Summer of 2014: Part 2

Kudos mate, same here. Once a player is signed I'm fully behind them. No matter how much I flogged them off prior to them signing.

I feel like signing Remy as a back-up means they're going to try and buy big on someone.

Moreno, Lovren, Remy and Origi...there's a big fish out there that is being kept secret. Unless they're waiting and sitting on 60m+...there's got to be someone significant on the radar.

Lambert
Can
Lallana
Markovic
Remy

is fantastic so far

Still got to get:

Moreno
CB
And one more amazing all around forward.

And I'm very satisfied.

If we sell Lucas and Reina maybe a back up GK and another DM will be needed. I guess Johnson will have to stay for another year

Forget about Origi.

His attitude won't be a problem. Sakho will keep him in check

Origi is not a bad buy to loan back out. Lots of potential there.

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/rg2w99tvue6qscfnaeaugg/Show/Player-Focus-Ricardo-the-Other-Rodriguez-Teams-Should-be-Chasing

ffs Liverpool. Get on this...so much money to throw around.

Don't call me James wrote:Glass half empty kind of guy, eh RedO?

Rodgers just came out and indirectly said we haven't spent any of the Suarez money yet. If the right player does catch the eye it may just happen.

I see the glass as neither half-empty nor half-full, I see it only as half a glass of (metaphoric) water; though I am regularly accused of being either/both, depending on which direction the prevailing sentiment is overreacting toward.
I move forward on facts and reliable reports, and tend to be near the neutral line. It is also why I don't tend to get too engaged in the drooling over and fawning after signings that have not at all been linked or otherwise reported.

A solid squad with game changers on the bench (something we will have this season with an attack comprised of Coutinho, Lallana, Markovic, Sterling, Sturridge, Lambert, Remy, and youth/other signings) has an overall better chance of finishing top 4 and doing solidly in multiple competitions than the team we had last year that lacked said gamechangers off the bench but had the big star in Suarez. That said, a big star is the type of player that can win a club trophies. While I would be absolutely ecstatic with a star signing (assuming he fit the team and style well) I hold absolutely no current expectation of one, because the current facts and reliable reports lend no credence to such anticipation. If the reports and information change, then I'll adapt to them. Until then I suppose you'll continue to see me as a pessimist while RA continues to see me as a glaring optimist.






All that said, I'd much rather see us use the Suarez funds to pay the extra bit and land Moreno and a better quality CB (someone like Howedes rather than Lovren) and NOT sign some expensive attacker, tbh. That would still leave funds raised from other sales like Assaidi (7m), Borini (12m+2m), and potential sales like Coates, Agger/Skrtel, Lucas, Kelly, etc to fund more recruits such as like-for-like replacements (like Remy).

On the subject of Borini/Remy... I'll be said to see Fabio go. While he's struggled for confidence and form at LFC he's always had a diligent, dedicated, and hardworking personality that I like to see in players and he's a passionate lad. Remy would certainly seem to be a direct replacement and immediate improvement over Borini and turning a profit in the business can only be seen as a very good deal (though I'd guess that the difference in wages between the two may cut deeply into that assumed profit). Still, I'll be sad to see Borini go, and I've never really been a fan of Remy. Good business, but I'll remain neutral. It still remains to be seen if both deals go through though.

On the Remy-Bony comparisons. While Bony may be (marginally) more technically gifted than Remy and certainly stronger, he's neither as quick nor as versatile. Both are quite clearly high on Rodgers' list of traits that he wants in our attackers. Bony is a pure CF. He can play as a lone forward or with strike partner but that's it. Remy on the other hand can play across the front line, both in a strike partnership or as a loan CF AND can operate on either side in a wide role.

This is the best business Liverpool has done in YEARS.

Selling Borini for 14 and getting Remy for 8 is great. It may or may not back fire with Remy's attitude and how Rodgers uses him but it is great. 5 years for roughly 80k a week is a massive risk. With that said, Sturridge was never going to play every single game, Remy will take off the work load and he's one I've always rated highly. IF Rodgers think Remy and Sturridge as a partnership will work, then he's wrong. These two MUST be rotated as the 9.

