Liverpool FC Forum

[rocky29]

I don't know if everyone has been watching Germany closely this tournament (hard not too now of course!) but i've been VERY impressed with Khedeira in the midfield. If Masch goes he'd be a fantastic replacement, he's a ball winner, but very composed and a nice passer. just what our midfield needs.

Good shout on Khedeira.... looks like a very sound footballer.

To be honest it's very hard to look past the german squad for some real quality.... Lahm, Ozil, Muller and Khedeira. Them 4 would be very good for us.

would rather have scwhinesteiger than any of them four?

[tubby]

Some great players mentioned in this thread, but can we even afford any of them? I know it's nice to get excited about players we have just seen in a world cup but we need to look closer to home.

[rocky29]

Good post
I think Gerrards hearts not in it any more. Hes distracted on and off the pitch. Cash in while we can

Outrageous comment!

Gerrard is our captain. He has had a poor season by his standards but this does not mean he has lost the stomach for the club.

There are several players that look like they are on the verge of leaving, but no one knows the truth. Mash does look unsettled and may leave, but who knows. He is under contract. As are all the other players being discussed.

We can talk about Cole, Henry and all the others until we are blue in the face too.

Looking at Roys record I am willing to bet he thinks he can elevate the players we have already to improve the performances next season. I can also see him taking a good hard look at the reserves and promoting a couple, or at the very least giving the likes of Pacheco and Darby a fair crack at it.

Something is also telling me that Ryan Babel is going to have a very good season.

great post as always from crazy horse.

Gerrard is our talisman, and we should strive to keep him. IF he does want to go though, we need to get as much as possible for him.

Great shout on Roy as well, I'm not ecstatic about the new season, but i have hopes as we have the ability in the squad, just need the right manager to utilize what we have got

Cheers mate.

am sorry but we need to use gerrard or masch  as bait to land either schneijder or schwinesteiger. If we could get one of those two if would make a massive difference!

[Number 9]

Firstly its essential we keep Torres and Gerrard at the club,it seems Mascherano is as good as gone.
Not sure how much we will get for him but he needs replaced with another player that does his job,mainly breaking up play...if we dont get a quality player in to fill this gap I fear our back 4 will be exposed as we just dont have another player near his quality at doing his job in the squad.
Im stuck for who we could replace him with though.Watching him in the world cup against some quality players after seeing what he does just shows how good he is,but we already knew that.Gonna be hard to replace.

People are saying a striker is our main priority,we are short up there but maybe under Roy we will see Babel given a chance.The lad has talent and just maybe if we play him up front with Torres and give him a good run of games he can get a bit of belief in himself and show his talent.

I dont think there will many players coming our way,it will probably be more a case of back to basics.Playing the lads in their natural positions and playing a more settled 11 week in week out.I think thats what Roy needs to do and will do.
I think we may see Riera start more and we may just see a revitalized Riera under a manager,i think if the lad feels hes first choice LM most weeks we will see him fulfill his potential.He showed what he could do when he first came for a while.His talent has not gone,I feel Rafa drained his belief with not giving the fella a chance.

I think we should go with this(unless we sign any players)

                                           Reina
     
                    GJ        Agger          Carra       Insua

                   Kuyt      Gerrard       Lucas       Riera 

                                Babel 
                                           Torres

Not great... and the two in there that worry me are Lucas and Insua,both I feel are weak links but probably the best we have adding weight to the fact that if Masch goes we need another quality MF or we may be fu,cked.Dont rate Insua highly but hes young and may prove me wrong...I also think Rafa was daft letting Aurelio go as he is a better player albeit made of glass.

Basically our first team can beat anyone on its day but the squad lacks quality and is too big.We could let 9 players go and bring in 3 of superior quality and not miss a soul...too much deadwood floating about

Dont know who will come if anyone but I expect less rotation and more chances for the young lads coming through.

I do not have a good feeling about this season at all...but that means fuc'k all because for the last 4/5 years I believed at the start we could win it!
                 

[JC_81]

Schweinsteiger is a clown. More screwed up than Babel. Granted he's having a decent WC, but far too often for Bayern he's blown hot and cold.
I don't believe any of the younger players on the German team would move abroad, never mind to the PL....

What players DO you rate?  Just wondering like.

Fair kop, mate...
I DO rate Lahm, think he's a bit on the short side though for my liking. I think Mueller IS a good prospect, but he's 20 years old, and hardly proven....
Having lived in Germany for many years, German professionals are reluctant to ply their trade abroad - it's the exception rather than the norm, so it's uncommon to lure a player away from the country.
What I DO like is the German culture of throwing players in if they're "good" enough, to see if they'll sink or swim-that doesn't happen at all at LFC. At least not under Rafa...

