Downing

Marin is the German Giovinco imo.......

Talented, but iam almost certain he doesnt have the mentalities to succeed at the top level shown by how far hes fallen off the radar.....

Dont think he would have done any better tbh.

Hating on Henderson......Clueless idiots

Mole he is 22 and a huge talent and we would've spent less than 20 million on him.

His mentality? I dunno about that......

Would have been a better signing than Downing.

Prior to this season a number of Liverpool fans, myself included were crying for more width. We got that from Enrique and Downing on left. I've mentioned he takes the safe route often, but he provides us width. Consequently, with the sale of Aquilani, Meireles and injury to Gerrard, our central game has suffered. A lot of our play without Gerrard has relied on the wide players to create the most chances.

Honestly, I think our worst transfer from last summer has been Adam.

poolsupporter, I think you guys are on Adam wayyyyy too much.

He cost 5 million.He's a squad player and a good one at that.No one predicted that Meireles would put in a transfer request 2 hours before the market closed....Adam was never meant to be a starter and he's done quite a decent job filling in.

Moreso he's been consistently played out of position in a holding role where he is defensively out of his depth.I will continue to praise this tranfer.....ffs 5 million.....Ngog cost more than that.

I'm at a loss to see how we came out on the bad end of this transfer.

ragbirjosh wrote:poolsupporter, I think you guys are on Adam wayyyyy too much.

He cost 5 million.He's a squad player and a good one at that.No one predicted that Meireles would put in a transfer request 2 hours before the market closed....Adam was never meant to be a starter and he's done quite a decent job filling in.

Moreso he's been consistently played out of position in a holding role where he is defensively out of his depth.I will continue to praise this tranfer.....ffs 5 million.....Ngog cost more than that.

I'm at a loss to see how we came out on the bad end of this transfer.

Even with Lucas at his side, he can barely command a midfield. I've mentioned it many times that he NEEDS a third central player to have a note worthy game. His set piece delivery is so over rated; or at least it was. His long passes are seen every now and then and he does have decent range, but barely any vision in my opinion.

We say not to consider prices when talking about Carroll and Hendo, why should we consider the price now? Fact is he is very very average. The same way people say Downing shouldn't be playing for a top club, there is absolutely no way Adam should be starting.

Either way, what's done is done. I've been left underwhelmed with Adam and yes Downing to an extent, but Downing shows more promise of improvement in my opinion.

Downing was never anything special. How they paid the kind of money they did for him is beyond me. What's even worse is that he's still playing week in week out while Maxi is struggling to get 20 minutes here and there when his form (and ability) is far superior

ragbirjosh wrote:poolsupporter, I think you guys are on Adam wayyyyy too much.

He cost 5 million.He's a squad player and a good one at that.No one predicted that Meireles would put in a transfer request 2 hours before the market closed....Adam was never meant to be a starter and he's done quite a decent job filling in.

Moreso he's been consistently played out of position in a holding role where he is defensively out of his depth.I will continue to praise this tranfer.....ffs 5 million.....Ngog cost more than that.

I'm at a loss to see how we came out on the bad end of this transfer.

It was clear from the start of the season that Adam was Dalglish's #1, he started all the games while Meireles watched from the sidelines. Meireles went from being possibly Pool's player of the season the year before to being understudy to a Ranger's reject. I don't know where you're coming from

Downings no GOAT but why all the criticism of him? Anyone who bought him thinking they were buying Nani or someone is insane

Downing is who everyone thought he is

He runs up and down the wings and crosses....Thats who he is, thats who hes always been

....Problem is he really doesnt have any targets so you've basically taken away the only thing he's good at

And dont insult our intelligence by saying "He has Carroll!!"

I dont care if Carroll was 6'10 tall with a ludicrous vertical....you need more than one guy in the box if you want to have any sort of success with your crosses, and Liverpool don't have ANY

Lol and to think of it...It was between Mata and downing.....SMH mmmmkay

Did Bhends just use the words " Intelligence" and "Our" in the same sentence?

You mean Adam played in the first couple games of the season

Our fully fit squad entails Lucas(backup Spearing), Gerrarg(backup Adam)

If you add Mierles to the mix Adam's playing time becomes considerably less dude..more importantly he gets to play his natural position.

For you to make that kind of assesment based on a couple of games at the start of the season......is ridiculous.