As much as I like Borini, he was never going to make it with Suarez gone. 14m is a good fee for him. He'll do well at Sunderland, just like how he showed last season on loan.

RedOranje wrote:On the Remy-Bony comparisons. While Bony may be (marginally) more technically gifted than Remy and certainly stronger, he's neither as quick nor as versatile. Both are quite clearly high on Rodgers' list of traits that he wants in our attackers. Bony is a pure CF. He can play as a lone forward or with strike partner but that's it. Remy on the other hand can play across the front line, both in a strike partnership or as a loan CF AND can operate on either side in a wide role.

Remy IS good. I've been screaming his name for years. I wanted Loic to replace Torres when we sold Fernando if you remember.

With that said, Bony's the better player. He actually LOOKS to make something happen. He attacks the ball, he wins his own ball, he always does the best option. Remy doesn't really get involved in the build up, he's just ready to run off the last defenders line and get through on goal and is quite selfish. We may need that to stretch the opposition, but I'm really struggling to see how this will work. There's stretching the opposition and then there's this. Sterling, Sturridge, Remy, and Markovic are all pace as of right now. Lallana is a runner type of CAM. He wants the ball delivered to his feet so he could run onto it and do something special, he's not really a playmaker. We only really have Suso and Coutinho for creativity. I'm struggling to see how we're going to break teams that play defensive against us, which teams will do. So in that case, I think Bony would of been the better option. Remy is good though, so I'm not really complaining. Just wondering how this is all going to work.

Bony would of atleast gave us a different option, and would of played similar to Suarez in a sense. He would of stayed deep, and find these runners. People underestimate how good Bony is. He's the best CF to leave the Eredivisie after Suarez. He had a better debut season than Suarez despite playing as a decoy for Michu in the first 6 months. He would of been great but couldn't see Swansea selling him at any cost as they just got rid of Michu to build the team around Wilfried. He has all the potential in the world to be the next Drogba. I said it when he was at Vitesse and I'll say it again. He is Drogba with Falcao's build.

Natalie Portman wrote:RA keep on blowing Mou . It's like if anhewish person adores Hitler. Baffling and makes no sense whatsoever. Looking forward for "tactically average" BR finishing ahead of "Taxtical genius" Mourinho with an inferior squad for the second year running. Maybe then, he will join Shed and Kick and them in the Chelsea section.

You have a sick mind, my dear.

Davies close to Spurs and we wont go back for Morano unless Sevilla drop their 20 mil price acc. to Echo.

LB is probably the most important problem and we still are struggling to address it

Bony would have made more sense if we havent already signed Lambert.With Lambert already there to provide Plan B we need soneome similar to DS to rotate with him and replace him when injured.

Remy is much more suited to that role and is versatile enough to ply wide as well.Just hope we can wrap this up and is more than paper talk

Bony and Sturridge could of worked as a partnership.
Remy and Sturridge won't.

We don't need a plan B. I'm talking about plan A here. Remy and Sturridge rotated makes sense. He's came for cover, good for him. There's still an "X" missing in our starting XI from last season with Suarez gone unless you think either Lallana, Remy, Markovic or Lambert are taking that CF position?

Yeah agree we still need an experienced player to replace Suarez.Cant go in with just Sterling and Markovic as wide forwards .Are too green regardless of how much potential they have.

But are selling Borini for 12 mil Assaidi for 5mil and Aspas for guarenteed 5-6 mil. And yet to dip into Suarez money acc to Rodgers.

So we will sign another attacker hopefully like Griezmann .Also we are switching to 4-3-3 this season i am sure so that X factor to replace Suarez needss to be WF than CF imo

Why are you so certain we're moving a to a 433? Because he played it at Swansea? Or has he said something that I've missed? ._.

Aspas left on loan, we got no transfer fee from him.
We haven't dipped into the Suarez money, but Rodgers has came out and said that's going to continue "improve the squad" rather than signing a top quality player.

I still have no idea how through all of this somehow Rodgers or Ayre or somebody has been sleeping on Ricardo Rodriguez. The guy can be argued to be the best fullback in the world, is only 21, performed amazingly on the best stage in the world and is a spot we desperately need to address.

