. Players like Ojo, Wilson and Rossiter need a loan to a Championship side as they are still to young and not fast or physical enough to play in the EPL(we cannot afford for them to burnout like previous Liverpool stars, although Rodgers manages the younger players well), so maybe buying a players LIKE Pjanic, Bittencourt, Stindl, Camacho. Out of the players we've loaned out this year only Wisdom and Ilori could make an impact in the squad. So it isn't unreasonable to look at 3-4 first team quality players seeing as that is what we would need to push on.

As Barnes said in one other thread, "Do we really need to buy anyone next summer?". IO, We need 3-4 players who will strengthen the first team and just used our youth players who might be ready by then (Ibe, Rossiter, Wilson, Dunn, Jones) as well as the loanees to beef up the squad. The core is already there and promising as well.

If lucas was sold, we would have no one to hold the midfield if can was rested, injured or suspended, pjanic. Not that type of player. Why are we always looking around when I, personally would be thrilled if we started next season with 2 of can, Henderson and lucas playing.
Maybe, if allen is sold we may move for someone, but you'd think unless we were playing A top 4 team, Coutinho/lallana would be the extra midfielder in the number 10 role.

12 Feb 2015 15:02:39
Just a general point about harrassing referees.
I thought the FA were going to do something about it??
What's happened.
If I was a ref and a team intimidated me in that way then I would just respond by giving them absolutely nothing all game.
They would soon learn not to do it again.
I believe in the "spirit of the game" and that may be naive but I am seeing clubs just completely ignore the supposed mandate from the FA on this so what can now be done to stop it?
I am all for dialogue between the ref and the players but teams are just over stepping the mark now.
It is embarrassing to watch.

Im sure the majority of refs can handle it mate.
They always have a couple of cards incase like.

Sadly it's become part of the game, some teams are worse than others (Chelsea cough cough) but all teams will do it to an extent. Refs are probably used to it by now and don't take any notice but new refs could potentially be swayed. As Mikey says you can always book the individual if he won't shut up.

Don`t forget UTD who specialize in such things. I think PL refs are very soft on these players because in other leagues especially in France, players don`t even get near him b4 he starts threatening them w/ cards. PL refs need to be more forceful, IMO.

Gerrard's as bad as anyone!

13 Feb 2015 08:18:05
There are two issues with refs:

1. Lack of respect from players
2. Consistently awful performances with no accountability whatsoever in any sense of the word. They get big, potentially game-changing things wrong time after time and they don't have to answer for it, explain what they thought they saw or generally explain why they were unable to do their basic jobs. Which means no more trust anymore either

12 Feb 2015 06:34:37
The one youngster out on loan I can't wait to see back and think will impact our side next season - Tiago Ilori.

Ed if you could only bring one player on loan into our squad next year who would it be?

{Ed001's Note - I would go with Ilori too.}

12 Feb 2015 07:53:26
Wisdom for me

{Ed001's Note - I had forgotten about him. But I will say Ilori as I want to see what he can do in the Prem, whereas I have seen Wisdom is capable of handling the Prem.}

12 Feb 2015 07:57:23
I would go with ilori as well. He would offer genuine pace at the back. Would he slot alongside Skrtel and sakho, or do you think lovren could force his way back in and replace Skrtel? If on form I would think ilori, lovren and sakho would be our most athletic and technically sound back line, and if lovren can sort his performances out we could have a genuine leader at the back.

Cheers

12 Feb 2015 08:11:09
Skertl stays for me, Can into midfield, then between Lovren, Sacko and Ilori for other 2 centre-backs.

Hard to judge Lovren because he was given no protection in midfield, virtually all of his games he had Gerrard/Allen in front, which meant he was over exposed. Our change in form is in no small part to having Lucas doing the dirty work.

I wouldn't see the point in bringing back Ilori to partner Skrtel. Only to replace him.

This debate does prove one thing though.
Why do we need to buy anyone?
We need to evaluate those already here who have not played yet.

Mr Dennis I think it is a fair point that a weak midfield can expose centre backs and make them look poor, and it could also be said that perhaps having scheiderlin in front of lovren last season took some pressure off and made lovren look a bit more competent than he would if he was put under more pressure?
I still think he's a good cb, but the selling club got a very very good deal out of us there. As usual.

12 Feb 2015 09:17:23
Ilori next to Skertl, simply because he's better on the ball and more mobile.

If we're still playing with a back 3, Sakho on the left and Ilori on the right with Lovren/Skrtel in the center.

Teixira for me. Think we could have another Couthino on our hands.

Ojo perhaps - when / if Sterling goes !

We have the players and the squad filled w/ very good players and an academy filed w/ IMO, talent. We just need a vision, a structure, a style and all will come into place.

11 Feb 2015 23:58:20
Just watched the highlights of the game yesterday, even though I watched it yesterday. I love the way can and moreno run into the celebrations, clearly ecstatic. It's good to see two new boys enjoying their football and it meaning a lot to them!

12 Feb 2015 08:10:36
Genuinely excited about Can in general, though his burst up thur pitch (walker took him out after) defensive displays and his shot of the post (game before) make me think he has to be moved to the middle of the pitch next to hendo whilst lucas is out