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Depth without quality will not suffice

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Liverpool celebrateTHE recruitment programme for LFC this summer has been reasonable if unspectacular so far. The initial drive to improve the depth of the squad has proved successful with the additions all helping to bulk out what was a fairly skeletal squad for the start of last season’s campaign.

But with one month to go until the transfer window proverbially slams shut, a lack of improvement in the strength of the first team will stifle any designs on achieving a fourth placed finish.

If we look at the squad that began 2012/13 the options available to the manager were scant in comparison to previous seasons. The key areas where there was a lack of cover were the left-back position and all three forward positions.

While Glen Johnson offers quality cover at left-back for Enrique, the ideal is that Johnson can remain in his favoured position and another can take Enrique’s place. Jack Robinson is undoubtedly a talented prospect but the preference would be to have another natural left-back to at least rival Enrique or even replace him – hence the loaning of Robinson to Blackpool and the presumed arrival of Melgarejo. The sight of Stewart Downing at left-back highlighted the constraints that Rodgers was bound by.

Yet Downing’s position was also one in which Liverpool were short, with the number 19 the first choice winger with Fabio Borini on the opposite flank. The supporting cast were Henderson, who like Downing was played out of position; Assaidi, a man Rodgers clearly did not rate nor trust and then the youngsters of Sterling and Suso. It is no surprise that Rodgers’ favoured attacking football was impotent at the start of the season when the quality and the depth was so lacking in the attacking positions.

To make matters worse, the only other recognised first team striker after Luis Suarez was Fabio Borini, who was already the manager’s first choice winger. With such a criss-crossing of players acting as cover for positions in which we were weak, there was no surprise to see Liverpool struggle until January.

Indeed the fact so many youngsters made their debuts last season due as much to necessity as it was to a desire to produce more academy graduates. Given the punishing fixture demands of the Europa League, academy players had to be used to ensure that players weren’t over played and when the reds faced tough opposition Rodgers was forced to bring on Suarez and Gerrard to try and rectify games that had ran away from the team.

That squad was obviously not up to the mark and the only highlight in the struggle during the first half of the season was that Raheem Sterling had proved to be an effective weapon as well as an exciting player.

It is now overlooked that there was a genuine fear that Sterling would not renew his contract and leave to join one of our competitors, it is also forgotten that he was our best attacking force after Suarez at the early part of the season when Gerrard was struggling and Downing was in the defence.
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Going into next season the squad is far healthier. Rather than having to rely on academy players if first choice options are unavailable, there is a much better balance. For the time being, we have Suarez, Sturridge and Borini as well as Aspas as our options in the striking department – not to mention the muted arrival of Diego Costa.

On the flanks we have Aspas, Downing, Coutinho, Borini, Alberto and Sterling with Sturridge and Suarez also capable of filling the wider attacking positions. The depth is far superior to that at the start of last season.

In defence we are still light at left-back and it would be preferable to have an additional quality option at centre-half if possible but with moves for Papdopoulos and Melgarejo mooted, those holes are likely to be filled. A more experienced Jack Robinson following his successful loan move also improves on our squad for the future.

However, despite the clear improvement in the depth of the team it is clear that the quality of our first team is largely the same as it was at the end of the season. The anticipated line up will look something like this: Mignolet, Johnson, Toure, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Allen, Coutinho, Aspas, Sturridge (while Suarez is suspended).

Although this team has three fresh faces, Mignolet and Toure are potentially only slight improvements on their predecessors or perhaps more accurately they are equivalent replacements. The main progress to the first team comes in the form of Aspas who will be an upgrade on Downing’s position either by directly replacing him or moving another player into the winger’s position.

Since Liverpool lost out on Mkhitaryan, the plans to strengthen the first eleven appear to have hit a snag. Any deal for Eriksen seems precarious with all interested parties seemingly reluctant to make a real effort to sign him.

Why this is the case is unclear, by all accounts Eriksen had a brilliant season last year and proved a handful for opposition in the Champions League suggesting that he has the pedigree to play at a high level. The assumption must be that clubs are looking to drive the price down as much as possible. That aside, Liverpool have not been seriously linked with another player to oust one of the regulars from the team, other than last night’s shock bid for Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid.

Of course, the matter is also compounded by the future of Luis Suarez. Liverpool will most likely need to sign two players to replace the Uruguayan if he does move but with the window edging ever closer the Suarez problem deepens.

If Suarez is not replaced then it will be akin to the loan of Andy Carroll last season, the team will be left short and it will dismantle any plan to challenge the Champions League chasing rivals. If he is sold too close to the end of the window then Liverpool would have little time to negotiate for replacements and, in parallel with when Carroll was purchased, the club could be held to ransom.

Overall, the team is vastly improved to its 2012/2013 counterpart but without improvements to the first team that all important Champions League place is likely to remain elusive.

