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Liverpool 2014/15 | WARNING: Contains strong amounts of Scouse nonsense
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
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By that view you could argue that your pen was far too soft, yet Spurs had 2 justified pens turned down which would've made it 2-2.
Allen's was soft and so was their appeal. We were the (much) better team.
Lovren seems like an awful signing so far, as I said in other thred, I think he played his part in pretty much every goal Liverpool conceeded this season.
Awful performance by pretty much every player. What's more annoying is that Rodgers seems to feck up his selection/tactics every time he comes up against Villa, without fail. Said before the game that not starting Sterling was ridiculous and it looks even worse with hindsight.
Would be nice if we started to learn how to defend at set pieces too, looks like it's completely ignored in training.
I think Pochettino and Rodgers want their teams to play in a similar manner and along that vein, Pochettino is about 2 years behind Rodgers in implementing that system on his team.
Short term it perhaps wasn't the best way to approach the match but I think when you're trying to implement a new system, it is best long term to carry on until the players are comfortable.
I don't think you can particularly take much from that game as most teams won't approach Liverpool in the same way we did.
Short term it perhaps wasn't the best way to approach the match but I think when you're trying to implement a new system, it is best long term to carry on until the players are comfortable.
I don't think you can particularly take much from that game as most teams won't approach Liverpool in the same way we did.
They're really going to need Balotelli to acclimatise soon because Markovic and Lallana both look like players that are good in the build-up but lack end product. Not sure you can play a trio of Coutinho and those two because it leaves all of the goalscoring burden on the striker.
Sterling will play so that will make the need less acute I'm guessing.
How long is Sturridge out for?
How long is Sturridge out for?
Gary Neville had it spot on. Last year Liverpool were riding an incredible wave of belief and optimism. They played tremendous football with absolutely nothing to lose. This year with added responsibility of the CL, they're going to find it hard to handle injuries and run at full tilt. The first team are good enough but the lack of real, proven class in squad will mean that Rodgers will have to pull a miracle for them to challenge for the league. The World Cup also just happened so that fatigue will kick in a little later in the season for the likes of Balotelli, Sterling and Sturridge even if it was just the group stages for the English players.
Up to a couple more weeks.
I think tbf Lovren will get better over time. Ballotelli was always going to be a gamble that will inevitably not pay off. A combination of him and Sterling isnt a Suarez replacement. Lallana Im not sure about. Brenton bought too many slightly above average players and gambled on a nutter to replace a more talented nutter. Its a recipe for disaster. If Sterling gets injured they could be in trouble IMO
They're going to struggle. Gone out and bought largely average players. Balotelli is the only one with real talent and he's an accident waiting to happen.
Bit of a concern why Rodgers didn't select Sterling, I mean from the fitness viewpoint Rodgers must have had concerns over the lad, either that or it was a cock up on his part with the midweek game in his thinking.
Liverpool do look terribly threadbare though even with just a couple of players out, it's a squad of nothing really.
Liverpool do look terribly threadbare though even with just a couple of players out, it's a squad of nothing really.
It's worrying when you look at how much Balotelli, Markovic and Lallana cost, that we're all talking about important 19year old Sterling is to their cause!
The others need to step up asap!
The others need to step up asap!
Markovic and Lallana looked fine, just lacked a bit of cutting edge. Markovic in particular.
This squad will challenge for top 4 without a doubt, but clearly any talk of a title challenge is delusional on their part. A bad run with injuries could even cost them top 4.
Rodgers went for depth in the summer and he has a point, but the impact suarez had was unique and they needed to replace him with at least 2 top class players, the money was certainly there.
Rodgers went for depth in the summer and he has a point, but the impact suarez had was unique and they needed to replace him with at least 2 top class players, the money was certainly there.
Markovic looked good yeah but Lallana I think will be like an Ashley Young or Stuart Downing type signing... Just not that great. He's average IMO and in your style, Coutinho, Sterling and even Markovic would all fit in better. It's important to have depth though, just 25m on him as a squad player is more then a bit excessive.
I'm not sure they have the pull to do that yet, without throwing silly Monaco/PSG of a few years ago style money at these signings.
Money talks, but maybe they aren't there in terms of wages yet.
Yea, that's what I mean. Long term I think they would only risk getting themselves into trouble throwing the sort of money that would be required around. They needed to build a squad with a few big names within it, to realistically compete for the league and get anywhere in the CL. That's a big step for a club who finished 7th the season before (I think?) and has been struggling for a number of years. IMO they are doing things the right way building slowly and sustainably. It may well cost them CL next season though.
Dreadful, uninspiring game. Glad that's out of the way and Lallana finally got some match sharpness / fitness. And Markovic. We could have had Costa and Suarez playing and still lost to Villa so on we go.
