We're not good enough

[mark1975]

So it seems we're signing several young, up and coming talents from around the continent, many of whom are either at good clubs or have some big names clamouring for their services. Considering we have an Irish manager who's won nothing, Suarez looking like he's fucking off, a retired Jamie Carragher and a fading Steven Gerrard. Even I find it almost inexplicable the route we're taking, seemingly so successfully.

We played good football last season and I have a tremendous amount of (largely unsubstantiated) faith in big nose, but it seems players have gotten onto this notion that we want to build an exciting, young attacking side.

So is there any real substance to the occasional murmurings that we're a spent force, a mid-table side no one wants to play for and well past our abilities to turn heads?

Seemingly not. I know we're not picking up the £30m latest rising new South American, but who is? And how long do they last before getting the hump anyway? No longer buying over priced British, nor risking big money on bigger name Johnny Foreigners after a last payday, we seem to have found middle ground in buying the up and coming potentially next big names.

So are we really in such a terrible state? Ian Ayre gets flack, as do the owners, but we're spending well, selling reasonably well and putting our name out there to the next big thing.

Remind me where we're fucking up monumentally? It's hardly a bed of roses but at least we seem to have got our shit together. Finally.

 

[Fabio]

Remind me where we're fucking up monumentally?

We're fucking up our away kits

 

[mark1975]

We're fucking up our away kits

Well we've always done that, so..

 

[Fabio]

That's not true! Our black with silver piping of 2 years ago was truly delectable

 

[Fabio]

Even last year's star trek kit grew on me

 

[Torv V.2]

I think Rodgers has been doing a wonderful job. He seems to know who to pick and and who would fit his style of play. Having said that, his young squad needs time to play together and gel.

The biggest problems that I see are first, whether Liverpool Football club and its fans are patient enough to stick with and believe in Rodgers if we still don't make it into CL for 3-4 years as Ayre had mentioned and second, all these young players and prospects will be attracted to big money move to rich clubs within those 3-4 years so the (re)building never stops.

 

[mark1975]

That's not true! Our black with silver piping of 2 years ago was truly delectable

Gay.

 

[keniget]

I'm happy with the approach we are taking.

I guess now we just sit back and see whether we've bet on the right players and I suppose whether Rodgers has what it takes.

 

[keniget]

Well we've always done that, so..

Our white away kit whilst Torres was here was really nice!

 

[mark1975]

I'm happy with the approach we are taking.

I guess now we just sit back and see whether we've bet on the right players and I suppose whether Rodgers has what it takes.

Pretty much. It's refreshing anyway, but you could argue it's the shit we've gone through in recent years that's forced this upon us. Perhaps in some ways it may prove a blessing in the longterm.

 

[mark1975]

I think Rodgers has been doing a wonderful job. He seems to know who to pick and and who would fit his style of play. Having said that, his young squad needs time to play together and gel.

The biggest problems that I see are first, whether Liverpool Football club and its fans are patient enough to stick with and believe in Rodgers if we still don't make it into CL for 3-4 years as Ayre had mentioned and second, all these young players and prospects will be attracted to big money move to rich clubs within those 3-4 years so the (re)building never stops.

Well this is it, it's almost Arsenal-syndrome that last bit, which is a big danger. We have to supplement it I guess when we've built a strong enough base, and not get stubborn and fall into the traps Wenger has.

 

[Fabio]

Point is, our current path isn't one we'd not normally take. I'm sitting back and enjoying it.

People moan because it's not the way we've done things for fucking years. We've also not won anything decent for a few years.

 

[Whirly]

We've cleared so much dead weight in the last few seasons, it's quite impressive actually

Maxi
Kuyt
Cole
Adam
Bellamy
Aurelio
Aquilani
Konchesky
Jovanovic
Sotirios "Menelaus" Kyrgiakos
Poulsen
Insua
Doni

To clarify, Kuyt, Maxi, and Bellamy played their roles well, but they were not long term solutions. We may have overspent on some youth like Henderson, but it sure beats dishing out what we paid for Cole(or Downing).

 

[keniget]

Well perhaps that is where signings like Myk... come into play.

I saw one article that pitted him against Eriksen as signings and the main conclusion was that whilst Eriksen has been impressive at Ajax he still has some way to go to fulfill his potential whereas this guy is more ready now. He's doing it for club and country and its been suggested will adapt better to a big move.

Given that Eriksen was reportedly a target, interesting food for thought.

 

[refugee]

I'm not falling for this. This is the same type of hopelessly optimistic and premature thread you made during Budgie's transfer window.

The reality is we have signed 2 players that seem to be very good (although there are many example of players that started promising and faded away), and spent a lot on average players that we are hoping might come good. All the players we have been linked to in this transfer window we (most of us) have little to no idea how they will do in the premiership, or even if they are any good in general, they just have exotic sounding names. Yeah we have the usual knowledgeable posters that predict big things having seen them play, but we always have that and they often are wrong, the rest make judgements based on computer games, hearsay or guesswork.