Incidentally, I wonder what Woy will do with the likes of Pacheco, Nemeth etc. Never got a sniff under Rafa, I hope Woy will take a gamble on them...

Fair enough boss.

Yeah it seems to be the way with German players that they don't often move abroad.  But the same could be said of English players I'd argue.  Currently you've got what... Beckham and Pennant?  Nobody else worth mentioning, and those two are barely worth mentioning at that - one's sh.ite and one plays in a mickey mouse soccer league.  Perhaps one of English football's biggest problems is the reluctance of their best players to move abroad and experience different styles of football... but that's another debate.  For some reason it doesn't seem to affect the Germans though!

Agree on Lahm, I do rate him.  But for me Ozil looks the business... almost as talented as Stephen Ireland

[parchpea]

We need some energy and pace in the side thats for sure. We looked so methodical and pedestrian last year, no speed on the attack or mobility. I will take anyone that offers that and we will need a couple in to liven up the team. Linked to a couple of the Japanese lads and a boy from Ivory Coast and these type of players would certainly bring that running power and freshness with thim.If we play it right we can breathe life into the side of that Im sure and theres plenty of lads out there capable of coming in and making a difference for us.

[rocky29]

Firstly its essential we keep Torres and Gerrard at the club,it seems Mascherano is as good as gone.
Not sure how much we will get for him but he needs replaced with another player that does his job,mainly breaking up play...if we dont get a quality player in to fill this gap I fear our back 4 will be exposed as we just dont have another player near his quality at doing his job in the squad.
Im stuck for who we could replace him with though.Watching him in the world cup against some quality players after seeing what he does just shows how good he is,but we already knew that.Gonna be hard to replace.

People are saying a striker is our main priority,we are short up there but maybe under Roy we will see Babel given a chance.The lad has talent and just maybe if we play him up front with Torres and give him a good run of games he can get a bit of belief in himself and show his talent.

I dont think there will many players coming our way,it will probably be more a case of back to basics.Playing the lads in their natural positions and playing a more settled 11 week in week out.I think thats what Roy needs to do and will do.
I think we may see Riera start more and we may just see a revitalized Riera under a manager,i think if the lad feels hes first choice LM most weeks we will see him fulfill his potential.He showed what he could do when he first came for a while.His talent has not gone,I feel Rafa drained his belief with not giving the fella a chance.

I think we should go with this(unless we sign any players)

                                           Reina
     
                    GJ        Agger          Carra       Insua

                   Kuyt      Gerrard       Lucas       Riera 

                                Babel 
                                           Torres

Not great... and the two in there that worry me are Lucas and Insua,both I feel are weak links but probably the best we have adding weight to the fact that if Masch goes we need another quality MF or we may be fu,cked.Dont rate Insua highly but hes young and may prove me wrong...I also think Rafa was daft letting Aurelio go as he is a better player albeit made of glass.

Basically our first team can beat anyone on its day but the squad lacks quality and is too big.We could let 9 players go and bring in 3 of superior quality and not miss a soul...too much deadwood floating about

Dont know who will come if anyone but I expect less rotation and more chances for the young lads coming through.

I do not have a good feeling about this season at all...but that means fuc'k all because for the last 4/5 years I believed at the start we could win it!
                 

ru having a laugh. if we kept that exact team all season we wouldn"t make the top 8. riera and babbel cannot cross a ball and kuyt would be better playing at right back because hes got no skill what so ever. i said ages ago we should of bought adam johnson 7million he went for. we need 2 quality wingers then aqua in the hole behind torres. put stevie and lucas behind. would anyone still take gareth barry as ya ya toure means barry might not get in first eleven now?

[metalhead]

Lets say Torres and Gerrard stays

Masch will probably leave because he wants to so we sell him for 20m, and if I was Roy I would raise around 25m by selling Lucas, Skrtel, Babel and Riera (although I'd keep Riera).

Realistically speaking we should target a central defender, a left back, a left winger and a striker.

Central Defender:
Taylor, Hangelaand, Kjaer

left back:
Bale(not realistic lol), I can't think of any other left back really, maybe if we can get Bastos of brazil looks decent

left winger
Ashley Young (well.. I don't rate him that much, but can do the job), Arda Turan (excellent little player), Joe Cole (well central midfielder more but can play either flanks and would definitely be first choice for me and for free!)

Striker
We need someone experienced and who can act as a second striker, I would of thought of promoting Pacheco as he looks like the real deal.

[JC_81]

People are saying a striker is our main priority,we are short up there but maybe under Roy we will see Babel given a chance.The lad has talent and just maybe if we play him up front with Torres and give him a good run of games he can get a bit of belief in himself and show his talent.

Quite a few are advocating sticking Babel up top next season Baz.

Personally I don't see it working.  The lad can't receive the ball under pressure as he just loses it.  He needs it played to feet in space or down the channels to run onto.  I think this limits what he can do as a central striker.  Add to that his erratic finishing, I just don't think he'd be effective in a front two.