But let's not pay 30m for him...let's pay 25m for Lallana instead.

Oh wells.

El Cujo wrote:I still have no idea how through all of this somehow Rodgers or Ayre or somebody has been sleeping on Ricardo Rodriguez. The guy can be argued to be the best fullback in the world, is only 21, performed amazingly on the best stage in the world and is a spot we desperately need to address.

But let's not pay 30m for him...let's pay 25m for Lallana instead.

Oh wells.

Mate, thing is.

A 30M attacker is worth a lot more than a 30M LB. It's a fullback. If you have unlimited money, then yea, get the best on every world. But almost every club who wants to dedicate 40M to a LB and a AM, will dedicate 30 to AM and 10 to LB.

Over the course of a league season, an attacking midfielder is worth many more points than a left back. It'll be amazing if a LB is as complete as RR, but from your fullbacks you just want the basics. How to time his runs, hold offside line, defend 1 vs. 1, and release the ball quickly (something both Enrique and Johnson are very awful at).

Red Alert wrote:Bony and Sturridge could of worked as a partnership.
Remy and Sturridge won't.

What a load of bull. Bony is not techically half as versatile as Remy and a Bony-Sturridge partnership would have been pretty static. Besides, Remy's blistering pace also provides an added threat on counters.

The exhaustive claims some of you make are so preposterous. What makes you guys think Markovic will be a definite starter? He's just 20. Remy will start more often than not.

I'm going to outright refuse to believe we're getting £14m for Borini, that's just way too good to be true, lol

Whatever the fee is - and if the move is indeed confirmed - I'm all for swapping Borini for Remy. Not that I'm over the moon for getting Remy, he's pretty much in the same bracket with Bony to me, just different sort of players. But should be a decent player to have anyway.

Markovic, Sterling, Sturridge, Remy, who am I missing? SO MUCH PACE SON, WHO'S FEEDING THEM? LB + Y?

Sturridge and Remy make the same sort of runs and are similar players. Playing them together would be stupid and it won't work. We have potential 55+ games next season, so Remy would get games. The only way he'll "start more often than not" is if Daniel is injured, though.

Nobody has said Markovic will be a definite starter, he'll most likely be rotated with Sterling.

Bony half as versatile is some what true, but means absolutely nothing as Bony has the better will. He'll close down space, defenders and most important, he'll chase any ball to win it. Unless the ball is played through, Remy will most likely be having his hands on his hips with the expression "what the f*ck was that?" Bony's hunger >>> Remy's, means f*ck all if Remy is quicker and a little more agile. Maybe in fifa, but not in real life no.

Wilfried also gives us another alternate strategy to goal. How does one counter a team that plays with 8-10 men behind the ball? There's not going to be any space for them to move into. And even if there was, who's delivering it?

How would Bony and Sturridge be static? Sturridge will be making his normal runs (with either Markovic or Sterling helping him) and Bony will be a bulldozer opening up space for Daniel to make those runs into. The guy hardly loses the ball when he has it because people can't bully him off it.

Art Morte wrote:I'm going to outright refuse to believe we're getting £14m for Borini, that's just way too good to be true, lol

Whatever the fee is - and if the move is indeed confirmed - I'm all for swapping Borini for Remy. Not that I'm over the moon for getting Remy, he's pretty much in the same bracket with Bony to me, just different sort of players. But should be a decent player to have anyway.

It's 12m with 2m add ons.

Not too sure why everyone is confused by it.

1. He'll do well for them so it'll pay off. He was huge for them under Poyet and will continue to do so.

2. We bought him for 10m, sold him for 2m extra after he's got a year experience in the PL next to his name?

Its 8m pounds apparently.

This probably was the deciding factor.

If/when he becomes a Liverpool player, I will back him till death. However, there are certain facts that's pretty hard to accept:

#1. He is 27 so he is in his prime and not going improve any further (skill-wise at least). Given his track record, he can be labeled as solid at best.

#2. Five years! Seriously!! What makes us think that he will be useful beyond 30!!! A three-year contract would have made more sense.

