Liverpool - not 2009/10 but the next season after that

Nope. Heā€™s shite. Small bit of hype because heā€™s young and playing for Huns first team but thatā€™s all about thee financial position and not his ability. Migh improve but heā€™s not up to much now.

Comically bad in the New Yearā€™s Derby at Celtic Park last January. Granted, heā€™s only 18 or whatever. I tend to avoid watching many of their games other than when theyā€™re playing Celtic so I wouldnā€™t have seen much of him. Their young players are often hyped to the maximum by the complicit Scottish media to drive up their price - reference Alan Hutton going to Spurs for Ā£9m. I imagine he would have learned from playing regularly alongside the experienced Weir but he wouldnā€™t have played all the games last year with Bougherra being a centre back also. Iā€™m basically not sure if heā€™s actually as promising as reports suggest but Iā€™m biased in any case and I have probably only seen him play 3 or 4 times.

So far Iā€™m encouraged by what Hodgson is doing I have to say. Insua straight out the door. Degen told he can leave. Ngog rumoured to be off. It seems he has a view on who is just not good enough to play for Liverpool and isnā€™t afraid to act on it.

Heā€™s signed Joe Cole who tends to divide opinion but in fairness is a big name signing and a good signal of intent.

Gerrard has committed his future (for what thatā€™s worth coming from a footballer).

Mascherano has seemingly been contacted but isnā€™t being pandered to.

Iā€™m still concerned at the lack of pace in wide areas and despite being a great servant Iā€™d like to see Kuyt out of the first team. Iā€™m hoping Woy might be able to develop Babel.

Other than that Woy has identified left back as a priority which is good. Given the financial situation I wonder what it would cost to bring in Riquelme.

Youā€™d have the bones of a decent first 11 there.

I see Wigan are linked with Salcido as a replacement for Figueroa who is being courted by Liverpool. Twould be more cost effective for Liverpool to just sign Salcido Iā€™d have thought. Beginning to look forward to the new season now.

Riquelme, Cole and Gerrard in one side Clarkey?

keeper - best in EPL
johnson - hodgson will improve, no cover
carragher - finished - maybe back up
agger - decent on the ball but not great
skrtle - alright but not great either
wilson - ? prob shit
kyriakos - decent cover
left back - noone
right mid - rodriguez - squad player
centre - lucas - squad player
centre - masherano - wants out
centre - aquilani - talented but lightweight - only an option off front man
gerrard - poor last season best position same as cole and aquilani
left - gerrard or cole - will cut inside always, jovanoic - no idea
striker - torres - a crock - babel - extremely shit so far

that is a pretty shit squad in truth

Liverpool need and have needed for a long time: A winger (even with the two signings), a striker (bring back the Crouch), two wing backs (1 as cover for Johnson).

They now also need at least one decent centre half (Agger and Squirtle too similar), and holding midfielder to replace Mash.

Thats 5 starting players they need. In summation Liverpool are shit and I miss Robbie Fowler.

Assuming a 4-2-3-1 (which probably isnā€™t a safe assumption), Riquelme would sit beside Mascherano in the 2. Gerrard would play behind Torres with cole to his left. Think thereā€™s no harm in keeping a Spanish influence/culture at the club too.

I wouldnā€™t be too upset by a lineup that looked like this:

Reina

Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Salcido/AN Other

Riquelme, Mascherano

Babel, Gerrard, Cole

Torres

Plenty of room for improvement there but itā€™s not the worst. Iā€™m not convinced by either of the centre backs any more but they are still relatively young.

Hm.

Riquelme, Babel, Gerrard and Cole in the one team? God help Masch. What about Acquilani?

Found this btw http://twitter.com/NotLucasLeiva21 :lol:

Clarkey, being a retard, is advocating an even looser midfield than the Argentina team played with in the World Cup. Mascherano would love that, Iā€™d say.

Liverpool fans genuinely happy Gerrard is staying. Considering the clubs financial circumstances would it not have been better for you to have cashed in and gotten say ā‚¬20 million and used that to reinvest to get some quality in. On recent form from what I have seen from Liverpool in Euope and England he has been not just average but poor. Perhaps Hodgson who I think is a good manager can get the best out of him.

Thatā€™s class :lol:

Sotos back. Refusing to speak anything but Afrikaans. Medical team confused after his heart monitor print-out was just a picture of flames.

Mr Roy is a happy man. It really is his dream job. He trains with us and repeatedly outpaces me. Sammy just puts his head in his hands.

Cole doing his medical as I type. Been really nice to me. Think Ive finally found a friend in the squad- he said he loved playing against me

Captain Lucas Leiva. I donā€™t know what to say. The best day of my life. Apart from the day Rafa gave me some praise. ā€œNot too badā€ā€¦bliss.

Presumably a wind up attempt?

Argentina played a 4-3-3 with Maxi, Mascherano and Di Maria as the three midfielers, with no onus on Messi or Tevez to track back.

The above system is completely different and not loose at all really.

The only real difference is the addition of a ball player in the two instead of Lucas.

What about him?

Aqualani will be a revelation this season

I think heā€™s cute.

:smiley:

Just woke up. Had a great, vivid dream about holidaying to Alicante with Rafa in the summer. Both of us naked in a bath of Sangria. Bliss.

10:37 PM Apr 23rd via web

Turned into a nightmare when Dirk (backed up by Luis Garcia, strangely) wearing wooden shoes ran in with a baseball bat shouting ā€œHESH MINEā€

10:46 PM Apr 23rd via web

Dirks just uploaded the 130 pictures of him and Rafaā€™s night in to Facebook. Every picture has the caption ā€˜Lucas who?ā€™. Iā€™m devastated.

1:42 PM Apr 24th via web

Soto hasnā€™t returned properly for training yet. Heā€™s gone to South Korea on a ā€˜missionā€™. Looking for vengeance in a Martial Arts tournament

Sun Jul 18 2010 06:06:26 (GMT Daylight Time) via web

His Martial Arts discipline is ā€˜powerā€™. Before he left he spray painted ā€˜Revenge is all I know nowā€™.

Sun Jul 18 2010 06:08:37 (GMT Daylight Time) via web

Wayne Bridge being linked with Liverpool this morining, he is surplus to requirements at City as it looks as though Kolorov is a done dealā€¦

From goal.com

Milan striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will join Liverpool, with Ryan Babel heading the other way as part of the deal, claims Il Corriere dello Sport.

On Tuesday Huntelaar was reportedly in Manchester, leading to speculation talks with either Manchester City or Manchester United are impending.

However, the latest reports from Italy suggest he could join Liverpool. Huntelaar was not at Milanello on Wednesday, leading to further belief his future is away from Milan.

And should the deal with Liverpool take off, Milan will press for Ryan Babel as part of negotiations.

Everton are also said to be tracking the Rossoneri striker, but the lure of Anfield is likely to prove pivotal in his decision.

There has been little official confirmation in relation to Huntelaarā€™s future, but Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri didnā€™t appear too convincing when he was probed for a diagnosis.

ā€œHuntelaar, for now, is a Milan player,ā€ he told the press. The Dutchman has also been linked with Tottenham and Aston Villa previously.

Any thoughts on the tactically unaware potential team chosen by Clarkey earlier today, Farmer?