Liverpool

Saoirse. said:
Apparently no more signings for us this Summer, the three signings thins morning brings us to a total of 8 first team signings including 4 defensive players, 3 attacking players and a keeper, as well as getting rid of high earners that were only fringe players. I have always had confidence in Rodgers from the start and it's starting to pay off, a manager needs time to bed in as you will see with Moyes, over the last year he has pretty much over hauled the entire team with only a few players holding on to their positions.

I see no reason we can't push for top 4, we currently sit on 9 points, it took us 8 games and until the 20th of October to achieve that last year, our next six fixtures are very winnable if we play how we can play, and with Suarez missing just the next 2 PL fixtures it's a massive boost in our attack.

We still can't beat anyone above us in the league though ;)
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With only 3 games gone in the league you cant be talking of final places. I was very impressed last year when he got Sinclair and for such a good deal too. Mignolet looks a decent buy so far but the squad compared with most top for teams is still extremely light. Plus the fact that spurs have spent massively to try overhall Arsenal/Chelsea to get the 4th spot. Now while I pray for a great season and am delighted with the start a couple of injuries could really dent our progress. If Coutinho picked up a knock a lot of creativity would leave the midfield. If Sinclair gets a knock then we lose our only goal scorer so far this year. If Agger now gets a knock we are down to either starting Sakho who is an unkown for us with Skrtel who by all accounts was out the door at the start of the summer. I think you should revisit this after about 20 more games and see what you think but top four is optimistic at best.
 
M'n'M said:
Great start but not getting carried away. It's a marathon not a sprint etc but nice to have a cushion, no matter how small at this stage.

Really impressed with the summer signings. Mignolet and Toure have both had tremendous starts and won over any doubting fans already. Aspas and Alberto have a lot more to do but I like what I see from both. I see Aspas as an impact sub when Suarez is back.

I'm over the moon with today's signings. Sakho is for the here and now, with Ilori one for the future. Apparently he's even faster than Christiano Ronaldo over 30 yards which will allow us to press higher up the park.

Moses could turn out to be a shrewd bit of business too. I really like him as a player and will offer another creative spark. Disappointed there's no option to buy in the contract but won't make any difference at the end of the season.

With Borini going out on loan I'm hoping for another forward in but that's probably asking a bit much.
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Forgot about Ilori. Pace at the back would be great. I was very impressed by Toure in his start to the season and a little upset he injured his groin against County. Moses for me is an odd one. He always seemed wasteful at Wigan but I like a lot of what I saw at Chelsea. Hard to know what way the lad will turn out but willing to take a punt on him I suppose. My only issue is that we have a very similar player in Sterling so are we stunting his development or giving him something to aim for. Hard to know but hopefully the signings will gel early on and we will have a good year.
 
Have to say Liverpool seem to be moving in the right direction. The football Rodgers is getting them playing is entertaining and the signings suggest the managers willing to change things up. Haven't seen most of the new boys but of late Sturridge and Coutinho have been quality buys and the fav that they've gone ahead and made a lot of additions is a good sign. Hopefully they're all shit though.
 
Stick said:
With only 3 games gone in the league you cant be talking of final places. I was very impressed last year when he got Sinclair and for such a good deal too. Mignolet looks a decent buy so far but the squad compared with most top for teams is still extremely light. Plus the fact that spurs have spent massively to try overhall Arsenal/Chelsea to get the 4th spot. Now while I pray for a great season and am delighted with the start a couple of injuries could really dent our progress. If Coutinho picked up a knock a lot of creativity would leave the midfield. If Sinclair gets a knock then we lose our only goal scorer so far this year. If Agger now gets a knock we are down to either starting Sakho who is an unkown for us with Skrtel who by all accounts was out the door at the start of the summer. I think you should revisit this after about 20 more games and see what you think but top four is optimistic at best.
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Who is this Sinclair and what does he want?
 
i dunno still early days for me. they probaby played better against us last year despite losing the game.
i can admire their resolve in holding out for the 3 wins so far but they couldve easily dropped points in every one so lets see if (when?) their luck runs out
they also look a bit lightweight to me - odd for a liverpool side that and i'm not convinced with gerrard playing deep, it totally neuters him imo
still, no one else has managed 100%, fair fecks to em
 
Sakho is a quality young defender.. he's an incredible buy for Liverpool.

Good in the air, physically strong, and decent on the ball. Last season he got dribbled once every 10 games according to whoscored (1/10 games, best average in the league). Surprised Arsenal haven't gone for him. Toure is a decent back up, was actually doing very well for them so far until getting injured.

Coutinho and Sturridge were great buys in January, both turning into top players. Keeping hold of Suarez and getting Lucas back fit are wins for them.

Added some more underwhelming signings but it all adds to a decent squad depth and competition.

