Our Rivals Squad's next year - Liverpool 2015/2016

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Yes :mad:

Can't blame him, really. We offered too good of a contract to a player that didn't deserve to be here, so of course he'd stay if given the choice.
 
Apparently we're interested in Lucas Digne.

Okay? I guess.
 
Tommy said:
Yes :mad:

Can't blame him, really. We offered too good of a contract to a player that didn't deserve to be here, so of course he'd stay if given the choice.
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We might also have tried not playing him in pre-season and giving him the notion he could fight his way into the side.

I notice that courtesy isn't extended this summer.
 
I kinda like Benteke. I don't know if he's going to score one in two or one in three or one in four, but his qualities won't evaporate like Balotelli or Carroll. Or Lambert.
 
Tommy said:
Apparently we're interested in Lucas Digne.

Okay? I guess.
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I think it's just a rumour, I suppose Moreno didn't really fully establish himself in his first season and for the money we paid he really should be 1st choice.
Young Gomez looked very decent there past couple of friendly games whilst Enrique is obviously not in the manager's plans.
 
Is that it for incomings? I'm really bored waiting for something interesting to happen.

My starting XI as things stand...

Firmino just off Benteke
Coutinho
Milner Lucas Hendo
Moreno Sakho Skrtel Clyne
Mignolet

Bench: Bogdan, Lovren, Toure, Lallana, Allen, Ibe, Markovic, Ings
(Not holding much hope for Sturridge).

Moreno & Clyne like to bomb forward, and both Milner & Hendo can provide width if needed. Could also just go full on 4-3-3 with Cou & Firmino flanking Benteke. Whatever the case, I'm glad we've got a striker now.
 
Disappointed we don't look interested in a centre back. Does look like that's our lot...
 
bucky said:
Emre Can should be in your starting XI.
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He's yet to get the experience he needs to be a nailed on starter as a CDM over Lucas right now, but I'm all for giving him all the cup games in his natural position this year. I think next year is when he'll be in the first team, if he's going to make it here.
 


Original image.

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:lol:
 
Tommy said:
He's yet to get the experience he needs to be a nailed on starter as a CDM over Lucas right now, but I'm all for giving him all the cup games in his natural position this year. I think next year is when he'll be in the first team, if he's going to make it here.
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But you don't even have him on the bench Tommy ! He's an absolute given for the bench and I'd have Gomez over one of Lovren or Toure (don't need both) since he can play anywhere across the back and you don't have any FB cover.

The Digne rumours are gaining strength. There's our new LB if they come to fruition.
 
What's even better is the that world class is in double inverted commas.
 
bucky said:
Emre Can should be in your starting XI.
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No, he really shouldn't. It is 99.9% we are going to 433 or maybe on occasion 442 (diamond), we know Can is definitely NOT a RB and he is totally unproven at DM. He'll cover for the midfield three IMO, giving him time to learn.
 
Rafateria said:
No, he really shouldn't. It is 99.9% we are going to 433 or maybe on occasion 442 (diamond), we know Can is definitely NOT a RB and he is totally unproven at DM. He'll cover for the midfield three IMO, giving him time to learn.
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Think the problem that we, and Can, have, is that 3 of main midfielders are box-to-box. I'm unconvinced that Milner and Henderson would make a great midfield duo (or 2 of a 3) as I think they're both best when allowed to get up and down the pitch. Seems a bit kamikaze to have two players like that in midfield.

Can is similar, he's a tank but I don't think defensive midfield is his future. He's another one who'll look to press frantically rather than holding.
 
johnny boy said:
Latest rumours suggest we aren't signing him.

Wisdom on loan to Norwich probably happening though.
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Then I hope that means Gomez over Moreno. BR might think so, cancelling his loan plans and confirming him as part of the 1st team squad for this season. We (I) may only have seen Gomez in a couple of friendlies against low quality (though fit) opposition but he oozes class, confidence and positional sense.
 
Bob Loblaw said:
Think the problem that we, and Can, have, is that 3 of main midfielders are box-to-box. I'm unconvinced that Milner and Henderson would make a great midfield duo (or 2 of a 3) as I think they're both best when allowed to get up and down the pitch. Seems a bit kamikaze to have two players like that in midfield.

