:lol:
id love to see murderpool implode
FAO Bandage.
Stop tweeting my posts you prick #asshole #copycat
+1.
There are few more horrible clubs in the world in my estimation.
You should be proud of the retweet.
Thats pretty unimaginative and pathetic really.
Thats 8m profit on downing for villa. Detested him as a player so happy enough he has fucked off. Paid his wages for his first season when he was out injured for most of it, has a decent season last year, gets back in England squad and hands in transfer request. Can only hope he is a disaster at Liverpool and i reckon he will be. Can see the Anfield crowd getting on his back early if he doesnt settle too.
For Liverpool it was working well with fluid formations with Suarez, Merieles and Kuyt. Now its 44 fucking two that wont suit them. Hope it really goes badly for them now.
kelly, carragher, skrtle, johnson
Henderson, gerrard, adam, downing
suarez, carroll
no protection for back 4 there. an average back four too at that.
Downing, Young, Milner - 26m of profit on those three I think.
Though when Harewood, Sidwell, Reo coker, shorey, beye, warnock, Ireland, Heskey are taken into account probably not as good.
Still no sign of Given or nzogbia. depressing times at Villa.
I’m sure you’ll get around to supporting them at some stage.
Downing at 20 million is ridiculous money. But as I said before and as Bandage alluded to, the 35 million spent on Andy Carroll has thrown everything crazy, particularly from Liverpool’s point of view. To think - that is 15 million more than Downing for someone with a half season top flight experience.
Anyway, I never understand why supporters of clubs are happy to see one of their better performers go for what looks like a good price. It is not given that the money received will go back into strengthening the team. Look at Newcastle - where is that 35 million? They have bought a couple of players on free transfers and a few for small money. That amount of cash doesn’t sit under a mattress somewhere for spending, it is invested by the owner probably outside the club if they have many business interests. If that goes pear shaped then the 35 million is gone.
The worst thing about the Downing deal from Liverpool’s point of view is not necessarily the money (unless they bankrupt themselves like Leeds) but more the fact that they have highlighted the area for strengthening and have gone for an inferior player than one they could have got for roughly the same money.
Is anyone well up on the Sabremetrics theory so beloved of FSG? If so could they explain how it fits in with Liverpools recent signings? I must admit I’ve heard a bit about, but haven’t read Moneyball and am not sure how well it has or will transfer to football. I would imagine Henry is employing it at Anfield. Does it explain, these quite frankly, baffling buys?
I don’t know if I would call them baffling. They have clearly targetted British players and are prepared to pay a premium for them. Dalglish won league titles with a British and Irish heart so maybe he is trying to replicate the same thing. Now such thinking is bizarre to me but that probably says a lot for the fact Dalglish has been out of football for so long than anything else.
You find it bizarre. I find it baffling. You say tomato, etc etc.
The sabremetrics question remains open.
FORMER Ireland manager Steve Staunton is on the verge of returning to Liverpool in a coaching role.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, who took Staunton to Anfield as a 17-year-old in 1986, is expected to make the announcement on Monday when he travels over to watch a Liverpool XI play Bray at the Carlisle Grounds.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday to launch a Dundalk Legends v Liverpool Legends fund-raising game at Oriel Park on July 23, the 102-times capped former defender confirmed that a deal, which would see him return to work in the top-flight for the first time since leaving Aston Villa in 2003, was almost agreed.
When asked if his new club’s manager would be in Ireland on Monday night, Staunton – who played 109 times for Liverpool in two spells fat the club – simply responded “possibly.”
Since leaving Darlington in 2010, Staunton has filled a number of scouting positions, most notably for former Irish team-mate and manager Mick McCarthy at Wolves and, from Christmas last year, with Middlesborough.
While reluctant to speak about his new job, Staunton (below) was happy to talk about his 21-month tenure in charge of the Irish team and suggested he should have been afforded more time in the job.
"We were given certain agendas and we achieved those. We took young players through, we were to improve the seeding and we did that against the teams like the Czech Republic and Germany who were rated sixth and seventh in the world. My record speaks for itself.
"I’ve no problems with the FAI. I got my chance, I gave it a go and I’ll move on.
“Did it hurt? Everything hurts, but the one good thing is that I know I did my job. I can hold my head up high.”
- Gavin McLaughlin
Irish Independent
Martin O’Neill. 
But he is at a hiding to nothing if he thinks he can win a league with a british core like he did with Blackburn or Liverpool, the fact is every English team had a British core back then but the league has very much moved on since then…This is going to be another very average season for Liverpool
I can only conclude that some Everton or Manchester United supporter has sold them a dud package and they’re following it to the letter.
downing was one of Villa’s better players last season - not all that difficult considering how poor Villa were. worrying that villa have lost downing, young, milner and barry in 3 seasons but club was in a financial hole. Rather 5 seasons of mid table mediocrity than a Leeds meltdown.
EPL clubs will have their own GFC imo, does Liverpool’s immediate revenue stream support the signing of 4 fairly average players for such crazy money? no way - are Liverpool likely to qualify for CL even with these players - really dont think so. I honestly think these signings reveal Dalglish as a buffoon, English players are average in the greater scheme of things in Europe and he has bought three that are on the verges of the England squad while Adam is a one season wonder Bullard style imo. Liverpool arent the only ones, City, Chelsea etc rich benefactors stump money to buy willy nilly but eventually the EPL clubs will have to face reality.
Christ the last time a one legged person cost this much money Paul McCartney had just settled his divorce!
Another great Daglish signing
I agree. That mentality would mean that the likes of Suarez wouldn’t be bought.
But that is Dalglish. He is in charge of the team. I don’t necessarily think it has anything to do with a mad strategy by FSG.
As for next season, the last half of last season showed that Dalglish could get the best out of an average group of players. I think he may do the same this season but, but either way, getting into the top 4 is the best than can be hoped for and that will be tough.
look 8 posts up from this one :rolleyes:
Agreed on the selling point. Unless it’s a player who was frozen out anyway and the money is guaranteed to be invested then it’s not a positive day for supporters. When McGeady left Celtic last season we got a fair price for him, and I didn’t begrudge the great man his move, but I was far from pleased that the player had left Celtic.
Doesn’t quite follow the other way around though. Transfer budgets are obviously limited and it’s worrying when you see money being spent rashly or a premium being paid for average players.
Not sure what the exact stats involved are but you’d wonder how much contributed to acquiring Carroll anyway. There wasn’t much data available to assess him objectively so it must have been a judgement call.
Downing does figure highly on assists lists and on successful crosses completed from last season so that may have played a role. Nobody is really saying what the criteria that analysts use in soccer are. They’re obviously very variable and more subjective than baseball but you could certainly see key passes and assists and goals from Adam being a factor in his signing.
Simon Kuper had a good article on it a couple of weeks ago that I posted in the Soccer Stats thread.
Downing is a prime example of what Paul Scholes was on about during the week. He even said players from a club like Aston Villa only cared about playing for England so they could get a move.
The minute Downing has a good season and gets in England team he thinks he’s above Villa? Hope a wall falls on him.
Rubbish contribution.