The OFFICIAL Liverpool FC thread - #DankeJürgen

[myball22]

This has been a season where Torres has been injured quite a lot and Gerrard has been completely off form, where there was bad luck and rotten luck and they still finished seventh.

I think midtable mediocrity is much more a relaistic future than relegation.

The owners will not sack Benitez, he will only leave for a better offer of if new owners come in and pay him off.

I think we need to try to make a positive out of a negetive as much as possible. Since they will be back in pre-season before other team due to early involvement in the Europa League, then hopefully their increased fitness and match sharpness will stand to us at the beginning of the season.
If they can start next season well and get a few wins and the confidence begins to come back, then we'll have a different team.

[Hound]

I don't bear Rafa any ill will but at this stage a change is as good as a rest.

Yip. You might be able to blame not winning the league on the owners. But coming 7th rather than 3rd is down to the manager.

[bingobus]

That stadium a joke! Madness.

As for a shared stadium, no thanks. These never work long term, in Italy alot of the clubs are actually moving away from the shared stadium.

The pitch suffers, the capacity is normally two big for one club and too small for the other club. There's the whole area of financing the thing plus other shared revenue - stadium tours, other events. It only needs one club to get into big bother - with Liverpool involved it could happen very easily. Shared stadiums in the EPL or spain never work cause the clubs all own the stadiums. In Italy it only ever worked casue the stadiums where owned by the local corporation.

[brokencrossbar1]

Rotten bad season but a lot of perspective needs to be seen as well. 

The manager/owners were never on the same page and as a result the off field problems inpacted seriously on Rafa and his decision making in my view.  I reckon he was being obstinant so many times just for the sake of it. 

The teams 2 best players had their eyes on South Africa and as a result underperformed/were injured quite a lot.  You would be a complete fool if you didn't understand that Torres will only have this one chance at a WC medal and he was not going to do anything to jepordize it.  Gerard and his alleged off field problems didn't help either.

The squad is not good enough and there needs to be a clear out of about 7-8 players with a few younger players being brought up and a few quality players being bought.  To do this there needs to be a new manager brought in and I think it has to be a hands on "players" manager.  From what I know the 2 best candidates for that in the English game are Hodgson and O'Neill.  I reckon either of them would be good options if it was made clear from the outset that the expectations were to bring stability to the team and develop the younger players through.  Rafa will not do this and that is a "fact"!

Realistically Liverpool cannot buy big prced players.  There seems to be a transfer kitty of approximately £15m for the summer.  The players that need to go are   

Aurelio   £2m
Babel     £6m
Riera     £6m
Kuyt     £6m
Degen  A bag of chips
Possibly Yossi   £6m
N Gog   £3m
Skertl    £8m

Potentially there is nearly another £40m there.  I would also get rid of some of the dross that is on the reserve team as they are taking up wages that they don't warrant and they will never make the breakthrough.  Nemeth will be back, Pacheco, Kelly and Ayala are regular first team squad players now.  Aqualani will hopefull not be as brittle after a proper pre season.  The Serbian guy is coming in as back up to Torres, he seems like a decent player.

I would like to see Hodgson come in.  He could bring Hangeland from Fulham for £10m to replace Skertl.  He is a better player in my view.  I would keep the Greek as a back up if he was happy to sit on the bench.  I would persue two strong wingers, Joe Cole on a free and Ashley Young from Villa.  I am not sure who could be bought as a left back but the World Cup may throw up a few ideas and I would also buy a good quality second striker.

I eprsonally think that this was obviously a poor season but it could also be the one that does more good long term than people expect.  If they had qualified for the CL then Rafa had a strong case to be kept on.  As it stands he is likely to go to Juve and therefore the £15m pay off is null and void therefore the clubs hands are not tied.  The owners issue will be the most important one to sort out.  Once it is resolved then the club can start moving forward.

[Doogie Browser]

Carragher for the WC also, what do you lot think of that?

[bingobus]

I'd agree with alot of what you say but you have sold all our wingers bar Maxi and only bought into two. We'd have serious issues on the flanks, in my opinion we need 3/4 wingers. Ashley Young would be away outside our price range I reckon and think he is inconsistent, another Penant.

I'd take Petrov from City as a cheaper option. I'd imagine he would be keen to get away from City and has quality but maybe not the injury record we'd like. Joe Cole's wages will prob be outside our price range.

I think that we could easily end up shopping outside the EPL due to the inflated transfer fees and wages.

Also, Aurelio will be going on a free.

[bingobus]

Carragher for the WC also, what do you lot think of that?

Surprised to be honest, thought he'd totally reject any advances. Maybe the case that Carra, who would have real ambitions to manager, is eager to learn from capello and feels he has something to offer still.

Can see him making the 30 but possibly not the 23 unless he has received assurances that he's in for the full trip.

[Doogie Browser]

Carragher for the WC also, what do you lot think of that?