I don't completely agree with this but just some evidence that he hasn't been as bad as some have said.

http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2011/10/revealed-proof-that-charlie-adam-is.html

http://liverpool.theoffside.com/premier-league/charlie-adam-stats-pack.html

His defensive game is just not up to par. Even though he isn’t the defensive anchor in midfield, supporters who watch the games will notice he tends to move around a little lethargically and isn’t great in terms of tackling. Furthermore, he just doesn’t have the composure of a top player. He can lose possession easily and doesn’t work hard enough to regain it. (Late challenges, etc

In terms of his attacking game, he is a lot better. Seeing how his duties probably revolve around Liverpool’s forward play, it makes sense then. His versatility to pass the ball is great. He does lack some consistency in this area. However, a lot of the team is new and young, thus requiring time to gel. He creates chances and can dribble past players.

I do believe the formation implemented doesn’t work well to bring out his strengths though. Most notably, the central attacking midfielder/ the hole position. Charlie Adam tends to play there a good amount, though the likes of Downing, Kuyt and Henderson do drift in a good amount as well. Adam has freedom when he moves forward, but I feel he doesn’t fit extremely well into that kind of a role. I honestly believe if he were to be implemented in an Alonso-type role in a 4-2-3-1 position, we could see the best of him.
What I’m ultimately saying is this: neither Lucas, nor Adam slot in well into a 4-4-2 formation. Lucas, since his arrival has been developed into a defensive midfielder with a lot of discipline and positional sense. Adam, if sat back, could do well in controlling the game and supporting Gerrard (or any other CAM) in the hole. His main strength is his passing versatility. He has good vision and creativity and with a little more support from a central position has the ability to link Liverpool’s midfield well with their attack.

As mentioned in part 1 on and on again, central midfielders in a 4-4-2 formation (be it the basic or a hybrid implementation), need to be dynamic. They need to be able to adjust to each other’s position on the field. That means they have to be all-rounders. Both parts of this analysis have highlighted how Lucas and Charlie Adam don’t possess all the qualities to make this work then.

Realistically Gerrard doesn't have the legs to play in a 4-4-2 anymore. When he's back he'll be playing off the lead striker, which has always been his best position, where the best elements of his game can shine through

Liverpool should recall Joe Cole.

ragbirjosh wrote:I disagree with all the Liverpool fans on this one.

He is horrible.

Worst than Caroll and most certainly worst than Adam.


Caroll at lest has a ceiling this guy will be 28 in a couple of months

No. No. No. I've never rated the guy. Him playing for LFC isn't going to stop that. I would argue that Keane is a better signing.

Anyway. Adam is a squad player. A good one at that. But definitely not top four material. Only reason he started the first couple of games at the start of the season infront of Meireles was because Raul was injured in the pre-season and was slowly eased in. Then Chelsea came along and offered him wages that were going to be thriced over ours, and had the opportunity for CL and left. Can't blame the guy.

I was all for Aquilani but his head wasn't at LFC. He wanted Italy, and thus was sold. No point keeping a player at the club if he doesn't want to be there.

Anyway, where are the haters out there when we win?

highburied wrote:Liverpool should recall Joe Cole.

Good joke.

Wasn't Downing picked ahead of Mata or something in terms of priority of transfer targets?

Ade wrote:Wasn't Downing picked ahead of Mata or something in terms of priority of transfer targets?

There's nothing out there to corroborate that.

How much does Mata make at Chelsea? People need to realize that you can't only consider the transfer price.

A couple of LFC related blogs made comparisons amongst various targets and what they would really cost the team for a year and in all cases (bar Carroll) we were better off with the players we eventually got.

Not to mention the likes of Mata, Silva, etc. were very unlikely to move to a club that was in the process of rebuilding and had no CL football.

poolsupporter wrote:

Ade wrote:Wasn't Downing picked ahead of Mata or something in terms of priority of transfer targets?

There's nothing out there to corroborate that.

How much does Mata make at Chelsea? People need to realize that you can't only consider the transfer price.

A couple of LFC related blogs made comparisons amongst various targets and what they would really cost the team for a year and in all cases (bar Carroll) we were better off with the players we eventually got.

Not to mention the likes of Mata, Silva, etc. were very unlikely to move to a club that was in the process of rebuilding and had no CL football.

I can't remember the exact amount but Mata doesn't make a superstar's salary here...no where near 100k if I remember correctly. Something around 70k-80k pounds per week.

Mata needed CL.