Can is similar, he's a tank but I don't think defensive midfield is his future. He's another one who'll look to press frantically rather than holding.
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Can seems to me to be a very difficult player to pigeon-hole or even find his best position, so far in his career he has looked a good young player with promise wherever he's played (except at RB). He doesn't look like your typical DM though. It could be that maybe BR thinks his CM credentials and CB experience may combine to make him worthy of the 3rd CM slot .. I don't see it though, he lacks discipline, his range of passing is in need of expansion and when he makes those forward runs he invariably tries to do too much and either gets dispossessed or it ends with a poor pass, leaving him stranded upfield whilst the opposition surge forward.

I actually think Milner and Henderson do look good as the forward 2 of those CM three. Energy, good passers and able to give 90mins of total harassment to the opposition midfield, something we have missed. It won't be kamikaze if they have been instructed to hang back if the other is surging forward. I am most definitely concerned with the most defensive CM slot though. Neither Lucas nor Allen fill me any confidence.
 
Rafateria said:
Can seems to me to be a very difficult player to pigeon-hole or even find his best position, so far in his career he has looked a good young player with promise wherever he's played (except at RB). He doesn't look like your typical DM though. It could be that maybe BR thinks his CM credentials and CB experience may combine to make him worthy of the 3rd CM slot .. I don't see it though, he lacks discipline, his range of passing is in need of expansion and when he makes those forward runs he invariably tries to do too much and either gets dispossessed or it ends with a poor pass, leaving him stranded upfield whilst the opposition surge forward.

I actually think Milner and Henderson do look good as the forward 2 of those CM three. Energy, good passers and able to give 90mins of total harassment to the opposition midfield, something we have missed. It won't be kamikaze if they have been instructed to hang back if the other is surging forward. I am most definitely concerned with the most defensive CM slot though. Neither Lucas nor Allen fill me any confidence.
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Could be true about Henderson and Milner together. Either way I think we agree that adding Can in and making that a midfield trio won't really work.
 
Did Brentan ever give an explanation for why Manquillo didn't get a look-in after January? Thought he looked decent in the few games I saw him.
 
Tarrou said:
Did Brentan ever give an explanation for why Manquillo didn't get a look-in after January? Thought he looked decent in the few games I saw him.
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Not as far as I am aware. He was a little inconsistent but many would have preferred him over Johnson.
A bit of a mystery why he suddenly became out of favour.

I guess now we have upgraded with Clyne but still puzzling why Manquillo didn't play much in the second half of the season.
 
johnny boy said:
Not as far as I am aware. He was a little inconsistent but many would have preferred him over Johnson.
A bit of a mystery why he suddenly became out of favour.

I guess now we have upgraded with Clyne but still puzzling why Manquillo didn't play much in the second half of the season.
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I don't think it was a mystery at all actually. Manquillo started off well when we played with FBs, when we switched to WBs he was patently unsuited and constantly caught out of position as well as not being able to deliver consistently going forward (crossing, beating a man). Not his fault perhaps as it's likely he'd never played that way before but it either demonstrated a lack of adaptability or unsuitability to the role. Ironic then that this season we will be going back to a flat back 4. Don't forget Johnson was also out injured for a long period and Manquillo was basically a stand-in.

However it is more than likely BR had by then decided we needed stronger, hence Clyne (who is clearly an improvement) with Flanno to return in January. Manquillo was a bit unlucky and I liked the kid so good luck to him in his career.
 
Tarrou said:
Did Brentan ever give an explanation for why Manquillo didn't get a look-in after January? Thought he looked decent in the few games I saw him.
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He was decent enough, but pretty limited going forwards.

When we switched to 3-4-3, he was never going to get a lookin, when the likes of Ibe and Markovic were preferred over both him and Johnson (ironically, this position would have been ideal for Johnson before he completed his metamorphosis into a human sloth).
 
Sell Lambert for a £1m loss, and he scores the same amount of goals on the same day as he did in a year sporting a Liverpool shirt :lol: Fair play, Rickie! A deal that (mostly) made sense, but didn't quite work out, but at the end of the day the loss was tiny and the wages minor. Good luck to him at West Brom.

Now if we can just do a BOGOF deal on Borini & Balotelli, all will be alright.
 
Decent (pre season) goal from the new lad.