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65 comments

  • Denis D says:

    The owners need to give B Rodgers £50-£80M as soon as possible to spend whether we keep L Suarez or not, As Alberto, Aspas, Mignolet are not in the class and quality of Reina, Coutinho and Suarez. But first and foremost B Rodgers needs to ship out these 8 dead wood average hard working players this summer and replace them with 8 class quality players:

    GK B Jones RB J Flanagan CB S Coates

    DM J Spearing AM: D Pacheco RW/ RWF: O Assaidi

    LW / LWF: S Downing FD: F Borini

    These 8 players above could bring in £25-£28M on sales, that and the £50-£80M needed from the owners and these 8 class quality players would replace the 8 dead wood average players we have at club.

    D Agger and M Skrtel should not be sold or let out on loan at all this season, as fully fit and injury free together they are the best centre back partnershiip in the league. And we are in need of two more class quality centre backs now with Agger and Skrtel at the club, we cannot afford to let any of them go.

    Four Defensive players:

    1:GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£7M to compete with Mignolet

    2: CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £12-£15M to compete with Skrtel

    3: CB: T Alderwierld(24) Of Ajax for £7-£9M to compete with Agger and Toure

    4: DM: E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse for £7-£10M to compete with Lucas

    Four attacking players: Class, creative quality players who will be on the same wavelength as Coutinho, Gerrard, Sturridge and hopefully Suarez.

    5: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£14M to compete with Alberto and Coutinho

    6: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico for £4-£7M to compete with Sterling

    7: B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle for £10-£15M to compete with Aspas and IBE

    8: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese for £10-£14M to compete with Sturridge and Suarez

    And if Suarez is sold, Hopefully for no less than £55M or he she be kept at club.

    If he Suarez is sold for £55M this summer then these other two attackers should be brought to the club: These two class qulaity players will replace Suarez well:

    M Reus(24) Of B Dortmund for £17-£23M

    L Adriano(26) Of Shakhtar Donesk for £15-£20M

    • Temilovic says:

      look at ur analysis prof. mr analyst. How do expect b. Dortmond 2 sale Rues les dan £30m-£38m. Al ur calculation is incorect mister. Al d players u mentiond is nt les dan £100m-£120m.

      • Denis D says:

        How could Reus cost more than Tevez, Jovetic, Negredo and Navas?

        Are you smoking something? Reus is worth £17-£23M straight no more and no less

        And if Suarez is sold for £55M , Reus(24) Of Dortmund should be brought to the club for £17-£23M

        How can all my calculations be incorrect you comedian , They are roughly what they will be worth if Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Monaco. PSG or Real Madrid become interested in a player that we are going for then it could become £25m + otherwise it will not be over that.

        Reus(24) Of B Dortmund and L Adriano(26) Of Shakhtar Donesk would be great class quality signings, the only problem we would have getting them to club is they are in Champions league. Would they sacrifice no Champions league football this year to help get club back in Champions league next year?

        And all the players i mentioned would cost club between £120-£130M.

        But if Riogers ships out the 8 dead wood average players that will bring in: £25-£28M
        And if owners give B Rodgers £50-£80M to spend on quality players, that would be £75-78M or105-108M and then if Suarez is sold for no less than £55M.

        THEN YES ALL THOSE Players could and should be brought this year

        The last five seasons we have become a top 6-10 side and no higher than that, That is because Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have much better squads than us and have for the last five seasons.

        And wheras Tottenham who finsihed 5th two places above us, have brought in Paulinho(18m), Soldado(26M) and Chadli(7M).

        Rodgers shipped out A Carroll(19m) and J Shelvey (£5m) = £24M and has brought in Alberto (£6.7M),Aspas (£ 7.7M), Mignolet(£9M) and Toure(Free) =£23.6M

        And Rodgers has loaned out Reina, Reina is a world class goalkeeper and still in the top 5 goalkeepers in world football, Mignolet is class goalkeeper with poetential, so unless Rodgers brings in another class quality goalkeeper to compete with Mignolet that is a backwards step.

        • Ozred says:

          Don’t u get tired of writing the same nonsense 20,000 word essay on every thread in here?

          The article talks about adding quality. You’ve just spent 100,000,000 and failed to add 1 certain first team starter…

          • Denis D says:

            Ozred, are you some crack head or something?

            Do you think the likes of Mccarthy, Papadopolous, Alderwierld, Munian, Montero, Arfa and Muriel will be bench warmers?

            You clown, they are players with class and quality to put the likes of Mignolet, Toure, Skrtel, Lucas, Coutinho, Sterling. Aspas and Sturridge on the bench!!!!!!

            That is the phrase depth with class and quality: Alberto, Aspas, Mignolet are in the same calibre and class as Borini, Downing, Jones. Average at best

            You are clueless, how can our club expect to make champions league when our squad is full of too many avearge mediocre hard working players and not enough class qulaity players. Out of squad of 25, we have 8 players who could get into tghe top 6 sides in league last season ( Agger, Coutinho, Enrique, Johnson, Lucas, Gerrard, Sturridge and Suarez) That is not good enough for a club like Liverpool and that is why we are no longer in champions league and been in the top 6-10 in league for last five seasons.