We played well some times last season, and struggled sometimes. We are losing our best player and one of our greatest ever players is getting a year closer to retirement. And we finished in mid table, so we could easily get worse rather than better. Buying youth and potential is great, if it works and it often doesn't.

Also, we have sold one player haven't we? How is that enough evidence to decide we are selling well?

And again, its hopelessly early to be commenting on Ayre and the owners. We have another until August before the transfer window closes ffs. Anything could happen, good or bad.

 

[Whirly]

If we had a poor finish, wouldn't it be easier to get better than worse?

 

[mark1975]

I'm not falling for this. This is the same type of hopelessly optimistic and premature thread you made during Budgie's transfer window.

The reality is we have signed 2 players that seem to be very good (although there are many example of players that started promising and faded away), and spent a lot on average players that we are hoping might come good. All the players we have been linked to in this transfer window we (most of us) have little to no idea how they will do in the premiership, or even if they are any good in general, they just have exotic sounding names. Yeah we have the usual knowledgeable posters that predict big things having seen them play, but we always have that and they often are wrong, the rest make judgements based on computer games, hearsay or guesswork.

We played well some times last season, and struggled sometimes. We are losing our best player and one of our greatest ever players is getting a year closer to retirement. And we finished in mid table, so we could easily get worse rather than better. Buying youth and potential is great, if it works and it often doesn't.

Also, we have sold one player haven't we? How is that enough evidence to decide we are selling well?

And again, its hopelessly early to be commenting on Ayre and the owners. We have another until August before the transfer window closes ffs. Anything could happen, good or bad.

It wasn't a "bed of roses" post and I countered it myself in a few of my subsequent replies, I know it's going to be an uphill struggle and we've got a long way to go. We are allowed to comment on there here and now, people do it enough when slagging off or praising players, I don't see why the owners and Ayre shouldn't be given some acknowledgement for recent efforts. It shouldn't be that hard to decipher the point without taking it as giving them the freedom of the City - I know they've made mistakes and have alot to prove.

People need to seriously read posts and stop dragging what points they want to the opposite polar end of the spectrum, it's just a nod at what seems to be an interesting project. Is that really so unreasonable? No it's not.

 

[refugee]

So it seems we're signing several young, up and coming talents from around the continent, many of whom are either at good clubs or have some big names clamouring for their services. Considering we have an Irish manager who's won nothing, Suarez looking like he's fucking off, a retired Jamie Carragher and a fading Steven Gerrard. Even I find it almost inexplicable the route we're taking, seemingly so successfully.

We played good football last season and I have a tremendous amount of (largely unsubstantiated) faith in big nose, but it seems players have gotten onto this notion that we want to build an exciting, young attacking side.

So is there any real substance to the occasional murmurings that we're a spent force, a mid-table side no one wants to play for and well past our abilities to turn heads?

Seemingly not. I know we're not picking up the £30m latest rising new South American, but who is? And how long do they last before getting the hump anyway? No longer buying over priced British, nor risking big money on bigger name Johnny Foreigners after a last payday, we seem to have found middle ground in buying the up and coming potentially next big names.

So are we really in such a terrible state? Ian Ayre gets flack, as do the owners, but we're spending well, selling reasonably well and putting our name out there to the next big thing.

Remind me where we're fucking up monumentally? It's hardly a bed of roses but at least we seem to have got our shit together. Finally.

Sorry Mark. But I did read your post and every one of the comments marked in read is incredibly premature. We have until August before the transfer windows closes, and every one of those comments could be proved right, wrong or even somewhere in the middle. What we do with Suarez and (if necessary) how we replace him will be a massive test of our club and we should at least wait until after that decision is made before heaping praise or criticising how the club is run.

 

[RolandG]

So it seems we're signing several young, up and coming talents from around the continent, many of whom are either at good clubs or have some big names clamouring for their services. Considering we have an Irish manager who's won nothing, Suarez looking like he's fucking off, a retired Jamie Carragher and a fading Steven Gerrard. Even I find it almost inexplicable the route we're taking, seemingly so successfully.

We played good football last season and I have a tremendous amount of (largely unsubstantiated) faith in big nose, but it seems players have gotten onto this notion that we want to build an exciting, young attacking side.

So is there any real substance to the occasional murmurings that we're a spent force, a mid-table side no one wants to play for and well past our abilities to turn heads?

Seemingly not. I know we're not picking up the £30m latest rising new South American, but who is? And how long do they last before getting the hump anyway? No longer buying over priced British, nor risking big money on bigger name Johnny Foreigners after a last payday, we seem to have found middle ground in buying the up and coming potentially next big names.