Good summer for Liverpool, very good. Glad that Chelsea have refused them Mata, it would have given them a brilliant chance at the top 4 (although I'd prefer him at Liverpool than Chelsea)
 
Stick said:
With only 3 games gone in the league you cant be talking of final places. I was very impressed last year when he got Sinclair and for such a good deal too. Mignolet looks a decent buy so far but the squad compared with most top for teams is still extremely light. Plus the fact that spurs have spent massively to try overhall Arsenal/Chelsea to get the 4th spot. Now while I pray for a great season and am delighted with the start a couple of injuries could really dent our progress. If Coutinho picked up a knock a lot of creativity would leave the midfield. If Sinclair gets a knock then we lose our only goal scorer so far this year. If Agger now gets a knock we are down to either starting Sakho who is an unkown for us with Skrtel who by all accounts was out the door at the start of the summer. I think you should revisit this after about 20 more games and see what you think but top four is optimistic at best.
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By Sinclair you mean Sturridge?
 
Yeah he has already said that's who he means.

Liverpool have really done well and top 4 should be a realistic aim for the first time for 2/3 years.
 
Alock1 said:
Sakho is a quality young defender.. he's an incredible buy for Liverpool.

Good in the air, physically strong, and decent on the ball. Last season he got dribbled once every 10 games according to whoscored (1/10 games, best average in the league). Surprised Arsenal haven't gone for him. Toure is a decent back up, was actually doing very well for them so far until getting injured.

Coutinho and Sturridge were great buys in January, both turning into top players. Keeping hold of Suarez and getting Lucas back fit are wins for them.

Added some more underwhelming signings but it all adds to a decent squad depth and competition.

Good summer for Liverpool, very good. Glad that Chelsea have refused them Mata, it would have given them a brilliant chance at the top 4 (although I'd prefer him at Liverpool than Chelsea)
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Am delighted to hear this. I hope he gets a chance to prove it this year. We were refused Mata? Blimey what a coup that would have been!
 
I dunno about Sakho, he's looked very clumsy and not that impressive whenever I've watched PSG.

At least he's got time on his side to develop into a better defender.
 
Aboutreika18 said:
I dunno about Sakho, he's looked very clumsy and not that impressive whenever I've watched PSG.

At least he's got time on his side to develop into a better defender.
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Sounds like a Wenger project...I wonder how he'll react to Brentan and his wisdom.
 
Still not too sure what to make of my team this season. Delighted, obviously, at gaining maximum points from our first 3 games. But I'm somewhat bemused at how we've actually gained those points. Rodgers seems to have gone from having an all-out attack mindset, to a hugely conservative, not to say, defensive, way of playing. I suppose all good teams need the foundation of having a solid defence. & maybe our manager is prioritising this area first. The signing of 2 central defenders today probably adds some substance to that point. He seems to have learnt a lesson or 2 from last season when we were mugged on a few occasions by good counter-attacking play by the opposition. However, such actions come at a price. For a start, Coutinho is very much a player who thrives by playing on the front foot. We certainly didn't see the best of him yesterday, or against Villa, when a lot of our play centred mainly on containment. I believe this will also apply to Aspas. He strikes me as being an instinctive player who comes alive in the final 3rd of the field. We hardly ventured into United's danger area after going ahead so early. This resulted in the Spanish lad looking like a little boy lost for most of the time he was on the pitch. That's 4 consecutive 1-0 wins in the league now - QPR at the end of last season, & 3 matches this term - 12 points out of a possible 12, & 4 consecutive clean sheets in the process. Whilst I should be pleased at those stats, there's a little nagging doubt nibbling away at my enthusiasm. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, but maybe a couple of comprehensive victories might quash those doubts. Or perhaps coming from behind to win a pulsating match might reignite my hope for a Liverpool side that plays with style & panache. Brendan Rodgers has shown us he's got the tools to possibly build such a side. Only the future will tell us if this comes to any sort of fruition.
 
Ins:
Kolo Toure (Manchester City, free), Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo, £7.7million), Luis Alberto (Sevilla, undisclosed), Simon Mignolet (Sunderland, undisclosed), Aly Cissokho (Valencia, loan), Tiago Ilori (Sporting Lisbon, undisclosed), Mamadou Sakho (Paris St Germain, undisclosed),Victor Moses (Chelsea, loan)
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Imo that is pretty impressive. Interesting to see they are finally moving forward with a couple of handy signings in there.
 
A few days ago I was a bit concerned as we hadn't addressed what for me was the priority a commanding centre half. Thankfully in the end we got Sakho in.
Cissokho I like too and will provide good competition at left back.
Iloro I know little about to be honest.

Moses should bring us some skill and strength in wide positions and allow Coutinho to play in that number 10 role he is obviously destined for.
We looked a little lightweight on the flanks so we needed someone in.