            Until club has some drastic surgery completed within it we will be finsihing 6-10th again this season

          • Ozred says:

            My god your full of crap mate, which of those blokes will put coutinho, Lucas, mignolet & sturridge on the bench? Unless u want us to be worse, none of them will.

            The rest of those u mentioned aren’t in our best 11.

            If your going to put in 100m that’s great but buy 4 x world class players that walk straight in to our best 11 with it. Not 8 blokes, none of which would be walk up starts for our best 11.

            No idea moronic tool..

          • Denis D says:

            Ozred your definately a crack head who does not know nothing about football what so ever?

            Mccarthy(23) Of Reading is in same class and calibre of Mignolet as is good enough to put him on the bench, something B Jones is not good enough or capable of doing.

            Munian is in the same class,quality and calibre as Coutinho but is faster and quicker player, yet is the closest young spanish player more similar than Iniesta than Any Young upcoming spanish star.

            Capoue is a solid tough tacking no holds barred defensive midfielder, he is in the same mould as Essien, Makele, Martinez, Mascherano, Sissoko and Tiote.

            And he would be an asset to any team and against the Likes of Dembele, Diaby,Essien, Mulumbu, Nzonzi, Sissoko, Tiote and Yaya Toure, Capoue will and would be better equipped to deal with these strong tall powerful centre midfielders than Lucas Leiva.

            And in Muriel you have a powerful pacey quick Raw Striker with skill technical ability and is a good finisher who is capable of putting sturridge on the bench, as he has the class, quality to really trouble and compete with Sturridge for his place, something that Aspas and Borini can not and will not do. (£18-£19M worth of Talent supposedly but average at best)

            Ozred when you know any thing about football you sad crackhead come back to me

          • Ozred says:

            Talking about starting 11 here tool. There is no way u could say that any of those players walk straight into our best 11. As for putting the respective current players on the bench, I’d have each of the current liverpool players over all of your new boys.

            It’s not that hard, you’ve given yourself 100m in Monopoly money, just go out and get 4 genuine world class players who do categorically put some of the existing guys on the bench. Not just have the capability to.

          • Denis D says:

            Ozred are you sure?

            You know nothing about football at all, do you think Tottenham got ahead of us by buying all world class players over the last three seasons?

            No, You buy more class, quality players than Average Dead wood hardworking players : That is the key: world class players come at a premium, £25M plus, our owners are going on like the tightest assholes on the planet.

            There is no way in hell the top world class players in world football today would pick our club over the likes of Arsenal, A.C Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borrusia Dortmund, Chelsea, Man City, Man United, Monaco, PSG Or Real Madrid, as we do not have Champions League football to offer them that all these clubs.

            Also the fact that we have been a top 6-10 team in the last 5 seasons instead of a top 1-4 team is also one of the reasons we cannot bring in the best world class players out there to club.

            The 8 dead wood average hard working players i mentioned Rodgers should ship out and should be replaced by 8 class quality players bring in before transfer window shuts would definately be first team players:

            GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading is three times the GK B Jones is. ( For £4-£7M) Bargain

            CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke is 3 times the player Coates is (For £12-£15M)

            CB: T Alderwierld(24) Of Ajax is good class defender who would compete and learn from Agger(28) and Toure(32) ( For £7-£9M) Better Defender than Flanagan(RB) Bargain

            DM: E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse is a Four times better player than Spearing and would compete with Lucas for his position week in week out ( For £7-£10M) Bargain

            AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao is three times the player of Alberto and would offer Coutinho some real class quality competition for his position. ( For £10-£15M)

            RW / RWF: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico is better than any winger we have at club and could offer Sterling somre real class quality competition for his position on the right wing / wing forward position ( For £4-£7M) Bargain Better than Assaidi by three times

            LW / LWF: B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle is a world class player but due to his recent injuries and the poor season newcastle had last year, he struggled badly. But B Arfa is better than any winger we have at club and is three times the player Aspas and Downing are ( For £12-£15M) Bargain

            All of those attacking players cost less than Downing £20M and are all better than him by a country mile

            Those 8 players are all players for the first 11 not for the reserve team Ozred

          • Ozred says:

            goose,

            i’m aware that world class players cost $25m.

            You’re suggesting we spend 100m on 8 players to compete with te existing 11.

            I’m suggesting spend $100m on 4 world class players that immediately make us better. yes, that averages out to $25m each. Will it happen? of course not. But i could only imagine the carnage at the kop end if you were gifted $100m and spent it on 8 blokes without 1 of them being a clear 1st team starter.

            Now Dennis, stop writing this nonsense, stop telling us where everyplayer is from, we know, stop being pretending you know what you’re talking about, you don’t.

          • Denis D says:

            Donkey(Ozred),

            What are you waffling about, what 4 world class players in football would come to our club now?

            What 4 players would all leave champions league football playing teams to play for us?