So are we really in such a terrible state? Ian Ayre gets flack, as do the owners, but we're spending well, selling reasonably well and putting our name out there to the next big thing.

Remind me where we're fucking up monumentally? It's hardly a bed of roses but at least we seem to have got our shit together. Finally.

Mark I'm quite excited by the way we're going about our business. We're spending wisely and getting players that are young, hungry and impressionable that have ambition to prove themselves.

Seems we finally learnt our lesson and going some way to address the teams weaknesses.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

I'm happy with the approach we are taking.

I guess now we just sit back and see whether we've bet on the right players and I suppose whether Rodgers has what it takes.

Mourinho: "And Liverpool. I know Brendan [Rodgers] and I know he can do it. I know his ideas,his project and Liverpool will go up, too."

 

[localny]

Mourinho: "And Liverpool. I know Brendan [Rodgers] and I know he can do it. I know his ideas,his project and Liverpool will go up, too."

^this. I think it's surprising how many players want come here. We'll see if this gamble works. I do have some trust in Rodgers though.

 

[dantes]

Mark I'm quite excited by the way we're going about our business. We're spending wisely and getting players that are young, hungry and impressionable that have ambition to prove themselves.

Seems we finally learnt our lesson and going some way to address the teams weaknesses.

It's a worrying precedent when we praise a manager for doing things only a complete and utter idiot would not do. No matter how much of a relief it is, the proper thing to do is say nothing and thereby make clear that this is not something we should even have to identify as an expectation. Otherwise what is next, we congratulate the bastard for being able to spell his name? No disrespect to Joe Kinnear.

 

[RedStar]

I havent been this optimistic about the long term success of the club since Rafas first season, and that was based more on the miracle of a Champions League final than any substantive progress in the league.

I think we have had to accept (although some fans never will) that we are not financially geared towards competing with City/Chelsea/Utd anymore so the longer we play that game the further we will fall behind and the further we will fall into debt. The approach we are taking is by no means a guarantee of success, we have a largely untried manager with a bold vision for the future and a team that quite frankly needed to be gutted after some epically bad transfer windows.Targeting a group of young players on low wages without big transfer fees is a way for us to spread the risk rather than constantly loading all our eggs into one basket like we did with Keane/Aqualani etc and hoping for a big money signing to solve our problems. Of course some of these young players wont work out but we will lose little when reselling them and their wages wont be so lucrative as to be a burden on the club.

We are building from scratch to a large extent, by the time this team is ready to challenge for a title I would imagine Gerrard and Suarez will be long gone so we are sailing into uncharted waters. Plenty of people have made the Arsenal comparison but Im not sure Id agree with it, Wenger has at times seemed stuck on a point of principle cutting off his nose to spite his face, Rodgers seems more pragmatic and willing to accept and change when things are not working as planned, that was a relief to me because it illustrated that its not a personal thing with him he does what he does because he believes it will ultimately be proven right.

I think the way back to the top is a long road from where we currently sit and it would be foolish to expect instant or seamless progress on that front, but I like the fact that we believe we have identified what that path is and are committed to sticking to it. Whats the alternative, keep sliding down the table until we become an attractive proposition for billionaire investor? No thanks

 

[dantes]

If flexibility extends to playing two strikers with one goalscoring midfielder behind them, I will be pleased. He started the season with a lone striker to slap Carroll in his face. But when he had no choice he has played Suarez and Sturridge together and neither one dicks around on the touchline other than for a few minutes now and again.

So his wing forwards have basically been conceded as a retard tactic and replaced by fowards who play where they like. This is why he is trying to sign every striker he can, and why downing is fucked. There will be room for only one winger in the team and its going to be coutinho.

 

[dantes]

If he signed good strikers, he'd have to ask FSG for 150 million in cash. He may not walk away from that meeting alive even. So rather than being a commendable piece of foresight, I think he is buying kid strikers as it is all he can afford. If Rodgers only need two strikers instead of three or four we'd be bidding 25 mil for david villa like idiots.

 

[Ryan]

We've done an impressive job rebuilding the squad following the Dalglish disaster.

 

[Woland]

You can get all excited about this transfer window or this manager but absolutely fuck all of it has anything to do with Liverpool.

So it might do well or it might not. But who cares really? it's all a load of bollocks.

 

[SummerOnions]

You can get all excited about this transfer window or this manager but absolutely fuck all of it has anything to do with Liverpool.

So it might do well or it might not. But who cares really? it's all a load of bollocks.

we should all probably go outside as well

 

[Modo]

We've done an impressive job rebuilding the squad following the Dalglish disaster.

You just love twisting the knife don't you?

 

[localny]

You just love twisting the knife don't you?

He does unfortunately, but you can't ignore that a lot of dough was wasted. Another way to get us back in the big time would be to bring Rafa back. You know It would work, but I digress, I have a good feeling about the northern one