iftikhar wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

mr-r34 wrote:
Honestly i really think were 2-3 signings away from actually getting a solid top 4 spot next year and a potential tittle challenge. If only Rodgers could sort the defense out thought.

this season we were just a striker away from finishin in top 4

and some tactical blunders...

Not even, just give us a proper striker and we would of made top 4.

iftikhar wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:

mr-r34 wrote:
Honestly i really think were 2-3 signings away from actually getting a solid top 4 spot next year and a potential tittle challenge. If only Rodgers could sort the defense out thought.

this season we were just a striker away from finishin in top 4

and some tactical blunders...

no !
avoiding of tactical blunders+a 20 goals striker == title challenge

Disagree. Our run of form (which coincided with sorting out some tactical blunders) showed that we could have been a genuine T4 contender.

But frankly, I don't give a damn. I have had enough of this what could/should have been. I look forward to a summer of sanity and a meaningful 2015-16.

I think we have the highest scope for improvement next season among teams near us, because of the striker issues.

You look at
Chelsea- Costa/Hazard
City- Aguero/Silva
Man U- Rooney/RVP/Fellaini/Mata
Arsenal- Sanchez/Giroud

all in double digits in the league or near..but we have no one.

Getting the striker in the summer who can hit the ground running is the most important thing for us for sure.

For once, I really hope we get lucky with offloading our deadwood. Remember when we were on verge of getting 21M for Assaidi + Borini combined ? Anyways, any transfer discussion is MUTE imo until we know who's in charge of the club come start of preseason.

Natalie Portman wrote:I think we have the highest scope for improvement next season among teams near us, because of the striker issues.

You look at
Chelsea- Costa/Hazard
City- Aguero/Silva
Man U- Rooney/RVP/Fellaini/Mata
Arsenal- Sanchez/Giroud

all in double digits in the league or near..but we have no one.

Getting the striker in the summer who can hit the ground running is the most important thing for us for sure.

This exactly. I know it's popular the blame the manager, but it's not like we weren't creating chances to score almost all year long (only really near the end of the season did things look really tough to penetrate, and it's not hard to know why). I can remember countless times during this season if we had a decent finisher or a quality striker where we would have had goals coming in bunches from strong build up play.

In terms of rosters I don't really see much room for improvement with Arsenal and Chelsea. City could go through a pretty big overhaul, but I think that'll set them back more than take a step forward, and United can still improve but of all the clubs fighting for the CL next season we stand to make the biggest leap from even just one signing (which should actually be a good thing in terms of Rodgers and how he sets up this team).

Anyway, I have no idea who we're going to get as a legitimate striker, but a RB and Kovacic plus a goalscorer would be massive.

I also think this whole situation with Sturridge is a bit of a blessing in disguise. We needed an elite striker regardless of his health, and if he can come back to full health having Sturridge + whoever else would be great (though again, I'm not the biggest Sturridge fan anyway).

We barely create any clear cut goal scoring chances. It's been like that the whole season with the exception of moving to 3 at the back where we regained some form and played well. Otherwise, full shit all season, can't really blame any one player when the whole team can't create to save our lives.

http://www.squawka.com/football-team-rankings#chances-created#team-stats#english-barclays-premier-league|season-2014/2015#0#90#any#any#season#1#all-matches#total#desc#avg

I've watched Sterling, Coutinho, Henderson, Lallana and Sturridge flub more chances inside the box than I can count this season.

To go further:



A noticeable dip from the previous seasons, but still only 1 per game less than Chelsea, Arsenal and actually identical to United. Then you see this:



Not only do we have the worst conversion rate of any of the top 6 teams, but it's not even a league average conversion rate. It's awful. We need some clinical players badly. I'd also argue why our shots inside the box dipped because we were playing without a real striker for most of the season causing us to lack the same penetration from the previous year.

Anyway, our chance creation was fine. Our ability to make those chances count was dreadful.

I have seen numerous times players missing sitters ! I agree partly with El Cujo. Those less number of goals scored, for that I wont put it all on Rodgers. The likes of Coutinho, Sterling and Henderson relied on our strikers to create space in and around the box. Sterling gave his best when he played ahead of Lallana and Coutinho (3-4-2-1) because they all created space for each other and we looked dynamic whenever these three played together in the final third. What I would blame Rodgers and the transfer committee for is not getting a good striker.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:I have seen numerous times players missing sitters ! I agree partly with El Cujo. Those less number of goals scored, for that I wont put it all on Rodgers. The likes of Coutinho, Sterling and Henderson relied on our strikers to create space in and around the box. Sterling gave his best when he played ahead of Lallana and Coutinho (3-4-2-1) because they all created space for each other and we looked dynamic whenever these three played together in the final third. What I would blame Rodgers and the transfer committee for is not getting a good striker.