            What world class footballers in the world now would come to our club who are not linked with AC Milan, Barcelona,Bayern Munich, Borrussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Juventus, Man City, Man United, Monaco, PSG and Real Madrid?

            You have no clue you fool, Tottenham are now miles ahead of us in squad depth and quality because of H Redknapp, he assembled a side capable of competing with the top clubs with alot of good class quality bargain buys. As when he first took over Tottenham they were in the bottom three and in a relegation dogfight. The likes of : Friedel, Walker, Caulker, Essou ekotto, Sandro, Parker, Defoe, Crouch, Adebayor, Van Der Vaart and Modric, thoseare some of the players Redknapp took to tottenahm over his regn and now Tottenham are a better and stronger side than us.

            And in the last 5 seasons Tottenham have finished above us, we do not have champions league football to entice the top world class players in world football at the moment.

            And you chat rubbish OZRED, Coutinho and Sturridge cost the club the same amount we paid A Villa for Downing (£20m) And both of them are three times the player Downing is.

            There are class quality bargain players out there and all the 8 players i mentioned are that you crackhead fool, you haven’t got a clue about football and you never ever will, we are now a top 6-10 team in the division and have been for the last five seasons?

            Henderson cost the club £16-£20M, is he worth that now? No was he ever worth that no?

            J Allen cost club £15M? was he worth that? No ? Is he worth that Now ? No?

            So just spending loads of money on players doesn’t justify anything? was Borini worth £11.5M ? NO? will we be able to sell him for that no?

            Coutinho we brought for £8.5M, he is now worth more than double that in current market, so good signing.

            Sturridge was £12m he is now worth at least £20M, so he has been a successful signing.

            All the 8 players i mentioned would cost club between £70-£110M, But all of them would bring up their market prices at the club, none of them would be sold for what club brought them.

            But club are going to lose more millions when and if we sell: Borini, Downing, as both players are not worth what the club spent on them, their value has decreased.

            So when you know something about footbaal crackhead donkey OZRED i will take you seriously until then fix up look sharp

    • stevie says:

      And what do you think the chances are of fsg spending upwards of 80m are? None. So stop going on about it. We can’t compete financially with the top 4 end of. Ffp won’t make any difference. We’re stuck where we are

      • Denis D says:

        Well If FSG are not prepared to spend £50-£80M then we are not getting Champions league football, Tottenham have much better squad than us and finished 5th last season. Yet they have spent £26M on Soldado, £18M on Paulinho and £7M on Chadli , thats £51M.

        Our club needs to spend money, do you seriously think us getting in Alberto, Aspas and Mignolet makes us champions league challengers?

        No offence to Aspas, But A injury free fit A Carroll would cause defenders more problems and score more goals than an injury free Borini and Aspas.

        So that is a backwards step
        Mignolet is no way as good as Reina, no matter how inconsistant he has been over the last three seasons, he is still in the top Gk in world football today, Mignolet is a class goalkeeper learning the ropes and trying to get that world class status.

        FSG Need to dip in their pockets if we are to get back in champions league anytime soon, even the likes of Southampton, Sunderland and Swansea have spent more than FSG this season on players. And we are the ones supposedly looking to get back in Champions!!!!!!l

        • stevieG says:

          Everything you say is true Denis D…..but don’t you understand that FSG are nit interested in anything other than money and they will never spend what is needed …thats why there is no hope for LFC as long as they are in charge

          • Denis D says:

            Stevie G, Well they need to sell up and go then as its pathetic,

            Since Rodgers reign at club he has shipped out: Adams, Aquilani, Aurelio, Bellamy, Carroll, Cole, Doni, Kuyt, Ngoo, Rodriguez, Shelvey and Wilson.

            And loaned out: Spearing Last season but is back at club and loaned out Suso and Now Reina.

            No matter what FSG say Bellamy, Kuyt and Rodriguez offered the club more class experience and quality than Assaidi, Borini and Downing.

            So that was a backwards step: Our club have too many pony, dead wood average players within squad: And it is not acoincidence why we have not been in Champions league for five years.

            When Our club was a force in Champions league: We had the likes Alonso, Gerrard, Hamman, Sissoko and Mascherano competing with One another for midfield berth and we were a match for any side in EUROPE. Now look at our midfield, is it the same class or quality as it was before : NO.

            FSG need to stop waffling us fans up with crap, We are not buying their rubbish, we need champions league football and we have 6 teams with much better squads than us already who are strengthening well this summer. So they need to back Rodgers well this summer with £50-£80M Whether we keep Suarez or sell him or we are going to finish 6 or 7th again this season. And if we do not have Suarez, then it could be 8th or 10th.

            We finiished 7th last year, we are not going to finish 3 to 4 places higher without spending £50-£80M on class, quality players, FSG WE ARE PLAYING IN THE PREMIERSHIP NOT THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BACK RODGERS WITH SOME REAL MONEY, UNPROVEN YOUNG TALENT DOESN’T WIN LEAGUES A Mixture of Experience, Youth, Class, Quality. Hardwork, Quality Competition for places and motivation wins Leagues.