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While we could afford missing out on a CL spot and still manage to pay obscene fees and wages for top players, liverpool simply can't. Imo they needed to do it this year.
Both bolded points are bang on the money.
So much was made about our spending, probably due to shock of us landing Falcao on deadline day. But, in reality our spending was very sensible - a box to box CM, a DM, a CB, a left back, a world class AM/Winger, and a world class CF - and all bought to move straight into our first 11.
Liverpool on the other hand have applied the same scattergun approach that Spurs deployed last summer, when they also lost best player to La Liga.
It's an approach that rarely works, and bringing in 3 key players from the same mid-table club was a dangerous move imo.
There was an element of 'seeing what sticks' in Rodgers signings this Summer, and I think his inexperience in both building a CL squad, and in knowing how to spend that much money will become more apparent as the season progresses.
How is European football taking it's toll? We haven't played in Europe yet. If you mean resting Sterling, I don't agree. That was a stupid decision whether we're in Europe or not.
Well yea but it was a decision taken with Europe in mind no ?
So you could say that Europe affected todays game, just as it will affect the away game to West Ham next Saturday.
I'd like to think not. If Rodgers decided to rest Sterling so he was fresh for bloody Ludogorets then we have bigger problems than whether European football takes it's toll.
I think (hope, but still disagree) that he just thought Sterling was tired from international duty and that we could cope without him.
It's only going to get worse though, with the games now coming thick and fast and a 19 year old so important to getting a result from a home game to Villa,m it's far from great news squad wise.
@Rafateria will be along to tell us how a top manager gets his teams through these rocky periods of injury and fatigue though so all will be well.
We'll see. I think it'll be somewhere in between, I don't think we'll be as (relatively) injury free as we were last season but I don't think European football will destroy our squad as much as rival fans expect either.
Need the likes of Marković and Lallana to step up and play better than they did today though.
I think defending set pieces is an obvious weakness.
In games against teams that Liverpool should beat, the opposition will be tough to break down because they will park the bus and look to hit on the counter. Liverpool seemed to limit Aston Villa's counter attacks but the opposition will always win set pieces and these games might only be won by one goal, conceding from a set piece should not happen.
They need to make improvements here, it's nothing new, it's always been the case but now without Suarez it is vital less goals are conceded.
Markovic and Lallana did ok in build up but just had nobody to hit, Balotelli was far to pedestrian.
You will be fine with Sturridge and Sterling providing that element of quality but depth wise it looked today exactly as predicted. Europe certainly will have an affect on league games though, the demand on the squads mental and physical health has been understated by a few.
They have despite getting 75m (if this is true Barca claim 65m) for suarez they still have a net spend of 38m.
Adam Lallana Southampton£25,000,00001 Jul, 2014
Emre Can B Leverkusen£10,000,00003 Jul, 2014
Lazar Markovic Benfica£20,000,00015 Jul, 2014
Dejan Lovren Southampton£20,000,00027 Jul, 2014
Divock Origi Lille£10,000,00029 Jul, 2014
Alberto Moreno Perez Seville£12,000,00016 Aug, 2014
Mario Balotelli Milan£16,000,00025 Aug, 2014
Rogers this summer has put £113m into player purchases and they looked less fluent than a year ago.
Brendon Rogers is his own biggest fan and always will be. I have a mate I went to Uni with who is a huge Reading FC fan and he says the in-game management was embarrassing during his tenure and resulted in him getting his P45.
The press love him but in all honesty at the very top of the game he is STILL very much a one season wonder and has it all to prove.
Your spending was a lot of things, but certainly not very sensible. You adressed needed positions and roles, brought in supreme individual quality, but the amount you spend for that was staggering. Over the last two transfer windows you created a net spend of around 200 Mil. €, Liverpool´s in the same time frame was not even a third of yet, despite their task of replacing their star player and bolstering the squad enough to be prepared for the CL.
It is easy to criticise the "scatter gun" approach of Liverpool (or the Spurs for that matter), but the truth is that replacing a world class player is a huge task for a club of Liverpool´s standing. They can´t bring in a world class player in return, because they are not in the position to attract him. One really good season does not grant them the status of an elite club and they also can´t pay the enourmous wages to compensate that.
So the only real approach they have left is to split up the burden on multiple shoulders and at the same time bring in talents, which might turn into top class players. Rodgers chose with Lallana, Lovren and Balotelli PL proven players and at least in the first two cases overpayed for that. On top of that he signed players like Moreno, Markovic, Can and Origi which have yet to hit their ceiling.
The thing that Rodgers needs the most right now is time to integrate his new players in his system and made said system click again. Unfortunatively for him, the fierce competition in the PL won´t give him that luxury, though. This is his biggest test as coach until now. To keep the team functioning on a high level after one of the big boys took what they wanted. This season will show just how good of a team builder he is. In difference to other great squad builder like Simeone, Conte or Klopp he faces even harder circumstances, though.
