- Zlatan is very interested in joining Real Madrid according to reports in Spain.
- Shane Long is being linked with an €8m move to Bayern Munich in the Sunday Mirror. :blink:
:lol:
The article was written by Apebhoy from the huddleboard. He was plugging it on Twitter last night. “Big Shane Long story tomorrow. Can’t reveal it now. You’ll have to buy it in print.” :lol:
He always did strike me as a bullshit extraordinaire. You got a link to his twitter?
Cheers.
- The Guardian are reporting that Liverpool are very close to finalising that Jordan Henderson transfer.
- Reports in Italy that Barca have now entered the race for Alexis Sanchez. :blink:
- Klose has been released by Bayern Munich. His likely destination remains Lazio.
20m for Henderson is insane. I’m not sure Dalglish is thinking through his signings and where they will all fit. Henderson is a decent player, young with scope to improve, a good athlete and tidy with the ball at his feet. Has a good delivery too but at that price they are paying a huge premium on the fact he is English. He isnt a wide player really and probably isnt good enough yet to be first choice centrally in a 442 for a side with ambitions. Darren Bent at 18m is looking incredible value considering the way Liverpool are going around buying the best of the rest. If anyone fancies a bet, I reckon Bent will score more than any Liverpool player next season. Think he will score more than Torres too.
Dalglish seemed to have them playing well with the following
Reina,
Kelly, Carragher, Skrtle, Johnson
-----Lucas, Spearing----------
Rodriguez, -------Merieles
-----Kuyt, Suarez
He has got to find a way to fit Gerrard’s ego into the side. Gerrard has been poor for 2 seasons and 30 odd at this stage. If you put Carroll in there, then you need to get wingers in. Wingers wont suit players like Meireles. Henderson and Gerrard could probably fit in where Spearing and Rodriguez are but are you going to leave a 35m striker on the bench. I also think Carragher is finished, scrap that I know he is they wont be chasing any title if he is first choice. There are many better centre halves than Skrtle in the league too. Im still trying to figure out Dalglish’s strategy, Id argue it looks like he doesnt have one and is simply trying the fill the squad with better players. Think it will come unstuck for them.
To be honest I haven’t seen a lot of Henderson to determine how good he is, but 20 million quid would seem to be a lot of money for someone with only one season’s top flight experience and for half of which he was meant to be poor. I wouldn’t get too bogged down in the money though, FSG seem to be pretty loaded and the feeling is that they got a bargain when they bought the club so have loads of cash still available for players etc.
I think the bigger issue here is whether or not Dalglish has a vision as to how he wants Liverpool to play next season. This signing would indicate that he doesn’t. Henderson would seem to be one central midfielder of a two which, for me, isn’t the system Liverpool should be looking to play with the players they had. The formation in that good spell towards the end of the season was:
-------- Lucas-------
Meireles— Spearing
Kuyt------------Maxi
-------- Suarez---------
Now, I would argue playing Gerrard in there instead of Spearing. That is the area Henderson would play as well, and he also seems right sided which isn’t ideal. I think a more important area to strengthen is the Lucas position, where there is no cover and still question marks about the quality of the Brazilian. I would have targetted someone like Tiote for that role (should get him for 20 million).
Dare I say, the current young English transfer strategy reminds me of Leeds paying 9 million for Seth Johnson and giving him 35 grand a week when he only wanted 25.
That’s a great story, and really emphasises the lunacy that went on at Leeds during that time.
I too think Henderson is overpriced at 20m but having 8 players to fill 6 positions is hardly overloading the squad and I think Liverpool are still at the stage where they’re short on lots of quality in lots of areas. I think they need a stronger squad than they have now and if Henderson replaces Spearing and plays as often as Spearing did then he’ll be an improvemetn - albeit costly.
Surprised at Alexis Sanchez, is he that good Bandage? I think Barca certainly believe they were vulnerable for cover this season and with Bojan, Afellay and Sanchez they would have 3 players to cover Messi, Pedro and Villa. None of that second string score anywhere near as many goals as the first choice players though.
Astonished fellas are picking Liverpool teams without Carroll and Suarez together up front. That will be a successful partnership IMO and too much is being made of formations and accomadating certain midfielders. They should be (and will i’m sure as they are experienced men in charge at Liverpool) looking to make the most of their strengths. They could play 3 up front, with Kuyt and Suarez either side of Carroll. But not playing Carroll is silly IMO.
Agreed on Carroll. He’s an important part of Dalglish’s plans and when fit he’ll generally start.
Just discuss your reasons for not playing him farmer/mbb/kib rather than taking the pussy way out and minusing my post. It really doesn’t bother me if i get minused, in fact i delight in it.
So grow a pair of balls.
There seems to be a lot of talk about ‘buying wingers to feed Carroll’. If this is going to be Liverpool’s tactic to look for the big man in the box, then it’s going to be so predictable. Once you have a capable defender in the air against him, there are many of those, then the attack could be nullified.
I have my doubts about Carroll. I always have to be honest. While he can destroy some teams with his aerial ability and has a ferocious shot, I don’t think he is hugely mobile. I prefer attacks to be fluid and be interchangeable. I think that is much more difficult to defend against.
That said, I am sure Dalglish has something up his sleeve with regards Carroll.
There is alot more to Carroll than long high balls and just playing off wingers. You haven’t seen that much of him or you have pre-judged him on his height if you think that.
Obviously he is a threat in the air, but he’s got more than that. Ala Niall Quinn with more power and strength to his game.
Like what?
good shot, a good knock down header(granted due to his height, but he is deft), a good touch, good hold up play and is quite capable of sliding a ball through when he turns on goal.
I find it unbelievable such a massive supporter of Liverpool like you hasn’t a clue of what Carroll is capable of.
Harsh enough
I know full well what he is capable of mate, most of what you have said I have already alluded to - I was just trying to get you to put some specifics to a general ‘much more to his game’ comment.
I think his touch leaves a lot to be desired at times.