          • no sheep says:

            what about b.dourtmund?

          • Tommy says:

            Ha ha ha . Clueless no sheep strikes again . Dortmund ? Dortmund are in German league u dope , and there is only one good team to beat in Germany

          • Tommy says:

            @Denis D . I 100% agree with u , but it ain’t going to happen. Yanks out is the only way forward

          • no sheep says:

            Oh my god. its pretty obvious why they say liverpool fans are not what they use to be.

          • Tommy says:

            Says no sheep . The same clown who said a few weeks ago that Suarez wasnt that good and we were better off without him

            Ha ha ha . What a clown

  • redhempski says:

    I’m not so sure about depth…Players out;Riena,carra,suso,robinson,shelvey.
    Players in;Mignolet,toure,aspas,alberto. To my reckoning we are a player lighter right now… than we was last season and givin theres still time left to add “one or two players” to the sqaud,we’still only have one more player than last season. IMO still no depth and more importantly not very much quality in depth.

  • CHUKWUEMEKA says:

    a closer look at the your line up (“midfield” which is most likely what rodgers wld field) wld show you we are lacking in strength nd pace. minus coutinho that midfield cant start a counter nd except gerrard there is no presence in it.

    • Denis D says:

      At end of the day Chukwuemeka, Well said. Our Centre midfield lacks real class and quality competition for places. When our club was a force in the champions league and beating the likes of Barcelona 1 2 away from home at Nou Camp and Smashing Real Madrid 4 0 at Anfield, we had a world class centre midfield ( Alonso, Gerrard, Hamman, Sissoko) then ( Alonso, Gerrard, Lucas and Mascherano) Now our midfield is Allen, Gerrard, Henderson and Lucas. Nowhere as close in class,quality, depth and strength.

      We desperately need B Rodgers to bring in E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse to compete with Lucas, Capoue is in the same mould as Mascherano, Sissoko, Makele, Essien and J Martinez, He is a no nonsense Mobile quick strong tough tackling Defensive midfielder. As Lucas has no real cover for his position and against the powerful strong tall mobile cenrtre midfielders in League Lucas struggles. ( Yaya Toure, M Sissoko, Mulumbu, Dembele,Nzonzi, Tiote, and Diaby) And that is where Capoue would excel, Capoue will be good against any midfielder, if he is brought to league and he can adapt quickly. J Martinez cost B Munich £35M, E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse is not as technical as J Martinez but tackles harder and is just as good at winning ball and breaking with ball. And our club could get him for £7-£10m as Cardiff had £9M bid accepted but he does not want to go there as he is hoping for bigger club to come in for him.

      The lack of pace, width and creativity, consistency we have lacked for decade now. without Sturridge and Sterling both in the starting eleven week in week out, our attack struggles to stretch any team. That is why i hope that B Rodgers brings in J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia for £4-£7M speed demon who plays with A Valencia for Ecuador, he is as fast as Valencia but has more skills and tricks in his locker than Valencia and used to terrorise Alves and Marcelo, whenever he came up agaisnt them in spain whilst he played for Villareal and Real Betis.

      B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle, is the other winger B Rodgers should go all out and bring to the club, he is awesome player with goals,pace, speed and trickery in his game, if club could keep Arfa fully fit and injury free like how they have helped Agger with his injury problems. Then we would have a winger in the same class and quality as Hazard, but he would cost our club £17M cheaper. Both of those players would bring class, Creativity, Goals,Quality, Pace, Speed and Trickery to the attack and club that we desperately are in serious need Of.

  • pino pino says:

    pls do fsg nd rodgers know about all these criticism of their stinginess am tired of this TW

  • Higgs Boson says:

    Good article!!
    However, when you say ‘but with moves for Papdopoulos and Melgarejo mooted, those holes are likely to be filled’. This is very naive because with something being merely ‘mooted’, it doesn’t mean anything is likely. It’s just gossip.
    I can’t see anyone paying 100 mil for Suarez especially with is behaviour and the lengthy bans that accompany him. Pus, Liverpool shouldn’t sell him for anything less than Bale. His situation at present is really the most curious case, because his bite which I think he did on purpose to get a transfer looks like it has completely backfired. I for one can’t wait to see how this pans out.

    • Brendan Riley says:

      I wouldn’t say it was naive to suggest that those gaps would be filled. When we were linked with toure, aspas and alberto would it be naive to expect us to strengthen those positions?

      It’s true that rumours won’t always turn into done deals so while malgarejo and papadopoulos may not be the players we actually sign it’s reasonable to think that we are likely to improve the full back and centre half positions.

  • Geoff says:

    We have added depth but NO quality as of yet. None of the new signings will improve the first team. so we are not any better than last year

    We better spend some money fast or its mid table obscurity again

    • Denis D says:

      Well said Geoff

      • Ozred says:

        Yes we’ll said Geoff. Spend money on quality, not Dennis the menaces list of squad players…

        • Denis D says:

          Ozred are you serious?

