Art Morte wrote:

Nishank wrote:Buy a Striker.

SOMEONE LIKE RVP.

Strongly disagree.

If buying has to be seen as an option, I say buy a CB who's ready to play in the BPL and isn't past it.



But, personally I gave up on the 4th spot after Bolton 3 - 1 Liverpool.
Let's see what we can do in the FA Cup and have a new go at the CL spots next season. For that is the reality. You'll Never Walk Alone.

8.6% conversion rate in around 370 shots.

Striker please.

poolsupporter wrote:

Art Morte wrote:

Nishank wrote:Buy a Striker.

SOMEONE LIKE RVP.

Strongly disagree.

If buying has to be seen as an option, I say buy a CB who's ready to play in the BPL and isn't past it.



But, personally I gave up on the 4th spot after Bolton 3 - 1 Liverpool.
Let's see what we can do in the FA Cup and have a new go at the CL spots next season. For that is the reality. You'll Never Walk Alone.

We have THE WORST chance conversion in the league and are amongst the bottom half of the table in terms of goals scored. How someone can say we don't need a striker is beyond me.

Striker is a must buy this summer.

Coz that's a Quick Fix and I don't support such methods of running a football club. We spent £50m+ on strikers last year. Now, you can have what opinion you wish on the players bought, but my view is that when you spend that kind of money, you then stick with what you've got. Unless you sell those players first. Like I wrote in the other thread, I really don't like the mentality "the previous bunch of players we bought didn't work out, let's buy new faces". That's the way someone like City have done it and I really really really hope LFC will not go down that road.

Well i should've given up on the CL along time ago, I wouldn't have been so disappointed today. Downing was back to his usual shitty self, who were kidding when we thought he was actually good.

Messiakanino wrote:Well i should've given up on the CL along time ago, I wouldn't have been so disappointed today. Downing was back to his usual shitty self, who were kidding when we thought he was actually good.

Man? What's this? Our midfield did very close to brilliant, Downing included. In case you didn't notice, we controllod midfield like candy. We were constantly going forward. Downing did very fine, in my opinion. He was part of a well-oiled midfield unit. The problem was that we didn't score and conceded two goals we shouldn't have. But taking that frustration out on any of our MF players is just wrong.

Art Morte wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:

Art Morte wrote:

Nishank wrote:Buy a Striker.

SOMEONE LIKE RVP.

Strongly disagree.

If buying has to be seen as an option, I say buy a CB who's ready to play in the BPL and isn't past it.



But, personally I gave up on the 4th spot after Bolton 3 - 1 Liverpool.
Let's see what we can do in the FA Cup and have a new go at the CL spots next season. For that is the reality. You'll Never Walk Alone.

We have THE WORST chance conversion in the league and are amongst the bottom half of the table in terms of goals scored. How someone can say we don't need a striker is beyond me.

Striker is a must buy this summer.

Coz that's a Quick Fix and I don't support such methods of running a football club. We spent £50m+ on strikers last year. Now, you can have what opinion you wish on the players bought, but my view is that when you spend that kind of money, you then stick with what you've got. Unless you sell those players first. Like I wrote in the other thread, I really don't like the mentality "the previous bunch of players we bought didn't work out, let's buy new faces". That's the way someone like City have done it and I really really really hope LFC will not go down that road.

It's been a season long problem. And you suggest we address it by giving the players more time? At some point you have to cut your losses. The only way to remedy the situation is to buy new players because none on the squad have shown any improvement over the course of this season.

Besides, no one is suggesting we go out and spend 100s of millions, but if it gets us someone like RVP, hell yeah I'd take it.

The team as a whole did well. We controlled the game and it was ours. Two silly goals and a lack of conversion cost us again. Only player I really want to criticize is Carra.

OH I agree with you our midfield was brilliant dominating the game but the end product wasn't there especially from Downing, from whom is expected so much. He was definitely off today, there wad a point where he could have given Suarez a tap in but pass it straight to Szcscszcszzney. Adam was poor as well with his end product, but im simply tired of being frustrated at Adam, I've come to realization that he sucks and nothing will change my mind.

It's been a season long problem. And you suggest we address it by giving the players more time? At some point you have to cut your losses. The only way to remedy the situation is to buy new players because none on the squad have shown any improvement over the course of this season.

Besides, no one is suggesting we go out and spend 100s of millions, but if it gets us someone like RVP, hell yeah I'd take it.

Our luck will turn at some point. We hit the post twice today and had other chances, too. There's not that great a difference in Finishing Skills between our strikers and potential buys that it'd be sensible spending 10m+ plus on a new striker. We've been unlucky. And who'd you replace anyway? Suarez got us a penalty today and hit the post and was brilliant and he was our striker today. Replacing him would mean taking a helluva lot away from our game. Our midfield five did fantastic against Arsenal. No, man, I wouldn't go shopping. I'd go to the training ground and come back with this team next season.