Mignolet looks an upgrade on Reina who hasn't been great past couple of seasons.
Aspas looked ok against Stoke but didn't hold the ball up that well against United, but it's early days and he has shown promise.
Toure has shown what his experience will bring for us.

Obviously we wanted the lad that went to Dortmund as our main target and when Brendan switched to Willian that didn't work out either. That was a shame but other clubs have had problems getting top targets in too.

We were also in a different situation , we have needed to offload a lot of players who were not good enough which to a large degree we have done. Purely because we have bought so many who have been to say the least average buys.
I am sure Coates would have gone if he hadn't have got injured.

I hope Allen improves, we need him to and that Henderson continues to get better - we need more goals from midfield.
Suarez is still here, though I think he will be off before next season starts.

Coady, Suso, Adorjan and more have gone on loan and will come back better players. Not sure on Wisdom, Kelly and Flanagan though, I just cannot see all 3 getting much game time which may hinder their progress.
Sterling and Ibe are great options for us on the bench.

Overall we have done well, our situation was different as we had many players we needed to let go. I think we are now on the path to having a better, settled squad which might mean for once we are in the position of being able to buy 1 top drawer expensive player in future windows, rather that looking at several additions. Assuming we can attract such a player, naturally not being in Europe affects that.
Be interesting to see how he keeps all these defenders happy, I thought Skrtel did well at the weekend though I must admit I thought he might have been sold.

I still don't know if we will get 4th, but I believe we will finish higher that last season.
 
retardman5 said:
Still not too sure what to make of my team this season. Delighted, obviously, at gaining maximum points from our first 3 games. But I'm somewhat bemused at how we've actually gained those points. Rodgers seems to have gone from having an all-out attack mindset, to a hugely conservative, not to say, defensive, way of playing. I suppose all good teams need the foundation of having a solid defence. & maybe our manager is prioritising this area first. The signing of 2 central defenders today probably adds some substance to that point. He seems to have learnt a lesson or 2 from last season when we were mugged on a few occasions by good counter-attacking play by the opposition. However, such actions come at a price. For a start, Coutinho is very much a player who thrives by playing on the front foot. We certainly didn't see the best of him yesterday, or against Villa, when a lot of our play centred mainly on containment. I believe this will also apply to Aspas. He strikes me as being an instinctive player who comes alive in the final 3rd of the field. We hardly ventured into United's danger area after going ahead so early. This resulted in the Spanish lad looking like a little boy lost for most of the time he was on the pitch. That's 4 consecutive 1-0 wins in the league now - QPR at the end of last season, & 3 matches this term - 12 points out of a possible 12, & 4 consecutive clean sheets in the process. Whilst I should be pleased at those stats, there's a little nagging doubt nibbling away at my enthusiasm. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, but maybe a couple of comprehensive victories might quash those doubts. Or perhaps coming from behind to win a pulsating match might reignite my hope for a Liverpool side that plays with style & panache. Brendan Rodgers has shown us he's got the tools to possibly build such a side. Only the future will tell us if this comes to any sort of fruition.
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True, we have had this 'thing' for years when we go 1 up there is a tendency to sit back a little. We need to get rid of that if we have any hope of challenging higher up the league.
Having said that against United I felt it was partly because our forward players didn't retain the ball that well, hence it just kept coming back at us all the time.
Coutinho needs to play central.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Have to say Liverpool seem to be moving in the right direction. The football Rodgers is getting them playing is entertaining and the signings suggest the managers willing to change things up. Haven't seen most of the new boys but of late Sturridge and Coutinho have been quality buys and the fav that they've gone ahead and made a lot of additions is a good sign. Hopefully they're all shit though.
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The football they have played so far, on the evidence of the two games I have seen (vs Villa and us), they not played well nor entertaining.

Lots of players sogned, lots of players gotten rid of - like it has been for years at Liverpool.
 
CnutOfAllCnuts said:
The football they have played so far, on the evidence of the two games I have seen (vs Villa and us), they not played well nor entertaining.

Lots of players sogned, lots of players gotten rid of - like it has been for years at Liverpool.
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I like the style. Good tempo, quick short passing. They just lack the quality but the endeavour is there.

The last bit is true. But I guess it depends on how good these players.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
I like the style. Good tempo, quick short passing. They just lack the quality but the endeavour is there.

The last bit is true. But I guess it depends on how good these players.
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That style have not been evident so far this season, unless they were amazing vs Stoke.

Like always, a couple of their many signings will probably be good, the rest will probably not be at the club in a couple of years time.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
I like the style. Good tempo, quick short passing. They just lack the quality but the endeavour is there.

The last bit is true. But I guess it depends on how good these players.
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It's too early to say - at this point after 3 games we have won them all, a big upgrade from last season.
I don't think any team can be judged yet, in all 3 games I think our first half performances have been good.
No team in the league has reached their potential yet.