Raheem alone missed like 10 sitters   .

I will blame him for waiting half-a-season to adopt a formation that worked   .

that draw against Leicester 2-2

Yes, we have missed some sitters, but during a long season the low conversion rate is mostly down to the low quality of the chances created. Finishing hasn't been the big problem, chance creation and attacking play in general have been the real problem.

Just buy South Americans ffs.

Suarez, Coutinho, Mascherano, Leiva, Maxi, Aurelio.

Coates goal against QPR is still in my mind, too.

They have more hunger and have a better mentality imo.

Coates played pretty well in Everton 0 - 2 Sunderland
Made a few good tackles and blocks. He also looks he may have bulked up a little, not sure.

realisticaly:

BusterLfc wrote:realisticaly:

Mignolet
Manquillo - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno
Henderson - Lucas - Coutinho
Sterling
Ings - Ibe

Oh god, that would be awful.

Don't call me James wrote:

BusterLfc wrote:realisticaly:

Mignolet
Manquillo - Skrtel - Sakho - Moreno
Henderson - Lucas - Coutinho
Sterling
Ings - Ibe

Oh god, that would be awful.

But you can't beat that realism . Any improvement on this, and he will be a happy guy .

Red Alert wrote:They have more hunger and have a better mentality imo.

It's a generalization and not always applicable, but I think there is some truth to this normally. It's a completely different way of life most of the time and a much more privileged culture say coming up playing in England than Uruguay or Brazil for example.

Again, that doesn't apply to all players, and that hunger/drive doesn't overcome skill a lot of the time, but yeah.

Also Buster if we're going that route I would like this a bit more:


But I still think we'll bring in at least a striker and a midfielder (Kovacic, Benteke?)

We're probably going to end up placing all our eggs in Origi's basket come September realistically.

I like the kid, and he's got a lot of attributes that will be perfect for the PL and for how we play. Eventually he can be our main man and I can definitely see him being a 20-goals-a-season striker in his prime.

But relying on him at age 20 will be suicidal and would make for another transitional season.

Ideal signings of the day


100m here we go ffs

what do you mean 'of the day' lets talk about whole summer, will ya !!

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:what do you mean 'of the day' lets talk about whole summer, will ya !!

It'll change tomorrow for me imo. I don't like the formation.

Vietto scored 12 goals in La Liga this season. Aspas had scored 12 in La Liga the season we signed him. Just saying.

Art Morte wrote:Vietto scored 12 goals in La Liga this season. Aspas had scored 12 in La Liga the season we signed him. Just saying.

Suarez scored 11 PL goals under Kenny. Darren Bent once scored 24 PL goals in one season.

Does that tell you something?

Eh, I'm just not sold on this Vietto dude, that's all.

He reminds of Torres when he was Atleti before we signed but with more ability on the ball and maybe a bit less of a natural finishing ability and lesser physical stature. He's built more like Aguero than Torres.

Just a taste

All Vietto Villarreal goals and assists

Goals:	Assists:
2014-15	2014-15
1. vs Astana H	1. to Nahuel [Astana]
2. vs Astana H	2. to Espinosa [Apollon Limassol]
3. vs Rayo Vallecano H	3. to Moreno [Apollon Limassol]
4. vs Rayo Vallecano H	4. to Mario [Celta Vigo]
5. vs FC Zurich H	5. to Gaspar [Getafe]
6. vs Sevilla A	6. to Cherychev [BMG]
7. vs Borussia Monchen. H	7. to Cherychev [RB Salzburg]
8. vs Cordoba A	8. to Dos Santos [RB Salzburg]
9. vs Apollon Limassol A	-
10. vs Atletico Madrid A	-
11. vs Deportivo H	-
12. vs Deportivo H	-
13. vs Elche A	-
14. vs Levante H	-
15. vs Barcelona A	-
16. vs Eibar H	-
17. vs RB Salzburg A	-
18. vs RB Salzburg A	-
19. vs Celta Vigo H	-
20. vs Sevilla H	-