Can't believe he didn't make that through ball to Henderson towards the end of the game. Hendo had made a great run and would've been 1 on 1 with the keeper, but as usual Adam makes it tough for himself.

watta f**king disgrace, to play like that and let them win

Art Morte wrote:
Our luck will turn at some point. We hit the post twice today and had other chances, too. There's not that great a difference in Finishing Skills between our strikers and potential buys that it'd be sensible spending 10m+ plus on a new striker. We've been unlucky. And who'd you replace anyway? Suarez got us a penalty today and hit the post and was brilliant and he was our striker today. Replacing him would mean taking a helluva lot away from our game. Our midfield five did fantastic against Arsenal. No, man, I wouldn't go shopping. I'd go to the training ground and come back with this team next season.

Seriously? We're going to talk about "luck" all over again? The first 17 times we were unlucky enough, after that it's a problem. Yeah, let's rely on luck to win games. I don't keep up with other leagues so I have no idea who is out there at the moment, but I'm certain there is someone who is a better finisher than a couple on our team.

This has been the case this entire season. We perform well, but there's no conversion in the final third. If it was a couple of games, I'd agree with your views on this, but it has gone on too long at this point.

Honestly, which top flight team has a penalty record of 5 out of 10, really want to just break something right now.

mr-r34 wrote:watta f**king disgrace, to play like that and let them win

It's the story of our season. Be the better team - do not win.


The Carling Cup will salvage something - and we're still in the FA Cup - now I'm just hoping we can carry this same squad to next season. Because, really, our luck is due to change. It's another matter whether Arsenal and Chelsea will be better next season, but we should be for sure, even if there's no transfer activity in the summer.

poolsupporter wrote:

Art Morte wrote:
Our luck will turn at some point. We hit the post twice today and had other chances, too. There's not that great a difference in Finishing Skills between our strikers and potential buys that it'd be sensible spending 10m+ plus on a new striker. We've been unlucky. And who'd you replace anyway? Suarez got us a penalty today and hit the post and was brilliant and he was our striker today. Replacing him would mean taking a helluva lot away from our game. Our midfield five did fantastic against Arsenal. No, man, I wouldn't go shopping. I'd go to the training ground and come back with this team next season.

Seriously? We're going to talk about "luck" all over again? The first 17 times we were unlucky enough, after that it's a problem. Yeah, let's rely on luck to win games. I don't keep up with other leagues so I have no idea who is out there at the moment, but I'm certain there is someone who is a better finisher than a couple on our team.

This has been the case this entire season. We perform well, but there's no conversion in the final third. If it was a couple of games, I'd agree with your views on this, but it has gone on too long at this point.

Demba Ba is a great finisher. Would you take him over Suarez?

And when we control the game like that, miss a penalty, hit the post twice, what is it if not bad luck? Okay, it's not as great finishing as some top strikers in the league, but it sure has a good deal of bad luck about it, too.

Our team did great today, generally speaking. The only thing that let us down was finishing and sharpness in the final third. But to put in another player with better finishing skills would mean taking something away from the squad that had a good performance today. I rather keep it the way it is.

Started with a 4-4-2 and made me eat my words... performed very well in every area except in front of goal, bar two or three slip-ups.

Enrique deserves some criticism as he again failed to stop the ball coming in from the left and Adam was absolutely woeful for much of the game... stupid tackles, head-down running, and ill-advised hollywood passes. He cannot be a regular starter if the club want to be competing at the top level. He has his good games but in most big matches he's been poor and when he's poor he's a right liability to the side.

Art Morte wrote:

Demba Ba is a great finisher. Would you take him over Suarez?

And when we control the game like that, miss a penalty, hit the post twice, what is it if not bad luck? Okay, it's not as great finishing as some top strikers in the league, but it sure has a good deal of bad luck about it, too.

Our team did great today, generally speaking. The only thing that let us down was finishing and sharpness in the final third. But to put in another player with better finishing skills would mean taking something away from the squad that had a good performance today. I rather keep it the way it is.

I wouldn't replace Suarez. He is a creator and shouldn't play as an out and out striker.

I agree that we performed well as we have in a number of games this season. But at what point does this hitting posts/missing penalties, etc. become an issue? This 'sharpness in the final third' is something we've missed all season and I don't understand how anyone can be happy with it so far. Furthermore, everyone has had their fair share of chances and they just don't seem to be improving.

I think we need a proper striker with good finishing. Creating a million chances means nothing if you don't convert them and get results. The game today was the kind that demonstrates the kind of problems we have.

- Carra is past it
- Adam has terrible decision making
- Our finishing is crap
- A majority of our chances come from crosses
- We make subs late. (What was it? 88th minute?)
- etc.

I doubt we'll agree on this, but I think we desperately need a striker who is a natural finisher. You mentioned Ba. I've watched him a handful of times and he is the kind of striker I do like. Someone who plays like Torres did for the most part. Not sure I'd go for him though.

