The Liverpool FC Thread XII

BREAKING: Someone has put pen to paper at Liverpool - Coutinho signs a new contract until 2020!

BREAKING: Someone has put pen to paper at Liverpool - Coutinho signs a new contract until 2020!

surprised you guys did not buy anyone new at all..

I hope its because rodgers is still letting all his summer signings settle, rather then him being convinced by this rise in form youve had over the last month..

Not convinced though - I can just see another sturridge injury, you guys struggling again - and then regretting not buying another attacking option.

if sturridge misses another chunk of the season, and stirlings form drops again (as it probably will, given his age) then It may be that the difference between top4 and not would have been purchasing some alternative attacking choices this window

It will be a combination of the high cost of buying in January, the lack of targets (and generally a quiet window) and with Sturridge coming back from injury. We don't have a small squad and the team seem to be improving so makes little sense to throw money and waste? No doubt FSG look at Torres/Carroll saga but also Sturridge/Coutinho purchases.

I get what you mean - and I have no idea what attacking players may have been avaliable - as I have not been following the transfers this month..

but for instance, had rodgers + co, organised a stricker before christmas, got everything lined up, and purchased one at a reasonable time (e.g. bony) then I honestly think you would be sat in the final of the league cup right now.. as the only thing that stopped you beating chelsea, was the lack of a decent goal scorer in those games..

And if just feels like that may mirror the rest of the season. - I am sure they have a huge number of reasons why it was not possible to sign the attacking players they may have wanted, but all

Is the League Cup worth spending 25mil on a striker + committing 100k a week for 5 years on wages?

Sturridge is back now so we've got that decent goalscorer back if we can rely on him to stay fit.

We'll have another overhaul in the summer when it makes more sense to.

with the first part - no. definetly not.. but that new striker would not be only benificial to the league cup.. your still challenging in 3 other competitions, with only 1 good striker, and a young player who can do a competant job in the position.

the 2nd part - is a very big 'IF'.. we made one of those 'if's with arsenals defense last half of the season.. and it backfired hugely.. sure going to a season with only 2 senior CBs was a risk, but it would have been ok IF they had stayed fit.. as it turns out they did not, and it cost us. - I just see the same happening with liverpool and sturridge.

Yep, agree that the summer is the best time to do things, but not getting CL football is such a big risk, and we have seen you struggle to compete for the top players with CL football, let alone without.. the 25m you spoke about may not be worth a leage cup.. but if sturridge gets injured, then it is definetly worth a top4 finish, and not loosing stirling if you dont

No doubt FSG look at Torres/Carroll saga but also Sturridge/Coutinho purchases.

We bought Balotelli in the summer because of a lack of options.

You missed a dud with Salah. He's a pretty terrible player in all honesty.

This is utter rubbish btw, no matter what Rodgers says.

There's 20+ 'great' strikers across Europe who were available last summer, probably 50+ who had better open play scoring records than Mario.

Either he was forced upon Brendan or Brendan ego-tripped and thought he was the one who could unlock Mario's potential.

Now I'm not saying we had a chance with the likes of Mandzukic or Griezzman (who I wanted all summer) but to suggest Balotelli was our only option when there was the likes of Bacca, Volland, Lacazette, Berardi, Balde Diao, whichever names you want to bring up. The truth is that you can actually play football manager in this instance and just say random names because the idea that not a single better player than Balotelli, who's scored something like 6 open play goals in two seasons, was available, is silly.

I think given Sturridge's injury history it's ridiculous to have not bought a striker.

We have the same amount of shots per game as Arsenal and Chelsea, and yet trail them by 11, and 19 goals scored. Our build up play is slightly quicker (and shots on transition are statistically more likely to score), and we're only marginally shooting more from outside the box (it's 5-8% difference).

So what is the issue? Quite ****ing clearly that we haven't had a finisher in the team.

We're on a great run of form but only because we've played the ****e teams of the league - if we'd won less than 5/6 everyone would still be up in arms and our top four hopes would be completely gone. We can't afford to drop points and not bringing in a striker means that we're back to relying on Sturridge's dismal fitness history and a 20 year old who was our substitute RWB for half of last season.

Not a gamble worth taking.

Either he was forced upon Brendan or Brendan ego-tripped and thought he was the one who could unlock Mario's potential.

Now I'm not saying we had a chance with the likes of Mandzukic or Griezzman (who I wanted all summer) but to suggest Balotelli was our only option when there was the likes of Bacca, Volland, Lacazette, Berardi, Balde Diao, whichever names you want to bring up. The truth is that you can actually play football manager in this instance and just say random names because the idea that not a single better player than Balotelli, who's scored something like 6 open play goals in two seasons, was available, is silly.

I think it's fair to say we weren't going to get any of the top strikers who moved last summer.

Let's go through your other options:

Bacca - Seville signed him the summer before and he had a good season, scoring 1 in 2 games. A buy-out of 30mil euros is likely what we would have had to pay to buy him since Seville are one of the toughest negotiators (and he was widely regarded as one of the best signings of the season).

Doesn't Volland mainly play on the right wing for Hoffenheim? I presume we were looking for a striker who could potentially lead the line. I'd agree he was affordable though.

Lacazette - I do think we missed a trick with Lacazette. He had a strong season last year and now he's really pushed one. Easier said with hindsight since he might not have done as well this year and who knows if he would've gotten enough game time to prove himself at Liverpool. We should be kicking ourselves over this one. Maybe there was hesitate as he was playing in France?

Berardi - I don't think Juventus would sell him since they see him as one for the future. Not like Juventus have money issues and he's developing on loan before they take him back to Juventus.

Balde Diao has done nothing to justify a move yet. I don't think he's scored a league goal this season? He's only 19 and we opted to sign Origi in the summer.

I imagine Rodgers wanted to continue with his 4-4-2 (diamond) considering how long we carried on playing it at the start of the season (despite it not working) which meant buying another striker to lead the line. Perhaps he saw a youngster as too much of a gamble and Balotelli looked like a calculated risk since he's played at the top level for some time, has had flashes of brilliance and already played in the premier league before?

Personally I was very surprised we opted for Balotelli but I still think there weren't as many sensible/affordable/less risky transfers as you're making out.

Your first sentence is what happened in my opinion.

Throw in Bony, Remy to that list, too.

I think everyone accepts having another goalscorer would've been ideal but considering the market and the FFP rules, what was likely to happen?

The club have worked very hard on Sturridge so perhaps they think he can last the 4 months of the season so long as we manage him?
That's unfair on Sterling considering he's played the striker role for half of this season and has done relatively well. He's improving all the time. Obviously a very intelligent and versatile player so you can't just dismiss him for having played at RWB for some games.

Use him well, nurture him, and he'll score you goals with regularity.

Had the potential to be on a similar level to Walcott. Never a top, top level talent but could have been a very effective PL performer.