 
A couple of predictions one week until the start of the new season:

- Benteke will score 15+ league goals and 20+ goals in all competitons.

- We won't make top four but will be in it sometimes over the course of the season. In the end, we'll miss out by eight points or something like that.

- Rodgers will be fired after this season (or maybe this is just me being too hopeful).

- More than once, Rodgers will try to play with a midfield trio of Henderson, Milner and Can and it won't be a success.

- Roberto Firmino will be a success but won't start against Stoke and maybe might even be on the bench for the first five games or so. He'll nees some time after only being back to training a couple of weeks.

- This will be Jordon Ibe's breakthrough year and he'll be compared to Sterling to no end, to everyone's growing irritation.

- We won't sign Digne and our LB troubles will continue. Further on, Skrtel will be a no brainer but he'll be partnered by Lovren as much as Sakho and the CB partnership will still look shaky.

- Sturridge won't start ten games or more this season.
 
Not really a fan of Henderson and Milner playing as a duo as we saw against Helsinki, both there best qualities are when they are given the freedom to bomb up and down without being shackled. Asking them to reign that in and develop the positional sense to play as the deepest midfielders seems a bit of a fools errand to me when we have players like Lucas\Allen who have the nous to play there, won't panic when pressed, can keep the ball under pressure and play out of tight spaces, something which isn't a strong suit of either hendo or milner. Would much rather either of the latter two was played alongside in a three.
It seems like Lovren is set to start over Sakho at Stoke according to James Pearce, would be baffling to say the least, it would be like starting Borini in place of a fit Sturridge that's how big the difference between the two is. Still not entirely convinced Skrtel is entirely suited to playing in a two for Rodgers, but then again no defenders have looked entirely at ease under Rodgers, I'm hoping the additions of the new coaching staff will go some way towards rectifying that, not holding out hope though. On the bright side Gomez looks excellent, composed and assured defensively and willing to offer something offensively as well, would definitely start him in place of Moreno at the Brittania. Clyne likewise is doing exactly as expected. From the little I've seen Milner looks much more comfortable in the advanced areas and could make a real impact as one of the two box to box mids ahead of a DM, hopefully that's how we'll set up rather than as a two behind a one. Lallana's looked good but still dwells on the ball far too often for my liking needs to move it quicker rather than twirling for a couple of seconds then moving it. Ibe has been excellent and is surely worth a start next week, likewise ings has also impressed and will probably play some part to. Origi has looked raw but the potential is clearly there to see, can be a top class player if nurtured correctly. Not been the worst pre season ever, and hoping for a good solid challenge at that top 4, the key for me will be somehow managing to get Sturridge fit, if hes firing we have as good a chance as any to breach that top four.
 
RobinLFC said:
A couple of predictions one week until the start of the new season:

- Benteke will score 15+ league goals and 20+ goals in all competitons.

- We won't make top four but will be in it sometimes over the course of the season. In the end, we'll miss out by eight points or something like that.

- Rodgers will be fired after this season (or maybe this is just me being too hopeful).

- More than once, Rodgers will try to play with a midfield trio of Henderson, Milner and Can and it won't be a success.

- Roberto Firmino will be a success but won't start against Stoke and maybe might even be on the bench for the first five games or so. He'll nees some time after only being back to training a couple of weeks.

- This will be Jordon Ibe's breakthrough year and he'll be compared to Sterling to no end, to everyone's growing irritation.

- We won't sign Digne and our LB troubles will continue. Further on, Skrtel will be a no brainer but he'll be partnered by Lovren as much as Sakho and the CB partnership will still look shaky.

- Sturridge won't start ten games or more this season.
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Where will this leave him at the end of the season? I imagine he's on big wages and would be hard to sell. Could be a really big issue for Liverpool if his body keeps breaking down.
 
ZDwyr said:
Where will this leave him at the end of the season? I imagine he's on big wages and would be hard to sell. Could be a really big issue for Liverpool if his body keeps breaking down.
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Pretty sure he's our highest paid player, "earning" something like £140k p/w. We gave him an overly generous payraise when he was getting a third of what Suarez was getting.
 
UweBein said:
Who'll be your first choice striker?
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Benteke. Sturridge might re-claim it if he stays fit, but I think when fit we'll look to have a first choice pairing rather than an either/or.

His goal against Swindon got me a bit excited...

 
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