But I think we will have to use him this season, and maybe the best way is in a 4-3-3 without the defensive shackles of  'a Benitez 4-3-3' which in practice was more like 4-5-1.

With our current players, maybe something like...

                                  Reina

Johnson          Carragher         Agger             Insua

                              Mascherano

                     Gerrard            Aquilani

Kuyt                           Torres                     Babel


It's a bit like the way Holland are set up this tournament.  For it to work Gerrard can't be playing 'off the striker' and nor can Aquilani, they have to operate as more conventional central midfielders.  I like the idea of it anyway though.

[Number 9]

People are saying a striker is our main priority,we are short up there but maybe under Roy we will see Babel given a chance.The lad has talent and just maybe if we play him up front with Torres and give him a good run of games he can get a bit of belief in himself and show his talent.

Quite a few are advocating sticking Babel up top next season Baz.

Personally I don't see it working.  The lad can't receive the ball under pressure as he just loses it.  He needs it played to feet in space or down the channels to run onto.  I think this limits what he can do as a central striker.  Add to that his erratic finishing, I just don't think he'd be effective in a front two.

But I think we will have to use him this season, and maybe the best way is in a 4-3-3 without the defensive shackles of  'a Benitez 4-3-3' which in practice was more like 4-5-1.

With our current players, maybe something like...

                                  Reina

Johnson          Carragher         Agger             Insua

                              Mascherano

                     Gerrard            Aquilani

Kuyt                           Torres                     Babel


It's a bit like the way Holland are set up this tournament.  For it to work Gerrard can't be playing 'off the striker' and nor can Aquilani, they have to operate as more conventional central midfielders.  I like the idea of it anyway though.

But Masch is as good as away mate,we need to change the structure of the team if he goes,thats why i never put him in mine!
If Masch stays I'd agree with you...but a lot depends on him.If he goes Gerrard has to go back into CM and theres no way Id have Aqualani in there in this case...not saying Lucas is great but as far as protecting the back 4 goes he'd be better than Aqua.

As for Babel..I reckon he has been confused by Rafa almost to a point of ruin.He played him as a winger when the lad is a striker.When he did get a go upfront it was as a sub or a rare one off start.

We can make all the formations we want but in 90% of our games we need to set a team out that know eachother,a settled team,stick with the same 11 most weeks and give players a chance not 2 games here and 5 on the bench then bring him on and play him outta position and expect a performance.

Back to basics,settled team and a formation that every player is actually playing where he wants and build from there.

[JC_81]

Fair enough mate.

If Masch is away then I'd straight swap Lucas into my above team for him.

For me Gerrard has to go back to playing centre mid anyway.  I don't care what anyone says he's lost a yard of pace over the last year and looks less and less effective 'in the hole' to me. I'd tell him he needs to remember how to track back and tackle and forget about this 'second striker' bollox.

[Number 9]

Fair enough mate.

If Masch is away then I'd straight swap Lucas into my above team for him.

For me Gerrard has to go back to playing centre mid anyway.  I don't care what anyone says he's lost a yard of pace over the last year and looks less and less effective 'in the hole' to me. I'd tell him he needs to remember how to track back and tackle and forget about this 'second striker' bollox.

Agree with that,Gerrard needs to be in MF not off Torres.Its of no coincidence that we lost Xabi and the team lost its fulcrum.We need someone in there to pull the strings that can play a simple pass when need or a defence splitting through ball when its on,neither Lucas or Masch have the vision for this and for me its one of the main reasons we struggled last season.

Gerrard back in MF and Babel off Torres...NOT on the left!

[maypaxvobiscum]

Lets say Torres and Gerrard stays

Masch will probably leave because he wants to so we sell him for 20m, and if I was Roy I would raise around 25m by selling Lucas, Skrtel, Babel and Riera (although I'd keep Riera).

Realistically speaking we should target a central defender, a left back, a left winger and a striker.

Central Defender:
Taylor, Hangelaand, Kjaer

left back:
Bale(not realistic lol), I can't think of any other left back really, maybe if we can get Bastos of brazil looks decent

left winger
Ashley Young (well.. I don't rate him that much, but can do the job), Arda Turan (excellent little player), Joe Cole (well central midfielder more but can play either flanks and would definitely be first choice for me and for free!)

Striker
We need someone experienced and who can act as a second striker, I would of thought of promoting Pacheco as he looks like the real deal.

is Drenthe (sp) a leftback?

as for strikers, what about Nemeth?

[JC_81]

Gerrard back in MF and Babel pulling off Torres...NOT on the left!

F**king perv

[Number 9]

Gerrard back in MF and Babel pulling off Torres...NOT on the left!

F**king perv

Oh yeah!