Surprised to be honest, thought he'd totally reject any advances. Maybe the case that Carra, who would have real ambitions to manager, is eager to learn from capello and feels he has something to offer still.

Can see him making the 30 but possibly not the 23 unless he has received assurances that he's in for the full trip.

BBC reporting he is a shoo-in for a place in the squad.

[brokencrossbar1]

I'd agree with alot of what you say but you have sold all our wingers bar Maxi and only bought into two. We'd have serious issues on the flanks, in my opinion we need 3/4 wingers. Ashley Young would be away outside our price range I reckon and think he is inconsistent, another Penant.

I'd take Petrov from City as a cheaper option. I'd imagine he would be keen to get away from City and has quality but maybe not the injury record we'd like. Joe Cole's wages will prob be outside our price range.

I think that we could easily end up shopping outside the EPL due to the inflated transfer fees and wages.

Also, Aurelio will be going on a free.

Fair enough about Aurelio going on a free Bingo but I like Young.  I reckon if they could do the business like I have stated and get £25m in with the apparaent £15m that has been promised, that gives £40m, Young would cost £20m maximum.  Cole's wages would be high but with no transfer fee and the release of wages from the sales I reckon they could be easily met, also he plays wide for Chelsea so that gives you 3 quality wide players.

As regards Carra going to the WC, he will be there otherwise he wouldn't have been asked.  He could actually be one of the stars for them as he is the sort of all guts player that will be needed to get them through the competition.

[deiseach]

As regards Carra going to the WC, he will be there otherwise he wouldn't have been asked.  He could actually be one of the stars for them as he is the sort of all guts player that will be needed to get them through the competition.

Hmm. They've never been short of 'guts' players. The problem is a lack of quality

[The Real Laoislad]

Good post BC1 though I would also sell Lucas, Steven Ireland would be a good option I reckon, his time at City would appear to be short and despite what we may think of him as a person his footballing ability is top notch,I reckon he could be got at a decent price too

[bingobus]

I'd agree with alot of what you say but you have sold all our wingers bar Maxi and only bought into two. We'd have serious issues on the flanks, in my opinion we need 3/4 wingers. Ashley Young would be away outside our price range I reckon and think he is inconsistent, another Penant.

I'd take Petrov from City as a cheaper option. I'd imagine he would be keen to get away from City and has quality but maybe not the injury record we'd like. Joe Cole's wages will prob be outside our price range.

I think that we could easily end up shopping outside the EPL due to the inflated transfer fees and wages.

Also, Aurelio will be going on a free.

Fair enough about Aurelio going on a free Bingo but I like Young.  I reckon if they could do the business like I have stated and get £25m in with the apparaent £15m that has been promised, that gives £40m, Young would cost £20m maximum.  Cole's wages would be high but with no transfer fee and the release of wages from the sales I reckon they could be easily met, also he plays wide for Chelsea so that gives you 3 quality wide players.

As regards Carra going to the WC, he will be there otherwise he wouldn't have been asked.  He could actually be one of the stars for them as he is the sort of all guts player that will be needed to get them through the competition.

I'm not sure Villa will do business with us on the cheap and Cole may have no transfer fee but you can be sure that his signing on fee will be at least €10m, these free transfers are never free plus they inflate the wage levels.

My fear is that money you talk of won't be there unless the ownership issue is resolved soon and I don't trust the yanks to take the first offer and run, they smell a kill to be made and will hold out until they get the right price.

Plus our squad this year was very small/weak, you've listed 8 players who all played alot of games this year. We have one player in plus young Wilson from Rangers looks likely. We'd need at least 5 out of that 8 replaced plus additional players to strenghten a poor squad. €50m won't do this. I think we need to spend €50m on 2/3 players plus another €30 on 4/5 squad players. I'm not hopeful.

[brokencrossbar1]

My thinking Bingo though is to stabilize over the next few years and I agree that unless the owners are sorted out there is a good possibility that the money won't be available but I reckon that it could be. 

I also like the idea of bringing in Stephen Ireland as I reckon that Man City would do chheap enough business, but they may and try to bring in Torres/Gerard to the equation.

[bingobus]

Good post BC1 though I would also sell Lucas, Steven Ireland would be a good option I reckon, his time at City would appear to be short and despite what we may think of him as a person his footballing ability is top notch,I reckon he could be got at a decent price too

Sell Lucas? One of our most improved players this year and consistent perfomers. While I hate to see him playing alongside Masch, It is important to have two holding players like this in the EPL and he's young. Very important squad player going forward.

As for Ireland, I don't think his head is right. A talented player no doubt but it would depend on the manager. Rafa wouldn't touch him or be the right person for him. I think you'd need a manager like Hodgson or O'Neill for the likes of Ireland.

[Rossie11]

You'd swear Aquilani was picked up on a free, he cost £20 million!

As far as I know we have only paid 8m for him so far.
There is another 7m due on him by mid summer. Dont know where that will come from
but wouldnt be surprised to see him shipped out before then and let someone else pick up the slack.