The squad is a long term project that cannot be fixed in one transfer window, we can't just add one class player because we have no european football and had many average players who we needed rid of.
The quality on our bench has been poor for years, now we have more strength in depth we are better placed.
 
CnutOfAllCnuts said:
That style have not been evident so far this season, unless they were amazing vs Stoke.

Like always, a couple of their many signings will probably be good, the rest will probably not be at the club in a couple of years time.
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I think it has. Like I said, they are a bit low of quality but I like the way they set up. It's the intent that is important especially when you don't have the quality of a top 4 side.
 
CnutOfAllCnuts said:
That style have not been evident so far this season, unless they were amazing vs Stoke..
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Maybe not amazing but for large parts it was great to watch. Then ground out wins in two difficult games.
 
B20 said:
Maybe not amazing but for large parts it was great to watch. Then ground out wins in two difficult games.
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That's what I'm saying. It's not amazing football but it's entertaining because there is an attempt to play an exciting style of football with constant passing and moving and a lot of movement everywhere.
 
I think it's slightly unfair, if that's the right word, to judge us just yet. It's too early to say, same as it is for everyone else.
The structure of the team will change now we can play Coutinho in a slightly different role, Suarez still to come back and much stronger looking defensive options.

We have played at times some very good football so far, then hung on in there to grind out results, something which I thought was a quality we have lacked for so long.
 
johnny boy said:
I think it's slightly unfair, if that's the right word, to judge us just yet. It's too early to say, same as it is for everyone else.
The structure of the team will change now we can play Coutinho in a slightly different role, Suarez still to come back and much stronger looking defensive options.
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Of course it is silly to judge anyone at this stage.

Be surprised if Liverpool don't improve from last season. And I would be surprised if you finish top 4.
 
CnutOfAllCnuts said:
Of course it is silly to judge anyone at this stage.

Be surprised if Liverpool don't improve from last season. And I would be surprised if you finish top 4.
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We will definitely improve and I think finish higher than last season, I am not sure if we are good enough for 4th.
 
Not too fuzzed about what place in the league it is. More concerned about how close we actually get to the top four.

I'd much rather take 6th and have given it a good solid go after losing out to really strong rivals than 5th and be miles behind a 4th placed team that was there for the taking.
 
B20 said:
Not too fuzzed about what place in the league it is. More concerned about how close we actually get to the top four.

I'd much rather take 6th and have given it a good solid go after losing out to really strong rivals than 5th and be miles behind a 4th placed team that was there for the taking.
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Genius! :)
 
Aspas showed promise in pre-season. Yet to see anything in a competitive game from him other than a somewhat bland tidiness and workrate.
 
I think Rodgers is doing a good job with this team and even though he comes across sometimes as the most boring man in football he definitely knows what he is doing with this team. Once Suarez is back I also suspect them to be a bit more dangerous going forward. I don't think they have the quality yet to challange for the top 4 but they are on a good way to build a squad that is capable of doing that in a few years.
 
The first half against Villa is one of the best halves of football I've seen us play in a while. They got absolutely nowhere near us, so I'm confident we have a side that's capable of dominant, fluid football.

The second half in that game & again on Sunday was an example of pragmatism more than anything, for me. In both instances we dropped deep and the opposition were reduced to half chances, if any at all. It was a wise thing to do when considering the counter attacking capabilities the opposition possessed, and the amount of times we suffered on the counter last year.

This seemingly newly found ability to grind a result out is nice to see and was something that wasn't evident at any stage of last season.

B20 said:
Aspas showed promise in pre-season. Yet to see anything in a competitive game from him other than a somewhat bland tidiness and workrate.
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I thought he was alright vs Stoke.
 
Stick said:
Forgot about Ilori. Pace at the back would be great. I was very impressed by Toure in his start to the season and a little upset he injured his groin against County. Moses for me is an odd one. He always seemed wasteful at Wigan but I like a lot of what I saw at Chelsea. Hard to know what way the lad will turn out but willing to take a punt on him I suppose. My only issue is that we have a very similar player in Sterling so are we stunting his development or giving him something to aim for. Hard to know but hopefully the signings will gel early on and we will have a good year.
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Ilori reminds me of Ivan Cordoba, although obviously not as seasoned as when I saw him. Think he could be a good player though.
 
Had dinner with some mates who support Liverpool. They could not stop guffawing about our transfer window escapades and seriously think they will win the title this year. I didn't really have much ammo to mount a counter argument!
 
MJJ said:
seriously?
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This is football, does anyone need to be serious?
I still have some reservations, however, about a team that finished 12 points out of a CL spot last year (28 off the top) being a favorite this year. Top 4 would be, in my opinion, a reach.
 
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