Good post. And you hit the nail on the head with regards to the competitive nature of PL right now. The competition for top 4 places is just ridiculous. I won't be surprised if PL successfully lobbied UEFA to allow more than 4 teams from a single country into CL.
Regarding Liverpool's transfers. Their season would hinge on their buys from Southampton - Lallana, Lovern, Lambert. Even though two out of those may not be part of their first choice 11, they need all 3 to come good. Balotelli was always a gamble. I have always beileved in his talent since I saw him since his early days at Inter but it really does look like that he can go the same way as Cassano. He is someone that can elevate their season like Suarez did last season by taking them close to the title rather than just finishing in top 4.
Do they genuinely think they're strong title candidates this season? I mean...
Last season: no CL or noteworthy injuies all season, key players hitting top form in tandem, obscene luck with refs, most other top clubs had poor season. Every conceivable advantage; still didn't win it.
This season: CL games, having to settle a huge number of signings, unlikely to get a penalty every ten minutes for a second season in a row, and all other top clubs have strengthened while they've sold their only world class player (in addition to their defense veteran) and signed a bunch of average filler. Suddenly likely to win the title.
There's a whole list of reasons they're less likely to win it this season and not one argument in favor of them doing better than last season. I guess optimism is a wonderful sedative.
Last season: no CL or noteworthy injuies all season, key players hitting top form in tandem, obscene luck with refs, most other top clubs had poor season. Every conceivable advantage; still didn't win it.
This season: CL games, having to settle a huge number of signings, unlikely to get a penalty every ten minutes for a second season in a row, and all other top clubs have strengthened while they've sold their only world class player (in addition to their defense veteran) and signed a bunch of average filler. Suddenly likely to win the title.
There's a whole list of reasons they're less likely to win it this season and not one argument in favor of them doing better than last season. I guess optimism is a wonderful sedative.
But Brendan though.
I don't believe this for a second! As much as I disliked Suarez, even when he had an off day he was always making runs, looking to create something, chasing lost causes, trying to make things happen. Balotelli, at every club he's been it's the same old story, scores a worldy from time to time but does nothing else. If the team plays bad he plays bad, he is not the type of player to make the difference. He won't go looking for the ball, chase defenders down. He doesn't look interested if the ball is not played to his feet. Inter, City, and Milan realised this and couldn't wait to get rid, he'll never change. I'm not talking about his behaviour but his attitude definitely stinks and tonight was no different.
Having Borini as their 3rd choice striker and Balotelli as their main/2nd will cost them in many games. Felt like Balotelli just gave up playing today when he realised Aston Villa weren't giving him a sniff, and Borini was utter tosh when he came on.
Hey, really respect you as a poster but completely disagree with a number of points you've made here, and some of what you've written doesn't really make sense.
I agree completely with your last paragraph btw.
I'll reply to the bolded in order so as not to write an essay...
- What you say here is paradoxical, you acknowledge that 'we addressed needed positions and roles" and that we brought in "supreme quality", but then state that it wasn't sensible because we paid too much. The amount we spent that is constantly being used to beat us with is entirely superfluous and based more on an unrealistic transfer strategy from SAF's final years than anything else.
We aren't obliged to act as some kind of moral beacon that never spends big or competes with City or Chelsea. And even if people do want to get moralistic about it, it's worth remembering that this isn't oil money! This is our money, it's money the club has generated and for once it's going straight back into the first team into positions that need strengthening. When we start spending more than we make (which will be some achievement given the Adidas deal alone) this issue will be of resonance, as it stands now, it doesn't matter at all and why we're being picked at for it in this one window after years of failing to reinvest in the first team in positions needed is beyond me.
- Why shouldn't Liverpool be able to attract a World Class player now? Sorry but that's apologist nonsense for what I believe is simply unambitious spending by Rodgers. They finished 2nd in the PL last season, are now in the CL and had 100m to spend. Spurs weren't in the CL, let alone challenging for a title and so their scattergun approach made slightly more sense, but Liverpool could and should have bought better. As I said, as the season rolls on I think the way Rodgers spent will start to receive more scrutiny, and quite rightly because he spent poorly and bottled spending big on one world class attacker to replace Suarez.
- Again, this really wasn't their only option. Look at the sheer amount they spent without managing to bring in one single world class talent! You mention wages but I'm willing to bet that with Suarez off the wage bill plus the combined wages of Lallana and Balotelli they could easily have afforded an elite attacker and his wages and STILL have had enough to sign Lambert as back up.
Rodgers bought like a small time manager and that was his choice. The amount he spent on mid-table players and 'ones for the future' in one window was not sensible at all and will prove costly to him, it's clear already.
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