          The 8 players i mentioned club should bring to club to replace the 8 dead wood average players we have in squad : Are all class quality players who would challenge for their position in the first 11 week in week out if they are all fully fit and Injury free: And they would all drastically strengthen the Squad:

          Mccarthy(23) Of Reading GK is as good as Mignolet, up and coming class, quality goalkeeper with the potential to be world class GK in future is twice the GK B Jones is.
          Upgrade on B Jones and as Good as Mignolet, could be better over time. ( For £4-£7M)

          K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke is a young strong powerful tough tackling no holds bared defender in the same mould as Kompany, Skrtel and Vidic, he is much better than Coates who is pony and average to say the least. And would compete with Skrtel for position ( for £12-£15M)

          T Alderwierld(24) Of Ajax is a class quality defender who is learning his trade well and would come learn and compete with Agger(28) and Toure(32) and take over in next two to three seasons. ( For £7-£10M)

          E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse is a powerful strong tough tackling Defensive midfielder who would keep Lucas on his toes and offer him some real class quality competition for his position as there is NO ONE in the first team club that challenges Lucas for his position and when he has been out injured the club suffer huge as there is no one at club that fills the Defensive Midfield role like Lucas. ( For £7-£10M) Three times the player Spearing is

          I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao is class,creative, quality player with pace, speed and trickery and he would compete with Coutinho for his position week in week out as both on their day could cause any team in world fotball problems. ( For £12-£15M) Twice the player Alberto is and will be.

          J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico is a pacey quick skillful winger who is an Ecuardian international who would offer Sterling some real competition for his place and would bring more pace, speed to the attack that we are so desperately in need of. ( For £4-£7M) He is better player than any winger we have a at the club

          B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle is a world class talent but due to his injury problems he had a quiet season for Newcastle last year, but in saying that he still socred more goals and more class quality goals last season than Downing, Borini and Sterling, as he is better than Any winger we have at club also. ( Arfa woukle be first choice and on team sheet week in week out if he is fuly fit and injury free no doubt about that)

          L Muriel(23) is a young mobile Powerful pacey quick striker with skill and a good finish , he would compete with sturridge week in week out and offer the club more class, quality than Aspas and Borini( combined total of = £18-£19M) ( For £10-£14M)

          All these pplayers would compete for a starting position in the starting eleven week in week out.

          • Ozred says:

            You haven’t made 1 clear walk up start to the starting 11 after spending 100m. Yes I’m serious. Now stop polluting every thread with your tripe *.

          • guest says:

            You are closer than most, at least the players you suggest have real quality.

        • Denis D says:

          OZRED, You crackhead looking donkey,

          You have know knowledge about football whatsoever,
          The signings i mentioned are all First team material and since your harping and waffling, two of the players i said we should bring to club have been linked with Man United and Tottenham.

          L Muriel (23) Of Udinese FD and E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse DM

          And Capoue is close to signing for Tottenham, Rodgers is a joker there is no real class quality cover or competition for Lucas and Capoue is hard solid strong tough tackling mobile quick defensive midfielder.

          And If Tottenham get him by end of week, Tottenham will have the best centre midfield in premiership for next few years. ( Capoue, Dembele, Paulinho and Sandro)

          And Donkey Ozred, I love my team Liverpool to death. But we cannot compare Allen and Henderson, to Dembele or Paulinho. The difference in class and quality, Gerrard is the only player in our midfield of that class and quality.

          And you think Capoue is not a first teamer ha ha ha ha ha ha

  • Scott says:

    Do any off you really think we will be signing costa , eriksen ,papadopoulous and a left back I’m sorry but I can’t see it happening at all I think costa and papa maybe just maybe , same old slow Liverpool in transfer window again

  • muhammed said says:

    Im in support of dennis in some aspect on of loading averages players and bring some quality players.

  • fred says:

    Watching Mingolet today was a bit of a worry. He had virtually nothing to do and when he was called upon to do something, made a complete hash of it. That diving punch against one of our defenders was terrible. Why Rodgers thought spending £9m on Mingolet and getting rid of Pepe was good for the team only he knows. We have 4 game changing players – Suarez, Gerrard, Coutinho and on his day Sturridge. Agger is another top player. Apart from that we have a collection of good to mediocre players. Add that to a manager who talks a lot but shows little tactical skill and we have more sweat and toil next year. Thanks FSG.

  • stevieG says:

    Mignolet – reina DOWNGRADE
    Toure – carragher DOWNGRADE
    Alberto – Shelvey ???? IMO DOWNGRADE
    Aspas – Carroll ?
    Aspas won’t get in the team , sturridge is better , aspas will make a decent sub

    LFC is being downgraded , top players are being replaced by cheaper players

    • allaboutanfield says:

      Totally agree with you. I also feel that our team is being downgrade . This is indeed a sad period for Anfield. I wonder how can we qualify with these present batch of players.