People are underestimating how many goals we'll score from low shots from outside of the box at Anfield this season against the park buses.

How do you open a park bus ?

- By having players who can dribble at pace and make defenders commit (Either get a penalty or a great positioned free kick)

- By players who can score from outside of the box with low shots to the corner. That's where we'll be hoping Coutinho can improve, and Lallana can help as well. Studge is very good at this already.

It's amazing that in our first game of the season, we can realistically have a bench of: Jones, Johnson, Coutinho, Markovic, Can/Allen, Lambert, Skrtel/Agger and that's assuming we won't sign a single player form now until then (Which we will).

If we are to have a "BIG NAME" signing, it'll be at the last 2 weeks of the window imo. ALA Ozil for Arsenal. It'll be our very final purchase.

We have so much money left to spend....just sit back and enjoy the ride. I love the fact that we're being written off not only by RedCafe, but by some of our very own fans....but this squad will be full of quality, youth, energy, and options. Long gone are the days of relying on Aspas/Moses to win us a title-chasing match off the bench.

Natalie Portman wrote:People are underestimating how many goals we'll score from low shots from outside of the box at Anfield this season against the park buses.

How do you open a park bus ?

- By having players who can dribble at pace and make defenders commit (Either get a penalty or a great positioned free kick)

- By players who can score from outside of the box with low shots to the corner. That's where we'll be hoping Coutinho can improve, and Lallana can help as well. Studge is very good at this already.

It's amazing that in our first game of the season, we can realistically have a bench of: Jones, Johnson, Coutinho, Markovic, Can/Allen, Lambert, Skrtel/Agger and that's assuming we won't sign a single player form now until then (Which we will).

If we are to have a "BIG NAME" signing, it'll be at the last 2 weeks of the window imo. ALA Ozil for Arsenal. It'll be our very final purchase.

We have so much money left to spend....just sit back and enjoy the ride. I love the fact that we're being written off not only by RedCafe, but by some of our very own fans....but this squad will be full of quality, youth, energy, and options. Long gone are the days of relying on Aspas/Moses to win us a title-chasing match off the bench.

This was what i was looking forward to the whole summer.

This may go a bit off-topic.

Just because we haven't signed any big-name/established players while others have doesn't necessarily mean we are worse-off in the title race. Last season we mounted an incredible title challenge with 15-odd players (with two teenagers among them). In the end, it was an incredulous piece of bad luck along with lack of form of two players that sealed our fate.

This season we will have some serious quality (Raheem/Marko, Rickey/Remy, Lallana/Coutinho, Emre/Henderson) on the bench. The chances of 8-10 players flopping or being injured is far less than Reus/James/Kroos/Vidal flopping.

I will say it again, my major concern is we haven't signed a QUALITY LB yet along with the fact that we consider Lovern as an upgrade over our existing CB options.

Guys, these Borini rumours make me feel good about our manager that he is ready to sell a player who was his first signing. So BR is not stubborn at all, in that terms. 14m pounds is also unbelievable, we are finally having some players where we are not being robbed.

Frrrack we threw 7m of shit for Alberto, even for Aspas...so just throw the same/little more for Remy and get him. For a EPL tested player, we have to take the risk on wages if u r getting Remy quality for 8m.

@RA you are criminally underrating the creativity of both Sterling and Markovic, both like ball at their feet and run with it but they are equally capable of finding a team mate. So it is definitely NOT ONLY PACE. Also, I am sure as both are young, BR will mould both of them according to requirements; with Sterling surely adding on the plate anything as is required. So I am not so worried. Of couse with Suarez gone, initially we may struggle to find that exact chemistry between all players to get it into 5th gear. (#inb4UcomeOutLashingItInOurFirstFewGames). And then we have Coutinho and Lallana both of whom will have major responsibility in this season for handling creativity in our squad.

btw, today we might get to know how soon Borini will be leaving us.

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:Guys, these Borini rumours make me feel good about our manager that he is ready to sell a player who was his first signing. So BR is not stubborn at all, in that terms.

So it's only after this that you feel good about BR!!!! OKAAAAA!!!     

Seriously Heil????