Well, I would take a player like Aguero over Carroll any day of the week. But we have made our choice. It's time to give Carroll time. To cast aside a player you first pay £35m for is just not something I am willing to do. I hate bad business. So stick with Carroll and Suarez, Bellamy and Kuyt as long as they can retain their level, and see what happens. Leave that "our £35m striker didn't work out, let's buy a new one" to clubs who are happy posting massive losses year-in year-out (or are making £100m+ more revenue than us, like Manc United).

Art Morte wrote:Well, I would take a player like Aguero over Carroll any day of the week. But we have made our choice. It's time to give Carroll time. To cast aside a player you first pay £35m for is just not something I am willing to do. I hate bad business. So stick with Carroll and Suarez, Bellamy and Kuyt as long as they can retain their level, and see what happens. Leave that "our £35m striker didn't work out, let's buy a new one" to clubs who are happy posting massive losses year-in year-out (or are making £100m+ more revenue than us, like Manc United).

So you think he is going to become the kind of striker that will do well in the league/CL/etc.? You go on about bad business, yet Carroll was a terrible piece of business. But we should stick with that bad business and hope it comes good? At what point would you cut your losses?

Manchester City are currently proving that spending money helps. Arsenal are currently proving that refusing to spend money can hurt you. I'm not saying we have to go to such extremes, but we have certain problems in the team and if they are not addressed soon enough, we're going to spend another season being frustrated.

Had I seen an ounce of improvement in our finishing, I'd give the players more time, but from the start of the season we've gone from 10+% conversion rates to 8.something% and last in the league. It IS a problem.

Downing is the worst piece of business we've done.

Caroll at leat has potential....a ceiling....he has stuff going for him.

Downing is a player who was average at his peak and is probably on the decline.

It hurts even more now that Chelsea lost :vagi:

Feel sorry for you guys, you played very well and missed everything but the finish. Football's a cruel sport sometimes and you were the better team by far. Doesn't matter if you don't finish though

Keep your heads up though, at least the ability is there, all you need is a clinical striker like RvP and I wouldn't be surprised to see you guys overtake Arsenal if they don't make any radical changes.

Le Samourai wrote:Downing is the worst piece of business we've done.

Caroll at leat has potential....a ceiling....he has stuff going for him.

Downing is a player who was average at his peak and is probably on the decline.

i honestly don't know what game you were watching chap, as Downing was probably one of our better players in the game today. suarez with all due respect, should of come off in the 60th odd minute, he was knackered and didn't provide much, although we had to risk playing him as he could turn nothing in to something in a heart beat.

Carroll.... Once again wasted by bringing him on in the dying minutes. give the lad a starting run out. hes not going to perform by playing 10-15 minutes max a game. hes heavily criticized because how "poor" he plays, but any person with a brain can understand the predicament he is in by playing virtually no football... it sickens me to see our team dominate a game of such magnitude and come out losers. all players were good today, but i honestly think hendo should of come off for bellamy (and i think bella should of come on around the 60th minute mark). carra was obviously at fault for the 1st goal but given the amount of game time of late, what did you expect. we are relying on our best players all the time, not releasing any potential between the starting 11, and thats what happens. we bought coates and see zilch of him. you need to start potential in league games (as does the spanish teams like Barca with Cuenca for example).

it angers me to see people slander the likes of carragher after performing poorly, especially since its the 1st start he's had in months. if we are going to even contend for a european spot, the club is going to either have to dig deep and bring in more quality by means of the transfer market, or take risks with the swapping of players (for example agger, skrtel, carra, coates) in positions. playing the same 2 or 3 players consistently will reap its benefits, but once one of them is injured for a duration of time, this is where the turd hits the fan. and todays performance proved that.

im sorry if what i am saying is insulting or being disrespectful to our mighty club, but this has been the problem throughout the season. another one is lucas, once he got injured we took drastic measures in bringing shelvey back, but still don't play him. we rely way too much on certain players, and thats our problem. we need a backup (backbone if thats safe to say).

we will be lucky to finish 6th the way its going (especially at home)

Yesterday highlighted how important Glen Johnson is.

He would have raped Arsenal with the space Gibbs left behind all the time, Johnson is such an immense player, can't believe the stick he gets at times.

Easily our most composed attacking player...We would have won the game if he wasn't injured.


Gleninho

@ Romulus...I only watched the last 30 mins so I only saw him for about 15....but he was pretty bad for those 15.But it's not even about that....it's about business and financially he was just a very bad singning...no prospects....the best we couldve hoped for is an average to above average winger for a couple seasons.I think Joe Cole could've done as well TBH.

Gerrard is still our most composed attacking player lol.

I fail to see how Johnson would have changed the result yesterday. Would he have defended better than Kelly and stopped one or both of the goals from happening? Kelly only made one real mistake in defense and Johnson tends to have at least one mistake in him per game.

Did Kelly do poorly in attack? He got forward at every opportunity, made room for Henderson/Kuyt, and put in a number of crosses. Of course he didn't cut inside as Johnson did but this in turn allowed Henderson to move middle (where we all agree he's better) and Kuyt to float in that area. Johnson's hardly been on target with his crosses throughout the season, has he?

Rightback was not where the game was lost, yesterday.