    • Gary says:

      Thats the way I see it too – our squad downgraded every season with the sole purpose of saving fenways money. They are hicks & Gillett mark 2 but some people are too stupid to see it yet

    • Ozred says:

      Mignolet > reina
      Aspas > Carroll (not that he was even here last year)…
      Shelvey > Alberto.
      Toure > carra

      Well done br. Now bring in a few big fish and we r laughing all the way to the top.

      • Denis D says:

        Are you dumb Ozred? THATS HOW I KNOW YOUR NOT A REAL LIVERPOOL FAN

        Mignolet Instead Of Reina, Downgrade, Class Gk, For World Class Gk still in the Top 5 GKS in world football

        Carroll is better than Aspas and Borini together so Downgrade again

        Shelvey had the potential to be S Gerrards Successor and should have been used more last season. Alberto is unproven and potential, But Shelvey came to club for £1.5M, he was sold for £6M so he improved and was sold for 4 times what club spent on him.

        Toure has more pace and speed than Carragher and is younger but Toure has injury issues and is agood replacement, but neither upgrade or downgrade on Carrgher, Carrgehr was a better defender and harder to beat, Toure has more pace, speed mobility than Carragher but is Injury prone

        So how can you be saying well done B Rodgers, we have downgraded on the class and quality player we had last season and last season we finished 7th

        • Ozred says:

          No *.

          Reina was in the top handful of keepers in the world 4 years ago but isn’t in the top 5 keepers in the pl now. He’s been ordinary for a number of years

          Carra was finished 3 years ago. A great player that’s been very ordinary for a few years now. Toure everyday.

          I said shelvey was better than Alberto but u r clearly blind which may be an excuse for your rediculouse transfer policy.

          And Carroll 1 wasn’t at the club last year, 2, couldn’t be further away from fitting into rogers style, and 3, is a giant dud who didn’t perform

          Hopefully the institute catches u and puts u back into your cell and back on your meds. U r a *

          • Denis D says:

            Reina is still in the top 5 goalkeepers in the world now you fool, only Casillas who is the worlds Number one you could say is clearly better than Reina.

            Reina is still in the top 5 gks in world all day long

            Carragher was finished three years ago, but he still showed more fight passion and determination until he retired.

            Shelvey may be better than Alberto, but Munian is better than both of them put together ? so what is your point you crack head.

            What a name? Ozred? COME OFF YOUR MEDICATION you clown and fix up you inbred fool

          • Ozred says:

            Dennis… Your an idiot

          • Denis D says:

            Ozred your definately a crackhead, P Reina is twice the GK Mignolet is, FSG are downgrading. Reina is still in the top 5 Gks in the world:

            Three of them are spanish: Casillas, De Gea and Reina

            Then the other two: Buffon and Neuer

            Who are better than them 5 Gks in world football at the moment?

          • Ozred says:

            That’s strange idiot… I would have thought a top 5 keeper in the world would be worth more than 9m… And nobody has even offered that. He’s no longer in the top 5 in the pl let alone the world. De gea, hart, Czech begovich all clearly ahead of him. He’s been ordinary for a number of years and you could only be basing your moronic assessment of him based on the player he was 5 years ago. Now zip it and stop posting the same essay on every thread.

          • Denis D says:

            Ozred, You clown? Reina has been so incomplacent and inconsistant at our club as he has no real class or quality competition for his place since he has been at club (Doni and Jones)

            He is still better than De Gea, He is better than Begovic.

            And he is better than Mignolet, the only reason he was shipped out is because FSG are downgrading the squad. Getting rid of class,quality experience and bringing in unproven talent is FSG.

            Reina is world class and is twice the GK Mignolet is

            Bellamy, Kuyt and Rodriguez three class quality players with experience two of them were shipped out due to their wages and bellamy wanted to move closer to his family. Bellamy, Kuyt and Rodriguez offered the club more class, creativity, quality and goals than Assaidi, Borini,Downing and Henderson. And i am sure the same will be said about Alberto and Aspas. Bellamy, Kuyt and Rodriguez offered the club 20-30 goals a season whether scored or created. Can assaidi, Borini, Henderson, Downing and Sterling create or score club 20-30 goals a season? The answer is No and there is 5 players compared to 3.

            But the attacking players i have said B Rodgers should bring to club:
            1: J montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico RW / RWF
            2: B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle Or D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal / lisbon LW / LWF
            3: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao AM
            4:FD: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese FD

            Those 4 players would guarantee the club 20-35 goals a season every season , whether created or scored? Something Assaidi, Borini, Downing, Henderson and Sterlling do not guarante the club every season

      • guest says:

        Are you joking?, its hard to read sarcasm on the net.

    • guest says:

      Unfortunately I agree, and the actions and words of both the owners and manager confirm this, what else could, replacing higher earning/experienced players with lower earning/in-experienced players, mean?, as everybody knows, the better the player, the higher the wage he wants, there are a few exceptions, but this is the general rule.

  • Hillario Quaresma says:

    @Stevie G so you really think that Donkey Carroll is better than the mercurial Iago Aspas?? You must be deluded and Luis Alberto is way better technically and tactically than shelvey

    • stevieG says:

      I said Aspas – Carroll ?…. I don’t know.
      And Shelvey will prove to be a class player , alberto is not ready for first team

    • guest says:

      Shelvey is a different kind of player to Alberto (who I don’t believe you have seen enough of yourself, to make a judgement yet), Shelvey has that aura about him, similar to gerrard, where you know he is on the field and can drive forward with pure desire, strength, and aggression. Shelvey is the kind of player you need when playing the Stokes of this world, he is versatile too and I will always respect him for having the guts to tell fergie to ” f**k off”.

  • Gary says:

    Gerrard himself said it : we need at least 2 top class additions plus we need to keep Suarez for us to have a good chance of top 4

    Fenways won’t be buying top class players and Suarez will be off if the price is right. So in my opinion the squad is no better than last year and the teams above us probably will improve

  • Ozred says:

    Agree with the article.

    A couple of world class additions would round off the squad nicely. We r already starting way ahead of where we started last year and a couple more will have us a force.

  • max says:

    Every press conference and rodgers is doing my head in. It looks like his trying to sell Suarez. Cant he just shut up and say Suarez staying end of. Yet the latest press conference his trying to put a value on Suarez as Bale.

    He does my head in when he talks.

    • allaboutanfield says:

      Just simply ignore Buck Rodgers when he talks. We can judge him by December . We can also see how our team will be performing after 6 games . If we can really qualify for the Champions League next season I will salute Buck Rodgers and the team and said ” Well done lads “.

    • Wayne Lynch says:

      Me too. I wish the arrogant waffler would shut the fluck up for good

    • guest says:

      Agree with you here, I really don’t like the way Brendan constantly talks to the press, its constant and gets annoying, seeing as the press tried to destroy us last season and the season before, I would do a Kenny and blank em or treat them with the contempt they deserve.

    • guest says:

      I wasn’t sure if it was just me who seemed to get wound up everytime Brendan talks, Glad to see there are others, what is it about this man that gets up my nose, I am usually good at judging folk and I really don’t like the vibe he gives off, seems like all front and BS, not used to this at Liverpool (not counting the last few seasons, where bs and spin have been a constant), I really want to like him like I like most people, but I seem to struggle with Brendan.

  • zakastik says:

    need more good signings.especially an attacking midfielder and a leftback to compete enrique.but believe this season shall be interesting and wonderful for lfc.

  • REDDY says:

    Fsg should sell the club to some arab oil giants!!! I’m tired and sad seeing my beloved LfC fall behind so badly, we singned good players, not great! While City signed Jovetic,Negredo,Navas and Fernandinho… Chealsea signed Shurrle and I’m sure they not done! United will sign qaulity as usual with Fergie watching over things closely! Spurs have already singned 2 world class internationals Soldado and Brazzilian Paulinho and if Bale is sold for 100+mil then u can bet they gonna buy more world class players! Arsenal want Suarez and they will add more in my opinion…. So where does that leave us??? With Aspas (who scored 12 la liga goals last season?) *Soldado scored 30 all comps… Alberto (played for Barca B team)…. TourE (Passed his best 2 seasons ago), Mignolet (was a good buy but not ready to replace Reina straight away) I think they should have had a season together b4 letting Pepe go!!! So I can understand y Suarez wants to leave but not happy with how he is doing it ! And for him to want to go to Arsenal after everything he put our great club through??? I had friends laugh n make fun of me for all Suarez antics! He is not worth it in my opinion… He needs to go! Fair enuf he is 1 of the best forwards in the world but THiS iS LfC! We are rated the 7th most valueble football club in the world and even without champions league football for 5 years!!! We will survive and achieve great success again, I have no doubt! Just not with FSG!!! Yanks2.0

  • allaboutanfield says:

    What FSG is doing now is to try to bring back Liverpool FC to the black. At the last financial year reporting FSG have reported that Liverpool is in debt of 85 million pound if I am not wrong. I see the rate they are going it will take at least another 3 years to make Liverpool FC profitable. Also they are in the process of increasing the number of seats at Anfield to about 60000 seats. This project will cost them roughly around 260 million pounds. IF we can get back to Champions League next season more revenue will come in. That is why we don’t have the financés to buy good and experience players. I agree with some of you that it is time to sell Suarez for what he is worth . As the days goes by in this transfer window Suarez is trying to force his way out of Liverpool . No point you keep an unhappy player at Anfield who can have a bad moral impact on the rest of Liverpool FC players. In order to really move forward we need at least 60 million pounds to purchase good players and who have the right attitude and the desire to be a Liverpool player .Sadly with FSG we will never get this sort of financing support from them. Based on the current situation I am still optimistic that we can qualify for the Champions League once again. Last season we missed it by 12 points. We need to improve on our defensive lapses , consistency and have the desire to win every game and get maximum points. Only in this way we can truly qualify for Champions League.

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